YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
THE
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
OF
NEW ENGLAND,
NEW YORK, AND NEW JERSEY ;
EMBRACING THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS, VIZ :
DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS INDIAN HISTORY INDIAN, F»ENCH, AND
REVOLUTIONARY WARS — RELIGIOUS HISTORY — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, REMARKABLE AND UNACCOUNTABLE
OCCURRENCES — WITH A 6REAT VARIETY OF CURIOUS AND
INTERESTING RELICS OF ANTIQUITY.
SUustptiUt) 5>j mmiErous Enarsiifnjjs
COLLECTED AND COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES,
BY JOHN WARNER BARBER,
MEMBEB OP THE CONNECTICBWfflSTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF THE CONNECTICUT,
MAS6ACH USETTS, .AND NEW YORK. HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, 6cc.
WORCESTER:
PUBLISHED BY DORR, HOWLAND & CO.
1841.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841,
By Dorr, How land & Co.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED BY
RICHARD H. HOBBS,
HARTFORD.
WORCESTER :
PRINTED BY M. SPOONER AND H. J. HOWLAND.
PREFACE
The compiler of this work, having been engaged for a num
ber of years, in compilations relating to the History and Anti
quities of several of the northern States, has come in contact
with a variety of historical information, which may be considered
as out of print. Many of these items of history, though valuable
and interesting, may be thought by some as too trivial, or too
much beneath what is called the " dignity of history," to be in
serted in a historical work. It may be here observed, that it may
be a fact, that we are not entirely competent judges of what may
be valuable, or interesting, to those who come after us. Much
valuable information has undoubtedly been lost to the world by
fastidious views on this subject. In some instances, writers on
history have made elegance of composition a primary object, and
have selected their materials with reference to" it. Instead of
polished sentences, or well turned periods, truth in its simph
city should be the aim of the historian. To attain this object,
we should, as far as practicable, go back to the original sources
of information. , In accordance with this practice, many parts of
this work are copied from the original accounts, from which later
historians have drawn their information. Though many of these
accounts, in point of elegance of expression, &c, may be far be
low those more recently written, yet in every point of real utility,
as historical documents, they are much inferior.
There are many valuable items of history which lie scattered
about in publications of various kinds, rarely accessible to most
readers, and which could not with propriety be introduced into
any one history, written in the modern style. This work may
IV PREFACE.
be considered as a collection of historical facts, items, and anti
quities, relating to the history of the northern States. It may,
perhaps, be the opinion of many, that if a work has been printed
and circulated, there is but little or no danger of its becoming
totally lost. It is a well known fact, however, that there have
been works printed in this country, of which a copy cannot now
be found. In some instances, even the publishers of books have
been unable to procure a single copy of some of their publica
tions, which had been issued but a few years. The compiler
has endeavored to make an interesting collection, and trusts his
readers will find entertainment, as well as valuable information,
respecting the history of the several States. The study of his
tory, is believed to be one every way worthy of attention. By
the contemplation of the past, we feel our span of existence ex
tended, and in a measure enter into the feelings of those who
have gone before us. By tracing the history of man, in the va
ried situations in which he has been placed, and by observing
the effect of principles by which he has been actuated, we feel
interested and instructed.
CONTENTS.
Ej° Notices of distinguished persons are found under the head of Bioorafhioal
Sketches.
Abercrombie, defeat of, . 296
Albany, settlement of . 60, 124
' Albany, fever in ... . 478
America, first discovery of . 9
Amsterdam, New, surrender'd 328
Andre, capture of ... 458
Andre, execution of . . . 459
Andross, tyranny of . . . 47
Andross, Maj. visits Saybrook319
Andover, witchcraft . . . 491
Annawan, capture of . . 252
D'Anville's expedition . . 286
Arnold, treason of . . . 457
Baker, Miss Rachel, the sleep
ing preacher . . . . 515
Beers, Capt., surprisal of . 228
Bennington, battle of . . 428
Bible, Indian 518
Bills of credit, &c. . . . 525
Biographical Sketches . . 527
Black worm in 1770 . . " 479
Bloody Brook, fight at . . 229
Boston Massacre .... 385
Boston Port Bill . . .54, 391
Brainerd's mission among the
Indians of New Jersey . 371
Bunker Hill battle, ... 399
Bull, Capt., opposes Andross 321
Burgoyne, Invasion of . . 427
Brookfield, attack on . . 225
Cabot, discoveries by . . 12
Caldwell, Mrs., murder of . 456
Cambridge Platform . . 361
Canada, invasion of . . . 402
Canker worms .... 485
Cattle, first brought over . 32
Catholic Priests, expulsion of 319
Canonchet, the Sachem . 243
Charter of Connecticut, preser
vation of 323
Christianity, progress of among
the New England Indians 352
Church, first in Massachusetts 34
Codfish, disease among
Coinage, first 525
Colburn, Zerah . . . . 510
Cold and wet seasons . . 472
Cold winter of 1780 . . . 483
Cole, Ann, executed . . 486
Colonial Antiquities, . . 304
Confederation of United Colo
nies of New England . 44
Connecticut Records . . 309
Connecticut, principal settlers,
names of 151
Conspiracy, great ... 43
Comet 1668 473
Corey, Giles, pressed to death 498
Court, first in Massachusetts 35
Cross in the king's colors . 190
Covenant, Halfway . . . 362
Customs, Religious usages,
&c 357
Concord, engagement at . 395
Dark Days 481
Dartmouth College . . . 166
Davenport, the enthusiast . 369
Days of Fasting and Thanks
giving in N. York colony 316
Deerfield burnt .... 271
Delaware Indians ... 99.
Dermer's, Capt., Voyage . 470
Dighton Rock 11
Dieskau, Baron, wounded . 292
Dixwell, Col., the Regicide 327
Drinking of healths abolished 194
Dover, attack on ... . 259
Duke's Laws, N. Y. . .
Dutch, their first arrival.
Indian tradition of . .
Dustan family, escape of
315103
268
VI
CONTENTS.
Dreaming match . . . . 119
Drought, great .... 470
Drought in 1762 .... 479
Duel, first in New England . 29
Dudley, Gov. difficulty with 186
Drunkenness defined . . 307
Dutch, ancient manners of . 131
Earthquake in 1638 ... 471
Earthquake in 1727 . . . 478
Eruption at Derby, Conn. . 480
Eruption at Hinsdale, N. H. 479
Fairfield, burning of . . 449
Faith, religious, of the first
planters of New England 335
Fall Fight at Turner's Falls 249
Five Nations, account of . 86
Fleet, wreck of Walker's . 278
Forts Edward and William
Henry, Plans of . . . 294
Fort William Henry, capture
of 295
French and Indian Wars . 255
Gazette, Indian . . . . 108
Gone and Whalley, regicides 324
GoiFe, repulses the Indians 325
Gookins' Hist. Collections . 70
Gorton, difficulties with 36, 342
Gorges, Sir'Fernando . . 173
Gosnold, discoveries by . 13
Griswold, Fort, massacre of 462
Groton, surprisal of . . . 245
Hakluyt, Richard ... 13
Half-way Covenant . . . 362
Hale, Capt., death of . . 4l7
Haverhill, attack on . . . 276
Hendrick, death of . . . 291
Heckewelder, Mr., notice of 99
Hessians, capture of . . 421
Hooker, Mr., emigration of 149
Hooker, congregation of .149
Hubbard's Narrative of the In
dian Wars 204
Hudson, Henry . . .14, 124
Hudson river, discovery of . 120
Hunt, carries off Indians . 15
Hutchinson, Mrs., . . 35, 339
Hutchinson, Gov., plundered 383
Indian cunning .... 24-
Indian History, Traditions,
Anecdotes and Illustrations 99
Indian Gazette . . . • 1°8
Indian head work . ¦ • H7
Indians, Five Nations . . 86
Indian, application of Scripture 118
Indian and bear . . . ¦ 119
Indian metaphors . . ¦ 106
Indian sagacity .... 113
Indian shrewdness . . . 117
Indian worship .... 78
Indian Tradition of future hap
piness and misery . . 92
Indian Wars ... .204
Indians of New England . 69
Indians of New Jersey . . 94
Indians of New York ... 85
Indians, expedition against 450
Indians, frightened from Fort
Stanwix 434
Indians, great mortality among
in New England ... 468
Ingersoll, Mr., stamp master 383
Inscriptions on Dighton Rock 12
Iroquois, history of . . . 85
Iroquois, artfulness of . . 101
Insanity among Indians . 116
Insurrection in Massachusetts 464
Judges' Cave, New Haven 325
Jurymen not allowed tobacco 306
Kieft, Gov., Proclamations . 132
Knows God, name of . . 189
Lake George, battle of . . 288
Lancaster, burning of . . 238
Laudian Persecution . . 32
La Tour visits Boston . . 199
Laws, capital of Connecticut 314
Laws, capital, of New York 315
Laws respecting dress . . 313
Laws respecting wages . 3n
Laws respecting marriage . 306
1 Lee, mother Ann . . . 373
CONTENTS.
vu
Lexington, action at . 56, 394
Liberty, Indian notions of . 98
Long Island, battle of . . 408
Lord's Prayer in Indian . 90
Louisburg, capture of . . 279
LovelFs Expedition . . . 285
Mackerel fishery . .
Magnalia, Mather's .
Maine, first settlement . 42
Map, first ....
Mariage, laws respecting .
Marriage, first in N. England
McCrea, Miss, murder of .
Massachusetts, first scttlem't
Massachusetts Indians . .
Massachusetts silver coin .
Massasoit, visit to . . .
Massacre, Boston . . .
Massacre at Fort Griswold .
Matthias, notice of . . .
Medfield surprized . . .
Mohawks, conquests of . .
Money, scarcity of . . .
Miantonimoh, death of . .
Mormons, history of . . .
Monmouth, battle of . . .
Murder of an Indian . . .
194
137
,171 524300 29
443 137 71
525 29
385
462378239 83
195
219379
444 192
Newspapers in New Jersey
do. in New York . . .
do. in Rhode-Island . .
Night Walking, laws against
Northern Lights ....
Non-conformity ....
Nova Scotia, conquest of .
Norridgewock Expedition .
Oath, omission of . .
Ogilby's America . . .
Oldham, J., murder of .
Old and New Lights
Onondaga country ravaged
Oysters, disease among .
523
520521
309
476 17
287282 198
200
204 369
452
480
Narragansetts 70
Narragansett Fort destroyed 327
New Amsterdam, view of . 127
New England outline Hist. . 9
New Jersey outline do. . 66
New York, currency of . 526
New York, religious state of 375
New York, outline history of 60
New York Ancient Laws . 315
New Amsterdam, settlem't of 125
New England Nat. Hist. . 201
New England Psalms . . 518
Negro Plot, in New York . 332
New Haven, settlement of . 155
New London, burning of . 461
New Hampshire, first settle
ment of 39, 164
News, lying and false . . 317
Newspapers^,- first in Conn. . 522
do. in Massachusetts . 519
do. in New Hampshire . 523
Paper Currency, depreciation 527
Pawkunnacut Indians . . 71
Penobscot Indians ... 69
Pequots, war with . . . 205
Pequots, destruction of . . 208
Philip's War .... 46,220
Philip, death of . . . . 251
Pierce, Capt., killed . . . 240
Pigeons, immense numbers of 472
Pipe, Capt., speech of . . Ill
Platform, Saybrook . . . 362
Plymouth Colony . . . 304
Plymouth Colony Records . 305
Poetical Description of New
England Productions . 201
Potatoes, importation of . . 191
Powawing forbidden . . 317
Princeton, victory at . . . 425
Printing, first 515
Providence settled . . . 160
Psalms, ancient version . 517
Puritans, rise of ... . 16
Puritans emigrate to America 22
Quakers, persecution of, 44, 345
Quakers, difficulties with . 44
Quebec, expedition against . 278
Quebec, capture of . . . 298
Ralle, Father; death of . . 282
Red Jacket 103
Records of Plymouth . . 305
Records of Connecticut . . 309
Vlll
CONTENTS.
Regicides 324
Remarkable account of Mr.
Beacon, 500
Remarkable account of Mrs.
Henman 501
Remarkable Events, Diseases,
Storms, &c 468
Revolution, Events in . . 381
Revival, Religious, 1740 . 363
Rhode Island, first settlem't 158
Rhode Island, action on . 447
Ruling Elder, duty of . . 357
Rum, law against landing, . 312
Sabbath, when begun . . 359
Saint Tammany . . . . 115
Salem Witchcraft . . .489
Salisbury, singular occurren
ces in 499
Samoset comes to Plymouth 25
Sassamon, murder of . . 220
Saybrook, Andross' attempt
against 319
Saybrook Platform ... 362
Scarcity in 1789 ... 485
Schenectady, destruction of 255
Scripture, singular application 118
Shay's Insurrection . . . 464
Shaiers 373
Seneca country ravaged . 453
Sheep buried in snow . . 475
Singing Procession . . 368
Smith, Capt., discoveries by 14
Snow, great 474
Standish, exploit of . . . 31
Springfield, attack on . . 231
Stamp Act, . . . . 51, 381
Stamp-masters .... 384
Stanwix, Fort, siege of . . 431
Stoney Point, storming of . 452
Stratagem of Gen. Arnold . 434
Stuyvesant, Gov., print of . 331
Sunday called Lord's day . 359
Sullivan's Expedition . . 453
Synod, Reforming . . . 361
Tea destroyed
. 53,388
Tennent, Rev. W., remarka
ble account respecting . 500
Tobacco, Laws against . . 307
Traditions, Anecdotes, Illustra
ting Indian History . . 99
Tryon, Gov., burns Fairfield 449
Ticonderoga surprized . . 397
Ticonderoga, retreat from . 427
Tuscaroras 85
Unaccountable Occurrences 485
Uncas and Miantonimoh . 218
Veils, question upon . . 189
Vermont, first settlement of 176
Verrazzano, discoveries by.. 12
Vineyard, Martha's, discov'd 13
Wadsworth, Capt., death of 247
Wages, regulation of . . 188
Waldron, Maj., death of . 259
Washington's retreat through
N. Jersey 411
Washington, Fort, capture of 416
Washington, Inauguration of 467
Wayne, Gen., storms Stoney
Point 452
Wells, attack on ... . 260
Wheeler, Mercy, remarkable
healing of 507
White Plains, action' at . . 413
Williams, Roger 158, 336, 337
Williams, J., Rev. captivity of 271
Williams, Mrs., murder of . 274
Wilkinson, Jemima . . . 377
Winslow, Mr., entertains Mas
sasoit 28
Winthrop's, Gov., Journal, . 181
Winthrop's, Gov., disinterest
edness 187
Witchcraft in Salem . . 489
Witchcraft, trials for in Conn. 499
Witchcraft at Boston . . 487
Witchcraft at Hartford . . 488
Yellow Fever
York, surprisal of
470
261
OUTLINE HISTORY
OF THE
NEW ENGLAND STATES.
i here are good reasons for believing that the first civilized
people who visited New England, were a colony of Norwegians,
or Northmen. The original Icelandic accounts of the voyages of
discovery, performed by these men, are still in existence ; and
have been recently published by the Society of Antiquaries, at
Copenhagen.* The following summary of events, and conclu
sions, respecting the discovery and first settlement of this country
are drawn by the authors of that publication.
" In the spring of 986, Eric the Red, emigrated from Iceland
to Greenland, and formed a settlement there. In 994, Biarne,
the son of Heriulf Bardson, one of the settlers who accompanied
Eric, returned to Norway, and gave an account of discoveries he
had made to the south of Greenland. On his return to Greenland,
Leif, the son of Eric, bought Biarne's ship, and with a crew of
35 men, embarked on a voyage of discovery, A. D. 1000. After
sailing sometime to the southwest, they fell in with a country
covered with a slaty rock, and destitute of good qualities, and
which, therefore, they called Helluland, (Slate-land.) They then
continued southerly, until they found a low flat coast, with white
sand cliffs, and immediately back, covered with wood, whence
they called the country Markland, (Wood-land.) From here,
they sailed south and west, until they arrived at a promontory
which stretched to the east and north, and sailing round it turned
to the west and sailing westward, passed between an island and
the mainland, and entering a bay through which flowed a river,
they concluded to winter there.
Having landed they built houses to winter in, and called the
place Leifsbuthir, (Leifs-booths.) Soon after this, they dis
covered an abundance of vines, whence they named the country
Vinland or Wineland. Antiquarians have been much puzzled to
know where Vinland was located, but the Antiquarian Society, to
* Antiquitates Americanje, she Sfiriptores Scptentrionales rerum Ante-Colum-
bianarum in America. (Antiquities of America, or Northern writers of things in
America before Columbus.) Hafnise, 1837, 4to. pp. 486.
10 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
whose exertions we owe the above work, after the most careful
examination of all the evidence on the subject, do not hesitate to
place it at the head of Narraganset Bay, in Rhode Island. Every
thing in the description of the voyage and country, agrees most
exactly with this. The promontory extending ¦ east and north,
corresponds closely with that of Barnstable and Cape Cod, and
the islandsHthey would encounter immediately upon turning west,
would be Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
Two years after, [1002,] Thorwold, the brother of Leif, visited
Vinland, where he spent two years, and was finally murdered by
the natives. Before his death, he coasted round the promontory,
and called the north end, now Cape Cod, Kjalarnes, (Keel-Cape.)
He was killed and buried on a small promontory, reaching south
from the mainland, on the west side of the Bay, inclosed by the
promontory of Kjalarnes, and which answers most accurately to
the strip of land on the east side of Plymouth harbour, now called
Gurnet's Point. The Norwegians called it Krassanes, (Cross
ness or Cross-land,) because the grave of Thorwold had a cross
erected at both ends.
In 1007, three ships sailed from Greenland for Vinland, one
under the command of Thorfinn Karlsefne, a Norwegian of royal
descent, and Snorre Thorbrandson, of distinguished lineage ; one
other commanded by Biarne Grimalfson and Thorhall Gamlason;
and the third by Thorward and Thorhall. The three ships had
160 men, and carried all sorts of domestic animals necessary for
the comfort and convenience of a colony. An account of this
voyage, and a history of the country, by Thorfinn Karlsefne, is
still extant, and forms one of the documents in the Antiquitates
Americana. They sailed from Greenland to Helluland, and
passing Markland, arrived at Kjalarnes ; whence sailing south
by the shore of the promontory, which they found to consist of
trackless beaches and long wastes of sand, they called it Furthu-
strandir, (Wonder-Strand or Beach ;) whether on account of the
extensive sandy shore, or from the mirage and optical illusion so
common at Cape Cod, it is impossible to determine. Passing
south, they sailed by the island discovered by Leif, which they
called Straumey, (Stream-Isle,) probably Martha's Vineyard, and
the straits between, Straumfjoihr, (Stream-Firth,) and arrived
at Vinland, where they spent the winter. The Bay into which
they sailed, they called Hopsvatn, and their residence received
the name of Hop, {English Hope, Indian Haup,) the identical
Mount Hope, so much celebrated as the residence of King Philip.
After various successes, Thorfinn returned to Greenland, and
finally went to Iceland and settled.
From a comparison of all the remaining accounts of these
voyages, the geographical, nautical and astronomical facts con-
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 1 .
tained in them, with the natural history and geography of this
country when first settled by the whites, there can be little doubt
that Vinland has been correctly located by the learned society.
By similar evidence it also appears, that Markland was what is
now called Nova Scotia ; that Litla Helluland, (Little Helluland)
was Newfoundland ; and that Helluland it Mikla, (Great Hel
luland,) was the coast of Labrador. We ought also to have
observed above, that Straumfjothr (Stream-Firth) probably in
cluded the whole of Buzzard's Bay.
Of the climate of Vinland the Northmen say, it was, when
they were there, so mild that cattle would live out-doors during
the year, that the snow fell but lightly, and that the grass con
tinued to be green in some places, nearly all winter. Among the
productions of Vinland, were, abundance of vines, a kind of wild
wheat {maize,) a beautiful wood which they called mazer (Birds-
eye-maple, Acer Saccharinum,) a great variety of forest animals,
eider ducks in great plenty, and the rivers and bays they describe
as filled with fish, among which they reckon salmon, halibut,
whales, &c. It is also said by the same historians, that the sun
rose at half past seven o'clock in the shortest days, which is the
exact time it rises at Mount Hope.
Subsequent to this time, explorations were made to the south
of Vinland, along the eastern shore> and judging from the frag
ments of voyages, it would seem that some penetrated as far
south as Florida. The whole country south of Chesapeak Bay
is called by them Hvitramannaland, (white-man's-land,) or Ire
land it Mikla, (Ireland the Great.) In 1 121, Vinland was visited
by bishop Eric, and as there is no account of his return, it seems
probable that he spent his days there."*
Soon after the first settlement of this part of the country, a
remarkable rock covered with hieroglyphics, was discovered in
the present town of Berkley, since known as the "Dighton
Writing Rock." This rock which has caused much speculation
among antiquarians, is of fine grained gray granite, a few feet
above the present low water mark, in Taunton river and is par
tially covered at every tide. The face of the rock is eleven feet
long, and rises from the ground about five : the inscriptions are
apparently pecked into it, the channels of the letters or marks
being about a half, or three fourths of an inch in width.
* For this summary account, the author is indebted to an article published in the
" Chronicle of the Church," by A. B. Chapin, Esq. of New Haven, Con.
12
OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
Inscriptions on Dighton Rock.
The above shows the shape of the rock with the inscriptions
upon it, being a reduced copy from that taken under the direction
of the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1830, and published in
the Antiquitates Americance. It is supposed by some, that these
inscriptions were made by the Northmen, and signify in Icelandic
characters, that Thorfinn Karlsefne arrived here in A. D., 1007,
and took possession of the country : others suppose them to be of
much earlier origin, and ascribe them to the Phoenicians.
After the discovery of Columbus in 1492, a general spirit of
enterprise and inquiry was awakened in the European nations.
In 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, under the patronage of Henry
VII. of England, commenced a voyage of discovery. He was
accompanied by his son Sebastian, and three hundred men, with
two caravals freighted by the merchants of London and Bristol.
On the 24th of June they were surprised by the sight of land,
which being the first they had seen ; Cabot called it Prima Vista,
which in Italian, his native tongue, signifies, first sight. This is
generally supposed to be some part of the island of Newfoundland.
A few days afterwards, they discovered a smaller island which
they named St. Johns. Continuing westerly, they soon reached
the continent, and then sailed along the coast northwardly, to the
latitude of sixty-seven and a half degrees. Finding that the coast
stretched towards the east, they turned back, and sailed south
" ever with the intention to find the passage to India," till they
came to the southernmost part of Florida. Their provisions now
failing, and a mutiny breaking out among the mariners, they re
turned to England, without attempting a settlement, or conquest
in any part of the New World.
In 1524, John Verrazzano, an Italian in the service of France
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 13
sailed along the American coast from Florida to Labrador, and
named the country New France. In 1534, the French fitted out
another expedition under James Cartier. He discovered and
named the gulf of St. Lawrence ; the year following he sailed
up the river St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, built a fort and
took possession of the country in the name of the French king.
These, and other discoveries and settlements, made by the French,
afterwards proved the source of many calamities to the British
Colonics, till the conquest of Canada in 1760.
For a long period after the discovery of Cabot, the English
monarchs appear to have given but little attention to the country
which they afterwards claimed. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh
obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth, and sent out two ships
commanded by Amidas and Barlow to America, to examine the
country in order to make a settlement. They landed at Roanoke,
and were well received by the natives. On their return they
gave so flattering an account of the country, that Queen Elizabeth
delighted with the idea of possessing so fine a territory, named
it Virginia, as a memorial that the discovery was made under a
virgin queen. This name was afterwards applied to the country
along the whole coast. The exertions of Raleigh, however, to
plant a permanent colony proved unsuccessful.
In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed in a small barque from
Falmouth, England, with thirty-two persons, for the northern
parts of Virginia with the intention of making a settlement.
Steering due west, as near as the winds would permit, after a
passage of seven weeks, discovered land on the American coast,
May 14th. Sailing along the shore the next day they discovered
a head land in the latitude of forty-two degrees, where they came
to anchor ; and taking a great number of Cod at this place, they
named it Cape Cod. On the 21st they discovered an island,
which they called Martha's Vineyard. On the 28th they con
cluded to commence a settlement on one of the Elizabeth Islands;
so named by them in honor of the Queen. They landed on Cut-
tahunk the westernmost Island, and in nineteen days, a fort and
store house were completed. While the men were occupied in
this work, Gosnold crossed the Bay and landed on the main land,
where he amicably trafficked with the natives. Upon his return
to the island, he found that a portion of his men who were to
have remained, so discontented, that he concluded to abandon
the design of a settlement, and the whole company returned to
England. The discovery made by Gosnold, incited a spirit of enterprise,
and by the influence of Richard Hakluyt, a most active promoter
of the English settlements in America, an association of gen
tlemen was formed, for the purpose of establishing colonies in
2
14 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
America. Upon their application to king James, a patent was
granted in 1606, for the settling two plantations in America, one
called North, the other South Virginia. The Southern district,
called the first colony, he granted to the London Company;
the Northern, called the second colony, he granted to the Plym
outh Company. North Virginia was "allotted as a place of set
tlement, to several knights, gentlemen, and merchants of Bristol,
Plymouth, and other parts of the west of England.
In 1607, owing to the encouragement given for the settlement
of North Virginia, Sir John Popham and others sent out two ships
under the command of George Popham and Ralegh Gilbert, with
a hundred men, with ordnance and all provisions necessary until
they might obtain further supplies. They sailed from Plymouth
the last of May, and on the 11th of August, landed on a penin
sula at the mouth of Kennebec river now in the state of Maine.
Here, after a sermon was delivered, and their patent and laws
were read, they built a store-house, fortified it and gave it the
name of Fort St. George. On December 5th, the two ships
sailed for England, leaving a colony of forty-five persons, Popham
being president, and Gilbert, admiral. The ships which arrived
the next year with supplies, brought the news of the death of Sir
John Popham and Sir John Gilbert. These misfortunes, with
the death of Capt. George Popham, the loss of the stores the
preceding winter by fire, with the barren aspect of the country,
so dispirited the colony, that they unanimously resolved to return
in these ships to England.
In 1609, Henry Hudson an Englishman in the service of the
Dutch, attempted to penetrate to the East Indies, by sailing a
north-westward course. Having attempted in vain this passage,
he followed the track, which the Cabots had marked >for him a
century before. He coasted along the foggy shores of New
foundland ; shaped his course for Cape Cod ; worked into the
Chesapeak, where the English were settled; sailed into the
Manhattan or Hudson river; and departed in October for Eng
land. The Dutch sent -ships the next year to Manhattan, to open
a trade with the natives.
In 1614, Capt. John Smith, who some years before had been
Governor of Virginia, was sent out with two ships from England,
to North Virginia, with instructions to remain in the country, and
to keep possession. He ranged the coast from Penobscot to
Cape Cod ; made a discovery of the river Piscataqua, and the
Massachusetts Islands. He also traded with the natives for furs.
From the observations he made on the coast, islands, headlands
&c. on his return home, he formed a map, and presented it to
king Charles, who in the warmth of admiration, declared the
country should be called New England. Smith in his voyage
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 15
made several discoveries, and distinguished them by peculiar
names. The north promontory of Massachusetts Bay, he named
Tragahigzanda, in honor of a Turkish lady to whom he had
been a slave at Constantinople. Prince Charles, however, in
filial respect to his mother, called it Cape Ann ; a name which it
still retains. The three small islands at the head of the prom
ontory, Smith called the Three Turks Heads, in memory of his
victory over three Turkish champions; but this name was also
changed. Another cluster of Islands, to which the discoverer
gave his own name, Smith's Isles was afterwards called the Isle
of Shoals, which name it still retains.
" The base and perfidious action of one man subjected English
adventurers to present inconveniences, and to future dangers.
Smith had left behind him one of his ships, to complete her lading,
with orders to Thomas Hunt, the master, to sail with the fish,
that he should procure on the coast, directly for Malaga. Hunt
however, under pretence of trade, having enticed twenty-four of
the natives on board his ship, put them under hatches, and carried
them to Malaga, where he sold them to the Spaniards.* This
flagrant outrage disposed the natives in that part of the country
where it was committed, to revenge the injury on the countrymen
of the offender ; and the English were hence constrained to sus
pend their trade, and their projected settlement in New England.
An opportunity was soon offered to the Indians, to show their
resentment, if not to inflict revenge. In the course of the year,
the English adventured to dispatch to the same coast another
vessel, commanded by Captain Hobson, for the purpose of erec
ting a plantation, and establishing a trade with the natives ; but it
was found next to impracticable to settle any where within their
territories. Two Indians, Epenow and Manowet, who had been
carried by Hunt to England, were brought back in Hobson's
vessel, to be serviceable toward the design of a plantation ; but
they united with their countrymen in contriving means, by which
they might be revenged on the English. Manowet died soon
after their arrival. Epenow, not allowed to go on shore, engaged
his old friends, who visited the vessel, to come again, under pre
text of trade. On their approach at the appointed time with
twenty canoes, he leaped overboard, and instantly a shower of
arrows was sent into the ship. The Indians, with desperate
* Hubbard says, that Hunt, " like a wicked varlet," decoyed them ; and that he
took 20 Indians from Patuxet [now Plymouth], and 7 from .Nauset [Eastham]. I.
Mather says the same thing. But, as Hubbard and the best authorities give the
aggregate number of 24, it is probable, that 4 only were taken from Nauset, and
that this figure has been mistaken for 7. Mather also says, that Hunt carried these
Indians to Gibraltar, and there sold as many of them, as he could for £20 a man,
until it was known whence they came ; " for then the friars in those parts took away
the rest of them, that so they might nurture them in the Christian religion."
16 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
courage, drew nigh, and, in spite of the English muskets, carried
off their countrymen. Several Indians were killed in the skir
mish. The master of the ship and several of the company were
wounded. Discouraged by this occurrence, they returned to
England."* The rise of the English Puritans by whom the first permanent
settlement in New England was effected is generally dated about
the year 1550. The controversy which resulted in the sepa
ration from the Church of England is said to have originated " on
occasion of bishop Hooper's refusing to be consecrated in the
Popish habits." Hooper was a zealous, a pious, and a learned
man, who had gone out of England in the latter part of the reign
of Henry VIII, and resided at Zurich. Pierce hence observes,
" that the habits have, from the very infancy of our Reformation,
been an offence to very learned arid pious men.'''' The archbishop
of Canterbury, with other bishops and divihes, having concluded
on an order of divine worship, an act, confirming that new liturgy,
had passed both houses of Parliament, January 15, 1549. It was
protested against, however, by the bishops of London, Durham,
Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester, Westminster, and Chi
chester. The Parliament enacted, that all divine offices should
be performed according to the new liturgy, and subjected such
of the clergy, as should refuse the service, or officiate in any
other manner, to forfeitures and imprisonment ; and, for the third
offence, to imprisonment for life. Whoever should write or print
against the book were to be fined £10 for the first offence ; £20
for the second ; and to be imprisoned for life for the third. The
Council immediately appointed visitors, to see that the liturgy
was received throughout England."
" Although the asra of the Puritans commenced in the reign of
Edward VI ; yet that pious young prince very soon after began
an ecclesiastical reformation. Had he lived to perfect it accor
ding to his intentions, the Puritans would probably have been
satisfied. But he died in 1553, at the early age of XVI ; and
was succeeded by queen Mary, a bigoted Papist, under whose
administration John Rogers, of pious memory, was burnt at
Smithfield ; and bishop Hooper, with other pious reformers, suf
fered martyrdom. On the accession of queen Elizabeth, the ref
ormation, which had been begun by Edward, was, in some de
gree, restored ; but that illustrious queen, addicted to show and
jealous of prerogative, soon made the Puritans feel the weight of
her royal power. Bishops and other clergymen were deposed, for
refusing the oath to the queen's supremacy. At length (31st Jan.
1563) the convocation of the English clergy met, and finished
* Holmes' Annals.
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 17
the XXXIX Articles. Of the lower house, 43 present were for
throwing out the ceremonies, but 35 were for keeping them ;
and these, with the help of proxies, carried their measure by one
vote. The bishops now began to urge the clergy to subscribe to
the liturgy and ceremonies, as well as to the Articles. Cover-
dale, Fox, Humfrey and others, refused to subscribe ; and this
was the epoch of Non-conformity."
"In 1564, many intances of non-conformity were reported to
the queen. Her majesty was highly displeased. It appeared
that some of the clergy performed divine service " wearing a
square cap, some a round cap, some a button cap, some a hat,
some in scholar's clothes, and some in others." However un
important or ludicrous such a controversy may appear in the
present day, the merits of these habits were then solemnly de
bated by the gravest doctors and bishops of England, and by the
most learned divines of Europe. Their disputes were useless.
The strong arm of authority decided the question. The bishops
published their "advertisements" to the clergy, prescribing an
exact uniformity, as to the fashion of their dress, " gowns, caps,
cuffs, capes, sleeves, and tippets." By this measure another
portion of the most serious and useful ministers, who had con
tinued to preach, were expelled from their pulpits, and shut up
in prison. They refused to conform. Some of them became
physicians, some became chaplains in private families ; some fled
to Scotland; others to the continent; some resorted to secular
business ; and many with large families, were reduced to want
and beggary. The churches were shut ; the public mind was
inflamed; six hundred people repaired to a church in London to
receive the sacrament; the doors were closed ; no minister would
officiate. The cries of the people reached the throne ; but the
throne was inexorable, and the archbishop had rather see his flock
perish for the waters of salvation, than dispense with the clerical
robes of the Papal church.
Despairing of relief from the government, the suspended min
isters appealed to the world, and published an able defence of
their conduct. Other publications followed. These were an
swered by the bishops. The Puritans replied ; the public mind
was agitated and inflamed; multitudes of the common people
refused to attend worship where the ministers wore the habits.
The government was roused. The Star Chamber decreed, that
no person should publish any book against the queen and ordi
nances, or their meaning. Booksellers were compelled to enter
into bonds to observe this law. This measure hastened the con
troversy to a signal crisis. The suspended ministers finding them
selves in a pressing dilemma, having lost all hope of relief, had a
solemn consultation, and agreed, " that since they could not have
2*
18 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
the word of God preached, nor the sacraments administered
without idolatrous geare, it was their duty to break off from the
public church, and to assemble in private houses and elsewhere!'1
This agreement took place about the year 1566, and was the
event that constituted the memorable era of separation from the
church of England, and the establishment of the denomination of
DISSENTERS. In June, 1567, the sheriff of London discovered and broke up
an assembly of about one hundred Puritans, most of whom were
arrested, and several sent to Bridewell, where they were confined
more than a year. In all suspected places, spies were employed
to prevent these religious assemblies. In 1572, about one
hundred clergymen were deprived of their support, for not sub
scribing to the articles of the church. Doctor Clark was expelled
from the university of Cambridge, which by this time was consid
ered " a nest of Puritans," for preaching that " Satan introduced
into the church the different orders of the clergy."
Though the pulpits of the Puritans , were daily silenced, and
they were not allowed to print a page, still their cause gained
ground ; the spirit of their principles spread continually through
the mass of society. Their zeal was inextinguishable. They
employed printing presses, which secretly traveled through the
country. Their pamphlets were scattered in every direction.
The sober part of the community were addressed with powerful
arguments ; humor, sarcasm, and intolerable satire, were scattered
every where by invisible hands. To no purpose did Parker, for
a long time, employ his agents to discover their presses. Deplo
rable was the state of morals and religion. Oppression and in
vective had sharpened the spirit of the parties. In some places
Popery was ^openly professed ; the bishops were loaded with
riches ; the people were neglected, and the court was corrupt,
and reputed even to be the residence of licentiousness and atheism.
While the bishops were driving the Puritans from their pulpits,
many of the nobility received them into their families, as their
chaplains, and tutors of their children. Thus sheltered from their
oppressors, they preached to the family, and catechised the chil
dren. This doubtless had a powerful effect on the rising gene
ration. Still the spirit of persecution did not rest.
In June, 1583, two ministers of the Brownists were executed.
This year the troubles of the Puritans were increased. Arch
bishop Grindal, who was rather favorably disposed towards them
was succeeded by Whitgift, a cruel persecutor. He ordered that
all preaching, catechising, and praying should cease in every
house, when any person was present beside the family. In 1 584
no less than thirty-eight clergymen were suspended in the county
of Essex. More effectually to arrest the Puritan pens, the Star
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 19
Chamber forbade having any printing presses irt any private
place, or any where in the kingdom, except in London, and the
two universities. These must be licensed by the archbishop of
Canterbury, or bishop of London, Nor might any book be
printed, till it had been perused by them or their chaplains. The
Lord's day being greatly profaned by plays and sports, the Rev.
Mr. Smith, preaching before the university of Cambridge, urged
the unlawfulness of such practices. For this he was summoned
before the vice chancellor ; yet so reasonable was the course of
duty, that, without any law, the observance of the Sabbath became
more common, and afterwards was considered as the badge of a
Puritan. So oppressive was the Episcopal party, that the dis
senters were not permitted to keep a common school.
In 1586, the Puritan ministers again petitioned parliament.
They state, that after the most laborious and exact survey, they
find that one third of the ministers have been expelled from their
pulpits ; that there are in England only two thousand ministers to
supply ten thousand churches ; that many people, in order to hear
a'sermon, must travel twelve or twenty miles. But the spirit of
mercy had forsaken the government.
Another terrific law was made by the Parliament, which opened
February 19, 1591. It was enacted "that if any person above
the age of sixteen, shall for one month, refuse to attend at some
Episcopal church, and after conviction, shall not in three months
make a humble confession, he shall go into perpetual banishment,
if he do not depart in the time appointed, or if he return without
the queen's license, he shall suffer death, without benefit of clergy."
The moderate Puritans evaded this dreadful law by going to
church when the services were near closing. But on the Brown-
ists, who had conscientiously separated from the church, of whom
there were twenty thousand in Norfolk, Essex, and about London,
this law burst like a fatal thunderbolt. Though they conducted
their meetings with all practicable secresy, and changed the place
of their worship from time to time to prevent discovery, it was not
long before the officers of government fell upon one congregation,"
and arrested fifty-six of them, who were all sent to prison, where
many of them perished, and others, after several years of confine
ment, were executed or banished. At their examination, they
confessed, that for years they had met in the fields, in summer, at
5 o'clock A. M. on the Lord's day, and in the winter at private
houses. Till about this time, the controversy had chiefly respected habits,
discipline, and ceremonies ; but doctrines now began to be dis
puted. The Puritans and the universities denied the descent of
Christ into hell, advocated the sanctity of the Sabbath, and the
opinions of Calvin, his Institutions being read in their schools ;
20 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE -
while the Episcopal party took the opposite side, and espoused the
system of Arminius. The cause of the Puritans advanced ; the
bishops lost the respect due to ministers of religion. If any among
the clergy or laity were distinguished for their pure morals, or
ardent piety, they were immediately supposed to be Puritans. 1 or
some time, however, before the death of the queen, the zeal of con
troversy had gradually subsided, and the aspect of public affairs was
more favorable to the rights and interests of the Puritans. Those
of their opposers, who had been the most intimate friends of the
queen, whom she had most favored, and through whose influence
she had been led to do many things against the Puritans, when her
case became desperate, and she could no longer serve them, de
serted her, and scarce afforded her any of their company. She
died March, 1603, and was succeeded by James I., who came to
the throne by hereditary right, as well as by the appointment of
queen Elizabeth.
The Puritans had high hopes of relief from the new king, who
had been educated in their religion. But unfortunately for him
self and the nation, James had not abilities to soften the violence
of party asperity, nor conscience enough to support the friends of
a thorough reformation ; but immediately became a dupe to the
flattery of the bishops, and a tool of their ambition. The men
who forsook Elizabeth, and seduced the king to act against his
own principles and interests, became his confidents. Though he
had given the most solemn pledges of favor to the Presbyterians,
"thanking God that he was king of the purest church in the
world ;" yet in nine months he renounced his former professions,
and became the champion of Episcopacy* The church of Rome
he called his mother church, declaring, " I will have one doctrine,
one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony." " I will
make them conform, or I will hurry them out of the land, or else
worse." The execution was as fatal as the threatening was absurd and
wicked. Whitgift was succeeded by Bancroft, as archbishop of
Canterbury, a man of rough temper, and an open foe to civil and
religious liberty. By enforcing the observance of festivals, and
the use of surplices, and caps and hoods ; and by requiring the
clergy, from the heart to subscribe certain articles, he very soon
silenced more than three hundred Puritan ministers. Some were
excommunicated, some imprisoned, and others driven into exile.
The greater part of those who left the country were Brownists
whose leaders were Johnson, Ainsworth, Smith, and the well
known John Robinson ; who has since been considered the father
of that portion of the Puritans, who were the founders of the
New England colonies ; of whom a more particular account will
be given in the subsequent history.
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 21
Abbot, a sound Protestant, and thorough Calvinist, succeeded
Bancroft, whodied»*in 1610, in the archbishopric of Canterbury.
Still, in 1612, several persons were burned for heresy at Smith-
field and Litchfield ; but so evident was the commiseration of the
people, that it was thought more prudent to let the prisoners lan
guish out their days in Newgate.
On the death of James, in March, 1625, he was succeeded by
his son Charles I., who inherited his father's love of power, and
hatred of puritanism. The good archbishop Abbot, having lost
his influence, and Laud being bishop of London, and prime min
ister, the work of persecution proceeded with new vigor. Minis
ters were daily suspended, and their families ruined ; no shelter
from the terrific storm could be discovered in the realm of Eng
land."* " The Puritan or Reformed church in the north of England, had,
in the year 1606, on account of its dispersed state, become divided
into two distinct churches, to one of which belonged Mr. John
Robinson, afterward its minister, and Mr. William Brewster, after
ward its ruling elder. This church, in common with other dis
senting churches throughout England, being extremely harrassed
for its non-conformity, sought at length an asylum in Holland,
where religious toleration was sanctioned by the laws. Mr.
Robinson and as many of his congregation, as found it in their
power, left England in the years 1607 and 1608, and settled in
Amsterdam ; whence, in 1 609 they removed to Leyden. After
residing several years in that city, various causes influenced them
to entertain serious thoughts of a removal to America. These
causes were, the unhealthiness of the low country where they
lived; the hard labors to which they were subjected; the dissi
pated manners of the Hollanders, especially their lax observance of
the Lord's day ; the apprehension of war at the conclusion of the
truce between Spain and Holland, which was then near its close ;
the fear, lest their young men would enter into the military and
naval service ; the tendency of their little community to become
absorbed and lost in a foreign nation ; the natural and pious desire
of perpetuating a church, which they believed to be constituted
after the simple and pure model of the primitive church of Christ;
and a commendable zeal to propagate the Gospel in the regions of
the New World. In 1617, having concluded to go to Virginia,
and settle in a distinct body under the general government of that
colony, they sent Mr. Robert Cushman and Mr. John Carver to
England, to treat with the Virginia company, and to ascertain,
whether the king would grant them liberty of conscience in that
distant country. Though these agents found the Virginia com
pany very desirous of the projected settlement in their American
* Morse and Parish's History of New England.
22 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
territory, and willing to grant them a patent with as ample privi
leges, as they had power to convey; yet they could prevail with
the king no farther, than to engage, that he would connive at them,
and not molest them, provided they should conduct peaceably.
Toleration in religious liberty, by his public authority, under his
seal, was denied. The agents returned to Leyden the year fol
lowing (1618), to the great discouragement of the congregation.
Resolved however to make another trial, they sent two other
agents to England in February of this year (1619), to agree with
the Virginia company ; but, dissensions then arising in that body,
the business was necessarily procrastinated. After long attend
ance, the agents obtained a patent, granted and confirmed under
the seal of the Virginia company ; but though procured with much
charge and labor, it was never used, because it was taken out in
the name of a gentleman, who, though at that time designing to
accompany the Leyden congregation, was providentially pre
vented. This patent, however, being carried to Leyden for the
consideration of the people, with several proposals from English
merchants and friends for their transportation, they were requested
to prepare immediately for the voyage.
It was agreed by the English congregation at Leyden, that
some of their number should go to America, to make preparation
for the rest. Mr. Robinson, their minister, was prevailed on to
stay with the greater part at Leyden ; Mr. Brewster, their elder,
was to accompany the first adventurers; but these, and their
brethren remaining in Holland, were to continue to be one church,
and to receive each other to Christian communion, without a
formal dismission, or testimonial. Several of the congregation
sold their estates, and made a common bank, which, together with
money received from other adventurers, enabled them to purchase
the Speedwell, a ship of sixty tons, and to hire in England the
Mayflower, a ship of one hundred and eighty tons, for the intended
enterprise. Preparation being thus made, the adventurers having left
Leyden for England in July, sailed on the fifth of August from
Southampton for America ; but, on account of the leakiness of the
small ship, they were twice obliged to return. Dismissing this
ship, as unfit for the service, they sailed from Plymouth on the
sixth of September in the Mayflower. After a boisterous passage,
they at break of day on the ninth of November, discovered the
land of Cape Cod. Perceiving that they had been carried to the
northward of the place of their destination, they stood to the
southward, intending to find some place near Hudson's river, for
settlement. Falling, however, among shoals,* they were induced
» The same, which Gosnold called Point Care and Tucker's Terror ; but whieh
the French and Dutch call Malebar.
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 23
from this incident, together with the consideration of the advanced
season of the year, and the weakness of their condition, to relin
quish that part of their original design. The master of the ship,
availing himself of the fears of the passengers, and of their ex
treme solicitude to be set on shore, gladly shifted his course to the
northward ; for he had been clandestinely promised a reward in
Holland, if he would not carry the English to Hudson's river.
Steering again therefore for the cape, the ship was clear of the
danger before night ; and the next day, a storm coming on, they
dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor, where they were secure from
winds and shoals.
Finding the harbor to be in the forty-second degree of north
latitude, and therefore beyond the territory of the South Virginia
company, they perceived that their charter, received from that
company had become useless. Symptoms of faction at the same
time appearing among the servants on board, who imagined, that,
when on shore, they should be under no government; it was
judged expedient, that, before disembarkation, they should combine
themselves into a body politic, to be governed by the majority.
After solemn prayer and thanksgiving, a written instrument, drawn
for that purpose, was accordingly subscribed on board the ship,
on the eleventh day of November. This solemn contract was
signed by forty-one of their number ; and they, with their families,
amounted to one hundred and one persons. Mr. John Carver
was now unanimously chosen their governor for one year. Thus
did these intelligent colonists find means to erect themselves into
a republic, even though they had commenced their enterprise under
the sanction of a royal charter; "a case, that is rare in history,
and can be effected only by that perseverance, which the true
spirit of liberty inspires."
Government being thus established, sixteen men, well armed,
with a few others, were sent on shore the same day, to fetch wood,
and make discoveries ; but they returned at night, without having
found any person, or habitation. The company, having rested
on the Lord's day, disembarked on Monday, the thirteenth of
November; and soon after proceeded to make further discovery
of the country. On Wednesday the fifteenth, Miles Standish and
sixteen armed men, in searching for a convenient place for set
tlement, saw five or six Indians, whom they followed several
miles, until night ; but not overtaking them were constrained to
lodge in the woods. The next day they discovered heaps of earth,
one of which they dug open; but, finding within implements of
war, they concluded these were Indian graves ; and therefore, re-
5 lacing what they had taken out, they left them inviolate. In
ilferent heaps of sand they also found baskets of corn, a large
quantity of which they carried away in a great kettle, found at the
24 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
ruins of an Indian house, This providential discovery gave them
seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from
famine. Before the close of November, Mrs. Susanna White was deli
vered of a son, who was called Peregrine ; and this was the first
child of European extraction, born in New England.
On the sixth of December, the shallop was sent out with several
of the principal men, Carver, Bradford, Winslow, Standish and
others, and eight or ten seamen, to sail around the bay, in search
of a place for settlement. The next day this company was divi
ded; and, while some traveled on shore, others coasted in the
shallop. Early in the morning of the eighth, those on the shore
were surprised by a flight of arrows from a party of Indians ; but,
on the discharge of the English muskets, the Indians instantly
disappeared. The shallop, after imminent hazard from the loss
of its rudder and mast in a storm, and from shoals, which it nar
rowly escaped, reached a small island on the night of the eighth;
and here the company the next day, which was the last day of the
week, reposed themselves, with pious gratitude for their preser
vation. On this island they the next day kept the Christian Sab
bath. The day following, they sounded the harbor, and found it
fit for shipping; went on shore, and explored the adjacent land,
where they saw various cornfields and brooks ; and, judging the
situation to be convenient for a settlement, they returned with the
welcome intelligence to the ship.
On the fifteenth they weighed anchor, and proceeded with the
ship for this newly discovered port, where they arrived on the fol
lowing day. On the eighteenth and nineteenth they went on shore
for discovery, but returned at night to the ship. On the morning
of the twentieth, after imploring divine guidance, they went on
shore again, to fix on some place for immediate settlement. After
viewing the country, they concluded to settle on a high ground,
facing the bay, where the land was cleared, and the water was
excellent. On Saturday the twenty-third, as many of the company, as
could with convenience, went on shore, and felled and carried
timber to the spot, designated for the erection of a building for
common use. On Lord's day the twenty-fourth, the people on
shore were alarmed by the cry of Indians, and expected an as
sault ; but they continued unmolested. On Monday the twentv-
fifth they began to build the first house. A platform for their
ordinance demanding the earliest attention, they on the twentv-
eighth began one on a hill, which commanded an extensive pros
pect of the plain beneath, of the expanding bay, and of the distant
ocean. In the afternoon they divided their whole company into
nineteen families ; measured out the ground ; and assigned to
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 27
every person by lot half a pole in breadth, and three poles in
length, for houses and gardens. Though most of the company
were on board the ship on the Lord's day, December thirty-first ;
yet some of them kept Sabbath for the first time in their new
house. Here therefore is fixed the sera of their settlement, which,
in grateful remembrance of the Christian friends, whom they
found at the last town they left in their native country, they called
Plymouth. This was the foundation of the first English town,
built in New England.
After the departure of the adventurers from the coast of Eng
land, a new patent, dated the third day of November, was granted
by king James to the duke of Lenox, the marquises of Bucking
ham and Hamilton, the earls of Arundel and Warwick, Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, with thirty-four associates, and their successors,
styling them, ' The Council established at Plymouth, in the
county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing
of New England, in America.' By this patent that part of the
American territory, which lies between the fortieth and forty-
eighth degree of north latitude in breadth, and ' in length by all
the breadth aforesaid throughout the main-land from sea to sea,'
was given to them in absolute property; the same authority and
privileges, which had previously been given to the treasurer and
company of Virginia, were now conferred on them ; and they were
equally empowered to exclude all from trading within the boun
daries of their jurisdiction, and from fishing in the neighboring
seas. This patent was the only civil basis of all the subsequent
patents and plantations, which divided this country."*
"The Plymouth colonists on the 9th of Jan. 1621, proceeded to
the erection of their projected town; which they built in two rows
of houses for greater security. On the fourteenth their Common
House, that had been built in December, took fire from a spark,
that fell on its thatched roof, and was entirely consumed. On the
seventeenth of February, they met for settling military orders, and
having chosen Miles Standish for their captain, conferred on him
the power pertaining to that office.
On the sixteenth of March an Indian came boldly alone, into
the street of Plymouth, and surprised the inhabitants by calling
out, "Welcome, Englishmen ! Welcome, Englishmen !" He
was their first visitant; his name was Samoset, a sagamore of the
country, lying at the distance of about five days journey. Having
conversed with the English fishermen, who had come to this coast,
and learnt of them to speak broken English, he informed the Ply
mouth people, that the place, where they were seated, was called
by the Indians Patuxet ; that all the inhabitants died of an extra-
* Holmes' American Annals.
28 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
ordinary plague, about four years since ; and that there was nei
ther man, woman, nor child, remaining. No natives therefore
were dispossessed of this territory, to make room for the English,
excepting by the providence of God previously to their arrival.
Samoset, treated with hospitality by these strangers, was dis
posed to preserve an intercourse with them ; and, on his third
visit, was accompanied by Squanto, one of the natives, who had
been carried off by Hunt in 1614, and afterward lived m England.
They informed the English, that Masassoit, the greatest king of
the neighboring Indians, was near, with his brother and a number
of his people ; and within an hour he appeared on the top of a
hill over against the English town, with a train of sixty men.
Mutual distrust prevented for some time any advances from
either side. Squanto at length, being sent to Masassoit, brought
back word, that the English should send one of their number to
parley with him. Mr. Edward Winslow was accordingly sent.
Two knives, and a copper chain, with a jewel in it, were sent to
Masassoit at the same time; and to his brother a knife, and a
jewel, 'with a pot of strong water,' a quantity of biscuit, and
some butter, all which articles were gladly accepted. Mr. Wins
low, the messenger, in a speech to Masassoit, signified, that king
James saluted him with words of love and peace, and that the
English governor desired to see him, and to truck with him, and
to confirm a peace with him, as his next neighbor. The Indian
king heard his speech with attention, and approbation. After
partaking of the provision, which made part of the English pre
sent, and imparling the rest to his company, he looked on Mr.
Winslow's sword and armor, with an intimation of his desire to
buy it ; but found him unwilling to part with it. At the close of
the interview, Masassoit, leaving Mr. Winslow in the custody of
his brother, went over the brook, which separated him from the
English, with a train of twenty men, whose bows and arrows
were left behind. He was met at the brook by captain Standish
and Mr. Williamson, with six musketeers, who conducted him to
a house then in building, where were placed a green rug, and
three or four cushions. The governor now advanced, attended
with a drum and trumpet, and a few musketeers. After mutual
salutations, the governor called for refreshments, of which the In
dian king partook himself, and imparted to his followers. A league
of friendship was then agreed on ; and it was inviolably observed
above fifty years.
A great mortality, that commenced among the people soon after
their arrival at Plymouth, swept off half of their number within
the first three months, leaving scarcely fifty persons remaining*
?"Tradition gives an affecting picture of the infant colony, during this critical and
distressing period. The dead were buried on the bank, at a little distance from the
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 29
The first marriage in the colony was solemnized on the twelfth of
May, between Mr. Edward Winslow, and Mrs. Susanna White.
The first duel in New England was fought on the eighteenth of
June, on a challenge at single combat, with sword and dagger, be
tween two servants ; both of whom were wounded. For this out
rage they were sentenced by the whole company to the ignomi
nious punishment of having the head and feet tied together, and
of lying thus twenty-four hours, without meat or drink. After
suffering, however, in that painful posture one hour, at their mas
ter's intercession, and their own humble request, with the promise
of amendment, they were released by the governor.
Gov. Bradford, by advice of the company, sent Edward Winslow
and Stephen Hopkins, with Squanto for their guide, to Masassoit,
to explore the country ; to confirm the league ; to learn the situation
and strength of their new friend ; to carry some presents ; to apolo
gize for some supposed injuries ; to regulate the intercourse be
tween the English and the Indians ; and to procure seed corn for the
next planting season. They lodged the first night at Namasket.
In some places, they found the country almost depopulated by the
plague, which had desolated the neighborhood of Patuxet. They
passed through fine old cornfields, and pasture grounds, that were
destitute of cattle and of inhabitants. Skulls and bones appeared
in many places where the Indians had dwelt. On their arrival at
Pokanoket, the place of Masassoit's residence, forty miles from Ply
mouth, they were kindly welcomed by that Indian sovereign, who
renewed his assurances of continuing the peace and friendship.*
rock where the Fathers landed ; and lest the Indians should take advantage of the
weak and wretched state of the English, the graves were leveled and sown, for the
purpose of concealment."
* " The manner of reception and treatment of the envoys at the court of Masassoit
is worthy of notice. When the king had taken them into his house, and seated them,
he heard their message, and received their presents. He then put on a horseman's
red coat, and a chain about his neck, (these having been among the presents), and
' was not a little proud to behold himself, and his men also to see their king so
bravely attired.' Having given a friendly answer to the message, his men gathered
around him ; and, turning himself to them, he addressed them in a speech : * Am
not I Masassoit, commander of the country around you 1 Is not such a town mine,
and the people of it 1 Will you not bring your skins to the English V After this
manner he named at least thirty places, to every one of which they gave an answer of
consent and applause. At the close of his speech he lighted tobacco for the envoys,
and proceeded to discourse about England, and the English king, wondering that he
would live without a wife. He talked also of the Frenchmen, bidding the English not
to suffer them to come to Narraganset, for it was king James' country, and he -was
king James' man. It now grew late, ' but victuals he offered none ; for indeed he
had not any,' having but just returned home. The envoys therefore, finding no
prospect of refreshment, but from sleep, desired to go to rest ; yet they were disap
pointed even of repose. ' Hee laid us,' says the narrator, 'on the bed with him-
selfe and his wife, they at the one end and wee at the other, it being onely plankes
laid a foot from the ground, and a thinne mat upon them. Two more of his chiefe
men for want of roome pressed by and upon us ; so that wee were worse wearie of
our lodging then of our journey.' " Purchas, v.
3*
30 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
After the league with Masassoit, Corbitant, one of his ^petty
sachems, becoming discontented, meditated to join the JNarra-
gansetts, who were inimical to the English; and he was now at
Namasket, attempting to alienate the subjects of Masassoit from
their king. Squanto and Hobomack, two faithful friends of the
English, going at this time to Namasket, to make observation,
were threatened with death by Corbitant, who seized and detained
Squanto, but Hobomack made his escape. To counteract the
hostile machinations of Corbitant, and to liberate Squanto, the
governor, with the advice of the company, sent Miles Standish
and fourteen men, with Hobomack for their guide, to Namasket.
On their arrival, the Indians of Corbitant's faction fled. The de
sign of the English expedition was explained to the natives of the
place, with menaces of revenge, in case of insurrection against
Masassoit, or of violence to any of his subjects.
This resolute enterprise struck such terror into the neighboring
Indians, that their chiefs came in, and solicited the friendship of the
English. On the thirteenth of September, nine sachems volun
tarily came to Plymouth, and subscribed an instrument of sub
mission to king James. It was peculiarly happy for the colony,
that it had secured the friendship of Masassoit; for his influence
was very extensive. He was reverenced and regarded by all the
natives from the bay of Narragansett to that of Massachusetts.
The submission of the nine sachems is ascribed to their mutual
connection with this sovereign, as its primary cause. Other
princes under him made also a similar submission, among whom
are mentioned those of Pamet, Nauset, Cummaquid, and Na
masket, with several others about the bays of Patuxet and Mas
sachusetts."* In March, 1623, intelligence being received at Plymouth that
Masassoit was sick, and apparently near death, and that a Dutch
ship was driven ashore near his house, the governor sent Edward
Winslow and John Hambden, to visit and assist him, and speak
with the Dutch. They found Masassoit extremely ill ; but by
some cordials which Mr. Winslow administered, he recovered.
Gratefully impressed with the kind offices performed, Masassoit
revealed a plot of the Massachusetts Indians, against Weston's
people at Wessagusset, who, being a set of rude and profane fel
lows, had provoked the Indians, by stealing their corn, and .other
abuses. Being fearful that the English settlers at Plymouth mi^ht
avenge their countrymen, it was determined to kill them also.
Masassoit advised the English to kill the chief conspirators, as
the only means of safety.
" The governor, on receiving this intelligence, which was con-
* Homes' Annals.
NEW ENGLAND STATES.
3i
Mr. Winslow, attending on Masassoit.
firmed by other evidences, ordered Standish to take with him as
many men, as he should judge sufficient, and, if a plot should be
discovered, to fall on the conspirators. Standish, with eight men,
sailed to the Massachusetts, where the natives, suspecting his
design, insulted and threatened him. Watching his opportunity,
when four of them, Wittuwamet, Pecksuot, another Indian, and a
youth of eighteen, brother of Wittuwamet, and about as many of
his own men, were in the same room, he gave a signal to his men ;
the door was instantly shut ; and, snatching the knife of Pecksuot
from his neck, he killed him with it, after a violent struggle ; his
party killed Wittuwamet, and the other Indian; and hung the
youth. Proceeding to another place, Standish killed an Indian,
and afterward had a skirmish with a party of Indians, which he
put to flight. Weston's men also killed two Indians. Standish,
with that generosity, which characterizes true bravery, released
the Indian women, without taking their beaver coats, or allowing
the least incivility to be offered them. The English settlers now
a^ajidoned Wessagusset; and their plantation was thus broken up,
within a year after its commencement. Standish, having supplied
them with corn, and conducted them safely out of Massachusetts
Bay in a small ship of their own, returned to Plymouth, bringing
the head of Wittuwamet, which he set up on the fort. This sud
den and unexpected execution so terrified the other natives, who
had intended to join the Massachusetts in the conspiracy, that they
forsook their houses, and fled to swamps and desert places, where
they contracted diseases, which proved mortal to many of them ;
32 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
among whom were Canacum, sachem of Manomet ; Aspinet,
sachem of Nauset ; and Ianough, sachem of Mattachiest.
"We have already mentioned that Mr. Carver was ele<j!e<j
governor of the colony immediately after their arrival. He died
the 5th of April following. He was a man of great piety, and
indefatigable in his endeavors to advance the interest and happi
ness of the colony. Mr. William Bradford was soon after chosen
to succeed him in office. This gentleman, by renewed elections,
was continued in office until he died in 1657, except in 1633,
1636 and 1644, when Edward Winslow was chosen, and 1634,
when Thomas Prince was elected, who also succeeded Governor
Bradford and was annually elected, until his death in 1673, when
Josias Winslow succeeded and continued until he died in 1680,
and was succeeded by Thomas Hinkley, who held the place,
except in the interruption by Andros, until the junction with the
Massachusetts in 1692.
In March 1624, Mr. Winslow, agent for the colony, arrived
in the ship Charity, and, together with a good supply of clothing,
brought a bull and three heifers, which were the first cattle of
the kind in this part of America. From these, and others that
were afterward brought over from England, sprang the present
multitudes of cattle in the northern states. None of the domestic
animals were found in America by the first European settlers.
This year Lyford and Oldham, two treacherous intriguing
characters, influenced the factious part of the adventurers, to join
them in opposing the church and government of the colony.
Their artful designs got vent, and occasioned much disturbance.
Oldham was detected and banished. Lyford, who afterward pro
ved to be a villain, was, upon apparent repentance, pardoned and
received. At the close of 1624, the plantation at New Plymouth, con
sisted of 180 persons, who lived in thirty-two dwelling-houses.
Their stock was a few cattle and goats, and a plenty of swine
and poultry. Their town was empaled about half a mile in com
pass. On a high mount in the town, they had erected a fort of
wood, lime and stone, and a handsome watchtower. This year
they were able to freight a ship of 180 tons. Such was the
healthfulness of the place or of the seasons, that, notwithstanding
their frequent destitution of the necessaries of life, not one of the
first planters died for three years succeeding 1621.
The Laudian persecution was conducted with unrelenting
severity; and while it caused the destruction of thousands in
England, proved to be a principle of life and vigor to the infant
settlements in America. Several men of eminence in England
who were the friends and protectors of the Puritans, entertained
a design of settling in New England, if they should fail in the
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 33
measures they were pursuing for the establishment of the liberty,
and the reformation of the religion of their own country. They
solicited and obtained grants in New England, and were at great
pains in settling them. Among these patentees were the Lords
Brook, Say and Seal, the Pelhams, the Hampdens and the
Pyms ; names which afterward appeared with great eclat. Sir
Matthew Boynton, Sir William Constable, Sir Arthur Haslerig,
and Oliver Cromwel, were actually upon the point of embarking
for New England, when Archbishop Laud, unwilling that so
many objects of his hatred should be removed out of the reach of
his power, applied for, and obtained, an order from the court to
put a stop to these transportations. However, he was not able to
prevail so far as to hinder New England from receiving vast
additions, as well of the clergy, who were silenced and deprived
of their living and for non-conformity, as of the laity who adhered
to their opinions.
New Plymouth, until this -time, had remained without a
patent. Several attempts were made, agents were sent and
much money was expended, with a view to obtain one, but all
hitherto had proved abortive. On the 13th of January, 1630,
the council of New England sealed a patent to William Bradford,
Esq.; and his heirs, of 'all that part of New England lying be
tween Cohasset rivulet towards the north, and Narragansett river
toward the south, the western ocean toward the east, and between
and within a strait line directly extending up the main-land to
ward the west from the mouth of Narragansett river, to the
utmost bound of a country in New England, called Pokanoket,
alias Sawamsett westward, and another like strait line extending
directly from the mouth of Cohasset river toward the west so far
up into the main-land as the utmost limits of the said Pokanoket
extend:' Also, 'all that part of New England between the
utmost limits of Capersecont which adjoineth to the river Ken-
nebek, and the falls of Negumke, with the said river itself, and the
space of fifteen miles on each side between the bounds above
said,' with all the rights, jurisdictions, privileges, &c. &c. usual
and necessary.
This patent passed the King's hand, and would no doubt have
now been finished, had not the agents, without the notice or ad
vice of the colony, inserted a clause to free the colony from cus
toms seven years inward, and twenty-one outward. But in
consequence of this clause the patent was never finished, and they
remained without a charter, until they were incorporated with
Massachusetts, in 1691 or 1692. Notwithstanding this, New
Plymouth was a government defacto, and considered as such by
king Charles in his letters and orders which were sent them at
various times previous to their incorporation with Massachusetts."
34 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
"On the 19th of March, 1628, the Plymouth council sealed a
patent to Sir Henry Roswell, and five others, of all that part of
New England, included between a line drawn three miles south
of Charles river, and another three miles north of Merrimak river,
from the Atlantic to the South Sea.* This patent gave a good
right to the soil, but no powers of government. A royal charter
was necessary. This passed the seals March 4th, 1629. Until'
this year, a few scattering settlements only, had been made in
Massachusetts Bay. In the summer of 1628, Mr. Endicot, one
of the original planters, with a small colony, was sent over to be
gin a plantation at Naumkeag, (now Salem). The June following,
about 200 persons, furnished with four ministers,! came over and
joined Mr. Endicot's colony ; and the next year they formed them
selves into a regular church. This was the first church gathered
in Massachusetts, and the second in New England. The church
at Plymouth had been gathered eight years before. In 1629, a
larger embarkation was projected by the company in England;
and at the request of a number of respectable gentlemen, most of
whom afterward came over to New England, the general con
sent of the company was obtained, that the government and
patent should be transferred and settled in Massachusetts.
In 1630, seventeen ships from different ports in England,
arrived in Massachusetts, with more than 1500 passengers,
among whom were many persons of distinction. Incredible were
the hardships they endured. Exposed to the relentless cruelties
of the Indians, who, a few months before, had entered into a gen
eral conspiracy to extirpate the English — reduced to a scanty
pittance of provisions, and that of a kind to which they had not
been accustomed, and destitute of necessary accommodations,
numbers sickened and died; so that before the end of the year,
they lost 200 of their number. About this time settlements were
made at Charlestown, Boston, Dorchester, Cambridge, Roxbury,
?This tract of country was called Massachusetts Bay. The Massachusetts
tribe of Indians, lived around, and gave their name to the large bay at the bottom of
this tract, hence the name Massachusetts Bay.
The following extract from the epistle dedicatory to a sermon preached at
Plymouth, in 1620, will show the ideas then entertained, respecting the situation of
the .South Sea.
" New England, so called, not only (to avoid novelties) because Captain Smith
hath so entitled it in his description, but because of the resemblance that is in it of
England the native soil of Englishmen ; it being much what the same for heat and
cold in summer and winter, it being champion ground, but not high mountains
somewhat like the soil in Kent and Essex ; full of dales, and meadow ground full of
rivers and sweet springs, as England is. But principally, so far as we can yet find
it is an island, and near about the quantity of England, being cut out from the main
land in America, as England is from the main of Europe, by a great arm of the sea
which entereth in forty degrees, and runneth up North West and by West, and goeth
out either into the South Sea, or else into the Bay of Canada."
i Messrs. Higginson, Skelton, Bright and Smith.
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 35
and Medford. The first general court of Massachusetts was held
on the 19th of October, 1631, not by representation, but by the
freemen of the corporation at large. At this court, they agreed
that in future, the freemen should choose the assistants, and that
the assistants should phoose, from among themselves, the gov
ernor and deputy governor. The court of assistants were to have
the power of making laws and appointing officers. This was a
departure from their charter. One hundred and nine freemen
were admitted this court. At the next general court of election, in
the same year, the freemen, notwithstanding their former vote,
resolved to choose their own governor, deputy, and assistants, and
passed a most extraordinary law, ' that none but church members
should be admitted to the freedom of the body politic' This law
continued in force until the dissolution of the government ; with
this alteration, however, that instead of being church members,
the candidates for freedom, must have a certificate from the min
ister, that they were of orthodox principles, and of good lives and
conversations. In the years 1632 and 1633, great additions were made to the
colony. Such was the rage for emigration to New England, that
the King in council thought fit to issue an order, (February 7,
1633,) to prevent it. This order, however, was not strictly
obeyed; for this year came over Messrs. Cotton, Hooker, and
Stone, three of the most famous pillars of the church. Mr. Cot
ton settled at Boston, and the other two at Cambridge. Mr
Hooker settled at Hartford, on Connecticut river.
In 1634, twenty-four of the principal inhabitants appeared in
the general court for elections, as the representatives of the body
of freemen, and resolved, 'That none but the general court had
power to make and establish laws — to elect officers — to raise
monies, and confirm proprieties ;' and determined that four gene
ral courts be held yearly, to be summoned by the governor, and
not be dissolved without the consent of the major part of the
court — that it be lawful for the freemen of each plantation, to
choose two or three persons as their representatives, to transact,
on their behalf, the affairs of the commonwealth, &c. Thus was
settled the legislative body, which, except an alteration of the
number of general courts, which were soon reduced to two only
in a year, and other not very material circumstances, continued
the same as long as the charter lasted.
In 1636 Mrs. Hutchinson, a very extraordinary woman who/
came to New England with Mr. Cotton, made great disturbances
in the churches. Two capital errors with which she was charged, ,
were, 'That the Holy Ghost dwells personally in a justified \
person; and that nothing of sanctification, can help to evidence to
believers their justification.' Disputes ran high about the cove-
36 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
nant of works, and the covenant of grace, and involved both the
civil and religious affairs of the colony in great confusion. The
final result was, a synod was appointed to be held at Cambridge,
in August, 1637, where were present, both ministers and mes
sengers of churches and magistrates, who after three weeks dispu
ting, condemned, as erroneous, above eighty points or opinions,
said to have been maintained by some one or other in the country.
The result was signed by all the members but Mr. Cotton. In
consequence of this, Mrs. Hutchinson and some of her principal
followers were sentenced to banishment. She, with her husband
and family, shortly after removed to Aquidnick, (Rhode Island),
where, in 1642, Mr. Hutchinson died. She being dissatisfied
with the people or place, removed to the Dutch country beyond
New Haven, and the next year, she and all her family, being six
teen souls, were killed by the Indians, except one daughter who
was carried into captivity.
In 1640, the importation of settlers ceased. The motives for
emigrating to New England were removed by a change in the
affairs of England. They who then professed to give the best
account, say that in 298 ships, which were the whole number
from the beginning of the colony, there arrived 21,200 passengers,
men, women and children, perhaps about 4000 families. Since
then more persons have removed from New England to other parts
of the world, than have arrived from thence hither. The present
inhabitants therefore of New England, are justly to be estimated
a natural increase, by the blessing of heaven, from the first 21,000
that arrived by the year 1640. It was judged that they had, at
this time, 12,000 neat cattle, and 3000 sheep. The charge of
transporting the families and their substance, was computed at
£192,000 sterling.
In 1641, many discouragements were given to the settlers by
their former benefactors, who withheld their assistance from them,
and endeavored, though without success, to persuade them to quit
their new establishments. The following year, the Indians con
federated under Miantinomo, a leader of the Narragansett Indians,
for the extirpation of the English. The confederacy was fortu
nately discovered in its infancy and produced no mischief.
This year (1643), great disturbance was made in the colony by
a sect which arose from the ashes of Antinomianism. The mem
bers of it, by their imprudence, exposed themselves to the intol
erant spirit of the day, and Gorton, the leader of the party, was
sentenced to be confined to Charlestown, there to be kept at work,
and to wear such bolts and irons as might hinder his escape and
was "threatened with severer punishment in case of a repetition of
his crime. The rest were confined to different towns, one in a
town, upon the same conditions with Gorton."
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 37
"The first grant of Connecticut was made, by the Plymouth
council, to the Earl of Warwick, in 1630, and confirmed by his
majesty in council the same year. This grant compiehended
' all that part of New England which lies west from Narragansett
river, 120 miles on the sea-coast, from thence, in latitude and
breadth aforesaid, to the south sea.' The year following, the
earl assigned this grant to Lord Say and Seal, LordfBrook, and
nine others.
No English settlements were attempted in Connecticut until
the year 1 633, when a number of Plymouth men, having purchased
of Sequasson and Natawanute, two principal sachems, a tract of
land at the mouth of Farmington river in Windsor, built a house
and fortified it, and ever after maintained their right of soil upon
the river.
The same year, a little before the arrival of the English, a
company of Dutch traders came to Hartford, and built a house
which they called the Hirse of Good Hope, and erected a small
fort, in which they planted two cannon. This was the only
settlement of the Dutch in Connecticut in these ancient times.
The Dutch, and after them the province of New York, for a
long time claimed as far east as the western bank of Connect
icut river. It belongs to the professed historian to prove or
disprove the justice of this claim. Douglass says, 'The parti
tion line between New York and Connecticut as established De
cember 1, 1664, run from the mouth of Momoronock river, (a little
west from Byram river), N. N. W. and was the ancient easterly
limits of New York, until Nov. 23, 1683, when the line was run
neajly the same as it is now settled.' If Douglass is right, the
New York claim could not have been well founded.
In 1635, Lord Say and Seal, and Lord Brook, sent over a
small number of men, who built a fort at Saybrook, and held
a treaty with the Pequot Indians, who, in a formal manner,
gave to the English their right to Connecticut river and the adja
cent country. In 1635, the Plymouth council granted to the
Duke of Hamilton, all lands between Narragansett and Con
necticut rivers, and back into the country as far as Massachusetts
south line. This covered a part of the Earl of Warwick's
patent, and occasioned some disputes in the colony. There
were several attempts to revive the Hamilton claim, but were
never prosecuted.
In Oct. of this year, about sixty persons, from Newtown, Dor
chester, and Watertown, in Massachusetts, came and settled
Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, in Connecticut; and the
June following the Rev. Mr. Hooker, and his company came and
settled at Hartford, and was a father to the colony to the day of
4
38 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
his death. The first court held in Connecticut was at Hartford,
April 26th, 1636."
The year 1637, is rendered memorable in Connecticut by the
conquest of the Pequots, one of the most warlike tribes in New-
England. They were surprised by Capt. Mason in one of their
forts which stood in the limits of the present town of Groton,
near New Ifondon, Conn., and their existence as a tribe was de
stroyed. This destruction of the Pequots struck such terror
among the surrounding Indian tribes, as to restrain them from
Open hostilities for nearly forty years afterwards.
The pursuit of the Pequots along the southern coast of Con
necticut, led to an acquaintance with lands on the sea-coast. The
favorable report respecting the country, induced Mr. Eaton and
Mr. Hopkins, both merchants of London of the first respectability,
and the Rev. Mr. Davenport a man of distinguished abilities, with
their company to select it as a place for settlement. Accordingly,
in March, 1638, they proceeded to Quinnipiac now New Haven
and laid the foundation of a flourishing colony* At their first
election in Oct. 1639, Mr. Theophilus Eaton was chosen gov
ernor for the first year. Their elections by agreement, were to
be annual; and the Word of God their rule for all their affairs of
government. In 1639, the three towns on Connecticut river, already men
tioned, finding themselves without the limits of any jurisdiction,
formed themselves into a body politic, and agreed upon articles of
civil government. These articles were the foundation of the Con
necticut charter, which was granted by king Charles in 1662.
The colony of New Haven being included within the chartered
limits of Connecticut, both colonies were united in one, in 1665.
Rhode Island was first settled from Massachusetts. It owes
its first settlement, to a spirit of religious persecution. "Mr.
Roger Williams, a minister, who came over to Salem in 1630,
was charged with holding a variety of errors, and was at length
banished from the colony of Massachusetts, and afterward from
Plymouth, as a disturber of the peace of the Church and
Commonwealth; and, as he says, 'a bull of excommunication
was sent after him.' He had several treaties with Myantonomo
and Canonicus, the Narragansett sachems, in 1634 and 1635'
who assured him he should not want for land. And in 1634 and
1 635, he and twenty others, his followers, who were voluntary
exiles, came to a place called by the Indians Mooshausick, and by
him Providence. Here they settled, and though secured from
the Indians by the terror of the English, they for a considerable
time greatly suffered through fatigue and want.
The unhappy divisions and contentions in Massachusetts still
prevailed. And in the year 1636, governor Winthrop strove to
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 39
exterminate the opinions which he disapproved. Accordingly a
synod was called at Newtown (now Cambridge) on the 30th of,
August, when eighty erroneous opinions were presented, debated,
and condemned ; and a court holden in October following, at the;
same place, banished a few leading persons of those who were
accused of these errors, and censured several others; not, it
seems, for holding these opinions, but for seditious conduct.
The disputes which occasioned this disturbance, were about the
same points as the five questions debated between the synod and
Mr. Cotton, which are thus described by Dr. Mather. They
were ' about the order of things in our union to our Lord Jesus
Christ ; about the influence of our faith in the application of his
righteousness; about the use of our sanctification in evidencing;
our justification; and about the consideration of our Lord Jesus 1
Christ by men yet under a covenant of works ; briefly, they were *
about the points whereon depend the grounds of our assurance
of blessedness in a better world.'
The whole colony of Massachusetts, at this time, was in a vio
lent ferment. The election of civil officers was carried by a
party spirit, excited by religious dissension. Those who were
banished by the court, joined by a number of their friends, went
in quest of a new settlement, and came to Providence, where
they were kindly entertained by Mr. R. Williams ; who, by the
assistance Sir Henry Vane, jun. procured for them, from the In
dians, Aquidnick, now Rhode Island. Here, in 1638, the people,
eighteen in number, formed themselves into a body politic, and
chose Mr. Coddington, their leader, to be their judge or chief
magistrate. This same year the sachems signed the deed or
grant of the island. For which Indian gift, it is said, they paid
very dearly by being obliged to make repeated purchases of the
same lands from several claimants. The other parts of the state
were purchased of the natives at several successive periods.
In the year 1643, the people being destitute of a patent or any
legal authority, Mr. Williams went to England as agent, and by
the assistance of Sir Henry Vane, jun. obtained of the Earl of
Warwick (then governor and admiral of all the plantations) and
his council, ' a free and absolute charter of civil incorporation,
by the name of the incorporation of Providence Plantations in
Narragansett Bay.' This lasted until the charter granted by
Charles II. in 1663, by which the incorporation was styled,
'The English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Planta
tions in New England.' This charter, without any essential
alteration, has remained the foundation of their government ever
since." — Br. Morse.
The first discovery of any part of New Hampshire by the
English, it appears, was made by Capt. John Smith in 1614, as
40 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
has been related. "In 1G21, Capt. John Mason, obtained from
the council of Plymouth, a grant of all the land from the river
Naumkeag (now Salem) round Cape Ann, to the river Merrimack,
up each of those rivers, and from a line connecting the furthest
sources of them inclusively, with all islands withhuhrce miles of
the coast. This district was called Mariana.^ The next year,
another grant was made to Sir Fcrdinando Gorges and Mason
jointly, of all the lands between the Merrimack and Sagadahock,
extending back lo the great lakes of Canada. This grant, which
includes a part of the other, was called Laconia. Under the
authority of this grant, in 1623, a settlement was made at Little
Harbor, near the mouth of the Piscataqua.
In 1629, some planters from Massachusetts Bay, wishing to
form a settlement in the neighborhood of Piscataqua, procured a
general meeting of the Indians, at Squamscot falls, where, with
the universal consent of their subjects, they purchased of the
Indian chiefs, for a valuable consideration, a tract of land com
prehended between the rivers Piscataqua and Merrimack, and a
line connecting these rivers, drawn at the distance of about thirty
miles from the sea-coast, and obtained a deed of the same, wit
nessed by the principal persons of Piscataqua and the province of
Maine. The same year, Mason procured a new patent under the com
mon seal of the council of Plymouth, of all lands included within
lines drawn from the mouths and through the middle of Piscata
qua and Merrimack rivers, until sixty miles were completed, and a
line crossing over land connecting those points, together with all
islands within five leagues of the coast. This tract of land was
called New Hampshire. It comprehended the whole of the above
mentioned Indian purchase ; and what is singular and unaccount
able, the same land which this patent covered, and much more,
had been granted to Gorges and Mason, jointly, seven years before.
In 1635, the Plymouth company resigned their charter to the
king, but this resignation did not materially affect the patentees
under them, as the several grants to companies and individuals
were mostly confirmed at some subsequent period by charters
from the crown.
In 1640 four distinct governments had been formed on the
several brandies of Piscataqua. The people under these govern
ments, unprotected by England, in consequence of her own
internal distractions, and too much divided in their opinions to
form any general plan of government which could afford any pros
pect of permanent utility, thought best to solicit the protection of
Massachusetts. That government, readily granted their request
and accordingly, in April, 1641, the principal settlers of Piscata
qua, by a formal instrument, resigned the jurisdiction of the whole
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 41
to Massachusetts, on condition that the inhabitants should enjoy
the same liberties with their own people, and have a court of jus
tice erected among them. The property of the whole patent of
Portsmouth, and of one third of that of Dover, and of all the
improved lands therein, was reserved to the lords and gentlemen
proprietors and their heirs forever. These reservations were
acceeded to on the part of Massachusetts, and what is extraor
dinary, and manifested the fondness of the government for retain
ing them under their jurisdiction, a law, of Massachusetts,
declaring that none but church members should sit in the general
court, was dispensed with, in their favor. While they were uni
ted with Massachusetts, they were governed by the general laws
of the colony, and the conditions of the union were strictly ob
served. During this period, however, they had to struggle with
many difficulties. One, while involved together with Massachu
setts in a bloody war with the Indians ; and repeatedly disturbed,
with the warm disputes occasioned by the ineffectual efforts of
Mason's heirs to recover the property of their ancestor. These
disputes continued until 1679, when Mason's claim, though never
established in law, was patronized by the crown, and New
Hampshire was erected into a separate government. Massachu
setts was directed to recall all her commissions for governing in
that province, which was accordingly done. The first commission
for the government of New Hampshire, was given to Mr. Cutt, as
resident of the province on the 18th of September, 1679.
In the year 1691, Mason's heirs sold their title to their lands in
New England to Samuel Allen of London, for £2750. This
produced new controversies, concerning the property of the lands,
which embroiled the province for many years. In 1692, Colonel
Samuel Allen was commissioned governor of New Hampshire.
Eight years after, he came over to America to prosecute his claim,
but died before the affair was concluded.
The inhabitants about this time suffered extremely from the
cruel barbarity of the Indians ; Exeter, Dover, and the frontier
settlements, were frequently surprised in the night — the houses
plundered and burnt — the men killed and scalped — and the
women and children either inhumanly murdered, or led captives
into the wilderness. The first settlers in other parts of New Eng
land were also, about this time, harrassed by the Indians, and it
would require volumes to enumerate their particular sufferings.
In 1737, a controversy, which had long subsisted between the two
governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, respecting
their divisional line, was heard by commissioners appointed by the
crown for that purpose. These commissioners determined that
the northern boundaries, of Massachusetts should be a line three
miles north from the river Merrimack as far as Pawtucket falls,
4*
42 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
then to run west 10° north, until it meets New York line.
Although Massachusetts felt herself aggrieved by this decis
ion, and attempted several ways to obtain redress, the line has
never been altered, but is, at present, the divisional line between
the two states. Douglass mentions, 'That the governor of
Massachusetts, for many years, was also governor of New
Hampshire, with a distinct commission.' This must have been
rnany years after New Hampshire had been erected into a sepa
rate government in 1679. He adds that New Hampshire
entered a complaint to the king in council against the joint gov
ernor, relative to settling the boundaries between the two
provinces. This complaint was judged by the king to have been
well founded, and 'therefore a separate governor for New
Hampshire was commissioned in 1740.'" — Dr. Morse's Hist.
The first permanent settlement in Maine, was effected in York
in 1630, by emigrants from Plymouth colony. "In 1635, Sir
Ferdinando Gorges obtained a grant from the council of Plymouth,
of the tract of country between the rivers Piscataqua and Saga-
dahok, which is the mouth of Kennebeck; and up Kennebeck so
far as to form a square of 120 miles. It is supposed that Sir
Ferdinand first instituted government in this province. In 1639,
Gorges obtained from the crown a charter of the soil and jurisdic
tion, containing as ample powers perhaps as the king of England
ever granted to any subject.
In the same year he appointed a governor and council, and
they administered justice to the settlers until about the year
1647, when, hearing of the death of Gorges, they supposed their
authority ceased, and the people on the spot universally com
bined and agreed to be under civil government, and to elect their
officers annually. Government was administered in this form
until 1652, when the inhabitants submitted to the Massachusetts,
who, by a new construction of their charter which was given to
Rosswell and others, in 1628, claimed the soil and jurisdiction
of the province of Maine as far as the middle of Casco Bay.
Maine then first took the name of Yorkshire ; and county courts
.were held in the manner they were in Massachusetts, and the
towns had liberty to send their deputies to the general court at
Boston. In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York
all that part of New England which lies between St. Croix and
Pemaquid rivers on the sea-coast; and up Pcmaouid river and
from the head thereof to Kennebeck river, and thence the shortest
course north to St. Lawrence river. This was called the Duke
of York's property, and annexed to the government of New York.
The Duke of York, on the death of his brother Charles II. be-
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 43
came James II., and upon James' abdication, these lands reverted
to the crowjp.
Upon the restoration of Charles II., the heirs of Gorges com
plained to the crown of the Massachusetts usurpation; and in
1665, the King's commissioners who visited New England,
came to the province of Maine, and appointed magistrates and
other officers independent of Massachusetts Bay. The magis
trates, thus appointed, administered government according to such
instructions as the king's commissioners had given them, until
about the year 1668, when the Massachusetts general court sent
down commissioners and interrupted such as acted by the au
thority derived from the king's commissioners. At this time
public affairs were in confusion; some declaring for Gorges and
the magistrates appointed by the king's commissioners, and others
for Massachusetts. The latter however prevailed, and courts of
pleas ajad criminal jurisdiction were held as in other parts of the
Massachusetts Bay.
About the year 1674, the heirs of Gorges complained again to
the king and council of the usurpation of Massachusetts Bay, and
they were called upon to answer for their conduct. The result
was, they ceased for a time to exercise their jurisdiction, and
Gorges, grandson of Ferdinando, sent over instructions. But in
1677, the Massachusetts, by their agent, John Usher, Esq.,
afterward governor of New Hampshire, purchased the right and
interest of the patent for £1200 sterling. The Massachusetts
now supposed they had both the jurisdiction and the soil, and
accordingly governed in the manner the charter of Maine had
directed, until 1684, when the Massachusetts charter was vacated.
In 1691, by charter from William and Mary, the province of
Maine and the large territory eastward, extending to Nova Sco
tia, was incorporated with Massachusetts Bay." — Dr. Morse.
King Charles in the patent given to Gorges, granted more and
greater powers, than had ever been granted by a sovereign to a
subject. He enjoined little else in particular, than an establish
ment of the Episcopal religion. The territory was then called
the Province of Mayne, by way of compliment to the queen of
Charles I. who was a daughter of France, and owned as her
private estate, a province there, called the Province of Mayne,
now the department ^f Maine. Maine became separated from
Massachusetts in 1820, by being that year formed into an inde
pendent state._ s-f—
"•HjF the spring of Vl63J)Hhe Great Conspiracy was entered into
by the Indians in all parts, from the Narragansetts round to the
eastward, to extirpate the English. The colony at Plymouth
was the principal object of this conspiracy. They well knew
that if they could effect the destruction of Plymouth, the infant
44 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
settlement at Massachusetts would fall an easy sacrifice. They
laid their plan with much art. Under color of having some
diversion at Plymouth, they intended to have fallen upon the
inhabitants, and thus to have effected their design. But their
plot was disclosed to the people at Charlestown, by John Saga
more, an Indian, who had always been a great friend to the Eng
lish. This treacherous design of the Indians alarmed the
English, and induced them to erect forts and maintain guards, to
prevent any such fatal surprise in future. These preparations,
and the firing of the great guns, so terrified the Indians that they
dispersed, relinquished their design, and declared themselves the
friends of the English. -
Such was the great increase of inhabitants in New England by
natural population, and particularly by emigrations from Great
Britain, that in a few years, besides the settlements in Plymouth
and Massachusetts, very flourishing colonies were planted in
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven and New Hampshire.
The dangers to which these colonies were exposed from the sur
rounding Indians, as well as from the Dutch, who, although very
friendly to the infant colony at Plymouth, were now likely to
prove troublesome neighbors, first induced them to think of an
alliance and confederacy for their mutual defence. Accordingly
in 1643, the four colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connect
icut and New Haven, agreed upon articles of confederation,
whereby a congress was formed, consisting of two commissioners
from each colony, who were chosen annually, and when met were
considered as the representatives of ' The United Colonies of
New England.' The powers delegated to the commissioners,
were much the same as those vested in Congress by the articles
of confederation, agreed upon by the United States in 1778.
The colony of Rhode Island would gladly have joined in this
confederacy, but Massachusetts, for particular reasons, refused to
admit their commissioners. This union subsisted, with some
few alterations, until the year 1686, when all the charters, except
that of Connecticut, were, in effect, vacated by a commission from
James II.
" In 1656 began what has been generally called the persecution
of the Quakers. The first who openly professed the principles of
this sect in this colony, were Mary Fisher -and Ann Austin, who
came from Barbadoes in July of this year. A few weeks after
nine others arrived in the ship Speedwell of London. On the 8th
of September, they were brought before the court of Assistants.
It seems they had before affirmed that they were sent by God to
reprove the people for their sins ; they were accordingly ques
tioned how they could make it appear that God sent them ? After
pausing; they answered that they had the same call that Abraham
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 45
had to go out of hi3 country. To other questions, they gave rude
and contemptuous answers, which is the reason assigned for com
mitting them to prison. A great number of their books which
they brought over with intent to scatter them about the country,
were seized and reserved for the fire. Soon after this, as the gov
ernor was going from public worship on the Lord's day to his own
house, several gentlemen accompanying him, Mary Prince called
to him from a window of the prison, railing at and reviling him,
saying, ' woe unto thee, thou art an oppressor ;' and denouncing the
judgments of God upon him. Not content with this, she wrote a
letter to the governor and magistrates filled with opprobrious stuff.
The governor sent for her twice from the prison to his house, and
took much pains to persuade her to desist from such extravagancies.
Two of the ministers were present, and with much moderation
and tenderness endeavored to convince her of her errors, to which
she returned the grossest railings, reproaching them as hirelings,
deceivers of the people, Baal's priests, the seed of the serpent, of
the brood of Ishmael and the like.
At this time there was no special provision made in the laws
for the punishment of the Quakers. But in virtue of a law which
had been made against heretics in general, the court passed sen- ,
tence of banishment upon them all. Afterwards other severe,
laws were enacted, among which were the following ; any Quaker,
after the first conviction, if a man, was to lose one ear, and for the
second offence, the other — a woman to be each time severely
whipped — and the third time, whether man or woman, to have
their tongues bored through with a red-hot iron." — Dr. Morse.
"In October, 1658, the members of the general court of Mas
sachusetts, by a majority of one vote only, passed a law for
punishing with death all Quakers who should return into their juris
diction after banishment. Under this law four persons were exe
cuted. Tke friends of the Quakers in England now interposed,
and obtained an order from the king, September 9th, 1661, re
quiring that a stop should be put to all capital or corporeal pun
ishments of his subjects called Quakers, and that such as were
obnoxious, should be sent to England. This order was obeyed,
and all disturbances by degrees subsided.
Much censure has been passed upon the New England colonies
for their severe laws against those calling themselves Quakers ;
yet it must be recollected that the laws in England against them,
at this period, were severe, and although none were put to death
by public execution, yet many were confined in prisons, where
they died, in consequence of the rigor of the law. One principal
thing which tends to mislead the judgment of many, in this
present age, is the supposition that those who suffered the pun
ishment of the law were essentially of the same spirit and practice
46 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
of the respectable and worthy society of Friends or Quakers of
the present day. This is a mistake ; many who went by this
name at that period may be considered as fanatics, and proper
subjects of a madhouse, The following instances of their con
duct may be considered as a species of madness. ' Some at
Salem, Hampton, Newbury, and other places, coming into the con
gregations and calling to the minister in time of public worship,
declaring their preaching, &c, to be an abomination to the Lord.
Thomas Newhouse went into the meeting-house at Boston, with a
couple of glass bottles, and broke them before the congregation,
and threatened, ' Thus will the Lord break you in pieces'
Another time, M. Brewster came in with her face smeared and
black as a coal. Deborah Wilson went through the streets of
Salem as naked as she came into the world.'* " That some pro
vision was necessary against these people so far as they were dis
turbers of civil peace and order, every one will allow ; but such
sanguinary laws against particular doctrines or tenets in religion
are not to be defended."
"Soon after the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, many
complaints were made to his majesty respecting the colony, and,
agreeably to a requisition from him, agents were sent over to
answer to them. These were favorably received, and returned in
a short time with letters from the king, commanding the alteration
of some of the laws and customs, and directing the administra
tion of justice to be in his name. The letters not being strictly
obeyed, and new complaints coming to the king's ears, four com
missioners were dispatched in 1665, to the colony of Massa
chusetts, with absolute authority to hear and determine every
cause. This authority met with merited opposition. The col
onists adhered to what. they imagined to be their just rights and
privileges, and though ' somewhat culpable for their obstinate de
fence of a few unwarrantable peculiarities, deserve commendation
for their general conduct. The commissioners left the colony dis
satisfied and enraged. Their report, however, occasioned no
trouble from England, on account of the jealousies of govern
ment which then prevailed there, and the misfortunes of the
plague, and fire of London."
The year 1675 is memorable in the history of New England on
account of King Philip's War, the most general and destructive
ever sustained by the infant colonies. The Indian power in New
England was forever broken in a bloody conflict in the depth of
winter, called the Swamp fight. The war was ended by the death
of Philip, who was killed August 12th, 1676. In this distressing]
war, the English lost six hundred men, the flower of their strength jj
* Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 203 and 204.
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 47
twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed, and six hundred dwelling
houses were consumed. Every eleventh family was houseless,
and every eleventh soldier had sunk to the grave.
" In the year 1684, it was decided in the high Court of Chan
cery, that Massachusetts had forfeited her charter, and that hence
forth her government should be placed in the hands of the king.
This event was brought about chiefly by the instrumentality of
Edmund Andros. This man had been sent over as a kind of spy
on the colonies ; he made it his business to collect charges against
the colonies, and return to England and excite the jealousy of the
British government. In this mamier, the way was prepared for
annulling the colonial charters. In December 1686, Andros
arrived at Boston, being commissioned by King James, as Gov
ernor General, and Vice Admiral over New England, New York,
and the Jerseys. Like all tyrants, Sir Edmund began his admin
istration with professions of high regard for the public welfare.
In a few months, however, the prospect was changed. The press
was restrained, liberty of conscience infringed, and exhorbitant
taxes were levied. The charters being vacated, it was pretended
all titles to land were destroyed ; farmers, therefore, who had cul
tivated their soil for half a century, were obliged to take new
patents, giving large fees, or writs of intrusion were brought, and
their lands sold to others. To prevent petitions or consultations,
town meetings were prohibited, excepting once in a year for the
choice of town officers. Lest cries of oppression should reach
the throne, he forbade any to leave the country without permission
from the government.
In 1689, King James having abdicated the throne, William,
Prince of Orange, and Mary, daughter of James, were proclaimed
in February. A report of the landing of William in England,
reached Boston ; but before the news of the entire revolution in the
English government arrived, a most daring one was effected in
New England.
The colonists had borne the impositions of Andros's gov
ernment about three years. Their patience was now exhausted.
On the morning of April 18th, the public fury burst forth like a
volcano. The inhabitants of Boston were in arms, and the people
from the country poured in to their assistance. Andros and his
associates fled to a fort ; resistance was in vain, he was made a
prisoner, and sent to England."
The year 1692 is memorable in New England for the con
vulsion produced in Salem and its vicinity by the supposed
prevalence of witchcraft. Many were supposed to be bewitched,
and would complain of being bitten, pinched,. pricked with pins,
&c; some declared that they beheld a spectral representation of
the person whom they said was the cause of their affliction.
48 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
Some were struck dumb, others had their limbs distorted in a
shocking manner, sometimes running on their hands and feet,
i creeping through holes, and under chairs, tables, &c. ; barking
like a dog, with other actions equally strange and unaccountable.
Upon the accusation and testimony of persons thus afflicted,
many were imprisoned, and nineteen were executed for practicing
witchcraft, most of whom died professing their innocence.* The
evil became awfully alarming ; the most respectable persons in
the country were accused ; but the magistrates finally acquitted
those who were accused, and the menacing storm blew over to
the great joy of the inhabitants.
At this period, many learned and eminent men, both in Eng
land and America, fully believed in the existence of witchcraft.
Sir Matthew Hale, one of the brightest ornaments of the English
bench, repeatedly tried and condemned persons as criminals, who
were brought before him charged with this crime. It must be
confessed, that notwithstanding all the obloquy and contempt
which is now cast upon our forefathers, for believing in the ex
istence of witchcraft, many things took place at that time, (if we
can credit the accounts given by many respectable witnesses),
which would be extremely difficult to account for, on natural
principles. "About this period, the French in Canada and Nova Scotia,
instigated the northern and eastern Indians to commence hostili
ties against the English settlements. Dover and Salmon Falls,
in New Hampshire, Casco, in Maine, and Schenectady, in New
York, were attacked by different parties of French and Indians,
and shocking barbarities committed. Regarding Canada as the
principal source of their troubles, New England and New York
formed the bold project of reducing it by force of arms. For this
purpose, they raised an army under general Winthrop, which was
sent against Montreal, and equipped a fleet, which, commanded1
by Sir William Phipps, was destined to attack Quebec. The
season was so far advanced when the fleet arrived at Quebec,
October 5th, 1690, the French so superior in number, the weather
* A cotemporary writer observes : " As to the method' which the Salem Justices
do take in their examinations, it is truly this : A warrant being issued out to appre
hend the persons that are charged and complained of by the afflicted children, as
they are called ; said persons are brought- before the justices, the afflicted being pre
sent. The justices ask the apprehended why they afflict those poor children • to
which the apprehended answer, they do not afflict them. The justices order 'the
apprehended to look upon the said children, which accordingly they do ; and at the
time of that look (I dare not say by that look as the Salem gentlemen do.) the afflicted
are cast into a fit. The apprehended are then blinded, and ordered to touch the af
flicted ; and at that touch, though not by the touch, (as above,) the afflicted do ordi
narily corrie out of their fits. The afflicted persons, then declare and affirm that
the apprehended have afflicted them , upon which the apprehended persons, though
of never so good repute, are forthwith committed to prison on suspicion of witchcraft."
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 49
so tempestuous, and the sickness so great among the soldiers,
that the expedition was abandoned. Success had been so confi
dently expected, that no adequate provision was made for the pay
ment of the troops. There was danger of a mutiny/ In this
extremity, the government of Massachusetts issued bills of credit,
as a substitute for money ; and these were the first ever issued in
the American colonies.
The war with the French and Indians, which began in 1690,
was not yet terminated. For seven years the frontier settlements
were harrassed by the savages, till peace took place between
France and England. But in a few years war again broke out in
Europe, which was the signal for hostilities in America. In
February, 1704, Deerfield, on Connecticut river, was surprised in
the night, about forty persons killed, and more than one hundred
made prisoners, among whom were Mr. Williams, the minister,
and his family. In 1707, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and
Rhode Island, despatched an armament against Port Royal, **>
Nova Scotia; but the expedition was unsuccessful. In 1710,
New England, assisted by the mother country, with a fleet, suc
ceeded in reducing the place ; and its name, in honor of Queen
Anne, was changed to Annapolis. This success encouraged the
commander, General Nicholson, to visit England and propose an
expedition against Canada. His proposition was adopted, and in
June, 1711, Admiral Walker, with a fleet of fifteen ships of war,
and forty transports, with an army of veteran troops, arrived at
Boston, from whence he sailed for Quebec about the last of July.
At the same time, General Nicholson repaired to Albany, to take
the command of the forces that were to proceed by land. When
the fleet had advanced ten leagues up the St. Lawrence, the
weather became tempestuous and foggy.* Nine of the transports
were dashed in pieces on the rocks, and upwards of a thousand
men perished. Weakened by this disaster, the admiral returned
to England, and the New England troops returned to their homes.
Nicholson, having learned the fate of the fleet, returned with his
troops to Albany. In 1713, peace was made between France and
Great Britain at Utrecht.
In 1716, Samuel Shute, a colonel in the army of the celebra
ted Duke of Marlborough, was appointed governor of Massa
chusetts. For a long period afterwards, many controversies and
difficulties took place between the royal governors sent from Eng
land and the representatives of the people, who were jealous of
their rights as British subjects. These disturbances continued,
with some intervals, till the period of the American Revolution.
In 1744, war again broke out between England and France,
and the colonies were again involved in its calamaties. Their
commerce and fisheries suffered great injury from privateers fitted
5
50 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
out at Louisburg, a strong fortress on the Island of Cape Breton.
This place was considered one of the strongest in America; the
fortifications had been twenty-five years in building, and had cost
the French five and a half millions of dollars. The legislature of
Massachusetts, convinced of the importance of reducing this place,
planned a daring, but successful enterprise for its reduction.
Accordingly, about four thousand men, from Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and Connecticut, under, the command of Gen. Pep-
perell, sailed from Boston for the conquest of this place. Having
the assistance of four ships of war, under Commodore Warren,
from the West Indies, the troops arrived at Louisburg, about the
1 st of May, 1 745, and commenced the siege. For fourteen nights
successively, the New England troops, sinking to their knees in
mud, drew their camions and mortars through a swamp two miles
in length. By this means, the siege was pushed with so much
vigor, that, on the 16th of June, the garrison surrendered. France,
fired with resentment against the colonies, the next summer sent
a powerful fleet to ravage the coast of New England and recover
Louisburg. The news of their approach spread terror throughout
New England. But an uncommon succession of disasters, which
the pious at that time ascribed to the special interposition of Pro
vidence, blasted the hopes of the enemy. The French fleet was
delayed and damaged by storms : some of the ships were lost, and
a pestilential fever prevailed •among the troops, and the two admi
rals killed themselves through chagrin on the failure of the expe
dition. The war at this period was ended by the peace of Aix la
Chapelle, in 1748, by which all prisoners on each side were to be
restored without ransom, and all conquests made during the war
were to be mutually restored.
Scarcely had the colonies begun to reap the benefits of peace,
before they were again thrown into anxiety and distress by another
war against France. The war actually commenced in 1754,
though not formally declared till May,"l756. Early in the spring
of 1755, preparations were made by the colonies for vigorous exer
tions against the enemy. Four- expeditions were planned: — one
against the French in Nova Scotia; a second against the French
on the Ohio ; a third against Crown Point ; and a fourth against
Niagara. The expedition against Nova Scotia, consisting of three
thousand men, chiefly from Massachusetts, was led by General
Monckton and General Winslow. With these troops, they sailed
from Boston on the 1st of June, arrived at Chignecto, in the bay
of Fundy. After being joined by three hundred regular British
troops, they proceeded against fort Beau Sejour, which surren
dered, after a siege of four days-. Other forts were taken, and
Nova Scotia was entirely subdued. In order that the French in
Canada should derive no assistance from this territory, the country
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 51
was laid waste, and the inhabitants were taken from the country,
and dispersed among the English colonies. One thousand of
these proscribed Acadians were transported to Massachusetts,
where many of them embarked for France. The expedition
against Niagara, was committed to Governor Shirley of Massa
chusetts, whose force amounted to two thousand five hundred men.
The season, however, was too far advanced before he had com
pleted his preparations, to effect any thing of importance, and the
expedition was abandoned.
The war continued, with varied success, till the conquest of
Quebec by the army under Gen. Wolfe, in September, 1759, and
the find reduction of Canada in 1760. This event caused great
and universal joy in the colonies, and public thanksgivings were
generally appointed. A definitive treaty, the preliminaries of
which, had been settled the year before, was signed at Paris in
1763, by which all Nova Scotia, Canada, the isle of Cape Breton,
and all other islands in the gulf and river St. Lawrence, were ceded
to the British crown."
" The first attempt to raise a revenue in America appeared in
the memorable stomp act, passed March 22, 1765; by which it
was enacted that certain instruments of writing, as bills, bonds,
&c. should not be valid in law, unless drawn on stamped paper,
on which a duty was laid. No sooner was this act published in
America, than it raised a general alarm. The people were filled
with apprehensions at an act which they supposed an attack on
their constitutional rights. The colonies petitioned the king and
parliament for a redress of the grievance, and formed associations
for the purpose of preventing the importation and use of British
manufactures, until the act should be repealed. This spirited
and unanimous opposition of the Americans produced the desired
effect, and on the 18th of March, 1766, the stamp act was
repealed. The news of the repeal was received in the colonies
with universal joy, and the trade between them and Great Britain
was renewed on the most liberal footing.
