Mohawk Avenue
From Worcester Activist wiki
The war with the Indians officially ended when the head of King Philip was sliced from his body and stuck on a pole in Plymouth.
But 27 years later, the settlers still had their rude log garrisons in Worcester and the chilling cry “Injuns!” was still heard.
It was no longer the Nipmucks, Narragansetts, Podunks, Nashuas and Wampanoags. Most of these were dead, or had fled to Canada or the West.
It was the fierce Mohawks from the state of New York, who with the Oneidas, Onondaguas, Cayugas and Senecas made up the Five Nations of the great Iroquois Confederacy.
The warriors of the Five Nations dearly loved to tear scalps. The farther away the better. They penetrated as far as the Penobscot River in Maine and south to Connecticut. They had been doing it for years.
Many of the Massachusetts tribes fought against each other. But all lived in dread of the visiting raiders.
The Mohawks got all the blame – one of the penalties for establishing a reputation as man eaters.
The route the war parties followed over the Berkshires is now the Mohawk Trail.
When they reached enemy country – and in this section that meant anyone with hair – they broke up into small raiding groups.
On Aug. 23, 1696, the redskin commandos attacked the cabin of Goodman Levenz of Oxford, killing him and his three children. A Mr. Johnson walking innocently along to the place was shot on a trail.
These Mohawks, during the American Revolution, were staunch allies of the British. Their bitter, skillful guerilla warfare against the American colonists unquestionably cost hundreds of lives and prolonged the war.
Mohawk avenue, running from Clover street south to the Auburn line, honors their memory; first appeared in 1891.
It’s another one of those things…
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
