From the time of | were intrusted to Captain Ephraim Williams, his head-quarters being at the one farthest west, which was named Fort Massachusetts. This fort was located in a beautiful meadow in the valley of the Hoosac, which is here narrowed to a quarter of a mile in width by the towering mass of Saddleback or Graylock on the south, and the Clarksburg and Stamford mountains on the north. colonists of Canada. There were two natural routes of approach to the English settlements from the direction of Canada. One was by the Connecticut River; the other was down Lake Champlain and the Hudson, until the valley of the Hoosac was reached, then eastward along this valley and that of the Deerfield, which tends in the same direction. By either of these routes it was comparatively easy for the French and Indians to make a descent upon the colonies and harass them. This they did through a long series of years. For nearly a century life on the borders of the English settlements was one of almost constant fear. The stories of sudden attack, of the burning of dwellings, of whole villages, of death by the tomahawk, of death on the march through pathless woods in winter, as the victims of these assaults were taken into captivity, form a large portion of our early history. The fort was built of logs, and surrounded with an inclosure of pickets nearly a hundred rods in extent, made of squared posts driven into the ground so as to make an impervious barrier. It was mounted with a few swivels at the best, had a garrison seldom numbering a hundred men, and was defensible against musketry alone. Captain Williams was young, but had already inspired confidence in his ability. He was of good family, his father having been one of four chosen by the provincial government to settle in Stockbridge when the mission to the Indians in that region was established by Rev. John Sergeant. Williams himself had spent much of his life at sea. He had visited England, Spain, and Holland. He had become familiar with danger in his ocean voyages, while by his wide and varied intercourse with men he had acquired much knowledge, and become accomplished in manners. On the breaking out of war between He was already well known by his reEngland and France in 1744, Massachu-peated engagements as agent at the Gensetts felt obliged to take additional mea-eral Court. sures for the defense of her exposed north- The trust now committed to him he disern and western borders. Accordingly, charged with great fidelity and success. a new line of forts was built, stretching Under his vigorous management scouts from the Connecticut, near the boundary were kept continually passing and repassof New Hampshire, to the extreme west-ing along the line of forts in order to give ern limit of Massachusetts. The westernmost of these forts, and the strongest, as it needed to be, was erected in the valley of the Hoosac, near where that stream breaks through the lofty mountain barrier which divides Massachusetts and Vermont from New York. Through this gateway which nature had provided, the French and their Indian allies, if unopposed, could make their way, as they had done, to the important towns of Deerfield, Hadley, Northampton, and Westfield on the east, or go southward through the valleys of Berkshire, lately begun to be settled, and threaten all that region, and Connecticut beyond. The superintendence of the erection and the command of this new line of forts | prompt notice of the approach of any foe. It was a hazardous service which they had to perform, and as an inducement to engage in it, the provincial government offered a bounty of £30 for every Indian scalp. A successful attack was made upon Fort Massachusetts in 1746, by a combined force of French and Indians, nearly one thousand strong. The fort was destroyed, but was rebuilt the next year, and its defense was gallantly maintained until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle brought a cessation of hostilities. At the breaking out of war again in the continued struggle of the French and English for the supremacy, the danger of invasion through the gateway of the Hoosac was greater than before. When, therefore, news came that the Indians had made an attack upon Dutch Hoosac-a settlement within the jurisdiction of New York, but only ten miles from Fort Massachusetts-and that a small party had even penetrated the colony, and gone as far south as Stockbridge, spreading great alarm along their course, the colonial government saw at once the necessity of taking prompt measures for the protection of the settlers. The forts on the frontier were immediately strengthened, and some new ones built. Williams, who had successfully defended the frontier during the previous hostilities, was again put in charge, with the rank of major. The next year, however, he was relieved of his command at the fort, and placed at the head of the Hampshire Regiment-part of a force of five thousand men raised by the colonies for the purpose of taking the offensive against the French, and capturing Crown Point, one of the most important fortresses held by them. The attack upon Crown Point was part of a comprehensive plan to himself, Williams endeavored to get his force out of the glen, upon the higher ground, where they would be less exposed, and could contend with the enemy upon equal terms. As he was doing this, standing upon a rock, or by the side of it, he fell, pierced through the head by a musket-ball. make a vigorous assault upon the French COLONEL WILLIAMS'S MONUMENT, NEAR LAKE GEORGE. at different points. It embraced simultaneous expeditions to