King James would not accept them there, but keept the fort by virtue of the sd Commission & would not suffer any of them to goe & guard s d Village being the frontier but send of their people there, by which meanes from treachery cowardice and carelesnes that too unfortunate and to be lamented accident lies hapened there, the river being frozen that noe forces could be sent up the winter, the well meaned people, lodged our souldiers who kept guard in the City whereof the french & Indian (in number of 200 men) had advise the Indianes would not goe there & so altered the designe, and that place was by that meanes spared our Indians pursued them kild & took 25 frenchmen who gave us an account of severall troops out in a designe in the Spring with 2500 french thority of the late

besides their Indianes.

MR. VAN CORTLANDT TO SR ED. ANDROSS. [

Lond. Doc. VII. ] 19 May, 1690.

May it please your Excellency, *

*

*

The French and Indians have againe, since your Excell c y' s departure, destroyed some people to the Eastward of Boston, have also burned Scheneghtade killed 60 people and

tooke 28 young men and boys prisoners

:

About 1 50 Indians and 50 young men off Albany followed

the French overtooke them upon the lake killed some and tooke 15 Frenchmen, which the Indians

have killed in their castles ; the french Indians have killed eight or ten people att Conestagione, which