On the morning of February 10th, 1500 Indians are said to have attacked the town in five different places at once. The Rowlandson garrison came under strong attack and was the only garrison overrun. Mary Rowlandson, wife of the minister, was taken prisoner and some weeks later ransomed back to her family. She wrote a fascinating account of this period in The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. In it she writes, "Quickly it was the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw." After some hours and several attempts, the garrison was finally set on fire. Forty-two people were in the building. Many were shot or tomahawked as they tried to escape the flames. Those women and children who got out alive were herded off into the woods to be later sold for ransom if they did not die from their wounds or were killed for traveling too slowly (see below). Very early in the attack a house was overrun by the Indians before the inhabitants could escape to the garrison. "There were five persons taken in one house. The father and the mother and a sucking child they knocked on the head; the other two they took and carried away alive." This was the family of a tailor named John Ball.[2/3,65] John Ball's estate was administered by his son John of Watertown 1 Feb. 1677-8.[4] The Ball homestead and the Rowlandson garrison were in the south part of Lancaster.[6/105] John's lands were never described in the town's Book of Lands although he was one of the first inhabitants. His lands were sold in 1682 to Thomas Harris.[6/288](per Michael Roman's website) Does the book contain any BALL information? Thanks, Cherryl