. The history of Springfield in Massachusetts, for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden. ng that manyof them deserted and made their homes in the United States. In the army that surrendered at Saratoga was a largebody of Hessians, with their general. All these were orderedsent as prisoners of war to Boston. As there would not beenough to feed them if all went by the same route, three de-tachments were formed and one of these was sent over themountains into and down the valley of the Westfield or Aga-wam river, by way of Springfield.
. The history of Springfield in Massachusetts, for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden. ng that manyof them deserted and made their homes in the United States. In the army that surrendered at Saratoga was a largebody of Hessians, with their general. All these were orderedsent as prisoners of war to Boston. As there would not beenough to feed them if all went by the same route, three de-tachments were formed and one of these was sent over themountains into and down the valley of the Westfield or Aga-wam river, by way of Springfield. It was at the close ofa wet day in October when this large body of retired soldiersemerged from between the ridges of hills that divide Westfield 100 HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD from West Springfield and encamped on tlie West Springfieldcommon. More comfortable quarters, however, were foundby many at the farmsteads. In a large farmhouse in Paucatuck lived a little boy, Sethby name, whose father had but recently, gun on shoulder,come back from the scene of the surrender. He was intenselyinterested in stories of Ticonderoga and the doings about there. Revolutionary Officers in a Farmhouse at Paucatuck, West Springfield. and one can imagine his excitement when a party of fifteenor sixteen officers from the two armies arrived at his fathershouse with the purpose of spending the night. The officersmade themselves comfortable in the house and hung theirswords and trappings above the blazing hearth-fire to the end of his life the boy remembered the glistening THE REVOLUTION 101 steel and brass of the swords and scabbards as they flashedin the firehght. As for the common soldiers they staid outin the sheds at the cost of a good pile of cider apples that werewaiting for the press. In the morning camp was struck onthe Common, the farmhouses emptied of their visitors andthe whole host crossed the river to Springfield, whence theyproceeded towards Brookfield. But not all went. An English
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