(lass r 3 y 
 
 Hook- v , . ~ 
 
6& 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HISTORYOF NEW-HAMPSHIRE, 
 
 FROM ITS SETTLEMENT IN 
 1623, to 1833 : 
 
 COMPRISING NOTICES OF THE MEMORABLE EVENTS AND 
 
 INTERESTING INCIDENTS OF A PERIOD OF 
 
 Ttt'O HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS. 
 
 BY JOHN M. WHITON. 
 
 CONCORD: 
 
 MARSH, CAPEN AND LYON. 
 
 1834. 
 
Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1834, 
 
 By John M. Whiton, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New-Hampshire 
 
 CONCORD, 
 
 Eastman, Webster k Co., 
 Printers. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This book is but an outline, intended chiefly for those who 
 lack time or inclination to encounter a large work. Valuable 
 as is the History of Belknap, its size and cost exclude from the 
 number of its readers a large proportion of the citizens of 
 New-Hampshire. Our State History is not to any great ex- 
 t in the popular mind. To exhibit its memorable events 
 i interesting incidents in a condensed form, fitted to produce 
 a salutary moral impression, is the object of the author. How 
 far he may have succeeded, must be left to the decision of the 
 public. From all quarters he has borrowed whatever suited 
 his purpose. In relation to the earlier periods of our History he 
 is indebted to Belknap for a large proportion of the materials : 
 though many facts of interest derived from other sources, wil' 
 be found interwoven with the narration. He acknowledges his 
 obligations to the Historical Collections of Messrs. Farmer and 
 Moore ; the Collections of the N. H. Historical Society ; and 
 the valuable Notes appended by Mr. Farmer to his edition of 
 Belknap. He has derived important materials from the Ga- 
 zetteer of Farmer and Moore, the Travels of Dwight, and the 
 Annals of Portsmouth by Adams. Some facts have been 
 gleaned from the Histories of AVinthrop, Mather, Hutchinson? 
 Trumbull, Williams, Sullivan, and Hoyt ; from the Annals of 
 Holmes ; from the American Biography of Belknap, and the 
 Biographical Dictionaries of Allen and Eliot ; from Thatcher's 
 Lives of the Indians ; from the Ecclesiastical Sketches of 
 Greenleaf; from Bouton's History of Education in New- 
 Hampshire ; from a variety of Pamphlets ; from Newspapers ; 
 from Manuscripts, and Records in the office of the Secretary 
 
IV 
 
 of the State ; and from the oral communications of aged and 
 intelligent persons. 
 
 For some, important hints and corrections the author is in- 
 debted to the kindness of John Farmer, Esq., Corresponding 
 Secretary of the N. H. Historical Society. This gentleman 
 authorizes the statement, that the design some time ago en- 
 tertained by him of preparing for the press an Abridgement 
 of Belknap, has been relinquished. 
 
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 To fix in the mind of the reader, by an arrangement designed 
 to aid the memory, the principal Epochs of our History, it will 
 be divided into Periods, according to the following 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PERIOD I. — Extending from the first settlement of the State in 
 1623, to the voluntary union of the inhabitants with Massa- 
 chusetts in 1641. 
 
 PERIOD II. — From the union with Massachusetts in 1641, to 
 the separation and erection of New- Hampshire into a distinct 
 Royal Province in 1679 ; including the events of the first In- 
 dian war, called Phillip's war. 
 
 PERIOD III. — From the erection of New-Hampshire into a 
 Royal Province in 1679, to the close of King William's war 
 in 1698. 
 
 PERIOD IV.— From the peace of 1698, to the close of Queen 
 Ann's war in 1713. 
 
 PERIOD V. — From the peace of 1713, to the establishment of 
 the Provincial lines and the appointment of a separate Gover- 
 nor for New-Hampshire in 1741 ; including the events of tlie 
 three years', or LovewelVs war. 
 
 PERIOD VI.— From the appointment of a separate Governor 
 for Neiv- Hampshire in 1741, to the end of the second French 
 ivar in 1763. 
 
 PERIOD VII.— From the peace of 1763, to the commencement 
 of the Revolutionary war in 1775. 
 
PERIOD VIII. — From the commencement of the Revolutionary 
 contest in 1775, to the establishment of the present Constitution 
 of Neic- Hampshire in 1784. 
 
 PERIOD IX. — From the establishment of the present State 
 Constitution in 1784, to the commencement of Gov. Langdori's 
 Administration in 1805. 
 
 PERIOD X. — From the commencement of Gov. Langdon's Ad- 
 ministration in 1805, to the year 1833. 
 
PERIOD I. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE STATE IN 1623, TO THE 
 VOLUNTARY UNION OF THE INHABITANTS WITH MASSACHU- 
 SETTS IN 1641. 
 
 The coast of New-Hampshire and the fine harbor of the 
 Pascataqua are commonly, but somewhat incorrectly said to 
 have been discovered in 1614 by the celebrated English navi- 
 gator, Captain John Smith. It is certain that the coast from 
 Cape Cod to Passamaquoddy had been frequently visited by 
 European vessels engaged in Indian traffic and the fisheries 
 for a preceding period of thirty years ; and highly probable 
 that some of the adventurers must have found the river Pas- 
 cataqua. Smith however explored the coast from Cape Cod 
 to Penobscot, and constructed the first map of it, which on his 
 return he presented to Prince Charles, afterwards the unfor- 
 tunate Charles I., who gave the country the name of New-Eng- 
 land. Eight years afterwards, Captain John Mason and Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges obtained from the Council of Plymouth 
 in England, who held a Charter from the British King of an 
 immense region in America, a grant of the lands lying between 
 the Merrimac and Kennebec rivers, and extending back to the 
 river and lakes of Canada. This tract was called Laconia, 
 and it included New Hampshire and all the western part of 
 Maine. They admitted several merchants of London and 
 other trading places to some sort of partnership in the concern, 
 and styled themselves The Company of Laconia. 
 
 This Company sent over in 1623 several persons to form a 
 settlement on the Pascataqua. They arrived in safety, well 
 supplied with provisions, tools of various kinds, and other ne- 
 cessaries. The precise time of their landing is not known : 
 from the name of " Strawberry Bank " which they applied to 
 the spot where the compact part of Portsmouth now stands, it 
 would seem that a profusion either of strawberry blossoms or 
 fruit welcomed their arrival, which must have been of course 
 sometime before midsummer. Of these Colonists, a part un- 
 
8 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1623. 
 
 der the conduct of David Thompson established themselves 
 on Odiorne's point at Little Harbor, two or three miles below 
 Portsmouth, where they erected a house called Mason's Hall, 
 and constructed works for the manufacture of salt. The oth- 
 er part, under the direction of Edward and William Hilton, 
 planted themselves at Dover Neck, to which they gave the 
 name of Northam. For some years these establiskments were 
 merely fishing places and advanced but slowly, Dover being the 
 more important of the two. Fish were taken in abundance ; 
 and salt being indispensable to their preservation, the people 
 at Little Harbor prosecuted the manufacture of it with dili- 
 gence and success. Their nearest neighbors on the south were 
 those at Plymouth ; on the east were a few scattered settlers at 
 Kittery, Saco, and one or two other points on the coast of 
 Maine. 
 
 From the surrounding Indians they obtained by barter some 
 furs and peltries. A considerable number of this aboriginal 
 race, amounting probably to 5000, then dwelt within the State. 
 A small tribe was planted in the vicinity of Exeter ; another 
 under a chief named Rowls, near Dover ; and a third, the 
 Pascataquas, on the banks of the river of that name. The 
 Ossipees roamed around the Winnepiseogee and Ossipee lakes, 
 and the Pequawkets on the upper branches of the Saco river. 
 The large tribe of the Penacooks occupied the lands on the 
 Merrimac, making Concord and Amoskeag their chief places 
 of resort. Passaconaway, famous in the early annals of New- 
 England, was their Sachem. This man pretended to be a 
 Sorcerer and made his credulous subjects believe that he could 
 produce a green leaf from the ashes of a diy one, a living ser- 
 pent from the skin of a dead one, and could make water burn 
 and trees dance ! He probably excelled in the arts of leger- 
 demain and became one of the most noted Powahs or Conju- 
 rors among the tribes of New-Hampshire. No Indian resident 
 of this region ever acquired so great a celebrity among both 
 red men and white. He extended his dominion not only 
 over the Indians in the central and eastern parts of this State, 
 but over some small bands in the northeastern part of Massa- 
 chusetts, and his authority was acknowledged from the mouth 
 of the Merrimac to a point considerably above Concord, and 
 also on the different branches of the Pascataqua. The tribes 
 within these limits formed a confederacy distinguished by the 
 general name of Pawtuckets, of which the Penacooks were 
 the most important member, and Passaconaway the Supreme 
 Head. He was advanced far in years when the English first 
 settled here, lived at least forty years after that event, and was 
 
1629.] period i.— 1623— 1641. 9 
 
 said to have died at the great age of an hundred and twenty — 
 a statement which has justly been pronounced to have " an air 
 of exaggeration." On the Connecticut river were some small 
 tribes whose names, with the exception of the Coos Indians* 
 whose hunting grounds extended over large portions of the 
 Counties of Grafton and Coos, are now unknown. These 
 tribes for half a century exhibited in general a peaceful dispo- 
 sition, and treated even with friendship the little band of En- 
 glish immigrants whom they might easily have exterminated. 
 They have disappeared from the earth and most of their me- 
 morials have perished forever ! The occasional exhumation 
 of their bones, and the frequent discovery of arrow-heads, 
 stone pestles and hatchets turned up by the plow, are all that 
 remind the present inhabitants of their ill-fated predecessors! 
 Scarce an Indian now remains in the State. 
 
 It might be expected that a Colony so feeble as was that on 
 the Pascataqua, would furnish during its first years few events 
 of interest — and such is the fact. As is usual in such cases, 
 the adventurers had their hands full in preserving in any tol- 
 erable comfort their own existence. Some events of the date 
 of 1628 awakened apprehensions,which however proved to be 
 premature, of Indian hostilities. One Morton, an unprincipled 
 man, had formed an establishment at Weymouth in Massa- 
 chusetts, where he harbored runaway servants and sold guns 
 and powder to the Indians, many of whom were met in the 
 woods armed. Apprehensive of the consequences, the people 
 on the Pascataqua joined with others in requesting the Plym- 
 outh Colony to break up Morton's establishment: which was 
 effected by an armed force under the gallant Capt. Standish, 
 who made Morton a prisoner and sent him to England for 
 trial. 
 
 The year 1629 is the date of a deed signed by four Indian 
 Sagamores or Chiefs, conveying to the Rev. John Wheelwright 
 and others a large tract of land between the Merrimac and 
 Pascataqua rivers, extending back into the country as far as to 
 the present town of Amherst. The consideration was a few 
 coats, shirts, and kettles. Recent investigation has resulted in 
 the discovery that this deed is not genuine, and that Wheelwright 
 never made a purchase from the Indians till 1638. The mo- 
 tive of the forgery, it would seem, must have been to throw 
 some obstruction in the way of Mason's claim. 
 
 There is evidence that the founders of New-Hampshire 
 purchased their lands of the aboriginal possessors, on terms 
 satisfactory to the latter. It is not uncommon of late to charge 
 our forefathers with cheating the Indians in these purchases ; 
 
10 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1631. 
 
 but a little reflection will in most cases acquit them. To the 
 Indian, who had a profusion of other lands, a few coats, axes, 
 or kettles were a capital object : and trifling as their value may 
 seem to us, were a greater benefit to him than he could possi- 
 bly derive from keeping the land. To the English purchaser, 
 the value of his acquisition was created chiefly by the labor 
 bestowed on it, and the price, under all circumstances, 
 as much as he could well afford. In relation to both par- 
 ties the transaction was fair and beneficial. An amusing 
 occurrence illustrative of the justness of these views, is re- 
 lated by Dr. Dwight. Among the early settlers of Springfield, 
 Ms. were a carpenter and a tailor. The latter had purchased 
 of an Indian for a trifle, 5000 acres of interval in West-Spring- 
 field. Wishing to purchase a wheelbarrow of the carpenter, 
 he offered him at his choice, the making of a suit of clothes, 
 or the tract of land. After some hesitation the carpenter took 
 the land. If the state of things was then such that an En- 
 glishman could sell 5000 acres of fine land for a wheelbarrow, 
 an Indian might well afford it for a shirt or a kettle. 
 
 Near the close of the year, Mason and Gorges by mutual 
 agreement divided Laconia into two parts. The tract on the 
 east of the Pascataqua was relinquished to Gorges, who called 
 it Maine ; while the part west of this river, and north of the 
 Merrimac extending back into the country 60 miles, was con- 
 firmed to Mason by a new patent, and called New-Hampshire, 
 after the County of Hampshire, in England, the place of his 
 residence. This new grant must of course have been sub- 
 ject to the subordinate rights and properties acquired by his 
 associates in the company of Laconia. For the security of 
 their interests, a part of these associates obtained a grant of 
 the township of Dover ; the remaining part of them, inclu- 
 ding Mason himself, procured not long after, a Charter of 
 Portsmouth. Thomas Wiggin was appointed Superintendent 
 of the plantation at Dover, and Walter Neal of that at Ports- 
 mouth. Neal's agency was commenced in 1631, and he had 
 under his direction several stewards, of whom the principal 
 were Ambrose Gibbons, George Vaughan, Thomas Warnerton, 
 Humphrey Chadbourne, and Edward Godfrey, who had the 
 oversight of the several departments of trade, fishery, salt- 
 making, building, and agriculture. These men each superin- 
 tended a number of hired servants, including several Danes 
 whom the proprietors had sent over to the Pascataqua. Prior 
 to this date the chief seat of business and population had been 
 at Little Harbor : now, they began to be removed to Straw- 
 berry Bank, or Portsmouth, where Chadbourne erected what 
 
1632.] period i.— 1623— 1641. 11 
 
 was called Tlie Great House. Neal however resided at Little 
 Harbor with Godfrey the manager of the fishery, who had un- 
 der his care quite a little fleet of shallops, fishing boats, and 
 skiffs. The Danes sawed lumber and made potash. Thepro^ 
 prietors sent over several cannon which were placed on Great 
 Island, in a position to command the main entrance into the 
 harbor. 
 
 Wiggin, the proprietary Agent at Dover, took possession of a 
 point of land in Newington, and began to make some improve- 
 ments. Viewing the measure as an encroachment on his planta- 
 tion, Neal, the agent at Portsmouth ordered him to desist. — 
 Wiggin refused with threats, on which the parties became exas- 
 perated and prepared to appeal to the sword. They would 
 doubtless have proceeded to extremities, had not some conside- 
 rate persons persuaded them to refer the dispute to their 
 employers in England. The place acquired the name of 
 Bloody Point, which it retains to this day. 
 
 The White Mountains, so prominent a feature in the scenery 
 of New-Hampshire, failed not to attract the attention of the 
 early settlers. To the whole group the Indians gave the name 
 of Agiocochook. The summits they regarded with superstitious 
 veneration as the abode of invisible beings, and never ascended 
 them, supposing that these spirits would resent the attempt as an 
 intrusion into their sacred precincts. They had a tradition that 
 when the land was once covered with a flood, one man and one 
 woman only found a refuge on the highest summit, by whose 
 posterity the country was afterwards repeopled. Capt. Neal, 
 who was by no means devoid of the passion for discovery, had 
 heard a glowing description of the interior region as containing 
 large lakes, goodly forests, fair valleys, and fertile plains. — 
 Something he had heard of the White Mountains. Stimulated 
 by the desire of exploring these regions and especially by the 
 hope of discovering precious metals, he visited the mountains 
 in 1632, and on his return published a romantic and exagger- 
 ated description of them under the name of the Crystal Hills. 
 The anticipated mines of silver and gold he did not find. 
 
 Not long afterwards he was Summoned to an expedition of 
 quite another sort. The coast of Maine was infested by a no- 
 ted pirate, Dixy Bull, who had taken and plundered several 
 fishing vessels and made himself the terror of those parts. — 
 Neal equipped four vessels manned by forty men from Dover 
 and Portsmouth, then distinguished as the upper and lower 
 plantations, and being joined by a party from Boston, sailed in 
 quest of the pirate : but bad weather and contrary winds com- 
 pelled them to return without meeting him. Justice however 
 
12 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1633. 
 
 overtook him at last, for on his arrival in England he was ar- 
 arested and executed. 
 
 Neal returned to England in 1633 after having presided over 
 the lower plantation about three years, leaving in the hands of 
 Gibbons and Warnerton the superintendence of its affairs. — 
 Wiggin returned from a visit to England not long after Neal's 
 departure, bringing with him several additional Colonists, a- 
 mong whom was the Rev. William Leveridge, who officiated 
 sometime as Minister of Dover and was the first preacher of 
 the gospel who came into New-Hampshire. A meeting-house, 
 the first one erected in the State, had been built at Dover Neck 
 the year before, and fortified in such a manner that in case of 
 an attack it might serve as a garrison. Mr. Leveridge was an 
 estimable character ; but his support proving inadequate he 
 was compelled soon to remove into Massachusetts, to the great 
 injury of the people he left behind. For several succeeding 
 years Dover was agitated by divisions occasioned by loose and 
 immoral Ministers, such as retire from well-principled societies 
 to places where their characters are but imperfectly known. — 
 The ill examples of these men, whose names are unworthy of 
 a place in history, had a lasting and baleful influence on the 
 religious interests of the infant plantation. 
 
 The support of the colony, including the wages, food, cloth- 
 ing, and other supplies of their agents and servants, was now 
 felt by the Proprietors in England to be a burden. Their out- 
 lays had been large ; they had received but small returns ; and 
 their fond expectation of the discovery of precious Metals had 
 been disappointed. Planted in this vast wilderness, their a- 
 gents and servants had as much as they could well do to take 
 care of themselves. They had indeed no reason to complain 
 that their employers withheld supplies ; but such was the dis- 
 tance of the sources whence they were drawn, that the occur- 
 rence of occasional scarcity could hardly be avoided. One of 
 the principal men with a family of ten persons had been re- 
 duced in one of the preceeding seasons to a single half bushel 
 of corn, and had but one piece of beef or pork for three months. 
 The people were dependent on*England and Virginia for bread- 
 stuffs which must be sent to the Windmill in Boston to be 
 ground, there being at that time no mill in the Colony. — 
 Most of the proprietors became discouraged and either re- 
 linquished or sold their interests here to Mason and Gorges. 
 The latter soon transferred his claims to the former, who be- 
 came almost sole proprietor of Portsmouth. Endued with 
 untiring perseverance and sanguine in his anticipations of profit, 
 he lost no time after Neal's return in sending over fresh sup- 
 
1635.] period i.— 1623— 1641. 13 
 
 plies of settlers and goods, and appointed Francis Williams, 
 a discreet and worthy man, Governor of that place. 
 
 While fondly anticipating" from these arrangements an im- 
 provement in the state of his affairs in the new world, Mason 
 was removed by death near the close of 1635. Originally a 
 merchant of London, he afterwards became Governor of New- 
 foundland, and of Portsmouth in England. His name merits 
 the respectful remembrance of future generations as the Father 
 or New-Hampshire. Unquestionably he committed some ma* 
 terial errors in the management of the Colony, never coming 
 in person to oversee the people he employed, but trusting every 
 thing to the eyes of others. He failed to establish a govern- 
 ment of sufficient energy to maintain good order, and erred 
 much in granting lands to the settlers by lease, rather than as 
 free-holds : it being certain that the latter tenure would have 
 given them a much deeper interest in the prosperity of the 
 plantation. In directing their attention less to the cultivation 
 of the soil, that surest source of competence, than to lumber- 
 ing, fishing, traffic, and searching for precious metals which 
 were never found, he erred greatly. No wonder a settlement 
 planted in a vigorous climate and thus managed, should ad- 
 vance with tardy steps and yield but small returns. Still he 
 persevered in his efforts till death : but neither himself nor his 
 heirs ever received returns at all proportioned to the outlays. — 
 He left the mass of his properties and claims here to two grand- 
 sons ; devising however one thousand acres of land for the 
 support " of an honest, godly, and religious preacher of God's 
 Word," and another thousand for the support of a Grammar 
 school. 
 
 Of the war with the Pequots in 1637, which resulted in the 
 extermination of that powerful tribe, the chief burden fell on 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, leaving the Pascataqua settle- 
 ments undisturbed. Among the whole number of troops who 
 achieved the victory was found but one pint of strong ivater, 
 as rum was then called — and that was reserved for the sick. — 
 To that adventurous and hardy generation, the use of ardent 
 spirits was almost unknown, nor did it become common in 
 New-England for more than a century afterwards. 
 
 The next year is memorable on account of the first great 
 earthquake which occurred after the settlement of the country. 
 Its course was from west to east ; its duration, four minutes ; 
 its noise like that of a multitude of carriages driven swiftly on 
 the pavements. It threw down the tops of chimneys, agitated 
 the waters, and shook the vessels in the harbors. 
 
 Religious controversies for a season convulsed Massachusetts 
 B 
 
14 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1638. 
 
 and issued in the banishment from that colony of several distin- 
 guished men. The Rev. John Wheelwright, one of the exiles, 
 with a company of his friends and adherants, began this year 
 the settlement of Exeter. They entered into a voluntary asso- 
 ciation for the purpose of self-government, and having obtain- 
 ed a dismission from the church in Boston, organized the first 
 Congregational church in this Colony. Soon after, a compa- 
 ny of fifty-six persons from England with the Rev. Stephen 
 Batchelor for their minister, planted themselves at Hampton 
 and organized the second Congregational church. Messrs. 
 Wheelwright and Bachelor were the first settled ministers in the 
 State. A third Congregational church was collected not long 
 afterwards at Dover, where the celebrated Capt. John Under- 
 bill, another of the exiles from Massachusetts, had obtained the 
 place of chief magistrate ; — an eccentric man, who afterwards 
 went among the Dutch at New-York and was actively engaged 
 in their wars with the Indians. Prior to these events, an Epis- 
 copal society at Portsmouth, afterwards under the temporary 
 ministry of the Rev. Richard Gibson, had erected a small house 
 for Divine worship, there being no Congregational church in 
 this town for many years afterwards. 
 
 After the death of Mason, his widow, who had sent over 
 Francis Norton as her agent, discouraged with a concern which 
 required great expense and brought in no adequate returns, 
 sent word to her agents and servants hi 1639 that they must 
 provide for themselves. Appropriating her goods and cattle 
 in payment of the arrears of their wages, and carrying with 
 them the avails of their shares, some left the plantation ; while 
 others remained, keeping possession of the buildings and im- 
 provements which they henceforth claimed as their own. — 
 The Colonists, who had hitherto been governed by the rules 
 and orders of the Proprietors in England, were now left des- 
 titute of regular government. As a temporary expedient the 
 people of Portsmouth and Dover, following the example of 
 Exeter, formed themselves by voluntary combination into bod- 
 ies politic : Hampton having been considered from the first as 
 under the government of Massachusetts. So acceptably had 
 Williams conducted the public affairs of Portsmouth, that he 
 was now by the choice of the people continued in the chief 
 magistracy of the place, with Ambrose Gibbons and Thomas 
 Warnerton as assistant magistrates. 
 
 Liable to be overturned by every fluctuation of popular feel- 
 ing, these little Republics subsisted but a short time. The 
 leading men felt the need of a more stable and energetic gov- 
 ernment ; but saw no prospect of attaining it but by a connec- 
 
164L] period i.— 1623— 1641. 15 
 
 tion with the large and flourishing Colony of Massachusetts. — 
 They made overtures for this purpose which were favorably 
 
 entertained. Gladly availing herself of an opportunity to en-. 
 large her jurisdiction, Massachusetts in 1641 received the Pas- 
 cataqua plantations into union on terms extremely advantageous 
 to the latter. Probably at this time their whole population did 
 not much exceed 1000 souls. By the terms of union they ac- 
 quired the right of representation in the General Court atBos- 
 ton ; the privilege of having Courts of Justice erected within 
 their own limits"; freedom from all taxes except for their own 
 exclusive benefit ; and exemption from the operation of the 
 Massachusetts Test Act, by which exemption their freemen 
 were allowed to vote in town meeting and their Representatives 
 to sit in the General Court, though not church members. The 
 union thus peaceably and happily formed, long subsisted to 
 the satisfaction and benefit of both parties. 
 
 During the occurrence of the events already related, the tide 
 of emigration from the old world poured into other parts of 
 New-England a continued stream of population. A consider- 
 able company arrived at Salem in 1628; many others soon 
 followed and founded Charlestown in 1629, and Boston in 1630 
 — the peninsular form of these places being finely adapted both 
 fortrade and defence. In 1G35, emigrants from Massachusetts., 
 allured by the fertile intervals on Connecticut river, crossed 
 the wilderness, driving before them the cows on whose milk 
 they depended in part for subsistence, and planted themselves 
 at Hartford and the vicinity. Plantations were soon made at 
 Providence and New-Haven. The current of population dif- 
 fused itself rapidly on the eastern shore of Massachusetts, the 
 northern shore of Long Island Sound, up the Connecticut riv- 
 er to Springfield and 'Northampton, and down the coast of 
 Maine from Kittery to Wiscasset. In 1640, about 20,000 per- 
 sons, distributed into 4000 families, had come here from Eng- 
 land in the course of twenty years, in 198 ships, of which only 
 one was lost at sea. From this original stock have descended 
 most of the present inhabitants of New-England, together with 
 vast numbers in New- York, Ohio, and other States, amounting 
 perhaps in the whole to 4,000,000 souls ! An immense increase 
 for two centuries. The tide of New-England population has 
 already crossed the Mississippi, and in another century will 
 roll westward over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific ! We 
 are reminded of the declaration of Moses to Israel : " Thy fa- 
 thers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons, 
 and lo, the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of Heaven 
 for multitude," 
 
PERIOD II. 
 
 FROM THE UNION WITH MASSACHUSETTS IN 1641, TO THE SEP- 
 ARATION AND ERECTION OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE INTO A DISTINCT 
 PROVINCE IN 1679 ; INCLUDING THE EVENTS OF THE FIRST 
 GENERAL INDIAN WAR, CALLED PHILIP'S WAR. 
 
 No sooner had Massachusetts spread the wing of' her juris- 
 diction over the Pascataqua settlements as New-Hampshire 
 was then called, than she made provision for the due admin- 
 istration of justice in her new acquisitions. Exeter and 
 Hampton were annexed to the county of Essex, while Ports- 
 mouth and Dover retained distinct jurisdictions. Francis 
 Williams, Thomas Warnerton, and Ambrose Gibbons were 
 appointed magistrates for Portsmouth, and Edward Hilton, 
 Thomas Wiggin, and William Waldron, for Dover. These 
 were the influential men of the day. This arrangement was 
 however temporary ; two years afterwards these four towns, 
 whose ancient limits were much more extensive than the pres- 
 ent, together with Salisbury and Haverhill in Massachusetts, 
 were made a distinct county by the name of Norfolk. Each 
 town had an Inferior Court of three persons, for the trial of 
 causes not exceeding twenty shillings, and Portsmouth and 
 Dover had what was called a Court of Associates, whose ju- 
 risdiction extended to causes where the matter in dispute did 
 not exceed twenty pounds, from whose decisions lay an appeal 
 to the County Court. The laws of Massachusetts now operated 
 in New-Hampshire, and the history of the two plantations 
 during the period embraced in this chapter is blended together. 
 Against immorality of every kind the laws were severe : trea- 
 son, murder, perjury, blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, rape, un- 
 natural lusts, man-stealing, and rebellion against parents, were 
 made capital crimes. The Sabbath was scrupulously guarded 
 from violation, and even the expenses and modes of dress 
 were regulated by legal enactments. 
 
 Apprehensive of some molestation under the new order of 
 things, the Rev. Mr. Wheelwright of Exeter, whose sentence 
 of banishment from Massachusetts was still in force, thought 
 proper to retire beyond the jurisdiction of the authorities of 
 that Province, to Wells in Maine. He was followed by sev- 
 
1644.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. ■ 17 
 
 eral members of his church, who formed a new church in that 
 place. Being a man of talent and unblemished character, he 
 was soon permitted to return and exercise his ministry at 
 Hampton. Some time afterwards he went to England, and 
 found a kind reception from the Lord Protector Cromwell, 
 who remembered him as an old college acquaintance. He re- 
 turned to New-England, exercised his ministry in Massachu- 
 setts, and lived to an advanced age. 
 
 Serious apprehensions were excited in 1642, by reports of a 
 plot being formed by the Indians to exterminate the English 
 by going to their houses on pretence of trade, and killing them 
 by surprise. An armed party, sent by the government to dis- 
 arm Passaconaway, who then resided for a time near Haver- 
 hill, Mass. failed to reach his weekwam on account of a great 
 rain, but made one of his sons a prisoner. As they were 
 conducting him towards Boston, he attempted an escape, when 
 one of the party rashly made a shot at him and narrowly missed 
 him. It being soon discovered that the reports of the plot had 
 but a slender foundation, an apology was made to the father 
 for the act of violence committed on the son, which the old 
 Chief accepted ; and not long after, as a pledge of his ami- 
 cable intentions, voluntarily delivered up his guns. However 
 groundless might have been the alarm, it had the effect the 
 next year of inducing the four Colonies of Massachusetts, Con- 
 necticut, New-Haven, and Plymouth, to form a league for 
 mutual defence in case of attack, either by Indians or foreign 
 enemies. As a constituent part of Massachusetts, the New- 
 Hampshire towns were of course included in the union. It 
 subsisted more than forty years, rendered the Colonies for- 
 midable to the Indians, and contributed essentially to their 
 preservation. 
 
 Of early New-England simplicity, we have an amusing in- 
 stance in the mode of electing some of the public officers. By an 
 order of the Massachusetts General Court, corn and beans were 
 to be used in voting for Counsellors, the corn to manifest elec- 
 tions, the beans the contrary. On putting in more than one 
 kernel of corn or one bean for the choice or refusal of a can- 
 didate, the law imposed a heavy penalty. 
 
 In 1644 occurred an important change in the form of the 
 government. Hitherto the Magistrates and Representatives 
 who together constituted the General Court, had holden their 
 sessions in the same apartment and acted as one body. From 
 this time, the Magistrates met in a separate apartment, consti- 
 tuting an Upper House: and bills were sent from one House 
 to the other for mutual concurrence in a parliamentary way. 
 B* 
 
18 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1647. 
 
 In a few years after Mason's widow had left the New-Hamp- 
 shire colonists to shift for themselves, her principal agents and 
 stewards had taken their leave of the Pascataqua, and her 
 goods and effects were scattered to the four winds, Thomas 
 Wamerton, who had for some time resided at the Great House 
 on Strawberry Bank, the name by which Portsmouth was 
 distinguished for thirty years from its settlement, went to No- 
 va Scotia with a quantity of goods and military stores, formerly 
 the property of Mason, which he sold to the French ; and was 
 afterwards slain in that country in a rencontre with the inhab- 
 itants. The next year Norton, the chief proprietary agent, 
 drove an hundred head of cattle to Boston, where he sold 
 them at twenty pounds sterling a head. They were of the 
 Danish breed, the first cattle brought into the State having 
 been imported from Denmark. 
 
 Massachusetts began in 1647, that admirable system of com- 
 mon school education which has since spread so extensively 
 in the United States. A law was passed requiring a school to 
 be kept in each town of fifty families, in which all the chil- 
 dren might learn reading and writing. This provided the 
 means of education for the poor as well as the rich, and 
 brought them almost to every man's door. As the popula- 
 tion increased in the several towns, they were afterwards divi- 
 ded into sections or districts. To this ancient law, so evincive 
 of the wisdom of our Fathers, we may clearly trace the origin 
 of the present system of popular Education in the State. 
 
 About the same period was commenced that course of be- 
 nevolent effort to evangelize and civilize the Indian tribes, 
 which reflects so much lustre on many of the Fathers of New- 
 England. Mayhew, Eliot, and other good men, visited many 
 of the Indian villages in Massachusetts and Plymouth Colo- 
 nies, making long journeys on foot through the pathless wil- 
 derness, lodging in their smoky weekwams, and preaching to 
 them the plainest and simplest doctrines of the gospel. At 
 first the Indians asked many strange questions, like these : — 
 Why sea water is salt and river water fresh ? Whether Christ 
 understood prayers in the Indian language ? How the English 
 came to differ so much from the Indians, if both sprang from 
 one Father ? But these good men persevered in their efforts, 
 and were successful. In the course of twenty years, numer- 
 ous societies of Christian or praying Indians were formed in 
 Massachusetts, many of whose members exhibited good evi- 
 dence of intelligent Christian piety. For the New-Hamp- 
 shire Indians, we regret to say, little of the kind was done. Mr. 
 Eliot however visited Pawtucket now and then, a noted fishing 
 
IG47.] period ii.—1(j41—1G79. 19 
 
 station in the vicinity of Lowell, and preached to the Indians 
 in that quarter. The celebrated Passaconaway was one of his 
 auditors, and shewed himself friendly to the preacher and 
 somewhat inclined to the Christian doctrine. He urged him to 
 visit them more frequently, remarking that the preacher's com- 
 ing once a year did them but little good, "because they had 
 soon forgotten what he taught, it being so seldom and so long 
 betweei/ the times," also that he had many subjects " who 
 would not believe km, that praying to God was so good," 
 who might be convinced by the preaching itself. Some of the 
 Christian societies formed among the Indians of Massachu- 
 setts subsisted half a century, till death cut off most of the 
 members, and the extension "of the English settlements drove 
 the survivors into the wilderness. With immense labor, Mr. 
 Eliot, deservedly called the Apostle of the Indians, translated 
 the whole Bible* into their language. 
 
 Bright as the character of the founders of New-England 
 shines, in the traits just exhibited, truth requires the admission 
 that it was not free from some serious defects. Their zeal 
 was sometimes directed to objects trifling, and even puerile, as 
 in their violent opposition to the use of wigs, and the wearing 
 of long hair by men. But their most glaring error was a dis- 
 position to coerce those of a religious persuasion different 
 from their own. We read the accounts of their arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings against Baptists and Quakers, with grief and won- 
 der that men, but just escaped from the gripe of persecution, 
 could find it in their hearts to inflict on others the very evils 
 under which themselves had so severely smarted ! The trait 
 is incapable of vindication : the only apology that can be of- 
 fered is the old one, that it was the fault of the age in general, 
 and that the principles of religious liberty were at that time 
 imperfectly understood. But after all just abatements, their 
 character certainly presents many excellent points. The 
 love of civil liberty glowed in their bosoms. Of slavery they 
 had a deep abhorrence, of which we have an instance in the 
 case of one Williams of Portsmouth, who having bought a 
 slave whom a shipmaster had kidnapped and brought away 
 from Africa, was ordered to give him up that he might be sent 
 back to his own country. Their piety was in numerous in- 
 stances exemplarv. For the name, word, and laws of God, 
 many of them exhibited profound respect. Whenever they 
 settled a new town, one of the first cares was to build a com- 
 modious house of public worship, and settle a pious and 
 learned minister. For a long period, there were few families 
 in most parts of New-England, in which the Bible was not 
 
20 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1652. 
 
 daily read, and prayer offered morning and evening. It was 
 the testimony of one on his return to England from a long 
 residence in this country, that in all this period he had not 
 heard a profane oath, or seen a person drunk. This testimo- 
 ny, though by no means applicable to all places, was doubtless 
 true to a happy extent. The first Ministers of New-England 
 had been educated at the English Universities, and they 
 brought with them extensive and valuable libraries. 
 
 That New-Hampshire had a less proportion of religious 
 men among her early settlers than Massachusetts and Connec- 
 ticut, is not to be denied. The grand object of the Puritans 
 from Holland who landed on the rock of Plymouth, was the 
 maintenance of pure religion, and the preservation of their 
 children from the contaminating influence of bad examples. — 
 Their brethren from England, who soon after established 
 themselves at Salem and Boston, had the same aims. Of the 
 Company of Laconia — of Mason and Gorges — the main ob- 
 ject was commercial, rather than religious. Thompson and 
 the Hiltons, who began the settlement of Portsmouth and Do- 
 ver, came over to fish, trade, and search for mines of precious 
 metals. But the influence of Plymouth and Massachusetts, 
 soon extended to the Pascataqua. That New-Hampshire 
 must have had a considerable number of religious men, at 
 quite an early period, is plain from the fact that Christian in- 
 stitutions Avere sustained in all the towns. In 1643, the Rev. 
 Daniel Maud, a pious and worthy man, was settled at Dover ; 
 and in 1650, the Rev. Samuel Dudley, as successor to Mr. 
 Wheelwright, at Exeter, where he exercised a long and useful 
 ministry. Hampton also sustained the Christian Ministry : and 
 though Portsmouth had not a settled minister till some years 
 afterwards, there is evidence that numbers of the people were 
 not insensible of the importance of public worship. If wis- 
 dom is to be measured by the results it produces, our Fathers 
 must be pronounced to have been in many respects wise : for 
 they established institutions, civil, literary, and religious, which 
 have secured to their posterity an unusual share of prosper- 
 ity. 
 
 For several years near the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, the transactions in New-Hampshire, present little that is 
 interesting. The times were still and peaceable ; times like 
 those of which it has been said, that " though best to live in, 
 they are the worst to write of," as affording to the historian 
 the least variety. In 1652, Dover had so increased in popula- 
 tion, as to be allowed to send two representatives to the Mas- 
 sachusetts Assembly, each of the other towns sending but one. 
 
1658.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. 21 
 
 For a series of years one of the two was Major Richard Wal- 
 dron, now become the most conspicuous character in the 
 Province, who was occasionally elected Speaker of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Assembly. Portsmouth contained at this time less 
 than sixty families, and exchanged the old appellation of 'Straw- 
 berry Bank' for its present name. 
 
 Not without uneasiness did the heirs of Mason in England 
 notice the assumption of jurisdiction by Massachusetts over 
 the settlement on the Pascataqua : but the civil wars then ra- 
 ging in the mother country precluded all hope of immediate 
 redress. They however, sent over an agent to observe the 
 state of affairs. His arrival induced Massachusetts to order a 
 survey of what they then claimed as their northern boundary. 
 On this business, two Commissioners, attended by surveyors 
 and Indian guides, went up the Merrimac in 1653, to the con- 
 fluence of its two main branches. Some gentlemen of the 
 vicinity have recently discovered on a rock in the Winnepise- 
 ogee, an ancient inscription, unquestionably made at that time, 
 containing the initials of the names of the Commissioners, and 
 the name of John Endecott, at that time Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. To the rock itself has been given the appropriate 
 appellation of " The Endecott Rock. 1 ' 
 
 At Portsmouth there was some agitation in 1658 about 
 witchcraft. Several individuals were accused of the crime ; 
 stories were circulated of witches appearing in the shape of 
 cats, and scorching persons by sudden flashes of fire; and one 
 of the accused was bound over for trial. The intended prose- 
 cution was however dropped, and the delusion was of far less 
 extent and duration than a similar one which afterwards ori- 
 ginated in Salem. One of the accused brought an action of 
 slander against an accuser and obtained a judgment of dama- 
 ges and costs of court. The occurrence is interesting as a 
 specimen of the superstition unhappily prevalent at that day. 
 
 It were to be wished that truth did not require us to lift the 
 veil from another trait of the age worse than even superstition 
 — the disposition to religious intolerance. Massachusetts began at 
 this time a series of enactments against the Quakers. The 
 first forbade their coming to that Colony on pain of imprison- 
 ment, whipping, and transportation, and imposed a fine on the 
 master of the vessel bringing them. The second subjected 
 them, in case of a repetition of the offence, to the loss of their 
 ears ; and in case of several repetitions, to have their tongue9 
 bored through with a hot iron. This dreadful measure pro- 
 ving inadequate to keep them away, a third law doomed them 
 to death in case of a return after transportation. Under these 
 
22 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1658. 
 
 inhuman enactments a few unhappy objects suffered death in 
 in Massachusetts ; but none in NeAV-Hampshire. Three Qua- 
 ker women having- come to the Pascataqua,were conducted from 
 town to town by the respective Constables under a warrant 
 from Major Waldron, till they arrived at Boston, to be thence 
 transported out of the country. This extreme rigor brought 
 upon Massachusetts the reprehensions of the dissenting minis- 
 ters in London, and the censures of the English government — 
 till these cruel acts were softened, and finally repealed. Some 
 of the Quakers suffered with the calm spirit of martyrs : and 
 though it be true that others displayed extreme imprudence 
 and presumptuously rushed upon death, still these laws stand 
 on the historic page as a dark stain on the characters of 
 men, whose conduct in many other respects merits high en- 
 comiums. 
 
 An unusual occurrence marked the spring of 1658 : — a sud- 
 den prevalence of cold, when the apple trees were in full blos- 
 som, so insupportable that in a Hampton fishing boat then 
 happening at sea, one man died ot the cold before the boat 
 could make the land, another was so chilled that he died soon 
 after, and a third lost his feet. This must have been in the 
 latter part of May. There have been frequent instances of the 
 concurrence of snow on the ground and blossoms on the trees, 
 but no occurrence since of so intense a cold so late in the sea- 
 son. 
 
 The restoration of the royal government in England placed 
 the supreme authority in the hands of men far less favorably 
 disposed towards New-England than the Administration under 
 the protectorate of Cromwell. Charles II., dissolute and un- 
 principled, disliked extremely the strict religious principles of 
 most of the people here. He resented as an invasion of his 
 prerogative their establishment of a mint at Boston, where 
 were coined three-pences, six-pences and shillings. Com- 
 plaining of this one day to Sir Thomas Temple who had 
 been in America, Sir Thomas took from his pocket a New- 
 England shilling, and shewed the King the figure of the pine 
 tree stamped upon it, who asked, What tree that was ? " The 
 royal oak," was the reply — in allusion to the oak in which the 
 King when once in imminent peril, had found concealment 
 and safety. Pleased with the fancied allusion, he smiled and 
 said, " They are a parcel of honest dogs." This however was 
 but a gleam of good humor, and could not dispel from his 
 mind the dark clouds of distrust. He was jealous of the spirit 
 of liberty prevalent among the New-Englanders, and wished 
 to see them reduced to a complete dependence on the crown. 
 
1(365.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. 23 
 
 On the part of the Indians a friendly temper still continued 
 to be manifested. An English gentleman intimately acquainted 
 with them was invited to a great dance and feast, at which 
 Passaconaway, now become very old, made his farewell ad- 
 dress. Having told them that he had tried, but in vain, all the 
 arts of sorcery to prevent the white people from gaining foot- 
 hold in this country, he earnestly advised his own people to 
 avoid quarrelling with them and to preserve a good under- 
 standing; — assuring them that a war would prove disastrous 
 to themselves. That the address of the dying Chief had a pow- 
 erful influence is plain from the neutrality observed by the 
 Penacooks in a subsequent war, which arrayed against the 
 English almost all the other tribes of New-England. 
 
 The well known disposition of the King encouraged Rob- 
 ert Mason, the grandson and heir of the original grantee of 
 New-Hampshire,to make an effort in 1660 to establish his claim 
 to the territory on which his ancestor had bestowed so much 
 expense. As stated in a preceding page, he had some years 
 before this date sent over an agent, who found that Massachu- 
 setts had given a construction to her Charter which made it 
 cover the most of Mason's claim, as well as a large section of 
 Maine ; and that nothing could be done to the purpose without 
 the interposition of the King. Mason presented a petition 
 complaining of Massachusetts for exercising jurisdiction over 
 lands that had been granted to his ancestor ; and the attorney 
 general, to whom it was referred, reported in favor of the jus- 
 tice of his claim. Nothing further was immediately done in 
 his behalf; but his petition, together with other complaints of 
 the proceedings of the New-England Colonies, particularly 
 Massachusetts, finally induced the King in 1664 to appoint 
 Col. Nichols, Sir Robert Carr, George Carteret and Samuel 
 Maverick, Esquires, his Commissioners to visit the Colonies, 
 with power to examine and determine complaints and appeals 
 of every kind. To this Commission the Colonists were strong- 
 ly opposed, deeming it an infringment of their Charter privi- 
 leges. With the exception of Col. Nichols, the Commmission- 
 crs executed their office in a very offensive manner, reversing 
 decisions of the courts, giving protection to criminals, and ad- 
 mitting persons to the privileges of freemen and of church 
 membership, contrary to the usages of the country. 
 
 In June of the next year, these unwelcome visitants came to 
 Portsmouth, where they called a public meeting and released 
 the people from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. They ap- 
 pointed Magistrates of their own selection, and excited a small 
 party disaffected to the existing order of things, to frame a 
 
24 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1669. 
 
 petition to the King in the name of the several towns to be 
 erected into a distinct Province. So overbearing was their de- 
 portment that Sir Robert Carr threatened an old man with 
 death merely for his forbidding a child to open a door to them. 
 They soon left this State for Maine : no sooner were they gone 
 than the people, firmly attached to the government of Massa- 
 chusetts, refused to recognize the newly appointed Magistrates 
 and avowed their determination to remain obedient to the Ma- 
 gistrates and laws of that Colony. The towns of Portsmouth 
 and Dover formally disavowed the petition for a separation which 
 had been got up in their name. On the return of the Commis- 
 sioners to England, they presented to the King a report of their 
 doings, filled with bitter reproaches of the Colony of Massachu- 
 setts. Amid many evils one benefit resulted from their visit — 
 the erection of a Fort mounted with cannon for the defence of 
 the harbor of Pascataqua, on Great Island, now New-Castle. — 
 This was done by the express order of the King. 
 
 An incident occurred in 1668 strikingly indicative of good 
 sense on the part of the Indians, and not unworthy of a brief 
 memorial. Two English traders having established a "trucking" 
 house among the Penacooks, some of the Chiefs took a journey 
 to Pascataqua to request that no spirituous liquors might be sold. 
 Their motion was disregarded ; and not long after, a white man 
 was killed by an Indian in a drunken carousal within the pres- 
 ent limits of Concord. The Chiefs then renewed their entrea- 
 ties to the traders to furnish no more rum, and even complained 
 to the General Court, urging the plea that the Mohawks might 
 come upon them when drunk and destroy them. Who can sup- 
 press the wish that this early Temperance movement had been 
 attended with better success ? The only apology to be offered 
 for the traders is, that the public mind was then unenlightened 
 on the subject, and that the traffic in ardent spirits was not then 
 viewed as it now is by thousands, in the light of an immorality. 
 
 The next year is the era of a memorable expedition underta- 
 ken by the New-England Indians against their old enemies the 
 Mohawks, in New- York. Chickatawbut, one of the chief Sa- 
 chems of the Massachusetts tribe, was the leader of the enter- 
 prise and collected a force of 600 men. From the enmity known 
 to have long subsisted between the Mohawks and the New-Hamp- 
 shire Indians, it is almost certain that some of the latter were 
 engaged. Their English neighbors dissuaded them from the 
 attempt as too distant and perilous; but they would not be ad- 
 vised. Having arrived in the country of their enemies, they 
 laid siege to one of their forts. Being distressed by sickness 
 and want of provisions they at length concluded to return home ; 
 the Mohawks pursued them on their retreat, and having formed 
 
1673.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. 25 
 
 an ambush at a defile between two swamps, attacked them at 
 great advantage and killed fifty of their chief warriors. Never 
 again did the New-England Indians venture to attack this 
 powerful tribe. 
 
 That the early inhabitants of New-Hampshire,though few and 
 comparatively poor, were not insensible of the importance of 
 Education, is plain from the liberal contributions made by the 
 towns, particularly by Portsmouth, then become the richest of 
 the four, toward the erection of a new College edifice at Cam- 
 bridge. Soon afterwards a Congregational church was formed 
 in Portsmouth, in 1671, and the Rev. Mr. Moodey, who had for 
 years preached in the place, was ordained as its Pastor, being 
 the eighth settled Congregational minister in the State. Gov. 
 Leverett and several other magistrates came from Massachu- 
 setts to attend the ordination. Mr. Moodey was a man of con- 
 siderable distinction, and afterwards acted a conspicuous part 
 in resisting the encroachments of arbitrary power. The first 
 settlers were now passing fast off the stage — Edward Hilton 
 the founder of Dover, died this year at Exeter, having lived in 
 the Colony almost half a century. 
 
 About the year 1673 a settlement, the earliest in the County 
 of Hillsborough, was begun at Dunstable which soon included 
 thirty families. The grant was quite large, embracing either 
 the whole or parts of several adjacent towns. For half a cen- 
 tury afterwards the rest of the County remained a wilderness. 
 In the course of a few years a church was gathered in thb 
 town, of which the Rev. Thomas Weld was Pastor. 
 
 We are now approaching the interesting period of the first 
 general Indian war. With the exception of the short Pequot 
 war in Connecticut, the Colonists had lived Avith the Indians 
 half a century in profound peace. In the minds of the latter, 
 suspicions and jealousies began to operate ; they saw the En- 
 glish settlements extending on every side ; their own hunting 
 grounds were narrowed ; and they began to be apprehensive 
 they might be eventually dispossessed. Philip, Sachem of the 
 Wampanoags, who resided at Mount Hope in Rhode-Island, 
 an ambitious, shrewd, and bold man, was the most active insti- 
 gator of the impending war. Though Belknap supposes he 
 was hurried into it rather by the rash ardor of his young war- 
 riors than by his own inclinations, yet the preponderance of 
 historical evidence is certainly on the side of the latter opinion. 
 Possessing great influence not only in his own tribe but among 
 all the Indians in New-England, he resolved to free his coun- 
 try from those whom he deemed intruders. He sent his run- 
 ners in all directions, and had the address to engage in the 
 C 
 
26 HISTORY OF :new-hampshire. [1675. 
 
 enterprise most of the tribes in the region. The Penacooks 
 on the Merrixnac were the only tribe who resisted his solicita- 
 tions — their Sachem Wonolanset not having forgotten the 
 charge of his father Passaconaway, now dead, to cultivate the 
 friendship of the white men. The Ossipees in Strafford Coun- 
 ty and the Pequawketts on the Saco river, both included in the 
 uaine of Northern Indians, ardently engaged in the hostile 
 confederacy. Of the Eastern Indians, as those of Maine were 
 called, almost the whole body came into the plan with readi- 
 ness ; and as truth compels us too add, not without serious 
 provocation. As not long before, the wife of Squando a noted 
 Pequawkett Sachem was passing on Saco river with her infant 
 child in her frail bark canoe, some rude sailors who had heard 
 that Indian children could swim as naturally as the young of 
 brutes, met her and wantonly overset her canoe. The child 
 sunk ; the mother instantly dived and recovered it ; but the 
 child dying soon after, not only Squando, but the Indians in 
 general ascribed its death to this brutal treatment. Their dis- 
 contents were inflamed by other provocations received from the 
 Eastern settlers, some of whom it must be acknowledged, were 
 unprincipled men. Philip engaged as his allies most of the 
 tribes in Massachusetts and Rhode-Island. An artful plan to 
 enlist the Mohawks in the war proved not only abortive, but 
 pernicious to himself. He had murdered, it has been said, 
 some of this tribe and left their bodies unburied in the woods, 
 imagining their brethren would ascribe the deed to the En- 
 glish, and be provoked to join the confederacy against them: 
 but one of the number who had been left for dead, unexpec- 
 tedly recovered and disclosed to his countrymen the perfidy of 
 Philip — a circumstance which made them his implacable ene- 
 mies. 
 
 For some time had the Colonists been apprehensive of hos- 
 tile designs on the part of the Indians. Their suspicions were 
 confirmed by the following occurrence : Sausaman, a christian 
 Indian, whom Philip suspected of giving intelligence of his 
 plots to the English, was murdered at his instigation and his 
 body thrown into a pond. This act was considered as equiva- 
 lent to a declaration of war. 
 
 In June, 1675, open hostilities were commenced. Philip 
 attacked Swanzey, Mass. and in a few hours killed several of 
 the inhabitants. The flame of war spread with rapidity. — 
 Forming themselves into small bands, the eastern and northern 
 Indians robbed and killed many of the scattered inhabitants of 
 Maine, and in September extended their incursions into New- 
 Hampshire. Houses were burnt and persons slain in Somers- 
 
1675.] period n.— 1641— 1679. 27 
 
 worth, Durham, and on the road between Exeter and Hampton. 
 A party of savages attacked a house in Berwick, a town in 
 Maine on the border of New-Hampshire, in which were fifteen 
 women and children. A girl of eighteen discovering their 
 approach, shut the door and stood -against it till the Indians cut 
 it in pieces with their hatchets, and on entering knocked her 
 down and left her for dead. While this was doing, the rest of 
 the women and children fled ; and all arrived safely at another 
 fortified house, excepting two children who being unable to 
 get over a fence, were overtaken and slain. The adventurous 
 girl who thus saved the lives of thirteen persons, recovered of 
 her wounds: but we must regret that her name has not been 
 preserved. 
 
 Parties of men occasionally scoured the woods in quest of 
 the enemy, but with no great success. In common with the 
 rest of New-England, the towns of New-Hampshire were filled 
 with alarm ; business was at a stand : the people, deserting tlicit 
 own habitations, collected themselves together in the larger 
 houses which they fortified as they could. They could neither 
 go into the fields, nor even step out of doors but at the peril of 
 life. The seventh of October was observed as a day of fasting 
 and prayer. 
 
 A few men having been killed at Berwick, the alarmed in- 
 habitants sent an express to Maj. Waldron at Dover imploring 
 succor. None however could be granted, as an attack was 
 hourly expected there. Resolving to attempt the recovery of 
 the bodies of the slain, Lieut. Pkisted, the principal military 
 officer of Berwick, ventured out for that purpose with a party 
 of twenty men; but was himself slain together with two of 
 his sons.' These successes emboldened live savages to shew 
 themselves on the east side of the river opposite to Portsmouth, 
 in the attitude of menacing that town. They were however 
 dispersed by the firing of some cannon ; and alight snow ren- 
 dering it easy to follow their track, they were pursued, over- 
 taken, and compelled to flee precipitately, leaving behind them 
 their packs and plunder. 
 
 In this crisis winter set in with uncommon severity and cov- 
 ered the earth with a snow four feet deep. This circumstance, 
 while it prevented a meditated expedition against the winter 
 quarters of the Indians around Winnepiseogec and Ossipee 
 lakes, produced a consequence still more important, the incli- 
 nation of their minds to peace. Pinched with famine they 
 came to Major Waldron with professions of sorrow for the 
 past and promises of amity for the future, and a peace was ea- 
 sily concluded with the northern and eastern Indians, which 
 
28 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1675. 
 
 restored the captives and gave New-Hampshire a breathing 
 time of several months. On the part of the savages the war 
 had been conducted with not a few circumstances of barbarity, 
 of which the following may serve as a specimen : in one of 
 their incursions they killed an old man at Durham, cut off his 
 head, and set it on a pole in derision. 
 
 In the mean time Philip at the head of the southern tribes 
 continued the war in Massachusetts, and burnt, plundered, and 
 slew with a high hand. That Colony suffered severely and 
 was now struggling for existence. It falls not within our plan 
 to relate in detail the attack on Brookfield, where a providen- 
 tial shower of rain extinguished the flames of a garrisoned 
 house which had been set on fire by the savages, and saved se- 
 venty persons from an awfnl death ; the conflagration of Deer- 
 field, Mendon, Groton, Rehoboth, Providence, and Warwick ; 
 the desolation of Lancaster, whence Mrs. Rowlandson, a lady 
 who had been tenderly and delicately educated, was led cap- 
 tive into the wilderness ; the defeat of Capt. Beers, accompa- 
 nied with the fall of himself and twenty of his men, at North- 
 field ; the surprise of Capt. Lothrop and his company while 
 gathering grapes at Muddy Brook in Deerfield by some hund- 
 reds of Indians, who slew him and more than seventy young 
 men, the flower of the county of Essex ; the disastrous defeat of 
 Captains Wadsworth and Brocklebank at Sudbury, who after 
 fighting with great gallantly and killing 120 of the enemy, 
 themselves fell with fifty of their men. These bloody rever- 
 ses overspread the country with gloom ; it indeed seemed that 
 unless a speedy check were given to the career of Philip, the 
 whole region from the Pascataquato Long Island Sound would 
 be overswept and left desolate. 
 
 Threatened with utter extermination, the Colonists resolved 
 on a desperate effort at self-preservation, and projected a plan, 
 at once bold and perilous, which was happily crowned with 
 success. Philip, after his career of victory, had fortified a 
 camp in a great swamp in Rhode-Island, to which he repaired 
 with a multitude of warriors, old men, women and children, 
 for whiter quarters. A large force from Massachusetts, Ply- 
 mouth, r and Connecticut attacked this fort in December, forced 
 an entrance after a desperate conflict, kindled a fire which soon 
 wrapped in flames 600 weekwams, and killed or burnt one thou- 
 sand Indians. The terror-struck survivors fled into the woods, 
 where, deprived of shelter and unfurnished with provisions 
 they suffered great extremities. 
 
 From this dreadful blow the southern Indians never recov- 
 ered, and the events of the war in the next campaign, 1676, 
 
1676.] period ii.— 1623— 1641. 29 
 
 were decidedly adverse to them. English scouting parties trav- 
 ersed the woods in all directions, killing and captivating large 
 numbers. A considerable body of the enemy on the west 
 bank of Connecticut river, near Miller's Falls, were attacked by 
 surprise : many were killed outright ; others ran into the river 
 and were drowned ; others took to their canoes, but forgetting 
 in their panic to seize the paddles, were borne down the falls 
 and lost. In August, Capt. Church surprised Philip himself, 
 the soul of the war, who being shot by an Indian friendly to 
 the English, fell dead on his face in the mud and water. — 
 Thus perished this terrific and celebrated savage, whose name, 
 had he succeeded in his favorite enterprise, had gone down 
 with applause to future generations of Indians as the Deliverer 
 of their country. Broken and dispirited, the southern tribes 
 after his fall ceased from hostilities, and Massachusetts rested 
 from war. 
 
 The joy occasioned by peace in southern New-England, 
 was quickly damped by the renewal of hostilities on the part 
 of the Eastern Indians against Maine and New Hampshire, 
 They were excited to this step by some refugees from the wes- 
 tern tribes, who, after the death of Philip, fled to the East 
 rather than submit to the English. A bloody outrage having 
 been committed by them at Portland, all the inhabitants to the 
 east of that place abandoned their plantations. Freed from 
 the terror of Philip, Massachusetts was now able to extend a 
 helping hand to the Eastern settlements, and two companies 
 of soldiers marched for this purpose from Boston. On their 
 arrival at Dover in September, they found a large body of 
 Penacooks, and other New-Hampshire Indians at Maj. Wal- 
 dron's, with whom they had confirmed a peace. Among them, 
 were many refugees from the Massachusetts tribes who were 
 known to have been engaged in the war, as the confederates 
 of the late Philip. By the stratagem of a pretended sham- 
 fight, to which the Indians agreed for diversion, the whole 
 body was surrounded ; and while the Penacooks were peace- 
 ably dismissed, the southern Indians intermingled with them, 
 to the number of two hundred-, were seized, a few executed, 
 and the rest sold into slavery, some of whom were carried to 
 Tangiers in Africa. Maj. Waldron's personal inclinations 
 were averse to this act, but he felt himself compelled to it 
 by the orders of the government. The morality of it is 
 more than questionable : and the Penacooks, who had 
 hitherto been peaceable, deeply resented it, as a breach of faith 
 on the part of the Major. Some years afterwards they inflict- 
 €* 
 
30 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1677. 
 
 ed on him ample revenge, in accordance with their well known 
 character of not forgetting an injury. 
 
 After this seizure of the southern Indians at Dover, the two 
 Massachusetts companies, reinforced by some of Waldron's 
 men, went Eastward ; but on their approach the enemy fled 
 into the woods, and they found the region deserted and deso- 
 late. On their return from this fruitless march, they under- 
 took a winter expedition over frozen mountains and deep 
 snows, to Ossipee Lake, on whose western shore the Indians 
 had constructed a strong fort; but found this region also deser- 
 ted by the enemy. A third expedition into the country of the 
 hostile Indians was undertaken in the depth of winter, and led 
 by Waldron himself; but after a few unimportant skirmishes, 
 and the erection of a fort on the Kennebec, the troops return- 
 ed with little success. 
 
 With the existence of an inveterate enmity between the 
 Mohawks of New York and the New-England tribes, the rea- 
 der has been made acquainted in a preceding page. The 
 Penacooks had a great dread of these formidable enemies, 
 with whom, according to an old tradition, their fathers had 
 once fought a great battle in the vicinity of Concord, where 
 they had a fortified position to which they might retire in case 
 of attack. Imagining that an incursion of Mohawks might 
 terrify the hostile Indians into submission, the Government of 
 Massachusetts sent agents into their country, who found it easy 
 to persuade them to take up arms against their eastern enemies. 
 A party of them came from the west, in March, 1677, and 
 made their appearance at Amoskeag. The son of Wonolan- 
 set, who was hunting on the east side of the river, no sooner 
 discovered them than he found by their language that they 
 were Mohawks. Instantly he fled, and escaped uninjured 
 amid a shower of bullets. They next appeared in the neigh- 
 borhood of Dover, and killed several of a scouting party of 
 friendly Indians whom Waldron had sent out to watch their 
 motions. One of the victims was Blind Will, who being drag- 
 ged away by the hair of his head and wounded, was left to 
 perish on a neck of land in Dover, which has ever since borne 
 his name. 
 
 This incursion of the Mohawks not only failed of its object, 
 but infused into the minds of the Penacooks, already soured 
 by the seizure of their associates, a suspicion that the English 
 were plotting their destruction. The people passed the ensu- 
 ing summer in ceaseless anxiety, and a few individuals were 
 killed by parties of the enemy continually hovering in the pre- 
 cincts of the settlements. 
 
1678.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. 31 
 
 Early in 1678, the hostile tribes discovered an inclination 
 for peace. Messrs. Champernoon and Fryer, of Portsmouth, 
 and Maj. Shapleigh of Maine, met their chiefs at Casco, now 
 Portland, and negotiated a treaty. The captives were restor- 
 ed, and a war which had raged in some one or other of the 
 Colonies for three years, destroyed a multitude of their young 
 men, and threatened their very existence, was happily termin- 
 ated. Portsmouth suffered less than the other towns, its pe- 
 ninsular situation contributing much to its protection. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that while this war was raging in 
 most parts of the country, the numerous Indians of Martha's 
 Vineyard, who had been christianized by the benevolent la- 
 bors of Mayhew, abstained from all participation in hostilities, 
 and exhibited towards the English the most friendly disposi- 
 tion. A striking instance of the influence and value of Chris- 
 tian instruction. 
 
 A circumstance related by Belknap and others, deserves no- 
 tice, as illustrative of the spirit of the age. In the course of 
 the war many people imagined they heard drums and guns in 
 the air ; numerous reports were spread of the appearance of 
 flaming swords and spears in the sky ; and eclipses were not 
 seen without serious apprehension. The occurrence of some 
 battles was affirmed to be known on the very day, in places so 
 distant as to render a conveyance of the news by human effort 
 impossible, and to infer some mysterious and supernatural 
 communication. Instead of ridiculing these weaknesses of 
 that age, it becomes us rather to be thankful that superior light, 
 has freed the present age from such groundless apprehensions, 
 and given us juster views of the providential government of 
 God. 
 
 While the people of New-Hampshire were defending their 
 possessions at the price of blood, the heir of Mason in Eng- 
 land made a second attempt to recover possession of the Prov- 
 ince. A petition presented by him to the king, complaining 
 of his wrongs, procured a royal order to Massachusetts to 
 shew cause why she exercised jurisdiction over New-Hamp- 
 shire. This order was brought to Boston by Edward Ran- 
 dolph, a kinsman of Mason, in that day looked upon as the 
 Evil Genius of New-England — an artful, ambitious man, deep- 
 ly interested to establish the claim of his relative, and viru- 
 lently opposed to the government and religious establishments 
 of Massachusetts. He soon came into this province, publish- 
 ing a letter from Mason to the inhabitants, in which he claimed 
 the soil of New-Hampshire as his own property. The people 
 were seriously alarmed, and called public meetings in which 
 
32 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1679. 
 
 they protested against the claim, and agreed to petition the 
 king for protection. To pay quit-rents for lands they had 
 fairly bought of the Indians, cultivated for half a century, and 
 defended at the risk of their lives *, was a submission they 
 deemed unreasonable. Had Mason confined his claim to the 
 unsettled part of his patent, quieting the inhabitants of the 
 four towns in their possessions, they would have made no op- 
 position. Randolph, on his return to England, misrepresented 
 then sentiments, reporting to the King that the country was 
 opposed to what he called the usurpation of Massachusetts, 
 and wished for a separation ; at the same time employing all 
 the means in his power, to inflame the prejudices of the King's 
 ministers against that colony. 
 
 Two agents from Massachusetts repaired to England to de- 
 fend against the claim of Mason and the accusations of Ran- 
 dolph. After a hearing of the parties before the king's judges, 
 it was decided that the construction put by Massachusetts on 
 her Charter, which would make it cover all the south-eastern 
 section of New-Hampshire, was inadmissible ; and that the 
 four towns of Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter and Hampton, were 
 out of her jurisdiction. It was also decided that Mason had 
 no right of jurisdiction over New-Hampshire ; of the justice 
 of his claim to the right of soil, the judges gave no opinion, as 
 the occupants, a party deeply concerned, were not before them. 
 
 This decision paved the way for the separation from Mas- 
 sachusetts, and the erection of New-Hampshire into a distinct 
 Province. Several considerations influenced the king to de- 
 termine on this step : his displeasure against Massachusetts — 
 his willingness to favor the claim of Mason — and the necessi- 
 ty of erecting a jurisdiction by which the conflicting claims 
 to the right of soil might be decided, it being admitted that no 
 Court in England had cognizance of the case. He first re- 
 quired Mason to renounce all claim of rents for time past, and 
 to bind himself to give to all occupants of land, provided he 
 should establish his claim to the soil, a title forever on condition 
 of the annual payment of one fortieth part of the yearly value 
 of their possessions. Next, he issued a Royal Commission in 
 1679, restraining the j urisdiction of Massachusetts and erect- 
 ing New-Hampshire into a Royal Province. The government 
 was committed to two distinct branches, a President and Coun- 
 cil to be appointed by the Crown, and an Assembly of Rep- 
 resentatives to be chosen by the people. John Cutts, an 
 eminent and popular merchant of Portsmouth was appointed 
 President of the Province, and Richard Martin, William 
 Vaughan, and Thomas Daniel of Portsmouth, Richard Wal~ 
 
1679.] period ii.— 1641— 1679. 33 
 
 dron of Dover, John Gilman of Exeter, and Christopher 
 Hussey of Hampton, Counsellors. Thus was dissolved by an 
 act of arbitrary power the union of Massachusetts and New- 
 Hampshire, after it had subsisted thirty-eight years to mutual 
 satisfaction. 
 
