From Wikipedia: Littleton (historically Nipmuc: Nashoba) is a town in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Littleton was the
site of the sixth Praying Indian village established by John Eliot in
1645 consisting of mainly Native Americans of the Nipmuc and
Pennacook tribes. It was called Nashoba Plantation, on the land
between Lake Nagog and Fort Pond. The term "Praying Indian"
referred to Native Americans who had been converted to Christianity.
Daniel Gookin, in his Historical Collections of the Indians in New
England, (1674) chapter vii. Says: “Nashobah is the sixth praying
Indian town. This village is situated, in a manner, in the centre,
between Chelmsford, Lancaster, Groton and Concord. It lieth from
Boston about twenty-five miles west north west. The inhabitants are
about ten families, and consequently about fifty souls.” At the
time of King Philip's War between the English and Native Americans,
the General Court ordered the Indians at Nashoba to be interned in
Concord. A short while later, some Concord residents who were hostile
to the Nashoba solicited some militia to remove them to Deer Island.
Around this time, fourteen armed men of Chelmsford went to the
outlying camp at Wameset (near Forge Pond) and opened fire on the
unsuspecting Nashoba, wounding five women and children, and killing
outright a boy twelve years old, the only son of John Tahattawan. For
much of the war, the English colonists rounded up the Praying Indians
and sent them to Deer Island. When increasing numbers of
Massachusetts Bay officers began successfully using Praying Indians
as scouts in the war, the sentiment of the white settlers turned. In
May, 1676, the Massachusetts General Court ordered that Praying
Indians be removed from Deer Island. Still, many died of starvation
and disease. Upon their release, most survivors moved to Natick and
sold their land to white settlers. The town was settled by
Anglo-European settlers in 1686 and was officially incorporated by
act of the Massachusetts General Court on November 2, 1715. It was
part of the Puritan and later Congregational culture and religion of
New England.