Louisburg, Quebec, Crown Point, Niagara, and Fort du Quesne. The expedition to Crown Point was put in charge of Colonel Johnson. While encamped at the southern extremity of Lake George, waiting for ammunition and transports, Baron Dieskau, with a large force of French, Canadians, and Indians, arrived in that vicinity, with the purpose of attacking Fort Edward, a garrison near by. Johnson, learning of the presence of Dieskau's force, at once sent out a party of one thousand soldiers and two hundred Indians to intercept the enemy. Colonel Williams was appointed to the command. He had proceeded but a little way on his march, however, when he found himself almost surrounded by the French and Indians, who had left Fort Edward on one side, and were advancing upon Johnson's army, and now were ly ing in ambush awaiting his approach, of which they had doubtless been informed by their scouts. It was a wild wooded region, and Williams's path was through a deep glen. All at once the yells of the savages and volleys of musketry broke upon his ear, and revealed his danger, while the sudden surprise threw his men into confusion. Calm and undaunted At his fall Williams was saved from the indignity of the scalping-knife of his Indian foes by the considerate devotion of his comrades in arms, who succeeded in concealing his body from the savages. It was subsequently buried on a height of ground a few rods from the spot where he fell, at the foot of a huge pine-tree near the road. There it lay unmarked by any other monument for nearly a century from the time of his death. Then, moved by the consideration of his great worth and his great benefactions to the country and to the cause of learning, the loving hands of another generation placed a large pyramidal bowlder upon the grave of Williams, inscribed with the initials E. W., and erected also upon the rock which marks the spot where he fell an enduring monument of marble. But the history of Fort Massachusetts is not yet fully told, and we must turn back to it. Its builder and commander had fallen, but no serious attack was made upon it subsequent to his death. A lasting peace came in three years from the battle near Fort Edward. The French colonies on the north were surrendered to Great Britain. There was no more fear of invasions from Canada. The frontier line of forts no longer needed to be garrisoned for the protection of defenseless settlers. The soldiers could be dismissed to the peaceful industries of life, and the forts themselves be left to fade from sight, as they have done, under the slow decay of time. There is nothing now to mark the site of the old fort except an elm-tree, which a few persons interested in the history of the fort planted not many years ago for the purpose of marking a spot memorable for gallant deeds there wrought, and for its important connection with the history of our country. At the close of the previous war, in 1748, Williams had retired from his frontier post, and made his home at Hatfield and with a brother at Deerfield. But his long service on the border and in com mand of the fort had given him a deep interest in that region, and in the soldiers and settlers with whom he had been associated in times of peril. The year after leaving the fort, and mainly at his instigation, it seems, the General Court appointed a committee "to survey and lay out two townships on the Hoosac River. each of the contents of six miles square, in the best of the land, and in as regular form as may be, joining them together; and return a correct plat of said townships; and also to return the course and distance of said towns from Fort Massachusetts." In 1750, a committee was ordered to lay out the west township of Hoosac into sixty-three contiguous home-lots of from thirteen to fourteen acres, each of these home-lots carrying with it a sixty-third part of the whole township. True to the original custom of the New England colonies, one of these lots was reserved for the first settled minister of the new town. and another as a permanent fund for the support of the ministry. A third lot was set apart for the benefit of schools. The committee were also directed to grant as many lots to the soldiers of the garri son of Fort Massachusetts as they should think proper." A grant of one hundred and ninety acres in the east township was also made by the General Court to Williams himself, by which he became the owner of the very meadow in which Fort Massachusetts stood. When the west township was actually laid out, more than half of the lots were taken by the officers and soldiers of the old fort. Williams, among the rest, drew two lots, though these chanced to be of poor quality. The settlement of both townships, under the protection of the fort and one or two block-houses, went on rapidly. On his way from Deerfield to engage in the expedition against Crown Point, Colonel Williams was once more at Fort Massachusetts, and there met again many of his old comrades, several of whom had become settlers in the new township which he had secured for them four or five years before. Some of these old companions in arms put themselves again under his leadership on the march to Crown Point. Williams seems to have had some foreboding that he was not to return from this expedition, but was looking upon the old fort and the fair fields of the Hoosac around it for the last time. It is said that as he parted from the garrison he gave some intimation that, in the event of his death, he should leave them some further evidence of his esteem. Being taken ill as his regiment halted for a little at Albany, he was