The parliament, by repealing this act, so obnoxious to their
American brethren, did not intend to lay aside the scheme of
raising a revenue in the colonies, but merely to change the mode.
Accordingly the next year, they passed an act, laying a certain
duty on glass, tea, paper and painter's colors ; articles which were
much wanted, and not manufactured, in America. This act
kindled the resentment of the Americans, and excited a general
opposition to the measure ; so that parliament thought proper in
1770, to take off these duties, except three pence a pound on tea.
Yet this duty, however trifling, kept alive the jealousy of the colo
nists, and their opposition to 'parliamentary taxation continued and
increased.
52 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
But it must be remembered that the inconvenience of paying
the duty was not the sole, nor principal cause of the opposition it
was the principle which, once admitted, would have suDjecteo.
the colonies to unlimited parliamentary taxation, without the priv
ilege of being represented. The right, abstractly considered, was
denied; and the smallest attempt to establish the claim by prece
dent, was uniformly resisted. The Americans could not be
deceived as to the views of parliament ; for the repeal ol the stamp
act was accompanied with an unequivocal declaration, that the
parliament had a right to make laws of sufficient validity to bind
the colonies in all cases whatsoever.' .
The colonies therefore entered into measures to encourage their
own manufactures, and home productions, and to retrench the use
of foreign superfluities; while the importation of tea was prohib
ited. In the royal and proprietary governments, the governors
and people were in a state of continual warfare . Assemblies were
repeatedly called, and suddenly dissolved. While sitting, the
assemblies employed the time in stating grievances and framing.
remonstrances. To inflame these discontents, an act of parlia
ment was passed, ordaining that the governors and judges should
receive their salaries of the crown; thus making them independent
of the provincial assemblies, and removable only at the pleasure
of the king.
These arbitrary proceedings, with many others not here men
tioned, could not fail of producing a rupture. The first act of vio
lence, was the massacre at Boston, on the evening of the fifth of
March, 1 770. A body of British troops had been stationed in Bos
ton to awe the inhabitants and enforce the measures of parliament.
On the fatal day, when blood was to be shed, as a prelude to more
tragic scenes, a riot was raised among some soldiers and boys;
the former aggressing by throwing snowballs at the latter. The
bickerings and jealousies between the inhabitants and soldiers,
which had been frequent before, now became serious. A multi
tude was soon collected, and the controversy became so warm,
that to disperse the people, the troops were embodied and ordered
to fire upon the inhabitants. This fatal order was executed and
several persons fell a sacrifice. The people restrained their ven
geance at the time ; but this wanton act of cruelty and military
despotism fanned the flame of liberty; a flame that was not to be
extinguished but by a total separation of the colonies from their
oppressive and hostile parent.
In 1773 the spirit of the Americans broke out into open vio
lence. The Gaspee, an armed schooner belonging to his Britannic
Majesty, had been stationed at Providence in Rhode Island, to
prevent smuggling. The vigilance of the commander irritated the
inhabitants to that degree, that about two hundred armed men en-
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 53
tered the vessel at night, compelled the officers and men to go
ashore, and set fire to the schooner. A reward of five hundred
pounds, offered by government for apprehending any of the per
sons concerned in this daring act, produced no effectual discovery.
About this. time, the discovery and publication of some private
confidential letters, written by the royal officers in Boston, to
persons in office in England, served to confirm the apprehensions
of the Americans, with respect to the designs of the British gov
ernment. It was now made obvious that more effectual measures
would be taken to establish the supremacy of the British parlia
ment over the colonies. The letters recommended decisive
measures, and the writers were charged, by the exasperated
Americans, with betraying their trust and the people they gov
erned. As the resolutions of the colonies not to import or consume
tea, had, in a great measure, deprived the English government of
a revenue from this quarter, the parliament formed a scheme of
introducing tea into America, under cover of the East India Com
pany. For this purpose an act was passed, enabling the company
to export all sorts of teas, duty free, to any place whatever. The
company departed from their usual mode of business and became
their own exporters. Several ships were freighted with teas, and
sent to the American colonies, and factors were appointed to re
ceive, and dispose of their cargoes.
The Americans, determined to oppose the revenue system of
the English parliament in every possible shape, considered the
attempt of the East India Company to evade the resolutions of
the colonics, and .dispose of teas in America, as an indirect mode
of taxation, sanctioned by the authority of Parliament. The peo
ple assembled in various places, and in the large commercial
towns, took measures to prevent the landing of the teas. Com
mittees were appointed, and armed with extensive powers to
inspect merchants books, to propose tests, and make use of other
expedients to frustrate the designs of the East India Company.
The same spirit pervaded the people from New Hampshire to
Georgia. In some places, the consignees of the teas were intimi
dated so far as to relinquish their appointments, or to enter into
engagements not to act in that capacity. The cargo sent to South
Carolina was stored, the consignees being restrained from offering
the tea for sale. In other provinces, the ships were sent back
without discharging their cargoes.
But in Boston the tea shared a more violent fate. Sensible that
no legal measures could prevent its being landed, and that if once
landed, it would be disposed of; a number of men in disguise, on
the 18th of December 1773, entered the ships and threw over
board three hundred and forty chests of it, which was the propor-
5*
54 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
tion belonging to the East India Company. No sooner did the
news of this destruction of the tea reach Great Britain, than the
parliament determined to punish that devoted town. On the king s
laying the American papers before them, a bill was brought in and
passed, 'to discontinue the landing and discharging, landing and
shipping of goods, wares and merchandizes at the town of Boston,
or within the harbor.'
This act, passed March 25, 1774, called the Boston Port Bill,
threw the inhabitants of Massachusetts into the greatest consterna
tion. The town of Boston passed a resolution, expressing their
sense of this oppressive measure, and a desire that all the colonies
would concur to stop all importation from Great Britain. Most of
the colonies entered into spirited resolutions, on this occasion, to
unite with Massachusetts in a firm opposition to the unconstitu
tional measures of the parliament. The first of June, the day on
which the Port Bill was to take place, was appointed to be kept as
a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer throughout the colonies,
to seek the divine direction and aid, in that critical and gloomy
juncture of affairs.
During the height of the consternation and confusion which the
Boston Port Bill occasioned; at the very time when a town meet
ing was sitting to consider of it, General Gage, who had been
appointed to the government of Massachusetts, arrived in the har
bor. His arrival however did not allay the .popular ferment, or
check the progress of the measures then taking, to unite the colo
nies in opposition to the oppressive act of parliament.
But the port bill was not the only act that alarmed the apprehen
sions of the Americans. Determined to compel the province of
Massachusetts to submit to their laws, parliament passed an act
for 'the better regulating government in the province of Massa
chusetts Bay.' The object of this act was to alter the government,
as it stood on the charter of King William, to take the appointment
of the executive out of the hands of the people, and place it in the
crown; thus making even the judges and sheriffs dependent on
the king, and removable only at his pleasure.
This act was soon followed by another, which ordained that any
persons, indicted for murder, or other capital offence, committed in
aiding the magistrates in executing the laws, might be sent by the
governor either to another colony, or to Great Britain for his trial.
In the mean time, every thing in Massachusetts wore the appear
ance of opposition by force. A new council for the governor had
been appointed by the crown. New judges were appointed and
attempted to proceed in the execution of their office. But the juries
refused to be sworn under them ; in some counties, the people
assembled to prevent the courts from proceeding to business-
and in Berkshire they succeeded, setting an example of resist-
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 55
ance that has since been followed, in violation of the laws of
the state.
In this situation of affairs, the day for the annual muster of the
militia approached. General Gage, apprehensive of some vio
lence, had the precaution to seize the magazines of ammunition
and stores at Cambridge and Charlestown, and lodged them in
Boston. This measure, with the fortifying of that neck of land
which joins Boston to the main-land at Roxbury, caused a uni
versal alarm and ferment. Several thousand people assembled,
and it was witji difficulty they could be restrained from falling
upon the British troops.
On this occasion, an assembly of delegates from all the towns
in Suffolk county, was called ; and several spirited resolutions
were agreed to. These resolutions were prefaced with a declara
tion of allegiance; but' they breathed a spirit of freedom that
does honor to the delegates. They declared that the late acts of
parliament and the proceedings of General Gage, were glaring
infractions of their rights and liberties, which their duty called
them to defend by all lawful means.
This assembly remonstrated against the fortification of Boston
Neck, and resolved upon a suspension of commerce, an encour
agement of arts and manufactures, the holding of a provincial
congress, and a submission to the measures which should be
recommended by the continental congress. They recommended
that the collectors of taxes should not pay any money into the
treasury, without further orders ; they also recommended peace
and good order, as they meant to act merely upon the defensive.
In answer to their remonstrance, General Gage assured them
that he had no intention to prevent the free egress and regress of
the inhabitants to and from the town of Boston, and that he would
not suffer any person under his command to injure the person or
property of any of his majesty's subjects.
Previous to this, a general assembly had been summoned to
meet ; and notwithstanding the writs had been countermanded by
the governor's proclamation, on account of the violence of the
times and the resignation of several of the new counselors, yet
representatives were chosen by the people who met at Salem,
resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and adjourned to
Concord. This congress addressed the governor with a rehersal of their
distresses, and took the necessary steps for defending their rights.
They regulated the militia, made provision for supplying the
treasury, and furnishing the people with arms ; and such was the
enthusiasm and union of the people that the recommendations of
the provincial congress had the force of laws.
General Gage was incensed at these measures — he declared, in
56 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
his answer to the address, that Britain could never harbor the
black design of enslaving her subjects and published a proclama
tion in which he insinuated that such proceedings amounted to
rebellion. He also ordered barracks to be erected for the sol
diers ; but he found difficulty in procuring laborers, either in Bos
ton or New York.
In the beginning of 1775, the fishery bills were passed in
parliament, 'by which the colonies were prohibited to trade with
Great Britain, Ireland or the West Indies, or to take fish on the
banks of Newfoundland. In the distresses to which these acts of
parliament reduced the town of Boston, the unanimity of the
colonies was remarkable, in the large supplies of provision, fm-
nished by the inhabitants of different towns from New Hamp
shire to Georgia, and shipped to the relief of the sufferers
Preparations began to be made, to oppose by force, the execution
of these acts of parliament. The militia of the country were
trained to the use of arms — great encouragement was given for
the manufacture of gunpowder, and measures were taken to
obtain all kinds of military stores.
In February, Colonel Leslie was sent with a detachment ol
troops from Boston, to take possession of some cannon at Salem.
But the people had intelligence of the design — took up the
drawbridge in that town, and prevented the troops from passing,
until the cannon were secured ; so that the expedition failed.
In April, Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn were sent with a
body of about nine hundred troops, to destroy the military stores
which had been collected at Concord, about sixteen miles from
Boston. It is believed, that another object of this expedition,
was to seize on the persons of Messrs. Hancock and Adams,
who by their spirited exertions, had rendered themselves very
obnoxious to General Gage. At Lexington, the militia were
collected on a green, to oppose the incursion of the British
forces. These were fired upon by the British troops, and eight
men killed on the spot.
The militia were dispersed, and the troops proceeded to Con
cord; where they destroyed a few stores. But on their return,
they were incessantly harrassed by the Americans, who, inflamed
with just resentment, fired upon them from houses and fences,
and pursued them to Boston. The loss of the British in this
expedition, in killed, wounded and prisoners, was two hundred
and seventy-three men.
The militia now collected from all quarters, and Boston in a
few days was besieged by twenty thousand men. A stop was
put to all intercourse between the town and country and the
inhabitants were reduced to great want of provisions. ' General
Gage promised to let the people depart, if they would deliver up
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 57
their arms. The people complied, but when the general had
obtained their arms, the perfidious man refused to let the peo
ple go.
This breach of faith, and the consequences that attended it,
were justly and greatly complained of; and although many, at
different times, were permitted to leave the town, they were
obliged to leave all their effects behind ; so that many who had
been used to live in ease and affluence, were at once reduced to
extreme indigence and misery. A circumstance peculiarly and
wantonly aggravating, and which was the ground of the bitterest
complaints of Congress, was, that passports were granted or
retained in such a manner, as that families were broken, and the
dearest connections separated ; part being compelled to quit the
town, and part cruelly retained against their inclination. ¦
In the mean time, a small number of men, to the amount of
about two hundred and forty, under the command of Colonel
Allen, and Colonel Arnold, without any public orders, surprised
and took the British garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point,
without the loss of a man on either side.
During these transactions, the Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and
Clinton, arrived at Boston from England, with a number of
troops. In June following, our troops attempted to fortify Bun
ker's hill, which lies near Charlestown, and but a mile and a half
from Boston. They had, during the night, thrown up a small
breast-work, which sheltered them from the fire of the British
cannon. But the next morning, the British army was sent to
drive them from the hill, and landing under cover of their cannon,
they set fire to Charlestown, which was consumed, and marched
to attack our troops in the entrenchments. A severe engagement
ensued, in which the British, according to the best accounts, had
two hundred and twenty-six killed, and eight hundred and twenty-
eight wounded. They were repulsed at first, and thrown into
disorder ; but they finally carried the fortification, with the point
of the bayonet.
In autumn, a body of troops, under the command of General
Montgomery, besieged and took the garrison at St. John's,
which comjjnands the entrance into Canada. The prisoners
amounted to about seven hundred. General Montgomery pur
sued his success, and took Montreal; and designed to push his
victories to Quebec. A body of troops, commanded by General
Arnold, was ordered to march to Canada, by the river Kennebeck,
and through the wilderness. After suffering every hardship, and
the most distressing hunger, they arrived in Canada, and were
joined by General Montgomery, before Quebec. This city,
which was commanded by Governor Carleton, was immediately
besieged. But there being little hope of taking the town by a
58 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE
siege, it was determined to storm it. The attaek was made on
the last day of December, but proved unsuccessful, and fatal to
the brave general; who, with his aids, were killed in attempting to
scale the walls. Of the three divisions which attacked the town,
one only entered, and that was obliged to surrender to superior
force. After this defeat, Gen. Arnold, who now commanded the
troops, continued some months before Quebec, although his troops
suffered incredibly by cold and sickness . But the next spring, the
Americans were obliged to retreat from Canada."
The year 1777 was distinguished by several important events
in favor of the American cause. Gen. Burgoyne, with a well dis
ciplined and powerful army, "advanced from Canada, to invade
New York and the New England States. His approach occa
sioned much alarm, and the militia from all parts of New England,
pressed forward to resist the British forces. The progress of Bur
goyne was checked, by the defeat of Col. Baum, near Bennington,
in which the undisciplined militia of Vermont, under Gen. Stark,
defeated and captured nearly the whole of a large detachment of
British troops. Burgoyne himself surrendered at Saratoga, Oct.
17th, 1777, with his whole army. This event diffused great joy
throughout the American States, and laid the foundation for a
treaty with France.
From the first period of the Revolutionary War, to its close,
the New England States, rendered the most powerful and effi
cient aid in the American cause ; but this was not done without
enduring many sacrifices and privations. During the enfeebled
and disorganized state of the country, which followed the war,
Massachusetts, in her zeal to comply fully with the requisitions
of Congress, and satisfy the demands of her own creditors, laid a
heavy tax upon the people. This was the immediate cause of
the rebellion in that State, in 1786. But a heavy debt lying on
the State, added to burdens of the same nature, upon almost every.
incorporation within it; a decline, or rather an extinction of public
credit ; a relaxation and corruption of manners, and a free use of
foreign luxuries ; a decay of trade and manufactures, with a pre
vailing scarcity of money ; and, above all, individuals involved in
debt to each other — these were the real, though mere remote
causes of the insurrection. It was the tax which the people were
required to pay, that caused them to feel the evils which we have
enumerated — this called forth all their other grievances • and the
first act of violence committed, was the burning or destroying of a
tax bill. This sedition threw the State into a convulsion which
lasted about a year ; courts of justice were violently obstructed ¦
the collection of debts was suspended; and a body of armed troops'
under the command of general Lincoln, was employed during the
winter of 1786, to disperse the insurgents. Yet so numerous
NEW ENGLAND STATES. 59
were the latter, in the counties of Worcester, Hampshire, and
Berkshire, and so obstinately combined to oppose the execution of
law by force, that the governor and council of the State thought
proper not to intrust General Lincoln with military powers, except
to act on the offensive, and to repel force with force, in case the
insurgents should attack him. The leaders of the rebels, however,
were not men of talents ; they were desperate, but without forti
tude ; and while they were supported with a superior force, they
appeared to be impressed with that consciousness of guilt, which
awes the most daring wretch, and makes him shrink from his pur
pose. This appears by the conduct of a large party of the rebels
before the magazine at Springfield; where General Shepard with
a small guard, was stationed to protect the continental stores.
The insurgents appeared upon the plain, with a superiority of
numbers, but a few shot from the artillery, made the multitude
retreat in disorder with the loss of four men. This spirited cpn-
duct of General Shepard, with the industry, perseverance and pru
dent firmness of General Lincoln, dispersed the rebels, drove Jhe
leaders from the State, and restored tranquillity. An act of in
demnity was passed in the legislature for all the insurgents, except
a few leaders, on condition they should become peaceable subjects
and take the oath of allegiance. The leaders afterwards petitioned
for pardon, which, from motives of policy, was granted by the
legislature." Although the efforts of the colonies against their enemies during
the French and Revolutionary conflicts, were crowned with entjire
success, yet the demoralizing effects ever attendant on wars, were
felt afterwards. Infidel, and corrupting principles were introduced
by the British and French soldiery ; particularly by the latter, and
their demoralizing influence was felt to some extent. Perhaps
the time in the history of New England, in which religion and
morality were at their lowest ebb, may be found in the course of
twenty or thirty years after the conclusion of the Revolutionary
War. Since this period, greater regard has been paid to religion
and morality, the habits and manners of the people have been im
proved ; the benefits of education have been more widely diffused,
and wealth has been more equally distributed.
OUTLINE HISTORY
OP
NEW YORK.
Arms of New York.
In 1609, Henry Hudson,
an Englishman in the service
of the Dutch East India Com
pany, discovered Long Isl
and, the harbor of New York,
and the river to which his
name has since been given.
"He penetrated this river ac
cording to his own account,
53 leagues ; which must be
as far as where the city of
Albany now stands. This
discovery gave the Dutch at
once an entrance into the heart
of the American continent,
where the best furs could be
procured, without interruption from the French or English, both
which nations claimed this territory. Within four years after this
discovery, a company of merchants, who had procured from the
States General a patent for an exclusive trade to Hudson's river ;
built a fort and trading house, where Albany now stands."
In 1613, Capt. Argal, under Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Vir
ginia, visited the Dutch, on Hudson's river, who, being unable to
resist him, prudently submitted for the present, to the king of Eng
land, and, under him, to the governor of Virginia. Determined
upon the settlement of a colony, the States General, in 1621,
granted the country to the West India Company; and in the year
1625, Peter Minuet arrived at fort Amsterdam, now New York,
as the first governor or director.
In 1615, a fort was built on the southwest point of Manhattan,
now York Island; but the first settlers planted themselves about
two miles from this fort, and built a church there, the ruins of
which, not many years since, were visible, near where the two mile
NEW YORK. 61
stone formerly stood. In this situation, finding themselves inse
cure, during the wars between the English and Dutch, they left this
place, and planted their habitations under the guns of the fort,
which laid the foundation of the present city of New York.
The first emigrants under Minuet, appear to have been from the
river Waal in Guelderland, and under the name of Waaloons,
founded the first permanent settlement, beyond the immediate pro
tection of the cannon of fort Amsterdam. They settled at Brook
lyn, opposite New York, and were the first who professionally
pursued agriculture. In June, 1625, the first child of European
parentage was born in New Netherlands. In 1633, Minuet was
recalled, and Wouter Van Twiller arrived at fort Amsterdam as
governor. His arrival gave fresh impulse to the settlements, and
agricultural pursuits. In 1638, Van Twiller was succeeded by
William Kieft as governor. Two years after his administration,
the English had overspread the eastern part of Long Island and
advanced as far as Oyster Bay. In 1647, Kieft was succeeded
by Peter Stuyvesant.
In consequence of their discoveries and settlements, the Dutch
claimed all the country, extending from Cape Cod to Cape Hen-
lopen, along the sea-coast, and as far back into the country as any
of the rivers, within those limits, extend, and named it New Neth
erlands. But these extravagant and unfounded claims were
never allowed to the Dutch. This nation, and after them the pro
vince of New York, for a long time, claimed as far east as the
western banks of Connecticut river, and this claim was the ground
of much altercation, till 1664, when the partition line between New
York, and Connecticut was run nearly the same as it is now settled.'
In 1664, Aug. 27, Gov. Stuyvesant surrendered the colony to
Col. Nicolls, who had arrived in the bay a few days before, with
three or four ships, and about 300, soldiers, having a commission
from King Charles II. to reduce the place, which was then called
New Amsterdam, afterwards, New York. Very few of the inha
bitants removed out of the country; and their respectable de
scendants are still numerous in many parts of this state, and of
New Jersey. A league of friendship was at this time entered into
with the Five Indian nations. In 1667, at the peace of Breda,
New York was confirmed to the English, who, in exchange,
ceded Surinam to the Dutch.
The English kept peaceable possession of the country, until
the year 1673, when the Dutch, with whom the English were then
at war, sent a small squadron, which arrived at Staten Island on
the 30th of July. John Manning, a captain of an independent
company, who had at that time command of the fort, sent a mes
senger down to the commodore, and made his terms with him.
On the same day, the ships came up, moored under the fort, landed
6
62 OUTLINE HISTORY OF
their men, and entered the garrison, without giving or receiving a
shot. All the magistrates and constables from East Jersey, Long
Island, iEsopus, and Albany, were summoned to New York ; and
the major part of them swore allegiance to the States General, and
the Prince of Orange. The conquerors, however, did not long
enjoy the fruits of their success; for on the 19th of February, the
year following, a treaty of peace between England and Holland,
was signed at Westminster ; by the sixth article of which, this
province was restored to the English.
In 1684, the French attempted the destruction of the Five Na
tions, the confederated Indian tribes in New York, because they in
terrupted their trade with the more distant tribes, called the Far
Nations. The Seneca Indians interrupted this trade, because the
French supplied the Miamies, with whom they were at war, with
arms and ammunition. To effect the destruction of the Indians,
great preparations were made by the French. But famine and
sickness prevailing among them, the expedition proved fruitless.
Five years after this, 1200 of these Indians attacked Montreal,
burnt many houses, and put to death 1000 inhabitants.
A new charter having been granted to the duke of York ; major,
afterwards Sir Edmund Andross was sent over as governor. This
agent of a despotic master soon began a career of tyranny. He in
volved himself in disputes with the neighboring government of
Connecticut ; and excited the indignation of the magistrates, cler
gy and people of his own jurisdiction. Not content with the ple
nary powers which he exercised over New York, he with the coun
tenance of his master claimed an undefined and vexatious jurisdic
tion over New Jersey. Complaints of his arbitrary acts having
been sent over to England, the duke of York was compelled to re
call him, and Col. Dongan was appointed his successor in 1682.
In 1689, Col. Dongan, the governor, being called home by
King James, and a general disaffection to government prevailing at
New York, one Jacob Leisler took possession of the garrison for
King William and Queen Mary, and assumed the supreme power
over the province. His reduction of Albany, held by others for
William, and the confiscation of the estates of his opponents, were
impolitic measures, which sowed the seeds of mutual animosity,
the ill effects of which were felt for a long time after, in the em
barrassments of the public affairs.
The French, in 1689, in order to detach the Five Nations from
the British interest, sent out several parties against the English
colonies ; one of which, consisting of about 150 French and some
of the Cagnawaghga Indians, commanded by D'Ailldebout de
Mantel, and le Moyne, was intended for New York. But by' the
advice of the Indians, they determined first to attack Schenectady.
They entered the town at night whilst the inhabitants were asleep!
NEW YORK. 63
They murdered 60 persons, pillaged and burnt the place. Twenty-
five of the inhabitants who fled towards Albany, lost their limbs by
the severity of the frost.
Upon the arrival of Governor Slaughter at New York, who
was commissioned by the king, Leisler refused to surrender the
garrison, for the seizure of which, he and his son were tried and
condemned to die, as guilty of high treason. ' Gov. Slaughter
hesitated to command their execution, and wrote to the English
ministers how to dispose of them. But their enemies stimulated
by hate and apprehension of some reaction in their favor, earnestly
through the legislature and council, pressed their execution. The
governor resisted, until, having been invited by the petitioners to a
sumptuous entertainment, he was, his reason drowned in wine,
seduced to sign the death warrant. Before he recovered his senses
the prisoners were executed.'
The whole province of New York was originally settled by
non-episcopalians, chiefly by presbyterians, except a few epis
copal families in the city of New York. In 1693, Col. Fletcher,
then governor of the province, projected the scheme of a general
tax for building churches, and supporting episcopal ministers, and
by artifice effected his design in part. This overture laid the
foundation for a controversy between the presbyterians and epis
copalians, which, until the revolution, was maintained on both
sides with great warmth and animosity. Several of the governors,
particularly Lord Cornbury, showed great partiality to the epis
copalians, and oppressed and persecuted the presbyterians.
In 1701, (July 19), the confederated tribes of Indians, at Albany,
surrendered to the English their beaver hunting country, lying
between lakes Ontario and Erie, to be by them defended for the
said confederated Indians, their heirs and successors forever.
This transaction was confirmed, Sept. 14, 1726, when the Sene-
cas, Cayugas, and Onondagas, surrendered to the English, for
the same use, their habitations, from Cayahoga to Oswego, and
60 miles inland.
In 1709, a vigorous expedition was meditated against Canada;
in making preparations for which, this province expended above
£20,000; but the expected assistance from Britain failing, it was
never prosecuted. Soon after, Col. Schuyler, who had been very
influential with the Indians, visited England with five sachems,
who were introduced into the presence of Queen Anne. The
object of this visit was to stimulate the ministry to the reduction
of Canada. Afterward, in 171 1, a considerable fleet was sent over
for that purpose; but eight transports being cast away on the
coast, the rest of the fleet and troops returned Without making any
attempt to reduce Canada.
In 1710, Gov. Hunter' brought over with him about 2700 Pala-
64 OUTLINE HISTORY OF
tines, who, the year before, had fled to England from the rage of
persecution in Germany. Many of these people settled in the
city of New York; others settled on a tract of several thousand
acres, in the manor of Livingston, and some went to Pennsylvania,
and were instrumental in inducing thousands of their countrymen
afterwards to migrate and settle in that province.
The prohibition of the sale of Indian goods in France, in 1720,
excited the clamor of the merchants at New York, whose interest
was affected by it. The measure was undoubtedly a futile one ;
and the reasons for it were these : the French, by this trade, were
supplied with articles which were wanted by the Indians. This
prevented the Indians from coming to Albany, and drew them to
Montreal; and they, being employed by the French as earners,
became attached to them from interest. About the same time, a
trading house was erected by the English at Oswego, on lake
Ontario ; and another by the French at Niagara.
In 1729, the act prohibiting the trade between Albany and
Montreal, was imprudently repealed by the king. This naturally
tended to undermine the trade at Oswego, and to advance the
French commerce of Niagara; and at the same time to alienate
the affections of the Indians from the English. Not long after
this, the French were suffered to erect a fort on lake Champlain.
To prevent the ill consequences of this, a scheme was projected
to settle the lands near lake George, with loyal protestant High
landers, from Scotland. Accordingly, a tract of 30,000 acres was
promised to Capt. Campbell, who, at his own expense, transported
eighty-three protestant families to New York. But through the
sordid views of some persons in power, who aimed at a share in
the intended grant, the settlement was never made."
In 1743, George Clinton was sent over as governor of New
York. He was welcomed with joy ; and one of his earliest
measures confirmed the favorable accounts, which had preceeded
him. To show his confidence in the people, he assented to a bill
limiting the duration of the present and all succeeding assemblies.
The house manifested its gratitude, by adopting the measures he
recommended, for the defence of the province against the French,
who were then at war with England. In 1745, the Indians, in
alliance with the French, made frequent incursions into the Eng
lish colonies. Hosick was deserted, Saratoga was destroyed ; the
western settlements in New England were often attacked and
plundered. Encouraged by success, the enemy became more
daring, and even ventured into the suburbs of Albany, and there
lay in wait for prisoners.
During the seven years war previous to the reduction of Canada,
in 1760, New York became the theatre of many important military
operations. A French army under Dieskau, invaded the province
NEW YORK. 65
from Montreal, in 1755, and was routed by the New York and
New England troops, under Gen. Johnson. The French under
Montcalm, in 1757, took Fort William Henry, on Lake George.
An unsuccessful attack was made by Gen. Abercrombie, in 1758,
on the French fort at Ticonderoga. In 1759, Gen. Amherst took
Ticonderoga, -and Crown Point ; and Gen. Johnson defeated a
French army near Niagara, and took Niagara.
During the Revolutionary War, the territory of New York was
again traversed by hostile armies. In September, 1776, the
British forces occupied the city of New York, and kept posses
sion of it through the war. The battle of White Plains was fought
Oct. 28th, 1776, and fort Washington taken Nov. 16th of the
same year. Ticonderoga and Crown Point were occupied by
Burgoyne, in 1777 ; during the same year, a State Constitution
was established. In 1779, Gen. Sullivan undertook an expedi
tion against the Iroquois Indians, and destroyed great numbers of
their villages. The British troops evacuated the city of New
York, Nov. 25th, 1783.
The State of New York was among the first in framing and
adopting the Federal Constitution, and she became the seat of
the Federal Government, during the first year, of its operation.
During the last war with Great Britain, her soil again became a
theatre for important military operations. Since the Revolution,
New York has pursued a wise, enlightened, and liberal policy, in
sustaining objects of public utility. She now ranks as the Em
pire State, being the first in wealth, resources, commerce, and
population.
6*
OUTLINE HISTORY
NEW JERSEY.
The first settlement within
the limits of New Jersey, is
said to have been made by the
Danes, about the year 1624,
at Bergen, so called from a
city of that name in Norway.
Soon afterward, several Dutch
families seated themselves in
the vicinity of New York. In
1627, a colony of Swedes and
Finns came over and settled
on the river Delaware. " They
afterwards purchased of the
Indians, the land on both sides
New Swedeland stream, (now
Arms of New Jersey. ^^ Delaware river) fr?m
Cape Henlopen to the falls ; and, by presents to the Indian
chiefs, obtained peaceable possession of it. The Dutch and
Swedes, though not in harmony with each other, kept possession
of the country many years. In 1683, the Dutch had a house de
voted to religious worship ¦ at New Castle ;' the Swedes at the
same time had three, besides one on the island of Tinicum, one
at Christiana, and one at Wicoco.
In March, 1634, Charles II. granted all the territory, called by
the Dutch New Netherlands, to his brother the Duke of York.
And in June, 1664, the duke granted that part now called New
Jersey, to Lord Berkley of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret
jointly; who, in 1665, agreed upon certain concessions with the
people for the government of the province, and appointed Philip
Carteret, Esq. their governor. He purchased considerable tracts
of land from the Indians, for small considerations, and the settle
ments increased. This territory was named Nova Cmsarea, or
New Jersey, in compliment to Sir George Carteret, whose family
came from the Isle of Jersey.
OUTLINE HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. 67
In Dec. 1664, Gov. Nicolls by a patent dated at Fort James,
in New York, granted a tract of land in New Jersey called the
Elizabethtown grant. This tract was purchased of some Indian
chiefs of Staten Island, by John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
Watson of Jamaica, Long Island. This territory soon became a
place of resort for reputable farmers. " The English inhabitants
at the west end of Long Island, principally removed thither : and
many families from New England. There were soon four towns
in the province ; Elizabethtown, Newark, Middletown, and
Shrewsbury." Most of the Long Island emigrants " fixed about
Middletown, whence by degrees they extended their settlements
to Freehold and thereabouts," those from New England settled
at Shrewsbury. The name of the principal town is said to have
been given for Elizabeth, the wife of Sir George Carteret. The
four towns, with the adjacent country, were, in a few years, well
inhabited by many settlers from Scotland, some from England,
and some from the neighboring colonies.
The Dutch reduced the country in 1673 ; but it was restored by
the peace of Westminster, February 9th, 1674. Inconsequence
of the conquest made by the Dutch, and to obviate any objections
that might be made on account of it against the former grant, a
new patent was issued, in 1674, to the Duke of York, for the
same country. The country of New Jersey was divided into
West and East Jersey. In 1676, West Jersey was granted, by
the Duke of York, to the assigns of Lord Berkley; and East
Jersey to Sir G. Carteret. The division line was to run from the
southeast point of Little Egg Harbor, on Barnegat Creek, being
about the middle between Cape May and Sandy Hook, to a creek,
a little below Ancocus creek, on Delaware river, thence about
thirty-five miles, strait course, along Delaware river up to 41°
40' north latitude.
In 1675, West Jersey, which had been granted to Lord Berk
ley, was sold to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Bylinge.
Fenwick came over with a colony, and settled at Salem. These
were the first English settlers in West Jersey. In 1676, the
interest of Bylinge in West Jersey was assigned to William Penn,
Gavin Laurie, and Nicholas Lucas, as trustees, for the use of his
creditors. Mutual quit claims were executed between Sir George
Carteret and the trustees of Bylinge.
In 1678, the Duke of York made a new grant of West Jersey
to the assigns of Lord Berkley. Agreeably to Sir George Carte
ret's will, dated December 5, 1678, East Jersey was sold, in 1682,
to twelve proprietors, who by twelve separate deeds, conveyed
one half of their interest to twelve other persons, separately, in
fee simple. This grant was confirmed to these twenty-four pro
prietors, by the Duke of York the same year. These twenty-
68 OUTLINE HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
four shares, by sales of small parts of them, and by these small
parts being again divided among the children of successive fami
lies, became at last subdivided in such a manner, as that some of
the proprietors had only one 40th part, of a 48th part of a. 24th
share. West Jersey was in the same condition. This created
much confusion in the management of the general proprietors,
particularly in regard to appointing governors. These inconven
iences, aided by other causes of complaint, which had been
increasing for several years, and were fast advancing to a dan
gerous crisis, disposed the proprietors to surrender the government
to the crown ; which was accordingly done, and accepted by
Queen Ann, on the 17th of April, 1702. Both territories were
now united under one government and received the single name
of New Jersey, and Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York was
appointed governor of the united colony. Till this time the gov
ernment of New Jersey was proprietory ; it now became royal,
and so continued till the fourth of July, 1776.
This State was the seat of war for several years, during the
bloody contest between Great Britain and her Colonies. Her
losses both of men and property, in proportion to the population
and wealth of the State, was greater than of any other of the
thirteen States. When General Washington was retreating
through the Jerseys, almost forsaken by all others, her militia
were at all times obedient to his orders; and for a considerable
length of time, composed the strength of his army. There is
hardly a town in the State that lay in the progress of the British
army, that was not signalized by some enterprise or exploit.
At Trenton the enemy received a check which may be said with
justice to have turned the tide of the war.
In the summer of 1778, Sir Henry Clinton retreated with the
British army from Philadelphia, through New Jersey to New
York. The battle of Monmouth signalizes this retreat. The
military services performed by the soldiers of New Jersey, and
the sufferings of her people during the Revolutionary War, enti
tle her to the gratitude of her sister States. By her sacrifices of
blood and treasure, in resisting oppression, she is entitled to stand
in the foremost rank, among those who struggled for American
freedom.
AN ACCOUNT
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND.
The original inhabitants of New England, were savages.
"These people" says Dr. Dwight, "were all of one nation;
unless we are to except those in the eastern parts of the District
of Maine, with those of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ;* and
were so considered by themselves. A single language was spoken
by them all ; distributed indeed into different dialects ; not more
different, however, from each other, than some of those, which
are now spoken in England ; particularly that of Yorkshire, and
that which you call the West Country dialect. Accordingly, they
appear to have conversed easily with each other, both on their
public and private concerns. But they were only a small part of
this nation. The same language was spoken by all the tribes
between the Potomac and the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi and
the ocean. I know of no exception, beside the Iroquois, or Six
Nations ; who were plainly a people entirely distinct from all the
rest. The tribes, who inhabited this vast extent of territory, con
taining about six hundred thousand square miles,t seem never
to have been called by any common name ; as were their brethren
* The Indians of Penobscot, as I have been since informed by the Hon. Timothy
Edwards, were proved to be Mohekaneews, by the following incident : Several men
of this tribe, during the Revolutionary War, came to Boston, to solicit of the gov
ernment a stipend, which had been formerly granted to the tribe, by the legislature
of Massachusetts Bay. The business was referred, by the Council of Safety, to
Mr. Edwards, thep a member of their body, as being versed in the affairs, and ac
quainted with the character of Indians. Mr. Edwards employed Hendrick Awpau-
mut, a Stockbridge Indian accidentally in Boston at that time, to confer with the
petitioners, and learn the nature of their expectations. Hendrick found himself able
to converse with them, so far as to understand their wishes satisfactorily ; and ob
served to Mr. Edwards, that their language was radically Mohekaneew, and differed
only as a dialect. This fact I had from Mr. Edwards. I have mentioned it here
because the contrary opinion seems to have been universally adopted." — Dr. Dwight.
t From a collation of facts, particularly the accounts given by Sir Alexander
Mackensie, and others, it appears that the language of the Mohekaneews is exten
sively spoken by the Indians on the West of the Mississippi, as far, at least, as within
four hundred miles of the Pacific ocean. This nation, therefore, has probably been
extended over the greater part of North America.
70 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
the Tartars in the northern parts of Asia ; but always to have
been designated by appellations, derived apparently from inci
dental circumstances ; particularly from the mountains, rivers,
lakes, bays, and islands, on or near which they resided. The
oldest tribe, according to their own account, and that which has
been regularly allowed the pre-eminence in all their councils, lived
in the county of Berkshire in Massachusetts, and in the neigh
boring regions of New York ; and since my remembrance prin
cipally at Stockbridge. They are styled by the late Dr. Edwards,
President of Union College at Schenectady in the State of New
York, who spoke their language familiarly, Mohekaneews, and by
a writer of their own, Muhheakunnuk.
The principal tribes, which were settled in New England, were
the Pequods in Connecticut; Narragansetts in Rhode Island;
the Wampanoags, Massachusetts, Nipnets or Nipmuks, Nashuas,
and Stockbridge Indians in Massachusetts; the Pigwacket and
Coos Indians in New Hampshire ; and the Tarrateens, or Abe-
naquis, in the District of Maine."
In no part of New England were the Indians so numerous as in
Connecticut. The great quantities of fish and fowl which the
country and its waters afforded, were well adapted to their con
venience and modes of living. Neither wars, nor diseases, had
so depopulated this, as they had some other parts of New England.
Dr. Trumbull says the Connecticut Indians cannot be estimated
at less than twelve or sixteen thousand. It was supposed that the
River Indians alone, in 1633, could bring three or four thousand
warriors into the field. These were principally included within
the ancient limits of Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield and Mid
dletown. Within the town of Windsor only, there were ten dis
tinct tribes, or sovereignties. The Pequots were the most warlike
tribe in New England. The tradition is, that they were origin
ally an inland tribe ; but by their prowess, came down and settled
themselves along the sea-coast from Nehantic to Narragansett bay.
When the English began their settlements in Connecticut, Sass-
acus had twenty-six sachems, or principal war captains under him.
The chief seat of these Indians was near New London, Con. and
it is supposed they could muster about a thousand warriors.
Gen. Gookin, in his " Historical Collections of the Indians' 'I
written, in 1674, after giving an account of the Pequots, says : I
" The Narragansitts were a great people heretofore ; and the ter
ritory of these sachems extended about thirty or forty miles from Se-
kunk river and Narragansitt bay, including Rhode Island and othe
islands in that bay, being their east and north bounds or border and
so running westerly and southerly -unto a place called Wekapao-e' four
or five miles to the eastward of Pawcutuk river, which was reckoned
for their south and west border, and the eastermost limits of the Pe-
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 71
quots. This sachem held dominion over divers petty covernors ; as
part of Long Island, Black Island, Cawesitt, Niantick, and others ;
and had tribute from some of the Nipmuck Indians, that lived remote
from the sea. The chief seat of this sachem was about Narrao'ansitt
bay by the Cannonicut island. The Narragansitts were reckoned, in
former times, able to arm for war more than five thousand men as an
cient Indians say. All do agree they were a great people, and often
times waged war with the Pawkunnawkutts and Massachusetts, as
well as with the Pequots. The jurisdiction of Rhode Island and
Providence plantations, and part of Connecticut people, possess their
country. These Indians are now but few comparatively : all that
people cannot make above one thousand able men.
The Pawkunnawkutts were a great people heretofore. They
lived to the east and northeast of the Narragansitts ; and their chief
sachem held dominion over divers other petty sagamores ; as the saga
mores upon the island of Nantuckett, and Nope, or Martha's Vine
yard, of Nawsett, of Mannamoyk, of Sawkattukett, Nobsquasitt, Ma-
takees, and several others, and some of the Nipmucks. Their coun
try, for the most part, falls within the jurisdiction of New Plymouth
colony. This people were a potent nation in former times ; and could
raise, as the most credible and ancient Indians affirm, about three
thousand men. They held war with the Narragansitts ; and often
joined with the Massachusetts, as friends and confederates against
the Narragansitts. This nation, a very great number of them, were
swept away by an epidemical and unwonted sickness, Anno. 1612 and
1613, about seven or eight years before the English first arrived in
those parts, to settle the colony of New Plymouth. Thereby Divine
providence made way for the quiet and peaceable settlement of the
English in those nations. What this disease was, that so generally
and mortally swept away, not only these, but other Indians, their
neighbors, I cannot well learn. Doubtless it was some pestilential
disease. I have discoursed with some old Indians, that were then
youths ; who say, that the bodies all over were exceeding yellow,
describing it by a yellow garment they showed me, both before they
died and afterward.
The Massachusetts, being the next great people northward, in
habited principally about that place in Massachusetts bay, where the
body of the English now dwell. These were a numerous and great
people. Their chief sachem held dominion over many other petty
governors ; as those of Weechagaskas, Neponsitt, Punkapaog, Non-
antam, Nashaway, some of the Nipmuck people, as far as Pokomta-
cuke, as the old men of Massachusetts affirmed. This people could,
in former times, arm for war, about three thousand men, as the old In
dians declare. They were in hostility very often with the Narragan
sitts ; but held amity, for the most part, with the Pawkunnawkutts,
who lived on the south border, and with the Pawtucketts, who in
habited on their north and northeast limits. In An. 1612 and 1613,
these people were also sorely smitten by the hand of God with the
same disease, before mentioned in the last paragraph ; which des-
72 4N ACCOUNT OF THE
troyed the most of them, and made room for the English people of
Massachusetts colony, which people this country, and the next called
Pawtuckett. There are not of this people left at this day above three
hundred men, besides women and children.
Pawtuckett is the fifth and last great sachemship of Indians. Their
country lieth north and northeast from Massachusetts, whose domin
ion reacheth so far as the English jurisdiction, or colony of the Mas
sachusetts, doth now extend, and had under them several other smaller
sagamores ; as the Pennakooks, Agawomes, Naamkeeks, Pascata-
wayes, Accomintas, and others. They were also a considerable
people heretofore, about three thousand men ; and held amity with
the people of Massachusetts1. But these also were almost totally
destroyed by the great sickness before mentioned ; so that at this day,
they are not above two hundred and fifty men, besides women and
children. This country is now inhabited by the English under the
government of Massachusetts."
" The New England Indians, were large, strait, well propoiv
tioned men. Their bodies were firm and active, capable of en
during the greatest fatigues and hardships. Their passive cour
age was almost incredible. When tortured in the most cruel
manner ; though flayed alive, though burnt with fire, cut or torn
limb from limb, they would not groan, nor show any signs of dis
tress. Nay, in some instances they would glory over their tor
mentors, saying that their hearts would never be soft until they
were cold, and representing their torments as sweet as English
men's sugar. When traveling in summer or winter, they re
garded neither heat nor cold. They were exceedingly light of
foot, and would travel or run a very great distance in a day. Mr.
Williams says, ' I have known them run between eighty and a
hundred miles in a summer's day and back again within two days.'
As they were accustomed to the woods, they ran in them nearly
as well as on plain ground. They were exceedingly quick sight- -
ed, to discover their enemy, or their game, and equally artful to
conceal themselves. Their features were tolerably regular. Their
faces are generally full as broad as those of the English, but flat
ter ; they have a small, dark coloured good eye, coarse black
hair, and a fine white set of teeth. The Indian children when
born, are nearly as white, as the English children ; but as they
grow up their skin grows darker and becomes nearly of a copper
color. The shapes both of the men and women, especially the
latter are excellent. A crooked Indian is rarely if ever to be seen
The Indians in general were quick of apprehension, ingenious
and when pleased nothing could exceed their courtesy and friend
ship. Gravity and eloquence distinguished them in council ad
dress and bravery in war They were not more easily provoked
than the English ; but when once they had received an injury it
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 73
was never forgotten. In anger they were not, like the English,
talkative and boisterous, but sullen and revengeful. Indeed, when
they were exasperated nothing could exceed their revenge and
cruelty. When they have fallen into the power of an enemy,
they have not been known to beg for life, nor even to accept it
when offered them. They have seemed rather to court death.
They were exceedingly improvident. If they had a supply for
the present, they gave themselves no trouble for the future. The
men declined all labor, and spent their time in hunting, fishing,
shooting, and warlike exercises. They were excellent marksmen,
and rarely missed their game whether running or flying.
They imposed all their drudgery upon their women. They
gathered and brought home their wood, planted, dressed and gath
ered in their corn. They carried home the venison, fish and fowl,
which the men took in hunting. When they traveled, the women
carried the children, packs and provisions. The Indian women
submitted patiently to such treatment, considering it as the hard
lot of the woman. This ungenerous usage of their haughty lords,
they repaid with smiles and good humor.
It has been common among all heathen nations to treat then-
women as slaves, and their children in infancy, with little tender
ness. The Indian men cared little for their children when young,
and were supposed at certain times, to sacrifice them to the devil.
Christianity only provides for that tender and honorable treatment
of the women, which is due to the sex formed of man. This alone
provides for the tender care, nursing and education of her offspring,
and is most favorable to domestic happiness, to the life and dignity
of man.
The Indian women were strong and masculine ; and as they
were more inured to exercise and hardship than the men, were
even more firm and capable of fatigue and suffering than they.
They endured the pains of child-bearing without a groan. It was
not uncommon for them, soon after labor, to take their children
upon their backs and travel as they had done before.
The clothing of the Indians in New England, was the skins of
wild beasts. The men threw a light mantle of skins over them,
and wore a small flap which was called Indian breeches. They
were not very careful however to conceal their nakedness. The
women were much more modest. They wore a coat of skins, girt
about their loins, which reached down to their hams. They never
put this off in company. If the husband chose to sell his wives'
beaver petticoat, she could not be persuaded to part with it, until
he had provided another of some sort. In the winter, their blanket
of skins, which hung loose in the summer, was tied or wrapped
more closely about them. The old men in the severe seasons
also wore a sort of trowsers made of skins and fastened to their
7
74 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
girdles. They wore shoes without heels, which they called moc-
casons . These were made generally of moose hide but sometimes
of buckskin. They were shaped entirely to the foot, gathered at
the toes and round the ancles, and made fast with strings.
Their ornaments were pendants in their ears and nose, carved
of bone, shells and stone. These were in the form of birds, beasts
and fishes. They also wore belts of wampompeag upon their
arms, over their shoulders and about their loins. They cut their
hair into various antic forms and stuck them with feathers.
They also by incisions into which they conveyed a black or blue,
unchangeable ink, made on their cheeks, arms, and other parts of
their bodies, the figures of moose, deer, bears, wolves, hawks,
eagles, and all such living creatures as were most agreeable to their
fancies. These pictures were indelible and lasted during life.
The sachems, on great days, when they designed to show them
selves in the full splendor of majesty, not only covered themselves
with mantles of moose, or deer skins, with various embroideries
of white beads, and with paintings of different kinds ; but they
wore the skin of a bear, wild cat or some terrible creature upon
their shoulders and arms. They had also necklaces of fish bones,
and painting themselves in a frightful manner, made a most fero
cious and horrible appearance. The warriors, who, on public
occasions, dressed themselves in the most wild and terrific forms
were considered as the best men.
The Indian houses or wigwams, were, at best, but poor smoky
cells. They were constructed generally like arbors, of small
young trees bent and twisted .together, and so curiously covered
with mats or bark, that they were tolerably dry and warm. The
Indians made their fire in the centre of the house, and there was
an opening at the top, which emitted the smoke. For the con
venience of wood and water, these huts were commonly erected in
groves ; near some river, brook or living spring. When the wood
failed the family removed to another place.
They lived in a poor low manner. Their food was coarse and
simple, without any kind of seasoning: They had neither spice,
salt, nor bread. They had neither butter, cheese, nor milk. They j
drank nothing better than the water which ran in the brook or)
spouted from the spring. They fed on the flesh and entrails oft
moose, deer, bears, and all kinds of wild beasts and fowls : on fish,
eels, and creeping things. They had good stomachs and nothing
came amiss. In the hunting and fishing seasons, they had veni
son, moose, fat bears, racoons, geese, turkies, ducks, and fish of
all kinds. In the summer they had green corn, beans, squashes
and the various fruits which the country naturally produced. In
the winter they subsisted on corn, beans, fish, nuts, groundnuts,
acoms, and the very gleanings of the grove.
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 75
They had no set meals, but, like other wild creatures, ate when
they were hungry, and could find any thing to satisfy the cravings
of nature. Sometimes they had little or nothing, for several days ;
but when they had provisions, they feasted. If they fasted, for
some time, they were sure at the next meal to make up for all they
had lost before. They had but little food from the earth, except
what it spontaneously produced. Indian coin, beans, and squashes
were the only eatables for which the natives in New England
labored. The earth was both their seat and their table. With
trenchers, knives, and napkins, they had no acquaintance.
Their household furniture was of small value. Their best bed
was a mat or skin ; they had neither chair nor stool. They ever
sat upon the ground, commonly with their elbows upon their
knees. This is the manner in which their great warriors and
counselors now sit, even in the most public treaties, with the
English. A few wooden and stone vessels and instruments
served all the purposes of domestic life. They had no steel nor
iron instmment. Their knife was a sharp stone, shell, or kind of
reed, which they sharpened in such a manner, as to cut their hair,
make their bows and arrows, and served for all the purposes of a
knife. They made them axes of stone. These they shaped
somewhat similar to our axes ; but with this difference, that they
were made with a neck instead of an eye, and fastened with a
withe, like a blacksmith's chisels. They had mortars, and stone
pestles and chissels. Great numbers of these have been found in
the country, and kept by the people, as curiosities. They dressed
their corn with a clamshell, or with a stick made flat and sharp at
one end. These were all the utensils which they had, either for
domestic use, or for husbandry.
Their arts and manufactures were confined to a very narrow
compass. Their only weapons were bows and arrows, the toma
hawk and the wooden sword or spear. Their bows were of the
common construction. Their bowstrings were made of the sin
ews of deer, or of the Indian hemp. Their arrows were con
structed of young elder sticks, or of other strait sticks and reeds.
These were headed with a sharp flinty stone, or with bones.
The arrow was cleft at one end, and the stone or bone was put
in, and fastened with a small cord. The tomahawk was a stick
of two or three feet in length, with a knob at the end. Some
times it was a stone hatchet, or a stick with a piece of deer's horn
at one end, in the form of a pickaxe. Their spear was a strait
piece of wood, sharpened at one end, and hardened in the fire, or
headed with bone or stone.
With respect to navigation they had made no improvements
beyond the construction and management of the hollow trough or
canoe. They made their canoes of the chesnut, whitewood and
76 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
pine-trees. As these grew strait to a great length, and were
exceedingly large as well as tall, they constructed some, which
would carry sixty Or eighty men.* I'hese were first rates; but
commonly they were not more than twenty feet in length, and two
in breadth. The Pequots had many of these, in which they
passed over to the islands, and warred against and plundered the
islanders. The Indians upon Long Island had a great number of
canoes, of the largest kind.
The construction of these, with such miserable tools as the
Indians possessed, was a great curiosity. The manner was this.
When they had found a tree to their purpose; to fell it they
made a fire at the root, and kept burning it and cutting it with
their stone axe until it fell. Then they kindled a fire, at such a
distance from the butt as they chose, and burned it off again. By
burning and working with their axe, and scraping with sharp stones
and shells, they made it hollow and smooth. In the same man
ner they shaped the ends, and finished it to their wishes.
They constructed nets, twenty and thirty feet in length, for
fishing; especially for the purpose of catching sturgeon. These
were wrought with cords of Indian hemp, twisted by the hands of
the women. They had also hooks made of flexible bones, which
they used for fishing.
With respect to religion and morals, the Indians in New Eng
land were in the most deplorable condition. They believed that
there was a great Spirit, or God, whom they called Kitchtan.
They imagined that he dwelt far away in the southwest, and that
he was a good God. But they worshipped a great variety of gods.
They paid homage to the fire and water, thunder and lightning,
and to whatever they imagined to be superior to themselves, or
capable of doing them an injury. They paid their principal hom
age to Hobbamocko. They imagined that he was an evil spirit,
and did them mischief; and so, from fear, they worshipped hin$'
to keep him in good humor. They appeared to have no idea of a
sabbath, and not to regard any particular day more than another.
But in times of uncommon distress, by reason of pestilence, war,
or famine ; and upon occasion of great victories and triumph, and
after the ingathering of the fruits, they assembled in great num
bers, for the celebration of their superstitious rites. The whole
country, men, women, and children, came together upon these
solemnities. The manner of their devotion was to kindle large
fires in their wigwams, or more commonly in the open fields, and
to sing and dance round them in a wild and violent manner.
Sometimes they would all shout aloud with the most antic and
hideous notes. They made rattles of shells which they shook, in
?Winthrop's Journal, p. 54.
dfitiikfll ¦¦i 31
INDIAN WORSHIP.
Led on by their priests, or Powaws, they shouted and danced around a large fire, in
a wild and fantastic manner often sacrificing their choicest treasures, by throwing
them into the fire.
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 79
a wild and violent manner, to fill up the confused noise. After the
English settled in Connecticut, and they could purchase kettles of
brass, they used to strain skins over them and beat upon them to
augment their wretched music. They often continued these wild
and tumultuous exercises incessantly for four or five hours, until
they were worn down and spent with fatigue. Their priests or
powaws led in these exercises. They were dressed in the most
odd and surprising manner, with skins of odious and frightful
creatures about their heads, faces, arms, and bodies. They
painted themselves in the most ugly forms, which could be de
vised. They sometimes sang, and then broke forth into strong
invocations, with starts, and strange motions and passions. When
•these paused, the other Indians groaned, making wild and doleful
sounds. At these times they sacrificed their skins, Indian money
and the best of their treasures. These were taken, by the
powaws, and all cast into the fires and consumed together. After
the English came into the country, and they had hatchets and
kettles, they sacrificed these in the same manner. The English
were also persuaded, that they, at sometimes, sacrificed their
children, as well as their most valuable commodities. No Indians
in Connecticut were more noted for these superstitions than those
of Wopowage, and Machemoodus. Milford people observing an
Indian child, nearly at one of these times of their devotion, dressed
in an extraordinary manner, with all kinds of Indian finery, had
the curiosity to inquire what could be the reason. The Indians
answered, that it was to be sacrificed, and the people supposed,
that it was given to the devil. The evil spirit, which the New
England Indians called Hobbamocko, the Virginia Indians called
Okee. So deluded were these unhappy people, that they believed
these barbarous sacrifices to be absolutely necessary. They
imagined that unless they appeased and conciliated their gods, in
this manner, they would neither suffer them to have peace, nor
harvests, fish, venison, fat bears, nor turkeys ; but would visit them
with a general destruction.
With respect to morals they were indeed miserably depraved.
Mr. Williams and Mr. Callender, who, at an early period were ac
quainted with the Indians, in Rhode Island, Mr. Hooker and others
have represented them as sunk into the lowest state of moral tur
pitude, and as the very dregs of human nature.* Though the
character which they gave them was, in some respects exaggerated
and absurd, yet it cannot be denied, that they were worshippers
of evil spirits, liars, thieves, and murderers. They certainly were
insidious and revengeful almost without a parallel ; and they wal-
*- lowed in all the filth of wantonness. Great pains were taken with
'Williams's manuscripts, and Mr. Calender's sermon.
80 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
the Narragansett and Connecticut Indians to civilize them and
teach them Christianity; but the sachems rejected the Gospel
with indignation and contempt. They would not suffer it to be
preached to their subjects. Indeed, both made it a public interest
to oppose its propagation among them. Their policy, religion,
and manners were directly opposed to its pure doctrines and
morals. J
The manner of their courtship and marriages manifested their
impurity. When a young Indian wished for marriage, he pre
sented the girl with whom he was enamored, with bracelets, belts
and chains of wampum. If she received his presents they
cohabited together, for a time upon trial. If they pleased each
other, they were joined in marriage : but if, after a few weeks,
they were not suited, the man, leaving his presents, quitted the
girl and sought another mistress, and she another lover.* In
this manner they courted, until two met who were agreeable to
each other. Before marriage the consent of the sachem was
obtained, and he always joined the hands of the young pair in
wedlock. The Indians in general kept many concubines, and never
thought they had too many women.t This especially was the
case with their sachems. They chose their concubines agree
ably to their fancy, and put them away at pleasure. When a
sachem grew weary of any of his women, lie bestowed them
upon some of his favorites, or chief men. The Indians however,
had one wife, who was the governess of the family, and whom
they generally kept during life. In cases of adultery, the husband
either put away the guilty wife, or satisfied himself by the inflic- j
tion of some severe punishment. Husbands and wives, parents ;
and children, lived together in the same wigwams, without any
different apartment, and made no great privacy of such actions as i
the chaster animals keep from open view. >
The Indian government generally was absolute monarchy.
The will of the sachem was his law. The lives and- interests of
his subjects were at his disposal. But in all important affairs he
consulted his counselors. When they had given their opinions,
they deferred the decision of every matter to him. Whatever his
determinations were, they applauded his wisdom, and without
hesitation obeyed his commands. In council the deportment of
the sachems was grave and majestic to admiration. Thev
appeared to be men of great discernment and policy. Their
speeches were cautious and politic. The conduct of their coun
selors and servants was profoundly respectful and submissive
The counselors of the Indian kings, in New England, were
termed the paniese. These were not only the wisest, but largest
* Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 461, 462. tNeal's Hist. N. E. p. 38, 39.
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 81
and bravest men to be found among their subjects. They were
the immediate guard of their respective sachems, who made nei
ther war nor peace, nor attempted any weighty affair without
their advice. In war and all great enterprises, dangers and suf
ferings, these discovered a boldness, and firmness of mind,
exceeding all the other warriors.
To preserve this order among the Indians, great pains were
taken. The stoutest and most promising boys were chosen and
trained up with peculiar care, in the observation of certain Indian
rites and customs. They were kept from all delicious meats,
trained to coarse fare, and made to drink the juice of bitter herbs,
until it occasioned violent vomitings. They were beaten over
their legs arid shins, with sticks, and made to run through brambles
and thickets, to make them hardy: and, as the Indians said, to
render them more acceptable to Hobbamocko.
These paniese, or ministers of state, were in league with the
priests, or powaws. To keep the people in awe, they pretended,
as well as the priests, to have converse with the invisible world;
and, that Hobbamocko often appeared to them.
Among the Indians in New England, the crown was hereditary,
always descending to the eldest son. When there was no male
issue, the crown descended to the female. The blood royal was
held in such veneration, that no one was considered as heir to
the croWn, but such as were royally descended on both sides.
When a female acceeded to the crown, she was 'called the sunk
squaw, or queen squaw. There were many petty sachems, tribu
tary to other princes, on whom they were dependent for protection,
and without whose consent they made neither peace, war, nor
alliances with other nations.
The revenues of the crown consisted in the contributions of the
people. They carried corn, and the first fruits of their harvest of
all kinds, beans, squashes, roots, berries, and nuts, and presented
them to their sachem. They made him presents of flesh, fish,
fowl, moose, bear, deer, beaver, and other skins. One of the
paniese was commonly appointed to receive the tribute. When
the Indians brought it, he gave notice to his sachem, who went out
to them, and by good words and some small gifts, expressed his
gratitude. By these contributions, his table was supplied; so that
he kept open house for all strangers and travelers. Besides, the
prince claimed an absolute sovereignty over the seas within his
dominion. Whatever was stranded on the coast, all wrecks and
whales floating on the sea, and taken, were his * In war the
spoils of the enemy, and all the women and royalties of the prince
conquered, belonged to him, who made the conquest.
The sachem was not only examiner, judge and executioner, in
* Magnalia, Book vi.. p. SI.
82 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
all criminal cases, but in all matters of justice between one man
and another. In cases of dishonesty the Indians proportioned the
punishment to the number of times in which the delinquent had
been found guilty. For the first offence, he was reproached for
his villany in the most disgraceful manner ; for the second he was
beaten with a cudgel upon his naked back. If he still persisted in
his dishonest practices and was found guilty a third time, he was
sure, besides a sound drubbing, to have his nose slit, that all men
might know and avoid him. Murder was in all cases punished
with death. The sachem whipped the delinquent and slit his
nose in cases which required these punishments ; and he killed
the murderer, unless he were at a great distance. In this case,
in which execution could not be done with his own hands, he sent
his knife, by which it was effected. The Indians would not re
ceive any punishment, which was not capital, from the hands of
any except their sachems. They would neither be beaten, whip
ped, nor slit by an officer. But their prince might inflict these
punishments to the greatest extremity, and they would neither run,
cry, nor flinch. Indeed, neither the crimes nor the punishments
are esteemed so infamous, among the Indians, as to groan or
shrink under suffering. The sachems were so absolute in their
government, that they contemned the limited authority of the
English governors.
The Indians had no kind of coin ; but they had a sort of money*
which they called wampum, or wampumpeag. It consisted of
small beads, most curiously wrought out of shells, and perforated
in the centre, so that they might be strung on belts, in chains and
bracelets. These were of several sorts. The Indians in Con
necticut, and in New England in general* made black, blue and
white wampum. Six of the white beads passed for a penny, and
three of the black, or blue ones, for the same. The Five Nations
made another sort, which were of a purple color. The white
beads were wrought out of the inside of the great conchs, and the
purple out of the inside of the muscle shell. They were made
perfectly smooth, and the perforation was done in the neatest
manner. Indeed, considering that the Indians had neither knife,
drill, nor any steel or iron instrument, the workmanship was
admirable. After the English settled in Connecticut, the Indians
strung these beads on belts of cloth, in a very curious manner.
The Indians in all parts of New England, made great lamenta
tions at the burial of their dead. Their manner of burial was to
dig holes in the ground with stakes which were made broad and
sharpened at one end. Sticks were laid across the bottom, and
the corpse, which was previously wrapped in skins and mats' was
let down upon them. The arms, treasures, utensils, paint, and
ornaments of the dead were buried with them, and a mount of
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 83
earth was raised upon the whole. In some instances the Indians
appear to have used a kind of embalming, by wrapping the corpse
in large quantities of a strong scented red powder. In some
parts of New England the dead were buried in a sitting posture
with their faces towards the east. The women on these occasions
painted their faces with oil and charcoal, and while the burial was
performing, they, with the relatives of the dead, made the most
hideous shrieks, howlings, and lamentations. Their mourning
continued, by turns, at night and in the morning, for several days.
During this term all the relatives united in bewailing the dead.
When the English began the settlement of Connecticut, all the
Indians both east and west of Connecticut river were tributaries
except the Pequots, and some few tribes, which were in alliance
with them. The Pequots had spread their conquests over all that
part of the State east of the river. They had also subjugated the
Indians on the sea-coast as far eastward as Guilford. Uncas
therefore, after the Pequots were conquered, extended his claims
as far as Hammonasset in the eastern part of that township. The
Indians in these parts were therefore tributaries to the Pequots.
The Mohawks had not only carried their conquests as far
southward as Virginia, but eastward, as far as Connecticut river.
The Indians therefore, in the western parts of Connecticut, were
their tributaries. Two old Mohawks, every year or two, might
be seen issuing their orders, and collecting their tribute, with as
much authority and haughtiness as a Roman dictator.
It is indeed difficult to describe the fear of this terrible nation,
which had fallen on all the Indians in the western parts of Con
necticut. If they neglected to pay their tribute, the Mohawks
would come down against them, plunder, destroy, and carry them
captive at pleasure. When they made their appearance in the
country, the Connecticut Indians would instantly raise a cry from
hill to hill, A Mohawk ! A Mohawk ! and fly like sheep before
wolves, without attempting the least resistance.* The Mohawks
would cry out, in the most terrible manner, in their language,
importing 'We are come, we are come, to suck your blood.'t
When the Connecticut Indians could not escape to their forts,
they would immediately flee to the English houses for shelter,
and sometimes the Mohawks would pursue them so closely, as to
enter with them, and kill them in the presence of the family. If
there was time to shut the doors, they never entered by force, nor
did they upon any occasion, do the least injury to the English.
When they came into this part of the country for war, they used
their utmost art to keep themselves undiscovered. They would
conceal themselves in swamps and thickets, watching their oppor-
* Colden's History, vol. 1, p. 3. t Wood's prospect of N. England.
84 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
tunity, and all on a sudden, rise upon their enemy, and lull or cap-|
tivate them, before they had time to make any resistance. j
About the time when the settlement of New Haven commenced,
or not many years after, they came into Connecticut, and surprised
the Indian fort at Paugusset. To prevent the Connecticut Indians
from discovering them, and that not so much as a track of them
might be seen, they marched in the most secret manner, and when
they came near the fort, traveled wholly in the river. Secreting
themselves near the fort they watched their opportunity, and sud
denly attacking it, with their dreadful yellings and violence, they
soon took it byforce, and killed and captivated whom they pleased.
Having plundered and destroyed, at their pleasure, they returned
to their castles, west of Albany.
As all the Indians in Connecticut were slaughtered and op
pressed, either by the Pequots or Mohawks, they were generally
friendly to the settlement of the English among them. They ex
pected, by their means, to be defended against their terrible and
cruel oppressors. They also found themselves benefitted by
trading with them. They furnished themselves with knives,
hatchets, axes, hoes, kettles, and various instruments and utensils
which highly contributed to their convenience. They could, with
these, perform more labor in one hour or day, than they could in
many days without them. Besides, they found that they could
exchange an old beaver coat, or blanket, for two or three new
ones of English manufacture. They found a much better market
for their furs, corn, peltry, and all their vendible commodities.
The English were also careful to treat them with justice and hu
manity, and to make such presents to their sachems and great cap
tains, as should please and keep them in good humor. By these
means, the English lived in tolerable peace with all the Indians in
New England, except the Pequots, for about forty years.
The Indians, at their first settlement, performed many acts of
kindness towards them. They instructed them in the manner of
planting and dressing the Indian com. They carried them up
on their backs, through rivers and waters ; and as occasion re
quired, served them instead of boats and bridges. They gave
them much useful information respecting the country, and when
the English or their children, were lost in the woods, and were in
danger of perishing with hunger or cold, they conducted them to
their wigwams, fed them, and restored them to their families and
parents. By selling them corn, when pinched with famine, they
relieved their distresses, and prevented them from perishing in a
strange land and uncultivated wilderness."*
* For this account of the Indians [commencing at the 72 page] of New England,
the compiler is indebted to the account given by Dr. Trumbull, in his History of
Connecticut : it is evidently drawn up with care and accuracy.
INDIANS IN NEW YORK. 85
INDIANS IN NEW YORK.
The Iroquois, or the confederated tribe, called the Five Na
tions,* were in possession of the principal part of the territory
now comprised within the limits of New York, at the period of
Hudson's discovery. Their history before their acquaintance
with Europeans, is obscured in the darkness of antiquity. " It is
said that their first residence was in the country about Montreal ;
and that the superior strength of the Adirondacks, whom the
French call Algonquins, drove them into their present possessions,
lying on the south side of the Mohawk river, and the great lake
Ontario. Towards the close of those disputes, which continued
for a great series of years, the confederates gained advantages over
the Adirondacks, and struck a general terror into all the other In
dians. The Hurons, on the north side of lake Erie, and the Cat
Indians on the south side, were totally conquered and dispersed.
The French, who settled in Canada in 1603, took umbrage at
their success, and began a war with them which had well nigh
ruined -the new colony ."t
The confederacy of the Iroquois consisted, originally, of five
nations, % the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas,
and the Senecas. The Mohawks had four towns, and one small
village, situated on or near the fertile banks of the river of that
name. The position of the first was the confluence of the Scho
harie creek and Mohawk river. The others were further to the
west. The Mohawks, . from their martial renown, and military spirit,
have not unfrequently given their name to the whole confederacy,
which was often denominated the Mohawks in the annals of those
days. This nation was always held in the greatest veneration by
its associates, and they were declared by the other nations, ' the
true old heads of the confederacy.'
The Oneidas had their principal seat on the south of the Oneida
lake ; the Onondagas, near the Onondaga ; and the Cayugas,
near the Cayuga lake. The principal village of the Senecas
was near the Genesee river, about twenty miles from Ironde-
quoit bay.
* Maquaas, was the name given them by the Dutch. In their own language,
they gave themselves the name Agoneaseah : that is, The Long House.
f Smith's History of New York.
t The Tuscaroras, a tribe driven by the Carolinians from the frontiers of Virginia,
[in 1712,] were received into the Five Nations, upon a supposition that they were
originally of the same stock, on account of some similarity of language : after this
union, the Iroquois were called the Six Nations.
8
86 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
Each nation was divided into three tribes : the Tortoise, the
Bear, and the Wolf. Each village was a distinct republic, and
its concerns were managed by its peculiar chiefs. Their exte
rior relations, general interests, and national affairs, were con
ducted and superintended by a great council, assembled annually/
at Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of eachj
republic; and eighty sachems Were frequently convened at this-
national assembly. I
It took cognizance of the great questions of war and peace,, and
of the affairs of the tributary nations. All their proceedings were
conducted with great deliberation, and were distinguished for
order, decorum, and solemnity.
A prominent feature in the character of the confederates, was '
an exalted spirit of liberty, which revolted with equal indignation
at domestic or foreign control. They esteemed themselves as
Sovereigns, accountable to none, but God alone, whom they called
the Great Spirit. They admitted no hereditary distinctions.
The office of sachem was the reward of personal merit ; of great
wisdom ; of commanding eloquence ; of distinguished services in
the cabinet, or in the field.
Whatever superiority the Iroquois might have in war, they i
never neglected the use of stratagem. The cunning of the fox,
the ferocity of the tiger, and the power of the lion, were united in j
their conduct. They preferred to vanquish their enemy; by
taking him off his guard, by involving him in an ambuscade ; but
when emergencies rendered it necessary for them to face him in
the open field, they exhibited a courage and contempt of deaths
which has never been surpassed." — Eastman's Hist. N. York. '
The following account of the Five Nations is taken fromf
Smith's History of New York, a work written previous to the
American Revolution. [
" No people in the world perhaps have higher notions than,
these Indians of military glory. All the surrounding nations have
felt the effects of their prowess ; and many not only became their)
tributaries, but were so subjugated to their power, that without
their consent, they durst not commence either peace or war.
Though a regular police for the preservation of harmony within, '
and the defence of the State against invasions from without, is
hot to be expected from the people of whom I am now Writing,
yet, perhaps, they have paid more attention to it than is general
ly allowed. Their government is suited to their condition. A
people whose riches consist not so much in abundance, as in
a freedom from want ;* who are circumscribed by no boundaries,
* An Indian, in answer to his question, what the white people meant by eovetbus-
ness 1 was told by another, that it signified, a desire of more than a man had need of.
That's strange ! said the querist.
INDIANS IN NEW YORK. 87
who live by hunting, and not by agriculture, must always be free,
and therefore subject to no other authority, than such as consists
with the liberty necessarily arising from their circumstances.
All their affairs, whether respecting peace or war, are under the
direction of their sachems, or chief men. Great exploits and
public virtue procure the esteem of a people, and qualify a man
to advise in council, and execute the plans concerted for the ad
vantage of his country : thus, whoever appears to the Indians in
this advantageous light, commences a sachem without any other
ceremony. As there is no other way of arriving at this dignity, so it ceases,
unless an uniform zeal and activity for the common good, is un
interruptedly continued. Some have thought it hereditary, but
that is a mistake. The son, is indeed, respected for his father's
services, but without personal merit, he can never share in the
government ; which, were it otherwise, must sink into perfect dis
grace. The children pi such as are distinguished for their pat
riotism, moved by the consideration of their birth, and the per
petual incitements to virtue constantly inculcated into them, imi
tate their father's exploits, and thus attain to the same honors and
influence ; which accounts for the opinion that the title and power
of sachem are hereditary. Each of these republics has its own
particular chiefs, who hear and determine all complaints in coun
cil, and though they have no officers for the execution of justice,
yet their decrees are always obeyed, from the general reproach
that would follow a contempt of their advice. The condition of
this people exempts them from factions, the common disease of
popular g6vernments. It is impossible to gain a party amongst
them by indirect means ; for no man has either honor, riches, or
power to bestow.
All affairs which concern the general interest are determined
in a great assembly of the chiefs of each canton, usually held at
Onondaga, the centre of their country. Upon emergencies they
act separately, but nothing can bind the league but the voice of
the general convention.
The French, upon the maxim, divide et impera, have tried all
possible means to divide these republics, and sometimes have
even sown great jealousies among them. In consequence of this
plan, they have seduced many families to withdraw to Canada,
and there settled them in regular towns, under the command of a
fort, and the tuition of missionaries.
The manners of these savages are as simple as their govern
ment. Their houses are a few crotched stakes thrust into the
ground, and overlaid with bark. A fire, is kindled in the middle,
and an aperture left at the top for the conveyance of the smoke.
Whenever a considerable number of those huts are collected, they
88 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
have a castle, as it is called, consisting of a square without bas
tions, surrounded with palisadoes. They have no other fortifi
cation ; and this is only designed as an asylum for their old men,
their wives, and children, while the rest are gone out to war.
They live almost entirely without care. While the women, or
squaws, cultivate a little spot of ground for corn, the men employ
themselves in hunting. As to clothes, they use a blanket girt at
the waist, and thrown loosely over their shoulders ; some of their
women, indeed, have besides this, a sort of a petticoat, and a
few of their men wear shirts ; but the greater part of them are
generally half naked. In winter their legs are covered with stock
ings of blanket, and their feet with socks of deer skin. Many of
them are fond of ornaments, and their taste is very singular. I
have seen rings affixed, not only to their ears, but to their noses.
Bracelets of silver and brass round their wrists, are very common.
The women plait their hair, and tie it up behind in a bag, perhaps
in imitation of the French beaux in Canada: Though the Indians
are capable of sustaining great hardships, yet they cannot endure
much labor, being rather fleet than strong. Their men are talleE
than the Europeans, rarely corpulent, always beardless,* straight
limbed, of a tawny complexion, and black uncurled hair. In their
food they have no manner of delicacy, for though venison is their
ordinary diet, yet sometimes they eat dogs, bears, knd even snakes.
Their cookery is of two kinds, boiled or roasted ; to perform the
latter, the meat is penetrated by a short sharp stick set in the
ground, inclining towards the fire, and turned as occasion re
quires. They are hospitable to strangers, though few Europeans";
would relish their highest favors of this kind, for they are very
nasty both in their garments and food. Every man has his own
wife, whom he takes and leaves at pleasure: a plurality, how
ever, at the same time, is by no means admitted among them. '
They are so perfectly free, that "unless their children, who
generally assist the mother, may be called servants, they have
none. The men frequently associate themselves for conversation,
by which means they hot only preserve the remembrance of their
wars, and treaties, but diffuse among their youth incitements to
military glory, as well as instruction in all the subtilties of war.
Since they became acquainted with the Europeans, their' war
like apparatus is a musket, hatchet,! and a long ..knife. Their
boys still accustom themselves to bows and arrows, and are so
dexterous in the use of them, that a lad of sixteen, will strike an
English shilling five times in ten at twelve or fourteen yards dis-
* Because they pluck out the hairs. Tie French writers, who -say they have
naturally no beards, are mistaken ; and the reasons they assign for it are ridiculous.
t Hence, to take up the hatchet, is, with them, a phrase signifying to declare war;
as, on the contrary, to bury it, denotes the establishment of 'peace.
INDIANS IN NEW YORK. 89
tance. Their men are excellent marksmen, both with the gun and
hatchet ; their dexterity at the latter is very extraordinary, for
they rarely miss the object, though at a considerable distance.
The hatchet in the flight perpetually turns round, and yet al
ways strikes the mark with the edge.
' Before they go out, they have a feast upon dog's flesh, and a
great war-dance. At these, the warriors, who arc frightfully
painted with vermilion, rise up and sing their own exploits, or
those of their ancestors, and thereby kindle a military enthusiasm
in the whole company. The day after the dance, they march out
a few miles in a row, observing a profound silence. The pro
cession being ended, they strip the bark from a large oak, and
paint the design of their expedition on the naked trunk. The
' figure of a canoe, with the number of men in it, determines the
strength of their party ; and by a deer, a fox, or some other em
blem painted at the head of it, we discover against what nation
they are gone out.
The Five Nations being devoted to war, every art is contrived
to diffuse a military spirit through the whole body of their people.
The ceremonies attending the return of a party, seem calculated in
particular for that purpose. The day before they enter the village,
two heralds advance, and at a small distance set up a yell, which
by its modulation intimates either good or bad news. If the for
mer, the village is alarmed, and an entertainment provided for the
conquerors, who in t£ie meantime approach in sight : one of them
bears the scalps stretched over a bow, and elevated upon a long
pole. The boldest man in the town comes out, and receives it,
and instantly flies to the hut where the rest are collected. If he
is overtaken, he-f is beaten unmercifully ; but if he outruns the
pursuer ,»he participates in the honor of the victors, who 'at their
first entrance receive no compliments, nor speak a single word till
the end of the feast. Their parents, wives, and children are then
admitted, and treat them with the profoundest respect. After
these salutations, one of the conquerors is appointed to relate the
whole adventure, to which the rest attentively listen, without ask
ing a question, and the. whole concludes with a savage dance.
The Indians never fight in the field, or upon equal terms, but
always sculk, and attack by surprise in small parties, meeting
every night at a place of rendezvous. Scarcely any enemy can
escape them, for by the disposition of the grass and leaves, they
follow his track with great speed any where but over a rock.
Their barbarity is" shocking to human nature. Women and
children -they generally kill and scalp, because they would retard
their progress ; but the men they carry into captivity. If any
woman has lost a relation, and inclines to receive the prisoner in his
stead, he not only -escapes a series of the most inhuman tortures,
8*
90 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
and death itself, but enjoys every immunity they can bestow, and
is esteemed a member of the family into which he is adopted. To
part with him would be the most ignominious conduct, and con
sidered as selling the blood of the deceased ; and for this reason,
it is not without the greatest difficulty that a captive is re
deemed. When the Indians incline to peace, a messenger is sent to the
enemy with a pipe, the bowl of which is made of soft, red mar
ble ; and a long reed, beautifully painted, and adorned with the
gay plumage of birds, forms the stem. This is his infallible pro
tection from any assault on the way,. The envoy makes his pro
posals to the enemy, who, if they apprdye them, ratify the pre
liminaries to the peace, by smoking through'the pipe, and from
that instant a general cessation of arms takes place. The French
call it a calumet. It is used, as far as I can learn, by all the
Indian nations upon the continent. v The rights of it are esteemed
sacred, and have b§en only' invaded by the Flat Heads ; in just
indignation for which, the confederates maintained a war with them
for near thirty years.
As to the language of the Five- Nations, the best account I have
had of it, is contained in a letter from the Reverend Mr. Spencer,
who resided amongst them in the year 1748,. being then a mis
sionary from the Scotch society for propagating Christian knowl
edge. He writes thus : , / * ' '
¦t
'Sir, * ' .. t;\
' Though I was very desirous of learning the Indian tongue,
yet through my short residence at Onoughquage, and the , surly
disposition of my interpreter, I confess my proficiency was not ;
great. Except the Tuscaroras, all, the Six Nations speak a language
radically the same. It is very masculine and sonorous, abounding
with gutturals and strong aspirations, but without labials. Its
solemn grave tone is owing to the generosity of its feet, as you
will observe in the following translation of the Lprd's prayer^ in
which I have distinguished the time of every syllable by the com
mon marks used in prosody.
Soungwauneha, caurounkyawga, tehseetaroan,' sauhsoneyousta,
esa, sawaneyou, okettauhsela, ehneauwoung, na cauroiinkyawga,
nughwonshauga, neattewehn§salafjga, taugwaunautoronoantougsick,
toantaugweleewheyoustaiing, cheneeyeilt, chaquatautehwheyoustafln-
ua, toughsaii, taugwaussareneh, tawautottenaugaloughtoungga, nasa-
wne, sacheautaugwass, coantehsalohaunzaickaw, esa, sawaunneyou,
esa, sashautzta, esa, sovingwasoung, chenneauhaflngwa, auwen.
*
The' extraordinary length of Indian words, and the guttural
INDIANS IN NEW YORK. 91
aspirations necessary in pronouncing them, render the speech ex
tremely rough and difficult. The verbs never change in their
terminations, as in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but all their varia
tions are prefixed. Besides the singular and plural, they have also
the dual number. A .strange transposition of syllables of different
words, euphonice gratia, is very common in the Indian tongue, of
which I will give an instance. — ogilla signifies fire, and cawdun-
nd, great ; but instead of joining the adjective and substantive to
say great fire, cawaunna ogilla, both words would be blended
into this one, co-gilla-waunna. , The dialect of the Oneydas, is
softer than that of the other nations ; and the reason is, because
they have more vowels, and often supply the place of harsh letters
with liquids. Instead of R, they always use L : Rebecca would
be pronounced Lequcca. •»
The art of public • speaking is in high esteem among the In
dians,, and much studied,, They are extremely fond of method,
and displeased with an irregular harangue, because it is difficult to
be remembered. When they answer, they repeat the whole, re
ducing it into strict order. Their speeches are short, and the
sense conveyed in strong metaphors. * In conversation they are
s'prightly, but solemn • and serious in their messages relating to
public affairs. ,-¦ Their speakers deliver themselves with surprising
force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their
countenances, the flowing blanket,, elevate^ tone, naked arm, and
erect, stature, with a half .circle of auditors seated on the ground,
and in the open air, cannot but impress.upon the mind, a lively idea
of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome.
At the close of every important part of the speech ratifying an
old covenant, or creating a new one, a belt is generally given, to
perpetuate the' remembrance of the transaction. These belts are
about four "inches wide, and thirty in length. They consist of
strings of conch shell beads fastened together.*
With respect to religion, the Indians may be said to be under.
the thickest gloom of ignorance. If they have any, which is much
' to be questioned, those who affirmiit, wilhjfind it difficult to tell us
wherein it consists* They have, neither priest nor temple, sacri
fice nor altar. Some' traces, indeed, appear of the original law
written upon their hearts ; but they have no system of doctrines,
nor any rites- and modes of public worship. They are sunk, un
speakably, beneath theypolite pagans of antiquity. Some confused
notions, indeed, of beings superior to themselves, they have, but of
the Deity, and his natural and moral perfections, no proper or tole-
* Those beads, which pass for money, are called by the Indians, wampum, and by
the Dutch sewant : six beads were formerly valued at a stiver. There are always
several poor families at Albany, who support themselves by coining this cash for the
traders.
92 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
rable conceptions ; and of his general and particular Providence
they know nothing. They profess no obligations to him, nor ac
knowledge their dependence upon him. Some of them, it is said,
are of opinion, that there are two distinct, powerful beings, one
able to help, the other to do them harm. The latter they venerate
most, and some alledge, that they address him by a kind of prayer,
Though there are no public monuments of idolatry to be seen in
their country, yet the missionaries have discovered coarse imagery
in wooden trinkets, in the hands of their jugglers, which the con
verts deliver up as detestable. The sight of them would remind
a man of letters of the lares and penates of the ancients, but no
certain judgment can be drawn of their use. The Indians some
times assemble in large numbers, and retire far into the wilderness,
where they eat and drink in a profuse manner. These conven
tions are called kenticoys. Some esteem them to be. debauched
revels or Bacchanalia ;> but those, who have privately followed
them into these recesses, give such accounts of their conduct, asi
naturally lead one to imagine, that they pay a joint homage and
supplication to some invisible being." I
The following extract of a letter to the late Dr. Morse, from the Rev. Mr. Kirk-
land, missionary among the Six Nations, gives an 'interesting account of their views
of a future state. "The region of pure spirits, theJTive Nations call Eskanane.
The only characters, which, according to their tradition, cannot be admitted to partici
pate of the pleasures and delights of this happy country, are reduced to three, viz :
suicides, the disobedient to the councils of the chiefs, and such' as put away their wives
on account of pregnancy. According to their tradition, there is a gloomy, fathomless
gulf, near the borders of the delightjful mansions of Eskanane, over which all good and
brave spirits pass with safety, under the conduct of. a faithful and skilful guide appoint
ed fot that purpose ; but when a suicide, or any of the above mentioned characters,
approaches this gulf, the conductor, who possesses a most penetrating eye, instantly
discovers their spiritual features and character, and denies them his aid, assigning his
reasons. They will, however, attempt to cross on a small pole, which, before they
reach the middle, trembles and shakes, till presently down they fall with horrid shrieks.
In this dark and dreary gulf, they suppose resides a great dog, some say a dragon, in
fected with the itch, which makes him perpetually restless and spiteful. The guilty
inhabitants of this miserable region all catch this disease of the great dog, and grope
and roam from side to side of their gloomy mansion in perpetual torment. Some
times they approach so near the happy fields of Eskanane,Jhey can hear the songs
and dances of their former companions. This only serves to increase their torments,
as they can discern no light, nor discover4any passage by which they can gain access
to them. They suppose idiots and dogs go into the same gulf, but have a more com
fortable apartment, where they enjoy some little light.",
Mr. Kirkland adds, that several other nations of Indians, with whom he has con
versed on the subject, have nearly the same traditionary notions of a future state.
They almost universally agree in this, that the departed spirit is ten days in its pas
sage to their happy elysium, after it leaves the body. Some of them" suppose its
course towards the south ; others, that it ascends from some lofty mountain.
The number of Indians comprised in the Five Nations, at the
time of the first European settlements in New York, has been es
timated from twenty to twenty-five thousand. This number is
supposed to comprise the main body of Indians living in the pres-
INDIANS IN NEW YORK. 93
ent limits of the state at that period. Their number at present,
including those in Canada and elsewhere, is said not to exceed six
or seven thousand souls, although for the last fifty years they have
been somewhat on the increase.
During the war between the English and French, which com
menced in 1755, and ended in 1763, the Mohawks, and some other
confederates, joined the English, while the Senecas and others
joined the French. Hendrick, the Mohawk chief, accompanied Sir
William Johnson to the head of Lake George, near which he fell
in a battle with 'the French.' As the French interest declined in
Canada, those tribes who aided them came over to the English.
At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, all the Six Na
tions, except the Oneidas, took up the hatchet against the United
States, being seduced by English agents to make common cause
with England against the Americans. In the early part of 1 776, a
treaty was negotiated with them at Herkimer, in which they en
gaged to remain neutral. Large presents were made them. Not
withstanding General Schuyler, the American commissioner, in
this delicate affair, acted with the utmost prudence and skill, still
it was unavailing, for the Indians violated the treaty.
The Mohawks, who had hitherto resided on the Mohawk river,
broke up >their settlements and retired to Canada. The Oneidas,
preferring peace to war, upon the suggestion of the American gov
ernment, removed from the vicinity of Oneida creek to Schenecta
dy, where they remained toll the peace>'in 1783, being provided by
the government with the 'means of subsistence. The Mohawks,
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, in the course of the war made
numerous inroads into New York and Pennsylvania. In 1778, a
large body of these Indians, accompanied by a band of tories or
loyalists, fell upon the flourishing settlement at Wyoming, laid it
entirely waste, and killed mostsof the inhabitants. The settlement
at Minisink, and of Cherry Valley, were likewise destroyed, and
the enemy under Brandt an Onondaga, or Mohawk chief, and
Col. John Butler a royalist, committed many atrocities.
In order to repress these barbarities, Gen. Sullivan was detached
in 1779, to march into the Indian country with four thousand men.
He proceeded up the Susquehanna and Tioga rivers, and from
thence down the Genesse. He destroyed eighteen towns and vil
lages in this vicinity in the course of a few days. By these pro
ceedings, the Indians, though not conquered, were greatly intimi
dated. Since 1783, the Six Nations do not appear to have acted
in unison ; the bonds which formerly held them together became
loosened, and the several tribes have, in many instances, acted
separately. Most of their lands, which are the best in the state,
have been purchased, and are now occupied by flourishing settle
ments.
94 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY.
The Indians inhabiting New Jersey at the period of its settle
ment, were of that race called Mohekaneews, who inhabited the
country between the St. Lawrence in Canada, and the Potomac
in Virginia. The confederation of the Lenni Lenape* or Delae-
wares as they are usually called, was the most extensive and pow
erful of the Mohekaneew states. Its limits extended from Con
necticut river on the northeast, to the Susquehanna river and the
head of the Chesapeak bay on the southwest. The tribes which
composed the confederacy were subdivided into numerous clans,
and this circumstance has been the source of much confusion
among writers.
The Delawares, who were numerous on the river and bay of
that name, were conquered by the Five Nations, about the time the
English began the settlement of Virginia. The war between these
Indians raged with great fury at the time Capt. Smith, the founder
of Virginia, was exploring Chesapeak bay. The Delawares were
so enfeebled and exhausted by this war, that the Dutch and Eng
lish settlers in their vicinity had but little to fear from them, and
experienced few difficulties. They received some addition to
their numbers by the Indian war in New England, when the re
mains of several of the vanquished tribes retired westerly, and
crossed the Hudson. During the Revolutionary War, a portion of
the Delawares took up arms against the United States. Since this
period they removed to Ohio, where they continued upwards of
fifty years. They have since removed farther westward, and. at
present but few of this tribe remain.
The following account of the Indians in New Jersey, is taken
from Smith's history of this state. " When they bury their dead,
it was customary to put family utensils, bows and arrows, and
sometimes money, (wampum) into the grave with them, as tokens
of their affection. When a person of note died far from the place
of his own residence, they would carry his bones to be buried there ;
they washed and perfumed the, dead, painted the face, and follow
ed singly ; left the dead in a sitting posture, and covered the grave
pyramidically. They were very careful in preserving and repair
ing the graves of their dead, and pensively visited them ; did not
love to be asked their judgment twice 'about the same thing.
They generally delighted in mirth ; were very studious in observ-
* These words are said to mean " the original people," whereby they expressed they
were an unmixed race, who had never changed their character since the creation.-
Watsons Annals of Philadelphia.
INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY. 95
«g the virtues of roots and herbs, by which they usually cured
emselves of many bodily distempers, both by outward and in
ward applications. They besides frequently used sweating, and
the cold bath. They had an aversion to beards, and would not suf
fer them to grow ; but plucked the hair out by the roots. The
hair of their heads was black, and generally shone with bear's fat,
particularly that of the women, who tied it up behind in a large
knot ; sometimes in a bag.
They were very loving to one another ; if several of them came
to a christian's house, and the master of it gave one of them vict
uals, and none to the rest, he would divide it into equal shares
amongst his companions ; if the christians visited them, they would
give them the first cut of their victuals ; they would not eat the
hollow of the thigh of any thing they killed.
The Indians would not allow of mentioning the name of a friend
after death. They sometimes streaked their faces with black,
when in mourning ; but when their affairs went well, they painted
red. They were great observers of the weather by the moon ;
delighted in fine clothes ; were punctual in their bargains, and ob
served this so much in others, that it was very difficult for a per
son who had once failed herein, to get any dealings with them
afterwards. In their councils they seldom or never interrupted or
contradicted one another, till two of them had made an end of their
discourse ; for if ever so many were in company, only two must
speak to each other, and the rest be silent till their turn. Their
language was high, lofty, and sententious. Their way of counting
was by tens, that is to say, two tens, three tens, four tens, &c,
when the number got out of their reach, they pointed to the stars,
or the hair of their heads.
They lived chiefly on maize, or Indian corn roasted in the ashes,
sometimes beaten and boiled with water, called hommony ; they al
so made an agreeable cake of their pounded corn ; and raised beans
and pease ; but the woods and rivers afforded them the chief of
their provisions. They pointed their arrows with a sharpened
flinty stone, and of a larger sort, with withes for handles, cut their
wood ; both of these sharpened stones are often found in the
fields. Their times of eating were commonly morning and eve
ning; their seats and tables the ground. They were naturally
reserved, apt to resent, to conceal their resentments, and retain
them long; they were liberal and generous, kind and affable to the
English. They were observed to be uneasy and impatient in
sickness for a present remedy, to which they commonly drank a
decoction of roots in spring water, forbearing flesh, which if they
then eat at all, it was of the female. They took remarkable care
of one another in sickness, while hopes of life remained ; but when
that was gone, some of them were apt to neglect the patient.
96 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
Their government was monarchical and successive, and mostly
of the mother's side, to prevent a spurious issue.* They commonly
washed their children in cold water as soon as born ; and to make
their limbs straight, tied them to a board, and hung itto their backs
when they traveled ; they usually walked at 9 months old. Their
young men married at 16 or 17 years of age, if by that time they
had given sufficient proof of their manhood, by a large return of
skins. The girls married about 13 or 14, but stayed at home with
their mothers to hoe the ground, and to bear burdens, &c. lor some
years after marriage. The women, in traveling, generally car
ried the luggage. The marriage ceremony was sometimes thus ;
the relations and friends being present, the bridegroom delivered a
bone to the bride, she an ear of Indian corn to him, meaning that
he was to provide meat, she bread. It was not unusual, notwith
standing, to change their mates upon disagreement ; the children
went with the party that loved them best, the expense being ol no
moment to either ; in case of difference on this head, the man was
allowed the first choice, if the children were divided, or there was
but one.
Very little can be said as to their religion ; much pains were ta
ken by the early christian settlers, and frequently since, to inform j
their judgments respecting the use and benefit of the Christian
Revelation, and to fix restraints ; but generally with unpromising
success, though instances have now and then happened to the con
trary. They are thought to have believed in a God and immor
tality, and seemed to aim at public worship ; when they did this,
they sometimes sat in several circles one within another ; the ac
tion consisted of singing, jumping, shouting and dancing ; but
mostly performed rather as something handed down from their
ancestors, than from any knowledge or inquiry into the serious parts
of its origin. They said that the great king that made them, dwelt
in a glorious country to the southward, and that the spirits of the
best should go there and live again. Their most solemn worship
was the sacrifice of the first fruits, in which they burnt the first and
fattest buck, and feasted together upon what else they had col
lected ; but in this sacrifice broke no bones of any creature they
ate ; when done, they gathered and buried them very carefully ;
these have since been frequently ploughed up. They distin
guished between a good and evil man-etta, or spirit ; worshipped
the first for the good they hoped : and some of them are said to
have been slavishly dark in praying to the last for deprecation of
evils they feared ; but if this be generally true, some of the tribes
much concealed it from our settlers.
* That is, the children of him now king, will not succeed, but his brother by the
mother, or children of his sister, whose sons (and after them the male children of her
daughters) were to reign ; for no woman inherited.
INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY. 97
They did justice upon one another for crimes among themselves,
in a way of their own ; even murder might be atoned for by feasts,
and presents of wampum ; the price of a woman killed was
double, and the reason, because she bred children, which men
could not do. If sober they rarely quarrelled among themselves.
They lived to 60, 70, 80 years, and more, before rum was intro
duced, but rarely since. Some tribes were commendably careful
of their aged and decrepit, endeavouring to make the remains of
life as comfortable as they could, except in desperate decays, then
they were apt to neglect them.
Strict observers of property, yet to the last degree, thoughtless
and inactive in acquiring or keeping it. None could excel them
in liberality of the little they had, for nothing was thought too good
for a friend ; a knife, gun, or any such thing given to one, frequently
passed through many hands. Their houses or wigwams were
sometimes together in towns, but mostly movable, and occasion
ally fixed near a spring, or other water, according to the conve-
niencies for hunting, fishing, basket-making, or other business of
that sort, and built with poles laid on forked sticks in the ground,
with bark, flags, or bushes on the top and sides, with an opening to
the south, their fire in the middle. At night they slept on the
ground with their feet towards it. Their clothing was a coarse
blanket or skin thrown over the shoulder, which covered to the
knee, and a piece of the same tied round their legs, with part of a
deer skin sewed round their feet for shoes. As they had learned
to live upon little, they seldom expected or wanted to lay up much.
They were also moderate in asking a price for any thing they had
for sale. When a company traveled together, they generally fol
lowed each other in silence, scarcely ever two were seen by the
side of one another. In roads, the man went before with his bow
and arrow, the woman after, not uncommonly with a child at her
back, and other burdens besides : but when these were too heavy,
the man assisted. To know their walks again, in unfrequented
woods, they heaped stones or marked trees.
In person they were upright, and straight in their limbs, beyond
the usual proportion in most nations. Their bodies were strong,
but of a strength rather fitted to endure hardships, than to sustain
much bodily labor, very seldom crooked or deformed : their
features regular : their countenances sometimes fierce, in com
mon rather resembling a Jew than Christain : the color of their
skin a tawny reddish brown. The whole fashion of their lives of
apiece ; hardy, poor and squalid; When they began to drink, they
commonly continued it as long as the means of procuring it lasted.
While intoxicated, they often lay exposed to all the inclemencies
of weather, which introduced a train of new disorders among
them. They were grave, even to sadness, upon any common, and
9
98 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
more so upon serious occasions ; observant of those in company,
and respectful to the old ; of a temper cool and deliberate ; never
in haste to speak, but waited for a certainty, that the person who
spoke before them had finished all he had to say. They seemed
to hold European vivacity in contempt, because they found such
as came among them, apt to interrupt each other, and frequently
speak all together.
Their behavior in public councils, was strictly decent and in-J
structive, every one in his turn was heard, according to rank of
years or wisdom, or services to his country. Not a word, a whis
per, or a murmur, while any one spoke ;' no interruption to com
mend or condemn ; the younger sort were totally silent. They
got fire by rubbing wood of particular sorts, (as the ancients did
out of the ivy and bays) by turning the end of a hard piece upon the
side of one that was soft and dry. To forward the heat they put
dry rotten wood and leaves ; with the help of fire and their stone
axes, they would fall large trees, and afterwards scoop them into
bowls, &c. From their infancy they were formed with care to en
dure hardships, to bear derision, and even blows patiently ; at least
with a composed countenance. Though they were not easily pro
voked, they were hard to be appeased.
Liberty in its fullest extent, was their ruling passion ; to this
every other consideration was subservient. Their children were
trained up so as to cherish this disposition to the utmost ; they ;
were indulged to a great degree, seldom chastised with blows, and j
rarely chided ; their faults were left for their reason and habits of j
the family to correct : they said these could not be great beforej
their reason commenced ; and they seemed to abhor a slavish mo
tive to action, as inconsistent with their notions of freedom and in
dependence. Even strong persuasion was industriously avoided,
as bordering too much on dependence, and a kind of violence of
fered to the will. They dreaded slavery more than death. They
laid no fines for crimes ; for they had no way of exacting them.
The atonement was voluntary. Every tribe had particular persons
in whom they reposed a confidence, and unless they did something
unworthy of it, they were held in respect. Their kings were dis
tinguished sachems ; the respect paid them was voluntary, and
not exacted or looked for, or the omission of it regarded. The
sachems directed in their councils, and had the chief disposition
of lands. To help their memories in treaties, they had belts of
black and white wampum ; with these closed their periods in
speeches, delivering more or less according to the importance of
the matter treated of ; this ceremony omitted, all they said passed
for nothing. They treasured these belts when delivered to them
in treaties, kept them as the records of the nation, to have recourse
to upon future contests. Governed by customs and not by laws,
INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY. 99
they greatly revered those of their ancestors, and followed them
implicitly. They long remembered kindnesses, families, or indi
viduals that had laid themselves out to deal with, entertain and
treat them hospitably, or even fairly in dealings, if no great kind
ness was received, were sure of their trade. This also must un
doubtedly be allowed, that the original and more uncorrupt, very
seldom forgot to be grateful, where real benefits had been received."
ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &c.
ILLUSTRATING
INDIAN HISTORY.
The Delaware Indians, (according to the tradition handed down
by their ancestors), resided many hundred years ago, in a very
distant country in the western part of the American continent.*
Having determined on migrating to the eastward, they set out in
a body, and after a very long journey they arrived on the banks
of the Mississippi river, where they fell in with the Mengwe,
now called the Iroquois, or Five Nations, who had likewise emi
grated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river
somewhat higher up. The Delawares by their spies had before
their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi
was inhabited by a very powerful nation, who had many large
towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land. These
people were called the Alligewi, and from them, it is supposed,
the name of the Alleghany river and mountains is derived.
When the Delawares arrived on the Mississippi, they sent a
message to the Alligewi to request permission to settle in their
neighborhood. This was refused ; but they granted them leave
to pass through the country and seek a settlement farther to the
eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Mississippi,
when the Alligewi seeing that their numbers were very great,
made an attack on those that had crossed, and threatened they
would destroy all those who should venture to cross the river.
The Delawares, indignant at such conduct, consulted with the
Iroquois, (who had thus far only been spectators), who offered to
join them in attempting the conquest of the country. Having
united their forces, they declared war against the Alligewi, and
* These traditionary accounts respecting the Delawares and Iroquois, were drawn
from the Rev. Mr. Heckcwelder's account of the Indian Nations, published in Vol.
i. of the Hist, and Lit. Trans, of the American Phil. Soc, Philadelphia, 1819.
Mr. Heckewelder was for a long period, a missionary among the Indians.
100 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
great battles were fought, in which many fell on both sides. The
enemy fortified their large towns, and erected fortifications, espe
cially on large rivers near the lakes, where they were attacked
and sometimes stormed by the allies. The Alligewi at last find
ing that they would all be destroyed if they remained, abandoned
the country, and fled down the Mississippi river, from whence
they never returned.
After the conquest of the Alligewi, the Delawares and the Iro
quois divided their country between them ; the Iroquois made
choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great lakes, and the
Delawares took possession of the countries to the south. For a
long period of time, some say two hundred years, the two nations
resided peaceably in this country, and increased very fast ; some
of their enterprising men crossed the mountains, and falling on
the streams running eastward, followed them to the Great Salt
water. Lake, or ocean. Satisfied with what they had seen, they
(or some of them) after a long absence, returned to their nation,
and described the country they had discovered as abounding with
game and various kinds of fruits ; and the rivers and bays with fish,
tortoises, &c. together with abundance of water-fowl, and no en
emy to be dreaded. Concluding this to be the country destined
for them by the Great Spirit, they began to emigrate thither, but
only in small bodies, so as not to be straitened for want of pro
visions by the way, some even laying by for a whole year. They
at last settled on the four great rivers, the Delaware, Hudson,
Susquehanna, and the Potomac, making the Delaware the centre
of their possessions.
The Delawares say that the whole of their nation did not reach
this part of the country, that many remained behind to assist the
great body of their people who did not cross the Mississippi, but
retreated into the interior of the country on the west side of that
river, on account of the hostilities with the Alligewi. Their na
tion finally became divided into three bodies ; the larger body,
which they suppose to have been one half of the whole, were set
tled on the Atlantic, and the other half was again divided into
two parts, one of which the strongest they suppose, remained
beyond the Mississippi, and the remainder where they left them
on this side of that river.
Those of the Delawares who fixed their abode on the shores
of the Atlantic, divided themselves into three tribes. Two of
them chose that part of the country which lay nearest the sea.
As they multiplied, their settlements extended from Hudson riv
er to beyond the Potomac, The third tribe, called the Minsi or
Munsees, chose to live back of the other tribes, and formed a
kind of bulwark for their protection against the Iroquois. They
extended their settlements from the Minisink, a place named af-
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 101
ter them, where they had their council-seat or fire, to the Hudson
on the east, and to the southwest far beyond the boundaries of
the Susquehanna. From the above tribes sprung many others,
who, having for their convenience chosen detached places to set
tle in, gave themselves names or received them from others.
These various tribes did not deny their origin, but retained their
affection for the parent tribe, of which they were proud to be
called the grandchildren. — This was the case with the Mahican-
ni or Mohicans, in the east, a people who by intermarriages had
become a detached body, mixing two languages together, and
forming out of the two a dialect of their own ; choosing to live
by themselves, they crossed the Hudson, and spread themselves
all over the country now 'composing the eastern States. New
tribes again sprung from them, who also assumed distinct names,
still, however, acknowledging the Delawares their grandfathers.
The Iroquois, settled along the river St. Lawrence, soon be
came neighbors of the Delawares, upon whom they began to look
with a jealous eye, being fearful of being dispossessed by them
of the lands which they occupied. To meet this evil in time,
they sought to embroil the Delawares in quarrels with distant
tribes, and with each other. As the different nations or tribes
have a particular mark on their war-clubs, different from each
other, the Iroquois having purposely committed a murder in the
Cherokee country, left a Delaware war-club near the dead body.