 The Governors who presided over Massachusetts, and of 
 course over New-Hampshire during the union, were Richard 
 Bellingham, John Winthrop, John Endecott, Thomas Dudley, 
 John Leverett, and Simon Bradstreet. A particular account 
 of these Fathers of New-England belongs to the history of the 
 former Province rather than that of the latter. Gov. Winthrop 
 died in 1649, leaving a character eminent for candor, disinter- 
 edness, and piety. Though he came to this country rich, such 
 were his liberality and public spirit that he died comparatively 
 poor. Gov. Bradstreet, who was elevated to the chair in 1679, 
 outlived almost all the original settlers of New-England, his 
 exact temperance being the means of prolonging his life till 
 1697, when he died at the age of 94. Without pretensions to 
 splendid or showy talents, his integrity, prudence, and christian 
 deportment procured him the esteem and veneration of all 
 classes of men, 
 
PERIOD III 
 
 from the erection of new-hampshire into a distinct 
 province in 1679, to the close of king william's war 
 in 1698. 
 
 Edward Randolph, a messenger whose arrival was thought 
 to bode no good, brought the commission for the new govern- 
 ment to Portsmouth on the 1st of Jan. 1680. It was received 
 with regret not only by the people, but even by the gentlemen 
 appointed to office, who were sincerely attached to the union 
 with Massachusetts and reluctant to a separation. The only 
 consideration that induced them to accept their offices, was the 
 apprehension that their refusal would be followed by the ap- 
 pointment of others unfriendly to the interests of the people. 
 Submitting to the necessity of the change, they published their 
 commission, took their oaths of office, and appointed a Fast to 
 implore the blessing of Heaven on the rulers, and "the con- 
 tinuance of their pretious and pleasant things." 
 
 The King's Commission was the basis of the new govern- 
 ment and the only substitute for a definite Constitution. As 
 it authorized the six Counsellors named in it to add three others 
 to their number, they elected Elias Stileman, Samuel Dalton, 
 and Job Clements. Agreeably to a clause which empowered 
 the President to nominate a Deputy to preside in case of his 
 absence or death, he appointed Major Waldron to this office. 
 A change which denied to the people and gave to the King 
 the appointment of President, Counsellors, and other principal 
 governmental officers, couldnot but be disrelished : nor was this 
 the only objection — it was viewed as the entering wedge of an 
 invasion of their property. 
 
 In March the first Legislature of New-Hampshire, consisting 
 of a President and Council of nine, and an Assembly of Rep- 
 resentatives of eleven members, met in Portsmouth* and the 
 session was opened with prayer and an Election sermon by 
 the Rev. Mr. Moodey. Their first measure was to prepare an 
 affectionate address to Massachusetts, expressive of their grat- 
 itude and attachment to that Province and their regret at the 
 
1680.] period in.— 1G79— 1698. 35 
 
 separation. They held four sessions in the course of the year, 
 in which they framed a code of laws and established [nferior 
 Courts of Judicature. The President and Council, either with 
 or without a Jury at the option of the parties, constituted the 
 highest Judicial tribunal, with an allowance however in cer- 
 tain cases of an appeal to the King. The Militia was organized 
 into six companies, of which Major Waldron was Commander 
 in Chief. Of persons admitted to the privilege of voting, Ports- 
 mouth had at this period seventy-one, Dover sixty-one, Hamp- 
 ton fifty-seven, and Exeter twenty. 
 
 Robert Mason, the claimant of the Province, came over from 
 England at the close of the year with a writ from the King 
 commanding the President and Council to admit him to a seat 
 in their body. Aware of his designs to compel them to submit 
 to his claim as Lord Proprietor, the people prepared to resist 
 them and guarded their rights with unceasing vigilance. He 
 demanded rents of several persons ; urged the people to take 
 leases from him ; and on their refusal forbade them to cut fire- 
 wood and timber. Irritated by their opposition he openly 
 threatened to sell their houses and lands for rents ; a menace 
 which produced an application to the President and Coun- 
 cil for protection. As their feelings harmonized with those of 
 the people, they willingly interposed and forbade Mason to 
 proceed. On this interference he was so exasperated as 
 to publish a summons to the President and some of the Coun- 
 cil to appear before the King within three months, to make 
 answer to charges he intended to bring against them. Resent- 
 ing this contempt of their authority, they issued a warrant for 
 his apprehension ; but he evaded it and returned to England. 
 
 Randolph had obtained from England the appointment of 
 Surveyor and Collector of the Customs for the whole of New- 
 England, and made Walter Barefoot, a rash and reckless man, 
 his deputy at Portsmouth. The President and Council, pro- 
 ceeding on the ground that the royal authority could be exer- 
 cised here only through the medium of their Commission, re- 
 fused to recognize Barefoot's authority, and fined him for an 
 attempt to execute an office not derived from the constituted 
 authorities of the Province. 
 
 The population of New-Hampshire at this period did not 
 exceed 4000. Many of the people had been impoverished by 
 the Indian war, having had their buildings burned, their cattle 
 killed, and their business interrupted. The soil was not suffi- 
 ciently cultivated to furnish a full supply of provisions. Mon- 
 ey was scarce and taxes were usually paid in lumber or pro- 
 duce. Whatever of foreign commerce there was, centered at 
 
36 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1682. 
 
 Portsmouth ; and consisted in the exportation offish and lum- 
 ber, and the importation of such commodities from abroad as 
 the exports were able to command. 
 
 President Cutts administered the government but little more 
 than a year, being removed by death in April, 1681. He was 
 one of the founders of the church in Portsmouth and highly 
 estimable for integrity and benevolence. As he lived beloved, 
 he died generally lamented. His body was buried in a se- 
 questered spot in his orchard, which his descendants after- 
 wards inclosed as a family cemetery, and which is now sur- 
 rounded by buildings. Having in the commencement of his 
 administration nominated Major Waldron as his Deputy, this 
 veteran magistrate succeeded him in the Chair and remained 
 at the head of the government almost two years, till he was 
 superseded by the arrival of Cranfield. 
 
 Convinced that the men then in office could never be brought 
 to favor his designs, Mason felt it necesshry to procure the ap- 
 pointment of a Governor more subservient to his interests. — 
 By an offer to the King, whose profuseness made him neces- 
 sitous and greedy, of one fifth of the rents he might recover, 
 he procured the appointment of Edward Cranfield, Esq. as 
 Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Pro- 
 vince ; and by mortgaging the residue of his claims as security 
 for the payment of an adequate salary, he induced him to ac- 
 cept. Cranfield came here in October, 1682, and published 
 his commission. A worse Governor, with the exception of 
 Andros, New-Hampshire never had. He was a man of arbi- 
 trary principles and an overbearing deportment ; needy and ra- 
 pacious, he made no secret that his object in this quarter was 
 the betterment of his fortune. His principles — his necessities 
 — his devotion to the Masonian claim — all conspired to render 
 him odious to the people. Mason, who returned to the Pro- 
 vince about this time, and six others of the former Council were 
 reappointed to then- offices, and Barefoot and Chamberlain 
 were added to the number. Cranfield soon exhibited a speci- 
 men of his disposition by suspending Waldron and Martyn, two 
 of the popular leaders, from their seats at the Council board, 
 and by removing Capt. Stileman from the command of the 
 fort, a station he had long holden with general approbation. — 
 The Assembly meeting in November, the Governor thought 
 it politic to make some show of conciliation by restoring the 
 suspended Counsellors to their seats, on the pretence that he 
 had examined the allegations against them and found them in- 
 sufficient. With the hope of detaching him from the Maso- 
 nian interest, the Assembly made him a grant of £250, which 
 
1683.] period in.— 1G79— 1698. 37 
 
 he gladly accepted : but on their refusal to pass a bill to his 
 liking for the support of government, he hastily dissolved them. 
 This rash measure enkindled the resentments of the people and 
 produced some riotous proceedings at Exeter and Hampton, 
 on account of which one of the ringleaders was arrested and 
 sent to England for trial. 
 
 Notwithstanding these indications of resistance the Gover- 
 nor continued to carry matters with an high hand. He called 
 on the people by Proclamation to take leases from Mason with- 
 in one month, and on their refusal talked of seizing their es- 
 tates and compelling them to submit to the payment of quit 
 rents, by bringing a frigate into the harbor and quartering sol- 
 diers in the houses. Waldron, Martyn, Gilman, and other op- 
 ponents of the proprietary claim, he suspended from their seats 
 in the Council, filling the vacancies with men of his own views. 
 To prepare the way for a favorable decision of Mason's cause, 
 he new-modelled the Courts, making Barefoot, Judge ; Mason 
 himself, Chancellor ; Randolph, Attorney General ; and Sher- 
 lock, Sheriff. A few persons were either awed or flattered to 
 take leases of their farms from the claimant, and these served 
 for deputy Sheriffs, Jurors, and Witnesses. In the next place 
 he caused actions of ejectment to be brought against Wal- 
 dron and other principal land holders, who made .no defence, 
 alleging that the jurors were interested. As might have been 
 expected from Courts so constituted, the verdicts were in favor 
 of Mason : but as he could neither dispossess the occupants nor 
 fiud purchasers, the judgments hi his favor were perfectly in- 
 operative. Irritated by these acts the people sent Nathaniel 
 Weare of Hampton to England, to complain on their behalf to 
 the King and solicit Cranfield's reeal. He privately repaired 
 to Boston, and thence to London. Major Vaughan of Forts- 
 mouth was active in promoting his mission to the King, and 
 accompanied him to Boston, for which on his return he was 
 arrested by the Governor's order, and detained in prison sev- 
 eral months. 
 
 The government now became extremely oppressive and vex- 
 atious, interfering both with the rights of conscience and the 
 long established usages of the people. An order was issued 
 commanding the ministers'to admit all persons of suitable age, 
 not scandalous or vicious, to the Lord's supper, and their chil- 
 dren to baptism ; and to administer the sacrament to those who 
 might so prefer it, "according to the liturgy of the Church of 
 England." The overseers of the several towns were forbid- 
 den to call town meetings on public business without leave 
 first obtained. 
 
 D 
 
>X HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1684, 
 
 His pecuniary necessities compelled Cranfield early in 1684 
 to convene an Assembly at New-Castle, the place of his resi- 
 Lence, of whom under pretext of a foreign war, he demanded 
 supplies for the repair of the Fort, and for other purposes. — 
 Having no confidence in him, they refused compliance, and 
 he angrily dissolved them. An order from England obliged 
 him to call another in May, which being as unmanageable as 
 the former, he immediately dissolved. A third was convened 
 in July for the purpose of passing acts for the suppression of 
 piracy, the American seas being then infested with bueanicrs. 
 They passed the necessary acts ; but no money could the 
 Governor obtain. Disappointed in his mercenary plans, he 
 ventured on a bold usurpation of power. Having found an 
 opportunity by the suspension of some of the members and 
 the death of others, to model the Council to his own mind, he 
 at length brought that body to concur with him in continuing 
 nixes formerly imposed, by their sole authority, without the 
 concurrence of the Representatives. Not only was this meas- 
 ure unauthorised by his Commission, but it was in dehance of 
 a Provincial law which declared that " no act, imposition, law,. 
 or ordinance should be made or imposed, but such as should 
 be made by the Assembly and approved by the President and 
 Council." So flagrant an assumption of power over a people 
 fond of liberty and jealous of their rights, could not fail to 
 awaken a spirit of determined resistance, and the Constables 
 returned the taxbills with information that the people would 
 not pay them. The bills were then committed to the Provost, 
 who seized the goods of some, and imprisoned others ; but at 
 Exeter and Hampton he was forcibly resisted, being beaten, 
 and at the latter place deprived of his sword. A troop of horse- 
 men being ordered out to enforce the collection, not a trooper 
 appeared ; and Cranfield was obliged to yield the point. 
 
 A singular instance of his arbitrary disposition is found in his 
 persecution of the Rev. Mr. Moodey. This gentleman, as a 
 strenuous advocate of the popular cause, was obnoxious to the 
 Governor. A member of his church fell under strong suspi- 
 cion of perjury ; he thought it his duty to institute an enquiry 
 into the affair ; the Governor, whom the offender had found 
 means to interest in his favor, forbade the proceeding ; but Mr. 
 Moodey was not to be deterred from the maintenance of chris- 
 tian discipline in his church. Incensed at his proceeding, 
 Cranfield sent him a written order to administer to himself, 
 Mason, and one other, on the next Sabbath, the Lord's supper 
 according to the ritual of the Church of England. Moodey 
 refused : and being prosecuted, plead in defence that he was 
 
1685.] period in.— 1679— 1698. 
 
 not Episcopally ordained and therefore not qualified to admin- 
 ister the ordinance according to the rites of the English Church: 
 
 that he did not receive his maintenance as a minister of thai. 
 Church; and that the English laws under which the demand 
 was made, were not intended to be binding hi this country on 
 persons not of the Episcopal denomination. This plea n< t 
 withstanding, he was sentenced to be deprived of Ids benefice 
 and suffer six months close imprisonment. After amojifine? 
 ment of half this period he obtained a release, but under a 
 strict charge to preach no more in the Province. He went to 
 Boston, where; he found sympathy, and was employed to sup- 
 ply a pulpit in that place. After some years he returned to 
 Portsmouth, resumed the Pastoral charge of his flock, and 
 •continued with themin usefulness and peace. 
 
 Not long after Moodey's trial, Cranfield transmitted to Hamp- 
 ton a threat of making a similar demand on the Rev. Mr. ( Jot- 
 ton, who, to evade a prosecution, retired to Boston. The 
 Governor and his chief adviser, Randolph, were virulently op- 
 posed to the Congregational churches, and not unfrequently 
 threw out hints of depriving the people of the control of their 
 meeting-houses and compelling them to contribute to the sup- 
 port of Episcopal ministers. Threats like these had no other 
 effect than to excite a determined opposition. 
 
 At this period the settlements on the Connecticut river were 
 extended into Hinsdale, on the south border of the County of 
 Cheshire. This town was then considered as a part of North- 
 field in Massachusetts, and long remained under the jurisdic- 
 tion of that Province. With this single exception, the western 
 part of New-Hampshire exhibited an unbroken forest for al- 
 most half a century afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Weare, whom the people had sent to England as their 
 agent, presented several charges against Cranfield, whieh, after 
 an hearing before the Lords of Trade, occasioned a report cen- 
 suring him in certain points. The King accepted the report 
 — but without any further mark of disapprobation granted a 
 previous request of the Governor for leave of absence from 
 the Province, on which he embarked for Jamaica in 1685. — 
 New-Hampshire had in his eye no charms when he found it 
 would not yield him the golden harvest lie had expected to 
 reap ; and the people rejoiced in being rid of a man whose 
 violent conduct had excited deep and general indignation. — 
 It is said however by Belknap, that on reflection he became 
 sensible of his misconduct, and while he was afterwards Col- 
 lector of the Customs at one of the West India Islands, made 
 
•JO HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1686. 
 
 it a point to treat shipmasters from the Pascataqna with marked 
 attention. 
 
 On Cranneld's departure Walter Barefoot, whom he"" had 
 nominated as Deputy Governor, succeeded to the Chair and 
 officiated as Chief Magistrate about a year. Not only was he 
 a man of rash and violent temper, but on other accounts 
 justly odious to the people. Under his countenance and 
 protection, Mason renewed his attempts to enforce the execu- 
 tion of the judgments he had obtained against the principal 
 land-holders ; but in attempting to take possession of their es 
 tates the officers were forcibly resisted, and he found himself 
 compelled to desist. In the course of the season the Penaco^ ks 
 and Ossipees, alarmed with apprehensions of being attacked 
 by the Mohawks, gathered their corn early and deserted their 
 habitations. Jealous that they were preparing for war, the 
 government sent to demand the reasons of this movement. — 
 The Indians assigned the true reason, and disclaimed any hos- 
 tile design ; entering into an engagement not to remove again 
 from the neighborhood of the English without giving due no- 
 tice of their intention. 
 
 In May, 1686, anew form of government went into operation, 
 Charles II., now dead, had long wished to place the New- 
 England Colonies under an administration that should render 
 them completely subject to his control, and had procured three 
 years prior to this date, a judicial sentence declaring the for- 
 feiture of the original Charter of Massachusetts. Death ter- 
 minated his strides toward despotic power; but his suc- 
 cessor, the arbitrary James II. pursuing the same object, ap- 
 pointed JosephDudley to be President of Massachusetts,Rhode- 
 Island, New-Hampshire, and Maine. He retained his office 
 but a few months, in which nothing memorable transpired, 
 and was superceded at the close of the year by the arrival at 
 Boston of Sir Edmund Anclros with a Commission from the 
 king of almost unlimited powers, constituting him Governor 
 in chief over every part of New-England. With the advice 
 of his Council, he was empowered to make laws, impose taxes, 
 and grant lands on terms to be approved by the king. New- 
 Hampshire came of course under his jurisdiction,and furnished 
 two members of his council, Mason and John Hincks. 
 
 Andros began his course with fair professions, but soon be- 
 gan to disclose his selfish and tyrannical designs of enriching 
 himself and his frends by illegal and oppressive exactions. 
 Pretending that the forfeiture of the Charter of Massachusetts 
 had annulled land titles, and that Indian deeds were no better 
 than the "scratch of a bear's paw," he compelled land-hold- 
 
1G88.] period in.— 1G79— 1698. 41 
 
 ors in that Province to obtain new titles to estates they had 
 enjoyed half a century, and pay exorbitant fees for the pa- 
 tents. Taxes were imposed at his pleasure, the press Mas re- 
 strained, and liberty of conscience infringed. Town meetings 
 were disallowed with the exception of one in each year, and 
 without a permit no person might leave the country: the ob- 
 ject of these restrictions being to prevent the assembling of the 
 people for consultation on their grievances, or the departure 
 of Agents to England to cany complaints to the king. But 
 in spite of his precautions the Rev. Dr. Mather of Boston, at 
 the desire of the oppressed inhabitants, effected a passage to 
 London in 1G87 and laid the complaints of the country before 
 the throne. The times were indeed ill. From the misrule of 
 Andros New-Hampshire suffered far less than Massachusetts: 
 still, she had been drinking the cup of oppression for several 
 years, and had been under a government of mew rather than 
 of laws. Cranfield, Barefoot, and Andros, who, with the ex- 
 ception of the short administration of Dudley, had been in 
 succession at the head of government eight years — and Ran- 
 dolph, who was a prominent man under each of these admin- 
 istrations, were all the minions of arbitrary power. 
 
 Even Mason, though at first a warm friend to the Governor, 
 did not escape the effects of his rapacity. Major William 
 Vaughan of Portsmouth, one of the richest men in the Prov- 
 ince, who had lost his case in an action of ejectment brought 
 against him by Mason in Cranfield's court, had ventured to 
 appeal to the king — but without success ; after a hearing in 
 England the verdict against him was confirmed. Bringing 
 with him this decision in his favor, Mason returned to this 
 country full of hope that he was on the point of succeeding in 
 establishing his claim as Proprietor of New-Hampshire. But 
 his views were thwarted in a manner quite unexpected. An- 
 dros and other governmental agents looked with an envious 
 eye on his large share of lands, and with the hope of enrich- 
 ing themselves by granting the lands to others, contrived vari- 
 ous expedients to defeat his designs. In the midst of the 
 controversy, his death happened suddenly on a journey to Al- 
 bany, and his claims passed into the hands of John and Rob- 
 ert, his sons and heirs. 
 
 The calamities of the country were now aggravated by an 
 other war with the Indians, aided by the Canadian French. 
 It commenced in 1G88, continued with one or two short inter- 
 missions for ten years, and was distinguished by the name of 
 king William's war. Andros in the spring of the year went 
 in the Rose Frigate and plundered the house of the Baron de 
 D* 
 
42 HISTORY OF -NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1689. 
 
 St. Castine, a Frenchman who carried on a large trade with 
 the Indians at Penobscot. The Baron, a gentleman of an- 
 cient family, who had left the vine-covered hills, and the green 
 vallies of France for an abode in the wilds of Maine, had ac- 
 quired great influence o^er them, having conformed to their 
 customs and married the daughter of Madokewando their 
 Sachem ; and in resentment of the attack by Andros he ex- 
 cited them to attack the English. The Indians alledged griev- 
 ances of their own. They complained that the cattle of the 
 English devoured their corn — that the fisheries of Saco river 
 were obstructed by seines — that encroachments were made on 
 their lands — that they were cheated in trade. They began 
 reprisals in Maine, killing cattle and in a few instances, persons. 
 Andros led a body of troops into this quarter; but as the Iti- 
 dians retired into the wilderness, his attempt to subdue them 
 was a total failure. 
 
 After the Colonies had endured the oppressions of this ra- 
 pacious plunderer more than two years, a rumor reached 
 Uoston of that great revolution in England, which expelled 
 the arbitrary James II. and raised to the throne William III., 
 a prince possessed of views far more liberal. Affecting to 
 discredit the intelligence, the Governor imprisoned the man 
 who brought it, on the charge of spreading a seditious rumor; 
 but the people were animated with hope and joy. On the 
 whisper of an intended massacre by his guards, the determin- 
 ation of the Bostonians was instantly taken. Aided by 
 crowds who flocked in from the country, they rose in arms on 
 the 18th of April, 1689, and imprisoned Andros and some of 
 his adherents, who were soon sent to England for trial ; thus 
 ridding New-England of a Governor whose name stands at 
 the head of the black list of her oppressors. 
 
 The news of this important Colonial revolution was received 
 in New-Hampshire with joy, but the event left the Province 
 destitute of a regular government. All the towns with the ex- 
 ception of Hampton chose delegates to meet in Convention, 
 for consultation on the measures proper for the crisis. At their 
 first session they came to no conclusion ; but at a subsequent 
 session agreed to return under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
 Petitions to this effect signed by more than 300 persons were 
 presented to the Legislature of that Province, who at once 
 granted the request. Only as a temporary expedient did the 
 people resort to this second union with Massachusetts, which 
 subsisted no longer than through the brief space from 1690 to 
 1692 ; during which they were represented in her Legislature 
 and governed by her laws. 
 
1689.] period ni. — 1679 — 1698. 43 
 
 la resuming the narration of Indian hostilities we must 
 return to the year 1689. Souk; efforts were made, but made 
 in vain, to conciliate the savages by sending them presents 
 and invitations to conclude a treaty of peace. Stimulated with 
 the thirst of taking vengeance on Major Waldron for his seizure 
 of their brethren thirteen years before ;— an event remembered 
 by them with deep though silent resentment — they concerted 
 an attack on Dover. Even the Penacooks, who had never 
 before shed English blood, joined with the Ossipees and Pe- 
 quavvkets intheenterprize, which was conducted by Hodgkins 
 the Penacook sachem, grandson of Passaconaway. There 
 were several fortified houses in Dover to which the inhabitants 
 resorted at night for safety. Approaching the place with pro- 
 fessions of peace, the Indians sent two of their squaws to 
 each house to ask lodgings for the night, with the intention of 
 opening the doors after the inmates were asleep, and giving 
 the signal of a whistle to the savages to rush in. The strata- 
 gem succeeded; the long continued peace had lulled the 
 Major's suspicions asleep. Some of his neighbors had indeed 
 apprehended danger, but he told them to go and plant their 
 pumpkins and he would tell them "when the Indians would 
 break out." The squaws were admitted into four of the houses, 
 of which Major Waldron's was one. Mesandowit, a chief, he 
 also admitted to lodge in his house, who while at supper asked 
 him, " What would you do, brother Waldron, if the strange 
 Indians should come? " The old soldier rejoined that he 
 could assemble an hundred men by lilting up his finger. 
 
 After the family had retired in fancied security and all was 
 still, the gate was opened and the signal given. In rushed the 
 savages, thirsting for blood. Major Waldron, aroused by the 
 noise from his sleep, seized his sword, and though bowed 
 down with the weight of eighty years, drove the assailants out 
 of his apartment through two or three doors, when one^ of 
 them getting behind him stunned him with the blow of a 
 hatchet. Placing him in his great chair on a large table they 
 deridindy asked him, " Who shall judge Indians now ? " They 
 cut off his nose and ears and gashed his breast with knives, 
 saving one after another, " I cross out my account." At length 
 he fainted from loss of blood, and as he was falling from his 
 seat they despatched him with a sword. Thus fell this gallant 
 man, venerable for years and public services, who had sus- 
 tained the highest civil offices and long been a pillar of the 
 Province. 
 
 Two other houses were surprised in a similar manner, in 
 one of which several of the inmates were killed. The owner 
 
44 ni STORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1689. 
 
 of the other, a Mr. Coffin, not being obnoxious to them, 
 they spared him and his family. They found in his house a 
 bag of money which they made him throw by handfulls on 
 the floor, and amused themselves in scrambling for it. A son of 
 Mr. Coffin owned a fortified house, into which he had denied 
 admittance to the squaws in the preceding evening. The ene 
 my required him to surrender, which he refused. They then 
 brought forward his father, threatening to kill him before his 
 eyes ; on which, to save the father's life the son yielded to 
 their demand. The occupants of another house were alarmed 
 by the barking of a dog in season to secure the gate, just as the 
 savages were about to rush in. While they were busy in plun- 
 dering the captured garrisons, the families of both the Coffin's 
 made their escape. 
 
 Twenty T three persons fell victims in this bloody tragedy, 
 and twenty-nine were made prisoners. The enemy effected a 
 speedy retreat, carrying their prisoners to Canada where they 
 sold them to the French : — the first English prisoners ever car- 
 ried to that country. Being then at war with the English., the 
 French opened a market for the purchase of scalps and pris- 
 oners, with a view to encourage the Indians to lay waste the 
 New-England settlements. 
 
 Amid these barbarities, an instance of Indian gratitude de- 
 serves remembrance. At the time of the seizure at Dover in 
 1676, Elizabeth Heard concealed a young Indian in her house 
 and aided him to escape. For this act of kindness she now 
 received an ample requital. Coming up the river from Ports- 
 mouth in a boat with her children and some others, on the 
 very night of the assault, she was alarmed by a strange uproar 
 and made directly for Waldron's where she hoped to find 
 safety. In so doing she unhappily threw herself into the 
 hands of the enemy, who had at that moment possession of 
 the house. They not only spared her life, but permitted her 
 to escape without molestation. The Indian whom she had 
 formerly befriended was one of the party ; he recognized his 
 benefactress, and his influence with the others procured her 
 this important favor. 
 
 A multiplicity of affecting incidents arc connected with the 
 massacre just related. The Rev. Mr. Emerson of Berwick 
 was in Dover, on the day preceding the attack, and was urged 
 to pass the night under the hospitable roof of Maj. Waldron. 
 A kind Providence disposed him to decline the invitation and 
 thus preserved him from death! Mather gives an account of 
 ►Sarah Gerrish, an interesting and beautiful little girl seven 
 years old, a grand-daughter of Major Waldron's. Being 
 
1689.] period in.— 1G79— 1G98. 45 
 
 in his house on that fatal night, she fell into the hands of the 
 Indians and was taken to Canada. Her sufferings were ex- 
 treme. In her protracted journey in gs, they once began their 
 march in the morning leaving her behind, lust asleep; on 
 awaking and finding herself alone in a hideous wilderness, she 
 was frightened at the thought of being torn by wild beasts, 
 ran after the Indians crying, and by following their track on 
 the snow at length overtook them. At another time her master 
 terrified her by making her stand against a tree, while he was 
 loading his gun as if preparing to shoot her. Once she was 
 rudely pushed into a river by an Indian woman and narrowly 
 escaped drowning. Often were her feelings tortured by inti- 
 mations from the young Indians that she was to he burnt to 
 death. One evening a great lire was kindled and her master 
 told her she was to be roasted alive ; on which she burst into 
 tears, and hanging upon the savage importunately begged him 
 to save her from the fire. Having arrived in Canada she was 
 purchased by a French lady, and after some time redeemed 
 and restored to her friends. Another circumstance attending 
 this tragical affair must not be forgotten. The government of 
 Massachusetts had received some notice of the designs of the 
 Indians against Waldron, and forwarded a letter to apprise 
 him of his danger : but by some unavoidable delay of the 
 bearer at the ferry over the Merrimac, the message did not 
 arrive till after the mischief had been perpetrated. 
 
 Aroused by the severe blow struck by the enemy at Dover, 
 the government sent expeditions to Penacook, (now Concord) 
 andWinnepiseogee, to attack them in their own quarters; but as 
 they lied into the recesses of the wilderness the troops could 
 do little more than destroy their corn. In August, several 
 companies from Massachusetts marched through this Province 
 to protect the settlements in Maine. After their departure, a 
 body of Indians hovering in the precincts of Durham, discov- 
 ered a party of eighteen men going from a garrisoned house 
 in the morning to'their work in the field. They intercepted 
 their retreat, and with the exception of one man killed them 
 all. Afterwards they attacked the house, which was gallantly 
 defended by a few women and two boys, who wounded several 
 of the assailants, and refused to surrender till they had received 
 a promise of quarter. The savages inhumanly violated the 
 promise by killing some of the children, one of whom they 
 transfixed with a sharp stake in the presence of the agonized 
 mother ! 
 
 Numerous repetitions of these outrages on humanity occur- 
 red in 1690. The French Governor of Canada sent out three 
 
4G HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1690. 
 
 expeditions against the English settlements, one of which fell 
 on Berwick in Maine and killed or captivated eighty persons. 
 A body of the surrounding inhabitants pursued and skirmished 
 with the foe, but could not recover the captives. Robert Rogers, 
 one of the prisoners, a corpulent man unable to carry the load 
 laid on him, threw it down and fled into the woods. He was 
 overtaken, bound to a tree, and after a little reprieve for prayer 
 and taking leave of his friends, was tortured to death with' all 
 the torments which diabolical ingenuity could think of — the 
 Indians drowning his dying groans with their dreadful yells. 
 
 The destruction of Berwick animated the savages to other 
 acts of devastation. A party under the noted Chief Hoophood 
 fell on Newington, killing and captivating twenty persons. — 
 About midsummer another band killed eight men who were 
 mowing in a field near Lamprey river, and the next day made 
 an unsuccessful attack on Hilton's garrison in Exeter. Two 
 ranging companies under Captains Floyd and Wiswall fell in 
 witii their track and followed it to Wheelright's pond in Lee, 
 where they came upon the enemy. The encounter was long 
 and sanguinary ; Wiswall and fourteen others fell. The sur- 
 vivors under Floyd retreated, leaving several men on the bloody 
 field wounded. Next morning their friends found them alive, 
 the Indians having hastily retreated, probably not without loss. 
 The latter were not however disabled from prosecuting their 
 destructive enterprises, for in the course of a few days more 
 they killed between Lamprey river and Arnesbury, not less, 
 according to the statement of Belknap, than forty persons. 
 
 Aware that the French influence in Canada was the chief 
 source of their miseries, the New-Englanders formed a plan 
 for the conquest of that country. A force of 2000 men, com- 
 manded by Sir William Phipps, sailed from Boston for Que- 
 bec Having been retarded by unavoidable hindrances, they 
 did not arrive there till October ; winter was at hand ; the 
 troops became sickly and dispirited, and it was concluded to 
 abandon the enterprize. Several ships were lost on the passage 
 home : one was stranded on the desolate island of Anticosti, 
 where the crew erected a few huts and lived through the win- 
 ter on less than quarter allowance. More than thirty out of 
 sixty died of cold and want ; yet these unfortunate men main- 
 tained a tolerable order, and observed the Sabbath and other 
 occasional days of prayer. One of their number, an unfeel- 
 ing villain who was repeatedly detected in breaking open their 
 storehouse, and devouring like a glutton those scanty supplies 
 on the due distribution of which their very existence depen- 
 dec^ they felt authorized by the law of self-preservation to put 
 
1602.] teriod in.— 1(379— 1(398. 47 
 
 to death. In the spring, live of the survivors ventured to sea 
 in a crazy little boat, and after innumerable escapes from floa- 
 ting ice-banks, arrived at Cape Ann, having made a passage of 
 1000 miles. By their friend:- they were received as alive from 
 the dead, and a vessel was immediately sent to Anticosti to 
 bring home the other survivors. This expedition involved the 
 people in debt, and the failure overspread this Province in 
 common with the rest of New-England with a deep gloom. 
 
 In this critical state of affairs a kind Providence disposed 
 the Indians to propose a cessation of hostilities through the 
 winter, and justice requires the acknowledgement that they ob- 
 served the agreement with good faith. After the expiration of 
 the truce, they resumed the tomahawk in the summer of 1691. 
 In September a party of them came from the eastward in canoes 
 to Rye, and killed or carried into captivity twenty-one of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The year 1692 is crowded with important events. In the 
 depth of winter, New-Hampshire was thrown into alarm by 
 the destruction of York in Maine, only a few miles from the 
 Provincial line, where the savages butchered fifty persons, 
 and took seventy-three prisoners. Among the slain was the 
 Rev. Mr. Dummer, the minister of the place, an exemplary 
 and excellent man, who was shot as he was mounting his 
 horse to escape, and fell dead on his faee. This disaster con- 
 tributed to the preservation of the Pascataqua settlements, by 
 arousing the people to unceasing vigilance. A party from 
 Dover fell in with a scouting band of Indians, and killed or 
 wounded most of them — a check which kept them for a time 
 at a more respectful distance. 
 
 Another important revolution in the government took place 
 this year. Samuel Allen, merchant of London, who had pre- 
 viously purchased of Mason's heirs, their claim to the soil of 
 New-Hampshire, obtained from the King the appointment of 
 Governor ; and for his son in-law, John Usher of Boston, the 
 appointment of Lieutenant Governor of the Province. As 
 A'llen did not himself visit this country for a considerable 
 period afterwards, Usher entered upon the government and 
 administered it for some years. With great reluctance the 
 people submitted to the change, and saw the dissolution of 
 their second, but brief union with Massachusetts, with undis- 
 sembled regret. The transfer of the Proprietary claim from 
 Mason to Allen, they regarded as merely a change of names, 
 and anticipated a repetition of former vexations under a new 
 claimant. Lieut. Governor Usher resided at Boston, but fre- 
 quently journied into this Province' to meet his Council and 
 
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1692. 
 
 attend the Sessions of the Legislature. He was frank, gen- 
 erous, and not regardless of the interests of the people : but 
 at the same time, fond of parade and somewhat imperious in 
 his deportment. Had there been no other distasteful circum- 
 stance, his connection with Allen, to whose interest he was of 
 course attached, was enough to render him unacceptable to 
 the people, determined as they were not to hold their estates 
 under a proprietary lease subject to an annual rent. About 
 the same time a new form of government under the second 
 Charter, wont into operation in Massachusetts : and that re- 
 markable child of fortune — Sir William Phipps — one of the 
 younger sons of an obscure family of twenty-six children, 
 born and brought up on the banks of the Kennebec — a me- 
 chanic, uneducated, and unable to read till he was twenty-two 
 years old — who by his successful enterprise of discovering 
 and fishing up from the bottom of the sea a great treasure, 
 which had been long before sunk in a Spanish vessel, had 
 acquired both wealth and rank — was appointed Governor of 
 that Province. 
 
 One of Usher's first efforts was to obtain possession of the 
 records and files of the Superior -Court, including all the pa- 
 pers relative to Mason's suit. On the dissolution of the gov- 
 ernment at the termination of Andros' administration, they 
 had been forcibly taken from Chamberlain the Secretary of 
 the Province and Clerk of the Superior Court, by Captain 
 Pickering of Portsmouth, who, with the view of throwing an 
 obstruction in the way of Mason's further proceedings, had 
 concealed them. To enable Allen to proceed in the estab- 
 lishment of his Proprietary claim, it was necessary to recover 
 these records. The Lieut. Governor ordered Pickering to 
 be brought before him, and demanded their return. Picker- 
 ing refused to give any account of them, except to the 
 Assembly or some person authorized by that body to receive 
 them : on which Usher imprisoned him. After a short deten- 
 tion he submitted, and delivered the papers to the Secretary 
 by Usher's order. 
 
 To the calamities of war were now superadded several 
 others. The small-pox, imported in bales of cotton from the 
 West Indies, prevailed in Portsmouth and Greenland ; and 
 as neither the method of inoculation nor the proper treatment 
 of the disease were then known, many died. The public 
 mind, especially in Massachusetts, began at this time to be 
 strangely agitated by the witchcraft delusion. Many persons 
 imagined themselves to be afflicted by the spectres of others 
 appearing to them, beating, pinching, pricking, and otherwise 
 
1693.] period in.— 1679— 1698. 49 
 
 tormenting them. The prisons were soon filled with the ac- 
 cused, and nineteen unhappy victims of popular delusion 
 were executed. Divines, Judges, Lawyers, and Jurors gave 
 to the excitement the whole weight of their belief, and thus 
 led the country into a labyrinth of errors and iniquities. — 
 Things came to that pass that the easiest way to escape accu- 
 sation was to accuse others, and at length persons of the first 
 standing in the community were accused. A son of Gov. 
 Bradstreet, charged with having bewitched a dog, and ridden 
 on his back through the air, was obliged to flee into New- 
 Hampshire, which was not greatly affected by the phrenzy. — 
 Another son of Gov. Bradstreet, who as a magistrate had been 
 concerned in examining and committing to prison many of 
 the accused, being himself accused of killing nine persons 
 by witchcraft, was glad to escape into Maine. Among the 
 accused were the Secretary of Connecticut and the lady of 
 Gov. Phipps. The evil became intolerable, and men began 
 to ask where it would end ? A little reflection brought back 
 the people to then senses ; the prosecutions were dropped ; 
 the prisons were thrown open; and the Judges and jurors 
 concerned in the trials, made public confession of their errors. 
 
 Though the Indian war impoverished the people and hin- 
 dered the growth of the Province, we yet find some faint 
 traces of internal improvement. A Post Office, connected 
 with that at Boston, was established at Portsmouth in 1693. — 
 Great Island, Little Harbor, and Sandy Beach, (now Rye) were 
 made a distinct town by the name of New-Castle. In the 
 spring of the next year twenty persons from Hampton, having 
 obtained from Usher a charter of the township, began the 
 settlement of Kingston ; but the danger of a surprisal by the 
 savages induced many of them to abandon the enterprize, and 
 rendered the progress of the new settlement extremely slow. 
 So well were the frontiers guarded this year that the Indians 
 found themselves unable to effect much mischief, and in Au- 
 gust sent in proposals for a peace, which for a brief space they 
 observed and which gave the Province a little respite from 
 war. 
 
 Had the savages been left to themselves they had probably 
 remained quiet. But Villieu, the commander of a small French 
 fort at Penobscot, was busy in persuading them to break the 
 treaty they had just made, and finally made them believe that 
 " to break faith with heretics was no sin." A body of 250 
 Eastern Indikns assembled under his command to attack the 
 English, and Durham was selected as the devoted object. — 
 They arrived on the borders of the place, undiscovered, on 
 
 E 
 
50 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1696. 
 
 the evening of June 17th, 1694, made their attack early the 
 next morning, destined five garrisoned houses out of twelve, 
 and killed or led away captive about an hundred of the people. 
 The house of Mr. Buss, minister of the town, together with his 
 valuable library was burnt. Seven fortified houses were suc- 
 cessfully defended. In one of them was a man who had been 
 kept aAvake through the night by toothache ; hearing the first 
 gun he roused the inmates just in time to secure the gate. — 
 Bickford, the owner of another house, having sent off his 
 family in a boat, undertook a defence alone, and by changing 
 his dress frequently and firing briskly made the enemy believe 
 there were several men within, and induced them to draw off. 
 While the main body retreated northward, a detachment went 
 to the farm of Madam Ursula Cutis, the relict of President 
 Cutts, and killed her and three of her workmen who were 
 making hay. This respectable lady had been advised to retire 
 to a place of safety, her farm lying on the bank of the river, 
 two miles above Portsmouth, remote from succor in case of at- 
 tack. She concluded to remain till Saturday night to finish 
 some work then in hand, but was slain a little after noon of 
 that very day. Col. Waldron and his wife with their son, had 
 engaged to dine with her that day,and were preparing to go to 
 her house in a boat, when the unexpected arrival of some 
 friends detained them at home. This was a providential es- 
 cape — had they gone, they had probably shared her fate. While 
 dining in their own house at Dover they had the melancholy 
 intelligence of her death. 
 
 Little mischief was done by the savages in 1695. In the 
 summer of the next year a considerable party of them who 
 came from the eastward in canoes, made a morning attack at 
 Portsmouth plain, two miles from the town. They had been 
 lurking in the woods some while, and suspicions had been 
 excited the preceding day by the cattle running out of the 
 bushes, affrighted : but the circumstance was not sufficiently 
 regarded. Nineteen persons were killed or made prisoners, 
 and several buildings burned. A company of militia under 
 Capt. Shackford pursued the marauders, and came up with 
 them as they were busy in cooking their breakfast, at a place 
 since called Breakfast Hill, between Greenland and Rye. — 
 Rushing upon them suddenly they recovered the captives and 
 the plunder ; but the Indians fled to their canoes and effected 
 their escape, eluding several armed boats which had been 
 stationed to intercept their retreat. A few weeks afterwards, 
 some people of Dover returning home from public worship 
 
1697.] period m.— 1679— 1698. 51 
 
 fell into an ambushment, and had nine of their number killed, 
 wounded, or captivated. 
 
 A gallant exploit was performed in this Province by a heroine 
 of Haverhill, Ms., in April, 1697. Mrs. Dustan of that place, 
 with her nurse and infant, was made prisoner and led into the 
 wilderness, where the savages finding the infant an encum- 
 brance, quickly despatched k. The women were conducted to 
 a little island near the mouth of Contoocook river within the 
 limits of Boscawen, and detained in charge of a party of In- 
 dians consisting of two men, three women, and seven children. 
 Here Mrs. Dustan formed the bold design of escaping. Finding 
 her keepers one night fast asleep, she with no other aid than 
 that of her nurse and an English boy taken from Worcester, 
 killed ten of the twelve savages and made her way with their 
 <r;t!}>.< through the trackless wilderness to Boston ! The fame 
 of her heroic achievement spread far and wide, and procured 
 her many presents, among others a valuable one from Gov. 
 Nicholson of Maryland. A relation of one more incident will 
 close the gloomy detail of Indian barbarities in this war. In 
 June a party of the enemy concealed themselves in the woods 
 about Exeter, intending to attack the town the next morning. 
 Though dissuaded by their friends, several women and chil- 
 dren ventured into the fields at an early hour to gather straw- 
 berries, when some one fired a gun to frighten them. The 
 town was alarmed and an armed force quickly brought together. 
 Supposing themselves to have been discovered, the Indians 
 staid only long enough to kill one, wound another, and capti- 
 vate a third, when they fled with precipitation. In this appa- 
 rently accidental alarm the reflecting mind sees the hand of 
 an all-governing Disposer,interposed to preserve the town from 
 utter destruction. 
 
 All the latter part of the season the country was agitated by 
 apprehensions of a French invasion. The Marquis Nesmond 
 sailed from France with a great force, expecting to be joined 
 at Penobscot by an army from Canada and then to ravage the 
 coast of New-England. It was feared that Portsmouth might 
 be the first point of attack. But the delay of the fleet, which 
 did not arrive on the coast of Newfoundland till late in autumn, 
 rendered the whole design impracticable. The following 
 winter was remarkable for intense cold and deep snows. 
 
 In the course of these events Lieut. Gov. Usher became 
 more and more unpopular. He irritated the people by sus- 
 pending from their seats in he Council some of the chief op- 
 posers of the proprietary claim, among whom were Hinckes, 
 Disappointed in his expectations 
 
52 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1697. 
 
 both of obtaining grants of the Assembly and of receiving 
 the stipulated salary from Allen, he had solicited leave to re- 
 sign. His opponents however had the address to get him 
 superseded by procuring, without his suspecting their designs, 
 the appointment of William Partridge as Lieut. Governor 
 and Commander in Chief in Allen's absence. He was a na- 
 tive of Portsmouth — distinguished for skill in naval architecture 
 — a man of popular address — and had been largely engaged 
 in trade. Early in 1697 he returned from England with his 
 commission, containing a full revocation of Usher's authority • 
 but for some reason did not qualify himself to aet in his of- 
 fice, by taking the necessary oath, till almost a year after- 
 wards. In the mean time, the suspended Councillors resumed 
 their seats, and John Hinckes as President of the Council, 
 officiated as Chief Magistrate till Partridge was duly quali- 
 fied. 
 
 To be thus superseded was to Usher unexpected and mor- 
 tifying. He made some efforts to retain his authority, and 
 attempted to excite the people of Hampton to support him 
 by force of arms; but the tide of public feeling ran strong 
 against him, and he found it necessary to quit the Province. — 
 President Hinckes and the Council issued a proclamation sta- 
 ting the revocation of Usher's powers, and commanding all 
 persons to submit to their authority. In answer to a complaint 
 of these proceedings which he transmitted to England, the 
 government there directed him to continue to act in his office, 
 till Partridge should duly qualify himself. Bearing this com- 
 munication, and also an official notice of the peace just con- 
 cluded between France and England, he came to Portsmouth 
 in December, to reassume the reins of government ; on which 
 Partridge the very next day qualified himself in due form, 
 and entered on the duties of the chief magistracy. Chagrin- 
 ed and mortified, Usher returned to Boston. 
 
 The loss of the Rev. Mr. Moodey of Portsmouth, excited 
 the general regret of the people. On the approach of his 
 last sickness, he repaired for medical advice to Boston, where 
 he died in 1697. Such was his eminence that he was once 
 elected President of Harvard College, but modestly declined 
 that important trust. Of his courageous resistance of Cran- 
 field's arbitrary designs, an account has been given in a pre- 
 ceding page. His disposition was benevolent, and led him 
 to embrace every opportunity of doing good. He had the 
 good sense to oppose at the time of the" Salem Witchcraft 
 that torrent of delusion which swept away almost all others, 
 tind exposed himself to no small obloquy, by his efforts to be- 
 
1698.] period in.— 1679— 1698. 53 
 
 friend the unfortunate accused. A Mr. English, a merchant 
 of Salem, and his wife were among the accused, and were 
 imprisoned at Boston. The day before they were to be re- 
 moved to Salem for trial, Mr. Moodey invited them to attend 
 public worship, and preached from the text, " When they 
 persecute you in one city, flee ye into another." This was 
 intended as a hint to them to make their escape. After ser- 
 vice he visited them in prison, and warned them of their 
 danger. By his advice and assistance, they escaped to New- 
 York, furnished with letters of introduction to Col. Fletcher, 
 Governor of that Province, by whom they were kindly en- 
 tertained in his own house. After the phrenzy had subsided, 
 they returned to Salem. But for this kind interference of 
 Mr. Moodey, they had probably fallen victims to the popular 
 delusion. 
 
 Most welcome was the news of peace. The French Gov- 
 ernor of Canada, in 1698, notified the Indians that he could 
 no longer aid them in the war, and advised them to bury the 
 hatchet. They had themselves suffered much from famine, 
 sickness, and the sword ; and after some delay were induced 
 to conclude at Portland, a treaty with the English, in which 
 they engaged future peace and the restoration of the captives. 
 Thus ended the first ten years' war, which had inflicted on 
 the northern parts of New-England great evils. The lot of 
 the unhappy captives was often wretched in the extreme. — 
 Such aged, infirm or corpulent persons as could not travel in 
 the pathless wilderness, were at once butchered on the spot ; 
 crying infants, whom their mothers could not at once quiet, 
 were dashed against a tree, or despatched with a toma- 
 hawk. A married woman, taken at Durham, unable to nurse 
 an infant child, born in the open air in a violent snow-storm, 
 was doomed to see it thus destroyed. Those able to travel 
 were compelled, though almost unclad and unfed, to traverse 
 miry swamps, steep mountains, and almost interminable 
 forests, through rivers and through snows. If they lived 
 to reach Canada, the happiest allotment they could expect 
 was to be sold to the French, to be detained as prisoners 
 till ransomed by their friends. Truth however requires us to 
 add that amid many barbarities, there were not wanting in- 
 stances on the part both of Frenchmen and Indians, of kind- 
 ness and humanity. Some of the younger captives became 
 attached to savasre life and voluntarily remained with the 
 Indians— to the poignant grief of their relatives at home, to 
 whom such an event was little less distressing, than to have 
 heard of their death. 
 E* 
 
PERIOD IV. 
 
 FROM THE CLOSE OF KING WILLIAM'S WAR IN 1698 TO THE 
 TERMINATION OF QUEEN ANN'S WAR IN 1713. 
 
 After a delay of six years from the date of his appointment 
 as Chief Magistrate of New-Hampshire, Gov. Allen came over 
 for the first time from England to America in the summer of 
 1698. It being well known that his errand was the establish- 
 ment of the proprietary claim he had derived by purchase from 
 3Iason, he met but a cold reception. The people with whom 
 he had to deal were men both of hard hands and of independent 
 spirits ; and spurned the idea of being considered as the mere 
 tenantry of the soil they cultivated. They well knew that the 
 Earl of Bellomont had received the appointment of Governor 
 of New- York, Massachusetts, and New-Hampshire : — but it 
 being uncertain when he would arrive, and undeniable that 
 Allen's commission remained in force till the arrival of his 
 successor, he assumed without opposition the administration 
 of the government and retained it almost a year. By his au- 
 thority, Usher resumed his place in the Council as Lieut. Gov- 
 ernor, to the exclusion of Partridge. This measure gave great 
 offence ; and was considered as illegal both by the Assembly 
 and a majority of the Council, who regarded Partridge's com- 
 mission as being still in force. Most of the old Counsellors 
 refused to sit at the board with Usher, and the whole of Allen's 
 short administration was little else than a scene of altercation. 
 His own temper was placable and yielding — but Usher's was 
 otherwise, and his influence pushed on the Governor into 
 measures, which, had he followed the bent of his own feelings, 
 he would not have attempted. 
 
 He was superseded the next year by the arrival of the Earl 
 of Bellomont, a nobleman of accomplished manners and lib- 
 eral principles, who was received by the people with great 
 cordiality. From this time and onward through a period of 
 forty-two years, Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, though 
 each Province had its own separate Lieutenant Governor, 
 
1700.] period iv.— 1698— 1713. 55 
 
 Council, and Assembly of Representatives, and its own code 
 of laws, were placed under the administration of the same 
 Governor. The new Governor shewed himself friendly to the 
 popular cause and reversed the former decision of Gov. Allen 
 in favor of Usher, thereby restoring Partridge to the office of 
 Lieut. Governor. By his authority the Counsellors whom 
 Usher had suspended, resumed their seats at the board; and 
 their associates who had retired from their places rather than 
 sit with Usher, returned of course. Bellomont made but one 
 visit, and that a short one, to New-Hampshire, on which occa- 
 sion he received from the Assembly a liberal grant. On his 
 return to Boston, he left the Lieut. Governor and Council, now 
 constituted in accordance with the popular wishes, to manage 
 the affairs of government. In anticipation of the efforts 
 expected soon to be made by the Proprietor, they availed 
 themselves of the favorable opportunity to new-model the 
 Courts, making John Hinckes Chief Justice of the Superior 
 Court, and selecting the side Judges from among the decided 
 opponents of the proprietary claim. This organization of the 
 Judicial tribunals left to Allen but a faint prospect of succeed- 
 ing in his views on the lands, unless by an appeal from the 
 Courts here to the authorities in England. 
 
 After a short residence in Massachusetts, Bellomont returned 
 to New- York where he soon after died, much regretted. His 
 attention had been considerably directed to the suppression of 
 the piracies, which at that time harrassed the commerce of the 
 American coasts. In the course of his administration, the fa- 
 mous Capt. Kidd and other pirates were taken, sent to England 
 for trial, and executed. Almost down to this day credulous 
 persons have imagined that these pirates buried large sums of 
 money in the earth, and have had the folly to dig for concealed 
 treasures which have never yet been found. 
 
 Prior to the Earl's death, Allen commenced a series of efforts 
 to establish his proprietary claim which kept the Province in 
 agitation for some years. The details are rather uninteresting. 
 To give a connected view of the affair, we must anticipate 
 dates and trace the progress of the controversy from 1700 to 
 1715. From the Provincial Courts he had little to hope, but 
 looked for a favorable issue on an appeal to the King. On 
 examining the records of the Superior Court, many leaves, 
 supposed to contain the record of the judgments formerly 
 given in Mason's favor, were missing — having probably been 
 destroyed by design ; the consequence was that he was obliged 
 to begin altogether anew. He brought a suit of ejectment in 
 1700 against Waldron of Dover, one of the largest landholders. 
 
56 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1701. 
 
 Judgment being given in Waldron's favor, the case was brought 
 by appeal before the King. As the cause of Waldron was 
 
 equally that of every other landholder, the Assembly appointed 
 George Vaughan, a son of Maj. William Vaughan the chief op- 
 ponent of Cranrield, to repair to England as their agent and 
 Waldron's attorney. In the mean time King William died, 
 and was succeeded by Queen Ann in 1702. When the appeal 
 came before the Queen's Council there was some defect of 
 proof on the part of Allen, which occasioned the judgment of 
 the New-Hampshire Court in AValdron's favor to be affirmed : 
 with permission however to Allen to begin anew by a writ of 
 ejectment in the Courts here. He availed himself of this per- 
 mission and judgment was again given against him. These 
 perplexing disappointments, together with want of funds and 
 the infirmities of age, inclined the Proprietor to make to the 
 people overtures of accommodation. A Convention of Dep- 
 uties from the different towns, holden at Portsmouth in 1705, 
 agreed to propose to him, that on condition of quitclaiming to 
 the inhabitants and their heirs all the lands within the limits 
 of the townships then settled, they would admit his claim to 
 all the remaining parts of the Province, allot him tracts in the 
 settled towns to the amount of 5000 acres, and pay him a con- 
 siderable sum of money. Probably Allen would have accepted 
 these proposals, had not his death prevented an issue so desi- 
 rable. Though his proprietary claim made him obnoxious to 
 the people, it should not be forgotten that his character as a 
 merchant was honorable, his private deportment amiable, and 
 his christian profession well supported. His son Thomas Al- 
 len renewed the suit, but unsuccessfully : on which he appealed 
 to the Queen in 1707. The distresses of the war then raging 
 induced the English government to delay an hearing on the 
 appeal for some years, till at length the death of Allen termi- 
 nated the suit, and the inhabitants of the Province were reliev- 
 ed from the fear of disturbance in the possession of their 
 lands. 
 
 Glad to dismiss this almost interminable controversy, we 
 return to chronological order. A society of the people called 
 Quakers or Friends was formed at Seabrook, then a part of 
 Hampton, in 1701. For some years before, a few individuals 
 of this denomination had been found in the Province ; but 
 this was the first regular society. At the present day the 
 number of their societies is almost twenty. As is well known, 
 the unlawfulness of war in all cases whatever is one of the 
 tenets of this respectable denomination ; and so far as the re- 
 sults, in the case of the Quakers, Moravians, and some other 
 
1703.] period iv.— 1698— 1713. 57 
 
 denominations of kindred views, have become matters of his- 
 tory, they go to prove that pacific principles serve rather to 
 protect from wrong than to invite aggression ; and that of 
 course they may be safely adopted, and the final issue left with 
 confidence at the disposal of the Supreme Ruler of the 
 world. 
 
 Joseph Dudley, Esquire, who had formerly occupied the 
 chair a short time, was appointed in 1702 Governor of Mas- 
 sachusetts and New-Hampshire. As he was favorably disposed 
 to the interests of the people in relation to the proprietary 
 claim, the appointment was acceptable, and the Assembly 
 granted him a permanent salary. The next year Usher ob- 
 tained a second commission constituting him Lieut. Gov- 
 ernor of New-Hampshire, much to the dissatisfaction of the 
 inhabitants. It is a fact not a little singular that this man,who 
 had been twice superseded by Partridge, should now in his 
 turn a second time supersede his rival. The latter, on his 
 final retirement from public life, removed from the Province 
 and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits at Newbury. — 
 The population of New-Hampshire had increased at this 
 time to 10,000 ; the number of towns was six ; of Congrega- 
 tional Churches, five. 
 
 To an historian who believes that war in all cases, that of in- 
 evitable self-defence excepted, is repugnant to the example and 
 precepts of Jesus Christ, it must be painful to record its scenes 
 of guilt and devastation. Better were it to commit his manu- 
 script to the flames, than send to the press what would serve 
 to excite a military feeling not under the control of conscience 
 and religion. That wars of aggression ; of plunder ; of revenge; 
 of false honor ; and of military glory, are anti-christian, is an 
 unquestionable truth : — and it is equally certain that in all wars 
 the guilt of complicated murder must attach, if not to both, at 
 least to one of the parties. Viewed however as events which 
 the Ruler of the Universe has permitted to exist, the events of 
 war belong to history ; and without doubt there is a mode of 
 exhibiting them, free from any tendency to excite military 
 passion or malevolent feeling. By the Author who regards 
 as he ought the moral influence of what he writes, this mode 
 must be considered as a great desideratum. 
 
 In 1703 began the second ten years' war with the French 
 and Indians, called Queen Ann's War. The French King 
 having proclaimed the Pretender as King of Great Britain, a 
 declaration of war followed on the part of England. As soon 
 as intelligence of this event reached this country, it was fore- 
 seen that the French would excite the Indians to resume the 
 
58 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1704. 
 
 hatchet. Desirous of keeping them quiet if possible, Gov. 
 Dudley visited Maine and invited them to a conference at 
 Portland ; where their Chiefs assured him that " as high as the 
 Sun above the Earth, so far distant was their design of breaking 
 the peace." But their professions were insincere : it was after- 
 wards discovered that had they been in sufficient force, they 
 would have seized the Governor on the spot. In the course 
 of a few weeks, they attacked at the instigation of French 
 agents all the settlements from Portland to Wells, and killed 
 and captivated 130 persons. 
 
 This wide spread devastation filled the people of New- 
 Hampshire with alarm, and soon were their fears of an assault 
 realized in the butchery of several persons in Hampton. The 
 Penacooks and Pequawkets joined with the eastern tribes in 
 the war. Women and children took refuge in the fortified 
 houses, and the men went armed to public worship and to 
 their labors in the fields. Scouting parties penetrated to Ossi- 
 pee lake and the head w r aters of the Saco, but the enemy 
 eluded an attack. An expedition undertaken in the winter and 
 led by Col. Winthrop Hilton of Exeter, a gallant officer, and 
 gprandson of Edward Hilton, was equally unsuccessful. 
 
 In the destruction of Deerfield, Ms. at the opening of thS 
 next year, the enemy struck a blow which excited general 
 consternation. The ensuing summer was however less disas- 
 trous to New-Hampshire than the people had forebo- 
 ded ; though lurking parties of Indians infested the 
 woods and occasionally killed a few individuals. A design 
 formed by the French to intercept the vessels which brought 
 supplies of bread stuffs from the South to the harbor of Pas- 
 cataqua, was happily frustrated by the stranding on the shore 
 of Cape Cod, of the armed vessel they had fitted out for this 
 purpose. A body of men under Col. Hilton, joined by a large 
 body from Massachusetts, the whole commanded by Col. 
 Church, spent the summer in an expedition to the Eastward, 
 killing and taking prisoners several of the enemy at Penob- 
 scot, and destroying some French settlements in Nova Scotia, 
 then called Acadia. In the western part of the Province was 
 performed an exploit worthy of a memorial. Some Indians 
 after the massacre at Deerfield went up the Connecticut river, 
 and established themselves in the fishing season at Coawsuck, 
 or Coos, probably not far from Haverhill. This being repor- 
 ted at Northhampton, Ms. Lieut. Lyman with five friendly 
 Indians went nine days march into the wilderness, discovered 
 their encampment in which were ten savages, and killed nine 
 
1706.] period iv.— 1698— 1713. 59 
 
 of them in a sudden attack made in a thunderstorm in the 
 dead of the night. 
 
 Early in 1705, the snow being four feet deep and the whole 
 country exhibiting a n aspect of desolation, Col. Hilton led 
 270 men on snowshoes to Norridgewalk to attack the enemy in 
 their winter quarters ; but they discovered the design in sea- 
 son to effect their escape. The capture of a large storeship 
 from France, having on board several persons of distinction 
 and valuable supplies destined to Canada, so disabled the 
 French there, that they could undertake no enterprise of con- 
 sequence, and the frontiers were tolerably quiet all the season. 
 So numerous however were the French privateers on the 
 coasts, that a line of nighly patrols was established from Ports- 
 mouth to Hampton to prevent a surprisal by parties landing in 
 the night. 
 
 The next year the Indians exhibited more vigor. A small 
 party attacked a house in Durham in which were only a few 
 females, the men being absent. Determined not to fall into 
 the hands of the barbarians — these heroines, putting on their 
 husbands' hats and assuming the appearance of men, kept up 
 so smart a fire that the assailants fled. The unhappy family 
 of John Wheeler, consisting of himself, wife, and six child- 
 ren, met them on their retreat and at first mistook them for 
 friendly Indians ; four of the number were killed — the others 
 fled and found concealment and safety in a cave. In July a 
 considerable body of western Indians came to Wells' garrison 
 in Dunstable, in which were twenty soldiers. Unaware of 
 impending danger they had neglected keeping a watch ; the 
 result of their negligence was that the enemy entered the fort 
 by surprise, and killed half the men in it. Still thirsting for 
 blood, they attacked another house not far distant, where they 
 slew several persons. The unhappy fate of Joe English, a 
 sagacious and friendly Indian, distinguished by this name for 
 his uniform attachment to the white people, and for this very 
 reason obnoxious to the hostile Indians, deserves to be re- 
 membered. Going to accompany two persons from Dunsta- 
 ble to Chelmsford, he was waylaid and shot down, much to 
 the gratification of the savages, who had long been seeking 
 his death. He often resided within the present limits of New- 
 Boston, near a lofty and precipitous hill which has ever since 
 borne his name. Having finished their destructive operations 
 in the vicinity of Dunstable, the same party of savages went 
 eastward, and at Exeter surprised ten men mowing in a field, 
 killing, wounding, or captivating eight, of the number. They 
 next entered Dover. An eccentric man in this town, named 
 
60 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1708. 
 
 Pearl, had lived three years, day and night, summer and win- 
 ter, in a cave almost in the very path by which the Indians 
 used to approach. Often had he been admonished of his 
 danger: but refusing to seek other quarters, he was discover- 
 ed and killed in his sequestered abode. 
 
 Col. Hilton conducted a winter expedition to the eastward 
 in January, 1707, of which the results were of some impor- 
 tance. Having surprised a small party of Indians at Scarbo- 
 rough, he despatched four of the number. A squaw who 
 fell into his hands as a prisoner, was induced to conduct him 
 to a larger party of eighteen, lying fast asleep in a place of 
 fancied security, of whom he killed seventeen on the spot. 
 The hopes inspired by this success were however damped by 
 the unfortunate issue of a subsequent expedition to Port Roy- 
 al, the capital of the French settlements in Nova Scotia, and 
 the centre of their influence over the eastern Indians. New- 
 Hampshire united with the adjacent colonies in raising a con- 
 siderable army for the reduction of this place, and an im- 
 portant command was assigned to Col. Hilton, her fa- 
 vorite son. The forces reached the place under the con- 
 voy of two men of war ; but dissentions between the military 
 and naval officers rendered the plan abortive, and the troops 
 returned late in the summer, sickly and disheartened. 
 
 Among the officers engaged in the Port Royal Expedition, 
 none was more distinguished for bravery and enterprise than 
 Capt. Chesley of Durham. The tragical fate which awaited 
 him on his return deprived the Province of a man, whom, in 
 her miserably feeble state, it was a serious calamity to lose. 
 He was one of a party who went into the woods with their 
 teams for some timber, and while engaged in work were sur- 
 prised by Indians, painted with a blood color, who at the first 
 fire killed seven men. Chesley with the few survivors made 
 a gallant defence, but at length himself fell, deeply lamented. 
 
 Much alarm was excited the next year by the report of a 
 powerful army to be sent from Canada to lay waste the Eng- 
 lish settlements. A considerable force was indeed sent on an 
 incursion into New-England, but they found the frontiers of 
 New-Hampshire so well guarded, that they directed their 
 march to Haverhill, Mass., where they slew many of the in- 
 habitants, together with the Rev. Mr. Rolfe, Minister of the 
 town, and burnt most of the buildings. Two daughters and a 
 maid-servant of Mr. Rolfe fled into the cellar, and under the 
 shelter of large tabs happily found concealment. The re- 
 mainder of this year and all the next passed away without se- 
 rious disaster ; the people were however confined to the garri- 
 
1711.] period iv.— 1698— 1713. 61 
 
 soned houses and agitated with continual apprehensions of 
 attacks. 
 
 The enemy executed in 1710, their long meditated design 
 of killing Col. Hilton, whose activity and enterprise had in- 
 spired them with a strong desire to put him out of the way. 
 Having ventured with some men several miles into the forest 
 to secure some masts, he was surprised and slain with two of 
 his men. A pursuing party from Exeter found the mangled 
 bodies of the slain on the next day, the fatal tomahawk still 
 remaining buried in the Colonel's head. Thus fell one of the 
 most estimable citizens, and one of the bravest defenders of 
 New-Hampshire ! His elegant silver headed cane is pre- 
 served to this day by his descendants as a precious memorial. 
 The lamented death of Hilton was quickly followed by the 
 butchery or capture of several persons at Exeter, Kingston, 
 and Dover : among the rest, four children at Exeter, while 
 engaged in their play, and totally unsuspicious of danger, 
 were seized by the enemy and led off into the wilderness. — 
 But these losses were far more than balanced by the success 
 of a second expedition to Port Royal, in which an hundred 
 men from this Province led by Col. Walton, co-operated with 
 the forces of the neighboring Provinces. Aided by a naval 
 armament from England, the troops took the place with little 
 resistance, and its name was changed to Annapolis, in honor of 
 the Queen. 
 
 This important success encouraged an attempt the next 
 year on Quebec itself. A powerful fleet under Admiral 
 Walker, and several regiments of veteran troops were des- 
 patched from England ; who on their arrival at Boston were 
 joined by such large reinforcements of Colonists as swelled the 
 whole number to 6500. Never before had New-England seen 
 on her waters and fields, a force so formidable. One hun- 
 dred of the Colonial troops were furnished by New-Hampshire. 
 With the brightest anticipations of success, the expedition 
 sailed from Boston, July, 1711, and had entered the mouth of 
 the St. Lawrence, when in one fatal night all their hopes were 
 blasted. The weather being thick and dark, and the Admiral 
 obstinately refusing to direct the course of the fleet according 
 to the advice of the pilots, eight transports were wrecked on 
 an island, and more than a thousand men perished in the wa- 
 ters ! — the sad result of the rashness and obstinacy of one 
 man ! Disheartened by the disaster, the fleet returned to 
 Europe, and the Colonial troops to their homes. From the 
 wrecks the French obtained many cannon and other spoils of 
 great value. It was observed by the pious people of that day 
 F 
 
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1713. 
 
 as a Providential interposition, that of the multitude who per- 
 ished in that dreadful shipwreck, only one man belonged to 
 New-England. 
 
 Small bands of savages still prowled around the frontiers, 
 but were unable to commit very extensive depredations. A 
 scout of forty men continually ranged the woods from Kings- 
 ton to Dover ; half the militia did duty at the garrisons, ready 
 to pursue a hostile party at a moment's warning ; and spy 
 boats were constantly employed off the coast, to prevent a sur- 
 prisal by the Eastern Indians coming by sea. An interesting 
 incident in the annals of savage warfare occurred at Dover. 
 A number of Indians came into the town, killed two children, 
 and made demonstrations of attacking a fortified house, in 
 which were only some women — the men being absent. A 
 resolute woman named Esther Jones mounted guard ; and 
 with a thundering voice called for aid, as if conscious it was 
 at hand ; on which the enemy, outwitted by the stratagem, and 
 imagining they might be overpowered, drew off without far- 
 ther efforts. 
 
