The Capture of Isabella McCoy
Near Manchester, New Hampshire
In seventeen forty seven, near this spot in Epsom, Isabella McCoy was seized by a small party of Abenaki raiders during the wars between New England and New France. Her husband Charles was away serving in the New Hampshire militia. As the warriors took hold of her, Isabella shoved one of their guns aside and waved her family toward the woods, reportedly guessing the guns were not loaded.
Her son and others escaped to the garrison while she was marched north toward Quebec. By her own account she was treated well on the journey, then sold as a servant to a French Canadian family. When the long border war finally ended, she was given the choice to come home, and she returned to Epsom.
The Center Historic Club erected this stone in nineteen oh four to mark the place.