This stratagem took effect, and a bloody war soon took place be
tween the Cherokees and Delawares. The treachery of the Iro
quois was after a while discovered, and the Delawares determin
ed on taking exemplary revenge, by exterminating their deceitful
enemies. The Iroquois tribes, who had previous to this period lived in
a manner independent of each other, now saw the necessity of
coming under some general union for their common preservation.
This confederation, it is said, took place somewhere between the
15th and 16th centuries : the most bloody wars were afterwards
carried on for a great length of time, in which the Delawares say
they generally came off victorious. During this warfare, the
French landed in Canada, but the Iroquois, not willing they
should establish themselves in that country, made war upon them.
The Iroquois now finding themselves between two fires, and des
pairing of conquering the Delawares by force of arms, had re
course to a stratagem to secure a peace with them, in .order to
put forth their whole strength against the French.
The plan was deeply laid, and was calculated to deprive the
Delawares of their power and military fame by which they were
distinguished. In the language of the Indians, they were to be
come women. It must be undertood, that among these Indians,
102 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
wars are never brought to an end, but by the interference of the
weaker sex. The men, however tired of fighting, are fearful of
being thought cowards should they show a desire for peace. The
women on these occasions would by their moving speeches per
suade the enraged combatants to bury their hatchets and be at
peace with each other. They would lament with great feeling
the losses on each side ; they would describe the sorrows of wid
owed wives, and above allbereaved mothers. They would conjure
the warriors by every thing that was dear, to take pity on the suf
ferings of their wives and helpless children, lay aside their dead
ly weapons and smoke together the pipe of peace. Speeches
of this nature seldom failed of their intended effect, and the
women by becoming peacemakers were placed in a dignified sit
uation.. The artful Iroquois urged that it would not be a disgrace to
assume the part and the situation of the woman, but on the con
trary it would be an honor to a powerful nation, who could not
be suspected of wanting either strength or courage to assume
that station, by which they would be the means of preserving the
general peace, and save the Indian race from utter extirpation.
As men they had been dreaded, as women they would be res
pected and honored, and would have a right to interfere in the quar
rels of other nations and to stop the effusion of Indian blood.
They intreated them therefore to lay down their arms and to de
vote themselves to agriculture and other pacific employments.
By these representations the Delawares were induced to become
women. The Iroquois, notwithstanding their fair speeches, sought
to injure them by secretly embroiling distant tribes against them,
and in some cases joined the forces of their enemies in disguise.
This treachery when found out roused the Delawares, who resol
ved to destroy their perfidious enemies. This, they say, they
might easily have done, as they were numerous as grasshoppers
at particular seasons, and as destructive to their enemies as these
insects are to the fruits of the earth; while they described the
Iroquois as frogs in, a pond who make a great noise when all is
quiet, but at the mere rustling of a leaf plunge into the water and
are silent. But at this period the attention of the Indians was
now directed to other scenes. The whites were landing in great
numbers on their coast in the east and south. They were lost
in admiration at what they saw, and they consulted together on
what they should do. By these occurrences warfare among
themselves was suspended.
The following is the Indian account of the first arrival of the i\
Dutch, at New York island. This relation Mr. Heckewelder \
states was taken down from the mouth of an intelligent Delaware ]
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 103
Indian, and may be considered as a correct account of the tradition
existing among them of this momentous event.
" A great many years ago, when, men with a white skin had
never yet been seen in this land, some Indians who were out a
fishing at a place where the sea widens, espied at a great distance
something remarkably large floating on the water, and such as
they had never seen before. These Indians immediately return
ing to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they had
observed, and pressed them to go out with them and discover
what it might be. They hurried out together, and saw with as
tonishment the phenomenon, which now appeared to their sight,
but could not agree upon what it was; some believed it to be an
uncommonly large fish or animal, while others were of opinion
that it must be a very big house floating on the sea. At length the,
spectators concluded, that this wonderful object was moving to
wards the land, and that it must be an animal, or something else
that had life in it ; it would therefore be proper to inform all the
Indians on the inhabited islands, of what they had seen, and put
them on their guard. Accordingly they sent off a number of run
ners and watermen, to carry the news to their scattered chiefs,
that they might send off in every direction for the warriors, with
a message that they should come on immediately. These arri
ving in numbers, and having themselves viewed the strange
appearance, and observing that it was actually moving towards
the entrance of the river or bay, concluded it to be a remarkably
large house, in which the Mannitto, (the Great or Supreme Being)
himself was present; and that he was probably coming to visit
them. By this time the, chiefs were assembled at York Island,
and deliberating in what manner they should receive their Man
nitto on his arrival. Every measure was taken to be well pro
vided with plenty of meat for a sacrifice. The women were
desired to prepare the best victuals. All the idols or images were
examined and put in order, and a great dance was supposed not
only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Great Being, but it
was believed that with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute to
appease him if he was angry with them. The conjurors were
also set to work to determine what this phenomenon portended.
To these and to the chiefs and wise men of the nations, men,
women and children, were looking up for advice and protection.
Distracted between hope and fear, they were at a loss what to
do ; a dance however, commenced in great confusion. While in
this situation, fresh runners arrive, declaring it to be a large
house of various colors, and crowded with living creatures. It
appears now to be certain, that it is the great Mannitto, bringing
them some kind of game such as he had not given them before,
but other runners soon after arrive, declare that it is positively
104 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
a house full of human beings, of quite different color from the
Indians, and dressed differently from them; that in particular one
of them was dressed entirely in red, who must be the Mannitto.
They are hailed from the vessel in a language they do not under
stand, yet they shout or yell in return by way of answer, according
to the custom of the country ; many are for running off to the
woods, but are pressed by others to stay, in order not to give
offence to their visitor, who may find them out and destroy them.
The house (some say canoe), at last stops, and a canoe of a
smaller size comes on shore, with the red man and some others
in it. Some stay with his canoe to guard it. The chiefs and
wise men assembled in council, form themselves in a large circle
towards which the man in red clothes approaches, with two oth
ers. He salutes them with a friendly countenance, and they
return the salute after their manner. They are lost in admiration ;
the dress, the manners, the whole appearance of the unknown
strangers is to them a subject of wonder ; but they are particu
larly struck with him who wore the red coat, all glittering with
gold lace, which they could in no manner account for. He,
surely, must be the great Mannitto ; but why should he have a
white skin 1 Meanwhile a large Hachhack* is brought by one
of his servants, from which an unknown substance is poured into
a small glass or cup, and handed to the supposed Mannitto. He
drinks — has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief stand
ing next him. The chief receives it, but only smells the con
tents, and passes it to the next chief, who does the same. The
glass or cup thus passes through the circle, without being tasted
by any one, and is upon the point of being returned to the red
clothed Mannitto, when one of the Indians, a brave,man and a great
warrior, suddenly jumps up and harangues the assembly on the
impropriety of returning the cup with its contents. It was handed
to them, says he, by the Mannitto that they should drink of it, as he
himself had done. To follow his example would be pleasing to
him; but to return what he had given them might provoke his
wrath, and bring destruction upon them. And since the orator
believed it to be for the good of the nation, that the contents
offered them should be drunk, and as no one else would do it,
he would drink it himself, let the consequence be what it might ;
it was better for one man to die than that the whole nation should
be destroyed. He then took the glass, and bidding the assembly
a solemn farewell, at once drank up its contents. Every eye
was fixed on the resolute chief, to see what effect the unknown
liquor would produce. He soon began to stagger, and at last
fell prostrate on the ground. His companions now bemoan
* Hachhack is properly a gourd, but since they have seen glass bottles and
decanters, they call them by the same name.
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 105
his fate ; he falls into a sound sleep, and they think he has expired.
He wakes again, jumps up and declares that he has enjoyed
the most delicious sensations, and that he never before felt so
happy as after he had drunk that cup. He asks for more, his wish
is granted ; the whole assembly then imitate him, and all become
intoxicated. After this general intoxication had ceased, for they
say that while it lasted, the whites had confined themselves to
their vessel, the man with the red clothes returned again, and
distributed presents among them, consisting of beads, axes, hoes,
and stockings such as white people wear. They soon became
familiar with each other, and began to converse by signs. The
Dutch made them understand that they would not stay here, that
they would return home again, but would pay them another visit
next year, when they would bring them more presents, and stay
with them a while ; but as they could not live without eating,
tljey should want a little land of them to sow seeds, in order to
raise herbs and vegetables to put into their broth. They went
away as they had said, and returned in the following season, when
both parties were much rejoiced to see each other; but the whites
laughed at the Indians, seeing that they knew not the use of the
axes, and hoes, they had given them the year before ; for they
had these hanging to their breasts as ornaments, and the stock
ings they made use of as tobacco pouches. The whites now put
handles to the former for them, and cut down trees before thefr
eyes ; hoed up the ground, and put the stockings on their legs.
Here, they say, a general laughter ensued among the Indians,
that they had remained ignorant of the use of such valuable im
plements, and had borne the weight of such heavy metal hanging
to their necks for such a length of time. They took every white
man they saw to be an inferior Mannitto, attendant on the Supreme
Deity, who shone superior in the red and laced clothes. As the
whites became daily more familiar with the Indians, and at last
proposed to stay with them, and asked only for so much ground
for a garden spot, as they said the hide of a bullock would cover
or encompass; which hide was spread before them. The Indi
ans readily granted this apparently- reasonable request ; but the
whites then took a knife, and beginning at one end of the hide,
cut it up into a rope not thicker than a child's finger, so that by
the time the whole was cut up, it made a great heap ; they then
took the rope at one end and drew it gently along, carefully avoid
ing its breaking. It was drawn out in a circular form, and being
closed at its ends, encompassed a large piece of ground. The
Indians were surprised at the superior wit of the whites, but did
not wish to contend about a little land, as they had still enough
themselves. The white and red men lived contentedly together
for a long time, though the former from time to time asked for
106
ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
more land, which was readily obtained, and thus they gradually
proceeded higher up the Mahicanittuck, until the Indians began
to believe that they would soon want all their country, which in
the end proved true.
The Indians are fond of metaphorical expressions in their lan
guage : the following examples are given in Mr. Heckewelder's
work.
1 . " The sky is overcast with dark
blustering clouds."
We shall have troublesome
times ; we shall have war.
2. " A black cloud has arisen yon
der."
War is threatened from that
quarter or from that nation.
3. " Two black clouds are drawing
towards each other."
Two powerful enemies are in
march against each other.
4. " The path is already shut up."
Hostilities have commenced.
The war is begun.
5. " The rivers run with blood."
War rages in the country.
6. " To bury the hatchet."
To make, or conclude a peace.
7. " To lay down the hatchet, or
to slip the hatchet under the
bedstead."
To cease fighting for a "while,
during a truce ; or to place the
hatchet, so that it may be
taken up again at a moment's
warning.
8. " The hatchet you gave me to
strike your enemies, proved to
be very dull, or not to be
sharp."
You supplied me so scantily
with the articles I stood in
need of, that I wanted strength
to execute your orders. The
presents you gave me, were
not sufficient for the task you
imposed upon me, therefore I
did little.
9. " The hatchet you gave me was
very sharp."
As you have satisfied me, I have
done the same for you; I
have killed many of your
enemies.
10. " You did not make me strong."
You gave me nothing or but
little.
11. " Make me very strong."
Give me much, pay me well.
12. " The stronger you make me,
the more you will see."
The more you give me, the
more I will do for you.
13. "7 did as you bid me, but see
nothing."
I have performed my part, but
you have not rewarded me ;
or, I did my part but you have
not kept your word !
14. " You have spoken with your
lips only, not from the heart."
You endeavor to deceive me;
you do not intend to do as you
say!
15. " You now speak from the
heart !"
Now you mean what you say !
16. " You, keep me in the dark .'"
You wish to deceive me ! you
conceal your intentions from
me ! you keep me in igno
rance !
17. " You stopped my ears."
You kept the thing a secret from
me ; you did not wish me to
know it.
18. " Singing birds."
Tale bearers — story tellers-
liars.
19. " Don't listen to the singing of
the birds which fly by !"
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY.
107
Don't believe what stragglers
tell you.
20. " What bird was it that sung
that song?"
Who was it told that story ;
that lie ?
HI. (To a chief). "Have you
heard the news ?"
Have you been officially inform
ed.
22. " I have not heard any thing."
I have no official information.
23. " To kindle a council fire at
such a place."
To appoint a place where the
national business is to be
transacted ; to establish the
seat of government there.
24. " The council fire has been ex
tinguished."
Blood has been shed by an
enemy at the seat of govern
ment ; which has put the fire
out ; the place has been pol
luted.
25. " I have not room to spread my
blanket."
I am too much crowded upon.
26. " I will place you under my
(Meaning under my armpits).
I will protect you at all haz
ards ! You shall be perfectly
safe ; nobody shall molest
you!
27. " Suffer no grass to grow on
the war path''
Carry on the war with vigor.
28. " Never suffer grass to grow
on this war path .'"
Be at perpetual war with the na
tion this path leads to ; never
conclude a peace with them.
29. " To open a path from one na
tion to another, by removing
the logs, brush and briers out
of the way."
To invite the nation to which
this path leads, to a friendly
intercourse ; to prepare the
way to live on friendly terms
with them.
30. " The path to that nation is
again open."
We are again on friendly terms ;
the path may again be trav
eled with safety.
31. "7 wipe the tears from your
eyes, cleanse your ears; and
place your aching heart, which
bears you down to one side, in
its proper position."
I condole with you ; dispel all
sorrow ; prepare yourself for
business : (N. B. This is
said when condoling with a
nation on the death of a
chief).
32. " / have covered yon spot with
fresh earth: I have raked
leaves, and planted trees there
on" means literally.
" I have hidden the grave from
your eyes ;" and figuratively,
" you must now be cheerful
again."
33. "I am much too heavy to rise
at this present time."
I have too much property, (corn,
vegetables), &c.
34. " I will pass one night yet at
this place."
I will stay one year yet at this
place.
35. " We have concluded a peace
which is to last as long as the
sun shall shine, and the rivers
flow with water."
The peace we have made is
to continue as long as the
world stands, or to the end of
time.
36. " To bury the hatchet beneath
the root of a tree."
To put it quite out of sight.
37. " To bury deep in the earth."
(An injury done). To consign
it to oblivion.
108
ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
The following is a copy of an Indian Gazette taken by a French-
officer, from the American original, with an explanation. It
relates to a body of Indians, who, soon after the settlement of
this part of Americ^ took up the hatchet in favor of the French,
against a hostile tribe that adhered to the English. It was obtained
by Mr. Thomas about the year 1770, and a copy of it is inserted in
the 2d vol. of his " History of Printing."
g^ ^
4> 4>
4> 4>
1. Each of these figures represent the number ten— They all signify
that 18 times 10, or ISO American Indians took up the hatchet, or
declared war, in favor of the French which is represented by the
hatchet piaced over the arms of France.
2. They departed from Montreal — represented by the bird just taking wing, from
the top of a mountain. The moon, and the buck, show the time to naVe been in
the first quarter of the buck-moon, answering to July.
3. They went by water— signified by the canoe. The number of huts, such »
they raise to pass the night in, shows they were 21 days on their passage.
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY.
109
4. They came on shore, and traveled seven days by land — represented by the
foot and seven huts.
5. When they arrived near the habitations of their enemies at sunrise — shown by
the sun being to the eastward of them, beginning, as they think, its daily course ;
then they lay in wait three days — represented by the hand pointing and the three huts.
$ i> 4» frMf * * *
4> ^ ^pM£n£F"4> <>
6. After which, they surprised their enemies, in number 12 times 10, or 120—
The man asleep shows how they surprised them, and the hole in the top of the
building is supposed to signify, that they broke into some of their habitations in that
manner.
7. They killed with the club eleven of their enemies, and took five prisoners —
The former represented by the club and the eleven heads ; the latter by the figure
on the little pedestals. 10
110
ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C
T T
_£.
T_T
8. They lost nine of their own men in the action — represented by the nine heads
within the bow, which is the emblem of honor among the Americans ; but had none
taken prisoners — a circumstance they lay great weight on, shown by all the pedestals
being empty.
-*— >
->— > >—>
-> > > >
9. The heads of the arrows, pointing opposite ways, represent the battle.
> — >-.
ene'm ^^ ^^ °f ^ arr°WS "" Poin,inS the same way> signify the. flight of the
The following is a song of the Delawares which they use when
they go out to war, as translated by Mr. Heckewelder. They
sing it as here given, in short sentences, not always the whole at
a time, but generally in detached parts, as their feelings prompt
them. 1 heir accent is very pathetic, and the whole, in their lan
guage, produces considerable effect.
O poor me !
Whom am going out to fight the
enemy,
And know not whether I shall re
turn again
To enjoy the embraces of my
children
And my wife.
O poor creature !
Whose life is not in his own
hands,
Who has no power over his own
body,
But tries to do his duty
For the welfare of his nation. ,
O thou Great Spirit above !
Take pity on my children
And on my wife !
Prevent their mourning on my
account !
Grant that I may be successful in
this attempt,
That I may slay my enemy,
And bring home the trophies of
war.
To my dear family and friends,
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY.
Ill
That we may rejoice together.
O ! take pity on me !
Give me strength and courage to
meet my enemy
Suffer me to return again to my
children,
To my wife
And to my relations !
Take pity on me and preserve my
life
And I will make to thee a sacri
fice.
The following speech illustrative of Indian eloquence was
spoken by Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, to the British com
mandant at Detroit. The Delawares were on the side of the
French during the war in 1756 ; after the peace of 1763, they
were obliged to submit to the government of Great Britain.
During the Revolutionary War, Capt. Pipe was compelled rather
reluctantly to take up arms against the Americans. On his return
from an expedition, he was invited to the council house to give
an account of his past transactions to the British officers present.
He was seated in front of his Indians, and held in his left hand a
short stick, to which was fastened a scalp. After a pause of some
minutes he rose, and addressed the governor as follows.
" Father, [then he stooped a little, and, turning towards the aud
ience, with a countenance full of great expression, and a sarcastic look,
said, in a lower tone of voice], " I have said father, although, indeed,
I do not know why I am to call him so, having never known any other
father than the French, and considering the English only as brothers.
But as this name is also imposed upon us, I shall make use of it, and
say, [at the same time fixing his eyes upon the commandant], Father,
some time ago you put a war hatchet into my hands, saying, ' Take this
weapon and try it on the heads of my enemies, the Long-Knives, and let
me afterwards know if it was sharp and good.' Father, at the time when
you gave me this weapon, I had neither cause nor inclination to go to war
against a people who had done me no injury ; yet in obedience to you, who
say you are my father, and call me your child, I received the hatchet ;
wall knowing, that if I did not obey, you would withhold from me the
necessaries of life, without which I could not subsist, and which are not
elsewhere to be procured, but at the house of my father. You may
perhaps think me a fool, for risking my life at your bidding, in a cause
too, by which I have no prospect of gaining any thing; for it is your
cause and not mine. It is your concern to fight the Long-Knives; you
have raised a quarrel amongst yourselves, and you ought yourselves to
fight it out. You should not compel your children, the Indians, to expose
themselves to danger, for your sakes. Father, many lives have already
been lost on your account ! — Nations have suffered, and been weakened !
children have lost parents, brothers, and relatives ! — wives have lost hus
bands ! — It is not known how many more may perish before your war
will be at an end! — Father, I have said, that you may, perhaps, think
me a fool, for thus thoughtlessly rushing on your enemy ! — Do not
believe this, father ; Think not that I want sense to convince me, that
112 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C
although you now pretend to keep up a perpetual enmity to the Long-
Knives, you may before long conclude a peace with them. Father, you
say you love your children, the Indians. This you have often told them,
and indeed it is your interest to say so to them, that you may have them
at your service. But, father, who of us can believe that you can love a
people of a different color from your own, better than those who have a
white skin like yourselves 1 Father, pay attention to what I am going
to say. While you, father, are setting me [meaning the Indians in
general] on your enemy, much in the same manner as a hunter sets his
dog on the game ; while I am. in the act of rushing on that enemy of
yours, with the bloody destructive weapon you gave me, I may, perchance,
happen to look back to the place from whence you started me ; and what
shall I see ? Perhaps I may see my father shaking hands with the
Long-Knives ; yes, with these very people he now calls his enemies. 1
may then see him laugh at my folly for having obeyed his orders ; and
yet I am now risking my life at his command ! Father, keep what I
have said in remembrance. Now, father, here is what has been done with
the hatchet you gave me. [With these words he handed the stick to
the commandant, with the scalp upon it, above mentioned]. . I have
done with the hatchet what you ordered me to do, and found it sharp.
Nevertheless, I did not do all that I might have done. No, I did not.
My heart failed within me. I felt compassion for your enemy. In
nocence [helpless women and children] had no part in your quarrels ;
therefore I distinguished — I spared. I took some live flesh, which,
while I was bringing to you, I spied one of your large canoes, on which
I put it for you. In a few days you will recover this flesh, and find that
the skin is of the same color with your own. Father, I hope you will
not destroy what I have saved. You, father, have the means of pre
serving that which with me would perish for want. The warrior is poor,
and his cabin is always empty ; but your house, father, is always full."
Matrimony. — " An aged Indian, who for many years had spent much
time among the white people, observed that the Indians had not only
a much easier way of getting a wife than the whites, but also a more
certain way of getting a good one. ' For,' said he in broken English,
'white man court — court — may be one whole year! — may be two
years before he marry ! Well — may be then he get very good wife
— but may be not — maybe very cross ! Well, now suppose cross!
scold so soon as get awake in the morning ! scold all day ! — scold
until sleep ! — all one — he must keep him ! — White people have law
forbidding throw away wife he be every so cross — must keep him
always ! Well, how does Indian do ? Indian, when he see indus
trious squaw, he go him, place his two forefingers close aside each
other, make two like one— then look squaw in the face— she him
smile — this is all one he say yes ! — so he take him home— no danger
he be cross ! No, no — squaw know too well what Indian do if he
cross ! throw him away and take another ! — Squaw love to eat meat
—no husband no meat. Squaw do every thing to please husband, he
do every thing to please squaw — live happy.' "
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY.
113
Red Jacket, Sagoyewatha.
The above is a representation of the celebrated Seneca chief,
Red Jacket, copied from an original painting. His Indian name
was Sagoyeioatha, signifying it is said, " one who keeps awake."
jHe died in 1832 at his residence about four miles from Buffalo.
He was formerly considered of superior wisdom in council, and of
a noble and dignified behavior, which would have honored any
man. But like most of his race, he could not withstand the temp
tation of ardent spirits, and during the latter period of his life,
from this cause, and his opposition to the introduction of Chris
tianity among his tribe, his influence became quite limited.
The sagacity of the Indians in discovering traces of men and
animals, where white men would discover nothing is well known.
The following account given by Mr. Heckewelder will serve for
an illustration.
"In the beginning of the summer of the year 1755, a most
atrocious and shocking murder was unexpectedly committed by a
party of Indians, on fourteen white settlers within five miles of
Shamokin. The surviving whites in their rage determined to
take their revenge, by murdering a Delaware Indian, who hap
pened to be in those parts, and was far from thinking himself in
10*
114 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C
any danger. He was a great friend to the whites, was loved and
esteemed by them, and in testimony of their regard had received
from them the name of Duke Holland, by which he was generally
known. This Indian, satisfied that his nation was incapable of
committing such a foul murder, in a time of profound peace, told
the enraged settlers, that he was sure that the Delawares were not
in any manner concerned in it ; and that it was the act of some
wicked Mingoes or Iroquois, whose custom it was to involve
other nations in wars with each other, by clandestinely commit
ting murders, so that they might be laid to the charge of others
rather than themselves. But all his representations were vain;
he could not convince exasperated men, whose minds were fully
bent upon revenge. At last he offered that if they would give him
a party to accompany him, he would go with them in quest of the
murderers, and was sure he could discover them by the prints of
their feet and other marks well known to him, by which he would
convince them that the real perpetrators of the crime belonged to
the Six Nations. His proposal was accepted, he marched at
the head of a party of whites, and led them into the tracks.
They soon found themselves in the most rocky parts of a moun
tain, where not one of those who accompanied him, was able to
discover a single track, nor would they believe that man had ever
trodden upon this ground, as they had to jump over a number of
crevices between the rocks, and in some instances to crawl over
them. Now they began to believe that the Indian had led them
across these rugged mountains in order to give the enemy time to
escape, and threatened him with instant death the moment they
should be fully convinced of his fraud. The Indian, true to his
promise, would take pains to make them perceive that an enemy
had passed along through the places which he was leading them;
here he would show them that the moss on the rock had been
trodden by the weight of an human foot, there it had been torn or
dragged forward from its place ; further he would point out to
them that pebbles, or small stones on the rocks had been removed
from their beds, by the foot hitting against them ; that dry sticks
by being trodden upon were broken, and even that in a particular
place an Indian's blanket had dragged over the rocks, and re
moved or loosened the leaves lying there; all of which the
Indian could perceive, as he walked along without ever stopping.
At last arriving at the foot of the mountain on soft ground, where
the tracks were deep, he found out that the enemy were eight in
number, and from the freshness of the foot-prints, he concluded
that they must be encamped at no great distance. This proved to
be the exact truth, for, after gaining the eminence on the other
side of the valley, the Indians were seen encamped, some having
already laid down to sleep, while others were drawing off their
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 115
leggings for the same purpose, and the scalps they had taken
were hanging up to dry. "See!" said Duke Holland to his
astonished companions, " there is the enemy ! not of my nation
but Mingoes as I truly told you. They are in our power ; in
less than half an hour they will be all fast asleep. We need not
fire a gun, but go up and tomahawk them. We are nearly two
to one and need apprehend no danger. Come on, and you will
now have your full revenge !" But the whites overcome with
fear did not choose to follow the Indian's advice, and urged him
to take them back by the nearest and best way, which he did,
and when they arrived home late at night, they reported the num
ber of the Iroquois to have been so great, that they durst not
venture to attack them."
Tamany and St. Tammany, is a name which has often ap
peared in print. It is applied to an Indian chief or saint, who is
supposed to have been alive as late as the year 1680. Mr. Hecke-
welder, in his Historical Account, states that all that is known of
him is " that he was a Delaware chief, who never had his equal."
"It is said that when, about 1776, Colonel George Morgan, of
Princeton, New Jersey, visited the western Indians by direction of
congress, the Delawares conferred on him the name of Tamany,
" in honor and remembrance of their ancient chief, and as the
greatest mark of respect which they could show to that gentleman,
who they said had the same address, affability, and meekness, as
their honored chief."
" The fame of this great man extended even among the whites,
who fabricated numerous legends respecting him, which I never
heard, however, from the mouth of an Indian, and therefore believe
to be fabulous. In the revolutionary war, his enthusiastic ad
mirers dubbed him a saint, and he was established under the name
of St. Tammany, the patron saint of America. His name was
inserted in some calendars, and his festival celebrated on the first
day of May in every year. On that day a numerous society of
his votaries walked together in procession through the streets of
Philadelphia, their hats decorated with buck's tails, and proceeded
to a handsome rural place out of town, which they called the wig
wam ; where, after a long talk, or Indian speech had been deliv
ered, and the calumet of peace and friendship had been duly
smoked, they spent the day in festivity and mirth. After dinner,
Indian dances were performed on the green in front of the
wigwam, the calumet was again smoked, and the company sepa
rated." It was not until some years after the peace that these yearly
doings were broken up, which would doubtless have lasted longer
but for the misfortune of the owner of the ground where they were
held. Since that time, Philadelphia, New York, and perhaps
116 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C
other places, have had their Tamany societies, Tamany halls, &c.
In their meetings, these societies make but an odd figure in imi
tating the Indian manner of doing business, as well as in appro
priating their names upon one another.
Among the multitude of poems and odes to Tamany, the follow
ing is selected, to give the reader an idea of the acts said to have
been achieved by him : —
" Immortal Tamany, of Indian race,
Great in the field, and foremost in the
chase !
No puny saint was he with fasting pale ;
He climbed the mountain, and he swept
the valo,
Rushed through the torrent with unequal
led might ;
Your ancient saints would tremble at the
sight ;
Caught the swift boar, and swifter deer
with ease,
And worked a thousand miracles like these.
To public views he added private ends,
And loved his country most, and next his
friends ;
With courage long he strove to ward the
blow ;
(Courage we all respect, ev'n in a foe) ;
And when each effort he in vain had
tried,
Kindled the flame in which he bravely
died!
To Tamany let the full horn go round ;
His fame let every honest tongue re
sound ;
With him let every gen'rous patriot vie,
To live in freedom or with honor" die."
"Insanity is not common among the Indians; yet I have
known several who were afflicted with mental derangement
Men in this situation are always considered as objects of pity.
Every one young and old feels compassion for their misfortune ;
to laugh or scoff at them would be considered as a crime, much
more so to insult or molest them. The nation, or color of the
unfortunate object makes no difference ; the charity of the Indians
extends to all, and no distinction is made in such a lamentable
case. About the commencement of the Indian war, in 1763, a
trading Jew, named Chapman, who was going up the Detroit
river with a batteau load of goods, which he had brought from
Albany, was taken by some Indians of the Chippeway nation,
and destined to be put to death. A Frenchman impelled by
motives of friendship and humanity, found means to steal the
prisoner, and kept him so concealed for some time, that although
the most diligent search was made, the place of his confinement
could not be discovered. At last, however, the unfortunate was
betrayed by some false friend, and again fell into the power of the
Indians, who took him across the river to be burned and tortured.
Tied to the stake and the fire burning by his side, his thirst from
the great heat became intolerable, and he begged that some drink
might be given to him. It is a custom with the Indians previous
to a prisoner being put to death, to give him what they call his last
meal; a bowl of pottage or broth was given him for that purpose.
Eager to quench his thirst; he put the bowl immediately to his
lips, and the liquor being very hot he was dreadfully scalded. Be
ing a man of a very quick temper, the moment he felt his mouth
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 117
burned, he threw the bowl with its contents full in the face of the
man who had handed it to him. ' He is mad ! he is mad !' re
sounded from all quarters. The bystanders considered his con
duct as an act of insanity, and immediately untied the cords with
which he was bound, and let him go where he pleased."
" Shrewdness. — As Governor Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts
was superintending some of his workmen, he took notice of an
able-bodied Indian, who, half naked, would come and look on, as
a pastime, to see his men work. The governor took occasion one
day to ask him why he did not work, and get some clothes, where
with to cover himself. The Indian answered by asking him why
he did not work. The governor, pointing with his finger to his
head, said, ' I work head work, and so have no need to work with
jny hands as you should.' The Indian then said he would work
if any one would employ him. The governor told him he wanted
a calf killed, and that, if he would go and do it, he would give him
a shilling. He accepted the offer, and went immediately and
killed the calf, and tfien went sauntering about as before. The
governor, on observing what he had done, asked him why he did
not dress the calf before he left it. The Indian answered, ' No,
no, Coponoh ; that was. not in the bargain : I was to have a shil
ling for killing him. Am he no dead, Coponoh V (governor).
The governor, seeing himself thus outwitted, told him to dress it,
and he would give him another shilling.
This done, and in possession of two shillings, the Indian goes
directly to a grog-shop for rum. After a short stay, he returned
to the governor, and told him he had given him a bad shilling
piece, and presented a brass one to be exchanged. The governor,
thinking possibly it might have been the case, gave him another.
It was not long before he returned a second time with another
brass shilling to be exchanged ; the governor was now convinced
of his knavery, but, not caring to make words at the time, gave him
another ; and thus the fellow got four shillings for one.
The governor determined to have the rogue corrected for his
abuse, and, meeting with him soon after, told him he must take a
letter to Boston for him, (and gave him half a crown for the ser
vice). The letter was directed to the keeper of bridewell, order
ing him to give the bearer so many lashes ; but, mistrusting that
all was not exactly agreeable, and meeting a servant of the governor
on the road, ordered him, in the name of his master, to carry the
letter immediately, as he was in haste to return. The consequence
was, this servant got egregiously whipped. When the governor
learned what had taken place, he felt no little chagrin at being thus
twice outwitted by the Indian.
He did not see the fellow for sometime after this, but at length,
falling in with him, asked him by what means he had cheated and
118 ANECDOTES, TRADITIONS, &C.
deceived him so many times. Taking the governor again in his
own play, he answered, pointing with his finger to his head, ' Head
work, Coponoh, head work !' The governor was now so well
pleased that he forgave the whole offence."
Justice. — " A white trader sold a quantity of powder to an In
dian, and imposed upon him by making him believe it was a grain
which grew like wheat by sowing it upon the ground. He was
greatly elated by the prospect, not only of raising his own powder,
but of being able to supply others, and thereby becoming im
mensely rich. Having prepared his ground with great care, he
sowed his powder with the utmost exactness in the spring. Month
after month passed away, but his powder did not even sprout, and
winter came before he was satisfied that he had been deceived.
He said nothing ; but some time after, when the trader had forgot
ten the trick, the same Indian succeeded in getting credit of him
to a large amount. The time set for payment having expired, he
sought out the Indian at his residence, and demanded payment for
his goods. The Indian heard his demand with great complais
ance ; then, looking him shrewdly in the eye, said ' Me pay you
when my powder grow.' This was enough. The guilty white
man quickly retraced his steps, satisfied, we apprehend, to balance
his account with the chagrin he had received." — Drake's Book of
the Indians"
Characters contrasted. — " An Indian of the Kennebeck tribe,
remarkable for his good conduct, received a grant of land from the
state, and fixed himself in a new township where a number of
families were settled. Though not ill treated, yet the common
prejudice against Indians prevented any sympathy with him.
This was shown at the death of his only child, when none of the
people came near him. Shortly afterwards he went to some of the
inhabitants and said to them, ' When white man's child die, Indian
man he sorry — he help bury him, — When my child die, no one
speak to me — I make his grave alone. lean no live here.' He
gave up his farm, dug up the body of his child, and carried it
with him 200 miles through the forests, to join the Canada In
dians !"
Singular application of Scripture. — A certain clergyman On
a particular occasion, had for his text, the following words, " vow,
and pay unto the Lord thy vows." An Indian happened to be
present, who, when the sermon was finished, stepped up to the
preacher, and said to him, " Now me vow me go home with you,
Mr. Minister." The preacher taken somewhat by surprise, and
being at a loss how to oppose the Indian's determination, said,
"you must go then." When he had arrived at the home of the
minister, the Indian vowed again, saying, " Now me vow me have
supper." When this was finished, he said, " me vow me stay all
ILLUSTRATING INDIAN HISTORY. 119
night." The clergyman by this time, thinking himself sufficiently
taxed, replied, " It may be so, but / vow you shall go in the morn
ing." The Indian judging from the tone of his host, that more
vows would be useless, departed in the morning without cere
mony. Dreaming Match. — " Soon after Sir William Johnson entered
upon his duties as superintendent of Indian affairs in North
America, he received from England some richly embroidered suits
of clothes. Hendrick was present when they were received, and
could not help expressing a great desire for a share in them. He
went away very thoughtful, but returned not long after, and called
upon Sir William, and told him he had dreamed a dream. Sir
William very concernedly desired to know what it was. Hen
drick very readily told him he had dreamed that Sir William John
son had presented him with one of his new suits of uniform. Sir
William could not refuse it, and one of the elegant suits was forth
with presented to Hendrick, who went away to show his present
to his countrymen, and left Sir William to tell the joke to his
friends. Some time after, the general met Hendrick, and told
him he had dreamed a dream. Whether the sachem mistrusted
that he was now to be taken in his own net, or not, is not certain ;
but he seriously desired to know what it was, as Sir William had
done before. The general said he dreamed that Hendrick had
presented him with a certain tract of land, which he described,
(consisting of about 500 acres of the most valuable land in the
valley of the Mohawk River). Hendrick answered, ' it is yours ;'
but, shaking his head said, ' Sir William Johnson, I will never
dream with you again, you dream too hard for me.' "
It is stated that the Indian includes all savage beasts among the
number of his enemies, in a literal sense ; this will appear, from
the following anecdotes related by Mr. Heckewelder.
"A Delaware hunter once shot a huge bear, and broke its back
bone. The animal fell and set up a most plaintive cry, something
like that of a panther when he is hungry. The hunter, instead of
giving him another shot, stood up close to him and addressed him
in these words: 'Hark ye! bear; you are a coward and no
warrior as you pretend to be. Were you a warrior you would
show it by your firmness, and not cry and whimper like an old
woman. You know bear that our tribes are at war with each
other, and that yours was the aggressor.* You have found the
Indians too powerful for you, and you have gone sneaking about
in the woods, stealing their hogs ; perhaps at this time you have
?Probably alluding to a tradition which the Indians have, of a very ferocious kind
of bear, called the naked bear, which they say once existed, but was totally destroyed
by their ancestors. The last was killed in the New York state, at a place they
called Hoosick, which means the Basin or more properly, The Kettle.
120 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
hog's flesh in your belly. Had you conquered me, I would have
borne it with courage, and died like a brave warrior; but you, bear,
sit here and cry, and disgrace your tribe by your cowardly con
duct.' I was present at the delivery of this curious invective;
when the hunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how he
thought that poor animal could understand what he said to it?
'Oh!' said he in answer, 'the bear understood me very well;
did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was upbraid
ing him?' i
Another time I witnessed a similar scene between the falls of
the Ohio and the river Wabash. A young white man named
William Wells, who had been when a boy taken prisoner by a
tribe of the Wabash Indians, by whom he was brought up, and
had imbibed all their notions, had so wounded a large bear that
he could not move from the spot, and the animal cried piteously
like the one I have just mentioned. The young man went up to
him, and with seemingly great earnestness, addressed him in the
Wabash language, now and then giving him a slight stroke onthe
nose with his ramrod. I asked him when he had done, what he
had been saying to this bear. 'I have,' said he, 'upbraided
him for acting the part of a coward ; I told him that he knew the
fortune of war, that one or the other of us must have fallen ; that
it was his fate to be conquered, and he ought to die like a man,
like a hero, and not like an old woman ; that if the case had been
reversed, and I had fallen into the power of my enemy, I would
not have disgraced my nation, but would have died with firmness
and courage, as became a true warrior.' "
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &c.
Discovery of Hudson River by Henry Hudson.
Hudson, the discoverer of the Bay of New York and the riv
er called by his name, was at the time in the service of the cel
ebrated Dutch East India Company. A small ship called the
Half-Moon was equipped and intrusted to his command. He
left Amsterdam, April 4th, 1609, and once more encountered the
northern seas, having in two former voyages attempted a north
ern passage to India. His progress being again intercepted by
the ice, he determined upon the design of visiting America. He
arrived off the coast of Maine, and landed at or near the place
where Portland now stands on the 18th of July. After continu
ing for about six days, he proceeded southward. Hudson came
to Cape Cod about the 3d of August. From this place he pro-
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 121
ceeded southward as far as Virginia, and then turned to the
northward. On the 2d of September, he espied the Highlands
of Neversink, passed Sandy Hook on the 3d, and on the follow
ing day is said to have made his first landing on Long Island, op
posite Gravesend.
On the 6th of September, Hudson sent a boat manned with
six hands to explore what appeared to be the mouth of a river, at
about the distance of four leagues from the ship. This was the
strait between Long and Staten Island called the Narrows. In
exploring the bay and adjacent waters, the boat's crew spent the
whole day. On their return to the ship they were attacked by
the natives in two canoes, the one carrying 14, and the other 12
men. One of Hudson's men, John Colman, was killed by an
arrow, and two more wounded. Colman was buried on a point
of land which they named Colman's Point, probably the same
that is now called Sandy Hook. On the 12th he entered the riv
er called by his name. The following, relative to his voyage up
the river, is extracted from a Journal of his voyage in Purchas'
Pilgrim, 1625; which was kept by Robert Juet, the mate of the
ship, evidently with a good deal of care and accuracy.
" The twelfth, very faire and hot. In the afternoone at two of the
clocke wee weighed, the winde being variable, betweene the North
and the Northwest. So we turned into the Riuer two leagues and
Anchored. This morning at our first rode in the Riuer, there came
eight and twenty Canoes full of men, women and children to betray
vs : but we saw their intent, and suffered none of them to come
aboord of vs. At twelue of the clocke they departed. They brought
with them Oysters and Beanes, whereof wee bought Some. They
haue great Tabacco pipes of yellow Copper, and Pots of Earth to
dresse their meate in. It floweth South-east by South within.
The thirteenth, faire Weather, the wind Northerly. At seuen of
the clocke in the morning, as the floud came we Weighed, and turned
foure miles into the Riuer. The tide being done wee anchored.
Then there came foure Canoes aboofd : but We suffered none of them
to come into our ship. They brought great store of very good Oys
ters aboord, which We bought for trifles. In the night I Set the va
riation of the Compasse, and found it to be 13 degrees. In the after
noone we weighed, and turned in with the floude, two leagues and
a halfe further, and anchored all night, and had fiue fathoms soft Ozie
ground, and had an high point of Land, which shewed out to vs,
bearing North by East five leagues off vs.
The fourteenth, in the morning being very faire weather, the wind
South-east, we sayld vp the Riuer twelue leagues, and had fiue fath
oms, and fiue fathoms and a quarter^ lesse ; and came to a Streight
betweene two Points, and had eight, nine, and ten fathoms : and it
trended North-east by North, one league : and wee had twelue, thir-
teene and fourteene fathomes. The Riuer is a mile broad : there is
verv high Land on both sides. • Then wee went vp North-westj a
11
122 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
league and an halfe deepe water. Then North-east by North fine
miles ; then North-west by North two leagues, and anchored. The
Land grew very high and Mountainous. The Riuer is full of fish.
The fifteenth, in the morning was misty vntill the Sunne arose :
then it cleered. So wee weighed with the wind at South, and ran
vp into the Riuer twentie leagues, passing by high Mountaines. Wee
had a very good depth, as sixe, seuen, eight, nine, ten, twelue, and
thirteene fathoms, and great store of Salmons in the Riuer. This
morning our two Sauages got out of a Port and swam away. After
we were vnder sayle, they called to vs in scorne. At night we came
to other Mountaines, which lie from the Riuers side. There wee
found very louing people, and very old men : where wee were well
vsed. Our Boat went to fish, and caught great store of very good fish.
The sixteenth, faire and very hot weather. In the morning oui
Boat went againe to fishing, but could catch but few, by reason their
Canoes had beene there all night. This morning the people came
aboord, and brought vs eares of Indian Come, and Pompions, and
Tabacco : which wee bought for trifles. Wee rode still all day, and
'filled fresh water ; at night wee weighed and went two leagues higher,
and had shoald water : so wee anchored till day.
The seuenteenth, faire Sun-shining weather, and very hot. In the
morning as soone as the Sun was vp, we set sayle, and ran vp sixe
leagues higher, and found shoalds in the middle of the channell, and
small Hands, but seuen fathoms water on both sides. Toward night
we borowed so neere the shoare, that we grounded : so we layed
out our small anchor, and heaued off againe. Then we borrowed on
the banke in the channell, and came aground againe ; while the floud
ran we heaued off againe, and anchored all night.
The eighteenth, in the morning was faire weather, and we rode
still. In the after-noone our Master's Mate went on land with an old
Sauage, a Gouernor of the Countrey ; who carried him to his house,
and made him good cheere. The nineteenth, was faire and hot
weather : at the floud being neere eleuen of the clocke, wee weighed,
and ran higher vp two leagues aboue the Shoalds, and had no lesse
water than fiue fathoms : wee anchored, and rode in eight fathomes.
The people of the Countrie came flocking aboord, and brought vs
Grapes, and Pompions, which wee bought for trifles. And many
brought us Beuers skinnes, and Otters skinnes, which wee bought
for Beades, Kniues, and Hatchets. So we rode there all night.
The twentieth, in the morning was faire weather. Our Master's
Mate with foure men more went vp with our Boat to sound the Riuer,
and found two leagues aboue vs but two fathomes water, and the
channell very narrow ; and aboue that place seuen or eight fathomes.
Toward night they returned : and we rode still all night. The one
and twentieth, was faire weather, and the wind all Southerly : we
determined yet once more to go farther vp into the Riuer, to trie what
depth and breadth it did beare ; but much people resorted aboord, so
we went not this day. Our Carpenter went on land, and made a
Fore-yard. And our Master and his Mate determined to trie some
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 123
of the chiefe men of the Countrey, whether they had any treacherie
in them. So they tooke them downe into the Cabbin, and gave them
so much wine and Aqua vitrn, that they were all merrie : and one of
them had his wife with him, which sate so modestly, as any of our
Countrey women would doe in a strange place. In the end, one of
them was drunke, which h~d beene aboord of our ship all the time
that we had beene there : and that was strange to them ; for they
could not tell how to take it. The Canoes and folke went all on
shoare : but some of them came againe, and brought stropes of
Beades : some had six, seven, eight, nine, ten ; and gaue him. So
he slept all night quietly.
The two and twentieth, was faire weather : in the morning our
Master's Mate and foure more of the companie went vp with our
Boat to sound the Riuer higher vp. The people of the Countrey
came not aboord till noone : but when they came, and saw the Sau
ages well, they were glad. So at three of the clocke in the after-
noone they came aboord, and brought Tabacco, and more Beades,
and gaue them to our Master, and made an Oration, and shewed him
all the Countrey round about. Then they sent one of their compa
nie on land, who presently returned, and brought a great Platter full
of Venison, dressed by themselues ; and they caused him to eate
with them : then they made him reuerence, and departed all saue the
old man that lay aboord. This night at ten of the clocke, our Boate
returned in a showre of raine from sounding of the Riuer ; and found
it to bee at an end for shipping to goe in. For they had been vp
eight or nine leagues, and found but seuen foot water, and vnconstant
soundings. The three and twentieth, faire weather. At twelue of the clocke
wee weighed, and went downe two leagues to a shoald that had two
channels, one on the one side, and another on the other, and had lit
tle wind, whereby the tide layed vs vpon it. So, there wee sate on
ground the space of an houre till the floud came. Then wee had a
little gale of wind at the West. So wee got our ship into deepe wa
ter, and rode all night very well.
The foure and twentieth was faire weather : the winde at the North
west, wee weighed, and went downe the Riuer seuen or eight
leagues ; and at halfe ebbe we came on ground on a banke of Oze
in the middle of the Riuer, and sate there till the floud. Then wee
went on Land, and gathered good store of Chest-nuts. At ten of
the clocke wee came off into deepe water, and anchored."
It appears from this account that Hudson himself sailed a lit
tle above where the city of Hudson now stands. It is evident
that a boat with the mate and four hands went up as far as Alba
ny. On the passage down, Hudson's men frequently went on
shore, and had several friendly interviews with the natives. But
when the ship came below the highlands, the Indians appeared
to be of a different character, and were extremely troublesome ;
especially those who were on the western side of the river.
124 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
They attempted to rob the ship, and repeatedly shot at the crew,
with bows and arrows ; none of the ship's crew, however, ap
peared to have been injured. During these attacks, Hudson's
men fired upon the Indians and killed ten or twelve of their num
ber. The land on the eastern side of the river, near its mouth,
was called " Manna-hata." On Oct. 4th, (just one month from
the day on which he landed within Sandy Hook), Hudson came
out of the river which bears his name,* and without anchoring in
the bay, stood out to sea. He steered directly for Europe, and
on Nov. 7th, " arrived," as the writer of the journal expresses it,
"in the range of Dartmouth, in Devonshire."
The next year, 1610, Hudson undertook a fourth voyage in
quest of a northwest passage to India. He left England in
April, and reached the American coast early in the summer. He
soon discovered the great northern Bay which bears his name.
There, after an unwise delay, he was compelled to pass a dis
tressing and dangerous winter. In the spring, in addition to all
his other misfortunes, he found a spirit of dissatisfaction and
mutiny growing among his crew, and, at length, manifesting it
self in open violence. This proceeded so far, that on the twen
ty-second of June, 1611, a majority of the crew rose, took the
command of the ship, put Hudson, his son, and seven others,
most of whom were sick or lame, into a boat, turned them adrift
in the ocean, and abandoned them to their fate. They never
were heard of afterwards.
Dutch Settlements at New York and Albany.
" The States' General of the Netherlands, in the early part of
the year 1614, granted a patent to sundry merchants for an ex
clusive trade on Hudson's river. In the grant the country was
styled New Netherlands. The company the same year built a
fort and trading house on an island in the river, about half a mile
below where the city of Albany now stands. Henry Christiaens
was entrusted with the command. This seems to have been the
first establishment formed by the Dutch in the New Netherlands.
It was judiciously selected for defence against savages. The
island at present is called Dunn's island, and contains about sev
enty acres of land. It is near the west side of the river. It is
alluvial and very fertile, being mostly subject to annual inunda-
* Hudson did not give his own name to the river he discovered He styled it
emphatically, the " Great River," or the " Great River of the Mountains," proba
bly from the extraordinary circumstance of such a body of water flowing through
the mountains without a cataract. At an early period it was familiarly called Hud
son's river in some of the public documents of the Dutch Colonial crovernment,
but more frequently the North River, to distinguish it from the Delaware which he-
ing within the territory claimed by the Dutch, was called by them the South River
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 125
tions. The land was cleared and under cultivation. The Mo
hawks every year planted it with corn. On this island they had
a small village. Dunn's island now contains one house.
Towards the latter part of the same year, the company erected
another small fort and a trading house at the southerly end of
Manhattan island. The fort occupied a part of the battery, and
some of the grounds adjoining it on the north. To this estab
lishment they gave the name of New Amsterdam. Both were
inclosed with pallisadoes, and mounted with some small pieces
of cannon. The Mohawks, Mohiccons, &c. gave to the Dutch
a very friendly reception. They sold them furs and provisions,
and treated them like brethren. They imagined that the resi
dence of these strangers would be only temporary. Adrian Block,
in 1614, sailed from the fort and trading house at the south end
of Manhattan island, through the Sound to Cape Cod, and visit
ed the intermediate coasts and islands. He was the first Euro
pean who ever passed through Hell Gate.
In 1615 the company constructed a small fort at the mouth
of Norman's Kill, about a mile and a half southerly of the fort
on Dunn's island. The place where the city of Albany stands,
and the adjoining parts, the Mohawks called Schaunaughtada,
that is, a place beyond, on the other side, or over the plains.
The designation was, in respect to Ohnowalagantle, on the river
Mohawk or Canneogahakalononitade. At the time the Dutch ar
rived, several small bands of Mohawks resided on the west bank
of the Hudson, and on the islands in that stream. The eastern
bank of that river was occupied by the bands of the Maheakan-
neews. The river was the boundary between those hostile tribes.
Violent disputes then existed between the members living on its
banks in relation to the islands. The Hudson was called by the
Mohawks Cahohatatea, and by the Lenni Lenape, Mahackanegh-
tuck. To Schaunaughtada the Dutch first bestowed the appel
lation of Aurania, and then Beverwyck.
The company in 1618 built a redoubt at Kingston landing,
and established a post at Esopus, now Kingston, in the county of
Ulster. This place is on the south side of Esopus creek, and
two miles west of the landing. The banks of the Hudson be
low Catskill, and those of Walkill and Rundout rivers, and of
Esopus creek, were inhabited by bands of the Mohiccons and
Mohickanders, or Wabingas. The Mohiccons and Wabingas
belonged to the confederacy of the Lenni Lenape, and were kin
dred tribes.
Between the years 1616 and 1620, about twenty persons be
longing to the company went from the fort on Dunn's island, be
low Albany, to Ohnowalagantle, now Schenectady, where they
entered into a compact with the Mohawks, from whom they
11*
126 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
bought some land on which they erected a trading house. This
they surrounded with pickets and fortified. Then Ohnowalagan
tle was a considerable town, and contained several villages and
hamlets. The principal village stood within the bounds of the
present city. The rich and beautiful intervale lands on the Mo
hawk, around the city, were mostly cleared and cultivated. On
these the Mohawks grew corn, beans, and squashes, which in
part afforded them subsistence. According to tradition, the vil
lage of Ohnowalagantle occupied the site of Connughariegugha-
rie, the ancient capital of the Mohawks. The same tradition in
forms us that it was abandoned some ages anterior to the coloni
zation, and that Icanderago, at the mouth of Schoharie creek,
was selected for the new capital. We have no certain informa
tion in respect to the number of the Mohawks residing at Ohno
walagantle when the Dutch came to it. According to some ac
counts there were eight hundred fighting men, and according to
others, less. The same accounts inform us that three hundred
warriors lived upon the lands which have since been included in
one farm. Without attempting to reconcile these jarring accounts,
we may reasonably infer that the numbers were considerable.
The company in 1618 erected an establishment at Bergen,
in the state of New Jersey. The Wabingas called this place
Scheyichbi; and the flat country, south and southeast of the
mountains, comprising parts of the latter state and Pennsylvania,
Tulpahocking. The States' General of the Netherlands, in the year 1621,
made a grant of the whole country to the Dutch West India
company. In 1 623 this company formed two new establishments,
the one on the west side of Delaware bay, and the other on the
west side of Connecticut river, where the city of Hartford has
since been built. Forts and trading houses were erected at both
places. To the former they gave the name of Nassau, and to
the latter that of Good Hope. Johannes de la Montagne was
the first deputy governor at the last place. The same year they
built fort Orange on the west side of the Hudson, about half a
mile above Dunn's island. A village soon rose in its vicinity.
Fort Orange stood in the southeasterly quarter of the city of Al
bany." — Macauley's Hist. N. Y.
The following cut shows the principal buildings standing on the
present site of the city of New York in 1659. The following
description of New York at about that period, is copied from
" Ogilby's America," a large folio volume illustrated by engra
vings, published in London in 1671 . This work contains a view
of Novum Amsterodamum, (as it is called), similar to the engrav
ing from which the following cut is copied.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 127
Nieuw Amsterdam, in 1659.
[A, the fort. B, the church. C, the wind mill. D, the flag, which is hoisted
when vessels arrive in port. E, the prison. F, the house of the General. G,
the place of execution. H, the place of expose or pillory.]
" It is placed upon the neck of the island Manhattans looking
towards the Sea ; encompass'd with Hudson's River, which is six
Miles broad, the town is compact and oval, with very fair streets
and several good Houses ; the rest are built much after the manner
of Holland, to the number of about four hundred Houses, which in
those parts are held considerable : Upon one side of the Town is
James-Fort, capable to lodge three hundred souldiers and Officers ;
it hath four bastions, forty Pieces of Cannon mounted ; the Walls
of Stone, lined with a thick Rampart of Earth, well accommodated
with a spring of Fresh Water, always furnish'd with Arms and
Ammunition against Accidents: Distant from the Sea seven
Leagues, it affords a safe entrance, even to unskilful Pilots ; under
the Town side, ships of any burthen may ride secure against any
Storms ; the Current of the River being broken by the interposi
tion of a small Island, which lies a mile distant from the Town.
About ten Miles from New York is a place call'd Hell Gate,
which being a narrow passage, there runneth a violent Stream
both upon Flood and Ebb ; and in the middle lie some Rocky
Islands, which the Current sets so violently upon, that it threatens
present Shipwrack; and upon the Flood is a large Whirlwind,
which continually sends forth a hideous roaring ; enough to af
fright any Stranger from passing farther; and to wait for some
Charon to conduct him through ; yet to those who are acquainted
little or no danger : It is a place of great Defence against any
Enemy coming in that way, which a small Fortification would
absolutely prevent, and necessitate them to come in at the West
End of Long Island by Sandy Hook, where Statten Island forces
128 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
them within the Command of the Fort at New York, which is one
of the best Pieces of Defence in the North parts of America. It
is built most of Brick and Stone and cover'd with Red and Black
Tyle, and the Land being high, it gives at a distance a most
pleasing prospect to the Spectators. The inhabitants consist most
of English and Dutch, and have a considerable trade with Indians
for Beaver, Otter and Rackoon Skins with other Furrs ; as also
for Bear, Deer, and Elke-Skins ; and are supply'd with Venison
and Fowl in the winter, and Fish in the Summer by the Indians,
which they buy at an easie Rate; and having the Countrey
round about them, and are continually furnish'd with all such pro
visions as are needful for the Life Of Man, not onely by the Eng
lish and Dutch within their own, but likewise by the adjacent
Colonies. The Manhattans, or Great River being the chiefest, having
with two wide Mouths wash'd the mighty Island Watonwahs,
falls into the Ocean. The Southern Mouth is call'd Port May, or
Godyns Bay. In the middle thereof lies an Island call'd 'The
States Island ; and a little higher the Manhattans, so call'd from
the Natives which on the East side of the River dwell on the
Main Continent. They are a cruel people, and Enemies to the '
Hollanders, as also of the Sanhikans which reside on the West
ern Shore. Farther up are the Mackwaes and Mahikans which
continually War, one against another. In like manner all the
Inhabitants on the West Side of the River Manhattan, are com
monly at enmity with those that possess the Eastern Shore ; who
also us'dto be at variance with the Hollanders, when as the other
People at the Westward kept good correspondency with them.
On a small Island near the Shore of the Mackwaes, lay form
erly a Fort, provided with two Drakes and eleven Stone Guns,
yet was at last deserted."
" The settlement and fort continued to bear the name of Nieuw
Amsterdam, by the Dutch, down to the time of the surrender by
Governor Stuyvesant 'to the English, in 1664. Then for ten
years under the rule of Cols. Nicolls and Lovelace, acting for the
Duke of York, it was called New York; but in August, 1673,
a Dutch fleet, in time of war, re-captured it from the British, and
while exercising their rule for their High Mightinesses of Holland,
to the time of the peace in 1674, they called the place New-
Orange, in compliment to the Prince of Orange, and the fort they
called Willem Hendrick.
The city being restored to the British by the treaty, was rede
livered to the British in October, 1674. The fort then took the
name of Fort James, being built of quadrangular form, having
four bastions, two gates, and 42 cannon. The city again took the
name of New York, once and forever.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMNETS, &C.
129
Stadt Huys, {City Hall), New York, 1642.
[The above is a representation of the ancient "Stadt Huys" or
City Hall, which was built early in the Dutch dynasty, in 1 642.
It was built of stone at the head of Coenties Slip, facing Pearl
street. About the year 1700, it became. so weakened and
impaired, it was sold, and a new one erected by the head of
Broad street, which was afterwards the Congress Hall, on the
corner of Wall street.]
"The city was laid out in streets, some of them crooked enough,
in 1656. It then contained by enumeration ' 120 houses, with
extensive garden lots,' and 1000 inhabitants. In 1677 another
estimate of the city was made, and ascertained to contained 368
houses. In the year 1674, an assessment of ' the most wealthy
inhabitants' having been made, it was found that the sum total of
134 estates amounted to 95,000Z.
During the military rule of Governor Colve, who held the city
for one year under the above mentioned capture, for the States of
Holland, every thing partook of a military character, and the laws
still in preservation at Albany show the energy of a rigorous dis
cipline. Then the Dutch mayor, at the head of the city militia,
held his daily parades before the City Hall (Stadt Huys), then at
Coenties Slip ; and every evening at sunset, he received from the
principal guard of the fort, called the hoofd wagt, the keys of the
city, and thereupon proceeded with a guard of six to lock the city
gates ; then to place a Burger-wagt — a citizen-guard, as night-
watches at assigned places. The same mayors also went the
rounds at sunrise to open the gates, and to restore the keys to the
officer of the fort. All this was surely a toilsome service for the
domestic habits of the peaceful citizens of that day, and must
have presented an irksome honor to any mayor who loved his
comfort and repose.
It may amuse some of the present generation, so little used to
Dutch names, to learn some of the titles once so familiar in New
York, and now so little understood. Such as, — De Heer Officier,
130
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
or Hoofd- Schout — High Sheriff. De Fiscael, or Procureur Gen.
Attorney General. Wees-Meesters — Guardians of orphans. —
Roy-Meesters — Regulators of fences. Groot Burgerrecht and
Klein Burgerrecht — The great and small citizenship, which then
marked the two orders of society. Eyck-Meester— The Weigh
Master. The Schout, (the Sheriff) Bourgomasters and Schepens
— then ruled the city ' as in all the cities of the Fatherland.' Ge-
heim Schryver — Recorder — of secrets.*"
Dutch Fort and English Church.
In the year 1623, the Dutch may be said to have commenced
the regular settlement of Albany, by the construction at this place
of Fort Orange, and giving to the little village the name of Ait-
ranie — names given in honor of their Prince of Orange. The
place for a time bore the name of Beverwyck then Fort Orange
until 1647: then Williamstadt until 1664 ; when it received at
the British conquest the name of Albany. It was for a long period
the advanced post for the fur trade. Here was the proper market
for all the " Five Nations" or Iroquois, could gather from their
hunting grounds, and for more than a century was a great place
of resort for Indian visitors.
" The fort, a great building of stone was constructed on a high
steep hill at the west end of State-street, having around it a high
and thick wall, where they now have a state house and a fine
commanding view over the town below. The English church
was just below it, at the west end of a market ; and the original
old Dutch church, now down, of Gothic appearance, stood in the
middle of State street of the eastern end — of which the cut seen
on the opposite page is a representation.
* Watson's Sketches of Olden Times in N. Y.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
131
Ancient Dutch Church in Albany.
Professor Kalm, who visited Albany in 1749, has left us some
facts. All the people then understood Dutch. All the houses
stood gable-end to the street ; the ends were of brick and the side
walls of planks or logs ; the gutters on the roofs went out almost
to the middle of the street, greatly annoying travelers in their
discharge. At the stoopes (porches) the people spent much of
their time, especially on the shady side ; and in the evenings they
were filled with people of both sexes. The streets were dirty,
by reason of the cattle possessing their free use during the summer
nights. They had no knowledge of stoves, and their chimnies
were so wide that one could drive through them with a cart and
horses. Many people still made wampum to sell to the Indians
and traders. Dutch manners every where prevailed ; but their
dress in general was after the English form. They were regarded
as close in traffic ; were very frugal in their house economy and
diet. Their women were over-nice in cleanliness, scouring floors
and kitchen utensils several times a week ; rising very early and
going to sleep very late. Their servants were chiefly negroes.
Their breakfast was tea without milk, using sugar by putting a
small bit into the mouth. Their dinner was buttermilk and bread ;
and if to that they added sugar, it was deemed delicious. Some
times they had bread and nailk, and sometimes roasted or boiled
meats."
At the period of the first settlements in New- York and New-
England, there was some collision between the Dutch and English
authorities, originating in conflicting claims to the same territory.
The following correspondence between Governor Kieft of New-
Netherlands and Governor Eaton, and the commissioners of the
United Colonies, will serve to show the nature of these difficulties.
1-32 . DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
The letters here inserted, with many other of the like nature, are
to be found in the 2d vol. of Hazard's Historical Collections.
"The Commissioners of Connecticute complayned of seueral
insolencies and iniuries with an high hand lately committed and mayn-
tained by the Dutch agent, and some of his family to the Disturbance
of the peace there ; and a protest lately sent by the Dutch Governoure
against New Haven, with the answer returned were read. The
Protest was written in Latine,the contents in English was as followeth.
' We William Kieft general! Directori and the Senate of New-
Netherlands for the high and mighty Lords the States of the Vnited
Belgicke Provinces, for his Excellency the Prince of Orange, and for
the most noble Lords, the Administrators of the West India Company
to thee Theophilus Eaton Governoure of this place, by vs called the
Red Hills in New Netherland, but by the English called New Haven,
we give notice that some years past, yours (without any occasion
given by vs, and without any necessity imposed vpon them, but with
an unsatiable desire of possessing that which is ours, against our pro
testations, against the law of Nations, and the auncient leaguethe
Kings Majesty of greate Britaine, and our superiours) haue indirectly
entered the limitt of New Netherland, vsurped diuerse places in them,
and haue bene very injurious vnto vs, neither haue they given satis-
faccon though oft required : And because you and yours haue of late de
termined to fasten your foote neare Mauritius River in this Proviuce,
and there not onely to disturb our trade (of noe man hitherto ques
tioned) and to draw it to yourselues, but vtterly to destroy it, were
compeled againe to Protest, and by these presents doe protest against
you as against breakers of the peace, and disturbers of the publicke
quiet, That if you do not restore the places you haue vsurped, and re-
paire the losse we haue suffered, we shall by such meanes as God af-
foords, manfully recover them. Neither doe we thincke this crosseth
your publicke peace but shall cast the cause of the ensuinge euill
vpon you. Given in Amsterdam forte August 3, 1646, Newstile.
WILLIAM KIEFT.
The Answere was returned in Latine to the said protest the Con
tents as followeth.
To the Right Worshipfull WILLIAM KIEFT Gmernoure of the
Dutch in New Netherland.
SIR,
BY some of yours I haue receaued a Potest vnder your hand Dat.
Aug. 3. 1646 wherein you pretend we haue indirectly entered the
limits of New Netherland, vsurped diuerse places in them, and haue
offred you many injuries, Thus in generall, and in reference to some
yeare past, more particulerly that to the disturbance, nay to the vtter
destruction of your trade, we haue lately set foote neare Mauritius
Riuer in that province &c.
We doe truely professe we know noe such River, nor can con-
ceiue what Riuer you intend by that name vnlesse it be that which
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 133
the English haue longe and still doe call, Hudson's Riuer. Nor haue
we at any time formerly or lately entred vpon any place to which you
had, or haue any knowne title, nor in any other respect beene injurious
to you. It is true we haue lately vpon Pawgussett Riuer, which falls
into the sea in the midst of the English Plantations, built a small
house within our owne limits, many miles nay leagues from the Man-
hattoes from your tradinge house and from any porte of Hudson's
River, at which we expect little trade but can compell none, the
Indians beinge free to trade with you, vs, Connecticute, Mattachusetts,
or with any others : nor did we build there till we had first purchased
a due title from the true proprietors : what injuries and outrages in
our persons and estates at the Manhattoes in Delawar River &c. we
haue receiued from you, our former letters and protest doe both declare
and proue to all which you have hitherto given very vnsatisfyinge an-
sweres : But whatever our losses and sufferinge haue beene, we
conceiue we haue neither done, nor returned any thinge euen vnto
this day, but what doth agree with the law of God, the law of Nations,
and with that ancient confederation and amity betwixt our Superiours
at home, soe that we shall readily refer all questions and difference
betwixt you and vs euen from first to last to any due examination and
iudgement, either heere or in Europe and by these presents doe refer
them, being well assured that his Majesty our soueraigne Lord Charles
Kinge of great Britaine and the Parliament of England now assembled
will maintaine their owne right and our iust liberties against any who
by vnjust encroachment shall wronge them or theirs, and that your
owne Principalis vpon a due and mature consideration will also see
and approue the righteousnes of our proceedings. T. E.
New Haven in NewiEngland August 12th 1646. old stile.
The premisses being duly considered both in reference to Hartford
and New Hauen the Commissioners thought fitt to expresse their ap-
prehentions in writinge to the Dutch Gouernor in latine but the
Contents as followeth.
To the Right Worshipful WILLIAM KIEFT, Gouernor Sic.
SIR,
VPON a due consideration how peace (a choice blessinge) may be
continued, we are carefull to enquire and search into those differences
and offences soe long continued betwixt some of our confederates and
your selues : it is neare 3 yeares since the Governor of Mattachusets
by consent and advice Of the Counsell of that Colony, did particularly
propounde to your consideration sundry injurious and vnworthy pas
sages done by your Agent vpon the fresh Riuer, and some of his
family vpon our brethren at Hartford to all which you returned an
Ignoramus with an offensiue addicon which we leaue to a Review and
better consideration, what inquiry and order you after made and tooke
to suppresse such miscarriages for the future, we haue not heard, but
certainly your Agent, and his company are now growne to a strange
and vnsufferable bouldnes (we hope without commission) An Indian
12
134 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
Captiue liable to publicke punishment fled from her Master at Hartford,'
is entertayned in your house at Hartford, and though required by the
magistrate is vnder the hands of your Agent there denyed, and we
heare she is either marryed, or abused by one of your men : Such a
servant is parte of her master's estate, and a more considerable parte
then a beast, our children will not longebe secure if this be suffered :
your Agent himselfe in height of disorder and contempt of authority,
resists the watch at Hartford, drawes and breakes his rapier vpon their
weapons and by flight escapes, had he bene slaine in this proude af
front, his bloud had beene vpon his owne head : Lastly to passe by
other particulars, some of your horses being pownded for damage
done in the English Come, your Agent and 4 more made an assault,
and stroke him who legally sought justice, and in an hostile way tooke
away his teame and laden.
We have also seene a Protest of yours Dat. Aug. 3. 1 646 New stile,
against our Confederates of New Haven with their Answer Dat. Aug.
12th, and deliuered to Ieiftenant Baxtey your messenger : vpon our
most serious consideration of the contents tbgeither with their title
heere held forth, we conceiue their Answere fayre and just ; and
hope it will cleare their proceedings, and giue you full satisfaction,
yet to prevent all inconveniences which may grow by any part of the
premises, we haue sent this bearer, by whome we desire such a returne
as may testify your concurrence with vs to embrace and pursue right-
eousnes and peace.
Vpon information that the Dutch Governor in a letter to the Gov
ernor of the Mattachusets chargeth Mr. Whitinge, one of the Mag
istrates of Connecticut that at the Manhattoes he should say The
English were fobles to suffer the Dutch to liue there, Mr. Whitinge
vpon other occasions beinge nbwe at New Haven the Commissioners
enquired of him what had passed betwixt him and the Dutch Gov
ernoure or him and others at the Manhattoes, end therevpon in English
wrote another letter to the Dutch Governoure as followeth :
SIR,
SINCE your former dated the fifth of this present we haue spoken
with Mr. Whitinge concerninge words you chardge him with in your
letter to the Governoure of the Mattachusets, he professeth he neithei
remembereth nor knoweth any such words spoken by him, and we
could wish that all such provokinge and threatninge language might
be forborne on both parts, as contrary to that peace and neighbourely
correspondency which we desire sincerely to preserue betwixt the 2
nations. Mr. Whitinge complaines of a sentence lately passed against
him in his absence at the Manatoes, when he had noe agent there to
pleade to his cause, or to giue in his evidence, and that demandinge
a justdebt long since due from some of yours, he receiued neither
that help of justice from your selfe nor soe fair an answere as the
cause required and he expected, we are assured you will both orante
him a review in the former and free passage for recoveringe debts as
all the Colonies will readily doe to any of yours in our Courts, yf in
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 135
your answere to our former you will please to a'dde a word or two
concerning the premises, it may settle a right understandinge betwixt
vs, we rest yours, &c.
September lih. 1646. old stiyle.
Both those letters were sent by Leiftenant Godfrey a messenger to
the Dutch Governoure the same day.
September 15th leiftenant Godfrey returned Manattchoes and
brought 2 letters from the dutch Governoure, the one in latine, the
other in English, the latine translated hath these contents.
To the most noble and worthy Commissioners of the federated English
met together at the Red Mounte, or Newhaven in New Netherlands,
Wm. Keift Director and the Senate of New Netherland doe send many
salutations.YOURS dated the 5th September, old style, we receaued the 21.
new style, by your messenger to which we thincke sufficient to giue
this short answere.
That the Inhabitants of Hartford haue decerned you with false ac
cusations as were easy to be euidenced by us if it were now season
able to produce our allegations which we can proue to be true by di
uerse attestations as well of your owne Country men, as ours, togeither
with other authenticke writinge, but that we may not seeme to be
willing to evade you with vaine words, we shall at this time present
you a few particulars, out of soe greate an heap, as by the claw you
may iudge of the talants of the lyon, and therefore passinge by their
vsurpinge of our jurisdiccon, and of our proper grounde against pos
session solemnly taken by us, and our protestacons formerly made,
we doe. say, that the bloud of our Country men wrongfully shed by
the inhabitants of Hartford, and the sellinge of our domesticke beasts
by them, doe sufficiently testify the equity of their proceedings and
therefore your prejudgement supported by this Oath Creto Coxtius, as
if you should say Amen, Amen, seemes wonderful to vs, and done
contrary to the modesty requisite in such an Assemblie, who should
allwaies keepe one eare for the other party.
Soe far as concernes the Barbarian handmaide although it be ap
prehended by some that she is no slaue but a free woman, because
she was neither taken in war nor bought with price, but was in former
time placed with me by her parents for education, yet we will not
suffer her to be wrongfully detayned, but wither he shall pay the
damadge to her Mr. or she shal be, restored to him we will not suffer
him that desires her for his wife to marry her, vntill she be lawfully
baptised. Concerning the breaking in of our Agent vpon the watch
at Hartford we truly conceiue that watches are appointed for the de
fence of townes against, the violence of enemies, and not for the hind-
eringe of friends returne to their owne houses, and therefore least
mischeifes happen, it were good to committ such a trust to skillfull
men, and not to ignorant boyes who when they once finde themselues
loaden with armes, thinke they may alsoe lawfully cry out etiam nos
poma natamus.
136 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
Certainely when we heare the Inhabitants of Hartford complayninge
of vs, we seeme to heare Esops wolfe complayninge of the lamb, or
the admonition of the younge man who cryed out to his mother
chideinge with her neighboures, oh mother revile her, least she first
take vp that practise against you : But being taught by precedent pas
sages we received such an answer to our Protest from the inhabitants
of Newhaven as we expected, the Eagle allwaies despiseth the Beetle
fly, yet notwithstandinge we doe vndauntedly continue in our purpose
of pursueinge our owne right by just armes and righteous meanes,
and do hope without scruple to execute the expresse commands of
our superiours.
To conclude we protest against all you Commissioners mett at the
Red Mounte as against breakers of the common league, and alsoe in
fringers of the speciall right of the Lords, the States our superiours,
in that ye have dared without expresse Commission to hould your
generall meetinge within the limits of New Netherlande, these things
are spoken from the Duty of our place, in other respects we are yours.
WILLIAM KEIFT,
By commande of the Lord
Director and Senate,
CORNE: TMHAVEIUS.
Amsterdam fort in New Netherland
the 22. Sept. 1646.
The following is an extract from the letter wrote in English.
" Whereas likewise you mention Mr. Whitinge's complaint concern
ing a sentence of Corte passed here against him in his absence and
without any Attorney to pleade for him, I cannot but apprehend it as
a greate injury to myselfe in particular, but chiefly to you gentlemen
that he should soe misinforme you, for in the first place he left Mr.
Dolling, for his Agent, who pleaded his cause for him, and what pro
cess was then and there awarded with the reasons and grounds in-
ducinge vs., if he had produced the Copy of the Sentence of Corte
vnder our Secretary's hand, I suppose you would haue beene very
well satisfyed. Yet if he can further cleare the said cause by better
Evidence I shall willingly graunte a review, and doe that which is just
according to that light God giues me. Concerninge debts due to him
from any here, I shall according to( justice and the law of our country
doe him right."
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
FIRST SETTLEMENT
137
Seal of Massachusetts.
IN
MASSACHUSETTS.
The first settlement in the
present limits of Massachu
setts was at Plymouth. The
following account of the first
settlements in the Colony of
" Massachusetts Bay" is ex
tracted from the " Magnolia"
written by Dr. Cotton Mather,
a clergyman of Boston. The
first edition of this work was
published in London in 1702,
in a folio volume of 788pages.
" Several persons in the west
of England, having by fishing
voyages to Cape Ann, The
nothern promontory of the Mas-
sachusets Bay, obtained some acquaintance with those parts ; the
news of the good progress made in the new plantation of Plymouth,
inspired the renowned Mr. White, minister of Dorchester, to prose
cute the settlement of such another plantation here for the propa
gation of religion. This good man engaged several gentlemen about
the year 1624, in this noble design ; and they employed a most re
ligious, prudent, worthy gentleman, one Mr. Roger Conant, in the
government of the place, and of their affairs upon the place ; but
through many discouragements, the design for a while almost fell unto
the ground. That great man greatly grieved hereat, wrote over to
this Mr. Roger Conant, that if he and three honest men more would
yet stay upon the spot, he would procure a patent for them, and send
them over friends, goods, provisions, and what was necessary to assist
their undertakings. Mr. Conant, then looking out a situation more
commodious for a town, gave his three disheartened companions to
understand, that he did believe God would make this land a recep
tacle for this people ; and that if they should leave him, yet he would
not stir ; for he was confident he should not long want company ;
which confidence of his caused them to abandon the thoughts of
leaving him. Well, it was not long before the Council of Plymouth
in England, had by a deed bearing date, March 19, 1627, sold unto
some knights and gentlemen about Dorchester, viz. Sir Henry Rowsel,
Sir John Young, Thomas Southcott, John Humphrey, John Endicott,
and Simon Whetcomb, and their heirs and assigns, and their asso
ciates for ever, that part of New England which lyes between a great
river called Merimack, and a certain other river there called Charles'
12*
138 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
River, in the bottom of the Massachuset Bay. But shortly after this,
Mr. White brought the aforesaid honourable persons into an ac
quaintance with several other persons of quality about London ; as,
namely Sir Richard Saltonstall, Isaac Johnson, Samuel Adderly, John
Ven, Matthew Cradock, George Harwood, Increase Nowel, Richard
Perry, Richard Bellingham, N athaniel Wright, Samuel Vassal, The?
ophilus Eaton, Thomas Goff, Thomas Adams, John Brown, Samuel
Brown, Thomas Hutchings, William Vassal, William Pinchon, and
George Foxcraft. These persons being associated unto the former,
and having bought of them all their interest in New England aforesaid,
now consulted about settling a plantation in that country, whither
such as were then called Non-conformists, might with the grace and
leave of the King make a peaceable secession, and enjoy the liberty
and the exercise of their own perswasions, about the worship of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whereupon petitioning the King to confirm what
they had thus purchased with a new patent, he granted them one,
bearing date from the year 1628, which gave them a right unto the
soil, holding their titles of lands, as of the manner of East Greenwich
in Kent, and in common soccage. By this Charter they were em-,
powered yearly to elect their own governour, deputy-governour and
magistrates ; as also to make such laws as they should think suitable
for the plantation : but as an acknowledgment of their dependance
upon England, they might not make any laws repugnant unto those of
the kingdom ; and the fifth part of all the oar of gold or silver found
in the territory, belonged unto the crown. So, soon after Mr. Cradock
being by the company chosen governour, they sent over Mr. Endicott
in the year 1628, to carry on the plantation, which the Dorchester
agents had lookt out for them, which was at a place called Nahumkeick.
The report of the charter granted unto the governour and company
of the Massachuset Bay, and the entertainment and encouragement,
which planters began to find in that Bay, came with a, — Patrias age,
desere Sedes, and caused many very deserving persons to transplant
themselves and their families into New England. Gentlemen of
ancient and worshipful families, and ministers of the gospel, then of
great fame at home, and merchants, husbandmen, artificers to the
number of some thousands, did for twelve years together carry on
this transplantation. It was indeed a banishment rather than a re
moval, which was undergone by this glorious generation, and you
may be sure sufficiently afflictive to men of estate, breeding and con
versation. As the hazard which they ran in this undertaking was of
such extraordinariness, that nothing less than a strange and strong im
pression from Heaven could have thereunto moved the hearts of such
as were in it ; so the expense with which they carried on the under
taking was truly extraordinary. By computation, the passage of the
persons that peopled New England, cost at least ninety-five thousand
pounds : the transportation of their first small stock of cattle great
and small, cost no less than twelve thousand pound, beside the price of
the cattle themselves : the provisions laid in for subsistence, till tillage
might produce more, cost fourty-five thousand pounds ; the materials for
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 139
their first cottages cost eighteen thousand pounds ; their arms ammu
nition and great artillery, cost twenty-two thousand pounds •; besides
which hundred and ninety-two thousand pounds, the adventurers laid
out in England, what was not inconsiderable. About and hundred and
ninety-eight ships were employed in passing the perils of the seas, in the
accomplishment of this renowned settlement ; whereof, by the way,
but one miscarried in those perils.
The Governour and Company of the Massachuset Bay then in
London, did in the year 1629, after exact and mature debates, conclude,
that it was most convenient for the government, with the charter of
the plantation, to be transferred into the plantation itself; and an order
of court being drawn up for that end, there was then chosen a new
governour, and a new deputy-governour, that were willing to remove
themselves with their families thither on the first occasion. The gov
ernour was John Winthrop, Esq ; a gentleman of that wisdom and
virtue, and those manifold accomplishments, that after generations
must reckon him no less a glory, than he was a patriot of the country.
The deputy-governour was Thomas Dudley, Esq ; a gentleman, whose
natural and acquired abilities, joined with his excellent moral qualities,
entitled him to all the great respects with which his country on all
opportunities treated him. Several most worthy assistants were at
the same time chosen to be in this transportation ; moreover, several
other gentlemen of prime note, and several famous ministers of the
gospel, now likewise embarked themselves with these honourable ad
venturers : who equipped a fleet, consisting of ten or eleven ships,
whereof the admiral was, The Arabella (so called in honour of the
right honourable the lady Arabella Johnson, at this time on board) a
ship of three hundred and fifty tuns ; and in some of the said ships
there were two hundred passengers ; all of which arrived before the
middle of July, in the year 1630, safe in the harbours of New England.
There was a time when the British sea was by Clements, and the
other ancients, called the unpassable ocean. What then was to be
thought of the vast Atlantick sea, on the westward of Britain 1 but
this ocean must now be passed ! An heart of stone must have dis
solved into tears at the affectionate farewel which the governour and
other emient persons took of their friends, at a feast which the gov
ernour made for them, a little before their going off ; however they were
acted by principles that could carry them through tears and oceans ;
yea, through oceans of tears ; principles that enabled them to leave.
Being happily arrived at New England, our new planters found the
difficulties of a rough and hard wilderness presently assaulting them :
of which the worst was the sickliness which many of them had con
tracted by their other difficulties. Of those who soon dyed after
their first arrival, not the least considerable was the lady Arabella,
who left an earthly paradise in the family of an Earldom, to encounter
the sorrows of a wilderness, for the entainments of a pure worship in
the house of God ; and then immediately left that wilderness for the
Heavenly paradise, whereto the compassionate Jesus, of whom she
was a follower, called her. We have read concerning a noble woman
140 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
of Bohemia, who forsook her friends, her plate, her house and all ,
and because the gates of the city were guarded, crept through the
common sewer, that she might enjoy the institutions of our Lord at
another place where they might be had. The spirit which a'cted that
noble woman, we may suppose carried this blessed lady thus to
and through the hardships of an American desart. But as for her
virtuous husband, Isaac Johnson, Esq ;
-He try'd
To live without her, lik'd it not, and dy'd.
His mourning for the death of his honorable consort was too bitter to
be extended a year ; about a month after her death his ensued, unto
the extream loss of the whole plantation. But at the end of this
perfect and upright man, there was not only peace but joy ; and
his joy particularly expressed itself that God had kept his eyes open
so long as to see one church of the Lord Jesus Christ gathered in
these ends of the earth, before his own going away to Heaven. The
mortality thus threatning of this new Plantation so enlivened the de
votions of this good people, that they set themselves by fasting and
prayer to obtain from God the removal of it ; and their brethren at
Plymouth also attended the like duties on their behalf ; the issue
whereof was, that in a little time they not only had health restored,
but they likewise enjoyed the special directions and assistance
of God in the further prosecution of their undertakings.
But there were two terrible distresses more, besides that of sickness,
whereto this people were exposed in the beginning of their settle
ment : though a most seasonable and almost unexpected mercy from
Heaven still rescued them out of those distresses. One thing that
sometimes extreamly exercised them, was a scarcity of provisions ;
in which 'twas wonderful to see their dependance upon God, and
God's mindfulness of them. When the parching droughts of the
summer divers times threatened them with an utter and a total con
sumption of the fruits of the earth, it was their manner, with heart
melting and I may say, Heaven melting devotions, to fast and pray
before God ; and on the very days, when they poured out the water
of their tears before him, he would shower down the water of his rain
upon their fields ; while they were yet speaking he would hear them ; in
somuch that the salvages themselves wbuld on that occasion admire
the Englishman's God ! But the Englishmen themselves would cel
ebrate their days of Thanksgiving to him. When their stock was
likewise wasted so far, which divers times it was, that they were
come to the last meal in the barrel, just then, unlooked for, arrived
several ships from other parts of the world loaden with supplies ;
among which, one was by the lord deputy of Ireland sent hither,
although he did not know the necessities of the country, to which he
sent her ; and if he had known them, would have been thought as
unlikely as any man living to have helpt them : in these extremities,
'twas marvellous to see how helpful these good people were to one
another, following the example of their most liberal governour
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 141
Winthrop, who made an equal distribution of what he had in his own
Stores among the poor, taking no thought for to-morrow ! And how
content they were ; when an honest man, as I have heard, inviting
his friends to a dish of clams, at the table gave thanks to Heaven, who
had given them to suck the abundance of tlie seas, and of the treasures
hid in the sands !
Another thing that gave them no little exercise, was the fear of tie
Indians, by whom they were sometimes alarmed. But this fear was
wonderfully prevented, not only by intestine wars happening then to
fall out among those barbarians, but chiefly by the small-pox, which
proved a great plague unto them, and particularly to one of the Princes
in the Massachuset Bay, who yet seemed hopefully to be christianized
before he dyed. This distemper getting in, I know not how, among
them, swept them away with a most prodigious desolation, insomuch
that although the English gave them all the assistances of humanity
in their calamities, yet there was, it may be, not one in ten among
them left alive ; of those few that lived, many also fled from the
infection, leaving the country a meer Golgotha of unburied carcases ;
attd as for the rest, the English treated them with all the civility im
aginable ; among the instances of which civility, let this be reckoned
ifor one, that notwithstanding the patent which they had for the
•country, they fairly purchased of the natives the several tracts of land
which they afterwards possessed.
The people in the fleet that arrived at New England, in the year
1630, left the fleet almost, as the family of Noah did the ark, having
a whole world before them to be peopled. Salem was already
supplied with a competent number of inhabitants ; and therefore the
governour, with most of the gentlemen that accompanied him in his
voyage, took their first opportunity to prosecute further settlements
about the bottom of the Massachuset Bay: but Where ever they sat
down, they were so mindful of their errand into the wilderness, that
still one of their first works was to gather a church into the covenant
and order of the gospel. First, there was a church thus gathered at
Charlestown, on the north side of Charles' river; where keeping a
solemn fast on August 27, 1630, to implore the conduct and blessing
of Heaven on their ecclesiastical proceedings, they chose Mr. Wilson,
a most holy and zealous man, formerly a minister of Sudbury, in the
county of Suffolk, to be their teacher ; and although he now submitted
unto an ordination, with an imposition of such hands as were by the
church invited so to pronounce the benediction of Heaven upon him ;
yet it was done with a protestation by all, that it should be only as a
sign of his election to the charge of his new flock, without any in
tention that he should thereby renounce the ministry he had received
in England. After the gathering of the church at Charlestown, there
quickly followed another at the town of Dorchester.
And after Dorchester there followed another at the town of Boston,
which issued out of Charlestown ; one Mr. James took the care of
the Church at Charlestown, and Mr. Wilson went over to Boston,
where they that formerly belonged unto Charlestown, with universal
142 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
approbation became a distinct, church of themselves. To Boston
soon succeeded a church at Roxbury; to Roxbury, one at Lynn ; to Lynn
one at Watertown ; so that in one or two years' time there were to be
seen seven churches in this neighbourhood, all of them attendingtq what
the spirit in the scripture said unto them ; all of them golden candlesticks,
illustrated with a very sensible presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
•it was for a matter of twelve years together, that persons of all
ranks, well affected unto church reformation, kept sometimes dropping,
and sometimes flocking into New England, though some that were
coming into New England were not suffered so to do. The perse
cutors of those Puritans, as they were called, who were now retiring
into that cold country from the heat of that persecution, did all that
was possible to hinder as many as was possible from enjoying of that
retirement. There were many countermands given to the passage of
people that were now steering of this western course ; and there was
a sort of uproar made among no small part of the nation, that this
people should not be let go. Among those bound for New England,
that were so stopt, there were especially three famous persons, whom
I suppose their adversaries would not have so studiously detained at
home, if they had foreseen events ; those were Oliver Cromwell, and
Mr. Hambden, and .Sir Arthur Haslerig : nevertheless, this is not the,
only instance of persecuting church-mens not having the spirit of
prophecy. But many others were diverted from an intended voyage
hither by the pure providence of God,, which had provided other im
provements for them ; and of this take one instance instead of many.
Before the woful wars which broke forth in the three kingdoms, there
were divers gentlemen in, Scotland, who being uneasie under the
ecclesiastical burdens of the times, wrote unto New England theif
enquiries, whether they might be there suffered freely to exercise
their Presbyterian church government ? And it was freely answered,
That they might. Hereupon they sent over an agent, who pitched
upon a tract of land near the mouth of Merimack river, whither they
intended then to transplant themselves : but although they had so far
proceeded in their voyage, as to be half-seas thorough ; the, manifold
crosses they met withal, made them give over their intentions ; and
the providence of God so ordered it, that some of those very gen
tlemen were, afterwards the revivers of that well known solemn league
and covenant, which had so great an influence upon the following cir
cumstances of the nations. However, the number of those who did
actually arrive at New England before the year 1640, have been com
puted about four thousand ; since which time far more have gone out
of the country than have come to it ; and yet the God of Heaven so
smiled upon the Plantation, while under an easie and equal gov
ernment, the design of Christianity in well formed churches have
been carried on, that no history can parallel it. That saying of Eu-
tropius about Rome, which hath been sometimes applied °unto the
church, is capable of some application to this little part of the church :
- Nee Minor ab Exordio, nee major Incrementis ulla. Never was any
plantation brought unto, such a considerableness, in a space of time
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
143
so inconsiderable ! An howling wilderness in a few years became a
pleasant land, accommodated with the necessaries, yea and the con
veniences of human life ; the gospel has carried with it a fullness of
all other blessings ; and (albeit, that mankind generally, as far as we
have any means of inquiry, have increased, in one and the same given
proportion, and so no more than doubled themselves in about three
hundred and sixty years, in all the past ages of the world, since the
fixing of the present period of human life) the four thousand first
planters, in less than fifty years, notwithstanding all transportations
and mortalities, increased into, they say, more than an hundred thousand.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN
CONNECTICUT.
In 1 634, such numbers were
constantly emigrating to New
England, in consequence of
the persecution of the puri
tans, that the people of Dor
chester, Watertown and New
town began to be much strait
ened, by the accession of new
planters. By those who had
been at Connecticut, they had
received intelligence of the
excellent meadows upon the
river, they therefore deter
mined to remove, and once
more brave the dangers and
hardships of making settle
ments in a dreary wilderness.
Upon application to the general court for the enlargement of
their boundaries, or for liberty to remove, they at first obtained
consent for the latter. However, when it was afterwards dis
covered, that their determination was to plant a new colony at
Connecticut, there arose a strong opposition ; so that when the
court convened in September, there was a warm debate on the
subject, and a great division between the houses. Indeed the
whole colony was affected with the dispute.
Mr. Hooker, who was more engaged in the enterprise than the
other ministers, took up the affair and pleaded for the people. He
urged, that they were so straitened for accommodations for their
cattle, that they could not support the ministry, neither receive,
Arms of Connecticut.
144 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
nor assist any more of their friends, who might come over to
them. He insisted that the planting of towns so near together
was a fundamental error in their policy. He pleaded the fertility
and happy accommodations of Connecticut : that settlements
upon the river were necessary to prevent the Dutch and others
from possessing themselves of so fruitful and important a part of
the country ; and that the minds of the people were strongly in
clined to plant themselves there, in preference to every other
place, which had come to their knowledge.
On the other side it was insisted, that in point of conscience
they ought not to depart, as they were united to the Massachu
setts as one body, and bound by oath to seek the good of that
commonwealth ; and that on principle of policy it could not, by
any means, be granted. It was pleaded, that as the settlements
in the Massachusetts were new and weak, they were in danger of
an assault from their enemies : that the departure of Mr. Hooker
and the people of these towns, would not only draw off many
from the Massachusetts, but prevent others from settling in the
colony. Besides, it was said, that the removing of a candlestick
was a great judgment : that by suffering it they should expose
their brethren to great danger, both from the Dutch and Indians.
Indeed, it was affirmed that they might be accommodated by the
enlargements offered them by the other towns.
After a long and warm debate, the governor, two assistants and
a majority of the representatives were for granting liberty for Mr.
Hooker and the people to transplant themselves to Connecticut.
The deputy governor however and six of the assistants were in
the negative, and so no vote could be obtained. This made a con
siderable ferment not only in the general court, but in the colony,
so that Mr. Cotton was desired to preach on the subject to quiet
the court and the people of the colony. This also retarded the
commencement of the settlements upon the river. Individuals,
however, were determined to prosecute the business, and made
preparations effectually to carry it into execution.
It appears, that some of the Watertown people came in 1634 to
Connecticut, and erected a few huts at Pyquag, now Wethers-
field, in which a small number of men made a shift to winter.
While the colonists were thus prosecuting the business of set
tlement, in New England, the right honorable James, Marquis of
Hamilton, obtained a grant from the council of Plimouth, April
20th, 1635, of all that tract of country which lies between Con
necticut river and Narraganset river and harbor, and from the
mouths of each of said rivers northward sixty miles into the coun
try. However, by reason of its interference with the grant to the
Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, &c. or for some other reason,
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 145
the deed was never executed* The Marquis made no settlement
upon the land and the claim became obsolete.
The next May the Newtown people determining to settle at
Connecticut, renewed their application to the general court, and
obtained liberty to remove to any place which they should choose,
with this proviso, that they should continue under the jurisdiction
of the Massachusetts. A number of Mr. Warham's people came
this summer into Connecticut, and made preparations to bring
their families and make a permanent settlement on the river. The
Watertown people gradually removed and prosecuted their set
tlement at Wethersfield. At the same time the planters at New
town began to make preparations for removing to Hartford the
next spring.
Meanwhile twenty men arrived in Massachusetts, sent over by
Sir Richard Saltonstall, to take possession of a great quantity of
land in Connecticut, and to make settlements under the patent of
Lord Say and Seal, with whom he was a principal associate. The
vessel in which they came over, on her return to England, in the
fall, was cast away on the isle Sable.
As the Dorchester men had now set down at Connecticut,
near the Plimouth trading house, governor Bradford wrote to
them complaining of their conduct, as injurious to the people of
Plimouth, who had made a fair purchase of the Indians, and taken
a prior possession. The Dutch also alarmed by the settlements
making in Connecticut, wrote to Holland for instructions and aid
to drive the English from their settlements upon the river.
The people at Connecticut having made such preparations, as
were judged necessary to effect a permanent settlement, began to
remove their families and property* On the 15th of October
about sixty men, women and children, with their horses, cattle,
and swine commenced their journey from the Massachusetts
through the wilderness, to Connecticut river. After a tedious and
difficult journey through swamps and rivers, over mountains and
rough grounds, which were passed with great difficulty and fa
tigue, they arrived safely at the places of their respective desti
nation. They were so long on their journey and so much time
and pains were spent in passing the river, and in getting over
their cattle, that after all their exertions, winter came upon them
before they were prepared. This was an occasion of great dis
tress and damage to the plantations.
Nearly at the same time, Mr. John Winthrop, son of governor
Winthrop of Massachusetts, arrived at Boston, with a commission
from Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook and other noblemen and
gentlemen interested in the Connecticut patent, to erect a fort at
the mouth of Connecticut river. Their lordships sent over men,
ordinance, ammunition, and £2,000 sterling for the accomplish
13
146 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
ment of their design. Mr. Winthrop was directed, by his com
mission, immediately on his arrival to repair to Connecticut, with
fifty able men, and to erect the fortifications and to build houses
for the garrison, and for gentlemen, who might come over into
Connecticut. They were first to build houses for their then pre
sent accommodation, and after that such as should be suitable for
the reception of men of quality. The latter were to be erected
within the fort. It was required, that the planters, at the begin
ning, should settle themselves near the mouth of the river, and
set down in bodies, that they might be in a situation for entrench
ing and defending themselves. The commission made provision
for the reservation of a thousand or fifteen hundred acres of good
land for the maintenance of the fort, as nearly adjoining to it as
might be with convenience.
Mr. Winthrop having intelligence, that the Dutch were pre
paring to take possession of the mouth of the river, as soon as he
could engage twenty men and furnish them with provisions, dis
patched them, in a small vessel of about 30 tons, to prevent then-
getting the command of the river, and to accomplish the service
to which he had been appointed. But a few days after the party,
sent by Mr. Winthrop, arrived at the mouth of the river, a Dutch
vessel appeared off the harbor, from New Netherlands, sent on
purpose to take possession of the entrance of the river and to erect
fortifications. The English had, by this time, mounted two pieces
of cannon, and prevented their landing. Thus providentially, was
this fine tract of country preserved for our venerable ancestors
and their posterity.
Mr. Winthrop was appointed governor of the river Connecticut
and the parts adjacent for the term of one year. He erected a
fort, built houses and made a settlement according to his instruc
tions. One David Gardiner an expert engineer assisted in the
work, planned the fortifications and was appointed lieutenant of
the fort. Mr. Davenport and others, who afterwards settled New
Haven were active in this affair, and hired Gardiner, in behalf of
the lordships, to come into New England and assist in this bu
siness. As the settlement of the three towns on Connecticut river was
begun before the arrival of Mr. Winthrop, and the design of their
lordshjps to make plantations upon it was known, it was agreed,
that the settlers on the river should either remove, upon full sat
isfaction made, by their lordships, or else sufficient room should
be found for them and their companies at some' other place.
The winter set in this year much sooner than usual, and the
weather was stormy and severe. By the 15th of November
Connecticut river was frozen over and the snow was so deep, and
the season so tempestuous, that a considerable number of the
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 147
cattle which had been driven on from the Massachusetts could
not be brought across the river. The people had so little time to
prepare their huts and houses, and to erect sheds and shelters for
their cattle, that the sufferings of man and beast were extreme.
Indeed the hardships and distresses of the first planters of Con
necticut scarcely admit of a description. To carry much pro
vision or furniture through a pathless wilderness was impractica
ble. Their principal provisions and household furniture were
therefore put on board several small vessels, which, by reason of
delays and the tempestuousness of the season, were either cast
away or did not arrive. Several vessels were wrecked on the
coasts of New England, by the violence of the storms. Two
shallops laden with goods, from Boston to Connecticut, in Octo
ber, were cast away on Brown's island, near the Gurnets nose ;
and the men, with every thing on board were lost. A vessel with
six of the Connecticut people on board, which sailed from the
river for Boston, early in November, was, about the middle of the
month, cast away in Manamet bay. The men got on shore, and
after wandering ten days in deep snow and a severe season,
without meeting any human being, arrived, nearly spent with cold
and fatigue, at New Plimouth.
By the last of November or beginning of December provision
generally failed in the settlements on the river, and famine and
death looked the inhabitants sternly in the face. Some of them
driven by hunger attempted their way, in this severe season,
through the wilderness, from Connecticut to Massachusetts. Of
thirteen, in one company, who made this attempt, one in passing
the rivers fell through the ice and was drowned. The other
twelve were ten days on their journey and would all have per
ished, had it not been for the assistance of the Indians.
Indeed such was the distress in general, that by the 3d and 4th
of December a considerable part of the new settlers were obliged
to abandon their habitations. Seventy persons, men, women and
children, were necessitated, in the extremity of winter, to go down
to the mouth of the river to meet their provisions, as the only ex
pedient to preserve their lives. Not meeting with the vessels
which they expected, they all went on board the Rebecca, a
vessel of about 60 tons. This, two days before, was frozen in
twenty miles up the river ; but by the falling of a small rain and
the influence of the tide, the ice became so broken and was so
far removed, that she made a shift to get out. She ran however
upon the bar, and the people were forced to unlade her to get off.
She was reladed, and, in five days, reached Boston. Had it not
been for these providential circumstances the people must have
perished with famine.
The people who kept their stations on the river suffered in an
148 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
extreme degree. After all the help they were able to obtain, by
hunting, and from the Indians, they were obliged to subsist on
acorns, malt, and grains.
Numbers of the cattle which could not be got over the river be
fore winter, lived through without any thing but what they found
in the woods and meadows. They wintered as well, or better
than those which were brought over, and for which all the pro
vision was made, and pains taken of which the owners were ca
pable. However, a great number of cattle perished. The Dor.
Chester, or Windsor people, lost in this single article about two
hundred pounds sterling. Their other losses were very con
siderable. It is difficult to describe or even to conceive the apprehensions
and distresses of a people, in the circumstances of our venerable
ancestors, during this doleful winter. All the horrors of a dreary
wilderness spread themselves around them. They were com
passed with numerous, fierce and cruel tribes of wild and savage
men, who could have swallowed up parents and children, at
pleasure, in their feeble and distressed condition. The had nei
ther bread for themselves, nor children, neither habitations nor
clothing convenient for them. Whatever emergency might
happen they were cut off, both by land and water, from any
succor or retreat. What self-denial, firmness, and magnanimity
are necessary for such enterprises ? How distressful, in the be
ginning, was the condition of those now fair and opulent towns on
Connecticut river !
For a few years after the settlements on the river commenced,
they bore the same name with the towns in the Massachusetts
whence the first settlers came.
The Connecticut planters, at first settled under the general
government of the Massachusetts, but they held courts of their
own, which consisted of two principal men from each town ; and,
on great and extraordinary occasions, these were joined with
committees, as they were called, consisting of three men from
each town. These courts had power to transact all the common
affairs of the colony, and with their committees, had the power
of making war and peace, and treaties of alliance and friendship
with the natives within the colony.
The first court in Connecticut was holden at Newtown, April
26th, 1636. ,¦ It consisted of Roger Ludlow, Esq., Mr. John
Steel, Mr. William Swain, Mr. William Phelps, Mr. William
Westwood, and Mr. Andrew Ward. Mr. Ludlow had been one
of the magistrates of Massachusetts in 1630, and in 1631 had
been chosen lieutenant governor of that colony. At this court it
was ordered, that the inhabitants should not sell arms or ammu
nition to the Indians. Various other affairs were also transacted
CO
MR. HOOKER AND HIS CONGREGATION TRAVELING THROUGH THE WILDERNESS.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 151
relative to the good order, settlement and defence of these infant
towns. Several of the principal gentlemen interested in the settlement
of Connecticut, Mr. JohnHaynes, who at this time was governor
of Massachusetts, Mr. Henry Wolcott, Mr. Welles, the ministers
of the churches, and others had not yet removed into the colony.
As soon as the spring advanced and the traveling would admit,
the hardy men began to return from the Massachusetts to their
habitations on the river. No sooner were buds, leaves and grass
so grown, that cattle could live in the woods, and obstructions re
moved from the river, so that vessels could go up with provisions
and furniture, than the people began to return, in large compa
nies, to Connecticut. Many, who had not removed the last year,
prepared, with all convenient dispatch, for a journey to the new
settlements upon the river.
About the beginning of June, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Stone and
about a hundred men, women and children took their departure
from Cambridge and traveled more than a hundred miles, through
a hideous and trackless wilderness to Hartford. They had no
guide but their compass ; made their way over mountains, through
swamps, thickets and rivers, which were not passable, but with
great difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any
lodgings but those which simple nature afforded them. They
drove with them a hundred and sixty head of cattle, and by the
way, subsisted on the milk of their cows. Mrs. Hooker was
borne through the wilderness upon a litter. The people gene
rally carried their packs, arms and some utensils. They were
nearly a fortnight on their journey. This adventure was the
more remarkable, as many of this company were persons of
figure, who had lived, in England, in honor, affluence and deli
cacy, and were entire strangers to fatigue and danger.
The famous Mr. Thomas Shepard, who, with his people, came
into New England the last summer, succeeded Mr. Hooker at
Cambridge. The people of his congregation purchased the lands
which Mr. Hooker and his company had previously possessed.
The removal of Dorchester people to Windsor is said to have
been disagreeable to their ministers, but as their whole church
and congregation removed, it was necessary that they should go
with them. However, Mr. Maverick died in March, before pre*
parations were made for his removal. He expired in the 60th
year of his age. He was characterized as a man of great meek
ness, and as laborious and faithful in promoting the welfare both
of the church and commonwealth.
Mr. Warham removed to Windsor in September, but he did
not judge it expedient to bring his family until better accommo
dations could be made for their reception. Soon after the remo.
152 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
val of Mr. Warham from Dorchester, a new church was gathered
in that town, and Mr. Mather was ordained their pastor. Mr.
Phillips, pastor of the church at Watertown, did not remove to
Wethersfield. Whether it was against his inclination, or whether
the people did not invite him does not appear. They chose Mr.
Henry Smith for their minister, who came from England in office.
The colony of New Plimouth professed themselves to be
greatly aggrieved at the conduct of the Dorchester people, in set
tling on the lands, where they had made a purchase, and where
they had defended themselves and that part of the country against
the Dutch. They represented that it had been a hard matter that
the Dutch and Indians had given them so much trouble as they
had done, but that it was still more grievous to be supplanted by
their professed friends. Mr. Winslow of Plimouth made a jour
ney to Boston, in the spring, before governor Haynes and some
other principal characters removed to Connecticut, with a view
to obtain compensation for the injury done to the Plimouth men,
who had built the trading house upon the river. The Plimouth
people demanded a sixteenth part of the lands and £100 as a
compensation ; but the Dorchester people would not comply with
their demands. There however appeared to be so much justice,
in making them some compensation, for the purchase they had
made, and the good services which they had done, that sometime
after, the freeholders of Windsor gave them £50, forty acres of
meadow and a large tract of upland for their satisfaction.
