6. Hannah’s legend began one bloody spring night in 1697
How many Indians comprised the “family” (they were likely Pennacook Indians, under the protection of the Abenaki) that Hannah and Mary were staying with is unknown, as were their composition in terms of the number of men and women at the encampment. One night in the spring of 1697 (the date is disputed, Hannah had no calendar nor almanac with which to record it), the Englishwoman rose, armed herself with a tomahawk provided by young Leonardson, and killed all but one of the Indians. The count of the dead victims was established by the number of scalps she collected, ten of which were presented for the bounty due to the governor of Massachusetts. They were worth five pounds apiece, a healthy sum (for the scalper at least) in 1697. An equivalent amount in 2019 would be about $10,000.
Not all of the Abenaki were victims of Hannah’s rage. At least one elderly woman escaped, fleeing via the nearby river, and a small boy of indeterminate age escaped by fleeing into the darkened woods. Knowing that the boy would sound the alarm and generate reprisal, yet also knowing that she had no way of finding him in the dense woods, Hannah and the other English captives opted to flee, using the canoes of the dead Indians, back to the civilization represented by Haverhill and the other English settlements. The stream they followed was the Merrimack River, heavily traveled by the Abenaki and their allies, and they chose to travel only at night, hiding during the daylight hours along the shoreline.