On September 8, 1755, soldiers of Col. Ephraim Williams's detachment and their Mohawk allies were ambushed by French forces approximately 2 miles south on the Old Military Road during this engagement. Among those killed was Lieutenant Daniel Pomeroy, brother of Lt. Colonel Seth Pomeroy, who later wrote of his brother as one of the brave men who fell in that memorable battle. In 1660, Medad Pomeroy accepted tools, an anvil shaped like this replica, and land in exchange for opening a blacksmith shop in Northampton, Massachusetts. That anvil passed through many generations of Pomeroy blacksmiths and became a symbol of the family.