At acourtholden at Dorchester it was ordered, that every town
should keep a watch, and be well supplied with ammunition. The
constables were directed to warn the watches in their turns and
to make it their care, that they should be kept according to the
direction of the court. They also were required to take care,
that the inhabitants were well furnished with arms and ammuni
tion, and kept in a constant state of defence. As these infant set
tlements were filled and surrounded with numerous savages, the
people conceived themselves in danger when they lay down and
when they rose up, when they went out and when they came in.
Their circumstances were such, that it was judged necessary for
every man to be a soldier.
At a third court therefore, holden at Watertown, an order was
given, that the inhabitants of the several towns should train once
'to, month, and the officers were authorized to train those who ap
peared very unskilful more frequently as circumstances should
require. The courts were holden at each town by rotation,
according to its turn.
A settlement was made, this year, at Springfield, by Mr. Pyn-
cheon and his company from Roxbury. This 'for about two years
was united in government, with the towns m Connecticut. In
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 153
November, Mr. Pyncheon for the first time appears among the
members of the court. All the powers of government, for near
ly three years, seem to have been in the magistrates, of whom
two were appointed in each town. These gave all orders, and
directed all the affairs of the plantation. The freemen appear
to have had no voice in making the laws, or in any part of the
government, except in some instances of general and uncommon
concern. In these instances committees were sent from the
several towns. During this term it seems that juries were not
employed in any case.
This was a summer and year of great and various labors, de
manding the utmost exertion and diligence. Many of the planters
had to remove themselves and effects from a distant colony. At
the same time it was absolutely necessary that they should turn
the wilderness into gardens and fields, that they should plant and
cultivate the earth, and obtain some tolerable harvest, unless they
would again experience the distresses and losses of the preceding
year. These were too great, and too fresh in their memories, not
to rouse all their exertion and forethought. It was necessary to
erect and fortify their houses, and to make better preparations for
the feeding and covering of their cattle. It was of equal impor
tance to the planters not only to make roads for their particular
convenience, but from town to town ; that, on any emergency,
they might fly immediately to each other's relief. It was with
great difficulty that these businesses could be at first accomplished.
The planters had not been accustomed to felling the groves, to
clearing and cultivating new lands. They were strangers in the
country, and knew not what kinds of grain would be most conge
nial with the soil, and produce the greatest profits, nor had they
any experience how the ground must be cultivated, that it might
yield a plentiful crop. They had few oxen, or instruments for
husbandry. Every thing was to be prepared, or brought from a
great distance, and procured at a dear rate. Besides all these la
bors and difficulties, much time was taken up in constant watch-
ings, trainings and preparations for the defence of themselves and
children. The Pequots had already murdered a number of the
English ; some of the Indians, in Connecticut, were their allies ;
and they had maintained a great influence over them all. They
were a treacherous and designing people ; so that there could be
no safety but in a constant preparation for any emergency.
Some of the principal characters, who undertook this great work
of settling Connecticut, and were the civil and religious fathers of
the colony, were Mr. Haynes, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Hooker, Mr.
Warham, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Welles, Mr. Wyllys, Mr. Whiting,
Mr. Wolcott, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Webster, and captain Mason.
These were of the 'first class of settlers, and all except the minis
154 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
ters were chosen magistrates or governors of the colony. Mr.
Swain, Mr. Talcott, Mr. Steel, Mr. Mitchel, and others were capi
tal men. Mr. John Haynes, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Hopkins, Mr.
Stone, Mr. George Wyllys, Mr. Welles, Mr. Whiting, Mr. Tho
mas Webster, and Mr. John Talcott, were all from Hartford. Mi.
Ludlow, Mr. Henry Wolcott, Mr. Warham, Mr. William Phelps,
and captain John Mason, were some of the principal planters of
Windsor. Mr. William Swain, Mr. Thurston Reyner, Mr. Henry
Smith, Mr. Andrew Ward, Mr. Mitchel and Mr. John Deming,
were some of the chief men, who settled the town of Wethers
field. These were the civil and religious fathers of the colony.
They formed its free and happy constitution, were its legislators,
and some of the chief pillars of the church and commonwealth.
They, with many others of the same excellent character, em
ployed their abilities and their estates for the prosperity of the
colony. While the three plantations on the river were making the ut
most exertions for a permanent settlement, Mr. Winthrop was no
less active in erecting fortifications and convenient buildings at its
entrance. Though he had, the last year, sent on one company
after another, yet the season was so far advanced, and the winter
set in so early, and with such severity, that little more could be
done than just to keep the station. When the spring advanced
the works were therefore pressed on with engagedness. Mr.
Winthrop and his people were induced, not only in faithfulness to
their trust, but from fears of a visit from the Dutch, and from the
state of that warlike people, the Pequots in the vicinity, to hasten
and complete them, with the utmost dispatch. A good fort was
erected and a number of houses were built. Some cattle were
brought from the Massachusetts for the use of the garrison. Small
parcels of ground were improved, and preparations made for a
comfortable subsistence and good defence.
There were, at the close of this year, about two hundred and
fifty men in the three towns on the river, and there were twenty
men in the garrison at the entrance of it under the command of
lieutenant Gardiner. The whole consisted, probably, of about
800 persons, or of a hundred and sixty or seventy families."
" While the planters of Connecticut were thus exerting them
selves in prosecuting and regulating the affairs of that colony,
another was projected and settled at Quinnipiack, afterwards called
New Haven. On the 26th of July 1637, Mr. John Davenport,
Mr. Samuel Eaton, Theophilus Eaton, and Edward Hopkins,
Esquires, Mr. Thomas Gregson and many others of good charac
ters and fortunes arrived at Boston. Mr Davenport had been a
famous minister in the city of London, and was a distinguished
character for piety, learning and good conduct. Many of his con
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 155
gregation, on the account of the esteem which they had for his
person and ministry, followed him into New England. Mr. Eaton
and Mr. Hopkins had been merchants in London, possessed great
estates, and were men of eminence for their abilities and integrity.
The fame of Mr. Davenport, the reputation and good estates of
the principal gentlemen of this company, made the people of the
Massachusetts exceedingly desirous of their settlement in that
commonwealth. Great pains were taken not only by particular
persons and towns, but by the general court, to fix them in the
colony. Charlestown made them large offers ; and Newbury
proposed to give up the whole town to them. The general court
offered them any place which they should choose. But they were
determined to plant a distinct colony. By the pursuit of the Pe
quots to the westward, the English became acquainted with that
fine tract along the shore, from Saybrook to Fairfield, and with its
several harbours. It was represented as fruitful, and happily sit
uated for navigation and commerce. The company therefore
projected a settlement in that part of the country.
In the fall of 1637, Mr. Eaton and others, who were of the com-
Eany, made a journey to Connecticut, to explore the lands and
arbours on the sea-coast. They pitched upon Quinnipiack for
the place of their settlement. They erected a poor hut in which
a few men subsisted through the winter.
On the 30th of March 1638, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Prudden and
Mr. Samuel Eaton, Theophilus Eaton, Esquire, with the people
of their company sailed from Boston for Quinnipiack. In about a
fortnight they arrived at their desired port. On the 18th of April
they kept their first Sabbath in the place. The people assem
bled under a large spreading oak, and Mr. Davenport preached to
themfrom Matthew [iv J vi. 1. He insisted on the temptations of the
wilderness, made such observations, and gave such directions and
exhortations as were pertinent to the then present state of his
hearers. He left this remark, that he enjoyed a good day.
One of the principal reasons, which these colonists assigned for
their removing from Massachusetts, was that they should be more
out of the way and trouble of a general Governor of New England,
who at this time, was an object of great fear in all the plantations.
What foundation there was for the hope of exemption from the
control of a general governor, by this removal, had one been sent,
does not appear.
Soon after they arrived at Quinnipiack, in the close of a day
of fasting and prayer, they entered into what they termed a plan
tation covenant. In this they solemnly bound themselves, ' That
as in matters that concern the gathering and ordering of a church,
so also in all public offices which concern civil order ; as choice
of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing
156 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, they would
all of them be ordered by the rules, which the scripture held forth
to them.' This was adopted as a general agreement, until there
should be time for the people to become more intimately acquaint
ed with each other's religious views, sentiments and moral con
duct ; which was supposed to be necessary to prepare the way
for their covenanting together, as christians, in church state.
The aspects of providence on the country, about this time, were
very gloomy ; and especially unfavorable to new plantations.
The spring, after a long and severe winter, was unusually back
ward. Scarcely any thing grew for several weeks. The plant
ing season was so cold, that the corn rotted in the ground, and
the people were obliged to replant two or three times. This dis
tressed man and beast, retarded all the affairs of the plantations.
It rendered the gloom and horrors of the wilderness still more
horrible. The colonists had terrible apprehensions of scarcity
and famine. But at length the warm season came on, and vege
tation exceeded all their expectations.
The planters at Quinnipiack determined to make an extensive
settlement ; and, if possible, to maintain perpetual peace and
friendship with the Indians. They therefore paid an early atten
tion to the making of such purchases and amicable treaties, as
might most effectually answer their designs.
On the 24th of November, 1638, Theophilus Eaton, Esquire,
Mr. Davenport and other English planters, entered into an agree
ment with Momauguin, sachem of that part of the country, and
his counsellors, respecting the lands. The articles of agreement
are to this effect.
That Momauguin is the sole sachem of Quinnipiack, and had
an absolute power to aliene and dispose of the same : That in
consequence of the protection which he had tasted, by the Eng
lish, from the Pequots and Mohawks,* he yielded up all his right,
title and interest to all the land, rivers, ponds and trees, with all
the liberties and appurtenances belonging to the same, unto The
ophilus Eaton, John Davenport and others, their heirs and assigns
forever. He covenanted that neither he nor his Indians would
terrify nor disturb the English, nor injure them in any of their
interests ; but that, in every respect, they would keep true faith
with them.
The English covenanted to protect Momauguin and his In
dians, when unreasonably assaulted and terrified, by other Indians:
and that they should always have a sufficient quantity of land to
* The Indians of Quinnipiack, in this treaty, declared, " That they still remem
bered the heavy taxes of the Pequots and Mohawks ; and that, by reason of their
fear of them, they could not stay in their own country ; but had been obliged to flee
By these powerful enemies they had been reduced to about forty men.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 157
plant on, upon the east side of the harbor, between that and Say
brook fort. They also covenanted, that by way of free and thank
ful retribution, they gave unto the said sachem and his council and
company, twelve coats of English cloth, twelve alchymy spoons,
twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen ofknives, twelve porrin
gers, and four cases of French knives and^scissors.
This agreement was signed and legally executed, by Momau
guin and his council on the one part, and Theophilus Eaton and
John Davenport on the other. Thomas Stanton, who was the
interpreter, declared in the presence of God, That he had faith
fully acquainted the Indians with the said articles, and returned
their answers.
In December following they made another purchase of a large
tract, which lay principally north of the former. This was of
Montowese, son of the great sachem at Mattabeseck. This tract
was ten miles in length, north and south, and thirteen miles in
breadth. It extended eight miles east of the river Quinnipiack,
and five miles west of it towards Hudson's river. It included all
the lands within the ancient limits of the old towns of New Ha
ven, Branford and Wallingford, and almost the whole contained
in the present limits of those towns, and of the towns East Haven,
Woodbridge; Cheshire, Hamden and North Haven.* These have
since been made out of the three old towns.
The New Haven adventurers were the most opulent company,
which came into New England ; and they designed to plant a
capital colony. They laid out their town plat in squares, design
ing it for a great and elegant city. In the centre was a large
beautiful square. This was compassed with others, making nine
in the whole. The first principal settlers we're Theophilus Ea-.
ton, Esquire, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Samuel Eaton, Mr. Thomas
Gregson, Mr. Robert Newman, Mr. Matthew Gilbert, Mr. Na
thaniel Turner, Mr. Thomas Fugill, Mr. Francis Newman, Mr.
Stephen Goodyear, and Mr. Joshua Atwater.
Mr. Eaton had been deputy governor of the East India compa
ny, was three years himself in the East Indies. He served the
company so well, that he received from them presents of great
value. He had been on an embassy from the court of England to
the king of Denmark. He was a London merchant who had for
many years traded to the East Indies, had obtained a great estate,
and brought over a large sum of money into New England.t
* For this last tract of ton miles north and south, and thirteen east and west, the
English gave thirteen coats, and allowed the Indians ground to plant, and liberty to
hunt within the lands. Records of New Haven.
t The tradition is that he brought to New Haven a very great estate, in plnte and
money. The East India company made his wife a present of a bason: and ewer
double gjlt, and curiously wrought with gold, weighing more than sixty jjounds.
14
158
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
Otliers were merchants of fair estates, and they designed to have
been a great trading city. There appears no act of civil, military,
or ecclesiastical authority during the first year ; nor is there any
appearance, that this colony was ever straitened for bread, as the
other colonies had been." — Trumbull's History of Connecticut.
ROGER WILLIAMS' SETTLEMENT
OF
RHODE ISLAND,
The following particulars
respecting the first settle
ment of Rhode Island by
Mr. Williams, are from
Knowles' " Memoir of Ro
ger Williams," a new work
published in Boston, in
1834. tUf-t,
"About the middle of Jan-
nary, -K35-6, Mr. Williams
left Salem in secrecy and
haste. It is not certain, that
any one accompanied him,
though a number of persons
were with him a short time
Arms of Rhode Island. afterwards. He proceeded
to the south, towards the Naraganset Bay. The weather was
very severe, and his sufferings were great. In a letter written
thirty-five years afterwards, he said : ' I was sorely tossed for one
fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread
or bed did mean ;' and he added, that he still felt the effects of his
exposure to the severity of the weather.
He appears to have visited Ousamequin, the sachem of Poka
noket, who resided at Mount Hope, near the present town of
Bristol (R. I.) From him he obtained a grant of land now inclu
ded in the town of Seekonk, in Massachusetts, on the east bank
of Pawtucket (now Seekonk) river. This territory was within
the limits of the Plymouth colony, but Mr. Williams recognized
the Indians only as the proprietors, and bought a title from the sa
chem. Ousamequin doubtless granted his request with pleasure,
as a return for the services and presents which he had formerly
received from Mr. Williams. If, as we have supposed, the exile
was obliged to visit the sachem, and make these arrangements,
the journey, on foot, increased that exposure to the severity of the
elements, of which he complains.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
159
He was, moreover, unprovided with a dwelling. Mr. Cotton
(in his Bloody Tenet washed, p. 8.) says, ' that some of his friends
went to the place appointed by himself beforehand, to make pro
vision of housing, and other necessaries for him against his com
ing.' This statement however, must be incorrect. Mr. Williams'
departure from Salem was sudden and unexpected ; and his as
sertion, just quoted, that he did not know ' what bread or bed did
mean,' for fourteen weeks, must be understood as excluding the
idea of such a preparation as Mr. Cotton mentions. Mr. Wil
liams, too, says, ' I first pitched, and began to build and plant at
Seekonk.' He had no house, it would seem, till he built one.
Roger Williams.
For the means of subsistence he must have been dependent on
the Indians. At that season, hunting and fishing were impractica
ble, if he had possessed the proper instruments. The earth was
covered with snow, and he had not even the poor resource of
roots. He may refer to his situation at this time, in the following
lines, alluding to the Indians :
" God's Providence is rich to his,
Let none distrustful be ;
In wilderness, in great distress,
These ravens have fed me."
The spot, in Seekonk, where he reared his habitation, is be
lieved, on good authority, to have been at Manton's Neck, near
the cove, a short distance above the central bridge.
160 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
Here he probably hoped, he might live in peace. He was soon
joined by several friends, if they did not at first accompany him.
His wife and children were still at Salem.
But Seekonk was not to be his home. In a short time, to use
his own language, ' I received a letter from my ancient friend Mr.
Winslow, the governor of Plymouth, professing his own and oth
er's love and respect to me, yet lovingly advising me, since I was
fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they were loath to dis
please the Bay, to remove to the other side of the water, and there,
he said, I had the country free before me, and might be as free as
themselves, and we should be loving neighbors together.'
This advice was apparently prudent and friendly, prompted by
a desire of peace, and by a kind regard to Mr. Williams. It does
not seem to deserve the harsh comments which have sometimes
been made on it. Mr. Williams himself does not speak of it in a
tone of reproach. He immediately resolved to comply with the
advice, fie accordingly embarked in a canoe, with five others,*
and proceeded down the stream. As they approached the little
cove, near Tockwotten, now India Point, they were saluted by a
company of Indians, with the friendly interrogation, ' What
cheer ?' a common English phrase, which they had learned frorp
the colonists.! At this spot, they probably went on shore, but they
did not long remain there.J They passed round India Point and
Fox Point, and proceeded up the river on the west side of the pe
ninsula, to a spot near the mouth of the Moshassuck river. Tra
dition reports, that Mr. Williams landed near a spring, which re
mains till this day.§ At this spot, the settlement of Rhode Island
commenced. To the town here founded, Mr. Williams, with his
habitual piety, and in grateful remembrance of ' God's merciful
Providence to him in his distress,' gave the name of Providence.
The spot where Mr. Williams and his companions landed was
within the jurisdiction of the Narraganset Indians. The sachems
of this tribe were Canonicus, and his nephew Miantinomo. The
former was an old man, and he probably associated with him his
young nephew, as better fitted to sustain the toils and cares of
royalty. Their residence is said by Gookin to have been about
Narraganset Bay, and on the island of Canonicut.
The first object of Mr. Williams would naturally be, to obtain
from the sachems a grant of land for his new colony. He proba-
* William Harris, John Smith, (miller), Joshua Verin, Thomas Angell, and Fran
cis Wickes. R. I. Register, 1828, article written by Moses Brown.
t Equivalent to the modem How do you do /
t The lands adjacent to this spot were called Wliatcheer, in memory of the oc
currence. $ " Tradition has uniformly stated the place where they landed, to be at the spring
southwest of the Episcopal church, at which a house has recently been built by Mr.
Nehemiah Dodge." Moses Brown.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 161
bly visited them, and received a verbal cession of the territory,
which, two years afterwards, was formally conveyed to him by a
deed. This instrument may properly be quoted here.
' At Narraganset, the 24th of the first month, commonly called
March, the second year of the plantation or planting at Moshas-
suck, or Providence ; Memorandum, that we, Canonicus and Mi-
antinomo, the two chief sachems of Narraganset, having two years
since sold unto Roger Williams the lands and meadows upon the
two fresh rivers, called Moshassuck and Wanasquatucket, do now,
by these presents, establish and confirm the bounds of these lands,
from the river and fields of Pawtucket, the great hill of Notaquon-
canot, on the northwest, and the town of Mashapaug, on the west.
We also, in consideration of the many kindnesses and services he
hath continually done for us, both with our friends of Massachu
setts, as also at Connecticut, and Apaum or Plymouth, we do
freely give unto him all that land from those rivers reaching to Paw-
tuxet river, as also the grass and meadows upon the said Pawtuxet
river. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.' "
The lands thus ceded to Mr. Williams, he conveyed to twelve
men, who accompanied, or soon joined him, reserving to himself
an equal part only. In answer to a question which was raised in
the early times of the colony, Mr. Williams asserts in the first
place " * It is not true, that I was employed by any, was supplied
by any, or desired any to come with me into these parts. My
soul's desire was, to do the natives good, and to that end to learn
their language, (which I afterwards printed) and therefore desired
not to be troubled with English company.' He adds that ' out of
pity, he gave leave to several persons to come along in his com
pany.' He makes the same statement in his deed of 1661 : — ' I
desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for con
science. I then considering the condition of divers of my distres
sed countrymen, I communicated my said purchase unto my loving
friends, (whom he names) who then desired to take shelter here
with me.'
It seems, then, that his original design was to come alone, prob
ably to dwell among the Indians, and do them good ; but he altered
his plan, and resolved to establish a refuge for those who might flee
from persecution. The project was his own, and worthy of his
generous and liberal mind. He certainly was not employed as an
agent, to purchase lands for others. He uses another argument :
' I mortgaged my house in Salem (worth some hundreds) for sup
plies to go through, and, therefore, was it a single business.'
Having thus shown that he acted for himself, and on his own
responsibility, he states, that the lands were procured from the
sachems by his influence alone. He enumerates several advan
tages which he enjoyed in this negotiation : ' 1 . A constant, zeal-
14*
162 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
ous desire to dive into the native's language. 2. God was pleased
to give me a painful, patient spirit to lodge with them in their fil
thy, smoky holes, (even while I lived at Plymouth and Salem) to
gain their tongue. 3. I spared no cost towards them, and in gifts
to Ousamequin, yea, and all his, and to Canonicus, and all his,
tokens and presents, many years before I came in person to the
Narraganset, and when I came, I was welcome to Ousamequin,
and to the old prince Canonicus, who was most shy of all Eng
lish, to his last breath. 4. I was known by all the Wampanoags
and the Narragansets to be a public speaker at Plymouth and Sa
lem, and, therefore, with them, held as a sachem. 5. I could de
bate with them (in a great measure) in their own language. 6. I
had the favor and countenance of that noble soul, Mr. Winthrop,
whom all Indians respected.'
He proceeds to state, respecting Canonicus, that ' it was not
thousands nor tens of thousands of money could have bought of him
an English entrance into this Bay.'
In the deed, already quoted, he says, ' By God's merciful as
sistance, I was the procurer of the purchase, not by monies nor
payment, the natives being so shy and jealous, that monies could
not do it, but by that language, acquaintance and favor with the na
tives, and other advantages, which it pleased God to give me ; and
also bore the charges, and venture of all the gratuities, which I
gave to the great sachems, and other sachems round about us, and
lay engaged for a loving and peaceable neighbourhood with them,
to my great charge and travel.'"*
It is probable, that Mrs. Williams and her two children came
from Salem to Providence, in' the summer of 1636, in company
with several persons, who wished to join their exiled pastor.t
" The family of Mr. Williams was now dependent on his exer
tions for support. No supplies could be derived from Massachu
setts. The natives were unable to afford much aid. It is proba
ble, that Mr. Williams had nearly expended all his funds, in the
support of his family during his absence, and ;n the negotiations
with the Indians. Of his poverty,!; there is evidence, in a touch
ing incident, mentioned in his letter to Major Mason. It is alike
honorable to all the parties : ' It pleased the Father of Spirits to
touch many hearts, dear to him, with many relentings ; amongst
which, that great and pious soul, Mr. Winslow, melted, and kindly
visited me at Providence, and put a piece of gold into the hands
of my wife for our supply.'
* Backus, vol. i. p. 94.
t Throckmorton, Obey and Westcott, three of the first proprietors, were mem
bers of the Salem church. Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 371.
t Hubbard repeatedly alludes, in a somewhat taunting tone, to the poverty of
Roger Williams.— pp. 205, 350.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 163
In a deed, which was enrolled January 29, 1667, Mr. Williams
says, that he planted, with his own hands, at his first coming, the
two Indian fields, Whatcheer and Saxifrax Hill, which he had
purchased of the natives. Thus was he forced, as at many other
times, to resort to manual labor for his subsistence. In his reply
to Mr. Cotton he says : ' It is not unknown to many witnesses, in
Plymouth, Salem and Providence, that the discusser's time had
not been spent (though as much as any others whosoever) alto
gether in spiritual labors and public exercises of the word ; but
day and night, at home and abroad, on the land and water, at the
hoe, at the oar for bread.' But he sustained all his labors and
hardships with a patient spirit, and with a steadfast adherence to
his principles.
His house was, undoubtedly, erected near the spot where he
landed, and a few rods eastward of the celebrated spring. Here
the wanderer found a resting place. This was his home, for more
than forty years. Here he died, and near the site of his dwelling
his ashes were deposited.
The community, thus formed, were invested with the power of
admitting others to the privileges of citizenship. Their number
was soon increased, by emigrants from Massachusetts, and from
Europe.* It was the design of Mr. Williams, that his colony
should be open to all persons who might choose to reside there,
without regard to their religious opinions. He was careful, nev
ertheless, to provide for the maintenance of the civil peace.
Every inhabitant was required to subscribe the following cove
nant :
' We, whose names are here under-written, being desirous to
inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves,
in active or passive obedience, to all such orders or agreements
as shall be made for public good of the body, in an orderly way,
by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of fami
lies, incorporated together into a township, and such others whom
they shall admit unto the same, only in civil things'
This simple instrument, which combines the principles of a pure
democracy, and of umestricted religious liberty, was the basis of
the first government in Providence. It was undoubtedly drawn
up by Roger Williams. It bears the impress of his character, and
it was the germ of those free institutions, under which Rhode
Island has flourished till the present day."
* Among these, were Chad Brown, William Field, Thomas Harris, William Wick-
enden, Robert Williams (brother of Roger) Richard Scott, William Reynolds, John
Warner, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor and Thomas Hopkins. Backus, vol. i. p. 93.
164
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The first discoveries in the
limits of New Hampshire,
were made at an early peri
od, (see pages 14 and 39).
The following giving an ac
count of the first settlements
within its territory, is from
Gov. Hutchinson's History
Massachusetts, vol. 1.
" In the year 1623 several
gentlemen merchants and oth
ers in the west of England
belonging to Bristol, Exeter,
Dorchester, Shrewsbury, Pli
mouth, &c. having obtained
Arms of New Hampshire. patents from the Council of
Plimouth for several parts of New England, and being encou
raged by the plantation of New Plimouth and the reports of fish
ermen who had made voyages upon the coast, projected and at
tempted a fishery about Piscataqua, and sent over David Thomp
son, together with Edward Hilton and William Hilton, who had
been fishmongers in London, and some others, with all necessa
ries for their purpose. The Hiltons set up their stages some dis
tance above the mouth of the river, at a place since called Dover.
Some others of the company about the same time seized on a
place below at the mouth of the river called Little Harbor, where
they built the first house. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt.
John Mason were of this company, and the place where this
house was built with three or four thousand acres of land for a
manor or lordship, by consent of the rest of the undertakers; was
assigned to Capt. Mason, and the house took the name of Ma
son-hall.* These settlements went on very slowly for seven years after,
and in 1631 when Edward Colcottt first came over there were
but three houses an all that side of the country adjoining to Pis
cataqua river. There had been some expense besides about salt
works. The affairs of the great council of Plimouth from first
* The chimney and part of the stone wall were standing in the year 1680.
t He was afterwards chose by some of the planters above Boston their head or
governor. — Hubbard.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 1G5
to last were carried on in a confused manner. There have been
six or seven several grants of the lands between Merrimack and
Kennebeck. In the year 1630 Captain Neale with three others
came over to Piscataqua to superintend the affairs of Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, Mason, and the rest, but principally to discover a
new country to which they gave the name of Laconia, and which
in Gorges's history is very pompously described. Champlain
. many years before this had given his own name to Lake Iroquois,
and the English, it may be, were informed by the Indians some
thing of the geography of the country and of other lakes on the
back of New England, and no doubt the rumor was carried over
to England. Neale spent three years in searching out his new
country, but could not find it and so returned. Nothing else mem
orable is mentioned of Neale, except that he forbad Wiggan set
tling a point of land betwixt Dover and Exeter. Wiggan went
on and determined to defend his right by the sword. The other
threatened as high, and from what might have happened, the dis
puted land took the name of Bloody Point, which it retains to
this day. The Lords Say and Brooke also made Wiggan their
agent for the term of seven years, during which time the interest
was not greatly advanced, the whole being sold to him at the ex
piration of the term for six hundred pounds.
Soon after the year 1631 one Mr. Williams came over from
England, sent also by Gorges and Mason to take care of then-
salt works. Mr. Chadburne* with several other planters and tra
ders came over with him. These began the settlement of Straw
berry bank (Portsmouth), and after Neale went away they are
supposed either to have entered into an agreement and to have
chosen Williams for their governor, who is said to have been a
¦discreet sensible man and a gentleman, or else he was appointed
by the company in England. There was a grant of a sum of
money for building a parsonage house and a chapel, and for a
glebe of 50 acres of land to be annexed, made by the inhabitants
of Strawberry bank to Thomas Walford and Henry Sherburn
church wardens and their successors, &c. and this was signed by
Francis Williams governor, Ambrose Gibbons assistant, and 18
inhabitants, dated May 25, 1640. Williams soon after removed
to Barbadoes. The first who enterprised the settlement of Pis
cataqua had some religious as well as civil views, and a puritan
minister Mr. Leveridge a worthy man came over with Capt. Wig
gan in 1633, but not being supported he removed to the south
ward and was succeeded by Mr. Burdet, who has not left so good
a character.
* Mr. Chadburne had the direction of the artificers who built what was called the
great house at Strawberry bank. His posterity are settled on the other side the
river in the province of Maine.
166 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
About the same time, viz. in 1638, Mr. Wheelwright the min
ister who had been banished from the Massachusetts, with a num
ber of persons who adhered to him, began a plantation on the
south side of the great bay up Piscataqua river, to which they
gave the name of Exeter. They thought it necessary likewise
to form themselves into a body politic, in order to enable them
to carry on the affairs of their plantation.
Captain Underhill an enthusiast who obtained his assurance,
as he expressed himself before the church of Boston, while he
was taking a pipe of the good creature tobacco,* and who was at
the same time a very immoral man, and for adultery had been
excommunicated, joined Mr. Wheelwright's company and played
his card so well that he obtained the place of governor over them,
and also over the other company at Dover, they having quarreled
with Burdet the minister, who removed to York. There was a
strong party against Underhill which caused great disturbance and
confusion. At the same time they were as much divided in their
ecclesiastical affairs. They at Dover had one Mr. Knolles for
their minister, but Mr. Larkham arriving there from Northam near
Barnstable in England, many people were taken with him and
determined to dismiss Knolles, but his party stood by him and he
and his company excommunicated Larkham. He in return laid
violent hands on Knolles. The magistrates took part some on
one side and some on the other, but Larkham' s party being weak
est sent to Williams the governor below for assistance, who came
up with a company of armed men, beset Knolles's house, where
Underhill the governor then was, called him to account, set a fine
upon him and some others who had been concerned in the riot,
and obliged them to remove from the plantation. Knolles was a
rigid antinomian, his practice was agreeable to his principles.
He was charged with being too familiar with some of his female
domestics and found it necessary to depart. Larkham a zealous
churchman soon followed him for an offence of the same nature."
Establishment of Dartmouth College.
One of the most marked events during the period of the early
settlement of the towns in the western part of New Hampshire,
was the establishment of Dartmouth College in Hanover, on Con
necticut river. This institution originated from Rev. Dr. Wheel-
ock's Indian school at Lebanon, Con. The first design of the
Indian School was conceived by Mr. John Sergeant, missionary
to the Indians at Stockbridge, Mass., at which place, after pro
curing benefactions in America and England, he began a school
for the education of Indian youths, but his death prevented him
* Hubbard, &c.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 167
from accomplishing his plan. Dr. Wheelock 'conceived that if
he could educate Indian youth for missionaries, there would be
more prospect of success from their labors, than from the exer
tions of the whites.' With these views he undertook himself the
care and expense of educating two Indian lads in 1754 ; but the
design was so benevolent that a number of gentlemen soon uni
ted with him. His pupils increased, and after receiving nume
rous benefactions, the largest of which was the donation of Mr.
Joshua Moor of Mansfield, he called his institution ' Moor's
school.' In 1762 he had more than twenty youth under his care.
To enlarge the power of doing good, contributions were solicited
not only in various parts of this country, but also in England and
Scotland. The money collected in England, was put into the
hands of a board of trustees, of whom the earl of Dartmouth
was at the head. From this circumstance, when Dr. Wheelock
was invited by the government of New Hampshire to remove to
Hanover and establish a college in that place, it was called Dart
mouth college. This seminary was incorporated in 1769, and
Dr. Wheelock was declared its founder and president with the
right of appointing his successor. He lived for some time at
Hanover in a log hut. In 1770 he removed his school. The
number of his scholars, destined for missionaries, was at this time
twenty-four, of whom eighteen were whites and only six Indians.
This alteration of his plan was the result of experience. He
had found, that of forty Indian youth, who- had been under his
care, twenty had returned to the vices of savage life. The first
commencement was held in 1771, when the degree of bachelor
of arts was conferred on four students, one of whom was John
Wheelock, the son and successor of the founder."
The following account relative to the establishment of Dart
mouth College, is from the memoirs of Wheelock by Drs.
M'Clure and Parish.
"In the month of August, 1770, entrusting the care of their
removal to Mr. Woodward, who then officiated as tutor, he set
out for Hanover to provide the necessary accommodation for his
family and school. They soon followed him. A part of his fam
ily travelled in a coach, presented him by a very respectable
friend in London; his pupils performed the journey on foot.
The roads as they advanced northward were found in a veiy un
finished stale, and in many places it was with difficulty they pas
sed. On their arrival he welcomed them to the spot where he
was to begin his labors, and where he expected to terminate his
days. It was an etensive plain shaded by lofty pines, with no ac
commodations except two or three small huts composed of logs,
and no house on that side of the river within two miles through
one continued dreary wood. The Doctor like a venerable patri-
168 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
arch surrounded by his affectionate family and pupils, looked
around him, and the serenity of his countenance dispelled the
gloom. His mind rose to the level of the difficulties before him,
and with the activity and enterprise of youth he laid out plans of
buildings, selected their sites, and with his presence and advice
animated the laborers, hastened the operations, that his depen
dents might be sheltered against .the approaching severity of the
season. The number of souls there with him was about seventy.
A few acres of pines had been felled before his arrival. Log
houses were soon constructed, and a small framed house was be?
gun, designed/for. the reception of Dr. Wheelock and his family.'
The frame of a' college, eighty feet in length and two stories in
height, was soon after raised and partially covered ; a hall and
two or three rooms in it were considerably advanced when the
autumnal storms, setting in earlier than usual, put a stop to the
work of the builders. The sufferings of this little colony and its
worthy founder, were not inconsiderable during several months
from their arrival and even to the following spring. Their re
moval proved too late in the season, and preparations for their re
ception, from various circumstances, were far from that state of
forwardness which was intended. Failing to obtain water by dig
ging wells near where their first house was erected, he was com
pelled to change its situation after the arrival of his family. Many
were necessitated to sleep several nights on the ground, with
boughs of trees for beds, and sheltered from the nightly dews
and rains by a few boards raised over them on poles. The coun
try all around was new, and the few dispersed inhabitants poor.
Upon a circular area of about six acres, the pines were soon
felled and in all directions covered the ground to the height of
about six feet. Paths of communication were cut through them.
The lofty tops of the surrounding forests were often seen bending
before the northern tempest, while the air below was still and
piercing. The snow lay four feet in depth between four and five.
months. The sun was invisible by reason of the trees until risen
many degrees above the horizon. In this secluded retreat and in
these humble dwellings, this enterprising colony passed a long
and dreary winter. The students pursued their studies with dili
gence ; contentment and peace were not interrupted by murmurs.
The venerable president directed the attention of his pupils to
the signal smiles of heaven upon the institution, which were wit
nessed by its rapidly increasing prosperity from a small begin
ning, through seemingly insurmountable discouragements. He
observed to them that the cause, he doubted not, was the cause
of God ; that he would own and succeed it, and that his .great
concern in the whole business was, to follow the pointings of His
providence. He derived support from the example of the pro-
FOUNDING OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
In 1770 Dr. Wheelock removed his family and school from Lebanon, Conn, and
began the erection of a college in a forest. In the epen air with his numerous fa
mily he offered morning and evening prayer, and the surrounding forest resounded
with the solemn sound of supplication and praise.
15
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
171
phet Elisha, (2 Kings vi. 1-7) who founded a college or school
of prophets in the wilderness of Jordan, by the divine direction,
for the preservation and diffusion of true religion, and in circum
stances bearing considerable analogy to his.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
MAINE.
The following respecting
the first settlements in Maine,
is extracted from Mr. Fol-
som's history of the towns of
Saco and Biddeford. " The
unfortunate termination of Sir
Walter Raleigh's attempts to
colonize Virginia during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth,
had effectually checked the
spirit of enterprise in Eng
land in relation to the settle
ment of America. The dis
coveries of Gosnold and
Pring, and the shortness of
Arms of Maine. their voyages, now caused the
subject to be revived, and to excite more general interest than had
before existed. On the petition of a number of gentlemen, a char
ter was granted by King James in the year 1606, dividing the
country into two districts, called North and South Virginia, and
authorizing the establishment of separate colonies in each district
by two distinct companies. A right of property in the land fifty
miles on each side of their first plantations, and extending 100
miles into the interior, was granted by this patent. The first or
Southern colony were allowed to settle any part of the country
within the degrees of 34 and 41 north latitude ; the second con
sisting chiefly of persons resident at Plymouth and other towns in
the west of England, and thence denominated the Plymouth Com
pany, were allowed to choose a place of settlement between 38
and 45 degrees north latitude. As a considerable portion of the
territory thus allotted was common to the two districts, a provis
ion was added, that the jpolony last planted should not approach
within one hundred' miles of that already established.
172 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
The next year colonies were sent out by the two companies.
One was fixed at Jamestown, of which Gosnold ' was the prime
mover,' and Capt. Smith an active member ; the other was estab
lished at Sagadahock, or the mouth of the Kennebec, led by Cap
tains George Popham, brother to the Chief Justice, and Raleigh
Gilbert. This colony consisted of 108 men; — whether accom
panied by their families, we are not informed. They arrived on
the coast near the island of Monheagan, a few leagues east of the
Kennebec, in the month of August, and soon after entered the
mouth of that river, where, on the eastern side, on an island now
forming a part of Georgetown, they commenced preparations for
a permament settlement without delay. Monheagan was agreed
upon as a place of rendezvous for the ships before leaving Eng
land, and although we are not directly told that the destination of
the colony was determined before their arrival, there is no doubt
of the fact. The great patron of the enterprise, Chief Justice
Popham, obtained an accurate survey of the coast the year before,
and doubtless selected the mouth of that ' fair and navigable river,'
as the Kennebec is styled by Smith, as a favorable location for the
seat of the colony.
The lateness of the season scarcely allowed the colonists time
to erect a fort and the necessary places of shelter before the ap
proach of winter, which proved excessively rigorous. More than
half their number returned with the ships to England in Decem_
ber, in consequence of the severity of the cold and the scantiness
of their supplies. Soon after those who had remained had the
misfortune to lose the greater part of their buildings and stores by
fire. Capt. Popham died in the course of the winter, and an ar
rival in the spring brought news of the death of the Chief Justice.
Raleigh Gilbert, who succeeded Popham as president of the col
ony, was under the necessity of returning to England on account
of the decease of his brother, ofVhich intelligence was received
by another arrival, and the Colonists, discouraged by so many ad
verse circumstances, resolved to abandon the country and return
with him. Thus in less than one year from the time the settle
ment was commenced, the northern colony was broken up ; the
country was denounced as uninhabitable, and no further attempts
were made for many years to promote its settlement by the Com
pany to whom it was assigned by the patent of King James.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a conspicuous member of the Plymouth
Company, alone remained undiscouraged. The attention of this
gentleman appears to have been first turned to this part of America
in the year 1605, when Capt. Weymouth arrived in the harbor
of Plymouth where he resided, on his return from a voyage for the
discovery of the northwest passage. Falling short of his course,
Weymouth had accidentally discovered the river Penobscot, from
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 173
whence he carried to England five of the natives, ' three of whom,1
says Gorges, ' I seized upon ; they were all of one nation, but of
several parts and several families. This accident must be ac
knowledged the means under God of putting on foot and giving
life to all our plantations. He retained these Indians in his family
three years, and obtained from them much information respecting
their native shores : they were afterwards sent back. Gorges
henceforth took a deep interest in schemes for the settlement of
North Virginia, and was rather chagrined than discouraged by the
return of the Sagadahock colonists, and the unfavorable reports
which they spread concerning the country. ' He had too much
experience in the world,' he said, ' to be frighted with such a
blast, as knowing many great kingdoms and large territories more
northerly seated and by many degrees colder, were plentifully in
habited, and divers of them stored with no better commodities
than these afforded, if like industry, art and labor be used.' Un
able, however, to persuade the company to undertake the planting
of a second colony, Gorges engaged in private enterprises to this
coast, which began to be much resorted to by English ships for
purposes of trade with the natives, and of fishing. In the year
1616, he sent hither a party commanded by Richard Vines, for
the express object of exploring the country with a view to form a
settlement. He contracted with them to remain during the win
ter, with the hope of removing the prejudice excited by the Saga
dahock colonists against the character of the climate.
They arrived during the prevalence of a destructive disease
among the natives, which spread throughout New England, com
mencing its ravages in the west. This pestilence is noticed by
all the writers on the early history of New England, with some
difference of opinion as to the precise year of its occurrence. A
late and highly respectable writer supposes it to have prevailed in
different places at different times, but a few years previous to the
arrival of the Plymouth pilgrims. It was regarded by those pious
colonists as a special interposition of divine providence in their
favor, so great was the havoc it made among the tribes in that
quarter. ' Thus,' says old Morton, ' God made way for his people
by removing the heathen and planting them in the land.'
Mr. Vines and his companions penetrated into the interior, vis
iting the Indians in their villages and wigwams, who received them
with great kindness and hospitality. Beside the ravages of sick
ness, they were at this time thrown into confusion by the death of
the Bashaba or chief sachem, whom the Tarrantines, living east
of the Penobscot, had attacked by surprise and destroyed with his
family the preceding year. Great dissensions had immediately
followed among the different tribes, who were engaged in a de^
structive war with each other when the pestilence made its ap-
15*
174
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
First Settlers of Maine.
pearance. In the midst of these evils, the Englishmen passed
with safety among them, and slept in their cabins without suffering
from the contagion. They were in particular welcomed by the
savages whom they had seen in the family of Gorges at Plymouth,
and now met in their native homes. Having visited different
parts of the coast, this little party prepared to establish themselves
for the winter. The spot which they selected for their abode, we
have reason to suppose, was at the mouth of Saco river, on the
western side, near the capacious and sheltered basin now called
the Pool, but in early times known as Winter Harbor.
Vines performed several voyages to our coast in the service of
Gorges, and it is probable made Winter Harbor his principal re
sort. While he was occupied in exploring the country and tra
ding with the natives, his men were engaged in fishing. How long
he pursued this course, we are not informed, nor do we find him
mentioned again until several years after his early residence at
Winter Harbor.
The employments of the colonists were chiefly agriculture,
fishing, and trade with the natives. Most of them combined these
pursuits, and were styled husbandmen or planters.
The husbandmen took up tracts of 100 acres, of which they
received leases on nominal or small rents, from Mr. Vines.
Some of these are now on record. An estate that had been in the
possession of Thomas Cole, including ' a mansion or dwelling-
house,' was leased by Mr. Vines to John' West for the term of
1000 years, for the annual rent of two shillings and one capon, a
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C 175
previous consideration having been paid by West. The lease
which is partly in the latin language, was executed, 1638. Ano
ther deed from Vines requires the lessee to yield and pay an ac
knowledgement and rent-charge of 5s., two days work, and one
fat goose yearly. In this manner were all the planters rendered
tenants to the proprietor, none of them holding their estates in fee
simple. Fishing was the most common occupation, as it was both easy
and profitable to barter the products of this business for corn from
Virginia, and other stores from England. The trade with the
planters of Massachusetts soon became considerable. In 1636,
Mr. Vines had a consignment of bread and beef from that quarter.
Jocelyn remarks that ' Winter Harbor is a noted place for fishers.'
He describes this mode of pursuing the business in the following
manner : 'The fisherman take yearly on the coast many hundred
quintals of cod, hake, haddock, pollock, &c. and dry them at their
stages, making three voyages in a year. They make merchant
able and refuse fish, which they sell to Massachusetts merchants ;
the first for 32 ryals ($4) per quintal ; the refuse for 9 and 10
shillings ($2, and 2,25). The merchant sends the first to Lisbon,
Bilboa, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulon, and other cities of France ;
to Canaries, pipe-staves and clapboards ; the refuse fish to the W.
Indies for the negroes. To every shallop belong four fishermen,
a master or steersman, a midshipman, and a shoreman, who
washes it out of the salt; and dries it upon hurdles pitched upon
stakes breast high, and tends their cookery. They often get in
one voyage 8 or 9 barrels a share per man. The merchant buys
of the planters beef, pork, peas, wheat, Indian corn, and sells it to
the fishermen.'
The expense of each planter to provision himself was quite
small, if we may judge from an estimate furnished by Mr. Joce
lyn for the information of proposed emigrants. A similar estimate
had been previously made by Capt. Smith with reference to Vir
ginia. ' Victuals to last one man a year ; 8 bushels of meal, £2 :
two bushels of peas, 6 shillings : two bushels of oatmeal, 9 shil
lings : one gallon of aqua vitae, (brandy), 2s. 6d. : one gallon of
oil, 3s. 6d. : two gallons of vinegar, 2s, :' total, £3 3s., equal
to $14.A considerable traffic was carried on with the natives by many
of the planters, some of them visiting remote parts of the coast, or
traveling into the interior for this purpose. English and French
goods were bartered for valuable furs, particularly beaver."
176
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
VERMONT.
The territory now compri
sed within the State of Ver
mont, owing to its distance
from the English settlements
on the sea-coasts, and from
the French on the St. Law
rence, prevented its settle
ment by either nation at an
early period. "In 1716, a
tract of land was granted by
the general court of Massa
chusetts, in the southeast
part of the state, containing
more than one hundred thou
sand acres. But it was not
Arms of Vermont. ^ the year 1724> that any
settlement was made, within the bounds of Vermont : the gov
ernment of Massachusetts then built fort Dummer, upon Connec
ticut river. This fort was then admitted to be within Massachu
setts ; afterwards it was found to be in New Hampshire, and is
now in Vermont. This was the first settlement any civilized na
tion had ever made in this state. On the other side of the state,
the French made their advances up lake Champlain, and in 1731,
built their fort at Crown Point, and began a settlement on the east
side of the lake. This part of America became of course the
seat of war, and was constantly exposed to the depredations of
both nations, and their Indian allies ; and it was dangerous and
impracticable to settle the country.
The wars having terminated in the reduction of Canada, the
frontiers of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire,
were no longer exposed to the inroads of the French, or to the
ravages and depredations of the Indians. The prospect was that
the unsettled parts of the country would now afford quiet and
peaceable abodes for a large body of farmers, who might with
ease and safety advance their fortunes, and establish settlements,
and townships in every part of the frontiers. On such accounts
the unsettled lands of the country acquired a new value, and
were every where explored and sought after, by speculators and
adventurers.
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
177
Among these lands none appeared more inviting, than the tract
of country which was situated between lake Champlain and Con
necticut river. The soil was rich and fertile, favorable in many
places to the production of grain, and in all to grazing and the
raising of cattle. It was plentifully watered by streams and riv
ers, and abounded with necessary and useful timber. In such a
soil and situation, the labor and hardships of a few years could
scarcely fail of producing rich and valuable farms, with all the
ease and independence that is naturally annexed to industry in
the rural economy and life.
First Settlers of Vermont.
Encouraged by such prospects, many persons were diposed to
attempt their fortunes, by settling or speculating in those lands ;
and as they were generally supposed to fall within the limits of
New Hampshire, the applications were made to that government
for the purchase, and for a title to the proposed new townships.
The governor of New Hampshire wished to encourage these ap
plications ; and when a sufficient number of purchasers appeared
to advance the purchase money, and pay the customary fees and
donations, he was always ready to make the grants and issue the
charters. Nor could the purchasers be apprehensive that any
controversies could arise respecting the validity of grants and
charters, purporting to be made by the king of Great Britain,
under the signature -and seal of the governor of New Hampshire ;
as this was one of the royal provinces, and the lands were fairly
purchased and paid for. They had further reasons for such ex-
178 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
pectations, for a royal decision had been made, which was under
stood to have decisively assigned these lands to that province.
The provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire had a
long and tedious controversy, respecting their divisional line.
This was not settled until March 5, 1740; when George the
second determined, ' that the northern boundary of the province
of Massachusetts be, a similar curve line, pursuing the course of
Merrimack river, at three miles distance, on the north side thereof,
beginning at the Atlantic ocean, and ending at a point due north
of Patucket falls ; and a straight line drawn from thence, due
west, until it meets with his Majesty's other governments.' This
line was run in 1741, and has ever since been admitted as the
boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. By
this decision, and the establishment of this line, the government
of New Hampshire concluded, that their jurisdiction extended as
far west, as Massachusetts had claimed and exercised ; that is,
within twenty miles of Hudson's river. The king of Great Brit
ain, had repeatedly recommended to the assembly of New Hamp
shire, to make provision for the support of fort Dummer ; as a
fortress, which had now fallen within their jurisdiction, and was
known to stand on the west side of Connecticut river. From
these circumstances, it was not doubted either in Britain, or in
America, but that the jurisdiction of New Hampshire extended
to the west of Connecticut river ; but how far to the west, had
never been examined, or called into question. Benning Went-
worth was at that time governor of New Hampshire. In 1749,
he made a grant of a township, six miles square. It was situated
twenty miles east of Hudson's river, and six miles north of Mas
sachusetts line. In allusion to his own name, he gave to this
township the name of Bennington. For the space of four or five
years, he made several other grants, on the west side of Connec
ticut river. In 1754, hostilities commenced between the English
and the French in America, which put a stop to the applications
and grants, and issued in a war between the two crowns. In
1760, the operations of the war, in this part of America, were
terminated, by the surrender of Montreal, and the entire conquest
of Canada. ' During the progress of the war, the New England
troops cut a road from Charlestown in New Hampshire, to Crown
Point, and were frequently passing through these lands ; and their
fertility and value became generally known. Upon the cessation
of hostilities, they were eagerly sought after, by adventurers and
speculators. By the advice of his council, the governor of New
Hampshire directed a survey to be made of Connecticut river,
for sixty miles ; and three lines of townships to be laid out on
each side. The applications for lands constantly increased, and
new surveys were made."
DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C. 179
A great proportion of the first settlers were from Connecticut.
Following the course of the Connecticut river, they established
themselves along its banks, and afterwards in other parts of the
state. Brattleborough may be considered as the oldest town, as
within its limits the settlement at fort Dummer was commenced
in 1724. Bennington was first settled in 1761, Windsor in 1764.
Rutland was settled about 1770, Burlington about 1783. Mont-
pelier, the capital of the state, was first settled in the spring of 1 786.
"So rapid was the progress, that during the year 1761, not
less than sixty townships, of six miles square, were granted on
the west of Connecticut river. The whole number of grants,
in one or two years more,, amounted to one hundred and thirty-
eight ; and their extent, was from Connecticut river, to what was
esteemed twenty miles east of Hudson's river, so far as that ex
tended to the northward ; and after that as far west as the eastern
shore of Lake Champlain. The cultivation of the country, and
the number of the settlers, increased with a surprising rapidity ;
and WentWorth had an opportunity to accumulate a large fortune,
by the fees and donations which attended the business, and by a
reserve of five hundred acres, which he made in every township
for himself.
The government of New York, wishing to have the profits,
and intending to have the disposal of the lands, was alarmed at
these proceedings. Charles the second, in 1664 and 1674, made
an extraordinary grant to his brother, the duke of York ; contain
ing among other parts of America, ' all the lands from the west
side of Connecticut river, to the east side of Delaware bay.'
This grant was inconsistent with the charters, which had before
been granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut ; and neither of
them admitted it to have any effect, with regard to the lands which
they had settled, or claimed to the west of Connecticut river."
This and other royal grants occasioned a good deal of difficul
ty between New York and the parties concerned. The grants
made by New Hampshire, were considered by New York as il
legal and of no authority, and endeavored in some instances to
enforce submission to her jurisdiction by force of arms. " The
main body of the settlers at that time, consisted of a brave, har
dy, intrepid, but uncultivated set of men. Without many of the
advantages of education, without any other property than what
hard labor and hard living had procured, destitute of the con
veniences and elegances of life, and having nothing to soften
or refine their manners ; roughness, excess, and violence, would
naturally mark their proceedings. To deny such people jus
tice, was to prejudice and arm them against it, to confirm all
their suspicions and prejudices against their rulers, and to give
them an excuse and plea to proceed to outrage and violence.
180 DISCOVERIES, SETTLEMENTS, &C
When the government of New York gave to their proceedings the
names of mobs and riots, abuse and outrage to their officers, it is
probable the expressions conveyed pretty just ideas, of the ap
pearance of their conduct, and opposition to the laws. But when
they called their opposition, felony, treason, and rebellion against
lawful authority, the people of the adjacent provinces seem to
have believed, that the government of New York was much more
blamablc, in making and executing such laws as called their titles
to their lands in question, than the settlers were, in acting in open
and avowed opposition to them.
" In this scene of violence, and opposition to the proceedings of
New York, Ethan Allen placed himself at the head of the oppo
sition. Bold, enterprising, ambitious, with great confidence in his
own abilities, he undertook to direct the proceedings of the inhab
itants. He wrote and dispersed several pamphlets to display the
injustice, and designs, of the New York proceedings : and so
oppressive were those measures, that although Allen was a very
indifferent writer, his pamphlets were much read, and regarded ;
and had a great influence upon the minds and conduct of the
people. The uncultivated roughness of his own temper and
manners, seems to have assisted him, in giving a just description
of the views and proceedings of speculating land jobbers : and
where all was a scene of violence and abuse, such a method of
writing, did not greatly differ from the feelings of the settlers, or
from the style of the pamphlets that came from New York. But
though he wrote with asperity, a degree of generosity attended
his conduct ; and he carefully avoided bloodshed, and protested
against every thing that had the appearance of meanness, injus
tice, cruelty, or abuse, to those who fell into his power. Next
to him, Seth Warner seems to have been the most distinguished,
in those times. Warner was cool, firm, steady, resolute, and
fully determined that the laws of New York respecting the set
tlors, never should be carried into execution. When an officer
came to take him as a rioter, he considered it as an affair of open
hostility ; defended himself, attacked, wounded and disarmed the
officer ; but, with the spirit of a soldier, spared his life."*
These controversies continued till the Revolution, when the
attention of all parties was turned to a more important conflict
than that which related to titles and grants of territory. In 1777,
the people of Vermont delared themselves independent, and or
ganized a government for themselves. In 1790 all controversy
with New York was amicably adjusted, and in 1791, Vermont
was admitted into the Federal Union.
* Williams' History of Vermont, vol. 2.
WINTHROP'S JOURNAL
181
Gov. Winthrop, and copy of his Signature.
Extracts from Gov. Winthrop's Journal.
John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, kept a
journal of every important occurrence from his embarking for
America in 1630, to 1644. This manuscript, as appears by
some passages, was originally designed for publication ; and it
was consulted by the first compilers of New England History,
particularly by Hubbard, Mather, and Prince, It continued un
published, anduncopied, in possession of the elder branch of the
family, till the Revolutionary war, when Governor Trumbull of
Connecticut, procured it, and with the assistance of his secretary,
copied a considerable part. It was first printed at Hartford, Con.
by Elisha Babcock, in 1790.
" June (Friday) 12th, 1630. The wind still S. W. close weather ;
we stood to and again all this day within sight of Cape Anne. The
Isles of Shoals were now within two leagues of us, and we saw a ship
lie there at anchor, and 5 or 6 shallops under sail up and down.
We took many mackerel, and met a shallop which stood from Cape
Anne towards the Isles of Shoals, which belonged to some English
fishermen. Saturday 12. About 4 in the morning we were near our port : We
shot off two pieces of ordnance, and sent our skiff to Mr. Pierce his
ship which lay in the harbour, and had been here some days before.
16
182 ;, winthrop's journal.
About an hour after, Mr. Allerton came aboard us in a shallop as he
was sailing to Penaquid. As we stood towards the harbour we saw
another shallop coming to us, so we stood in to meet her, and passed
thro the narrow streight between Baker's Isle and Little Isle, and
came to an anchor a little within the Island.
After Mr. Pierce came aboard us, and returned to fetch Mr. En-
dicott, who came to us about 2 of the clock, and with him Mr. Shelton
and Capt. LeVett. We that were of the assistants, and some other
gentlemen, and some of the women and our Captain, returned with
them to Nahumkeck,* where we supped on a good venison pastry and
good beer, and at night we returned to our ship, but some of the women
stayed behind. In the morning the rest of the people went on shore
upon the land oft" Cape Anne, which lay very near us, to gather
store of strawberries. An Indian came aboard us and lay here all
night. June 17. We went to M'attachusetts, to find out a place for our
sitting down. We went up Mistick river about six miles. We lay
at Mr. Maverick's, and returned home on Saturday. As we came
home, we came by Nataskott and sent for Capt. Squibb ashore. He
had brought the West-country people, viz. Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Rosseter,
Mr. Maverick, and ended a difference between him and the passen
gers, whereupon he sent his boat to his ship (the Mary and John) and
at our firing gave us five pieces. At our return we found the Ambrose
in the harbour at Salem.
Sept. 20. About 2 in the morning, Mr. Isaac Johnson died ; his
wife the lady Arabella of the house of Lincoln, being dead about one
month before. He was a holy man, and wise, and died in sweet
peace, leaving some part of his substance to the colony.
Oct. 25. The Governor, upon consideration of the inconveniences
which had grown in England by drinking one to another, restrained it
at his own table, and wished others to do the like, so it grew by little
and little to disuse.
Dec. 26. The rivers are frozen up, and they of Charlestown could
not come to the sermon at Boston till the afternoon at high water.
Many of our cows and goats were forced to be still aboard for want of
houses. Richard Garner a shoe-maker of Boston, and one of the congrega
tion there, with one of his daughters a young maid and four others
went towards Plimouth in a shallop, against the advice of their friends,
and about the Gurnett's nose the wind overblew so much at N. W. as
they were forced to come to a hillock at 20 fathom, but their boat
drove and shaked out the stem and they were put to sea, and the boat
took in much water, which did freeze so hard as they could not free
her, so they gave themselves up for lost, and commending themselves
to God, they disposed themselves to die, but one of their company es
pying land near Cape Cod, they made shift to hoist up part of their
sail, and by God's special providence were carried thro the rock to
* Salem.
WINTHROP S JOURNAL. 183
the shore, when some got on land, but some had their legs frozen into
the ice, so as they were forced to be cut out. Being come on shore
they kindled a fire, but having no hatchet, they could get little wood,
and were forced to lie in the open air all night, being extremely cold.
In the morning two of their company went towards Plimouth, suppos
ing it had been within seven or eight miles, whereas it was near fifty
miles from them. By the way they met with two Indian squaws, who
coming home, told their husbands that they had met two English
men : they thinking (as it was) that they had been shipwrecked, made
after them, and brought them back to their wigwam, and entertained
them kindly, and one of them went with them the next day to Pli
mouth, and the other went to find out their boat and the rest of their
company, which were seven miles off, and having found them, he
helped them what he could, and returned to his wigwam, and fetched
them a hatchet, and built them a wigwam and covered it, and got them
wood, for they were so weak and frozen, as they could not stir, and
Garner died about two days after his landing, and the ground being so
frozen as they could not dig his grave, the Indian hewed a hole about
half a yard deep, with his hatchet, and having lain the corpse in it, he
laid over it a great heap of wood to keep it from the wolves. By this
time the Governor of Plimouth had sent three men to them with pro
visions, who being come, and not able to launch their boat, (which with
the strong N. W. wind was driven up to the high water mark) the Indian
returned to Plimouth and fetched three more, but before they came they
had launched their boat, and with a fair Southerly wind were gotten
to Plimouth where another of their company died, his flesh being mor
tified with the frost ; and the two who went towards Plimouth died
also, one of them being not able to get hither, and the other had his
feet so frozen as he died of it after. The girl escaped best, and one
Harmer, a godly man of the congregation of B. lay long under the sur
geon's hands, and it was above six weeks before he could get the
boat from Plimouth ; and in their return they were much distressed,
yet their boat was very well manned, the want whereof before was
the cause of their loss.
Feb. 10,1631. The frost broke up, and after that tho we had many
storms and sharp frost, yet they continued not, neither were the wa
ters frozen up as before. And it hath been observed ever since this
bay was planted by the English, viz, seven years, that at this day the
frost hath broken up every year. The poorer sort of people who lay
long in tents, &c. were much afflicted with the scurvy, and many died,
especially at Boston and Charlestown ; but when this ship came and
brought us good stores of juice of lemons, many recovered speedily.
It hath been always observed, that such as fell into discontent, and
lingered after their former condition in England, fell into the scurvy
and died.
Feb. 18. Captain Weldon, a hopeful young gentlemen and an ex
perienced soldier, died at Charlestown of a consumption, and was bu
ried at Boston, with a military funeral.
Of the elder planters and such as came the year before, there were
184 WINTHROP'S JOURNAL.
but two, and those servants, which had the scurvy in all the country.
At Plimouth not one had it, nor out of those who came this year
(whereof there were above sixty). Whereas at their first planting
time near half of their people died of it.
Of those which went back in the ships this summer, for fear of
death or famine, &c. many died by the way and after they were land
ed, and others fell very sick and lean, &c.
The provision which came to us this year, came at excessive rates,
in regard of the deamess of corn in England, so as every bushel of
wheat meal stood us in fourteen shillings, pease eleven and six
pence, &c.
March 23. Chickatabot came with his sannops and squaws, and
presented the Governor with a bushel of Indian corn. After they had
all dined and had each a small cup of sacke and beer, and the men
tobacco, he sent away all his men and women, tho the Governor
would have stayed them, in regard to the rain and thunder ; himself
and one squaw and one sannop stayed all night, and being in English
clothes, the Gov. set them at his own table, where he behaved himself
as soberly, &c. as an Englishman. The next day after dinner here-
turned here, the Governor giving him cheese and pease and a mug and
some other small things.
March 29. About 10 of the clock Mr. Coddington and Mr. Wilson
and divers of the congregation met at the Governor's, and there Mr.
Wilson praying and exhorting the congregation to love &c. com
mended to them the exercise of prophecy in his absence and designed
those whom he thought most fit for it (viz) the Governor, Mr. Dudley,
and Mr. Newell the elder ; then he desired the Governor to commit
himself and the rest to God by prayer, which being done, they ac
companied him to the boat, and so they went over to Charleston to go
by land to the ship.
April 12. At a court holden at Boston (upon information to the
Governor that they of Salem had called Mr. Williams to the office of
a teacher) a letter was written from the court to Mr. Endicott to this
effect ; that whereas Mr. Williams had refused to join with the
churches at Boston, because they would not make a public declaration
of their repentance for having communion with the churches of Eng
land while they tarried there ; and besides had declared his opinion
that the magistrate might not punish the breach of the sabbath nor any
other offence that was a breach of the first table ; and therefore they
marvelled they would chose him without advising with the council,
and withal desiring him that he would forbear to proceed until they
had considered about it.
April 13. Chickatabot came to the governor, and desired to buy
some English cloths for himself. The Governor told him that
English Sagamores did not use to truck, but he called his taylor and
gave him order to make him a suit of clothes, whereupon he gave the
governor two large skins of coat beaver, and after he and his men had
dined he departed, and said he would come again three days after for
his suit.
WINTHROP'S JOURNAL. 185
April 15. Chickatabot came to the governor again, and he put him
into a very good new suit from head to foot, and after he sat meat be
fore him, but he would not eat till the Governor had given thanks, and
after meat he desired him to do the like, and so departed.
June 14. At a court Jo. Sagamore and Chickatabot being told at
last court of some injuries that their men did to our cattle, and giving
consent to make satisfaction &c. now one of their men was complained
of for shooting a pig, for which Chickatabot was ordered to pay a small
skin of beaver, which he presently paid.
At this court one Philip Ratlif a servant of Mr. Cradock, being
convict ore tenus of most foul scandalous invectives against our
churches and government, was censured to be whipped, lose his ears,
and be banished the plantation, which was presently executed.
July 13. Canonicus, son to the great Sachem of Naraganset, came
to the Governor's house with Jo. Sagamore, after they had dined he
gave the Governor a skin, and the Governor requited him with a fair
pewter pot, which he took very thankfully and stayed all night.
July 30. Mr. Ludlow in digging the foundation of his house at
Dorchester, found two pieces of French money, one was coined in
1596, they were in several places above a foot within the firm
ground. Sept. 27. At a court one Josias Playstone and two of his servants
were censured for stealing corn from Chickatabot and his men, who
were present, the master to restore two fold, and to be degraded from
the title of a gentleman, and fined five pounds, and his men to be
whipped. Oct. 11. The Governor being at his farm house at Mistick, walk
ed out after supper and took a piece in his hand, supposing he might
see a wolf (for they came daily about the house, and killed swine and
calves, &c.) and being about half a mile off, it grew suddenly dark, so
as in coming home he mistook his path, and went till he came to a
little house of Sagamore John, which stood empty ; there he stayed,
and having a piece of match in his pocket (for he always carried about
his match and compass, and in the former there spake need) he made
a good fire and warmed the house, and lay down upon some old matts
which he found there, and so spent the night, sometimes walking by
the fire, sometimes singing psalms, and sometimes getting wood, but
could not sleep. It was (thro God's mercy) a weary night, but a little
before day it began to rain, and having no cloak, he made shift by a
long pole to climb up into the house. In the morning there came
thither an Indian squaw, but perceiving her before she had opened
the door, he barred her out, yet she stayed there a great while essay
ing to get in, and at last she. went away, and he returned safe home,
his servant having been much perplexed for him, and having walked
about, and shot off pieces and halloed in the night, but he heard them
not. Oct. 25. The Governor, with Capt. Underhill and other of the
officers went on foot to Sagus, and next day to Salem, where they
were bountifully entertained by Capt. Endicott, &c. and the 28th
16*
186 WINTHROP'S JOURNAL.
they returned to Boston by the fort at Sagus river, and so over to
Mistick. Nov. 2. The ship Lyon Wm. Pierce, master, arrived at Natascot.
there came in her the Governor's wife, and other of his children, and
Mr. Eliot, a minister, and other families, being in all about 60 persons,
who all arrived in good health, having been ten weeks at sea, and lost
none of their company but two children, whereof one was the Gover
nor's daughter Anne, about one year and half old, who died about a
week after they came to sea.
Nov. 4. The Governor, his wife and children went on shore with
Mri Pierce in his ship boat, the ship gave them six or seven pieces.
At their landing the Captains with their companies in arms entertained
them with a guard and divers vollies of shot, and three drakes ; — and
divers of the assistants and most of the people of the near plantations,
came to welcome them, and brought and sent, for divers days, great
store of provisions, as fat hogs, kids, venison, poultry, geese, par
tridges, &c. so as the like joy and manifestation of love had never been
seen in New England : it was a great marvel that so much people and
store of provisions could be gathered together at so few hours warning.
Feb. 17, 1632. The Governor and assistants called before them
at Boston divers of Watertown ; the pastors and elder by letter, and
the others by warrant. The occasion was for that a warrant being
sent to Watertown for levying of 81. part of a rate of 601. ordered for
the fortifying the new town ; the pastor and elder, &c. assembled the
people and deliver'd their opinion, that it was not safe to pay money
after that sort, for fear of bringing themselves into bondage, being
come before the governor and council, after much debate they ac
knowledged their fault, confessing freely that they were in an error,
and made a retraction and submission under their hands, and were
injoyned to read it in the assembly the next Lord's day. The ground
of their error was, for that they took this government to be no other
but as of a mayor and aldermen, who have not power to make laws
or raise taxations without the people ; but understanding that this
government was rather in the nature of a Parliament, and that no as
sistant could be chosen but by the freemen, who had power likewise
to remove the assistants and put in others, and therefore at every gen
eral court (which was to be holden once every year) they had free
liberty to consider and propound any thing concerning the same, and
m declare their grievances without being subject to question, &c.
they were fully satisfied, and so their submission was accepted and
their offence pardoned.
May 1. The Governor and assistants met at Boston to consider
of the Deputy his deserting his place. The points discussed were
two. The first, upon what grounds he did it. 2d, whether it were
good or void. For the 1 st, his main reason was for public peace,
for he must needs discharge his conscience in speaking freely, and
he saw that bred disturbance. For the 2d, it was maintained by all
that he could not to leave his place, except by the same power which
put him in ; yet he could not be put from his contrary opinion, nor
WINTHROP S JOURNAL. 187
would be persuaded to continue till the general court, which was to
be the 8th of this month.
Another question fell out with him about some bargains he had
made with some poor men, members of the same congregation, to
whom he had sold 7 bushels and an half of corn to receive ten for it
after harvest," which the Governor and some others held to be op
pressive usury, and within the compass of the statute, but he per
sisted to maintain it to be lawful, and there arose hot words about it,
he telling the Governor that if he had thought he had sent for him
to his house to give him such usage, he would not have come there,
and that he never knew any man of understanding, of other opinion,
and that if the Governor thought otherwise of it, it was his weak
ness. The Governor took notice of these speeches and bore them
with more patience than he had done upon a like occasion at another
time. Upon this there arose another question about his house. The
Governor having freely told him that he did not well to bestow so
much cost about wainscoting and adorning his house in the beginning
of a plantation, both in regard of the necessity of public charges,
and for example. His answer now was, that it was for the warmth
of his house, and the charge was little, being but clapboards nailed
to the walls in form of wainscot. These and other speeches passed
before dinner. After dinner the Governor told him he had heard that
the people intended at the next general court to desire that the assis
tants might be chosen anew every year, and that the Governor might
be chosen by the whole court and not by the assistants only. Upon
this Mr. Dudley grew into passion, and said that then we should have
no government, but there would be an interim wherein every man
might do what he pleased. This was answered and cleared in the
judgment of the rest of the assistants, but he continued stiff in his
opinion, and protested he would then return back into England.
May 8. A proposition was made by the people that every compa
ny of train-men might choose their own Captain and officers, but the
Governor giving them reasons to the contrary, they were satisfied
with it.
Every town may choose two men to be at the next court to advise
with the Governor and assistants about the raising of a public stock,
so as what they should agree upon should bind all, &c. The Gov
ernor among other things used this speech to the people after he had
taken his oath, — That he had received gratuities from divers towns,
which he received with much comfort and content ; he had also re
ceived many kindnesses from particular persons, which he would not
refuse, least he should be accounted uncourteous, &c. but he expres
sed that he received them with a trembling heart, in regard of God's
rule, and the consciousness of his own inconformity, and therefore
desired them that hereafter they would not take it ill if he did refuse
presents from particular persons except they were from the assist
ants, or from special friends, &c. to which no answer was made,
but he was told after that many good people were much grieved at it,
for that he never had any allowance towards the charge of his place.
188 winthrop's journal.
Jan. 17, 1633. A maid servant of Mr. Skelton of Salem, going
towards Sagus, was lost seven days, and at length came home to Sa
lem. All that time she was in the woods, having no kind of food,
the snow being very deep, and as cold as at any time that winter.
She was so frozen into the snow some mornings as she was one hour
before she could get up, yet she soon recovered and did' well through
the Lord's wonderful providence.
July 12. Mr. Edward Winslow, Governor of Plimouth, and Mr.
Bradford came into the bay, and went away the 1 8th. They came
partly to confer about joining in a trade to Connecticut, for beaver
and hemp : there was a motion to set up a trading house there, to
prevent the Dutch who were about to build one, but in regard the
place was not fit for plantation, there being three or four thousand
warlike Indians, and the river not to be gone into but by small pin
naces, having a bar affording but six feet at high water, and for that
no vessels can get in for 7 months in the year, partly by reason of
the ice, and then the violent stream, &c. we thought not fit to med
dle with it.
Nov. The scarcity of workmen had caused them to raise their
wages to an excessive rate, so as a carpenter would have three shil
lings the day, a laborer two shillings and six-pence, &c. and accord^
ingly those who had commodities to sell, advanced their prices some
times double to that they cost in England, so as it grew to a general
complaint, which the court taking knowledge of, as also of some fur
ther evils which were springing out of the excessive rate of wages,
they made an order that carpenters, masters, &c. should take but 2s.
the day, and laborers but 18d., — and that no commodity should be
sold at above four pence in the shilling more than it cost for ready
money in England, oil, wine, &c. and cheese in regard of the hazard
of bringing, &c. The evils which were springing, were, 1. Many
spent much time idly, because they could get as much in four days
as would keep them a week. 2. They spent much in tobacco and
strong waters,* which was a great waste to the Commonwealth, which
by reason of so many scarce commodities expended could not have
subsisted to this time, but that it was supplied by the cattle and com
which were sold to new comers at very dear rates, viz. corn at 6s.
the bushel ; a cow at 201. — yea some at 241. some 261. a mare at 351.
an ewe goat at 3 or 41. and yet many cattle were every year brought
out of England, and some from Virginia. Soon after an order was
taken for prices of commodities, viz. not to exceed the rate of four
pence in the shilling above the price in England, except cheese and
liquors, &c.
Dec. 5. John Sagamore died of the small pox and almost all his
people, about 30 buried by Mr. Maverick of Winesemett in one day.
The towns in the bay took away many of the children, but most of
them died soon after. James Sagamore of Sagus died also and most
of his folks. John Sagamore desired to be brought among the Eng
lish, so he agreed and promised, if he recovered, to live with the
*Rum or spirits.
winthrop's journal. 189
English and serve their God. He left one son which he disposed to
Mr. Wilson the pastor of Boston to be brought up by him. He gave
to the Governor a good quantity of wampampeague, and to divers
others of the English he gave gifts and took order for the payment
of his own debts and his men's ; he died in a persuasion that he
should go to the Englishmen's God. Divers of them in their sick
ness confessed that the Englishmen's God was a good God, and that
if they recovered they would serve him. It wrought much with them
that when their own people forsook them, yet the English came daily
and ministered to them, and yet few took any instructions by it.
Among others Mr. Maverick of Winesemett is worthy of special re
membrance ; himself, his wife and servants went daily to them, min
istered to their necessities, and buried their dead, and took home
many of their children ; so did other of the neighbors. This infec
tious disease spread to Piscataqua, where all the Indians except one or
two died.
Feb. 1, 1634. Such of the Indians' children as were left, were
taken by the English, most whereof did die of the pox* soon after,
three only remaining, whereof one which the Governor kept was
called Knows God, (the Indians' usual answer being, when they were
put in mind of God, me no knows God).
March 7. At the lecture at Boston a question was propounded
about veils. Mr. Cotton concluded that where by the custom of the
place, they were not a sign of a woman's sobriety, they were not
commanded by the apostle. Mr. Endicott opposed, and did maintain
it by the general arguments brought by the apostle. After some de
bate, the Governor perceiving it to grow to some earnestness, inter
posed and so it brake off.
, May. One , a godly minister, upon conscience of his oath
and care of the common W. discovered to the magistrates some se
ditious speeches of his son delivered in private to himself, but the
court thought not fit to call the party in question then, being loth to
have the father come in as public accuser of his own son, but rather
desired to find other matters, or other witnesses against him.
Aug. 12. One pleasant passage happened which was acted by
the Indians. Mr. Winslow coming in his bark from Connecticut to
Narragansett, and left her there, and intending to return by land, he
went to Osamekin the Sagamore, his old ally, who offered to conduct
him home to Plimouth, but before they took their journey Osamekin
sent one of his men to Plimouth to tell them that Mr. Winslow was
dead, and directed him to shew how and where he was killed, where
upon there was much fear and sorrow at Plimouth. The next day
when Osamekin brought him home they asked him why he sent such
word, &c. he answered, that it was their manner to do so that they
might be more welcome when they came home.
Oct. 14. It was informed the Governor that some of our people
being aboard the bark of Maryland, the sailors did revile them, call
ing them holy brethren, the members, &c. and withal did curse and
* The small-pox, which proved fatal to many of the natives.
190
swear most horribly, and used threatening speeches against us. The
Governor wrote to some of the assistants about it, and upon advice
with the ministers, it was agreed to call them in question ; and to
this end, (because we knew not how to get them out of their bark),
we apprehended the merchant of the ship, being one Store, and com
mitted him to the marshal, till Mr. Maverick came and undertook
that the offender should be forthcoming. The next day (the Gover
nor not being well) we examined the witnesses and found them fall
short of the matter of threatening, and not to agree about the reviling
speeches, beside not being able to design certainly the men that had
so offended, whereupon (the bark staying only for this) the bail was
discharged, and a letter written to the master, that in regard such dis
orders were committed aboard his ship, it was his duty to inquire out
the offenders and punish them, and withal to desire him to bring no
more such disordered persons among us.
Nov. 20. At the court of assistants complaint was made by some
of the country, viz. Richard Brown of Watertown in the name of the
rest, that the ensign at Salem was defaced, viz. one part of the red
cross taken out. Upon this an attachment was awarded against Rich
ard Davenport, Ensign bearer, to appear at the next, court to answer.
Much matter was made of this, as fearing it would be taken as an
act of rebellion, or of like high nature, in defacing the King's colors :
Though the truth were it was done upon this opinion, that the red
cross was given to the King of England by the Pope, as an ensign
of victory, and so a superstitious thing, and a relic of antichrist.
What proceeding was hereupon, will appear after, at next court in
the first month, for by reason of the great snows and frosts we used
not to keep courts in the three winter months.
Nov. 13. One thing I think fit to observe as a witness of God's
providence for this plantation. There came in a ship of Barnstable
one Mansfield, a poor godly man of Exeter, being very desirous to
come to us, but not able to transport his family : there was in the city
a rich merchant, one Marshall, who being troubled in his dreams
about the said poor man, could not be quiet till he had sent for him
and given him 501. and lent him 1001. willing him withal, that if he
wanted, he should send to him for more. This Mansfield grew sud
denly rich and then lost his godliness, and his wealth soon after.
Jan. 19. All the ministers except Mr. Ward of Ipswich, met at
Boston, being requested by the Governor and assistants, to consider
of these two cases. 1. What ought to be done if a general Gover
nor should be sent out of England ? 2. Whether it be lawful for us
to carry the cross in our banners ? In the first case they all agreed
that if a general Governor were sent, we ought not to accept him,
but defend our lawful possessions (if we were able), otherwise to
avoid or protract. For the matter of the cross they were divided,
and so deferred it to another meeting. *
Mo. 1, 1635. At this court brass farthings were forbidden, and
musket bullets made to pass for farthings. A commissioner for mili
tary affairs was established who had power of life and limb, &c.
winthrop's journal. 191
Mo. 2, 30. The Governor and assistants sent for Mr. Williams ;
the occasion was for that he had taught publicly, that a magistrate
ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man, for that we there
by have communion with a wicked man in the worship of God, and
cause him to take the name of God in vain. He was heard before
all the ministers, and very clearly confessed. Mr. Endicott was at
first of the same opinion, but gave place to the teacher.
Mo. 11 Jan. Mr. Hugh Peters went from place to place laboring
both publicly and privately, to raise up men to a public frame of spirit,
and so prevailed as he procured a good sum of money to be raised
to set on foot the fishing business, to the value of , and wrote
into England to raise as much more. The intent was to set up a
magazine of all provisions and other necessaries for fishing, that men
might have things at hand and for reasonable prices, whereas now
the merchants and seamen took advantage to sell at most excessive
rates, (in many things two for one).
Mo. 1, 8, 1636. The Rebecca came from Bermuda with thirty
thousand weight of potatoes, and store of oranges and lemons, which
were a great relief to our people ; but their corn was sold to the W.
Indies three months before. Potatoes were bought for 2*8. and sold
here for 2d. the pound.
Mo. 2, .11'. At a general court it was ordered that a certain num
ber of the magistrates should be chosen for life. The reason was,
for that it was shewed from the word of God, &c. that the principal
magistrates ought to be for life. Accordingly the 25th of the 3d Mo.
John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley were chosen to this place, and
Henry Vane by his place of Governorship was President of this
council for his year. It was likewise ordered that quarter courts
should be kept in several places for ease of the people, and in regard
of the streights of victuals, the remote towns should send their votes
by proxy to the court of elections ; and that no church should be al
lowed that was gathered without the consent of the churches and the
magistrates. Mo. 3. 15. Mr. Peters preaching at Boston, made an earnest re
quest to the church for four things. 1. That they would spare their
teacher Mr. Cotton, for a time, that he might go through the Bible
and raise marginal notes upon all the knotty places of the scripture.
2. That a new book of might be made, to begin where the other
had left. 3. That a form of church government might be drawn ac
cording to the scripture. 4. That they would take order for employ
ment of people, especially women and children, in the winter time,
for he feared that idleness would be the vice both of church and com
monwealth. 9ber. 17. Cattle were grown to high rates, a good cow 251. or 301. —
a pair of bulls or oxen 40/. — Corn was near at 5*. the bushel, and
much rye was sown with the plow this year, for about thirty plows
were at work. Board was at 9 and 10s. the C. — carpenters at 3*.
the day and other work accordingly. ,
192 winthrop's journal.
Things went not well at Connecticut, their cattle did many of them
cast their young, as they had done the year before.
Mo. 12, 1637. Divers gentlemen and others being joined in a
military company, desired to be made a corporation, but the council
considering from the example of the Praetorian band among the Ro
mans and the templars in Europe, how dangerous it might be to erect
a standing authority of military men, which might easily in time over
throw the civil power, thought fit to stop it betimes, yet they were al
lowed to be a company, but subordinate to all authority.
About this time the Indians which were in our families were much
frightened with Hobbanock (as they called the Devil) appearing to
them in divers shapes, and persuading them to forsake the English,
and not to come at the assemblies, nor to learn to read, &c.
Mo. 1, 1638. At this court divers of our chief military officers
who had declared themselves favorers of the familistical persons and
opinions were sent for, and being told that the court having some jeal
ousy of them for the same, and therefore did desire some general
satisfaction from them, they did ingenuously acknowledge how they
had been deceived and misled by the pretence which had been held
forth of advancing Christ and debasing the creature, which since they
had found to be otherwise, and that their opinions and practice led to
disturbance and delusions, and so blessed God that had so timely dis
covered their error and danger to them.
Mo. 6. Four servants of Plimouth ran from their masters, and
coming to Providence, they killed an Indian. He escaped after he
was deadly wounded in the belly, and got to other Indians, so being
discovered they fled and were taken at the Isle Aquiday. Mr. Wil
liams gave notice to the Governor of Massachusetts and desired ad
vice. He returned answer,. that seeing they were of Plimouth they
should certify Plimouth of them, and if they would send for them to
deliver them, otherwise, seeing no Englishman had jurisdiction in
the place where the murder was committed, neither had they at the
Island any Governor established, it would be safest to deliver the
principal (who was certainly known to have killed the party) to the
Indians his friends, with caution that they should not put him to tor
ture, and to keep the other three to further consideration. After this
Plimouth men sent for them, but one had escaped, and the Governor
there wrote to the Governor here for advice, especially for that he
heard they intended to appeal into England. The Governor returned
answer of encouragement to proceed notwithstanding, seeino- no ap- •
peal did lie, for that they could not be tried in England, and that the
whole country here were interested in the case and would expect to
6ee justice done, whereupon they proceeded as appears after.
The three prisoners being brought to Plimouth and examined, did
all confess the murder, and that they did it to get his wampom, &c.
but all the question was about the death of the Indian, for no man
could witness that he saw him dead, but Mr. Williams and Mr. James
of Providence made an oath that his wound was mortal ; — at last two
Indians, who with much difficulty were procured to come to the trial
WINTHROP*S JOURNAL. 193
(for they still feared that the English were conspired to kill all the
Indians), made oath after this manner, viz, that if he were not dead
of that wound then they would suffer death. Upon this they three
were condemned and executed. Two of them died very penitently,
especially Arthur Peach, a young man of good parentage and fair
conditioned, and who had done very good service against the Pequods.
Mo. 7, 25. A remarkable providence appeared in a case which was
tried at the last court of assistants. Diver neighbours of Linn, by
agreement, kept their cattle by turns. It fell out to the turn of one
Gillow to keep them, and as he was driving them forth, another of
these neighbours went along with him and kept so earnestly in talk
that.his cattle strayed and got in the corn, then this other neighbour
left him and would not help him recover his cattle, but went and told
another how he had kept Gillow in talk that he might lose his cattle
&c. The cattle getting into the Indian corn eat so much ere they
could be gotten out, that two of them fell sick of it, and one of them
died presently, and these two cows were that neighbours cows who
had kept Gillow in talk, &c. The man brings his action against Gil
low for his cow, not knowing that he had witness of his speech, but
Gillow producing witness &c. barred him of his action, and had good
cost &c.
The court taking into consideration the great disorder proceeding
thro' the country in costliness of apparel, and following new fashions,
sent for the elders of the churches, and conferred with them about it,
and laid it upon them, as belonging to them to redress it, by urging it
upon the consciences of their people, which they promised to do. But
little was done about it, for divers of the elders wives &c, were in
some measure partners in this general disorder.
Mo. 1, 1639. A printing house was begun at Cambridge by one
Daye at the charge of Mr. Glover who died on sea hitherward. The
first thing which was printed was the freeman's oath, the next was an
almanack made for New England by Mr. Pierce, mariner — the next
was the psalms newly turned into metre.
Mo. 3, 2. Mr. Cotton preaching out of the 8. of Kings 8. taught,
that when magistrates are forced to provide for the maintenance of
ministers, then the churches are in a declining condition : there he
shewed that the ministers maintenance should be by Voluntary contri
bution, not by lands or revenues or tithes &c, for these things had al
ways been accompanied with pride, contention and sloth.
The two regiments in the bay were mustered at Boston to the num
ber of one thousand soldiers, able men and well armed and exercised.
They were headed, the one by the Governor who was General of all,
and the other by the Deputy who was Colonel. The captains &c.
shewed themselves very skilful and ready in divers sorts of skir
mishes and other military actions, wherein they spent the whole day.
One of Piscat -: having opportunity to go into Mr. Burdet his study,
and finding there the copy of his letter to the archbishops, sent it to
the Governor, which was to this effect.— That he did delay to go into
17
194 WINTHROP^ JOURNAL.
England, because he would fully inform himself of the state of the
people here in regard of allegiance, and that it was not discipline that
was now so much aimed at as sovereignty, and that it was accounted
piracy and treason in our General Court to speak of appeals to the
King. The first ships which came this year brought him letters from the
archbishops and the lords commissioners for plantations, wherein they
gave him thanks for his care of his Majesty's service &c. and that
they would take a time to redress such disorders as he had informe
them of : but by reason of the much business which now lay upon them
they could not at present accomplish his desire. These letters lay
above fourteen days in the Bay, and some moved the Governor to open
them, but himself and others of the council thought it not safe to med
dle with them, nor would take any notice of them, and it fell out well
by God's good providence, for the letters, by some means, were open
ed, yet without any of their privity or consent, and Mr. Burdett threat
ened to complain of it to the Lords ; and afterwards we had knowl
edge of the contents of them by some of his own friends.
The Governor acquainted the General Court that in these last two
years of his government he had received from the Indians in present^,
to the value of about j£40. and that he had spent about £20. in enter
tainment of them and in presents to their Sachems &c. The court
declared that the presents were the Governor's due, but the tribute
was to be paid to the treasurer.
Mo. 4. 26. Mr. Hooker being to preach at Cambridge, the Gover
nor and many others went to hear him (tho' the Governor did very
seldom go from his own congregation upon the Lord's day.) He
preached in the afternoon, and having gone on with much strength of
voice and intention of spirit about a quarter of an hour, he was at a
stand, and told the people that God had deprived him both of his
strength and matter &c. and so went forth, and about half an hour
after returned again and went on to a very good purpose about two
hours. A fishing trade was began at Cape Anne by one Mr. Maverick
Tomson a merchant of London, and an order was made that all stocks
employed in fishing should not be free from public charge for seven
years. This was not done to encourage foreigners to set up fishing
among us, for all the gains would be returned to the place where they
dwelt, but to encourage our own people to set upon it, and in expec
tation that Mr. Tomson &c. would e're long come settle with us.
Here was such store of exceeding large and fat mackrell upon our
coast this season as was a great benefit to all our plantations. Some
one boat with three men would take in a week ten hundreds, which
was sold in Connecticut for £3. 12 the hundred.
Mo. 10. At the general court an order was made to abolish that
vain custom of drinking one to another, and that upon these and other
grounds. 1. It was a thing of no good use. 2. It was an induce
ment to drunkenness and occasion of quarrelling and bloodshed.
3. It occasioned much waste of wine and beer. 4. It was very
WINTHROP S JOURNAL. 195
troublesome to many, especially the masters and mistresses of the
feast, who were forced thereby to drink more often than they would.
Yet divers, even godly persons, were very loth to part with this idle
ceremony, tho' when disputation was tendred, they had no life, nor
indeed could find any arguments to maintain it, such power hath cus
tom &c.
Mo. 3, 13, 1640. The court of elections was at Boston, and Tho
mas Dudley Esq. was chosen Governor. Some trouble there had
been in making way for his election, and it was obtained with some
difficulty, for many of the elders laboured much in it, fearing lest the
long continuance of one man in the place should bring it to be for life,
and in time, hereditary. Besides this gentleman was a man of ap
proved wisdom and godliness, and of much good service to the coun
try, and therefore it was his due to serve in such honor and benefit as
the country had to bestow. The elders being met at Boston about
this matter, sent some of their company to acquaint the old Governor
with their desire and the reasons moving them, clearing themselves
of all dislike of his government, and seriously professing their sincere
affections and respect towards him, which he kindly and thankfully
accepted, concurring with them in their motion, and expressing his
unfeigned desire of more freedom, that he might a little intend his pri
vate occasions, wherein they well knew how much he had lately suf
fered (for his bailiff whom he trusted with managing his farm had en
gaged him £.2500 without his privity) in his outward estate.
One Baker, master's mate of the ship being in drink, used some
reproachful words of the Queen. The Governor and Council were
much in doubt what to do with him, but having considered that he was
distempered and sorry for it, and being a stranger and a chief officer
in the ship, and many ships were then in harbour, they thought it not
fit to inflict corporeal punishment upon him, but after he had been two
or three days in prison, he was set an hour at the whipping post with
a paper on his head and so dismissed.
Mo. 8. The scarcity of money made a great change in all com
merce. Merchants would sell no wares but for ready money — men
could not pay their debts tho' they had enough — prices of lands and
cattle fell soon to the one half and less, yea to a third, and after one
fourth part.
Mo. 10. About the end of this month a fishing ship arrived at Isle
of Shoals, and another soon after, and there came no more this season
for fishing. They brought us news of the Scotts entering into Eng
land, and the calling of a parliament, and the hope of a thorough re
formation &c. whereupon some among us began to think of returning
back to England. Others dispairing of any more supply from thence,
and yet not knowing how to live there if they should return, bent their
minds wholly to removal to the south parts, supposing they should
find better means of subsistence there, and for this end put off their
estates here at very low rates. These things, together with the scar
city of money, caused a sudden and very great abatement of the prices
of all our own commodities. Corn (Indian) was sold ordinarily at
196 WINTHROP'S JOURNAL.
three shillings the bushel, a good cow at seven or eight pounds, and
some at £5 — and other things answerable (see the order of court in
8ber. about these things) whereby it came to pass that men could not
pay their debts, for no money or beaver was to be had, and he who
last year, or but three months before was worth £.1000 could not now
if he should sell his whole estate raise £.200 whereby God taught us
the vanity of all outward things &c.
One Taylor of Linne having a milch cow in the ship as he came
over, sold the milk to the passengers for 2d the quart, and being afte
at a sermon wherein oppression was complained of &c. he fell dis
tracted. This evil was very notorious among all sorts of people, it
being the common rule that most men walked by in all their com
merce, to buy as cheap as they could, and to sell as dear.
The general fear of want of foreign commodities now our money
was gone, and that things were like to go well in England, set us on
work to provide shipping of our own, for which end Mr. Peters, being
a man of very public spirit and singular activity for all occasions, pro
cured some to join for building a ship at Salem of 300 tons, and the
inhabitants of Boston stirred up by his example, set upon the building
another at Boston of 150 tons. The work was hard to accomplish
for want of money &c. but our shipwrights were content to take such
pay as the country could make. The shipwright at Salem, thro' want
of care of his tackle &c. occasioned the death of one Baker who was
desired with five or six more to help hale up a piece of. timber, which,
the rope breaking, fell down upon them. The rest by special provi
dence were saved. This Baker going forth in the morning very well,
after he had prayed, told his wife he should see her no more, tho' he
could not foresee any danger toward him.-
The court having found by experience that it would not avail by
any law to redress the excessive rates of labourer's and workmen's
wages &c. for being restrained, they would either remove to other
places where they might have more or else being able to live by
planting and other employments of their own, they would not be hired
at all. It was therefore referred to the several towns to set down
rates among themselves. This took better effect, so that in a volun
tary way, by the counsel and persuasion of the elders, and example
of some who led the way, they were brought to more moderation than
they could be by compulsion, but it held not long.
Mo. 4, 2. 1641. The parliament of England sitting upon a general
reformation both of church and state, the earl of Strafford being be
headed, and the archbishop (our great enemy) and many others of the
great officers and judges, bishops and others imprisoned and called to
account, this caused all men to stay in England in expectation of a
new world, so as few coming to us, all foreign commodities grew
scarce, and our own of no price. Corn would buy nothing — a cow
which cost last year £20 might now be bought for four or £5 &c. and
many gone out of the country, so as no man could pay his debts, nor
the merchants make return into England for their commodities, which
occasioned many there to speak evil of us. These streights set our
WINTHROP'S JOURNAL. 197
people on work to provide fish, clapboards, plank &c. and to sow
hemp and flax (which prospered very well) and to look out to the W.
Indies for a trade for cotton. The general court also made orders
about payments of debts, setting corn at the wonted price, and payable
for all debts which should arise after a time prefixed. They thought
fit also to send some chosen men into England to congratulate the
happy success there, and to satisfy our creditors of the true cause why
we could not make so current payment now as is in former years we
had done, and to be ready to make use of any opportunity God should
offer for the good of the country here, as also to give any advice, as
it should be required for the settling the right form of church disci
pline there, but with this caution, that they should not seek supply of
our wants in any dishonorable way, as by begging or the like, for we
were resolved to wait upon the Lord in the use of all means which
were lawful and humble.
This summer the merchants of Boston set out a vessel again to the
isle of Sable, with 12 men, to stay there a year. They sent again in
the 8th month, and in three weeks the vessel returned and brought
home 400 pr. of sea horse teeth which were esteemed worth £300,
and left all the men well and 12 ton of oil and many skins which they
could not bring away, being put from the island in a storm.
Mo. 7, 15. A great training at Boston two days. About 1200 men
were exercised in most sorts of land service ; yet it was observed
that there was no man drunk, tho' there was plenty of wine and
strong beer in the town — not an oath sworn — no quarrel, nor any hurt
done. Mo. 5, 1642. Now came over a book of Mr. Cotton's sermons up
on the seven vials. Mr. Humphry had gotten the notes from some
who had took them by characters, and printed them in London, which
was a great wrong to Mr. Cotton, and he was much grieved at it, for
it had been fit he should have perused and corrected the copy before
it had been printed.
Mo. 7, 22. The sudden fall of land and cattle, and the scarcity of
foreign commodities and money &c. with the thin access of people
from England, put many into an unsettled frame of spirit, so as they
concluded there would be no subsisting here, and accordingly they
began to hasten away, some to the W. Indies, others to the Dutch at
Long Island &c. (for the Governor there invited them by fair offers)
and others back for England.
Ask thy conscience if thou wouldst have plucked up thy stakes, and
brought thy family 3000 miles if thou hadst expected that all, or
most, would have forsaken thee there. Ask again what liberty thou
hast towards others which thou likest not to allow others towards thy
self, for if one may go another may, and so the greater part, and so
church and commonwealth may be left destitute in a wilderness ex
posed to misery and reproach, and all for thy ease and pleasure,
whereas these all, being now thy brethren, as near to thee as the Is
raelites were to Moses, it were much safer for thee, after his example,
17*
198 winthrop's journal.
to choose rather to suffer affliction with thy brethren, than to enlarge
thy ease and pleasure by furthering the occasion of their ruin.
Mo. 8, 5. Nine bachellors commenced at Cambridge ; they were
young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as gave good
proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts. The general court
had settled a government or superintendency over the college, viz. all
the magistrates and elders of the three nearest churches, and the pre
sident or the greatest part of these. Most of them were now present
at this first commencement, and dined at the college with the schol
ars ordinary commons, which was done of purpose for the students
encouragement &c. and it gave good content to all.
At this commencement complaint was made to the governors of two
young men of good quality lately come out of England, for foul mis
behaviour, in swearing and ribaldry speeches &c. for which, tho' they
were adult, they were corrected in the college, and sequestered &c.
for a time.
Mo. 30, 1643. There was a piece of justice executed at New-
Haven, which being the first in that kind, is not unworthy to be re
corded. Mr. Malbon one of the magistrates there had a daughter
about — years of age which was openly whipped, her father joining in
the sentence. The cause was thus.
[Here is a blank in the copy].
One Richard — servant to one — Williams of Dorchester, being come
out of service, fell to work at his own hand and took great wages
above others, and would not work but for ready money. By this
means in a year or little more, he had scraped together about £25 and
then returned with his prey into England, speaking evil of the country
by the way : he was not gone far, after his arrival, but the cavaliers
met him and eased him of his money, so he knew no better way but
to return to N. England again to repair his loss in that place which he
had so much disparaged.
Mo. 3. Those of Sir Ferdinand Gorge his province beyond Pis-
cat : were not received nor called into the confederation because they
ran a different course from us both in their ministry and civil admin
istration, for they had lately made Acomenticus (a poor village) a cor
poration, and had made a taylor their mayor, and had entertained one
Mr. Hull an excommunicated person and very contentious, for their
minister. At this court of elections tnere arose a scruple about the oath which
the Governor and the rest of the magistrates were to take viz. about
the first part of it — ' You shall bear true faith and allegiance to our
sovereign Lord King Charles' — seeing he had violated the privileges
of parliament, and made war upon them, and thereby had lost much
of his kingdom and many of his subjects ; whereupon it was thought
fit to omit that part of it for the present.
(4) 12. Mr. La Tour arrived here in a ship of 140 tons and 140
persons. The ship came from Rochelle, the master and his com
pany were protestants : there were two friars and two women sent U>
wait upon La Tour his lady. They came in with a fair wind with
winthrop's journal. 199
out any notice taken of 'them. They took a pilot out of one of our
boats at sea, and left one of their men in his place. Capt. Gibbons'
wife and children passed by the ship as they were going to their
farm, but being discovered to La Tour by one of his gentlemenwho
knew him, La Tour manned out a shallop which he towed after him
to go speak with her. She seeing such a company of strangers mak
ing towards her, hastened to get from them, and landed at the Gov
ernor's garden. La Tour landed presently after her, and there found
the Governor and his wife, and two of his sons, and his son's wife,
and after mutual salutations he told the Governor the cause of his
coming, viz. that this ship being sent him out of France, D'Aulnay his
old enemy had so blocked up the river to his fort at St. Johns with
two ships and a galliot, as his ship could not get in, whereupon he
stole by in the night with his shallop, and was come to crave aid to
convey him into his fort. But the training day at Boston falling out
the next week, and La Tour having requested that he might be per
mitted to exercise his soldiers on shore, we expected him that day, so
he landed 40 men in their arms (they were all shot) they were
brought into the field by our train band consisting of 150, and in the
forenoon they only beheld our men exercise. When they had dined
(La Tour & his officers with our officers, & his soldiers invited home
by the private soldiers) in the afternoon they were permitted to exer
cise (our governor and others of the magistrates coming then into the
field) and all ours stood and beheld them. They were very expert in
all their postures and motions. When it was near night La Tour de
sired our Governor that his men might have leave to depart, which
being granted, his captain acquainted our captain therewith, so he
drew our men into a march and the French fell into the middle —
when they were to depart they gave a volley of shot and went to their
boat, the French shewing much admiration to see so many men of
one town so well armed and disciplined, La Tour professing he could
not have believed it if he had not seen it. Our Governor and others
in the town entertained La Tour and his gentlemen with much court
esy both in their houses and at table. La Tour came duly to our
church meetings, and always accompanied the Governor to and from
thence, who all the time of his abode here was attended with a good
guard of halberds and musketteers.
Mo. 7. (4). There was an assembly at Cambridge of all the elders
in the country (about 50 in all) such of the ruling elders as would
were present also, but none else. They set in the college and had
their diet there after the manner of scholars commons, but somewhat
better, yet so ordered as it came not to above sixpence the meal for
a person. Mr. Cotton and Mr. Hooker were chosen moderators.
The principal occasion was because some of the elders went about
to set up somethings undoing to the presbytery, as of Newbury &c.
The assembly concluded against some parte of the presbyterial way,
and the Newbury ministers took time to consider the arguments &c.
The Trial (the first ship built in Boston) being about 160 tons, Mr-
Thomas Graves an able and a godly man master of her, was seat to
200 EXTRACTS FROM
Bilboa in the 4th month last, with fish, which she sold there at a good
rate, and from thence she freighted to Malaga, and arrived here this
day laden with wine, fruit, oil, iron and wool, which was a great ad
vantage to the country, and gave encouragement to trade. So soon as
she was fitted she was set forth again to trade with La Tour, and so
along the eastern coast towards Canada.
Mo. 3, 1644. Divers of the merchants of Boston being desirous to
discover the great lake, supposing it to lie in the N. W. part of our
patent, and finding that the great trade of beaver which came to all the
eastern and southern parts, came from thence, petitioned the court to
be a company for that design, and to have the trade which they should
discover, to themselves for 21 years. The court was unwilling to
grant any monopoly, but perceiving that without it they would not pro
ceed, granted their desire : whereupon, having also commission
granted them under the public seal, and letters from the Governor to
the Dutch and Swedish Governors, they sent out a pinnace well
manned and furnished with provisions and trading stuff, which Was to
sail up Delaware river so high as they could go, and then some of the
company, under the conduct of Mr. William Aspenwall, a good artist,
and one who had been in those parts, to pass by small skiffs or canoes
up the river so far as they could.
4 & 5. There was mention made before of a pinnace sent by the
company of discoverers (3) 3. to Delaware river with letters from the
Governor to the Dutch and Swedish Governors for liberty to pass.
The Dutch promised to let them pass, but for maintaining their own
interest he must protest against them. When they came to the
Swedes, the fort shot at them, ere they came up : whereupon they
cast forth anchor, and the next morning, being the Lord's day, the
lieut. came aboard them and forced them to fall down lower ; when
Mr. Aspenwall came to the Governor and complained of the lieuten
ant's ill dealing both in shooting at them before he had hailed them,
and in forcing them to weigh anchor on the Lord's day. The Gover
nor acknowledged he did ill in both, and promised all favor, but the
Dutch agent being come down to the Swede fort, shewed express or
der from the Dutch Governor not to let him pass, whereupon they re
turned. But before they came out of the river, the Swedish lieuten
ant made them pay 40/. for that shot which he had unduly made. The
pinnace arrived at Boston (5) 20. — 44.
The following passages relating to the natural history of New
England, are copied from "Ogilby's America," published in 1671.
They are inserted as a curious relic of antiquity.
" Though there are, who having remained some time, and been
concerned in those parts, affirm the soil of New England to be
nothing so fruitful as it is believed and commonly delivered to be
yet we think it not improper to give a brief account of the trees
and other plants; also the beasts, birds, fishes and other com
OGILBY S AMERICA. 201
modities which most writers will have to be the production of this
country, especially since we find them compactly summed up by
an unknown writer in the language of the muses. The recital
of the plants and trees which (excepting the cedar, sassafras, and
dyer's sumach) are all of the same kind with those that grow in
Europe, only differing in nature, according as the epithets of
many of them declare, is as follows :
" Trees both in hills and plains in plenty be ;
The long-lived oak, and mournful cypress tree ;
Skie-towering pines, and chesnuts coated rough ;
The lasting cedar, with the walnut tough ;
The rozen-dropping fir for mast is use ;
The boat-men for oars light, neat grown sprewse ;
The brittle ash, the ever trembling asps ;
The broad-spread elm, whose concave harbors wasps ;
The water-spungy alder good for nought ;
Small elder by the Indian fletchers sought.
The knotty maple, pallid birch, hawthorns ;
The horn-bound tree, that to be cloven scorns ;
Which from the tender vine oft takes his spouse,
Who twines embracing arms about his boughs.
Within this Indian orchard fruits be some
The ruddy cherry and the jetty plum
Snake-murthering hazel, with sweet saxafrage
Whose leaves in beer allay hot feavers rage ;
The dyer's shumack, with more trees there be,
That are both good to use and rare to see."
The beasts peculiar to this country are the moose, the rackoon,
and the musquash ; the two first land-animals ; the last amphib
ious, which with others common to them with us, are thus ver
sified by the above said author :
" The kingly Lyon, and the strong-armed Bear ;"
The large limbed Mooses, with the tripping Deer ;
Quill-darting Porcupines, that Rackoons be
Castled ith' hollow of an aged tree ;
The skipping Squirrel, Rabbet, pueblind Hare,
Immured in the self-same oastle are,
Lest red-eyed Ferrets, wily Foxes should,
Them undermine if ramper'd but with mold ;
The grim-faced Ounce, and ravenous howling Wolf,
Whose meager paunch sueks like a swallowing gulph.
Black glittering Otters, and rich coated Beaver ;
The civet-scented Musquash smelling ever."