 In the autumn of 1712, arrived the welcome intelligence of 
 the peace concluded between England and France by the 
 treaty of Utrecht. No longer supported by aids from Canada, 
 and weakened by sword and famine, the Indian Chiefs were 
 easily induced in the ensuing summer to meet Gov. Dudley 
 with the Councils of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, in 
 conference at Portsmouth, where a peace was agreed on which 
 happily continued for several years. Most joyfully did the 
 people* leave the garrisoned houses, and betake themselves to 
 the peaceful pursuits of industry in their own dwellings and 
 fields. Of the thirty-seven preceding years, twenty-three 
 had been years of war, in which New-England was com- 
 puted to have lost five or six thousand of the flower of her 
 youth ! New-Hampshire had a large share of these suffer- 
 ings, and, like a ship which has weathered out the storm, but 
 is become shattered and crippled, was left in a very deplorable 
 condition. In addition to the meritorious officers who fell by 
 the hand of the enemy, the Province, within the period em- 
 braced in this chapter, lost other distinguished citizens by the 
 ordinary course of death. The Rev. John Cotton of Hampton, 
 whose father, Seaborn Cotton, was his predecessor in the 
 ministry in that place, died in 1710 ; as did also the Rev. John 
 Pike of Dover, a pious and useful man. From a journal of 
 passing events kept by him, and still remaining in manuscript, 
 historians have derived the knowledge of several interesting 
 occurrences which had otherwise fallen into oblivion. 
 
PERIOD V. 
 
 FROM THE PEACE OF 1713, TO THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE 
 BOUNDARY LINES AND THE APPOINTMENT OF A SEPARATE 
 GOVERNOR FOR NEW-HAMPSHIRE IN 1741. 
 
 Soon after the restoration of peace, arrangements were made 
 for the exchange of prisoners, and a vessel was fitted out for 
 Quebec, which brought back the surviving captives to their 
 friends. 
 
 Gov. Dudley had conducted the administration of the gov- 
 ernment during the scenes of the late protracted war to 
 general acceptance. The circumstance that he favored the 
 views of those who opposed the claims of Allen, went a great 
 way in conciliating popular favor. Now and then his enemies 
 attacked his character; but on these occasions the New- 
 Hampshire Assembly shewed themselves his steady friends by 
 addressing the Queen in his defence. As is truly remarked by 
 Belknap, their "Addresses to the crown were frequent during 
 this female reign, scarce a year passing without one or two." 
 They either congratulated her Majesty on her victories in 
 Europe ; or petitioned for arms and military stores for their 
 own defence and for ships and troops to go against Canada ; or 
 represented their own poverty or the merits of Dudley ; or 
 thanked her Majesty for her interposition in not permitting the 
 suit of Allen to be decided against them. 
 
 George Vaughan of Portsmouth, obtained in 1715 a commis- 
 sion constituting him Lieut. Governor of New-Hampshire ; 
 and the circumstances of his being a native of the Province, 
 and the son of one of the most determined opposers of the 
 proprietary claim, rendered the appointment quite acceptable. 
 On his arrival from England and publishing his commis- 
 sion, Lieut. Gov. Usher, advanced in years, retired to private 
 life at his seat in Medford. During the war he had made fre- 
 quent journies from Boston, the place of his residence, to 
 New-Hampshire, and zealously promoted the defence and in- 
 terests of the Province : but after all, his reserved, stately man- 
 
64 ' HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1716. 
 
 cers and his connection with the Allen family, made him 
 unpopular. Gov. Dudley, expecting soon to be superseded, 
 left the administration of affairs in this Province wholly in the 
 hands of Vaughan. The Assembly were very desirous of 
 having the Governor retained in office, and petitioned the 
 King to this effect ; but in vain. Col. Samuel Shute, an English 
 officer, was the next year appointed to succeed him as Gover- 
 nor of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire. Dudley passsed 
 the evening of life in dignified retirement at his seat in Roxbu- 
 ry. Though like other eminent men he had his share of 
 obloquy, yet his character commanded great respect. He was 
 in the habit of praying with his children separately for their 
 everlasting well being, and was attentive to the religious 
 instruction of his servants : traits of character not unfrequent 
 at that day among the distinguished men of New-England. 
 
 Of Shute's administration the first acts were rather unpop- 
 ular. He displaced six of the old counsellors and appointed in 
 their stead six others, all of Portsmouth : a measure offensive 
 to the landed interest, on an apprehension that the Portsmouth 
 gentlemen might be disposed to favor unduly the trading inter- 
 est, and lay too much of the burden of supporting government 
 on the farmers. There was a want of harmony between him 
 and the House of Representatives. They complained of the 
 removal of the old Counsellors, and refused their consent to 
 an emission of bills of credit to the extent he desired ; on 
 which after some unpleasant bickerings he dissolved them. — - 
 A warm controversy arose between him and Lieut. Governor 
 Vaughan. The Governor resided for the most part in Massa- 
 chusetts, as the more important of his two provinces. Vaughan 
 contended that he had no authority in New-Hampshire except 
 when he was personally present, and that during his absence 
 from the Province the Lieut.Gov. was Commander-in-Chief. 
 On the other hand Shute asserted his own claim of supreme 
 authority in his absence as well as when present, and denied 
 the right of the Lieut. Gov. to exercise any govermental pow- 
 ers without express instructions^ Vaughan ventured to disobey 
 some of his instructions, and suspended Judge Penhallow, a 
 warm friend to the Governor, from his seat in the Council. — 
 Incensed at these steps, Shute repaired to Portsmouth, restored 
 Penhallow and suspended Vaughan: and the public opinion sus- 
 sustained the Governor and censured the rashness ofhisLietrL 
 A report of these proceedings being made to the King, Vaugh 
 an was removed from office in 1717, and John Wentworth, a 
 merchant of Portsmouth, a man of fair reputation, conciliatory 
 manners, and ample fortune, was appointed Lieut. Governor. 
 
1717.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 65 
 
 In February, 1717, occurred the greatest foil of snow recor- 
 ded in the annals of New-England — almost burying under 
 the frozen mass the small log houses of the new plantations. 
 So effectually were even the most travelled roads blocked, that 
 the magistrates and ministers of Boston, who had come out of 
 the town on the first day of the storm to attend the funeral of 
 the Rev, Mr. Brattle at Cambridge, were unable to return for 
 some days. In some portion of the streets of Boston, the 
 snow was six feet in depth ; and on the thousand hills of New- 
 Hampshire it lay in immense bodies. 
 
 From the effects of the late war the country rapidly recov- 
 ered, and soon exhited the spirit of improvement and enterprise. 
 An edition of the Provincial laws,which had hitherto, remained 
 in manuscript, was printed in Boston in a volume of 60 folio 
 pages. The fisheries in the eastern waters were successful : 
 and the British Parliament gave an impulse to the lumber bu- 
 siness by permitting the importation of lumber into England 
 free of duty. Something was done toward the cultivation of 
 hemp, but it soon appeared that all the land the people could 
 till was no more than was requisite for the production 
 of corn. The multitude of pitch pine trees invited the man- 
 ufacture of tar and turpentine, and not a few persons engaged 
 in this business, till too frequent incisions destroyed the 
 trees. 
 
 No little ferment existed at this time among the Eastern In- 
 dians. With utter dislike they saw the English settlements 
 rapidly extending ; while the erection of mills, dams, and forts, 
 injured their fisheries and interrupted their accustomed com- 
 munications. They contended that the lands thus occupied 
 had either been never sold by them, or sold by unauthorized 
 persons ; and complained loudly of being cheated in trade. — 
 To allay their discontents, Gov. Shute with several gentlemen 
 of both his Provinces, went into Maine and held a conference 
 with their Chiefs on an island in the Kennebec ; when he 
 promised that trading houses should be established among 
 them to furnish necessary supplies, and smiths sent to keep 
 their guns in repair : — a promise never fulfilled. The bad 
 conduct of some immoral men, who while they assumed the 
 name, denied in practice the obligations of christians, had 
 inspired them with strong prejudices against the religion of 
 the English: so that one of their Sachcms,m conversation with 
 a person who asked why they were so strongly attached to the 
 French ? replied, "Because the French have taught us to pray 
 to God, which the English never did." Bad men, bearing the 
 christian name, but utterly void of christian principles, have 
 
66 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1719. 
 
 in most ages formed the grand obstacle to the propogation of 
 Christianity among unevangelized nations. Justice to the 
 memory of the eastern Indians requires the admission, thaUhe 
 guilt of the blood shed in successive wars rests not on them 
 alone, but attaches in part to unprincipled whites. The great 
 Judge of the Earth, when he shall make inquisition for blood, 
 will apportion the guilt among the real criminals with exact 
 impartiality, and "render to every man according to his 
 works." 
 
 Prior to this period, the population consisted with few ex- 
 ceptions of the descendants of the original settlers who had 
 established themselves on the different branches of the Pas- 
 cataqua. Early in 1719 it received an important addition by 
 the settlement of some Scottish families at Londonderry. A 
 century before this date, their ancestors had emigrated from 
 Argylshire in the west of Scotland to the Counties of Lon- 
 donderry and Antrim in the north of Ireland, where they and 
 their descendants shared largely in the persecutions of the 
 Protestants in the reigns of Charles I. and James II. Bur- 
 dened with rents and tythes, and thirsting for the enjoyment 
 of civil and religious liberty, three Presbyterian ministers, of 
 whom one was the RevJames M'Gregore, with many individ- 
 uals of their Congregations, resolved on a removal to America, 
 of which they had heard nattering reports. To the number 
 of 120 families, they arrived, some at Boston and others at 
 Portland, the preceding autumn, and passed the winter at 
 different places. Mr. M'Gregore with sixteen others selected 
 as their residence the tract then called Nutfield, now London- 
 derry and Derry. He preached his first sermon there under 
 a large Oak from the following passage: "Moreover I will 
 make a covenant of peace with them : it shall be an everlasting 
 covenant with them ; and I will plant them and multiply them 
 and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore." 
 Their original number soon received such large accessions by 
 new emigrations of their countrymen, that in a few years the 
 church they established included 230 communicants. The 
 government of New-Hampshire extended to them a protecting 
 hand, and they remembered with much gratitude the friendly 
 offices of Lieut. Gov. Wentworth. Toward wealth and im- 
 portance they made rapid advances. They were a well 
 principled people ; frugal, hardy, industrious ; and warmly 
 attached to the Presbyterian doctrine and discipline. Many of 
 them and of their descendants lived to a very advanced age, 
 Mr. Mc'Gregore remained with them about ten years, till his 
 
 whose memory is 
 
1719.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 67 
 
 still holden in high respect. His son, the Rev. David Mc'Greg- 
 ore, afterwards minister of Londonderry, had few superiors 
 in usefulness and ahility. Windham, Chester, Litclifield, Man- 
 chester, Bedford, GofFstown, New-Boston, Antrim, Peterboro,' 
 and Acworth in New-Hampshire ; together with some towns 
 in Massachusetts, Maine, Nova Scotia, and Vermont, derived 
 from Londonderry a considerable proportion of their first in- 
 habitants. To this town we are to look for the origin of most of 
 the Presbyterian churches now existing in New-England. — 
 Its inhabitants endured for years much unmerited obloquy 
 from their English neighbors confounding them with the 
 proper Irish, from whom they essentially differed in language, 
 mauners* and religion : but these prejudices have been long 
 worn away. Many of their descendants have risen to high 
 respectability, among whom are numbered four Governors of 
 New-Hampshire ; one of the signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence ; several distinguished officers in the revolution- 
 ary war and in the last war with Great Britain, including 
 Stark, Reid, Miller, and M'Niel ; a President of Bowdoin 
 College ; some members of Congress ; and several distin- 
 guished ministers of the gospel. These people claim the 
 merit of having introduced into the State the culture of the 
 potatoe and the use of the foot spinning wheel. The superior 
 excellence of their linen cloth and thread procured for these 
 products of their industry an extensive demand, and contrib- 
 uted much to the wealth of the town. Probably not less 
 than 20,000, possibly 30,000 of the present inhabitants of our 
 country are the descendants of the Londonderry Colony. 
 
 This establishment, justly considered as the most respecta- 
 ble Scottish settlement in New-England, gave a considerable 
 impulse to the enterprise of New- Hampshire, and was soon 
 followed by the formation of settlements in Chester, Litchfield, 
 and Pelham. Not long after, the townships of Nottingham, 
 Barrington, and Rochester were granted and incorporated, 
 though not immediately settled. Many of the inhabitants of 
 the old towns, desirous of providing farms for their children, 
 began to think of a removal to places where lands were of 
 easier acquisition. Other reasons also led to the procuring of 
 these grants ; the best pines in the ungranted lands having 
 been marked by the King's Surveyors, were reserved for the 
 navy, and the people were forbidden to cut them under severe 
 penalties ; while the pines within the incorporated townships 
 were considered as private property. The convenience of 
 possessing these valuable trees, often growing in this region to 
 
68 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1721. 
 
 an immense size, excited of course an eager desire to obtain 
 large grants of land. 
 
 Hitherto there had been no legal determination of the 
 boundary line between Massachusetts and New-Hampshire. — 
 People who lived near the supposed line, were sometimes taxed 
 by both : the officers of both were perplexed with conflicting 
 claims of jurisdiction, and occasionally imprisoned each other. 
 At a meeting in 1719 of Commissioners from the two Provin- 
 ces, New-Hampshire contended for the establishment of a 
 line beginning at a point three miles north of the mouth of the 
 Merrimack, and extending thence in a due west course as far 
 as to the western boundary of Massachusetts. Happily for this 
 State, Massachusetts rejected a proposition far more favorable 
 to her interests than the decision in which she was finally 
 obliged to acquiesce, and the business remained for many 
 years unsettled. 
 
 On the night of the 17th of December, an unusual appear- 
 ance in the heavens filled the people of New-England with 
 alarm. It was the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, a 
 phenomenon which before this date had been noticed in Eu- 
 rope, but was new to the people of this country. No wonder 
 those streaks and sheets of flame, now of dazzling brightness 
 and then of a bloody red, were terrible to eyes which beheld 
 them for the first time. By many they were thought to be 
 harbingers either of war and desolation, or of the day of 
 Judgment. They are now seen with as little apprehension 
 as a rainbow or an eclipse. 
 
 A portion of New-England was seriously distressed in 
 1721, by the prevalence of the small pox, chiefly in Boston 
 and its vicinity, where five or six thousand persons took it 
 the natural way, of whom some hundreds died. For the first 
 time, inoculation was now introduced into the country. The 
 Rev. Cotton Mather had seen some account of the success of 
 this practice in Turkey, and recommended it to the physi- 
 cians : of whom none had the courage to adopt it except Dr. 
 Boylston, who tried the experiment in his own family. His 
 success encouraged others to follow the example, and the 
 practice was warmly supported by the clergy. It met how- 
 ever with violent opposition — the prejudices of the people 
 being at one time so strong against it, that it was deemed un- 
 safe for Dr. Boylston to go out of his house at night. Many 
 were of opinion that if any whom he inoculated should die, 
 he ought to be treated as a murderer. But these mists of 
 prejudice gradually fled away before the lights of experience, 
 
1722.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 69 
 
 and the practice finally obtained general currency and appro- 
 bation. 
 
 Every attempt to conciliate the Eastern Indans had prov- 
 ed unavailing. For some time they had exhibited threatening 
 indications of hostility, stealing and killing the cattle of their 
 English neighbors and burning stacks of hay. Some of the 
 people had'been compelled to abandon their habitations and 
 retire to places of safety. Scouting parties were sent east- 
 ward under the command of Col. Walton of Somersworth, 
 whose presence imposed on the savages some restraint. 
 Sebastian Ralle, a French Jesuit, a man of learning, address, 
 and insinuating manners, who had long resided at Norridg- 
 wock had acquired over the sons of the forest a commanding 
 influence. With him the Governor of Canada held corres- 
 pondence, and was able through the medium of his influence 
 to direct them at pleasure. Aware that. Ralle was a chief 
 instigator of these troubles, the government sent in the depth 
 of the winter of 1721 a considerable force under Col. West* 
 brook to sieze him; but he discovered their approach in 
 season to make his escape into the woods. Though they 
 missed his person, they obtained his strong box of papers, 
 furnishing ample proof that notwithstanding it was a time of 
 peace between England and France, the Governor of Canada 
 had been active in exciting the Indians to hostilities. The 
 box is of ingenious construction and is still preserved as a 
 curiosity. Provoked at this attempt on the Jesuit, w horn they 
 greatly venerated, the savages in the course of the next sum- 
 mer attacked several fishing vessels on the eastern shore, and 
 destroyed Brunswick in Maine : on which war was declared 
 against them in July, 1722, and a bounty offered for scalps. 
 New-Hampshire made common cause with Massachusetts 
 and furnished her full proportion of troops and commanders, 
 among whom were Walton, Wcstbrook, Penhallow, and es- 
 pecially Lovewell of Dunstable. 
 
 The administration of Gov. Shute was on the whole accep- 
 table to the people of this Province. Not so in Massachusetts, 
 where he was engaged in a long and embittered controversy 
 with the House of Representatives. His instructions from 
 England required him to demand the settlement on the Gov- 
 ernor of a fixed and permanent salary ; which they declined 
 to vote, on the apprehension that it would render him too 
 independent of the people. Shute pressed the subject perti- 
 naciously, but they were firm in the refusal. Though a man 
 of an humane disposition, yet his feelings were irritable ; 
 having been used to military command, he could not bear 
 
70 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1724 
 
 to be thwarted, and found his situation so uncomfortable that 
 early in 1723 he returned to England with heavy complaints 
 against Massachusetts. On his departure Lieut. Gov. Went- 
 worth became Commander in Chief in a critical emergency, 
 and conducted the affairs of the Province with great wisdom 
 and fidelity through the perplexing scenes of the three years' 
 war. 
 
 In the ensuing summer the Indians began to annoy the 
 New-Hampshire settlements. In the course of that and the 
 two succeeding seasons, several families in Dover, Durham, 
 Kingston, and Chester, were called to mourn the slaughter 
 or captivity of friends. Londonderry was extremely expos- 
 ed, but happily escaped an attack. Tradition ascribes its 
 exemption to the following circumstance : the Rev. Mr. 
 McGregore addressed a letter to the Governor of Canada, 
 informing him that the settlers of that town were lately ar- 
 rived from Ireland, and soliciting on their behalf his friendly 
 interposition : which induced the Governor, who hastily in- 
 ferred that they were Irish Catholics, between whom and the 
 French existed a strong sympathy, to order the Indians to 
 spare the place. 
 
 Capt. Baker of North Hampton, Mass., led a party of thirty 
 four men up the Connecticut river, crossed the height of 
 land and passed down a river which led him to the Pemige- 
 wasset in Plymouth, N. H. where he discovered a party of 
 Indians. The whole surrounding region was then a vast 
 wilderness. A battle immediately ensued, in which without 
 the loss of a man he destroyed them all. The Indian Com- 
 mander was Waltemummus. He and Baker fired at each 
 other the same instant ; the ball of the savage grazed his 
 eyebrow, while his ball passed through the Indian's breast, 
 who made a leap from the ground and instantly fell dead. — 
 Baker found in their weekwam a large quantity of valuable 
 furs, of which he took what his men could carry off and 
 destroyed the remainder. The river down which he passed 
 to the Pemigewasset, flowing through the towns of Went- 
 worth, Runmey, and Plymouth, has ever since borne his 
 name. 
 
 It was determined to make another effort to sieze Ralle, 
 who continued to incite the Indians to the work of devasta- 
 tion. Captains Harman and Moulton of Maine, each at the 
 head of a company of an hundred men, marched for Nor- 
 ridgwock in August, 1724, came upon the village by surprise, 
 killed about eighty of the savages, and destroyed the catholic 
 chapel. Ralle was found in a weekwam where he defended 
 
1724.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 7] 
 
 himself with great intrepidity, till, overpowered by number?. 
 he fell. Before his fall lie committed an act of barbarous 
 cruelty by stabbing an English lad, who had been under his 
 care as a prisoner. He was a man of extensive attainments, 
 especially in languages, of which he understood several ; and 
 left behind him a Manuscript. Dictionary of the Abankis lan- 
 guage, now in the library of Harvard University. 
 
 In September a band of thirty Indians surprised two men 
 at Nashua, and carried them off as prisoners. As soon as an 
 alarm could be given, eleven of the inhabitants followed them 
 up the Merrimac. At the brook near Thornton's ferry, then 
 called " Lutwytche's," they unwarily fell into an ambuscade, 
 and withthe exception of Lieut. Farwell, were all killed. A 
 party of their townsmen recovered the dead bodies and 
 interred them in the burying ground at Dunstable. 
 
 For the protection of their western settlements, the govern- 
 ment of Massachusetts erected this year on the west bank of 
 the Connecticut, within the present limits of Vermont, and 
 near the southwestern corner of New-Hampshire, a strong 
 fort, which was named Fort Dummer. 
 
 The death of an Indian who was killed in the course of 
 this brief war, was attended with circumstances which exci- 
 ted considerable interest. He was one of a party of three 
 who were prowling in the woods near Durham. Two men 
 having discovered their packs and given notice of the fact, 
 undertook to guide a pursuing company to the spot. As the 
 two went in advance of the others, they fell into an ambus- 
 cade and were both killed. The company then fired upon 
 the enemy, killing one of the number ; the others though 
 severely wounded, escaped, marking their tracks for some 
 distance with their blood. The slain Indian was splendidly 
 equipped ; to his scarlet coronet were attached four little bells, 
 by the sound of which his men could follow him in the 
 woods ; his hair w r as soft and fine ; a devotional book and a 
 muster roll, were found on his person. He was supposed to 
 have been a person of the first rank; the most probable conjec- 
 ture is, that he belonged to the family of Castine, a French 
 gentleman of distinction, w T ho had married an Indian woman, 
 one of whose sons was recognized by the Penobscots as their 
 principal chief. 
 
 By the brilliant success of Harman and Moulton, together 
 with the large bounty on scalps, a stimulus w r as given to the 
 formation of volunteer scouting parties who traversed the 
 woods, in some instances as far as to the White Mountains, in 
 quest of Indians. They found but few, the terror of the 
 
72 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1725. 
 
 Norridgwock exploit having induced them to retire from their 
 villages and accustomed places of fishing and hunting, into 
 the deep recesses of the forest. A volunteer company from 
 Dunstable commanded by Capt. John Lovewell, remarkable 
 for their enterprise, gallantly, and tragical disaster at last, 
 gained a celebrity so pre-eminent, that the war itself took its 
 distinguishing appellation from Lovewell's name. Tradition 
 reports that he once led a scout into the region now forming 
 the eastern part of the County of Sullivan, where he gained 
 some advantage over the enemy ; and the circumstance of a 
 mountain in Washington, near which this adventure is said 
 to have happened, bearing his name, imparts to the account 
 some degree of credibility. Of three of his expeditions we 
 have authentic records. The first, into the region north of 
 the Winnepiseogee, had no very important results. In his 
 second he discovered a track which conducted him to an en- 
 campment of ten Indians, asleep on the margin of a pond in 
 Wakefield, whom he killed. On his return in triumph with 
 their scalps, the bounty money amounted to quite a handsome 
 sum. 
 
 With forty-six men, he left Dunstable in April, 1725, on 
 his third and last expedition, of which the disastrous issue 
 filled the Province with the most poignant sorrow. His object 
 was to attack the principal village of the Pequawketts, within 
 the present bounds of Fryburg, Maine. Arriving on the 
 west shore of Ossipee Lake, he built a stockade, in which he 
 left a sick soldier with the surgeon and a guard of eight men. 
 With the residue of his company he came near Pequawkett 
 and encamped for the night. At their morning devotions they 
 heard the report of a gun, and discovered an Indian standing 
 at some distance on a point of land projecting into a pond. — 
 Imagining that other Indians were near, they left their packs 
 and marched forward to attack them; but found only the Indian 
 who had stood on the point, returning homeward with his 
 fowling pieces and some game, who after firing and wound- 
 ing Lovewell, was himself slain. In the mean time a strong 
 party of the enemy under the celebrated chiefs, Paugus and 
 Wahwa, returning from a scout, fell in with the track of the 
 English, which conducted them to the spot where their packs 
 were deposited ; on counting which they ascertained then- 
 number to be less than their own, and immediately formed an 
 ambush to take them by surprise. On the return of Lovewell's 
 men for their packs, the Indians rose up from their lurking- 
 place, rushed upon them with their accustomed yells, and 
 killed the Captain and eight of his company on the spot. — 
 
1725.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 73 
 
 The survivors retreated to the shore of the pond, whore, 
 sheltered hy a rocky point of land and some large pines, they 
 kept the enemy at bay for some hours and finally compelled 
 them to draw off. When the shattered remnant of this gallant 
 band collected themselves together for retreat, they found 
 three of their number so badly wounded as to be unable to 
 move from the bloody field, whom with the deepest grief they 
 left behind ; eleven others wounded, but able to march ; and 
 only nine unhurt. They began their march at the rising of 
 the moon, and in the course of their return Lieut. Farwell, 
 the Rev. Mr. Fry of Andover, their Chaplain, a young Cler- 
 gyman of estimable character, and one other person perished 
 in the woods for want of dressings for their wounds. 
 
 For the numbers engaged, this was among the most des- 
 tructive rencontres that had occurred in New-England. — 
 It was disastrous to the Indians, who lost their leader 
 and many of their best warriors. Not long after the battle, 
 Col. Tyng of Dunstable went to the spot with an armed force 
 and buried the bodies of the slain, inscribing on the surroun- 
 ding trees their names. He found some Indian graves which 
 he opened, and among the disinterred bodies recognized that 
 of the Chief Paugus, who was said to have fallen by a shot 
 from one Chamberlain. 
 
 During these occurrences three agents were sent into Can- 
 ada, to complain of the conduct of the French authorities in 
 furnishing arms and supplies to the Indians in a time of peace 
 between England and France, and to obtain a release of the 
 captives. Two of the Agents were from Massachusetts ; the 
 third was Theodore Atkinson of New-Castle, N. H— a young 
 man fast rising into eminence. He was the son of the Hon. 
 Theodore Atkhison, a merchant and a Counsellor, who had 
 died some years before. The French Governor, the Marquis 
 de Vaudreuil, received them politely, but denied the charge 
 of having excited the savages to war — on which Atkinson 
 produced his correspondence with Ralle, furnishing ample 
 proof of his hostile agency. This somewhat confused him ; 
 but he palliated his conduct by accusing the English of 
 treating them with injustice and oppression. Few of the 
 captives were released at that time, and for those few an 
 exhorbitant ransom was demanded. The Governor however 
 promised to interpose his influence to dispose the Indians to 
 peace, and the commission was not without a beneficial 
 result. 
 
 In September a marauding party of the enemy entered 
 Dover and concealed themselves in a barn, where they found 
 G 
 
74 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1726. 
 
 an opportunity to kill two persons and wound another. This 
 was John Evans : a profuse flow of blood from the wound 
 made them think he was dead, and they stripped and scalped 
 him without offering any additional violence. After they had 
 left him he arose, and walked naked and bloody to an 
 house, and to the astonishment of all recovered. This trag- 
 edy wound up the scenes of the war. An Indian hostage 
 who had been confined in Boston, and been permitted 
 to visit his friends on parole, returned with pacific proposals, 
 which led to an invitation to the principal Chiefs to repair to 
 that place, where, at the close of the year a treaty was con- 
 cluded and an era of peace restored. 
 
 The cessation of war gave Massachusetts and New-Hamp- 
 shire leisure to resume their discussions relative to the 
 boundary lines. Massachusetts continued to assert her Charter 
 claim to all the lands lying south and west of a line, beginning 
 at a point three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimac, 
 thence running west and north at the same distance of three 
 miles from the river, to a point three miles beyond the parallel 
 of the junction of the Winnepiseogee and Pemigewasset, in 
 the present township of Sanbornton ; thence due west to 
 the Connecticut: a claim which covered far the greater part of 
 the Counties of Hillsborough, Merrimac, and Sullivan, and 
 the whole of Cheshire. Aware that this construction of her 
 Charter might be overruled by the King, her government was 
 anxious to secure at least the property of these lands, should 
 her pretensions to the jurisdiction be set aside. Influenced 
 by such views, Massachusetts made grants of the townships 
 of Concord and Pembroke in 1726 ; and in the course of a 
 few subsequent years, of Amherst, Bedford, New-Boston, 
 Hopkinton, Boscawen, Hillsborough, Keene, Swanzey and 
 Peterboro'. New-Hampshire sent a Committee to Concord 
 to forbid the surveyors employed by the rival Province in 
 laying out the lands, to proceed in that business : and desirous 
 of securing at least the property of the lands within her ac- 
 knowledged jurisdiction, made grants of Epsom, Chichester, 
 Barnstead, Canterbury, Gilmanton and Bow. The last named 
 township being Avithin the limits claimed by Massachusetts, 
 was probably granted by New-Hampshire as a practical asser- 
 tion of her own claim to the territory in dispute. As the 
 emigration of the Penacooks to the confines of Canada, had 
 removed the obstacles arising from the vicinity of hostile 
 neighbors, the settlement of Concord was commenced in 
 1727 ; not long after, scattering settlers planted themselves all 
 along the banks of the Merrimac from Dunstable to Boscawen ; 
 
1727.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 75 
 
 and somewhat later, at Ilollis, Amherst, Winchester, Keene, 
 and Swanzey. 
 
 Of the immigrants who established themselves on the 
 Merrimac and its western tributaries the greater part were 
 from Massachusetts. They constituted a third class of the 
 inhabitants — those on the Pascataqua making the first, and 
 the Scottish settlers at Londonderry the second. Many years 
 afterwards a fourth class was added to the number, consisting 
 of immigrants from Connecticut, who planted themselves on 
 the east bank of the river of that name. The Pascataqua, 
 Londonderry, Merrimac, and Connecticut divisions of our 
 population have exhibited, each one, down to this day, certain 
 peculiarities, intellectual, moral, social and political, sufficiently 
 indicative of the characteristics of its original. If the pecu- 
 liarities of former generations in point of maimers, customs, 
 and modes of thinking, so long display their influence on their 
 descendants, how immensely important that the great princi- 
 ples of religious truth and an attachment to correct moral 
 habits be deeply impressed on the minds of the young. — 
 "Train up a child in the way he should go," is a dictate not 
 less of sound wisdom than of christian piety. 
 
 The year last named is memorable on account of the second 
 great earthquake that had shaken New-England. It happened 
 on the evening of the twenty-ninth of October, about ten 
 o'clock. The atmosphere was calm, the sky cloudless, and 
 the moon walking in her brightness. The shock extended 
 over a tract of some hundred miles in extent, shaking the 
 buildings, throwing down the tops of chimneys, and making 
 in some places clefts in the earth. No lives were lost. This 
 event excited serious reflections in many a breast, and was 
 followed in some of the towns by an improvement of morals, 
 an increase of piety, and considerable accessions to the 
 churches. 
 
 Under the royal Government the same Assembly was often 
 continued in existence for several years; being convened, 
 prorogued, and dissolved at the pleasure of the Governor. — 
 The Assembly had now subsisted for five years, when it was 
 dissolved of course by the death of King George I. Writs 
 of Election were issued in the name of George II. for a new 
 Assembly, which met near the close of the year. This infre- 
 quency of elections, which rendered the Representatives too 
 independent of the people and subtracted from popular opin- 
 ion much of its just weight in the government, was deemed 
 a grievance : and efforts were made to obtain an act limiting 
 the duration of the present and all future Assemblies to three 
 
76 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. ]1730. 
 
 years. Lieut. Gov. Wentworth was disposed to give his as- 
 sent, and an act to this effect called the Triennial Act, was 
 carried through both branches of the Legislature. This gave 
 the people great satisfaction, and was regarded as imparting 
 additional security to their rights. 
 
 Another change in the frame of the government was at- 
 tempted, but not with the like success. Hitherto the Governor 
 and Council had not only constituted a distinct branch of the 
 Legislature, but had also exercised judicial powers, being a 
 Court of Appeals whose decision was final except on an 
 appeal to the King. Unwilling that the Council should exer- 
 cise judicial as well as executive and legislative powers, 
 especially as they decided causes without jury, the House of 
 Representatives wished to repeal those acts which recognized 
 them as a Court of Appeals. The Council resisted the prop- 
 osition ; and when the controversy began to wax warm, 
 Wentworth put an end to it by dissolving the Assembly. This 
 measure made him enemies and embittered the residue of his 
 administration. A new Assembly, composed chiefly of the 
 same persons as the past, being convened and having chosen 
 Nathaniel Weare of Hampton, Speaker, the Lieut. Governor 
 negatived the choice : a power which had been claimed and 
 exercised by the royal Governors. Irritated by the negative, 
 they called in question his power in this point, and did no 
 business for some days. After they had reluctantly chosen 
 another Speaker, the messages from the Chair and the an- 
 swers of the House exhibited an ill temper on both sides. 
 
 William Burnet, distinguished for taste and literary ac- 
 complishments, arrived in Boston, 1728, with a commission 
 constituting him Governor of Massachusetts and New- 
 Hampshire. His administration was short ; and in relation to 
 this Province, into which he came but once, unimportant.— 
 With the General Court of Massachusetts he renewed the old 
 controversy on the subject of a permanent salary ; but died of 
 a violent fever in a few months after his visit to Portsmouth. 
 
 His successor as Governor was Jonathan Belcher, a native 
 and merchant of Boston, a man of unblemished reputation, 
 elegant manners, and ample fortune. Having after a short 
 visit to New-Hampshire returned to Massachusetts in 1730, 
 he made a discovery which resulted in a serious misunder- 
 standing between himself and the Lieut. Governor. It was 
 this: prior to his appointment as Governor, Wentworth, 
 not knowing whether Gov. Shute who had been long absent, 
 would return and resume the Chair, or Belcher be appointed 
 in his stead, had written complimentary letters to both. This 
 
1730.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 77 
 
 act the Governor regarded as deceptive raid dishonorable ; and 
 at his second visit manifested his resentment hy refusing an 
 invitation to the Lieut. Governor's house, by requiring him to 
 quit all claims to salary except what Belcher might allow, and 
 removing his family connections from their offices. If the 
 act in question were improper, the Governor certainly carried 
 his resentment too far. Wentworth died soon after these 
 unpleasant occurrences ; but his sonBenning Wentworth, and 
 his son in law Theodore Atkinson, who with their family 
 connections wielded a powerful inilucncc, formed a party in 
 opposition to Belcher, the effect of whose enmity he after- 
 wards most sensibly felt. 
 
 Trifling causes are often productive of consequences the 
 most important. From the misunderstanding, trivial as it may 
 seem, between Belcher and Wentworth, sprung that political 
 party by whose exertions New-Hampshire obtained a separate 
 Governor and a respectable extent of territory. Had it never 
 occurred, it is quite probable the boundary lines might have 
 been established far otherwise than they now are ; and not 
 impossible that this Provice might finally have been reunited 
 with Massachusetts. 
 
 The character of Lieut. Gov, Wentworth presents many 
 excellent traits. From his father, an exemplary Elder of the 
 church in Dover, he received a christian education which 
 exerted much influence on his subsequent life. For a time he 
 followed the seas and commanded a ship, in which he carefully 
 maintained the morning and evening worship of God. As a 
 merchant, his integrity, benevolence and public spirit pro- 
 cured him general esteem. He was charitable to the poor, 
 courteous and affable to all, and attentive to the institutions 
 of religion. For the most part of a period of thirteen years, 
 some of them marked with the perplexities of an Indian war 
 and a high degree of party excitement, he conducted the 
 affairs of the Province with singular wisdom and moderation ; 
 and with the exception of the controversy between him and 
 the Assembly near the close of his administration, to the 
 satisfaction of the people. He possessed their confidence and 
 affection while living, and carried with him their respect when 
 he descended to the grave. 
 
 The progress of New-Hampshire in population and wealth 
 was somewhat tardy. Within her acknowledged limits there 
 were not at this time more than 1900 dwelling houses and 
 10,000 inhabitants ; and that part of the Province granted and 
 claimed by Massachusetts might perhaps contain three or four 
 thousand more. The amount of shipping engaged in the 
 G* 
 
78 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1731. 
 
 foreign trade was about five hundred tons ; of seamen the 
 number was only forty ; the exports were fish and lumber, in 
 return for which were received English manufactures, West 
 India productions, and salt from Portugal. The revenue ari- 
 sing from customs and excise was less than £400, while the 
 ordinary expense of government was £1500, the deficien- 
 cy of the revenue being supplied by a tax on polls and estates. 
 ' David Dunbar, a native of Ireland and formerly a Colonel 
 in the British army, was appointed Lieut. Gov. of the Province 
 in 1731, and retained the office six years. He owed large 
 debts to individuals in England, who favored his appointment 
 from the motive of facilitating the recovery of their claims. 
 He had the office also of Surveyor of the King's woods, 
 which was of much greater pecuniary value than that of Lieut.^ 
 Governor. Coming here with no other views than those of 
 emolument, he was ready to follow the leadings of interest, 
 which pointed to an union with the party opposed to the Gov- 
 ernor. That party aimed at the removal of Belcher from 
 his office, at the settlement of the boundary lines in such a 
 manner as would make New-Hampshire respectable in extent, 
 and at the appointment of a separate Governor who should 
 have no connection with Massachusetts. Dunbar hoped by 
 their aid to obtain the appointment himself, with the desirable 
 adjunct of a handsome salary. He succeeded in obtaining 
 for Benning Wentworth, Theodore Atkinson, and Joshua 
 Pierce, a nomination to seats in the Council ; but the oppo- 
 sition of the Governor delayed the admission of the two first 
 to take the oath of office for a period of two years. In the 
 mean time, they were able as popular leaders in the House to 
 embarrass the measures of his administration. 
 
 Belcher was perfectly aware of the designs of his opponents, 
 and exerted himself, but without effect, to procure the recal of 
 Dunbar : for some reason or other the English ministry re- 
 tained him in office. He was not however admitted to a seat 
 in the Council; Shadrach Walton of New-Castle presided 
 over that Board in the absence of the Commander in Chief. 
 A very considerable party who had a preponderating influence 
 in the Council, was warmly attached to Gov. Belcher and to 
 Massachusetts, and would have preferred an amalgamation 
 with that Province rather than see New-Hampshire placed 
 under a separate Governor. They were indifferent to the 
 settlement of the boundary lines, alledging that the ungranted 
 lands would be considered as belonging either to the King, or 
 the heirs of Mason ; and in neither case would the people of 
 New-Hampshire be allowed to participate in the property. — 
 
1735.] period v.— 171-5— 1741. 79 
 
 The leading man of this party was Richard Waldron the 
 Provincial Secretary ; whose; lather, Col. Richard Waldron, 
 an eminent Merchant and Counsellor, had lately died, and 
 whose grandfather was the celebrated Major Waldron, in old- 
 en times the most conspicuous character in the Province. — 
 The talents and virtues of Secretary Waldron sustained the 
 high respectability the family had possessed for almost a 
 century. 
 
 Of the two parties, that opposed to the Governor was the 
 more powerful, and had the address to persuade the majority 
 of the people that it would be for the honor and interest of 
 New-Hampshire to have no connection with Massachusetts ; 
 that a portion of the waste lands would be granted to this 
 Province ; and that the expense of obtaining a final settlement 
 of the lines would hardly exceed " a pullet per man" Influ- 
 enced by these views the House of Representatives, after one 
 more ineffectual trial to accommodate the matter with the sis- 
 ter Province, determined to refer it to the decision of the 
 King. Without the concurrence of the Council they ap- 
 pointed John Rindge, who was preparing to visit England on 
 commercial business, their Agent to petition the King to es- 
 tablish the boundary lines. The petition was presented and 
 referred to the Lords of Trade, and Rindge on his departure 
 from London in 1732 left the business in the hands of John 
 Tomlinson, Esq., a shrewd, active, and persevering man, to 
 whose unremitting exertions this State is indebted for a large 
 slice of its present territory. A more efficient Agent could 
 not have been found. He employed as his solicitor a Mr. 
 ['arris, who performed his part with much address ; and the 
 two proved an overmatch for the agents on the side of Mas- 
 sachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Tomlinson was ready to promote the religious as well 
 as political interests of New-Hampshire. Several persons in 
 Portsmouth, attached to the liturgy and forms of the Episco- 
 pal church, having undertaken to erect a chapel, he contribu- 
 ted largely himself, and procured benefactions from others in 
 London, among whom was the Queen, who gave several folio 
 prayer books and a service of plute for the altar. In acknowl- 
 edgment of her bounty the building was called Queen's chapel. 
 A few years afterwards, the Rev. Arthur Browne became the 
 minister of this church, with an allowance of the greater part 
 of a salary from the Society in England for propogating the 
 gospel in foreign parts. 
 
 A severe check was given to the progress of population inl735 
 by the prevalence of the Malignant Throat Distemper, which 
 
80 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1737. 
 
 bewail its ravages at Kingston, and gradually spread over this 
 and other British Provinces from Maine to Carolina. In little 
 more than a year a thousand persons, chiefly children, died in 
 New-Hampshire. Twenty families in Hampton Falls buried all 
 their children. The death of twenty thousand persons at this 
 day would be scarcely a greater mortality in proportion to the 
 present population. This epidemic has revisited the country 
 at different times since, but with a virulence considerably di- 
 minished. 
 
 The two political parties continued their dissensions with 
 increasing animosity. Belcher, ardent in his feelings and 
 unguarded in expression, threw out many reflections on his 
 opponents, while on their part they were not wautiug in rep- 
 resenting him as indifferent to the King's interest, partial to 
 Massachusetts, opposed to the settlement of the lines, and 
 ready to connive at the destruction of the King's timber on the 
 waste lands. The letters of the leading partisans to their 
 correspondents in England were filled with mutual crimina- 
 tions. The Governor represented Dunbar as perfidious and 
 malicious, " a plague to the Governor aud a deceiver of the 
 people," and not only excluded him from a seat in the Coun- 
 cil, but conferred on Walton the senior Counsellor, the 
 rommand of the fort and the granting of passes for ships and 
 of licenses for marriage : — powers which had been formerly 
 exercised by the Lieut. Governor, and which were the sources 
 of no inconsiderable part of his emoluments. Reduced by 
 these measures to a state of insignificance, Dunbar retired into 
 Maine and was long absent from New-Hampshire. 
 
 Not only was he an object of suspicion to Belcher, but of 
 dislike to many of the people. As Surveyor General of the 
 King's woods" he had acted with extreme rigor, visiting the 
 sawmills, siezing and marking large quantities of timber, and 
 then throwing on the owners the burden of proving their 
 property : a procedure which exposed him to insults and in 
 one instance excited a riot. His unpopularity notwithstanding, 
 he was courted by the party opposed to the Governor, un- 
 der the impression that his influnece with the English Ministry 
 might aid in procuring for New-Hampshire the appointment 
 of another Governor. Full of the hope of obtaining the ap- 
 pointment for himself, he returned in 1737 to England, but 
 was there imprisoned by his old creditors. By the interference 
 of Tomlinson he was * liberated ; but not having sufficient 
 influence to obtain the office he sought, he never returned to 
 America. After a few years he was appointed Governor of 
 
1740] period v.— 1713— 1741. 81 
 
 the Island of St. Helena, since so celebrated as the prison of 
 Napoleon Bournaparte. 
 
 Tomlinson in the mean time supported the petition of 
 New-Hampshire with all his address, and obtained a royal 
 order constituting a Board of Commissioners, to be selected 
 from the Counsellors of the neighboring Provinces, with pow- 
 er to settle the contested lines. This Board met at Hampton, 
 August, 1737 ; and in a few days the Assemblies of the two 
 contending Provinces met in the same neighborhood, that of 
 Massachusetts at Salisbury and that of New-Hampshire at 
 Hampton Falls. At the head of two Provinces, each jealous 
 of the designs of the other, the Governor had a part to act of 
 no little delicacy. Massachusetts not only asserted her right 
 to all the lands south and west of a line drawn three miles 
 from the left bank of the Merrimac up to the confluence of 
 its two main branches, but also contended that the eastern 
 boundary of New-Hampshire should be a line drawn from 
 the mouth of the Pascataqua to the source of the Salmon 
 Falls branch, and then due north-west, which would have cut 
 off from New-Hampshire small portions of Strafford and 
 Grafton, and almost the whole of Coos County. New-Hamp- 
 shire claimed for her southern boundary a line drawn due 
 west from a point three miles north of the mouth of the 
 Merrimac ; and for her eastern, a line passing up the Pascata- 
 qua to the source of Salmon Falls river, and thence north one 
 or two degrees west. After an infinity of pleas, replications, 
 rejoinders, exceptions, and protests, the Commissioners agreed 
 on a result which established the eastern line as it now runs, 
 but left the southern undetermined. 
 
 It was seen by all parties that this protracted controversy 
 could be brought to a close only by a royal decision. The 
 Agents of bothProvinces submitted to the King their respec- 
 tive claims; the "petition of appeal" on the part of this 
 Province was drawn up by Parris, in which he artfully rep- 
 resented "the poor, little, loyal, distressed Province of New- 
 Hampshire" as in danger of being devoured by "the vast, 
 opulent, overgrown Province of Massachusetts." A decision 
 was not obtained till 1740, when the king terminated the dis- 
 pute more favorably for New-Hampshire than she had ever 
 ventured to anticipate, and established the eastern and south- 
 ern lines as they now run. The substitution of the present 
 southern line in lieu of one running due west from a point 
 three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimac, gave New- 
 Hampshire a territory of fifty miles in length, by fourteen in 
 breadth more than she had ever claimed. 
 
82 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1740. 
 
 To Massachusetts this result was extremely mortifying. — 
 In the whole management of the affair, her agents had been 
 altogether surpassed in point of dexterity and address, by 
 those of this Province. This however was not the only rea- 
 son of her failure — her inflexible refusal to settle a permanent 
 salary on the royal Governors had excited in England a spirit 
 of resentment, and awakened in the Ministry a jealousy that 
 she was aiming at independence. From these feelings arose 
 a disposition to punish her obstinacy and cramp her ambition, 
 by diminishing her extent and importance. 
 
 The next year the lines were run and marked. From the 
 ocean to a station three miles north of Patucket Falls, the 
 line was surveyed by George Mitchell. Richard Hazen began 
 at that station, forming a corner of Pelham, and marked the 
 line running west across the Connecticut river to the suppo- 
 sed boundary of New-York. Walter Bryant marked the 
 East line from the head of Salmon Falls river about thirty 
 miles, when the difficulties of travelling in the wilderness and 
 some fears of the Indians induced him to desist. 
 
 While this important affair had been pending in England, 
 the opponents of Gov. Belcher had not intermitted 
 their efforts to effect his removal. In one instance the 
 base arts of forgery were employed against him. A letter 
 was sent to England purporting to have been written by some 
 of the people of Exeter, accusing him of having encouraged 
 them to cut the king's timber, by a promise of screening them 
 from prosecution. The forgery was indeed detected, but not 
 till it had produced an impression unfavorable to his charac- 
 ter. A petition was forwarded, signed by several leading men 
 in Portsmouth, charging him with suffering the Fort in the 
 harbor of Pascataqua to fall into ruin, neglecting the disci- 
 pline of the Militia, and hindering the prosperity and growth 
 of the Province. These attacks had subjected him in 1739 to 
 a reprimand from the king : but having some powerful friends 
 among the Lords in office, he stood his ground awhile longer. 
 His friends in this Province made all the efforts in their pow- 
 er to support him, and procured the signatures of 500 of the 
 inhabitants to a petition for his continuance in office. But a 
 still greater number petitioned for his removal, and the Assem- 
 bly passed a resolution of disapprobation of his administration. 
 His friends, particularly the inhabitants of the new towns 
 settled by people from Massachusetts, attached as they were 
 to their former government and institutions, would have gladly 
 seen New-Hampshire annexed to that Province, and petitioned 
 
1741.] period v.— 1713— 1741. 83 
 
 to that effect, but without success. The British Government 
 in 1741 removed him from the Chair. 
 
 He immediately repaired to England, and was able to exhi- 
 bit such convincing proofs of his own integrity and of the 
 misrepresentations of his opposers, as in a great measure ef- 
 faced all unfavorable impressions ; and he soon obtained the 
 appointment of Governor of New-Jersey. In that Province 
 he passed his remaining days in peace, and his memory is 
 held there in high respect. Of Princeton College he was a 
 Founder and liberal Benefactor. It is now generally admitted 
 that his difficulties in Massachusetts and New-Hampshire 
 arose from a warm and quick temper, and not from any want 
 of integrity. His religious character possessed much excel- 
 lence ; no man more carefully redeemed time from the 
 business of the world for the study of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and the performance of the various duties of Christian devo- 
 tion. 
 
 From the close of the short administration of Governor 
 Allen in 1G99, through a period of more than forty years, 
 Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, though each had its sep- 
 arate Lieutenant Governor and Legislative Assembly, had 
 been placed under the administration of the same Governor. 
 As he generally resided at Boston, this arrangement made 
 New-Hampshire a kind of appendage to Massachusetts, and 
 had become disagreeable to the people. The enlargement of 
 their territory, population and wealth, by the settlement of 
 the boundary lines, gave them a higher sense of their own 
 political importance ; and in anticipation of this result they 
 had for some time been desirous to have a separate Governor 
 of their own. It was now determined in England to gratify 
 their wishes, and Benning Wentworth of Portsmouth, the 
 warmest opponent of Belcher, received the appoint- 
 ment of Governor and Commander in Chief of New- 
 Hampshire. He was a son of the former Lieut. Governor 
 Wentworth, a reputable merchant, and a favorite with a ma- 
 jority of the people. With civil life he had been quite con- 
 versant as a Representative and Member of the Council. 
 
 The series of incidents which paved his way to the chair 
 is quite interesting. He had contracted with a Spanish officer 
 to furnish a large quantity of oak timber, to the amount of 
 50,000 or 60,000 dollars ; but on the delivery of it in Spain, 
 the officer with whom he had contracted was out of place, 
 and his successor declined to make payment. This disap- 
 pointment was followed by the disaster of a shipwreck as he 
 was returning home, and he with others was saved in a boat. 
 
84 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1741 
 
 Reduced to bankruptcy and repulsed in an application to the 
 Spanish government for redress, he laid before the British 
 ministry his wrongs and misfortunes. The appeal procured 
 him their sympathy, and together with his popularity and the 
 rank of his family, backed by the influence of Tomlinson, 
 induced them to appoint him to the Chief Magistracy of his 
 native Province. Invested with this honorable office he ar- 
 rived at Portsmouth after a long absence, near the close of 
 1741, and was received with great cordiality and respect.— 
 The Assembly granted him a handsome salary ; and not long 
 after, Dunbar was prevailed on by a valuable consideration 
 to resign in his favor the office of Surveyor General of the 
 King's woods, the emoluments of which made a large addi- 
 tion to his income. In consideration of those appointments, 
 he was required to relinquish his claim on the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The fact that no public crcecution took place here for a 
 period of almost 120 years, gives a favorable impression of 
 the early state of morals. Two women were executed at 
 Portsmouth near the close of this period for the crime of 
 murder : the first occurrence of the kind in the Province. 
 
 In the course of the twenty-eight years sketched in this 
 Chapter, the community lost by death, in addition to Love- 
 well^ Col. Richard Waldron, and Lieut. Gov. Wentworth, 
 already named as deceased, other distinguished members. — 
 The Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, the second Pastor of the first 
 Church in Portsmouth died in 1723, greatly beloved ; of whom 
 his people were accustomed to speak as " the good Mr. Rog- 
 ers !" He was the sixth in lineal descent from John Rogers, 
 the well known martyr in the reign of Queen Mary. In 1726 
 died Samuel Peuhallow, who had been Provincial Treasurer 
 and Chief Justice of the Superior Court. His History of 
 Indian Wars has been useful to subsequent historians, and his 
 hospitality, charity, and piety rendered his character respecta- 
 ble. Doctor Thomas Packer, who was not only the principal 
 Physician and Surgeon of his day, but also Judge of Probate 
 and Counsellor, deceased in 17*28 ; and in 1734, the Rev. 
 John Emerson, the first Pastor of the second Congregational 
 Church in Portsmouth, who used to deliver a commemorative 
 discourse in each year after the great earthquake of 1717, on 
 the anniversary of its occurrence — a circumstance indicative 
 of the strong impression it made on the public mind. John 
 Rindge, the late Provincial Agent in England, whose efforts 
 had contributed much to the final settlement of the boundary 
 lines, died in 1740. 
 
PERIOD VI. 
 
 FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE BOUNDARY LINES AND THE 
 ACCESSION OF BENNING WENTWORTH TO THE CHAIR IN 1741, 
 TO THE CLOSE OF THE SECOND FRENCH WAR IN 1763. 
 
 To the party who had obtained the recal of his predecessor, 
 the accession of Gov. Wentworth was a triumph. As might 
 have been expected, among his first measures were numerous 
 and important changes among the office-holders. Secretary 
 Waldron was suspended from his seat in the Council and 
 removed from his other offices ; being succeeded as Secretary 
 by Theodore Atkinson, and as Judge of Probate by Andrew 
 Wiggin. Most of the offices of consequence were bestowed 
 on the kindred and connections of the Governor — such indeed 
 was the accumulation of office and power in his family, that 
 the Government of New-Hampshire during his administration 
 and that of his nephew and successor, has been styled, not 
 unfitly, A Family Government. 
 
 This period is memorable as the date of a remarkable 
 attention to religion which overspread most of the northern 
 Provinces. It began some years before at North Hampton, 
 Ms. under the ministry of President Edwards, and extended 
 gradually through Massachusetts, Connecticut, and sections of 
 New-York, New-Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was at its 
 height in 1742. Two years before this date, that eloquent and 
 successful itinerant, the Rev. George Whitfield, came into 
 this region by invitation of the ministers of Boston, and 
 preached in various parts of the country. He visited this 
 Province and preached with his usual acceptance and success. 
 Perhaps no uninspired preacher ever possessed such power 
 over the feelings of his auditors, or was attended by such 
 multitudes as he sometimes addressed in the fields, no building 
 being large enough to contain them. His ministry aroused to 
 serious reflection numbers who had before been thoughtless 
 and inattentive hearers, and large additions were made to 
 II 
 
36 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1744, 
 
 raany of the churches. Though extravagancies on the part 
 of some individuals attended this remarkable scene, especially 
 in the southern parts of New-England, yet it is certain great 
 good was done ; many places exhibited a new moral aspect ; 
 and multitudes who then received their first religious impres- 
 sions, gave ample evidence of the genuineness of their piety by 
 the usefulness, benevolence, and integrity of their subsequent 
 conduct. Mr. Whitfield, who was a native of England, 
 crossed the Atlantic several times, and probably labored more 
 indefatigably than almost any other man since the Apostolic 
 age. His ministry excited not less attention in Britain than 
 in this country. He confined his preaching to the plain truths 
 of the Bible, which he stated with such clearness and enforced 
 with such power, as to be the means of communicating the 
 pure principles of religion to thousands on both sides of the 
 Atlantic. Many who came to his meetings strongly prejudiced 
 against him, went away with altered views of their own char- 
 acter and of the importance of Christianity. His character 
 was happily drawn by the poet Cowper : — 
 
 "He loved the world that hated him ; the tear 
 That dropp'd upon his Bible, was sincere : 
 Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife, 
 His only answer was a blameless life." 
 
 War had existed for some time between England and Spain, 
 and it had been anticipated that France, attached to Spain by 
 the relationship of their royal families, would be likely to 
 become a party engaged. This expectation was realized in 
 1744, when a declaration of war on the part of England against 
 France again involved this country in hostilities with the 
 Canadians and Indians. Duquesnel, the French Governor of 
 Louisburg in the Island of Cape Breton, attacked and destroyed 
 the English settlement at Canseau, and menaced their posts 
 in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. This early disaster led 
 the Colonists to percieve that Louisburg, in the hands of an 
 active enemy would be a source of perpetual alarm to the 
 commerce, fisheries, and settlements of all the eastern shores, 
 and inspired them with a strong wish for its reduction. It 
 had been fortified at a vast expense by the labors of twenty- 
 five years, and was extremely well situated for the purpose of 
 annoying the New-England trade. A plan for its capture 
 was conceived by William Vaughan, an enterprising merchant 
 of Portsmouth and son of the former Lieut. Gov. Vaughan ; 
 and was adopted and matured chiefly by Gov. Shirley of 
 
1745.] period vi.— 1741— 17f>3. 87 
 
 Massachusetts, who had succeeded Belcher in the Chair of 
 that Province. He communicated it to the General Court in 
 Boston under an oath of secrecy, who niter a warm debate 
 approved it hy a majority of only one. 
 
 At a meeting of the New-Hampshire Assembly in January. 
 1745, he disclosed the scheme to that body, and found it 
 warmly seconded both by them and by Gov. Wentworth. — 
 They immediately raised 450 men, of whom 800 were formed 
 into a regiment of eight companies under Col. Samuel Moore : 
 the others were attached to one of the Massachusetts regi- 
 ments. Mr. Samuel Langdon, afterwards a minister of 
 Portsmouth and President of Harvard College, went as 
 Chaplain of the New-Hampshire troops. The combined 
 forces of the four New-England Colonies made up a large 
 body, the whole commanded by Col. William Pepperell of 
 Kitterv, Maine, one of the most popular men of the day. — 
 At his' request the celebrated Mr. Whitfield, being then in this 
 country, gave to be inscribed on the flag a motto : it was this — 
 " NU desperandum, Christo duce." * Having been joined on 
 the passage by several British men of war under Commodore 
 Warren, the troops arrived at their destination in April, effected 
 a landing and invested the place. Such was the inexperience 
 in military affairs of both officers and men, that the scene 
 was said to have resembled rather the disorder of a College 
 Commencement than the regular operations of a disciplined 
 army. To many, it was matter of wonder that the army was 
 preserved from destruction. But the French had been taken 
 by surprise, and the garrison was in almost a mutinous state 
 at the delay of their pay. Could their officers have depended 
 on the men, they might have easily surprised the Provincial 
 camp and put numbers to the sword. Disunited among them- 
 selves, and disheartened at the capture by the English of a 
 large store ship from France richly laden with supplies for the 
 garrison, they surrendered the city in June. On entering 
 and beholding the strength of the fortifications, the victors were 
 astonished at their own success ! The event filled America 
 with joy, and even in Europe it was regarded as a capital 
 exploit ;"for next to Quebec, Louisburg was the strongest hold 
 of the French in the western hemisphere. While the services 
 of the civil officers who matured the plan, and of the military 
 and naval commanders who executed it, were amply requited 
 by the British government— Vaughan,the original projector,re- 
 ceived no adequate reward, and died the next year in London. 
 
 F The import is, With the help of Christ nothing is impossible. 
 
SB HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1746. 
 
 The progress of population had much enlarged the extent 
 of the settlements, and a force proportionally increased was 
 necessary for their protection. A line drawn from Rochester 
 and Barrington, to Boscawen and Concord ; thence through 
 Hopkinton, Hillsboro' and Peterboro' to Keene, Swanzey, 
 Winchester, and Hinsdale, then constituted the frontier line. 
 The whole region north of it, with the exception of small 
 openings at Westmoreland and Charlestown, occupied by a 
 few families, was a gloomy forest — a fit lurking place for 
 savages. On the west hank of the Connecticut, opposite to 
 Hinsdale and within the present limits of Brattleboro', was 
 Fort Dummer, originally built and garrisoned by Massachu- 
 setts. The settlement of the line left it within the limits of 
 New-Hampshire, then supposed to extend westward beyond 
 the Green Mountains. Though urged to do it by Gov. 
 Wentworth, her Assembly declined to support the Fort, on the 
 plea of their poverty, its distance from the towns granted by 
 them, and the deep interest Massachusetts had in its preserva- 
 tion. It would have been no more than equitable for New- 
 Hampshire to have shared the burden, as some of her towns 
 received protection from it ; but as she was inflexible in her 
 refusal, the sister Province continued to furnish and sustain a 
 garrison. The people on the whole line of the frontier were 
 in imminent danger. They could hardly venture out to milk 
 their cows ; the Indians destroyed their crops by breaking 
 down the fences and laying open the fields ; and their horses 
 and cattle were killed. Into Westmoreland and Keene the 
 enemy made incursions, and a few persons were slain. 
 
 Early in 1746 an event, sufficiently important to make the 
 people forget for a time the ravages of war, terminated the 
 tedious controversy between them and the Proprietor. This 
 was the sale by Mason's heir of his whole claim on the soil 
 of New-Hampshire to a company of gentlemen in Portsmouth. 
 It had been discovered some years before, that there was a 
 defect in the conveyance from Mason to Allen in 1691, and 
 that the legal title still remained in the heir of Mason. Tom- 
 linson had negociated in behalf of theProvince a purchase of 
 the claim from Mason : but the Assembly unwisely delayed 
 to ratify the contract. Mason at length informed them that if 
 they delayed much longer, he should sell his claim to others 
 who stood ready to make the purchase. Startled by this 
 intimation they concluded to ratify the contract, on condition 
 that the ungranted lands should be granted at the pleasure of 
 the House of Representatives only. To this condition the 
 Council warmly objected ; it was their wish to refer the 
 
1746.] period vi.— 1741— 1763. 89 
 
 granting of lands to the King, under the expectation that he 
 would commit this important power not to the Assembly, but 
 to themselves. While the two branches were thus disputing 
 on the terms of purchase, the Portsmouth gentlemen took the 
 bargain out of their hands. Both the Assembly and the 
 people resented their interference, and not a few angry threats 
 were thrown out against them : but the popular indignation 
 was much abated t by the prudent"measure on their part of 
 quitclaiming all the towns previously granted by New-Hamp- 
 shire ; and afterwards, all those which had been granted by 
 Massachusetts. These concessions quieted all the inhabitants 
 in their claims, and prevented any strenuous opposition to the 
 title acquired by the purchasers to the ungranted lands. As 
 they pursued a judicious course in making grants, and promo- 
 ting the settlement of these lands, the public mind was grad- 
 ually reconciled to the course the affair had taken ; and the 
 interests of the Masonian Proprietors, as these purchasers 
 were called, became identified with the interests of the people 
 in general. These gentlemen were Theodore Atkinson, Mark 
 H. Wentworth, Richard Wibird, John Wentworth, George 
 Jaffrey, Samuel Moore, Nathaniel Meserve, Thomas Packer, 
 Thomas Wallingford, Jotham Odiorne, Joshua Pierce, and 
 John Moffat — the leading men of wealth and business of 
 that day. Among the terms on which they granted lands 
 were the following : that the grantees within a given period 
 should erect a meeting house ; settle a minister ; lay out a right 
 of land for the first settled minister, another for a Parsonage, 
 and a third for schools ; clear out roads, and erect mills. 
 
 Encouraged by the spendid success at Louisburg, the Colo- 
 nists concerted a plan for the reduction of Canada and raised 
 numerous forces for this purpose, of which a New-Hampshire 
 regiment under Col. Atkinson formed a part ; the whole to 
 be joined by a powerful fleet and army expected from England. 
 From some want of vigor in the British councils, this force 
 never left England, and the Colonial troops wore away the 
 summer in idly awaiting their arrival. This inactivity left 
 the Indians at leisure to infest the frontiers, and slay or capti- 
 vate persons at Charlestown, Boscawen, Swanzey, Hinsdale, 
 and Rochester. Often did the war whoop " wake the sleep of 
 the cradle." A band of fifty savages hid themselves at night in a 
 swamp at Keene, intending in the morning to surprise the peo- 
 ple in garrison. By a man, who happened out quite early, they 
 were discovered in season to prevent the surprise ; and after 
 burning some houses and killing one or two unhappy persons 
 found without the Fort, they drew off. Another party entered 
 H* 
 
90 HISTORY Or NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1746. 
 
 a house in Hopkinton in which the inmates were fast asleep, 
 the door having been left open by one who had gone out early 
 to hunt, and captivated eight persons. This disaster spread 
 such alarm in the vicinity, that the few families planted in 
 Hillsborough deserted their habitations and retired to places of 
 safety, from which they did not return till after the lapse of 
 fifteen years. These people had erected an house for religious 
 worship, which, during their protracted absence, some reckless 
 hunters, happening that way? set on fire; from no other motives 
 it has been said, than an idea that the owners would never 
 return, and a wish to enjoy the pleasure, such as it was, of 
 seeing it burn ! To prevent the destruction of the towns on 
 Connecticut rh er, Massachusetts sent a company commanded 
 by the gallant and celebrated Capt. Phinehas Stevens, to oc- 
 cupy a fort which had been built at Charlestown in the very 
 teeth of the enemy. To maintain this position required great 
 vigilance and resolution. Some of the men going out on an 
 excursion, fell in with a party of Indians who fired on them 
 and attempted to cut off their retreat, when Stevens marched 
 out to their relief and beat off the enemy. At another time 
 he went into the meadow with a body of men to look for some 
 horses. The dogs discovered a concealed party of savages, 
 who after a sharp conflict retreated, carrying off their dead, 
 and leaving behind so many of their arms and equipments, as 
 were sold for a sum which was reckoned " a great booty from 
 such beggarly enemies." 
 
 Though the chief weight of savage hostilities now fell on 
 the western and central towns, the eastern did not altogether 
 escape. A party of Indians rushed upon five men working 
 in a field at Rochester, who fled for their lives into a house 
 not far distant. Here they found but a momentary refuge— 
 the enemy stripped off the roof and entered the building, 
 killing some and making prisoners of the rest. 
 
 The people of Winchester being in want of bread, Gol. 
 Wiilard of that place went with a guard of twenty men to a 
 mill in Hinsdale to grind corn. Scarcely was the guard set, 
 when they received from the lurking enemy a fire which they 
 returned with spirit. With a loud and animating voice 
 Wiilard ordered his men to rush upon them ; the savages, 
 inferring from this that they were numerous, fled in such 
 haste as to leave behind " what Indians never leave if they can 
 avoid it, their packs and provisions." 
 
 In August, one hundred Indians concealed themselves in the 
 woods about Concord, intending to make an attack on the 
 next Sabbath. Happily some troops from Massachusetts, and 
 
1746.] period vi._ 1741— 17C3. 91 
 
 a company from Exeter under Capt. Ladd arrived in town in 
 season to afford protection, forming in the whole a consider- 
 able force. Aware that the enemy was lurking around, the 
 inhabitants on the sabbath went armed to the meeting, and 
 after the religious services marched out of the Church in a 
 body, presenting a front so imposing that the savages did not 
 venture an assault. The next morning seven of the Concord 
 people on their Avay to Hopkinton were waylaid, five of the 
 number slain, and two made prisouers. Jonathan Bradley, a 
 man of singular intrepidity, being offered quarter, refused to 
 accept it, and was not killed till he had sustained for some 
 time a desperate conflict with a great superiority of numbers. 
 
