Pocomtuc Indians, Deerfield Indians. A tribe formerly living on Deerfield and Connecticut rivers, in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Their principal village, of the same name, was near the present Deerfield, and they were frequently known as Deerfield Indians. They had a fort on Fort Dill in the same vicinity, which was destroyed by the Mohawk after a hard battle in 1666.
They were an important tribe, and seem to have ruled overall the other Indians of the Connecticut Valley within the limits of Massachusetts, including those at Agawam, Nonotue, and Squawkeag. They combined with the Narraganset and Tunxis in the attacks on Uncas, the Mohegan chief. All these joined the hostile Indians under King Philip in 1675, and at the close of the war in the following year fled to Scaticook, on the Hudson, where some of them remained until about 1754, when they joined the Indians in the French interest at St Francis, Quebec.
