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In the tradition of the\xa0New York Times\xa0bestseller\xa0Empire of the Summer Moon\xa0comes a spellbinding account of a forgotten chapter in American history: the deadly confrontation between Native Americans and colonists in Massachusetts in 1704 and the tragic saga that unfolded, written by acclaimed historian\xa0James\xa0Swanson.

Once it was one of the most famous events in early American history. Today, it has been nearly forgotten.

In an obscure, two-hundred-year-old museum in a little village in western Massachusetts, there lies what once was the most revered but now totally forgotten relic from the history of early New England\u2014the massive, tomahawk-scarred door that came to symbolize the notorious Deerfield Massacre. This impregnable barricade\u2014known to early Americans as \u201cThe Old Indian Door\u201d\u2014constructed from double-thick planks of Massachusetts oak and studded with hand-wrought iron nails to repel the flailing tomahawk blades of several attacking native tribes, is the sole surviving artifact from the most dramatic moment in colonial American history: Leap Year, February 29, 1704, a cold, snowy night when hundreds of native Americans and their French allies swept down upon an isolated frontier outpost and ruthlessly slaughtered its inhabitants.

The sacking of Deerfield led to one of the greatest sagas of adventure, survival, sacrifice, family, honor, and faith ever told in North America. 112 survivors, including their fearless minister, the Reverand John Williams, were captured and led on a 300-mile forced march north, into enemy territory in Canada. Any captive who faltered or became too weak to continue the journey\u2014including Williams\u2019s own wife and one of his children\u2014fell under the knife or tomahawk.

Survivors of the march willed themselves to live and endured captivity. Ransomed by the King of England\u2019s royal governor of Massachusetts, the captives later returned home to Deerfield, rebuilt their town and, for the rest of their lives, told the incredible tale. The memoir of Rev. Williams,\xa0The Redeemed Captive, became the first bestselling book in American history and published a few years after his liberation, it remains a literary classic. The old Indian door is a touchstone that conjures up one of the most dramatic and inspiring stories of colonial America\u2014and now, finally, this legendary event is brought to vivid life by popular historian\xa0James\xa0Swanson.

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