 In Autumn a report of the arrival in the eastern waters of 
 a powerful fleet and army from France, under the command 
 of the Duke de Anville, for the purposes of recovering Lou- 
 isburg and ravaging the coasts of New-England, excited great 
 alarm and led to every possible preparation to repel the ap- 
 prehended invasion. Col. Atkinson's regiment was employed 
 in fortifying the harbor of Pascataqua. A day of fasting and 
 prayer was observed at this crisis in some portions of the 
 country with unusual solemnity ; and on the veiy next night 
 a violent tempest shattered the French fleet. The coincidence 
 of the Fast and the Tempest was much noticed by the people 
 of that day as a remarkable interposition of Divine Provi- 
 dence. This disaster, added to the losses which had been 
 occasioned by a mortal sickness among the crews and troops, 
 of whom eleven hundred were buried at Halifax, besides 
 hundreds thrown overboard, so dejected the French Com- 
 mander that he ended his life by poison, and the second in 
 command fell on his own sword. The remains of this great 
 armament returned to France, without having effected any 
 thing cither for the interest or honor of* their nation. 
 
 On the approach of winter the garrison at Charlestown 
 was withdrawn, and many of the scattered inhabitants of 
 that region, being left without protection, abandoned their 
 dwellings. Whatever of their effects they could, they car- 
 ried off; much of what could not be transported was buried 
 in the earth ; and the residue, together with their buildings 
 left to be destroyed by the en: !i iv. When the alarm of the 
 French invasion was past, Atkinson's regiment marched to 
 Winnepiseogee for the defence of the frontiers, and passed 
 the winter in an encampment on the margin of the lake. — 
 Annapolis in Nova Scotia being exposed to an attack by the 
 French and Indians, two hundred men from this Province 
 sailed eastward to unite with other forces in defending tho 
 
92 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1748. 
 
 town. By some mismanagement, the most of them returned 
 home without having even landed at the place of destination. 
 The Massachusetts troops in that quarter, disappointed of 
 their aid and inferior in number to the enemy, were attacked 
 at Minas in a snow storm, and after losing their Commander 
 and having one hundred men killed or wonnded, were com- 
 pelled to surrender. 
 
 The spring of 1747 brought with it a renewal of savage 
 devastations. Capt. Stevens returned to Charlestown with a 
 company of rangers, and found the fort there in the same 
 condition in which he left it the preceding autumn. In a 
 few days the incessant barking of the dogs announced the 
 approach of a body of 400 French and Indians commanded 
 by Dubeline. Frustrated in their design of taking Stevens 
 by surprise, they set fire to the surrounding fences and log 
 houses and attempted to burn the fort by shooting flaming 
 arrows. These efforts, accompanied with horrid shouts and 
 yells, they continued two days. The French commander 
 next employed various threats and artifices to induce the gar- 
 rison to surrender, but his attempts failed: — these brave men 
 resolved to perish rather than yield. A renewal of attacks and 
 shouts on the part of the enemy then followed,but with no bet- 
 ter success. On the third day they offered to retire if Stevens 
 would sell them provisions. Having received a decisive refusal 
 they fired a few more guns ; this done, they drew off inalmost a 
 starving condition. By this brave defence he acquired much 
 honor, and received from the British Commander Sir Charles 
 Knowles, then at Boston, the present of an elegant sword — 
 a circumstance which gave the township, when afterwards 
 incorporated, the name of Charlestown. Other and smaller 
 parties of the enemy went further east and did mischiefs in 
 Rochester, Concord, Pembroke and Nottingham. Bridg- 
 man's fort near Hinsdale was burnt by the Indians in Au- 
 tumn and several persons slain. 
 
 The death of James Carr of Pembroke, who was killed by the 
 enemy early in 1748, was attended with a singular instance of 
 canine attchment and fidelity. He with two others was plow- 
 ing on the west bank of the river, within the present township 
 of Bow. Towards night some Indians, who, concealed in a 
 thicket of bushes, had been watching them all day, rushed up- 
 on them ; his two companions were taken ; but in attempting 
 to run to the river, Carr was shot and fell dead on his back with 
 his arms somewhat extended. As the savages ran up to scalp 
 him, his dog, a large and fierce animal, instantly attacked them ; 
 but was stunned by the blow of a tomahawk and left for dead. 
 
1748.] period vi.— 1741— 1763. 93 
 
 The people in garrison at Pembroke heard the firing, but it 
 being near night did not venture on an immediate pursuit, from 
 the apprehension of falling into an ambuscade. After the de- 
 parture of the enemy the dog revived, guarded the corpse of 
 his master through the night; and was found next morning 
 with his nose laid in its open hand ; nor would the faithful an- 
 imal permit any one to remove or even touch the body, till 
 after the use of much flattery and some force. 
 
 Several men belonging to Fort Hinsdale having been killed 
 or made prisoners, Capt. Hobbs, the second in command at 
 Charlestown, was sent with a ranging party of forty men to 
 scour the woods west of Connecticut river. Having halted to 
 refresh his men at a spot a few miles west of Brattleborough, he 
 was suddenly attacked by 150 savages. Promptly placing his 
 men behind the shelter of trees, he maintained a combat of 
 three hours, and whenever the foe attempted to rush upon him, 
 the fire of his sharp shooters drove them back. They at length 
 retired, carrying off their dead and leaving the ground profusely 
 sprinkled with their blood. In this fierce engagement Hobbs 
 lost but three of his men. The defeated Indians were not 
 however deterred from further efforts ; they not long after at- 
 tacked a party of seventeen men in Hinsdale, and killed or made 
 prisoners a majority of the number. 
 
 Peace was re-established between England and France by 
 the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in October. The good news soon 
 crossed the Atlantic and was followed by a treaty with the In- 
 dians, concluded at Portland. Prisoners were to be restored 
 without ransom, and conquests made during the war to be giv- 
 en up. The English captives had been treated with far more 
 humanity than in any former war. Of deliberate murder or 
 torture there was not a single instance ; the old practice of ma- 
 king prisoners run the gauntlet was chiefly discontinued ; and 
 often, when sick or feeble, they were assisted to travel, and in 
 times of pinching scarcity received an equal allowance of pro- 
 visions with the captors themselves. 
 
 If we imagine the Indians to be altogether unsusceptible of 
 the finer feelings of humanity, we do them injustice. Of their 
 moderation Belknap relates the following instance : " An In- 
 dian surprised a man at Ashuelot ; the man asked for quarter 
 and it was granted. While the Indian was preparing to bind 
 him, he seized his gun and shot him in the arm. The Indian 
 however secured him, but took no other revenge than to say 
 with a kick, ' You dog, how could you treat me so?' " A little 
 incident which occurred soon after the war, exhibits striking 
 traits of their sympathy and humanity. A party of their war- 
 riors came to Concord and encamped near the house of the 
 
94 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1749. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Walker, who was much respected by them as well as 
 beloved by his parishioners. He being from home, his wife 
 expressed apprehensions of danger. The Indians remarked 
 to each other, " Minister's wife afraid." To allay her fears they 
 gave up their guns, left them in her possession till they were 
 ready to depart, and treated her with courtesy and respect. 
 
 Some of the Ecclesiastical transactions which had occurred 
 during the war, demand a brief notice. In 1745, the Rev. 
 Messrs. Moorhead of Boston, McGregor of Londonderry, 
 and Abercrombie of Pelham, Ms. formed the first Presbytery 
 in New-England, called the Boston Presbytery. Thirty years 
 afterwards, its numbers having been much increased, this 
 body was divided into three, called the First Eastern Presby- 
 tery, the Presbytery of Londonderry, and the Presbytery of 
 Palmer, united in one Synod, called the Synod of New-Eng- 
 land, which subsisted some years and held its annual meet- 
 ings at Londonderry. The first and third of these Presbyteries 
 became extinct: that of Londonderry still subsists, and 
 includes all the Presbyterian Ministers and Churches, eleven 
 in number, now in the State. The Congregational Ministers 
 of the Province, of whom at that period there were more 
 than thirty, formed a Convention in 1747 to meet annually for 
 the purposes of mutual improvement and consultation on 
 the interests of religion. The meetings of this body, origi- 
 nally holden in Portsmouth, are now holden at Concord on 
 the week of Election. 
 
 The influx of immigrants from Massachusetts had doubled 
 the population of New-Hampshire in eighteen years. It 
 amounted in 1749 to thirty thousand. The enterprising men 
 of the day, who were projecting new settlements, bcg°an to 
 turn their attention to the fine country forming the present 
 State of Vermont. It was claimed by New-Hampshire on 
 the grounds, that the king allowed her southern line to extend 
 to the w T est till it met his Majesty's other Provinces; and as 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts extended to a line drawn 
 twenty miles east of the Hudson, that New- Hampshire ought 
 to have an equal extension westward. This was contested 
 by New- York for the following reasons : that her chartered 
 limits extended eastward to the Connecticut river ; that her 
 concessions of territory to the Provinces of Connecticut and 
 Massachusetts gave no right to New-Hampshire to demand 
 further concessions ; and that her Eastern boundary, north 
 of Massachusetts, ought of course to extend to the limit pre- 
 scribed by the charter. As a practical assertion of the claim 
 of New-Hampshire, Gov. Wentworth granted the town of 
 
1749.] period vi.~ 1741— 1763. 95 
 
 Bennington, and two or three years afterwards several other 
 townships west of the river; till the second French war in- 
 terrupted the business of granting and settling new lands. 
 
 On the expiration of the triennial period for which the 
 Assembly was elected, a new one met in 1749, between whom 
 and Gov. Wentworth arose warm and protracted altercations. 
 They chose Richard YValdron, the former Secretary, who had 
 been for some years in retirement from public life, Speaker 
 of the House. The Governor negatived the choice. They 
 complained of his negative as a breach of their privilege; as 
 being, if not an usurpation, yet an abuse of power ; and re- 
 fused to choose another Speaker. There was another con- 
 tested point: the Governor had exercised at pleasure the 
 power of sending Writs of Election to some new towns not 
 before represented, leaving others of equal or superior popu- 
 lation, unrepresented. The House denied his authority to 
 determine without their concurrence, what towns should en- 
 joy the privilege of representation, and refused to admit the 
 new. members to their seats. The exigencies of the late war 
 had compelled Wentworth at the meeting of the preceding 
 Assembly to yield the point for that time ; but now, supported 
 by fresh instructions from the King, he was inflexible. The 
 Assembly was equally indisposed to recede, and the conse- 
 quence was, that although it was kept alive by adjournments 
 and prorogations for the term of three years, no public busi- 
 ness was transacted. The Treasurer's accounts remained 
 unsettled, the soldiers who had served during the war were 
 unpaid, and the Recorder's office was closed. His term was 
 expired and a new choice could not be made till the Assem- 
 bly wes duly organized. 
 
 Great inconvenience and clamor were the inevitable results 
 of this suspension of public business, and many were inclined 
 to lay the blame on the head of the Governor. The confu- 
 sion was occasioned in no small degree by the want of a 
 definite, written Constitution The Governor's Com- 
 mission from the King was almost the only substitute for 
 such an instrument; and as neither, this nor the Triennial 
 Act, determined on what principle Writs of Election should 
 be sent to the new towns, the Governor issued them to such 
 as he thought proper, and neglected others. The controversy 
 was injurious to his popularity and led to the transmission of 
 a complaint against him to England, to be laid before the 
 King. His opponents wished to compass his removal from 
 office, and to procure the appointment of Sir William Pep- 
 perell to succeed him. The person to whose care the com- 
 
96 IIISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1752. 
 
 plaint was entrusted, having ascertained that the English 
 Ministry was disposed to sustain the Governor, and that a 
 complaint to the King against one of his servants for follow- 
 ing his instructions would be ill received, thought it not 
 prudent to present it, and the affair was dropped. 
 
 A new Assembly was convened in 1752. The evils of past 
 altercations inclined them to caution and moderation ; the 
 members returned from the new towns were admitted to seats 
 without controversy ; and Meshech Weare of Hampton Falls, 
 a man fast rising into distinction, whom it was foreseen the 
 Governor would approve, was chosen speaker. The measures 
 demanded by the public interest were adopted with tolerable 
 harmony, and the Governor by a liberal distribution of civil 
 and military Commissions, brought over some of his opponents, 
 softened the resentment of others, and reinstated himself in 
 some degree in his former good standing with the people. 
 
 An occurrence which took place at this time alarmed the 
 people of Hinsdale, and proved one of the mountains of New- 
 Hampshire to be in an humble degree volcanic. It was a loud 
 explosion like the report of a cannon attended with a column 
 of smoke proceeding from the West River mountain, situated 
 in Hinsdale and Chesterfield. A similar phenomenon alarmed 
 the garrison of Fort Durnmer more than twenty years before, 
 and again occurred near the commencement of the Revolu- 
 tionary war. Dr. D wight, who visited the spot in 1798, found 
 apertures which must have been formed by blasts of air from 
 the bowels of the mountain, and a considerable quantity of 
 calcined and vitrified matter, the product of subterranean 
 fire. 
 
 Vigorous efforts were made to extend the settlements in 
 the western parts of the Province. Many of the former set- 
 tlers whom the war had driven off, returned with accessions 
 to their number, to their homes in this great wilderness, dotted 
 with here and there a patch of cultivation. Grants of new 
 townships were induced by various motives, such as the de- 
 sire of attracting emigrants from other Provinces, and a 
 regard on the part of the Governor, to the fees and emolu- 
 ments accruing to himself, which were great. In each of 
 the townships he reserved to himself a right of land, and 
 others for the support of the Episcopal Church, to which he 
 was warmly attached. It has been said that " during his ad- 
 ministration there was a triple union of the State, the Church, 
 and Himself, of which He however, was the most considera- 
 
1753.] feriod vi.— 1741— 1763. 97 
 
 ble part." For the purpose of shutting out the French from 
 the rich meadows of Coos, included in the present towns of 
 Haverhill and Newbury, in which it was feared they might 
 establish themselves, it was concluded to form a settlement 
 there ; a party was accordingly sent up the river to lay out 
 two townships, and make preparation for the reception of 
 many families soon to follow them. This scheme awakened 
 the jealousy of the St. Francis Indians, residing on the river 
 of that name in Canada, to whom were united the remains of 
 the tribes once planted in New-Hampshire and the western 
 parts of Maine. Some of their warriors came to Capt. Stevens 
 of Charlestown, with a message from the tribe, importing, that 
 the English already owned more land than they could culti- 
 vate, and threatening hostilities if they persisted in the design 
 of occupying still more — a threat which disheartened the ad- 
 venturers and led to an abandonment of the plan. These 
 Indians made a further discovery of their ill temper, by sur- 
 prising four men who were hunting in the wilderness near 
 Baker's river, within the present limits of Rumney. Only 
 one of the four escaped ; one was killed ; the other two were 
 made prisoners and carried to Canada. 
 
 Of these two, one was John Stark, afterwards the celebrated 
 Gen. Stark. On their arrival at St. Francis, both ran the 
 gauntlet, which consists in passing between two long files of 
 Indians and receiving from each one a kick or a blow. — 
 "Stark's companion suffered severely ; but he himself snatched 
 a club from the nearest Indian, and laid about him to the right 
 and left as he ran through the lines — greatly to the amusement 
 of the fathers of the tribe." Their efforts to make him work 
 were unavailing, as he cut up by the roots the corn he was 
 ordered to hoe, declaring that such was the proper work of 
 squaws, not of warriors. He was a favorite with them ; they 
 adopted him as a son and gave him the title of the Young 
 Chief. When, not long after, Capt. Stevens went to Canada 
 to redeem English captives, the first one offered him was a 
 robust young man, dressed in Indian style and decorated with 
 wampum and silver. It was Stark. 
 
 An event occurred in 1753 which sharpened the resentments 
 of this hostile tribe. Two of their number, Sabbatis and 
 Plausawa, came into Boscawen and lodged at the house of a 
 man, who on the next day killed them in the woods, and with 
 the aid of another concealed their bodies under abridge. The 
 two men implicated in the affair were taken to Portsmouth and 
 confined in irons in the prison ; but on the night preced- 
 ing the day appointed for their trial, a body of armed men 
 I 
 
<)8 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1754. 
 
 forced the prison doors with crowbars and axes, and set them 
 at liberty. They were never retaken, although the Governor 
 offered a reward for their apprehension. It is but an act of 
 justice to add that some accounts represent Bowen, the man 
 who killed these Indians, as doing it in self defence, having 
 first observed in them indications of hostile feelings, and 
 actually seen one of them snap his gun at him with an evi- 
 dent intent to shoot him. A present, with which at the time 
 they appeared to be satisfied, was made to the tribe, as an 
 atonement for the blood that had been shed. They however 
 nourished secret purposes of revenge. A conference with 
 several tribes being afterwards holden at Portland, the St. 
 Francis tribe, though invited, did not attend ; but sent a 
 message, purporting that " the blood was not wiped away." 
 
 The apprehensions excited by the hostile temper of the 
 Indians were increased by the unfriendly relations existing 
 between England and France. Possessed of settlements both 
 in Canada and Louisiana, the French aimed at connecting 
 these distant regions by a chain of Forts from the St. Law- 
 rence to the Mississippi, and thus monopolizing the fur trade 
 of the Continent. The execution of this vast plan involved 
 encroachments on lands claimed by the English Colonies, and 
 engendered disputes between the two nations. Foreseeing 
 that the controversy must be decided by the sword, the En- 
 glish Ministry recommended to the Colonies an Union for 
 mutual protection and defence. To effect this purpose, a 
 Congress of Commissioners from the Colonies from New- 
 Hampshire to Maryland, met at Albany in 1754, and agreed 
 on a plan of union under a Governor General to be appointed 
 by the King. The Commissioners from this Province were 
 Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, Henry Sherburne, and 
 Meshech Weare. By a singular concurrence, the plan agreed 
 on by the Congress was rejected in England as giving too 
 much power to the Colonies, and in America as giving too 
 much power to the King. 
 
 After a short interval of peace the country was involved in 
 the second French War. Instigated by French influence the 
 Indians resumed the hatchet, and Salisbury first experienced 
 the sufferings of invasion, having several of its inhabitants 
 slain or carried into captivity. A party of the enemy surprised 
 the family of James Johnson of Charlestown, and led off eight 
 persons as prisoners. The very next day Mrs. Johnson was 
 delivered of a daughter. The Indians had the humanity to 
 make a halt on her account and construct a litter, on which 
 they carried the mother and her daughter, appropriately 
 
1755.] period vi.— 1741— 1763. 99 
 
 named Captive, through the vast wilderness surrounding the 
 Green Mountains. Exposed to imminent danger of butchery 
 or captivity, the inhabitants of Charlestown applied to the 
 government of New-Hampshire for a guard of soldiers ; but 
 being repulsed in this application they addressed their earnest 
 supplications to Massachusetts, who granted the desired pro- 
 tection. Having been carried to Canada, Mr. Johnson was 
 permitted to return home on parole, and the government 
 assisted him in procuring funds for the redemption of his 
 family. 
 
 Aided by England, the Colonists in 1755 set on foot several 
 expeditions against the French. Those against Fort du 
 Quesne on the Ohio and Fort Niagara, miscarried. A third, 
 directed against Nova Scotia, was successful ; our troops 
 took Fort Cumberland, disarmed the hostile inhabitants of 
 the adjacent region, and transported almost two thousand 
 French people, out of the country. A fourth expedition, led 
 by Generals Johnson and Lyman, was destined to attack 
 Crown Point. To this body was attached a New-Hampshire 
 Regiment, under Col. Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable, who 
 marched through the wilderness by way of Salisbury on the 
 Merrimac, and Charlestown on the Connecticut, and were 
 posted at Fort Edward ; while the main body advanced to 
 Fort George, at the south end of the lake of that name. A 
 formidable French force under the Baron Dieskau soon after 
 arrived at the south end of Lake Champlain, and marched to 
 attack our troops. Johnson sent out a body of Americans 
 and Mohawks, commanded by Col. Williams and the cele- 
 brated Indian Chief Hendricks, to check their advance. — 
 Unhappily this detachment fell into an ambuscade, and some 
 hundreds of the men, together with Williams and Hendricks, 
 were slaughtered. A pond lying on the line of their retreat 
 into Johnson's camp, into which the bodies of the slain were 
 cast, has ever since been called " Bloody Pond." Flushed 
 with this success, Dieskau pressed forward and attacked the 
 English camp, but was repulsed with great slaughter, and 
 himself mortally wounded. A part of his forces on their 
 retreat fell in with a detachment of New-Hampshire and 
 New- York troops coming up from Fort Edward, the former 
 commanded by Capt. Folsom of Exeter, and after the ex- 
 change of several sharp fires, were again put to flight, leaving 
 in the power of the victors, the baggage of the French. — 
 After these affairs the army was reinforced by a second reg- 
 iment from this Province, under the command of Col, Peter 
 Gilman. 
 
100 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1755. 
 
 During the summer small parties of Indians repeated their 
 unwelcome visits to Hopkinton, Keene and Charlestown. — 
 At Walpole, a considerable body of them killed two men, and 
 got possession of Col. Bellows' fortified house in his absence. 
 Returning with twenty men, he gallantly fought his way 
 through fifty savages and recovered the house. The Indians 
 having been largely reinforced, attacked the garrison of John 
 Kilburn in the same town. With the aid of three men and 
 two women, Kilburn made good the defence, keeping the 
 women employed in running bullets and loading muskets, 
 while the men discharged them at the enemy. This little 
 band sustained the assault of two hundred savages, for some 
 hours, killed several of the number, and compelled them at 
 the approach of evening to retire. Never was a more gal- 
 lant defence made. The enemy however, continued their 
 efforts at other points, and found an opportunity to strike an- 
 other blow on the unfortunate town of Hinsdale. Three men, 
 returning at evening from their labor to their families a' 
 Bridgman's Fort, fell into an ambushment ; one only escaped, 
 while another was killed, and a third drowned in attempting 
 to cross the river. The Indians then hastened to the fort ; 
 the unsuspecting inmates, hearing the sound of their foot- 
 steps, and thinking their friends had arrived, gladly unbarred 
 the gate to receive them. In rushed the savages, and seized 
 the unfortunate women and children to the number of four- 
 teen. 
 
 One of these unhappy females was Mrs. How, of whom 
 under the appellation of The Fair Captive, Gen. Humphreys 
 has given so glowing a description in his Life of Putnam. — 
 Her adventures were indeed romantic. On her march over 
 the Green Mountains towards Canada, one of her little sons 
 four years old, would occasionally sit down at a halting place 
 on his master's pack, when the inhuman monster "would 
 knock him off with the handle of his hatchet, inflicting 
 wounds on his head, the scars of which long remained. As 
 they passed down Lake Champlain in canoes, a tremendous 
 nocturnal thunder storm lashed the waves into fury and 
 threatened them with instant destruction. Dreadful was the 
 rolling of the thunder on the watery expanse. After their 
 arrival at the head quarters of the tribe, Mrs. How experien- 
 ced the sufferings of extreme hunger, and saw the time when 
 she gladly skimmed off and swallowed the fragments float- 
 ing in a pail destined to feed swine. Her babe was taken 
 from her by violence and carried to a distant place. Roving 
 with her captors from place to place, she spent a dreary win- 
 
1756.] period vi.— 1741— 17G3. 101 
 
 ter among the Islands in the northern part of the lake. Once 
 they gave her the false intelligence, merely to afflict her, that 
 one of her children had died a natural death, and another 
 had been killed by a blow of a hatchet ; nor was it till some- 
 time afterwards, that her anguish was removed by the discov- 
 ery that they were both alive. She was at length sold to a 
 Frenchman, and was finally redeemed from a long captivity 
 by the generous interposition of Col. Schuyler of New-York. 
 One of her daughters was carried by the French Governor 
 to France, where she was married, and never revisited her 
 native land. 
 
 The first Baptist Church in the Province was gathered this 
 year at Newtown, under the ministry of the Rev. Walter 
 Powers. This denomination of Christians has since become 
 numerous, including at the present day, ninety-one Churches, 
 and five thousand seven hundred and forty-seven communi- 
 cants within the limits of New-Hampshire. 
 
 The third great earthquake known in New-England, oc- 
 curred in November, a little before day-break, after a clear 
 and serene night. The shock was heavy, and of considerable 
 duration. Suddenly arousing the people from the peaceful 
 slumbers of the night, it excited great alarm. It threw down 
 the tops of 100 chimneys in Boston, and shook the country 
 from Virginia to Nova Scotia, an extent of a thousand miles. 
 
 In 1756, the operations of war languished. A considera- 
 ble body of Colonial troops, among whom was a New-Hamp- 
 shire regiment under Col. Messerve, was collected for anoth- 
 er attempt ou Crown Point ; but the Earl of Loudon, than 
 whom a more inefficient man was ne^ er at the head of an 
 army, having the chief command, nothing effectual was done. 
 The regiment from this Province being distinguished for 
 hardihood and agility in traversing the woods, a select num- 
 ber of its men were formed into three companies of Rang- 
 ers, commanded by Robert Rogers, John Stark, and William 
 Stark, and kept in pay of the king during the war. The 
 Rangers served as guides and couriers, kept the enemy in 
 alarm by false attacks, and reconnoitered hostile posts. Many 
 of them were from Londonderry and the immediate vicinity ; 
 not Irish) as has been incorrectly stated, but of Scottish de- 
 scent. They distinguished themselves in numerous bloody 
 skirmishes with parties of French and Indians, and exhibited 
 much tact in scouring the woods, and procuring intelligence 
 of hostile movements. On the waters and among the islands 
 and mountains of Lake George, they were incessantly in 
 motion. Major Rogers of Londonderry, than whom few 
 I* 
 
102 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1757. 
 
 partizan warriors have been more celebrated, commanded 
 the whole body. He afterwards published at London an in- 
 teresting Journal of their Military services. 
 
 The Indians acted during the season with less than their 
 usual vigor, and with the exception of killing Lieut. Willard 
 at Charlestown, and the capture of a few persons at Winches- 
 ter, did little serious mischief. Of the stratagems of 
 savage warfare and the hair-breadth escapes of the scattered 
 inhabitants of the remoter towns, we have a specimen in an 
 occurrence which took place at Westmoreland, near this 
 time, though the precise date is unknown. A party of men 
 went up the river to hoe corn on an island, some miles above 
 their habitations ; and having finished their work, passed over 
 to the west bank, on their way homeward. A large dog be- 
 longing to one of the company ran up the steep bank before 
 them, when his angry growls led them to suspect the pres- 
 ence of an enemy lurking in ambush. Immediately they 
 recrossed the river, and by a route on the east side reached 
 home in safety. The dog was the instrument of their pres- 
 ervation. They afterwards learned the fact, that thirty In- 
 dians lay in concealment, ready to fire upon them the moment 
 they should ascend the bank, and come fairly within their 
 reach. 
 
 This year is the era of the introduction of printing into the 
 State. Dairiel Fowle from Boston, established a press at 
 Portsmouth, and soon issued the first number of the New- 
 Hampshire Gazette, a newspaper which still exists. The 
 first newspaper in Boston began its course more than half a 
 century before. Both Newspaper and Book printing are 
 now executed in the State, especially at Concord, to a large 
 extent. 
 
 The hostilities of the two preceding years had been car- 
 ried on without a formal declaration of war against France. 
 Such a declaration was issued in 1757. New-Hampshire 
 raised a regiment for the service of the year, of which a part 
 under Lieut. Col. Gone of Bedford, marched by way of 
 Charlestown, which had been recently distressed by another 
 Indian incursion, to Fort William Henry, on the shore of 
 Lake George ; and were there united with other troops, to 
 the number of two thousand. Little did they anticipate the 
 fatal disaster which awaited them soon after their arrival. — 
 The Marquis de Montcalm who had succeeded to the com- 
 mand of the French army, invested the Fort with a power- 
 ful force, and in six days compelled it to surrender, on con- 
 dition that the garrison should be protected and conducted in 
 
1758.] period vi.— 1741— 1763. 103 
 
 safety to Fort Edward. At the head of a force sufficient to 
 have relieved Fort William Henry, Gen. Webb lay in the 
 mean time at Fort Edward in stupid inactivity. His troops 
 were eager to go to the rescue of their brethren, and solicited 
 the permission of their commander ; but Gen. Johnson, tho 
 second in command, told them with tears in his eyes, that 
 Webb forbade their march. As the garrison after the surren- 
 der marched out unarmed, the savages in Montcalm's army, 
 enraged at the disappointment of their expectations of plun- 
 der, fell on them with a fury next to infernal. The New- 
 Hampshire troops being in the rear, suffered most, having 
 eighty out of two hundred butchered on the spot — a massa- 
 cre that filled the Province with mourning. Unquestionably 
 Montcalm might have prevented this outrage, the permission 
 of which was on his part a wanton and inhuman violation of 
 a sacred engagement. Hundreds besides those belonging to 
 this Province, were sacrificed on this bloody arena. Urgent 
 demands being sent on for reinforcements, an additional force 
 of 250 men was raised here and placed under the command 
 of Maj. Tash of Durham, who was stationed at Charlestown, 
 by order of Webb, for the protection of the settlements on 
 Connecticut river. 
 
 Chagrined at the ill success of the wai, the English nation 
 demanded a change of Ministers at home and of Military 
 commanders abroad. William Pitt being placed at the head 
 of the administration in 1758, soon infused into the English 
 fleets and armies, a new spirit. A powerful expedition from 
 Halifax took Louisburgh from the French, with its garrison 
 of 5000 men and 120 pieces of cannon. At this place Col. 
 Messerve of Portsmouth, an officer of distinguished merit, 
 to whom Lord Loudon had presented an elegant piece of 
 plate as a testimonial of his good services, closed his life. A 
 force under Gen. Forbes succeeded in gaining possession of 
 Fort du Quesne, now Pittsburg. Gen. Abercrombie, who had 
 superseded Loudon in the chief command, advanced at the 
 head of a third army, to which was attached a regiment of 
 800 men from this Province, to attack the strong fortress 
 of Ticonderoga. He transported his men down Lake 
 George on a bright and beautiful day, in more than a 
 thousand boats, gliding in perfect order to the sound of fine 
 martial music, Lord Howe in a large boat leading the van. — 
 After landing, some of the troops were engaged in a skirmish 
 with the enemy, in which Rogers' rangers bore a distinguished 
 part. On the next day the whole army moved to attack the 
 French lines ; but they were received with a murderous fir* 
 
101 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1759. 
 
 of artillery and small arms, which they endured four hours, 
 when they were compelled to retreat with the loss of 2000 
 men killed and wounded. Among the slain was Lord Howe, 
 a young British nobleman of great merit, to whom the Amer- 
 cans were warmly attached. So bloody and disastrous a result 
 filled the whole country with grief and consternation. The 
 capture however of Fort Frontenac by Col. Bradstreet, whom 
 Abercrombie after his return to Fort George had detached on 
 this service, was some reparation of this dreadful loss. 
 
 The splendor of military transactions is but a thin veil 
 drawn over the real miseries of war. Of the thousands of 
 Ambercrombie's men who shared the pleasure of the brilliant 
 passage down Lake George, with the anticipation of triumph 
 shining in every eye, some hundreds on the very next day 
 left the scenes of earth, suddenly and forever ! The miseries 
 inflicted by one great battle on the wounded, on widows and 
 orphans, and on aged parents bereft of the props of their 
 declining years, transcend the power of the human mind to 
 estimate. To this we are to add the reflection of a multitude 
 of souls appearing before the Judge of all the earth, probably 
 many of them without preparation! Connected as it too 
 often is, with moral turpitude, military glory is but a splendid 
 bubble. To reconcile war, except when strictly defensive, 
 with the precepts of the gospel, is altogether impossible. — 
 The future and universal prevalence of Christian principles, 
 we are permitted to hope, will banish from the earth this 
 scourge of man. 
 
 Notwithstanding the disaster at Ticonderoga, the results of 
 the last campaign were on the whole auspicious, and stimula- 
 ted the English Ministry and the Colonists to make exertions 
 the next year, which crushed the French power in America. 
 A regiment of a thousand men from this Province under 
 Col. Lovewell, brother of the Lovewell so celebrated in a 
 former war, joined the army ou the Hudson and took part 
 in the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the gar- 
 risons retiring on the approach of a superior force. Another 
 British army, led by Gen. Wolfe, took, after the decisive and 
 well known battle on the plains of Abraham, the city of 
 Quebec, the strong capital of Canada. The reduction of this 
 almost impregnable fortress filled the colonies with joy, and 
 was celebrated in all the large towns with bells, processions, 
 fireworks, illuminations, and other tokens of triumph. On 
 the eighteenth of October, public thanks were given to Al- 
 mighty God in the Churches for the interposition of his Prov- 
 idence in these great events. 
 
1759.] period vi.— 1.741— 1763. 105 
 
 The troops were now at leisure to inflict chastisement on 
 the St. Francis Indians, the authors of the devastations com- 
 mitted on the frontiers of New-Hampshire in this and the 
 preceding war. Major Rogers and his Rangers were de- 
 tached on this service from Crown Point ; and after a pas- 
 sage down Lake Champlain and a march of twenty-one days 
 through Canadian forests, he descried from the top of a tree 
 the principal village of the tribe. Unsuspicious of the im- 
 pending danger, the Indians spent most of the next night in 
 dancing, and retired to their cabins for rest a little before 
 break of day. No sooner were they buried in sleep than the 
 assault was made, and quickly were their cabins and fields 
 flowing with blood. Out of three hundred inhabitants, two 
 hundred were slain, and the conflagration of their village 
 closed the scene. It was found filled with English plunder 
 and English scalps to the number of six hundred — a sight 
 which ga?<6 edge tO the resentments or" 1I10 assailants. Tho 
 retreat of the Rangers, which was made by way of Mem- 
 phremagog Lake, towards the mouth of Ammonoosuc river, 
 was attended with distressing reverses. Rogers kept his men 
 in a body till their provisions failed, when he distributed 
 them into small parties, that they might the better procure 
 subsistence on the way by hunting. Two of these parties 
 were overtaken by pursuing bodies of the enemy, and most 
 of the men killed or made prisoners. The commander with 
 the main body, arrived in a starving condition at the Ammo* 
 noosuc in Bath, where, in accordance with a plan previously 
 concerted, he expected to find a supply of provisions. Cruel 
 disappointment awaited him : the party entrusted with the 
 provisions had indeed been at the place, but after waiting 
 some days without seeing or hearing ought of Rogers, had 
 departed only a few hours before his arrival, leaving their 
 fires still burning. Guns, which they distinctly heard, were 
 fired to recal them ; but imagining they might have been fired 
 by an enemy, they held on their course down the river. For 
 this needless precipitation, subjecting as it did the famished 
 Rangers to the bitterest suffering, the commanding officer of 
 the returning party was deservedly cashiered. The nearest 
 place of relief was Charlestown — at the distance of seventy 
 miles — there being no settlement on the river above that 
 town. Ground nuts and beach nuts were the only sustenance 
 to be procured in the dreary forests ; and to such extremities 
 were they reduced, that for the sake of drinking a little broth 
 even slightly tinctured with animal matter, they boiled their 
 powder horns, ball pouches, and other leathern accouUe- 
 
106 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1760. 
 
 ments. A raft was constructed on which Rogers with two 
 or three others, floated down Connecticut river to White river 
 falls, where the raft was unfortunately lost. With extreme 
 difficulty another was constructed by the slow process of 
 burning down trees, on which he passed over other rapids 
 to Charlestown, and despatched up the river canoes laden 
 with provisions, to meet the starving survivors. Several had 
 perished in the woods of despair, hunger and exhaustion, 
 and the total loss in the retreat amounted to fifty men. 
 
 Of the sufferings endured by the unfortunate Rangers in 
 this retreat, the case of Benjamin Bradley of Concord fur- 
 nishes an affecting specimen. In company with two others, 
 he left the main body on the upper part of the Connecticut 
 river, taking a course which he supposed would lead him to 
 his father's house on the Merrimac. He never arrived. Some 
 hunters afterwards found in the wilderness of the White 
 Mountains, a quantity of silver broaches and wampum scat- 
 tered around the skeleton of a man, which from some proba- 
 ble indications was conjectured to be that of Bradley. 
 
 The next year, 1760, witnessed the completion of the 
 conquest of Canada, by the surrender of Montreal to three 
 British armies, which penetrated to that city by different 
 routes and arrived almost simultaneously. A New-Hampshire 
 regiment under Col. Goffe, which after cutting a new road 
 from Charlestown through Vermont to Crown Point, was 
 united to a force commanded by Col. Haviland, formed a 
 part of the great assemblage of troops concentrated around 
 Montreal. The reduction of Canada put an end to the tragic 
 scenes of Indian warfare on the borders of this State. So 
 effectually had the splendid achievements of the English and 
 Colonial troops overawed the savages, that for the three last 
 years, they had been restrained from other mischiefs than the 
 capture or slaughter of a few persons at Charlestown and 
 Hinsdale. They now passed under the dominion of England, 
 and their terrific war whoops were no longer to resound 
 through the forests of New-Hampshire. The baleful in- 
 fluence so long exercised over them by a foreign, hostile 
 nation, was now to cease forever. 
 
 That the French had shamefully and wickedly abused this 
 influence, is notorious. By bidding a price for every English 
 scalp, they continually excited the savage to the work of 
 blood and ruin. They taught him to regard them as the only 
 genuine friends of Christianity ; the English, as heretics, 
 whom to kill was not only lawful, but meritorious. Some 
 religious forms and ceremonies they indeed communicated to 
 
17(53.] period vi.— 1713— 1741. 107 
 
 the Indians,but left them profoundly ignorant of the nature and 
 excellent principles of real Christianity. A curious specimen 
 of the kind of religion they imparted to them is found in the 
 following incident : "The noted Therouet, an Indian Sachem, 
 died at Montreal. The French gave him burial in a 
 pompous manner, the Catholic priest that attended him at his 
 death having declared that he died a true christian : For, 
 said he, while I explained to him the passion of our Saviour 
 whom the Jews crucified, he cried out, 'Oh, had I been 
 there I would have revenged his death and brought away 
 their scalps.' " Had he possessed a particle of christian feeling, 
 how different at this solemn moment had been his language. 
 
 War between France and England still continued, but the 
 theatre of its subsequent operations being far distant, they 
 come not within our plan. New-England, which had freely 
 bled in six Indian wars, was destined to exhibit for a time 
 more peaceful scenes. 
 
 On the night of the 12th of April, 1761, the country was 
 shaken by an earthquake, which was succeeded by another in 
 Autumn. The summer of this, and that of the following year, 
 were each of them remarkable for a great and distressing 
 drought, which rendered necessary the importation of large 
 quantities of bread-stuffs from abroad. A considerable emi- 
 gration from various parts of New-England to Nova Scotia 
 took place at this period. The expulsion of some hundreds 
 of French families from the latter Province, after its con- 
 quest by the English a few years before, had left, unoccupied, 
 large tracts of cultivated land ; as the government offered 
 them to their own subjects on easy terms, many New-Eng- 
 landers were induced to emigrate. Attracted by the prospect 
 of fine farms, a considerable number of the enterprising in- 
 habitants of Londonderry removed to that bleak re- 
 gion, and settled in the towns of Truro and Londonderry. 
 
 A definitive treaty of peace between England and France 
 was concluded in 1763, after a long and tremendous struggle, 
 in which France lost all her North American Colonies, and 
 England gained an immense addition of territory, but at a 
 vast expense of blood and treasure. Toward her splendid 
 successes, her American Colonies powerfully contributed ; 
 and in proportion to her wealth and extent, none more than 
 New-Hampshire. 
 
 The number of eminent men who left the stage in the 
 course of the period now brought to a close, is not great. — 
 The Rev. Jabez Fitch of Portsmouth, who deceased in 1746, 
 was a collector of historical facts, and left behind him some 
 
108 KI5TOHY OF >£W-HAMrGHIRE. [1763. 
 
 valuable manuscripts, from which Dr. Belknap derived a por- 
 tion of the materials for his history. The Hon. George Jaf- 
 frey, Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and a Counsellor 
 of the Province, died in 1749. Not long after died the for- 
 mer Secretary of the Province, Richard Waldron, who like 
 most of the other public men of that day, was a professor of 
 religion, and warmly interested in the welfare of the Church, 
 of which he was a member. Daniel Tread well, a native of 
 Portsmouth, was one of the pupils of Major Hale, long cele- 
 brated as the Instructor of the Grammar School in that town, 
 who taught some thousands of youth, and " whose fame in 
 the region of the Pascataqua was equal to that of his cotem- 
 porary Lovel in Boston." Soon after his graduation at Har- 
 vard, Treadwell was elected Professor of Mathematics in 
 King's College in the city of New-York, and promised to 
 attain to distinguished eminence in that department of sci- 
 ence, when his early death disappointed the high-raised hopes 
 of his friends. 
 
PERIOD VII. 
 
 FROM THE PEACE OF 1763 TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
 REVOLUTIONARY CONTEST IN 1775. 
 
 The passage of numerous bodies of troops during the last 
 war through the territory now called Vermont, made the fer- 
 tility of the lands well known ; and no sooner was the danger 
 of Indian invasion past, than they were eagerly sought for the 
 purposes of settlement and speculation. Gov. Wentworth and 
 his Council, almost immediately after the reduction of Canada, 
 caused a survey to be made of the country on the Connecticut 
 river, and six ranges of townships to be laid out, three on each 
 side. Applicants in rapid succession were gratified with grants, 
 and the Governor was gratified with the fees, which amounted 
 to a sum sufficient to enrich him. A stream of immigrants 
 poured into this region, and the settlements were soon extended 
 up the river from Charlestown to Lancaster and Northumber- 
 land. Many of these immigrants came from Connecticut, and 
 planted themselves in Claremont, Plainfield, Lebanon,Hanover, 
 Lyme, Orford, Newport, Lempster, Alstead, Marlow, and some 
 other towns. They were a respectable class of people, ex- 
 hibiting in point of manners, customs and modes of thinking, 
 the distinctive peculiarities of their native State. At the same 
 time, new settlements spread along the Merrimac from Salis- 
 bury to Plymouth and Campton ; over the western parts of 
 Hillsborough and Merrimac Counties, the eastern sections of 
 Cheshire and Sullivan, and the northern part of Strafford. A 
 portion of these immigrants, and that not a small one, pos- 
 sessed little besides the axe on their shoulders and a flock of 
 needy children in their arms. The forests resounded with the 
 woodman's strokes; the hand of industry rapidly, and as if 
 by enchantment, laid open new fields and erected commodious 
 dwellings ; commerce was extended ; the fisheries prosecuted 
 with succcess; and the means of literary and religious im- 
 provement, multiplied. The hardy and intrepid generation, 
 K 
 
110 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1763- 
 
 now gone, which accomplished this vast extension of cultiva- 
 tion and civilization, richly merits the grateful remembrance of 
 their posterity. "Almost all the roads in which they travelled, 
 passed through deep forests and over rough hills and moun- 
 tains, often over troublesome and dangerous streams and not 
 •infrequently through swamps miry and hazardous ; where 
 wolves, bears, and catamounts obstructed and alarmed their 
 passage. The forests they could not cut down ; the rocks 
 they could not remove ; the swamps they could not causey ; 
 over the streams they could not erect bridges. Yet men, 
 women, and children ventured daily through this combination 
 of evils, penetrated the recesses of the wilderness, climbed the 
 hills, wound their way among the rocks, struggled through 
 the mire, and swam on horseback through deep and rapid 
 rivers." 
 
 Over the forests of New-Hampshire the Moose then roamed, 
 and often furnished to the settlers in the wilderness welcome 
 supplies of flesh, when none was to be derived from other 
 sources. Col. Webster, who established himself at Plymouth 
 when almost all the region north of Boscawen was a dark 
 forest, had at one time in his house fifteen barrels of moose- 
 meat. The Merrimac and Connecticut, with their numerous 
 branches, then furnished at the proper season an abundant 
 supply of salmon. Often were the tables, spread hi the rude 
 log cabins of that day, graced with this delicious fish, which 
 a combination of causes has since driven almost entirely from 
 our waters. 
 
 The conquest of Canada had not only removed the chief 
 obstacles to the rapid extension of new settlements, but it had 
 also given the Colonies a new idea of their own power and 
 political importance. They began to foresee that a great and 
 independent empire was destined to rise into existence in 
 America. They had no expectation of a speedy separation 
 from Great Britain, nor did they at that time desire it. But it 
 was often said that in future ages, this country would form a 
 powerful and independent nation ; though none then living, 
 would see the event : this was the current language of the 
 day. That the prediction would be so soon accomplished, they 
 did not even dream ; and in relation to the rapid advances of 
 the country in wealth, population and political importance, 
 their most adventurous imaginations lagged far behind the 
 scenes which time has since unfolded as realities. 
 
 Though the four great divisions of our population, the 
 Pascataqua, Londonderry ,Merrimack and Connecticut portions, 
 retain to this day some vestiges of their original peculiarities : 
 
1764.] period vii.— 1703— 1775. Ill 
 
 yet these different classes, connected by bonds political, social, 
 and religious, have become so blended and assimilated as to 
 dwell together in great harmony, and to exhibit in an uncom- 
 mon degree that uniformity of character, so promotive of the 
 the interests of a Commonwealth. 
 
 The numerous grants on the part of New-Hampshire of the 
 lands west of the Connecticut, gave great uneasiness to the 
 Government of New- York, which claimed all the territory 
 north of Massachusetts, as far east as to that river. In conse- 
 quence of a representation by the Governor of New York to 
 the King, a royal Order was issued in 1764, making the west- 
 ern bank of the river the boundary between the two contending 
 Provinces, thus annexing the New-Hampshire Grants, as 
 Vermont was then called, to New-York. After this decision, 
 the latter Province claimed the right of soil as well as of ju- 
 risdiction, and assumed the ground that all former grants under 
 the authority of New-Hampshire were null and void. The 
 settlers and claimants, a numerous and powerful body, were 
 deeply interested in resisting this assumption and supporting 
 the validity of their titles. These conflicting claims led, as 
 might have been expected, to long and embittered disputes 
 between them and the authorities of New- York : disputes so 
 vehement as often to threaten bloodshed. They would readi- 
 ly have submitted to the jurisdiction of that Province, had 
 they been permitted quietly to hold their lands : but when 
 .suits of ejectment were brought and decided against them in 
 the New- York Courts, the officers who attempted to dispossess 
 them met with such menaces and perils as compelled them to 
 retire. On the part of the people of the Grants, the irritation 
 at length became so great, as to lead them to the fixed deter- 
 mination not to come under the jurisdiction of New-York, but 
 to assume and exercise a distinct jurisdiction. The Green 
 Mountain Boys had no idea of surrendering lands for which 
 they had given a valuable consideration, and had brought 
 under cultivation by severe personal labor ; and New- York, 
 by grasping at too much, eventually lost the whole. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Sandeman of Scotland, the founder of 
 the religious denomination of the Sandemanians, came into 
 America at this time, and fixed himself at Danbury, Connecti- 
 cut. He formed several societies of his principles ; among 
 others, one at Portsmouth, which still exists. 
 
 We have now come to the momentous period of the rise of 
 that long controversy with Great Britain, which resulted in 
 the separation of the American Colonies from the parent State. 
 A desigu of taxing them, first suggested, as has been said, to 
 
112 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1765. 
 
 the British Government by a native of New-Hampshire, had 
 been conceived before the last French War, but kept a pro- 
 found secret. During that war, their good will was too 
 important to England to be forfeited, and therefore no attempt 
 to execute the design was then made. After the war, the 
 British Treasury was burdened with the interest of the im- 
 mense expenditures incurred in its support, and it was felt that 
 a revenue derived from America would afford a seasonable 
 relief. The British Government accordingly determined to 
 commence a system of Colonial taxation, and passed, 1765, 
 the notorious Stamp Act, imposing a Stamp duty on the 
 Colonies, and requiring all the legal written Instruments in 
 use among a commercial people, and even licenses for mar- 
 riage, to be executed on stamped paper charged with a duty. 
 
 This Act was viewed as an attack on American liberty, and 
 spread alarm through the country. The people on deliberate 
 consideration determined not to submit to its requisitions ; — 
 they contended that the Legislature of a country three thous- 
 and miles distant, in which they were not represented, had 
 no right to tax them ; and they foresaw that this measure, if 
 unresisted, would be but the entering wedge for others yet 
 more oppressive. The anticipation of such an Act had led 
 numbers, the year before, to form an agreement not to import 
 British manufactures, and particularly to disuse mourning ap- 
 parel, as an article both unnecessary, and tending to increase 
 their dependence on the fabrics of the mother country. With 
 the view of increasing the growth and manufacture of wool, 
 and thus rendering themselves independent of foreign supplies, 
 the people of Boston now came into an agreement not to eat 
 lamb during that season. Such was the excitement in most 
 of the Provinces, that the Distributors of Stamps were driven 
 by considerations of personal danger to resign their office. — 
 George Meserve, son of the distinguished Col. Meserve who 
 died in the expedition to Louisburg, having been appointed 
 Distributor in New-Hampshire, was compelled on his arrival 
 from England to resign his office before he set foot on the 
 shore ; and after landing, to ratify his resignation before he 
 went to his own house. The Assembly at their next sesssion 
 sent a petition to England for a repeal of the obnoxious Act. 
 On the day preceding that in which it was to go into opera- 
 tion, the New-Hampshire Gazette appeared with a mourning 
 border ; on the next day the bells were tolled, and other indi- 
 cations of strong popular excitement appeared. Suspicions hav- 
 ing arisen that Meserve still intended to distribute the stamps, 
 the sons of liberty were called together by beat of drum, when 
 
1766.] period vii.— 1763— 1775. 113 
 
 they compelled him to give up his Commission and take an 
 Oath, administered by Wyseman Claggett, not to attempt to 
 execute his office. 
 
 While the repeal of the Stamp Act hung in suspense, and it 
 was doubtful whether the proceedings of the Courts would be 
 deemed valid without the use of stamped papers, some licen- 
 tious persons began to imagine that debts could not be recov- 
 ered, and that they might set their Creditors at defiance. This 
 bad spirit was soon put down by an Association of the more 
 virtuous part of the community for the support of the laws, 
 and of the Magistracy in executing them. But the opposi- 
 tion to the Stamp Act was so violent throughout the country, 
 that, to the joy of the Americans, the British Parliament was 
 induced the next year to repeal it. 
 
 The Commission and Instructions of the Stamp Distributor, 
 which he had been compelled to surrender to the people, 
 were by them sent back to England in a packet, to the care 
 of the Agents of the Province, to be returned, if thought 
 proper, to the Stamp Office in London. This was a bold 
 step, and it amounted almost to an open defiance of the Brit- 
 ish government. On the arrival of the packet, the Stamp 
 Act was about to be repealed : and the Agents, apprehensive 
 that the proceedings in New-Hampshire, if publicly known, 
 might produce an irritation unfavorable to so desirable an 
 issue, suppressed the intelligence till after the repeal was ef- 
 fected. 
 
 Gov. Benning Wentworth resigned the Chair in 1766, hav- 
 ing occupied it twenty-five years. Some traits of his character 
 merit commendation. He was an obliging, generous friend ; 
 and in the two French and Indian wars which occurred during 
 his administration, he was assidious in his attention to the 
 protection of the frontiers, and the promotion of the common 
 cause. But his manners were some what, haughty and his 
 resentments warm. Having, like other officers under the royal 
 government, derived his appointment from a foreign source, 
 he was of course more solicitous to please his superiors 
 abroad, than to consult the feelings of the people at home. 
 His numerous grants of land to the people of Massachu- 
 setts and Connecticut, for the sake of the fees and emolu- 
 ments accruing, exposed him to the severe censures of the 
 inhabitants of the Eastern part of New-Hampshire ; who 
 saw, not without strong resentments, the people of other 
 Provinces engrossing valuable lands to which they thought 
 they had a superior claim. The Governor sustained himself 
 by the plea, that they had been remiss in forwarding the set- 
 
 K* 
 
114 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1767. 
 
 tlement of some townships which had been granted them, 
 and that the grantees in Massachusetts were superior cultiva- 
 tors, and would introduce a body of immigrants who would 
 add materially to the wealth of the Province. Being an ar- 
 dent Episcopalian, he took care in his grants to reserve lands 
 for the benefit of his own denomination. In his appointments 
 to civil offices, he unduly regarded the interests of his own 
 family. George JafTrey was President of the Council, Chief 
 Justice, and Treasurer ; Theodore Atkinson, Secretary, and 
 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; Jotham Odiorne, Judge 
 of the Superior Court; Thomas Packer, Sheriff; Henry 
 Sherburne, Richard Wibird, Ellis Huske,and Samuel Solley, 
 Counsellors ; — all either relatives or family connexions of the 
 Governor. Some complaints against him having found their 
 way to England, the Ministry meditated his removal. In the 
 agitations excited by the Stamp Act, he was silent. Advan- 
 ced in years, expecting soon to be superseded, and having a 
 large estate in this country, it was important to him to retire 
 from office without incurring popular odium. His nephew, 
 John Wentworth, being in England, and having gained the 
 acquaintance and patronage of some of the nobility, it was 
 decided to appoint him to succeed to the Chair of this Prov- 
 ince ; and for the sake of the nephew's feelings, an opportu- 
 nity was allowed to the aged Governor to resign, with an 
 appearance of resigning in favor of a kinsman. He continued 
 to reside at Portsmouth till his death, four years after his re- 
 signation. 
 
 Gov. John Wentworth, with Commissions constituting him 
 Governor of New-Hampshire, and Surveyor of the King's 
 Woods in America, arrived at Portsmouth from England in 
 June, 1767, and was received with distinguished respect. — 
 Several Counsellors and a Committee of the Assembly, es- 
 corted by a troop of horse, met him at the Province line, and 
 on their return towards Portsmouth were joined by many of 
 the inhabitants, forming in the whole a grand cavalcade. — 
 The Wentworth family had long been the most brilliant in 
 the Province. Courteous in manners, and disposed to culti- 
 vate the friendship of the people, the new Governor was 
 extremely popular, and the Assembly voted him a liberal sala- 
 ry. He was a man of taste, delighted in agricultural improve- 
 ments, and brought under cultivation a large farm in Wolfe- 
 borough, on which he erected an elegant mansion. The 
 grand and romantic scenery around Winnepiseogee Lake, a 
 splendid, though irregular sheet of water, embosomed by 
 surrounding mountains, attracted him to this spot. Dwight 
 
1769.] period vii.— 17G3— 1775. 115 
 
 proposed to call the lake. Went worth, in honor of this dis- 
 tinguished cultivator of its shores ; but the proposal has not 
 received the sanction of general adoption. 
 
 Though the Stamp Act was repealed, the design of raising 
 a revenue from America was not abandoned. A bill passed 
 the British Parliament imposing a duty in the Colonies upon 
 the articles of glass, paper, paints, and tea ; and establishing 
 a Custom House and Board of Commissioners to superintend 
 the Collection. These duties, though small, were viewed as 
 introductory to other and heavier ones, and as establishing a 
 precedent tending to subject all American property to British 
 taxation. A spirit of opposition burst forth from Maine to 
 Georgia, and an agreement was formed, to a great extent, not 
 to import British Manufactures, till the obnoxious duties 
 should be repealed. This was done with the hope, that the 
 embarrassments resulting to British Merchants and Manufac- 
 turers from the non-importation plan, would arouse them to 
 exert their influence in favor of the Colonies. In this Prov- 
 ince the influence of Gov. Went worth, aided by that of his 
 numerous and wealthy connexions, and of the crown officers, 
 prevented for some time the adoption of the agreement : but 
 the people in general were inflexibly opposed to the views 
 of Britain. The Bostonians became so exasperated as to 
 attack the houses of the Commissioners of the revenue, and 
 force them to take refuge in the Castle. It being now appar- 
 ent that the revenue laws could never be executed without 
 an armed force, two regiments of troops and several armed 
 vessels were sent to Boston in 1768. This step, far from 
 overawing the Americans, served only to render them the 
 more determined in their opposition. 
 
 The New-Hampshire Assembly consisted at this time of 
 thirty-one members, representing about thirty towns. Many 
 of the new towns were unrepresented. The Province con- 
 tained about sixty settled Ministers, Congregational and 
 Presbyterian ; eight Attorneys at Law ; eighty Justices of 
 the Peace ; and ten Regiments of Militia. 
 
 Amid the controversies of the times, the interests of Edu- 
 cation were not forgotten. A College, the fourth in New- 
 England, was founded at Hanover, N. H. The Institution 
 was originally designed chiefly for the education of Indians 
 and Missionaries to the Indians ; and the plan of it had been 
 conceived, many years before, by Mr. John Sergeant, Mis- 
 sionary to the Stockbridge Indians. This excellent man pro- 
 cured some benefactions towards the execution of his design ; 
 but death interrupted his labors before any thing was brought 
 
116 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1769 
 
 to maturity. After his death the plan was revived by the 
 Rev. and pious Eleazer Wheelock, Minister of Lebanon, 
 Con., who established at that place a school for the education 
 of Indians and Missionaries to the Indian tribes. One of his 
 pupils was Sampson Occum, a Mohegan Indian, who exhib- 
 ited talents and conduct so respectable, that he was licensed 
 to preach the gospel, and sent to England to solicit benefac- 
 tions towards the establishment of a College. His appearance 
 there as a preacher, and the creditable manner in which he 
 acquitted himself, excited the attention of pious and benevo- 
 Jent persons, aud procured considerable sums of money, 
 which were placed in the hands of a Board of Trustees, of 
 which the Earl of Dartmouth was at the head. 
 
 Dr. Wheelock was now invited to several of the Colonies, 
 with offers of aid. By the advice of the benefactors in 
 England, he decided to accept the invitation of Gov. Went- 
 worth and other gentlemen in New-Hampshire, to establish 
 his intended Institution in this Province, and the town of 
 Hanover was selected as the most favorable situation. The 
 Governor gave it a Charter of incorporation in 1769, and it 
 took its distinctive name from the Earl of Dartmouth, a prin- 
 cipal benefactor. The whole region around was just begin- 
 ning to emerge from a wilderness state ; the first College Edi- 
 fice was constructed of logs ; but the founder looked forward 
 to a rapid increase of population, and his views were not 
 disappointed. In a short time the College rose into respec- 
 tability, and was endowed at different periods with considera- 
 ble tracts of land both in this Province and Vermont. The 
 first President Wheelock, having amply merited an enrol- 
 ment among the benefactors of mankind, died in 1779, and 
 was succeeded in the Presidency by his son, the Hon. John 
 Wheelock, who held the office for a period of thirty-six 
 years. The first Commencement was in 1771 ; the first class 
 of graduates consisted of four, of whom one was the second 
 President. After the Revolutionary war, he visited Europe 
 to solicit aid for the College, and obtained valuable benefac- 
 tions. Dartmouth Hall, the largest of the present edifices, 
 was erected in 1786. 
 
 President John Wheelock's successors in office have been 
 the Rev. Drs. Brown, Dana, Tyler, and Lord. Including a 
 respectable Medical Institution connected with it, the College 
 has eight professorships, and libraries containing near 15,000 
 volumes. The present number of students, not including 
 those of the Medical Department, is about 170. The whole 
 number of graduates exceeds 1700, of whom 549 have been 
 
1770.] period vii.— 1741— 17G3. 117 
 
 Ministers of the Gospel. Many of the graduates have risen 
 to the highest stations, executive, legislative, judicial and liter- 
 ary. Soon after the College was founded, the troubles atten- 
 dant on the Revolutionary War interrupted the intercourse 
 with the Indian tribes, and made it impracticable to obtain 
 to any extent, their youth for the purpose of educating them. 
 But though the particular end for which it was established 
 lias chiefly failed, it has yet accomplished other ends, of great 
 magnitude and importance. The founders, if living, would 
 have the satisfaction of knowing that it has produced its full 
 share of eminent men in all the learned professions, and been 
 extensively useful to mankind. 
 
 The sending of an armed force to Boston was justly regarded 
 by the Colonies as an effort to rivet the chains which had 
 been forged for them. Frequent disputes arose between the 
 soldiers and citizens ; on the 5th of March, 1770, a party of the 
 soldiers, having been highly provoked, fired on a collection of 
 people and killed five persons. This event raised the popular 
 resentment to the point of high exasperation. The merchants 
 of some of the Colonies threatened to withdraw from all 
 commercial intercourse with Portsmouth, unless the non- 
 importation agreement were adopted there: a threat which 
 moved the merchants and people of that town to unite in the 
 measure with their brethren abroad, the influence of the 
 Governor and crown officers notwithstanding. Opposition to 
 the duties now became so menacing, and the complaints of 
 the English merchants and manufacturers, whose business was 
 curtailed by the non-importation agreement of the Americans, 
 became so loud, as to induce the British Government to repeal 
 the duties with the single exception of a duty of three pence 
 per pound on tea. This being retained avowedly as an asser- 
 tion of the right of Parliament to tax America, the opposition 
 of the colonists was not diminished by the partial repeal, and 
 they entered into an agreement not to import tea. By the mass 
 of the people, the use of this favorite beverage was quite laid 
 aside ; the few who drank it being compelled to do it secretly, 
 for fear of falling under suspicion of indifference to the liber- 
 ties of the country. Instances were not wanting of tea 
 parties sipping from the cup even in cellars and garrets, for 
 the sake of eluding discovery. 
 
 Down to this period all the Judicial Courts had been holden, 
 and the public offices kept at Portsmouth. The labor and ex- 
 pense of resorting thither bore hard on the people of the cen- 
 tral and western towns and had long been a matter of complaint. 
 The rapid increase of population in the western and northern 
 
118 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1772. 
 
 sections of the Province called aloud for the redress of the 
 grievance. After many delays and difficulties, the Assembly 
 passed an act dividing the territory into five Counties, and 
 establishing the necessary courts : the plan however was not 
 to go into operation till the King's approbation should be 
 signified, which was not done till 1771 . Four of the Counties, 
 Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, and Grafton, were thus 
 named by Gov. Wentworth after English noblemen to whom 
 he was attached ; Cheshire, after the County of that name in 
 England. Straftbrdand Grafton, then containing a less popu- 
 lation than the others, were not admitted to exercise a distinct 
 jurisdiction till 1773. By subsequent divisions of the old 
 Counties, three new ones have been added : Coos, in 1803 ; 
 JMerrimac, in 1823 ; and Sullivan, in 1826. 
 
 Two hunters, named Nash and Sawyer, in their excursious 
 in the northern woods, discovered about this time the celebra- 
 ted Notch or Gap of the White Mountains — a vast ravine, 
 inferior in extent and magnificence to none in the world. — 
 They received from the Province a grant of 2000 acres of land, 
 near the Notch, in reward of the discovery. To all the pro- 
 prietors of lands on the upper part of Connecticut river, the 
 discovery was one of great importance, as furnishing their 
 nearest outlet to the ocean. The pass soon began to be used 
 as a channel of communication. Not many years afterwards, 
 an affecting incident imparted to it a melancholy interest, in 
 addition to that derived from the wildness and grandeur of 
 the scenery. A young woman who had been residing at Jef- 
 ferson, set out in winter to meet her lover in Portsmouth, un- 
 der the expectation of being there united to him in marriage. 
 Her course lay through the^Notch. From Jefferson to Bart- 
 lett, a distance of thirty miles, there was no house, and only 
 a horse path for a road. She advanced with extreme difficulty 
 more than twenty miles, when, overcome with cold and the 
 fatigue of walking in deep snows, she w'rapped herself in her 
 cloak, lay down under a small tree, fell asleep, and never awoke. 
 About a month afterwards she was found — a stiffened corpse. 
 The tree under which she slept the sleep of death,is still pointed 
 out to the traveller as The Maid's Tree. 
 
 Mr. Livius, a member of the Council, having conceived a 
 disgust at some measures of the Governor, repaired to Eng- 
 land in 1772 and exhibited a complaint against him. On the 
 first hearing before the Lords of Trade, their report was un- 
 favorable to Wentworth ; but on a re-hearing before a Com- 
 mittee of the King's Council, he was fully acquitted. This 
 result was very acceptable to the people, and to the Assembly, 
 
1773.] period vii.— 1763— 1775. 119 
 
 who at their next session presented to the Governor an Ad- 
 dress of congratulation. Thus far he had retained the good 
 will of the people : but the circumstances of the times placed 
 him in an extremely difficult situation, and the necessity on 
 his part of supporting the arbitrary acts of Parliament soon 
 impelled him to measures, taken indeed with evident reluct- 
 auce, by which he forfeited his popularity. 
 
 In 1773 the doctrine of universal sah ation was first preached 
 in New-Hampshire, by Mr. Murray of Boston. His efforts 
 were followed a few years afterwards by the establishment at 
 Portsmouth of a church holding this principle. Others have 
 since been formed in a considerable number of towns. 
 
 Benjamin Thompson, afterwards the celebrated Count Rum- 
 ford, a native of Woburn, Ms., came to reside in the Province 
 not far from the commencement of the year. He taught school 
 in Concord with success, and married a widow lady, daughter 
 of the Rev. and venerable Timothy Walker, the first minister 
 of this town. Possessing remarkable attractions both of person 
 and manners, he received many attentions, and was particu- 
 larly noticed by Gov. Wentworth, who offered him a military 
 commission. Little did his acquaintances here anticipate the 
 height of distinction to which he was destined to rise. His 
 attachment to the British cause made his residence in New- 
 Hampshire undesirable, and he repaired to England. There 
 he gained the acquaintance and patronage of noblemen, and 
 acquired the honor of knighthood. Some flattering propo- 
 sals induced him to enter the service of the Duke of Bavaria, 
 in which country he was eminently useful, rose to the highest 
 military rank, and was admitted into the order of nobility. — 
 A recollection of his early attachments in Concord, then called 
 Rumford, led him to add to his high title the name of Rum- 
 ford. As a practical philosopher and philanthropist, his fame 
 spread through Europe and America ; and after his death in 
 France in 1814, an Eulogy on his character and scientific dis- 
 coveries was iead before the National Institute. His career 
 is a striking instance of genius emerging from poverty and 
 obscurity, to the highest distinction. He evinced his friendly 
 remembrance of his native land by handsome bequests to 
 Harvard University, and the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences. 
 
 Surveys of considerable portions of the Province w T ere made 
 in 1773 and 1774 by Mr. Holland, and the results exhibited in 
 a large Map, which, some years after, was engraven in Lon- 
 don, and published under the direction of Paul Wentworth, 
 Esq. 
 
120 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 1774.] 
 
 The non-importation of tea having occasioned an accumu- 
 lation of this article in the warehouses of the East India Com- 
 pany, they were authorized to export their own teas on 
 payment of the duty of three pence per pound, and sent sev- 
 eral cargoes to America. At some of the Colonial ports it 
 was not permitted to he landed, and at Boston it was thrown 
 into the sea. The first cargo destined for Portsmouth was 
 landed in June, 1774, but the people compelled the consignee 
 to reship and send it away. A second cargo arriving after- 
 wards, consigned to the same person, the windows of his 
 lodgings were broken, and he thought it necessary to apply to 
 the Governor for protection. This cargo also he was obliged 
 to reship, and send to Halifax. 
 
