The Battle of Turner's Falls or Battle of Grand Falls; also known as the Peskeompscut-Wissantinnewag Massacre, was a battle and massacre occurring on May 19, 1676, in the context of King Philip's War in what is present-day Gill and Greenfield, across from Turners Falls on the Connecticut River. The incident marked a turning point in the war, and in the colonization of Algonquian lands by New England settlers. The war led to the expulsion of most Native Americans from the Connecticut River Valley.
A largely untrained, inexperienced militia force of 150-160 engaged in an initial massacre early in the morning around dawn, taking advantage of the native practice of the warriors sleeping in a separate camp during wartime about half a mile away, and began looting of the Peskeompskut camp, killing between 100 and 200 people, mostly women and children. Conducting a fighting withdrawal after the counterattack through ambushes set by the Algonquian tribe's outnumbered warriors, resulting in the deaths of 38 militiamen (including the commander, William Turner) and the wounding of an unknown number. The massacre has been described as genocide. The site of the incident has in recent years been memorialized by the NRHP's establishment as the Riverside Archeological District at the approximate site of the battle.
Wissantinnewag-Peskeompskut was an established annual fishing encampment along the Connecticut River, where some land had been cleared of dense woods for spring planting and other land leveled to accommodate wetus (domed huts used by Algonquins) on around 300 acres of choice land. At least twice yearly, for thousands of years, people came to Peskeompskut to fish, plant, and harvest food for the year. The Spring of 1676 found this ancestral fishing and planting place more busy than was usual, as King Philip's War had displaced many from the south and access to food in other areas controlled by the Nipmuc had been destroyed in the conflict. By mid-May 1676, warriors and families of Nipmuc, Narragansett, Wampanoag and Pocumtuc warriors gathered for the fishing runs. As King Philip's War was ongoing, this year three camps were established. One camp was downriver from the main camp and closer to the conflict areas on what is now "Smead Island": most of the warriors stayed in that camp. The main camp had women, children, elderly and those focused on farming & fishing. Another camp was across the river from that camp.
By mid-May, 1676, peace talks between the Colony of Connecticut and the Narragansett were in the early stages, with some prisoner releases being made to establish good faith. Some of these releases included those who had been taken captive during an earlier raid on Hatfield. The Connecticut War Council directed the northernmost settlers in Hatfield, Hadley and Northampton to take no aggressive action and also recalled the army under Major Savage. They also recalled a large part of Captain William Turner's company, leaving him with "a company of single men, boys and servants". While the presence of those troops during the winter had caused shortages, the reduction of military support caused concern amongst the settlers. This concern was amplified by the large and growing encampment of Nipmuc and others around the falls.
European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.
This page covers Battle of Turner's Falls (Peskeompscut). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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