In February 1704, some 250 French and Abenaki trekked past Lake Champlain and down the Connecticut River Valley to raid the frontier town of Deerfield Massachusetts. Just before dawn on 29 February, they attacked killing 50 and taking some 100 hostages on the long walk back to Canada. A good number never finished this journey. Those that did were taken in by French or Indian families and eventually offered for ransom or redemption. Not everyone who was given the chance to return took the offer. John Demos chronicles the life of one of these women, one Eunice Williams, in his book The Unredeemed Captive. Another woman whose family name was Stebbins was another who chose not to be redeemed. Eventually, some of her descendants having become for all practical purposes French Canadians, would migrate back to Massachusetts. One of these descendants is my oldest friend from my hometown.
The kit is Michael Roberts’ “The Scouts” sculpted by Alan Ball. The Indian’s head was replaced with the Indian head from the Toussait Charboneau figure from Der Bunte Rock. The guns were back dated by sanding off the cleaning kit covers. Since this depicts early mornig in winter, I used epoxy putty to give these guys moose hide mittens. The depth of the snow was increased with Celluclay then sprinkled with the “snow” that came with the kit. Where the Indian’s left hand is sliding on the rock, snow is being pushed off. This was represented with some Woodland Scenics “Water Effects” sprinkled with more “snow.”
