In August 1676, three Nipmuc women and three children walked up a hill in what is now Lincoln, Massachusetts. They carried an official colonial permission pass. A patrol of English soldiers found them, verified the pass, shared bread and cheese with them, and moved on. Four soldiers turned their horses around. They rode back to the hill. They knew who the women were — wives of men actively fighting for the English army. They read the pass. Then they killed all six people on that hillside, stripped the coats from the bodies, and rode home. Click here for a nine-minute video describing the incident and what followed that was posted on August 3, 2026 by New England Untold.

The colony of Massachusetts Bay tried all four men for the murders. Convicted them. Sentenced them to death. And then — in the only case of its kind in the entire war — the courts let two of them walk away. Church connections. Social standing. Same crime. Same verdict. Two outcomes decided entirely by who had the right patrons.

This is the story of the Hurtleberry Hill Massacre, the Praying Town system that produced it, the Deer Island internment that preceded it, and the one selective prosecution that reveals what colonial justice was actually for.The hill is still there. It’s called Mount Misery now.

It’s 227 acres of public conservation land in Lincoln, Massachusetts with seven miles of trails and blueberry bushes that may be descended from the same plants those women were gathering from when four soldiers turned around. There is no marker. There has been no marker for nearly 350 years.