 Prior to these transactions,the Assembly had chosen a Com- 
 mittee of correspondence to communicate with the other Col- 
 onies on the common dangers, and the means of averting 
 them : on which the Governor adjourned, and soon after dis- 
 solved them, in the hope that after this step the Committee 
 would not venture to act. He found himself disappointed. — 
 At the call of the Committee the assembly met again ; and 
 though the Governor went among them, declared their meet- 
 ing illegal, and ordered them to disperse — yet as soon as he 
 had retired, they proceeded to write to all the towns in the 
 Province, inviting them to send deputies to meet in Conven- 
 tion at Exeter, for the purpose of electing delegates to a Gen- 
 eral Congress of the American Colonies. In reference to 
 the public dangers, they appointed a day of fasting and prayer, 
 which the people observed with much solemnity. On this 
 occasion the Ministers of the Gospel, who were almost una- 
 nimously the advocates of the cause of liberty, warned their 
 congregations of the unhallowed designs of arbitrary power, 
 and cast whatever of influence they possessed into the scale 
 of their country's rights. 
 
 The Convention, to the number of eighty-five Dep- 
 uties, met in July, and chose Nathaniel Folsom and 
 John Sullivan to represent New-Hampshire in the first 
 American Congress. Money to meet the expense of the del- 
 egation, the towns furnished by the voluntary contribution of 
 their just proportions. In every part of the Province town- 
 meetings were holden, in which the people passed resolutions 
 expressive of their abhorrence of the measures of the British 
 Government, and their unalterable determination to maintain 
 their liberties. Gov. Wentworth, attached as he was to the 
 British interests, now saw that it would be impossible to pre- 
 vent New-Hampshire making common cause with the other 
 
1774.] period vii.— 1763— 1775. 121 
 
 Colonies, and acknowledged the fact in his letters to the Eng- 
 lish Ministry. He beheld a power— that of public opinion — 
 rising into vigorous action, which he found himself utterly 
 unable to resist. The appellations of Whig and Tory had 
 now come into common use, the former designating the friends 
 of American liberty, the latter the supporters of British pre- 
 tensions. 
 
 Several regiments of British troops under Gen. Gage occu- 
 pied Boston ; and the trade of the town was ruined by the 
 oppressive Act of Parliament, closing the harbor and remov- 
 ing the custom house to Salem. Liberal contributions in money 
 and provisions, were made not only in this Province, but in 
 most others, for the relief of the inhabitants, of whom not a 
 few were reduced to beggary by the cessation of business. — 
 In this gloomy state of things the Continental Congress met 
 in September at Philadelphia. Their proceedings were marked 
 with wisdom and moderation. They approved the opposition 
 of Massachusetts to the measures of the Ministry ; declared 
 the resolution of all the Colonies to stand by that Province ; 
 agreed upon a Declaration of Rights ; bound themselves and 
 their constituents not to import British goods ; and framed a 
 petition to the King, and an address to the British Nation. 
 
 Gov. Wentworth had thus far given less offence to the 
 friends of liberty than any other of the royal Governors in 
 America. His personal character was amiable : but he found 
 it impossible both to please the English Ministry, and avoid 
 offending the people of his Province. The British troops in 
 Boston being destitute of barracks, and the carpenters of that 
 place refusing to work for them, the Governor, on the appli- 
 cation of Gen. Gage, secretly employed an Agent to hire 
 carpenters in Portsmouth. His conduct in this particular was 
 openly denounced, even by some of his own family connec- 
 tions, who on this occasion silenced the voice of nature to 
 give ear to the voice of patriotism — the cry of reprobation was 
 loud— his influence rapidly declined— and the effective power 
 of government was transferred to the Committee of Safety, 
 a body of men deriving their authority from the people through 
 the medium of the Convention, and appointed to watch over 
 the public interests. Strong popular feeling gave to the 
 recommendations of the Committee all the force of law. 
 
 The proceedings of the Continental Congress perfectly 
 accorded with the feelings of the people. At a meeting of 
 the town of Portsmouth, it was voted to adhere to the non- 
 importation association, to cnoose a Committee to observe 
 the conduct of all persons hi relation to it, and in case of any 
 L 
 
122 HisTORf Of neW-hampshire. [1775. 
 
 being "hardy enough to violate it," to expose them by publish- 
 ing their names in the Gazette. They bore "testimony against 
 every species of gambling," and enjoined industry aud frugal- 
 ity. The heavy expenses formerly incurred in the matter of 
 funerals and mourning dresses, were by general consent 
 curtailed ; little was retained except mourning badges of 
 black crape or ribbon. 
 
 Near the close of this eventful year, an express arrived 
 from Boston with the intelligence,, that the King in Council 
 had prohibited the exportation of gunpowder and military 
 stores to America. It was also ascertained that armed vessels 
 were to be sent with troops, to occupy the Fort commanding 
 the entrance of Portsmouth harbor. The fort contained con- 
 siderable quantities of powder, cannon, and small arms*— * 
 Aware of the importance of securing these articles, John 
 Sullivan of Durham, John Langdon, and Thomas Pickering 
 of Portsmouth, collected a body of men, seized the Fort, and 
 carried off an hundred barrels of powder, the small arms, and 
 the lighter pieces of cannon, before the Governor even suspec- 
 ted the design. It was a bold but well timed enterprise, 
 executed just before the arrival of the Scarborough Frigate 
 and a sloop of war, with a party of soldiers from Boston, who 
 came too late to effect their purpose. Secretary Atkinson, 
 who was personally a friend to Langdon, told him he must 
 instantly flee the country, or h>s head would be "the button 
 for a gallows rope before the expiration of a week :" on which 
 the by-standers declared that they would protect him at all 
 hazards. The arrival of the vessels of war with a military 
 force, emboldened Governor Wentworth and his friends to 
 associate for the support of the King's government ; but all 
 the strength he could command was utterly incompetent to 
 cope with the force of the Province. A second Convention 
 of Delegates, chosen by the towns, met at Exeter in Jan. 1775, 
 elected John Sullivan and John Langdon Delegates from 
 New-Hampshire to the second Continental Congress, and 
 appointed a Committee of Correspondence to watch over the 
 public safety. 
 
 The remaining part of the winter was passed in a state of 
 suspense. Of the course which the British Ministry might 
 decide to pursue, the people waited for intelligence with the 
 deepest anxiety. The first spring ships brought reports that 
 the prospects in England were favorable to conciliation ; but 
 subsequent arrivals brought news of a very different aspect, 
 importing that the petition of Congress to the King had been 
 .contemptiously rejected, that he had demanded an augmenta- 
 
1775.] period tii.— 1763— 1775. 123 
 
 tion of his forces both naval and military, and that now Acts 
 had been passed by Parliament to restrain the commerce and 
 fisheries of the Colonists* Dr. Franklin, then in England, 
 wrote home to the Secretary of Congress, "The sun of liberty 
 is set : you must light up the candles of industry and econo- 
 my." Apprehending that war Was inevitable, the Bostonians 
 began to remove into the country. No alternative was left the 
 Americans but submission or open resistance ; and everv 
 month made it more apparent that the controversy mutt be 
 decided by the bloody arbitrament of the sword. 
 
 These were the times that tried men's souls. On the eve 
 of this contest with the power of Britain, the Thirteen United 
 Colonies contained 3,000,000 inhabitants, of whom about 90,- 
 000 were in New-Hampshire. Of the events of the war, the 
 plan of this work will not admit of any considerable detail ; 
 those only can be noticed with much particularity which oc- 
 curred in the immediate vicinity, or in which the New- 
 Hampshire troops took an active part. 
 
 In the course of the twelve years included in this Period, 
 an unusual number of eminent persons deceased. Richard 
 and Thomas Wibird, Esquires, brothers and merchants in 
 Portsmouth, both died in 1765, leaving a very respectable 
 reputation as men and Christians. Richard was a member of 
 the Council, and Judge of Probate. Thomas left handsome 
 legacies to Harvard College, to Dr. Wheelock's Indian School, 
 and to the North Church in Portsmouth. The Hon. Henry 
 Sherburne, a man "constant and zealous in his devotional 
 exercises," and warmly attached to christian institutions, died 
 in 1767 — having been for many years Speaker of the Assem- 
 bly, a Counsellor, and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 the duties of which offices he discharged with great fidelity. 
 The year 1770 is the era of the death ofMr. Whitefield, which 
 occurred at Newbury Port. In the week preceding his death, 
 he preached several times at Portsmouth and Exeter, in the 
 open fields, to audiences so numerous that none of the build- 
 ings could contain them. Such was the public sense of his 
 loss, that on the day of his funeral the bells of Portsmouth 
 were tolled for several hours. These deaths were succeeded 
 after no long intervals by those of Thomas Packer, who had 
 been for thirty years Sheriffof the Province; of Col. Thomas 
 Wallingford of Somersworth, an extensive landholder and a 
 Judge of the Superior Court ; of Sampson Sheafe, a princi- 
 pal merchant, and member of the Council j of the Rev. Arthur 
 Browne, who had long been the minister of the Episcopal 
 society in Portsmouth ; and of the Hon, Daniel Peirce, Re- 
 
124 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1775. 
 
 corcler of Deeds and a Counsellor. Mr. Peirce "read much 
 in Divinity, not as a science, but as a rule of conduct. Dr. 
 Doddridge was his favorite author, and the maxims deduced 
 from these studies regulated him both in public and private 
 life." These brief notices make it apparent, that many of 
 the public characters of New-Hampshire at that day, were 
 men who cherished a deep reverence for the christian reli- 
 gion. This was extensively the fact in New-England at large. 
 May the Legislators and influential men of succeeding gener- 
 ations follow so praiseworthy an example. 
 
PERIOD VIII 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN 
 1775, TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESENT CONSTITU- 
 TION OF THE STATE IN 1784. 
 
 The first scene in the great drama of the Revolutionary 
 war was opened at Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775. A 
 quantity of military stores and provisions having been collected 
 at Concord, Ms., the British Commander in Boston despatched 
 a force to seize or destroy them. At Lexington, these troops 
 found the militia of the town drawn up on the green to oppose 
 them. The British Major Pitcairn rode toward the militia, 
 crying out, "Disperse, you rebels, throw down your arms and 
 disperse." Not being .obeyed, he came nearer, discharged his 
 pistol and ordered his men to fire — eight of the militia fell 
 dead on the spot, and the rest retreated. After the enemy had 
 departed, the bodies of the slain were carried into Lexington 
 meeting house, some of the seats of which for a time after- 
 wards exhibited the stains of their blood. The troops proceeded 
 to Concord, and destroyed a part of the stores ; but were 
 attacked on their retreat by the militia of the neighboring- 
 towns, and must inevitably have been cut off, had they not 
 met on the way a powerful reinforcement. Their total loss 
 was 250 men ; that of the Americans, about eighty. 
 
 The intelligence of this battle spread over the country like 
 a roll of thunder, and aroused all America. It found Stark at 
 work in his sawmill, and many others ploughing in their fields, 
 who, instantly dropping the implements of labor, seized the 
 the sword or musket, and hastened to the post of danger. In 
 a few days ten thousand men, of whom 1200 were New- 
 Hampshire militia, invested Boston. As many of the troops 
 of this Province as it was thought necessary to retain, were 
 formed into two regiments, under Colonels John Stark of 
 Manchester and James Rcid of Londonderry. 
 
 In May a new Assembly . of Representatives, chosen in 
 L* 
 
126 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE, [1775, 
 
 compliance with the Governor's Writs of Election, met at 
 Portsmouth, to whom he earnestly recommended the adoption 
 of conciliatory measures. For the purpose of consulting their 
 constituents they requested a short recess, which he granted 
 by adjourning them to the twelfth of June. A few days after 
 their adjournment, a third Convention of Delegates from an 
 hundred and two towns, chosen at the request of the Commit- 
 tee of Correspondence, met at Exeter, and chose Matthew 
 Thornton, then of Londonderry, to be their President, In 
 this body was included a full and equal representation of the 
 people. The lormer Legislative Assemblies had been consti- 
 tuted of Representatives from those towns only to whom the 
 Governor thought proper to send Writs of Election. In many 
 instances, towns respectable for age and population had been 
 left unrepresented. 
 
 The Convention took a bold stand, and adopted the most 
 energetic measures for the support of the American cause.— 
 In addition to the two regiments already in service, they voted 
 to raise a third, to be commanded by Col. Poor ; the whole to 
 consist of 2000 men. They elected a new Secretary and 
 Treasurer, and appointed a Committee of Supplies for the 
 army, and a Committee of Safety, the latter of which con- 
 stituted the Supreme Executive, and possessed in the recess 
 of the Convention very extensive powers. Secretary Atkinsom 
 declined to deliver the records of his office, alleging that it 
 would be an act contrary to his honor and his oath ; but stated 
 that he had no thoughts of attempting to maintain possession 
 of them by force. Their removal being considered indispen- 
 sable to their safety, a Committee of the Convention afterwards 
 entered his office, and in opposition to his remonstrances took 
 possession of the archives, and removed them to Exeter. — 
 They offered him a receipt for the papers, which he refused 
 to receive ; declaring that he would be concerned in tho 
 transaction only as a passive spectator. The Convention 
 emitted bills of credit, which for some time passed as current 
 money ; reorganized the Militia into twelve regiments, out of 
 which they enlisted four regiments of minute-men ; provided 
 a force for the defence of Portsmouth harbor, and a company 
 of rangers to protect the new settlements on Connecticut 
 river, which had been extended northward to Stewartstown. 
 The few scattered inhabitants of the most northern towns 
 deserted their habitations after the commencement of hostili- 
 ties. For the security of those who resided lower down the 
 river, a small fort was constructed in Northumberland, and 
 entrusted to the command of Capt. EameSc 
 
1775.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 127 
 
 As a specimen of the feelings which extensively pervaded 
 the people of New-Hampshire in this day of peril, the reader 
 may take the following extract from an Address of the- Con- 
 vention to their constituents, of the date of June : — "We 
 seriously and earnestly recommend the practice of that pure 
 and undefiled religion, which embalmed the memory of our 
 pious ancestors, as that alone on which we can build a solid 
 hope and confidence in the Diving protection and favor — 
 without whose blessing, all the means of safety we have or 
 can propose, will end in our shame and disappointment." 
 
 Between the inhabitants of Portsmouth, and the crew of 
 the Scarborough Frigate, then lying in the harbor, subsisted 
 strong feelings of suspicion and hostility. The crew began 
 to dismantle the Fort, and to capture vessels bringing to the 
 town supplies of provisions. A party of citizens, desirous of 
 preserving for the future exigencies of the country, all the 
 military stores within their reach, went to a battery on Great 
 Island, and seized and brought off eight pieces of heavy can- 
 non. 
 
 Soon after this transaction the Assembly, at the expiration 
 of their adjournment, again met, when the Governor renew- 
 edly recommended measures of conciliation. But he found 
 the public mind in such a temper as rendered it utterly un- 
 manageable. He had sent Writs of Election to three towns 
 not before represented, in which resided some of his political 
 friends, in the expectation that they, would be returned as 
 members. The House expelled the members from these 
 towns ; on which he again adjourned the Assembly, without 
 giving them an opportunity to pass any further acts. One of 
 the expelled members venturing to speak reproachfully of 
 the friends of liberty, was threatened with an assault, and 
 compelled to flee for refuge to the Governor's house. In a 
 peremptory manner the people demanded that he should be 
 given up ; Wentworth refused to comply ; but a mounted 
 cannon being pointed at his house, he yielded to the demand. 
 After this open insult he took up his residence in the Fort, 
 under protection of the Frigate, and his house was plundered. 
 In a leter to Secretary Atkinson dated from "Castle William 
 and Mary," he says, "We shall rejoice exceedingly to see you 
 in this our pleasant retirement, where we breathe a good air, 
 and have some safety from unreasonable attacks." 
 
 On the 17th of June was fought the sanguinary battle of 
 Bunker hill. A party of Americans had thrown up in the 
 preceding night a small redoubt, about eight rods square, on 
 the summit of Breed's hill in Charlestown. As soon as the 
 
128 HISTORY OF NEW'HAMPSHIRE. [1775. 
 
 dawn of morning disclosed the work to the view of the British 
 in Boston, they poured upon it an incessant shower of shot 
 and bombs ; in despite of which, our men continued to work 
 till they had constructed a slight breastwork, extending from 
 the east side of the redoubt towards Mystic river. The enemy 
 then determined to storm the works. Soon after noon, (the 
 day being exceedingly hot) the flower of their army crossed 
 from Boston to Charlestown, and landed at Moreton's Point. 
 While the main body of the Americans occupied the redoubt, 
 a detachment of New-Hampshire militia was posted behind 
 the breastwork, extending eastward towards the Mystic. — 
 Thousands of spectators on the steeples and roofs in in Boston, 
 and on all the neighboring hills, stood gazing, and awaiting 
 in breathless suspense the issue of the approaching conflict. In 
 the mean time Charlestown was set on fire by order of the 
 British General, in the hope that the smoke of the conflagra- 
 tion wonld favor the approach of his troops — the lofty steeple 
 of the Church forming a pyramid of fire, towering far above 
 the other sheets of flame. The British lines advanced slowly 
 to the assault ; the Americans sustained their fire till they 
 came within twelve rods, and then poured upon the enemy 
 such a destructive fire as compelled them to retreat with pre- 
 cipitate confusion, leaving the declivity strewed with the dead 
 and wounded. Again they formed, and renewed the attack ; 
 it was a second time followed with the same disastrous result. 
 Some British officers exclaimed, "It is downwright butchery 
 to lead on the men afresh :" — but an high sense of honor im- 
 pelled them to the effort. On the third attack, the ammunition 
 of the Americans failed ; after opposing for a little space the 
 but-ends of their muskets to the British bayonets, they were 
 compelled to yield the redoubt to the enemy. The New- 
 Hampshire troops, posted behind the breast work on the left 
 of the main body, behaved with distinguished bravery, and 
 made good the defence of their position, till the loss of the 
 redoubt exposed them to the danger of having their retreat 
 cut off— when they reluctantly retired. In the battle, and in 
 the retreat over Charlestown neck, where they were exposed 
 to a raking fire from ships of War, they lost several men ; 
 among whom they particularly lamented Major Andrew Mc- 
 Clary, of Epsom, who was killed by a cannon shot, and Capt 
 Baldwin of Hillsborough. The British loss, in killed and 
 wounded, was more than 1000 men ; that of the Americans, 
 less than 400. To the former, the battle had all the consequen- 
 ces of a defeat ; to the latter, those of a victory. All the rest 
 
177q.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 129 
 
 of the year the British were cooped up in Boston, unable to 
 undertake any enterprise of importance. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the sound of cannon at Bunker 
 Hill was distinctly heard, by applying the ear to the ground, 
 at several places in the interior of this State, particularly at 
 Plymouth, Hanover, and Haverhill, some of them distant 
 from the scene of action more than 100 miles. However 
 strange it may be thought, the matter is established by the tes- 
 timony of witnesses so numerous and respectable, as to place 
 it beyond reasonable doubt. It belongs to history to verify 
 the fact : an explanation of it must be sought elsewhere. 
 
 The Scarborough continued to intercept vessels bound to 
 Portsmouth, and prevented the fishing boats of the town from 
 going out of the harbor. The inhabitants retaliated by refu- 
 sing to allow the frigate any supplies of fresh provisions. On 
 thedeparture of the armed vessels for Boston, parties of vol- 
 unteers, under Maj. Worthen, seized the opportunity to erect 
 two new forts on Trefethen and Pierce's islands, forming a 
 narrow channel about a mile below Portsmouth. These for- 
 tifications were furnished with cannon, and were thought to 
 add much to the security of the town. 
 
 In September, Gov. Wentworth, who had taken passsage^ 
 to Boston in one of the ships of war, returned to the Isles of 
 Shoals, and from Gosport issued a Proclamation for another 
 adjournment of the Assembly. Soon after this last act of his 
 administration here, he took his final leave of New-Hamp- 
 shire. His disposition was amiable, and his measures as 
 moderate as could be expected from one, who was under ofn- 
 cial obligation to oppose the American cause. He watched 
 with intense solicitude, the progress of the controversy, and 
 his wishes to effect a reconciliation between the Colonies and 
 the mother country, were unquestionably sincere. His feel- 
 ings are strongly depicted in the following extract of a letter 
 to one of his friends : " Our atmosphere threatens an hurri- 
 cane. I have in vain striven almost to death to prevent it.— ■ 
 If I can at last bring but of it safety to my country and honor 
 to my sovereign, my labors will be joyful." When the Brit- 
 ish troops evacuated Boston, he went with them to Nova- 
 Scotia. He was afterwards Governor of this Province, and 
 died there in 1820, at an advanced age. 
 
 By the conflagration of Portland, by a British naval force, 
 in October, fears were excited that an attempt would be made 
 to inflict on Portsmouth a similar injury. Washington, having 
 taken the chief command of the American army, sent Gen. 
 Sullivan, who had been appointed a Major General by Con- 
 
VTSHIKX. 
 
 - ::» superintend the preparatio: - r^-:. The forts 
 
 -epaired ; an attempt was mai m a boom across 
 
 - 
 
 s \ared to burn the ene* 
 
 into the count- 
 « round sufficient empleyineii: 
 the &pf«ehende : . - ade, 
 
 a southeast 3iuh light 
 
 - . - - - 
 p tcscnt ing an inhospitable and dreary aspect. F i 
 belong to Maine rgestieSiai 
 
 ktaad, t n—aimaj, 150 acres, are \ 
 rlamr^ure 
 
 ? - - - 
 
 - - • - ■ ■ -.'■>■ /- 
 
 ■ ■-« ■ ■ - 
 
 nTes*edv« F:r:v 
 
 the islands had been populous, con- 
 aiedng some hunch* aaV e enraged in the fisheries. — 
 
 " - ; 
 vrfr- .::--. :„:i: :i; _:v :h.:.\.r : *: ..-::.-: ? :; \ 
 ;_- ::;".t j - : ; ;:*;; -. l> -..-. r :-:.;■ — :: '—-: ::... .-- 
 .a i ■■ - -j .:.::;-:-■■":-. : : : -. i-.n:;:::*: : per* nil safety, 
 but bT a patriotic rersrd :: ri-can cause. The princi- 
 
 7^ :l_._ ..•:.-_-..- :.:: :: : . .: J .; ■ --. - - • - ■- :: : - - ::v.-j : i :!.-: : --.--- 
 hat mi coast : and as *■ business 
 
 of the isiands was almost w aned n or have d nw- 
 
 In mis place as well as in any other, we may break the thread 
 of the narration, by stating a few addraooal particulars in reia- 
 
 - I 
 
 : ' : •_ .-■ _r . : . .". • ..: .: : _~ .""_« --;.:: :z ;'.: ~s.i : - y : - 
 
 i nsberies. In the rocks are many chasms— -one of 
 
 - - - .: : r- : ■.:_-£ ...'.-.:..- :1 - ry'.i . ." " _ : re i rein:, "e. 
 
 . concealed herself when the Indians 
 
 ':.-.-: • -■ ..:..". " i i ly s: :: :i :. ; v - « := :il--i 
 V.' .:_ -.: 
 
 _tere are 
 
 :- :_ 
 
 f *- . —.- : - 
 ::" 
 
 a hirii price. The drink of the 
 tiwnr, a Bqpor composed of spruce beer 
 
pxaroD tiii. — 1773 — 13 
 
 Treat injur: fcotl .; 
 
 rid men I- r 
 
 - ■ - 
 
 I 
 
 their ; — 
 
 to neglect your d 
 catch : 
 ship * 
 
 ■ 
 T 
 
 i- -— " ■ : 
 
 1732, the 
 
 Tucke was ordainei ^se Islands, and 
 
 iied to the tLshercner- irs. 
 
 The sercaon art 
 Fitch of Portsmouth from the appropria" 
 you Ushers of me&," His saii- 
 
 hution of a quir - -sherman, the whole 
 
 niiml . -" 
 
 - ! ■ ." 
 
 an ample"* - 
 
 two men na - --.-:.- 
 
 dence they found th acd a ■ 
 
 removal. " Whither shou:. ro 
 
 they resorted to the sinsrul • - 
 
 with the i-- ". . - 
 
 happen to falL Per - 
 
 and he accordii- - Gibbon s fell north- 
 
 md in compliance with the intimation, he rem-: I 
 that part of Maine ■£ - known - I :ent. 
 
 To return firom the digr — ' Ixeter. 
 
 which has beer. ~ je months, coBtiiiiieal 
 
 their labors with little intermission, and exercised a 
 live powers of government. By the disolution of tin 
 
132 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [177G 
 
 government, an event necessarily resulting from the final 
 departure of the Governor and some of the Counsellors, the 
 affairs of the Province were thrown into a critical state. A 
 conviction that some kind of civil Constitution, suited to the 
 public exigencies, must be formed — and that without delay — 
 became general : and it led to an application to the Continen- 
 tal Congress for advice. It was given — and in pursuance of 
 it, the Convention called on the towns to elect another Con- 
 vention, to meet in December, empowered to assume govern- 
 ment and frame a Constitution, to continue in force during 
 the War. The new Convention met at Exeter in December, 
 and elected Col. Thornton to be their President. As soon as 
 possible after their meeting, they prepared a "Plan of Gov- 
 ernment," and then resolved themselves into an House of 
 Representatives. The new Plan created a Council of twelve 
 persons, to be chosen in the first instance by the House, and 
 to constitute a co-ordinate branch of the Legislature. It 
 provided that a new Legislature should be elected annually 
 by the people ; that no act should be valid, unless passed by 
 both branches ; that the public officers of the Province, and 
 and the General and field Officers of the Militia, should be 
 elected by the two Houses. It established the necessary Ju- 
 dicial Courts. The executive powers were to be exercised by 
 the the two Houses when in session ; and in their recess, by a 
 Committee of Safety appointed by the Legislature, the 
 President of the Council to be President of this Executive 
 Committee. This Constitution, hastily prepared, and of course 
 deficient in its provisions,went into operation in January 1776. 
 Meshech Weare of Hampton Falls, a man remarkable for fi- 
 delity and unwearied application to business, was elected 
 President of the Council, and appointed Chief Justice of the 
 Superior Court. The confidence of his fellow-citizens invest- 
 ed him with the highest offices, legislative, executive, and ju- 
 dicial ; and continued him at tbe head of the government 
 during the war, and afterwards, till age compelled him to retire 
 to the shade of private life. 
 
 Among the reasons assigned by the Convention to justify 
 their assumption of government, were the following : — the 
 oppressive acts of the British Government ; the invasion of 
 the country by its troops ; the sudden and abrupt departure of 
 the late Governor ; the fact that no Courts were open for the 
 trial and punishment of offenders, p and that the property and 
 lives of the inhabitants were of course in a state of insecurity. 
 
 In March, the Council and Assembly sitting at Exeter,issued 
 a Proclamation, stating that they had established a Plan of 
 
1776.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 133 
 
 Government, and appointed the necessary officers for the 
 administration of Justice in the several Counties ; and forbid- 
 ding all persons to claim or exercise any civil jurisdiction not 
 derived from them. 
 
 Even at this period, the Legislature had not relinquished all 
 expectations of a satisfactory adjustment of the controversy 
 with Great Britain. In the preamble of the Instrument which 
 created the Plan of Government, and introduced into New- 
 Hampshire a Republican system of polity, they say, " We 
 shall rejoice if such a reconciliation between us and our parent 
 State can be effected, as shall be approved by the Continental 
 Congress." They were at the same time determined not to 
 yield the great points in debate. Popular resentment had for 
 some time run high against those who justified the oppressive 
 measures of the British Ministry, or refused to unite with their 
 fellow citizens in the defence of American liberties. Some of 
 these individuals had withdrawn to Nova Scotia, or sought 
 refuge with the British troops in Boston ; while others had 
 been imprisoned or restrained within the limits of their res- 
 pective towns or neighborhoods. In some instances which 
 occurred in Massachusetts, a guard was set over them at their 
 own houses : a circumstance which led one of them, a man of 
 wit, who had been repeatedly put under guard at home, to 
 remark that " he was guarded, regarded, and disregarded." 
 That some of these persons were treated with an harshness, 
 as unnecessary as it was repugnant to the princijjles of human- 
 ity, is not to be denied. 
 
 The investment of Boston was in the mean time continued. 
 Among the numerous forces who surrounded the town, were 
 sixteen companies of New-Hampshire militia, who, on the 
 expiration of the enlistment of the Connecticut troops, had 
 marched to Cambridge to supply their places. Alarmed at the 
 fortifications constructed on Dorchester heights, the British 
 fleet and army, in March, evacuated Boston and repaired to 
 Halifax, carrying with them numbers of American adherents 
 to the royal cause, who fled from the indignation of their 
 countrymen. Washington entered the town with colors dis- 
 played, drums beating, and other demonstrations of triumph. 
 It exhibited but a melancholy spectacle — the public buildings- 
 having been defaced, the churches stripped of their pews and 
 benches for fuel, and many of the houses and stores plun- 
 dered by the soldiery. 
 
 Four regiments were raised in New-Hampshire for the 
 service of 1776. One, raised in the western part of the Pro- 
 vince under Col. Bedel, was destined to act in Canada. The 
 M 
 
134 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE- [1776. 
 
 others marched under Washington to New- York, then sup- 
 posed to be the intended point of attack on the part of the 
 British. Soon after their arrival, they were placed under the 
 command of Gen. Sullivan and ordered to Canada, to reinforce 
 the troops, who, having invaded that country, had been defea- 
 ted under the walls of Quebec, and were retreating before a 
 superior force. At the mouth of the Sorel, Sullivan met the 
 retreating army ; but found the united forces of the Americans 
 unable to cope with the enemy. The small pox spread through 
 the camp and disabled many of the men. A considerable 
 body of New-Hampshire troops, stationed at a post called The 
 Cedars, forty miles above Montreal, were captured by a force 
 of British and Indians, who had descended the St. Lawrence 
 to attack them. In consequence of the death of Gen. Thomas 
 by the small pox, and the capture of Gen. Thompson, Sullivan 
 succeeded to the chief command ; and finding a retreat indis- 
 pensable, conducted it with much address ; the British pursuing 
 so closely as hardly to allow the men time to cook their 
 victuals. In June the Americans evacuated Canada, and not 
 long after retired to Ticonderoga. 
 
 In the midst of these hostilities, the Colonies had continued 
 to profess allegiance to the King, and a wish for reconciliation 
 with Britain. Some of the bolder spirits had indeed been 
 long ripe for a declaration of Independence : but the mass of 
 the people were not so soon prepared for so adventurous a 
 step. The progress of the contest gradually produced a con- 
 viction that resistance had gone too far to admit a cordial 
 reconciliation, and that a return, on any terms, to their former 
 connection with an irritated government, woidd be hazardous. 
 These views at length inclined the people at large to take a 
 bold stand. In June, the Legislature of New-Hampshire, 
 following the example of some other Colonies, passed a reso- 
 lution, empowering and instructing their Delegates in Congress 
 to unite with those of the other Colonies in a Declaration of 
 Independence. Such a Declaration was issued on the 4th of 
 July, by which the Thirteen United Colonies became 
 free, sovereign, and independent States, and all political con- 
 nexion between them and Great Britain was forever dissolved. 
 This measure was hailed with enthusiasm by a great majority 
 of the people. The Declaration was brought by express to 
 Exeter, and read by John Taylor Gilman to an assemblage 
 of his fellow citizens, listening with unutterable emotions ; his 
 own mind at one moment being so transported with the feelings 
 inspired by the great event, as to render him for a little time 
 incapable of proceeding in the reading. In the shire towns of 
 
1777.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 135 
 
 the several Counties it was published with the beat of (hum. 
 The signers on the part of New-Hampshire of this memorable 
 Instrument, were John Langdon and William Whipple of 
 Portsmouth, and Matthew Thornton of Londonderry. From 
 this time the style of Colony or Province was discontinued, 
 and the more important one of State assumed. 
 
 It were foreign from our plan to detail the reverses of the 
 American army near New- York, and their disastrous retreat, 
 pressed by a victorious enemy, across New- Jersey into Penn- 
 sylvania, Late in the year, the regiments of this State, with 
 ranks thinned by the united ravages of small pox, dysentery, 
 and putrid fever, marched from Ticonderoga, joined the rem- 
 nant of the army under Washington, and materially assisted 
 in the brilliant affairs of Trenton and Princeton : successes, 
 which stemmed the tide of disaster and revived the drooping 
 spirits of the country. Notwithstanding the army was ill fed, 
 and so miserably clad, that their marches might have been 
 traced by the blood which oozed from their naked feet ; — the 
 New-Hampshire troops evinced a noble devotion to the cause 
 of their country, and at the earnest solicitation of Generals 
 Sullivan and Stark, consented to serve amid these privations 
 and sufferings, for several weeks after the period of their 
 enlistment had expired. Home, with all its attractions, could 
 not induce them to leave, in the hour of peril, the standard of 
 their country. 
 
 The people of the " New-Hampshire Grants," forming the 
 present State of Vermont, viewed the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence as " reducing them to a state of nature," and leav- 
 ing them destitute of government. To the pretensions of 
 New- York they were determined not to yield ; they indeed 
 could not, without making their land titles invalid. After due 
 deliberation, they concluded to organize themselves into a 
 distinct and independent State. A Convention of Delegates 
 from the several towns west of Connecticut river, met at 
 Westminster, early in 1777; which declared the said territory 
 to be an independent jurisdiction by the name of Vermont, 
 ami mode application to Congress for the admission of their 
 Delegates to seats in that body. The opposition of New- 
 York at first, and afterwards that of New-Hampshire, defeat- 
 sd their application, and several years elapsed before the 
 recognition of their independence by the other States. In 
 ihe mean time they maintained the ground they had taken, 
 and exercised all the powers of an independent government, 
 
 Three regiments were raised in New-Hampshire on long 
 enlistments, commanded by Colonels Cilley, Hale, and Scam- 
 
136 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1777. 
 
 mell, and sent on to Ticonderoga at the opening of the season, 
 1777. The whole constituted a brigade under the command 
 of Gen. Enoch Poor. On the approach of the British Gen. 
 Burgoyne with a powerful army from Canada, Ticonderoga 
 was judged to be indefensible, and was abandoned. The 
 British pursued the retreating Americans, overtook Col. Hale's 
 regiment, which formed the rear-guard, and made prisonors 
 of the Colonel and one hundred of his men. In another 
 skirmish on the retreat, Capt.Weare, son of President Weare, 
 was mortally wounded. Under the command of General 
 Schuyler, the American army retired to Stillwater, and thence 
 to the Mohawk — taking care to obstruct the roads by felling 
 trees and destroying bridges, so as to impede the advance of 
 the enemy. The report of the evacuation of Ticonderoga, 
 the Gibraltar of the north, struck New-England with aston- 
 ishment and alarm. Vermont lay open to the ravages of the 
 British. By the Committee of Safety of that State, an urgent 
 application was made to New-Hampshire, advising that unless 
 speedy and powerful aids were afforded, they should be over- 
 run by the enemy and driven from their habitations. 
 
 On the reception of this intelligence, the Legislature was 
 immediately convened, and in a session of only three days 
 adopted measures worthy of the crisis. They organized the 
 whole of the militia into two brigades, under Generals Whip- 
 ple and Stark, and detached the latter with a considerable 
 force to arrest the progress of the enemy — authorizing him 
 to act in conjunction with the troops of other States, or inde- 
 pendently,as he might think proper. Funds were indispensable 
 to meet the expenses of this expedition, and where to obtain 
 them they knew not. In this emergency, Mr. Langdon, 
 Speaker of the House, offered to loan the country three thou- 
 sand hard dollars, together with the avails of his plate and of 
 a quantity of West India produce then on his hands, remarking, 
 that if the American cause were sustained he should get his 
 pay — if otherwise, that the property would be of no value to 
 nim. He also engaged in the service as a volunteer, and 
 other distinguished citizens folio utd ido pati-iotJp pyample — 
 Gen. Stark collected his troops at Bennington on the ninth of 
 August, and soon ascertained the approach of a large body of 
 Hessians under Col. Baum, whom Burgoyne had detached to 
 collect, in Vermont, horses and cattle for the use of his army. 
 Stark sent forward a party under Col. Gregg to skirmish with 
 the enemy, and marched with his whole force the next morn- 
 ing to support him. On his way, he met Gregg retreating 
 before a superior force : but the enemy, as soon as they dis- 
 
1777.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 137 
 
 covered Stark's main body, halted and declined an engagement 
 that day. The next day was rainy, and nothing important 
 was done. On the day following, having received small 
 reinforcements of Massachusetts and Vermont militia, making 
 his whole force sixteen hundred, the American General at- 
 tacked the Hessians, and after an obstinate conflict of two 
 hours, forced their breastwork and compelled them to retreat 
 with loss, leaving behind them two pieces of brass cannon. — 
 Soon after his men had dispersed themselves in pursuit of 
 plunder or fugitives, Capt. Bradford discovered the approach 
 of a large reinforcement of Hessians under Col. Breyman, in- 
 creased by the remnants of Baum's division which had escaped 
 the scene of their defeat ; and he immediately communicated 
 the fact to his Commander. Happily, Warner's Vermont 
 Regiment arrived on the field from Manchester in season to 
 check the enemy, till Stark rallied his men, renewed the 
 battle, and again put the foe to flight. Two hundred and 
 thirty Hessians lay dead on the field, and more than seven 
 hundred were made prisoners ; among the latter was Col. 
 Baum, their Commander, who was mortally wounded. A 
 body of Indians who had attended his march, finding as they 
 6aid "that the woods were full of Yankees," deserted him the 
 day before the battle. This decisive victory, achieved by the 
 bravery of the New-Hampshire militia, gave a turn to the 
 affairs of the war, relieved the surrounding States from their 
 gloomy apprehensions of being overrun by the enemy, and 
 paved the way for the capture of Burgoyne's whole army. 
 
 The principal officers who held subordinate commands in 
 this important battle, were Colonels William Gregg of Lon- 
 donderry, Moses Nichols of Amherst, and Thomas Stickney 
 of Concord. In a letter from Jefferson to Stark, written many 
 years afterwards, it was justly remarked that the victory of 
 Bennington was "the first link in the chain of successes which 
 led to the capitulation of Saratoga." It might have been ad- 
 ded, that this capitulation was the first guarantee of the final at- 
 tainment of American Independence. 
 
 In the arrangement of officers the preceding year, Gen. 
 Poor, a junior officer had been promoted over Stark, and his 
 letters of remonstrance to Congress, not receiving due atten- 
 tion, he retired in disgust from the service. He was now 
 acting under the authority, not of Congress, but of the Legis- 
 lature of New-Hampshire, and felt under no obligation to 
 correspond with the former body. They heard of his victory, 
 and expected despatches from him ; but waited in vain. In 
 answer to the enquiry why he did not write them, he replied. 
 M* 
 
138 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1777. 
 
 that as his former letters hadbeen neglected,his correspondence 
 with that body was at an end. His merit and brilliant success 
 enforced the justice of his complaint, and he was appointed a 
 Brigadier General in the army of the United States. 
 
 Volunteers from all parts of New-England nocked to the 
 army under Gen. Gates, which was opposed to that under 
 Burgoyne. Gen. Whipple, with a strong reinforcement of 
 New-Hampshire militia, repaired to the scene of action. The 
 British General, transporting his provisions and artillery with 
 extreme difficulty, and annoyed by the New-Hampshire and 
 Vermont militia, hanging, according to his own repre- 
 sentation, "like a black cloud on his left," opened his way 
 to Stillwater, where the opposing armies came in contact. — 
 After the fierce encounter of the 19th of September, in which 
 Lieut. Colonels Adams of Durham and Colburn of New- 
 Marlboro' were slain — and the no less bloody combat of the 
 7th of October, which proved fatal to Col. Conner, a volunteer 
 from Pembroke — the British General found it impossible 
 either to advance or retreat. Every part of his camp was 
 exposed to the American fire ; even into his own apartment, 
 at a moment when he and his chief officers were engaged in 
 consultation, a cannon ball is said to have entered, passing 
 across the table around which they were sitting. On the 17th 
 of October he surrendered his army of 7000 men prisoners 
 of war, who were sent under the direction of several officers, 
 of whom Gen. Whipple was one, to their destined quarters 
 near Boston. This great event not only filled America with 
 joy, but decided the French Court to acknowledge our inde- 
 pendence, and aid us in the conflict. 
 
 The love of liberty is one of the most powerful stimulants 
 of human exertion. It was this which inspired the people of 
 this State to make efforts, so powerfully contributing to over- 
 whelm Burgoyne. By a little incident which happened to 
 Gen. Whipple on his march to join the army, the efficacy of 
 this principle was finely illustrated, He had an intelligent 
 negro servant named Prince. On some occasion he said to 
 him, "Should we be called into action, I hope you will behave 
 like a man, and fight bravely for your country." Prince 
 repiied, "Sir, I have no inducement to fight, but if Iliad my 
 liberty I would endeavor to defend it to the last drop of my 
 blood." Struck with the justness of the sentiment, the General 
 sai& to him, "Prince, you shall have your freedom ; from this 
 time you are your own man." 
 
 On the surrender of the British army, the New-Hampshire 
 regular troops marched forty miles in fourteen hours, and 
 
1778.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 139 
 
 forded the Mokawk near its mouth. Their object was to 
 attack a British force from New- York, which had come up 
 the Hudson to aid Burgoyne, and had been ravaging the coun- 
 try below Albany. On learning the fact of his surrender, the 
 enemy did not await an attack, but hastened down the river. 
 The troops continued their march to Pennsylvania, and joining 
 the army under Washington, took part in the battle of Ger- 
 mantown, in which Maj. Sherburne, aid to Gen. Sullivan, was 
 slain. 
 
 Near the close of the year, Articles of confederation 
 were agreed to by Congress, and were afterwards ratified by 
 the States. These articles united them in a league of friendship 
 and alliance, and served for more than eleven years as the 
 the basis of a General Government. The commencement of 
 1778 found American affairs in a gloomy state. As Congress 
 did not possess the necessary powers to command the resour- 
 ces of the country, the army was ill paid, ill fed, and ill clad. 
 Many of the soldiers, in the depth of winter, were destitute of 
 shoes and blankets ; many sickened and died. The bills cf 
 credit,which constituted the chief currency of the States, had 
 fallen to one fourth their nominal value. A depreciation so 
 great could have no other than distressing results. Fraudulent 
 debtors discharged their obligations with a currency, that gave 
 the honest creditor but a small part of the just value of his 
 claim ; the articles of living rose to an enormous price ; a door 
 being opened wide to every kind of speculation, the simple 
 and unsuspecting became the prey of the cunning. Laws 
 were enacted, but in vain, against monoply and extortion. — 
 Numerous Conventions were holden to regulate the prices of 
 labor and provisions :— but modes of evading such regulations 
 were easily found out. The paper currency continued to de- 
 preciate till near the close of the war, when it had fallen so 
 low that an hundred dollars in paper were worth but one in 
 silver. As loans and supplies from Europe had introduced a 
 metalic currency, the paper ceased to circulate ; but not till it 
 had involved in absolute ruin many individuals, who, in ex- 
 change perhaps for their farms, had been compelled to receive 
 it, when almost worthless, at its nominal value. 
 
 Several citizens of New-Hampshire engaged in the enter- 
 prise of annoying the commerce of the enemy by privateering. 
 Not content with scouring the Atlantic, they in some instances 
 rounded the North Cape of Europe, and penetrated into the 
 dreary expanse of the Arctic Ocean, in quest of British vessels. 
 At least one American privateer visited a port in Lapland, and 
 
140 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1778. 
 
 held some communication with the inhabitants of that remote 
 and frozen region. 
 
 Early this year, the daring and celebrated naval Commander, 
 John Paul Jones, sailed from Portsmouth in the Ranger, a 
 privateer of that port destined to act against the British com- 
 merce. He landed both in England and Scotland, and plun- 
 dered the house of the Earl of Selkirk. After landing his 
 plunder in France, he again put to sea and sailed to the Irish 
 coast. Having learned that the British ship of war Drake was 
 then lying in Waterford harbor, he sent to her Captain a chal- 
 lenge for a combat, which was accepted. The ships met and 
 fought — after an action of an hour and a quarter, the Drake, 
 having had an hundred and eighty of her men killed or woun- 
 ded, struck her colors to the Ranger. The loss of the American 
 vessel was only twenty. After this victory Jones left the 
 Ranger for another ship, the Bonne Homme Richard, in which 
 his exploits rendered him the terror of the British seas. 
 
 In the early stages of the contest a number of individuals, 
 attached to the royal cause, had left the State and cast them- 
 selves on the protection of the British. The Legislature made 
 out a list of seventy eight persons of this description, who 
 were proscribed as enemies to their country. They were 
 called refugees: the estates of many of them were confiscated, 
 and they were forbidden to return. If they returned a second 
 lime the penalty was death. 
 
 The New-Hampshire Brigade under Gen. Poor, bore a 
 conspicuous part in the battle of Monmouth, fought on the 
 twenty-eighth of June, in which Colonels Cilley and Dearborn 
 particularly distinguished themselves. So intense was the 
 heat of the day, that almost an hundred men, including the 
 victims in both armies, died of exposure to it — the tongues of 
 some of them being so swollen as to protrude out of the mouth. 
 In July, a powerful French fleet, destined to co-operate against 
 the British, arrived on the coast. It was concluded, after due 
 consultation, to make a combined attack by sea and land on 
 the forces of the enemy stationed at Newport in Rhode-Island. 
 The French were to execute the naval part of the enterprise ; 
 the superintendence of the military part was committed to 
 Gen Sullivan. He collected from this State, Massachusetts, 
 and Connecticut a large body of troops, transported them to 
 Rhode-Island, and encamped in the vicinity of Newport, with 
 the design of attacking the place. The New-Hampshire militia 
 was under the command of Gen. Whipple. On the approach 
 of a British fleet, the French Admiral put to sea to attack it ; 
 but while the parties were preparing for a decisive battle, a 
 
1778.] period viii.— 1775 — 1784. 141 
 
 furious storm arose and shattered both fleets. Contrary to the 
 earnest remonstrances of the Americans, the Frence deter- 
 mined to sail to Boston to refit. Thus deserted by the fleet, the 
 army was left in a critical situation, as the enemy could then 
 at their pleasure pour into Newport reinforcements from New- 
 York ; and Sullivan found it necessary to break up his camp 
 on the 28th of August, and retreat to the north end of the 
 Island. Early on the next morning the British pursued and 
 attacked his troops ; but were compelled after a sharp conflict 
 of half an hour to retire. He kept up a bold face through the 
 rest of the day — and having deceived the enemy into a belief 
 that he was preparing to attack them, he effected in the ensu- 
 ing night his retreat across the narrow sheet of water, which 
 divides the island from the main. This was done with great 
 secrecy, and without loss. On the morning of the 30th, sev- 
 eral American officers being at breakfast in the General's 
 quarters, a party of British discovered from an eminence their 
 horses standing, and the guard set round the door; and imme- 
 diately pointed a cannon at the spot. The ball shattered the 
 leg of John S. Sherburne, at that time aid decamp to Gen. 
 Sullivan and afterwards a member of Congress and Judge of 
 the United States' Court for the District of New-Hampshire, 
 in such a manner that amputation became necessary. 
 
 At this time the State was seriously agitated by a disposition 
 in the w estern section of it to secede from New-Hampshire, 
 and form a union with Vermont. Most of the settlers in that 
 section were from Connecticut, and were more assimilated in 
 their manners and feeling to the people of Vermont, than to 
 those of the eastern parts of New-Hampshire. They wish- 
 ed to form a State, whose centre and seat of government 
 should be in their own vicinity, at some town on Connecti- 
 cut river. Fifteen towns in the west part of the County of 
 Grafton, together with Cornish in the present County of Sul- 
 livan, applied to the Vermont Assembly for admission into 
 that State, and were admitted by a small majority. A re- 
 solve was passed for the admission of other towns on the 
 
 past Sido of tlip vivoi«, which might raako a oimiliu uppliea- 
 
 tion. The seceding towns justified their course on the follow- 
 ing grounds : that the original grant of New-Hampshire was 
 limited by a line drawn sixty miles from the sea ; that the 
 lands west of this line were annexed to that Province merely 
 by the royal authority; and that as this anthority ceased at the 
 Declaration of Independence, the inhabitants of those lands 
 had reverted "to a state of.nature," and might form such polit- 
 ical connections as were most convenient. The towns of 
 
142 niSTORT OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1778. 
 
 Vermont, west of the mountains, were adverse to the recep- 
 tion of the towns east of the river ; while those on the east ot 
 the mountains, forming a small majority of J:he whole State, 
 were mostly in favor of it. To erect a State whose centre 
 should fall in their own vicinity, was the grand ohject of the 
 towns adjacent to the river, on hoth sides. They preferred to 
 effect this object by uniting the western part of New-Hamp- 
 shire and the eastern half of Vermont, into a distinct jurisdic- 
 tion ; or if this were found impracticable, they were willing 
 to dissolve the existing government of Vermont, and unite 
 the whole State to New-Hampshire. Either of these arrange- 
 ments would, as they supposed, lead to a location of the seat 
 of government accordant with their wishes. The eastern and 
 central parts of New-Hampshire and the western divisions of 
 Vermont would of course strenuously oppose these plans. 
 
 The sixteen towns informed the government of New-Hamp- 
 shire of their secession, and requested an amicable correspon- 
 dence. President Weare, whose prudence and sound practi- 
 cal wisdom eminently fitted him to manage so critical an af- 
 fair, immediately wrote to Gov. Chittenden of Vermont, as- 
 serting the right of New-Hampshire to all the territory on the 
 east side of the river ; and also solicited the interposition and 
 advice of Congress. At the autumnal session of Vermont 
 Assembly at Windsor, these towns requested to be organized 
 into a distinct County. That Assembly had just learnt, that 
 Congress were unanimously opposed so this encroachment on 
 the territory of New-Hampshire, and a majority declined to 
 grant the request. On this repulse the representatives of the 
 seceding towns, with a considerable number from towns west 
 of the river, withdrew from the Vermont Assembly, in dis- 
 gust, and agreed to call a convention of delegates from the 
 towns on both sides of the river, to meet at Cornish in De- 
 cember. This body, when assembled, was in favor of form- 
 ing the county adjacent to the river, including the whole re- 
 gion between the Masonian line on the east and the Green 
 Mountains on the West, into an independent State. They pro- 
 posed lO NeW-IIampohiro oithoi to ngioc vjli a boundary lino, 
 
 or submit the dispute to Congress, or to arbitrators mutually 
 chosen. The plans of this Convention, however, proved abor- 
 tive, and the sixteen towns, having been joined by several oth- 
 ers in the County of Cheshire, resumed their connection with 
 Vermont. 
 
 This encroachment on New-Hampshire was unhappy for 
 Vermont — diminishing, as it did,the attachment of her friends 
 abroad, and producing dissenison among her citizens at home. 
 
1779.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 143 
 
 It aroused New-Hampshire^not only to unite with New- York 
 in opposition to her admission into the Union, but to revive 
 her claim of jurisdiction over the whole of her territory. To 
 the seceding towns themselves it was a source of unhappiness. 
 In each of them existed a minority, in some instances a large 
 minority, opposed to the separation. Each party sought of 
 course the protection of the government it preferred, and Jus- 
 tices and Sheriffs appointed by the respective States, attempt- 
 ed, at the same times, and in the same places, to exercise their 
 conflicting jurisdictions over the same persons — a state of 
 things that could not fail to engender confusion and animosity. 
 As both New-Hampshire and New- York claimed the whole of 
 their territory, the Vermo liters suspected, possibly not without 
 reason, that a plan was on foot to divide it between their 
 neighbors, making the Green Mountains the boundary line ; and 
 they sought to defeat it by extending their own claim eastward 
 into New-Hampshire, and westward into New- York, as far as 
 to the Hudson. Congress made efforts to induce all the parties 
 to submit the matter to their decision ; but Vermont declined 
 to submit her claim of Independence to the arbitrament of 
 any power whatever. The towns which had separated from 
 New-Hampshire, did not return to their former connection for 
 three or four years. 
 
 As the temporary form of government, hastily drawn up in 
 the first year of the war was found to be, almost of necessity, 
 defective and inadequate, a Convention of Delegates from the 
 several towns met in 1779, and having chosen Mr. Langdon to 
 be their President, agreed on a Constitution, chiefly drawn up 
 by Judge Livermore: — but the people rejected it, as being too 
 imperfect. The military transactions of the year offer to our 
 notice no enterprise of consequence, in which the troops of 
 this State took part, except the expedition under Gen. Sulli- 
 van into the Indian country. In this enterprise the New- 
 Hampshire brigade took an important part. At that day, the 
 western region of New-York, now smiling with cultivated 
 fields and beautiful villages, was a vast wilderness occupied by 
 the "Six Nations" of Indians. These savages, in connection 
 with a band of tories, had ventured the preceding year to lay 
 waste the flourishing settlement of Wyoming in Pennsylva- 
 nia, and had slaughtered some hundreds of the inhabitants. 
 It was determined to inflict on them a signal chastisement. 
 Sullivan with 4000 men penetrated into their country, attack- 
 ed their camp on Seneca Lake, and put them to flight. Having 
 wasted their settlements, burnt their habitations, cut down 
 their numerous apple and peach orchards, and destroyed the 
 
144 HISTORY Or NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1780. 
 
 standing corn to the amount of 160,000 bushels, he returned 
 in October with trifling loss. This dreadful, but merited in- 
 fliction effectually prevented their future incursions. At the 
 close of the year, the troops of this State went into winter 
 quarters, and Gen. Sullivan retired from the service. 
 
 Several causes concurred at this period to overspread the 
 public mind with gloom. Much had been expected from 
 the co-operation of the French : but little had been re- 
 alized. The floods of paper money which had been emitted, 
 together with the circulation of great quantities of counterfeit 
 bills by British agents, with the design of destroying its cred- 
 it, accelerated its depreciation with astonishing rapidity. It 
 finally became impossible to purchase with this currency the 
 necessaries of life. The army was distressed beyond mea- 
 sure: "four months pay of a soldier would not buy his family 
 a bushel of wheat, and the pay of a Colonel would not pur- 
 chase oats for his horse." Nothing but the patriotism of the 
 soldiers, and the almost unlimited influence of Washington, 
 both directed by the favorable disposals of Divine Providence, 
 could, under circumstances so distressing, have kept the army 
 from dissolution. 
 
 The nineteenth of May, 1780, was the memorable dark day. 
 Over New-England and some adjacent tracts of New-York 
 and Canada, such was the obscuration, that in many places 
 people could not read or dine at mid-day without candles. It 
 continued several hours, imparting to surrounding objects a 
 tinge of yellow, and awakening in many a breast apprehensions 
 of some impending calamity. All was wrapped in gloom — 
 the birds became silent, domestic fowls retired to their roosts, 
 and the cocks crowed as at break of day. The darkness of 
 the following night was so intense, that many who were but a 
 little way from home, on well known roads, could not without 
 extreme difficulty retrace the way to their own dwellings. 
 
 The Free Will Baptists date from this period their origin a3 
 a distinct religious community. Elder Benjamin Randall, the 
 founder of this denomination, collected at New-Durham in 
 the County of Strafford, the first society of the name in this 
 State. They have since increased to more than eighty church- 
 es, including about 6000 communicants ; and are connected 
 by the bonds of ecclesiastical fellowship with numerous kin- 
 dred societies in Maine, Vermont, and New- York. 
 
 Serious alarm was excited in the western part of New- 
 Hampshire in October, by the irruption into the eastern part 
 of Vermont, of a large body of Canadian Indians, led by Hor- 
 ton, a British officer. With savage fury they plundered and 
 
1781.] period vjii.— 1775— 1784. 145 
 
 burnt the town of Royalton, killing or captivating as many of 
 the people as fell in their way. Doct. Parkhurst, a physician 
 now living in Lebanon, then a lad, received a musket ball in 
 his back which passed through his body, and lodged under 
 the skin. He fled on horseback, assuaging the pain occasioned 
 by the ball by supporting it with his fingers, and arrived at 
 Lebanon, a distance of sixteen miles. A strong body of men 
 from the country adjacent, under the command of Col. House 
 of Hanover, overtook the Indians in Randolph and exchanged 
 several fires ; but the enemy made good their retreat, not 
 however without leaving behind a part of their ill-gotten 
 plunder. 
 
 The New-Hampshire brigade having served a part of the 
 summer at West Point, and afterwards in New-Jersey, where 
 their Commander, Gen. Poor, died, was reduced at the close 
 of the year to two regiments, commanded by Colonels Scam- 
 mel and Reid, and passed the winter in huts on the Hudson. 
 Gen. Poor was a native of Andover, Ms. He had served with 
 reputation from the beginning of the war, and was second in 
 command in Sullivan's expedition into the Indian country. 
 Even at this late period of the war, the troops in their winter 
 quarters were not exempted from severe sufferings. A vivid 
 picture of their distress is seen in the following extract of a let- 
 ter written in December by Stark to President Weare: " My last 
 gave you a hint that our troops were in a suffering condition 
 for want of cash. None has yet been paid them by the public, 
 nor can I learn that any is soon expected. You certainly know 
 whether Congress have it in their power to supply them ; if 
 they have, I cannot see the policy of detaining it from them; 
 if they have not, it is necessary that the States should allow a 
 pittance at least, sufficient to keep soul and body together. — 
 What must be the feelings of officers who have obtained leave 
 of absence to visit their families, without a shilling to pay 
 their expenses on the road ? who, if they go, must assume the 
 character of beggars ? Perseverance has lonir been their fa- 
 vorite topic, and hope almost their only support ; but they have 
 in a measure abandoned that. Despair stares them boldly in 
 the face — flattery will no longer avail — an immediate remedy 
 is their positive demand." 
 
 Amid the din of arms the State was not unmindful of the 
 interests of education. In April, 1781, was incorporated au 
 Academy at Exeter, the oldest in the State, and probably the 
 best endowed in the country. It received, from the munifi- 
 cence of the Hon. John Phillips of Exeter, an ample fund, 
 amounting at the present time to $80,0C0 ; and has maintained 
 N 
 
146 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1781. 
 
 a distinguished rank among our Academical Institutions. Mr. 
 Phillips, who was a Counsellor under the Provincial govern- 
 ment, and the Founder of the Professorship of Theology in 
 Dartmouth College, belonged to a family eminent for its pat- 
 ronage of literary and religious objects. He was a son of the 
 Rev. Samuel Phillips of Andover. In connection with his 
 brother, Samuel Phillips, he had previously founded and en- 
 dowed an Academy at Andover, Ms.; and he afterwards added 
 considerable sums for the education of pious and indigent 
 young men, especially those designed for the Christian Min- 
 istry. His gifts and bequests, augmented by others from va- 
 rious branches of the same family, laid a foundation forjhe 
 present Theological Seminary at Andover. He died in 1795, 
 leaving a name which will command the respect of subsequent 
 generations. 
 
 Merely as a temporary expedient, to continue only during 
 the war, did the people adopt the Plan of Government hastily 
 prepared in 1776. As the war now seemed to be approaching 
 to a termination, this Plan was about to expire by its own 
 limitation. Great inconvenience had resulted from its defects, 
 some of which were the following :— it had no Bill of Pughts, 
 as preliminary to a delegation of powers ; it contained no rule 
 of exclusion, but permitted an accumulation of offices by a 
 single individual, incompatible with the general good ; and it 
 provided no Executive Department distinct from the Legisla- 
 tive body. This last " flaw," to borrow the language of that 
 day, " was patched over with a Committee of Safety," to serve 
 as an Executive during the recess of the Assembly — but the 
 contrivance was found to be a clumsy one. A conviction of 
 the necessity of forming a Constitution on principles more 
 comprehensive and determinate, led to the assembling of a 
 Convention for this purpose in June. It met at Concord, and 
 was organized by choosing the Hon. George Atkinson of Ports- 
 mouth, President ; and Jonathan M. Sewall of the same place, 
 Secretary. Among the leading members were, in addition to 
 the President and Secretary, Judge Pickering and Dr. Cutter 
 of Portsmouth ; Generals Sullivan of Durham, Peabody of 
 Atkinson, and Folsom of Exeter ; Judge Wingate of Stratham ; 
 the Hon. Timothy Walker of Concord ; Ebenezer Webster 
 of Salisbury, Joseph Badger, Sen. of Gilmanton, Ebenezer 
 Smith of Meredith, Wyseman Claggett of Litchfield, Timothy 
 Farrar of New-Ipswich, Francis Blood of Temple, and Dan- 
 iel Newcomb of Keene. After a session of a few days, and 
 the discussion and adoption of some general principles, the 
 Convention adjourned to meet again in September, having ap- 
 
1781.] period vin.— 1775— 1784. 147 
 
 pointed a Committee of seven to prepare the draught of a 
 Constitution. The Committee consisted, in part, of Gen. 
 Peabody, who was Chairman, Judge Pickering, J. M. Sewall, 
 Judge Farrar, and the Rev. Mr. Goddard of Swanzey. They 
 appointed a sub-committee, to consist of Messrs. Pickering 
 and Sewall, the former to draught the Form of Government : 
 the latter, the Bill of Rights. 
 
 At the adjourned meeting in September, the Convention 
 received the report of the Committee, and agreed on a Con- 
 stitution, which, accompanied with an explanatory address 
 from the Convention, was printed and sent out to the people, 
 for their decision in town meetings. 
 
 For the sake of giving a connected view of the doings of 
 this important Convention, which subsisted more than two 
 years, and had in the whole no less than nine sessions— a bo- 
 dy, to whose patient labors the present generation is indebted 
 for the substance of our excellent Constitution— it will be ne- 
 cessary to anticipate dates. At their third session in January, 
 1782, they received the returns from the several towns, and 
 found the objections to the first draught so numerous and va- 
 rious, as to render it necessary to prepare a second. The 
 Journal of their proceedings is unhappily lost : it is however 
 believed that the Constitution was recommitted to the former 
 Committee, to be by them re-modeled, so as to obviate objec- 
 tions. At a subsequent session Jn August, the Committee 
 reported a second draught, which after discussion and amend- 
 ment, was in like manner sent out to the people for their appro- 
 val or rejection. At this session, the Secretary being absent, 
 Gen. Sullivan officiated as Secretary pro tern. The Conven- 
 tion adjourned to meet again in December. 
 
 From the returns forwarded by the several towns to the 
 Convention at the December session, it appeared that the se- 
 cond draught was generally approved by the people. As some 
 amendments were still found to be necessary, the Convention 
 again adjc urned to meet in June, 1783. At this session, they 
 adopted sundry alterations and amendments, and again for the 
 third time sent out the Constitution to the people for their final 
 decision. 
 
 In resuming the narration of events in chronological order, 
 we must return to the summer of 1781. A few families having 
 planted themselves at Shelburne, and made a small opening in 
 the wide wilderness on the north-east of the White Mountains, 
 a party of Canadian Indians invaded the little settlement in Au- 
 gust, and after plundering the houses, killing one of the inhab- 
 itants and making another prisoner, retired unmolested into 
 
148 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1781. 
 
 Canada. This was the last hostile incursion of savages into 
 the now peaceful fields of New-Hampshire. Seen through 
 the mists of time, their devastations seem to us like a dim and 
 shadowy vision, to be looked at chiefly for the gratification of 
 our curiosity : but to our Fathers it was far otherwise — the 
 sound of the war whoop, and the sight of the uplifted toma- 
 hawk, haunted their imaginations by day and their dreams by 
 night. 
 
 In October, the finishing stroke was given to the war by the 
 capture of Lord Cornwallis and his whole army. In this 
 great achievement, effected by the combined forces of America 
 and France under General Washington, at Yorktown in Vir- 
 ginia, one of the regiments of this State took part, and lost 
 its gallant commander, Col. Scammell of Durham, one of the 
 most accomplished officers of the army. In the operations of 
 the seige he was surprised, while reconnoitering, by a party 
 of hostile cavalry, and inhumanly and mortally wounded after 
 he had been taken prisoner. The capture of a second Brit- 
 ish army ensured the triumph of America, and filled the coun- 
 try with an almost frantic joy. On the reception of the intel- 
 ligence, Congress went to church in solemn procession to 
 render public praise to Almighty God, and appointed a day 
 for a National Thanksgiving. The state of public feeling on 
 the occurrence of this great event, is indicated by the fact, that 
 the aged door-keeper of Congress, on learning the surrender 
 of the British army, expired in a Jit of joy. Every part of the 
 country was animated by emotions similar in kind, though less 
 violent in degree. 
 
 In relation to the seceding towns of Grafton and Cheshire 
 counties, the controversy with Vermont still continued, and 
 at last threatened to involve the two States in open hostilities. 
 The New-Hampshire Courts held their sessions in both coun- 
 ties without much opposition : but from the attempts of Sher- 
 iffs to enforce the laws of the respective governments, resulted 
 many angry collissions. Two inhabitants of Chesterfield 
 were committed to Charlestown goal by a warrant from 
 a Vermont Justice. The government of New-Hampshire 
 directed Col. Hale of Rindge, Sheriff of the county of 
 Cheshire, to release the prisoners: — but in attempting to exe- 
 cute the order, he was himself imprisoned by the Vermont 
 Sheriff. On his application for a military force to release him, 
 the Governor of Vermont ordered the militia of that State to 
 oppose force to force ; and for a time, it was seriously appre- 
 hended that the question of his liberation would be decided 
 by the issue of a battle at Charlestown. While the parties thus 
 
1782.] period viii.— 1775— 1781. 149 
 
 stood with the sword half drawn, a Committee from Vermont 
 came into New-Hampshire to agree on a compromise. One 
 of the number was the Vermont Sheriff, who was immedi- 
 ately thrown into Exeter goal, and detained as an hostage for 
 the release of of Col. ilale. The Legislature issued a Procla- 
 mation, requiring the inhabitants of the revolted towns to 
 subscribe within forty days an acknowledgment of the juris- 
 diction of New-Hampshire, and ordered the militia to hold 
 themselves in readiness to march against them, in case of 
 their refusal. 
 
 In this crisis the influence of Washington was interposed 
 to prevent bloodshed. A letter from him to Gov. Chittenden, 
 earnestly advising Vermont to renounce her claim of jurisdic- 
 tion east of Connecticut river, was laid before the Assembly 
 of that State. This advice, coming from the source it did, 
 prevailed with a majority of the Assembly to accept, in Febru- 
 ary, 1782, the west bank of the Connecticut as their boundary 
 — an act which ended the controversy happily for both States. 
 
 Though at first it threatene I tragic consequences, yet the 
 imprisonment of the Sheriff of Cheshire had a ludicrous con- 
 clusion. After he had been for some time in durance, the 
 authorities of Vermont became desirous to be rid of the dif- 
 ficulty in which the affair had involved them, and gave orders 
 for his dismission. Expecting as he did to be released in a 
 more honorable manner, than to be thus unceremoniously 
 thrust out of prison, he refused to depart. Soon afterwards, a 
 party of women, having entered the prison in the evening and 
 compelled him to accompany them, placed him in a vehicle 
 in which they conveyed him to Claremont, where they left 
 him to take care of himself. It was more than suspected that 
 some of these women were men in female attire. 
 
 The seceding towns expressed warm resentments at being 
 cut off from their connection with Vermont, and for a 
 time were not disposed to return to New-Hampshire. Disaf- 
 fected individuals obstructed the sitting of the Inferior Court 
 at Keene in September, so as to render an adjournment ne- 
 cessary: they soon after attempted to prevent the sitting of 
 the Superior Court at the same place, but without success. — 
 A bill of indictment was found against the insurgents, who 
 cast themselves on the mercy of the Court, and promised sub- 
 mission to the government in future; on which the proceed- 
 ings against them were discontinued; and the jurisdiction of 
 New-Hampshire was quietly re-extended to the western bank 
 of the Connecticut. 
 
