What Really Happened at Turners Falls? The Story of a Massacre

In western Massachusetts, there is a monument to a certain Captain William Turner. It sums up an old and perhaps familiar telling of history. There's a colonial hero, later slain in battle. Small but mighty colonial forces have overcome the odds. Apparently passive "Indians" were taken by surprise. Nameless Native people were "destroyed."

How accurate is this picture of history? Not very, according to this unique panel discussion led by David Brule of the Nolumbeka Project, with archaeologist David Naumec and Liz ColdWind Santana Kiser, tribal historic preservation officer of the Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuck Indians. All three panelists were at the heart of a 13-year, National Park Service-funded battlefield investigation, combining historical research with archeology. Their conclusion: this conflict, taking place 350 years ago this May, was a massacre . Co-sponsored by the Nolumbeka Project