Of such as these as are altogether unknown to us take these
brief descriptions. " The beast called a Moose is not much un
like Red Deer, and is as big as au Qx, slow of foot, headed like a
202 EXTRACTS FROM
buck with a broad beam, some being two yards in the head,
their flesh is as good as beef, their hides good for clothing ; if
these were kept tame and accustomed to the yoke, they would be
a great commodity : First, because they are so fruitful, bringing
forth three at a time being likewise very hiberous : Secondly,
because they will live in winter without any fodder. There are
not many of these in the Massachusetts Bay, but forty miles to
the north east there are great store of them.
The Rackoone is a deep furred beast, not much unlike a Badger
having a tail like a Fox, as good meat as a Lamb. These beasts
in the day time sleep in hollow trees, in a moonshine night they
go to feed on clams at a low tide by the sea side, where the Eng
lish hunt them with their dogs. The Musquash is much' like a
Beaver for shape, but nothing near so big :
and being killed in winter never lose their sweet smell: These
skins are no bigger than a Coney-skin, yet are sold for five
shillings apiece, being sent for tokens into England ; one good
skin will perfume a whole house full of clothes, if it be right
arid good. The birds both common and peculiar are thus recited :
" The princely Eagle, and the soaring Hawk,"
Whom in their unknown ways there's none can chawk :
The Humbird for some Queen's rich cage more fit,
Than in the vacant wilderness to sit.
The swift-winged Swallow sweeping to and fro,
As swift as arrow from Tartarian bowe.
When as Aurora's infant day new springs,
Where the morning mounting Lark her sweet lays sings :
The harmonious Thrush, swift Pigeon, Turtle-dove
Who to her mate doth ever constant prove.
Turkey, Pheasant, Heath-cock, Partridge rare,
The Carrion-tearing Crow, and hurtful stare,
The long-liv'd Raven, th' ominous Screech Owl
Who tells, as old Wives say, disasters foul.
The drowsie Madge, that leaves her day lov'd nest,
And loves to rove, when day-birds be at rest :
Th' Eel-murthering Hearn, and greedy Cormorant,
That near the Creeks, in moorish Marshes haunt.
The bellowing Bittern, with the long-leg'd Crane,
Presaging Winters hard, and Death of Grain.
The Silver Swan, that tunes her mournful breath,
To sing the Dirge of her approaching death.
The tattering Old wives, and the cackling Geese,
The fearful Gull that shuns the murtherin<r Peece.
The strong-wing'd Mallard, with the nimble Teal,
And ill-shape't Loon who his harsh Notes doth squeal.
There Widgins, Sheldrakes, and Humilitees,
Snites, Doppers, Sea-Larks, in whole million flees."
OGILBY's AMERICA. 203
Of these, the Humbird, Loon, and Humility, are not to be pas
sed by without particular observation. The Humbird is one of
the wonders of the country, being no bigger than a Hornet, yet
hath all the dimensions of a Bird, as bill, and wings with quills,
spider-like legs, small claws : for color, she is as glorious as the
rainbow ; as she flies, she makes a little humming noise like the
Humble-bee, wherefore she is called a Humbird. The Loon is
an ill-shaped thing like a Cormorant, but that he can neither go
nor fly; he maketh a noise sometimes like Sowgelder's Horn.
The Humilities or Simplicities, (as we may rather call them),
are of two sorts, the biggest being as large as a green Plover, the
other as big as birds we call Knots in England. Such is the
simplicity of the smaller sorts of these birds, that one may drive
them on a heap like so many sheep, and seeing a fit time shoot
them ; the living seeing the dead, settle themselves on the same
place again, amongst which the fowler discharges again : these
birds are to be had upon sandy brakes, at the latter end of sum
mer before the Geese come in. No less poetical a bill of fare
is brought of the Fish on- the sea-coasts and in the rivers of New
England, in these subsequent verses:
" The King of Waters, the sea shouldering Whale,
The snuffing Grampus, with the oily Seale,
The storm presaging Porpus, Herring-Hog,
Line-shearing Shark, the Catfish and Sea Dog,
The scale-fenc'd Sturgeon, wry-mouth'd Hollibut,
The flouncing Salmon, Codfish, Greedigut :
Cole Haddock Hage, the Thornback and the Scate,
Whose slimy outside makes him seld in date,
The stately Bass, old Neptune's fleeting Post,
That tides it out and in, from sea to coast.
Consorting Herrings, and the bonny Shad,
Big-belly'd Alewives, Mackerels richly clad
With rainbow colors, Frostfish and the Smelt,
As good as ever Lady Gustus felt.
, The spotted Larrtprous, Eels, the Lamperies,
That seek fresh water Brooks with Argus eyes,
These watery villagers, with thousands more,
Do pass and repass near the verdant shore."
Kinds of Shell Fish.
" The luscious Lobster, with the Crabfish raw,
The brinish Oyster, Muscle, Periwigge,
And Tortoise sought for by the Indian squaw,
Which to the flats dance many a winter's jigge,
To dive for Codes, and to dig for Clams,
Whereby her lazy husband's guts she crams."
204 INDIAN WARS.
INDIAN WARS,
The following account of the principal events during the wars
with the Indians in New England, previous to the year 1677, is
copied almost entirely from "A Narrative of the Indian Wars
in New England," " by William Hubbard, A. M., minister of
Ipswich." Mr. Hubbard's Narrative was published in 1677,
under the supervision and approbation of an intelligent committee
appointed for this purpose, by the governor and council of Mas- :
sachusetts colony. '
" There was a nation of the Indians in the southern parts of
New England, called Pequods, seated on a fair navigable river,
twelve miles to the eastward of the mouth of the great and famous
river of Connecticut ; who (as was commonly reported about the
time when New England was first planted by the English) being
a more fierce, cruel, and warlike people than the rest of the In
dians, came down out of the more inland parts of the continent,
and by force seized upon one of the goodliest places near the sea,
and became a terror to all their neighbors, on whom they had ex
ercised several acts of inhuman cruelty; insomuch that being
flushed with victories over their fellow Indians, they began to
thirst after the blood of any foreigners, English or Dutch, that
accidentally came amongst them, in a way of trade, or upon other
accounts. In the year 1634, they treacherously and cruelly murdered
Capt. Stone and Capt. Norton, who came occasionally, with a
bark into the river to trade with them. Not long after, within
the compass of the next year, they in like treacherous manner,
slew one Mr. Oldham (formerly belonging to new Plymouth, but
at that time an inhabitants of Massachusetts) at Block Island, a
place not far from the mouth of their harbor, as he was fairly
trading with them : besides some other such like acts of perfid
ious cruelty towards some of the Dutch, that had formerly been
trading up Connecticut river."
Murder of J. Oldham in 1636. " John Gallop, with one man
more, and two boys, coming from Conn., and intending to put in at
Long Island, as he came from thence, being at the mouth of the har
bor was forced by a sudden change of the wind to bear up for Block
Island or Fisher's Island, where, as thpy were sailing along, they met
with a Pinace, which they found to be -J. Qldham's, who had been
sent to trade with the Pequods^ (to make" , trial of the reality of
INDIAN WARS. 205
their pretended friendship after the murder of Captain Stone) they
hailed the vessel, but had no answer, although they saw the deck
full of Indians (14 in all) and a little before that had seen a canoe
go from the vessel full of Indians likewise, and goods, whereupon
they suspected they had killed John Oldham, who had only two
boys and two Narraganset Indians in his vessel besides himself,
and the rather because they let slip, and set up sail (being two
miles from the shore, the wind and tide coming off the shore of
the Island whereby they drove toward the main land of Narra
ganset) therefore they went a head of them, and having nothing
but two pieces, and two pistols, they bore up near the Indians,
who stood on the deck of the vessel ready armed with guns, swords
and pikes ; but John Gallop, a man of stout courage, let fly among
them and so gajled them, that they got all down under the hatches,
and then they stood off again, and returning with a good gale,
they stemmed her upon the quarter, and almost overset her, which
so affrightened the Indians, as six of them leaped overboard, and
were drowned, yet they durst not board her, but stood off again,
and fitted their anchor, so as stemming her the second time, they
bored her bow through with their anchor and sticking fast to her,
they made divers shot through the sides of her, and so raked her
fore and aft (being but inch board) as they must needs kill or hurt
some of the Indians ; but seeing none of them come forth, they
got loose from her, and then stood off again : then four or five
more of the Indians leaped into the sea, and were likewise
drowned ; whereupon there being but four left in her, they boarded
her ; when an Indian came up and yielded ; him they bound and
put into the hole : then another yielded ; him they also bound, but
Gallop, being well acquainted with their skill to unloose one an
other, if they lay near together, and having no place to keep them
asunder, flung him bound into the sea ; then looking about they
found John Oldham under an old sail, stark naked, having his
head cleft to the brains ; his hands and legs cut as if they had
been cutting them off; yet warm : so they put him into the sea :
but could not well tell how to come at the other two Indians (who
were in a little room underneath with their swords) so they took
the goods which were left, and the sails, and towed the boat
away, but night coming on, and the wind rising, they were forced
to turn her off, and the wind carried her to the Narraganset shore,
where they left her."
War with the Pequots. " The English of Mass. after the peace
concluded with the Pequods, sent a bark thither for trade, that trial
might be made of the reality of their friendship, but they found them
treacherous and false, and that no advantage was to be had by any
commerce with them, insomuch as they took up a resolution never
more to have to do with them ; which the said Indians perceiving,
18
206 INDIAN WARS.
made no account of the former peace, but took all advantage to do
us mischief, not only by harboring those who had murdered Mr.
J. Oldham, but surprising many of the English in the year
1636, when Connecticut river began first to be planted, divers
of whom were killed (nine at one time in April, 1637) by them
about Wethersfield, when the plantation there first began, so as
they could not pass up and down the river without a guard, but
they would be in danger of being ciit off or carried away, as two
maids were said to be ; thirty men have been killed by them in all ;
those who fell into their hands alive, were cruelly tortured, after
a most barbarous manner, by insulting over their prisoners in a
blasphemous wise, when in their dying agonies under the extrem
ity of their pains (their flesh being first slashed with knives, and
then filled with burning embers) they called upon God and Christ
with gasping groans, resigning up their souls into their hands ;
with which words these wretched caitifs used to mock the Eng
lish afterward, when they came within their hearing and view.
About the same time some agents sent over by the Lord Say
and the Lord Brook, built a fort at the mouth of Connecticut
river, wherein was placed one lieutenant Gardiner, and a con
venient number of soldiers to secure the place, intended soon
after to be planted, but all the winter following, heing the end of
the year 1636, they were little better than besieged by the said
savages, not daring to stir out of command of the fort, but they
were ready to be seized by these barbarous enemies. At one
time the lieutenant himself with ten or twelve of the soldiers,
marching out of the fort, with intent to pass over a neck of land,
to burn the marshes ; as soon as they had passed over the straight
of the neck, they espied a company of Indians making towards
the said isthmus, which if they could not recover, they see they
must all perish ; whereupon returning back with all speed, they
were narrowly escaped, and were two or three of them killed
notwithstanding, before they could get back into the fort, which
was presently surrounded with multitudes of them ; but the dis
charging of a piece of ordinance gave them warning to keep fur
ther from the walls. Sometimes they came with their canoes
into the river in view of the soldiers within the fort, and when
they apprehended themselves out of reach of their guns, they
would imitate the dying groans and invocations of the poor cap
tive English soldiers were forced with silent patience to bear, not
being then in a capacity to require their insolent blasphemies.
But they being by these horrible outrages justly provoked to in
dignation, unanimously agreed to join their forces together, to root
them out of the earth, with God's assistance.
The governor and council having soon after assembled the rest
of the magistrates, and the ministers, to advise with them about
INDIAN WARS. 207
doing justice for Oldham's death, they all agreed that it should
be done with all expedition ; and accordingly on the 25th of Au
gust following, 80 or 90 men were sent out under the command
of Capt. Endicot of Salem, who went to the Pequod country by
water, with commission 1o treat with the said Pequods, first offer
ing terms of peace, if they would surrender the murderers of the
English, and forbear further acts of hostility, or else fight them.
The captain aforesaid coming ashore with his company, by a
message sent them by an interpreter, obtained little speech with a
great number of them at a distance ; but after they understood
what was propounded to them, first cunningly getting behind a
hill, they presently ran away into the woods and swamps, where
there was no pursuing of them : however, one discharging a gun
among them as they were taking their flight, stayed the course of
one, which was all that could be done against them at that time.
Winter approaching, and no encouragement presenting further
to pursue them at that time, it was resolved better to return back
for the present, and wait a further season, when more forces
could be gathered together to pursue the quarrel to the utmost.
Miantonimo soon after sent a message to them with a letter
from Mr. Williams, to signify that they had taken one of the In
dians, who had broken prison, and had him safe for them, when
they should send for him (as they had before sent to him for that
end) and that the other had stolen away (not knowing it seems
that he was their prisoner) and that according to their promise
they would not entertain any of that Island, which should come
to them ; but they conceived it was rather in love to him whom
they concealed, for he had been his servant formerly, but when
they sent for those two Indians, one was sent them, but the other
was said to be dead before the messenger came : but the Pe
quods harbored those of Block Island, and therefore justly brought
the revenge of the English upon them.
Amongst those soldiers that were sent under Capt. Endicot,
were twenty that belonged to Saybrook fort, and were appointed
to stay there, to defend the place against the Pequods. After the
said captain and the rest were departed, those twenty lay wind
bound in the Pequod harbor, and in the mean while went all of
them-- ashore, with sacks to fetch some of the Pequods' corn ; and
having fetched each man one sack full to their boat, they returned
for more, and having loaded themselves the Indians set upon
them, so they laid down their corn, and gave fire upon the In
dians, and the Indians shot their arrows against them ; the place
was open about the distance of a musket shot ; the Indians kept
the covert, save when they came forth at a time and discharged
their arrows. The English put themselves in^^ingle file, and
ten only that had pieces that could reach them shot, the others
208 INDIAN WARS.
stood ready to keep them from breaking in. So they continued
most part of the afternoon ; the English, as they supposed, killed
divers of them, and hurt others ; and the Indians wounded but
one of the English, who was armed, all the rest being without ;
for they shot their arrows compass-wise, so as they could easily
see and avoid them standing single, then always gathered up their
arrows. At the last the Indians being weary of the sport, gave
the English leave to retire to their boat. This was in Octo
ber, 1636.
About two days after, five men of Saybrook went up the river
about four miles to fetch hay out of a meadow on the Pequod
side. The grass was so high as some Pequods hiding themselves
in it, set upon the English before they were aware, and took one
that had hay on his back, the rest fled to their boat, one of them
had five arrows in him, yet recovered. He that was taken was a
goodly young man, whose name was Butterfield ; whereupon the
meadow was ever after called Butterfield's meadow.
Icarus Icariis nomina dedit aquis.
About fourteen days after, six of the soldiers were sent out of
the fort to keep an house which they had set up in a corn-field,
about two miles from the fort. Three of them went forth a fowl
ing, which the lieutenant had strictly forbidden, two had pieces,
and the third only a sword, when suddenly about an hundred In
dians came out of the covert and set upon them, he who had the
sword brake through, and received only two shot, and those not
dangerous, and so escaped to the house which was not above a
bow shot off, and persuaded the other two to follow, but they
stayed still, till the Indians came and took them, and carried them
away with their pieces. Soon after they beat down the said
house, and out-houses, and hay-stacks, and within a bow shot of
the fort, killed a cow, and shot divers others, which came home
with arrows sticking in them."
Destruction of the Pequots. " The report of the unheard of
cruelties forementioned, which had been perpetrated by the Pe
quods filling the ears of the English throughout the country ; it
was agreed by the joint consent of the English throughout the
three colonies to unite all their forces together for the suppressing
the common enemy, early in the spring, A. D. 1637, who were
also moved thereunto by their own necessities as well as by the
earnest request of their friends at Connecticut."
" The colony of Massachusetts determined to send an hun
dred and sixty, of whom an hundred and twenty were ordered
under the conduct of Capt. Patrick of Watertown, and Capt.
Trask of Salem, Capt. Stoughton of Dorchester being to com
mand in chief; with whom was sent that holy man of God, Mr.
John Wilson, (pastor of the church of Boston) the chariots and
INDIAN WARS. 209
horsemen of our Israel, by whose faith and prayer, as sometimes
was said of Luther, (in reference to Germany) the country was
preserved, so as it was confidently believed that no enemy should
break in upon a place whilst he survived, which as some have
observed accordingly came to pass.
The matter requiring great expedition, and it being longbefore
the whole company could be dispatched away, Capt. Patrick
with forty men were sent beforehand, to be sure to meet with
those of Connecticut in case they should be in action, before the
rest, of our forces could get into a readiness, which accordingly
come- to pass ; for the main business in taking the fort was over,
even before the said Patrick could get thither. Capt. Underhill
was sent by Mr. Vane the governor to Saybrook the winter before
to strengthen the garrison there. The assaulting and surprising
of this Indian fort being the most remarkable piece of service- in
that whole expedition ; take it as it was delivered in writing by
that valiant, faithful and prudent commander, Capt. Mason, chief
in the action, who lived long after to reap the fruit of his labor,
and enjoy the benefit of that day's service, having an inheritance
given him in that part of the country, as a just reward of his
faithful service on that day as well as at other times. Wequash,
a Pequod by nation, but disgusted by the Sachem, proved a good
guide to the English, by whose direction they were led to a fort
near Mystic river, some miles nearer than Sassacous' fort, which
they first intended to assault.
On the second Wednesday of May, being the 10th day of that
month, we set sail with ninety men of the English in one Pink,
one Pinnace, and two boats, towards the Pequods, with seventy
river Indians ; having somewhat a long passage to Saybrook fort,
about forty of our Indians desired to go down by land on Satur
day, but on Monday they went forth from the fort, and meeting
seven Pequods and Nianticks they slew five outright, took one
prisoner, and brought him into Saybrook fort, where he was exe
cuted by Capt. Underhill, the other escaped.
On Monday we all landed at Saybrook fort, and stayed there
until Tuesday ; Capt. Underhill joining nineteen men with him
self to us. Whereupon we sent back twenty of ours to strengthen
our plantations ; and so set sail on Thursday towards Narragan
set, and arrived there on Friday.
On Saturday myself, with Capt. Underhill, and Lieut. Sealy,
with our guard marched to Canonicus by land, being about five
miles distant, where we were kindly entertained after their man
ner. Having had party with him, we sent to Miantonimo, who
would give no present answer ; and so our Sabbath being on the
morrow, we adjourned our meeting until Monday, at which time
there assembled Miantonimo with the chiefest of them about two
18*
210 INDIAN WARS.
hundred men ; and being solemnly set for consultation after their
manner, told them we were now going, God assisting, to revenge
the wrong committed and bloodshed by their and our enemies,
upon our native countrymen, not any away desiring their aid, un
less they would voluntarily send, which they did exceedingly ap
prove of. Moreover we told them that the English and they had
always been friends for ought we knew, and so were we with
the Indians that had not wronged Englishmen, which they ac
knowledged, and so made a large description of the Pequod's
country, .and told us they would send men with us ; so we re
solved there to keep our rendezvous at Canonicus his plantation
on the morrow night being Tuesday ; but the wind being stiff, we
could not land our men until five or six of the clock in the after
noon, at which time I landed on Narraganset- shore with thirty
two men, and so marched to the place of rendezvous formerly
appointed. Capt. Underhill and my lieutenant landed the rest,
and came up to me that night. About two hours before day,
came an Indian with a letter from Capt. Patrick, being then at
Robert Williams's plantation with forty men, who desired us 16
stay for his coming and joining us, not intimating when that would
be ; which being considered and debated, we thought it could not
be our safest course to wait for him, (though his present assist
ance was much desired) for these reasons.
Because the day before when we had absolutely resolved to.go,
the Indians plainly told us they thought we were but in jest, and
also that Englishmen did talk much, but not fight ; nay, they con
cluded that they would not go on ; and besides if we should defer,
we feared we should be discovered by reason of the frequent re
course between them by certain Squaws (who have mutual inter
course) whereupon we were constrained to set forward towards the
Pequods, with seventy seven English."
" On the Thursday, about eight of the clock in the morning, we marched thence
towards Pequot, with about five hundred Indians ; but through the heat of the weather,
and want of provisions, some of our men fainted, and after having marched about
twelve miles we came to Pawcatuck river, at a Ford where our Indians told us the
Pequots did usually fish ; there making an Alta, we stayed some small time; the
Narragansett Indians manifesting great fear, iir so much (hat many of them returned,
although they had frequently despised us saying, that we durst not look upon a I'c-
fjuot, but themselves would perform great things; though we had ofi en told them
that we came on purpose, and were resolved, God assisting, to see the Pequots, and
to fight with them before we returned, though wo perished. I then enquired of
Onkos, (Uncas) what he thought the Indians would do ! who said the Narraganselts
would all leave us, but as for himself, he wpuld never leave us : and so it proved;
for which expression, and some other speeches of his, I shall never forget him. In
deed he was a great friend, and did great service.
And after we had refreshed ourselves with our mean commons, we marched about
three miles, and camo to a field which had lately been planted with Indian corn : there
we made another Alt, and called our council, supposing we drew near to the enemy :
and being informed by the Indians that the enemy had two forts almost impregnable ;
but we were not at all discouraged, but rather animated, in so much that we were
INDIAN WARS.
211
resolved to assault both their forts at once. But understanding that one of them was
so remote that we could not come up with it before midnight, though we marched
hard : whereat we were much grieved, chiefly because the greatest and bloodiest sa
chem there resided, whose name was Sassacaus : we were then constrained, being
exceedingly spent in our march with extreme heat and want of necessaries, to accept
the nearest.
Connecticut Militia reposing on Porter's Rocks.
[Capt. Mason and his little army encamped the night previous to their attack on
the Pequot fort, at a place now called Porter's Rocks, in Groton, Conn., near the
head of Mystic river. The above engraving, representing these rocks, is from adraw-
ing taken on the spot a few years since by the author of this work].
We then marching on in a silent manner, the Indians that remained fell all into
the rear, who formerly kept the van, (being pressed with great fear;) we continued
our march till about one hour in the night : and coming to a little swamp between
two hills, we pitched our little camp ; much wearied with hard travel, keeping great
silence, supposing we were very near the fort as our Indians informed us, which
proved otherwise. The rocks were our pillows ; yet rest was pleasant. The night
proved comfortable, being clear and moonlight. We appointed our guards, and placed
our sentinels at some distance ; who heard the enemy singing at the fort, who con
tinued that strain till midnight, with great exulting and rejoicing as we were after
wards informed. They seeing our pinnaces sail by them some days before, conclu
ded we were afraid of them, and durst not come near them, the burthen of their song
tending to that purpose."
" In the morning, (Friday, 26th of May), we awaking and seeing
it very light, supposing it had been day, and so we might have lost our
opportunity, having purposed to make our assault before day, roused
the men with all expedition, and briefly commended ourselves and de
sign to God, thinking immediately to go to the assault. The Indians
showed us a path, and told us that it led directly to the fort. We held
212 INDIAN WARS.
on our march about two miles, wondering that we came not to the
fort, and feariug we might be deluded ; but seeing corn newly planted
at the foot of a great hill, supposing the fort was not far off, a champion
country being round about us ; then making a stand, gave the word
for some of the Indians to come up ; at length Onkos and one Wequosh
appeared. We demanded of them, Where was the fort? They an
swered on the top of that hill. Then we demanded, Where were the
rest of the Indians ? They answered behind, exceedingly afraid. We
wished them to tell the rest of their fellows, that they should by no
means fly, but stand at what distance they pleased, and see whether
Englishmen would now fight or not. Then Captain Underbill came
up, who marched in the rear ; and commending ourselves to God, we
divided our men, there being two entrances into the fort, intending to
enter both at once — Captain Mason leading up to that on the north
east side, who approached within one rod, heard a dog bark, and an
Indian crying Owanux ! Owanux ! which is Englishmen ! English
men ! We called up our forces with all expedition, gave fire upon
them through the pallizado, the Indians being in a dead, indeed their
last sleep. Then we wheeling off, fell upon the main entrance, which
was blocked up with bushes about breast high, over which the Captain
passed, intending to make good the entrance, encouraging the rest to
follow. Lieutenant Seeley endeavored to enter ; but being somewhat
cumbered, stepped back and pulled out the bushes and so entered, and
with him about sixteen men. We had formerly concluded to destroy
them by the sword and save the plunder.
Whereupon Captain Mason seeing no Indians, entered a wigwam ;
where he was beset with many Indians, waiting all opportunities to
lay hands on him, but could not prevail. At length William Haydon,
espying the breach in the wigwam, supposing some English might be
there, entered ; but in his entrance fell over a dead Indian ; but speedily
recovering himself, the Indians some fled, others crept under their beds.
The Captain going out of the wigwam, saw many Indians in the lane
or street ; he making towards them, they fled, were pursued to the end
of the lane, where they were met by Edward Pattison, Thomas Bar
ber, with some others ; where seven of them were slain as they said.
The Captain facing about, marched a slow pace up the lane ; he came
down, perceiving himself very much out of breath, and coming to the
other end, near the place where he first entered, saw two soldiers
standing close to the palisado, with their swords pointed to the ground ;
the Captain told them that we should never kill them after this man
ner. The Captain also said, We must burn them ; and immediately
stepping into the wigwam, where he had been before, brought out a
fire-brand, and putting it into the mats with which they were covered,
set the wigwams on fire. Lieutenant Thomas Bull and Nicholas Om-
sted beholding, came up ; and when it was thoroughly kindled, the In
dians ran as men most dreadfully amazed.
And indeed such a dreadful terror did the Almighty let fall upon
their spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very flames,
where many of them perished. And when the fort was thoroughly
INDIAN WARS. 213
fired, command was given that all should fall off and surround the fort ;
which was readily attended by all, only one, Arthur Smith, being so
wounded that he could not move out of the place, who was happily
espied by Lieutenant I3ull, and by him rescued. The fire was kindled
on the north east side to the windward ; which did swiftly overrun the
fort, to the extreme amazement of the enemy, and great rejoicing of
ourselves. Some of them climbing to the top of the palizado : others
of them running into the very flames ; many of them gathering to the
windward, lay pelting at us with their arrows ; and we repaid them
with our small shot ; others of the stoutest issued forth, as we did
guess, to the number of forty, who perished by the sword.
What I have formerly said, is according to my own knowledge, there
being sufficient living testimony to every particular. But in reference
to Capt. Underhill and his party's acting in this assault, I can only in
timate as we are informed by some of themselves immediately after
the fight, that they marched up to the entrance on the south west side ;
there they made some pause ; a valiant, resolute gentleman, one Mr.
Hedge, stepping towards the gate, saying, ' If we may not enter,
wherefore came we here V and immediately endeavored to enter ; but
was opposed by a sturdy Indian, which did impede his entrance ; but
the Indian being slain by himself and Sergeant Davis, Mr. Hedge en
tered the fort with some others ; but the fort being on fire, the smoke
and flames were so violent that they were constrained to desert the
fort. Thus were they now at their wit's end, who not many hours
before exalted themselves in their great pride, threatening and re
solving the utter ruin and destruction of all the English, exulting and
rejoicing with songs and dances : but God was above them, who
laughed his enemies and the enemies of his people to scorn, making
them as a fiery oven. Thus were the stout hearted spoiled, having
slept their last sleep, and none of their men could find their hands.
Thus did the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the place with dead
bodies ! And here we may see the just judgment of God, in sending
even the very night before the assault one hundred and fifty men from
the other fort, to join with them of that place, who were designed as
some of themselves reported to go forth against the English, at that
very instant when this heavy stroke came upon them, where they per
ished with their fellows. So that the mischief they intended to us,
came upon their own pate. They were taken in their own snare, and
we throngh mercy escaped. And thus in little more than one hour's
space, was their impregnable fort with themselves utterly destroyed, to
the number of six or seven hundred as some of themselves confessed.
There were only seven taken captive, and about seven escaped. Of
the English there were two slain outright, and about twenty woun
ded ; some fainted by reason of the sharpness of the weather, it being
a cool morning, and the want of such comforts and necessaries as are
needful in such a case ; especially our Chirurgeon was much wanting,
whom we left with our barks in Narragansett Bay, who had orders to
remain until the night before our intended assault. And thereupon
grew many difficulties ; our provision and munition near spent ; we in
214 INDIAN WARS.
the enemy's country, who did far exceed us in number, being much
enraged, all our Indians except Onkos deserting us ; our pinnaces at
a great distance from us, and when they would come we were uncer
tain. But as we were consulting what course to take, it pleased God
to discover our vessels to us before a fair gale of wind, sailing into
Pequot Harbor, to our great rejoicing.
We had no sooner discovered our vessels, but immediately came up
the enemy from the other fort — three hundred or more as we con
ceived. The Captain led out a file or two of men to skirmish with
them, chiefly to try what temper they were of, who put them to a
stand ; we being much encouraged thereat, presently prepared to march
towards our vessels. Four or five of our men were so wounded that
they must be carried with the arms of twenty more. We also being
faint, w»ere,constrained to put four to one man, with the arms of the
rest that' were wounded to others ; so that we had but forty men free.
At length we hired several Indians, who eased us of that burthen, in'
carrying off our wounded men. And marching about one quarter of a
mile, the enemy coming up to the place where the fort was, and be-
holdrqg what was done, stamped and tore the hair from their heads ;
and . after aTStlel space, came mounting' down the hill upon us, in a.
full career, sfs' irahey would overrun us : but when they came within
shot, the rear faced'»bout, giving fire upon them : some of them being-
shot, made the rest more wary ; yet they held on running to and fro,.
and shooting their arrows at random. There was at the foot of the hill'
a small brook, where we rested and refreshed ourselves, having by
that time taught them a little more manners than to disturb us. We
then marched on towards Pequot Harbor, and falling upon several wig
wams burnt them, the enemy still following us in the rear, which was
to the windward, though to little purpose ; yet some of them lay in
ambush, behind rocks and trees, often shooting at us, yet through mer
cy touched not one of us ; and as we came to any swamp or thicket,
we made some shot to clear the passage. Some of them fell with our
shot, and probably more might, but for want of munition ; but when
any of them fell, our Indians would give a great shout, and then they
would take so much courage as to fetch their heads. And thus we
continued until we came within two miles of Pequot Harbor ; where-
the enemy gathered together and left us, we marching to the top of am
hill adjoining the harbor, with our colors flying, having left our drum
at the place of our rendezvous the night before ; we seeing our vessjsjs
there riding at anchor, to our great rejoicing, and came to the water
side ; we sat down in quiet." — Capt. Mason's Hist. Pequot War.
" This service being thus happily accomplished by these few
hands that came from Connecticut ; within a while after, the forces;
sent from the Massachusetts under the conduct of Capt. Stough-
ton as commander-in-chief, arrived there also, who found a great
part of the work done to their hands, in the surprisal of the Pe
quods' fort as aforesaid, which was yet but the breaking of the nest,
and unkennelling those savage wolves ; for the body of them, with
INDIAN WARS. 215
Sassacous the chief Sachem (whose very name was a terror to all
the Narragansets) were dispersed abroad and scattered all over
their country, yet so far were the rest dismayed, that they never
durst make any assault upon the English, who in several parties
Were scattered about in pursuit of them.
It was not long after Capt. Stoughton's soldiers came up before
news was brought of a great number of the enemy, that were dis
covered by the side of a river up the country, being first trapan-
ned by the Narragansets, under pretence of securing them, but
they were truly hemmed in by them, though at a distance, yet so
as they could not, or durst not stir from the place, by which means
our forces of the Massachusetts had an easy conquest of some
hundreds of them," who were there cooped up as in a pound ; not
daring to fight, nor able to fly away, and so were all take?n without
any opposition. The men among them to the number of 3?6, were
turned presently into Charon's ferryboat, under the command of
skipper Gallop, who dispatched them a little without the harbor ;
the females and children were disposed of accordinato th& will
of the conquerors, some being given to the Narragai^^^ando.ther
Indians that assisted in the service. .T-^^^m
The rest of the enemy being first fired out flPuieir strong hold,
were taken and destroyed, a great number of them being seized in
the places where they intended to have hid themselves, the rest
fled out of their own country over Connecticut river, up towards
the Dutch plantation. Our soldiers being resolved by God's as
sistance to make a final destruction of them, were minded to pur
sue them which way soever they should think to make their es
cape, to which end in the next place our soldiers went by water
towards New Haven, whither they heard, and which in reason
was most likely, they bent their course : soon after they were in
formed of a great number of them, that had betaken themselves
to a neighboring place not far off, whither they might hope it was
not likely they should be pursued ; but upon search they found
fifty or sixty wigwams, but without an Indian in any of them, but
heard that they had passed along towards the Dutch plantation :
whereupon our soldiers that were before, all embarked for Quille-
piack, afterwards called New Haven, and being landed there, they
had not far to march unto the place where it was most probable
they should either find or hear of them ; accordingly in their march
they met here and there with sundry of them, whom they all slew
or took prisoners, amongst whom were two Sachems, whom they
presently beheaded ; to a third that was either a Sachem or near
akin to one, they gave his life upon condition that he should go
and enquire where Sassacous was, and accordingly bring them
word : this Indian, overlooking all other national or natural obli
gations, in consideration of his life that was received on that con-
216 INDIAN WARS.
dition, proved very true and faithful to those that sent him ; his
order was to have returned in three days, but not being able with
in so short a time to make a full discovery of the business, and
also find a handsome way to escape, he made it eight days before
he returned, in which something fell out not a little remarkable ;
for those he was sent to discover, suspecting at the last by his
withdrawing himself, that he came for a spy, pursued after him,
so he was forced to fly for his life, and getting down to the sea
side he accidentally met with a canoe a little before turned adrift,
by which means he paddled by some shift or other so far out of
the harbor, that making a sign he was discerned by some on board
one of the vessels that attended on our soldiers, by whom being
taken up he made known what he had discovered. But after he
was gone, Sassacous suspecting (and not without just cause) what
the matter was, made his escape from the rest with 20 or 30 of
his men to the Mohawks, by whom himself and they that were
with him, were all murdered afterward, being hired thereunto by
the Narragansets, as was confidently affirmed and believed.*
The rest of the Pequods from whom Sassacous had made an
escape, shifted every one for himself, leaving but three or four
behind them (when a party of our soldiers according to the direc
tion of him that was sent as a spy came upon the place) who would
not or could not tell them whither their company were fled ; but
our soldiers ranging up and down as Providence guided them, at
the last, July 13, 1637, they lighted upon a great number of them,
they pursued them to a small Indian town seated by the side of
an hideous swamp (in Fairfield) into which they all slipt, as well
Pequods as natives of the place, before our men could make any
shot upon them, having placed a sentinel to give warning, Mr.
Ludlow and Capt. Mason with half a score of their men happened
to discover this crew. Capt. Patrick and Capt. Trask with about
an hundred of the Massachusetts forces came in upon them pre
sently after the alarm was given ; such commanders as first hap
pened to be there gave special orders that the swamp should be
surrounded (being about a mile in compass) but Lieut. Davenport
belonging to Captain Trask's company, not hearing the word of
command, with a dozen more of his company, in an over eager
pursuit of the enemy, rushed immediately into the swamp, where
they were very rudely entertained by those evening wolves that
newly kenneled therein, for Lieut. Davenport was sorely woun
ded in the body, John Wedwood of Ipswich in the belly, and laid
hold on by some of the Indians ; Thomas Sherman of said Ips
wich in the neck ; some of their neighbors that ventured in with
them were in danger of the enemy's arrows that flew very thick
* Sassacous's scalp was sent down to the English. — Hubbard's Mass. Hist.
INDIAN WARS. 217
about them, others were in as much hazard of being swallowed
by the miry boggs of the swamp, wherein they stuck so fast, that
if Sargeant Riggs, of Roxbury, had not rescued two or three of
them, they had fallen into the hands of the enemy ; but such was
the strength and courage of those that came to their rescue, that
some of the Indians being slain with their swords, their friends
were quickly relieved and drawn out of the mire and danger.
But the Indians of the place, who had for company sake run
with their guests the Pequods into the swamp, did not love their
friendship so well as to be killed with them also for company
sake, wherefore they began to bethink themselves that they had
done no wrong to the English, and desired a parly, which was
granted, and they presently understood one another by the means
of Thomas Stanton, an exact interpreter then at hand. Upon
which the Sachem of the place with seyeral others and their
wives and children, that liked better to live quietly in their wig
wams than to be buried in the swamp, came forth and had their
lives granted them. After some time of further parley with these,
the interpreter was sent in to offer the like terms to the rest, but
they were possessed with such a spirit of stupidity and sullenness
that they resolved rather to sell their lives for what they could
get there ; and to that end began to let fly their arrows thick
against him as intending to make his blood some part of the price
of their own ; but through the goodness of God toward him, his life
was not to be sold on that account, he being presently fetched off.
By this time night drawing on, our commanders perceiving on
which side of the swamp the enemies were lodged, gave orders
to cut through the swamp with their swords, that they might the
better hem them round in one corner which was presently done,
and so they were begirt in all night, the English in the circum
ference plying them with shot all the time, by which means many
of them were killed and buried in the mire, as they found the next
day. The swamp by the forementioned device being reduced to
so narrow a compass, that our soldiers standing at twelve feet
distance could surround it, the enemy kept in all the night ; but
a little before day break (by reason of the fog that useth to arise
about that time, observed to be the darkest time of the night)
twenty or thirty of the lustiest of the enemy broke through the
besiegers, and escaped away into the woods, some by violence
and some by stealth cropping away, some of whom notwithstand
ing were killed in the pursuit; the rest were left to the mercy of
the conquerors, of which many were killed in the swamp like
sullen dogs, that would rather in their self-willedness and madness
sit still to be shot or cut in pieces, than receive their lives for ask
ing at the hand of those into whose power they were now fallen
Some that are yet living and worthy of credit do affirm, 'that in the
19
218 INDIAN WARS.
morning entering into the swamp, they saw several heaps of them
sitting close together, upon whom they discharged their piece,
laden with ten or twelve pistol bullets at a time, putting the muz
zles of their pieces under the boughs within a few yards of them ;
so as besides those that were found dead (near twenty it was
judged) many more were killed and sunk into the mire and never
were minded more by friend or foe ; of those who were not so
desperate or sullen as to sell their lives for nothing, but yielded in
time, the male children were sent to the Bermudas, of the fe
males some were distributed to the English towns, some were
disposed of among the other Indians, tq whom they were deadly
enemies as well as to ourselves."
War between Uncas and Miantonimoh. — After the conquest
of the Pequots, the Narragansetts, the most numerous of the other
Indians, either out of discontent that the whole sovereignty of
the rest of the Indians was not adjudged to them, or out of envy
that Uncas, the sachem of the Mohegans, had insinuated himself
farther into the favor of the English than themselves, began a series
of hostile acts which ended in war. The following traditionary
account is from Dr. Trumbull's History of Connecticut.
" Miantonimoh, without consulting the English, according to agree
ment, without proclaiming war, or giving Uncas the least information,
raised an army of nine hundred or a thousand men, and marched
against him. Uncas's spies discovered the army at. some distance and
gave him intelligence. He was unprepared, but rallying between four
and five hundred of his bravest men, he told them they must by no
means suffer Minantonimoh to come into their town ; but must go and
fight him on his way. Having marched three or four miles, the ar
mies met upon a large plain. When they had advanced within fair
bow shot of each other, Uncas had recourse to a stratagem, with which
he had previously acquainted his warriors. He desired a parley, and
both armies halted in the face of each other. Uncas, gallantly ad
vancing in the front of his men, addressed Miantonimoh to this effect,
' You have a number of stout men with you, and so have I with me.
It is a great pity that such brave warriors should be killed in a private
quarrel between us only. Come like a man, as you profess to be, and
let us fight it out. If you kill me, my men shall be yours ; but if I
kill you, your men shall be mine.' Miantonimoh replied, ' My men
came to fight, and they shall fight.' Uncas falling instantly upon the
ground, his men discharged a shower of arrows upon the Narragan
setts ; and, without a moment's interval, rushing upon them in a furi
ous manner, with their hideous Indian yell, put them immediately to
flight. The Mohegans pursued the enemy with the same fury and
eagerness with which they commenced the action. The Narragan
setts were driven down rocks and precipices, and chased like a doe
by the huntsman. Among others Miantonimoh was exceedingly
pressed. Some of Uncas's bravest men, who were most light of foot,
INDIAN WARS. 219
coming up with him, twitched him back, impeding his flight, and
passed him, that Uncas might take him. Uncas was a stout man, and
rushing forward like a lion greedy of his prey, seized him by his
shoulder. He knew Uncas, and saw that he was now in the power
of the man whom he had hated, and by all means attempted to de
stroy ; but he sat down sullen and spake not a word. Uncas gave
the Indian whoop, and called up his men, who were behind, to his
assistance. The victory was complete. About thirty of the Narra-
gansetts were slain, and a much greater number wounded. Among
the latter was a brother of Miantonimoh and two sons of Canonicus,
a chief sachem of the Narragansett Indians. The brother of Mian
tonimoh was not only wounded, but armed with a coat of mail, both of
which retarded his flight. Two of Miantonimoh's captains, who for
merly were Uncas's men, but had treacherously deserted him, dis
covering his situation, took him and carried him to Uncas, expecting
in this way to reconcile themselves to their sachem. But Uncas and
his men slew them. Miantonimoh made no request either for himself
or his men ; but continued in the same sullen, speechless mood.
Uncas therefore demanded of him why he would not speak. Said
he, ' Had you taken me, I should have besought you for my life.'
Uncas for the present, spared his life, though he would not ask it, and
returned with great triumph to Moheagan, carrying the Narragansett
sachem as an illustrious trophy of his victory.
Uncas conducted Miantonimoh to Hartford. Here his mouth was
opened, and he plead most earnestly to be left in the custody of the
English, probably expecting better treatment from them than from
Uncas. He was accordingly kept under guard at Hartford, till the
meeting of the commissioners at Boston. After an examination of the
case, the commissioners resolved, ' that as it was evident that Uncas
could not be safe while Miantonimoh lived ; but that either by secret
treachery or open force, his life would be continually in danger, he
might justly put such a false and bloodthirsty enemy to death.' They
determined it should be done out of the English jurisdiction. They
advised Uncas that no torture or cruelty, but ' all mercy and modera
tion be exercised in the, manner of his execution.'
Immediately upon the return of the commissioners of Connecticut
and New Haven, Uncas, with a competent number of his most trusty
men, was ordered to repair forthwith to Hartford. He was made ac
quainted with the determination of the commissioners, and receiving
his prisoner, marched with him to the spot where he had been taken.
At the instant they arrived on the ground, one of Uncas's men, who
marched behind Miantonimoh, split his head with a hatchet, killing
him at a single stroke. He was probably unacquainted with his fate,
and knew not by what means he fell. Uncas cut out a large piece
of his shoulder and ate it in savage triumph. He said, ' It was the
sweetest meat he ever eat, it made his heart strong.'
The Mohegans, by the order of Uncas, buried him at tho place of
his execution, and erected a great heap or pillar upon his grave.
This memorable event gave the place the name of Sachem's Plain.
220 INDIAN WARS.
PHILIP'S WAR.
Murder of Sassaman, and beginning of the wan— -After the
death of Miantonimoh, the Nan-agansetts never appearetLtp/ be on
friendly terms with the English ; and probably by their influence,
most of the Indian tribes were brought into hostility -against them.
Philip, the chief of the Wampanoags, the secojjd. son of'Massa-
soit, was the most formidable Indian enemy of'th%Englilhi»New
England. He succeeded his brother Alexander ^skcRe'na, about
the year 1662 ; and being jealous of the growing power of the
English, sided with the Narragansetts. In 1671, the English
suspecting that he was plotting their destruction, sent for him to
make known his causes for so doing. Philip at first denied his
plotting against the English, but the proofs appearing so strong,
he was so confounded, that he made a confession. He moreover
with four of his counsellors, signed a submission, and an engage
ment of friendship, which also stipulated that he should give up all
his arms among his people, into the hands of the governor of Ply
mouth, to be kept as long as the government should " see reason."
" Yet did this treacherous and perfidious caitiff still harbour the
same or more mischievous thoughts against the English than ever
before, and hath been since that time plotting with all the Indians
round about, to make a general insurrection against the English in all
the colonies which, as some prisoners lately brought in have confessed,
should have been put in execution at once, by all the Indians rising
as one man, against all those plantations of English, which were next
to them. The Narragansetts having promised, as was confessed, to
rise with four thousand fighting men in the spring of this present year,
1676. But by the occasion hereafter to be mentioned about Sausa-
man, Philip was necessitated for the safety of his own life to begin
his rebellion the year before, when the design was not fully ripe.
Yet some are ready to think, that if his own life had not now been in
jeopardy by the guilt of the murder of the aforesaid Sausaman, his
heart might have failed him ; when it should have come to be put in
execution, as it did before in the year 1671, which made one of his
Captains, of far better courage and resolution than himself, when he
saw his cowardly temper and disposition, fling down his arms calling
him a white-livered cur, or to that purpose, and saying that he would
never own him again, or fight under him ; and from that time hath
turned to the English, and hath continued to this day a faithful and
resolute soldier in their quarrels.
That the Indians had a conspiracy amongst themselves to rise
KING PHILIP OF POKONOKET.
Drawn from an ancient print accompanying Dr. Stiles' edition of Church's history
of Philips' War. This chieftian is represented in his robe of red cloth, and other
insignia of royalty, copied, it is supposed, from an original painting.
19*
INDIAN WARS. 223
against the English, is confirmed by some of the Indians about Had-
ley, although the plot was not come to maturity when Philip began,
the special providence of God therein overruling the contrivers : For
when the beginning of the troubles first was reported from Mount
Hope, many of the Indians were in a kind of amaze, not knowing well
what to do, sometimes ready to stand for the English, as formerly
they had been wont to do ; sometimes inclining to strike in with
Philip, (which at the last they generally did) which if it had been fore
seen, much of that mischief might have been prevented that fell out
in several places, more by perfidious and treacherous dealing than any
other ways ; the English never imagining that after so many obliging
kindnesses received from them by the Indians, besides their many
engagements and protestations of friendship as formerly, they would
have been so ungrateful, perfidiously false and cruel, as they have
since proved.
The occasion of Philip's so sudden taking up arms the last year
was this — there was one John Sausaman, a very cunning and plausi
ble Indian well skilled in the English language, and bred up in a pro
fession of the Christian religion, employed as a schoolmaster at Na-
tick, the Indian town, who upon some misdemeanour fled from his
place to Philip, by whom he was entertained in the room and office
of a Secretary, and his chief counsellor, whom he trusted with all his
affairs and secret counsels : But afterwards, whether upon the sting
of his own conscience, or by the frequent solicitations of Mr. Eliot,
that had known him from a child and instructed him in the principles
of our religion, who was often laying before him the heinous sin of his
apostacy, and returning back to his old vomit, he was at last prevailed
with to forsake Philip, and returned back to the christian Indians at
Natick, where he was baptized, manifesting public repentance for all
liis former offences, and made a serious profession of the christain re
ligion : and did apply himself to preach to the Indians, wherein he
was better gifted than any other of the Indian nation, so as he was
observed to conform more to the English manner than any other In
dian ; yet having occasion to go up with some others of his country
men to Namasket ; (now Middleborough) whether the advantage of
fishing, or some such occasion, it matters not ; being there not far
from Philip's country, he had the occasion to be much in the company
of Philip's Indians, and Philip himself ; by which means he discerned
by several circumstances, that the Indians were plotting anew against
us ; which out of faithfulness to the English, the said Sausaman in
formed the Governor of, adding also, that if it were known that he
revealed it, he knew they would presently kill him. There appear
ing so many concurrent testimonies from others, making it the more
probable, that there was a certain truth in the information, some en
quiry was made into the business, by examining Philip himself, and
several of his Indians, who although they would own nothing, yet
could not free themselves from just suspicion. Philip therefore soon
after contrived the said Sausaman's death, which was strangely dis
covered, notwithstanding it was so cunningly effected, for they that
224
INDIAN WARS.
murdered him met him upon the ice on a great pond, and presently
after they had knocked him down, put him under the ice, yet leaving
his gun and hat upon the ice, that it might be thought he fell in acci
dentally through the ice and was drowned : but being missed by his
friends, who finding his hat and gun, they were thereby led to the
place, where his body was found under the ice. — When they took him
up to bury him, some of his friends, particularly one David, observed
some bruises about his head, which made them suspect that he was
first knocked down before he was put into the water, however they
buryed him near about the place where he was found, without making
any further enquiry at present : Nevertheless David his friend, re
ported these things to some English at Taunton (a town not far from
Namasket) which occasioned the Governor to enquire further into the
business, wisely considering that as Sausaman had told him that if it
were known that he revealed any of their plots, they would murder
him for his pains : wherefore, by special warrant the body of Sausa
man being digged again out of his grave, it was very apparent that he
had been killed and not drowned. And by a strange providence, an
Indian was found, that by accident standing unseen upon a hill, had
seen them murdering the said Sausaman, but durst never reveal it for
fear of losing his own life likewise, until he was called to the court
at Plymouth, or before the Governor where he plainly confessed what
he had seen. The murderers being apprehended, were convicted by
his undeniable testimony, and other remarkable circumstances, and
so were all put to death, being three in number ; the last of them
confessed immediately before his death, that his father (one of the
Counsellors and special friends of Philip) was one of the two that
murdered Sausaman, himself only looking on. This was done at Ply
mouth Court, held in June, 1675, insomuch that Philip, apprehending
the danger his own head was in next, never used any further means
to clear himself from what was like to be laid to his charge, either
about his plotting against the English, nor yet about Sausaman's
death ; but by keeping his men continually about him in arms, and
gathering what strangers he could to join with him, marching up and
down constantly in arms, both all the while the Court sat, as well as
afterwards. The English of Plymouth, hearing of all this, yet took
no further notice than only to order a military watch in all the adja
cent towns, hoping that Philip, finding himself not likely to be ar
raigned by order of the said Court, the present cloud might blow over
as some others of like nature had done before : but in conclusion, the
matter proved otherwise ; for Philip finding his strength daily in
creasing by flocking of neighbour Indians unto him, and sending over
their wives and children to the Narragansetts for security (as they
use to do when they intend war with any of their enemies) they im
mediately began to alarm the English at Swanzy (the next town to
Philip's country) as it were daring the English to begin ; at last their
insolencies grew to such a height, that they began not only to use
threatening words to the English, but also to kill their cattle and rifle
their houses ; whereat an Englishman was so provoked, that he let
INDIAN WAKS. 223
fly a gun at an Indian, but did only wound, not kill him ; whereupon
the Indians immediately began to kill all the English they could,, so
as on the 24th of June, 1675, was the alarm of war first sounded in
Plymouth colony, when eight or nine of the English were slain in and
about Swanzey ; they first making a shot at a company of English as
they returned from the assembly where they were met in a way of
humiliation on that day, whereby they killed one and wounded oth
ers, and then likewise at the same time they slew two men on the
highway, sent to call a surgeon ; and the same day barbarously mur
dered six men in and about a dwelling-house in another part of the
town ; all which outrages were committed so suddenly, that the Eng
lish had no time to make any resistance."
Attack on Brookfield. — " The Governor and Council of Massa
chusetts were sensible of as much danger from the Nipnet In
dians, as from the former ; they being the inland part of the coun
try betwixt the sea-coast and Connecticut river westward, and
the towns about the Massachusetts Bay eastward, whereupon
some persons that used to trade with the said Nipraets, were sent
to sound them, and find how they stood affected, for which also
there was the more reason, because they were always in subjec
tion to the sachem of Mount Hope, and so were the more like to
engage in the present quarrel ; of which there had been sufficient
proof already; when on the 14th of July, some of the Nipnet
Indians next bordering on Philip's country set upon some of the
Mendham,* where they killed four or five persons, which was
the first mischief done upon any of the inhabitants within the ju
risdiction of Massachusetts, acted as was said by one Matoonas,
who was father to him that had committed a murder soon after
Philip's first rebellion, Anno 1671. The messenger that was
sent thither, brought word back that they found the said Indians
wavering : the young men very surly and insolent, the elder ones
shewing some inclination to maintain the wonted peace. Soon
after, July 28, 1675, Capt. Wheeler was sent to assist Capt.
Hutchinson with a party of 20 horse to treat further about the
peace, who going first to Quabaog, or Brookfield, (a town sit
uate about 60 or 70 miles from Boston, in the road of Con
necticut, lying about 25 miles from the said river, and not far
distant from the chief seat of the Nipnet Indians), the inhab
itants of the said Brookfield had been so deluded by those
treacherous villains, that fearing no danger, they obtain of those
Nipnets the promise of a treaty upon the 2d of August ; where
upon some of the chief of the town rode along unarmed with
the said Wheeler and Hutchinson, with their party of horse,
Until they came to the place appointed ; but finding no Indians,
so secure were they, that they ventured along further, to find
* Mendon, a town situate northward from Mount Hope, within 36 miles of Boston.
226 INDIAN WARS.
the infidels at their chief town, never suspecting the least dan
ger, but when they had rode four or five miles that way, they
fell into an ambush, of two or three hundred Indians, laid in such
a narrow passage, betwixt a steep hill on the one hand, and a
hideous swamp on the other, that it was scarce possible for any
of them to escape, eight of them being shot down upon the place
(whereof three were of Brookfield) and three mortally wounded,
whereof Capt. Hutchinson was one ; Capt. Wheeler was also
near losing his life, whose horse was shot down under him ar.d
himself shot through the body, so that all manner of hopes to es
cape had been removed from him, had it not been for his son,
who was (by God's good providence) near or next unto him, this
son being a man of undaunted courage, (notwithatsnding his own
arm was broken with a bullet), with great nimbleness and agility
of body dismounted himself, and speedily mounted his father up
on his own horse, himself getting upon another, whose master
was killed, by which means they both escaped, and were after
wards cured. Much ado had those that were left alive to recover
Brookfield, which in all probability they npver had done (the com
mon road being waylaid with Indians on every side as was after
wards known) had it not been for one well acquainted with those
woods, who led them in a by-path, by which means they got
thither a little before the Indians, who quickly came flocking into
the town, with full intent to destroy it with fire and sword. But
by special providence the inhabitants were all gathered to the
principal house of the village (there being scarce 20 in the town)
before the barbarous miscreants came upon them, immediately set
ting fire upon all the dwelling-houses with most of the other build
ings in the town, save that one into which the inhabitants were
retired, which they several times attempted to burn, but were al
most miraculously defeated of their purpose by the immediate
hand of God. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. For
when they had for two days assaulted that poor handful of help
less people, both night and day pouring in shot upon them inces
santly with guns and also thrusting poles with fire brands, and
rags dipt in brimstone, tied to the ends of them to fire the house ;
at last they used this devlish stratagem to fill a cart with hemp,
flax and other combustible matter, and so thrusting it backward
with poles spliced together a great length, after they had kindled
it ; but as soon as it had begun to take fire, a storm of rain un
expectedly falling, put out the fire, or else all the poor people,
about 70 souls, would either have been consumed by merciless
flames, or else have fallen into the hands of their cruel enemies,
like wolves continually yelling and gaping for their prey."
" The next night Major Willard, by accident, hearing of the dan
ger the people were in, came with forty-eight dragoons to their re-
INDIAN WARS.
227
Attack on Brookfield.
lief. The occasion which brought Major Willard, and Capt. Parker
of Groton with forty-six more, so timely to their relief, was this ;
Major Willard in pursuance of his commission from the Governor
and council, was upon Wednesday, August 4th, in the morning, march
ing out after some Indians to the westward, to secure them : just as
they were setting forth, some of Marlborough, who had intelligence
(by those that were going to Connecticut and forced to return) what.
distress Brookfield was in, and knowing of Major Willard's purpose
to go out that morning from Lancaster, sent a post to acquaint him
therewith, which, though it did not find him in the town, yet overtook
him before he had gone above four or five miles from the place :
whereupon, conceiving it more needful to succour Brookfield in so
imminent danger, than to proceed further upon his intended design,
he altered his course and marched directly thither, being about thirty
miles distant when the tidings were brought him ; so he arrived there
that night very seasonably, about an hour after it was dark, or else
in all probability they had all perished before the relief sent up from
Boston could have reached them, which was not till three days after.
The providence of God likewise in bringing in the said Major so
safely, as well as seasonably to their relief, was very remarkable :
For the Indians had subtilly contrived to cut off all relief sent before
it could come at them, by laying ambushes, and placing their scouts
at two or three miles distance round the town : About an hundred of
them were lodged at an house not far off in the way toward Boston,
to cut off any succour that might come from thence : but it is suppo
sed they were so intense upon the project they were about for firing
228 INDIAN WARS,
the house, concluding it would without fail take place, that either they
did not mind their business of watching, or made such a noise for
joy thereof, that they did not hear their centinels when they shot off
their guns, at two miles distance. It is said that another party of the
Indians let the Major and his company purposely pass by them, with
out any opposition, waiting for the blow to be given at their first ap
proach near the house, purposing themselves to have fallen upon their
rear, and so to have cut them all off, before the besieged understood!
any thing thereof. But it pleased God so to order things in provi
dence, that no notice was taken of them by the besiegers, nor were
they at all discerned by them, till they had made themselves known
to their friends, and were admitted within the court of guard ; when
the enemy had notice thereof, they poured in their shot abundantly
upon them ; but they were now sheltered from the danger thereof;
only it seems their hor&es were exposed to their fury, as many of them
were maimed and killed, as were most of the cattle belonging to the
inhabitants of the place soon after.
After the Indians understood that succors were come in to the be
sieged, they fired all that they had left standing for their own shelter
while they had besieged the place beforementioned, and ran all away
into their own dens, in the neighbouring woods : however it was con
fessed by one of themselves, that flhe enemy had 80 of their men
killed and wounded in this business."
Surprisal of Capt. Beers and Lothrop. — The Indians being
driven westward to Connecticut river, succeeded in stirring up
the Indians in that region against the English. They were pur
sued by Captains Lothrop, Beers- and others, and overtaken at a
place called Sugar Loaf Mountain in Deerfield, where a skirmish
took place in which nine or ten of the English were slain and
about 26 Indians. On the 1st of Sept. the Indians burnt the
most of Deerfield, and two or three days afterwards they fell up
on Squakeag, (now Northfielid), another new plantation higher up
the river, where they killed nine or ten persons, and the rest es
caped into the garrison house.
" The next day, this disaster not being known, Capt. Beers, for
fear of the worst, with 36 men, was sent up to the said Squakeag,
with supplies both of men and provisions to secure the small garrison
there, but before they came very near to the town, they were set up
on by many hundreds of Indians out of the bushes by a swamp side.
By this sudden surprisal Capt. Beers (who was known to fight va
liantly to the very last) with about 20 of his men, were slain, the rest
flying back to Hadley. Here the barbarous villains shewed their in
solent rage and cruelty, more than ever before, cutting off the heads
of some of the slain, and fixing them upon poles near the highway,.
and not only so, but one (if not more) was found with a chain hooked
into his under jaw, and so hung up on the bough of a tree, (it is feared
he was hung up alivz), by which means they thought to daunt and
INDIAN WARS.
229
discourage any that might come to their relief, and also to terrify those
that should be spectators with the beholding so sad an object ; inso
much that Major Treat with his company, going up two days after to
fetch off the residue of the garrison, were solemnly affected with that
doleful sight, which made them make the more haste to bring down
the garrison, not waiting for any opportunity to take revenge upon the
enemy, having but 100 with him, too few for such a purpose. Capt.
Appleton going up after him, met him coming down, and would wil
lingly have persuaded them to have turned back, to see if they could
have made any spoil upon the enemy, but the greater part advised to
the contrary, so that they were all forced to return with what they
Attack on Capt. Beers at Bloody Brook, in Deerfield.
could carry away, leaving the rest for a booty to the enemy, who shall
ere long pay a sad reckoning for their robberies and cruelties, in the
time appointed : But the sufferings of the English were not as yet
come to their height, for after they were come to Hadley, the com
mander in chief taking counsel with the officers of the soldiers, or
dered them that were then present to garrison the towns about ; some
to be at Northampton, Hatfield and Deerfield, and some to remain at
Hadley, where were the head quarters of the English. But perceiv
ing that little good was to be done upon the enemy in those parts, it
was agreed that what corn was left at Deerfield, being threshed out
as well as they could in those tumults, (above 3000 bushels was sup
posed to be there standing in stacks), should be brought to Hadley,
and to wait further time to fight the enemy. It came to Capt. Lo-
throp's turn, or rather it was his choice with about 80 men to guard
several carts laden with corn and other goods. The company under
Capt. Mosely then quartering at Deerfield intended that day to pursue
20
230 INDIAN WARS.
after the enemy. But upon Sept. 18, that most fatal day, the saddest
that ever befel New England, as the company under Capt. Lothrop
were marching along with the carts (it may be too securely) never
apprehending danger so near, they were suddenly set upon, and al
most all cut off, (90 killed, teamsters included), not above 7 or 8 es
caping : Which great defeat came to pass by the unadvised proceed
ings of the Captain (who was himself slain in the first assault) al
though he wanted neither courage nor skill to lead his soldiers ; but
having taken up a wrong notion about the best way and manner of
fighting with the Indians (which he was always wont to argue for)
viz. that it were best to deal with the Indians in their own way, scil.
by skulking behind trees, and taking their aim at single persons, which
is the usual manner of the Indians fighting one with another ; but
herein was his great mistake, in not considering the great disadvan
tage a smaller company would have in dealing that way with a greater
multitude : For if five have to deal with one, they may surround him,
and every one take his aim at him, while he can level but at one of
his enemies at a time : Which gross mistake of his, was the ruin of
a choice company of young men, the very flower of the county of
Essex, all culled out of the towns belonging to that county, none of
which were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate : their dear
relations at home mourning for them, like Rachel for her children,
and would not be comforted, not only because they were not, but be
cause they were so miserably lost. The like mistake was conceived
to be the reason of the loss of the former persons slain with the said
Lothrop, pursuing the Indians that ran away from Hadley, and of the
20 slain with Capt. Beers' men, who betook themselves at first to the
trees, and at the last a few got to their horses soon after their Cap
tain was shot down. For had he ordered his men to march in a body,
as some of his fellow commanders advised, either backward or for
ward, in reason they had not lost a quarter of the number of them
that fell that day by the edge of the sword. For the Indians, not
withstanding their subtilty and cruelty, durst not look an Englishman
in the face in the open field, nor ever yet known to kill any man with
their guns, unless when they could lie in wait for him in ambush, or
behind some shelter, taking aim undiscovered, so that although it was
judged by those that escaped, that there were 7 or 800 Indians at
least that encountered that company of 80 English, yet if they had
kept together in a body, and fought marching, they might have esca
ped the numbers of the enemy, with little loss in comparison of what
they sustained. For the valiant and successful Capt. Mosely, and his
Lieutenant, coming (though too late) to their rescue, marched through
and through that great body of Indians and yet came off with little or
no loss in comparison of the other. And having fought all those In
dians for five or six hours upon a march, lost not above two men all
that while, nor received other damage except that eight or nine were
wounded. This sore defeat of Capt. Lothrop and his men, was the more to
be lamented, in that (falling out so soon after two other of the like
INDIAN WARS. 231
nature) it so emboldened the enemy, that they durst soon after adven
ture upon considerable towns, though well garrisoned with soldiers,
and gave them occasion of the most insolent braving the garrison at
Deerfield the next day, hanging up the garments of the English in
sight of the soldiers, yet on the other side of the river. However, it
pleased God, who is always wont to remember his people in their
low estate, to put such a restraint upon them, that when they passed
very near the garrison house at Deerfield, (wherein were not left
above 27 soldiers), their Captain using this stratagem, to cause his
trumpet to sound as if he had another troop near by to be called to
gether, they turned another way and made no attempt upon the house
where that small number was, which if they had done with any or
dinary resolution, so small a handful of men could hardly have with
stood the force of so many hundreds as were then gathered together.
What loss the enemy sustained by the resistance of Capt. Lothrop
and his men, (who no doubt being all resolute young men, and seeing
they should be forced by the hard law of the sword to forego their
lives, held them at as high a rate as they could), is not certainly
known. It has since been confessed by some of the Indians them
selves, that they lost 96 of their men that day. Capt. Mosely's men
coming suddenly upon them when they were pillaging of the dead,
fell upon them with such a smart assault, that they drove them pre
sently into a swamp, following them so close, that for seven miles
together they fought them upon a march, charging them through and
through." Attack on Springfield,. — " The inhabitants of Springfield were
not insensible of their danger, and therefore had upon the first
breaking forth of these troubles been treating with their Indians,
and had received from them the firmest assurance and pledges of
their faithfulness and friendship that could be imagined or desired,
both by covenant, promises, and hostages given for security, so
as no doubt was left in any of their minds : Yet did these faith
less and ungrateful monsters plot with Philip's Indians to burn
and destroy all Springfield, as they had done Brookfield before.
To that end they sent cunningly and enticed away the hostages
from Hartford, where they were perhaps too securely watched
over, a day or two before : Then receiving about 300 of Philip's
Indians into their fort, privately in the night time, so as they were
neither discerned or suspected. Yea so confident were such of
the inhabitants as were most conversant with the Indians at their
fort, that they would not believe there was any such plot in hand,
when it was strangely revealed by one Toto, an Indian at Wind
sor, (about 18 or 20 miles below Springfield, upon the. same riv
er), better affected to the English, and so by post tidings brought
to Springfield the night before, insomuch that the Lieutenant of
the town, Cooper by name, was so far from believing the strata
gem, that in the morning himself with another would venture to
232 INDIAN WARS.
ride up to the fort, to see whether things were so or not. The
fort was about a mile from the town ; when he came within a
little thereof, he met these bloody and deceitful monsters, newly
issued out of their Equus Trojanus to act their intended mis
chief; they presently fired upon him, divers of them, and shot
him in several places through the body, yet being a man of stout
courage, he kept his horse till he recovered the next garrison
house, his companion they shot dead upon the place ; by this
means giving a sad alarm to the town of their intended mischief,
which was instantly fired in all places where there were no gar
risons. The poor people having not an officer to lead them, be
ing like sheep ready for the slaughter, and no doubt the whole
town had been totally destroyed, but that a report of the plot be
ing carried about over night, Major Treat came from Westfield
time enough for their rescue, but wanting boats to transport his
men, could not do so much as he desired. Major Pynchon com
ing from Hadley with Capt. Appleton and what forces they could
bring along with them, 32 houses being first consumed, preserved
the rest of the town from being turned to ashes, in which the
over credulous inhabitants might now see (what before they would
not now believe at the burning Maj. Pynchon's barns and stables
a few days before, to a very great damage of the owner), the faith
less and deceitful friendship among these perfidious, cruel and
hellish monsters.
Amongst the ruins of the said dwellings, the saddest to be
hold was the house of Mr. Pelatiah Clover, minister of the town,
furnished with a brave library, which he had but newly brought
back from a garrison wherein it had been for some time before
secured, but as if the danger had been over with them, the said
minister, a great student, and an hilluo librorum, being impatient
for want of his books, brought them back to his great sorrow, fit
for a bonfire for the proud insulting enemy. Of all the mischiefs
done by the said enemy before that day, the burning of this town
of Springfield did more than any other discover the said actors to
be the children of the devil, full of all subtilty and malice, there
having been for about forty years so good correspondence betwixt
the English of that town and the neighboring Indians. But in
them is made good what is said in the Psalm, That though their
words were smoother than oil, yet were they drawn swords."
" Swamp Fight" with the Narragansetts. — In July, 1675, the
English made a friendly treaty with the Narragansett Indians.
Notwithstanding this, it was discovered that they secretly aided
Philip's party. This determined the English to undertake a win
ter expedition, against them. For this object, the colony of Mas
sachusetts furnished five hundred and twenty-seven men, Ply-
INDIAN WARS. 233
mouth one hundred and fifty-nine, and Connecticut three hundred :
to all these were attached one hundred and fifty Mohegan Indians.
Josiah Winslow, governor of Plymouth Colony, was elected their
commander. " The whole number of all our forces being now come, the want of
provision with the sharpness of the cold, minded them of expedition,
wherefore the very next day, the whole body of the Massachusetts
and Plymouth forces marched away to Pettyquamscot intending to
engage the enemy upon the first opportunity that next offered itself :
To which resolution those of Connecticut presently consented, as soon
as they met together, which was about 5 o'clock in the afternoon :
Bull's house intended for their general rendezvous, being unhappily
burnt down two or three days before, there was no shelter left either
for officers or private soldiers, so as they were necessitated to march
on toward the enemy through the snow, in a cold stormy evening,
finding no other defence all that night, save the open air, nor any other
covering than a cold and moist fleece of snow. Through all these
difficulties they marched from the break of the next day, December
19th, till one of the clock in the afternoon, without even fire to warm
them, or respite to take any food, save what they could chew in their
march. Thus having waded fourteen or fifteen miles through the
country of the old Queen, or Sunke Squaw of Narraganset, they came
at 1 o'clock upon the edge of the swamp where their guide assured
them they would find Indians enough before night.
Our forces chopping thus upon the seat of the enemy, upon the
sudden, they had no time either to draw up in any order or form of
battle, nor yet opportunity to consult where or how to assault. As
they marched, Capt. Mosely and Capt. Davenport led the Van, Major
Appleton and Capt. Oliver brought up the rear of Massachusetts
forces : General Winslow with the Plymouth forces marched in the
centre ; those of Connecticut came up in the rear of the whole body :
But the frontiers discerning Indians in the edge of the swamp, fired
immediately upon them who answering our men in the same lan
guage, retired presently into the swamp, our men followed them in
amain, without staying for the word of command, as if every one were
ambitious who should go first, never making any stand till they came
to the sides of the fort, into which the Indians that first fired upon
them betook themselves.
It seems that there was but one entrance into the fort, though the
enemy found many ways to come out, but neither the English or their
guide well knew on which side the entrance lay : nor was it easy to
have made another ; wherefore the good providence of Almighty God
is the more to be acknowledged, who as he led Israel sometimes by
the pillar of fire, and the cloud of his presence, a right way through
the wilderness, so did he now direct our forces upon that side of the
fort, where they might not only enter through not without the utmost
danger and hazard. The fort was raised upon a kind of an island of
20*
234 INDIAN WARS.
five or six acres of rising land in the midst of a swamp ; the sides of
it were made of pallisadoes, set upright, which was compassed about
with an hedge of almost a rod thickness, thro' which there was no
passing unless they could have fired a way through, which then they
had no time to do. The place where the Indians used ordinarily to
enter themselves, was upon a long tree over a place of water, where
but one man could enter at a time, and which was so way-laid that
they would have been cut off that had ventured there : But at one
corner there was a cap made up only with a long tree, about four or
five foot from the ground, over which men might easily pass : But
they had placed a kind of a Block-house right over against the said
tree, from whence they sorely galled our men that first entered, some
being shot dead upon the tree, as was Capt. Davenport ; so as they
that first entered were forced presently to retire, and fall upon their »
bellies, the fury of the enemy's shot was pretty well spent, which
some companies that did not discern the danger, not observing, lost
sundry of their men, but at the last two companies being brought up,
besides the four that first marched up, they animated one another, to
make another assault, one of the commanders crying out they run,
•hey run, which did so encourage the soldiers that they presently en
tered amain. After a considerable number were well entered, they
presently beat the enemy out of a flanker on the left hand, which did
a little shelter our men from the enemy's shot, till more came up, and
so by degrees made up higher, first into the middle, and then into the
upper end of the fort, till at last they made the enemy all retire from
their sconses, and fortified places, leaving multitudes of their dead
bodies upon the place. Connecticut soldiers marching up in the rear,
being not aware of the dangerous passage over the tree, in command
of the enemy's block-house, were at their first entrance many of them
shot down, although they came on with as gallant resolution as any
of the rest, under the conduct of their wise and valiant leader, Major
Treat. The brunt of the battle, or danger that day lay most upon the com
manders whose part it was to lead on their several companies in the
very face of death, or else all had been lost ; so as all of them with
great valour and resolution of mind, as not at all afraid to die in so
good a cause, bravely led on their men in that desperate assault ;
leaving their lives in the place as the best testimony of their valour,
and of love to the cause of God and their country : No less than six
brave Captains fell that day in the assault, viz. Capt. Davenport; Capt.
Gardiner, Capt. Johnson, of Massachusetts, besides Lieutenant Up-
ham, who died some months after of his wounds received at that time.
Capt. Gallop also, and Capt. Sieley and Capt. Marshall were slain, of
those belonging to Connecticut colony. It is usually seen that the
valour of the soldiers is much wrapped up in the lives of their Com
manders, yet it was found here, that the soldiers were rather engaged
than discouraged by the loss of their Commanders, which made°them
redouble their courage, and not give back after they were entered a
second time, till they had driven out their enemies : So after much
INDIAN WARS. 237
blood and many wounds dealt on both sides, the English seeing their
advantage, began to fire the wigwams, where was supposed tp be
many of the enemies' women and children destroyed, by the firing of
at least five or six hundred of their smoaky cells.
It is reported by them that first entered the Indian's fort, that our
soldiers came upon them when they were ready to dress their dinner,
but our sudden and unexpected 'assault put them beside that work,
making their cook rooms too hot for them at that time, when they and
their mitchin fried together : And probably some of them eat their
suppers in a colder place that night : Most of their provisions as well
as their huts being then consumed with fire, and those that were left
alive forced to hide themselves in a cedar swamp, not far off, where
they had nothing to defend them from the cold but boughs of spruce
and pine trees : For after two or three hours fight, the English be
came masters of the place, but not judging it tenable, after they had
burned all they could set fire upon, they were forced to retreat, after
the day light was almost quite spent, and were necessitated to retire
to their quarters, full fifteen or sixteen miles off, some say more,
whither with their dead and wounded men they were forced to march,
a difficulty scarce to be believed and not to be paralleled in any for
mer age.
Our victory was found afterwards to be much more considerable
than at first was apprehended ; for although our loss was very great
not only because of the desperateness of the attempt itself (in such a
season of the year, and at such a distance from our quarters, whereby
many of our wounded men perished, which might otherwise have been
preserved, if they had not been forced to march so many miles in a
cold snowy night, before they could be dressed) yet the enemy lost
so many of their principal fighting men, their provision also was by
the burning of their wigwams, so much of it spoiled at the taking of
their fort, and by surprizing so much of their corn about that time
also ; that it was the occasion of their total ruin afterwards : They
being at that time driven away from their habitations, and put by from
planting for the next year, as well as deprived of what they had in
store for the present winter. What numbers of the enemy were slain
is uncertain, it was confessed hy one Postock, a great Counsellor
amongst them, afterwards taken at Rhode Island, and put to death at
Boston, that the Indians lost 700 fighting men that day, besides three
hundred that died of their wounds, the most of them : The number of
old men, women and children, that perished either by fire, or that
were starved "with hunger and cold, none of them could tell. There
was above 80 of the English slain, and 150 wounded, that recovered
afterwards. There were several circumstances in this victory very remarkable.
First, The meeting with one Peter a fugitive Indian, that upon
some discontent, flying from the Narragansetts, offered himself to the
service of .the English, and did faithfully perform what he had prom
ised, viz. to lead them to the swamp where the Indians had seated
238 INDIAN WARS.
themselves within a fort raised upon an Island of firm earth, in the
midst of a swamp, whither none of the English could have piloted
them without his assistance, the place being very near eighteen miles
from the place where they were quartered.
Secondly, Their being by a special providence directed just to a
place where they found so easy entrance, which if they had missed
they could never have made a way through the hedge, with which
they had surrounded the pallisadoes of the fort in half a day's time.
And Thirdly, If they had entered by the way left by the Indians
for passage, they might have been cut off, before they could have come
near their fortification.
Lastly, In directing their motion to begin the assault just at the day
they did, for if they had deferred but a day longer, there fell such a
storm of snow the next day that they could not have passed through
it in divers weeks after : And on a sudden there fell such a thaw,
that melted away both ice and snow, so that if they had deferred till
that time, they could have found no passage into their fortified place.
All which considerations put together, make it a signal favour of God
to carry them through so many difficulties to accomplish their desired
end. For after they were retired to their quarters, but sixteen miles
from that place, there was so great want of provision, the vessels be
ing frozen in at the harbour about Cape Cod, that should have brought
them relief, and the frost and snow set in so violently, that it was not
possible for them, with all the force they could make (so many of
their ablest soldiers being slain and wounded,) to have made another
onset : But the goodness of Almighty God was most of all to be ad
mired, that notwithstanding all the hardships they endured that win
ter, in very cold lodgings, hard marches, scarcity of provision, yet not
one man was known to die by any disease or bodily distemper, save
them that perished of their wounds."
Burning of Lancaster and Medfield. — " About the 10th of
February after, some hundreds of Indians, whether Nipnets or
Nashaway men (is uncertain) belonging to him they call Saga
more Sam, and possibly some of the stoutest of the Narragansets
that had escaped the winter brunt, fell upon Lancaster, a small
village, of about fifty or sixty families, and did much mischief,
burning most of the houses that were not garrisoned : And which
is most sad and awful to consider, the house of Mr. Rowlandson,
minister of said Lancaster, which was garrisoned with a compe^
tent number of the inhabitants ; yet the fortification of the house
being on the back side, closed up with fire wood, the Indians got
so near as to fire a leanter, which burning the house immediately
to the ground, all the persons therein were put to the hard choice,
either to perish by the' names, or to yield themselves into the hands
of those cruel savages, which last (considering that a living dog is
better than a dead lion) they chose, and so were 42 persons sur
prised by the Indians, above twenty of the women and children
INDIAN WARS. 239
they carried away captive, a rueful spectacle to behold ; the rest
being men, they killed in the place, or reserved for further misery :
And many that were not slain in fighting, were killed in attempt
ing to escape. The minister himself was occasionally absent, to
seek help from the Governor and Council to defend that place,
who returning, was entertained with the tragical news of his wife
and children surprised, and being carried away by the enemy, and
his house turned into ashes, yet it pleased God so to uphold his
heart, comforting himself in his God as David at Ziklag, that he
would always say, he believed he should see his wife and child
ren again, which did in like manner soon come to pass within five
or six months after ; all save the youngest, which being wounded
at the first died soon after, among the Indians.
And such was the goodness of God to those poor captive wo
men and children, that they found so much favour in the sight of
their enemies, that they offered no wrong to any of their persons
save what they could not help, being in many wants themselves.
Neither did they offer any uncivil carriage to any of the females,
nor ever attempted the chastity of any of them, either being re
strained of God, as was Abimileck of old, or by some other acciden
tal cause which withheld them from doing any wrong in that kind.
The western towns above Connecticut were the chief seat of
the war, and felt most of the mischief thereof, in the, end of the
year 1675 ; but the scene is now to be changed ; and the other
towns and villages that lie eastward, nearer Boston, must bear
their part in the like tragedies : For as was said before, the Nar
ragansets having been driven out of the country, fled through the
Nipnet plantations, towards Watchuset hills, meeting with all the
Indians that had harboured all winter in those woods about Nash-
away, they all combined against the English, yet divided their
numbers, and one half of them were observed to bend their course
toward Plymouth, taking Medfield in their way, which they en
deavoured to burn and spoil, February 21, 1675, as their fellows
had done Lancaster ten days before.
The surprisal of this Medfield, in regard of some remarkable
circumstances it was attended with, is not unworthy a more par
ticular relating as to the manner thereof: The loss of Lancaster
had sufficiently awakened and alarmed the neighboring villages, all
to stand upon their guard ; and some had obtained garrisoned sol
diers for their greater security, as was the case with them in the
town of Medfield, within twenty-two miles of Boston. And at
that time were lodged therein several garrison soldiers, besides the
inhabitants ; yet being* billetted up and down in all quarters of the
town, could not be gathered together till a great part of the town
was set on fire and many of the inhabitants slain, which how it
could be effected is strange to believe : But most of those inland
240 INDIAN WARS.
plantations being overrun with young wood (the inhabitants being
very apt to engross more land into their hands than they were able
to subdue) as if they were seated in the midst of a heap of bushes :
Their enemies took the advantage thereof, and secretly over night,
conveyed themselves round about the town, some getting under
the sides of their barns, and fences of their orchards, as is sup
posed, where they lay hid under that covert, till break of day,
when they suddenly set upon sundry houses, shooting them that
came first out of their doors, and then fired their houses where the
inhabitants were repaired to garrisons, were fit for the purpose :
Some were killed as they attempted to fly to their neighbours for
shelter. Some were only wounded, and some taken alive and
carried away captive : In some houses the husband running away
with one child, the wife with another, of whom the one was killed,
the other escaped. They began at the east end of the town,
where they fired the house of one Samuel Morse, that seems to
have been a signal to the rest to fall in on other parts : Most of
the houses in the west, or southwest end of the town were soon
burnt down : And generally when they burnt any out-houses,
the cattle in them were burnt also : Two mills belonging to the
town, were burnt also : A poor old man of near an hundred
years old, was burnt in one of the houses that were consumed
by fire. The Lieutenant of the town, Adams by name, was shot
down by his door, and his wife mortally wounded by a gun fired
afterwards accidentally into the house. After the burning of forty
or fifty houses and barns, the Cannibals were frighted away out
of the town, over a bridge that lies upon Charles River, by the
shooting of a piece of ordinance two or three times : When they
passed over the bridge they fired one end thereof, to hinder our
men from pursuing them, they were tho't to be about five hundred,
there were slain and mortally wounded seventeen or eighteen
persons, besides others dangerously hurt. The loss sustained by
the inhabitants amounted to above two thousand pounds. This
mercy was observed in this sad providence, that never a garrison
house was lost in this surprisal ; nor any of the principal dwel
lings, so as the chiefest and best of their buildings escaped the
fury of the enemy, who as they passed the bridge, left a writing
behind them, expressing something to this purpose, that we had
provoked them to wrath, and that they would fight with us these
twenty years, (but they fell short of their expectation by nineteen)
adding also, that they had nothing to lose, whereas we had
houses, barns, and corn."
Capt. Pierce slain. Indian stratagems. — " The Governor and
Council of Plymouth perceiving by the report of these outrages
committed upon the towns in Massachusetts, that they were like
to be visited this spring by their old neighbors, sent out Capt.
INDIAN WARS. 241
Pierce, of Situate, about the latter end of March with about fifty
English and twenty of their Christian Indians, about Cape Cod,
who proved none of his worst soldiers; as the sequel of this his
last expedition will declare.
Capt. Pierce, as is said before, being sent out to pursue the en
emy, marched towards Patuxet, where he understood the Indians
were many of them gathered together : He being a man of reso
lute courage, was willing to engage them, though upon never so
great a disadvantage : Some say the Indians by counterfeiting,
drilled him into a kind of ambush ; possibly more of them dis
covered themselves after he began to engage them than he was
aware of ; and being got over the river in pursuit of them, where
he discovered so great a number of them, he drew down towards
the side of the river, hoping the better by that means to prevent
their surrounding him ; but that proved his overthrow which he
intended as his greatest advantage : For the Indians getting over
the river so galled him from thence, that he was not able to de
fend himself ; thus assaulted on all sides, and himself not being
able to travel much on foot, was thereby hindered from retiring to
any better place in time, so as he saw himself constrained to fight
it out at the last, which he did with most undaunted courage, and
as is said, to the slaughter, of an hundred and forty of his enemies,
before himself and his company were cut off. It is said also, that
being apprehensive of the danger he was in by the great numbers
of the enemy like to overpower him with their multitude, he sent
a messenger timely enough to Providence, for relief, but as Solo
mon saith, a faithful messenger is as snow in harvest, another is
as smoak to the eyes, and vinegar to the teeth. (Whether through
sloth or cowardice, is not material) this message was not delivered
to them to whom it was immediately sent ; by accident only some
of Rehoboth understanding of the danger, after the evening exer
cise (it being on the Lord's day, March 26th 1676) repaired to the
place, but then it was too late to bring help, unless it were to be
spectators of the dead carcasses of their friends, and to perform
the last office of love to them.
It is worth the noting, what faithfulness and courage some of
the Christian Indians, with the said Capt. Pierce, shewed in the
fight : One of them, whose name was Amos, after the Captain
was shot in his leg or thigh, so as he was not able to stand any
longer, would not leave him, but charging his gun several times,
fired stoutly upon the enemy, till he saw that there was no pos
sibility for him to do any further good to Capt. Pierce, nor yet to
save himself, if he stayed any longer ; therefore he used this pol
icy, perceiving that the enemy had all blackened their faces, he
also stooping down pulled out some blacking out of a pouch he
21
242
INDIAN WARS.
carried with him, discoloured his face therewith, and so making
himself look as like Hobamackco, as any of his enemies, he ran
amongst them a little while, and was taken for one of them, as if
he had been searching for the English, until he had an opportu
nity to escape away among the bushes ; therein imitating the
cuttle fish, which when it is pursued, or in danger casteth out its
body a thick humour, as black as ink, through which it passes
away unseen by the pursuer.
Indian Cunning.
It is reported of another of these Cape Indians (friends to the
English of Plymouth) that being pursued by one of the enemy, he
betook himself to a great rock where he sheltered himself for
awhile, at last perceiving that his enemy lay ready with his gun
on the other side to discharge upon him, as soon as he stirred
never so little away from the place where he stood : In the issue
he thought of this politic stratagem to save himself, and destroy
his enemy (for as Solomon saith of old, wisdom is better than
weapons of war) he took a stick, and hung his hat upon it, • and
then by degrees gently lifted it up, till he thought it would be seen,
and so become a fit mark for the other that watched to take aim
at him : The other taking it to be his, head, fired a gun and shot
through the hat ; which our christian Indian perceiving, boldly1
held up his head and discharged his own gun upon the real head,
not the hat of his adversary, whereby he shot him dead upon the
place, and so had liberty to march away with the spoils of his
enemy."
INDIAN WARS. 243
Canonchet, the Narragansett Sachem. — " The first week in
April, 1676, Canonchet, their chief Sachem, having with this
people been driven out of his own country, by the sword of the
English, the winter before, breathed still nothing but rage and
cruelty against them, bearing himself upon his great numbers :
Yet as appeared in the issue, himself and they that escaped with
him were not much preserved from the present calamity that befel
the rest in their fort, as reserved to another and more ignominious
death. For the whole body of the Indians to the westward,
trusting under the shadow of that aspiring bramble ; he took a
kind of care of them upon himself : Wherefore foreseeing so many
hundreds could not well subsist without planting, he propounded
it in his council, that all the west plantations upon Connecticut
River, taken from the English, should this last summer be planted
with Indian corn ; which was indeed in itself a very prudent con
sideration : To that end he resolved to venture himself with but
thirty men (the rest declining it) to fetch seed corn from Seaconk,
the next town to Mount Hope, leaving a body of men, not fewer
than fifteen hundred to follow him or meet him about Seaconk the
Week after. The adventure brought him into a snare, from
whence he could not escape : For Capt. George Denison of
Stonington, and Capt. Avery, of New London, having raised
forty-seven English, the most part volunteers, with eighty Indians,
twenty of which were Narragansets, belonging to Ninigret, com
manded by one called Catapazet, the rest Pequods, under Cassa-
sinamon, and Mohegans under Oneco, son of Uncas, being now
abroad on their third expeditions which they began March 27th,
1676, and ended on the 10th of April following : They met with
a stout Indian of the enemy's whom they presently slew, and two
old squaws, that confessed Nanunttenoo, alias Canonchet (those
chief Sachems usually changing their names at every great dance,
and by that name of Nanunttenoo was he then known was not far
off) which welcome news put new life into the wearied soldiers,
that had traveled hard many days, and met with no booty till now ;
especially when it was confirmed by intelligence the same instant,
brought in by their scouts, that they met with new tracks, which
brought them in view of some called Blackstones river, in one of
which the said Sachem was at that moment diverting himself with
the recital of Capt. Pierce's slaughter, surprised by his men a few
days before, but the alarm of the English at that time heard by
himself, put by that discourse, appalled by the suddenness there
of, as if he had been informed by secret item from Heaven, that
now his own turn was come, so as having but 7 men about
him, he sent up two of them to the top of the hill, to see what the.
matter was, but they affrighted with the near approach of the
English, at that time with great speed mounting over a fair cham-
244 indian Wars.
pagna on the other side of the hill, ran by, as if they wanted time
to tell what they saw ; presently he sent a third, who did the like ;
then sending two more on the same errand, one of these last en
dowed with more courage, or a better sense of his duty, informed
him in great haste that all the English army was upon him;
whereupon having nd time to consult, and but little to attempt an
. escape, and no means to defend himself ; he began to dodge with
his pursuers ; running round the hill on the contrary side ; but as
he was running so hastily by, Catapazet, with twenty of his fol
lowers, and a few of the English, lightest of foot, guessed by the
swiftness of his motion, that he fled as if an enemy, which made
them immediately take the chace after him, as for their lives ; he
that was the swifter pursuer put him so hard to it that he cast off
first his blanket then his silver laced coat (given him at Boston,
as a pledge of their friendship, upon the renewal of his league in
October before) and belt of peag, which made Catapazet conclude
it was the right bird, which made them pursue as eagerly as the
other fled ; so as they forced him to take to the water, through
which as he over hastingly plunged, his foot slipping upon a stone,
it made him fall into the water so deep that it wet his gun, upon
which accident he confessed soon after, that his heart and bowels
turned within him, so as he became like a rotten stick ; void of
strength insomuch as one Monopoide, a Pequod swiftest of foot,
laid hold of him within thirty rods of the river side, without his
making any resistance ; though he was a very proper man, of
goodly stature, and great courage of mind, as well as strength of
body ; one of the first English that came up with him, was Rob
ert Stanton, a young man that scarce had reached the 22d year of
his age, yet adventuring to ask him a question or two, to whom
this manly Sachem looking with a little neglect upon his youthful
face, replied in broken English, you much child, no understand
matters of war : let your brother or your chief come, him will I
answer, and was as good as his Word ; acting herein, as if by a
Pathegorean metempsychosis, some old Roman ghost had pos
sessed the body of this western Pagan ; and like Attilius Regu-
las, he would not accept of his own life, when it was tendered
him, upon that (in his account) low condition of compliance with
the English, refusing to send an old Counsellor of his to makef any
motion that way, saying he knew the Indians would not yield ;
¦ but more probably he was not willing they should, choosing rather
to sacrifice his own, and his people's lives, to his private humour
of revenge, than timely to provide for his own and their safety, by
entertaining the counsels of a peace, so necessary for the general
good of all : He continuing in the same obstinate resolution, was
soon after carried to Stonington, where he was shot to death by
some of his own quality, sc. the young Sachem of the Mohegans,
INDIAN WARS. 245
and two of the Pequods of like quality. This was the confusion
of a damned wretch, that had often opened his mouth to blaspheme
the name of the living God, and those that make a profession
thereof. He was told at large of his breach of faith, and how he
boasted he would not deliver up a Wampanoog, or the paring of
a Wampanoog's nail, that he would burn the English in their
houses ; to which he replied, others were as forward for the war
as himself: and that he desired to hear no more thereof. And
when he was told his sentence was to die, he said, he hked it
well, that he should die before his heart was soft, or had spoken
any thing unworthy of himself. "He told the English before they
put him to death, that the killing him would not end the war ; but
it was a considerable step thereunto, nor did it live much longer
after his death, at least not in those parts ; for after Sudbury fight,
when the sun of their hopes was at its highest ; April the 18th
following, it visibly declined, till it set in a night of obscure and
utter darkness upon them all, as is to be feared."
Surprisal of Groton. " The surprisal of Groton was after this
manner : On March 2d, the Indians came in the. night and rifled
eight or nine houses, and carried away some cattle and alarmed
the town.
On March 9th, about ten in the morning, a parcel of Indians
having two days lurked in the town, and taken possession of three
out houses, and feasted themselves with corn, divers swine and
poultry, (which they there seized) lay in ambush for two carts,
which went from their garrison to fetch in some hay, attended
with four men, two of which espying the enemy, made a difficult
escape, the other two were set upon, and one of them slain, stript
naked, his body mangled, and dragged into the highway, and laid
on his back in a most shameful manner : the other taken captive,
and afterwards sentenced to death ; but the enemy not concurring
in the manner of it, execution was deferred, and he by the provi
dence of God escaped by a bold attempt the night before he was
designed to have been slaughtered, and fled to the garrison at
Lancaster, the cattle in both towns wounded, and five of them
slain. March 13th was the day when the enemy came in a full body,
by their own account four hundred, and thought by the inhabitants
to be not many less. The town was at this time, (having been
put into a fright by the sad catastrophe of Lancaster, the next bor
dering town) gathered into five garrisons, four of which were so
near together, as to be able to command from one to the other,
between which were the cattle belonging to those families, driven
into pastures, which afterwards proved their preservation; the
other was near a mile distant from the rest.
This mottling the Indians (having in the night placed thenl-
21*
246 INDIAN WARS.
selves in several parts of the town) made their onset ; which be-
.gan near the four garrisons, for a body of them having placed
themselves in ambuscado, behind a hill, near one of the garrisons
two of them made discovery of themselves, as if they had stood
upon discovery. At this time divers of the people, not suspecting
any such matter (for the day before many had been upon dis
covery many miles, and found no signs of an enemy being so near)
were attending their occasions, some foddering their cattle, some
milking their cows, of whom the enemy might easily have made
a seizure, but God prevented : they having another design in
hand, as soon after appeared. These two Indians were at length
espyed, and the alarm given ; whereupon the most of the men in
the next garrison, and some also in the second (which was about
eight or nine poles distant) drew out and went to surprise those
two Indians, who kept their station till our men reached the brow
of the hill, then arose in the ambush and discharged a volley upon
them, which caused a disorderly retreat or rather a rout, in which
one was slain, and three others wounded. Meanwhile another
ambush had risen, and come upon the back side of the garrison
so deserted of men, and pulled down the pallisadoes. The sol
diery in this rout, retreated not to their own, but passed by to the
next garrison, the women and children meanwhile exposed to
hazard, but by the goodness of God made a safe escape to the
other fortified house, without any harm, leaving their substance
to the enemy, who made a prey of it, and spent the residue of the
day in removing the corn and household stuff, (in which loss five
families were impoverished) and firing upon the other garrison ;
here also they took some cattle. No sooner was the signal given
by the first volley of shot, but immediately in several parts of the
town at once, did the smoke arise, they firing the houses.
In the afternoon they used a stratagem not unlike the other, to
have surprised the single garrison, but God prevented. An old
Indian passed along the street with a black sheep on his back,
with a slow pace, as one decripid ; they made several shot at him,
at which several issued out to have taken him alive, but the watch
man seasonably espying an ambush, behind the house, gave the
signal, whereby they were prevented.
The night following the enemy lodged in the town, some of
them in the garrison they had surprised, but the body of them in
an adjacent valley where they made themselves merry after their
"savage manner. The next morning they gave two or three vollies
at Capt. Parker's garrison, and so marched off, fearing as was
thought, that supply might be near at hand.
This assault of theirs was managed with their wonted subtlety
and barbarous cruelty ; for they stript the body of him whom
they had slain in the first onset, and then cutting off his head,
INDIAN WARS. 247
fixed it upon a pole, looking towards his own land. The corpse
of the man slain the week before, they dug up out of his grave,
they cut off his head and one leg, and set them upon poles, and
stript off his winding sheet. An infant which they found dead,
in the house first surprised, they cut in pieces, which afterward
they cast to the swine. There were about forty dwelling houses
burnt at that time, besides other buildings. This desolation was
followed with the breaking up the town, and scattering of the in
habitants, and removal of the candlestick after it had been there
seated above twelve years.
Concerning the surprising of Groton, March 13, there was not
any thing much more material than what is already mentionqd,
save only the insolency of John Monoco, or one eyed John, the
chief captain of the Indians in that design ; who having by a
sudden surprisal early in the morning, seized upon a garrison
house in one end of the town, continued to it, plundering what
was there ready at hand, all that day ; and at night did very fa
miliarly in appearance, call out to Capt. Parker, that was lodged
in another garrison house, and entertained a great deal of dis
course with him, whom he called his old neighbor ; dilating upon
the cause of the war, and putting an end to it by a friendly peace ;
yet oft mixing bitter sarcasms, with several blasphemous scoffs
and taunts, at their praying and worshipping God in the meeting
house, which he deridingly said he had burnt. Among other
things which he boastingly uttered that night, he said he burnt
Medfield, (though it be not known whether he was there person
ally present or not) Lancaster, and that now he would burn that
town of Groton, and the next time he would burn Chelmsford,
Concord, Watertown, Cambridge, Charlestown, Roxbury, Bos
ton, adding at last in their dialect, what me will, me do. Not
much unlike the proud Assyrian (if his power had been equal to
his pride) sometimes threatened against Jerusalem, but was by
the remarkable providence of God, so confounded within a few
months after, that he was bereft of his four hundred and four score
(of which he now boasted) and only with a few more bragado-
cios like himself, Sagamore Sam, old Jethro, and the Sagamore
of Quabaog, were taken by the English, and was seen (not long
before the writing of this) marching towards the gallows (through
Boston streets, which he threatened to burn at his pleasure) with
a halter about his neck, with which he was hanged at the town's
end, Sept. 26th, in this present year, 1776."
Capt. Wadsworth slain. " The Indians having burnt the de
serted houses at Marlborough, April 17th, the next day they set
upon Sudbury with all their might (hoping 'tis probable) to do
there as they had done at the towns next beyond it. They did at
the first prevail so far as to consume several houses and barns,
248 Indian Wars.
and kill several persons, ten or twelve of the English, that came
from Concord to assist their neighbors at Sudbury, a town distant
five miles from them, at the first hearing of the alarm, who una
wares were surprised near a garrison, in hopes of getting some
advantage upon a small party of the enemy that presented them
selves in a meadow ; a great number of the Indians that lay un
seen in the bushes, suddenly rose up, and intercepting the passage
to the garrison house, killed and took them all.
But. our sorrows and losses that day are not yet come to their
height ; for in the same day, that resolute, stout-hearted soldier,
Capt. Wadsworth (who not long before, with not above forty men,
rescued Lancaster, when it was in danger to have been all lost at
once) being sent from Boston with fifty soldiers to relieve Marlbo
rough, having marched twenty five miles and then understanding
the enemy was gone through the woods toward Sudbury. This
wearied company, before ever they had taken any considerable
rest, marched immediately back toward Sudbury (that lies ten
miles nearer Boston) and being come within a mile of the town,
they espied a party of Indians not far from them, about an hun
dred, not more — as they conceived, these they might easily deal
with ; who retiring back a while, drew Capt. Wadsworth and his
company above a mile into the woods, when on a sudden a great
body of the enemy appeared, about five hundred as was thought,
who compassing them around, forced them to the top of an hill,
where they made very stout resistance a considerable while ; but
the night drawing on, and some of the company beginning to
scatter from the rest, their fellows, were forced to follow them, so
as the enemy taking the chace, pursued them on every side, as
they made too hasty a retreat, by which accident, being so much
overpowered by the enemy's numbers, they were most of them
lost. The Captain himself, with one Capt. Brocklebank (a choice
spirited man, much lamented by the town of Rowley to which he
belonged) and some others that fell into his company as he
marched along, scarce twenty escaping in all ; so as another
Captain and his fifty men perished at that time, as brave soldiers
as any ever employed in the present service.
Thus as in former attempts of like nature too much courage
and eagerness in pursuit of the enemy, hath added another, fatal
blow to this poor country.
The same day another party of the English coming from Brook
field, whither they were sent as a convoy with provisions for the
garrison were in danger likewise of ^falling in the hands of the
same Indians, yet riding upon a good speed, and keeping their
guns always ready presented against them they met, they never
durst fire at them ; only three or four having unadvisedly first dis
charged their guns against the enemy, and falling too much in the
INDIAN WARS. 249
rear of their company, were cut off and lost. It is reported by
some that afterwards escaped, how they cruelly tortured five or
six of the English that night. Yet whatever their success was
this day, it was observed by some (at that time their prisoners,
and since released) that they seemed very pensive after they came
to their quarters, shewing no such signs of rejoicing as they
usually were wont to do in like cases ; whether for the loss of
some of their own company in that day's enterprise (said to be an
hundred and twenty) or whether it was the Devil in whom they
trusted, that deceived them, and to whom they made their address
the day before, by sundry conjurations of their powaws ? Or
whether it were by any dread that the Almighty sent upon their
execrable blasphemies, which it is said they used in torturing of
some of their poor captives (bidding Jesus come artd deliver them
out of their hands from death, if he could) we leave as uncertain
though some have so reported, yet sure it is that .after this day
they never prospered in any attempt they made against the Eng
lish, but were continually scattered and broken, till they were in a
manner all consumed."
Fall Fight (at Turner's Falls.) — " The great company of the ene
my that stayed on that side of the country, and about Watchuset hills,
when the rest went towards Plymouth, though they had been disap
pointed in their planting by the death of Canonchet, were loth to lose
the advantage of the fishing season then coming in ; wherefore, hav
ing seated themselves near the upper falls of Connecticut river, not
far from Deerfield, and perceiving that the English forces were now
drawn off from the lower towns of Hadley and Northampton, now
and then took advantages to plunder them of their cattle, and not fear
ing any assault from our soldiers, grew a little secure, while they
were upon their fishing design, insomuch that a couple of English
lads lately taken captive by the enemy, and making their escape, ac
quainted their friends at home how secure they lay in those places,
which so animated the inhabitants of Hadley, Hatfield and Northamp
ton, that they being willing to be revenged for the loss of their cattle,
besides other preceding mischiefs, took up a resolution with what
strength they could raise among themselves (partly out of garrison
soldiers and partly of the inhabitants) to make an assault upon them,
which if it had been done with a little more deliberation, waiting for
the coming of supplies, expected from Hartford, might have proved
a fatal business to all the said Indians ; yet was the victory obtained
more considerable than at first was apprehended ; for not having much
above an hundred and fifty fighting men in their company, they
marched above twenty miles silently in the dead of night, May 18th,
and came upon the said Indians a little before break of day, whom
they found almost in a dead sleep, without any scouts abroad, or
watching about their wigwams at home ; for in the evening they had
made themselves merry with new milk and roast beef, having lately
250 INDIAN WARS.
driven away many of their milk cows, as an English woman confessed
that was made to milk them.
When they came near the Indians' rendezvous, they alighted off
their horses, and tied them to some young trees at a quarter of a mile
distance, so marching up, they fired briskly into their wigwams, kil
ling many upon the place, and frighting others with the sudden alarm
of their guns, and made them run into the river, where the swiftness
of the stream carrying them down a steep fall, they perished in the
waters, some getting into canoes (small boats made of the bark of
birch trees) which proved to them a Charon's boat, being sunk, or
overset by the shooting of our men, delivered them into the like danger
of the waters, giving them thereby a passport into the other world :
Others of them creeping for shelter under the banks of the great
river, were espied by our men and killed with their swords : Capt. Hol
yoke killing five, young and old, with his own hands, from under a
bank. When the Indians were first awaked with the thunder of their
guhs, they cried out Mohawks, Mohawks, as if their own native ene
mies had been upon them ; but the dawning of the light soon notified
their error, though it could not prevent the danger.
Such as came back spake sparingly of the number slain ; some say
they could not in reason be less than two or three hundred of them
that must necessarily perish in the midst of so many instruments of
destruction managed against them with such disadvantages to them
selves. Some of their prisoners afterwards owned that they lost
above 300 in that camisado, some whereof were principal men Sa
chems, and some of their best fighting men that were left, which made
the victory more considerable than else it would have been ; nor did
they seem ever to have recovered themselves after this defeat, but
their ruin immediately followed upon it. Yet such was the awful
hand of Providence in the close of this victory, mixing much bitter
with the sweet, that it might well be called a costly victory to the
conquerors, that so no flesh should glory in itself.
The Indians that lay scattered on both sides of the river, after they
recovered themselves and discovered the small number of them that
assailed them, turned head upon the English, who in their retreat
were a little disordered for want of the help of the eldest Captain
that was so enfeebled by sickness before he set out, that he was no
way able for want of bodily strength (not any way defective for want
of skill or courage) to assist or direct in making the retreat : For
some of the enemy fell upon the guards that kept the horses, others
pursued them in the rear, so as our men sustained very much damage
as they retired, missing after their returns thirty-eight of their men ;
and if Capt. Holyoke had not played the man at a more than ordinary
rate, sometimes in the front sometimes in the flank and rear, at a fatal
business to the assailants. The said Captain Holyoke's horse was
shot down under him, and himself ready to be assaulted by many of
the Indians, just coming upon him, but discharging his pistols upon
one or two of them, whom he presently dispatched, and a friend com
ing to his rescue, he was saved, and so carried off the soldiers with-
INDIAN WARS. 25 1
out any further loss. It is confidently reported by some that were
there present at this engagement, that one told above an hundred In
dians left dead upon the place ; and another affirmed that he told
near an hundred and forty swimming down the falls, none of which
were observed to get alive to the shore save one. The loss that be-
fel our men in the retreat was occasioned principally by the bodily
weakness of Capt. Turner, unable to manage his charge any longer,
yet some say they wanted powder, which forced them to retire as
fast as they could by Capt. Turner's order. It is also said by one
present at the fight, that seven or eight in the rear of the English,
through haste, missed their way, it being a cloudy dark morning, and
were never heard of again ; and without doubt fell into the Indians'
hands, and it is feared some of them were tortured."
