Meanwhile Pennewitz, of Long Island, one of the oldest and most experienced chiefs in the country, and who, in the first war, had proposed to slaughter the Dutch in a single night, was secretly acting a hostile part, and had already killed a number of Christians and burnt numerous barns. It was therefore resolved to send a force of one hundred and twenty men towards Heemstede (Hempstead), the English under command of Underhill, the Dutch under Peter Cock, and all

THE TOWN OK BEDFORD.

under the general supervision of La Montague. The advance guard, having killed an Indian spy, waited until the main body came up, when the troops were formed in two divisions, and an attack was made at the same time on Matsepe (Maspeth) and a smaller village near at hand In a few hours over a hundred Indians lay dead upon the field, while, on the part of the Dutch and English, the loss was only one killed and tliree wounded.

On the return of this expedition, Captain Underhill was dispatched to Stamford in quest of information relative to the Indians of that region. Meeting the same guide who had led the Dutch forces astray in the Greenwich expedition, he learned that nearly a thousand Indians were assembled not far off, to celebrate one of their festivals. The guide, anxious to redeem his reputation, offered to lead the Dutch to the Indian rendezvous, in order to prove that the former mischance was not his fault. ' Captain Underhill, in reporting these facts to Kieft, advised an immediate attack. A force of one hundred and thirty men was dispatched in three yachts, under the Captain's command.