Site of 1780 Raid

On the Tunbridge hilltop, across the meadow, three hundred Indians, led by the British in the waning years of the Revolutionary War, laid in wait the night of Oct. 15, 1780. As dawn approached on the 16th, they began their pillaging, reducing homes to ashes, capturing and killing unsuspecting settlers. Near this site in the Royalton meadow by the river, young Thomas Pember lost his life. On the hill, northeast of here, Peter Button met the same fate. When the raiders had finished marauding the White River valley, they had captured 32 and killed 4. The captives were marched to Canada either to be sold or imprisoned. In the years that followed, many of the captives returned to their families via escape or ransom.