Death of Philip. — " About this time several parties of English
within Plymouth jurisdiction, were willing to have a hand in so
good a matter as catching of Philip would be, who perceiving
that he was now going down the wind, were willing to hasten his
fall. 'Amongst others, a small party went out of Bridgewater,
July 31st, upon a discovery, and by providence were directed to
fall upon a company of Indians where Philip was ; they came up
with them, and killed some of his particular friends : Philip him
self was next to his uncle that was shot down, and had the soldier
that had his choice which to shoot at, known which had been the
right bird, he might as well have taken him as his uncle ; but,
'tis said that he had not long cut off his hair that he might not be
known : The party that did this exploit were few in number, and
therefore not being able to keep together close in the rear, that
cunning fox escaped away through bushes undiscerned in the rear
of the English : That which was ^most remarkable in this design,
was that trembling fear appeared1' to be upon the Indians at this
time, insomuch that one of them having a gun in his hand, well
loaded, yet was not able to fire it off, but suffered an English sol
dier to come close up to his breast, and so shot him down, the
other not being able to make any resistance ; nor were any of the
English hurt at that time.
The like terror was seen in others at that time ; for within two
days after, Capt. Church, the terror of the Indians in Plymouth
colony, marching in pursuit of Philip with about 30 Englishmen
and 20 reconciled Indians, took 23 of the enemy, and the next
day following them by their tracks, fell upon their head-quarters,
and killed and took about 130 of them, losing only one man.
Philip, like a savage wild beast, having been hunted by the
English forces through the woods above an hundred miles back
ward and forward, at last was driven to his own den upon Mount
Hope, where he retired with a few of his best friends into a
swamp, which proved but a prison to keep him fast till the mes-
252 INDIAN WARS.
sengers of death came by divine permission to execute vengeance
upon him, which was thus accomplished.
Such had been his inveterate malice and wickedness against
the English, that despairing of mercy from them, he could not
bear that any thing should be suggested to him about a peace, in
somuch that he caused one of his confederates to be killed for
propounding an expedient of peace ; which so provoked some of
his company, not altogether so desperate as himself, that one of
them fled to Rhode Island, whither the brave Captain Church
was newly retired to recruit his men for a little time, being much
tired with hard marches all that week, informing them that Philip
was fled to a swamp in Mount Hope, whither he would under
take to lead them that would pursue him. This was welcome
news, and the best cordial for such martial spirits ; whereupon he
immediately, with a small company of men, part English and part
Indians, began another march, which shall prove fatal to Philip,
and end that controversy between the English and him : For
coming very early to the side of the swamp, his soldiers began
to surround it, and (whether the devil appeared to him in a dream
that night as he did unto Saul, foreboding his tragical end, it mat
ters not) as he was endeavoring to make his escape out of a
swamp, he was shot through the heart by an Indian of his own
nation, as it is said, that had all this while preserved a neutrality
until this time, but now had the casting vote in his power, by
which he determined the quarrel that had been so long in sus
pense. In him is fulfilled what was said in the prophet, Wo to
thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled, and dealest treach
erously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee ; when thou
shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled, and when thou shalt
make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously
with thee.
With Philip at this time fell five of his trustiest followers, of
whom one was said to be the son of his chief captain, that had
shot the first gun at the English the year before. This was done
the 12th day of August, 1676, a remarkable testimony of divine
favor to the colony of Plymouth, who had for -the former suc
cesses, appointed the 17th day of August following, to be kept
as a day of solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God.
Capture of Annawan. " The next that was seized was one Anna-
wan, a very subtle, politic fellow, and one of Philip's chief counsel
lors ; he had about twelve men, and as many women and children in
his company, who were discovered by their shooting at the English
horses, and cattle; some of whom being taken, they made known
the rest. Church at that time had but five Englishmen and twenty
Indians. The place where this Annawan had betaken himself, was
a ledge of rocks inaccessible but at one place, which by a few hands
INDIAN WARS.
Capture of Annawan.
might easily have been defended against a great number of assail
ants. But Capt. Church by direction got up to their wigwams before
they were aware of- it ; and presently told Annawan that he came to
sup with him ; whereupon Annawan (who had fallen flat upon the
earth, expecting to have his head cut off) looked up and cried taubut,
in their language, thank you, as one being much affected with' the
generosity of our English Captain ; they found some of the English
beef boiling in the kettles. After sapper he had much discourse with
the said Annawan, they lay down to sleep together in the wigwam ;
Capt. Church laying one of his legs upon Annawan, and the other
upon his son, that he might have notice if any of them should offer to.
stir. After midnight Annawan rose up, and Capt. Church was pre-*
sently awake, and intended to watch after his prisoner. He thought
at first he might have gone forth upon some necessary occasion ; but
not long after he returned again, having fetched out of a swamp hard
by, two horns of powder, and a large belt of peag, supposed to be
Philip's belt, all which he delivered to Captain Church, in a' way of
thankful- acknowledgment of his courtesy. Amongst other discourses
that passed between them concerning the occasion of the war, and
carrying it on, the Indian would fain have excused Philip, and laid
the blame upon the praying Indians (as they are distinguished from
others by that character) and others of the younger sort of his fol
lowers, who coming with their several tales (which he likened to
sticks laid on a heap) till by a multitude of them a great fire came to
be kindled. They make much use of parabolical expressions : for so
said Solomon, where no wood is there the fire goeth out ; so where
there is no tale-bearer, the strife ceaseth, Prov. 26, 20. But Philip
22
254 INDIAN WARS.
had had large and long experience of the gentleness and kindness of
the English, both to himself and to his people, so as unless he had
borne an evil and malicious mind against the English, he would never
have hearkened to those stories, contrary to his faithful promises and
allegiance. ¦'
¦ The said Annawan confessed also that he did believe by all these
late occurrences that there was a great God that overruled all j ija&ft
that he had found that whatever he had done to any of those, whe|&eji
Indians? or English, the same was brought upon himself in aftetHH^e*;
He confessed also that he had put to death several of the Enfalifeh'
which they had taken alive, ten in one day, and could not deny ti^i
that some of them had been tortured, and now he could not but see
the" justice of the great God upon himself, with many other things of
a-l'ike nature. But whatever his confessions of this nature were,
being forced from him by the power of conscience, after he was de
livered up to authority, he was put to death, as he justly had de
served." Conclusion of Philip's War. After the death of Philip, the
Indians generally submitted to the English; or fled, and incor
porated themselves with distant and strange nations. In this short
but destructive war about six hundred persons, composing the
flower of the strength of New England fell in battle, or were mur
dered by the enemy; twelve or thirteen towns were entirely de
stroyed ;and about six hundred buildings, chiefly dwelling houses,
were burnt. About every eleventh family had been burned out,
and every eleventh soldier had perished.
Within twenty days after Philip kindled the war at the south
ward, the flame broke out in .fhe most northeasterly part of the
country, at the distance of 200 miles ; and in the year 1675 and
1676, most of the plantations in the province of Maine, with those
on the river Piscataqua, partook in the general calamity. After
the death of Philip, the Massachusetts forces, which were then
at liberty to turn their arms in that quarter, surprised about 400
of the Eastern Indians at Cochecho (Sept. 6, 1676) and took them
prisoners. One half of them being found accessory to the late
rebellion, seven or eight, -who were known to have killed any
Englishmen, were condemned and hanged ; the rest were sold in
foreign parts for slaves. These were called strange Indians, who
had fled from the southward, and taken refuge among the Pena-
cooks. This stroke humbled the Indians in the east, although
the war continued until the spring of 1678." — Holmes' Annals.
INDIAN WARS. 255
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
. ,;For more than half a century previous to the treaty of Paris in
J$63, /the English colonies, particularly those of New England
an& New York were often harrassed by frequent wars with the
Preiwi and Indians. The French settled in Canada as early as
lfj08V'gitid explored the country bordering on the lakes. They
werejpfte first discoverers of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and
clairried'tti.e.- territory westward of the Alleghany mountains. In
order to strengthen their claims and possessions they attempted to
establish a chain of forts from Canada to Florida, back of the
English settlements. They also used much art, to gain over the
various tribes to their interests, in wkich they were generally suc
cessful. The Indians instigated, and sometimes accompanied by
the French, came down upon the English, destroyed their settle
ments, and murdered or carried away captive the inhabitants.
These and other injuries were soon succeeded by open war.
Destruction of Schenectady. The war during the reign of
William and Mary, in England, commonly called " King Wil
liam's War" commenced in 1690 and continued about seven
years. In the depth of winter, Count Frontenac, governor- of
Canada, fitted out three expeditions against the colonies — one
against New York, a second against New Hampshire, and a third
against the province of Maine. The following relating of the de
struction of Schenectady is extracted from the account given in
Mr. Drake's " Book of the Indian's" (Book 1 .)
" After two and twenty days' march, the enemy fell in with Sche
nectady, February 8. There were about 200 French, and perhaps 50
Caughnewaga Mohawks, and they at first intended to have surprised
Albany ; but their march had been so long and tedious, occasioned by
the deepness of the snow and coldness of the weather, that, instead of
attempting any thing offensive, they had nearly decided to surrender
themselves to the first English they should meet, such was their dis
tressed situation, in a camp of snow, but a few miles from the devoted
settlement. The Indians, however, saved them from the disgrace.
They had sent out a small scout from their party, who entered Sche
nectady without even exciting suspicion of their errand. When they
had staid as long as the nature of their business required, they with
drew to their fellows.
Seeing that Schenectady offered such an easy prey, it put new
courage into the French, and they came upon it as above related.
The bloody tragedy commenced between 11 and 12 o'clock, on Sat
urday night ; and, that every house might be surprised at nearly the
256
FRENCH AND
same time, the enemy divided themselves into parties of six or seven
men each. Although the town was empaled, no one thought it neces
sary to close the gates, even at night, presuming the severity of the
season was a sufficient security ; hence the first news of the approach
of the enemy was at every door of every house, which doors were
broken as soon as the profound slumbers of those they were intended
to guard. The same inhuman barbarities now followed, that were af
terwards perpetrated upon the wretched inhabitants of Montreal.
' No tongue,' said Colonel Schuyler, ' can express the cruelties that
were committed.' Sixty three houses, and the church, were imme
diately in a blaze. Enciente women, in their expiring agonies, saw
their infants cast into the flames, being first delivered by the knife of
the midnight assassin ! Sixty three persons were put to death, and
twenty seven were carried into captivity.
Destruction of Schenectady.
A few persons fled towards Albany, with no other covering but their
night-clothes ; the horror of whose condition was greatly enhanced by
a great fall of snow ; 25 of whom lost their limbs from the severity of
the frost. With these poor fugitives came the intelligence to Albany,
and that place was in dismal confusion, having, as usual upon such
occasions, supposed the enemy to have been seven times more nu
merous than they really were. About noon, the next day, the enemy
set off from Schenectady, taking all the plunder they could carry with
them, among which were forty of the best horses. The rest, with
all the cattle and other domestic animals, lay slaughtered in the streets.
One of the most considerable men of Schenectady, at this time,
was Captain Alexander Glen. He lived on the opposite side of the
INDIAN WARS. 257
river, and was suffered to escape, because he had delivered many
French prisoners from torture and slavery, who had been taken by
the Indians in the former wars. They had passed his house in the
night, and, during the massacre, he had taken the alarm, and in the
morning he was found ready to defend himself. Before leaving the
village, a French officer summoned him to a council, upon the shore
of the river, with the tender of personal safety. He at length adven
tured down, and had the great satisfaction of having all his captured
friends and relatives delivered to him ; and the enemy departed, keep
ing good their promise that no injury should be done him."
The following additional particulars respecting this event are
drawn from the account given by Charlevoix, a learned French
Jesuit, distinguished for his travels and authentic historical works.
" This party marched out before they had determined against what
part of the English frontier they would carry their arms, though some
part of New York was understood. Count Frontenac had left that to
the two commanders. After they had marched five or six days, they
(Called a council to determine upon what place they would attempt.
In this council, it was debated, on the part of the French, that Al
bany would be the smallest place they ought to undertake ; but the In
dians would not agree to it. They contended that, with their small
force, an attack upon Albany would be attended with extreme hazard.
The French being streiiuous, the debate grew warm, and an Indian
chief asked them ' how long it was since they had so much courage.'
To this severe rebuke it was answered, that, if by some past actions
they had discovered cowardice, they should see that now they would
retrieve their character ; they would take Albany or die in the attempt.
The Indians, however, would not consent, and the council broke up
without agreeing upon any thing bjit to proceed on.
They continued their march until they came to a place where their
path divided into two. ; one of which led to Albany, and the other to
Schenectady : here Mantet gave up his design upon Albany, and they
marched on harmoniously for the former village. The weather was
very severe, and for the nine following days the little army suffered
incredible hardships. The men were often obliged to wade through
water up to their knees, breaking its ice at every step.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, the beginning of February, they arri
ved within two leagues of Schenectady. Here they halted, and the
Great Agnier, chief of the Iroquois of the Falls of St. Louis, made a
speech to them. He exhorted every one to forget the hardships they
had endured, in the hope of avenging the wrongs they had for a long
time suffered from the perfidious English, who were the authors of
them ; and in the close added, that they could not doubt of the as
sistance of Heaven against the enemies of God, in a cause so just.
Hardly had they taken up their line of march, when they met 40 In
dian women, who gave them all the necessary information for ap
proaching the place in safety. A Canadian, named Giguiere, was de-
22*
258 FRENCH AND
tached immediately with nine Indians upon discovery, who acquitted
himself to the entire satisfaction of his officers. He reconnoitred
Schenectady at his leisure, and then rejoined his comrades. It had
been determined by the party to put off the attack one day longer }
but on the arrival of the scout under Giguiere, it was resolved to pro
ceed without delay.
Schenectady was then in form like that of a long square, and en
tered by two gates, one at each end. One opened towards Albany.
the other upon the great road leading into the back country, and which
was now possessed by the French and Indians. Mantet and St. He-
lene charged at the second gate, which the Indian women before men
tioned had assured them was always open, and they found it so.
D'Iberville and Repentigni passed to the left, in order to enter by the
other gate, but, after losing some time in vainly endeavoring to find
it, were obliged to return and enter with their comrades.
The gate was not only open but unguarded, and the whole party
entered without being discovered. Dividing themselves into several
parties, they waylaid every portal, and then the war-whoop was
raised. Mantet formed and attacked a garrison, where the only re
sistance of any account was made. The gate of it was soon forced,
and all of the English fell by the sword, and the garrison was burned.
Montigni was wounded, in forcing a house, in his arm and body by
two blows of a halberd, which put him hors du combat ; but St. Helene
being come to his assistance, the house was taken, and the wounds
of Montigni revenged by the death of all who had shut themselves up
in it. Nothing was now to be seen but massacre and pillage in every
place. At the end of about two hours, the. chiefs, believing it due to
their safety, posted bodies of guards at all the avenues, to prevent sur
prise, and the rest of the night was spent in refreshing themselves.
Mantet had given orders that the minister of the place should be
spared, whom he had intended for his own prisoner ; but he was
found among the promiscuous dead, and no one knew when he was
killed, and all his papers were burned.
After the place was destroyed, the chiefs ordered all the casks of
intoxicating liquors to be staved, to prevent their men from getting
drunk. They next set all the houses on fire, excepting that of a
widow, into which Montigni had been carried, and another belonging
to Major Coudre : they were in number about 40, all well built and
furnished ; no booty but that which could be easily transported was
saved. The lives of about 60 persons were .spared ; chiefly women,
children, and old men, who had escaped the fury of the onset, and 30
Indians who happened to be then in the place. The lives of the In
dians were spared that they might carry the news of what had hap
pened to their countrymen, whom they were requested to inform, that
it was not against them that they intended any harm, but to the Eng
lish only, whom they had now despoiled of property to the amount of
four hundred thousand pounds." — Drake's Book of Indians — Book 1
INDIAN WARS. 259
Attack at Dover — Death of Major Waldron. — The capture of
Indians at Cochecho in Sept. 1676,fc(see page 254) took place at
the house of Maj. Waldron, with whom they had a short time pre
viously made peace. The Indian's considered this as a breach of
faith, and were determined on revenge whenever a favorable time
should arrive. The lands from Penobscot to Nova Scotia having
been ceded to the French, the Baron de St. Castine, who had for
many years resided on them, carried on a large trade with the In
dians, with whom he became intimately connected by marriage.
In 1688, Castine's house and fort was basely plundered by Governor
Andross, who went thither in a frigate. Castine in revenge ex
cited and assisted the Indians against the English, and war soon
followed. " In that part of the town of Dover which lies about the first falls
in the river Cochecho, were five garrisoned houses ; three on the
north side, viz. Waldron's Otis' and Heard's ; and two on the south
side, viz. Peter Coffin's and his son's. These houses were surroun
ded with timber-walls, the gates of which, as well as the house doors,
were secured with bolts and bars. The neighboring families retired
to these houses by night ; but by an unaccountable negligence, no
watch was kept. The Indians who were daily passing through the
town visiting and trading with the inhabitants, as usual in time of
peace, viewed their situation with an attentive eye. Some hints of a
mischievous design had been given out by their squaws ; but in such
dark and ambiguous terms that no one could comprehend their mean
ing. Some of the people were uneasy ; but Waldron who, from a
long course of experience, was intimately acquainted with the In
dians, and on other occasions had been ready enough to suspect them,
was now so thoroughly secure, that when some of the people hinted
their fears to him, he merrily bade them to go and plant their pump
kins, saying that he would tell them when the Indians would break
out. The very evening before the mischief was done, being told by
a young man that the town was full of Indians and the people were
much concerned ; he answered that he knew the Indians very well
and there was no danger.
The plan which the Indians had preconcerted was, that two squaws
should go to each of the garrisoned houses in the evening, and ask
leave to lodge by the fire ; that in the night when the people were
asleep they should open the doors and gates, and give the signal by a
whistle ; upon which the strange Indians, who were to be within hear
ing, should rush in, and take their long meditated revenge. This plan
being ripe for execution, on the evening of Thursday the twenty seventh
of June, two squaws applied to each of the garrisons for lodging, as
they frequently did in time of peace. They were admitted into all but
the younger Coffin's, and the people, at their request, shewed them
how to open the doors, in case they should have occasion to go out in
the night. Mesandowit, one of their chiefs, went to Waldron's garri
son, and was kindly entertained, as he had often been before. The
260 FRENCH AND
squaws told the major, that a number of Indians were coming to trade
with him the next day, and Mesandowit while at supper, with his
usual familiarity, said, ' Brother Waldron, what would you do if the
strange Indians should come V . The major carelessly answered, that
he could assemble an hundred men, by lifting up his finger. In this
unsuspecting confidence the family retired to rest.
When all was quiet, the gates were opened and the signal given.
The Indians entered, set a guard at the door, and rushed into the ma
jor's apartment, which was an inner room. Awakened by the noise,
he jumped out of bed, and though now advanced in life to the age of
eighty years, he retained so much vigor as to drive them with his
sword through two or three doors ; but as he was returning for his
other arms, they came behind him, stunned him with a hatchet, drew
him into his hall, and seating him in an elbow chair on a long table
insultingly asked him, ' Who shall judge Indians now V They then
obliged the people in the house to get them some victuals ; and when
they had done eating, they cut the major across the breast and belly
with knives, each one with a stroke, saying, ' I cross out my account.'
They then cut off his nose and ears, forcing them into his mouth ; and
when spent with the loss of blood, he was falling down from the table,
one of them held his own sword under him, which put an end to his
misery. They also killed his son-in-law Abraham Lee ; but took his
daughter Lee with several others, and having pillaged the house, left
it on fire. Otis's garrison, which was next to the major's, met with
the same fate ; he was killed, with severalfefhers, and his wife and
child were captivated. Heard's was saved by the barking of a dog
just as the Indians were entering : Elder Wentworth, who was awa
kened by the noise pushed them out, and falling on his back, set his
feet against the gate and held it till he had alarmed the people ; two
balls were fired through it but both missed him. Coffin's house was
surprised, but as the Indians had no particular enmity to him, they
spared his life, and the lives of his family, and contented themselves
with pillaging the house. Finding a bag of money, they made him
throw it by handfuls on the floor, while they amused themselves in
scrambling for it. They then went to the house of his son who would
not admit the squaws in the evening, and summoned him to surren
der, promising him quarter. He declined their offer and determined
to defend his house, till they brought out his father and threatened to
kill him before his eyes. Filial affection then overcame his resolu
tion, and he surrendered. They put both families together into a de
serted house, intending to reserve them for prisoners ; but while the
Indians were busy in plundering they all escaped.
Twenty three people were killed in this surprisal, and twenty nine
were captivated ; five or six houses, with the mills, were burned ; and
so expeditious were the Indians in the execution of their plot, that be
fore the people could be collected from the other parts of the town to
oppose them, they fled with their prisoners and booty. As they passed
by Heard's garrison in their retreat, they fired upon it ; but the people
being prepared and resolved to defend it, and the enemy being in
INDIAN WARS. 261
haste, it was preserved. The preservation of its owner was more re
markable. J;;.
Elizabeth Heard, with her three sons and a daughter, and some
others, were returning in the night from Portsmouth. They passed
up the river in their boat unperceived by the Indians, who were then
in possession of the houses ; but suspecting danger by the noise which
they heard, after they had landed they betook themselves to Wal
dron's garrison, where they saw lights, which they imagined were set
up for direction to those who might be seeking a refuge. They
knocked and begged earnestly for'' admission ; but no answer being
given, a young man of the company climbed up the wall, and saw, to
his inexpressible surprise, an Indian standing .in the door of the
house, with his gun. The woman was so overcome with the fright
that she was unable to fly ; but begged her children to shift for them
selves ; and they with heavy hearts left her. When she had a little
recovered she crawled into some bushes, and lay there till day-light.
She then perceived an Indian coming toward her with a pistol in his
hand ; he looked at her and went away : returning, he looked at her
again ; and she asked him what he would have ; he made no answer,
but ran yelling to the house, and she saw him no more. She kept
her place till the house was binned, and the Indians were gone ; and
then returning home, found her own house safe. Her preservation in
these dangerous circumstances was more remarkable, if (as it is sup
posed) it was an instance of justice and gratitude in the Indians. For
at the time when the four or five hundred were seized in 1676, a
young Indian escaped and took refuge in her house, where she con
cealed him ; in return for which kindness he promised her that he
would never kill her, nor any of her family in any future war, and
thathe would use his influence with the other Indians to the same pur
pose. This Indian was one of the party who surprised the place, and
she was well known to the most of them. — Belknap's History of New
Hampshire. Surprisal of York, in Maine* — " The Popish Indians, after
long silence and repose in their inaccessible kennels, which made
our frontier towns a little remit their tired vigilance, did, January
25, 1691, set upon the town of York, where the inhabitants were
in their unguarded houses here and there scattered, quiet and se
cure. Upon the firing of a gun by the Indians, which was their
signal, the inhabitants looked out but unto their amazement, found
their houses to be invested with horrid salvages who immediately
killed many of those unprovided inhabitants, and more they took
prisoners. This body of Indians, consisting of divers hundreds,
then sent in their summons to some of the garrisoned houses ; and
those garrisons, whereof some had no more than two or three men
* This account, with that of the escape of the Dustan family, is copied from Ma
ther's Magnolia, published soon after this period. This work, though abounding
with many singularities and much unnecessary matter, has probably rescued many
interesting facts from final oblivion.
262 TRENCH AND
in them, yet being so well manned, as to reply, that they would
spend their blood unto the last drop, e'er they would surrender ;
these cowardly miscreants had not mettle enough to meddle with
them. So they retired into their howling thickets, having first
murdered about fifty, and captivated near an hundred of that un
happy people. In this calamity great was the share that fell to
the family of Mr. S. Dummer, the pastor of the little flock thus
preyed upon ; those bloodhounds, being set on by some Romish
missionaries, had long been wishing, that they might embrue then-
hands in the blood of some New-English Minister ; and in this
action they had their diabolical satisfaction. Our Dummer, the
minister of York, was one of whom for his exemplary holiness,
humbleness, modesty, industry and fidelity, the world was not
worthy. He was a gentleman well-descended, well-tempered,
well-educated ; and now short of sixty years of age. He might
have taken for his coat of arms the same that the holy martyr
Hooper prophetically did, a lamb in a flaming bush, with rays
from heaven shining on it. He had been solicited with many
temptations to leave his place, when the clouds grew thick and
hlack in the Indian hostilities, and were like to break upon it ; but
he chose rather with a paternal affection to stay amongst those
who had been so many of them converted and edified by his min
istry, and he spent very much of his own patrimony to subsist
among them,, when their distresses made them unable to support
him as they otherwise would have done. In a word, he was one
that might by way of eminency be called, a good man. This good
man was just going to take horse at his own door, upon a journey
in the service of God, when the tygres that were making their
depredations upon the sheep of York seized upon this their shep
herd ; and they shot him so, that they left him dead among the
tribe of Abel on the ground. Thus was he as Ambrose in his
elegant oration, de obitu fratris, expresses it, non nobis ereptus,
sed periculis. His wife they carried into captivity, where through
sorrows and hardships among those dragons of the desert, she also
quickly died ; and his church, as many of them as were in that
captivity, endured this, among other anguishes, that on the next
Lord's day, one of those tawnies chose to exhibit himself unto
them, [a devil as an angel of light .'] in the clothes whereof they
had stript the dead body of this their father. Many were the tears
that were dropt throughout New England on this occasion ; and
these among the rest ; for tho' we do not as tradition tells us, the
Antediluvians did use to do by the blood of Abel, yet we cannot
but mournfully sing of the blood of such an Abel."
Attack at Wells, (Maine). — " On the 25th of January, 1692,
Captain Converse was lodged in Storer's garrison at Wells with
but fifteen men ; and there came into Wells two sloops, with a
INDIAN WARS. 263
Shallop, which had aboard supplies of ammunition for the soldiers,
and contribution for the needy. The battle this day came fright
ed and bleeding out of the woods, which was a more certain omen
of Indians a coming than all the prodigies that Livy reports of the
sacrificed oxen. Converse immediately issued out his commands
unto all quarters, but especially to the sloops just then arrived.
The sloops were commanded by Samuel Storer, and James
Gouge, and Gouge's being two miles up the river, he wisely
brought her down undiscovered unto Storer's, by the advantage
of a mist then prevailing. A careful night they had on't ! The
next morning before day-light, one John Diamond, a stranger that
came in the shallop on a visit, came to Capt. Converse's garrison,
where the watch invited him in ; but he chose rather to go aboard
the sloops, which were little more than a gun-shot off; and, alas,
the enemy issuing, out from their lurking-places, immediately
seized him, and haled him away by the hair of the head, (in spite
of all the attempts used by the garrison to recover him) for an
horrible story to be told by and by concerning him. The gene
ral of the enemies army was Monsieur Burniff; and one Mon
sieur Labrocree was a principal commander ; (the enemy said,
he was Lieutenant General) ; there were also divers other French
men of quality, accompanied with Modockawando, and Moxus,
and Egeremet, and Warumbo, and several more Indian Saga
mores ; the army made up in all about five hundred men, or fierce
things in the shape of men, all to encounter fifteen men in one
little garrison, and about fifteen more men, [worthily called such !]
in a couple of open sloops. Diamond having informed them how
it was in all points, (only that for fifteen, by a mistake he said
thirty), they fell to dividing the persons and plunder, and agree
ing that such an English Captain should be slave to such a one,
and such a gentleman in the town should serve such a one, and
his wife be a maid of honor to such or such a Squaw proposed,
and Mr. Wheelright (instead of being a worthy counsellor of the
province, which he now is !) was to be the servant of such a Ne-
top ; and the sloops, with their stores, to be so and so parted
among them. There wanted but one thing to consummate the
whole matter, even the chief thing of all, which I suppose they
had not thought of; that was, for heaven to deliver all this prize
into their hands : but, aliter statutum est in cozlo ! A man hab
ited like a gentleman made a speech to them in English, exhort
ing them to courage, and assuring them, that if they would cour
ageously fall upon the English, all was their own. The speech
Tieing ended, they fell to the work, and with an horrid shout and
shot, made their assault upon the feeble garrison ; but the Eng
lish answered with a brisk volley, and sent such a leaden shower
264 FRENCH AND
among them, that they retired from the garrison to spend the storm
of their fury upon the sloops.
You must know, that Wells' harbor is rather a creek than a
river, for it is very narrow, and at low water in many places dry ;
nevertheless, where the vessels ride it is deep enough, and so far
off the bank, that there is from thence no leaping aboad. But our
sloops were sorely incommoded by a turn of the creek, where the
enemy could lie out of danger so near them as to throw mud
aboard with their hands. The enemy was also privileged with
a great heap of plank lying on the bank, and with an hay stock,
which they strengthened with the posts and rails ; and from all
these places, they poured in their vengeance upon the poor sloops,
while they so placed smaller parties of their salvages, as to make
it impossible for any of the garrisons to afford them any relief.
Lying thus within a dozen yards of the sloops, they did with
their fire arrows, divers times desperately set the sloops on fire :
but the brave defendants, with a swab at the end of a rope tied
unto a pole, and so dipt into the water, happily put the fire out.
In brief, the sloops gave the enemy so brave a repulse, that at
night they retreated ; when they renewed their assault, finding
that their fortitude would not assure the success of the assault
unto them, they had recourse unto their policy. First, an Indian
comes on with a slab for a shield before him ; when a shot from
one of the sloops pierced the slab, which fell down instead of a
tomb-stone with the dead Indian under it : on whieh, as little a
fellow as he was, I know not whether some will not reckon it
proper to inscribe the epitaph which the Italians use to bestow
upon their dead Popes : when the dog is dead, all his malice is
dead with him. Their next stratngem was this : they brought
out of the woods a kind of a cart, which they trimmed and rigged,
and fitted up into a thing that might be called, a chariot : where
upon they built a platform, shot-proof in the front, and placed
many men upon the platform. Such an engine they understood
how to shape, without having read (I suppose) the description of
the Pluteus in Vegetius ! this chariot they pushed on towards the
sloops, ill they were got, it may be, within fifteen yards of them ;
when lo one of their wheels, to their admiration, sunk into the
ground. A Frenchman stepping to heave the wheel with an
helpful shoulder, Storer shot him down ; another stepping to the
wheel, StoreT with a well-placed shot, sent him after his mate : so
the rest thought it was best to* let it stand as it was. The enemy
kept gauling the sloop from their several batteries, and calling
them to surrender, with many fine promises to make them happy,
which ours answered with a just laughter, that had now and then
a mortiferous bullet at the end of it. The tide rising, the chariot
overset, so that the men behind it lay open to the sloops, which
INDIAN WARS.
265
Attack of the French and Indians at Wells.
immediately dispensed an horrible slaughter among them ; and
they that could get away, got as fast, and as far off as they could.
In the night the enemy had much discourse with the sloops ; they
enquired, who were their commanders? and the English gave
an answer, which in some other cases and places would have been
too true, that they had a great many commanders : but the In
dians replied you lie, you have none but Converse, and we will
have him too before morning ! They also knowing that the maga
zine was in the garrison, lay under an hill-side, pelting at that by
times ; but Captain Converse once in the night, sent out three or
four of his men into a field of wheat for a shot, if they could get
one. There seeing a black heap lying together, ours all at once
let fly upon them a shot, that slew several of them that were thus
caught in the corn, and made the rest glad that they found them
selves able to run for it. Captain Converse was this while in
much distress about a scout of six men which he had sent forth to
Newichawannick the morning before the arrival of the enemy,, or
dering them to return the day following. The scout returned into
the very mouth of the enemy that lay before the garrison ; but the
corporal having his wits about him, called out aloud, (as if he had
seen Captain Converse making a sally forth upon them) Captain,
wheel about your men round the hill, and we shall catch them ;
there are but a few rogues of them ! upon which the Indians ima
gining that Captain Converse had been at their heels, betook them
selves to their heels ; and. our folks got safe into another garrison.
23
266 FRENCH AND
On the Lord's day morning there was for a while a deep silence
among the assailants ; but at length getting into a body, they
marched with great formality towards the garrison, where the
Captain ordered his handful of men to lie snug, and not to make
a shot, until every shot might be likely to do some execution.
While they thus beheld a formidable crew of dragons, coming
with open mouth upon them to swallow them up at a mouthful,
one of the soldiers began to speak of surrendering ; upon which
the Captain vehemently protested, that he would lay the man
dead who should so much as mutter that base word any more !
and so they heard no more on it : but the valiant Storer was put
upon the like protestation, to keep them in good fighting trim
aboard the sloops also. The enemy now approaching very near,
gave three shouts that made the earth ring again ; and crying out
in English, fire, and fall on brave hoys ! The whole body drawn
into three ranks, fired at once. Captain Converse immediately
ran into the several flankers, and made their best guns fire at such
a rate, that several of the enemy fell, and the rest of them disap
peared almost as nimbly as if there had been so many spectres :
particularly a parcel of them got into a small deserted house ;
which having but a board wall to it, the Captain sent in after
them those bullets of twelve to the pound, that made the house
too hot for them that could get out of it. The women in the gar
rison on this occasion took up the Amazonian stroke, and not only
brought ammunition to the men, but also with a manly resolution
fired several times upon the enemy. The enemy finding that
things would not yet go to their minds at the garrison, drew off
to try their skill upon the sloops, which lay still abreast in the
creek, lashed fast one to another. They built a great fire-work
about eighteen or twenty foot square, and filled it up with com
bustible matter, which they fired ; and then they set it in the way
for the tide now to float it up unto the sloops, which had now no
thing but an horrible death before them. Nevertheless their de
mands of both the garrison and the sloops to yield themselves,
were answered no otherwise than with death upon many of them,
spit from the guns of the besieged. Having towed their fire-work
as far as they durst, they committed it unto the tide ; but the dis
tressed Christians that had this deadly fire swimming along upon
the water towards them, committed it unto God : and God looked
from heaven upon them in this prodigious article of their distress.
These poor men cried, and the Lord heard them and saved them
out of their troubles. The wind, unto their astonishment, imme
diately turned about, and with a fresh gale drove the machin ashore
on the other side, and split it so, that the water being let in upon
it, the fire went out. So the godly men that saw God from
heaven thus fighting for them, cried out with an astonishing joy,
INDIAN WARS. 267
if it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, they had swal
lowed us up quick ; blessed be the Lord who hath not given us a
prey to their teeth ; our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare
of the fowlers ! The enemy were now in a pitiful pickle with
toiling and moiling in the mud, and blackened with it, if mud
could add blackness to such miscreants ; and their ammunition
was pretty well exhausted ; so that now they began to draw off
in all parts, and with rafts get over the river ; some whereof
breaking, there did not a few cool their late heat by falling into
it. But first they made all the spoil they could upon the cattle
about the town ; and giving one shot more at the sloops, they
killed the only man of ours that was killed aboard them. Then
after about half an hours considtation, they sent a flag of truce to
the garrison, advising them with much flattery to surrender ; but
the Captain sent them word, that he wanted for nothing but for
men to come and fight him. The Indian replied unto Captain
Converse, being you are so stout, why don't you come and fight
in the open field like a man, and not fight in a garrison like a
squaw ? The Captain rejoined, what a fool are you ? do you
think thirty men a match for five hundred ? No, (says the Cap
tain, counting, as well he might, each of his fifteen men to be as
good as two !) come with your thirty men upon the plain and I
will meet you with my thirty as soon as you will. Upon this the
Indian answered, nay, we own English "fashion is all one fool :
you kill me, me kill you ! no, better lye somewhere and shoot a
man, and he no see ! that the best soldier ! . Then they fell to
coaxing the Captain with as many fine words as the Fox in the
fable had for the allurement of his prey unto him ; and urged
mightily, that ensign Hill, who stood with the flag of truce, might
stand a little nearer their army. The Captain for a good reason
to be presently discerned, would not allow that : whereupon they
fell to threatning and raging, like so many defeated devils, using
these words, damn ye, we'll cut you as small as tobacco before to
morrow morning. The Captain bid 'em to make haste, for he
wanted work : so the Indian throwing his'jB&g on the ground, ran
away, and ensign Hill nimbly stripping his flag ran into the val
ley ; but the salvages presently fired from an ambushment behind
an hill, near the place where they had urged for a parley.
And now for poor John Diamond ! the enemy retreating (which
opportunity the sloops took to burn down the dangerous hay-stock)
into the plain, out of gun-shot they fell to torturing their captive
John Diamond after a manner very diabolical. They stripped
him, they scalped him alive, and after a castration, the finished
that article in the punishment of traitors upon him ; they slit him
with knives between his fingers and his toes ; they made cruel
gashes in the most fleshy parts of his body, and stuck the gashes
268 FRENCH AND
with fire-brands which were afterwards found sticking in the
wounds. Thus they butchered one poor Englishman with all the
fury that they would have spent upon them all ; and performed an
exploit for five hundred furies to brag of at their coming home.-
Ghastly to express ! what was it then to suffer ? They returned
then unto the garrison, and kept firing at it now and then till near
ten a clock at night ; when they all marched off, leaving behind
them some of their dead ; whereof one was monsieur Labocree,
who had about his neck a pouch with about a dozen reliques in
geniously made up, and a printed paper of indulgencies, and
several other implements ; and no doubt, thought himself as good
safety as if he had all the spells of Lapland about him : but it
seems none of the amulets about his neck would save him from a
mortal shot in the head. Thus in forty-eight hours was finished
an action as worthy to be related, as perhaps any that occurs in
our story. And it was not long before the valiant Gouge, who
bore his part in this action, did another that was not much infe
rior to it, when he suddenly recovered from the French a valuable
prey, which they had newly taken upon our coast."
Escape of the Dustan family. — " On March 15, 1697, the salvages
made a descent upon the skirts of Haverhill, murdering and captiva
ting about thirty nine persons, and burning about half a dozen houses.
In this broil, one Hannah Dustan having lain in about a week, at
tended with her nurse, Mary Neff, a body of terrible Indians drew
near unto the house where she lay, with designs to carry on their
bloody devastations. Her husband hastened from his employments
abroad unto the relief of his distressed family ; and first bidding seven
of his eight children (which were from two to seventeen years of nge)
to get away as fast as they could unto some garrison in the town, he
went in to inform his wife of the horrible distress come upon them.
E'er she could get up, the fierce Indians were got so near, that utterly
despairing to do her any service, he ran out after his children ; re
solving that on the horse which he had with him, he would ride away
with that which he should in this extremity find his affections to pitch
most upon, and leave the rest unto the care of the divine providence.
He overtook his children about forty rods from his door ; but then
such was the agony of his parental affections, that he found it impos
sible for him to distinguish any one of them from the rest ; wherefore
he took up a courageous resolution to live and die with them all. A
party of Indians came up with him ; and now though they fired at
him, and he fired at them, yet he manfully kept at the rear of his little
army of unarmed children, while they marched off with the pace of a
child' of five years old ; until, by the singular providence of God, he
arrived safe with them all unto a place of safety about a mile or two
from his house. But his house must in the mean time have more dis
mal tragedies acted at it. The nurse trying to escape with the new
born infant, fell into the hands of the formidable salvages ; and those
INDIAN WARS.
269
Escape of the Dustan family.
furious tawnies coming into the house, bid poor Dustan to rise imme
diately. Full of astonishment she did so ; and sitting down in the
chimney with an heart full of most fearful expectation, she saw the
raging dragons rifle all that they could carry away, and set the house
on fire. About nineteen or twenty Indians now led these away, with
about half a score other English captives ; but e'er they had gone
many steps, they dash'd out the brains of the infant against a tree ;
and several of the other captives, as they began to tire in the sad
journey, were soon sent unto their long home ; the salvages would
presently bury their hatchets in their brains,!-and leave their carcases
on the ground for birds and beasts to feed upon. However, Dustan
(with her nurse) notwithstanding her present condition, travelled that
night about a dozen miles, and then kept up with their new masters in
a long travel of an hundred and fifty miles, more or less, within a few
days ensuing, without any sensible damage in their health, from the
hardships of their travel, their lodging, their diet, and their many other
difficulties. These two poor women were now in the hands of those whose
tender mercies are cruelties ; but the good God, who hath all hearts
in his own hands, heard the sighs of these prisoners, and gave them
to find unexpected favor from the master who hath laid claim unto
them. That Indian family consisted of twelve persons ; two stout
men, three women, and seven children, and for the shame of many
an English family, that has the character of prayerless upon it, I must
now publish what these poor women assure me. 'Tis this, in obe
dience to the instructions which the French have given them, they
would have prayers in their family no less than thrice every day ; in
23*
270 FRENCH AND
the morning, at noon, and in the evening ; nor would they ordinarily
let their children eat or sleep, without first saying their prayers. In
deed these idolaters were like the rest of their whiter brethren per
secutors, and would not endure that these poor women should retire
to their English prayers, if they could hinder them. Nevertheless,
the poor women had nothing but fervent prayers to make their lives
comfortable or tolerable ; and by being daily sent out upon business,
they had opportunities together and asunder, to do like another Han
nah, in pouring out their souls before the Lord. Nor did their praying
friends among ourselves forbear to pour out supplications for them.
Now they could not observe it without some wonder, that their Indian
master sometimes when he saw them dejected, would say unto them,
What need you trouble yourself? If your God will have you deliv
ered, you shall be so ! And it seems our God would have it so to be.
This Indian family was now travelling with these two captive women,
(and an English youth taken from Worcester a year and a half before,)
unto a rendezvouz of salvages, which they call a town some where
beyond Penacook ; and they still told these poor women, that when
they came to this town they must be stript, and scourg'd, and run the
gantlet through the whole army of Indians. They said this was the
fashion when the captives first came to a town ; and they derided
some of the faint hearted English, which they said, fainted and
swoon'd away under the torments of this discipline. But on April 30,
while they were yet, it may be, about an hundred and fifty miles from
the Indian town, a little before break of day, wheri the whole crew
was in a dead sleep, (reader, see if it proves not so !) one of these wo
men took up a resolution to intimate the action of Jael upon Siseria ;
and being where she had not her own life secured by any law unto
her, she thought she was not forbidden by any law to take away the
life of the murderers, by whom her child had been butchered. She
heartened the nurse and the youth to assist her in this enterprise ; and
all furnishing themselves with hatchets for the purpose, they struck
such home blows upon the heads of their sleeping oppressors, that
e'er they could any of them struggle into any effectual resistance, at
the feet of these poor prisoners, they bowed, theyfell, they lay down : at
their feet they bowed, they fell ; where they bowed, there theyfell down
dead. Only one squaw escaped sorely wounded from them in the
dark ; and one boy, whom they reserved asleep, intending to bring
him away with them, suddenly waked, and scuttled away from this
desolation. But cutting off the scalps of the ten wretches, they came
off, and received fifty pounds from the General Assembly of the pro
vince, as a recompense of their action ; besides which they received
many presents of congratulation from their more private friends ; but
none gave them a greater taste of bounty than Colonel Nicholson, the
Governor of Maryland, who hearing of their action, sent them a very
generous token of his favour."
INDIAN WARS. 271
Deerfield burnt. Captivity of Rev. Mr. Williams and Fam
ily* — " The storm that threatened Deerfield was now approach
ing. In the evening of the twenty-ninth of February, 1704,t
major Hertel de Rouville with two hundred French and one hun
dred and forty-two Indians, aided by two of his brothers, after a
tedious march of between two and three hundred miles, through
deep snow, arrived at an elevated pine forest): bordering Deerfield
meadow, about two miles north of the village, 'where they lay
concealed until after midnight. Finding all quiet, and the snow
covered with a crust sufficient to support the men, Rouville de
posited his snow shoes and packs at the foot of the elevation, and
crossing Deerfield river, began his march through an open mead
ow a little before day light. As the march upon the crust pro
duced a rustling noise, which it was apprehended might alarm
the sentinels in the fort, he ordered frequent halts, in which the
whole lay still for a few moments, and then rising, they dashed
on with rapidity. The noise thus alternately ceasing, it was sup
posed would be attributed by the sentinels, to the irregularity of
the wind; but the precaution was unnecessary, for the guard
within the fort had improvidently retired to rest about the time
the enemy commenced their march through the meadow. Ar
riving at the northwest quarter of the fort, where the snow in
many places was drifted nearly to the top of the palisades, the
enemy entered the place, and found all in a profound sleep. Par
ties detached in different directions assaulted the houses, broke
the doors, and dragged the astonished people from their beds.
Where resistance was attempted, the tomahawk or musket ended
the strife. A few were so fortunate as to escape by flight to the
adjacent woods ; but the greatest part were killed or made pris
oners." " Early in the assault about twenty Indians attacked the house of
the Rev. John Williams, who awaking from a sound sleep, instantly
leaped from his bed, ran towards the door and found a party entering.
Calling to awaken a couple of soldiers in his chamber, he seized a
pistol from his bed tester, and presenting it to the breast of the fore
most Indian, attempted to shoot him, but it missed fire. He was in
stantly seized, bound, and thus kept near an hour without his clothes.
Two of his young children were dragged to the door and murdered,
and his negro woman suffered the same fate. Mrs. Williams who
had lain in but a few weeks previously, and five children were also
seized, and the house rifled with unrelenting barbarity. While the
Indians were thus employed, captain Stoddard, a lodger in the house,
seizing his cloak, leaped from a chamber window, escaped across
* These accounts are copied from Hoyt's Indian Wars.
t By New Style, March 13, 1704. % Now called Petty's Plain.
272 FRENCH AND
Deerfield river, and availing himself of his cloak, which he tore into
shreds and wrapped about his feet, arrived at Hatfield nearly ex
hausted. The house of Captain John Sheldon was attacked, but as the door
at which the Indians attempted to enter was firmly bolted they found
it difficult to penetrate. They then perforated it with their toma
hawks, and thrusting through a musket, fired and killed the captain's
wife, as she was^ rising from her bed in an adjoining room. The
Captain's son and wife awakened by the assualt, leaped from a cham
ber window at the east end of the house, by which the latter strained
her ancle, and was seized by the Indians, but the husband escaped
into the woods and reached Hatfield. After gaining possession of
the house, which was one of the largest in the place, the enemy re
served it as a depot for the prisoners, as they were collected from
other parts of the village.
Another dwelling-house situated about fifty yards southwest of
Sheldon's, though repeatedly attacked, and various means adopted to
set it on fire, was saved from the grasp of the enemy, by seven armed
men and a few women, by whom it was occupied. While the brave
defenders were pouring their fire upon the assailants from the win
dows and loop holes, the no less brave women were busily employed
in casting balls for future supply. Unable to carry the house, or in
timidate the defenders to a surrender, by all their threats and strata
gems, the enemy gave up their efforts, and cautiously endeavored to
keep out of the range of the shot. But notwithstanding their pre
cautions, several were singled out and shot down by the marksmen in
the house.
While devastation and ruin were in operation in the main fort, a
palisaded house, situated about sixty rods southerly, was furiously
attacked, and gallantly defended by a small party of the inhabitants,
and the assailants were at length compelled to draw off. But they
received several fatal shots from the house during their stay in the
place. Having collected the prisoners, plundered and set fire to the build
ings, Rouville left the place sun about an hour high, and retraced his
march through the meadow to his packs and snow shoes, where the
prisoners were deprived of their shoes, and furnished with Indian
mockasins, to enable them to travel with more facility.
While the enemy were preparing for the march, a party of the in
habitants, who had escaped, returned to the conflagrated village, and
joined by the men who had defended the two houses, and a few peo
ple who had hurried on from Hatfield, pressed into the meadow in
pursuit of the enemy, and a sharp skirmish ensued ; but being at
length nearly encircled by a superior force, they were compelled to
retire, with the loss of nine of their party. The pursuit, though
highly honorable to the bravery of the pursuers, exposed the captives
to imminent danger. During the fight, the English maintained their
ground with great resolution and at one crisis, Rouville, apprehending
a defeat, sent orders for the captives to be tomahawked ; but fbrtu-
INDIAN WARS.
273
nately the messenger was killed, before he delivered his orders.
Preparations were however made, by the Indians guarding the pris
oners, to put them to death in case of the defeat of the party in the
meadow, and several were bound for the diabolical purpose ; on the
retreat of the English, Rouville countermanded his order and saved
the captives,
Ancient Sheldon House at Deerfield.
The whole number made prisoners, amounted to one hundred and
twelve, including three Frenchmen residing in the village ; and the
slain, including those who fell in the skirmish in the meadow, num
bered forty-seven ; the whole loss of the enemy, was about the same
number. Excepting the meeting house and Sheldon's, which was
the last fired, and saved by the English who assembled immediately
after the enemy left the place ; all within the fort were reduced to
ashes. That which was so bravely defended by the seven men, acci
dentally took fire, and was consumed while they were engaged in the
meadow. Sheldon's house, now owned by Col. Elihu Hoyt, is still
standing near the brick meeting house, in the centre of the village ;
exhibiting the perforation made in the door with the tomahawks, as
well as those of balls in the interior ; that which killed Mrs. Shel
don is still to be seen.
Soon after the termination of the action in the meadow, Rouville
commenced his march for Canada. Most gloomy were the prospects
of the captives ; many were women, then under circumstances re
quiring the most tender treatment ; some young children whose fee
ble frames could not sustain the fatigues of a day ; others, infants
who were to be carried in the arms of their parents, left on the snow,
or knocked on the head with the tomahawk ; and several of the- adult
males were badly wounded. Under these melancholy forebodings,
others not less appalling presented. The distance to Canada was not
much short of three hundred miles, through a country wild and waste —
the ground deeply covered with snow — the weather cold and inclem
ent, and what appeared impossible to surmount, provisions were to
274 FRENCH AND
be procured on the route. At the commencement of the march, the
murder of an infant, was a prelude to the cruelties that were to be
expected from the blood thirsty Indians.
The first day's march was necessarily slow and difficult, and but
little progress was made. The Indians, probably from a desire to
preserve the young, to dispose of in Canada, or to retain for their
own service, rather than from tenderness, assisted the parents by car
rying the infants and young children upon their backs. At night Rou
ville encamped in the meadow, in what is now Greenfield, not ex
ceeding four miles from Deerfield village, where by clearing away
the snow, spreading boughs, and constructing slight cabins of brush,
the prisoners were as comfortably lodged as circumstances would ad
mit. To prevent escapes, the most athletic were bound, and secured
according to the Indian mode, and this was practised at the subse
quent night camps. Notwithstanding this precaution, Joseph Alexan
der, one of the prisoners, had the good fortune to escape. To deter
other attempts, Mr. Williams, who was considered as the head of the
captives, was informed that in case of another escape, the remainder
should suffer death by fire. In the course of the night, some of the
IndiansJjecame intoxicated with spirits they had plundered at Deer
field, and fell upon Mr. William's negro and murdered him.
The second day's march was equally slow, and Mr. Williams was
permitted, for a short time, to assist his distressed wife in travelling,
who now began to be exhausted ; but he was torn from her and placed
at the head of the column, leaving her to struggle along unassisted.
At the upper part of Greenfield meadow it became necessary to pas3
Green river, a small stream then open, in performing which, Mrs.
Williams plunged under water, but recovering herself, she with diffi
culty reached the shore and continued her route. An abrupt hill was
now to be surmounted, and Mr. Williams, who had gained the summit,
intreated his master, (for so the Indian who captured him was called,)
for leave tp return and help forward his distressed wife, but was bar
barously refused and she was left to struggle with difficulties beyond
her power. Her ferocious master, finding her a burthen, sunk his
hatchet in her head, and left her dead at the foot of the hill.*
Rouville encamped the second night in the northerly part of the
present town of Bernardston ; a young woman and infant were dis
patched in the course of this day's march. At this camp a consulta
tion was held by the Indians on killing and taking the scalp of Mr.
Williams ; but his master unwilling to part with so valuable a prize,
interfered and saved him from the hatchet. The next day the cap
tives were more equally distributed for convenience of marching, and
several exchanged masters. The fourth day brought the army to Con
necticut river, about thirty miles above Deerfield, probably in the up-
* Her body was soon after taken up by a party from Deerfield, and interred in the
public burymg ground in that town, where her grave stone, with those of her hus
band, Mr. Williams, are to be seen. She was the only daughter of Rev. Eleazer
Mather, first pastor of the church in Northampton, by his wife Esther, the daughter
of Rev. John Warham, who came from England, 1630.
INDIAN WARS. 275
per part of Brattleborough. Here light sledges were constructed, for
the conveyance of the children, wounded, and baggage, and the
march which was now on the ice, became more rapid ; one female
was this day relieved from her sufferings by a stroke of the hatchet
The march on Connecticut river continued several days without
any extraordinary incident, excepting now and then murdering an ex
hausted captive and fleeing off the scalp. On the first Sunday, the
captives were permitted to halt and rest themselves, and Mr. Wil
liams delivered a discourse from these words ; ' The Lord is right
eous, for I have rebelled against his commandments : Hear I pray you,
all people and behold my sorrow : My virgins and young men are gone
into captivity.' Lam. i. 18.*
At the mouth of White river, Rouville divided his force into seve
ral parties and they took different routes to the St. Lawrence. One
which Mr. Williams accompanied, ascended the former river, and
passing the highlands, struck Winooski, or Onion, then called French
river, and proceeding down that stream to lake Champlain, continued
the march on the lake to Missisque bay, near which they joined a
party of Indians, on a hunting excursion. Proceeding to the Sorrel,
they built canoes and passed down to Chamblee, where they found a
French fort, and a small garrison. Their route was then continued
to the village of Sorrel, where some of the captives had already ar
rived. Mr. Williams was thence -conveyed down the St. Lawrence, to
the Indian village of St. Francis, and sometime after, to Quebec ; and
after a short residence at that place, sent to Montreal, where he was
humanely treated by Governor Vaudreuil.
Another party ascended the Connecticut, and halted sometime at
Coos meadows, where provisions being exhausted they barely esca
ped starvation, by collecting wild game ; and two of the captives, Da
vid Hoit and Jacob Hix, actually famished. Some of Mr. William's
children accompanied this party, and after much delay, and great suf
fering, they arrived at various Indian lodges on the St. Lawrence.
In a few instances the captives were purchased of the Indians, by
the French inhabitants ; but the greatest proportion were retained by
the Indians, at their lodges in various parts of the country. Of the
one hundred and twelve taken at Deerfield, about seventeen were
killed, or died on the march, and the sufferings of all were severe in
the extreme.
During his captivity, Mr. Williams was permitted to visit various
places on the St. Lawrence, and in his interviews with the French
Jesuits, he found them zealously attached to the Roman Catholic reli
gion, to which they spared no pains to convert him, as well as the other
captives ; and in some instances they inflicted punishments for non
compliance with their ceremonies. But they found him as zealously
attached to his own religion, and through his influence most of the
captives continued firm in the protestant persuasion. Whether the
* This sermon is said to have been delivered at the mouth of William's river, in
Rockingham, Vermont ; from which circumstance the river received its name.
276 FRENCH AND
zeal of the Jesuits proceeded from tenderness for the souls of the un
fortunate heretics, or from a desire to retain them in the country, is a
little doubtful. But through the steady and firm perseverance of Mr.
Williams, whose alarms at a few unimportant ceremonies, imperiously
enforced, and which he might under different circumstances have con
sidered of little or no importance, the whole of his children, except
ing one daughter then about ten years of age, were at length redeem
ed from the Indians, and not long after two were sent home to New
England: In 1706, a flag ship was sent to Quebec by Governor Dudley, by
which fifty-seven of the captives were obtained and conveyed to Bos
ton, ambng whom was Mr. Williams and his remaining Children, with
the exception of his daughter Eunice, who notwithstanding all the
exertions of her father to obtain her redemption, was left among the
Indians, and adopting their manners and customs, married a savage,
by whom she had several children. Sometime after the war, she,
with her husband, visited her relations at Deerfield, dressed in the
Indian costume ; and though every persuasive was tried to induce her
to abandon the Indians, and to remain among her connections, all pro
ved ineffectual ; she returned to Canada and there ended her days, a
true savage. At various times since, several of her descendants have
visited Deerfield, and other towns in New England, claiming relation
ship with the descendants of the Rev. Mr. Williams, and have been
hospitably received. Recently one of the great grandsons of Mrs.
Williams, under the name of Eleazer Williams, has been educated by
his, friends in New England, and is now employed as a missionary
to the Indians at Green bay, on lake Michigan."' — Hoyt's Indian Wars. I
Attack oh Haverhill. — "In the year 1708, this unfortunate
town was again attacked by a body of French and Indians, sent
by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada; to attack
Portsmouth. This company is supposed to have consisted at
first of more than four hundred men ; but, being wasted by sick
ness and desertion, they were afraid to attempt that town. A de
sign was then formed to attack Dover, and after that Exeter : but,
being diverted from this intention, they turned their course to
Haverhill. These men were commanded by Monsieur Perriere
de Chaillons, and Monsieur Hertel de Rouville, the Gallic sav
age, who a little before had destroyed Deerfield. They expected
to have been joined by the Indians of Maine and New Hamp
shire. For a reason, which does not appear, these people declined
taking any part in the enterprise. Those, who remained of the
army, one half of which was composed of savages, proceeded,
according to the orders of the Governour, to accomplish the ob
ject of their expedition ; or in other words, to burn private dwell
ings, and to butcher defenceless women and children.
Intelligence of this expedition had reached Boston : and guards
had been sent to this, and other towns, exposed to the common
INDIAN WARS. 277
danger. The guards at Haverhill were, however, so posted, that
the enemy passed them without being discovered ; and on the
29th of August, attacked, burnt, and plundered a considerable
part of the town. Most of the adult male inhabitants, within the
town were killed : among whom was the Rev. Benjamin Rolfe,
the Clergyman ; and Capt. Wainright, the Commander of the
Militia. It is worthy of remembrance, that a maid servant of
Mr. Rolfe escaped from her bed, with two of his daughters, to
the cellar ; and, covering each of them with a large tub, effectu
ally concealed them from their enemies.
The guards, assembling from their scattered posts, pursued the
invaders ; and, coming up with them just as they were entering
the forests, fought them about an hour ; when they retreated into
1 the forest, leaving two of their officers, and seven of their men
on the field. Had the advantage been pursued, the party might,
not improbably, have been cut off." — Dwight's Travels.
The two following occurrences during this attack appear to be well authenticated.
"Two Indians attacked the house of Mr. Swan, which stood in the field now called
White's lot, nearly opposite to the house of Capt. Emerson. Swan and his wife saw
them approaching, and determined, if possible, to save their own lives, and the lives
of their children, from the knives of the ruthless butchers. They immediately pla
ced themselves against the door, which was so narrow that two could scarcely enter
abreast. The Indians rushed against it, but finding that it could not be easily open
ed, they commenced their operations more systematically. One of them placed his
back to the door, so that he could make his whole strength bear upon it, while the
other pushed against him. The strength of the besiegers was greater than than that
of the besieged, and Mr. Swan, being rather a timid man, said our venerable narra
tor, almost despaired of saving himself and family, and told his wife that he thought
it would be better to let them in. But this resolute and courageous woman had no
such idea. The Indians had now succeeded in partly opening the door, and one of
them was crowding himself in, while the other was pushing lustily after. The he
roic wife saw there was no time for parleying — she seized her spit, which was nearly
three feet in length, and a deadly weapon in the hands of a woman, as it proved, and,
collecting all the strength she possessed, drove it through the body of the foremost.
This was too warm a reception for the besiegers — it was resistance from a source
and with a weapon they little expected ; and, surely, who else would ever think of
spitting a man 1 The two Indians, thus repulsed, immediately retreated, and did not
molest them again. Thus, by the fortitude and heroic courage of a wife and mother,
this family was probably saved from a bloody grave.
One of the parties set fire to the back side of the meeting-house, a new and, for
that period, an elegant building. These transactions were all performed about the
same time ; but they were not permitted to continue their work of murder and con
flagration long, before they became panic-struck. Mr. Davis, an intrepid man, went
behind Mr. Rolfe's barn, which stood near the house, struck it violently with a large
club, called on men by name, gave the word of command, as though he were order
ing an attack, and shouted with a loud voice, " Come on ! come on ! we will have
them .'" The party in Mr. Rolfe's house, supposing that a large body of the English
had come upon them, began the cry of " The English are come .'" and, after at
tempting to fire the house, precipitately left it. About this time Major Turner arri
ved with a company of soldiers, and the whole body of the enemy then commenced
a rapid retreat, taking with them a number of prisoners. The retreat commenced
about the rising of the sun. Meantime Mr. Davis ran to the meeting-house, and
with the aid of a few others succeeded in extinguishing the devouring element ; but
it was mostly owing to his exertions that the house was saved."
24
278 FRENCH AND
Expedition against Quebec, in 1711. — In 1710, Gen. Nich
olson with a fleet of thirty-six ships of war, and transports, with
an army arrived at Port Royal in Nova Scotia of which he made
an easy conquest. Animated with this success Gen. Nicholson
went to England, and obtained a fleet and troops in order to effect
the conquest of Canada.
" In a little more than a month, from the arrival of the fleet, the new
levies and provisions, for that and the army, were ready. Upon the
30th of July, 1711, the whole armament sailed from Boston for Can
ada. It consisted of fifteen men of war, twelve directly from Eng
land, and three which had before been stationed in America ; forty
transports, six store ships, and a fine train of artillery with all kinds
of warlike stores. The land army on board consisted of five regi
ments from England and Flanders, and two regiments raised in Mas
sachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire ; amounting in the
whole to nearly seven thousand men. The fleet was commanded by
Sir Hovenden Walker ; and the army by Brigadier Hill, brother to
Mrs. Masham, then the Queen's favorite. The land force was about
equal to that which, under General Wolf, afterward reduced Quebec,
though at that time it was not half so strong, as when it was reduced
by that famous general.
Upon the same day, on which the fleet sailed from Boston, General
Nicholson began his journey for Albany, where, a few days after, he
appeared at the head of four thousand men, from the colonies of Con
necticut, New York, and New Jersey. The troops from Connecticut
were commanded by Colonel William Whiting, who was an experi
enced officer, and had commanded them the last year, at Port Royal.
The New York and New Jersey troops were commanded by Colonels
Schuyler and Ingoldsby. Connecticut, besides victualling its own
troops, furnished New York with two hundred fat cattle and six hun
dred sheep. Thus, in about five weeks, the colonies had raised two
considerable armies and furnished them with provisions. More than
this could not have been expected.
Admiral Walker arrived in the mouth of St. Lawrence, on the 14th
of August. That he might not lose the company of the transports,
as was pretended, he put into the bay of Gaspee, on the 18th, where
he continued until the 20th of the month. On the 22d, two days af
ter he sailed from the bay, the fleet appeared to be in the most haz
ardous circumstances. It was without soundings, without sight of
land ; the sky was darkened with a thick fog, and the wind high at
east south east. In this situation the ships brought to, with their
heads to the southward. This was done with an expectation that
the wind would drive them into the midst of the channel. But in
stead of this, about midnight, the seamen discovered that they were
driven upon the north shore among rocks and islands, upon the verge
of a total shipwreck. Eight or nine of the British transports were
cast away, on board of which were about seventeen hundred officers
and soldiers. Nearly a thousand men were lost. The admiral and
INDIAN WARS. 279
general were in the most imminent danger, and saved themselves by
anchoring. Such was the violence of the storm that they lost seve
ral anchors. Upon this disaster, the admiral bore away for Spanish
river bay ; but the wind shifting to the east it was eight days before
all the transports arrived. In the same time, as the wind was, they
might have easily arrived at Quebec. It was there determined, by a
council of land and naval officers, that as they had but ten weeks
provision, and could not expect a supply from New England, to make
no further attempt. The admiral sailed directly for England, and ar
rived at Portsmouth on the 9th of October. Here the fleet suffered
another surprising 'calamity. The Edgar, a 70 gun ship, blew up,
having on board four hundred men, besides many persons who were
just come on board to visit their friends. As the cause of this event
was wholly unknown, jealous minds were not without suggestions, that
even this, as well as the other disaster, was the effect of horrid design.
The admiral and English officers, to exculpate themselves, laid the
blame wholly upon the colonies, that they were delayed so long for
provision and the raising of the provincials, and that they had such
unskillful pilots. The admiral declared, that it was the advice of the
pilots that the fleet should come to in the manner it did, but the pilots,
from New England, declared, upon oath, that they gave no such ad
vice. If any such was given it must have been by the French pilots
on board, either through mistake or upon design. Charlevoix repre
sents, that the French pilots warned the admiral of his danger, but
that he did not sufficiently regard them.
General Nicholson had not advanced far before he received intelli
gence of the loss sustained by the fleet, and the army soon after re
turned. The Marquis De Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, received
intelligence of the arrival of the fleet from England, and of the prep
arations making in the colonies for the invasion of Canada, and had
omitted nothing in his power to put it into a state of defence. No
sooner was he apprized of so many ships wrecked and so many bod
ies with red coats driven on shore, and that the river was clear of
ships, than he ordered the whole strength of Canada towards Mon
treal and lake Champlain. At Champlain he formed a camp of three
thousand meu to oppose General Nicholson. Had the general crossed
the lake it might have been difficult for him to have returned in safe
ty."— Dr. Trumbull.
Capture of Louisburg. — " After the peace of Utrecht, the
French, as a security to their navigation and fishery, built the
town of Louisbourg, on the island of Cape Breton ; and fortified
it with a rampart of stone, from thirty to thirty-six feet high, and
a ditch eighty feet wide. There were six bastions and three bat
teries, containing embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight can
non, and six mortars. On an island at the entrance of the har
bour was planted a battery of thirty cannon, carrying twenty-
eight pounds shot ; and at the bottom of the harbour, directly op
posite to the entrance, was the grand or royal battery of twenty-
280
FRENCH AND
2 miles
eight cannon, forty-two pounders, and two eighteen pounders.
The entrance of the town, on the land side, was at the west gate,
over a draw bridge, near which was a circular battery, mounting
sixteen guns of twenty-four pounds shot. These works had been
twenty-five years in building ; and, though not finished, had cost
the crown of France not less than thirty millions of livres. The
place was deemed so strong and impregnable, as to be called the
Dunkirk of America. In peace, it was a safe retreat for the
ships of France, bound homeward for the East and West Indies.
In War, it gave French privateers the greatest advantage for ru
ining the fishery of the northern English Colonies, and interrupt
ing, their entire trade. It endangered, besides, the loss of Nova
Scotia, which would cause an instant increase of six or eight thou
sand enemies. The reduction of this place was, for these rea
sons, an object of the highest importance to New England.
Under these impressions, governor Shirley, of Massachusetts,
had written to the British ministry in the autumn of the last year,
soliciting assistance for the preservation of Nova Scotia, and the
acquisition of Cape Breton. Early in January, (1745), before
he received any answer or orders from England, he requested the
members of the general court, that they would lay themselves
under an oath of secresy, to receive from him a proposal of very
great importance. They readily took the oath ; and he commu
nicated to them the plan, which he had formed, of attacking Lou
isbourg. The proposal was at first rejected ; but it was finally
carried by a majority of one voice. Circular letters were imme
diately dispatched to all the colonies, as far as Pennsylvania,* re-
* All excused themselves from any share in the adventure, excepting Connecticut,
New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The assembly of Pennsylvania, though it
could not be prevailed on to take part in an enterprise, which appeared desperate ;
yet, on receiving information that Louisbourg was taken, and that supplies were want
ed, voted £4000 in provisions for the refreshment and support of the brave troops,
which had achieved the action. Franklin Pennsylv. 94. Univ. Hist. xli. 33.
INDIAN WARS. 251
questing their assistance, and an embargo on their ports. Forces
were promptly raised ; and William Pepperrell, esquire, of Kitte-
ry, was appointed commander of the expedition. This officer on
board the Shirley Snow, captain Rouse, with the transports un
der her convoy, sailed from Nantasket on the twenty fourth of
March, and arrived at Canso on the fourth of April. Here the
troops, joined by those of New Hampshire and Connecticut,
amounting collectively to upwards of four thousand, were detain
ed three weeks, waiting for the ice, which environed the island of
Cape Breton, to be dissolved. At length commodore Warren,
agreeably to orders from England, arrived at Canso in the Su-
perbe of sixty guns, with three other ships of forty guns each ;
and, after a consultation with the general, proceeded to cruise be
fore Louisburg. The general soon after sailed with the whole
fleet ; and on the thirtieth of April, coming to anchor at Chapeau-
rouge Bay, landed his troops. The next object was, to invest
the city. Lieutenant colonel Vaughan conducted the first column
through the woods within sight of Louisbourg, and saluted the
city with three cheers. At the head of a detachment, chiefly of
the New Hampshire troops, he marched in the night to the north
east part of the harbour, where they burned the ware houses,
containing the naval stores, and staved a large quantity of wine
and brandy. The smoke of this fire, driven by the wind into the
grand battery, so terrified the French, that they abandoned it ;
and, spiking up the guns, retired to the city. The next morning
Vaughan took possession of the deserted battery, which he brave
ly defended. With extreme labour and difficulty cannon were
drawn, for fourteen nights successively, from the landing place
through a morass to the camp.* The cannon, left by the enemy,
were drilled, and turned with good effect on the city, within which
almost every shot lodged, while several fell into the roof of the
citadel. On the seventh of May, a summons was sent in to the
commanding officer at Louisbourg, who refused to surrender the
place. The siege was therefore still pressed with activity and
vigilance by commodore Warren and his ships, and with vigorous
perseverance by the land forces. The joint efforts of both were
at length, by the blessing of Heaven, crowned with success. It
was a circumstance favourable to the assailants, that the garrison
at Louisbourg had been so mutinous before the siege, that the
officers could not trust the men to make a 6ortie, lest they should
desert. The capture of a French sixty four gun ship, richly la
den with military stores, and having on board five hundred and
sixty men, destined for the relief of the garrison, threw the ene-
* The men, with straps over their shoulders, and sinking to their knees in mud,
performed tho service, which horses or oxen, on such ground, could not have done.
24*
282 FRENCH AND
my into perturbation. A battery, erected on the high cliff at the
light house, greatly annoyed their island battery. Preparations
were evidently making for a general assault. Discouraged by
these adverse events and menacing appearances, Duchambon, the
French commander, determined to surrender ; and, on the six
teenth of June, articles of capitulation were signed. After the
surrender of the city, the French flag was kept flying on the
ramparts ; and several rich prizes were thus decoyed. Two
East Indiamen and one South Sea ship, estimated at six hundred
thousand pounds sterling, were taken by the squadron at the
mouth of the harbour. This expedition was one of the most re
markable events in the history of North America. It was haz
ardous in the attempt, but successful in the execution. ' It dis
played the enterprising spirit of New England ; and, though it en
abled Britain to purchase a peace, yet it excited her envy and jeal
ousy against the colonies, by whose exertions it was acquired.'*
The news of this important victory flew through the continent.
Considerate and pious persons remarked, with mingled gratitude
and admiration, the coincidence of numerous circumstances and
events, on which the success of the undertaking essentially de
pended. While the enterprise, patriotism, and firmness of the
colonists were justly extolled, for projecting and executing a great
design, attended with hardships and danger never before parallel
ed in America ; it was perceived, that there was also no small de- I
gre,e of temerity in the attempt, and that the propitious agency of \
divine Providence throughout the whole was singularly manifest, i
Holmes' Annals.
Expedition against Norridgewock — Death of Ralle. — The
Abenaquis or Eastern Indians, being situated between the
French and English colonies, were often engaged in warfare
against the English settlements. They appear to have been
very much offended against the English on account of their
extending their settlements, &c. on the lands at the eastward.
Their jealousies and discontents were heightened by Father
* Coll. Hist. Soe. i. 4 — 60 ; where there is an authentic account of the expedi
tion from original papers. Hutchinson, ii. ch. iv. Douglass, i. 336. Belknap N.
Hamp. ii. 193 — 224. Adams N. Eng. 208. Solicitations were made for a parlia
mentary reimbursement, which, after much difficulty and delay, was obtained. In
1749, the money, granted by parliament for that purpose, arrived at Boston, and was
conveyed to the treasury office. The sum was £183,649, 2s. 7d. 1-2. It consisted
of 215 chests (3000 pieces of eight, at a medium, in each chest) of milled pieces of
eight, and 100 casks of coined copper. There were 17cart and truck loads of the
silver, and about 10 truck loads of copper. Coll. Hist. Soe. i. S3 — 58. Brit. Emp.
i. 377. Pemberton MS. Chron. The instructions, given by governor Shirley to
lieutenant general Pepperrell, for this expedition, are published in Coll. Hist. Soe. i.
1 — 11. The plan for the reduction of a regularly constructed fortress "was drawn
by a lawyer, to be executed by a merchant, at the head of a body of husbandmen
INDIAN WARS. 283
Ralle, or Rasle, a French Jesuit, who resided at Norridgewock,
and held a close correspondence with the governor of Canada.
Such injuries had been done to the English settlers, that, so
early as 1720, many of them removed.
" Discouraged with the ineffectual attempts to intercept the enemy,
by scouting parties marching on the back of the frontiers, another
expedition was resolved upon, to surprise them at their head quarters,
or principal village, Norridgewock. Four companies, consisting in
the whole of two hundred and eight men, under the command of Cap
tains Harman, Moulton, and Bourne, were ordered up the river Ken
nebeck for that purpose. Three Mohawks were engaged to go out on
the expedition.
The troops left Richmond fort, on the Kennebeck river, the 19th
of August ; the 20th, they arrived at Taconick, where they left their
whale boats, under a guard of forty men, out of the two hundred and
eight. On the 21st, they commenced their march, by land, for Nor
ridgewock. The same evening they discovered and fired on two
women, the wife and daughter of the famous and well known warrior
Bomazeen. His daughter was killed, and his wife was made prisoner.
By her they obtained a full account of the state of Norridgewock.
On the 23d, a little after noon, they came near the village. As it
was supposed that part of the Indians might be in their corn fields
which were at some distance from the village, it was judged best to
divide the army. Captain Harman, who was commander in chief,
took eighty-four men and marched to the corn fields, and Captain
Moulton, with the same number, marched directly to the village.
This, about three of the clock, opened suddenly upon, them. There
was not an Indian to be seen ; they were all in their wigwams. The
English were ordered to advance as softly as possible, and to keep a
profound silence. At length an Indian came out from one of the wig
wams, and looking round, discovered the English close upon him.
He gave the war whoop, and ran in for his gun. The whole village
took the alarm, and about sixty warriors ran to meet the English,
while the old men, women and children fled for their lives. Moulton,
instead of suffering his men to fire at random through the wigwams,
charged them, on pain of death, not to fire a gun till they had received
the fire of the Indians. He judged they would fire in a panick and
overshoot them. So it happened ; not a man was hurt. The English
discharged in their turn and made great slaughter. The English
kept their ranks ; the Indians fired a second time, and fled towards
the river. Some jumped into their canoes, but as their paddles had
been left in the wigwams, they made their escape but slowly ; others
jumped into the river and swam ; some of the tallest were able to
ford it. Some of the English furnished themselves with paddles, and
took to the canoes which the Indians had left ; others waded into the
river, and so pressed upon them, that they were soon driven from all
their canoes and from the river. They were shot in the water, and
on the opposite shore, as they were making their escape into the
284 FRENCH AND
woods. It was imagined by the English, that not more than fifty of
the whole village made their escape.
Having put, the enemy to flight, the English returned to the village,
where they found the Jesuit Ralle, firing on a number of our men,
who had not been in pursuit of the enemy. He had in the wigwam
an English boy, about fourteen years of age, who had been taken
about six months before. This boy he had shot -through the thigh,
and afterwards stabbed in the body ; but by the care of surgeons, he
recovered.* Moulton had given orders not to kill the Jesuit, but as
by his firing from the wigwam, one of the English had been wounded,
one Lieutenant Jaques broke open the door and shot him through the
head. Jaques excused himself to his commanding officer, alledging
that Ralle was loading his gun when he entered the wigwam, and
declared that he would neither give nor take quarter. Moulton
allowed that some answer was given which provoked Jaques, but he
doubted whether it was the same which was reported. He ever
expressed his disapprobation of the action. Mog, a famous Indian
chief and warrior, was found shut up in another wigwam, from which
he fired and killed one of the three Mohawks. This so enraged his
brother, that he broke down the door and shot him dead. The Eng
lish, in their rage, followed and killed his wife and two helpless
children. Harman and his party, who went to the corn fields, did not come
up till nearly night, when the action was over. The whole army
lodged in the wigwams that night, under a guard of forty men. The
next morning tjiey counted twenty-seven dead bodies, and they had
one woman and three children prisoners. Among the dead were
Bomazeen, Mog, Job, Carabeset, Wissememet, and Bomazeen's son-
in-law, all noted warriors. As the troops were anxious for their men
and whale boats, they marched early for Taconick. Christian, one
of the Mohawks, was sent back, or went of his own accord, after they
had begun their march, and set fire to the wigwams and to the church,
and then rejoined the company. On the 27th, they returned to the
fort at Richmond. This was a heavy blow to the enemy : more than
one half of their fighting men were killed or wounded, and most of
their principal warriors." f
* Governor Hutchinson says, " I find this act of cruelty in the account given by
Harman upon oath."— His*, vol. II p. 312.
t " Upon this memorable event in our early annals, Father Charlevoix should be
heard. There were not, says he, at the time the attack was made, above fifty war
riors at Neridgewok ; these seized their arms, and run in disorder, not to defend the
place against an enemy, who was already in,it, but to favor the flight of the women,
the old men and the children, and to give them time to gain the side of the river,
which was not yet in possession of the English. Father Rasle, warned by the cla
mors and tumult, and the danger in which he found his proselytes, ran to present
himself to the assailants, hoping to draw all their fury upon him, that thereby he
might prove the salvation of his flock. His hope was vain ; for hardly had he dis
covered himself when the English raised a great shout, which was followed by a
shower of shot, by which he fell dead near to the cross which he had erected in the
centre of the village : seven Indians who attended him, and who endeavored to shield
INDIAN WARS. 295
Lovell's Expedition. — " The government of Massachusetts, to pro
mote enterprize and encourage volunteers, raised the premium for
Indian scalps and prisoners to an hundred pounds for each. This
induced one John Lovell to raise a company of volunteers on purpose
to hunt the Indians, and bring in their scalps. On his first scout he
got one scalp and one prisoner, which he brought into Boston on the
5th of January, 1725. He took them more than forty miles above
the lake of Winnepesiaukee. On a second enterprize, he discovered
ten Indians round a fire, all asleep. He ordered part of his company
to fire on them as they lay, and the other part to fire on them as they
rose. Three were killed by the first fire, and the other seven as they
rose. On the 3d of March the ten scalps were brought to Boston.
Animated by these repeated successes, he made a third attempt, with
a company of thirty-three men. On the 8th of May, they discovered
an Indian on a point of land which joined to a great pond or lake.
They were suspicious that he was set there to draw them into a
snare, and that there might be many Indians at no great distance.
They therefore laid down their packs, that they might be prepared
for action. They then marched nearly two miles round the pond, to
kill or take the Indian whom they had discovered. At length, when
the English came within gun shot, he fired and wounded Lovell and
one of his men with large shot. He was immediately shot and
scalped. In the mean time, a party of about eighty Indians seized
the packs of the English, and, at a place convenient for their purpose,
waited for their return. When they returned, the enemy rose with
the Indian yell, fired and ran upon them with their hatchets, in great
fury. Lovell, to secure his rear, retreated to the pond, and the Eng
lish, though their number was so unequal, continued the action five
or six hours, until night. Captain Lovefl, his lieutenant, Farwell,
and Ensign Robbins, were mortally wounded early in the action, and
five more were afterwards killed. Sixteen escaped unhurt, and
returned, but they were obliged to leave eight of their wounded com
panions in the woods, without provisions and without a surgeon.
One of them was Mr. Fry, their chaplain, of Andover, who had
behaved with great bravery, had killed and scalped one Indian in the
heat of the action, but finally perished for want of relief. Two of the
him with their own bodies, fell dead at his side. Thus died this charitable pastor,
giving his life for his sheep, after thirty-seven years of painful labors.
Although the English shot near 2000 muskets, they killed but 30 and wounded
40. They spared not the church, which, after they had indignantly profaned its
sacred vases, and the adorable body of Jesus Christ, they set on fire. They then
retired with precipitation,* having been seized with a sudden panic. The Indians
returned immediately into the village ; and their first care, while the women sought
plants and herbs proper to heal the wounded, was to shed tears upon the body of
their noly missionary. They found him pierced with a thousand shot, his scalp taken
off, his skull fractured with hatchets, his mouth and eyes filled with dirt, the bones
of his legs broken, and all his members mutilated in a hundred different ways." —
Drake's Book of the Indians.
* They encamped the following night in the Indian wigwams, under a guard of only 40 men.—
Hutchinson, il. 319.
286 FRENCH AND
eight afterwards got into the English settlements. Fifteen in the
whole were lost, and eighteen saved. This unfortunate affair dis
couraged all scalping parties for the future.
From this time the war languished, and nothing material was trans
acted. The English and Indians were both weary of it, and wished
for peace. After the death of Ralle, the Indians were at liberty to
follow their own inclinations. The Penobscots began war with the
greatest reluctance, and were now considered as most inclined to
peace. To discover their feelings, an Indian hostage was suffered
to go home near the close of the winter of 1724, with a captive, on
their parole. They came back to the fort at St. Georges on the 6th
of February, accompanied with two others of the tribe. They related,
that at a meeting of the Penobscots, it was agreed to make proposals
of peace. One of the Indians, who was a sachem, was sent back
with the other Indian, to bring a deputation of several other chiefs,
for the purpose of concluding a peace. In consequence of these
measures, some time in June, preliminaries of peace were settled,
and a cessation of arms was agreed upon. Soon after, four delegates (
came to Boston and signed a treaty of peace." — Dr. TrumbuWs Hist. \
Con. D'Anville's Expedition. — In 1746, while the colonies of New
England were projecting new enterprises against the French,
intelligence of danger arrived, which threw the whole country
into the utmost consternation. " A very large fleet from France,
under the command of Duke D'Anville, had arrived at Nova
Scotia. It consisted of about forty ships of war, beside trans
ports, and brought over between three and four thousand regular
troops, with veteran officers, and all kinds of military stores ; the
most powerful armament that had ever been sent into North
America. The object of this great armament was supposed to
be, to recover Louisbourg ; to take Annapolis ; to break up the
settlements on the eastern coast of Massachusetts ; and to distress,
if not attempt to conquer, the whole country of New England.*
The troops, destined for Canada, had now sufficient employment
at home ; and the militia was collected to join them. The old
forts on the sea-coast were repaired ; new forts were erected ;
and military guards appointed. The country was kept in a state
of anxiety and fear six weeks ; when it was relieved by intelli
gence of the disabled state of the enemy. The French fleet had
sustained much damage by storms, and great loss by shipwrecks.
An expected junction of M. Conflans, with three ships of the line
and a frigate from Hispaniola, had failed. A pestilential fever
prevailed among the French troops. Intercepted letters, opened
* The real orders of D'Anville were, to retake and dismantle Louisbourg ; to take
and garrison Annapolis ; to destroy Boston ; to range along the coasts of North
America ; and, in conclusion, to visit the British sugar islands. His original arma
ment is referred to in the text.
INDIAN WARS. 287
in a council of war, raising expectation of the speedy arrival of
an English fleet, caused a division among the officers. Under
the pressure of these adverse occurrences, D'Anville was either
seized with an apoplectic fit, or took a poisonous draught, and
suddenly expired. D'Estournelle, who succeeded him in the
command of the fleet, proposed in a council of officers to abandon
the expedition, and return to France. The rejection of his pro
posal caused such extreme agitation, as to bring on a fever,
which threw him into a delirium, and he fell on his sword. The
French, thus disconcerted in their plan, resolved to make an
attempt on Annapolis ; but, having sailed from Chebucto, they
were overtaken by a violent tempest off Cape Sable, and what
ships escaped destruction returned singly to France.*
A, more remarkable instance of preservation seldom occurs.
Had the project of the enemy succeeded, it is impossible to
determine to what extent the American colonies would have
been distressed or desolated. When man is made the instm
ment of averting public calamity, the divine agency ought still to
be acknowledged ; but this was averted without human power.
If philosophers would ascribe this extraordinary event to blind
chance, or fatal necessity, Christians will surely ascribe it to the
operation of that Being, who, in ancient time, caused ' the stars,
in their courses, to fight against Sisera.' " — Holmes' Annals.
Conquest of Nova Scotia. — " The command of the expedition
against Nova Scotia was given to Lieutenant Colonel Monkton,
a British officer of respected military talents. The troops, des
tined for this service, were almost entirely drawn from Massa
chusetts, and amounted to about three thousand men. The New
England forces were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Winslow
of Marshfield, a major general of the militia, and an officer of
great respectability and influence. The troops embarked at
Boston on the 20th May, 1755, and arrived on the 25th at Anna
polis Royal ; whence, on the first of June, they sailed, in a fleet
of forty-one vessels, to Chignecto. After being joined by about
three hundred regulars with a small train of artillery, they
marched for the French fort Beausejour. At the river Mussa-
guash, on the west side of which the French claimed, they found
a block house, with some small cannon and swivels, and a breast
* Hutchinson, ii. ch. iv. The French, from the day in which they left France in
June to the day in which they left Chebucto, buried 2400 men, 1 100 of whom died
at Chebucto. One third of the Indians, who visited the French cantonments, died.
The disease subsided there, without becoming epidemic. On this occasion, the
assembly of Massachusetts gave the governor unlimited power to strengthen the
works at Castle William, and do whatever he should think necessary for the imme
diate defence of the harbour of Boston ; and such additional works were made to the
Castle, as rendered it, for its extent, the most considerable fortress by sea in the
English colonies.
288 FRENCH AND
work, with troops judiciously posted to oppose their progress ;
but, after a conflict of about an hour, they effected a passage,
with the loss of one man only, the French burning their block
house and village. They now encamped about two miles from
fort Beausejour; and Lieutenant Colonel Winslow, with three
hundred men, having dislodged a party of the enemy from an
eminence, advanced within six hundred yards of the fort. The
entrenchments were opened, and, on the sixteenth, the enemy
surrendered. The garrison was allowed to march out with the
honours of war, and to be transported with their effects to Louis
bourg, at the expense of the king of Great Britain, on condition
of not bearing arms for six months. The name of fort Beause
jour was now changed to Cumberland. The fort at Gaspareau
necessarily surrendered next ; and was allowed the same terms
as the former. The French force in Nova Scotia being subdued,
a difficult question occurred, what ought to be done with the
inhabitants. These amounted to about seven thousand, and were
of a mild, frugal, industrious and pious character. But, though
they had chosen to be denominated neutrals, they had furnished
the French and Indians with intelligence, quarters, provisions,
and aid in annoying the government of the province ; and three
hundred of them. were actually found in arms at fort Beausejour.
An offer was made to such of them as had not been openly in
arms, to be allowed to continue in possession of their land, if
they would take the oath of allegiance without any qualification ;
but they unanimously refused it. On the whole, after the lieu
tenant governor of Nova Scotia and his council had consulted
with Admirals Boscawen and Mostyn on the necessary measures
to be adopted toward them, it was determined to disperse them
among the British colonies. This measure was principally
effected by the New England forces, whose commander, uniting
humanity with firmness, was eminently qualified for the difficult
and ungrateful service. In this entire expedition, the English
had but twenty men killed, and about the same number wounded.*
Battle of Lake George.^ — " This battle was fought at the head
of Lake George, September 8th, 1755, between the provincial
troops under the command of Major General, afterwards Sir
* At Grand Pre, where Colonel Winslow had the immediate command, there were
made prisoners 483 men and 337 women, heads of families, 527 of their sons and 576
of their daughters, amounting in all to 1923 souls. To prevent the resettlement of
those who escaped, the country was laid waste. In the district of Minas only, there
were destroyed 255 houses, 276 barns, 155 outhouses, 11 mills, and 1 church. One
thousand of the proscribed and wretched Acadians were transported to Massachusetts,
where many of them embarked for France.
t Dwight's Travels, 3d vol. Dr. Dwight visited the battle grounds, and derived
much of his information from eye witnesses of the action. The loss of the French
was estimated at eight hundred, that of the English but two hundred.
INDIAN WARS. 289
William Johnson, aided by a body of Indians, led by the cele
brated Hendrick ; and a body of French, Canadians, and Indians,
commanded by Monsieur le Baron de Dicskau. This nobleman
arrived from France, in company with Monsieur de Vaudrcuil,
Governour General of Canada, and brought with him from Brest,
3000 regular troops, destined to act under his command against
the British colonies. Of these six hundred were taken, with the
Lys and Alcide. men of war, by Admiral Boscawen. A thousand
were left at Louisburgh. The remainder were landed at Quebec.
The Baron was instructed to reduce Oswego ; a fortification on
the south side of Lake Ontario, and on the eastern side of the
river Oswego, or Onondaga. This fortress was of considerable
importance, from its position in the country of the Iroquois ; and
enabled the English in a great measure to exclude the French
from any very dangerous communication with that people. In
obedience to these instructions he proceeded directly to Montreal ;
and having despatched seven hundred men up the river St. Law
rence, made preparations to follow them. Before his departure,
however, intelligence reached that city, that a considerable army
was assembling at the head of Lake St. Sacrament, now Lake
George, with an intention to reduce fort Frederic, since called
Crown Point, and perhaps to invade Canada. At a council, con
vened upon this news, Baron Dieskau was vehemently solicited,
and with no small difficulty prevailed upon, to direct his course
up Lake Champlain. At Fort Frederic he wailed some time for
the arrival of the English army ; but finding no prospect of their
approach, determined to go and seek them. Accordingly, he
embarked with 2000 men in batteaux, and landed at the head of
South-bay, in the township of Skeensborough, now Whitehall;
about sixteen or eighteen miles from Sandy-hill, and in the route
which he took, about twenty-eight or thirty from the head of Lake
George. An English prisoner, taken by his scouts, informed
him, that Fort Edward, then called Fort Lyman, (from Major
General Lyman, under whose direction this fortress had been
erected the preceding summer,) was defenceless ; and that the
army of General Johnson was in the same state ; being without
fortifications, and without cannon. Upon this information Dics
kau determined immediately to attack the fort. As soon as he
formed his determination, he explained to his troops the advan
tages of the proposed measure, which was certainly worthy of
his military character. Had the design succeeded ; and in the
infant state of the works, it would in all probability have been
successful ; the army under Johnson would have been cut off
from all supplies ; and must either have marched immediately
back, and fought the enemy, then formidable by success, as well
as numbers, and skill, furnished with cannon and other supplies
25
290
FRENCH AND
from the fort, and choosing his own ground for action ; or they
must have surrendered at discretion. The great body of his
troops, however, consisting of Canadians and Indians, were ill-
fitted to comprehend a measure of this magnitude ; and as little
disposed to venture upon its execution. Either they had been
informed, or they suspected, that the fort was defended by can
non : objects of peculiar dread to both these classes of men. In
spite of the exhortations of their commander, they absolutely
refused to advance against the fort ; but professed their readiness,
at the same time, to attack the army under Johnson, entirely des
titute, as the Baron had told them, and as he himself believed, of
both cannon and works. In vain did he attempt to overcome
their reluctance. There was, therefore, no alternative left, but
either to attack Johnson, or to retrace his course to South bay.
Without hesitation he marched his army towards the head of
Lake George.
Gen. Johnson's first intimation of the approach of his enemy had
been given by a scout, who discovered the French army on their
march from South bay towards Fort Edward. Upon the receipt
of this intelligence he dispatched several messengers, to advertise
Col. Blanchard, who commanded that fortress, of his danger.
On the night of Sunday, September 7, at 12 o'clock, information
was brought, that the enemy had advanced four miles on the road
from Fort Edward to Lake George ; or half way between the village
of Sandy-Hill and Glen's falls. A council of war was held early in
the morning, at which it was resolved to send a party to meet them.
The number of men, determined upon at first, was mentioned by the
General to Hendrick ; and his opinion was asked. He replied, ' If
they are to fight, they are too few. If they are to be killed, they are
too many.' The number was accordingly increased. Gen. Johnson
also proposed to divide them into three parties. Hendrick took three
sticks, and, putting them together, said to him, ' Put these together,
and you can't break them. Take them one by one, and you will
break them easily.' The hint succeeded, and Hendrick's sticks
saved the party, and probably the whole army, from destruction.
The party detached consisted of twelve hundred, and were com
manded by Col. Ephraim Williams, whose character has been already
given in these Letters ; a brave and skillful officer, greatly beloved by
the soldiery, and greatly respected by the country at large. Lieut.
Col. Whiting, of New-Haven, was second in command, and brought
up the rear. Col. Williams met the enemy at Rocky brook, four
miles from Lake George. Dieskau had been informed of his approach
by his scouts, and arranged his men in the best possible order to
receive them, extending his line on both sides of the road in the form
of a half-moon. Johnson did not begin to raise his breast-work until
after Williams had marched ; nor, as a manuscript account of this
transaction, now before me, declares, until after the rencounter be
tween Williams and the enemy had begun.
INDIAN WARS. 297
easy manners, he conciliated affection, and commanded universal
esteem. Indeed, he was considered ve/;y much as the idol and
life of the army. The loss of such a man. at such a time, cannot
be estimated. To this, the provincials attributed the defeat and
unhappy consequences which followed.
As the troops for two nights had slept little, were greatly fa
tigued, and needed refreshment, the General ordered them to re
turn to the landing place, where they arrived at eight in the morn
ing. Colonel Bradstreet was soon after detached with a strong
corps*, to take possession of the saw mill, about two miles from
Ticonderoga, which the enemy had abandoned- Towards the
close of the day, the whole army marched to the mill. The Gen.
having received information, that the garrison at Ticonderoga con
sisted of about six thousand men, and that a reinforcement of three
thousand more was daily expected, determined to lose no time in
attacking their lines. He ordered his engineer to reconnoitre the
ground and intrenchments of the enemy. It seems that he had
not so approached and examined them as to obtain any proper idea
of them. He made a favorable report of their weakness, and of
the facility of forcing them without cannon. On this groundless
report, a rash and fatal resolution was taken, to attack the lines
without bringing up the artillery.
The army advanced to the charge with the greatest intrepidity,
and for more than four hours with incredible obstinacy maintained
the attack- But the works where the principal attack was made
were eight or nine feet high, and impregnable even by field pieces ;
and for nearly an hundred yards from the breast work, trees were
felled so thick, and so wrought together with their limbs pointing
outward, that it rendered the approach of the troops in a great
measure impossible. In this dreadful situation, under the fire of
about three thousand of the enemy, these gallant troops were kept,
without the least prospect of success, until nearly two thousand
were killed and wounded.* They were then called off. To this
rash and precipitate attack succeeded a retreat equally unadvised
and precipitate. By the evening of the next day the army had
retreated to their former encampment at the south end of lake
George. Nothing could have been more contrary to the opinions, or more mor
tifying to the feelings of the provincials, than this whole affair. They
viewed the attack upon the lines without the artillery as the height of
madness. Besides, it was made under every disadvantage to the assail
ants. The enemy's lines were of great extent, nearly three quarters
* Of the regulars were killed 464 ; of the provincials 87 : in the whole 548. Of
the regulars were wounded 1117; of the provincials 239: in the whole 1356.
There were missing 29 regulars and 8 provincials. The whole loss in killed,
wounded and missing was 1941. General Ahercrombie's return.
298 FRENCH AND
of a mile. On the right of the common path towards south bay, and
especially on the north, they were weak and of little consideration.
In both these quarters they might have been approached under the
cover of a thick wood. The army was sufficiently numerous to have
attacked the lines in their whole extent once, or at least in a very
great part of them, and to have drawn their attention to various parts
of their lines. But, unhappily, the attack was made upon a small
part of them where they were far the strongest, and most inaccessible.
As no attacks or feints were made on other parts, the enemy were
left to pour their whole fire on a small spot, while the whole army
could not approach it. Besides, the general never approached the
field, where his presence was indispensably necessary ; but remained
at the mill, where he could see nothing of the action, nor know any
thing only by information at a distance of two miles. By reason of
this, the troops for hours after they should have been called off, were
pushed on to inevitable slaughter." — Dr. Trumbull.
Capture of Quebec. — The year 1759 was distinguished by the
success of the British arms ; the fortifications of Ticonderoga,
Crown Point and Niagara were taken in quick succession from
the French.
" While these operations were carried on in the vicinity of Up
per Canada, Gen. Wolfe was prosecuting the grand enterprise
for the reduction of Quebec. Having embarked about eight thou
sand men at Louisbourg, under convoy of admirals Saunders and
Holmes, he safely landed them toward the end of June, a few
leagues below the city of Quebec, on the Isle of Orleans, lying in
the St. Lawrence. From this position he had a distinct view of
the difficulties and dangers of the projected enterprise. Quebec
is chiefly built on a steep rock on the northern bank of the St.
Lawrence ; and, beside its natural strength, is defended by the
river St. Charles, which, passing by it on the east, empties into
the St. Lawrence immediately below the town, and places it in a
kind of peninsula. In the St. Charles, whose channel is rough,
and whose borders are intersected with ravines, there were several
armed vessels and floating batteries ; and a strong boom Was drawn
across its mouth. On its eastern bank a formidable French army,
strongly entrenched, extended its encampment to the river Mont
morency, having its rear covered by an almost impenetrable wood ;
and at the head of this army was the intrepid Montcalm. To at
tempt a siege of the town, in such circumstances, seemed repug
nant to all the maxims of war ; but, resolved to do whatever was
practicable for the reduction of the place, Wolfe took possession
/ of Point Levi, on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence, and there
erected batteries against it. These batteries, though they de
stroyed many houses, made but little impression on the works,
which were too strong, and too remote, to be essentially affected ;
INDIAN WARS. 293
sixty to sixty-five years of age. His head was covered with white
locks ; and what is uncommon among Indians, he was corpulent.
Immediately before Col. Williams began his march, he mounted a
stage, and harangued his people. He had a strong masculine voice ;
and, it was thought, might be distinctly heard at the distance of half
a mile : a fact, which, to my own view, has diffused a new degree of
probability over Homer's representations of the effects produced by
the speeches and shouts of his heroes. Lieut. Col. Pomeroy, who
was present, and heard this effusion of Indian eloquence, told me,
that, although he did not understand a word of the language, yet
such was the animation of Hendrick, the fire of his eye, the force of
his gesture, the strength of his emphasis, the apparent propriety of
the inflections of his voice, and the natural appearance of his whole
manner, that himself was more deeply affected with this speech,
than with any other which he had ever heard. In the Pennsylvania
Gazette, Sept. 25, 1755, he is styled 'the famous Hendrick, a re
nowned Indian warriour among the Mohawks : ' and it is said, that
his sou, being told that his father was killed, giving the usual Indian
groan upon such occasions, and suddenly putting his hand on his left
breast, swore that his father was still alive in that place, and that
there stood his son.
Baron Dieskau was conveyed from Albany to New- York, and
from thence to England ; where soon after he died. He was an
excellent officer ; possessed very honourable feelings ; and was
adorned with highly polished manners. I know of but one stain
upon his character. Before his engagement with Col. Williams'
corps, he gave orders to his troops neither to give nor take quarter.
As there was nothing, either in the nature of his enterprize, or in his
circumstances, to justify this rigour; it is to be accounted one of
those specimens of barbarity, which, it must be acknowledged, too
frequently disgrace the human character.
The remainder of the campaign was idled away by Gen. Johnson
in doing nothing. A person who has examined the French works
at Crown Point, will perceive that he might easily have possessed
himself of this fortress, had he made the attempt ; as it is entirely
commanded by rising grounds in the neighbourhood. Instead of this,
the French, immediately after their panic was over, erected a fortifi
cation at Ticonderoga ; fifteen miles higher up Lake Champlain ;
and fixed themselves so much farther within the boundaries of the
British possessions."
Plans of Fort Frederick at Crown Point, and Fort William
Henry. — Fort Frederick was built by the French in 1731. This
fortress (now in ruins) was a star work being in the form of a
pentagon, with bastions at the angles, and surrounded by a
ditch walled in with stone. This post secured the command of
Lake Champlain, and guarded the passage into Canada. It was
through this lake by the route of Crown Point, that the parties
of French and Indians made their bloody incursions upon the
25*
294
FRENCH AND
frontiers of New England and
N. York. " Inthe secretcham-
bers of this very fort," says Dr.
Dwight, " dug, as became such
designs, beneath the ground,
copies of the vaults of abbeys
|J and castles, in their native coun
try ; caverns, to which treach
ery and murder slunk from the
eye of day ; those plots were
contrived, which were to ter
minate in the destruction of
families, and villages, through
out New York and New England. Here the price was fixed,
which was to be paid for the scalps of these unoffending peo
ple. Here the scout was formed ; the path of murder marked
out ; the future butchery realized in anticipation ; and the captive
tortured in prescience, before the day of his actual doom. Here,
worst of all, were displayed long rows of scalps ; white in one
place with the venerable locks of age, and glistening in another
with the ringlets of childhood and of youth ; received and sur
veyed with smiles of self-gratulation, and rewarded with the
promised and ungrudged boon."
Fort Frederick.
Fort William Henry. — Plan of Fort William Henry.
References.— A., Store-house. B, Barracks. C, Guard-house. D, Store-house.
E, Dungeon. F, Magazine. G, Bridges. H, The Gate. I, Magazine. The
Fort was built of timber and earth, 29 feet high, 25 thick and part of it 32 ; it
mounted 14 cannon, 33 and 18 pounders.
Capture of Fort William Henry. — During the absence of the
principal part of the British forces, the Marquis de Montcalm ad-
INDIAN WARS. 295
v
vanced from Canada and laid siege to Fort William Henry, at the
south point of Lake George, August 3d, 1756.
" Having drawn together all his forces from Crown Point, Ti
conderoga, and the adjacent posts, with a greater number of In
dians than the French had ever employed on any other occasion,
he passed the lake and regularly invested the fort. The whole
army consisted of nearly eight thousand men. The garrison con
sisted of about three thousand, and the fortifications were said to
be good. At fort Edward, scarcely fourteen miles distant, lay
General Webb, with four thousand troops. The regular troops at
the two posts, were probably more than equal to the regular force
of the enemy. A considerable proportion of their army consisted
of Canadians and Indians. Yet, in about six days, was this im
portant post delivered up into the hands of the enemy. All the
vessels, boats, and batteaux, which, at so much expense and labor,
had been for two years preparing, fell into the power of the enemy.
Though General Webb had timely notice of the approach of the
enemy, yet he never sent to alarm the country, and bring on the
militia. He never reinforced the garrison, nor made a single
motion for its relief. So far was he from this, that he sent a letter
to Colonel Monroe, who commanded the fort, advising him to give
it up to the enemy. Montcalm intercepted the letter, and sent it
into the fort to the colonel. He had acted the part of a soldier
and made a brave defence ; but having burst a number of his can
non, expended a considerable part of his ammunition, and per
ceiving that he was to have no relief from General Webb, he capi
tulated on terms honorable for himself and the garrison. It was,
to march out with arms, baggage, and one piece of cannon, in
honor to Colonel Monroe, for the brave defence he had made.
The troops were not to serve against the most christian king under
eighteen months, unless exchanged for an equal number of French
prisoners. The French and Indians paid no regard to the arti
cles of capitulation, but falling on the English, stripped them of
their baggage and few remaining effects ; and the Indians, in the
English service, were dragged from the ranks, tomahawked and
scalped. Men and women had their throats cut, their bodies rip
ped open, and their bowels, with insult, thrown in their faces.
Infants and children were barbarously taken by the heels, and
their brains dashed out against stones and trees. The Indians
pursued the English nearly half the way to fort Edward, where
the greatest number of them arrived in a most forlorn condition.
It seems astonishing, that between two and three thousand troops,
with arms in their hands, should, contrary to the most express
stipulations, suffer these intolerable insults. When it was too
late, 'General Webb alarmed the country, and put the colonies to
great expense in sending on large detachments of the militia for
296 FRENCH AND
the defence of the northern frontier. The sudden capture of the
fort, the massacre made by the enemy's Indians, and suspicions of
General Webb's treachery, and an apprehension that Gen. Mont
calm would force his way to Albany, put the country into a state
of great alarm and consternation."
Abercrombie's Defeat before Ticonderoga. — " As the reduction
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, was a favorite object with
the northern colonies, they made early and great exertions for car
rying it into effectual execution. Besides the assistance which
they gave to the reduction of Louisburg, they furnished about ten
thousand troops for the northern expedition. These, in conjunc
tion with between six and seven thousand regular troops, had by
the beginning of July, got into lake George more than a thousand
boats and batteaux, a fine train of artillery, provisions, and every
thing necessary for an attack on the fortresses of the enemy.
