Ambush Rock (4 Jul 1697)

Date: 4 Jul 1697 to 4 Jul 1697
Location: Kittery, Maine
Surname/tag: Frost Heard

Historical Event: 4 July 1697, Kittery Maine

Who was there: Category: Ambush Rock (4 Jul 1697)

On the Sabbath morning of 4 July 1697, while returning from a church service at Unity, Major Charles Frost, Phoebe (Littlefield) Heard, and Dennis Downing were ambushed and killed by Indians.

Major Frost was in the company of his two sons, John Heard and his wife Phoebe (formerly Littlefield), and Dennis Downing as they were returning from worship when they were ambushed. John Heard and Major Frost's sons escaped. Major Frost was buried a few rods north of his house.In the night, his corpse was dug up and his corpse taken to the top of Great Hill.

Major Charles Frost was reportedly killed for his role in Richard Waldron's deceit against several hundred Indians during King Philips War.

"The night after Frost's burial the Indians opened his grave, took out the body, carried it to the top of Frost's hill and suspended it upon a stake. His resting place was marked some years later with a flat stone, on which is a rudely chiseled inscription, "Here lyeth intrrd ye body of Mj. Charles Frost ager 65 years Decd July ye 4th 1697." The spot where he was slain is near a large boulder, on which is a suitable inscription. It is known as Ambush Rock."^[1]

The historical marker set in this rock was accomplished by Ralph Bartlett in 1915. The marker reads as follows:^[2]

Ambush Rock
Here on Sunday July 4, 1697
Major Charles Frost
Phebe Littlefield Heard
Wife of Cap’t John Heard
and Dennis Downing
Were Killed By Indians While Returning
On Horseback From the Meeting House
In the Parish of Unity in the Precinct
Of Berwick Where They had Attended
Divine Service

The initiating event of King William's War was the Raid on Dover in June 1689. Ambush Rock marks the final martial event of the war. The Treaty of Ryswick will be concluded between July and October of 1697, in which Louis XIV agreed to recognize William III as King of England.

Sources

1. ↑ Everett S. Stackpole, Old Kittery and Her Families (Lewiston, Maine, 1903; rpt. Somersworth, New Hampshire, 1981). p.414. (Accessed 12 Nov 2022) https://ia800700.us.archive.org/19/items/oldkitteryherfam00staciala/oldkitteryherfam00staciala.pdf
2. ↑ Eliot Historical Society. (Accessed 13 Nov 2022) https://eliothistoricalsociety.org/wiki/ambush-rock/

See also:

WikiTree Category pages

King Philip's War

King William's War

Queen Anne's War

WikiTree FreeSpace pages

King Philip's War

Treaty at Cochecho (3 July 1676) — Richard Waldron, Nicholas Shapleigh and Thomas Daniels organized an assembly with local sagamores. Pequawket sagamore Squando of Saco, Tarantine Abenaki, signed the peace treaty at Piscataqua River, Cochecho on 3 July 1676 alongside Sagamore Wonalancet Penacook, Sampson Aboquecemoka, Samll Numphow of Wamesit, Robin Doney of the Canibas, Warockomec, and other sagamores.

Deceit of Captain Waldron — In September 1676, Captain Joseph Syll and Captain William Hathorne, marching under orders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to round up 'strange Indians' who had recently fled from the southern theatre of King Philip's War, arrived at Cocheco on 6 September 1676. They enlisted the aid of the Dover magistrate, Major Richard Waldron, who had only recently signed a peace treaty with Wonolancet and Squando, with explicit provision "That none of said Indians shall entertain at any time any of our enemies..." Waldron, in turn, enlisted the aid of his compatriot, Captain Charles Frost of Kittery, to trick the Indians and then, together with the captains and their companies, to surround and capture them. This event had the effect of prolonging King Philip's War, in the north-eastern theatre of New Hampshire and Maine, until 1678.

Raid on Dover (1689) — When England and France went to war in 1689, Pennacooks attacked the English settlement at Dover, New Hampshire which was under the jurisdiction of Richard Walderne. Led by Chief Kancamagus, the Raid on Dover began King William's War, a series of viscious attacks carried out by 'Canadiens et Indiens' orchestrated by Jean Vincent Abbadie de Saint-Castin and Abbé Louis-Pierre Thury.

The Treaty of Ryswick English Translation