The Indians claimed that they had been cheated by the whites, and robbed and driven from their soil and the graves of their fathers. Revenge smothered in their breasts, and at a council held by the remnants of several of the tribes, it was resolved to destroy all the whites in the Delaware and Neversink Valleys.
The whites did not see the danger that was impending over them, or the dark cloud that would soon deluge the Valley with blood and cause mourning in every house.
Most of the inhabitants thought the Indians friendly, and those that were unfriendly too few to make war on the whites.
For this reason they became careless, and went to their fields and on journeys unarmed, and thus became easy victims of the savages.
Thomas Quick, Sr., was now living on his farm at Milford, and had always been a staunch friend of the Indians. His house had always been open for their reception and his table bountifully spread to satisfy their wants.
His son, Tom spent most of his time among them and appeared to think more of them and their savage life than he did of his father and the comforts of home.
He thought that this would protect him, and that if war was made upon the whites, he would not be molested.
But he was deceived. Instead of being passed by, he was doomed to be the first victim. His sentence had already been passed, and the wily Indians were waiting in ambush for an opportunity to execute it.
Having occasion to use some hoop-poles, he, with his son Tom and his son-in-law, went up the river to cut them unarmed.