 The people called " Shakers," first appeared in the State at 
 N* 
 
150 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1782. 
 
 this period, and collected Societies at Enfield and Canterbury, 
 in each of which places they possess a neat Village, and an 
 extensive and finely cultivated estate. 
 
 In November, provisional articles of peace between 
 Great Britain and the United States were signed at Paris, 
 by which the independence of the States was acknowl- 
 edged by the Mother Country. By this treaty, the object of 
 America was fully attained, and the protracted sacrifices of a 
 seven years struggle amply repaid. In the course of the 
 war, New-Hampshire had furnished for the service not less 
 than ten thousand men, of whom she lost four thousand in 
 battle and by sickness. The troops of no State gained a 
 higher reputation for gallantry and enterprise ; no State, in 
 proportion to her means, contributed more powerfully to the 
 establishment of American Independence. 
 
 The American revolution is one of the great events in the 
 history of the world. It not only gave a new impulse to the 
 American character, but opened new fields for enterprise, and 
 supplied a powerful stimulus to exertion. It brought upon 
 the theatre of human affairs an host of new actors, who shewed 
 themselves competent to perform great and important parts. 
 On the political state of the world, it has already exerted a 
 vast influence. That some unhappy effects have resulted from 
 the great contest is not to be denied. Dr. Ramsay truly re- 
 marks that while "the literary, political, and military talents of 
 the United States have been improved by the Revolution, their 
 moral character is inferior to what it once was." The straight- 
 forward, sterling honesty of former times, gave way,to no small 
 extent, to looser principles of dealing and arts of speculation. 
 In the confusion of the struggle, the institutions of religion 
 were much neglected, and public worship was in many places 
 long suspended. The depreciation of the paper currency 
 reduced the salaries of many ministers to almost nothing. — 
 That reverence for the Sabbath, once so deep and general, as 
 to render the stillness of a New-England Sabbath proverbial, 
 was sensibly weakened by the habits of travelling and business, 
 induced by the war. The familiar intercourse of our military 
 men with French officers, most of whom were infidels from 
 the school of Voltaire, spread among us to an alarming extent 
 the taint of infidelity — thousands became deeply and fatally 
 corrupted. Had not the Ruler of the world counteracted the 
 influence of these evils, at a subsequent period, by numerous 
 revivals of religion in almost every part of the country, the re- 
 sult must have been disastrous. But such has been^the kindness 
 of his dispensations, that the preponderating influence of this 
 
1783.] period viii.— 1775— 1784. 151 
 
 great Revolution has been decidedly on the side of human 
 happiness and pure Christianity. 
 
 Of the distinguished officers in the revolutionary war, New- 
 Hampshire had her full proportion. She furnished lor the 
 regular service three Generals, Sullivan, Poor, and Stark ; and 
 the Colonels Reid, Scammel, Cilley, and Dearborn. Col. 
 Scammel, at the time he was slain, was Adjutant General of the 
 American army. Gen. Whipple, who rose from the humble 
 station of a cabin boy to high distinction, was frequently called 
 into the service with detachments from the militia, and idled 
 several important civil offices — among others, that of Judge of 
 the Superior Court. Among those who were distinguished 
 patriots of the revolution, and had influence in the public 
 councils of the State, are, in addition to the names of President 
 Weare and John Langdon, those of John Pickering and 
 Woodbury Langdon of Portsmouth ; Nathaniel Peabody of 
 Atkinson ; Nicholas Oilman, John T. Gilman, and Nathaniel 
 Folsom of Exeter ; George Trust and Ebenezer Thompson of 
 Durham; John Dudley of Raymond ; Samuel Livermore of 
 Holderness ; Josiah Bartlett of Kingston ; Timothy Walker of 
 Concord ; John McClary of Epsom ; Matthew Thornton of 
 Merrimac; Jonathan Blan chard of Dunstable; Wyseman 
 Claggett of Litchfield ; Matthew Patten of Bedford ; and Ben- 
 jamin Bellows of Walpole. Of these men, some were delegates 
 to the old Congress ; others held seats in the Council or the 
 Committee of Safety, or were leading members of the House 
 of Representatives ; others were active in the Convention 
 which formed the present Constitution of the State ; and all 
 were efficient supporters of the cause of their country. The 
 hand of death has since removed from the world every indi- 
 vidual of this band of patriots. 
 
 The Rev. David McGregor, a Presbyterian minister in Lon- 
 donderry, long eminent for piety, eloquence and usefulness, 
 died in the course of the Revolutionary war, after having 
 exerted an important influence in preparing the minds of the 
 people to engage in the perilous contest. Another individual 
 of that day, deserving to be ranked among the worthies of the 
 State, was the Rev. Timothy Walker, the first minister of 
 Concord, who possessed in an eminent degree the veneration 
 of his people, and died near the close of the war after a minis- 
 try of half a century. 
 
 News of peace with Great Britain being received prior to 
 the March meeting of 1783, the temporary "Plan of Govern- 
 ment" expired by its own limitation. By the votes of the people, 
 it was revived and continued in force for another year, under 
 
152 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1784. 
 
 the expectation that within that period the new Constitution 
 would be perfected. To the pens or* Messrs Pickering and 
 Sewall, the State is indebted for many of its most important 
 articles. The Convention which formed it, met for the ninth 
 and last time in October ; Mr. Atkinson, the President, being 
 absent on account of ill health, Gen. Folsom of Exeter was 
 chosen President pro tern. The Constitution, which had been 
 sent out to the people, was returned from the several towns, 
 stamped with the approval of a great majority, and was accor- 
 dingly established by the Convention, to take effect on the 
 first Wednesday of June, 1784. It went into operation at that 
 time, being introduced at Concord by a religious service called 
 the Election Sermon, an observance which was continued in 
 New-Hampshire for almost half a century, and not laid aside 
 till ] 833. That long-tried and faithful public servant, Meshecli 
 Weare, was again elected President, the title then used to 
 designate the Chief Magistrate. The Constitution has been 
 in general faithfully observed, and has contributed in an emi- 
 nent degree to advance the social and political happiness of 
 the State. 
 
 Having now traced the course of events in New-Hampshire 
 down to the last important change in the form of government, 
 we may pause, and look back on the forms that had obtained 
 in periods preceding. From the origin of the State in 1(3*23, 
 through a period of sixteen years, the few Colonists on the 
 Pascataqua were governed by the Rules and Orders of The 
 Compaxy of Lacoxia in England, of which Mason was the 
 leading member. For the brief space of the two following 
 years, each of the few towns, having formed itself by volun- 
 tary association into a little Republic, managed its own con- 
 cerns in its own way. During the thirty eight years, begin- 
 ning with 1641, the government was Coloxial, being 
 administered by the authorities, and under the laws of 
 Massachusetts. The Provincial or Royal Government 
 began in 1680, and continued, with the exception of the short 
 re-union with Massachusetts from 1690 to 1692, through a 
 period of ninety six years. Early in 1776, this form was su- 
 perseded by the Republican, which was introduced by the 
 formation of the temporary Plan of Government, to continue 
 during the war ; and was matured and made permanent by 
 the introduction of the present Constitution in 1784, 
 
P ERIOD I X. 
 
 FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION 
 OF THE STATE IN 1764, TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF GOV. 
 LANGDON'S ADMINISTRATION IN 1805. 
 
 Changes in the form of government in the States of the 
 Eastern Continent, have generally been the result either of 
 foreign interference; or of internal convulsions. In New- 
 Hampshire, the introduction of a new Constitution was the 
 voluntary measure of the people, peaceably and harmoniously 
 effected. The first Legislature under the new order of things, 
 met at Concord, on which occasion the Rev. Dr. McClintock 
 preached the Election sermon. They found a variety of im- 
 portant objects of attention, and their enactments were marked 
 with wisdom. President Weare, enfeebled by age and worn 
 out with public service, found himself compelled to resign the 
 Chair before the expiration of the year, having been President 
 of the State nine years. Without brilliancy of genius, he was 
 eminent for practical wisdom, accurate knowledge of the af- . 
 fairs of the State, and industrious application to his public 
 duties. In the discharge of the duties of morality and religion, 
 he was exemplary, and retained to the last the confidence of 
 the people. His resignation was soon followed by his death. 
 
 Late in the summer a party of gentlemen, of whom one was 
 the Rev. Dr. Cutler, ascended the White Mountains for the 
 purpose of scientific observation. From observations then 
 made, the height of Mount Washington, whose summit re- 
 ceives the earliest rays of morning, and around which linger 
 the last beams of parting day, was estimated at 10,000 feet; — 
 an estimate supposed by Belknap to be too low. Subsequent 
 and more accurate measurements, made by Capt. Partridge, 
 and by Messrs. Bracket and Weeks, have very materially re- 
 duced this estimate, and assigned to the mountain an altitude 
 of about (3G00 feet— less than a third of the height of Chim- 
 borazo, and only a fourth of that of Dhawalageri. As the 
 
1785.] HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 154 
 
 party of Dr. Cutler was descending the precipitous face of the 
 mountain, their guide slipped and was gone out of their sight ; 
 but their apprehensions for his safety were soon removed by 
 his re-appearance, without serious injury. 
 
 In the course of the year the Rev. Dr.' Belknap, Minister of 
 Dover, published the first Volume of his History of New- 
 Hampshire. The second and third Volumes did not issue 
 from the press till some years afterwards. His work evinces 
 great research, and a scrupulous adherence to truth ; and is the 
 repository of a multitude of important facts, many of which, 
 had they not been recorded by his pen, had been irretriev- 
 ably lost. It was received by the public with great approba- 
 tion, and the name of Belknap, as the principal historian of 
 the State, has been held in respectful remembrance. The 
 last years of his ministry and life he spent in Boston, as the 
 Pastor of a church in that city. He published also the first 
 Volume of American Biography, a work of much merit ; and 
 prepared a second, which issued from the press after his death. 
 A third edition of his History was published in 1831, enriched 
 with valuable Notes from the pen of John Farmer, Esq. Cor- 
 responding Secretary of the New-Hampshire Historical So- 
 ciety. 
 
 After a little rest from the labors of the war, the thoughts of 
 some public spirited men began to be turned towards internal 
 improvements. A bridge was erected in 1785 over Connecticut 
 river, at Bellows' Falls in Walpole, by Col. Enoch Hale. — 
 Erections of this kind over so deep and wide a stream, suf- 
 ficiently strong to withstand the power of freshets and the 
 descending masses of ice, had been considered, hoAvever desi- 
 rable, as utterly impracticable. When Col. Hale announced 
 his design, it was ridiculed as visionary ; but he persevered 
 with firmness, and at an expense of less than 3000 dollars, 
 completed a bridge which stood several years. His work was 
 far more useful to the public than profitable to himself ; as 
 embarrassments compelled him to sell his property, without 
 having reaped from it that benefit, which a generous mind 
 would award to enterprise and ingenuity so beneficial to oth- 
 ers. This effort has been followed by the erection of numerous 
 bridges, some of them expensive and elegant, over all the 
 large rivers of the State. 
 
 Between Gen. Sullivan and Mr. Langdon subsisted a sort 
 of rivalry, not strictly political, but rather personal. Each of 
 these distinguished men had a numerous circle of friends, who 
 gave him a decided preference for the Chief Magistracy ; there 
 was of course, after the resignation of the venerable President 
 
178G.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. J 55 
 
 Weare,«i division at the Elections, "which resulted sometimes 
 in favor of one and sometimes of the other of these candi- 
 dates. Mr. Langdon, whose religious principles made him to 
 a part of the community the more acceptable of the two, was 
 chosen President of the State this year. Though the revolu- 
 tion had rescued us from foreign oppression, the return of peace 
 found the United States destitute of an efficient General Gov- 
 ernment ; burdened with a debt of more than forty millions ; 
 possessed of only a small quantity of the precious metals ; and 
 enfeebled by the excessive exertions which had been deman- 
 ded by the war. Congress found it necessary to raise large 
 supplies of money to satisfy the public creditors; but as they 
 wanted the power to enforce their requisitions, some of the 
 States did almost nothing, while others made every effort to 
 comply. An excessive importation of foreign goods drained 
 the country of specie, and it became almost impossible to 
 procure the means of paying either public taxes or private 
 debts. Conventions of Delegates were holden for the purpose 
 of deliberating on the means of relief; multitudes became 
 clamorous for an emission by the Legislature, ot paper money, 
 to be loaned to individuals on the security of real estate. By 
 the wiser part of the community it was argued, and well 
 argued, that there was already in circulation a vast amount of 
 depreciated paper; and that a new emission would inevitably 
 become depreciated, and aggravate an evil, which only indus- 
 try, frugality, and patience could cure. To the taste of the 
 looser and less discerning portion of the community, who 
 wanted to get money by a quicker process than that of hard 
 labor, these remedies were not congenial — they were too slow 
 of operation. To relieve as far as possible the difficulty, the 
 Legislature passed a "Tender Act," providing that when any 
 debtor should tender to his creditor, in satisfaction of an exe- 
 cution for debt, a sufficient amount of property either real or 
 personal, the creditor should receive it at the appraisal of men, 
 or suspend the levying of his Execution. This act gave debtors 
 a breathing time ; but as it could not make money plenty, com- 
 plaints continued to be made. 
 
 Gen. Sullivan was elected to the Chair in 178G. Distress 
 and discontent, occasioned by heavy taxes and extreme scar- 
 city of money, rapidly increased; and in Massachusetts broke 
 out into an open and dangerous insurrection headed by Daniel 
 Shays, which was not quelled without the intervention of a 
 large military force, and the loss of a few lives. New-Hamp- 
 shire was not entirely exempt from civil commotion. During 
 the session of the Legislature in September, a body of two 
 
156 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1787. 
 
 hundred armed men, some from Cheshire, but most of them 
 from the western part of Rockingham County, marched to 
 Exeter, surrounded the house in which the Legislature was 
 sitting, and with menaces required a compliance with their 
 demands. These were sufficiently wild and extravagant, 
 including not only an emission of paper money, but a release 
 of debts, and an equal distribution of property. President Sul- 
 livan, in a calm address, represented to them the folly and 
 danger of their conduct ; but they were not to be reasoned with, 
 and held the Legislature prisoners till evening. In attempting 
 to pass out of the house, the President was stopped by the 
 mob and treated even with rudeness. At twilight the citizens 
 of Exeter, incensed at their audacity, made some demonstra- 
 tions of attacking them ; on which they retreated to an emi- 
 nence a mile distant, and encamped for the night. Their retreat 
 liberated the Legislature, who declared them to be in rebellion, 
 and authorized the President to call in the militia to suppress 
 the insurrection. At the dawning of the next morning Gen. 
 Sullivan appeared in the street, mounted, and in full uniform ; 
 a body of militia from the neighboring towns soon poured into 
 the place, whom he formed in martial array, and led to attack 
 the insurgents. On arriving near their encampment, Gen. 
 Cilley with a troop of horse made a rapid charge upon them ; 
 they were instantly broken, and fled without firing a gun. — 
 The leaders, of whom several were seized on the spot, were 
 pardoned on promises of submission and good behaviour. 
 Some of them, being members of Churcbes,were required by 
 those Churches to make public confession of their guilt in 
 rebelling against government. Thus happily was the insur- 
 rection put down without the shedding of a drop of blood. — 
 The ostensible leader of the insurgents was a man from 
 Kingston ; the prime movers however, of whom one or two 
 were members of the Legislature,took good care for their own 
 safety by keeping themselves behind the curtain. 
 
 Early in 1/87, the long vexed and engrossing question of a 
 new issue of paper money was submitted to the people in 
 town meetings, and the majority had the good sense and integ- 
 rity to vote against the measure. After this decision, the 
 dissatisfaction and clamor gradually subsided ; though the 
 pecuniary embarrassments of the country continued to exist 
 for a time longer. The public securities, or certificates of 
 debts due from government to individuals, were excessively 
 depreciated; many revolutionarry officers and soldiers,driven 
 by pinching want to sell them, sacrificed a large proportion of 
 
1787.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. i5? 
 
 their nominal value. They went into the hands of speculators, 
 who afterwards realized every cent of their claims. 
 
 It had been a question long agitated, what were the western 
 limits of the Masonian patent? The Masonian proprietors 
 had always contended for a curve line, to correspond with the 
 direction of the sea-coast ; and according to a survey made for 
 them by Fletcher in 1768, this line began near the southwestern 
 corner of Fitzwilliam, and passed along on the western lines 
 of Fitzwilliam, Marlborough, Stoddard and Washington, to 
 Sunapee Lake ; thence on the lines of New-London, Wihnot, 
 through Orange and Hebron to Plymouth ; and thence through 
 Holderness, Sandwich and Burton, to Conway, on the borders 
 of Maine. After the Revolutionary war, the grantees of some 
 lands with which this line interfered, petitioned the Legislature 
 to decide the question: the Masonian proprietors at the same 
 time bringing in a petition on their part, that the line run by 
 Fletcher might be established. It was finally determined by 
 the Legislature, that a survey should be made of a distance of 
 sixty miles from the sea on the south and east lines of the 
 State, and that from the end of one of these lines of sixty 
 miles to the end of the other, a straight line should be run, 
 which should be established as the head line or western limit 
 of the patent. This was run in 1787 ; the line extended from 
 a point in the town of Rindge to a point on the boundary of 
 Maine, a few miles north of Saco river. Between the straight 
 and the curve line was a considerable territory, for the un- 
 grantcd portions of which the Masonian proprietors were 
 required to pay the State a considerable sum. During these 
 transactions, the heirs of Allen revived their claim, after it had 
 lain dormant about seventy years ; but afterwards comprom- 
 ised their dispute with the Masonian proprietors; — and those 
 harrassing controversies about land-titles, which at times had 
 agitated the State for a period of an hundred and thirty years, 
 were happily put to rest. The principal Agent in effecting the 
 adjustment between the Masonian proprietors and the heirs of 
 Allen, and also between the Masonian proprietors and the 
 State, was John Pierce Esq. of Portsmouth. 
 
 So apparent were the defects of the old Confederation of 
 the States, and so urgent the necessity of establishing a more 
 energetic General Government, competent to regulate com- 
 merce and raise a revenue by imposts, that on the recommen- 
 dation of Virginia, twelve of the States elected Delegates to 
 meet in Convention and form a new Federal Constitution. — 
 John Langdon and Nicolas Gilman were the delegates from 
 this State". The Convention, consisting of the venerable 
 O 
 
158 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1788. 
 
 Statesmen and patriots of the Revolution, met at Philadelphia 
 in May, and elected Washington as their President. After a 
 long and laborious session, having to reconcile many conflicting 
 interests, and to balance the concessions of the different sec- 
 tions of the country, they formed the present Constitution of 
 the United States. It was to be submitted to Conventions, to 
 be called in the several States to decide on its adoption or 
 rejection ; and if ratified by nine States, it was to go into op- 
 eration. So nearly were its advocates and opponents balanced, 
 that for some time its fate hung in suspense. The States 
 which ratified it proposed many amendments, some of which 
 were adopted ; and the majority in its favor was in some 
 instances extremely small. 
 
 The Convention elected in New-Hampshire to decide the 
 great question of ratifying or rejecting the Federal Constitu- 
 tion, met at Exeter in February, 1788. They appointed Gen. 
 Sullivan to be their President, and the Hon. John Calfe, Sec- 
 retary. This respectable body included most of the eminent 
 men of the State — in the list of its members are found the 
 names of Langdon, Pickering, Bartlett, John T. Gilman, 
 Atherton, Parker, Bellows, West, Livermore, and Badger. — 
 The debates ran high ; Sullivan, Langdon, Pickering, and 
 Livermore, were the principal speakers in favor of the ratifi- 
 cation ; while the leading opponents were Atherton of 
 Amherst and Parker of Jaffrey. So dubious was the result, 
 that the friends of the Constitution, afraid to risk a decision at 
 that time, plead for an adjournment, in the hope that further 
 discussion among the people would work a favorable change 
 in public opinion. Happily for the community the motion 
 prevailed ; had the question on the ratification been taken at 
 the first session of the Convention, it had inevitably been lost. 
 During the recess, the Constitution continued to be the stand- 
 ing topic of earnest discussion in town and neighborhood 
 meetings ; many changes were wrought in its favor ; some 
 towns who had instructed their Delegates to oppose the ratifi- 
 cation, recalled those instructions, and gave others of an 
 opposite character. In the mean time the Conventions of 
 eight States had declared their ratification. The adjourned 
 meeting of the New-Hampshire Convention, holden at Con- 
 cord in June, continued only four days. Many amendments 
 were proposed and accepted ; the adoption of which by the 
 other States, the opponents wished to make an indispensable 
 condition of the validity of the ratification on the part of this 
 State : but the advocates of the Constitution urged an uncon- 
 ditional ratification, accompanied with a mere recommendation 
 
1788.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 159 
 
 of 'these amendments. Fearing that the decision might be 
 against them, the opponents in their turn urged, but ineffectu- 
 ally, another adjournment. On the last day of the session, 
 the momentous question was taken. "While the Secretary 
 was calling over the names of the members and recording their 
 votes, there was a death-like silence — every bosom throbbed 
 with anxious expectation." The result was 57 votes for the 
 ratification, and 4(j against it, giving a majority of eleven in 
 its favor. 
 
 X As an index of the state of popular feeling existing at the 
 time, it will be not uninteresting to state, that during the ses- 
 sion the village of Concord was thronged with visitants, and 
 the galleries of the Church in which the Convention met, 
 crowded with spectators — listening to the debates, and await- 
 ing with the deepest anxiety the final decision. Emissaries 
 from other States attended, for the purpose of observing the 
 course of events, and of influencing, if possible, the result. — 
 Immense speculations had been made in Continental Certifi- 
 cates, by purehases from the original holders, the officers and 
 soldiers of the revolutionary army ; and the purchasers, a 
 numerous and powerful body, were well aware that their 
 fortunes depended on the ratification or rejection of the Con- 
 stitution. Another body of men, still more numerous, felt the 
 deepest anxiety for its fate, from no other motives than honest 
 convictions of expediency, and patriotic zeal for the public 
 good. Such indeed was the excitement of the popular mind, 
 that on the declaration of the vote, messengers flew in all 
 directions. Intelligence was immediately sent by an express 
 to New-York, whose Convention was then in session, and 
 where the result was extremely doubtful. The reception of 
 it had an important influence on the decision of that State. 
 
 The ratification by New-Hampshire, being that of a ninth 
 State, and completing, as it did, the number necessary to put 
 the Constitution in operation, excited throughout the country 
 a thrill of joy. At Portsmouth, the event was celebrated by a 
 grand procession, and other demonstrations of popular gratifi- 
 cation. In the solemn Act of Ratification the Convention 
 say, "Acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the 
 Supreme Ruler of the Universe, in affording to the people of 
 the United States an opportunity in the course of his Provi- 
 dence, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud or surprise, 
 of entering into an explicit and solemn compact with each 
 other, We do ix the name and behalf of the people op 
 the State of New-Hampshire, assent to and ratify the 
 said Constitution," Two other States soon added their 
 
160 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1789. 
 
 ratifications. Rhode-Island and North Carolina for some time 
 withheld their's ; but at last they followed the example of the 
 other States, thus completing the Union of members of the 
 American family. It is honorable to the patriotism of the ori- 
 ginal opponents of the Federal Constitution, that after the 
 final question was taken, many of them came forward with 
 the declaration, that though it was not what they wished, yet 
 as the majority had decided in its favor, they were determined 
 to give it their cordial support. J 
 
 Gen. Sullivan was succeeded in the Presidency of the State 
 in 1788 by Mr. Langdon. In the course of the year, persons 
 were elected to represent New-Hampshire in the first Con- 
 gress under the new Federal Constitution. John Langdon 
 and Paine Wingate were chosen Senators by the Legislature ; 
 Samuel Livermore, Abiel Foster, and Nicolas Oilman were 
 elected Representatives by the people. Geo. Washington was 
 chosen President of the United States by the unanimous vote 
 of the Electoral Colleges, and the first Congress met in the 
 city of New- York on the 4th of March, 1789. The adminis- 
 tration of Washington soon effected a revival of public credit, 
 a rapid extension of commerce, the provision of a competent 
 revenue, aud the rapid advance of the nation in whatever ex- 
 alts or adorns society. Under the returning tide of national 
 prosperity, the angry controversies that had grown out of the 
 discussion of the Constitution, were quietly submerged. Mr. 
 Langdon having been called to a seat in the national councils, 
 Gen. Sullivan was again elected President of the State in 
 1789. . In this last year of his administration, he had the pleas- 
 ure of welcoming Gen. Washington, who came to the New- 
 England States on a tour of observation, and extended his 
 journey to Portsmouth. Both the government and the citizens 
 of New-Hampshire received him in the most affecti mate 
 manner, and omitted no demonstrations of their veneration 
 for the Father of his country. To his former associates in 
 arms, who were enthusiastically attached to him, an interview 
 with their old Commander was in the highest degree grateful. 
 
 The attention of public-spirited individuals began to be 
 drawn at this period to the importance of improving the navi- 
 gation of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers. In the course 
 of a few succeeding years, the excavation of the Middlesex 
 canal, connecting the waters of the Merrimac with those of 
 Boston harbor, was commenced ; and several short canals, 
 furnishing a passage for boats around the principal falls of the 
 two rivers, were undertaken and prosecuted with spirit. Of 
 the citizens of New-Hampshire who were the efficient pro- 
 
1709.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 161 
 
 moters of these useful improvements, the names of Samuel 
 Blodget of Manchester and William Page of Charlestown must 
 be placed at the head of the catalogue. 
 
 President Sullivan having been appointed Judge of the 
 United States' District Court, the voice of the people at the 
 election of 1790 called to the Chair Josiah Bartlett of Kings- 
 ton, who retained the Chief Magistracy almost four years. At 
 his first election his competitor was Mr. Pickering, whom he 
 soon afterwards appointed Chief justice of the Superior 
 Court — an office for which he possessed superior qualifications. 
 The census of this year gave the Uuited States a population of 
 almost four millions, of whom 142,000 were in New-Hamp- 
 shire: a result exhibiting an increase, notwithstanding the 
 heavy losses occasioned by the revolutionary war, of almost 
 60,000 in the preceding fifteen years ; and indicating a great 
 extension of new settlements. Already had the spreading 
 tide of population reached the wild recesses of the White 
 mountains. At a considerable distance from any other human 
 habitation, Rosebrook had planted himself in the forest near 
 the Notch, where he braved the perils of the wilderness., and 
 brought under cultivation a large farm. 
 
 No small share of suffering fell to the lot of these pioneers 
 of cultivation and improvement. Instances were not wanting 
 of their children being lost in the woods, and never found; or 
 being torn by wild beasts. A case of the former kind occur- 
 red in Temple, and no certain discovery of the fate of the 
 lost child was ever made. An instance of the latter kind had 
 recently taken place in Moultonborough ; and another, long 
 before, at a plantation on Suncook river, the circumstances of 
 which were deeply affecting. A man being at work in a 
 meadow, his son, a" little boy eight years old, was sent to call 
 him to dinner. While the father returned home by one path, 
 the son took another. He did not arrive ; after waiting awhile, 
 the father went to find him, aud had not gone far till he saw 
 with horror a bear start up among the bushes, with the bleed- 
 ing corpse of the bov between his teeth ! "One who has exten- 
 sively seen," says Dr. D wight, "the efforts of the New-England 
 people in colonizing new countries, cannot fail of being forcibly 
 struck by their enterprise, industry, and perseverance. I have 
 passed the dwellings of several hundred thousands of these 
 people, erected on grounds which in 1760 were an absolute 
 wilderness. A large part of these tracts they have converted 
 into fruitful fields, surrounded it with enclosures, planted it 
 with orchards, and beautified it with comfortable, and in many 
 places, handsome houses. Considerable tracts I have traced 
 O* 
 
162 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1790. 
 
 through their whole progress from a desert to a garden. — 
 Towns and villages rise up in the retreats of bears and wolves ; 
 and Churches assemble for the worship of God the numerous 
 inhabitants. Schools and Colleges enlighten the young mind 
 with the rudiments, and in many instances with the higher 
 attainments of knowledge. Man sees his race multiplying 
 beyond all customary calculation, in the midst of blessings 
 obtained without fraud, without oppression and without 
 blood." 
 
 In the general prosperity of the country at this period, 
 New-England largely participated. Her ships visited almost 
 every clime, her adventurous mariners began to pursue the 
 whales into the most distant parts of the great Pacific, and not 
 a few of her sons circumnavigated the globe. 
 
 The encouragement and regulation of schools engaged the 
 attention of the Legislature. From the early periods of their 
 history, the people of New-Hampshire had taken a deep in- 
 terest ~in the subject of education. A law was passed as ear- 
 ly as 1693, requiring each town, with the exception of Dover, 
 during the war then raging, to provide a school-master ; an- 
 other in 1719 required each town of fifty or more house- 
 holders, to be constantly provided with a school-master, to 
 teach reading and writing ; and towns of 100 house-holders, 
 to support a grammar school, to be kept by " some discreet 
 person of good conversation, well instructed in the tongues." 
 These laws accomplished much good ; but imperious necessi- 
 ty sometimes rendered them inoperative. Of the new towns, 
 many contained less than fifty house holders, and others of 
 greater population were often led by the distresses of war to 
 petition for exemption from the obligation to support a school. 
 Within the memory of some aged persons now liviug, many 
 children received all their instruction at home — learning to 
 write in some instances on birch bark. The New-England 
 Primer, the Psalter, and the Testament were the only school 
 books ; there was no book on Arithmetic ; the teachers, to 
 borrow the current phrase, " set sums " and explained the 
 rules as they could. Dilworth's Spelling Book was not in- 
 troduced till about the year 1770. In some towns professed 
 teachers were not attainable, or the people w r ere unable to pay 
 them, and the schools were taught after a fashion by the heads 
 of families in rotation. Soon after the revolutionary war, 
 English Grammar began to be introduced into the primary 
 schools, and at a later period, Geography. In the last year of 
 President Sullivan's administration, the former laws in relation 
 to the subject were repealed^ and a new act was passed, au- 
 
1791.] period ix.— 1784— 1605. 163 
 
 thoriziug the Selectmen of the several towns to assess the in- 
 habitants, at the rate of five pounds for every twenty shillings 
 paid by them on their proportion of a State tax of £1000. — 
 Another law, enacted in 1791, required an assessment of sev- 
 en pounds ten shillings on every twenty shillings of the pro- 
 portion. A subsequent law fixed the assessment at ninety 
 dollars on every dollar of the proportion paid by a town to- 
 wards a State tax of £1000 — the result being an annual income 
 of s90,000 for the whole State, applicable to the support of 
 common schools. 
 
 For the purposes of diffusing medical knowledge, and of 
 suppressing quackery, by preventing unqualified persons from 
 practising Medicine and Surgery, the New-Hampshire Medi- 
 cal Society was incorporated in 1791. Its members are of 
 three grades: Honorary Members, Fellows and Associates. — 
 The general society consists of the two former grades, while 
 the Associates belong to the District Societies, of which there 
 are six. A person must have been a practicioner of medicine 
 two years before he can be elected an Associate, and every 
 Associate is eligible to the grade of a Fellow. Gov. Bartlett, 
 who was a Physician, was the first President of the Society. 
 It has had a salutary influence in raising the standard of med- 
 ical qualfications, and elevating the profession to its present 
 respectable state. Another indication of the progress of 
 knowledge is found in the feet, that the condition of Dart- 
 mouth College was now become flourishing. For a series of 
 years, the difficulties attendent on the revolutionary war had 
 checked its prosperity ; some of its students, impelled by pa- 
 triotic feelings, had exchanged the shade of academic bowers 
 for the tented field ; and others, who would gladly have be- 
 come students, had been discouraged by the distressed and 
 impoverished state of the country. After the Avar, the visit 
 of President Wheelock to Europe — the erection of a new and 
 elegant college edifice — the benefactions of enlightened indi- 
 viduals — and the patronage of the Government, all conspired 
 to give the College an impulse, which placed it among the most 
 respectable literary Institutions of New-England. 
 
 The extension at this time of commercial business required 
 the establishment of a bank, and led to the incorporation of 
 the New-Hampshire Bank at Portsmouth, the first in the State. 
 Other banking Institutions have since been formed, at various 
 periods, in all the counties. 
 
 After the expiration of seven years from the adoption of 
 the State Constitution, a Convention of Delegates met in Au- 
 tumn for the purpose of revising it. They elected the Hon. 
 
164 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1792. 
 
 Samuel Livermore, President, and John Calfe, Secretary ; and 
 having made some progress in the revision, adjourned to Feb- 
 ruary, 1792. At the adjourned session, the President being ab- 
 sent from the State, Judge Pickering was chosen President pro 
 tern. Among the attempted alterations, were the erasure of 
 the sixth article of the Bill of Rights; the substitution of 
 January for June, as the period of the annual organization of 
 the government ; the enlargement of the Senate from twelve 
 to fifteen members, and the reduction of the number of Rep- 
 resentatives to sixty ; the erasure of the clause which requires 
 members of the Legislature to profess themselves to be of the 
 Protestant religion ; and, singularly as it may strike us, the 
 exclusion of Attorneys at Law from a seat in either branch 
 of the Legislature. All these propositions failed. Some al- 
 terations, not very important, were however adopted; a part 
 of which the people subsequently ratified, and rejected oth- 
 ers. At a third session of the Convention in May, the Con- 
 stitution was brought to its present form. For the sake of 
 readily distinguishing the office from that of President of the 
 United States, and of conforming to the usage of the other 
 States, the title of the Chief Magistrate of the State was 
 changed from President to Governor. The wisdom and ex- 
 cellence of the great principles of this Charter of our Rights, 
 are strikingly evinced by the fact, that whenever the ques- 
 tion of a revision has since been submitted to the people, 
 a great majority have given a decided negative. At the Pres- 
 idential election near the close of the year, Washington re- 
 ceived a second unanimous vote, and was inaugurated in the 
 following March for another term of four years. 
 
 This period is marked by the introduction into New-Hamp- 
 shire of the Methodist denomination. The first Societies of 
 this name in England were organized in 1739, by the 
 celebrated and excellent John Wesley, one of the burning 
 and shining lights of the last Century. In 17C6, the Rev. 
 Philip Embury, a preacher of this denomination, removed 
 from Ireland to the City of New-York, and from among his 
 countrymen who had emigrated to this country, he gathered 
 a Society, the first of the name in America. Not till after 
 the Revolution was Methodism introduced into New-England. 
 Elder Jesse Lee, from Virginia, formed at Lynn the first 
 regular Methodist Society in Massachusetts, in the summer 
 of 1791 ; and not long after, visited New-Hampshire and 
 Maine, preparing the way for the formation of Societies in 
 these States. This body of Christians now rauks among the 
 most numerous denominations in the country, and has in this 
 
1794.] teriod ix.— 1734— 1805. 105 
 
 State a large number of stations and circuits, supplied by 
 about ninety travelling and local preachers. 
 
 That great Revolution in France, which had overturned 
 the throne and brought the King to a public execution, not 
 only kindled in Europe the flames of war, but produced even 
 in this country a powerful excitement. Enlisting, as it did, 
 the sympathies of cue portion of the people in favor of 
 France ; and producing, by its shocking and murderous 
 excesses, an alienation from their former allies in the minds 
 of another portion, accompanied with a disposition to 
 cultivate a good understanding with Great Britain ; it was a 
 leading cause of the division of the Americans into two 
 great political parties. The one assumed the name of 
 Republicans; the other, that of Federalists. It was the opinion 
 of many, that our obligations to France for her aid in the 
 Revolutionary war, could hardly be canceled, and that we 
 ought to unite with her in opposing Groat Britain. This 
 was not the prevailing opinion. Washington, sustained by a 
 majority of the people, decided not to interfere in the contest. 
 His celebrated Proclamation of neutrality, requiring the 
 Citizens of the United States to abstain from any hostile acts 
 towards either of the belligerent powers, was received in this 
 State with great satisfaction. At a meeting of the citizens of 
 Portsmouth, resolutions were passed, approving the Procla- 
 mation, and expressing full confidence in the measures taken 
 by Government to free our commerce from the depredations 
 committed by the powers at war. 
 
 The 17th of May, 1794, is remembered as the date of one 
 of the most destructive frosts recorded in the annals of New- 
 England. The season was unusually early ; the young 
 apples were formed, and the rye headed ; when one fatal 
 night blasted the hope of the husbandman, and destroyed 
 almost entirely the fruit and English grain. 
 
 At the election of this year, John Taylor Gilman of Exeter 
 was chosen to succeed Gov. Bartlett in the chief Magistracy, 
 and was continued in the chair for a period of eleven years. 
 Gov. Bartlett had been induced by declining health to resign 
 his office before the expiration of the year, and his retire- 
 ment to private life was soon followed by his death. The 
 first years of Gov. Gilman's administration furnish few 
 events of importance ; they were however distinguished by 
 the prevalence of harmony in the public councils, and the 
 State was eminently prosperous. A great majority of the 
 Citizens acted, at this time, in concert with the political 
 party long distinguished by the name of Federalists ; the 
 
166 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1795. 
 
 Legislature of course was decidedly of the same political 
 complexion. 
 
 An architectural enterprise, more important and difficult 
 than any of the kind that had been achieved in the country, 
 was now undertaken and accomplished. It was the erection 
 of a bridge over the Pascataqua, from Newington to Durham, 
 formed of three sections ; two of them were horizontal ; the 
 third, arched ; the whole presenting a surface of planking 
 almost a half a mile in length. It was thrown over the river 
 at a place, where the depth, at high water, is generally more 
 than fifty feet, and was finished with much elegance at an 
 expense of sixty-two thousand dollars. The construction^ of 
 this bridge, which excited the admiration of every traveller, 
 required five thousand tons of timber, eighty thousand feet 
 of plank, twenty tons of iron, and eight thousand tons of 
 stone. John Pierce Esq. of Portsmouth, was the principal 
 Superintendent of this great work, of which the chief object 
 was to divert to Portsmouth a portion of the country trade, 
 that had long been engrossed by Boston and Salem. 
 
 In common with the rest of the country, the State was ag- 
 itated in the summer of 1795, by the question of the ratifica- 
 tion of Jay's treaty with Great Britain. By the constitutional 
 majority of the Senate, the ratification had been advised. 
 One of the New-Hampshire Senators, Mr. Livermore, was 
 in favor of this measure ; Mr. Langdon was opposed. While 
 the President had the subject under consideration, a Virginia 
 Senator, in violation of an injunction of secrecy, caused the 
 treaty to be published. There was at first a rush of public 
 opinion against it, which for a little time seemed to be irresis- 
 table, and Washington found himself placed in a state of seri- 
 ous perplexity and embarrassment. Following the current ex- 
 ample,the town of Portsmouth held a meeting and voted an 
 Address against the treaty. A counter address was however 
 prepared and signed by a large number of respectable indi- 
 viduals. With the design of preventing the transmission to 
 the President of the counter address, a mob, armed with 
 clubs, paraded the streets, insulted many of the signers, 
 broke their fences and windows, injured their ornamental 
 trees, and with threats demanded the surrender of the paper 
 from the person who had it in possession ; nor did they dis- 
 perse till they had kept the town for some hours in confusion 
 and alarm. Several of the ring-leaders were indicted for a 
 riot at the next Superior Court. After a little calm reflection, 
 a majority of the people of the State made up their minds 
 in favor of the acceptance of the treaty. Washington, who 
 
1797.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 167 
 
 followed no other guidance than a sense of duty, decided 
 after due deliberation to ratify it ; and its beneficial influence 
 for many succeeding years on the commerce of the United 
 States, has fully evinced the wisdom of the determination. 
 
 The progress of internal improvement is seen in the grant 
 of the first New-Hampshire turnpike, extending from Con- 
 cord to the vicinity of Portsmouth. This was in 1796. It 
 was followed in a few years by the grant of a second, from 
 Claremontto Amherst; of a 'third from Walpole, through 
 Keene and Jafrrey, to Ashby ; of a fourth, from Lebanon to 
 Boscawen ; and of many o'thers in various sections of the 
 State. Among them is one from the west line of Bartlett 
 through the Notch of White Mountains. 
 
 With deep regret the people of the United States learned 
 from the farewell address of Washington, his determination 
 to decline another re-election to the Presidency. The con- 
 troversy between the two great parties, into which the course 
 of events had divided them, became violent. John Adama 
 was the favorite candidate of the Federalists; Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, of the Republicans. The electoral votes of New- 
 Hampshire were given to Mr. Adams, who was elected by a 
 small majority, and inaugurated as President of the United 
 States on the*4th of March 1797. 
 
 In the following winter the frigate Crescent of thirty-two 
 guns, built at Portsmouth by Col. Hackett, sailed from that 
 port to the Mediteranean. She was destined to Algiers as a 
 present from the United States to the Dey. For a series of 
 year's our government, was under the necessity of purchasing 
 exemption^from the depredations of the piratical Barbary 
 powers on our commerce, by occasional payments under the 
 name of presents : but for a long time this degrading system 
 has been abolished, and these barbarians have been taught by 
 merited chastisements to respect the American flag. 
 
 A Medical Department was attached to Dartmouth College 
 in 1798, chiefly by the enterprise of Doct. Nathan Smith of 
 Cornish. Without early advantages of education, this gen- 
 tleman had raised himself by dint of talent and industry, to 
 the first rank in his profession. At a a time when a passage 
 across the Atlantic for literary purposes, was deemed in this 
 country to be a great achievement, he visited Europe for the 
 purpose of acquiring information. For some years he was the 
 only Medical Professor at Hanover, and by his personal efforts 
 raised the Department to great usefulness and respectability. 
 His practice as a physician and surgeon extended over a large 
 portion of New-England. The views of the celebrated Dr. 
 
168 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1798. 
 
 Rush, in relation to the deleterious effects of ardent spirits on 
 the human system, he adopted and ably advocated ; and by 
 communicating them to his numerous pupils, exerted an im- 
 portant influence in preparing the Medical practitioners for 
 the honorable stand they have since taken in promoting a 
 Temperance reformation. Several of the last years of his life 
 he spent in Connecticut, in connection with Yale College. — 
 The Medical institution remained without the accommodation 
 of a distinct edifice till 1810 ; when, by the aid of the Legis- 
 lature, a neat and convenient Medical College was erected. — 
 Among its means of usefulness, the Institution possesses a 
 valuable Anatomical Museum, a well furnished Chemical 
 Labratory, and a collection of botanical specimens. It has 
 three Professorships, and its Lectures are well attended. 
 
 In some preceding years the Yellow Fever had visited sev- 
 eral of the Atlantic cities, bringing in its train alarm and death. 
 It had caused in one of these years, the death of 4000 persons 
 in Philadelphia, and the precipitate flight from the city of 
 seventeen thousand of its inhabitants. In the summer of 1798, 
 it appeared in the north part of Portsmouth. Though a gen- 
 eral removal of the inhabitants from the infected neighborhood 
 greatly limited its spread, yet it carried off a considerable num- 
 ber of victims ; and but few who were seized recovered from 
 the attack. 
 
 The conduct of France w r as at this time so hostile as to 
 excite in the United States a general indignation. Her gov- 
 ernment encouraged depredations on our commerce, and or- 
 dered our minister to quit her territory. On the arrival of 
 three American Envoys to treat of reconciliation, a sum of 
 money was demanded as a pre-requisite to negotiation. A de- 
 mand so insolent aroused the spirit of the country, and " Mill- 
 ions for defence but not a cent for tribute," w r as the general 
 language of the day. The tide of indignant feeling rose to 
 as great a height in New-Hampshire as in any portion of the 
 American Republic. An address to President Adams, ex- 
 pressive of the fullest approbation of the measures of his 
 administration, and breathing the warmest resentment at the 
 aggressions of France, was adopted by the Legislature, being 
 carried in the Senate an unanimous vote, and in the House 
 with only four dissenting voices. The warlike attitude as- 
 sumed by the United States, together with the achievements 
 of our then infant Navy in the capture of several French 
 ships of war, taught the French Government that the rights 
 of Americans were not to be outraged with impunity. 
 
 In the midst the controversy, Washington, who had accept- 
 
1800.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 169 
 
 ed the office of Commander in Chief of the American Armies, 
 died, on the fourteenth of December, 1799, after an illness of 
 only one day. The country was clad in mourning. In this 
 State, and throughout the Union, the twenty-second day of 
 the succeeding February, the anniversary of his birth, was 
 devoted to expressions of public sorrow ; and eulogies, almost 
 without number, were pronounced before crowds of citizens, 
 lamenting the fall of the man "first in war, first in peace, 
 and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 
 
 Almost without opposition had the Federalists hitherto car- 
 ried the re-elections of Gov. Gilman. He was firm and decisive 
 in his political opinions, and in concert with great majorities 
 in both branches of the Legislature, yielded to the Federal 
 Administration of President Adams a steady support. The 
 current of popular feeling ran strong against France ; the 
 black cockade, the distinguishing badge of the Federal party, 
 was almost universally worn ; and in some parts of the State, 
 to wear what was called the French cockade, rendered the 
 security of the wearer's person somewhat precarious. But 
 causes, tending to a political change, were in operation. With 
 an increasing portion of the community, the measures of the 
 Federal administration, especially the Alien and Sedition laws, 
 and the Act requiring in many instances the use of stamped 
 paper charged with a duty, were becoming unpopular.— 
 Having enlarged their ranks with numerous recruits, the 
 Republicans began in 1800 to take the field in regular 
 array. This year and the next they supported as their candi- 
 date for Governor, Judge Walker of Concord— and afterwards 
 Mr. Langdon : but Gov. Gilman and the Federalists main- 
 tained the ascendency some years longer. 
 
 Convinced that nothing was to be gained by treating the 
 United States in an overbearing manner, the French Directory 
 was at length induced to make overtures of peace. These 
 overtures were promptly met by the American government, 
 and Ministers were appointed to repair to France, who, on 
 their arrival, found the supreme authority in the hands of 
 Bounaparte, as First Consul. With his government they 
 concluded in September, 1800, a treaty, which was satisfactory 
 to both countries. 
 
 A new religious denomination had at this time its origin in 
 Vermont, and was soon extended into New-Hampshire. — 
 Elder Abner Jones, of the former State, having become dis- 
 satisfied with some of the principles of the Freewill Baptist 
 Churches, with which he had been connected, withdrew from 
 their communion and began to propogate his own peculiar 
 P 
 
170 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1801. 
 
 sent iments. Many individuals in Vermont, New-Hampshire, 
 and Maine, adopted his views, and took the distinctive appel- 
 lation of Christians. A church of this denomination was 
 afterwards collected at Portsmouth, and a considerable number 
 of others have since been formed, chiefly in the central sec- 
 tion of the State. 
 
 In the summer and autumn of this and the two following 
 years, a malignant Dysentery, occasioning a great mortality, 
 prevailed in many of the towns. In the short space of a few 
 weeks, the towns of Antrim and Hancock lost almost one 
 fifteenth part of their whole population ; and other places 
 suffered severely, though not in an equal degree. The most 
 malignant form of this fatal disease has not since, to any con- 
 siderable extent, been witnessed in the State. 
 
 The recurrence of another Presidential election excited in 
 the country an acrimony of feeling then unparallelled. So 
 nearly were the political parties balanced, that each made the 
 most strenuous exertions, and formed sanguine hopes of 
 success. The candidates were the same as in the preceding 
 election ; and again the votes of this State were given to Mr. 
 xidams. No choice was effected by the Electoral Colleges: 
 but after a violent struggle, Mr. Jefferson was elected by the 
 House of Representatives, and the administration of the 
 General Government fell in 1801 into the hands of the Re- 
 publican party. This great change inspired the friends of 
 that party in New-Hampshire with sanguine hopes of gaining 
 the ascendency in the State government. Mr. Langdon, one 
 of their most popular and efficient leaders, having been retur- 
 ned to the House as a Representative from Portsmouth, they 
 attempted, unsuccessfully however, to carry his election as 
 Speaker. The next year they brought him forward as their 
 candidate for Governor : but not till after a three years' strug- 
 gle did they succeed in placing him in the Chair. 
 
 Though the period now under review furnishes few events 
 of thrilling interest, it affords unequivocal indications of public 
 prosperity. The new Census gave the United States a popu- 
 lation of more than seven millions ; of whom New-Hampshire 
 contained 214,000 — exhibiting an increase of more than 30,000 
 during the preceding ten years. The state of religion was 
 becoming more prosperous. In some former years, Thomas 
 Paine's scurrilous pamphlet, called by a strange misnomer 
 The Age of Reason, filled with coarse and sophistical abuse of 
 Christianity, had infected not a few minds with the taint of 
 infidelity. It has been stated that he had submitted this work 
 in manuscript to the perusal of Dr. Franklin, for his opinion ; 
 
1802.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 171 
 
 who on returning it, said, " I would advise you not to attempt 
 unchaining the tiger ; but to burn this piece before it is seen 
 by any other person ; if men are so wicked with religion, what 
 would they be without it ?" The tide of infidelity, which the 
 writings of Paine and Godwin, together with the blasphemous 
 publications of the French school, had rolled in upon us, was 
 now on the ebb. Revivals of religion, which since the days 
 of Whitefield had been of rare occurrence, became more 
 frequent. They had indeed occurred in considerable numbers 
 for a few of the'last years of the preceding century, in portions 
 of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and now began to be more 
 known in New -Hampshire. Wherever they existed, and 
 were conducted with discretion and humility, they awakened 
 a spirit of attention to christian instruction ; excited numbers 
 to the great duties of prayer and religious enquiry ; produced 
 a happy reformation of morals ; and resulted in numerous 
 accessions to the churches. The permanent fruits of piety 
 and benevolence, exhibited by a multitude of their subjects, 
 form the best attestation that they were the effect of a divine 
 influence on the hearts of men. Some of the great objects 
 of christian effort, which have since become so prominent, 
 began at this time to attract attention. The New-Hampshire 
 Missionary Society, the earliest charitable Institution of a 
 religious nature in the State, of any considerable extent, was 
 formed in 1801, for the purpose of furnishing to the scattered 
 inhabitants of the new settlements, and to feeble churches, the 
 means of christian instruction. During a period of thirty-two 
 years its operations have been eminently useful. It has sent 
 Missionaries into all the destitute parts of the State, and it now 
 aids in sustaining many ministers in places, where, without 
 such aid, the christian ministry could not be supported. Its 
 annual income for many years averaged about two thousand 
 dollars, and has lately risen to more than four thousand ; its 
 efforts, in connection with the labors of other christian denom- 
 inations, leave but few of the inhabitants of the State destitute 
 of at least occasional opportunities of attendance on religious 
 instruction. At a later period was formed the New-Hampshire 
 Baptist Missionary Society. 
 
 In February of the next year, a snow fell in New-England 
 of great depth and density, much of it consisting of small 
 particles like hail. Had it fallen in a light, fleecy form, it was 
 thought it would have exceeded in depth the great snow of 
 1717. Near the close of the year, the town of Portsmouth 
 was visited by a most calamitous conflagration, which consu- 
 med more than a hundred buildings, and laid waste a fair and 
 
172 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1804. 
 
 important portion of the place. The amount of property 
 destroyed was estimated at two hundred thousand dollars : and 
 more than forty-five thousand were contributed in various 
 places for the relief of the sufferers. 
 
 We have now come to the era of the introduction into the 
 State of the Cotton manufacture. Machinery for spinning 
 cotton had been introduced into Rhode-Island as early as 
 1790 — little more than twenty years after its invention in Eng- 
 land by Sir Richard Arkwright. At New-Ipswich was erected, 
 in 1803, the first Factory in New-Hampshire, followed in a 
 few years by others in Peterborough, Pembroke, Hillsborough, 
 and Jaffrey : and at a later period, by the extensive establish- 
 ments in Dover, Somersworth, Dunstable, New-Market, 
 Amoskeag, Franklin, and Exeter. The whole required an 
 immense amount of capital, which in general has been inves- 
 ted profitably for the owners, and usefully to the public. At 
 the close of the year, the northern portion of the State was 
 detached from the County of Grafton, and formed into a dis- 
 tinct County by the name of Coos. 
 
 Political disputes ran high. The Federalists had hitherto 
 supported Gov. Gil man with uniform success, and secured 
 majorities of their own party in both branches of the Legis- 
 lature. For some years, Gen. Amos Shepherd of Alstead had 
 been President of the Senate, and the Hon, John Prentice, a 
 lawyer of Londonderry, Speaker of the House. But the 
 Republicans were constantly gaining fresh accessions to their 
 ranks ; and with increasing numbers, put forth more strenuous 
 efforts. Though Gov. Gilman was re-elected in 1804, yet the 
 majority in his favor was extremely small ; and the Republi- 
 cans obtained a partial triumph by the return of majorities of 
 their party both to the Senate and House of Representatives — 
 Mr. Langdon being chosen Speaker in the popular branch of 
 the Legislature. The Federalists however, in the quadrennial 
 election of President at the close of the year, carried their 
 ticket of Electors, and the votes of the State were accordingly 
 given to Mr. Pinckney. In most of the other States the elec- 
 tion resulted in favor of Mr. Jefferson, who had a great 
 majority of the whole number of votes. 
 
 After a warm contest, the Republicans in 1805 succeded in 
 their efforts to displace Gov. Gilman, and brought in their 
 favorite candidate, Mr. Langdon, by a majority of 4000. They 
 also returned majorities attached to their party, not only to 
 the Senate and House, but at this time to the Council also : — 
 thus revolutionizing the government in all its branches. Gen. 
 Clement Storer of Portsmouth was chosen President of the 
 
1805.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 173 
 
 Senate, and the Hon. Samuel Bell of Francestown, Speaker 
 of the House. Philip Carrigain of Concord was elected 
 Secretary of the State in the place of Joseph Pearson, and 
 Nathaniel Gihnan succeeded Oliver Peabody as Treasurer. — 
 The administration of the government fell entirely into the 
 hands of the Republican party ; and with the exception of a 
 few intervals of no long duration, they have retained it down 
 to the present day. A change so important excited, as many 
 of the actors now on the stage well remember, a deep interest 
 in the community at large : nor could it be otherwise — politi- 
 cal parties never acquire power without exultation, or part 
 with it without regret. Gov. Gilman retired to private life, 
 carrying with him a reputation for consistency, integrity and 
 decision, which commanded the respect even of his political 
 opponents. 
 
 During the period now under review, death deprived the 
 State of several distinguished citizens. Doct. Clement Jack- 
 son, an eminent physician of Portsmouth, of extensive prac- 
 tice, who possessed a disposition which " never turned from 
 distressed objects without making exertions to relieve them," 
 died at an advanced age in 1788. His son, Doct. Hall Jack- 
 son, who inherited his father's practice and reputation, survi- 
 ved him but a few years. The year 1795 is the date of Gen. 
 Sullivan's death. Descended from Scottish parents in narrow 
 circumstances, he evinced in early life a thirst for knowledge, 
 which led him to offer his services to Mr. Livcrmore, an emi- 
 nent lawyer of Portsmouth, to cut his firewood and take care 
 of his horse — requiring no other compensation than his board, 
 and the privilege of access to his library. His patron soon 
 discovered in him talents, which induced him to transfer the 
 youth from his kitchen to his office, as a student at law. He 
 became a lawyer of eminence. In a variety of public offices 
 
 as a Revolutionary General— as President of the State — and 
 
 as Jud"-e of the United States' District Court — he exhibited 
 ability and commanded respect. He deserves a high rank in 
 the catalogue of self-made men, and furnishes a fine example 
 to stimulate the young in the pursuit of useful knowledge. 
 The Rev. Dr. Langdon, who was called from his ministry in 
 Portsmouth to the Presidency of Harvard University, and was 
 afterwards the minister of Hampton Falls, died in 1797. In 
 1799 occurred the death of Gen. Joseph Cilley of Notting- 
 ham, an officer distinguished in the annals of the revolution, 
 and afterward for many years a prominent member of one 
 or the other branch of the Legislature, or of the Council. — 
 Death deprived the community in 1802 of William Gordon 
 
 P* 
 
J74 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1805 
 
 of Amherst, Attorney General of the State, who had been an 
 active and influential member of Congress. The Hon. Sam- 
 uel Livermore, one of the first settlers of Holderness, an em- 
 inent lawyer, who was successively Attorney General, Chief 
 Justice of the Superior Court, and for ten years a distinguish- 
 ed member of the Senate of the United States, died in 1803. 
 The Rev. Daniel Emerson of Hollis, who accomplished a 
 ministry almost unequalled in length, extending from 1743 to 
 the commencement of the present century, deserves respectful 
 remembrance on account of the piety of his life, and the 
 usefulness of his labors. Doct. Joshua Brackett of Torts- 
 mouth, closed a useful life in 1802, having been a distinguished 
 physician and naturalist, Judge of the Maritime Court during 
 the revolution, and the successor of Gov. Bartlett in the Pres- 
 idency of the Medical Society. " Such was his regard to the 
 poor, that he never made a charge for his professional servi- 
 ces, where he supposed that payment would occasion the least 
 inconvenience." The Hon. Matthew Thornton was a 
 native of Ireland, and was brought by his parents, when 
 he was a child, to Wiscasset in Maine. He afterwards became 
 a resident of Worcester, Ms.; and having acquired a Medical 
 education, settled in Londonderry as a Physician. Amid the 
 agitations and perils of 1775, he rose to the Presidency of the 
 New-Hampshire Convention. Being soon after elected to 
 Congress, his name has the honor of an enrolment among the 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence. He sustained a 
 variety of important offices, -and lived to an advanced age. — 
 The last twenty-five years of his life were passed at Merri- 
 mac, in a rural abode on the bank of the river. Having gone 
 in 1803 on a visit to Newburyport, he was there arrested by 
 death. His decease was followed in a short space by that 
 of the Hon. Bezaleel Woodward, Professor of Mathematics 
 and Natural Philosophy in Dartmouth College ; and also of 
 the Rev. Doct. McClintock of Greenland, highly esteemed by 
 his cotemporaries as a patriot and Divine. 
 
 To these brief memorials will be added notices of two 
 other individuals, whose deaths occurred in 1805. Judge 
 Pickering of Portsmouth was a lawyer of much celebrity, 
 and for many years one of the prominent men of his day. 
 Not only had lie an important agency in the formation of 
 the Constitution of New-Hampshire ; but at a later period,his 
 eloquence had no small influence in procuring the ratification, 
 on the part of this State, of the Federal Constitution. After 
 the resignation of the Chair by President Langdon on his 
 election as one of the Senators of New-Hampshire in Cob- 
 
1805.] period ix.— 1784— 1805. 175 
 
 gress, Mr. Pickering, as senior Senator, presided over 
 the State the remainder of the year. As a candidate for 
 the chair in the election of 1790, he was defeated ; but 
 was afterwards appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court, 
 and Judge of the United States' Court for the District of New- 
 Hampshire. In his last years he was afflicted with mental 
 derangement, and exhibited the afFecting spectacle of a bright 
 intellect in ruins ! 
 
 The Hon. John Dudley, a native of Exeter, and afterwards 
 a resident of Raymond, was a self-made man, and furnishes 
 a striking instance of the triumph of laborious diligence over 
 the defects of early education. He arrived at adult age with- 
 no other education than having learned to read, and lived as 
 an hired laborer with Col. Gilman, grandfather of Gov. Gil- 
 man. It has been well said that in " those good old times, 
 there was not such an insuperable barrier between the kitch- 
 en and the parlor, as modern wisdom or pride has erected ; " 
 young Dudley was admitted into the family circle, and from 
 an association with intelligent men, derived a fund of political 
 and general information, to which he continued to make ad- 
 ditions through a long series of years. His merits introduced 
 him into public life. During the revolutionary war he was 
 the Representative of his town in the Legislature, a member 
 of the Committee of Safety, and the confidential friend of 
 President Weare, Doct. Bartlett, and other patriots of the day. 
 His sound practical wisdom and integrity at length elevated 
 him to a seat on the bench of the Superior Court, which he 
 held with reputation till the infirmities of age admonished 
 him to retire. Much of his time after his retirement was de- 
 voted to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, "in which he took 
 great delight; often remarking, that he found new evidence 
 of the truth of the christian religion whenever he opened his 
 Bible." In his disposal of the evening of his life, he exem- 
 plified the saying of an eminent statesman,who on being asked 
 after his retirement from office, how he contrived to fill up 
 his time ? replied, that to look back on a long life, and forward 
 to a long eternity, was employment sufficient to occupy his 
 few remaining years. 
 
PERIOD X. 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF GOV. LANGDON's ADM1NISTRA- 
 • TION IN 1805, TO THE YEAR 1833. 
 
 The political change which had transferred the control of 
 the State government into the hands of the republican party, 
 occasioned no great interruption of the harmony of society — 
 as the minority yielded a ready submission to the will of the 
 majority. Gov. Langdon retained the chair for several years, 
 and conducted the Executive department with wisdom and 
 moderation. He was happy in an association with successive 
 Legislatures of political views coincident with his own, and 
 the various departments of the government moved on harmo- 
 miously, and acceptably to the majority of the people. 
 
 On the sixteenth of June, 1800, was presented to the eyes 
 of the people of New-Hampshire in common with millions 
 of others, the sublime spectacle of a total eclipse of the sun 
 near mid-day. For a short space this luminary waa entirely 
 obscured ; during the greatest darkness, the sky was perfectly 
 serene, the stars were visible, the birds sang their evening lays, 
 and the animals betook themselves to their nocturnal retreats. 
 The return of the light was instantaneous, presenting on one 
 edge of the solar orb a luminous thread of incomparable 
 brilliancy. 
 
 Through the whole duration of the royal government in 
 New-Hampshire from 1680 to 1775, a period of almost a cen- 
 tury, Portsmouth was the permanent seat of government. — 
 From the commencement of the revolutionary war, and on- 
 ward through a period of more than thirty years, the Legis- 
 lature was a migratory body, holding its session in different 
 sections of the State, as the public convenience and the equal 
 distribution of political privileges seemed to require. It met 
 in Exeter, Portsmouth, Concord, and Hopkinton, frequently: 
 in Dover, Amherst, Charleston, and Hanover, once in each 
 place. Some efforts had been made to fix the seat of gov- 
 ernment at Hopkinton ; but they failed of success. As a com- 
 
1808.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 1 77 
 
 pliment to Gov. Langdon, the December session of 1805 was 
 holden at Portsmouth, the place of his residence. The June 
 sessions of 1806 and 1807 were at Hopkinton. At the close 
 of the last of these sessions, the Legislature adjourned to 
 meet the next year at Concord, and from this place they have 
 not since removed. It has not however been established as 
 the seat of government by any Legislative act, other than by 
 adjournment. 
 
 The war now raging between Great Britain and France, 
 led each of these powers to injure in every possible manner 
 the commerce of the other ; and produced a series of orders 
 and Decrees from the belligerents, which made almost every 
 American ship afloat, liable to capture. After ineffectual re- 
 monstrances, Congress, with the view of preserving our 
 ships, seamen and merchandize from capture, by retaining 
 them in our own ports, and of bringing the aggressors to u 
 sense of justice by depriving them of the benefits of Ameri- 
 can commerce, passed an Act laying an Embargo of indefi- 
 nite duration. This measure, interfering as it did with the 
 pursuits of many of the people, and having the effect of de- 
 pressing the prices of home produce and enhancing those of 
 imported articles, was extremely unpopular in New-England ; 
 and arrayed the larger portion of its inhabitants, in opposition 
 to the policy of the general government. The whole body of 
 the Federalists assailed it in the most determined manner.— 
 Though the Legislature of this State in June, 1808, voted an 
 Address to President Jefferson, expressive of their approba- 
 tion of the measures of his administration, the Embargo in- 
 cluded — the majority of the people were found not to sus- 
 tain the sentiments of the Address. At the election of Rep- 
 resentatives to Congress in August, the Federal ticket pre- 
 vailed by a considerable majority ; and at the choice of 
 Electors of President of the United States in November, tho 
 Federal and anti-Embargo candidates were elected, though 
 by a vote somewhat less decisive. The Electoral votes of the 
 State were accordingly given to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 
 of South Carolina, the Federal candidate for the Presidency: 
 the election however terminated in the choice of Mr. Madison, 
 the Republican candidate, who was inaugurated as President 
 of the United States on the 4th of March, 1809. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son had declined another re-election, on the ground that rota- 
 tion in office ought to be the practice in republican govern- 
 ments. Congress was at length induced by various consider- 
 ations to repeal the Embargo Act, and to substitute in its stead 
 a law, prohibiting all commercial intercourse with France and 
 
178 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1812. 
 
 Great Britain ; with a proviso, that in case either of these 
 powers should repeal its edicts against neutral commerce,the 
 non-intercourse act should cease to operate against that na- 
 tion. This measure also met with strenuous opposition- — a 
 restrictive policy seemed not to suit the genius of the people. 
 
 Another indication of its unpopularity was exhibited at the 
 election of State officers this year, by the defeat of Gov. Lang- 
 don, and the election of his competitor, the Hon. Jeremiah 
 Smith of Exeter, the Federal candidate for Governor. This 
 gentleman, eminent for his legal attainments, was a native of 
 Peterboro', and for some years had occupied the station of 
 Chief Justice of the Superior Court with distinguished abili- 
 ty. He held the Chief Magistracy but one year — the Repub- 
 licans prevailing in 1810 to replace the former Governor, and 
 to return majorities of their own party to both branches of 
 the Legislature. They were victorious also in the election 
 of 1811. 
 
 In 1812, Gov. Langdon retired from the chair. Soneaily 
 were the political parties balanced, that the scales hung al- 
 most in equilibrium, and a small weight sufficed to give a 
 turn. Though the Federalists had been unsuccessful in their 
 attempts the two preceding years to elect Judge Smith, yet 
 they had given him a heavy vote. They again brought for- 
 ward Gov. Gilman, one of the most popular men in the State, 
 as their candidate for Governor ; while the Republicans sup- 
 ported the Hon. William Plumerof Epping, formerly a Sen- 
 ator in the National Legislature. The former received a few 
 votes more than the latter, but not a majority of the whole 
 number ; the choice devolved of course on the Legislature, 
 and in Convention of the two Houses, Mr. Plumer was elected 
 Governor by a majority of twenty-two votes. Mr. Langdon 
 withdrew from the turmoils of public life, carrying with him 
 a large measure of the affection and gratitude of the people ; 
 and passed his remaining years at his' seat in Portsmouth. — 
 Justly was he considered as having contributed, in a degree 
 scarcely inferior to any other man, to the establishment of 
 American Indepeudance, and to the prosperity of his native 
 State. The evening of life he devoted to social enjoyment, 
 devotional exercises, and benevolent efforts to benefit his fel- 
 low men. He was accustomed to meet a small circle of his 
 christian neighbors, some of them in humble life, and engage 
 with them in his turn in religious conversation and worship ; 
 and was not unwilling to state, that such seasons were among 
 his most valued hours. Immediately after his retirement from 
 office,he became a Founderand liberal patron of the .Ve«> Hamp- 
 
1812.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 179 
 
 shire Bible Society— an Institution, which has not only suppli- 
 ed most of the destitute families of the State with the Inspir- 
 ed Volume, but has contributed many thousands of dollars for 
 the supply of other portions of our country, and of foreign 
 regions. "Of the American Bible Society, it has been one of 
 the most efficient Auxiliaries. 
 
