icon for Home page
icon for Kid's Home page
icon for Digital Collection
icon for Activities
icon for Turns Exhibit
icon for In the Classroom
icon for Chronologies
icon for My Collection

People and Places

22 Important Events

Bloody Brook

Bloody Brook Sep 18, 1675
#1999.03.0026
Muddy Brook in present-day South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was renamed Bloody Brook after a Native force attacked an English convoy during Metacom's (King Philip's) War.

 

Metacom's (King Philip's) War

Metacom's (King Philip's) War 1675-1676
#L99.122
Metacom (also known as King Philip) was a Wampanoag who rallied members of other Native groups in New England to forcibly halt the taking of land by the English.

 

Peskeompskut

Peskeompskut May 19, 1676
#L98.025
Located at a falls on the Connecticut River in present-day Montague, Massachusetts, Peskeompskut was a gathering site for Native peoples and scene of an English attack on a Native encampment during Metacom's (King Philip's) War (1675-1676).

 

Deerfield Raid

Deerfield Raid Feb 29, 1704
#IR.001
In the 1704 attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, by French and Native allies during Queen Anne's War (1701-1713), more than half the town's residents were killed or captured.

 

Queen Anne's War

Queen Anne's War 1701-1713
#L99.010
The War of the Spanish Succession was known as Queen Anne's War in New England, named for the British monarch who reigned from 1702 to 1714.

 

War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714

During the War of the Spanish Succession, territorial disputes among European nations reached North America, where New Englanders called it Queen Anne's War.

 

Great Awakening

Great Awakening 1730-1769
#L01.001
The first Great Awakening was a religious revival distinguished by dramatic and powerful preaching like that of Northampton, Massachusetts, minister Jonathan Edwards.

 

Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle of Bunker Hill Jun 17, 1775
#1927.28
After the battles at Lexington and Concord, militiamen like Joseph Stebbins of Deerfield, Massachusetts, owner of this tricorn hat, hurried to Boston and were at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

 

Battles of Saratoga

Battles of Saratoga Oct 17, 1777
#1882.81
The Battles of Saratoga renewed hopes of American independence for colonists like John Fellows (1751-1831) of Shelburne, Massachusetts, who picked up this English musket after British General Burgoyne's defeat.

 

American Revolution

American Revolution 1775-1783
#L99.085
Many new Americans resented being ruled from a distance by Great Britain, and the colonies went to war to attain their independence.

 

Shays' Rebellion

Shays' Rebellion 1786-1787
#L03.001
Led by Daniel Shays (1747-1825) of Pelham, Massachusetts, and peopled largely by disgruntled farmers, the "army" rebelled against taxes imposed by the government in Boston.

 

War of 1812

War of 1812 1812-1815
#1885.01.02
The War of 1812 between the United States and England was unpopular in New England, though men like Moses Nelson of Buckland, Massachusetts, owner of this cartridge box, still fought in what many Americans saw as their second war for independence.

 

Second Great Awakening

Second Great Awakening 1820-1859
#L05.060
North America's Second Great Awakening was a revival of Protestantism that came to involve several social and political reform movements.

 

Mexican War

Mexican War 1846-1848
#L02.149
The Mexican War, which made Texas and the present southwestern states part of the United States, was unpopular in New England because of its potential for adding slave states.

 

American Civil War

American Civil War 1861-1865
#L02.024
The Civil War in the United States, a result of Southern slavery and other vastly different ways of life between the North and South, lasted four bloody years.

 

Reconstruction

Reconstruction 1865-1875
#L05.047
The Reconstruction period in the American South followed the Civil War (1861-1865) and lasted about ten years.

 

Blizzard of 1888

Blizzard of 1888 Dec 3, 1888
#L02.001
During the Blizzard of '88, Elsie Putnam of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, wrote in her diary (p. 25) that "it is the worst storm ever known in this vicinity."

 

Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War post 1898
#1959.07.08
Part of a larger goal to expand U.S. territory and influence, the Spanish-American War epitomized the imperialism of the time.

 

Historical Pageants

Historical Pageants 1910-1916
#L99.015
From 1910 to 1916, residents of Deerfield, Massachusetts, with a professional director, produced three historical pageants - a popular form of entertainment at a time of rapid change.

 

World War I

World War I 1914-1918
#L01.043
After the United States entered World War I in 1917, the war was brought close to home for people such as the Ashleys of Deerfield, Massachusetts, through the letters and deaths of their loved ones.

 

Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War 1917-1922
#1996.12.3633
7,000 Americans were among the Allied forces in Russia's Civil War who fought unsuccessfully to keep the Soviets from installing a Communist government.

 

Great Depression

Great Depression 1929-1940
#L06.011
The 1929 depression in the United States was the most sweeping economic downturn in the country's history, affecting major institutions and people's day-to-day lives.

 

top of page


button for Side by Side Viewingbutton for Glossarybutton for Printing Helpbutton for How to Read Old Documents

 

Home | Online Collection | Things To Do | Turns Exhibit | Classroom | Chronologies | My Collection
About This Site | Site Index | Site Search | Feedback