The Carter Family

   Nathaniel Carter came from Killingworth and bought the Jones homestead of Barzillai Dudley, in Dudley Town. In March, 1763, he sold his place and removed to the Forks of the Delaware, now Binghamton. The following narrative of their sufferings from the Indians was from the lips of Mrs. Elizabeth Oviatt of Goshen, one of his daughters, an eye-witness of the scenes described at the age of nine years, given a few weeks before her death - past eighty years - at Goshen, in 1832.

   Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, in company with two other families, removed in the spring of the year 1763 from Cornwall to a place then called the Forks of the Delaware, now Binghamton, N. Y. They advanced about twenty miles beyond any other white settlement, cleared a small spot near the bank of the river, and erected a building of logs, in which the three families resided. Mr. and Mrs. Carter had four children-Sarah, the eldest, was eleven, Elizabeth, the second daughter, was nine, a son of seven years, and an infant. There were also several children belonging to the other families. Here those parents, with their children, passed a few months in apparent security. They were engaged in various employments to improve the safety and comfort of their new residence.

   The heavy, tall trees immediately in front of their dwelling they had in part cleared away, and some corn and other articles required for their families were cultivated. While some were laboring, others carried the muskets and ammunition, acting as sentinels, that they might seasonably be apprised of any approaching danger. Every day seemed more promising of future happiness and security, and added something to their little stock of comforts. The wild scenery had begun to grow familiar to their view, and an agreeable interest had associated itself with the principal objects which were embraced by the little horizon formed by the tall and unbroken forest, which stretched away to an almost interminable distance around them.

   One day in October, when the inmates of this little settlement were occupied in their usual pursuits, two of the men having gone a short distance into the woods to labor, and the other, whose business it was to act as sentinel, had also gone a few rods out of sight from the house to examine some traps; the Indians, who had been secretly watching their prey, uttered their savage shout, and rushed upon these defenseless women and children. At this moment Elizabeth was a few yards from the door in company with her mother; in an instant she saw her mother weltering in blood upon the ground beside her, a savage having nearly divided her head with a tomahawk. The Indians, twelve in number, then rushed into the house, where were the elder females, one of whom was confined to her bed with illness; a daughter of the same woman, aged sixteen, who was ill, an infant child of Mrs. Carter, and five other children. One of the Indians seized the infant and threw it with such violence against the logs of the house that it was instantly killed. The two sick females were also put to death with the tomahawk. The man who had gone to, examine the traps, hearing the shrieks of the sufferers, hastened to their defense, but had only time to discharge his gun once, before he received a death-blow from the hands of the assailants.

   The Indians, having selected such of their captives as they supposed could best endure the hardships of savage life, taken the scalps from those they had killed, and also having collected the clothing and utensils which they thought would best serve their convenience, set fire to the house, and then hurried off to their encampment, a short distance from thence on the river.

   The captives were the three surviving children of Mr. Carter, Mrs. Duncan, and two children belonging to the other family. At the encampment they found about two hundred Indians, principally warriors. Several large fires were burning, around which the Indians began to regale themselves with roasted corn and other refreshments which had been brought from the white settlement. After having indulged themselves in exultations at their recent success, and night approached, they secured their captives with cords, and stretched themselves on the ground around the fires. Sarah, the eldest daughter of Mr. Carter, appeared perfectly distracted by the circumstances of her situation. She continued crying and calling for her father to come and rescue her.

    The Indians appeared several times almost determined to silence her screams with the tomahawk. At length, when they had become buried in sleep, Sarah obtained a small brand and burned the cord in two with which she was bound, and being thus at liberty, made her way back to the smoking ruins of her recent home, where she gave way to the most violent lamentations. Though her cries were distinctly heard in the encampment, she was not pursued until morning, when she was retaken.

    The next day the Indians commenced their journey through the woods, carrying on horseback their captives. After pursuing their route three days in a westerly direction, they halted and sent back a war party of twenty Indians. After five or six days the party returned with several scalps; those of Mr. Carter and his companion, Mr. Duncan, were of the number.

   These unfortunate men, after seeing the desolation which the Indians had made, hastened to the nearest white settlement to obtain some assistance from thence, and they returned precisely in time to fall a prey to the aforementioned party; five of the twelve only being able to escape. The Indians then recommenced their march through the woods to the residence of their nation. As nearly as Elizabeth could recollect, they traveled several days diligently in a northwesterly direction, and at length arrived in their nation, Here, in dark and filthy huts, hung round with the scalps of their parents and friends, separated from each other, did these captives spend the long and tedious months of winter, in a state of almost perfect starvation. The Indians would never go abroad to obtain new supplies of food so long as one morsel remained; and then sometimes return with little success. Being extremely indolent in their habits, they would only yield to the labor of hunting from the most imperious necessity.

   When spring returned they deserted their winter quarters and journeyed toward the Lakes, and after several weeks they arrived in the vicinity of Fort Niagara; and here, to the great joy of Elizabeth, she and her sister Sarah were ransomed. Being conducted under the escort of English troops, they at length reached their friends in Cornwall in safety. Most of the other captives were ransomed at a subsequent period. But young Carter, the brother of Elizabeth, never returned. Having imbibed the habits of the Indians, he married one of their daughters, by whom he had several children, and finally died in the Cherokee nation, at the age of about seventy.

   One of the sons of this Carter by the Indian marriage attended for a time the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, during which period he visited the Oviatt family, then in Goshen. Although Sarah lived to old age, her mind never recovered from the shock it had received. She became incapable of providing for her own wants. She was never married. But Elizabeth's mind received no permanent injury. Possessing naturally a high degree of equanimity of temper, and being early made acquainted with the consoling and purifying truths of the Gospel, she passed the remainder of her life in much prosperity and happiness. She married Mr. Benjamin Oviatt, of Goshen, Conn., from which union proceeded numerous and highly respectable descendants. After reaching the seventy-ninth year of her age., she closed her long life-which was in childhood so darkly overshadowed-peaceful, resigned, and happy, leaving behind her not only the memory of her early sufferings, but the rich legacy of her exemplary virtues and Christian character.