 The State Prison, or Penitentiary, was constructed this year 
 at Concord of hammered granite, at an expense of thirty-seven 
 thousand dollars. Placed under the immediate control of the 
 Governor and Council, it early acquired the reputation of be- 
 ing among the best regulated prisons in the country. Partic- 
 ular attention has been paid by the officers to the moral and 
 religious instruction of the convicts, with the hope of accom- 
 plishing, at least in some instances, a radical reformation. — 
 Before the erection of the Prison, there were eight crimes 
 against which the laws denounced the punishment of death ; 
 but on a revision of the criminal code this year, the Legisla- 
 ture reduced the number of capital offences to two — treason 
 and murder ; and instead of the whip and the pillory, pre- 
 scribed by former laws in the punishment of some minor 
 offences, they wisely substituted imprisonment in the Peni- 
 tentiary — a change which humanity and religion must warmly 
 approve. 
 
 This year gave birth to a religious Institution which has 
 acquired in the christian world no small consideration, The 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. — 
 Though the centre of its operations is at Boston, its corporate 
 members are scattered through most of the States ; and among 
 the citizens of New-Hampshire it numbers many of its patrons 
 and friends. A desire on the part of a few young men of 
 distinguished talent and piety, among whom were Mills and 
 Judson, to engage in the enterprise of spreading a knowledge 
 of the gospel in heathen lands, led to the formation of this 
 Board. Its concerns have been so managed as to secure a 
 large share of public confidence ; and its annual income, de- 
 rived chiefly from voluntary contributions, has risen from 
 small beginnings to about one hundred and forty thousand 
 dollars. Under its patronage Missionary Establishments, some 
 of which have been eminently useful in disseminating chris- 
 tian knowledge, have been formed in Hindostan, Ceylon, Syria, 
 Turkey, Greece, the Sandwich and Washington Islands, and 
 among several tribes of North American Indians. It has 
 sent exploratory Missions to China, Armenia, and Patagonia. 
 Several liberally educated and excellent young men of this 
 State, have been among the number of its Missionaries. 
 
130 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE [1812. 
 
 For some years the course pursued both by Great Britain 
 and France, had awakened resentments in the breasts of 
 Americans. Both had been guilty of outrageous spoliations 
 on our commerce. The two great political parties at home 
 criminated each other in relation to their foreign attachments ; 
 the Federalists accusing the Republicans of an overweening 
 partiality to France, while the latter retorted by accusing the 
 former of being the servile apologists of Britain. At length 
 the course of events concentrated the chief weight of popular 
 indignation on the heads of the British. The attack by a 
 British man of war on an American frigate, in 1807, in our 
 own waters, and in a time of peace — the long delay of repa- 
 ration — the impressment of American seamen into British 
 ships of war — the capture of American vessels — and the fail- 
 ure of repeated efforts to obtain redress — exhausted the pa- 
 tience of the nation and produced an exasperation of feeling 
 which issued, in June, 1812, in a Declaration of War against 
 Great Britain. By a large party the measure was opposed as 
 unnecessary and unwise ; but it was urged forward by a deci- 
 sive majority, as a war for the freedom of the Ocean. Vigor- 
 ous efforts were immediately made to fit out ships of war 
 and privateers, to annoy the commerce of the enemy ; also 
 to raise a formidable army for the reduction of Canada. Of 
 this army, Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn, a resident of Massa- 
 chusetts, but a native of New-Hampshire, and one of her 
 revolutionary officers, was appointed Commander in Chief. 
 This State furnished a considerable number of troops, and 
 several efficient officers, of whom Brigadier Generals James 
 Miller of Peterborough and John McNiel of Hillsborough 
 were particularly distinguished. 
 
 Some victories were achieved by American ships of war 
 over British vessels of superior force, soon after the com- 
 mencement of hostilities. But on the land, defeat and disgrace 
 attended through the first campaign the arms of the Republic. 
 Among the most disastrous events of this campaign, were 
 the surrender of Gen. Hull and 2000 men to the British at 
 Detroit, and the defeat of the Americans under Gen. Van 
 Rensellaer, in an attempt to invade Canada on the Niagarae 
 frontier. The friends of the national administration wer 
 mortified and dejected ; and ascribed these failures to th e 
 unreasonable opposition of the Federalists to the measures of 
 the government: while they on their part attributed them to 
 the incapacity of the administration. 
 
 With a small majority of the citizens of New-Hampshire,the 
 war was unpopular. This circumstance gave the Electoral 
 
1813.] period x.— 1805.— 1833 181 
 
 votes of the State, at the quadrennial election of President, 
 near the close of the year, to Dewitt Clinton of New- York ; who 
 was supported, unsuccessfully however, by all the opponents 
 of the War, in opposition to Mr. Madison, the incumbent of 
 the Chair. It led also to a political change at the annual State 
 Election in March, 1813 — when Gov. Oilman, after a retire- 
 ment of eight years, was elected over Gov. Plummer by a small 
 majority, and replaced in the Chief Magistracy, in which he 
 was continued by the voice of the people for three successive 
 years. The Federalists at the same time returned majorities 
 of their own party to both branches of the Legislature. 
 
 An Academical Institution at Plainfield, among the best 
 endowed in the State, was incorporated at this period, and 
 called the Kimball Uuion Academy. It possesses a permanent 
 fund of $40,000, the liberal bequest of the Hon. Daniel Kim- 
 ball ; of which the income, with the exception of a small 
 portion, is devoted to the aid of pious and indigent young men 
 destined to the christian ministry. The Institution is in a 
 flourishing condition, and has thus far accomplished in a good 
 degree, the benevolent design of its Founder. Such bequests, 
 for a purpose so important, entitle the donor to an enrollment 
 among the benefactors of his race. 
 
 A law, enacted by the Legislature at the June session abol- 
 ishing the "Superior Court of Judicature," and creating in its 
 stead a "Supreme Judicial Court," excited in the public mind 
 no little agitation. One of the Judges of the old Court was 
 appointed to a seat on the bench of the new — the other two 
 being dropped, and Judge Smith of Exeter was made Chief 
 Justice. By the Republicans, the constitutionality of the 
 measure was strenuously denied, on the ground that Judges 
 could be removed from office only by impeachment, or an 
 Address to the Governor by both branches of the Legislature ; 
 while the Federalists maintained that as the office was created 
 by the authority of the Legislature, the same authority was 
 competent to abolish it. The autumnal sessions of the Court 
 in the Counties of Strafford, Rockingham, and Hillsborough, 
 exhibited the singular spectacle of two sets of Judges, each 
 claiming to be the highest judicial tribunal of the State, at- 
 tempting to exercise their conflicting jurisdictions over the 
 same persons and things: but the members of the bar in gen- 
 eral, the jurors, witnesses, and the majority of the people 
 recognized the authority of the new Court. The Sheriff of 
 Rockingham openly refused to obey its orders ; and the Sher- 
 iff of Hillsborough, though he sent some of his Deputies to 
 attend it, gave his personal attendance on the old Court. — 
 
182 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1813. 
 
 These affairs occasioned some confusion, and induced the 
 Governor to convene the Legislature in October. They sup- 
 plied some deficiencies in the late Judiciary Act, and addressed 
 the Chief Magistrate with a request for the removal from office 
 of the two Sheriffs ; which was accordingly done. In the 
 western Counties, the new Court proceeded in the discharge 
 of its duties without opposition or embarrassment. 
 
 To the calamities of war was added that of a dreadful con- 
 flagration at Portsmouth, near the close of the year, which 
 laid in ashes a flourishing portion of the town, including about 
 400 buildings. More than one fourth part of these were 
 dwelling houses, many of them large and elegant. So intense 
 was the fire, that in the evening, the reflection of the light from 
 the clouds was visible in the western parts of the State, and 
 even in Vermont as far as to the summits of the Green Moun- 
 tains, a distance of more than 100 miles. Large contributions 
 of money and provisions were collected from all quarters for 
 the relief of the numerous sufferers. 
 
 The war with Britain had been prosecuted in the mean time 
 with various success ; but the predoiiiinent character of the 
 campaign of 1813 was that of failure. As the scene of its 
 operations was without the limits of this State, a detailed ac- 
 count of them comes not within the plan of a History of 
 New-Hampshire. The chief military events of the year were 
 the defeat and massacre of the Americans under Gen. Win- 
 chester at Frenchtown ; the capture of York in Upper Canada 
 by a detachment of American troops led by Gen. Dearborn; 
 the defeat of the British by Gen. Brown in their attack on 
 Sackett's Harbor ; the capture of the British squadron on Lake 
 Erie by Commodore Perry ; the recovery of Detroit, and the 
 defeat of the British by Gen. Harrison ; and the unsuccessful 
 attempt of the' Americans under Gen.Wilkinson to penetrate to 
 Montreal. Of the campaign of 1814, the general results were 
 decidedly favorable to the American arms. In the sanguinary 
 battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater, in which the sons of 
 New-Hampshire, led on by Miller and McNiel, bore a distin- 
 guished part, the victory, though dearly purchased, remained 
 with the Americans. The British succeeded in their attempt 
 on the City of Washington, but in their attack on Baltimore, 
 they met with a mortifying defeat. Their naval armament on 
 Lake Champlain, after a severe conflict, fell into the hands of 
 Commodore McDonough ; and on the same day their invading 
 army from Canada, under Gen. Provost, sustained a calamitous* 
 defeat at Plattsburg, and retreated with precipitation. 
 
 Late in the summer, a powerful British naval force came 
 
1814.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 183 
 
 into Penobscot Bay and landed a body of troops, which took 
 possession of Castine and some other towns on these waters. 
 The proximity of this force awakened in Portland, Portsmouth 
 and Boston, serious apprehensions of an attack ; so great was 
 the alarm that many families hastily removed into the country. 
 Large detachments of the militia were summoned to the pro- 
 tection of Portsmouth, and stationed in and around the town, 
 under the immediate command of the Governor. Apprised 
 of the formidable means of defence, collected by the Ameri- 
 cans at all the large towns on the coast, the enemy did not 
 venture upon any of the meditated attacks. 
 
 By the perils and sacrifices incident to such a state of things, 
 the popular discontents were greatly aggravated. The party 
 opposed to the war accused the national administration of 
 employing the resources drawn from New-England on distant 
 and impracticable objects, and of leaving this region destitute 
 of the necessary means of defence. Some went even so far 
 as to propose the retention both of the militia, and ot the rev- 
 enue accruing in the eastern States, for their own protection. 
 The State of Massachusetts appointed Delegates, to whom 
 were added others appointed by Connecticut and Rhode-Island, 
 who met in Convention at Hartford, for the purpose of consid- 
 ering the public grievances and proposing means of redress. — 
 In this Convention the Government of New-Hampshire took 
 no pari. It has indeed been affirmed that Gov. Gilman pro- 
 posed a special session of the Legislature, with the view of 
 submitting to them the question of appointing Delegates on 
 the part of this State ; but a majority of the Council, being of 
 the Republican party, refused their concurrence. County 
 conventions were however holdcn by the Federalists in Chesh- 
 ire and Grafton, in which that party had large majorities ; — 
 who elected Benjamin West and Mills Olcott to represent 
 those Counties in the Convention at Hartford. This body, on 
 their adjournment, published an Address to the people, enu- 
 merating the grievances of New-England and proposing such 
 alterations in the Constitution of the United States, as they 
 supposed Avould prevent their recurrence in time to come. — 
 What would have been the result of their meeting, had the 
 war continued, it is impossible to determine — as the unexpec- 
 ted cessation of hostilities, soon after their adjournment, 
 relieved the public distress, and of course rendered their plans 
 abortive. The alleged objects and procedings of the Hartford 
 Convention were denounced by the Republicans in the strong- 
 est terms. 
 
 A powerful British expedition destined to attack New- 
 
184 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1815. 
 
 Orleans, arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi near the close 
 of the year. In their approach to the city, they were met and 
 defeated by Gen. Jackson, on the 8th of January, 1815, with 
 the loss of 2000 men ; while on the part of the x\mericans, 
 who occupied a fortified position, only six or seven were killed ! 
 A disparity, of which the annals of war scarce furnish another 
 instance. So dreadful a slaughter seemed to exemplify the 
 proud taunt of x\laric, "The thicker the hay, the more easily 
 is it mowed." 
 
 The news of this decisive victory was almost immediately 
 followed by the anival of a British vessel at New- York, 
 bringing intelligence still more welcome — that of Peace. — 
 Expresses were instantly sent off in all directions, and the 
 intelligence flew with electric rapidity into every nook and 
 corner of the country — exciting an almost delirious joy. — 
 Wherever it arrived at a large town or village in the night, the 
 ringing of the bells summoned the inhabitants from their mid- 
 night slumbers to receive the information ; and the morning 
 sun shed its beams on multitudes of animated and smiling 
 countenances. All parties of men joined in mutual congratu- 
 lations. The soldier gladly exchanged the toils of the camp 
 for the repose of home, and the mariner lost no time in again 
 spreading his canvass to the wind, and stretching his way on 
 the Ocean. Commerce assumed an unwonted activity, and in 
 a short space poured into our harbors the riches of almost 
 every clime. 
 
 During the three or four preceding years, the northern 
 States had witnessed the rise and spread of a new and singular 
 disease, the Spotted Fever. In many instances it was quite 
 mortal, sweeping away forty or fifty of the inhabitants of a 
 common-sized country town in a few weeks. The first indi- 
 cation of an attack was not unfrequently a sudden pain in some 
 of the extremities, quickly spreadiug over the system, and 
 often terminating fatally in less than twenty-four hours. If 
 contagious at all, the epidemic was contagious in an extremely 
 slight degree — raging in some towns, while others, with which 
 they had unrestrained communication, were exempt from any 
 unusual sickness. In consequence of its ravages, many of 
 the congregations of the State were clad in the habiliments of 
 mourning. 
 
 A large and splendid map of New-Hampshire was published 
 at this time by Philip Carrigain, Esq. under the patronage of 
 the Legislature. The most eminent artists united in the opin- 
 ion, that no map of any of the States had then been executed, 
 comparable with it in simplicity of arrangement and taste of 
 
1816.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 185 
 
 execution. To each town, and to each of the incorporated 
 literary institutions, the government furnished a copy ; and 
 many of the citizens suspended it in their dwellings. 
 
 Soon after the Autumnal Equinox, occurred one of the 
 most violent storms of wind and rain, ever known in J;he 
 country, surpassing in violence the tempest of 1804, of 1751, 
 and even the great Tempest of 1635, when some of the In- 
 dians at Narraganset were compelled to climb trees to find a 
 refuge from the waters. Its greatest fury was on the coast 
 from Portsmouth to New-London. Within these limits, build- 
 ings were demolished ; the wood and timber on thousands of 
 acres blown down ; several churches wholly or partially de- 
 stroyed ; and on many windows distant some miles from the 
 sea, was deposited a thin covering of salt, produced by the 
 spray forced by the blast from the surface of the ocean, and 
 driven over the land in the form of mist. At Providence, on 
 account of the narrowing of the river, the tide rose to a ter- 
 rific height, forcing vessels into the streets, and threatening 
 destruction both to the houses and their inmates. Women 
 and children were in many instances rescued from the cham- 
 ber windows by boats. Flocks of gulls, a bird which never 
 leaves the vicinity of the sea, except by violent stress of 
 weather, were seen 30 and 40 miles inland ; but as soon as 
 the blast subsided they took wing, in a direction toward their 
 own element. 
 
 At the Election of 1816, the Federalists supported as then- 
 candidate for the office of Governor, the Hon. James Sheafe 
 of Portsmouth ; the Republicans however effected the elec- 
 tion of Wm. Plumer, by a majority of about 2000 votes, and 
 secured majorities in both branches of the General Court.— 
 Gov. Gilman, who had declined to be a candidate for re-elec- 
 tion, took his final leave of public life, and passed the residue 
 of his years in retirement at his seat in Exeter. The Repub- 
 lican Legislature of this vear repealed the Judiciary Act ot 
 the Federal Legislature of 1813, thereby abolishing " lhe 
 Supreme Judicial Court," and restoring the former « Superior 
 Court of Judicature." Another important measure of the 
 session related to Dartmouth College. Dimculties of long 
 standing had existed between President John Wheelock and 
 the Board of Trustees. He had referred the case by a memo- 
 rial to the Legislature of the preceding year, who had ap- 
 pointed a Committee to repair to Hanover and investigate the 
 affairs of the College. Without waiting for a legislative de- 
 cision, the Trustees at the next Commencement removed 
 President Wheelock, and appointed the Rev. Francis Brown 
 
 a* 
 
}86 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [i816 
 
 to preside over the Institution. An act was now passed to 
 "Amend the Charter, and enlarge and improve the Corpora- 
 tion of Dartmouth College." It increased the number of 
 Trustees, created a Board of Overseers to be appointed by 
 the Governor and Council, possessing a supervisory power 
 over the doings of the Trustees, and changed the style of the 
 Institution from College to University. As this Act in effect 
 deprived the old Trustees of the control of the College, and 
 transferred it to men, who, as it was supposed, would favor a 
 new order of things ; a majority of the former body resisted 
 it as unconstitutional. The University Trustees and Overseers 
 were unable to form a quorum of their respective Boards at 
 their first meeting at Commencement, as the former Trustees 
 refused to act with them, or to recognize their authority. A 
 Legislative Act having reduced the number necessary to con- 
 stitute a quorum, the new Trustees afterwards met at Con- 
 cord, removed President Brown and Professors Adams and 
 Shurtleff from Office, reinstated Mr. Wheelock in the Presi- 
 dency, and appointed Professors in the room of those whom 
 they had removed. Persons were authorized by them to take 
 possession of the College edifices, library, and apparatus. — 
 The newly appointed University officers began a course of 
 Collegiate instruction ; but as the old officers continued on 
 their part the usual course, in apartments procured for the 
 purpose, and as almost all the students adhered to their cause, 
 the University had little more than a nominal existence. 
 
 The advantages of a connected view of a controversy 
 which enlisted on one side or the other, the feelings of almost 
 every citizen, will more than balance the inconvenience of 
 anticipating dates. The old Trustees appealed for redress to 
 the Superior Court of the State, whose decision, made in 
 1817, was against them : on which they carried the matter 
 before the Supreme Court of the United States. During its 
 pendency, a variety of transactions, tending to increase "the 
 popular excitement, occurred at Hanover. Two rival societies, 
 The Social Friends, and The United Fraternity, had long exist- 
 ed among the students, and had accumulated libraries of two 
 thousand volumes each. These valuable libraries the Uni- 
 versity officers wished of course to retain in the College edi- 
 fice ; while the members of the societies, who were generally 
 attached to the College and opposed to the University, deem- 
 ing themselves justly entitled to the superintendence as well 
 as the use of the property, determined to remove it to a place 
 within their own control. On an evening in November, some 
 of the University officers, with several attendants, attempted, 
 
16167] period x.— 1805— 1833. 187 
 
 according to their own statement, to secure the doors of the 
 library rooms for the purpose of preventing the removal. — 
 No sooner had they entered the library of the Social Friends, 
 than the cry, " Turn out, Social Friends, your library is bro- 
 ken open !" resounded through the village, and quickly brought 
 together a large Dumber of the College students. Indignant 
 at the entrance, which they viewed as an assault on their prop- 
 erty, they compelled the officers to retire into another apart- 
 ment, and detained them there till the removal of the books 
 was accomplished. 
 
 In 1819, the Snpremc Court of the United States reversed 
 the decision of the Superior Court of New-Hampshire, and 
 declared the act of the Legislature intended to new-model 
 the College, unconstitutional and void. This decision, being 
 final, annihilated the University, and restored the College to 
 its former standing. It suffered materially in the course of 
 the controversy, by the loss of two or three years' use of the 
 funds, edifices, and library. President Wheclock died before 
 the decision was made. The people of the State were divi- 
 ded for and against the College, partly by the influence of po- 
 litical feelings, partly on the ground of religious sentiments, 
 and partly by personal and local attachments ; the whole af- 
 fair excited much unfriendly feeling, and was attended with a 
 variety of unpleasant circumstances. 
 
 To return to 1816 : — this year is the era of the formation in 
 the city of New-York, of the American Bible Society : an In- 
 stitution which has received from New-Hampshire a liberal 
 support. In connection with its numerous Auxiliaries scat- 
 tered over the country, it has gratuitously distributed, in the 
 United States and in foreign countries, some hundreds of 
 thousands of Bibles and Testaments, in seven or eight lan- 
 guages. Its Anniversaries bring together great assemblies of 
 Christians, of almost all the different denominations ; not for 
 disputation or mutual proscription, but to join in peaceful 
 and affectionate co-operation in giving a wider diffusion to 
 the word of God. A glorious triumph of the gospel over hu- 
 man prejudice and passion ! 
 
 Enquiries in relation to the lawfulness of war, and the prac- 
 ticability of its abolition among Christian nations, engaged at 
 this time a share of attention, both in America and Europe. — 
 Prior to this date, a society had been formed in Massachusetts 
 for the diffusion of pacific principles, which published a Pe- 
 riodical called " The Friend of Peace." Some few of the 
 citizens of New-Hampshire became interested in the subject. 
 One of the earliest and most efficient writers on the side of 
 
188 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1816. 
 
 Peace, was the Rev. Noah Worcester, a native of this State, 
 who was for many years the Minister of Thornton, and after- 
 wards removed to Massachusetts. His '• Solemn Review of 
 the custom of War," passed through many editions, and made 
 to some extent an impression on the pnblic mind, both in this 
 country and in Britain. From these incipient efforts have 
 sprung the American Peace Society, and some others of a 
 similar character in Europe. Their object is to convince so- 
 ciety, that war is not a necessary evil ; that a custom which 
 in past ages has squandered the treasures, corrupted the mor- 
 als, and destroyed the happiness of nations — has butchered 
 millions of victims — and has often arrayed under opposing 
 standards, for the purpose of shedding each other's blood, 
 professed followers of the same Saviour — may, and ought to 
 be abolished, as repugnant to the gospel. Their progress in 
 disseminating these principles, has been moderate, but suffi- 
 cient to encourage further effort ; from the great body of 
 Christians, the subject has not yet received that attention 
 which its importance demands. Is war in any case consist- 
 ent with the precepts of Christianity ? — if sometimes consist- 
 ent, when ? — are questions worthy the serious consideration 
 of every mau who aims to regulate his life, not merely by the 
 customs of the world, but according to the revealed will of 
 God. 
 
 A belief had long and extensively existed of the practica- 
 bility of a canal from the Merrimac to the Connecticut, by 
 way of Sunapee Lake. It was to leave the Merrimac at the 
 junction of the Contoocook, to proceed thence to the lake, 
 and onward to the Connecticut by the Sugar river valley. — 
 On a survey of the route, and of the shores of the Sunapee, 
 by Commissioners appointed by Massachusetts and New- 
 Hampshire, the lake was found to be elevated more than eight 
 hundred feet above the two rivers ; and the canal to be of 
 course impracticable, except at an expense far surpassing all 
 the probable benefits. 
 
 It would be improper to close the account of 1816 without 
 a notice of the remarkable prevalence of cold, through the 
 summer and autumn. The year is well remembered as the 
 cold season, and is often designated in familiar conversation as 
 the poverty year. The mean annual temperature, as observed 
 at Epping, was 43°. Snow fell in the southern part of the 
 State on the 9th of June ; and August was the only month of 
 the year exempt from frost. Early autumnal frosts almost de- 
 stroyed the crop of maize. At Lyman, the ice formed in a 
 well, sunk in elevated ground at some distance from Connec- 
 
1817.] period x.— 1805— 1833. ISO 
 
 ticut river, was not dissolved till the latterpart of July. Not 
 a few came to the conclusion that it was vain to think of rais- 
 ing their bread on the cold hills of New-Hampshire, and that 
 they must hasten to the remoteWEs-r; where they fondly hoped 
 to find an almost perpetual sunshine and unfailing plenty. — 
 Never was the passion for emigration, then familiarly called 
 the " Ohio Fever" at a greater height. But though the unu- 
 sual aspect of the season deprived the State of a portion of 
 its inhabitants, by inducing removals, it had a moral influence, 
 highly salutary. It reminded man of his dependence on his 
 Creator, and awakened in many a breast serious reflection. — 
 In many of the towns, an improved state of religious society, 
 became strikingly evident. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, who died 
 early in 1817, merits the respectful remembrance of the citi- 
 zens of New-Hampshire for his vivid descriptions of her 
 scenery, and his valuable notices of the history, laws, and 
 manners of her people. He ranks among the greatest and 
 best men our country has produced; and his eloquence, moral 
 dignity, and admirable discipline, imparted a lustre to the 
 great literary Institution, in which he held the Academical 
 Chair. Courted in early life by prospects and even offers of 
 the highest civic distinction, he preferred the labors of the 
 christian ministry in a country parish. But alight so brilliant 
 could not long be hid j on tlit; occurrence of a vacancy in 
 the Presidency of Yale College, every eye was turned on him 
 as the fittest candidate for the vacant chair. More than any 
 other man, he contributed to check the alarming progress of 
 infidelity near the close of the last century. Of his '-Trave's 
 in New-England and New-York," in four large Octavos, no 
 inconsiderable part is filled with interesting details relative to 
 this State. 
 
 To the Federal candidate, Rufus King of New-York, the 
 returns of the votes for a successor to Mr. Madison in the 
 Presidency of the United States, gave but a small number. — 
 Mr. Monroe received a great majority, including those of 
 New-Hampshire, and was inaugurated on the fourth of March. 
 In the following summer he made a tour of observation in the 
 northern States, and was received by both political parties 
 with cordiality and respect. He came from Boston to Ports- 
 mouth, and wont thence into Maine. On his return he passed 
 through Dover, Concord, and Hanover into Vermont, and was 
 every where received with processions, addresses, entertain- 
 ments, and other marks of popular respect. One object of 
 the tour was to allay the irritations, subsisting between the 
 
190 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1819. 
 
 great political parties, and in this he succeeded to a consider- 
 able extent. His visit brought them in contact under circum- 
 stances favorable to the excitement of kindly feelings ; there 
 was a mitigation of party spirit; in many places an "era of 
 good feelings" commenced and continued for several years. — 
 At Hanover occurred a little incident, which imparted to hi3 
 visit in that village no small degree of interest. Mrs. Wheel- 
 ock, the widow of the late President Wheelock, was one of 
 a circle of ladies and gentlemen, met to enjoy an interview 
 with the President. Forty years before, when a resident of 
 New-Jersey, she had nursed Mr. Monroe, then a Lieutenant in 
 the American army, in a severe illness occasioned by a wound 
 lie had received in the battle of Trenton. Though he had not 
 seen her since, the President recognized her — and manifested 
 much gratification at so unexpected an opportunity of express- 
 ing his gratitude to his former benefactress. 
 
 The State House or Capitol at Concord, a beautiful edifice 
 of hammered granite, containing ample accommodations for 
 the Executive and Legislative departments of the government, 
 was constructed this year at an expense of more than eighty 
 thousand dollars. Much of the labor was performed by tha 
 convicts in the State Prison. The Portsmouth Athenaeum 
 was incorporated the same year ; an Institution possessing a 
 valuable Library, and Cabinets of Mineralogy and of Natural 
 History. 
 
 Gov. Plumer having declined another re-election, the Hon. 
 Samuel Bell of Chester was chosen Governor, in 1819, by a 
 large majority over the Federal Candidate, William Hale of 
 Dover. The number of votes cast was comparatively small, 
 indicating the existence at this period of an apathy in regard 
 to the elections, quite unlike the state of things in former 
 years. There was a feeling in the political parties like that 
 of competitors who have wrestled together, till both are be- 
 come weary of the struggle. A few years' rest recruited their 
 strength for the renewal of the combat. Soon after Gov. 
 Bell's accession to the Chair, the Legislature passed, not 
 without powerful opposition, the well known Act commonly 
 called the Toleration law. Before this time, the law required 
 each citizen to pay his proportion toward the support of tho 
 settled Minister of the town or parish in which he resided, 
 unless he produced a certificate from some society of another 
 denomination, stating that he attended their worship, and 
 contributed to the support of their religious order. The % new 
 Act provides, that no person shall be compelled to join or 
 support any congregation, church, or religious Society, with- 
 
1821.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 191 
 
 out his express consent ; and that any person, choosing to 
 separate himself from such Society, shall, on leaving a 
 written notice with the Clerk, he exempted from any futuro 
 expenses that may he incurred by the Society. To the great 
 interests of religion and morality, the practical operation of 
 this Act, casting the maintainance of the Christian Ministry 
 entirely on its voluntary supporters, has not been adverse. 
 The institutions of religion have been as well attended, and 
 probably as well supported since this enactment, as at any 
 former period. Of neat and elegant edifices for public wor- 
 ship, "with spires pointing to Heaven," proclaiming to the 
 traveller that the surrounding population acknowledge the 
 God of Heaven, a greater number have been erected than in 
 any other period of the same duration. 
 
 In the latter part of 1820 a revival of religion began in 
 Connecticut, which in the course of a year extended its 
 influence to half the towns in that State, and to many others 
 in various parts of New-England. Some of the towns in 
 New-Hampshire exhibited an unusual interest in the means 
 of religious knowledge, and the churches were materially 
 enlarged. 
 
 ■#The census taken at this time gave the State a population 
 of 244,000, surpassing that of 1810 by 30,000. The whole 
 population of the United States fell not much short of ten 
 millions. By a vote almost unanimous, the Presidential 
 election near the close of the year again resulted in favor 
 of Mr. Munroe — only one electoral vote, and that a New- 
 Hampshire vote, being given to John Q,. Adams. 
 
 A whirlwind, by far the most violent ever known in this 
 quarter, entered this State from Vermont on the 9th of Sept. 
 1821, and passed through Cornish, Croydon, and Wendell, to 
 Sunapee Lake, gathering fury in its progress. A family in 
 Wendell, living eighty rods from the lake, were struck with 
 alarm by its terrific approach, and saw the air filled with birds 
 and branches of trees, careering in wild disorder. The next 
 moment their buildings were entirely demolished; a child 
 sleeping on a feather bed was carried into the lake and drown- 
 ed ; and the bed was afterwards found in Andover, having 
 been hurled through the air almost twenty miles. With fear- 
 ful impetuosity the whirlwind passed over the Lake in the 
 form of an inverted pyramid, drawing up vast quantities of 
 water ; and crossed the towns of New-London, Sutton, and 
 Warner, to Salisbnry ; demolishing buildings, killing and 
 wounding several persons, forcing trees, logs, and even rocks 
 into the air, and making the heaviest objects the plaything of 
 
192 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1822, 
 
 the raging element. In width it did not exceed a quarter 
 of a mile. It is remarkable that on the same day, and 
 almost at the same hour, another whirlwind of almost equal 
 violence, and parallel in its course, passed from Warwick, 
 Mass. through Orange to Athol, where its fury was broken by 
 striking against the side of Tully mountain. These whirl- 
 winds both took a direction from west to east, at the distance 
 of sixty miles from each other ; so tremendous was their pow- 
 er, that garments, beds, articles of furniture, branches of trees 
 and fragments of buildings were hurled in the air to the dis- 
 tance of ten, and even twenty miles. 
 
 A law was enacted this year imposing on the Banks an 
 annual tax of one half of one per cent on the amount of 
 their capital, for the purpose of creating a Literary Fund. 
 The tax produced at first about five thousand dollars annually, 
 and in a few years, the avails of it amounted by the accumu- 
 lation of principal and interest, to more than fifty thousand 
 dollars. Originally it was intended to constitnte an endow- 
 ment for another College, to be located near the centre of the 
 State, and placed under the direction of the State govern- 
 ment: but after some years other views prevailed, and the 
 legislature thought proper to distribute the fund among the 
 several towns, to be applied at their discretion to purposes of 
 education. The gradual increase of banking capital has 
 swelled the amount of this tax to more than ten thousand 
 dollars annually, which sum is in like manner distributed to 
 the towns for the same purpose. 
 
 Gen. Stark of Manchester, the last survivor of the Ameri- 
 can General Officers in the Revolutionary War, in which as 
 well as in the preceding French war he rendered important 
 services to his country, died in May, 1822 — having passed 
 many of his last years in agricultural pursuits on the bank of 
 the M err i mac, and attained to the great age of ninety three. 
 He was born at Londonderry, and was a descendant of one 
 of the Scottish familes who settled in that town. When al- 
 most eighty years old, he received from Jefferson an affection- 
 ate letter, in which he complimented him on his former victory 
 at Bennington, as having given the first favorable turn to that 
 important campaign. A few years afterwards, he was solicited 
 by some gentlemen of Vermont to attend a celebration of 
 our national Independence at Bennington, the theatre of his 
 triumph, with the offer of the expenses of his journey being 
 defrayed by those who sought the gratification of seeing him. 
 On account of the infirmities of age, and also on the ground 
 
1823.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 193 
 
 that those who invited him would find him ' not worth seeing/ 
 he declined the invitation. 
 
 A bridge over the Pascataqua from Portsmouth to Kittery 
 in Maine, had long been an object of much interest ; but on 
 account of the rapidity and great depth of the river, varying 
 from 43 to 53 feet at low water, for the space of almost sixty 
 rods, the enterprise, however desirable, had been considered 
 as impracticable. It was at this time effected by some public 
 spirited citizens in the short period of six months, at an expense 
 of about $32,000. The bridge has two sections of 480 and 
 1750 feet in length ; difficulties, such as had not been before 
 encountered in this country, were overcome in the progress 
 of its erection. It greatly facilitates the communication of 
 Portsmouth and all the region south of it, with the State of 
 Maine. The preceding year had witnessed the erection of a 
 bridge of equal length, connecting Portsmouth with New- 
 Castle. 
 
 For the first time, an attempt was made to introduce into 
 New- Hampshire the principles of the Roman Catholic Church* 
 The Rev. Mr. Barber, who had passed some time at Rome, 
 was ordained at the Catholic Chapel in Boston as a Catholic 
 Missionary to this State ; and has since collected a small society 
 at Claremont — to which has been added another society of 
 this denomination at Dover. 
 
 On the completion of two centuries from the first settlement 
 of the State in 1623, a centennial celebration of this event at 
 Portsmouth on the 21st of May, 1823, excited much interest, 
 and awakened many a recollection of "olden time." An ora- 
 tion was delivered on the occasion by Nathaniel A. Haven; 
 and a Poem by O. W. B. Peabody. There was a numerous 
 collection of eminent citizens, and a handsome display of the 
 portraits of distinguished personages, who had flourished 
 here in former generations. 
 
 Having been elected as one of the Senators of this State in 
 Congress, Gov. Bell retired from the Chair in 1823. For some 
 time the custom had obtained of making nominations of can- 
 didates for the Chair, on the part of each political party, by 
 its members in the Legislature, at some session previous to 
 the election. By the Republican members, the Hon. Samuel 
 Dinsmoor had been thus nominated as the successor of Gov. 
 Bell. In this nomination a portion of that party did not then 
 acquiesce ; and in pursuance of a counter nomination after- 
 wards made at a meeting in Dover, they, in conjunction with 
 the Federalists, effected the election of the Hon. Levi Wood- 
 bury, a native of Francestown, who had been a Judge of the 
 R 
 
.194 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1824 
 
 Superior Court. Another practice, which within a period not 
 long, has grown into a custom, is that of nominating Counsel- 
 lors° Senators, and County officers, at Conventions of Delegates 
 from the towns in the several Counties and Districts, appointed 
 by their respective political parties. At the June session of 
 the Legislature the New-Hampshire Historical Society was 
 incorporated, for the purposes of collecting and preserving 
 documents illustrative of the History of the State. It has 
 begun the formation of a Library, and published four Vol- 
 umes of valuable historical papers. 
 
 No choice of Governor was effected by the people in 1824. 
 Gov. Woodbury and the Hon. David L. Morril of Goffstown, 
 formerly a Senator in Congress, both of the Republican school 
 of politics, were the two prominent candidates ; but as neither 
 had a majority of all the votes, the latter was elected by the 
 joint ballot of the Senate and House of Representatives, and 
 held the Chair by successive re-elections for three years. 
 
 At this period was formed the New-Hampshire Sunday 
 School Union, auxiliary to the American Sunday School Union 
 at Philadelphia. This excellent Institution, whose object is 
 the formation and encouragement of Sunday Schools, has 
 published a variety of cheap, juvenile books, well adapted to 
 interest and benefit the young. The Founder of Sunday 
 Schools was Robert Raikes, of Gloucester in England. Going 
 one day into the suburbs of that city to get a man to work in 
 his garden, and not finding him at home, he waited for his 
 return. Being much annoyed by a group of noisy, profane 
 boys in the street, he asked the gardener's wife why they were 
 not better instructed ? "O Sir," said she, "if you were to see 
 them on Sunday, you would pity them indeed ; we can't read 
 our Bible in peace for their noise." This little incident,which 
 occurred in 1782, gave Mr. Raikes the first hint of the utility 
 of Suuday Schools and led to the formation of a large number 
 of them in England. The plan was introduced at Philadelphia 
 in 1791 by Bishop White, Dr. Rush, Mr. Ralston, Mr. Carey 
 and other eminent philanthropists. Sunday School instruction 
 was little known in New-Hampshire before the year 1815 ; — 
 since that time, the system has been adopted in almost every 
 part of the State, and by almost all the religious denomina- 
 tions. A "New-Hampshire Sabbath School Unicn" has been 
 formed by the Baptist also ; and the whole number of Sunday 
 School scholars throughout the State now amounts to more 
 than forty thousand. 
 
 At the warmly contested Presidential election near the close 
 of the year, there were four candidates for the Presidency ; 
 
1826.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 195 
 
 John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and 
 Henry Clay, each of whom was respectably supported. Of 
 the Republicans of New-Hampshire, a portion preferred Mr. 
 Crawford; but another portion amalgamated with the Feder- 
 alists in the support of Mr. Adams. The Electoral votes of 
 the State were given to the latter candidate, who, on failure of 
 a choice by the Electoral Colleges, was chosen by the House 
 of Representatives and inaugurated as President on the fourth 
 of the following March. 
 
 Though Gov. Woodbury had lost his election to the Chair 
 the preceding year, he was returned from Portsmouth to the 
 House of Representatives in 1825, and chosen Speaker. In 
 the course of the session, he was elected one of the Senators 
 for this State in Congress, and resigned the Speaker's Chair — 
 which was filled for the remainder of the session by the Hon. 
 Henry Hubbard of Charlestown. Gen. La Fayette, the ardent 
 friend of America in the Revolutionary struggle, revisited this 
 country after an absence of more than forty years. He was 
 everywhere received as the Nation's Guest, and greeted with 
 expressions of enthusiastic attachment. Crowds of citizens 
 flocked to see and welcome him. I5y invitation of the govern- 
 ment, he came into this State in June, 1825, and was received 
 by Gov. Morril, by the Legislature, and by the citizens at large, 
 with every demonstration of gratitude and affection. At a 
 public dinner at Concord, provided in honor of his visit, the 
 tables were occupied by more than 700 persons, including the 
 Executive, the members of the Senate and House of Repre- 
 eentatives, the judges and other public officers, and more than 
 200 hundred of the aged survivors of the revolutionary army, 
 ]ed by Gen. Pierce. 
 
 The fourth of July, 182G, completed half a century since 
 the Declaration of American Independence, and was rendered 
 memorable by the death, on that day, of two of the illustri- 
 ous signers of that instrument, John Adams and Thomas Jef- 
 erson, former Presidents of the United States. Though rivals in 
 politics, they had cherished after their retirement to private 
 life a mutual esteem ; and were not divided in death. Their 
 former concurrence, the one as the writer, the other as the elo- 
 quent advocate of that Declaration ; their subsequent rivalry as 
 leaders of great political parties ; their elevation to the first 
 office in the country ;the coincidence of their deaths ; the day 
 of its occurrence ; and the completion of half a century from 
 the birth of our freedom ; — all formed an assemblage of cir- 
 cumstances, which excited throughout the country an indiscri- 
 bable sensation. 
 
196 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1826. 
 
 Numerous projects were on foot at tins time for the extension 
 of inland navigation in various parts of New-England. A 
 Company was formed at Hartford, called the Connecticut River 
 Company, for the purpose of rendering the river of that name 
 navigable, by means of dams and canals round the successive 
 falls, as far as to Lyman, N. H. Many individuals were im- 
 pressed with the belief of the practicability of a canal communi- 
 cation from Dover, through Winncpisiogee Lake to the 
 Pemigevvassett, and thence to Connecticut river and Lake 
 Memphremagog; thus connecting the Capitals of New-Hamp- 
 shire and Massachusetts with Canada. Col. Dewit Clinton 
 of the U. S. corps of Engineers, and Col. Carrigain, the 
 Commissioner of the government of New-Hampshire, had 
 examined in the preceding year the upper portion of Connec- 
 ticut river, from its parent lake to Maclndoes' falls in Lyman, 
 a distance of 92 miles; and found the descent of the river, 
 within these limits, to be 1170 feet. The Legislatures of 
 Vermont and New-Hampshire granted to the Connecticut 
 river Company the powers necessary to effect within the ju- 
 risdictions of these States, their public spirited designs ; but 
 nothing effectual was done, and probably all these splendid 
 enterprises will long remain unaccomplished. 
 
 An Academical Institution having for some years existed at 
 New-Hampton, it was now enlarged under the provisions of 
 a new Charter, granted by the Legislature, and a Theological 
 Department was annexed to it, chiefly by the agency of gen- 
 tlemen of the Baptist denomination. It is placed under the 
 immediate superintendence of two Professors; one of Theol- 
 ogy and the Languages ; the other of Mathematics, Natural 
 Philosophy and English Literature. Surrounded by romantic 
 scenery, and possessed of respectable accommodations, it is 
 now the resort of a large number of students, including many 
 destined to the christian ministry, and ranks among the flour- 
 ishing Institutions of the State. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of August occurred a most destruc- 
 tive flood, produced by a sudden and violent rain, which 
 raised the branches of the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers 
 to an unprecedented height. Little brooks became raging 
 torrents ; bridges, mills, dams, and buildings were swept away ; 
 and such chasms cut in the roads, a.sto render it easier in many 
 instances to construct new ones than r< pair the old. At Bath, 
 the Ammonoosuc suddenly became turbid and thick with 
 earth, then spread itself over its lower banks and meadows, 
 and soon exhibited one wide, roaring, sweeping roll of billows, 
 bearing along the wreck of bridges, buildings, fences, crops, 
 
1826.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 197 
 
 and animals caught by the waves in their pastures. The beds 
 of many mountain streams were excavated to a surprising 
 depth and width ; in some places the fury of the flood cut out 
 for the waters new and permanent channels. Torrents of water 
 rushed through the Notch of the White Mountains, breaking 
 up the very foundations of the turnpike road for a great dis- 
 tance, and leaving a shapeless mass of loosened crags, rocks 
 piled on rocks, and yawning chasms. From the sides of the 
 mountains, slides or avalanches descended to the lower grounds, 
 bearing down thousands of tons of gravel, rocks and broken 
 trees; and laying bare the solid mountain rock over an extent 
 of hundreds of acres. Late in the preceding day, a party of 
 gentlemen, among whom were Col. Bartlett and Mr. Moore of 
 Concord, left Crawford's, an house more than lour miles from 
 the Notch, on an excursion to the summit of Mount Washing- 
 ton. They arrived in the evening at a Camp which had been 
 constructed at the foot of the steep ascent of the mountain, 
 where they passed the night. The next morning being cloudy 
 and rainy, they concluded to remain at the camp that day ; but 
 the increasing rain having in the afternoon extinguished their 
 fire, they reluctantly decided to return. With the utmost dif- 
 ficulty, and not without danger, did they effect their retreat, 
 by felling trees over the impetuous torrents, and arrived at 
 Crawford's in the evening. Had they remained on the moun- 
 tain another night, they must have perished ; as the Camp was 
 afterwards found to have been swept away, and avalanches to 
 have passed on either side at the distance of only a few rods. 
 The most affecting story, connected with this Hood, remains 
 to be told. Two miles from the Notch, on the road to Bart- 
 lett, at "The Notch House" lived the respectable and prosperous 
 family of Samuel Willey, consisting of himself, wife, live 
 children and two hired men. An avalanche in its descent from 
 the mountain, came near the house, where it divided itself into 
 two portions, one of which crushed the barn and an adjoining 
 shed. Alarmed at the thundering noise, and apprehensive of 
 the immediate destruction of their habitation, the family fled 
 for safety ; but unhappily in the darkness of the night they fell 
 into the track of the other portion of the avalanche, and were 
 all buried under masses of earth and rocks. Some of the 
 bodies were afterwards discovered, by the scent of dogs, at the 
 distance of fifty rods from the house, mangled and disfigured. 
 The house itself remained uninjured ; but a beautiful little 
 meadow in front of it, was buried under immense quantities of 
 sand, gravel, rocks and trees, precipitated from the mountain. 
 Had the unfortunate inmates remaiued within, they had been 
 R* 
 
198 HISTORY OP NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1827. 
 
 in safety amid surrounding devastation — but an inscrutable 
 Providence otherwise directed. "It is not in man that walk- 
 eth to direct his steps." 
 
 At the Election of State officers in March, 1827, the Hon. 
 Benjamin Pierce of Hillsborough, who had been an officer in 
 the Revolutionary war, and afterwards for many years a Rep- 
 resentative and Counsellor, was chosen Governor with litttle 
 opposition. A law, drawn up with great ability, and embody- 
 ing a great variety of wise and excellent provisions, most of 
 which yet remain in force, was enacted at the June session of 
 the Legislature, for the regulation of primary schools. This 
 law has contributed much to bring our schools to their present 
 state of improvement and efficiency. The State contains more 
 than 1700 school districts, and 1600 school houses, which are 
 the resort of about sixty thousands of children and youth ; and 
 with the addition of those who attend private, select, and aca- 
 demical schools, it has been thought that tovo sevenths of the 
 whole population are for some portion of the year in school. 
 Many of the best elementary and higher Class books now used 
 in American schools, are the productions of citizens of New- 
 Hampshire. 
 
 A salutary excitement of the public mind at this period on 
 the subject of Temperance, was followed by the formation of 
 State, County, and Town Temperance Societies, in rapid suc- 
 cession. No sooner did men begin seriously to reflect, than 
 multitudes were convinced that the former custom of tolera- 
 ting a free use of ardent spirits is a bad one ; that all the 
 innumerable cases of intemperance originate from the use of 
 a little iu the outset ; that the article is never necessary in 
 health ; that the common use of it is a prolific source of sick- 
 ness, poverty, crime,, domestic wretchedness, mental debase- 
 ment, and premature death ; and that christians and patriots 
 ought to exhibit a reformed example. Not only men and 
 women, but great numbers of youths and even children, old 
 enough to understand the matter, engaged ardently in the 
 great reform. To the "American Society for the promotion 
 of Temperance," is due the honor of engaging in the work, if 
 not first, yet efficiently. An Address on Temperance delivered 
 by Jonathan Kittredge at Lyme, in the early stage of the ref- 
 ormation, passed through many editions, each containing some 
 thousands of copies, and exerted an important influence on a 
 great portion of the community. 
 
 At this period, the old political parties were to some extent 
 blended together. A few of the Federalists, enlisting them- 
 selves with the friends of General Jackson, had gone over to 
 
1829.] period x.— 1805— 1833. J 90 
 
 the Republicans ; while a larger portion of the latter amalga- 
 mated with the former in the support of Mr. Adams. The 
 party friendly to the Adams administration prevailed, by a 
 email majority, to elect in 1828 the lion John Bell of Chester, 
 in opposition to Governor Pierce* At the quadrennial election 
 of President near the close of the year, the parties put forth 
 the moststrenuous exertions. New-Hampshire again gave her 
 electoral votes to Mr. Adams: but his competitor, General 
 Jackson, was chosen by a decisive majority — an event, regar- 
 ded by his supporters as a signal trimph, and followed, as a 
 consequence naturally to be expected, by somewhat numerous 
 removals of former office-holders. This success animated his 
 friends to make such efforts at the next election of State offi- 
 cers, 1829,as accomplished a change in the State administration, 
 displacing Gov. Bell and replacing Gov. Pierce ; who in his 
 message to the Legislature, announced his intention of decli- 
 ning another re-election. 
 
 The College edifice at Hanover needing repairs, and the 
 exigences of the Institution demanding enlarged accommoda- 
 tions, President Lord obtained from its friends, in this and the 
 adjoining States, subscriptions to the amount of $30,000: an 
 aid which enabled the Trustees not only to repair the old 
 edifice, but to add two new ones, named Wentworth and 
 Thornton Halls. Taken as a whole, they give the spectator 
 an impression of neatness and convenience, creditable to the 
 Institution. Some of the first men in the Executive and 
 Legislative Departments of our government have here recei- 
 ved their classical education. 
 
 By a majority of 4000 votes over Col. Upham, the election 
 of 1830 elevated to the Chair the Hon. Matthew Harvey of 
 Ilopkinton, who administered the Executive Department of 
 the government somewhat less that a year. To fill the vacan- 
 cy in the Senate of the United States, soon to be made by the 
 expiration of Mr. Woodbury's term of office, the Legislature 
 elected the Hon. Isaac Hill of Concord. He had been previ- 
 ously nominated by President Jackson to the office of Second 
 Comptroller of the Treasury ; but the nomination having been 
 rejected by the Senate by a small majority, this election was 
 intended both as an approval of his political course, and as an 
 expression of political and personal attachment towards the 
 President, on the part of the majority of the Legislature. — 
 After the expiration of his term in the Senate, Mr. Woodbury 
 was appointed Secretary of the Navy. Gov. Harvey having- 
 received the appointment of Judge of the United States* 
 Court for the district of New-Hampshire, resigned the Chair 
 
200 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1831. 
 
 in February ; the President of the Senate, Joseph M. Harper, 
 officiating of course as Chief Magistrate during the remainder 
 of the political year. 
 
 The census of the United States taken at this period, fur- 
 nished the gratifying return of a population of almost thirteen 
 millions — of whom more than 209,000 were contained in this 
 State. Had the actual increase, within the State, for the last 
 half century all remained at home, New-Hampshire would 
 now exhibit a population literally overflowing: but great num- 
 bers of families and young men have emigrated to Maine, 
 Massachusetts, Vermont, Canada, New-York, Ohio, Illinois, 
 and other places still more remote in "the far West." Where- 
 ver they have gone, industry and enterprise have been promi- 
 nent traits in their character — hence the well known saying, 
 "Give a New-Hampshire boy a bridle, and he will soon find a 
 horse." 
 
 General Samuel Dinsmoor of Keene was chosen Governor 
 in 1831, by a majority of five thousand over his competitor, 
 the Hon. Ichabod Bartlett of Portsmouth, the candidate of the 
 party opposed to the administration of Jackson. Though a 
 slight anticipation of dates, yet, as preferable to a wearisome 
 repetition, the fact may be here noticed that he was re-elected 
 the two succeeding years : the last of them with scarce the 
 shadow of opposition. 
 
 By far the most extensive religions attention known in the 
 State occurred in 1831. Unusual numbers resorted to the 
 places of public instruction ; meetings of three or four days 
 continuance wereholden in most of the towns, in which chris- 
 tian ministers of different denominations united in the religious 
 services with great harmony; and the salutary truths of the 
 Bible were deeply impressed on a multitude ot minds. The 
 accessions to the churches were numerous: the moral aspects 
 of society were in many places essentially improved ; and a 
 new impulse was given to the cause of christian benevolence. 
 
 For some years, a few Societies of Unitarians had existed 
 in the State. The ministers and some of the members of 
 these Societies, formed in 1832, "The New-Hampshire Unita- 
 rian Association," to meet annually in Concord for the pro- 
 motion of their distinctive religious views. At least twelve 
 Societies of this denomination, furnished with ministers now 
 exist within the limits of the State. 
 
 General Jackson, having been re-elected to the Presidency, 
 by a great majority of the electoral votes, including those of 
 this State, visited for the first time the northern States, in the 
 summer of 1833. Some gentlemen, deputed by the govern- 
 
1833.] period x.— 1805— 1833. 201 
 
 ment of New-Hampshire, waited on him at Boston and invited 
 him to visit Concord. He was met at the State line by the 
 the Governor's aids, and at Bow by a Committee of the Leg- 
 islature, and escorted to the Capitol. The Governor, Council, 
 and both branches of the Legislature having convened in the 
 Representatives' Chamber, the President was introduced, 
 and welcomed by Gov. Dinsmoor in an affectionate address, in 
 the name of the government and people. Some thousands of 
 citizens from the various sections of the State resorted to 
 Concord on this intersting occason. 
 
 For a few of the last years, small steam boats had occasion- 
 ally, but not without 'difficulty, ascended the Connecticut 
 river to some distance within the limits of New-Hampshire. 
 Not till this period was steam navigation introduced into any 
 of our interior lakes. Winnepiseogee is one of the finest 
 lakes in New-England, encircled with lofty mountains, indent- 
 ed with numerous promontories, and dotted with Islands, 
 some of them highly cultivated. On the fourth of July the 
 steamer Belknap, so named after the principal historian of the 
 State, made an excursion from Alton Bay to Wolfcborough 
 Village, and back to Alton ; and on the next day, to Centre 
 Harbor. The novelty of a steamboat on these transparent 
 waters — the numerous company on board, with a fine band of 
 mus i c — the surrounding scenery — the throngs of spectators — 
 the anniversary of our national independence — and the an- 
 ticipation of future benefits to the vicinage— all conspired to 
 impart to the occasion a deep and pleasing interest. 
 
 Near the close of the year, in November, occurred a phe- 
 nomenon never before witnessed in this quarter. Soon after 
 12 o'clock in the morning of the 13th, the meteors called fall- 
 ing stars were observed to be unusually frequent. After 4 o'- 
 clock the heavens presented one of the most sublime and 
 extraordinary prospects that can be conceived ; imagination 
 can hardly picture anything to surpass it. Small bodies of 
 surprising brilliancy, apparently as numberless as the stars in 
 the firmament, were seen flying in all directions through a 
 clear, unclouded sky, leaving long, luminous trains behind. 
 Often, one larger and more brilliant than the rest, would 
 shoot across the heavens, producing a light similar to a flash 
 of lightning. In whatever direction the eye was turned, the 
 scene could not be compared more aptly to any thing than a 
 shower of fire falling to the earth. Thousands of individu- 
 als, scattered over the vast portion of North America stretch- 
 in"- from Nova Scotia to Mexico, witnessed the sublime spec- 
 tacle. As the light of day advanced, the meteors began to 
 
202 BISTORT OF NE\f-HAMPSHIRE [1833. 
 
 disappear ; but some were seen as long as the stars were 
 visible. 
 
 In many parts of New-Hampshire the state of society will 
 bear comparison with that of the most favored portions of 
 our land. Though there is within the State, as is remarked 
 by Belknap, "a sort of wise men who pretend to reject " the 
 christian religion, without being able " to substitute a better in 
 its place ;" — yet the great body of the people venerate the 
 christian scriptures as a Divine Revelation, and a large num- 
 ber are found among the supporters of religious institutions, 
 and the regular attendants on Divine worship. Between thir- 
 ty and forty thousands are communicants in christian churches 
 of different denominations. In point of public education, 
 the State ranks above most countries of the globe, and abovo 
 all her sister States, with the exception of Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut. A venerable and excellent clergyman now 
 living, who has done more to promote the interests of educa- 
 tion than any other single citizen, has personally prepared for 
 admission into the Colleges more that an hundred young men, 
 among whom he now sees Governors, Counsellors, Judges 
 and Legislators. Female education has attracted much atten- 
 tion, and within a few years several Seminaries have been 
 ftstablishffl fvrlnsivfily for young ladies, under the superin- 
 tendence of Instructresses well accomplished for this depart- 
 ment. The sons of New-Hampshire possess their full share 
 of influence in our public councils; their voice commands 
 respect in the i( listening Senate/' and in the Cabinet Council 
 of the Nation. 
 
 A large number of distinguished citizens deceased during 
 the period of twenty eight years included in this chapter. — 
 The plan of this work will allow little more than a list of 
 their names, while a detailed account of their characters 
 must be left to Biography, as its proper province. Abiel 
 Foster of Canterbury, who died in 1806, was for some years 
 the Minister of that town, and after the resignation of his 
 pastoral charge was elected to a seat in Congress, which he 
 held by re-elections the greater part of a period of twenty 
 one years. The esteem and confidence of his cotemporaries 
 he possessed in an uncommon degree. In the same year the 
 Rev. Dr. Haven, Pastor of the south church in Portsmouth, 
 closed a life of almost fourscore years and a Ministry of more 
 than half a century. The Rev. Dr. Buckminster, Pastor of 
 the north church in the same town, whose death happened a 
 few years afterwards, held a high rank as an accomplished 
 scholar, an impressive preacher, and a devoted Minister of 
 
1833.] period x.— 1805.— 1833 203 
 
 Christ. Samuel Hale was graduated at Harvard College in 
 the class of 1740. After serving as a Major in the Louisburg 
 expedition, he engaged as the Principal of the Latin Grammar 
 School in Portsmouth, and labored in that useful vocation 
 almost forty years, with distinguished ability, zeal, and effect. 
 In his school, at that day famed throughout the land, instruc- 
 tion was given to some thousands of pupils, and many young 
 men were qualified for important stations. Major Hale, than 
 whom few men have done more to form the minds of youth, 
 lived to a great age, and died in 1807, leaving a character 
 respectable for piety and usefulness. The Hon. Nicholas 
 Gilman of Exeter, a brother of Gov. Gilman, and one of tho 
 Senators of this State in Congress, died at Philadelphia in 
 1814. Exeter lost another of its eminent citizens the next 
 year, by the death of Doctor Samuel Tenney, who was highly 
 respectable for his medical and scientific attainments, and waa 
 for some years a Representative in Congress. In the course 
 of the same year died the Hon. Simeon Olcott of Charlestown, 
 who had been Chief Justice of the State, and one of its Sena- 
 tors in the National Legislature ; and two years afterwards, 
 Benjamin West of the same town, a Lawyer of extensive 
 practice and high distinction. The Rev. Dr. Morrison, a native 
 of Scotland, emigrated to America in early life ; and after 
 acquiring a classical and Theological education, became the 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Londonderry. His 
 amiable manners, ready talents, and pastoral diligence, gave 
 him an extensive and merited influence, which he retained 
 till his death, in 1818. Early in 1820 died the Rev. Dr. Payson 
 of Rindge, well known as an exemplary and excellent minister 
 of the gospel, and as the eminent Father of a still more emir 
 nent son, the late Rev. Edward Payson of Portland. The same 
 year closed the comparatively shoVt. life of the Rev. Francis 
 Brown, who was called from his ministry in North-Yarmouth, 
 Maine, to the Presidency^of Dartmouth College, and conducted 
 its concerns with great wisdom and prudence during the diffi- 
 cult period of its contest with the Legislature. Calmness, 
 decision, and piety strongly marked his character. Doctor 
 Ammi Ruhamah Cutter was a physician of Portsmouth, in 
 high esteem and extensive practice for a period of more than 
 sixty years. Though he was in habits of intimacy with the 
 the royal officers before the revolution, and had been offered 
 the appointment of Counsellor, yet his views of duty led him 
 to oppose the acts of the British Ministry. He took charge of 
 the medical department of the Northern army, and was after- 
 wards a member of the Convention which formed the Con- 
 
204 HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1833. 
 
 stitution of the State. The confidence reposed in him by the 
 community was great. "Dr. Cutter was a christian ; the last 
 act of his life was a prayer uttered the moment previous to 
 his dissolution," which occurred in the year last named. Hon. 
 Thomas W. Thompson of Concord, a man of talent and worth, 
 died in 1821, having been Speaker of the House of Represen- 
 tatives of this State, and a Senator in Congress. Some time 
 before his death, his health being impaired, he was passing 
 over Lake Champlain in a steam boat, which took fire in the 
 night and was consumed ; he with others narrowly escaped in 
 an open boat, in an inclement season ; and the terrors and 
 exposures of that night were thought to have hastened his 
 exit. Gen. Michael M'Clary, whose death took place in 1824, 
 was of Epsom. For a long time he was a Representative or 
 Senator in the Legislature and afterwards Marshal of the 
 District of New-Hampshire, and Adjutant General for the 
 State. Often was he solicited to give his consent to be put in 
 nomination as a candidate for Governor ; but he always de- 
 clined. Probably no man in the State possessed a more 
 extensive personal influence, and it was said of him that "al- 
 though he was the associate of the first in society, no honest 
 poor man was too mean to be by him considered as an equal." 
 Ezekiel Webster was a brother of the distinguished Daniel 
 Webster, and an eminent lawyer of Boscawen. As described 
 by an eye witness, the circumstances of his death, which oc- 
 curred in 1829, were deeply affecting : "He began an argument 
 before the Court of Common Pleas in Concord. I sat directly 
 before him. His voice was clear, full, strong. His plea con- 
 nected, convincing, powerful. His health apparently good, 
 and his whole appearance that of a man in the possession and 
 exercise of the noblest powers. He had spoken about twenty 
 minutes — when he fell backwards and expired, without a 
 struggle or groan. The impression of this instant death was 
 awful. Every face was pale ; — every heart trembled ! The 
 immortal spirit was gone — and the realities of the invisible 
 world seemed in full prospect." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Christian names of persons are in most cases supplied where they arc 
 omitted in the text. Several names erroneously spelt in the body of the 
 #ork have been corrected in the Index. 
 
 QCj-This Index has been made to embrace nearly all the names and the 
 most important subjects in the volume, and will be found very useful to in- 
 structors in suggesting questions for their pupils. 
 
 Abercrombie, gen. in the French 
 War, supersedes the earl of Lou- 
 don, 103. — attacks the French 
 lines, 103. 
 
 Abercrombie, — minister of Peiham, 
 Ms. 94. 
 
 Academy, founded at Exeter, by 
 John Phillips, 145. 
 
 Accusations against gov. Belcher, 
 82. — against gov. John Went- 
 worth, 118. — which prove false, 
 83, 118. 
 
 Acworth, settled in part from Lon- 
 donderry, 67. 
 
 Adams, Ebenezer, professor of Dart- 
 mouth college, removed by new 
 trustees, 186. 
 
 Adams, John, president of the U. S. 
 167, 168, 169, 170.— death of, 
 195. 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, 191, is elec- 
 ted president of the U. S. 195. 
 
 Adams, Winborn, licut. col, slain 
 at Stillwater, 138. 
 
 Adultery, a capital crime, 16. 
 
 Agiocochook, Indian name of the 
 White Mountains, 11. 
 
 Air. la Chapelle, treaty of peace 
 at, 93. 
 
 Alarm, in N. Eng. by the Northern 
 Lights, 68.— bv the French fleet, 
 91. 
 
 Alien ty Sedition laws, 169, 
 
 Allen, Thomas, renews the suit 
 against Waldron, 56. 
 
 Allen, Samuel, appointed gov. 47 
 comes to N. H. 55. — brings a suit 
 against Col. Waldron, 55. — 83. 
 heirs of, revive their claim,$*c,157. 
 
 Alstead, planted by people from 
 Conn. 109. 
 
 American Board of Commissioners 
 for foreign missions, 179. 
 
 American Sunday School Union, 
 194. 
 
 Amherst, granted by Me. 74. — set- 
 tled, 75. — general court sets at, 76. 
 
 Amoskeag, Mohawks appear at, 30. 
 
 Andros, Edmund, 36. — appointed 
 governor of N.E. 40,41. — goes to 
 the eastward, 41, 42. — is seized 
 imprisoned and sent to England,42. 
 
 Annapolis, 91. 
 
 Anne, queen, succeeds William 
 III. 56. 
 
 Antrim, dysentery prevails at, 170. 
 
 Army, American, distress of, 144. 
 
 Articles of Confederation, ratified 
 by the States, 139. 
 
 Assembly dissolved by Cranfield, 37. 
 
 Athenceum at Portsmouth, ; ncorpo- 
 rated, 190. 
 
 Atherton, Joshua, opposes the adop- 
 tion of the Federal Constitution, 
 158. 
 
 Atkinson, Theodore, counsellor, 73. 
 
 Atkinson, Theodore, commissioner 
 to Canada, 73. — counsellor, 7S. — 
 appointed secretary, 85. — one of 
 the Masonian proprietors, 89. — 
 chief justice of C. C. P. 114. — is 
 named, 77, 91, 98, 112, 126, 127. 
 
 Atkinson, George (originally Geo. 
 King) president of the convention 
 of 1781, 146, 152. 
 
 Aurora Borealis first seen in New- 
 England, 68. 
 
 Avalanche, a remarkable one, at the 
 Notch of the White Mountains, 167 
 
106 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Badger, Joseph, member of the con- 
 vention of 1781,146. — member of 
 the convention for deciding on the 
 federal constitution, 158. 
 
 Baker, captain leads a party against 
 the Indians, 70. 
 
 Baker's river, 70. 
 
 Baldwin, captain, killed at Bunker 
 Hill, 128. 
 
 Balston, ,194. 
 
 Baltimore, attacked by the Brit- 
 ish, 182. 
 
 Baptists, persecuted, 19, 20. — first 
 church of, in N. H. 101.— number 
 of churches and communicants of, 
 101. — Freewill, take their rise in 
 1680, 144. — number of communi- 
 cants of, 144. 
 
 Barber, Daniel, Roman Catholic 
 preacher, 193. 
 
 Barefoot, Walter, deputy collector 
 g5. — counsellor, 36. — judge under 
 Cranfield, 37. — officiates as gov, 
 40.— 41. 
 
 Barnstead, granted, 74. 
 
 Barrington, settled, 67. 
 
 Bartlett,lch., candidate for gov. ,200 
 
 Bartlett, Joeiah, 151.— 158. chos 
 en pres. of N. H. Medical Soc, 
 163.-dealh of, 165. 
 
 Bartlett, Richard, 197. 
 
 Bachelor, Stephen, first minister of 
 Hampton, 14. 
 
 Bath, effects of the flood at, 196 
 
 Baum, col. defeated by Stark and 
 mortally wounded, 136, 137. 
 
 Bedel, Timothy, 133. 
 
 Bedford, granted by Ms., 24 
 
 Beers, captain defeated by the In- 
 dians, 28. 
 
 Belcher, Jonathan, gov. of N. H. 
 and Ms., 76.— 77— 78.— 80.— rep- 
 rimanded by the king, 82. — re- 
 moval from office, 83. — repairs to 
 England and vindicates his char- 
 acter, 83. — appointed gov. of N.J. , 
 83.— character of, 83. 
 
 Belknap, Jeremy, history of N. H. 
 published by, 154.— notice of, 154. 
 
 Belknap, Steamboat, makes her first 
 excursion, 201. 
 
 Bell, John, elected gov. of N. H., 
 199. — is succeeded by Benjamin 
 Pierce, 199. 
 
 Bell, Samuel, Speaker of theHonss 
 of Reps., 173.— elected gov., 190. 
 chosen Senator in Congress, 193.-- 
 retires from the office of gov., 193. 
 
 Bellingham, Richard, gov. of Ms., 
 33. 
 
 Bellomont, earl of, gov. of N. Y. 
 Ms. and N. H., 54.— visits N.H., 
 55. — death of, 55. 
 
