This Date in Native History: On February 20, 1725, a group of 88 scalp hunters led by John Lovewell attacked a band of Abenaki Indians living in a wigwam near Wakefield, New Hampshire.
Motivated by state-sponsored programs that offered rangers payments for Indian scalps, the men tracked the Abenaki for 11 days then opened fire near midnight on February 20. Lovewell’s posse killed and scalped 10 men and received a bounty of 100 British pounds per scalp.
Part of Father Rale’s War—or the war between the Abenaki and the New Englanders—this incident marks one of the most celebrated times colonists scalped Indians in exchange for money.
