The Angel of Hadley A Legend of King Philip's War and the Strange History Behind It

On September 1, 1675, Indians attacked the small frontier settlement of Hadley, Massachusetts. King Philip¿s War had broken out a few weeks earlier, and the townspeople¿men, women, and children¿were assembled in the meeting house for a day of fasting and prayer. At the first sounds of attack¿war whoops, musket fire, and shouts from the sentries posted outside¿the people panicked. Soon the Indians would be upon them. Although the settlers were armed, they felt helpless, not knowing how best to defend themselves. Suddenly a stranger appeared in their midst. Of obvious military bearing, he quickly took command and organized the men into groups, some to defend the women and children, others to sally forth in a counter offensive. Leading the assault, he took the attackers by surprise and drove them off, and the town was saved. As quickly as he had appeared, the stranger vanished. Who was he? The townspeople, knowing that they owed to him their lives, believed that he was an emissary sent by God. And so was born the Legend of the Angel of Hadley. In reality the mysterious stranger was none other than William Goffe, the regicide¿one of the judges who condemned King Charles I to death in 1649. A hero of the English Civil Wars, and once one of the most powerful and respected men in all of England, for the past fifteen years he had been the object of the greatest manhunt in history.