 Bellows, Benjamin, 100, 151, 158. 
 
 Bellows' Falls, bridge erected at, 
 154. 
 
 Bennington, battle of, 136, 
 
 Berivick, people shiin at, 27. 
 
 Bible Soc, American, formed, 187. 
 
 Bills of credit, emitted, 126. — con- 
 tinental, greatly depreciate, 139, 
 
 Blanchard, Jonathan, 151. 
 
 Blanchard, Joseph, commander of a 
 regiment, 99. 
 
 Blasphemy, a capital crime, 16. 
 
 Blind Will, perishes on a neck of 
 land, which bears his name, 30. 
 
 Blodget, Samuel, 161. 
 
 Blood, Frances, member of the con- 
 vention of 1781,146. 
 
 Bloody Point, dispute at, 11. 
 
 Bonaparte, First Consul in France, 
 169. 
 
 Boscawen, granted by Ma., 74. — 89. 
 
 Boston, Ms., settled, 15. — massacre 
 at, 117. — invested, 125. — evacua- 
 ted by the British, 133.— 166.-183. 
 
 Boston Presbytery formed, 94. 
 
 Boundary line between N. H. and 
 Ms., attempts to settle, 68, 81. — 
 settled by the king and council, 
 81.— 82. 
 
 Boundary line between Vt. and 
 N. Y., dispute about, 94. — be- 
 tween N. H. and Vt., dispute a- 
 bout, 141, 142, 143, 148, 149. 
 
 Boio, granted, 74. 
 
 Boioen, Peter, kills Indians at Bos- 
 oawen, 97, 98. 
 
 Boylslon, Zabdiel, first practices in- 
 oculation, 68. 
 
 Brackett, Adino N., measurement 
 of the White Mountains by, 163. 
 
 Brackett, Joshua, pres. of the N . H. 
 Medical Society, 174. 
 
 Bradford, capt. 137. 
 
 Bradley, Benjamin, account of, 106. 
 
 Bradley, Jonathan and Sam'l killed 
 at Concord, 91. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 107 
 
 Bradslreet, cob, takes fort Frontc 
 nar, 104. 
 
 Bradslreet, Simon, gov. of Ms, 33. 
 — death of, 33. — sons of, flee on 
 account of witchcraft, 49. 
 
 Brattle, William, minister of Cam- 
 bridge, 65. 
 
 Breyman, col., command* the Hes- 
 sians, 137. 
 
 Bridgemaii's Fort, burnt, 92. — peo- 
 ple killed near, 100. 
 
 Bridgewzter, battle of, 182. 
 
 Brock, John preacher, at Isle of 
 Shoals, 131. 
 
 Brocklebank, Sautuel, killed by 
 the Indiana, 28, 
 
 Brown, Francis, pros, of Dart, 
 college, 116.— 185— death of, 203, 
 
 Brown, gen. defeats the British at 
 Sackett'a Harbor, 182. 
 
 Browne, Arthur, minister of Queen's 
 chapel, Portsmouth, 79. — death 
 of, 123. 
 
 Brunswick, Me., destroyed, 69 
 
 Buckminster, Joseph, minister of 
 Portsmouth, death of, 202. 
 
 Bull, Dixey, a noted pirate, 11. 
 
 Bunker Hill, battle of, account of, 
 127, 12S. 
 
 Burgoyne, gen., approaches Ticon- 
 deroga, 126. — detaches col. Bauin 
 against Stark, 136. — surrender 
 of, 138. 
 
 Burnet, William, gov ofN. II. and 
 Ms., arrived in Boston, 75. — death 
 of, 76. 
 
 Burton, 157. 
 
 Buss, John, house of, burnt by the 
 Indians, 50. 
 
 Carr, Sir Robert, 23, — instance of 
 
 severity of, 24. 
 Carrigain,Phil\p, sec. of slate, 173. 
 
 — map of. N. H. published by, 
 
 184. — appointed to make surveys. 
 196. 
 Carteret, George, 23. 
 Castine, Barron de St., house of, 
 
 plundered by Andros, 42. — notic* 
 
 of, 42. — story of one supposed to 
 
 be of his family, 71. 
 Castine, taken possession of by the 
 
 British, 183. 
 Centennial celebration, at Ports*- 
 
 mouth, account of, 193. 
 Chadbourne, Humphrey, 10. -builds 
 
 the great house, 11 . 
 Chamberlain, John, said to have 
 
 killed Paugus, 73. 
 Chamberlain, Richard, counsellor, 
 
 36.— sec, 48. 
 Champernoon, Francis, 31. 
 Champ lain, L:\ke, victory of McDoa» 
 
 ough upon, 182. 
 Charles, I., king of England, names 
 
 N.E., 7. 
 Charles IF., character of, 22, death 
 
 of, 40. 
 Charlestown, 89. — garrison with- 
 drawn, 91.— attacked by French 
 
 and Indians, 92. — applies for a 
 
 guard of soldiers, 99, — is visited 
 
 by the Indians, 98, 100. 
 Charlestown, Ms. settled in 1629, 
 
 15. 
 Cheshire county formed, IIS. 
 Chesley, capt., death of, 60. 
 Chester, settled, 67. 
 Chichester granted, 74. 
 
 Chickatawbut, chief sachem of the 
 Calfe, John, sec. of the convention Ms. tribe, 24. 
 for deciding on the federal consti- [Chippewa, battle of, 182. 
 tution, 15S. — sec. of the conven « ) Chittenden, Thomas, governor of 
 
 tion to revise the constitution, 163. 
 
 Conarfa,expeditioQ against, in 1690, 
 46. — expedition against, in 1711, 
 61. — plan for the reduction of, S9. 
 — conquest of, 106. — invaded by 
 the Americans, 134, but is soon 
 evacuated, 134. 
 
 Canterbury, granted, 74. 
 
 Carey, Matthew, 194. 
 
 Carr, James, of Pembroke, killed 
 by the enemy, 92. — instance of at- 
 tachment in his dog, 92. 
 
 Vt., 142. 
 
 Christians, denomination of, makes 
 its appearance, 170. 
 
 Church, Bcnj., surprises Philip 
 who is killed, 29. — col. of an ex- 
 pedition, 58. 
 
 Cilley, Joseph, 135. — a distinguish- 
 ed oihcer under Poor, in the rev- 
 olutionary war, 1 40.— 151.— makes 
 a charge upon the insurgents at 
 Exeter, 156.— death of',173. 
 
20S 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Claggelt, Wyseman, 113. — member 
 of the conventioa of, 1731, 146. 
 151. 
 
 Claremont, planted by people from 
 
 Conn., 109. Roman Catholic 
 
 church established at, 193. 
 
 Clay, Henry, can. for pres., 195. 
 
 Clement, Job, counsellor, 34 
 
 Clinton, Dewit, supported in N. II. 
 for president, 181. — 196, 
 
 Coffin, Peter, is spared by the Indi- 
 ans, 44. son of, surrenders his gar- 
 rison, to save tho life of his fath- 
 er, 44. 
 
 Colbum, Andrew, lieut. col. slain, 
 138. 
 
 Cold, effect of in May, 165S, 22.— 
 1816, 183. 
 
 Combination of towns formed, 14. 
 
 Commissioiiers from Charles II., 23 
 — visit Portsmouth, 23. 
 
 Commissioners to settle line, meet, 
 68, 81. 
 
 Committee of safety, 121, 126, 132, 
 136. 
 
 Concord, formerly Penacook, white 
 roan killed at, by thelndians,24 
 granted and settled, 74. — persons 
 killed at, by the Indians,90, 92 — 
 convention for forming constitution 
 met at, in 1781, 146. made the seat 
 of government, 177. 
 
 Concord, Ms., destruction of prop 
 erty at, by the British, 125. 
 
 Conferences with the Indians, 58 
 62, 65. 
 
 Congress, continental, met at Phila 
 delphia, 121. —proceedings of, 121 
 
 Congress of Commissioners,meetat 
 Albany, 98. 
 
 Connecticut river, west bunk of, 
 fixed as the boundary between 
 N. II. and Vt. s 149. 
 
 Connecticut River Company, 196. 
 Conner, col. slain, 138. 
 Constitution, to continue during the 
 war, goes into operation, lo2. — a 
 new one drawn up, and rejected in 
 1779, 143. — present one goes into 
 effect, 152.— is revised in 1792, 
 163, 164. 
 Constitution of the U.S. formed, 
 
 157. is adopted by N. II , 159. 
 Convention for forming a constitu- 
 
 tion, meet at Concord, 145. — pro- 
 ceedings of, 147. 
 
 Convention at Exeter, 120, 126.— 
 address of, extract from, 127. — 
 131. — ■ prepares a plan of govern- 
 ment, 132.— meet m 1799, 143. 
 
 Convention for deciding upon the 
 federal constitution, 158. 
 
 Convention for revising the consti- 
 tution, 164. 
 
 Convention of ministers, formed &c. 
 94. 
 
 Conioay, 157. 
 
 Coos county, incorporated, 118.— 
 127. 
 
 Cornwallis, surrender of, 148. 
 
 Cotton Factories, erected at differ- 
 ent places, 172. 
 
 Cotton, John minister of Hampton, 
 death of, 62. 
 
 Cotton, Seaborn, minister of Hamp- 
 ton, retires to Boston, 39. — 62. 
 
 Council of Plymouth, 7. 
 
 Counsellors under pres. Cutts,32,34. 
 
 Count Rumford, establishes himself 
 at Concord, sketch of, 119. 
 
 Counties, N. H. divided into, 118. 
 
 Court of Associates, 16. 
 
 Cranfield, Edward, appointed lieut. 
 gov. and com. -in-chief of the prov- 
 ince, 36. — character of, 36. — re- 
 models the courts, 37. — arbitrary 
 conduct of, 38.— 41. 
 
 Crawford, 197. 
 
 Crawford, William II., candidate 
 for pres., 195. 
 
 Crescent, a frigate built at Ports- 
 mouth, 167. 
 
 Crown Point,expedition against, 99. 
 
 Crystal Hills, 11. 
 
 Culler, Mannasseh, ascends the 
 White [Mountains, 153.— estimates 
 their altitude, 153. 
 
 Cutter, Avami R., member of the 
 convention of 1781, 146. — death 
 of and sketch of, 203. 
 
 Cults, John, pres. of N. H., 32.— 
 death of, 36. 
 
 Cuffs, Ursula, killed by the Indians, 
 50. 
 
 D 
 
 Dalton, Sam'l, counsellor, 34. 
 
 Daniel, Thomas, counsellor, 32. 
 
 Dartmouth College founded at Han- 
 over, 115.— account of, 116,— med- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 209 
 
 ical department attached to,167. — 
 amendment of the charter of, by 
 the Legislature, 186, which is re- 
 sisted by the trustees, 186, and is 
 declared by the S. C. of die U. S., 
 to be unconstitutional and void, 
 187. — presidents of, 116. 
 
 Dartmouth, earl of, a benefactor of 
 Dart. Col., 116. 
 
 Dana Daniel, pres. of Dart, col., 116 
 
 Dark day of 17S0, described, 14-1. 
 
 D'Anvillc, duke of, commits sui- 
 cide, 91. 
 
 Dearborn, Henry, an officer under 
 gen. Poor, 140. — commander of 
 the U. S. forces in the last war, 
 ISO. — captures York, 182. 
 
 Deerfield, Ms., destroyed by the In- 
 dians, 58. 
 
 Detroit surrendered to the British, 
 180. — is recovered, 182. 
 
 Diskaa, baron, mortally wounded, 
 182. 
 
 Dinsmoor, Sam'l, candidate for gov. 
 is defeated by Woodbury, 193. — 
 is chosen gov. in 1831, 200. 
 
 Dorchester settled, 6?. 
 
 Dorchester heights, in Ms., fortifi 
 cation on, 133. 
 
 Dover, settled by Edward and Wm. 
 Hilton, 8 — grant of, 10. — send 
 two reps, to the Court at Boston, 
 20. — is attacked by the Indians, 43 
 
 Debeline, a French commander, 92 
 
 Dudley, John, 151. — death and 
 character of, 175. 
 
 Dudley, Joseph, apnointed pre3. of 
 N. E., 40.— gov. of Ms. and N . H. 
 57. — retires to private life at Rox 
 bury, 64. 
 
 Dudley, Samuel, minister of Exe- 
 ter, 20. 
 
 Dudley, Thomas, gov. of Ms., 33. 
 
 Dummer, Shuhnel, minister of York 
 killed by Indians, 47. 
 
 Dunbar, David appointed lieut. gov. 
 78. — retires to Me., 80. — returns 
 to Eng. and -is imprisoned, &c, 
 80 — appointed gov. of St. Helena, 
 80, 81 — resigns the office of sur- 
 veyor general, 84. 
 
 Dunstable,seuled, 25. — Weld's gar- 
 rison in, attacked by die Indians, 
 69. 
 Du Quesnel, gov. of Louisborg, 86. 
 
 Durham, persons slain in, by the In- 
 dians, 27.— man killed at, 28. — 
 people slain at, 45. — attacked by 
 the Indians, 50. — bridge extend- 
 ing to, 166. 
 
 Duston, Mrs. Hannah, story of, 51. 
 
 D wight, travels of cited, 10,96,161. 
 — death and notice of, 139. 
 
 Dysentery, prevails, 170. 
 
 ■Si 
 
 Eames, capt., fort intrusted to his 
 command, 126. 
 
 Earthquakes, remarkable in 1638, 
 13.— in 1727, 75.— in 1755, and 
 an account of, 101. — in 1761, 
 107. 
 
 Eclipse of the sun, total, 176. 
 
 Eliot, John, the apostle of the Indi- 
 ans, 19. 
 
 Embargo act passed, 177, repealed, 
 177. 
 
 Embury, Philip, a distinguished 
 Methodist, 144. 
 
 Emerr.on, Daniel, minister of Hol- 
 lis, death of, 174. 
 
 Emerson, John,Berwick,escapes the 
 massacre at Dover, 44. 
 
 Emerson, John, minister of Ports- 
 mouth, death of, 84. 
 
 Emigration, to N. E. before 1640, 
 notice of, 15. 
 
 Endecott, John, gov. of Ms., 21, 33. 
 
 Endecott Rock, notice of, 21. 
 
 English, Joe, a friendly Indian, 
 killed, 59. 
 
 English, Philip and wife, notice of, 
 53. 
 
 Epsom, granted, 74. 
 
 Evans, John, wounded by the Indi- 
 ans, 74. 
 
 Exeter, Indians at, 8. — settled by 
 Mr. Wheelwright, 14. — Acade- 
 my founded at, 145. — insurgents 
 meet at, 156. — general court holds 
 its sessions at, 176. 
 T 
 
 Family government, 85. 
 
 Farmer, John, edition of Belknap 
 prepared by, 154. 
 
 Farrar, Timothy, member of the 
 convention of 1781, 145. — one of 
 the committee to prepare the con- 
 stitution, 147. 
 Farwell, lieut., in Lovewell's com- 
 pany, perishes, 73. 
 
210 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Federalists and Republicans, two 
 parties formed, 165. 
 
 Fitch, Jabez,minister of Portsmouth, 
 death and nutice of, 107. — 131. 
 
 Fitzwilliam, 137. 
 
 Fletcher, John, surveyor, 157. 
 
 Flood, great in N. II., 196, 197. 
 
 Floyd, capt., attacks the Indians, 46. 
 
 Folsom, Nathaniel, commands a de- 
 tachment, 99. — representative to 
 
 congress, 120. 151. — pres. pro 
 
 tem. of the convention of 1783, 
 152. 
 
 Forbes, gen., gained fort Du Quesne, 
 103. 
 
 Fort Dummer, built, 71.— 3S. 
 
 Fort Du Quesne, expedition against, 
 miscarries, 99, — taken by gen. 
 Forbes, 103. 
 
 Fort Edward, 99.— 103. 
 
 Fort Front enac, taken, 104. 
 
 Fort Hinsdale, men killed at, 93. 
 
 Fort Niagara, expedition against, 
 miscarries, 99. 
 
 Fort on Great Island, 24. 
 
 Fort William Henry, surrenders to 
 the French, 102.-massacre at, 103 
 
 Foster, Abiel, chosen representa- 
 tive in congress, 160. — death of. 
 202. 
 
 Fowle, Daniel, establishes the first 
 printing press at Portsmouth, 10 
 
 France, hostile conduct of, 168. — 
 treaty concluded with, 169. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, remark of. 
 123 — opinion of the Age of Iteas 
 on, 170,171, 
 
 French fleet, against N. E. destroy- 
 ed, 91. against the British, ar- 
 rives, 140. 
 
 Frenchtown, massacre at, 1S2. 
 
 Freewill Baptists, (see Baptists.) 
 
 Friend of Peace, a periodical in 
 Ms., 1S7. 
 
 Frontiers of N. H., 745, describ- 
 ed, 88. 
 Frost, George, 151. 
 
 Frost, great, in 1794, effects of, 
 165. 
 
 Frye, Jonathan, chaplain of Love 
 well's company, perishes, 73. 
 
 Fryeburg , Me., the scene of Love 
 well's fight, 72. 
 
 Fryer, Nathaniel, 31. 
 
 Furs, trade in, 8. 
 
 a 
 
 Gage, gen. Thomas, 121. 
 
 Gates, Horatio, army of, increased 
 by volunteers, 138. 
 
 General Court of Ms. meet in sep- 
 arate apartments, 17. 
 
 George I., death of, 73. 
 
 George II., succeeds Geo. I. 75. 
 
 Gerrish, Sarah, story of, 44, 45. 
 
 Gibbons, and Pepperell, anecdote 
 of, 131. 
 
 Gibbons, Ambrose, 10. — 12. — assis- 
 tant magistrate, 14. — magistrate 
 nt Portsmouth, 16. 
 
 Gibson, Richard, episcopal minister, 
 at Portsmouth, 14. 
 
 Gilman, John, counsellor, 33. — sus- 
 pended, 37. 
 
 Gilman, John Taylor, reads the dec- 
 laration of independence, 134.-— 
 151. — member of the convention 
 for deciding on the federal consti- 
 tution, 158. — chosen gov. 165. — 
 is succeeded by John Langdon, 
 172. — candidate for gov., 178. — 
 again elected gov., 181. — 183. — 
 takes his final leave of public life, 
 185. 
 
 Gilman, Nicholas, 151. — treasurer 
 of the State, 173. 
 
 Gilman, Nicholas, delegate to the 
 convention for forming the federal 
 constitution, 157. — chosen rep. to 
 congress, 160.— death of, 203. 
 
 Gilman, Peter, commands a second 
 regiment from N. II., 99. 
 
 Gilmanton, grained, 74. 
 
 Goddard, Edward, member of the 
 convention of 1781, and one of the 
 committee for framing die consti- 
 tution, 147. 
 
 Godfrey, Edward, 10, 11. 
 
 Goffe, John, commands troops to 
 fort William Henry, 102. — regi- 
 ment commanded by, 106. — cuts a 
 new road from 0harles.town to 
 Crown Point, 106. 
 
 Gordon, William, attorney general, 
 death of, 174. 
 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 7. 
 
 Grafton county formed, 118. 
 
 Great Island, battery on, seized, 127. 
 
 Green Mountain Boys, 111. 
 
 Gregg, William, col. in Bennington 
 battle, 137. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 211 
 
 H 
 
 Hale, col., commands a regiment to 
 Ticonderoga, 135 — taken prisoner 
 by Burgoyne, 136. 
 
 Hale, col., of Rindge, imprisoned, 
 
 148 builds bridge at Bellows' 
 
 Falls, 154. 
 Sale, Samuel, a noted instructor, 
 
 death of, 203. 
 Hale, William, candidate for gov., 
 
 190. 
 Hampton settled, 14. 
 Hancock, dysentery at, 170. 
 Hanover, planted by people from 
 
 Conn., 109 — college founded at, 
 
 115 — cannon at Bunker Hill, heard 
 
 at, 129. 
 Harman, capt., 70. — 71. 
 Harper, Joseph M. pres. of the 
 
 senate, officiates as gov., 200 
 Harrison, gen., defeats the British 
 
 at Detroit, 182. 
 Hartford, Conn., settled in 1635 
 
 15. 
 Hartford Convention, 183. 
 Harvard college, contributions ii 
 
 N. H. to erect a new edifice for 
 
 25-Mr.Moodey elected pres. of,52 
 Harvey, Matthew, chosen gov. 199. — 
 
 is appointed judge, and resi 
 
 the office of gov., 199. 
 Haven, Nathaniel A., delivers an 
 
 oration at Portsmouth, 193. 
 Haven, Samuel, minister of Ports 
 
 mouth, death of, 202. 
 Haverhill, 97 — cannon at Bunker 
 
 Hill, heard at, 129. 
 Haviland, col., 106. 
 Hazzen, Richard, 82. 
 Heard, Elizabeth, story of, 44. 
 Hebron, 157. 
 
 Hendricks, an Indian chief, 99. 
 Hill, Isaac, chosen senator to Con- 
 gress, 199. 
 Hillsboi^ough, granted by Ms., 74 — 
 
 deserted, 90. 
 Hillsborough county formed, 118. 
 ^Hilton, Edward, settles at Dover 
 
 Neck, 8 — appointed magistrate for 
 Dover, 16* — death of, 25. 
 Hilton, William, settles at Dover 
 
 Neck, 8. 
 Hilton, Winthrop, expedition led 
 by, 58 — several expeditions led by, 
 
 " 58, 59, 60, 61— death of, 61 
 
 Hinckes, John, counsellor, 40 — sus- 
 pended by Usher, 51— is chief mag- 
 istrate, 52 — issues proclamation, 
 52— chief justice of N. H., 55. 
 
 Hinsdale, settled, 39-89— 92— men 
 killed at, 93— attacked, 100. 
 
 Hobbs, capt. , 93. 
 
 Hodgkins, sachem of Penacook, 43. 
 
 Holder ness, 157. 
 
 Holland, Samuel, prepares map of 
 N. H., 119. 
 
 Ho His, settled, 75. 
 
 Hoophood, an Indian chief, attack*) 
 Newington, 46. 
 
 Hopkinton, granted by Ms., 74 — 
 eight persons captured at, 90— ef- 
 forts made to make seat of govern- 
 ment, 176. 
 
 Horton, a British officer, conducts 
 a body of Canadian Indians into 
 N. II.', 144. 
 
 House, col., 145. 
 
 Howe, Jemima, taken captive, 10O— 
 sketch of, 101. 
 
 Howe, lord, slain, 103. 
 
 Hubbard, Henry, speaker of the 
 House of Reps., 195. 
 
 Hull, gen., surrender of, at Detroit, 
 ISO. 
 
 Huske, Ellis, counsellor, 114. 
 
 Hussey, Christopher, counsellor, 33. 
 
 Idolatry, a capital crime, 16. 
 
 Immigrants, classes of, in N. H., 
 7") — from Conn., plant a number 
 of towns, 109. 
 
 Independence of the US. declared, 
 134 — declaration of, read at Exe- 
 ter by John T. Gilman, 134— is 
 published in the several counties 
 with the beat of drum, 135. 
 
 Indians, names of tribes inN.H.,8 — 
 efforts to civilize, 18— was with, 31, 
 13— ,25-29,41, 57,72-peace with, 
 31, 74, 93— complaints of, against 
 the English, 42— attack Dover, 43 
 — make an attack on Rye, 47 — 
 a' tack Durham, 50— conferences 
 with, 58, 62, 65— are attacked by 
 capt. Baker, 70— by capt. Love- 
 well, 72--attack the fort at Charles- 
 towii, 92— character of, 93 — buca 
 Bridgeman's Fort, 92— a party of, 
 attack Shelburne, 147. 
 
 Insurrection at Exeter, 156. 
 
212 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Invasion of N. E. by the French 
 
 intended, 91. 
 Isles of Shoals, 130. 
 J 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, commands at 
 
 Kittrcdge, Jonathan, Temperance 
 
 address of, 198. 
 Knowles, Sir Charles, presents a 
 
 sword to capt. Stevens, 92. 
 
 New Orleans, 184— candidate for Laconia Company, 7, 152 
 
 pres. in 1824, 195 — 'u elected in 
 1828, 199— visits N, E., 200— re- 
 ception of in N. H., 201. 
 
 Jackson, Clement, death and char- 
 acter of, 173. 
 
 Jackson, Hall, death of, 173. 
 
 Ladd, Daniel, company under, ar- 
 rives at Concord, 91. 
 
 Lafayette visits the U. S., 191— 
 account of his reception at Con- 
 cord, 191. 
 
 Lake Erie, battle on, 182. 
 
 Jaffrey, George, one cf the Masoni- Lake IVinnepiseogee, 27, 45, 72, 
 an proprietors, 89— pres. of the 91, 114, 201. 
 council, 114 — death of, — 108. Langdon, John, with Sullivan,seizea 
 
 the fort, 122 — chosen delegate to 
 Congress, 122 — speaker of the 
 house of reps., 136 — president of 
 convention of delegates, 143-151 — 
 chosen president of N. H., 155— 
 delegate to the convention for 
 forming the federal Constitution, 
 157 — delegate to the convention 
 for deciding on its adoption, 158 
 — again chosen president of N.H., 
 160 — elected senator in Congress, 
 160 — opposes the ratification of 
 Jay's treaty, 166 — candidate for 
 governor, 169 — elected governor, 
 172 — is succeeded by gov. Smith, 
 178 — again elected governor, 178 
 — retires to private life, 178. 
 exploits of, Langdon, Samuel, 87— death of, 
 173. 
 
 James II., 40, 42. 
 
 Ja>fs treaty, encounters much oppo- 
 sition, 166— ratified by Washing- 
 ton, 167. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, candidate for 
 the presidency in 1796, 167 — is' 
 elected by the House of Reps, in 
 1801, 170— declines a third elec-i 
 tion, 177 — succeeded by James 
 Madison, 177— 195-death of, 195. 
 
 Johnson, James, and family taken 
 prisoners, 9S. 
 
 Johnson, gen., with gen. Lyman, 
 leads an expedition against Crown 
 Point, 99. 
 
 Jones, Esther, anecdote of, 62. 
 
 Jones, John Paul, sails from Ports- 
 mouth, 140 — darin 
 140. 
 
 Jones, Abner, founder of the sect of Langdon, Woodbury, a patriot of 
 
 Christians, 169 
 
 Judiciary, act of 1813, repealed, 
 185. 
 
 22 
 
 Keene, granted by Ms., 74 — settled, 
 75 — persons killed at, by the Indi- 
 ans, 89 — court at, disturbed, 149. 
 
 Kennebeck river, 7. 
 
 Kidd capt., and other pirates, taken, 
 sent to England and executed, 55. 
 
 Kilburn, John, successfully defends 
 his garrison, 100. 
 
 Kimball Union Academy, notice of, 
 181. 
 
 Kimball, Daniel, founder of the 
 academy incorp. by his name, 181. 
 
 King, Rufus, candidate for pres., 
 189. 
 
 Kingston settled, 49. 
 
 Kittery, early settlers at, 8. 
 
 the revolution, 151. 
 Lebanon, planted by people from 
 
 Conn., 109. 
 Lee, Jesse, introduces Methodism 
 
 into N. E., 164— visits N. H., 
 
 164. 
 Lempster, 109. 
 Legislature, places of its holdiDg 
 
 sessions, 175. 
 Leverett, John, governor of Mass., 
 
 33. 
 Leveridg&, William, minister of 
 
 Dover, 12. 
 Lexington, battle of, 125. 
 Linen, manufacture of, by the first 
 
 settlers of Londonderry, 67. 
 Litchfield, settled, 67. 
 Literary fund, avails of, 192. 
 Little Harbor, settlement at, 8— 
 
 salt manufactured at, 8. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 213 
 
 Livermnre, Samuel, principally 
 draughts a new constitution, 143, 
 151 — in favor of the federal con- 
 constitution, 15S — chosen repre- 
 sentative in Congress, 160 — presi- 
 dent of the convention to revise 
 the constitution, 164 — senator in 
 Congress, 160 — in favor of Jay's 
 treaty, 166— death of, 174. 
 
 Livius, Peter, goes to England and 
 accuses gov. Went worth, 118. 
 
 Londonderry settled, 66 — first set- 
 tlers of, introduce the culture of 
 potatoes, 67. 
 
 Lord, Nathan, president of Dart 
 mouth college, 116 — obtains sub 
 ecriptions for the college, 199. 
 
 Lothrop, Thomas, surprized and 
 slain by the Indians, 28. 
 
 Loudon, earl of, has the chief mi 
 tary command in America, 101 — 
 is superseded, 103. 
 
 Louisburg, plans for the capture 
 of, proposed by William Vaughan 
 86— is taken, 87. 
 
 Loveioell, John. 69 — expeditions of,' 
 against the Indians, 72 — death of, 
 72. 
 
 LoveweWs war, 72. 
 
 Lovevfell, Zaccbeus, takes part in' 
 
 eettlers and minister of London- 
 derry, 66. 
 
 McNeil, John, 67 — a distinguished 
 officer in the late war, ISO, 192. 
 
 Madison, James, elected president, 
 777, 181 — succeeded by James 
 Monroe, 189. 
 
 Madokawando, 42. 
 
 Maid's Tree, affecting «tory con- 
 nected with, 118. 
 
 Maine, early settlers in, 8 — a&aad 
 by Gorges, 10. 
 
 Manztealing, a capital crime, 16. 
 
 Marlborough, 157. 
 
 Marlow, 109. 
 
 Mcrtyn, Richard, counsellor, 32— 
 suspended by danfield, 36, 37. 
 
 Mason, John and Robert, 41. 
 
 Mason, John, 7 — obtains a patent 
 of N. H., 10, 12— death and 
 character of, 13 — widow of, sends 
 agent to N. II., 14 — widow of, 
 neglects and looses her goods and 
 effects in N. II., IS. 
 
 \Mason, Robert, endeavors to estab- 
 
 lish his claim to N. H., 23 — makes 
 a second attempt, 31 — comes to 
 N. II. claiming a seat in the coun- 
 cil, 35 — returns to England, 35, 
 36 — chancellor, 37— death of, 41. 
 
 reducing Ticonderoga, 104. 
 
 ■ lilasonian proprietors, 157— names 
 
 Lyman, lieut., attacks the Indians 
 
 58. 
 Lyman, gen., with Johnson, leads 
 
 an expedition against Crown 
 
 Point, 99. 
 Lyme, planted by people from Conn., 
 
 109. 
 
 ss 
 
 McClary, Andrew, killed at Bunker 
 
 Hill, i2s: 
 
 McClary, John, a patriot of the 
 
 revolution, 151. 
 McClary, Michael, adjutant general, 
 
 death and character of, 204. \Merrimack 
 
 Macclintock, Samuel, preaches elec-| 118. 
 
 tion sermon in 1784, 153 — death 'Merrimack river 
 
 of, 174. iMesandowit, lod 
 
 McDonough, commodore, defeats house, 43 
 
 of, 
 
 Mason's Hall, first house erected 
 in N. II., 8. 
 
 Massachusetts, receives N. IT. un- 
 der its government, 15. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, recommsndi icocn- 
 lation, 68. 
 
 Mather, Increase, goes to England, 
 
 41 • 
 
 Maud, Daniel, first settled minister 
 
 of Dover, 20. 
 Maverick, Samuel, 23. 
 Mayhew, Thomas, 18, 31. 
 
 county, incorporated, 
 
 ;es in 
 
 Wa'dron'o 
 
 the British on Lake Champlain 
 
 182. 
 McGregore, David, minister of 
 
 Londonderry, 67, 94: — death of, 
 
 151. 
 MacGregore, James, one of the first 
 
 Mescrve, George, appointed stamp 
 
 distributor in N. II., 112 — resign3 
 
 his commission, 113. 
 Meserve, Nathaniel, a masonian 
 
 proprietor, 89 — commands a N. 
 
 H, regiment, 101. 
 
1U 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Meteors, remarkable exhibition of, 
 201. 
 
 Methodism introduced into Ameri- 
 ca. 164. 
 
 2? 
 Nash and Sawyer, discover tbe 
 Notch of the White Mountains, 
 118. 
 
 Middlesex canal, commenced, 160. \ Nashua, two men taken at, 71. 
 Miller, James, 67— an officer in the Neal, Walter, superintendent at 
 
 Portsmouth, 10 — resides at Little 
 Harbor, 11 — returns to England, 
 12. 
 Nesmond, marquis, sails from 
 
 France for N. E., 51. 
 New-Boston, granted by Mass, 74. 
 
 late war, ISO, 1S2 
 
 Militia,o(N. H., re-organized, 126- 
 sixteen companies of, from N. H. 
 inarch to Cambridge, 133. 
 
 Minas, engagement at, 92. 
 
 Ministers, convention of, formed, 
 94. 
 
 Mitchel, George, 82. 
 
 Moffat, John, a masonian proprie- 
 tor, 89. 
 
 Newbury, Vt., 97. 
 New-Castle, is incorporated, 49. 
 Newcomb, Daniel, member of the 
 convention of 1781, 146. 
 
 Mohawks, endeavor by Philip to j New-England, named by Charles 
 enlist in the war, 26— are seen at X.,7 — confederation of colonies of, 
 
 Amoskeag, 40 
 
 Monroe, James, elected president 
 and visits N. E., 1S9 — incident in 
 connection with, at Hanover, 190— 
 re-elected president, 191. 
 
 Montcalm, marquis de, commands 
 the French army, 102 — invests fort 
 William Henry, 102. 
 
 Montreal, attacked by gen. Wilkin- 
 son, 182. 
 
 Moocley, Joshua, ordained at Ports- 
 mouth, 23— opens N. H. legisla- 
 ture at its first meeting with prayer 
 and an election sermon, 34 — per- 
 secuted by Craafield, 38— impris- 
 onment of, preacher at Boston 
 and returns to Portsmouth, 39 — 
 death and character of, 52, 53. 
 
 Moodey, Bettv, anecdote of, 130. 
 
 Moore, Jacob B., 197. 
 
 Moore, Samuel, colonel in the Lou- 
 isburg expedition, 87 — masonian 
 proprietor, 83. 
 
 Moorhead, John, 94. 
 
 Morals, state of, .in 1644, 19, 20. 
 
 Morril, David Lawrence, senator 
 
 17. 
 
 Neio- Hampshire, patent of, granted 
 to John Mason, 7, 10 — settled io 
 1623, 7— population of in 1641, 
 15 — united with Mass. 15 — char- 
 acter of first settlers »f, 20 — be- 
 comes a royal province, 32 — popu- 
 lation of in 1680, 35— is a second 
 time united with Mass., 42 — popu- 
 lation of in 1702, 57 — population 
 of in 1730, 77 — connected with 
 Mass., under the same governor, 
 more than forty years, 83 — has a 
 separate governor, 83 — population 
 of in 1749, 94 — raises troops in 
 the French war, 101, 102 — num- 
 ber of ministers, lawyers, and 
 justices in 1768, 115 — divided in- 
 to counties, 118 — the ninth State 
 which ratifies the federal constitu- 
 tion, 159 — population according 
 to U. S. census, 161, 170, 191, 
 200. 
 
 New-Hampshire Bank, 163. 
 
 New-Hampshire Baptist Missionary 
 Society, .171. 
 
 to Congress, is chosen governor by I New-Hampshire Bible Society, no- 
 
 the legislature, 194, 195 — is sue- tice of, 179. 
 
 ceeilcd by Benjamin Pierce, 198. I New-Hampshire Gazette, cemmen- 
 
 Morrison, William, minister of 
 Londonderry, death of, 203. 
 
 Morton, Thomas, sent prisoner to 
 England, 89. 
 
 Moulton, captain, 70, 71. 
 
 Moultonborough, 161. 
 
 Murray, John, preachel Unirersal- 
 ism in N. II., 119. 
 
 ces, 102. 
 
 New-Hampshire Grants, contro- 
 versy respecting, 111. 
 
 New-Hampshire Historical Socie- 
 ty, 194. 
 
 New-Hampshire Medical Society, 
 163. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 215 
 
 Neio-Hampshire Missionary Socie-I 
 
 ty, 171. 
 New-Hampton Academy, notice of, 1 
 
 196. 
 New-Haven scaled, 115. 
 Newington, attacked by Hoophood, 
 
 46, 166. 
 New-London, 157. 
 New-Orleans, battle of, 183, 184. 
 Newport, II. I., meditated attack 
 
 upon, 140. 
 Nichols, Moses, col., in Bennington 
 
 battle, 137. 
 Nichols, Richard, commissioner of 
 
 Charles II., 23. 
 Nicholson, Francis, governor, makes 
 
 Mrs. DustOn a present, 51. 
 Nil despcrandum Christo duee, 
 
 motto given bv Mr. Whitefield for 
 
 a flag, 87. 
 Norfolk, county of, 17. 
 Norridgewock, expedition against, 
 
 59 — attack upon, 70. 
 Northam, former name of Dover, S. 
 Northumberland, 126. 
 Norton, Francis, agent of widow 
 
 Mason, 14, 18. 
 Notch of the White Mountains, dis- 
 covered, 118. 
 Nottingham, settled, 67, 92. 
 Nova-Scotia, expedition against 
 
 succeeds, 99 — emigration to, 107 
 Number Four, name changed to 
 
 Charlestown, 92. 
 O 
 
 Occum, a Mohegan Indian, a preach- 
 er, 116. 
 
 Odiorne, Jotham, a masonian pro- 
 prietor, 89 — judge of superior 
 
 court, 114. 
 Odiorne's point, at Little Harbor. 
 
 6eltled by David Thompson, 8. 
 Ohio Fever, 189. 
 Olcott, Mills, member of Hartford 
 
 convention, 183. 
 Olcott, Simeon, senator in Congress, 
 
 death of, 203. 
 Omens, regarded, 31. 
 Orange, 157. 
 Orford, planted by people from 
 
 Conn., 109. 
 Ossipee Lake, 27, 30, 72. 
 Ossipees, tribe of Indians, 8, 26 
 
 40, 43. 
 
 Packer, Thomas, death of, 84. 
 
 Packer, Thomas, one cf the maso- 
 nian proprietors, 89 — sheriff, 114 
 —death of, 123. 
 
 Page, William, 161. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, 170. 
 
 Paper money, vote against the issue 
 of, 156. 
 
 Parker, Abel, opposes the federal 
 constitution, 158. 
 
 Par I; hurst, Phinehas, wounded by 
 the Indians, 145. 
 
 Parliament of (ireat Britain, im- 
 poses a stamp duly on the colonies, 
 112 — repeals the stamp act, 113 — 
 imposes duties on glass, paper, 
 paints, and tea, 115 — new acts of 
 oppression of, 123. 
 
 Pan is, Ferdinando John, solicitor 
 for Thomlinson, 79. 
 
 Partridge, Alden, calculates the 
 height of the White Mountains, 
 153. 
 
 Partridge, William,appointedlieut. 
 governor, 52. 
 
 Puscataquu river, 7 — bridges built 
 across, 166, 193. 
 
 Passaconaway, sachem of (he Pena- 
 cook Indians, and head of the 
 Pawtuckets, 8 — seizure of son of, 
 17 — makes his farewell address, 
 23. 
 
 Patten, Matthew, 151. 
 
 Paugus, Indian chief, killed, 72. 
 
 Pawtuckets, confederacy of Indians, 
 8. 
 
 Payson, Seth, minister of Rindge, 
 death of, 203. 
 
 Peabody, Nathaniel, member of the 
 convention of 1781, and one of 
 the committee for framing the con- 
 stitution, 146, 151. 
 
 Peabody, Oliver W. B., delivers 
 poem at Portsmouth, 193. 
 
 Peabody, Oliver, state treasurer, is 
 succeeded by Nathaniel Gilman, 
 173. 
 
 Peace, with the Indians, 31— with 
 the French and Indians, 53 — with 
 the Indians, 74 — between England 
 and France, 93 — between England 
 and France, 107 — between the U. 
 S. and England, concluded at 
 Paris in 1782, 150— between the 
 
216 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 U. S. and England, 184. 
 
 Peace Society, American, formed, 
 188— notice of, 188. 
 
 Pearl, , of Dover, killed, 60. 
 
 Pearson, Joseph, secretary of state, 
 is succeeded by Philip Carrigain, 
 173. 
 
 Peirce, Daniel, death of, 123. 
 
 Peirce, John, 157, 166. 
 
 Peirce, Joshua, counsellor, 7S — ma- 
 sonian proprietor, 89. 
 
 Pelham, settled, 67. 
 
 Pembroke, granted, 74, 92. 
 
 Penacook, now Concord, 45. 
 
 Penacooks, tribe of Indians, 8, 26, 
 30, 40, 43, 58. 
 
 Penhalloio, John, 69. 
 
 Penhallow, Samuel, counsellor, is 
 suspended by Vaughan, 64 — death 
 of, 84 
 
 Penobscot Bay, 183. 
 
 Pepperell and Gibbons, anecdote 
 of, 131. 
 
 Pepperell, William, commander at 
 the taking of Louisburg, 87, 95. 
 
 Pequawkets, tribe of Indians, 8, 
 26, 43, 58, 72. 
 
 Pequot ivar, 13. 
 
 Perjury, a capital crime, 16. 
 
 Perry, commodore, captures British 
 equadron on Lake Erie, 182. 
 
 Peterborough, granted by Mass., 
 74. 
 
 Philip, sachem of the Wampanoags, 
 instigates a war against the colo- 
 nies, 25 — sketch of his war, 25, 
 29 — is killed by a friendly Indian, 
 29. 
 
 Phillips, John, founder of Exeter' 
 Academy, sketch of, 146. 
 
 Phips, William, commands a force' 
 for Canada, 46 — notice of, 48 — 
 lady of, accused of witchcraft, 49. 
 
 Pickering, John, forcibly takes re- 
 cords, 48. 
 
 Pickering, John, member of the 
 convention and one of the com- 
 mittee for forming the constitution, 
 146, 147, 151, 152— in favor of 
 the federal constitution, 158 — is 
 appointed chief justice of the S.l 
 C, 161 — president pro ton. of 
 the convention to revise the con- 
 stitution, 164 — death and notice 
 of, 174. 
 
 Pickering, Thomas, with Sullivan 
 and Langdon, seizes the fort, 122. 
 
 Pierce, Benjamin, leads the soldiera 
 of the revolution on Lafayette's 
 visit, 195— elected governor, 198— 
 is succeeded by John Bell, 199— 
 again elected governor, 199. 
 
 Pike, John, minister of Dover, death 
 of, 62. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles C, receives the 
 votes of N. H. for president, 
 172 — candidate for president, 177. 
 
 Pitcairn, major, commands the 
 British at Lexington, 125. 
 
 Pitt, William, placed at the head 
 of affairs in England, 103. 
 
 Plainfield, planted by people from 
 Conn., 1C9. 
 
 Plains of Abraham, battle of, 104. 
 
 Plaisted, Roger, killed, 27. 
 
 Plan of government, prepared by 
 the convention at Exeter, describ- 
 ed, 132. 
 
 Platisburg, battle of, 182. 
 
 Plausawa, an Indian, killed in Bos- 
 
 caw in 
 
 97. 
 
 Plumer, William, is elected gov- 
 ernor, 178 succeeded by gov. 
 
 Gilman, 181 — again elected gov- 
 ernor, 185 — declines re-election, 
 and is succeeded by Samuel Bell, 
 190. 
 
 Plymouth, cannon at Bunker Hill 
 heard at, 129, 157. 
 
 Poor, Enoch, commands a regiment, 
 126 — commands a brigade to Ti- 
 conderoga, 136, 137--- death of, 
 145, 151. 
 
 Population, increase of in the U. S., 
 15— of N. H. in 16S0, 35— in 
 1702, 57— in 1730, 77— in 1749, 
 94— divisions of, 110— of U. S., 
 123— of N. H. in 1790, 161— of 
 the U. S. and N. II. in 1801, 
 170— of N. H. in 1820, 191— of 
 N. H. and U. S. in 1830, 200. 
 
 Portland, treaty with Indians at, 
 93— conflagration of, 129, 183. 
 
 Port-Royal, expedition against, 60. 
 
 Portsmouth, charter of obtained, 
 10 — called Strawberry Bank 30 
 years, 18 — people killed at, 50 — 
 Universalist church founded at, 
 119, 165— yellow fever at, 168— 
 society of christians formed at, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 217 
 
 170 — great fire at, 171 — great fire 
 at, 182-183 — Athena?um, 190. 
 
 Post-Office established in 1\. H.,49. 
 
 Potatoes, culture of introduced by the 
 first settlers of Londonderry, 67. 
 
 Pou;der,exportation of prohibited by 
 the king, 122 — one hundred barrels 
 seized, 122. 
 
 Powers, Walter, first Baptist minis- 
 ter in N. H., 101. 
 
 Prentice, John, speaker of die House 
 of Reps., 172, 
 
 Prinet 'on, battle of, 135. 
 
 Providence settled, 15. 
 
 Provost, general, defeated at Platts- 
 burg, 182. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quakers persecuted, 19, 20 — enact- 
 ments against, 21 — society of, form- 
 ed at Seabrook, 56. 
 
 Quebec, expedition against, 46 — ex- 
 j>< ition against, 61 — taken, 104, 
 134. 
 
 Queen's chapel, Portsmouth, (now 
 St. John's Cl/urch,) 79. 
 R 
 
 Raikcs, Robert, founder of Sabbath 
 Schools, 194. 
 
 Ralle, Sebastian, account of, 69 — 
 taken and killed, 70, 71. 
 
 Randall, Benjamin, founder of the 
 Freewill Baptists, 144. 
 
 Randolph, Edward, comes to N. H., 
 31 — returns to England, 32 — brings 
 commission for the new govern- 
 ment, 34 — appointed surveyor and 
 collector of the istoms, 35 — attor- 
 ney gen< r il, 3 11 . 
 
 Rangers, c 1,103 — suf- 
 
 ferings of, 105, 106. 
 
 Refugees,estnU ;s of, confiscated, 140. 
 
 Reid, George, 67. 
 
 Reid, James, colonel in the revolu- 
 tion, 125, 143, 151. 
 
 Religion, revivals of, &c, 171 — in 
 N. 11., 191. 
 
 Republicans and Federalists, two 
 great parties formed, 165. 
 
 Revenue of N. H.,78. 
 
 Revolution in Boston, 16S9, 42 — 
 American, commences, 125. 
 
 Rindge, 157. 
 
 Rindge, John, agent of N. H., 79 — 
 death of, 84. 
 
 Riot at Exeter and Hampton, 37, 38. 
 
 Rochester, 89 — Indian hostilities at, 
 90, 92. 
 
 Rockingham county formed, 119. 
 
 Rogers, Nathaniel, minister of Ports- 
 mouth, death of, 84. 
 
 Rogers, Robert, tortured to death, 
 46. 
 
 Rogers, Robert, commands the rang- 
 ers, 101 — author of a journal, 102 
 — with his rangers, successfully at- 
 tacks the St. Francis Indians, 105. 
 
 Rolfe, Benjamin, minister of Haver- 
 
 i hill, Ms., killed, 60. 
 
 Roman Catholic Church established 
 at Claremont, 193. 
 
 Rosebrook, a resident near the Notch 
 of the White Mountains, 161. 
 
 Rowlandson, Mary, taken by the 
 Indians, 28. 
 
 Roiols, an Indian chief, 8. 
 
 Royalton, Vt., burnt by the Indians, 
 144. 
 
 Rumney, 97. 
 
 Rush, Benjamin, 194. 
 
 Rye, people killed at, 47. 
 S 
 
 Sabatis, an Indian, killed at Bos- 
 cavven, 97. 
 
 Sabbath guarded by law from vio- 
 lation, 16. 
 
 SacketVs Harbor, British defeated 
 at, 182. 
 
 Saco, early settlers at, 8. 
 
 St. Francis, Indians, 97 — surprised, 
 their village burnt, and two hun- 
 dred slain, by a detatchment of 
 rangers under Major Rogers, 105. 
 
 Salem, Ms. settled in 1628, 15—166. 
 
 Salisbury first experiences the suf- 
 ferings of invasion in the war of 
 1755, 98. 
 
 Sandeman, Robert, comes to Amer- 
 ica, 111. 
 
 Sandemanians, society of, formed at 
 Portsmouth, 111. 
 
 Sandwich, 157. 
 
 Saratoga, 137. 
 
 Sawyer and Nash discover the Notch 
 of the White Mountains, 118. 
 
 Scammell, Alexander, commands a 
 regiment to Ticonderoga, 135, 145 
 —death of, 148, 151, 
 
218 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Scarborough frigate, tne crew of, 
 dismantle fort at Portsmouth, 127, 
 129. 
 Scarcity, effects of, 12. 
 Schools, common, system of, begun, 
 IS— progress of, 162 — amount an- 
 nually raised 10 support, 163. 
 Seabrook, Quakers at, 56. 
 Sergeant, John, conceives the plan 
 of an Indian School, 115. 
 
 Sewall, Jonathan M., secretary of 
 t 1 convention of 1781, 146 — 152, 
 
 Shackford, captain, pursues the In- 
 dians, 50. 
 
 Shakers first appear in N. H., and 
 establish themselves at Canterbury 
 and Enfield, 150. 
 
 Shapleigh, Major, 31. 
 
 Shays, Daniel, insurrection headed 
 by, 155. 
 
 Sheafe, James, candidate for gov- 
 ernor, 185. 
 
 Shelburne invaded by the Indians, 
 147. 
 
 Shepard, Amos, president of the 
 Senate, 172. 
 
 Sherburne, John S., wounded, 141 
 
 Sherburne, Henry, 98 — counsellor, 
 114 — death and notice of, 123. 
 
 Sherburne, Major, slain, in battle, 
 139. 
 
 Sherlock, shei iff under Cranfield,37. 
 
 Shirley, William, gov. of Ms. ,86. 
 
 Shurticff, Roswell, professor at Dart- 
 mouth college, removed by new 
 trustees, 186. 
 
 Shutc, Samuel, appointed governor 
 of Ms. and N. H. 64— displaces 
 six counsellors, 64 — dissolves the 
 assembly, 64 — controversy between 
 and Vaughan, 64 — returns to Eng- 
 land, 70. 
 
 Slavery, instance of, 19. 
 
 Small pox prevails, 48 — innocula- 
 tion introduced, 68, 134, 135. 
 
 Smith, Dr. Nathan, notice of, 167, 
 16S. 
 
 Smith, Jeremiah, elected governor, 
 178 — notice of, 178 — succeeded by 
 Langdon, 178 — chief justice, 181. 
 
 Smith, John, explores t! N. E. 
 coast, 7 — name of, given the 
 Isle of Shoals, 130. 
 
 Snows, great, 45, 171. 
 
 Social Friends Society, 186. 
 Solley, Samuel, counsellor, 11*4. 
 So7nersworth, persons slain at, 26. 
 Spotted Fever rages, 1S4. 
 Squando, an Indian sachem, 26. 
 Stamp act passed, 112 — effects of 
 on the colonies, 112 — repeal of, 
 113. 
 Slandish, Miles, takes Morton pris- 
 oner, 9. 
 Star Island, 130. 
 
 Stark, John, 67 — taken prisoner by 
 the Indians, carried to Canada, 
 and is redeemed by Capt. Stevens, 
 97 — commands a company of ran- 
 gers, 101 — engages in revolutiona- 
 ry war, 123, 135 — commands a 
 brigade, 136 — collects troops at 
 Bennington, 136. — defeats Colonel 
 Baum at Bennington, 137 — is ap- 
 pointed brigadier general by Con- 
 gress, 138 — extract of a letter from, 
 145, 151— death and sketch of, 192. 
 Stark, William, commands a com- 
 
 panv of rangers, 101. 
 State House built, 190. 
 Slate Prison built, 179. 
 State, term of comes into use, 135. 
 Stevens, Phinebas, sent to occupy 
 fort at Charles town, 90 — brave de- 
 fence of fort at Charlestown, 92, 
 97 — goes to Canada to redeem cap- 
 tives, 97. 
 Stewartstown, 126. 
 Stickney, Thomas, colonel in Ben- 
 nington battle, 137. 
 Stileman, El ias, counsellor, 34,36. 
 Stillwater, battle of, 138. 
 Stoddard, 157. 
 Storer, Clement, is chosen president 
 
 of ihe Senate, 172. 
 Storm, great, 185. 
 Strafford county formed 118. 
 Strawberry Bank, part of Portsmouth y 
 7 — becomes the seat of business, 
 10 — name changed to Portsmouth, 
 21. 
 Sullivan county incorporated, 118. 
 Sullivan, John, chosen representa- 
 tative to the first congress, 120 — 
 122-is sent to Portsmouth by Wash- 
 ington, 129 — goes to Quebec, 134 
 — takes the chief command in the 
 Canadaexpedition, 134, 135 — coin- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 219 
 
 mands at Now port, R. I., 140-com 
 mands an expedition against the In 
 dians, 133-retires from bhe service 
 141 — member of the convention of 
 1781, 146 — secretary pro tela, of 
 the convention, 147, 151 — chosen 
 president of N. II., 155 — in favor 
 of the federal constitution, 158 — 
 president of the convention for de- 
 ciding on the federal constitution, 
 158 — is again elected president, 
 ICO — appointed judge of the U. S. 
 district court, 101 — death of, 173. 
 
 Sunapee Lake, 1">7, 191. 
 
 Sunday School Union of X. II. 19 I. 
 
 Superior Court of Judicature abol- 
 ished, 181. 
 
 Supreme Judicial Court created, 181. 
 
 Swanzey granted by Ms., 74 — set- 
 tled, 75, 89. 
 
 Swanzey, Ms., attacked by Philip, 
 26. 
 
 Synod of N. E., 94. 
 T 
 
 Tar manufactured, 65. 
 
 Task, Thomas, commands a rein- 
 forcement, 103. 
 
 Tea, duty on, 115 — cargoes of, land- 
 ed at Portsmouth, 120 — destroyed 
 at Boston, 120. 
 
 Temperance Society, 198. 
 
 Temple, 161. 
 
 Temple, Sir Thomas, anecdote of, 
 22. 
 
 Tender Act passed, 155. 
 
 Tenney, Samuel, representative in 
 Congress, death of, 203. 
 
 Test Act, dispensed with, in favor 
 of N. H., 15. 
 
 The Cedars, 134. 
 
 Therouet, an Indian sachem, notice 
 of, 107. 
 
 Thomas, general, death of, 134. 
 
 Thomlinson, John, agent of N. II., 
 79, 80. 
 
 Thompson, Benjamin, (see Count 
 Rum ford.) 
 
 Thompson, David, settled at Little 
 Harbor, 8. 
 
 Thompson, Ebenezer, 151. 
 
 Thompson, general, captured, 134 — 
 death of, 134. 
 
 Thompson, Thomas W., senator in 
 Congress, death of, 204. 
 
 Thornton, Matthew, president of 
 convention of delegates, 1 26, 132— 
 signer of declaration of independ- 
 ence, 135, 151 — deal! and notice 
 of, 174. 
 
 Thornton's Ferry, party of English 
 killed near, 71. 
 
 Throat Distemper, prevalence of, 
 7.9, 80. 
 
 Ticonderoga, attacked, 103, 134 — 
 evacuated by the Americans, 136. 
 
 7'ory and Whig, terms comes into 
 use, 121. 
 
 Treachvell, Daniel, death of, 108. 
 
 Trenton, battle at, 135. 
 
 Triennial Act passed, 76- 
 
 Tucke, John, minister of the Isles of 
 
 Shoals, 131 
 
 Turnpikes, several granted, 167. 
 
 Tyler, Bennet, president of Dart- 
 mouth college, 116 
 
 Tyng, Eleazar, buries the slain of 
 Love well's company, 73. 
 XJ 
 
 Underhill, John, chief magistrate of 
 Dover, 14. 
 
 Union of the American colonies pro- 
 posed, 98. 
 
 Union of the X. E. colonies, 17. 
 
 Unitarian association o; N. II. form- 
 ed. 200. 
 
 United Fraternity, 186. 
 
 Upham, Timothy, candidate for gov- 
 ernor, 199. 
 
 Usher, John, appointed lieut. govern- 
 or, 47 — character of, -18 — irritates 
 the people by his conduct, 51 — su- 
 perseded by Partridge, 52 — is re- 
 stored to his seat, 54 — is appoint- 
 ed lieut. governor under Dudley. 37 
 — retires to Medford, 63. 
 V 
 
 Van Rensselaer, general, defeat of, 
 180. 
 
 Vaughan, George, 10. 
 
 Vaughan, George, sent to England 
 as agent, 56 — appointed lieut. gov- 
 ernor 63, 64 — suspends Penhallovv, 
 64 — is suspended by gov. Shute, 
 64 — is removed from office by the 
 king, 64. 
 
 Vaughan, William, counsellor, 32, 
 37 — appeals to the king, 41 — sus- 
 pended by Usher, 51. 
 
220 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vaughan, William, proposes plan 
 for taking Louisburg, 86 — deatl 
 of, 87. 
 
 Vermont, land in, on Connecticut 
 river surveyed, 109— township in 
 granted by gov. B. Wentworth, 
 109 — is organized into an inde 
 pendent state, 135. 
 
 Villieu, a French commander, 49. 
 
 Volcanic Mountain, 96. 
 
 Voters in N. H. } number of, in 1684, 
 35. 
 
 Voting, corn and beans, used in, 17 
 W 
 
 Wadsworth, captain Samuel, slab 
 by Indians, 28. 
 
 Wahwa, an Indian chief, 72. 
 
 Waldo's patent, 131. 
 
 IValdron, Richard, of Dover, mem- 
 ber and speaker of the gen. court, 
 21, 22 — Indians meet at his house 
 29 — yields to the seizure of the In- 
 dians, 29 — counsellor, 32 — deputy 
 to the president, 34 — commander 
 in-chief of the militia,34 — succeed; 
 president Cutts, 36 — is suspended 
 by Cranfield, 36, 37— killed by the 
 Indians, 43, 49. 
 
 IValdron, Richard, of Dover and 
 Portsmouth, escapes the Indians, 
 50 — counsellor, 51 — suspended by 
 
 Usher, 51 suit of ejectment 
 
 brought against by Allen, 55, 79 — 
 death of, 84. 
 
 IValdron, Richard, of Portsmouth, 
 provincial secretary, 79 — suspend- 
 ed from his seat in the council, S5 
 — chosen speaker of the House of 
 Reps. 95— death of, 108. 
 
 IValdron, William, magistrate at 
 Dover, 16. 
 
 Walker, admiral, sent fromEnglam 
 against Quebec, 61. 
 
 Walker, Timothy, minister of Con 
 cord, 119 — death of, 151. 
 
 Walker, Timothy, 146, 151— -can 
 didate for governor, 169. 
 
 Walling ford, Thomas, a Mason ian 
 proprietor, 89 — death of, 123. 
 
 Walpole attacked by the Indians, 
 100. 
 
 Walton, Shadrach, commands in an 
 expedition, 61— commands a par- 
 
 ty to the eastward, 69 — presides 
 over the council, 78, 80. 
 
 War with France, 86, 98— revolu- 
 tionary, commencement of, 125— 
 declared against Great Britain, 
 180. 
 
 Wars with the Indians, — Pequot, 
 13— king Philip's, 25, 29.— king 
 William's, 41 — Queen Anne's, 57, 
 Lovewell's 72. 
 
 Warner, Seih, regiment of,reinforces 
 Stark, 137. 
 
 Warnerton, Thomas, 10, 12 — assist- 
 ant magistrate, 14 — appointed ma- 
 gistrate for Portsmontli, 16, 18. 
 
 Warren, Peter, commodore of the 
 naval forces, in the Louisburg ex- 
 pedition, 87. 
 
 Washington city attacked by the 
 British, and public buildings burnt, 
 182. 
 
 Washington, George, takes com- 
 mand of the Amei ican army, 129 
 — enters Boston triumphantly, 133 
 — marches to N. York, 134, 144, 
 148 — interposes in the Vermont 
 controversy, 149 — chosen presi- 
 dent of the convention for adopt- 
 ing the federal constitution, 158 — 
 chosen president of the U. S., 160 
 — visits N. El., 160 — again elected 
 president, 164— ratifies Jay's trea- 
 ty, 167 — declines another election 
 to the presidency, 167 — death of, 
 169. 
 
 Washington, town of, 157. 
 
 Waternummus, an Indian chief, 70 
 —killed by Capt. Baker, 70. 
 
 Weave, Meshech, chosen speaker of 
 the House of Reps., 96 — appointed 
 president of the council, and chief 
 justice of the superior court, 132 — 
 resignation, death and character of, 
 153— is named, 98, 142, 151, 152. 
 
 Weare, Nathaniel, sent to England, 
 37 — success of mission of, 39 — 
 chosen speaker of the assembly, 
 76. 
 
 Weave, Richard, mortallv wounded, 
 136. 
 
 Weather, very cold, in 1816, 183. 
 
 Webb, general, 103. 
 
 Webster, David, settles at Plymouth, 
 110. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 221 
 
 Ebenezer, member of the 
 ■ •n of 1781, 146 
 1. xi kid, in nice of the cir- 
 ri- of his death, 204. 
 ihn W., measurement of 
 fountains by, 153. 
 ' homas, first minister of 
 . 23. 
 effects of whirlwind at, 
 
 !, Benning, 77 — counsel- 
 -appointed governor, S3 — 
 
 il surveyor general, 84 — 
 :s of the expedition i g 
 i g 87, 88,9 1— altercations 
 i the assembly, 95 — com- 
 
 of to the king, 95, 96— 
 the chair, 113 — character 
 
 •tii, John, of Portsmouth is 
 
 .1 lieut. gov., 64 — becomes 
 
 ider in chief, TO, 7b" — dis- 
 
 iie asesmbly, 76 — death and 
 
 »f, "7, 84. 
 
 • 'th, John, a Masonian pro- 
 
 89. 
 •th, John, appointed gov 
 
 1-1 — arrives at Portsmouth, 
 •tice of, 114,118, 120, 131 
 
 up his residence in the fort, 
 ise plundered, 127 — leaves 
 and becomes governor ol 
 cotia, 129— death of, 129. 
 ■ th, .Mark H , a Masonian 
 tor, 89. 
 'th, Paul, map engraved at 
 
 of, 119. 
 enjamin, 158 — member of 
 d convention, 183 — death 
 
 )k, colonel, is sent to seize 
 19. 
 . . John, 164. 
 
 eland, 88 — occurrence at, 
 
 er Mountain, volcanic, 96. 
 . John, family of, killed, 59. 
 ■:, Eleazar, minister of Leb- 
 onn., establishes an Indian 
 116 — first president of 
 nth college, 116. 
 ", John, president of Dart- 
 college, 116— visifof, ti 
 , 163— is removed from the 
 
 office of president, 1F5 — reinstated 
 by new trustees, 186 — death of, 
 187 — incident in relation to the 
 u idovv of, 190. 
 
 Win i Iwright, John, deed to, from In- 
 dians, (a forgery,) 9— banished 
 from Ms., 14 — settles at Exeter, 14 
 — removes to Wells in Me., 16 — 
 returns to Hampton, 17 — kindly re- 
 ceived in England by Oliver Crom- 
 well, 17 — returns again to N. E., 
 17. 
 
 Wheelwrights Pond, in Lee, cn- 
 nent at, 46. 
 
 Whig and Tory, terms of, come into 
 use, 121. 
 
 Whipple, William, signer of the dec- 
 laration of independence, 135 — 
 commands a brigade, 136 — inci- 
 dent relating to, 138, 1-10, 151. 
 
 Whirlwind, a most violent one, 191. 
 
 White, Bishop, 194. 
 
 Whitefield, Ge >rge, visits N. E., 85 
 — character of, 86, S7 — death of, 
 123. 
 
 White Mountains, notice of, 11 — al- 
 titude of, 153. 
 
 Wibird, Richard, Masonian propri- 
 etor, 89, 9S, 114— judge of pro- 
 bate, 123— death of, IS 
 
 Wibird, Thomas, death of, 123. 
 
 Wiggin, .Andrew, appointed judge 
 ol probate, 85. 
 
 Wiggin, Thomas, super intendenNat 
 Dover, 10, 11 — appointed magis- 
 trate, 16. 
 
 Wilkinson, general, commands at 
 the attempt tb penetrate Montreal, 
 182 
 
 Willard, Josiah, 90. 
 
 Willard, Moses, killed by Indians, 
 102. 
 
 Willey, Samuel, and his family, kill- 
 ed l \ the avalanche at the notch of 
 the White Mountains, 197. 
 
 William III., succeeds James II, 42 
 — death of, 56. 
 
 Williams, Francis, appointed gov. 
 of Portsmouth, 13, 14 — magistrate, 
 16. 
 
 Williams, of Portsmouth, 
 
 compelled to give up his slave, 19. 
 
 Wilmot, 157. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Winchester settled , 75, 90 — persons 
 captured at, 102. 
 
 Winchester, general, defeated at 
 French tow n, 182. 
 
 Wingate, Paine, member of the con- 
 vention of 1781, 146 — chosen sen- 
 ator Hi Congress, 160. 
 
 Winnipiseogee, 27, 45, 72, 91, 114 
 — steam navigation introduced up- 
 on, 201. 
 
 JVinthrop, John, gov. of Ms., 33— 
 death of in 1649,33. 
 
 Wiswall, captain, killed by the In- 
 dians, 46. 
 
 Witchcraft, at Portsmouth, 21 — in 
 Ms., 48, 
 
 Wolfe, genaral James, takes Que- 
 bec, 104. 
 
 Wonolanset, 26. ' 
 
 Woodbury, Levi, elected governor, 
 
 193 — is succeeded by David L. ; i 
 
 Morril, 195 — is elected senator in! 
 
 Congress, 195 — is appointed sec- ! 
 
 retary of the navy, 199. 
 Woodward, Bezaleel, professor at 
 
 Dartmouth College, 174. 
 Worcester, Rev. Noah, writer of the 
 
 "solemn review of the custom of 
 
 war," 188. 
 Worthen, major, erects forts on Tref- 
 
 ethen and Pierce's Island, 129. 
 Wyoming, laid waste by the Indians, 
 
 133. 
 
 Y 
 York, in Upper Canada, captured, 
 
 182. 
 Yellow Fever, effects of, 168. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 14 line 3, for adherants, read adherents. 
 " 34 " 23, for governmental, read govermental. 
 Erase the word not in this line. 
 42 " 8, for alledged, read alleged. 
 47 " 45, for journied, read journyed. 
 51 •« 43, for he, read the. 
 59 " 13, for nighly, read nightly. 
 65 " 12, for exhited, read exhibited. 
 70 " 29, for Walternummus, read Waternummus. 
 79 '* 4t, for propogating, read propagating. 
 84 " 39, for 1717, read 1727. 
 92 " 14, for Dubeline, read Debeline. 
 104 " 12, for Amiiercrombie, read Abercrombie. 
 113 "*' 31, for assidious, read assiduous. 
 148 u 35, for collissions, read collisions. 
 161 " running date, for 1709, read 1790. 
 
 169 " 39, insert by after Senate. 
 176 '• 39, for session, read sessions, 
 The name of John Langdon is erroneously inserted, page 135, :<.aong 
 the signers of the Declaration of Independence. For John Langdon, read 
 Josiah Bartlett of Kingston..