• On the 5th of July, the army, consisting of fifteen thousand
three hundred and ninety effective men, embarked in nine hun
dred batteaux, and one hundred and thirty five whale boats, for
Ticonderoga. Besides, there were a number of rafts, on which
cannon were mounted, to cover the landing of the troops. Early
the next 'morning, they landed at the north end of lake George,
without opposition. The army formed in four columns, and began
their march for Ticonderoga. But as the woods were thick, and
the guides unskillful, the troops were bewildered, and the columns
falling in one upon another, were entirely broken. In this confu
sion, Lord Howe, advancing at the head of the right centre co
lumn, fell in with the advanced guard of the enemy, consisting of
a battalion of regulars and a few Indians, who had deserted their
advanced camp near the lake, and were precipitately fleeing from
our troops ; but had lost their way, and were bewildered in the
same manner as they were. The enemy discharged, and killed
Lord Howe the first fire. The suddenness of the attack, the ter-
ribleness of the Indian yell, and the fall of Lord Howe, threw the
regulars, who composed the centre columns, into a general panic
and confusion ; but the provincials, who flanked them, and were
more acquainted with their mode of fighting, stood their ground
and soon defeated them. The loss of the enemy, was about three
hundred killed, and one hundred and forty-eight taken. The loss
of the English was inconsiderable as to numbers, but in worth
and consequences, it was great. The loss of that gallant officer,
Lord Howe, was irreparable. From the day of his arrival in Ame-
, rica, he had conformed himself, and made his regiment to conform,
to* that kind of service which the country required. He was the
first to endure hunger and fatigue, to encounter danger, and to
sacrifice all personal considerations to the public service. While
he was rigid in discipline, by his affability, condescending and
INDIAN WARS. 291
Williams marched his men directly into the hollow of the half-
moon. This will be explained by the fact, that the whole country
was a deep forest. When the enemy saw them completely within
his power, he opened a fire of musketry on the front, and on both
flanks, of the English at the same moment. The English fell in
heaps ; and at the head of them their gallant commander. Hendrick
also was mortally wounded, fighting with invincible courage in the
front of his people. He was shot in the back : a fact which filled
him with disdain and anguish ; as he thought, that ho should be be
lieved to have fled from the enemy. The truth was ; the horns of
the half-moon were so far advanced, that they in a great measure in
closed the van of the English, and fired upon them from the rear.
From this fire Hendrick received the wound which terminated his life.
Upon the death of Col. Williams, Lieut. Col. Whiting succeeded
to the command of the detachment. He was an officer of great
merit, and had gained much applause at the reduction of Louisburgh ;
and, in consequence of his gallant conduct at that siege, had been
made a Captain in the regular British service. Whiting, seeing the
danger of his men. immediately ordered a retreat ; and conducted it
so judiciously, that he saved the great body of them from destruction,
in circumstances of extreme peril ; in which their own confusion and
alarm, and the situation of the ground, threatened their extermination
no less than the superior numbers of the enemy.
The noise of the first fire was heard at Lake George. Efforts be
gan then to be made in earnest by the General for the defence of the
camp : and a party of three hundred men were despatched under
Lieut. Col. Cole, to support the retreating corps. A few stragglers,
both English and Indians, came into the camp, and announced, what
had indeed been already sufficiently evident from the approaching
sound of the musketry, that the French army was superiour in num
bers and strength to Col. Williams' corps, and was driving them to
wards the camp. Some time after ' the whole party that escaped,'
says Gen. Johnson, ' came in in large bodies : ' a decisive proof of
the skill, and coolness, with which Lieut. Col. Whiting conducted
this retreat. These men also arranged themselves in their proper
places ; and took their share in the engagement, which followed,
About half after eleven o'clock the enemy appeared in sight;
inarching up the road in the best order towards the centre of the
English. When they came to the bottom of an open valley, directly
in front of the elevation,.on which Fort George was afterwards built,
and on which the centre of the English army was posted ; Dieskau
halted his men about fifteen minutes, at the distance of little more
than one hundred and fifty yards from the breast-work. I have never
seen a reason, assigned for this measure. I think I can assign one.
The Indians were sent out on the right flank, and a part of the Cana
dians. on the left, intending to come in upon the rear of the English,
while the main body attacked them in front. The ground was re
markably favourable to this design ; being swampy, thickly forested,
and, therefore, perfectly fitted to conceal the approach of these parties.
292 FRENCH AND
The Indians, however, were soon discovered by Lieut. Col. Pomeroy,
who immediately mentioned the fact to the General ; and, observing
to him, that these people were extremely afraid of cannon, requested
that one or two pieces might be pointed against them. They were
then near the ground on which Fort William Henry was afterwards
built. The General approved of the proposal. A shell was instantly
thrown among them from a howitzer ; and some field pieces showered
upon them a quantity of grape shot. The Indians fled.
The Baron, in the mean time, led up his main body to attack the
centre. They began the engagemeet by firing regularly in platoons ;
but at so great a distance, that they did very little execution. This
circumstance was favourable to the English ; and soon recovering
from the panic, into which they had been thrown by the preceding
events of the day, they fought with great spirit and firmness.
Gen. Johnson, at the commencement of the battle, received a flesh
wound in his thigh : and the ball lodged in it. He bled freely, but
was able to walk away from the army to his tent. General Lyman
then took the command, and continued in it during the action. This
gentleman, who seemed to have no passions, except those, which are
involved in the word humanity, immediately stationed himself in the
front of the breast-work ; and there, amid the thickest danger, issued
his orders, during five hours, to every part of the army, as occasion
demanded, with a serenity, which many covet, and some boast, but
very few acquire. The main body of the French kept their ground,
and preserved their order, for a considerable time : but the artillery,
nnder the command of Captain Eyre, a brave English officer, who
performed his part with much skill and reputation, played upon them
with such success ; and the fire from the musketry was so warm,
and well-directed ; that their ranks were soon thinned, and their
efforts slackened, sufficiently to show, that they despaired of success
in this quarter. They then made another effort against the right of
the English, stationed between the road and the site of fort William
Henry, and composed of Ruggles' regiment, Williams', now com
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pomeroy, and Titcomb's. Here a
warm fire was kept up on both sides about an hour ; but on the part
of the enemy was unavailing.
At four o'clock, the English, and the Indians who fought with
them, leaped over their breast-work, and charged the enemy. They
fled, and were vigorously pursued for a short distance. A considera
ble number were slain in the pursuit. The wounded, and a very
few others, were made prisoners. Among these was Dieskau. He
was found by a soldier, resting on a stump, with hardly an attendant.
As he was feeling for his watch, in order to give it to the soldier,
the man, suspecting that he was searching for a pistol, discharged
the contents of his musket through his hips. He was carried into
the camp in a blanket by eight men, with the greatest care and ten
derness, but evidently in extreme distress."
" Hendrick had lived to this day with singular honour, and died,
fighting with a spirit not to be excelled. He was at this time from
INDIAN WARS.
299
their elevation, at the same time, placing them beyond the reach
of the fleet.
The British general, convinced of the impossibility of reducing the
place, unless he could erect batteries on the north side of the St.
Lawrence, soon decided on more daring measures. The northern
shore of the St. Lawrence, to a considerable distance above Quebec,
is so bold and rocky, as to render a landing, in the face of an enemy,
impracticable. If an attempt were made below the town, the river
Montmorency passed, and the French driven from their entrench
ments ; the St. Charles would present a new, and perhaps insupera
ble barrier. With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe, heroically ob
serving, that ' a victorious army finds no difficulties,' resolved to pass
the Montmorency, and bring Montcalm to an engagement. In pur
suance of this resolution, thirteen companies of English grenadiers,
and part of the second battalion of royal Americans, were landed at
the mouth of that river, while two divisions, under generals Towns-
hend and Murray, prepared to cross it higher up. Wolfe's plan was,
to attack first a redoubt, close to the water's edge, apparently beyond
reach of the fire from the enemy's entrenchments, in the belief that
the French, by attempting to support that fortification, would put it in
his power to bring on a general engagement ; or, if they should sub
mit to the loss of the redoubt, that he could afterward examine their
situation whh coolness, and advantageously regulate his future opera
tions. On the approach of the British troops, the redoubt was evacu
ated ; and the general, observing some confusion in the French camp,
changed his original plan, and determined not to delay an attack.
Orders were immediately dispatched to the generals Townshend and
Murray, to keep their divisions in readiness for fording the river ; and
tike grenadiers and royal Americans were directed to form on the
beach, until they could be properly sustained. These troops, not
300 FRENCH AND
waiting for support, rushed impetuously toward the enemy's intrench-
ments ; but they were received with so strong and steady a fire from
the French musquetry, that they were instantly thrown into disorder,
and obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt, which the enemy had
abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thunder storm, they
were still within reach of a severe fire from the French ; and many
gallant officers, exposing their persons in attempting to form the
troops, were killed. The plan of attack being effectually discon
certed, the English general gave orders for repassing the river, and
returning to the Isle of Orleans. This premature attempt on the
enemy was attended with the loss of near five hundred men.
Assured of the impracticability of approaching Quebec on the
side of the' Montmorency, while Montcalm chose to maintain his
station, Wolfe detached general Murray with twelve hundred men
in transports, to co-operate with adiriiral Holmes above the town,
in endeavouring to destroy the French shipping, and to distract
the enemy by descents on the bank of the river. After two un
successful attempts to land on the northern shore, Murray, by a
sudden descent at Chambaud, burned a valuable magazine, filled
with clothing, arms, ammunition, and provisions ; but the French
ships were secured in such a manner, as not to be approached
either by the fleet or army. On his return to the British camp,
he brought the consolatory intelligence, received from his prison
ers, that Niagara was taken ; that Ticonderoga and Crown Point
were abandoned ; and that general Amherst was making prepa
rations to attack the enemy at Isle Aux Noix. This intelligence,
though in itself grateful, furnished no prospect of immediate as
sistance. It even confirmed the certainty of failure on the part
of general Amherst in seasonably executing the plan of co-opera
tion, concerted between the two armies ; a failure to which all the
embarrassments of Wolfe are attributed.
Nothing however could shake the resolution of this valiant com
mander, or induce him to abandon the enterprise. In a council
of his principal officers, called on this critical occasion, it was re
solved, that all the future operations should be above the town.
The camp at the Isle of Orleans was accordingly abandoned; and
the whole army having embarked on board the fleet, a part of it
was landed at Point Levi, and a part higher up the river. Mont
calm, apprehending from this movement, that the invaders might
make a distant descent, and come on the back of the city of
Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville with fifteen hundred men,
to watch their motions, and prevent their landing.
Although Wolfe was at this time confined by sickness ; the
three English brigadier generals projected and laid before him a
daring plan for getting possession of the heights back of Quebec,
where it was but slightly fortified. They proposed to land the
INDIAN WARS.
301
Gen. James Wolfe.
troops in the night under the heights of Abraham, a small distance
above the city, and to gain the ascent by morning. This attempt
would obviously be attended with extreme difficulty and hazard.
The stream was rapid, the shore shelving, the proposed and only
landing place so narrow, as easily to be missed in the dark, and
the steep so great, as not to be ascended by day but with difficulty,
even though there were no opposition. Wolfe did not fail to ap
prove a plan, that was altogether congenial to his own adventurous
spirit. He was soon able to prosecute it in person ; and it was
effected with equal judgment and vigor. The admiral, having
moved up the river, several leagues above the place fixed on for
the landing, made signs of an intention to debark the troops at
different places. During the night, a strong detachment was put
on board the flat bottomed boats, which fell silently down with
the tide to the intended place of debarkation ; and about an hour
before day break a landing was effected. - Wolfe was one of the
first men who leaped on shore. The Highlanders and light in
fantry, commanded by colonel Howe, led the way up the dan
gerous precipice, which was ascended by the aid of the rugged
26
302 FRENCH AND
projection of the rocks, and the branches of trees and plants, grow
ing on the cliffs. The rest of the troops, emulating their example,
followed up the narrow pass ; and by break of day (September
13th) the whole army reached the summit.
Montcalm, when informed that the English had gained the
heights of Abraham, which in a manner commanded Quebec,
could not at first credit the intelligence. Believing the ascent of
an army by such a rugged and abrupt precipice impracticable, he
concluded it was merely a feint, made by a small detachment, to
induce him to abandon his present position. When convinced of
his mistake, he perceived that a battle could no longer be pru
dently avoided, and instantly prepared for it. Leaving his camp
at Montmorency, he crossed the river St. Charles with the inten
tion of attacking the English army. No sooner did Wolfe observe
this movement, than he began to form his order of battle. His
troops consisted of six battalions, and the Louisbourg grenadiers.
The right wing was commanded by general Moncklon ; and the
left by general Murray. The right flank was covered by the
Louisbourg grenadiers ; and the rear and left,, by Howe's light
infantry. The form, in which the French advanced, indicating an
intention to outflank the left of the English army Gen. Townshend
was sent with the battalions of Amherst, and the two battallions of
royal Americans, to that part of the line ; and they were formed en
potence, so as to present a double front to the enemy. The body of
reserve consisted of one regiment, drawn up in eight divisions, with
large intervals. The dispositions, made by the French general, were
not less masterly. The right and left wings were composed about
equally of European and colonial troops. The center consisted
of a column, formed of two battalions of regulars. -Fifteen hun
dred Indians and Canadians, excellent marksmen, advancing in
front, screened by surrounding thickets, began the battle. Their
irregular fire proved fatal to many British officers ; but it was
soon silenced by the steady fire of the English. About nine in
the morning, the main body of the French advanced briskly to the
charge ; and the action soon became general. Montcalm having
taken post on the left of the French army, and Wolfe on the right
of the English, the two generals met each other, where the battle
was most severe. The English troops reserved their fire until
the French had advanced within forty yards of their line ; and
then, by a general discharge, made terrible havoc among their
ranks. The fire of the English was vigorously maintained, and
the enemy every where yielded to it. General Wolfe, who, ex
posed in the front of his battalions, had been wounded in the
wrist, betraying no symptom of pain, wrapped a handkerchief
round his arm, and continued to encourage his men. Soon after,
he received a shot in the groin ; but, concealing the wound, he
INDIAN WARS.
303
Death of Gen. Wolfe, at Quebec.
was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets,
when a third ball pierced his breast. The army, not disconcerted
by his fall, continued the action under Monckton, on whom the
command now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his
body, soon yielded the command to general Townshend. Mont
calm, fighting in front of his battalions, received a mortal wound
about the same time; and general Senezergus, the second in
command, also fell. The British grenadiers pressed on with their
bayonets. General Murray, briskly advancing with the troops
under his direction, broke the center of the French army. The
Highlanders, drawing their broadswords, completed the confusion
of the enemy ; and, falling on them with resistless fury, drove
them, with great slaughter, partly into Quebec, and partly over
the St. Charles. The other divisions of.the army behaved with
equal gallantry. M. de Bougainville with a body of two thou
sand fresh troops appeared in the rear of the victorious army ; but
the main body of the French army was already so much broken
and dispersed, that he did not hazard a second attack. The vic
tory was decisive. About one thousand of the enemy were made
prisoners, and nearly an equal number fell in the battle and the
pursuit; the remainder retired first to Point au Tremble, and
304 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
afterward to Trois Rivieres and Montreal. The loss of the Eng
lish, both of killed and wounded, was less than six hundred men.
General Townshend proceeded to fortify his camp, and to make
the necessary preparations for the siege of Quebec ; but, five days
after the victory, the city surrendered to the English fleet and
army. By the articles of capitulation, the inhabitants were, du
ring the war, to be protected in the free exercise of their religion ;
and their future destination was left to be decided at a general
peace. The capital of New France, thus reduced under the do
minion of Great Britain, was garrisoned by about five thousand
men under the command of general Murray ; and the British fleet
sailed out of the St. Lawrence. Quebec contained, at the time
of its capitulation, about ten thousand souls.
The prisoners were embarked in transports, the day after the capi
tulation, for France. General James Wolfe, who expired in the arms
of victory, was only thirty three years of age. He possessed those
military talents, which, with the advantage of years and opportunity
of action, ' to moderate his ardour, expand his faculties, and give to
his intuitive perception and scientific knowledge the correctness of
judgment perfected by experience,' would have ' placed him on a
level with the most celebrated generals of any age or nation.' After
he had received his mortal wound, it was with reluctance that he suf
fered himself to be conveyed into the rear. Leaning on the shoulder
of a lieutenant, who kneeled down to support him, he was seized with
the agonies of death ; but, hearing the words ' they run,' he exclaimed,
' Who run V ' The French,' replied his supporter. ' Then I die
happy,' said the general, and expired. A death more glorious, says
Belsham, is no where to be found in the annals of history. Montcalm
was every way worthy to be a competitor of Wolfe. He had the
truest military genius of any officer, whom the French had, ever em
ployed in America. After he had received his mortal wound, he was
carried into the city ; and when informed, that it was mortal, his reply
was, ' I am glad of it.' On being told, that he could survive but a few
hours, ' So much the better,' he replied, ' I shall not then live to see
the surrender of Quebec' "
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
Foundation of the government of Plymouth Colony. — The
Plymouth settlers on their arrival at Cape Cod, not finding them
selves within their patent, concluded it necessary to establish a
governmentfor themselves. They accordingly formed themselves
into a body politic by a ' solemn contract' of which the following
is a copy, with the name of the signers.
PLYMOUTH COLONY.
305
"In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal sub
jects of our dread sovereign Lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Brit
ain, France and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c, having undertaken,, for the
glory of God and advancement of the christian faith and honor of our king and coun
try, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these
presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, cove
nant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering
and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof do
enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, constitu
tions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient
for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due subjection and obe
dience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod,
the 11th day of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord King
James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-
fourth, Anno Domini 1620."
This compact was subscribed in the following order by
Mr. John Carver,
Mr. William Bradford,
Mr. Edward Winslow,
Mr. William Brewster,
Mr. Isaac Allerton,
Capt. Miles Standish,
John Alden,
Mr. Samuel Fuller,
Mr. Christopher Martin,
Mr. William Mullins,
Mr. William White,
Mr. Richard Warren,
John Howland,
Mr. Stephen Hopkins,
Edward Tilly,
John Tilly,
Francis Cook,
Thomas Rogers,
Thomas Tinker,
John Ridgale,
Edward Fuller,
John Turner,
Francis Eaton,
James Chilton,
John Crackston,
John Billington,
Moses Fletcher,
John Goodman,
Degory Priest,
Thomas Williams,
Gilbert Winslow,
Edward Margeson,
Peter Brown,
Richard Britterige,
George Soule,
Richard Clarke,
Richard Gardiner,
John Allerton,
Thomas English,
Edward Dotey,
Edward Leister.
Extracts from the early Records of Plymouth Colony. — " January
1627 — It was now enacted by public consent of the freemen of this
society of New Plymouth, that if now or hereafter any were elected
to the office of Governor, and would not stand to the election, nor hold
and execute the office for his year, that then he be amerced in twenty
pounds sterling fine ; and in case refused to be paid upon the lawful
demand of the ensuing Governor, then to be levied out of the goods
or chatties of the said person so refusing.
It was further ordered and decreed that if any were elected to the
office of councell and refused to hold the place, that then he be amer
ced in ten pounds sterling fine, and in case refused to be paid to be
forthwith levied.
It was further decreed and enacted that in case one and the same
person should be elected governor a second year, having held the
place the foregoing year it should be lawful for him to refuse without
any amercement. And the company, to proceed to a new election ex
cept they can prevail with him by entreaty.
July 1, 1633. That the person in whose house any were found,
or suffered to drincke drunck, be left to the arbitrary fine and punish
ment of the Governor and Councell according to the nature and cir
cumstances of the same.
That none be suffered to retale wine or strong water, or suffer the
same to be druncke in their houses, except it be at some inne or vict-
23*
306 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
ualling house, and there only to strangers at their first coming, not
exceeding the value of two pence a person ; and that no beer be sold
in any such place to exceed twopence the Winchester quart."
" 1636. That none be allowed to be house keepers or build any
cottages till such time as they be allowed and approved by the gover
nor and councill.
That none be allowed to marry, that are under the covert of pa
rents, but by their consent and approbacion. But in case consent can
not be had, then it shall be with the consent of the Governor or some
assistant to whom the persons are known, whose care it shall be to
see the marriage be fitt before it be allowed by him. And after appro
bation be three severall times published before the solemnising of it.
Or else in places where there is no such meetings, that contracts or
agreements of marriage may be published, that then it shall be lawful
to publish them by a writing thereof made and set upon the usual
publicke place for the space of fifteen days, provided that the writing
be under some majestrats hand or by his order."
" 1638. — Whereas divers persons unfit for marriage, both in regard
of their yeong yeares, as also in regard of their weake estate, some
practiseing the inveagleing of men's daughters and maids under gar-
dians, contrary to their parents and gardians likeing, and of mayde
servants, without leave and likeing of their masters : It is therefore
enacted by the Court, that if any shall make any motion of marriage
to any man's daughter or mayde servant, not having first obtained
leave and consent of the parents or master so to doe, shall be punish
ed either by fine or corporall punishment, or both, at the discretions
of the bench, and according to the nature of the offence.
It is also enacted, that if a motion of marriage be duly made to the
master, and through any sinister end or covetous desire, he will not con
sent thereunto, then the cause to be made known unto the magistrates,
and they to set down such order therein as upon examination of the
case shall appear to be most equall on both sides.
I', is enacted by the court that according to the former acts of this
court concerning labourers wages, that a labourer shall have 12d a
day and his dyett, or 18d a day without dyett, and not above throught
the Govern't."
" 1640. — That if any persons take tobacco whilst they are empan-
nelled upon a jurie, to forfeit five shillings for every default, except
they have given up their verdict, or are not to give yt until the next
day or dep't, the court by consent.
1641. — It is enacted that every township within this government,
do carry a competent number of peeces fixed and compleate with
powder, shott, and swords, every Lord's day, to the meetings — one of
a house from the first of September to the middle of November, ex
cept their be some just and lawfull impedyment.
1642. — That all Smyths within the government be compelled to
amend and repaire all defective armes, brought unto them, speedily,
and to take corn for their pay at reasonable rates ; and the Smyth re
fusing, to answer it at his p'll.
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 307
It is enacted by the court, that all milners within this Govern't shall
provide and keepe weights and scales in their millnes to weigh mens
come withall."
" 1646. — It is enacted by the court, that none do keepe victualling
or an ordinary or draw Wyne by retayle, within this Government, but
such as are allowed by the generall court, and that if any victualler
or ordinary keeper do either drink drunck himself, or suffer any per
son to be druncken in his house, they shall pay five shillings a peece,
and if the victualler or ordinary keeper do suffer any townsmen to
stay drinking in his house above an hour at one tyme, the victualler or
ordinary keeper shall pay for every such default Xlld and by drunck-
ennesse is understood, a person that either lisp or faulters in his
speech by reason of much drink, or that staggers in his going, or that
vomilts by reason of excessive drinking, or cannot follow his calling.
The person or persons that shall be found guilty in these or any of
them, shall for the first default pay five shillings, and for the second
default tenn shillings to the colonies use, and for the third tyme he
shall be found faulty, to be bound to the good behaviour. And if he
or they cannot or will not pay the fine or fines, then to be sett in the
stocks, &c.
Whereas there is great abuse in taking of tobacco in very uncivil
manner in the streets and dangerously in outhouses, as Barnes, stalls
about haystacks, come stacks and other such places, it is therefore
enacted by this courte, that if any person or persons shall be founde
or seene hereafter taking Tobacco publickly in the open streets of any
Towne, (unless it be soldiers in time of their trayninge) or in and
about Barnes, Stoules, hay stacks, corne stacks, hay yeards, or other
such places or outhouses, that every such person or person so offend-
inge, shall forfeit and pay to the Townes use, for the first default
Xlld, for the second lis, and soe for every such default afterwards
lis, and it shall be lawful and by this act warrantable for the consta
ble of every township, without further warrant, upon sight or infor
mation thereof, to distrane his or their goods for it as doe refuse to pay
it upon Ids demand, and to be accomptable to the treasurer of what he
receives yearly at the Eleccon Corte."
" 1657. — It is ordered by the court, that in case any shall bring in
any Quaker, Rantor or other notorious heritiques, either by land or
water into any p'te of this government, shall forthwith upon order from
any one magistrate, returne them to the place from whence they came,
or clear the gov'ment of them on the penaltie of paying a fine of twenty
shillynges for every weeke that they shall stay in the Government
after warninge."
" 1662. — The court proposeth it as a thing they judge would be
very commendable and beneficiall to the townes where God's provi
dence shall cast any whales, if they should agree to sett apart some
p'te of every such fish or oyle for the incouragement of an able and
godly minister amongst them.
1665. — Whereas complaint is made unto the court of great abuse
in sundry townes of this jurisdiction, by p'sons their behaving them-
308 PLYMOUTH COLONY.
selves, prophanely, by being without dores att the meeting house on
the Lord's daies, in time of exercise, and there misdemeaning them
selves by jesting, sleeping, or the like ; it is enacted by the court, and
hereby ordered, that the constables of each township of this .jurisdic
tion, shall in their respective townes, take speciall notice of such
p'sons and to admonish them, and if notwithstanding they shall p'sist on
in such practices, thatt hee shall sett them in the stockes, and in case
this will not reclaim them, that they returne theire names to the court.
1669. — It is enacted by the court, that all such lycenced ordinaries
shall not suffer prophane singing, daunceing, or revelling in theire
houses, on the penaltie of ten shillings for every default, and that all
ordinary keepers be ordered to keep good beer in their houses to sell
by retaile, and that some one in every towne bee appointed to see that
the beer they sell be suitable to the prise they sell it for.
Whereas great inconvenience hath arisen by single p'sons in this
collonie being for themselves, and not betaking themselves to live in
well governed families, it is enacted by the court, that henceforth noe
single p'sons be suffered to live of himself or in any family, but as
the Ceiect men of the towne shall approve of, and if any p'son or
p'sons shall refuse or neglect to attend such order as shall be given
them by the Ceiect men, that such p'son or p'sons shall be summoned
to the court to be proceeded with as the matter shall require."
" It is ordered, that whosoever of the Freemen, do not appear at
Election in person or by proxy, he shall be for such neglect, amerced
to the treasury ten shillings.
If any Freeman of this corporation shall be discovered to be noto
riously vitious or scandalous, as common lyars, Drunkards, Swearers,
Apostates from the fundamentals of Religion or the like, or doth mani
festly appear to be disaffected to this government, upon legal convic
tion of all or any of these, it shall be in the power of the general
court to disfranchise him if they see cause, from the priviledge of a
Freeman." " It is ordered, that whosoever is Licenced to keep a public house
of entertainment, shall be well provided of Bedding to entertain stran
gers and travellers, and shall also have convenient pasturing for Hors
es, and hay- and provinder for their entertainment in the Winter, and
shall not be without good beer ; and if any ordinary keeper do fre
quently fail in any or all of these, upon complaint, he shall lose his
License. It is further enacted, that no in-keeper or ordinary in this govern
ment, shall sell Beer for more than two pence the ale quart, upon pen
alty of three shillings and four pence for every such offence ; nor
shall any Vintner or Tavern, gain more than eight pence upon the
quart in any Wine or strong Waters that they retail, more than it cost
them by the butte or caske as they bought it, on penalty of twenty
shillings forfeiture for such offence duly proved.
And it is further enacted, that no single person, labourer or other,
shall be dieted in any Inne or Ordinary in the town to which he be
longed!.
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 309
And it shall and may be lawful for any man to seize any Liquor,
cyder or Wine, found in the custody of an Indian or Indians, and have
it for his pains, provided he bring the said Indian or Indians before
a magistrate, or the selectmen of the town, to be further examined
about it.
Whereas divers unruly persons, servants and others in several pla
ces of this colony, meet together to walk about in the night, to drink,
revel or pilfer ; the same tending to the corrupting and debauching of
the youth ; and many offend and prejudice the peaceable inhabitants
of the several towns ; for prevention whereof,
It is ordered by this court and the authority thereof, that all per
sons walking in the fields or streets after nine or ten o'clock at night,
unless known peaceable and orderly inhabitants, shall be liable to be
examined by the selectmen, constable or watch of the town : or if
complained on by any other person of the town, and if they cannot
give a satisfactory reason for their so doing, he or they shall be had
before some magistrate or other person authorized, who upon the
hearing of the case, it appear they have been rude or unreasonably
drinking, revelling, gaming, sporting or any ways disturbing, or if it
be servants or children, and it be without their Parents or Masters
leave, they shall for the first offence be admonished, or1 pay five shil
lings to the country, or sit in the stocks an hour ; and if transgress a
second time, to pay ten shillings, or be whipt with ten lashes, and so
from time to time as often as they transgress."
Extracts from the Early Records of Connecticut. — 1636. Feb. " It
is ordered that noe young man that is not married nor hath any ser
vant, and be no public Officer, shall keep house by himself without
consent of the towne where he lives first had, under paine of 20*.
per week.
It is ordered that noe master of a family shall give habitation or
entertainment to any young man to sojourn in his family but by the
allowance of the inhabitants of the said towne where he dwells,
under like penalty of 20s. p'r week, these two last orders to take
effect the first of April next."
May, 1637. " It is ordered that there shall be an offensive war
against Pequotts, and that there shall be ninety men levied out of the
three plantations, Hartford, Weathersfield and Windsor, viz. out of
Hartford forty two men, Windsor thirty, Weathersfield eighteen
under the command of captain Jo'n. Mason, and in case of death or
sickness under the command of Robert Seely, Lieut, and the eldest
Sergeant or military officer surviving, if both these miscarry.
It is ordered, that Hartford shall find 14 armour in this design,
"\Vindsor six.. k
It is ordered that there shall be one good hogshead of beer for the
captain and minister, and sick men, and if there be only three or four
gallons of strong water, two gallons of sacke.
It is ordered that Windsor shall provide sixty bushels of corne,
Hartford eighty-four bushels, Weathersfield thirty six bushels of this,
310 CONNECTICUT COLONY.
each plantation to bake in biskett the one half, if by any means they
can, the rest in ground meale, Weathersfield seven bushels to be
allowed upon accompt.
Hartford is to provide three firkins of suet, two firkins of butter
with that at the Rivers mouth, four bushels of oat meale, two bushels
of pease, five hundred of fish, two bushels of salt. Weathersfield
one bushel of Indian beans, Windsor fifty pieces of pork, 30lbs. rice,
and four cheeses.
It is ordered that every souldier shall carry with him lib. of pow
der, Albs, of shott, 20 bulletts, one barrell of powder from the rivers
mouth, and a light gun if they can.
It is ordered that Mr. Pynchions shallop shall be taken, to be em
ployed in this design."
Nov. 1637. " It is ordered that every common soldier that went
in the late design against the enemy the Pequotts, shall have 1*. 3d.
per day for their service, at six days to the week ; the seargeant 2s.
p'r. day the Lieutenant 20*. p'r. week, and the Captain 40*. p'r.
week — Any man that was publicly employed in the said service and
diet themselves, shall have 2*. per day, and that the said payment
shall be for a month although in strictness there was but three weeks
and three days due, such as did return from the Forts and never
went into the service to be allowed but for 12 days.
It is ordered that the pay in the second design shall be the same
as the former, and the time a month as abovesaid."
Hartford, Feb. 1637. "Whereas upon serious consideration we
conceived that the Plantation in this River will be in some want of
Indian come and in the same consideration we. conceive every man
may be at liberty to trade with the Indians upon the River, where
the supply of corn in all likelyhood is to be had to furnish their ne
cessities, the market of corn among the Indians may be greatly ad
vanced to the prejudice of these plantations, we therefore think meet
and do so order that no man in this River, nor agawam shall go to
the River among the Indians or home at their houses to trade for
corn, or make any contract or bargain among them for corn either
privately or publicly upon the pain of 5*. for every bushell that he
or they shall trade or contract for — This order to endure untill the
next general court and untill there will be a settled order in the thing."
March, 1637. " It is ordered that Captn. Mason shall be a publick
military officer of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the
military men thereof, in each plantation, according to the days ap
pointed, and shall have £40 pr. annum, to be paid out of the treasury
quarterly, the pay to begin from the day of the date hereof. This
order to stand in force for a year, and untill the general court make
another order to the contrary.
It is also ordered, that Captn. Mason shall train the military men
thereof in every plantation ten days in every year, (so as it be not in
June or July,) giving a few weeks warning before hand, and whoso
ever is allowed a soldier, and fail to come at the time appointed by
the said publick officer, to pay for his default 3* Ad for that time,
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 311
and if it be usual, for the second offence 5*. and if not amended,
then the said delinquent is to be bound to answer it at the next court.
Item. — It is ordered, that all the sons shall bear arms, that are
above the age of sixteen years, unless they do tender a sufficient
excuse to court, and the court allow the same."
" 1640. Notwithstanding the late order concerning the Excess
of apparel, yet divers Persons of severall Ranks are obsearved still
to exceede therein. It is therefore Ordered, that the Constables of
every towne within there Libertyes shall observe and take notice of
any particular Person or Persons, within thier several Lymits, and all
such as they judge to exceed thier condition and Rank therein, they
shall present and warn to appear at the particular Court, as also the
said Constables are to present to the said Court all such persons as
sell their commodities at excessive rates; and the said Court hath
power to censure any disorders in the particular before mentioned.
1641. For as much as the Court having lately declared their ap
prehensions to the Country concerning the excess in wages amongst
all sorts of artificers and workmen, and hoping thereby, men would
have been a Law unto themselves, but finding little reformation
thereon. The said Court hath therefore ordered, that sufficient able
Carpenters, plowrights, wheelrights, masons, Joyners, Smithes, and
coopers, shall not take above 20 pence for a day's work from the 10th
of March to the 10th of October, and not above 18 pence a day for
the other part of the yere, and to work ten hours in the day in the
summer tyme, besides that which is spent in eating or sleeping, and
six hours in the winter. Also, mowers for the time of mowing, shall
not take above 20 pence for a day's work.
1641. It is ordered that all artificers or handicraftsmen and chief
Labourers, shall not take above 1* 6d a day for the first halfe year,
and not above 14d for the other part of the yeare ; and if said worke
is lett or taken by the great or parcell by any workmen, Labourers or
artificers, it shall be valued by the proportion afores'd. Also, Saw
yers, shall not take above 4* 2d for slit work, nor above 3* 6d for
boards by the 100. It is also ordered, that four of the better sort of
oxen or horses with the tacklin, shall not be valued at above 4* 6d the
day from March to October."
" 1642. It is Ordered that there shall be a guard of forty men to
come compleat in their arms to the meeting every Sabbath, and Lec
ture Day, in every towne within these Lyberties upon the River.
1642. It is Ordered, that there shall be 90 Coats provided within
these plantations within ten days basted with cotton wool, and made
defensive against Indian arrows."
"1643. It. is Ordered that every Town upon the* River shall
provide one man in each town to doe execution, uppon De linquents
by Whipping or other correction as they shall be thereunto cauled,
by order from the Magistrates."
1647. "If Mr. Whiting with any others shall make tryall and
* Whipper on Conn't. River.
312 CONNECTICUT COLONY.
prosecute a desyne for the taking of Whale within these libertyes,
and if uppon tryall within the terme of two yeares, they shall like to
goe on, noe others shall be sufferred to interrupt them for the tearme
of seven yeares.
May 18, 1648. Whereas David Provost, and other Dutchmen (as
the Court is informed,) have sould powder and shotte to severall In
dians, against the expresse lawes both of the Inglishe, and Dutch, it
is now ordered, that if uppon examination of Witnesses, the said de
fault shall fully appeare, the penalty of the laws of this Common
wealth, shall be laid uppon such as shall be found guilty of such
transgression, the which if such delinquents shall not subject unto,
they shall be shipped for Ingland, and sent to the Parliament."
" 1650. Fforasmuch as the open contempt of Gods word and Mes
sengers thereof, is the disolating sinne of civill states and churches,
and that the preaching of the word, by those whom God doth send,
is the chief ordinary means ordained by God, for the converting,
edifying and saving the soules of the Elect through the presence and
power of the Holy Ghost therevnto promised, and that the Ministry
of the word is set vp by God, in his Churches, for these holy ends,
and according to the respect or contempt of the same, and of those
whome God hath set aparte for his own worke and imployment, the
weale or woe of all Christian States is much furthered and promoated.
It is therefore ordred and decreed : That if any Christian (so
called) within this Jurisdiction, shall contemptuously behave him-
selfe towards the word preached or the messengers thereof, called
to dispence the same in any Congregation when he doth faithfully
execute his service and office therein, according to the will and
word of God, either by interrupting him in his preaching, or by
charging him falsely with an error w'ch he hath not thought in the
open face of the church, or like a sonne of Korah, cast vpon his true
doctrine, or himself any reproach, to the dishonor of the Lord Jesus,
who hath sent him, and to the dispaagement of that his holy ordi
nance, and making Gods wayes contemptible and ridiculous, that
every such person or persons, (whatsoever censure the Church may
passe,) shall for the first scandall bee convented and reproved openly
by the Magistrates at some Lecture, and bound to their good beha-
voour. And if a second time thy breake forth into the like contemp
tuous carriages, they shall either pay five pounds to the publique
Treasure or stand two houres openly vpon a block or stoole four foott
high vppon a Lecture day, with a paper fixd on his Breast, written
with capitalle letters, AN OPEN AND OBSTINATE CONTEM
NER OF GODS HOLY ORDINANCES, that others may feare
and bee ashamed of breaking out into the like wickness."
April, 1654. " It is also ordered, that, whatsoever Barbados
liqvors commonly called Rum, Kill-Divell, or the like, shall be land
ed in any place of this Jurisdiction, or any parte thereof, sould or
drawne, in any vessell lying in any harbour or Roade in this com
monwealth, after the publication of this order, shall bee all forfeited
and confiscated to this Commonwealth ; and it shall be lawfull for
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 313
any person within this Jurisdiction, to make seazory thereof, two
third parts to belong to the publiqve Treasury and the other to the
party seazing. And it is also further ordered, that every Ankor of
liqvor that is landed in any place within this Jurisdiction, shall pay
to the public Treasury ten shillings, and every butt of Wine, forty
shillings, or Hogshead of Wine, Twenty Shillings, or qvarter Cask,
Ten Shillings, whether they are full or noe. This order repealed,
March 11th if."
"May, 16G0. This Court doth order, that noe man or woman,
within this Coll. who hath a wife or husband in forraigne parts, shal
live here above two years, vpon penalty of 40*. pr. month, vpon every
such offender, and any that haue bene aboue 3 years already, not to
remaine within this Col. aboue one yeare longer, vpon the same>
penalty, except they haue liberty from ye Gen. Court."
May, 1G62. "This Court orders, that the Bible that was sent to
goodwife Williams, be by Serg't John Not, delivered to goodwife
Harrison, who engageth to this Court to give vnto ye children of ye
said Williams a Bushel of Wheat a piece, as they shal come out of
their time ; and John Not doth engage to give each of ye children 2
shillings a piece, as they "come out of their time, to buy them Bibles,
and John Not hath hereby power granted him, as is ordered, to dis
pose of ye rest of ye books to ye children of the said Williams."
May, 1676. " Whereas excess in apparel amongst us is unbe
coming a wilderness condition and the profession of the gospell,
whereby the riseing Generation is in danger to be corrupted, which
practices are testifyed against in God's holy word, it is therefore or
dered by this Court and authority thereof, that what person soever
shall wear Gold or Silver Lace, or Gold or Silver Buttons, Silk Rib
bons, or other costly superfluous trimings, or any bone Lace above
three shillings p"r yard, or Silk Scarfes, the List makers of the re
spective Townes are hereby required to assesse such persons so
offending, (or their Husbands, parents, or masters under whose
government they are) in the list of Estates at one hundred and fifty
pound Estate ; and they to pay their Rates according to that propor
tion, as such men use to pay, to whom such apparell alowed as
suitable to their Rank, provided this law shall not extend to any
magistrate, or a like publique officer of this Colony, their wives or
children, whoe are left to their discretion in wearing of apparell, or
any setled military commission officer, or such whose quality and
Estate have been above the ordinary degree, though now decayed.
It is further ordered that all such persons as shall for the future
make, or weave, or buy any apparell exceeding the quality and con
dition of their persons and Estates, or that is apparently beyond the
necessary end of apparell for covering or comeliness, either of these
to be Judged by the Grand Jury and County Court where such pre
sentments are made, shall forfeit for every such offence ten shillings ;
and if any Taylor shall fashion any garment for any child or servant
contrary to the mind of the Parent»or Master of such a child or ser
vant, he shall forfeit for every such offence ten shillings.
27
314 CONNECTICUT COLONY.
In 1642, the capital laws of Connecticut were nearly completed
and put on record. The several passages on which they were foun
ded, were particularly noticed in the statute. They were twelve in
number ; two more were added at a subsequent period. The follow
ing is a copy of these laws, excepting four which relate to unchas-
tity.
CAPITALL LAWES.
1. If any man after legall conviction, shall have or worship any
other God but the Lord God, hee shall be put to death. Deut. 13. 6.
—17. 2.— Exodus 22. 20.
2. If any man or woman bee a Witch, that is, hath or consulteth
with a familliar spirritt, they shall be put to death. Exodus 22. 18. —
Levit. 20. 27.— Deut. 18. 10, 11.
3. If any person shall blaspheme the name of God the ffather,
Sonne or holy Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous or high
handed blasphemy, or shall curse in the like manner, hee shall bee
put to death. Lev. 24. 15, 16.
4. If any person shall committ any willfull murther, which is man
slaughter committed upp< ^ malice, hatred or cruelty, not In a man's
necessary and just defence, nor by mere casualty against his will, hee
shall be put to death. Exodus 21. 12, 13, 15.— Numb. 35. 30, 31.
5. If any person shall slay another through guile, either by poison
ings or other such Devellish practice, hee shall bee put to death. —
Exo. 21. 14.
10. If any man stealeth a man or mankinde, hee shall bee put to
death. Exodus 21. 16.
11. If any man rise up by false wittness, wittingly and of purpose
to take away any man's life, hee shall bee put to death. Deut. 19.
16, 18, 19.
12. If any man shr l conspire or attempt any invasion, insurrection
or rebellion against .e Commonwealth, hee shall bee put to death.
13. If any Childe or Children above sixteene years old and of suffi
cient understandir j, shall Curse or smite their natural father or mother,
hee or they shal1 jee' put to death ; unless it can bee sufficiently tes
tified that the p? onts have beene very unchristianly negligent in the
education of such children, or so provoke them by extreme and cruell
correction that they have beene forced thereunto to preserve them
selves from death, maiming. Exo. 21. 17. — Levit. 20.— Ex. 21. 15.
14. If any man have a stubborne and rebellious sonne of sufficient
yeares and understanding, viz. Sixteene years of age, which will not
obey the voir a of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when
they have chastened him will not hearken unto them ; then may his
ffather and mother, being his natural parents, lay hold on him and
bring him to the Magistrates assembled in Courte, and testifie unto
them, that theire sonne is stubborne and rebellious and will not obey
thehe voice and Chastisement, but lives in sundry notorious Crimes,
such a sonne shall bee put to death. Deut. 21. 20, 21."
OF NEW YORK. 315
ANCIENT LAWS OF NEW YORK.
The following laws are extracted from those established by trib
Duke of York for the government of New York, in the year 1664.
This code (called the " Duke's Laws") was compiled under the
direction of Nicolls, the first English Governor. It continued in
force till the period of the Revolution in England, and oeased to
have effect in 1691, when the General Assembly of t.ie Province
began to exercise a new legislative power under the sovereignty
of King William.
Capital Laws. — " 1. If any person within this Gjj^ernment shall by
direct exprest, impious or presumptuous ways, deny the true God and
his Attributes, he shall be put to death.
2. If any person shall Commit any wilful and premeditated Mur
der, he shall be put to Death.
3. If any person Slayeth another with §<word or Dagger who hath
no weapon to defend himself ; he shall le put to Death.
4. If any person forcibly Stealeth or carrieth away any mankind ;
He shall be put to death.
5. If any person shall bear false witness maliciously and on pur
pose to tahe away a man's life, He shall be put to Death.
6. If any man shall Traitorously deny his Majestyes right and titles
to his Crownes and Dominions, or shall raise armies to resist his
Authority, He shall be put to Death.
7. If any man shall treacherously conspire or Publiquely, attempt
to invade or Surprise any Town or Towns, Fort or Forts, within this
Government, He shall be put to Death. \i%
8. If any Child or Children, above sixteen,jyears of age, and of
Sufficient understanding, shall smite their Natl, .al Father or Mother,
unless thereunto provoked and forct for their seVs preservation from
Death or Mayming, at the Complaint of the said^Wher and Mother,
and not otherwise, they being Sufficient witnesses^jereof, that Chile].
or those Children so offending shall be put to Death,
Bond Slavery.— rNo Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery ville-
nage or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by
Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or shall sell themselves,
In which Case a Record of such Servitude shall be entered in the
Court of Sessions held for that Jurisdiction where SuMh Matters shall
Inhabit, provided that nothing in the Law Containedr^iall be to the
prejudice of Master or Dame who have or shall by any Indenture or
Covenant take Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other Servants for
Term of years or Life.
Church. — Whereas the publique Worship of God is much dis
credited for want of painful and able Ministers to Instruct the people
in the true Religion and for want of Convenient places Capable to re-
316 ANCIENT LAWS
ceive any Number or Assembly of people in a decent manner for
Celebrating Gods holy Ordinances. These ensueing Lawes are to
be observed in every parish (Viz.)
1 . That in each Parish within this Government a church be built
in the most Convenient part thereof, Capable to receive and accom
modate two Hundred Persons.
2. To prevent Scandalous and Ignorant pretenders to the Ministry
from intruding themselves as Teachers ; No Minister shall be Ad
mitted to Officiate, within the Government but such as shall produce
Testimonials to the Governour, that he hath Received Ordination
either from some Protestant Bishop, or Minister within some part of
his Majesties Dominions or the Dominions of any foreign Prince of
the Reformed Religion, upon which Testimony the Governour shall
induce the said Minister into the parish that shall make presentation
of him, as duely Elected by the Major part of the Inhabitants house
holders. 3. That the Minister of every Parish shall Preach constantly every
Sunday, and shall also pray for the Kinge, Queene, Duke of Yorke,
and the Royall family. And every person affronting or disturbing any
Congregation on the Lords Pay and on such publique days of fast and
Thanksgiving as are appointed to be observed. After the present
ments thereof by the Churchwardens to the Sessions and due Con
viction thereof he shall be punished by fine or Imprisonment accord
ing to the merrit and Nature of the offence, And every Minister shall
also Publiquely Administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper once
every Year at the least in his Parish Church not denying the private
benefit thereof to Persons that for want of health shall require the
same in their houses, under the penalty of Loss of preferment unless
the Minister be restrained in point of Conscience.
Fasting Days and Days of Thanks givin To be observed. — Whereas
by an Act of Parliament the fifth Day of November is annually to be
observed for the Great deliverance from the Gunpowder Treason.
And whereas by one other Act of Parliament The tliirtyeth Day of
January is annually to be observed with Fasting and Prayer in all his
Majesties Dominions to shew a hearty and Serious Repentance and
Detestation of that Barbarous Murther Commited upon the Person of
our late King Charles the first, thereby to divert Gods heavy Judg
ment from falling upon the whole Nation, as also by another Act of
Parliament we are enjoyned thankfully to acknowledge the providence
of God upon the Nine and Twentyeth Day of May for his Majesties
Birth and Resturation to the Throne of his Royall Ancestors whereby
Peace and unity is Established in all his Majesties Dominions, Every
Minister within his Severall Parish is enjoyned to pray and Preach
on these days and all other Persons are also enjoyned to abstain from
their Ordinary Laboure and Calling According to the true intent of
both the said Acts.
Every Person Licenced to keep an Ordinary shall always be pro
vided of strong and wholsome Beer, of four bushels of malt, at. the
least to a Hoggshead which he shall not Sell at above two pence the
OF NEW YORK. 317
quart under the penalty of twenty Shillings, for the first Offence, forty
shillings for the Second, and loss of his Licence, It is permitted to any
to Sell Beer out of Doores at a peny the Ale quart or under.
No Licenced Person shall suffer any to Drink excessively or at
unseasonable hours after Nine of the Clock at night in or about any
their houses upon penalty of two shillings six pence for every Offence
if Complaint and proofe be made thereof.
All Injuryes done to the Indians of what nature whatsoever ; shall
upon their Complaint and proofe thereof in any Court have speedy re
dress gratis, against any Christian in as full and Ample manner, (with
reasonable allowance for damage) as if the Case had been betwixt
Christian and Christian.
No Indian whatsoever shall at any time be Suffered to Powaw or
performe outward worship to the Devil in any Towne within this
Government. Lying and False News. — Every Person of age of discretion which
shall be reputed of fourteen years or upwards, who shall wittingly and
willingly forge or Publish fals newes whereof no Certain Auther nor
Authentique Letter out of any part of Europe can be produced, where
by the minds of People are frequently disquieted or exasperated in
relation to publique Affairs, or particular Persons injuried in their
good names and Credits by such Common deceites and abuses Upon
due proofe made by Sufficient witnesses before the Governour or any
Court of Sessions the Person so Offending in ordinary Cases shall
for the first offence be fined ten shillings, for the second offence
twenty shillings and for the third offence forty Shillings and if the
party be unable to pay the same he shall be Sett in the Stocks so
longe, or publiquely whipt with so many stripes as the Governor or
any Court of Sessions shall think fitt not exceeding forty stripes ; or
four houres Sitting in the Stocks, and for the fourth offence he shall
be bound to his good behaviour, paying Cost or Service to the Infor
mer and witnesses, such as shall be judged reasonable sattisfaction,
But in Cases of high nature and publique Concernes, the fine or pun
ishment shall be increast according to the discretion of the Governor
and Council onely.
If any Masters or Dames shall Tyrannically and Cruelly abuse
their Servants, upon Complaint made by the Servant to the Constable
and Overseers, they shall take Speedy redress therein, by Admon
ishing the Master or Dame not to provoke their Servants, And upon
the Servants Second Complaint, of the like usage It shall be Lawful
for the Constable and Overseers to proteect and Sustaine such Ser
vants in their Houses till due Order be taken for their Reliefe in the
ensuing Sessions Provided that due Notice thereof be Speedily given
to Such Masters or Dames, and the Cause why such Servants are
Protected and Sustained, and in Case any Master or Dame by such
Tyranny and Cruelty, 'and not casually, shall smite out the Eye or
Tooth of any such man or maid Servant, or shall otherwise Maim or
disfigure them such Servants after due proof made shall be sett free
27*
318 ANCIENT LAWS
from their Service, And have a further allowance and recompence as
the Court of Sessions shall judge meet.
But in Case any Servant or Servants shall causelessly Complain
against their Master or Dame If they cannot make proofe of a just oc-
cation for such Complaints such Servants shall by the Justices of the
Court of Sessions be enjoyned to serve three Months time extraordi
nary (Gratis) for every such vndue Complaint.
All Servants who have served Diligently ; and faithfully to the
benifit of their Masters or Dames five or Seayen yeares, shall not be
Sent empty away, and if any have proved unfaithful or negligent in
their Service, notwithstanding the good usage of their Masters, They
shall not be dismist, till they have made satisfaction according to the
Judgment of the Constable and Overseers of the parish where they
dwell. No man Elected into any Military Office, shall refuse to accept
thereof, or discharge his trust therein under the penalty of five pounds
whereof one half to be paid to the Governour and the other halfe to
him that is chosen in his place, and accepts thereof.
No man shall be Compeld to bear Armes or wage war by sea or
Land, without the bounds and limits of this Government, But from
Defensive warrs noe man shall be exempted.
At a sessions held at the City of New York, Oct. 6, 1694, in the
6th year of William and Mary, present the Mayor, Recorder, Alder
men, and assistants of the Common Council.
For the better preservation of the Lords day, no servile work to be
done, or any goods bought or sold on the Lords day, under the pen
alty of ten shillings the first offence, and double for every subsequent
offence. The Doors of Publick Houses, to be kept shut, no company to be
entertained in them, or any sort of Liquor sold in time of Divine ser
vice ; Strangers, Travellers, or such as lodge in such Houses ex
cepted ; also no person to drink excessively, or be drunk, the penalty
10s. for every offence.
No Negro or Indian servants to meet together, above the number
of four, on the Lords Day, or any other day, within the City liberties ;
nor any slave to go around with Gun, Sword, Club, or any weapon,
under penalty of ten lashes at the publick whipping post, or to be re
deemed by his master or owner, at six shillings per head.
One of the Constables in the five wards on the south side the fresh
Water, by turns to walk the streets of the city, in time of Divine Ser
vice, to see these laws observed, and to have power to enter into all
publick Houses to put the same in execution.
The Constable to make enquiry after all strangers, and give in their
names to the Mayor, or in his absence to the eldest Alderman, no
keeper of publick house &c, to entertain or lodge any suspected per
son, or men or women of evil fame, both these heads under penalty of
10s. for each offence.
No person to keep shbp or sell any goods by retail or exercise any
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 319
handy-craft trade, but such as are Freemen of the City, under penalty
of 5s. every offence.
All Jesuits, Seminary Priests, Missionaries, or other Ecclesiasti
cal person, made or ordained by any power or Jurisdiction derived or
pretended from the Pope, or see of Rome, residing or being within
the Province, to depart the same, on or before the first of Nov. 1700.
If any such continue, remain, or come into the Province, after the
said first of November, he shall be deemed an Incendiary, a disturber
of the publick peace, an Enemy to the true Christian Religion, and
shall suffer perpetual imprisonment.
If any such person, being actually committed, shall break Prison
and escape, he shall be guilty of Felony, and if retaken shall die as
a Felon. Persons receiving, harbouring, succouring, or concealing any such
person, and knowing him to be such, shall forfeit the sum of 200
pounds, half to the King, for and tovvards the support of the Govern
ment, and the other half to the prosecutor, shall be set in the Pillory
three days, and find sureties for their behaviour, at the discretion of
the court.
Any Justice of peace may cause any person suspected to be of the
Romish Clergy to be apprehended, and if he find cause, may commit
him or them, in order to a trial.
Any person, without warrant, may seize, apprehend, and bring be
fore a Magistrate, any person suspected of the crimes above, and the
Governor, with the Council, may suitably reward such person as they
think fit."
Andross' attempt against Saybrook Fort. — In 1674, at the
conclusion of the war with the Dutch, the Duke of York, in order
to remove all controversy respecting his property in America,
took- out a new patent from the King and commissioned Major
Edmund Andross to be governor of his territories in America.
By virtue of the Duke's patent, Andross claimed the land on the
west side of the Connecticut, in prejudice of the Connecticut
Charter which was granted in 1662.
"In 1675, it was discovered that Major Andross was about to
make a hostile invasion of the colony, and to demand a surrender
of its most important posts to the government of the Duke of
York. Detachments from the militia were therefore sent, with
the utmost expedition, to New London and Saybrook. Captain
Thomas Bull, of Hartford, commanded the party sent to Say
brook. About the 8th or 9th of July, the people of that town were sur
prised by the appearance of Major Andross, with an armed force,
in the sound, making directly for the fort. They had received
no intelligence of the affair, nor instructions from the governor
and council how to conduct themselves upon such an emergency.
They were, at first, undetermined whether to make any resistance
320 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
or not; but they did not hesitate long. As the danger approached
and their surprise abated, the martial spirit began to enkindle;
the fort was manned, and the militia of the town drawn out for
its defence. At this critical juncture, Captain Bull with his
company arrived, and the most vigorous exertions were made for
the defence of the fort and town. On the 11th, Major Andross
with several armed sloops drew up before the fort, hoisted the
king's flag on board, and demanded a surrender of the fortress
and town. Captain Bull raised his majesty's colours in the fort
and arranged his men in the best manner. They appeared with
a good countenance, determined and eager for action. The major
did not like to fire on the king's colours, and perceiving, that
should he attempt to reduce the town by force, it would be a
bloody affair, judged it expedient not to fire upon the troops. He
nevertheless lay all that day, and part of the next, off against the
fort. The critical state of the colony had occasioned the meeting
of the assembly, at Hartford, on the 9th of July. They immedi
ately proceeded -to draw up a declaration, or protest, against the
major, in the words following :
Whereas we are informed that Major Edmund Andross is come with some con
siderable force into this his majesty's colony of Connecticut, which might be con
strued to be in pursuance of his letter to us, to invade or intrude upon the same, or
upon some part of our charter limits and privileges, and so to molest his majesty's
good subjects, in this juncture, when the heathen rage against the English, and by
fire and sword have destroyed many of his majesty's good subjects, our neighbours
of Plimouth colony, and still are carrying their heads about the country as trophies
of their good success; and yet are proceeding further in their cruel designs against
the English ; in faithfulness to our royal sovereign, and in obedience to his majesty's
commands, in his gracious charter to this colony, we can do no less than publicly
declare and protest against the said Major Edmund Andross, and these his illegal
proceedings, as also against all his aiders and abettors, as disturbers of the peace of
his majesty's good subjects in this colony ; and that his and their actions, in this
juncture, tend to the encouragement of the heathen to proceed in the effusion of
christian blood, which may be very like to be the consequence of his actions, and
which we shall unavoidably lay at his door, and use our utmost power and endeavour,
(expecting therein the assistance of almighty God,) to defend the good people of this
colony from the said Major Andross his attempts ; not doubting but his majesty will
countenance and approve our just proceedings therein, they being according to the
commission we have received from his majesty, in his gracious charter to this
colony ; by which power and trust so committed unto us, we do again forewarn and
advise the said Major Andross and all his aiders and abettors to forbear and de
sist such forenamed unjust and unwarrantable practices, as they expect to answer
the same, with all such just damages and costs as may arise or accrue thereby. And
we do further, in his majesty's name, require and command all the good people, his
majesty's subjects, of this colony of Connecticut, under our present government, ut
terly to refuse to attend, countenance or obey the said Major Edmund Andross, or any
under him, in any .order, instruction, or command, diverse from or contrary to the
laws and orders of this colony here established, by virtue of his majesty's gracious
charter, granted to this colony of Connecticut, as they will answer the contrary' at
their peril. God save the Kino.
This was voted unanimously.
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
321
Interview between Capt. Bull and Maj. Andross.
It was sent, by an express, to Saybrook, with instructions to
Captain Bull to propose to Major Andross the reference of the
affair in dispute to commissioners, to meet in any place in this
colony which he should choose. Early in the morning of the
12th of July, the major desired, that he might have admittance on
shore, and an interview with the ministers and chief officers.
He probably imagined, that if he could read the duke's patent and
his own commission it would make an impression upon the peo
ple, and that he should gain that by art, which he could not by
force of arms. He was allowed to come on shore with his suit.
Meanwhile, the express arrived with the protest and instructions
from the assembly. Capt. Bull and his officers, with the officers
and gentlemen of the town, met the major, at his landing, and ac
quainted him that they had, at that instant, received instructions
to tender him a treaty, and to refer the whole matter in contro
versy to commissioners, capable of determining it according to
law and justice. The major rejected the proposal, and forthwith
commanded, in his majesty's name, that the duke's patent, and
the commission which he had received from his royal highness,
should be read. Captain Bull commanded him, in his majesty's
name, to forbear reading. When his clerk attempted to persist
in reading, the captain repeated his command with such energy
of voice and meaning in his countenance as convinced the major
it Was not safe to proceed. The captain then acquainted him,
that he had an address from the assembly to him, and read the
protest. Governor Andross, pleased with his bold and soldier
322 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
like appearance, said 'What's your name?' He replied, 'My
name is Bull, Sir.' 'Bull,' said the governor, 'it is a pity that
your horns are not tipped with silver.' Finding that he could
make no impression upon the officers or people, and that the le
gislature of the colony were determined to defend themselves, in
the possession of their chartered rights, he gave up his design of
seizing the fort. He represented the protest as a slender affair,
and an ill requital of his kindness. He said, however, he should
do no more. The militia of the town guarded him to his boat, and
going on board he soon sailed for Long Island.
" The general assembly considered this as a great abuse and insult to the colony,
and, upon receiving an account of the majors conduct, came to the following zeao,-
lotion :
" This court orders, that this declaration shall forthwith be sent forth to the several
plantations, sealed with the seal of the colony, and signed by the secretary, to be
there published.
" Forasmuch as the good people of his majesty's colony of Connecticut have met
with much trouble and molestation from Maj. Edmund Andross his challenge and
attempts to surprise the main part of said colony, which they Have sorightfully obtained,
so long possessed, and defended against all invasions of Dutch and Indians, to the
great grievance of his majesty's good subjects in their settlements, and to despoil the
happy government, by charter from his majesty granted to themselves, and under
which they have enjoyed many halcyon days of peace and tranquillity,
Hereupon, for the prevention of misrepresentations into England, by the said
Maj. Andross against us, for our refusal, and withstanding his attempts, made with
hostile appearances to surprise us at Saybrook, while we were approaching towards
a savage Indian enemy that had committed much outrage and murder, by fire and
sword, upon our neighbours about Plimouth ; this court have desired the honorable
John Winthrop and James Richards, Esquires, or either of them, (intending a voy
age to England upon their own occasions,) to take with them the narrative and copies
of all the transactions betwixt us, and to give a right understanding for clearing our
innocence, and better securing our enjoyments as occasion shall offer." — Trumbull's
History of Conn.
\Fac simile of Andross' signature.]
Andross, the Tyrant of New England. — "In the year 1684,
it was decided in the high Court of Chancery, that Massachu
setts had forfeited her charter, and that henceforth her government
should be placed in the hands of the King. This event was
brought about chiefly by the instrumentality of Edmund Andross.
This man had been sent over as a kind of spy on the colonies ; he
made it his business to collect charges against the colonies, and
return to England and excite the jealousy of the British govern
ment. In this manner, the way was prepared for annulling the
colonial charters. In December, 1686, Andross arrived at Boston,
being commissioned by King James, as Governor General, and
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 323
Vice Admiral over New England, New York, and the Jersies.
Like all tyrants, Sir Edmund began his administration with pro
fessions of high regard for the public welfare. In a few months,
however, the prospect was changed. The press was restrained,
liberty of conscience infringed, and exhorbitant taxes were levied.
The charters being vacated, it was pretended all titles to land
were destroyed ; farmers, therefore, who had cultivated their soil
for half a century, were obliged to take new patents, giving large
fees, or writs of intrusion were brought, and their lands sold to
others. To prevent petitions or consultations, town meetings
were prohibited, excepting once in a year for the choice of town
officers. Lest cries of oppression should reach the throne, he
forbade any to leave the country without permission from the
government. In 1689, King James having abdicated the throne, William,
Prince of Orange, and Mary, daughter of James, were proclaimed
in February. A report of the landing of William in England,
reached Boston, but before the news of the entire revolution in the
British government arrived, a most daring one was effected in New
England. The Colonists had borne the impositions of Andross' government
about three years. Their patience was now exhaused."
"A rumor, that a massacre was intended in Boston bythe Gov
ernor's Guards, was sufficient to kindle their resentment into rage.*
On the morning of the 18th of April the town was in arms, and
the people poured in from the country to the assistance of the
capital. Andross and his associates, about fifty in number, were
seized and confined. The old magistrates were restored, and the
next month the joyful news of the revolution in England reached
this country, and quieted all apprehension of the consequences of
what had been done. After having been kept at the castle till
February following, Andross was sent to England for trial.
Preservation of the Connecticut Charter. — Sir Edmund An
dross, soon after his arrival at Boston in 1 686, wrote to the colony
of Connecticut to resign their charter, but without success. " The
* This rumor might have been the more easily credited, on account of the military
orders given out on the reception of a copy of the Prince of Orange's Declaration.
" A proclamation was issued, charging all officers and people to be in readiness to
hinder the landing of any forces which the Prince of Orange might send into those
parts of the world."
Captain George, of the Rose frigate, was first seized and imprisoned ; and, some
hours after, Sir Edmund Andross was taken in his fort. No less than 1500 men sur
rounded the fort on Fort Hill, which surrendered. The next day, the governor was
confined in the fort under strong guards. On that day also, the castle, on Castle
Island, was summoned, and surrendered. Chalmers, i. 469, 470. Captain George
was obliged to give leave to go on board his ship, and bring the sails on shore. The
troops, which collected around Fort Hill, pointed the guns of the South battery toward
the fort on the summit, and thus brought the governor's garrison to submission. —
Holmes' Annals.
324 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
Assembly," says Dr. Trumbull, " met as usual, in October, and
the government continued according to charter, until the last of
the month. About this time, Sir Edmund with < his suite, and
more than sixty regular troops, came to Hartford when the assem
bly were silting, and demanded the charter, and declared the gov
ernment under it to be dissolved. The assembly were extremely
reluctant and slow with respect to any resolve to -surrender the
charter, or with respect to any motion to bring it forth. The tra
dition is, that Governor Treat strongly represented the great ex
pense and hardships of the colonists in planting the country ; the
blood and treasure which they had expended in defending it, both
against the savages and foreigners ; to what hardships and dan
gers he himself had been exposed for that purpose ; and that it
was like giving up his life, now to surrender the patent and privi
leges so dearly bought and so long enjoyed. The important af
fair was debated and kept in suspense until the evening,- when
the charter was brought and laid upon the table where the assem
bly were sitting. By this time great numbers of people were as
sembled, and men sufficiently bold to enterprise whatever might
be necessary or expedient. The lights were instantly extinguish
ed, and one Captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, in the most silent
and secret manner carried off the charter, and secreted it in a
large hollow tree, fronting the house of Hon. Samuel Wyllis, then
one of the magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all
peaceable and orderly. The candles were officiously relighted, '
but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made of it,
or the person who carried it away. Sir Edmund assumed the
government, and the records of the colony were closed in the fol
lowing words :
* At a General Court at. Hartford, Oct. 31st, 1687, his excellen
cy Sir Edmund Andross, knight, and captain general and gover
nor of his Majesty!s territories and dominions in New England,
by order of his Majesty James II. King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, the 31st of October, 1687, took into his
hands the government of the Colony of Connecticut, it being by
his Majesty annexed to Massachusetts, and other Colonies under
his Excellency's government. Finis.' "
The Regicides. — Soon after the restoration of monarchy in
England, many of the Judges who had condemned King Charles
I. to death were apprehended. Thirty were condemned, and ten.
were executed as traitors ; two of them, Colonels Goffe and
Whalley, made their escape to New-England, and arrived at Bos
ton, July 1660. They were gentlemen of worth, and were much
esteemed by the colonists for their unfeigned piety. Their man
ners and appearance were dignified, commanding universal respect.
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
32J
Whallcy had been a Lieutenant General, and Goffe, a Major Gen
eral in Cromwell's army.' An order for their apprehension, from
Charles II. reached New-England soon alter their arrival. The
King's commissioners, eager to execute this order, compelled the
Judges to resort to the woods and caves, and other hiding places ;
and they would undoubtedly have been taken had not the colonists
secretly aided and assisted, them in their concealments. Some
times they found a refuge in a cave on a mountain near New-
Haven, and at others in cellars of ,1-he houses of their friends, and
once they were secreted under the Neck bridge in New-Haven
while their pursuers crossed the bridge on horseback.
Judges' Cave, near New Haven, Con.
While in New-Haven they owed their lives to the intrepidity
'of Mr. Davenport, the minister of the place, who when the pur
suers arrived, preached to the people from this text, ' Take coun
cil, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst
of the noon day, hide the outcasts, betray not him that wander-
eth. Let my outcasts dwell with thee Moab, be thou a covert to
thbmfrom the face of the spoiler.' Large rewards were offer
ed for their apprehension, or for any information which might
lead to it. Mr. Davenport was threatened, for it was known that
he had harbored them. Upon hearing that he was in danger they
offered, to deliver themselves up, and actually gave notice to the
deputy governor, of theplace of their concealment; but Daven
port had not preached in vain, and the magistrate took no other
notice than to advise them not to betray themselves."
" On the -13th of October,- 1664, they left New Haven, and ar-
. rived at Hadley the latter parfHjkhe samemohth. During their
abode at Hadley thejfamous Hi war, called " King Philip's
War," took place. I lie pious j^tgregation of Hadley were ob-
28
326
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
Gen. Goffe repulsing the Indians.
serving a Fast on the occasion of this war ; and being at public
worship in the meeting house, Sept. 1st, 1675, were suddenly
surrounded by a body of Indians. It was customary in the fronr
tier towns, and even at New Haven, in these Indian wars, for a
select number of the congregation to go armed to public worship.
It was so at Hadley at this time. The people immediately took
to their arms, but were thrown into great confusion. Had Had
ley been taken, the discovery of the Judges would have been una
voidable. Suddenly, and in the midst of the people there appear
ed a man of very venerable aspect, and different from the inhabit
ants in his apparel, who took the command, arranged and ordered
them in the best military manner. Under his direction, they re
pelled and routed the enemy, and thereby saved the town. He
immediately vanished, and the inhabitants could account for the
phenomenon in noother way, but by considering that person as
an angel sent of God upon that special occasion for their deliver
ance ; and for some time after, said and believed, that they had
been saved by an angel. Nor did they know otherwise, till fifteen
or twenty years after, when at length it became known at Had
ley that the two Judges had been secreted there. The angel was
Goffe, for Whalley was superannuated in 1675. The last ac
count of Goffe is from a letter dated ' Ebenezer, (the name they
gave their several places of abode,) April 2, 1669.' Whalley
had been dead some time before. The tradition at Hadley is,
that they were buried in the minister's cellar, and it is generally
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 327
supposed that their bodies were afterwards secretly conveyed to
New Haven, and placed near Dixwell's."
" Colonel John Dixwell came from Hadley to New Haven be
fore the year 1762, and was known here by the name of James
Davids. During the seventeen years or more in which he lived
in New Haven, nothing extraordinary occurred concerning him.
From 1674, to 1685, the church had no settled minister with
whom he might associate. The Rev. Nicholas Street, the min
ister at his first coming here, soon died. For above eleven years,
the church was destitute of a pastor, and supplied by occasional
and temporary preaching only, until Mr. Pierpont's settlement in
1685. With him the Colonel entered immediately into an open
and unreserved communication ; but this was only for the short
space of three or four of the last years of his exile. During this
short time, however, there was the greatest intimacy between
them, which appears to have been concealed even from the min
ister's wife. For tradition says, that Madam Pierpont observing
their remarkable intimacy, and wondering at it, used to ask him
what he saw in that old gentleman, who was so fond of leading
an obscure, unnoticed life, that they should be so intimate and
take such pleasure in being together, for Mr. Dixwell's house be
ing situated on the east comer of College and Grove streets, and
Mr. Pierpont's near the corner of Elm and Temple streets, and
their house lots being contiguous and cornering upon one anoth
er, they had beaten a path in walking across their lots to meet
and converse together at the fence. In answer to his wife's ques
tion, Mr. Pierpont remarked ; that the old gentleman was a very.
learned man, and understood more about religion, and all other
subjects than any other person in the place, and that if she knew
the value of him, she would not wonder at their intimacy."
" Colonel Dixwell carried on no secular business, but employed his
time in reading and walking into the neighboring groves and woods ad
jacent to his house. Mr. Pierpont had a large library, from which,
as well as from his own collection, he could be supplied with a vari
ety of books. He often spent his evenings at Mr. Pierpont's, and
when they were by themselves, retired to his stjudy, where they in
dulged themselves with great familiarity and humor, had free and un
restrained conversation, upon all matters whether of religion or poli
tics. But when in company, Mr. Pierpont behaved towards Colonel
D. with caution and reserve. The Colonel spent much of his retire
ment in reading- history, and as a token of his friendship for Mr.
Pierpont, he, in his last will, presented him with Raleigh's History
of the World.
After a pilgrimage of twenty nine years in exile from his native
country, and banishment into oblivion from the world, of which sev
enteen years at least, probably more, were spent in New Haven by
the name of James Davids, Esqr., Colonel Dixwell died in this place.
328 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
He and all the other Judges lived and died in the firm expectation
of a revolution in England. This had actually taken place the No
vember before his death, but the news not having arrived, he died ig
norant of it, about a month before the seizure of Sir Edmund Andross
at Boston. At his death, he discovered his true character to the peo
ple, and owned the name of John Dixwell, but requested that no mon
ument should be erected at his grave, giving an account of his person,
name, and character, alledging as a reason, " lest his enemies might
dishonor his ashes" — requesting that only a plain stone might be set
up at his grave inscribed with his initials, J. D. Esq., with his age
and time of his death. Accordingly a plain rough stone was erected
at his grave, close by the grave of Governor Eaton and Governor
Jones, charged with, an inscription as at first put up and engraved by
his friends.
Whilst residing at New Haven, he was twice married, and at his
death, he left a wife and two children. His will was afterwards ex
hibited, approved and recorded in the Probate office.
President Stiles, in his History of the Judges, says, " So late as
the last French war, 1760, some British officers passing through New
Haven, and hearing of Dixwell's grave, visited it, and declared with
rancorous and malicious vengeance, that if the British rninistry knew
it, they would even then cause their bodies to be dug up and vilified.
Often have we heard the crown officers aspersing and vilifying them ;
and some, so late as 1775, visited and treated the graves with marks
of indignity too indecent to be mentioned." It was especially so, du
ring Queen Anne's time, and even that of the Hanoverian family,
there has been no time in which this grave has not been threatened
by numerous sycophantic crown dependents, with indignity and minis
terial vengeance."
Surrender of New Amsterdam to the English. — In 1664,
Charles II. of England not wishing the Dutch to exercise author
ity in the midst of his colonies, determined to subject them to his
will ; for this purpose he made a grant to his brother, the Duke
of York and Albany of all the territory claimed by the Dutch.
Col. Richard Nicholls with several others were commissioneeLtQ
take possession in the king's name, and to exercise jurjsja^tion.
Col. Nicholls with four ships and an armed force arrive^S Bos
ton. Demanding and receiving assistance from Massachusetts
and Connecticut, he about the 30th of August arrived in New
York bay.
" One of the ships entered the bay of the North River, several days before the
rest; and as soon as they were all come up, Stuyvesant sent a letter dated i£ of Au
gust, at Fort Anil, directed to the commanders of the English frigates, by John De-
clyer, one of the chief council, the Rev. John Megapolonsis, minister, Paul Lunder
Vander Grilft, major, and Mr. Samuel Megapolensis, doctor in physic, with the ut
most civility, to desire the reasontof their approach, and continuing in the harbour of
Naijarlij, without giving notice to the Dutch, which (he writes) they ought to have
done.
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 329
Colonel Nicolls answered the next day with a summons.
' To the honourable the governour, and chief council at the Manhattans.
' Right worthy sirs,
'I received a letter by some worthy persons intrusted by you, bearing date the
^-§ of August, desiring to know the intent of the approach of the English frigates ;
in return of which, I think it fit to let you know, that his majesty of Great Britain,
whose right and title to these parts of America, is unquestionable, well knowing how
much it derogates from his crown and dignity, to suffer any foreigners, how near so
ever they be allied, to usurp a dominion, and without his majesty's royal consent, to
inherit in these, or any other of his majesty's territories, hath commanded me, in his
name, to require a surrender of all such forts, towns, or places of strength, which are
now possessed by the Dutch, under your commands ; and in his majesty's name, I do
demand the town, situate on the island, commonly known by the name of Manhat
toes, with all the forts thereunto belonging, to be rendered unto his majesty's obedi
ence and protection, into my hands. I am further commanded to assure you, and ev
ery respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation, that his majesty being tender of the
effusion of Christian blood, doth by these presents, confirm and secure to every man
his estate, life, and liberty, who shall readily submit to his government. And all
those who shall oppose his majesty's gracious intention, must expect all the miseries
of a war, which they bring upon themselves. I shall expect your answer by these
gentlemen, Colonel George Carteret, one of his majesty's commissioners in Ameri
ca ; Captain Robert Needham, Captain Edward Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall,
whom you will entertain with such civility as is due to them, and yourselves, and
yours shall receive the same, from,
" Dated on board his majesty's , Worthy Sirs,
ship, the Guynj, ruling be- I your humble servant,
fore Nyaoh, the ff of Aug. ^ Rk] d Nicolls,
1664. Mr. Stuyvesant promised an answer to the summons the next morning, and in the
mean time convened the council and burgomasters. The Dutch governour was a
good soldier, and had lost a leg in the service of the States. He would willingly have
made a defence ; and refused a sight of the summons, both to the inhabitants and
burgomasters, lest the easy terms offered, might induce them to capitulate. The
latter, however, insisted upon a copy, that they might communicate it to the late
magistrates and principal burghers. They called together the inhabitants at the
stadt house, and acquainted them with the governour's refusal. Governour Win
throp, at the same time, wrote to the director and his council, strongly recommend
ing a surrender. On the 22d of August, the burgomasters came again into council,
and desired to know the contents of the English message from Governour Winthrop,
which Stuyvesant still refused. They continued their importunity ; and he, in a fit
of anger, tore it to pieces : upon which, they protested against the act and all its con
sequences." Determined upon a defence of the country, Stuyvesant wrote
;1a long letter giving an historical account of the Dutch claims, and
I ended by saying " as touching the threats in your conclusion we
,«<, have nothing to answer, only that we fear nothing, but what God
(who is as just as merciful) shall lay upon us ; all things being in
his r gracious disposal, and we may as well be preserved by him,
,vi*with small forces, as by a great army, which makes us to wish
'*"'- you all happiness and prosperity, and recommend you to his pro-
¦ lection." " While the Dutch governour and council were contending with the
burcomasters and people in the city, the English commissioners pub-
28*
330 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
lished a proclamation* in the country, encouraging the inhabitants to
submit, and promising them the king's protection and all the privile
ges of subjects ; and as soon as they discovered by Stuyvesant's let
ter, that he was averse to the surrender, officers were sent to beat up
for volunteers in Middleborough, Ulissen, Jamaica, and Hempsted.
A warrant was also issued to Hugh Hide, who commanded the squad
ron, to prosecute the reduction of the fort ; and an English ship then
trading here, was pressed into the service. These preparations indu
ced Stuyvesant to write another letter, on the 25th of August, old
style, wherein, though he declares that he would stand the storm, yet
to prevent the spilling of blood, he had sent John De Decker, coun
sellor of state, Cornelius Van Ruyven, secretary and receiver, Cor
nelius Steenwick, major, and James Cousseau, sheriff, to consult, if
possible, an accommodation. Nicolls, who knew the disposition of
the people, answered immediately from Gravesend, that he would
treat about nothing but a surrender. The Dutch governour, the next
day, agreed to a treaty and surrender, on condition the English and
Dutch limits in America were settled by the crown and the States
General. The English deputies were Sir Robert Carr, George Car
teret, John Winthrop, governour of Connecticut, Samuel Wyllys, one
of the assistants or council of that colony, aud Thomas Clarke, and
John Pynchon, commissioners from the general court of the Massa
chusetts' bay, who but a little before, brought an aid from that prov
ince. What these persons agreed upon, Nicolls promised to ratify.
At eight o'clock in the morning, of the 27th of August, 1 664, the
commissioners, on both sides, met at the governour's farm, and there
Signed the articles of capitulation."
These articles, twenty-three in number, were highly favorable
to the inhabitants ; Stuyvesant, however, . refused to ratify them,
till two days after they were signed by the commissioners.
"The town of New-Amsterdam, upon the reduction of the island
Manhattans, took the^name of New-York. It consisted of several
small streets, laid out in the year 1656, and was not inconsiderable
for the number of its houses and inhabitants. The easy terms of the
,. uk _^_^____
* It was in these words : " Forasmuch as his majesty hath sent us by commission
under the great seal of England, amongst other things, to expel, or to reduce to his
majesty's obedience, all such foreigners, as without his majesty's leave and consent,
have seated themselves amongst any of his dominions in America, to tho prejudice
of his majesty's subjects, and diminution of his royal dignity ; we his said majesty's
commissioners, do declare and promise, that whosoever, of what nation soever, will,
upon knowledge of this proclamation, acknowledge and testify themselves, to submit to
this his majesty's government, as his good subjects, shall be protected in his majesty's
laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy wjl.i.tsoever God's blessing, and their own hon
est industry, have furnished them with ; and all other privileges, with his majesty's
English subjects. We have caused this to be published, that we might prevent all
inconveniences to others, jf it were possible ; however, to clear ourselves from the
charge of all those miseries, that may any way befal such as live here, and will [not]
acknowledge his majesty for their sovereign, whom God preserve."
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
331
capitulation, promised their peaceable subjection to the new govern
ment ; and hence we find, that in two days after the surrender, the
Boston aid was dismissed with the thanks of the commissioners to
the general court. Hudson's and South River were, however, still to
be reduced. Sir Robert Carr commanded the expedition on Dela
ware, and Carteret was commissioned to subdue the Dutch at Fort
Orange. The garrison capitulated on the 24th of September, and he
called it Albany, in honor of the Duke. While Carteret was here,
Gov. Stuyvesant.
he had an interview with the Indians of the Five Nations, and enter
ed into a league of friendship with them, which remarkably continues
to this day. Sir Robert Carr was equally successful on South Riv
er, for he compelled both the Dutch and Swedes to capitulate and de
liver, up their garrisons the first of October, 1664; and that was the
dav in which the whole New-Netherlands became subject to the Eng
lish crown. Very few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove
out of the country. Governour Stuyvesant himself, held his estate,
and died here. His remains were interred in a chapel, which he had
erected on his own farm, at a small distance from the city, now pos
sessed by his grandson, Gerardus Stuyvesant, a man of probity, who
has been elected into the magistracy, above thirty years successively.
Justice obliges me to declare, that for loyalty to the present reigning
family, an'd a pure attachment to the protestant religion, the descend
ants of the Dutch planters are perhaps exceeded by none of his ma
jesty's subjects."
The foregoing cut is copied from a lithographic engraving of
332 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
Governor Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Rulers," in Wat
son's Sketches of Olden Times in New York. He was governor
of New York seventeen years — from 1647 to 1664. At his
death, his remains were placed in the family vault, once con
structed within the walls of the second built Reformed Dutch
church, which he had built at his personal expense on his own
farm. The place where this church was built is now occupied
by the present church of St. Mark. The original monumental
stone in memory of Gov. Stuyvesant is to be seen on the outside
wall of this latter church, inscribed as follows :
" In this vault, lied buried Petrus Stuyvesant, late Captain General and Com
mander in chief of Amsterdam in New Netherland, now called New York, and the
Dutch West India Islands. Died in August, A. D. 1682, aged eighty years."
Negro Plot in New York. — The following, giving an account
of the extraordinary excitement against the unfortunate African
slaves in New York, is copied from Smith's History, (the Con
tinuation,) published in Albany in 1814.
" A robbery, which had been committed at the house of Robert
Hogg, a merchant in New- York, on the 28th of February, 1740-1,
seemed to have led to the discovery of a plot, which was afterwards
called the negro plot. One Mary Burton, an indented servant to John
Hughson, (a man of infamous character, and to whose house slaves
were in the practice of resorting to drink and gamble, and of secre
ting the goods they had stolen,) was the instrument, in the hands of
the magistrates, for the detection and punishment of the offenders.
On the 18th of March after the robbery, a fire broke out in the roof
of his majesty's house at Fort George, near the chapel, consuming
the house, the chapel, and some other buildings adjacent. Most of
the publick records in the secretary's office, over the fort gate, were
fortunately rescued from the flames. A week after, another fire
broke out at the house belonging to a Captain Warren, near the long
bridge, at the southwest end of the city. Both these fires were, at
first, supposed to be accidental. But about a week after the last fire,
another broke out at the store house of a Mr. Van Zandt, towards the
east end of the town. Three days after, a fourth alarm was given,
and it was found that some hay was on fire in a cow stable near the
house of a Mr. Quick, or a Mr. Vergereau. The fire was soon sup
pressed. The people, in returning from that fire, were alarmed by a
fifth cry, at the house of one Ben Thompson, next door west of a
Captain Sarly's house. It appeared that fire had been placed be
tween two beds, in the loft of a kitchen, where a negro usually slept.
The next morning coals were discovered under a hay stack, near the
coach house and stables of Joseph Murray, esq. in Broadway. All
these circumstances having occurred in quick succession, the people
were induced to believe that some designing persons intended to de
stroy the city by fire. What strengthened this belief, was, a seventh
alarm of fire the next day, at the house of a Sergeant Burns, opposite
the fort garden, an eighth alarm occasioned by a fire breaking out the
COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES. 333
same day, in the roof of a Mr. Hilton's house, near the fly market ;
and again, the' same afternoon, and within a few hours after, a ninth
fire occurring, at Colonel Philipse's store house. This strange coin
cidence of events, leaves indeed little room for doubt, that some one
or more of the fires occurred through design. It was soon rumoured
that the negroes were the perpetrators. One Quacko, a negro, be
longing to a Mr. Walter, was said to have made use of some myste
rious language and threats, indicating his knowledge of a plot. A
proclamation was issued, offering rewards for the discovery of the
offenders. Quacko, and several other negroes were apprehended
and closely interrogated, but without effect. The supreme court, at
its April term, strictly enjoined the grand jury to make diligent en
quiries as to the late robberies and fires within the city. Mary Bur
ton, who had been apprehended as a witness, relative to the robbery
at Mr. Hogg's, gave the grand jury reason to believe that she was
also privy to the design to set fire to the city. After some difficulty,
she made a disclosure, which, in all probability, was greatly exagge
rated, though some of its parts might have been true. She stated
that meetings of negroes were held at her master's [Hughson.]
That their plan was to burn the fort and city. That one Cssar, [a
black] was to be governour, and Hughson, her master, king ! That
they were to destroy the whites. That she had known seven or eight
guns, and some swords, in her master's house ! That the meetings at
her master's house, consisted of twenty or thirty negroes at a time !
Upon this evidence, warrants were issued, and many negroes commit*
ted to prison. One Arthur Price, a servant, charged with stealing
goods, belonging to the lieutenant governour, likewise became in
former. Being in prison himself, and having access to the negroes
there committed, he received, or pretended to have received, much
information from them. He was afterwards employed by the magis
trates, to hold private conferences with the negroes in prison, and to
use persuasion and other means to gain confessions from them. In
this business he was peculiarly expert, and received the most un
qualified approbation of the magistrates. Yet many of his stories are
of such a chivalrous and romantic description as to excite suspicion
of their truth. But every thing he related was implicitly believed.
The more extravagant the tale, the more readily was it received and
credited. A white woman, who was a common prostitute, and famil
iar even with negroes, of the name of Margaret or Peggy Salin-
burgh, alias Kerry, alias Sorubiero, likewise declared she could make
great discoveries. The magistrates eagerly hastened to take her
examination, and the consequence was, that fresh warrants were
issued for the apprehension of many other negroes, not before impli
cated. Informers were now rapidly increasing. Arthur Price, while
in prison, was making great discoveries. Operating on the fears and
hopes of the negroes, many declared themselves accomplices. The
magistrates were unceasingly engaged. The grand jury were daily
presenting bills of indictment against the parties accused. To be
inculpated by Mary Burton, Arthur Price, or Peggy Salingburgh,
334 COLONIAL ANTIQUITIES.
was sufficient to authorize the indictment and conviction of any per
son. It is to be regretted that on proof of such suspicious characters,
so many lives were placed in the hands of the executioner.- Not
that we dispute the fact that some of the fires were designedly set,
but that we mean to be understood as doubting the extent and nature
of the plot ascribed to the negroes. It is evident that Mary Burton
was wholly unworthy of credit. Independent of the absurdity and
improbability of many of her stories, she had, on the 22d April, in
her first examination and disclosure under oath, declared, ' that slo
never saw any white person in company when they talked of burning
the town, but her master, her mistress and Peggy ; ' yet, on the 25th
of June following, she deposed that one John Ury, a Catholick priest,
(a white person) was often at her master's, and ' that when he came to
Hughson's, he (Ury) always went up stairs in the company of Hugh-
son, his wife, and daughter, and Peggy, with whom the negroes used
to be, at the same time, consulting about the plot ;' and that ' the ne
groes talked in the presence of the said Ury about setting fire to the
houses, and killing the white people.' She afterwards, on the 14th
July following, declared, on oath, that one Corry, a dancing master,
(also a white person) used to come to Hughson's, and talk with the
negroes about the plot. Yet on evidence of this kind, Ury, who had
previously been committed under the act against Jesuits and popish
priests, was indicted, tried, convicted and executed. At the place
of execution, he solemnly denied the charge, and called on God to
witness its falsity. But Ury was a Catholick, and the publick preju
dice was so strong, that it required very little more to ensure his
condemnation. Had not Ury been obnoxious, on account of his reli
gion, the accusation against him would perhaps never have been
made, or, if made, would have been little regarded. Mary Burton
received the hundred pounds which had been promised as a reward
for discovering the persons concerned in setting fire to the city.
We shall now dismiss this article, after giving the number who were
accused, tried, and suffered on this occasion, with some remarks,
which grow out of this*subject.
One hundred and fifty-four negroes were committed to prison,
of whom fourteen were burnt at the stake, eighteen hanged, seventy-
one transported, and the rest pardoned, or discharged for want of
proof. Twenty white persons were committed, of whom two only,
John Hughson and John Ury, were executed. At this time, the city
of New- York contained a population of about twelve thousand souls,
of whom one sixth were slaves. If a plot, in fact, existed for the
destruction of the city and the massacre of its inhabitants; and if
that plot was conducted by Ury, it certainly betrayed greater imbecil
ity of intellect, and want of caution and arrangement, together with
less union of action, than could have been expected from one who
was evidently, if we believe his own account, a man of classical
education, and profound erudition. It is worthy of remark, that
Corry, the dancing master, accused by Mary Burton, was discharged
for want of proof ! It seems that Mary's testimony began, at length,
RELIGIOUS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 335
to be doubted. Indeed, it well might ; for had the prosecutions con
tinued much longer, she would, more than probable, have accused a
great portion of the white citizens of New-York, as being concerned
in this plot. Daniel Horsmanden, esq. published, at the time, a his
tory of this conspiracy, and laboured hard to prove its existence and
and extent. But it is evident that that hostility to Catholicism,
which the British government so industriously inculcated, tinctured
his mind, and gave it a bias unfriendly to the fair developement of
truth, or to the full and impartial examination of facts and circum
stances. The negroes were without defence. All the counsel in the
city were arrayed against them, and volunteered their services on
behalf of the crown, on the trial of those unfortunate slaves. The
want of education, and utter ignorance of those infatuated wretches
easily made them the victims of craft and imposition. The hopes
of life, and the promise of pardon, influenced some of them to make
confessions. Yet falsehood was so ingeniously, and artfully blended
with truth, that it was not an easy task to separate the one from the
other. It must, however, be admitted, that many circumstances aided
the opinion that the plot, in fact, existed, and if the people were mis
taken in this, it was an errour into which they might naturally fall at
the moment of confusion and distress, and under the attending cir
cumstances. A day of publick thanksgiving for the dehverance of
his majesty's subjects, from the alledged conspiracy, was appointed
by the lieutenant governour, and was devoutly and reverently ob
served by the inhabitants."
RELIGIOUS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
The articles of Religious Faith and Discipline held by the first
planters of New England are stated by Dr. Dwight in the follow
ing manner :
1. "That the Scriptures only contain the true Religion; and that
nothing, which is not contained in them, is obligatory upon the con
science ;
2. That every man has the right of judging for himself; of trying
doctrines by them ; and of worshiping according to his apprehensions
of their meaning ;
3. That the Doctrinal Articles of the Reformed Churches of Eng
land, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Palatinate, Geneva, Switzerland,
and the United Provinces, are agreeable to the Holy Oracles ;
4. That the pious members of all these Churches were to be admit
ted to their communion ;
5. That no particular Church ought to consist of more members
than can conveniently watch over one another, and usually meet, and
worship in one congregation.
336 RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
6. That every such Church is to consist of those only, who appear
to believe in Christ and to obey him ;
7. That any competent number of such persons have a right to em
body themselves in a church, for their mutual edification ;
8. That this ought to be done by an express covenant.
9. That when embodied, they have a right to choose all their offi
cers ;
10. That these officers are Pastors or Teaching Elders, Ruling
Elders and Deacons ;
11. That Pastors are to oversee, rule, teach, and administer the Sa
craments ; and that they are to be maintained ;
12. That the Ruling Elders are not temporary, but permanent offi
cers ; who are to aid the pastor in overseeing, and ruling ;
13. That the Pastors and Ruling Elders constitute the Presbytery;
which should be found in every particular Church ;
14. That tho Deacons are the Treasurers, and Almoners, of the
Church ; and are also to administer at the sacramental table ;
15. That these officers can only rule and administer, with the con
sent of tho brethren ;
16. That no church, or church officers have any power over any
other church, or church officers ; but all are equal in their rights, and
independent in the enjoyment of them;
17. That Baptism is a seal of the covenant of grace ; and should
only be administered to visible believers, together with their unadult
children ; and that, without the sign of the cross, or any other invent
ed ceremony ;
18. That the Lord's Supper should be received, as it was at first, in
the table posture ;
19. That excommunication should be wholly spiritual, and not in
volve any temporal penalties ;
20. That tho Lord's day was to be strictly observed throughout ;
and that fasts and thanksgivings are to be observed, as the state of
providence requires.
Difficulties with Roger Williams. — Roger Williams, a Puritan
minister, the founder of Rhode Island, came over to New England
in 1631, and settled at Salem, as an assistant to the Rev. Mr.Skelton.
His settlement was opposed by the magistrates, because he re
fused to join with the church at Boston, because they would not
make a public declaration of their repentance for holding com
munion with the Church of England, while in their native country.
In consequence of this opposition Mr. Williams removed to Ply
mouth and became the assistant of Mr. Smith in the ministry at
that place. After remaining here about two years, upon the in
vitation of the people at Salem, he returned there as the succes
sor of Mr. Skelton. Mr. Williams' tenets remaining unchanged,
he was still opposed by the magistrates, and was at length ban
ished from the colony. The following extracts from Winthrop's
AND ANTIQUITIES. 337
Journal, give an authentic account of the proceedings against Mr.
Williams. "1634, Nov. 27. The Court was informed, that Mr. Williams, of
Salem, had broken his promise to us, in teaching publicly against the
King's patent, and our great sin in claiming right, thereby to this coun
try, &c. and for usual terming the churches of England antichristian.
We granted summons to him for his appearance at the next Court."
" 1635, Mo. 2, 30* The Governor and Assistants sent for Mr.
Williams. The occasion was, for that he had taught publicly, that a
magistrate ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man, for
that we thereby have communion with a wicked man in the worship
¦ of God and cause him to take the name of God in vain. He was
heard before all the ministers, and very clearly confuted. Mr. Endi
cott was at first of the same opinion, but he gave place to the truth.
" 1635, Mo. 5, 8. At the General Court, Mr. Williams, of Salem,
was summoned and did appear. It was laid to his charge, that being
under question before the magistracy and churches for divers danger
ous opinions, viz : 1 . That the magistrate ought not to punish the
breach of the first table, otherwise than in such cases as did disturb
the civil peace ; 2. that he ought not to tender an oath to an unregene
rate man ; 3. that a man ought not to pray with such, though wife,
child, &c. ; 4. that a man ought not to give thanks after the sacrament,
nor after meat, &c. ;t and that the other churches were about to write
to the church of Salem to admonish him of these errors ; notwith
standing, the church had since called him to [the] office of teacher.
Much debate was about these things. The said opinions were ad
judged by all, magistrates and ministers, (who were desired to be
* That is April 30. Winthrop adopted, a few months before, this mode of deno
ting time. It seems to have arisen from a desire to avoid the Roman nomenclature,
as heathenish. Perhaps an aversion to the Romish Church had a share in producing
the change. The custom continued for more than fifty years, when it was gradually
abandoned, except by the Friends, or Quakers, and Hutchinson thinks, that the popu
lar prejudice against them hastened the decline of the custom. The months were
called 1st, 2d, oic. beginning with March, and the days of the week were designated
in the same way.
f It is worthy of remark, here, that while Winthrop states this charge as a gene
ral proposition, Hubbard (207) and Morton (153) assert, that Mr. Williams refused
to " pray or give thanks at meals with his own wife or any of his family." This was
probably an inference from Mr. Williams' abstract doctrine. Several of the charges
against him might be thus traced to the disposition to draw inferences. A curious
instance is given by Cotton Mather, (Magnalia, b. vii. ch. ii. v 6.) Mr. Williams, he
says, " complained in open Court, that he was wronged by a slanderous report, as if
he held it unlawful for a father to call upon his child to eat his meat. Mr. Hooker,
then present, being moved to speak something, replied, " Why, you will say as much
again, if you stand to your own principles, or be driven to say nothing at all." Mr.
Williams expressing his confidence that he should never say it, Mr. Hooker proceed
ed : " If it be unlawful to call an unregenerate person to pray, since it is an action
of God's worship, then it is unlawful for your unregenerate child to pray for a bles
sing upon his own meat. If it be unlawful for him to pray for a blessing upon his
meat, it is unlawful for him to eat it, for it is sanctified by prayer, and without prayer
unsanctified. (1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.) If it be unlawful for him to eat it, it is unlawful
for you to call upon him to eat it, for it is unlawful for vou to call upon him to sin."
29
338 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
present) to be erroneous and very dangerous, and that the calling of
him to office, at that time, was judged a great contempt of authority.
So, in fine, time was given to him and the church of Salem to con
sider of these things till the next General Court, and then either to
give satisfaction to the Court, or else to expect- the sentence ; it being
professedly declared by the ministers (at the request of the Court to
give their advice) that he who should obstinately maintain such opin
ions (whereby a church might run into heresy, apostacy, or tyrany,
and yet the civil magistrate could not intermeddle) were to be removed,
and that the other churches ought to request the magistrates so to
do." " At this General Court, Mr. Williams, the teacher of Salem, was
again convented, and all the ministers in the Bay being desired to be
present, he was charged with the said two letters, that to the church
es, complaining of the magistrates for injustice, extreme oppression,
&c. and the other to his own church, to persuade them to renounce
communion with all the churches in the Bay, as full of antichristian
pollution, &c. He justified both these letters, and maintained all his
opinions ; and, being offered further confidence or disputation, and a
month's respite, he chose to dispute presently. So Mr. Hooker was
chosen to dispute with him, but could not reduce him from any of his
errors. So, the next morning, the Court sentenced him to depart out
of our jurisdiction within six weeks, all the ministers, save one, ap
proving the sentence ; and his own church had him under question
also for the same cause ; and he, at his return home, refused commun
ion with his own church, who openly disclaimed his errors, and wrote
an humble submission to the magistrates, acknowledging their fault in
joining with Mr. Williams in that letter to the churches against
them," &c.
The sentence was in these terms : " Whereas Mr. Roger Williams,
one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulg
ed divers new and dangerous opinions, against the authority of magis
trates ; as also writ letters of defamation, both of the magistrates and
churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maintained! the
same without any retractation ; it is therefore ordered, that the said
Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks
now next ensuing, which, if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful
for the Governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some
place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without license
from the court."
"11 mo. January. The Governor and Assistants met at Boston
to consider about Mr. Williams, for that they were credibly informed,
that, notwithstanding the injunction laid upon him (upon the liberty
granted him to stay till the spring,) not to go about to draw others to
his opinions, he did use to entertain company in his house, and to
preach to them, even of such points as he had been censured for ; and
it was agreed to send him into England by a ship then ready to depart.
The reason was, because he had drawn above twenty persons to his
opinion, and they were intended to erect a plantation about the Nar-
AND ANTIQUITIES. 339
raganset Bay, from whence the infection would easily spread into
these churches, (the people being many of them much taknn with the
apprehension of his godliness.) Whereupon a warrant was sent to
him, to come presently to Boston to be shipped, &c. He returned
answer (and divers of Salem came with it,) that he could not come
without hazard of his life, &c. Whereupon a pinnace was sent with
commission to Capt. Underhill, &c. to apprehend him, and carry him
aboard the ship, (which then rode at Nantasket ;) but, when they came
at his house, they found he had been gone three days before ; but
whither they could not learn.
" He had so far prevailed at Salem, as many there, (especially of
devout women) did embrace his opinions, and separated from the
churches, for this cause, that some of their members, going into Eng
land, did hear the ministers there, and when they came home the
churches here held communion with them."
Ann Hutchinson, her opinions, fyc. — Mrs. Hutchinson, the wife
of one of the most respectable New England planters, came over
to Boston in 1636. She was treated with respect and much
noticed by Mr. Cotton and other principal persons, particularly by
Mr. Vane, the Governor. Being a woman of superior abilities,
she set up religious meetings of her own, where she repeated the
sermons which were delivered on the Lord's day before, adding
her remarks and expositions. Her lectures, which made much
noise, were attended by 60 or 80 of the principal women. Coun
tenanced and encouraged for a time by Mr. Cotton and Mr. Vane,
she advanced doctrines and opinions which involved the colony in
disputes and contentions, which seemed to threaten ruin both to
the church and state. Mr. Wheelwright, hex brother in law, a min
ister of learning and piety, was firmly attached to her, and suffer
ed with her on account of his tenets. The progress of her sen
timents occasioned the Synod of 1637. Mrs. Hutchinson was
finally banished to Rhode Island, and from thence, in 1642, after
her husband's death, she removed into the Dutch country beyond
New Haven, and the next year she and all her family, consisting
of sixteen persons, were killed by the Indians, excepting one
daughter whom thev carried into captivity. — The following extracts
from Winthrop's Journal, will serve to show the proceedings
against her, and the opinions which she advanced.
1 637, mo. 10. " The court also sent for Mrs. Hutchinson, and charged
her with divers matters, as her keeping two public lectures every
week in her house, whereto 60 or 80 persons did usually resort, and
for reproaching most of the ministers, viz. all except Mr. Cotton, for
not preaching a covenant of free grace, and that they had not the seal
of the spirit, nor were able ministers of the new testament, which
were clearly proved against her tho' she thought to shift it off, and
after many speeches to and fro, at last she was so full as she could not
340 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
contain, but vented her revelations, amongst which this was one, that
she had it revealed to her that she should come into New England,
and should here be presented, and that God would ruin us and our pos
terity and the whole state for the same. So the court proceeded and
banished her ; but because it was winter they committed her to a pri
vate house where she was well provided, and her own friends and the
elders permitted to go to her, but none else.
mo. 10. " Upon occasion of the censures of the court upon Mrs.
Hutchinson and others, divers other foul errors were discovered wliich
had been secretly carried by way of inquiry, but after were maintained
by Mrs. Hutchinson and others, and so many of Boston were tainted
with them, as Mr. Cotton finding how he had been abused, and made
(as himself said) their stalking horse (for they pretended to hold no
thing but what Mr. Cotton held and himself did think the same) did
spend most of his time both publicly and privately, to discover these
errors, and to reduce such as were gone astray. And also the magis
trates calling together such of the elders as were near, did spend two
days in consulting with them about the way to help the growing evils.
Some of the secret opinions were these, That there is no inherent
righteousness in a child of God — That neither absolute nor condition
al praises belong to a christian — That we are not bound to the law not
as a rule &c. — That the sabbath is but as other days — That the soul
is mortal 'till it be united to Christ, and then it is annihilated, and the
body also, and a new given by Christ — That there is no resurrection
of the body.
1638. mo. 1, 22. Mrs. Hutchinson appeared again. She had been
licensed by the court, in regard she had given hope of her repentance,
to be at Mr. Cotton's house, that both he and Mr. Davenport might have
the more opportunity to deal with her, and the articles being again read
to her, and her answer required, she delivered it in writing, wherein
she made a retraction of near all, but with such explanations and cir
cumstances as gave no satisfaction to the church, so as she was requi
red to speak further to them.
After she was excommunicated, her spirit which seemed before to
be somewhat dejected, revived again, and she gloried in her sufferings,
saying that it was the greatest happiness next to Christ, that ever be-
fel her. Indeed it was a happy day to the church of Christ here, and
to many poor souls who had been seduced by her who by what they
heard and saw that day, were, thro' the grace of God, brought off quite
from her errors, and settled again in the truth.
At this time the good providence of God so disposed, divers of the
congregation (being the chief men of the party, her husband being
one) were gone to Naragansett to seek out a new place for plantation,
and taking liking of one in Plymouth patent, they went thither to have
it granted them, but the magistrates there knowing their spirit, gave
them a denial, but consented they might buy of the Indians an island
in the Naragansett Bay.
After two or three days the Governor sent a warrant to Mrs. Hutch
inson to depart this jurisdiction before the last of this month, accord-
AND ANTIQUITIES. 341
ing to the order of court, and for that end set her at liberty from her
former constraint, so as she was not to go forth of her own house 'till
her departure ; and upon the 28th, she went by water to her farm at
the Mount, where she was to take water with Mr. Wheelwright's wife
and family to go to Piscat : but she changed her mind and went, by
land to Providence and so to the Island in the Narragansett Bay,
which her husband and the rest of that sect had purchased of the
Indians and prepared with all speed to remove unto. For the court
had ordered that except they were gone with their families by such a
time, they should bo summoned to the General Court.
1641. Mrs. Hutchinson and those of Aquiday island broached new
heresies every year. Divers of them turned professed anabaptists, and
would not wear any arms, and denied all magistracy among christians,
and maintained that there were no churches since those founded by
the apostles and evangelists, nor could any be, nor any pastors ordained,
nor seals administered but by such, and that the church was to want
these all the time she continued in the wilderness, as yet. she was.
Her son Francis and her son in law Mr. Collins (who was driven
from Barbadoes where he had preached a time and done some good,
but so soon as he came to her was infected with her heresies) came to
Boston and were there sent for to come before the Governor and
council, but they refused to come except they were brought, so the of
ficer led him, and being come (there were divers of the elders pres
ent) he was charged with a letter he had written to some in our juris
diction, wherein he charged all our churches and ministers to be anti-
christian, and many other reproachful speeches, terming our king, king
of Babylon, and sought to possess the people's hearts with evil thoughts
of our government and of our churches &c. He acknowledged the
letter, and maintained what he had written, yet sought to evade the con
fessing there was a true magistracy in the world and that christians
must be subject to it. He maintained also that there were no gentile
churches (as he termed them) since the apostles times, and that none
now could ordain ministers &c. Francis Hutchinson did agree with
him in some of these, but not resolutely in all ; but he had reviled the
church of Boston (being then a member of it) calling her a strumpet.