reminded of the uncertainty of life, and that the purpose entertained for some time past of making a final disposition of his property had not been carried out. He proceeded, therefore, at once to make his will. In this instrument, after making some minor bequests to relatives and friends, he declares: "It is my will and pleasure that all of the residue of my real estate, not otherwise disposed of, be sold by my executors, or the survivor of them, within five years after an established peace (which a good God soon grant!), according to their discretion, and that the same be put out at interest on good security, and that the interest money yearly arising therefrom, and the interest arising from my just debts due to me, and not otherwise disposed of, be improved by said executors, and by such as they shall appoint trustees for the charity aforesaid after them, for the support and maintenance of a free school in the township west of Fort Massachusetts (commonly called West Township) forever, provided said township fall within the juris The will then goes on to make other dispositions of the property if these conditions are not complied with. diction of the province of Massachusetts and should be seventy-two feet in length, Bay, and continue under that jurisdic- forty feet wide, and three stories high. tion, and provided also the Governor of As they went on with their work, howevsaid province, with the Assembly of said er, the ideas of the trustees seem to have province, shall (when a suitable number expanded, and the building finally erectof inhabitants are settled there) incorpo- ed, and as it stands to-day, is eighty-two rate the same into a town by the name of feet in length, forty-two in width, and Williamstown." four stories high. It was a notable structure for the place and the time, and compares favorably with many buildings of more pretentious character and more recent date. It is, indeed, a marvel that an edifice so solid and imposing in appearance as it is to-day should have been erected nearly a century ago, and in what was almost literally a wilderness. is the building now known as West College. The site overlooks the town and a large portion of the adjacent country, the range of vision being limited only by the lofty hills or mountains which lift themselves on every side. The will is dated July 22, 1755. Williams fell on the 8th of September following. The history of Colonel Williams's bequest is interesting as showing what fruit may come from a small seed, and the changed condition of things and of our ideas and estimates since the time that his will was made. The amount of property left by Williams would seem to any one now ridiculously small for the purpose of establishing a school of any sort. Even at the time the bequest was made, it was so inadequate to its purpose that it was only after it had been converted into money and carefully husbanded by the executors, by being allowed to increase at compound interest for thirty years, that they felt warranted in attempting to put the contemplated school in actual operation. At length, in the year 1785, they ventured to apply to the Legislature for an act enabling them to fulfill the intention of the testator. Thereupon an act was passed incorporating Theodore Sedgwick and eight other persons of the highest distinction in Western Massachusetts "trustees of the donation of Ephraim Williams for maintaining a free school in Williamstown." The trustees, almost all of whom were graduates of Yale College, held their first meeting soon after the act of incorporation was passed. They found the property intrusted to them so insufficient for the purpose for which it was designed that they at once appointed three of their number a committee to procure additional funds. At the same time they voted that the school should be open and free not only to the people of Williamstown, but to "the free citizens of the American States indiscriminately." That they were undertaking to establish something more than an ordinary free school is shown also by a vote, passed at an early stage of their proceedings, that the building for the school should be constructed of bricks, This It is another indication of the scarcity of money then, as well as of a change in moral apprehension, that the trustees felt obliged to resort to the help of a lottery in order to secure the funds needful for the erection of their contemplated building. The Legislature, on their application, gave them a grant for a lottery, and the result was an addition of £1037 18s. 2d. to their resources. With this, and a subscription of $2000 by the residents of Williamstown, they were at length enabled to erect their building. The school was opened October 20, 1791, with the Rev. Ebenezer Fitch, a graduate of Yale College, as preceptor, and Mr. John Lester as assistant. There were two departments-a grammar school, or academy, and an English free school. In the first, the usual college studies of that day were taught; in the second, instruction in the common English studies was given to a company of boys from the higher classes in the common schools of the town. The school was popular and successful from the beginning. There was no institution so attractive to those ambitious of learning nearer than the colleges at Hanover and New Haven. Young men came to it from the neighboring States, and even from Canada. The popularity of the school was such, indeed, as to lead the trustees to petition the Legislature, the next year after its opening, to erect it into a college. This the Legislature did in 1793, and at the same time made a |