They were both committed to prison ; and it fell out that one Stod
dard, being then one of the constables of Boston, was required to take
Francis Hutchinson into his custody 'till the afternoon, and said withal
to the Governor, sir, I came to observe what you did, that if you should
proceed with a brother otherwise than you ought, I might deal with
vou in a church way. For this insolent behaviour he was committed,
but being dealt with by the elders and others, he came to see his er
ror, which was that he did conceive that the magistrate ought not to
deal with a member of the church before the church had proceeded
with him. So the next Lord's day in the open assembly, he did
freely and very affectionately confess his error and his contempt of
authority, and being bound to appear at the next court he did the like
there to the satisfaction of all ; yet for example's sake he was fined
20s. which, tho' some of the magistrates would have had it much less,
29*
342 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
or rather remitted, seeing his clear repentance and satisfaction in pub
lic left no poison or danger in his example, nor had the commonwealth
or any person sustained danger by it. At the same court Mr. Collins
was fined £100 and Francis Hutchinson £50 and to remain in prison
'till they gave security for it. We assessed the fines the higher, partly
that by occasion thereof they might be the longer kept in from doing
harm (for they were kept close prisoners) and also because that family
had put the country to so much charge in the synod and other occa
sions to the value of £500 at least : but after, because the winter drew
on, and the prison was inconvenient, we abated them to £40 and £20
but they seemed not willing to pay any thing. They refused to come
to the church assemblies except they were led, and so they came duly.
At last we took their own bonds for their fine, and so dismissed them.
Other troubles arose in the island by reason of one Ni : Eason, a
tanner, a man very bold, tho' ignorant, he using to teach at Newport
where Mr. Coddington their Governor lived, maintained that man hath
no power or will in himself, but as he is acted by God, and that see
ing God filled all things, nothing could be or move but by him, and so
he must needs be the author of sin &c. and that a christian is united
to the essence of God. Being shewed what blasphemous conse
quences would follow hereupon, they professed to abhor the conse
quences, but still defended the propositions, which discovered their
ignorance, not apprehending how God could make a creature as it
were in himself, and yet no part of his essence, as we see by famil
iar instances. The light is in the air, and in every part of it, yet it is
not air, but a distinct thing from it. There joined with Ni : Eason,
Mr. Coddington, Mr. Coggeshall and some others, but their minister
Mr. Clark and Mr. Lenthall and Mr. Harding and some others dis
sented and publicly opposed, whereby it grew to such heat of conten
tion, that it made a schism among them.
Difficulties with Gorton. — Samuel Gorton, the first settler of
Warwick, R. I. came to this country in 1636, and in a few years
occasioned a good deal of disturbance by the religious principles
which he advanced. Leaving Boston, he went to Plymouth, and
disturbing the church there, he was whipped and required to find
sureties for his good behavior, which not being able to do, he
was driven, it is said, to Rhode Island. At Newport he was also
whipped for his contempt of the civil authority. From this place
he went to Providence, where Roger Williams, with his usual hu
manity, although he disliked his principles and practice, gave him
a shelter. Gorton afterwards purchased some lands of the Indi
ans, and having made some encroachments, complaints were en
tered against him in the court of Massachusetts. Being required
to answer for his conduct, by the court, he treated their summons
with contempt. In May, 1643, Capt. Cook, with about 40 sol
diers, were sent against Gorton and his associates, who were taken
prisoners and carried to Boston. He was sentenced to imprison-
AND ANTIQUITIES. 343
ment and hard labor ; for which banishment was afterwards sub
stituted. In 1644 Gorton went to England and obtained an order
from Parliament, securing to him the peaceable possession of his
lands. He died after the year 1676 at an advanced age. The
following, relative to Gorton, is from Winthrop's Journal :
1643, 8 m. 13. " The next Lord's day in the forenoon the prisoners
would not come to the meeting, so as the magistrate determined they
should be compelled. They agreed to come, so as they might have
liberty after sermon to speak if they had occasion. The magistrates an
swer was, that they did leave the ordering of things in the church to the
elders, but there was no doubt but they might have leave to speak so as
they spake the words of truth and sobriety. So in the afternoon they
came and were placed in the fourth seat right before the elders. Mr.
Cotton (in his ordinary text) taught them out of Acts 19. of Demetri
us pleading for Diana's silver shrines or temples &c. After sermon
Gorton desired leave to speak, which being granted, he repeated the
points of Mr. Cotton's sermon, and coming to that of the silver shrines,
he said that in the church there was nothing now but Christ, so that all
our ordinances, ministers, sacraments &c. were but men's inventions
for shew and pomp and no other than those silver shrines of Diana.
He said also that if Christ lived eternally, then he died eternally ; and
it appeared both by his letters and examinations that he held that
Christ was incarnate in Adam, and that he was that image of God
wherein Adam was created, and that the chief work and merit was
in that his incarnation in that he became such a thing, so mean &c.
and that his being born after of the Virgin Mary and suffering &c. was
but a manifestation of his sufferings &c. in Adam. Likewise in his
letters he condemned and reviled magistracy calling it an idol, alledg-
ing that a man might as well be a slave to his belly as to his own
species : yet being examined he would acknowledge magistracy to be
an ordinance of God in the world as marriage was, viz. no other ma
gistracy but what was natural, as the father over his wife and chil
dren, and an hereditary prince over his subjects."
" After this they were brought before the court severally to be ex
amined (divers of the elders being desired to be present) and because
1 they had said they could give a good interpretation of all they had
written, they were examined upon the particular passages, but the in
terpretation they gave being contradictory to their expressions, they
were demanded then if they would retract those expressions, but that
they refused, and said still that they should then deny the truth."
" One of the elders had been in the prison with them, and had con
ferred with them about their opinions, and they expressed their agree
ment with him in every point, so as he intended to move for favor for
them, but when he heard their answer upon their examination, he
found how he had been deluded by them, for they excel the Jesuits in
the act of equivocation, and regard not how fake they speak to all
other men's apprehensions, so they keep to the rules of their own
meaning. Gorton maintained that the image of God wherein Adam
344 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
was created was Christ, and so the loss of that image was the death
of Christ, and the restoring of it in generation was Christ's resurrec
tion, and so the death of him that was born of the ^Virgin Mary was
but a manifestation of the former. In their letters &c. they condemned
all ordinances in the church, calling baptism an abomination, and the
Lord's supper the juice of a poor silly grape turned into the blood of
Christ by the skill of our magicians &c. yet upon examination they
would say they did allow them to be the ordinances of Christ ; but
their meaning was that they were to continue no longer than the in
fancy of the church lasted (and but to novices then) for after the rev
elation was written they were to cease, for there is no mention of
them, say they, in that book.
They were all illiterate men, the ablest of them could not write
true English, no not common words, yet they would take upon them
the interpretation of the most difficult places of scripture, and wrest
them any way to serve their own turns : as to give one instance for
many. Mr. Cotton pressing them with that in Acts 10. ' Who can
forbid water why these should not be baptized — so he commanded
them to be baptized' they interpret thus. Who can deny but these
have been baptized, seeing they have received the Holy Ghost &c.
so he allowed them to have been baptized. This shift they were put
to that they might maintain their former opinion, That such as have
been baptized with the Holy Ghost need not the outward baptism.
The court and the elders spent near a whole day in discovery of
Gorton's deqi mysteries which he had boasted of in his letters, and
to bring him to conviction, but all was in vain. Much pains was also
taken with the rest, but to as little effect. They would acknowledge
no error or fault in their writings, and yet would seem sometimes to
consent with us in the truth.
After all these examinations the court began to consult about their
sentence. The judgment of the elders also had been demanded about
their blasphemous speeches and opinions, what punishment was due
by the word of God. Their answer was first in writing, that if they
should maintain them as expressed in their writings, their offence de
served death by the law of God. The same some of them declared
after in open court. But before the court would proceed to determine
of their sentence, they agreed first upon their charge, and then call
ing them all publicly they declared to them what they had to charge
them without of their letter and speeches. Their charge was this,
viz. They were charged to be blasphemous enemies of the true re
ligion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all his holy ordinances, and
likewise of all civil government among his people, and particularly
within this jurisdiction. Then they were demanded whether they did
acknowledge this charge to be just, and did submit to it, or what ex
pectations they had against it. They answered they did not acknowl
edge it to be just, but they took no particular exceptions to it, but fell
into some caviling speeches, so they were returned to prison again.
Being in prison they behaved insolently towards their keeper, and
spake evil of the magistrates — Whereupon some of the magistrates
AND ANTIQUITIES. 345
were very earnest to have irons presently put upon them. Others
thought it better to forbear all such severity 'till their sentence were
passed. This latter opinion prevailed. After divers means had been
used both in public and private to reclaim them, and all proving fruit
less, the court proceeded to consider of their sentence : in which the
court was much divided. All the magistrates, save three, were of
opinion that Gorton ought to die, but the greatest number of the dep
uties dissenting, that vote did not pass. In the end all agreed upon
this sentence — for seven of them, viz. that they should be dispersed
into seven several towns, and there kept to work for their living, and
wear irons upo.n one leg, and not to depart the limits of the town, nor
by word or writing maintain any of their blasphemous or wicked er
rors upon pain of death, only the exception for speech with any of
the elders, or any other licensed by any magistrate to confer with
them ; this censure to continue during the pleasure of the court."
" The court finding that Gorton and his company did harm in the
towns where they were confined, and not knowing what to do with
them, at length agreed to set them at liberty, and gave them 14 days
to depart out of our jurisdiction in all parts, and no more to come into it
upon pain of death. This censure was thought too light and favora
ble, but we knew not how in justice we could inflict any punishment
upon them, the sentence of the court being already passed &c."
Account of the Quakers, their Persecutions, SfC* — " In the year 1 656
began what has been generally and not improperly called the perse
cution of the Quakers. Two years before, an order had been made
that every inhabitant who had in their custody any of the books of
John Reeves and Lodowick Muggleton, ' who pretend to be the two
last witnesses and prophets of Jesus Christ,' which books were said
to be full of blasphemies, should bring or send them in to the next
magistrate within one month on pain of ten pounds for each book re
maining in any person's hands after that time, but no person appeared
openly professing the opinions of the quakers until July, 1656, when
Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived from Barbados. A few weeks
after arrived in the ship Speedwell of London, Robert Lock, master,
nine more of these itinerants, whose names ' after the flesh,' the lan
guage they used to the officers sent to make enquiry, were William
Brend, Thomas Thurston, Christopher Holder, John Copeland, Rich
ard Smith, Mary Prince, Dorothy Waugh, Sarah Gibbons, and Mary
Witherhead. On the 8th of September they were brought before the
court of assistants and being examined and each of them questioned
how they could make it appear that God sent them, after a pause they
answered that they had the same call which Abraham had to go out
of his country; to other questions they gave rude and contemptuous
answers, which is the reason assigned for committing them to prison.
A great number of their books which they had brought over with in
tent to scatter them about the country were seized and reserved for
* This account is copied from Gov. Hutchinson's " History of the Colony of Mas
sachusetts Bay." It is believed to be the most authentic and unprejudiced account
to be found, which was written at Aat period.
346 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
the fire. Soon after this, as the governor was going from the publick
worship on the Lord's day to his own house, several gentlemen ac
companying him, Mary Prince called to him from a window of the
prison, railing at and reviling him, saying Woe unto thee, thou art
an oppressor ; and denouncing the judgments of God upon him. Not
content with this, she wrote a letter to the governor and magistrates
filled with opprohrious stuff. The governor sent for her twice from
the prison to his house and took much pains to persuade her to desist
from such extravagancies. Two of the ministers were present, and
with much moderation and tenderness endeavoured to convince her
of her errors, to which she returned the grossest railings, reproaching
them as hirelings, deceivers of the people, Baal's priests, the seed of
the serpent, of the brood of Ishmael and the like.
The court passed sentence of banishment against them all, and re
quired the master of the ship in which they came, to become bound with
sureties to the value of five hundred pounds to carry them all away,
and caused them to be committed to prison until the ship should be
ready to sail. At this time there was no special provision by law for
the punishment of quakers ; they came within a colony law against
hereticks in general. At the next sessions of the general court, the
14th of October following, an act passed laying a penalty of one hun
dred pounds upon the master of any vessel who should bring a known
quaker into any part of the colony, and requiring him to give secu
rity to carry them back again, that the quaker should be immediately
sent to the house of correction and whipped twenty stripes, and after
wards kept to hard labor until transportation. They also laid a
penalty of five pounds for importing and the like for dispersing qua
kers books, and severe penalties for defending their heretical opinions.
And the next year an additional law was made by which all persons
were subjected to the penalty of forty shillings for every hour's en
tertainment given to any known quaker, and any quaker after the first
conviction if a man, was to lose one ear, and the second time the
other, a woman, each time to be severely whipped, and the third time
man or woman to have their tongues bored through with a red hot
iron, and every quaker, who should become such in the colony, were
subjected to the like punishments. In May 1658 a penalty of ten
shillings was laid on every person present at a quaker's meeting, and
five pounds upon every one speaking at such meeting. Notwith
standing all this severity, the number of quakers, as might well have
been expected, increasing rather than diminishing, in October follow
ing a further law was made for punishing with death all quakers who
should return into the jurisdiction after banishment. That some pro
vision was necessary against these people so far as they were dis
turbers of civil peace and order, every one will allow, but such san
guinary laws against particular doctrines or tenets in religion are not
to be defended. The most that can be said for our ancestors is that
they tried gentler means at first, which they found utterly ineffectual,
and that they followed the example of the authorities in most other
states and in most ages of the world, who with the like absurdity have
AND ANTIQUITIES. 347
supposed every person could and ought to think as they did, and with
the like cruelty have punished such as appeared to differ from them.
We may add that it was with reluctance that these unnatural laws
were carried into execution, as we shall see by a further account of
proceedings. Nicholas Upshall was apprehended in October 1656,
fined twenty pounds and banished for reproaching the magistrates and
speaking against the law made against quakers, and returning in 1659
was imprisoned. At the same court William Robinson, Marmaduke
Stephenson, Mary Dyer and Nicholas Davis were brought to trial.
The first gave no particular account of himself. Stephenson had
made a publick disturbance in the congregation at Boston the 15th of
June before. He acknowledged himself to be one of those the world
called quakers, and declared that in the year 1656 at Shiptonin York
shire as he was at plough he saw nothing but heard an audible voice
saying, ' I have ordained thee to be a prophet to the nations,' &c.
Dyer declared that she came from Rhode Island to visit the quakers,
that she was of their religion which she affirmed was the truth, and
that the light within her was the rule, &c. Davis came from Barn
stable, he came into court with his hat on, confessed he had forsaken
the ordinances and resorted to the quakers. The jury found ' that
they were all quakers.' Robinson was whipped 20 stripes for abusing
the court, and they were all banished on pain of death.
Patience Scott, a girl of about eleven years of age, came I suppose
from Providence, her friends lived there, and professing herself to be
one of those whom the world in scorn calls quakers was committed
to prison, and afterwards brought to court. The record stands thus.
* The court duly considering the malice of Satan and his instruments
by all means and ways to propagate error and disturb the truth, and
bring in confusion among us, that Satan is put to his shifts to make use
of such a child not being of the years of discretion, nor understanding
the principles of religion, judge meet so far as to slight her as a qua
ker as only to admonish and instruct her according to her capacity
and so discharge her, Capt. Hutchinson undertaking to send her home.'
Strange that such a child should be imprisoned ! it would have been
horrible if there had been any further severity.
Robinson, Stephenson and Dyer at the next general court were
brought upon trial, and ' for their rebellion, sedition, and presumptuous
obtruding themselves after banishment upon pain of death,' were sen
tenced to die ; the two first were executed the 27th of October. Dyer,
upon the petition of William Dyer her son, was reprieved on condi
tion that she departed the jurisdiction in 48 hours and if she returned
to suffer the sentence. She was carried to the gallows and stood
with a rope about her neck until the others were executed. She was
so infatuated as afterwards to return and was executed June 1st, 1660.
The court thought it advisable to publish a vindication of their pro
ceedings ; they urge the example of England in the provision made
against Jesuits, which might have some weight against a charge
brought from thence, but in every other part of their vindication, as
may well be supposed from the nature of the thing, there is but the
348 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
bare shadow of reason. Christopher Holder who had found the way
into the jurisdiction again, was at this court banished upon pain of
death. At the same court seven or eight persons were fined, some
as high as ten pounds, for entertaining quakers, and Edward Wharton
for piloting them from one place to another was ordered to be whip
ped twenty stripes and bound to his good behavior. Divers others
were then brought upon trial ' for adhering to the cursed sect of qua
kers not disowning themselves to be such, refusing to give civil re
spect, leaving their families and relations and running from place to
place vagabonds like,' and Daniel Gold was sentenced to be whipped
thirty stripes, Robert Harper fifteen, and they with Alice Courland,
Mary Scott and Hope Clifton banished upon pain of death, William
Kingsmill whipped fifteen stripes, Margaret Smith, Mary Trask and
Provided Southwick ten stripes each, and Hannah Phelps admonished.
The compassion of the people was moved and many resorted to the
prison by day and night, and upon a representation of the keeper a
constant watch was kept round the prison to keep people off.
Joseph Nicholson and Jane his wife were also tried and found qua
kers, as also Wendlock Christopherson, who declared in court that
the scripture is not the word of God, and Mary Standley, and all sen
tenced to banishment, &c. as was soon after Benjamin Bellflower, but
John Chamberlain though he came with his hat on yet refusing di
rectly to answer, the jury fourid him, * much inclining to the cursed
opinions of the quakers,' and he escaped with an admonition.
Nicholson and his wife returned and were apprehended, but upon
their petition had liberty with several others then in prison to go for
England. Christopherson returned also and was sentenced to die.
It is said he desired the court to consider what they had gained by
their cruel proceedings. ' For the last man (says he) that was put to
death here are five come in his room, and if you have power to take
my life from me God can raise up the same principle of life in ten of
his servants and send them among you in my room that you may
have torment upon torment.' He was ordered to be executed the
fifth day sevennight after the 14th of March 1660, afterwards re
prieved till the 13th of June, but he was set at liberty upon his request
to the court and went out of the jurisdiction.
Bellflower afterwards in court renounced his opinions, as also Wil
liam King (Kingsmill I suppose) the only instances upon record.
Chamberlain was afterwards apprehended again and found a quaker
and committed to close prison, but no further sentence appears.
In September, 1660, William Ledea was tried and convicted of
being a quaker and sentenced to banishment, &c. but returning and
being apprehended, the general court gave him liberty notwithstand
ing to go to England with Nicholson and others, but he refused to
leave the country and was brought upon trial for returning into the
jurisdiction after sentence of banishment, acknowledged himself to be
the person but denied their authority, and told the court that ' with
the spirit they called the devil he worshipped God, and their ministers
were deluders and they themselves murderers.' He was told that he
AND ANTIQUITIES. 349
might have his life and be at liberty if he would. He answered I am
willing to die, I speak the truth. The court took great pains to per
suade him to leave the country but to no purpose. The jury brought
him in guilty and he was sentenced to die and suffered accordingly
March 14th, 1660.
Mary Wright of Oyster-bay was tried at the court in September
1660. She said she came to do the will of the Lord and to warn
them to lay by their carnal weapons and laws against the people of
God, told the court they thirsted for blood. The court asked her what
she would have them do, she said ' repent of your bloodshed and
cruelty and shedding the blood qf the innocent William Robinson, Mar-
maduke Stephenson, and Mary Dyer.' She said her tears were her
meat many days and nights before she gave up herself to this work
of the Lord, but added that if she had her liberty she would be gone
quickly. Being found a quaker she was banished.
Edward Wharton who had been whipped before, was now indicted
for being a quaker, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment and
afterwards to banishment. Judah Brown and Peter Pierson stood
mute. They were sentenced to be whipped at the cart's tail in Bos
ton, Roxbury and Dedham.
John Smith of Salem for making disturbance at the ordination of
Mr. Higginson, crying out ' What you are going about to set up our
God is pulling down,' was committed to prison by order of court.
Philip Verin was also tried and imprisoned, Josias Southwick, first
banished and returning, whipped at the cart's tail, and John Burstowe
bound to his good behavior. These are all who were tried by the
court of assistants or by the general court. Some at Salem, Hamp
ton, Newbury and other places, for disorderly behavior, putting people
in terror, coming into the congregations and calling to the minister in
the time of publick worship, declaring their preaching, &c. to be an
abomination to the Lord, and other breaches of the peace, were or
dered to be whipped by the authority of the county courts or particu
lar magistrates. At Boston one George Wilson, and at Cambridge
Elizabeth Horton went crying through the streets that the Lord was
coming with fire and sword to plead with them. Thomas Newhouse
went into the meeting-house at Boston with a couple of glass bottles
and broke them before the congregation, and threatened ' Thus will
the Lord break you in pieces.' Another time M. Brewster came in
with her face smeared and as black as a coal. Deborah Wilson went
through the streets of, Salem naked as she came into the world,* for
which she was well whipped. For these and such like disturbances
they might be deemed proper subjects either of a mad-house or house
of correction, and it is to be lamented that any greater severities were
* One of the sect apologizing for this behavior said, " If the Lord did stir up any
of his daughters to be a sign of the nakedness. of others, he believed it to be a great
cross to a modest woman's spirit, but the Lord must be obeyed." Another quoted
the command in Isaiah, cap. 20. — R. Williams. One Faubord of Grindleton carried
his enthusiasm still higher, and was sacrificing his son in imitation of Abraham, but
the neighbours hearing the lad cry, broke open the house and happily prevented it.
30
350 RELIGIOUS HISTORY
made use of. After all that may be said against these measures, it
evidently appears that they proceeded not from personal hatred and
malice against such disordered persons, nor from any private sinister
views, as is generally the case with unjust punishments inflicted in
times of party rage and discord, whether civil or religious, but merely
from a false zeal and an erroneous judgment. In support of their pro
ceedings they brought several texts of the old testament. ' Come out
of her my people,' &c. 'If thy brother entice thee to serve other
gods thou shalt surely put him to death,' and ' for speaking lies in the
name of the Lord his father shall thrust him through when he prophe-
cieth,' and the example of Solomon who first laid Shimei under re
straint and then for his breach put him to death, as also many passa
ges of the new testament requiring subjection to magistrates, &c. and
thus from a zeal to defend the holy religion they professed, they went
into measures directly opposite to its true spirit and the great design
of publishing it to the world.
That I may finish what relates to the quakers it must be further
observed that their friends in England solicited and at length obtained
an order from the King Sept. 9th, 1661, "requiring that a stop should
be put to all capital or corporal punishment of those of his subjects
called quakers, and that such as were obnoxious to be sent to England."
Cotton Mather in his " Magnalia" gives a circumstantial account
of many things relative to the Quakers. Although some of his
narratives are to be received with some grains of allowance ; yet
it is believed that whatever he states as a matter of fact, is sub
stantially correct. The following is extracted from the Magnalia :
" Although Quakerism has been by the new turn, that such in
genious men as Mr. Penn have given to it become quite a new thing ;
yet the old Foxian Quakerism, which then visited New England, was
the grossest collection of blasphemies and confusions that ever was
heard of. They stiled those blind beasts and liars, who should say
that the scriptures reveal God ; and affirmed it, the greatest error in
the world, and the ground of all errors, to say, the scriptures are a rule
for Christians. They said, that the scripture does not tell people of
a Trinity, nor three persons in God, but that those three persons are
brought in by the Pope. They held, that justification by that right
eousness, which Christ fulfilled in his own person without us, is a
doctrine of devils. They held, that they that believe in Christ are not
miserable sinners, nor do those things they ought not to do. They
said, if the bodies of men rise again, then there is a pre-eminence in
the bodies of men above the bodies of beasts, which is to give Solo
mon the lie. They said, they are like to be deceived who are ex
pecting that Christ's second coming will be personal. They said,
those things called ordinances, as- baptism, bread and wine, rose from
the Pope's invention. They said, as for that called, the Lord's day,
people do not understand what they say ; every day is the Lord's
day. And for prayer itself, they said all must cease from their own
words, and from their own time, and learn to be silent, until the Spirit
AND ANTIQUITIES. 351
give them utterance. They said — But it would be endless to enume
rate their heresies ; what we have already enumerated is enough to as
tonish us ; in all of which I solemnly protest unto the reader, that I have
not wronged them at all, but kept close to their own printed words.
Reader, thou canst not behold these heresies, without the exclamation
ordinarily used by the blessed Polycarp, when he heard any such mat
ters uttered ; " good God, unto what times hast thou reserved me!"
There are many grounds of hope, that the days of prevailing Qua
kerism will be but threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of mens
weakness they be fourscore years, yet the strength of it will then be
wasted, it will soon be cut off and fly away. And among those grounds,
I cannot but reckon the alterations which the sect of Quakers do ex
perience, not only in the points of their faith, but also in that odd
symptom of quaking, which by its using to arrest the bodies of their
converts, gave denomination to them ; for as one of their own ex
presses it, The mighty motions of the bodies of the Friends are now
ceased, and Friends are still cool and quiet ; the shaking and quaking
of Friends bodies were to purge out sin ; but the stillness being come,
the mind is brought into a capacity to discern the voice of the Lord."
" Reader, I can foretell what usage I shall find among the Quakers
for this chapter of our church history ; for a worthy man that writes
of them has observed, for pride, and hypocrisie, and hellish reviling
against the painful ministers of Christ, I know no people can match
them. Yea, prepare, friend Mather, to be assaulted with such lan
guage as Fisher the Quaker, in his pamphlets, does bestow upon such
men as Dr. Owen ; thou fiery fighter and green-headed trumpeter ;
thou hedghog and grinning dog ; thou bastard that tumbled out of the
mouth of the Babilonish bawd ; thou mole ; thou tinker ; thou lizzard ;
thou bell of no metal, but the tone of a kettle ; thou wheelbarrow ; thou
whirlpool ; thou whirlegig. 0 thou firebrand ; thou adder and scor
pion; thou louse; thou cow-dung ; thou moon-calf ; thou ragged tat-
terdemallion ; thou Judas ; thou livest in philosophy, and logic*k which
are of the devil."
Westminster Assembly of Divines, fyc. — "In the year 1642, letters
came to Mr. Cotton of Boston, Mr. Hooker of Hartford, and Mr. Da
venport of New Haven, signed by several of the nobility, divers mem
bers of the house of commons, and some ministers, to call them or
some of them, if all could not come, to assist in the assembly of di
vines at Westminster.* Such of the magistrates and ministers as were
near Boston met together, and most of them were of opinion that it
* "The expression of the desires of those honorable and worthy personages of both
houses of parlament who call and wish the presence of Mr. Cotton, Mr. Hooker and
Mr. Davenport to come ovar with all possible speed, all or any of them, if all cannot.
The condltyon whearein the state of things in this kingdom doth now stand wee sup
pose you have from the relations of others, wheareby you cannot but understand how
greate need there is of the healp of prayer and improvement of all good meanes from
all parts for the seatlinge and composeing the affaires of the church. Wee therefore
present unto you our earnest desires of you all. To shewe whearein or howe many
wayes you may be useful would easely bee done by us and fownd by you weare you
present with us. In all likelyhood you will finde opportunity enough to draw forth
all that healpefullness that God shall affoard by you. And wee doubt not these ad-
352 RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
was a call of God, but Mr. Hooker did not like the business, and
thought it was not a sufficient call to go a thousand leagues to confer
about matters of church government. Mr. Davenport thought other
wise, but his churches having but one minister would not spare him.
Mr. Cotton thought it a clear call and would have undertaken the voy
age if others would have gone with him. Soon after, other letters
were received which diverted them from any thoughts of proceeding.*
Mr. Hooker was about that time preparing for press a vindication of
congregational churches, or rather framing a system or plan of church
government, which he designed for the New England churches, let
the determination at Westminster be what it would. Had the churches
of New England appeared there by their representatives, or any of
the principal divines appeared as members of the assembly greater
exception might have been taken to their building after a model of
their own framing. Several persons who came from England in 1643
made a muster to set up presbyterian government under the authority
of the assembly at Westminster, but a New England assembly, the
general court, soon put them to the rout."
PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG
THE NEW ENGLAND INDIANS.
" In 1650, a society in England, instituted for propagating the
gospel, began a correspondence with the commissioners of the
United Colonies, who were employed as agents for the society.
In consequence, exertions were made to christianize the Indians.
The Rev. Mr. Eliot, minister of Roxbury, had distinguished him
self in this pious work. He had established towns, in which he
collected Indian families, taught fhem husbandry, the mechanic
arts, and a prudent management of their affairs, and instructed
them with unwearied attention in the principles of the christian
religion. For his zeal and success he has been called the Apos
tle of New England.
He began his labours about the year 1646, being in the forty
second year of his age. The first pagans, who enjoyed his la
bours, resided at Nonantum, now the east part of Newton. Wa-
ban, a principal chief there, became a convert, and was distin
guished for his piety. Being encouraged by the success of his
first attempt, he soon after opened a lecture at Neponsit, within
the present bounds of Dorchester. These two lectures he con
tinued several years without any reward or encouragement, but
the'satisfaction of doing good to the souls of men. Beside preach-
vantages will be sutch as will fully answer all inconveniencies your sealves, churches
or plantations may sustaine in this your voyage and short absence from them. Onely
the sooner you come the bettar." * Hubbard.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 353
ing to them, he formed two catechisms, one for the children,
the other for adults. They readily learned these, seriously at
tended his public lectures, and very generally prayed in their
families, morning and evening.
After a number of years, certain individuals in England, affect
ed by his pious and disinterested labours, raised some generous
contributions for his encouragement ; he gratefully received these,
declaring that he never expected any thing. By such timely aid
he was enabled to educate his five sons at college. All these
were distinguished for their piety, and all, excepting one, who
died while a member of college, were preachers of the gospel.
His eldest son preached several years to the Indians at Pakemit,
now Stoughton, and at Natick, and other places. Other ministers,
in different parts of New England, by the example of Mr. Eliot,
zealously engaged in the missionary work. Messrs. Bourne and
Cotton in Plymouth colony, studied the Indian language, and
preached at Martha's Vineyard, and other places. At Martha's
Vineyard and Nantucket, Mr. Mayhew and son entered on the
work ; and in Connecticut Messrs. Pierson and Fitch preached
Jesus and the resurrection to the heathen in their vicinity.
That the natives might have the word of life in their own lan
guage, which alone was able to make them wise unto salvation,
Mr. Eliot translated the bible for their use. The New Testament
was published in 1661, and the whole bible soon after. The ex
pense was borne by the society for propagating the gospel in New
England. Beside this, he translated and composed several other
books, as a primer, a grammar, singing psalms, the practice of
piety, Baxter's call, and several other things. He took care that
schools should be opened in the Indian settlements, where their
children were taught to read ; some were put into schools of the
English, and studied Latin and Greek. A building was erected
for their reception, and several of them sent to Cambridge college.
The legislature instituted judicial courts among the natives, an
swering to the county courts of the colony. In these courts, one
English judge was united with those chosen by the natives. They
had rulers and magistrates elected by themselves, who managed
their smaller matters.
The first church of christianized pagans was gathered at Na
tick ; they had two instructors of their own body, when the Eng
lish preachers could not attend. In 1670, they had between forty
and fifty communicants. The second praying town was Pakemit,
or Punkapaog, now Stoughton ; their first teacher was of their
own number, William Ahawton, ' a pious man, of good parts.'
The second church of Indians was at Hassanamessit, now Grafton;
their teacher's name was Takuppa-willin, ' a pious and able man,
and apt to teach.' They had a meeting house built after the
30*
354 RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
English manner ; their communicants were sixteen, their bap
tized persons thirty.
At Okommakummessit, or Marlborough, was a society, with a
teacher. Wamesit, or Tewksbury, was the fifth praying society ;
their teacher was called Samuel, who could read and write. An
nually a judicial court was held there. Here Mr. Eliot used to
go and preach at that season, on account of the strangers, who
resorted there. In 1674, after he had been preaching from
Malth. xxii. concerning the marriage of the king's son, at the wig
wam of Wannalancet, near the falls, this man, who was the oldest
son of the sachem or king, who had always been friendly to the
English, but openly rejected the gospel, after sermon, rose and
said, ' Sirs, you have been pleased, for four years, in your abun
dant love, to apply yourselves particularly to me and my people,
to exhort, press and persuade us to pray to God. I am very thank
ful to you for your pains. I must acknowledge, I have all my
days used to pass in an old canoe, and you exhort me to change
and leave my old canoe, and embark in a new canoe, which I
have always opposed ; but now I yield myself Up to your advice,
and enter into a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God here
after.' He ever after persevered in a christian course, though on
this account several of his people deserted him. The sixth so
ciety gathered from the Indians, was at Nashobah, now Little
ton : their teacher was called John Thomas. In this place, and
at Marlborough, the Indians had orchards set out by themselves.
Mungunkook, or Hopkinton, was the next place where a christian
society was gathered ; the families were twelve, their teacher
was Job.
Several years after, seven other societies of praying Indians,
with Indian teachers, were formed further west. One in Oxford,
one in Dudley, three in different parts of Woodstock, which then
was claimed by Massachusetts, one in Worcester, and one in TJx-
bridge. Several other places about the same time received
christian preachers. The places mentioned received teachers se
lected from the natives, who had been instructed by Mr. Eliot.
The whole number of those called praying Indians, in these
places, was about 1100.
But the gospel was preached with still greater effect in Ply
mouth colony. The Rev. Mr. Bourne had under his care, on
Cape Cod and its vicinity, about 500 souls ; of whom about 200
could read, and more than 70 could write. He had formed one
church of 27 communicants ; 90 had been baptized. Beside
these, Mr. Cotton of Plymouth preached occasionally to about
half a hundred on Buzzard's Bay. Mr. Mayhew and son began
to instruct the Indians of Martha's Vineyard, in 1648 or 9. They
were remarkably successful. The greatest part of them were
ELLIOT, THE INDIAN MISSIONARY.
About the year 1646 Rev. John Elliot, began his zealous and successful labors
among the Indians of New England. To extend the benefits of Christianity and
civilization, he performed many wearisome journeys, and endured many hardships
and privations.
RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS, &C 357
soon considered as praying Indians. On this island and Chappa-
quiddick, were 300 families ; on the latter, sixty, of whom fifty
nine were praying families. On Nantucket was a church, and
many praying families. In 1694, there were on this island three
churches and five assemblies of praying Indians. In 1685, the
praying Indians in Plymouth colony were 1439, beside children
under 12 years of age. At one time, in different parts, were 24
congregations. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, but little suc
cess attended the gospel among the Indians. The sachems of
Narraganset and Mohegan violently opposed their people's hear
ing the gospel. The Rev. Mr. Fitch of Norwich, took great
pains, gave some of the Mohegans lands of his own, that they,
who were disposed to hear the gospel, might be nearer him, and
also freed from the revilings of their companions ; at one time he
had about 30 under his care.
The legislatures of the several colonies enacted salutary laws
for restraining the evil conduct of the natives ; means were also
furnished for their receiving presents or rewards for distinguish
ing themselves in what was laudable. In Connecticut, the legis
lature in 1 655, having appointed a governor over the Pequots,
gave him the following laws, to which the people were to subject
themselves. They shall not blaspheme the name of God, nor
profane the sabbath. They shall not commit murder, nor prac
tice witchcraft, on pain of death. ' They shall not commit adul
tery, on pain of severe punishment. Whoever is drunk shall pay
ten shillings, or receive ten stripes. He that steals shall pay
double damages.' " — Morse's and Parish's Hist.
RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS, HISTORY, &c.
The following account of some of the religious usages of the
first New England churches is copied from Gov. Hutchinson's
History, vol. I.
" Most of the ^churches, not all, had one or more ruling elder.
In matters of offence, the ruling elder, after the hearing, asked
the church if they were satisfied ; if they were not, he left it to
the pastor or teacher to denounce the sentence of excommunica
tion, suspension or admonition, according as the church had de
termined. Matters of offence, regularly, were first brought to
the ruling elder in private, and might not otherwise be told to the
church. It was the practice for the ruling elders to give public
notice of such persons as desired to enter into church fellowship
358 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
with them, and of the time proposed for admitting them, if no
sufficient objection was offered ; and when the time came, to re
quire all persons who knew any just grounds of objections to
signify them. Objections were frequently made, and until they
were heard and determined, the ruling elder seems to have mod
erated in the church, but the churches consent to the admission
was asked by the pastor or teacher, who also rehearsed and pro
posed the church covenant and declared them members. When
a minister preached to any other than his own church, the ruling
elder of the church, after the psalm sung, said publicly, ' if this
present brother hath any word of exhortation for the people at
this time, in the name of God let him say on.' The ruling elder
always read the psalm. When the member of one church desi
red to receive the sacrament at another, he came to the ruling el
der who proposed his name to the church for their consent. At
the communion they sat with the minister. I find nothing fur
ther relating to this officer in their public assemblies. They
were considered, without doors, as men for advice and counsel in
religious matters, they visited the sick, and had a general inspec
tion and oversight of the conduct of their brethren. Every thing
which I have mentioned as the peculiar province of the ruling
elder, so far as it is in itself necessary or proper, may with pro
priety enough be performed by the minister. It is not strange
therefore that this office in a course of years sunk into almost an
entire desuetude in the churches. Indeed the multiplying unne
cessary and mere nominal officers, or officers whose duties and
privileges are not with certainty agreed upon and determined,
seems rather to have a natural tendency to discord and conten
tion than to harmony and peace.
We meet with nothing peculiar, in the beginning of the church
es, relative to the office of deacons. Mention is made of the
duty of deaconesses or widows, who were ' to shew mercy with
cheerfulness, and to minister to the sick and poor brethren,' but
I find no instance of any specially chosen or appointed to this
service. The ministers of the several churches in the town of Boston
have ever been supported by a free weekly contribution. I have
seen a letter from one of the principal ministers of the colony
expressing some doubts of the lawfulness of receiving a support
in any other way. In the country towns, compulsory laws were
found necessary ; and in the year 1654 the county courts were
impowered to assess upon the inhabitants of the "several towns
which neglected the support of the ministry a sum sufficient to
make up the defect.
In Boston, after prayer and before singing, it was the practice
for several years for the minister to read and expound a chapter.
history, &c. 359
Whether it was because this carried the service to too great a
length, or any other reason could be given for it, in a few years
it was laid aside, except when it came in place of a sermon*
Exceptions, may we not say cavils, have been made, by some
learned serious ministers, against reading the scriptures as part
of the divine service without an exposition. The other parts of
religious public worship, and the manner of administering the sa
craments, not differing from what is at this day the practice of
the churches of New England and of the churches of Scotland,
it is unnecessary to take any notice of them.
From a sacred regard to the religion of the Christian sabbath,
a scruple arose of the lawfulness of calling the first day of the
week Sunday, and they always, upon any occasion, whether in a
civil or religious relation to it, stiled it either the Lord's-day or the
Sabbath. As the exception to the word Sunday was founded upon
its superstitious idolatrous origin, the same scruple naturally fol
lowed with respect to the names of all the other days of the week,
and of most of the months, which had the same origin ; accor
dingly, they changed Monday, Tuesday, &c. into the second and
third days of the week, and instead of March and April, used
the first and second month, and instead of the third Tuesday in
May, the language was, the third day of the third month, and so
of the rest-t All their records and other writings are dated in
the common form, which they brought from England with them,
until the year 1636, when Mr. Vane was governor, but after that,
the alteration seems to have been very strictly observed in all
public and private writings and discourse for many years together.
In the interregnum it much obtained in England, but the scruple
there went off at once, upon the restoration, here, it abated, and
it continues scarce any where at this day, except among the peo
ple called Quakers. Perhaps the great dislike to some other pe
culiarities of that people caused the decline of that custom in the
colony, and made them consider the singularity in the same light
with some others of the same nature, which they condemned.f
That every thing approaching to an acknowledgment of the
authority of the pope and his power of canonization might be
avoided, they never used the addition of saint when they spake
* To preach a sermon which was not composed by the preacher himself, was
looked upon, if not criminal, yet highly disreputable. One Mr. Bond having taken
this liberty, and being discovered, presently after removed to Barbados. MS.
t This was a scruple of the Brownists.
J They began the Sabbath the evening of the last day of the week. It was some
time before this custom was settled. Mr. Hooker, in a letter without date, but wrote
about the year 1640, says, ' The question touching the beginning of the sabbath is
now on foot among us, hath once been spoken to, and we are to give in our argu
ments each to the other, so that we may ripen our thoughts touching that truth, and
if the Lord will it may more fully appear.' And in another letter, March, 1640, 'Mr.
Huit hath not answered our arguments against the beginning the sabbath at morning. '
360 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
of the apostles and the ancient fathers of the christian church,
and even the usual names of places were made to conform. The
Island of Saint Christophers was always wrote Christophers, and
by the same rule all other places to which saint had been prefixed.
If any exception was made, an answer was ready : Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob had as good right to this appellation as Peter,
James and John.
They laid aside the fasts and feasts of the church of England,
and appointed frequently, as occasion required, days of fasting
and thanksgiving, but, besides these occasional fasts and thanks
givings, they constantly, every spring, appointed a day for fasting
and prayer to implore the divine blessings upon their affairs in the
ensuing year ; and in the fall a day of thanksgiving and public
acknowledgment of the favors conferred upon them in the year
past. If they more readily fell into this practice, from the exam
ple of the people of God of old, yet they might well have been
justified without any example. It has continued without inter
ruption, I suppose, in any one instance, down to this day. This
is a custom to which no devout person of any sect will take ex
ception. By a law of the colony, every person absenting him
self from the public worship, on these days, without sufficient ex
cuse, was liable to five shillings fine. It would have been as
well, perhaps, if this provision had been omitted.
These were the principal of the special ecclesiastical or reli
gious customs. There were some attempts to introduce singu
larities into some of the churches, particularly Mr. Davenport of
New-Haven, who afterwards removed to Boston, required all his
congregation to stand up whilst the text was naming ; the princi
pal reason which was given for it being, that it was the word of
God and deserved peculiar honor ;* and Mr. Williams of Salem
required all the women of his congregation to wear veils ; but
neither of these customs spread, or were of any long contin
uance." Synods, Cambridge and Saybrook Platforms. — The first sy
nod held in America was convened at Newtown in 1637, on ac
count of the prevalence of the sentiments of Ann Hutchinson
which were generally termed familistic and Antinomian. This
synod was composed of all the teaching elders of the country,
and messengers of the several churches : " the magistrates were
also present, and were not hearers only, but speakers also, as they
saw fit. This body, which held a session of three weeks con
demned eighty-two opinions which then prevailed as erroneous.
* ' At Quinnipyack (New-Haven) Mr. Davenport preached in the forenoon that
men must be uncovered and stand up at the reading the text, and in the afternoon the
assembly jointly practised it.' — Mr. Hooker to Shepard, March 20, 1640.
history, &c. 361
In 1646 a Synod was convened at Cambridge by the general
court of Massachusetts, for the purpose of settling a uniform
scheme of ecclesiastical discipline. Most of the New England
churches were represented in this body. The Synod continued
its sessions by adjournments for two years, when it adopted the
platform of church discipline called the Cambridge platform, and
recommended it, with the Westminster Confession of Faith, to
the General Court and to the churches. The New England
churches in general complied with the recommendation ; and the
" Cambridge Platform," with the ecclesiastical laws formed the
religious constitution of the New England Colonies, for more
than thirty years.
In 1679, by the desire of the General Court a Synod was
holden at Boston called the " Reforming Synod." At this period
evils of various kinds prevailed, and this Synod " enquired what
were the provoking sins of the times,* and what duties to be done
to recover the divine favor. They unanimously approved of the
Cambridge Platform, "desiring that the churches may continue
stedfast in the order of the gospel, according to what is therein
declared by the word of God."
"The next year, May 12, 1680, another synod met in Boston, to
adopt a confession of faith. Mr. Increase Mather was chosen mode
rator. ' The confession of faith consented to by the congregational
churches of England,' which was nearly the same which was agreed
to by the reverend assembly at Westminster, and afterward by the
general assembly of Scotland, was approved, with a few variations, as
the faith of New-England. The synod chose to use the confessions
of faith adopted in Europe, ' that so they might, not only with one
heart, but with one mouth, glorify God and our Lord Jesus Christ.'!
The fathers of the Plymouth colony had adopted the articles of the
church of England, and the confession of faith, professed by the
French reformed churches ;J or, in other words Calvinism, as the ar
ticles of their faith, or the substance of their creed. In the synod of
* " The synod voted, that the provoking sins of New England were a groat decay
of the power of godliness ; also, pride, manifested in violating order, and a spirit of
contention ; that the rising generation were not mindful of the obligations resulting
from their baptism ; that a profanation of God's name, sabbath breaking, want of
family religion, in daily prayer, and reading the scriptures ; intemperance, and un-
cleanness, " temptations to which are common in naked arms, and necks, and naked
breasts," violation of promises, and inordinate zeal for the world, shown in individu
als, by forsaking their churches for greater farms, or more valuable merchandize, who
ought to remember, that when Lot left Canaan and the church for better accommo
dations in Sodom, " God fired him out of all ;" opposing the work of reformation ; sel
fishness ; and undervaluing the gospel of Christ, are matters of the Lord's contro
versy." That as several of them were sins not punished by human laws, therefore
there were special reasons to expect, that God himself would punish them. — Morse
and Parish's Hist. t Mather. t Hazard.
31
362 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
New-England, 1648, there was a unanimous vote expressive of the
same opinions.
In the synod of 1680, is a language explicit on the most discrimi
nating points. ' In the unity of the godhead there be three persons,'
say they, ' of one substance, power and eternity.' ' God from all eter
nity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his will, freely and un
changeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass. By the decree of God,
for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predesti
nated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained unto everlasting
death.' The first pair ' being the root, and by God's appointment
standing in the room of all mankind, a corrupt nature is conveyed to
all their posterity.' 'The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God, hath
fully satisfied the justice of God, and hath purchased reconciliation,
and an eternal inheritance.' ' God hath endued the will of man with
that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither
forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to do
good or evil.' ' Works done by unregenerate men, although for the
matter of them they may be things, which God commands, yet be
cause they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor are done in
a right manner according to the word, nor to a right end, the glory of
God ; they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, nor make a
man meet to receive the grace of God. ' The works of creation and
providence, with the light of nature, make no discovery of Christ,
much less do they enable men, destitute of revelation, to attain saving
faith or repentance.'
In 1703, the trustees of the College in Connecticut wrote a circular
letter to the ministers of the colony for a general synod. The propo
sal was acceptable, and the churches and ministers met in a consocia-
ted council, and adopted the Savoy and Westminster confessions of
faith, and drew up certain rules of discipline, preparatory to a gene
ral synod.
In 1708, a synod was convened at Saybrook, composed of minis
ters and delegates from the colony, with two or more messengers from
a convention of the churches in each county. They drew up that
system of church government and discipline, called the Saybrook
Platform. It was passed into a law, and became the constitution of
Connecticut churches. A distinguishing feature of this Platform is
the negative it gives the ministers to the vote of the church : but this
authority is seldom exercised. In 1724, the convention of ministers
petitioned the general court to call a synod ; but the attorney and so
licitor general, gave it as their opinion, that it was not lawful for a
synod to meet without authority from the king, and the design was
laid aside."*
Half-way Covenant. — "About the year 1650, an unhappy-
controversy arose in the Church at Hartford, respecting church
membership. Hitherto, great watchfulness had been exercised,
* Chalmers.
HISTORY, &C. 363
to admit only such as gave visible evidence of piety. The choice
of pastors, also, had been confined exclusively to the Church, and
all the honours and offices of the state had been distributed to
professors of religion, who only had the right of suffrage, in
meetings of a political character.
During the lives of the first generation, little trouble had arisen
on these points, as most of the first emigrants were professors of
religion. But the fathers were nearly all now removed ; a new
generation had succeeded, many of whom, on account of their
not belonging to the church, were excluded from their proper in
fluence in the community. Most of them had been baptized, and
by virtue of this, it was claimed, that they might own their cov
enant, have their children baptized, and thus perpetuate the
Church. The controversy which thus arose in the church at Hartford,
soon extended to other Churches ; until, at length, the whole of
New England became more or less agitated on the subject. In
1657, the disputed subject was referred to a council, composed
of the principal ministers of New England, at Boston. In con
sequence of the decision of this council, the half-way covenant,
as it has since been termed, was introduced, and adopted by many
of the Churches.
The decision of this council declared, ' That it was the duty
of those come to years of discretion, baptized in infancy, to own
the covenant , that it is the duty of the Church to call them to
this ; that if they refuse, or are scandalous in. any other way, they
may be censured by the Church. If they understand the grounds
of religion, and are not scandalous, and solemnly own the cove
nant, giving up themselves and their children to the Lord, bap
tism may not be denied to their children. In consequence of
this decision, many owned their covenant, and presented their
children for baptism, but did not unite with the Church in the
celebration of the Supper. Hence, it was termed the half-way
covenant. The decision of the above council was far from producing peace
in the Churches. Those of Massachusetts generally adopted the
practice recommended ; but those of Connecticut, for many years
refused, and in some Churches the practice was never introduced.
Toward the conclusion of the 18th century, the practice was gen
erally abandoned, throughout New England."
Revival of Religion in New England. — "The general atten
tion to the subject of religion about the year 1740, is generally
designated in the religious history of New England as the period
of the Great Revival. ' It began' says Dr. Trumbull, ' in sev
eral places in Massachusetts and Connecticut as early as the
364 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
years 1735, and 1736, but became more extraordinary, and much
more general in 1740, and 1741.' The attention to religious sub
jects received a powerful impulse by the zealous labors of the
Rev. Mr. Whitfield, a pious young clergyman of the church of
England. This celebrated minister landed in Philadelphia in
Nov. 1738 ; on his arrival he was invited to preach in various
churches, and people of all denominations flocked in crowds to
hear him. He passed through New Jersey to New York, from
whence he returned to Philadelphia and continued by land to
Georgia, and while on his route preached to immense congrega
tions. Mr. Whitfield having received pressing invitations, em
barked from Charleston for New England, and arrived at Rhode
Island in September, 1740. From thence he went to Boston,
where his labors were followed with the most powerful effect.
From Boston he went northward to Portsmouth, and on his return
to New York visited Northampton, and most of the principal
places in Massachusetts and Connecticut. — The following rela
tive to the revival at this period is taken from the Rev. Jonathan
Edwards' treatise " on the Revival of Religion in New England
about the year 1740."
" There has been of late a very uncommon influence upon the
minds of a very great part of the inhabitants of New England, from
one end of the land to the other, that has been attended with the fol
lowing effects, viz. a great increase of a spirit of seriousness, and so
ber consideration of the things of the eternal world ; a disposition to
hearken to any thing that is said of things of this nature, with atten
tion and affection ; a disposition to treat matters of religion with so
lemnity, and as matters of great importance ; a disposition to make
these things the subject of conversation ; and a great disposition to
hear the word of God preached, and to take all opportunities in order
to do it ; and to attend on the public worship of God, and all external
duties of religion in a more solemn and decent manner ; so that there
is a remarkable and general alteration in the face of New England in
these respects : multitudes in all parts of the land, of vain, thoughtless,
regardless persons, are quite changed, and become serious and con
siderate : There is a vast increase of concern for the salvation of the
precious soul, and of that inquiry, what shall I do to be saved ? The
hearts of multitudes have been greatly taken off from the things of
the world, its profits, pleasures and honors ; and there has been a
great increase of sensibleness and tenderness of conscience : Multi
tudes in all parts have had their consciences awakened, and have
been made sensible of the pernicious nature and consequences of sin,
and what a dreadful thing it is to lie under guilt and the displeasure of
God, and to live without peace and reconciliation with him : They
have also been awakened to a sense of the shortness and uncertainty
of life, and the reality of another world and future judgment, and of
the necessity of an interest in Christ : They are more afraid of sin,
HISTORY, &C 365
more careful and inquisitive that they may know, what is contrary to
the mind and will of God, that they may avoid it, and what he re
quires of them that they may do it ; more careful to guard against
temptations, more watchful over their own hearts, earnestly desirous
of being informed what are. the. means that God has directed to, for
their salvation, and diligent in the use of the means that God has ap
pointed in his word, in order to it. Many very stupid, senseless sin
ners, and persons of a vain mind, have been greatly awakened.
There is a strange alteration almost all over New England amongst
young people : By a powerful, invisible influence on their minds, they
have been brought to forsake those things in a general way, as it were
at once, that they were extremely fond of, and greatly addicted to, and
that they seemed to place the happiness of their lives in, and that
nothing before could induce them to forsake ; as their frolicking, vain
company keeping, night walking, their mirth and jolity, their impure
language, and lewd songs : In vain did ministers preach against those
things before, and in vain were laws made to restrain them, and in vain
was all the vigilance of magistrates and civil officers ; but now they
have almost every where dropped them as if it were of themselves.
And there is a great alteration amongst old and young as to drinking,
tavern haunting, profane speaking, and extravagance in apparel. Many
notoriously vicious persons have been reformed, and become externally
quite new creatures : Some that are wealthy, and of a fashionable,
gay education ; some great beaus and fine ladies, that seemed to have
their minds swallowed up with nothing but the vain shews and pleas
ures of the world, have been wonderfully altered, and have relin
quished these vanities, and are become serious, mortified and humble
in their conversation. It is astonishing to see the alteration that is in
some towns, where before was little appearance of religion, or any
thing but vice and vanity : And so remote was all that was to be seen
or heard amongst them from any thing that savored of vital piety or
serious religion, or that had any relation to it, that one would have
thought, if they had judged only by what appeared in them, that they
had been some other species from the serious and religious, which
had no concern with another world, and whose natures were not made
capable of those things that appertain to Christian experience, and
pious conversation ; especially was it thus among young persons :
And now they are transformed into another sort of people ; their for
mer vain, worldly and vicious conversations and dispositions seem to
be forsaken, and they are as it were, gone over to a new world : their
thoughts, and their talk, and their concern, affections, and inquiries,
are now about the favor of God, an interest in Christ, a renewed sanc
tified heart, and a spiritual blessedness, and acceptance and happiness
in a future world. And through the greater part of New England,
the Holy Bible is in much greater esteem and use than it used to be ;
the oreat things that are contained in it are much more regarded, as
things of the greatest consequence, and are much more the subjects of
meditation ana conversation ; and Other books of piety that have long
been of established reputation, as the most excellent, and most tend-
31*
366 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
ing to promote true' godliness, have been abundantly more in use :
The Lord's day is more religiously and strictly observed : And abund
ance has been lately done at making up differences, and confessing
faults one to another, and making restitution ; probably more within
these two years, than was done in thirty years before : It has been
so undoubtedly in many places. And surprising has been the power
of that spirit that has been poured out upon the land, in many instan
ces, to destroy old grudges, and make up long continued breaches, and
to bring those that seemed to be in a confirmed irreconcilable aliena
tion, to embrace each other in a sincere and entire amity.
Great numbers under this influence have be»n brought to a deep
sense of their own sinfulness and vileness ; the sinfulness of their
lives, the heinousness of their disregard of the authority of the great
God, and the heinousness of their living in contempt of a Saviour :
They have lamented their former negligence of their souls, and neg
lecting and losing precious time. Their sins of life have been extra
ordinarily set before them ; and they have also had a great sense of
their sins of heart ; their hardness of heart, and enmity against that
which is good, and proneness to all evil ; and also of the worthless-
ness of their own religious performances, how unworthy their prayers,
praises, and all that they did in religion, was to be regarded of God :
And it has been a common thing that persons have had such a sense
of their own sinfulness, that they have thought themselves to be the
worst of all, and that none ever was so vile as they : And many seem
to have been greatly convinced that, they were utterly unworthy of
any mercy at the hands of God, however miserable they were, and
though they stood in extreme necessity of mercy ; and that they de
served nothing but eternal burnings : And have been sensible that
God would be altogether just and righteous in inflicting endless dam
nation upon them, at the same time they have had an exceeding af
fecting sense of the dreadfulness of such endless torments, and have
apprehended themselves to be greatly in danger of them. And many
have been deeply affected with a sense of their own ignorance and
blindness, and exceeding helplessness, and so of their extreme' need
of the divine pity and help. And so far as we are worthy to be cred
ited one by another, in what we say, (and persons of good understand
ing and sound mind, and known and experienced probity, have a right
to be believed by their neighbors, when they speak of things that fall
under their observation and experience) multitudes in New England
have'lately been brought to a new and great conviction of the truth and
certainty of the things of the gospel ; to a firm persuasion that Christ
Jesus is the son of God, and the great and only Saviour of the world ;
and that the great doctrines of the gospel touching reconciliation by
his blood, and acceptance in his righteousness, and eternal life and
salvation through him, are matters of undoubted truth ; together with
a most affecting sense of the excellency and sufficiency of the Saviour,
and the glorious wisdom and grace of God shining in this way of sal
vation ; and of the wonders of Christ's dying love, and the sincerity
of Christ in the invitations of the gospel, and a consequent affiance
HISTOKY, &C. 367
and sweet rest of soul in Christ, as a glorious Saviour, a strong rock
and high tower, accompanied with an admiring and exalting appre
hension of the glory of the divine perfections, God's majesty, holi
ness, sovereign grace, &c. with a sensible, strong and sweet love to
God, and delight in him, far surpassing all temporal delights, or earthly
pleasures ; and a rest of soul in him as a portion and the fountain of
all good, attended with an abhorrence of sin, and self-loathing for it,
and earnest longings of soul after more holiness and conformity to
God, with a sense of the great need of God's help in order to holi
ness of life ; together with a most dear love to all that are supposed
to be the children of God, and a love to mankind in general, and a
most sensible and tender compassion for the souls of sinners, and
earnest desires of the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world.
And these things have appeared to be in many of them abiding, now
for many months, yea more than a year and a half; with an abiding
concern to live an holy life, and great complaints of remaining cor
ruption, longing to be more free from the body of sin and death. And
not only do these effects appear in new converts, but great numbers of
those who were formerly esteemed the most sober and pious people,
have under the influence of this work, been greatly quickened, and
their hearts renewed with greater degrees of light, renewed repent
ance and humiliation, and more lively exercises of faith, love and joy
in the Lord. Many, as I am well knowing, have of late been re
markably engaged to watch, and strive, and fight against sin, and cast
out every idol, and sell all for Christ, and give up themselves entirely
to God, and make a sacrifice of every worldly and carnal thing to the
welfare and prosperity of their souls. And there has of late appear
ed in some places an unusual disposition to bind themselves to it in a
solemn covenant with God. And now instead of meetings at taverns
and drinking houses, and meetings of young people in frolics and vain
company, the country is full of meetings of all sorts and ages of per
sons, young and old, men, women and little children, to read and pray,
and sing praises, and to converse of the things of God and another
world. In very many places the main of the conversation in all com
panies turns on religion, and things of a spiritual nature. Instead of
vain mirth amongst young people, there is now either mourning under
a sense of the guilt of sin, or holy rejoicing in Christ Jesus ; and in
stead of their lewd songs, are now to be heard from them, songs of
praise to God, and the Lamb that was slain to redeem them by his
blood. And there has been this alteration abiding on multitudes all
over the land, for a year and a half, without any appearance of a dis
position to return to former vice and vanity. And under the influen
ces of this work, there have been many of the remains of those
wretched people and dregs of mankind, the poor Indians, that seemed
to be next to a state of brutality, and with whom, till now, it seemed
to be to little more purpose to use endeavors for their instruction and
awakening, than with the beasts ; whose minds have now been
strangely opened to receive instruction, and have been deeply affected
with the concerns of their precious souls and have reformed their
368
RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
lives, and forsaken their former stupid, barbarous and brutish way of
living ; and particularly that sin to which they have been so exceed
ingly addicted, their drunkenness ; and are become devout and seri
ous persons ; and many of them to appearance brought truly and
greatly to delight in the things of God, and to have their souls very
much engaged and entertained with the great things of the gospel.
And many of the poor nesroes also have been in like manner wrought
upon and changed. And the souls of very many little children have
been remarkably enlightened, and their hearts wonderfully affected
and enlarged, and their mouths opened, expressing themselves in a
manner far beyond their years, and to the just astonishment of those
that have heard them ; and some of them from time to time, for many
months, greatly and delightfully affected with the glory of divine
things, and the excellency and love of the Redeemer, with their hearts
greatly filled with love to, and joy in him, and have continued to be
serious and pious in their behavior."
Singing Procession in 1740.
The accompanying engraving represents a company of persons
walking in procession and sjnging the praises of God, as they are
going to the place of public worship. Singing in companies, in going
and returning from the house of God was a common practice in many
congregations, during the time of the revival, — in literal accordance
with the 100th Psalm,— " Enter his gates with songs of joy ;
With praises to his courts repair;
And make it your divine employ
To pay your vows and honors there."
HISTORY, &C 369
Old Lights, New Lights, Separates, $c. — At the period of the
great attention to religious subjects about the year 1740, the re
ligious part of the community were mostly divided into two par
ties, the New Lights, and the Old Lights. The New Lights were
active and zealous in the discharge of every thing which they con
ceived to be their religious duty, and were in favor of Mr. Whit
field and others itinerating through the country, stirring up the
people to reform, &c. The Old Lights considered much of their
zeal as wild fire, and endeavoured to suppress it. The contention
between these two parties grew so bitter, that those who were of
the New Light party in some instances withdrew and formed
separate churches from those of the standing order. About thirty
separate congregations (as they were called) were formed from
1740 to 1750.
Although it may be safely stated that the cause of genuine
Christianity was greatly advanced throughout the land, by the re
ligious excitement of 1740, yet it cannot be denied that in some
instances a degree of extravagance* prevailed which produced an
unhappy effect. The following account given of Mr. Davenport
by Dr. Trumbull will serve as an example of the proceedings of
some of the separate preachers at this period
" At the same time, there was a Mr. James Davenport, of Southhold,
on Long-Island, who had been esteemed a pious, sound, and faithful
minister, but now became zealous beyond measure ; made a visit to
Connecticut, and preached in New Haven, Branford, Stonington, and
various other places ; and went on as far as Boston. He gave an unre
strained liberty to noise and outcry, both of distress and joy in time
of divine service. He promoted both with all his might, raising his
voice to the highest pitch, together with the most violent agitations of
* " Some of them carried their enthusiasm to a greater extent than others. In
New-London, they carried it to such a degree, that they made a large fire to burn
their books, clothes, and ornaments, which they called their idols ; and which they
now determined to forsake and utterly to put away. This imaginary work of piety
end self-denial they undertook on the Lord's day, and brought their clothes, books,
necklaces and jewels together, in the main street. They began with burning their
erroneous books : dropping them one after another into the fire, pronouncing these
words, ' If the author of this book died in the same sentiments and faith in which
he wrote it, as the smoke of this pile ascends, so the smoke of his torment will as
cend forever and ever. Hallelujah. Amen.' But they were prevented from burn
ing their clothes and jewels. John Lee, of Lyme, told them his idols were his wife
and children, and that he could not burn them ; it would be contrary to the laws of
God and man : That it was impossible to destroy idolatry without a change of heart,
and of the affections.
How much they held to a miraculous and immediate assistance of the Spirit, in
their performances, may appear by a charge given to elder Paul Parks, of Preston,
at his ordination. He was solemnly charged not to premeditate, or think, before
hand, what he should speak to the people ; but to speak as the Spirit should give
him utterance. The preachers of this denomination were laymen, and their ordina
tions were of the same sort.
370 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
body. With his unnatural and violent agitations of the body, he uni
ted a strange singing tone which mightily tended to raise the feelings
of weak and undiscerning people, and consequently to heighten the
confusion among the passionate of his hearers. This odd, disagree
able tuning of the voice, in exercises of devotion, was caught by the
zealous exhorters, and became a characteristic of the separate preach
ers. The whole sect were distinguished by this sanctimonious tone.
It was Mr. Davenport's manner when a number had cried out, and
there had been great agitations of body, to pronounce them tokens of
divine favor ; and what was still worse, he would declare those persons
who were the subjects of those outcries and agitations, to be eoii-
verted ; or that they had come to Christ ; which were gross and dan
gerous errors. Bodily agitations and outcries were no evidences of
grace. He was further, the great encourager, if not the first setter
up of public exhorters, not restricting them according to the gospel
rule of brotherly exhortation ; but encouraging any who were repu
ted to be lively, zealous christians, to exhort publicly in full assem
blies, with ministerial assurance and authority, though altogether raw
and unskilful in the word of righteousness. What had still a more
mischievous influence than all the rest, was his undertaking to exam
ine his brethren in the ministry, as to their spiritual,state, and publicly
to decide concerning them, whether they were converted or uncon
verted. «Some, whom he had privately examined, and to all appear
ance, men of as much grace as himself, he would in his public prayers
pronounce unconverted. Such as refused to be examined by him,
were certain to be denounced, as either unconverted, or in a very
doubtful condition. Thus, disorder, jealousy and confusion, were
sown in the churches. He represented it as a dreadful thing to hear
unconverted ministers ; that their preaching was worse than poison ;
and he warned the people against it.
His brethren remonstrated against these wild measures, and repre
sented to him, that he must be under the influence of a wrong spirit ;
but he persisted in his measures. At Charlestown, in Massachusetts,
he withdrew from the communion, on the Lord's day, pretending that
he had scruples as to the conversion of the minister. The Boston
ministers disapproved of his conduct, and rejected him. He was
complained of, and brought before the general court of Massachusetts,
and was dismissed as not being of a sound mind.
His conduct had a pernicious influence on the people, and seems to
have given rise to many errors which sprang up in the churches about
this time, and to have been instrumental in the separation which soon
took place in several of the churches, and gave great occasion of
scandal to the enemies of the revival. Every thing was said reproach
ful of it, which its enemies could invent. By some it was termed a
distemper, which affected the mind and filled it with unnecessary con
cern and gloominess ; by others it was termed the work of the devil ;
by others, quakerism, enthusiasm, antinomianism and distraction.
The zealous experimental christians were termed new lights, follow
ing an ignis fatuus, which would lead them to destruction.
HISTORY, &C. 371
Brainerd's Mission to the Delaware Indians. — The pious and
devoted missionary, David Brainerd, after having preached about '
a year to the Indians at Kaunaumeek, a place in the woods be
tween Stockbridge and Albany, without much apparent success,
turned his attention to the Indians at the forks of Delaware, at a
place called Crosweeksung, near Freehold in New Jersey. Mr.
Brainerd labored here a number of months under many discour
agements, till at length his efforts were crowned with remarkable
success. In less than a year he baptised seventy-seven persons,
of whom thirty were adults. They became reformed in their
lives, and appeared very humble and devout, and united in chris
tian affection. The following extracts from Mr. Brainerd's journal
will show the effect which followed his preaching.
(Aug. 8th, 1744.) " In the afternoon I preached to the Indians.
their number was now about sixty-five persons, men, women, and
children. I discoursed from Luke xiv. 16 — 23, and was favored with
uncommon freedom.
There was much concern among them while I was discoursing
publicly ; but afterwards, when I spoke to one and another more
particularly, whom I perceived under concern, the power of God
seemed to descend upon the assembly. 'Like a rushing mighty wind,'
and with an astonishing energy bore down all before it.
I stood amazed at the influence that seized the audience almost uni
versally, and could compare it to nothing more aptly than a mighty
torrent, that bears down and sweeps before it whatever is in its way.
Almost all persons, of all ages, were bowed down together, and
scarce one was able to withstand the shock of this surprising opera
tion. Old men and women, who had been drunken wretches for
many years, and some little children, not more than six or seven years
of age, appeared in distress for their souls, as well as persons of mid
dle age. And it was apparent these children were not merely frighted
with seeing the general concern, but were made sensible of their
danger, the badness of their hearts, and their misery without Christ.
The most stubborn hearts were now obliged to bow. A principal man
among the Indians, who before thought his state good, because he
knew more than the generality of the Indians, and who with great
confidence the day before, told me, ' He had been a Christian more
than ten years,' was now brought under solemn concern for his soul,
and wept bitterly. Another man, considerable in years, who had
been a murderer, a pawwaw, and a notorious drunkard, was likewise
brought now to cry for mercy with many tears, and to complain much
that he could be no more concerned when he saw his danger so great.
There were almost universally praying and crying for mercy in
every part of the house, and many out of doors, and numbers could
neither go nor stand ; their concern was so great, each for himself,
that none seemed to take any notice of those about them, but each
prayed for themselves ; and were, to their own apprehension, as much
372 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
retired as if every one had been by himself in a desert, or, rather,
they thought nothing about any but themselves, and so were every
one praying apart, although all together.
It seemed to me there was an exact fulfilment of that prophecy,
Zech. xii, 10, 12, 'for there was now ' A great mourning, like the
mourning of Hadadrimmon ;' — and each seemed to 'Mourn apart.'
Methought this had a near resemblance to the day of God's power,
mentioned Josh, x, 14, for I must say, I never saw any day like it in
all respects ; it was a day wherein the Lord did much destroy the
kingdom of darkness among this people.
" This concern was most rational and just : those who had been
awakened any considerable time, complained especially of the bad
ness of their hearts; those newly awakened, of the badness of their
lives and actions ; and all were afraid of the anger of God ;.and of ever
lasting misery as the desert of their sins. Some of the white peo
ple, who came out of curiosity to ' Hear what this babbler would say,'
to the poor ignorant Indians, were much awakened, and appeared to
be wounded with a view of their perishing state.
Those who had lately obtained relief, ' were filled with comfort ;
they appeared calm, ami rejoiced in Christ Jesus ; and some of them
took their distressed friends by the hand, telling them of the goodness
of Christ, and the comfort that is to be enjoyed in him, and invited
them to come and give up their hearts to him. And I could observe
some of them, in the most unaffected manner, lifting up their eyes to
heaven, as if crying for mercy, while they saw the distress of the
poor souls around them.
Aug. 9th. " In the afternoon I discoursed to them publicly. There
were now present about seventy persons. I opened and applied the
parable of the sower, and was enabled to discourse with much plain
ness. There were many tears among them while I was discoursing,
but no considerable cry : yet some were much affected with a few
words spoken from Matt, xi, 29, with which I concluded. But while
I was discoursing near night to two or three of the awakened per
sons, a Divine influence seemed to attend what was spoken, which
caused the persons to cry out in anguish of soul, although I spoke not
a word of terror : but, on the contrary, set before them the fulness of
Christ's merits, and his willingness to save all that came to him.
The cry of these was heard by others, who, though scattered be
fore, immediately gathered round. I then proceeded in the same
strain of gospel invitation, till they were all melted into tears and
cries, except two or three ; and seemed in the greatest distress to
find and secure an interest in the great Redeemer. — Some who had
but little more than a ruffle made in their passions the day before,
seemed now to be deeply affected, and the concern in general ap
peared near as prevalent as the day before. There was indeed a
very great mourning among them, and yet every one seemed to mourn
apart. For so great was their concern, that almost every one was
praying and crying for himself, as if none had been near. Guttum-
history, ice. 373
ntaukalummeh guttummaukalummeh, i. e. 'Have mercy upon me, have
mercy upon me ;' was the common cry.
It was very affecting to see the poor Indians, who the other day
were yelling in their idolatrous feasts, now crying to God with such
importunity, for an interest in his dear Son !
Shakers. — The history of these people has, in a summary man
ner, been published by themselves, in an octavo volume entitled
" The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing."
" In the introduction of this work we are informed, that ' a
few of the French prophets came over to England, about the year
1706. A few of the people' who became, it would seem, ulti
mately their followers, at Bolton, and Manchester, in England,
united themselves ' in a Society, under the special ministry of
James and Jane Wardley.' These persons were both tailors by
occupation, and of the sect of Quakers ; ' but, receiving the spirit
of the French prophets, their testimony, according to what they
saw by vision and revelation from God, was, that the second ap
pearing of Christ was at hand ; and that the Church was rising
in her full and transcendant glory, which would effect the final
downfal of Antichrist.' The meetings of these people were held
alternately in Bolton and Manchester, and sometimes in Mayor-
town. The manner of public devotion, practised by them at these
places, was the following : ' Sometimes, after assembling together,
and sitting a while in silent meditation, they were taken with a
mighty trembling, under which they would express the indigna
tion of God against all sin. At other times they were affected,
under the power of God, with a mighty shaking ; and were occa
sionally exercised in singing, shouting, or walking the floor, under
the influence of spiritual signs, shoving each other about, or swiftly
passing and repassing each other, like clouds agitated by a mighty
wind. From these strange exercises the people received the name
of Shakers.
About the year 1770^ We are informed, that 'the present testi
mony of salvation and eternal life was fully opened, according to
the special gift and revelation of God, through Anne Lee ; that
extraordinary woman, Who, at that time, was received by their
society, as their spiritual Mother.' This woman Was born at
Manchester, in England.
About the year 1758 she joined herself to the society of Sha*
kers ; ' and there, by her perfect obedience to all that she was
taught, attained to the full knowledge and experience of those who
stood in the foremost light.' Still, it seems, ' finding in herself
the seeds or remains of human depravity, and a lack of the divine
nature, she was frequently in such extreme agony of soul, that,
clinching her hands together, the blood would flow through the
pores of her skin.' At length, however, she received, by special
33
374 REILGIOUS CUSTOMS,
and immediate revelation from God, the testimony of God against
the whole corruption of man in all.
From ' the fight and power of God which attended her Ministry,
she was received and acknowledged, as the first Mother or spir
itual parent, in the line of the female ; and the second heir in the
Covenant of life, according to the present display of the Gospel.'
This has been her only title, among her followers to the present
day. To such as addressed her by the customary titles, used by
the world, she would reply, ' I am Anne, the Word.' After hav
ing been imprisoned in England, and confined in a mad-house, she
set sail for America, in the spring of 1774, with a number of her
followers ; particularly Abraham Stanley her husband, Wilham
Lee her brother, James Whitaker, and John Hocknell ; and arri
ved at New- York the following August. During the voyage the
ship sprang a leak. When the seamen were nearly wearied out,
Mother and her companions put their hands to the pumps, and
thus prevented the ship from sinking. From this circumstance
plain intimations are given, that their working at the pumps was
something supernatural. Mother remained in New- York, as we
are informed, almost two years. She then went to Albany, and
thence, in the following September, to Nisqueuna. In 1781 she
began a progress through various parts of the country, particu
larly of New-England, which lasted, we are told, about two years
and four months.*
She died at Nisqueuna in 1784. The following, taken from a
poem entitled a ' Memorial to mother Anne,' in a Shakerwork, will
serve to show in what light she is viewed by her followers.
" Let names, and sects and parties, no longer be reVer'd,
Since in the name of mother, salvation hath appeared :
Appointed by kind Heaven the Saviour to reveal,
Her doctrine is confirmed with an eternal seal.
At Manchester, in England, this burning truth began,
When Christ made his appearance in blessed Motner Ann ;
A few at first received it and did their lust forsake,
And soon their testimony brought on a mighty shake.
For Mother's safe protection, good angels flew before,
Towards the land of promise, Columbia's happy shore ;
Hail thou victorious Gospel, and that auspicious day,
When Mother safely landed in North America.
About four years she labor'd with the attentive throng,
While all their sins they open'd and righted ev'ry wrong.
At length she closed her labors and vanish'd out of sight,
And left her faithful children increasing in the light.
How much they aTe mistaken who think that Mother's dead,
When through her ministrations so many souls are fed !
In union with the Father, she is the second Eve,
Dispensing full salvation to all who do believe."
* Dr, Dwight's Travels, 3d. vol.
HISTORY, &C 375
The leading characteristic in the worship of this people, is their
dancing. This they describe as the involuntary result of the exhila
rating and overpowering delight received through the outpouring of
divine grace upon their hearts. The evolutions and changes in the
dance, by constant practice, become as precisely correct as the ma
noeuvres of a regiment of experienced soldiers ; it becomes in fact a
mechanical movement. No one ever makes a mistake, or throws the
rank in disorder from inattention or inexperience ; but every thing is
conducted in the most exact order, as if every step and movement of
the body was directed by a gauge and rule. Dances are sometimes
held in privates houses, when variations are frequently introduced.
On some occasions it is said their movements are so rapid that the eye
can scarce follow or keep pace with their swift motions.
The principal doctrines of the Shakers are a belief in the second
appearance of Christ in the person of the holy mother. They admit
of but two persons in the Godhead, God the Father, and God the
Mother, which they say is according to the order of nature, being
male and female. To redeem the depraved race of man, they be
lieve that it became necessary for God to take upon him the real char
acter of human nature as it is, male and female, and that his first ap
pearance was in the person of man, and the second in the person of
woman, whereby the work of redemption was finished and completed.
The confusion and wickedness that prevailed in the Catholic Church,
during the long period which preceded and followed the reformation,
they ascribe to the work of redemption not being completed in
Christ's first appearance, it being the necessary period that must in
tervene between the making and fulfilment of the promise of Christ,
that he would establish his law of righteousness on earth. They
believe in perfect holiness, and insist that salvation from sin here is
necessary to salvation from misery hereafter. They regard the Bible
as a testimony of Christ's first appearance, but deny that it contains
the word of God, or of life, as they consider a belief in the second
appearance of Christ, or in the spiritual character and mission of the
holy mother, as indispensable to salvation.
Religious State, fyc. of New York. — The following account
of the religious denominations in the province of New York, pre
vious to the Revolutionary war, is taken from Smith's History,
first published in 1767.
" The principal distinctions among us, are the episcopalians, and
the Dutch and English presbyterians ; the two last, together with all
the other protestants in the colony, are sometimes (perhaps here im
properly) called by the general name of dissenters ; and, compared
to them, the episcopalians are, I believe, scarce in the proportion of
one to fifteen. Hence partly arises the general discontent on account
of the ministry acts ; not so much that the provision made by them is
engrossed by the minor sect, as because the body of the people, are
for an equal, universal, toleration of protestants, and utterly averse to
376 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
any kind of ecclesiastical establishment. The dissenters, though
fearless of each other, are all jealous of the episcopal party, being
apprehensive that the countenance they may have from home, will
foment a lust for dominion, and enable them, in process of time, to
subjugate and oppress their fellow subjects. The violent measures of
some of our governours have given an alarm to their fears, and if ever
any other gentleman, who may be honoured with the chief command
of the province, begins to divert himself, by retrenching the privileges
and immunities they now enjoy, the confusion of the province will be
the unavoidable consequence of his folly. For though his majesty
has no other subjects upon whose loyalty he can more firmly depend,
yet an abhorrence of persecution, under any of its appearances, is so
deeply rooted in the people of this plantation ; that as long as they
continue their numbers and interest in the assembly, no attempt will
probably be made upon the rights of conscience, without endangering
the public repose.
All the Low Dutch congregations, in this and the province of New
Jersey, worship after the manner of the reformed church in the Uni
ted Provinces. With respect to government, they are in principle
presbyterians ; but yet hold themselves in subordination to the classis
of Amsterdam, who sometimes permit, and at other times refuse, them
the powers of ordination. Some of their ministers consider such a
subjection as anti-constitutional, and hence, in several of their late
annual conventions, at New York, called the Coetus, some debates
have arisen among them ; the majority being inclined to erect a classis,
or ecclesiastical judicatory, here, for the government of their churches.
Those of their ministers, who are natives of Europe, are, in general,
averse to the project. The expense attending the ordination of their
candidates, in Holland, and the reference of their disputes to the
classis of Amsterdam, is very considerable.
As to the episcopal clergy, they are missionaries of the English
society for propagating the gospel, and ordinarily ordained by the
bishop of London, who, having a commission from the king to exer
cise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, commonly appoints a clergyman here
for his commissary. The ministers are called by the particular
churches, and maintained by the voluntary contribution of their audi
tors and the society's annual allowance, there being no law for tithes.
The English presbyterians are very numerous. Those inhabiting
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the three Delaware coun
ties, are regularly formed, after the manner of the church of Scotland,
into consistories or kirk sessions, presbyteries and synods, and will
probably soon join in erecting a general assembly. The clergy are
ordained by their fellows, and maintained by their respective congre
gations. I except those missionaries among the Indians, whose sub-
sistance is paid by the society in Scotland for propagating Christian
knowledge. None of the presbyterian churches in this province are
incorporated, as is the case of many in New Jersey. Their judica
tories are upon a very proper establishment, for they have no au
thority by legal sanctions to enforce their decrees. Nor indeed is
HISTORY, &C. 377
any religious sect, amongst us, legally invested with powers prejudi
cial to the common privileges of the rest. The dominion of all our
clergy is, as it ought to be, merely spiritual. The episcopalians,
however, sometimes pretend, that the ecclesiastical establishment in
South Britain extends here ; but the whole body of the dissenters are
averse to the doctrine.
The clergy of this province are, in general, but indifferently sup
ported : it is true they live easily, but few of them leave any thing to
their children. The episcopal missionaries, for enlarging the sphere
of their secular business, not many years ago, attempted, by a petition
to the late Governor Clinton, to engross the privilege of solemnizing
all marriages. A great clamor ensued and the attempt was abortive.
Before that time the ceremony was evcnperformed by justices of the
peace, and the judges at law have determined such marriages to be
legal. The Governor's licenses now run to ' all protestant ministers
of the gospel.' "
Jemima Wilkinson. — This founder of a small religious sect,
was born in Cumberland in Rhode Island, about the year 1753,
and was educated among the Friends. Recovering from an appa
rent suspension of life which she experienced when about 23 years
of age, during a fit of sickness, she gave out that she had been
raised from the dead, and claimed to be invested with divine at
tributes and authority to instruct mankind in religion. It is also
said she pretended to foretell future events, to discern the secrets
of the heart, and to have the power of healing diseases ; and if
any person who made application to her, was not healed, she at
tributed it to a want of faith.
She professed to be able to work miracles, and offered to de
monstrate it by walking on the water. Accordingly a frame was
constructed for the purpose on the banks of Seneca Lake, in the
State of New York. At the appointed time, having approached
within a few hundred yards of the lake shore, she alighted from
an elegant carriage, and the road being strewed by her followers
with white handkerchiefs, she walked to the platform, and having
announced her intention of walking across the lake on the water,
she stepped ankle deep into the clear element, when suddenly
pausing, she addressed the multitude ; inquiring whether or not,
they had faith that she could pass over ; for if otherwise, she
could not. On receiving an affirmative answer, she returned to
her carriage, declaring, as they believed in her power, it was un
necessary to display it. Jemima, or the " Universal Friend," as
she was called, was rather illiterate, but of respectable appear
ance, and possessed of a very retentive memory, and had, as it is
said, " the Bible at her tongue's end. ' Her followers emigrated
to Western New York about 1790. Jemima settled on a tract
32*
378
RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
called Jerusalem, near Penn Yan, N. Y. where she died in 1819
a few of her followers still remain.
Matthias in his: Pontifical Robes.
The above is a representation of Robert Mathews, or as he is
usually called, Matthias, as he appeared when brought into the
Police Office in New York. He was covered with an olive cloak
of exceeding fine broadcloth, lined and faced with silk velvet.
Underneath he had a brown frock coat with silver stars on the
breast, he had a rule in his right hand and a two-edged sword in
his left. The cocked hat which he occasionally put on, was a
triangular black beaver, trimmed with green, and the rear angle
was surmounted by the golden symbol of glory. With his two-
edged sword, Matthias said he was to destroy the Gentiles, as
Gideon did the Midianites. With his six feet rule, he was to
measure 4he New Jerusalem and divide it into lots for those who
believed on him, &c.
This religious enthusiast, or impostor, was a native of Wash
ington county, N. Y., and was of Scotch extraction. He was a
carpenter by trade, and worked for a time in that business in the
city of New York.
" What immediate causes operated upon his mind, or what motives induced him to forsake his
Tegular and usual habits, and adopt that eecentrick course which is now notorious, we hare been
unable to ascertain. He commenced his singular publick career at Albany about the year 1830,
where he proclaimed himself " The Prophet of the God of the Jews," and asserted divine power.
It is not probable that he succeeded in making any converts to his doctrines at Albany ; for shortly
after, leaving-a wife and daughter in that city, he came to New York and proclaimed his doctrinea
there. And for the last three years he has been known here as a pretended Jewish preacher, put-
ting forth his sentiments at all times and in all places, and has been once ox twice arrested and
HTSTORY, &C. 379
Imprisoned tor preaching in tho streets, by means of which riotous assemblages were drawn to
gether. He undoubtedly met with little success at first ; but it appears that in tho autumn of
1832 ho had ingratiated himself into the favourof anumbcr of individuals, among whom were
three of the most wealthy and respectable merchants of Pearl street. He represented himself to
them to bo the Spirit of Truth which had disappeared from the earth at the death of Matthias
mentioned in the New Testament ; that the spirit of JesUB Christ entered into that Matthias, whom
he now represented, having arisen again from the dead. lie protended to possess the spirit of
Jesus of Nazareth, and that he now at this second appearance of the spirit, was the Father, and
had power to do all things, forgiving sins, and communicating the Holy Ghost to such as believe
on him. And what was most astonishing and unparalleled, these men who wore before profess
sors of the Christian, religion, were blind enough to believe and confide in all he imposed on them.
So completely did he succeed in deluding these men and in impressing them with the belief that
he was actually a high priest of the order of the mysterious Melchisedek, upon a divine mission to
establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, that he obtained entire control over them, and their
estates." " In August, 1833, two of his friends, and proselytes, Messrs. Pierson and Folger, were residing
at Sing Sing, Westchester Co. Thither about that time Matthias repaired and took up his resi-
denco with Mr. Folger and family. After the lapse of a week, Matthias came to the .conclusion,
that his dwelling place did not correspond with his character, and accordingly suggested to Fol
ger and Pierson that it was their duty to hire him a house which he might consecrate entirely to.
himseif. In this he was accommodated, as it appears without hesitation, and indeed with the ac
knowlodgmont that the request was reasonable. More reasonable and proper however did it soon,
appear to Matthias' mind, that his habitation Bhould not bo subject to worldly interests or infidel
intrusion ; and accordingly presumed to require of his two obedient followers the purchase of a
house to be exclusively his own ! With this request, they agreed to comply. Before it was accom
plished however, Matthias manifested some new attribute of his character, and accompanied tho
revelation by an ellbrt.to make Folger believe that the house in which he then resided at Singj
Sing, and had purchased sometime previous for the use of himself and family, was purchased at
the instigation of the Spirit of Truth, for him, Matthias ; Folger having been the instrument under
the influence of that Spirit for that purpose ! So complete was Matthias' control, that Folger be
lieved even this ! And having resided with Messrs. Folger and Pierson about two months, he took;
this houso thus miraculously purchased into his own especial charge. Matthias then required
these gentlemen to give him an account of their property ; and. having obtained this statement
which exhibited their easy circumstances, he required them both to enter into an agreement to sup
port himy assuring them they should receive the continued blessing of God by so. doing. This)
agreement was accordingly entered into, and Matthias enjoyed the full benefits of it, until the
month of March last, when Mr. Folgor became bankrupt. The wants of this impostor were sup
plied however by Pierson who resided with him at Sing Sing, until August lost, when, Mr. Pierson,
died. This event took place under very suspicious circumstances."
In April, 1835, Matthews was tried for the murder of Mr*
Pierson, but was acquitted by the jury. In Stone's account of
* Matthias and his impostures, the author states " there are various
reasons which compel us to believe that he is labouring under
monomania, partly hereditary and partly superinduced by religious
fanaticism and phrenzy. Still he has not been without ' method
in his madness ;' and it seems clear to the writer, that with a tinge
of insanity, he is also much of a knave, and probably a dupe like
wise in part to his own imposture."
Mormons. — Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was born, it
appears, in Royalton, Vermont, and removed to Manchester, Ontario
county, N. Y., about the year 1820, at an early age, with his parents,
who were in quite humble circumstances. He was occasionally em
ployed as laborer by persons in Palmyra, and was generally consid
ered by them as a lazy, lounging sort of a boy ; his education and
natural abilities rather below mediocrity. Smith and his father were,
according to the testimony of many respectable persons in Pal
myra, persons of doubtful character, addicted to disreputable hab
its, and quite superstitious, believing in the existence of witch
craft, &c. They procured a mineral rod and made a business of dig
ging in various places for money. Smith says, that when digging he
has seen the pot or chest which contained the money, but was never
fortunate enough to get it into his hands. He placed a singular aort
380 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS,
of a stone in his hat, and by the light of it, pretended to make many
wonderful discoveries of gold, silver and other treasures deposited in
the earth. Smith commenced his career as the founder of the new
sect,- when about the age of 18 or 19 years ; he appointed a number
of meetings in Palmyra, for the purpose of declaring the divine reve
lations which he said were made to him. He was not able, however,
to produce any excitement in the village ; hardly any person would
take the trouble to hear him speak. Smith not having the means to
print his revelations, applied to Mr. Crane of the Society of Friends,
and told him that he was moved by the spirit to call upon him for as
sistance. Mr. C. told him to go to work, or he would get into the
States' Prison. Smith had better success with Martin Harris, an
indu'strious and thrifty farmer in Palmyra, who was worth about ten
thousand dollars, who became One of his leading disciples. By the
assistance of Harris, five thousand copies of the Mormon Bible (so
called) were published at an expense of about three thousand dollars.
It is possible that Harris might have advanced this money with the
expectation of making a profitable speculation, as a great sale for the
book was anticipated. This book is a duodecimo volume, containing
550 pages, and is perhaps one of the weakest productions ever
attempted to be palmed off as a divine revelation. The book is mostly
a blind mass of words, interwoven with scriptural language and quota
tions, without much of a leading plan or design. It is, in fact, just
such a book as might be expected from a person of Smith's abilities
and turn of mind. The following is a copy of the title page :
" The Book of Mormon: an account written by the hand of Mormon, upon, plates
taken from the plates of nephi."
" Wherefore it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Laman-
ites ; written to the Lamanites, which are a remnant of the house of Israel, and also to the Jew
and Gentile, written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of Prophesy and Revelation.
Written and sealed up and hid up to the Lord that they may not be destroyed, to come forth by the
gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof, sealed by the hand of Moroni and hid up unto
the Lord to come forth in due time by the way of the Gentile : the interpretation thereof by the
gift of God, an abridgment taken from the book of Ether. Also, which is a Record of the People
of Jared, which were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people when
they were building a tower to get to Heaven, which is to shew unto the remnant of the house of
Israel how great things the Lord hath done unto their fathers, and that they may know the cove
nants of the Lord, and that they are not cast off forever ; and also to the convincing of the Jew and
Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting Himself unto all nations. And
now if there are faults it be the mistake of men, wherefore condemn not the things of God that ye
may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ."
" By Joseph Smith, Junior, Author and Proprietor, Palmyra. Printed by E. B. Grandin, for the
Author, 1830."
At the close of the book is " the testimony of three, witnesses," viz :
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, in which they
state unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, that they have
seen the plates containing the record, and the engravings upon them,
&c. On the last page is contained the testimony of eight witnesses,
of which the following is a copy :
" Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people unto whom this book shall come,
that Joseph Smith, Jr., the Author and Proprietor of this work, hath shewed unto us the plates of
which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold ; and as many of the leaves as the said
Smith has translated we did handle with our hands, and we also saw the engravings thereof, all of
which has the appearance of ancient work and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record,
with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn unto us, for we have seen and hefted
and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. Aud we
HIST0R7, &C. 381
Eire our names unto tho world that which wo have seen and we lie not, God bearing witness of
it. Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whltmer, Peter Whitmor, Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Pago, Joseph
Smith, Senior, Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith."
Smith, in the Preface of the book, states that the plates of which
have been spoken were found " in the township of Manchester, On
tario county, New York." It is stated by persons in Palmyra, that
when Smith exhibited these plates to his followers, they were done
up in a canvas bag, that if they uncovered them, the Almighty would
strike them dead. It is said that no one but Smith could read what
was engraved upon them ; he was enabled to do it by looking through
a peculiar kind of spectacles found buried with the plates. Soon after
the publication of the Mormon Bible, one Parley B. Pratt, a resident
of Lorrain county, Ohio, happening to pass through Palmyra, on the
canal, hearing of the new religion, called on the prophet and was soon
converted. Pratt was intimate with Sidney Rigdon, a very popular
preacher of the denomination called " Reformers" or " Disciples."
About the time of the arrival of Pratt at Manchester, it appears
that the Smiths were fitting out an expedition for the Western country,
under the command of Cowdery, in order to convert the Indians or
Lamanites, as they called them. In October, 1830, this mission, con
sisting of Cowdery, Pratt, Peterson and Whitmer, arrived at Mentor,
Ohio, the residence of Rigdon, well supplied with the new Bibles.
Near this place, in Kirkland, there were a few families belonging to
Rigdon's congregation, who became considerably fanatical and were
daily looking for some wonderful event, to take place in the world.
Seventeen of these persons readily believed in Mormonism and were
all re-immersed, in one night, by Cowdery. By the conversion of
Rigdon, soon after, Mormonism received a powerful impetus, and
more than one hundred converts were speedily added. Rigdon visited
Smith at Palmyra, where he tarried about two months, receiving reve
lations, preaching, &c. He then returned to Kirkland, Ohio, and was
followed a few days after by the prophet Smith and his connections.
Thus from a state of almost beggary, the family of Smith were fur
nished with the " fat of the land" hy their disciples, many of whom
were wealthy. In 1833, the number of Mormons amounted to 1200.
A Mormon temple was erected at an expense of $50,000. They also
set up a bank and commenced mercantile operations ; most of them
removed to Missouri, where many outrages were perpetrated against
them ; they raised an armed force to " drive off the infidels." They
were, however, obliged to leave that State. By the last accounts,
they were establishing themselves at Nauvoo, 111.
382 EVENTS IN
EVENTS IN THE REVOLUTION.
StarHp Act, 6fC-~- The immediate cause of the revolution which
ended in the Independence of the United States, was the attempt
of the British parliament to keep the colonies and all their inter
ests in subjection to those of the mother country. As early as
1750 an act was passed in parliament to prevent the erection of
any mill in the colonies for slitting or rolling iron, or any plating
forge, or furnace for making steel. The purpose of the British
government was to check the growth of manufactures in the colo
nies, and to compel them to export their iron, and import the
manufactures of Great Britain, In 1765, the British parliament
in order to raise a revenue from the colonies, passed the famous
Stamp Act. This act required, that all paper and parchment
used in the transaction of business, should be stamped, for which
a duty should be paid, and all writing on unstamped materials was
declared null and void. When the news of the stamp act reached
America, it excited the indignation of the people^ and a determi
nation to oppose its execution.
In the month of August 1765, " the spirit of opposition broke forth
in tumult and disorder. New modes of expressing resentment against
the stamp-act, and all its abettors, began to display themselves in the
several colonies. They began in Boston, where the inhabitants until
this time had been more orderly and peaceable than in several of the
other colonies. Early in the morning, on the fourteenth of the month,
there appeared on the limb of a large tree in the most public street
toward the entrance of the town, two uncommon effigies : by the la
bels, it appeared that one was designed to represent the stamp master,
the other was a jack-boot, with a head and horns peeping out at the
top. The report of them instantly spread, and great numbers both
from town and country collected to view them. A spirit of enthusi
asm spread almost instantaneously among the multitude. No sooner
was it evening, than the images were cut down and carried in funeral
procession, while the populace shouted, ' Liberty and property for
ever, and no stamps.' They took their route to a new building of
Mr. Oliver's, which they imagined he had erected for a stamp office.
This they soon demolished. Hence they proceeded to his dwelling
house in the front of which they beheaded his effigy, and broke his
windows. After burning his effigy, on Fort Hill, they returned to his
house, broke into the lower part of it, destroyed his furniture, and did
further injuries to it.
About twelve days after, the tumult and outrage became far more enormous and alarm
ing. A numerous mob attacked the house of Mr. William Storer, deputy register of tho
court of Admiralty, and after breaking his windows, forced into his dwelling house, <1»
THE REVOLUTION. 383
stroyed the books and files belonging to said court, and ruined the principal part of his
furniture. Thence they proceeded to the house of Mr. Benjamin Hallowell, comptroller
of the customs for Boston, and besides committing similar excesses, they drank and de-
itroyed the liquors in his cellars, robbed him of wearing apparel, and of more than thirty
pounds sterling in money. Many by this time were heated with liquor, and the number
of the mob was greatly increased ; it became therefore more riotous and prepared for
every mischief. These madmen determined now to wreak their vengeance on Mr. Hutch
inson, the lieutenant-governor of the province. After all his efforts to save himself, he
was driven with his family from his house, and the rioters carried off all his plate, family
pictures, household furniture of all kinds, his own, his children's and servant's wearing
apparel, and robbed him of above nine hundred pounds sterling. The house was so de
stroyed that nothing but the bare walls and floors remained. The mob scattered and de
stroyed all his manuscripts and other papers, which he had been collecting for more than
thirty years. Many public papers, which were in his custody, shared the same fate.
The damage was irreparable, not only to him, but to the public. Never had there before
been such an outrage in. New-England. The town of Boston condemned the whole pro
ceeding, and all sober people viewed it with grief and abhorrence. A small number of
the lowest of the mob were taken up and committed, but they broke jail, or otherwise es
caped all punishment.
These lawless proceedings were not confined to Boston. The
very next day similar outrages were committed at Newport in Rhode-
Island. The people exhibited three effigies, representing Messieurs
Howard, Moffatt, and Johnson, in a cart with halters about their necks :
after hanging them for some time, they cut them down and burnt
them amidst the shouts of thousands of the inhabitants. The day
following, the inhabitants collected at the house of Martin Howard,
an attorney, who had been writing in defence of the right of parlia
ment to tax the colonies, and destroyed every thing in it, and left the
house but a mere shell. They then made a similar visit to Dr. Mof-
fatt's, who had been a warm supporter of the parliamentary rights.
The Doctor not only lost his property, but was obliged to make his
escape . on board a ship of war. Johnson made his peace with the
people by a resignation of his office.
In Connecticut no such violences were committed. Mr. Ingersoll
was burnt in effigy in several towns in the month of August, and on
the 19th of September a large body of people, to the amount of a
thousand, assembled, and overtaking Mr. Ingersoll on the road
to Hartford, whither he was going to meet the assembly of the
colony, they obliged him publicly to resign his office of distributor of
stamps, in the Great-street, at Wethersfield, and to give ' liberty and
property' with three cheers. This was followed with the loud accla
mations of the people. A man then took him by the hand and told
him he was now restored to their former friendship. The people
were all undisguised and well dressed, headed by officers of the mi
litia, in scarlet, with laced hats. They had marched, some twenty
atod some thirty miles, in three divisions, through the country in the
most orderly manner, and made a junction at Wethersfield. From
Wethersfield they proceeded to Hartford, where the general assembly
was sitting ; ' and forming four abreast, preceded by three trumpeters
sounding, they rnarched round the court-house. Then forming in a
semi-circle, at the door of an adjoining tavern, they caused Mr. In*
gersoll to read his resignation within the hearing of the assembly.
This was succeeded with ' liberty and property,' and three cheers. The
384 EVENTS IN
people then in the most quiet and peaceable manner, retired to their
respective towns and habitations. Though they were assembled
nearly three days, in such numbers, on this business, and marched
through such a tract of country, yet no man was injured in his person
or property.
The governor had met some of the heads of the people, on his way
to Hartford, and said whatever he thought proper to one of them, to
dissuade him from his purpose, representing to him the danger of the
measures the people were pursuing, and charging him to go and tell
them to return. He assured the governor, that he considered the af
fair as the cause of the people, and that it was their determination
not to take directions respecting it from any man. The members of
the assembly were generally as warmly opposed to the proceedings
of parliament, as the people ; and they so well knew the state of the
public mind, that they judged it expedient to take no notice of the
transaction. In New- York, as the stamp officer had been induced to resign,
Lieutenant-Governor Colden had deposited the stamp papers in Fort
George. The people, disliking his political sentiments, and his thus
securing the papers, on the first of November, the .day the stamp-act
was to take place, broke open his stable, took out his coach, and car
ried it in triumph through the principal streets, to the gallows. On
one end of it they suspended the effigy of the Lieutenant-Governor,
bearing in his right hand a stamped bill of lading, and in his left, a
figure of the devil. After parading, for some time, the apparatus was
conveyed to the gate of the fort, and thence to the bowling-green,
under the muzzles of the guns ; they there burned the coach and
whole apparatus. Thence they went to the house of Major James, a
known friend to the stamp-act, which they stripped of a good library
and of every other valuable article, destroyed his garden, and finished
their riot with another bonfire.
The next evening they assembled again, and obliged the Lieuten
ant-Governor to deliver the stamped papers to the corporation, and de
posit them in the city hall. The same excesses were not practised
in the more southern colonies ; but means were every where adopted
to make the stamp officers resign. Some of them Were obstinate, and
held out long, but they were ultimately obliged to submit to the requi
sitions of the people. They did not judge the cause worth dying for,
and they saw no other alternative, but to resign or die.*
' As the first of November, the time when the stamp-act was to com
mence its operation, approached, every art was used to prevent it, and
to render the act odious and contemptible among the people. Ten
boxes of stamped paper, sent for the use of Connecticut, were seized by
* The following persons were appointed distributors of Stamps in nine of the
states, viz : — George Meserve, Esq. New-Hampshire — Andrew Oliver, Esq. Massa
chusetts — Augustus Johnson, Esq. Rhode Island — Jared Ingersoll, Esq. Connecti
cut : McEvers, Esq. New-York — William Coxe, Esq. New-Jersey — John
Hughes, Esq. Pennsylvania— Zachariah Hood> Esq. Maryland— Colonel Mercer,
Virginia.
THE REVOLUTION. 385
the populace at New- York and burned. The masters of ships who
brought over the stamped papers, unless defended by some man of war,
were obliged either to depart with their execrated cargoes, or to deliver
them into the hands of the enraged people, to save themselves from in
sult and violence.
At Boston, and other places, the first of November was ushered in
by the shutting up of shops and stores, and by a funeral tolling of the
bells. The effigies of the planners and abettors of the stamp-act
were carried in procession through the public streets in public con
tempt, and were then torn in pieces and committed to the flames.
The general abhorrence of the stamp-act was demonstrated in simi
lar, and in a great variety of ways, in different towns and cities. The
proceedings were generally conducted with great decorum. They
had not their origin in the lowest of the people, but were planned by
men of character and general influence. Knowing how much more
the great body of the people are led by their senses, than their rea
son, they excited and countenanced these public exhibitions with a
view of making the stamp-act, and all its contrivers and supporters,
as contemptible and odious as possible."
To give system and efficacy to the opposition to the stamp-act,
Massachusetts proposed a meeting of deputies from the several
colonies, to be held at New- York, in October 1765. This body,
consisting of deputies from nine of the Colonies, ' agreed on a
declaration of their rights and grievances, asserted their exemp
tion from taxes not imposed by their own representatives ; and
sent a petition to the king, with a memorial to both houses
of parliament. This spirited opposition, seconded by the ener
getic eloquence of Mr. Pitt, and other friends of America, pro
duced a repeal of the stamp law, on the 18th of March, 1766.
The news of this event was received in America with bonfires,
ringing of bells, and other unusual demonstrations of joy.
Boston Massacre in 1770 — The British ministry still persist
ing in their design to raise a revenue from the colonies, laid a
duty on glass, painters colors, paper, and tea imported into the
colonies. To enforce these obnoxious acts of parliament, and to ¦
overawe the inhabitants, four regiments of troops were sent over
in 1768 and stationed at Boston. To a free and high spirited
people, the presence of an insolent military force was provoking ;
and it was hardly possible that harmony could long subsist be
tween the inhabitants and the British troops.
" On the second of March, 1770, a fray took place in Boston, near
Mr. Gray's rope walk, between a private soldier of the 29th regiment,
and an inhabitant. The former was supported by his comrades, the
latter by the rope-makers, till several, on both sides, were involved in
the consequences. On the fifth a more dreadful scene was presented.
The soldiers, when under arms, were pressed upon, insulted and
33
386 EVENTS IN
pelted by a mob armed with clubs, sticks, and snow balls covering
stones. They were also dared to fire. In this situation, one of the
soldiers, who had received a blow, in resentment fired at the sup
posed aggressor. This was followed by a single discharge from six
others. Three of the inhabitants were killed, and five were danger
ously wounded. The town was immediately in commotion. Such
was the temper, force, and number of the inhabitants, that nothing
but an engagement to remove the troops out of the town, together
with the advice of moderate men, prevented the townsmen from fall
ing on the soldiers. The killed were buried in one vault, and in a
most respectful manner, in order to express the indignation of the
inhabitants at the slaughter of their brethren, by soldiers quartered
among them, in violation of their civil liberties. Captain Preston
who commanded the party which fired on the inhabitants, was com
mitted to jail, and afterwards tried. The captain, and six of the men,
were acquitted. Two were brought in guilty of manslaughter. It
appeared, on the trial, that the soldiers were abused, insulted, threat
ened and pelted, before they fired. It was also proved, that only
seven guns were fired by the eight prisoners. These circumstances
induced the jury to make a favorable verdict. The result of the trial
reflected great honour on John Adams, (the late President of the
United States) and Josiah Quincy, Esqrs. the counsel for the prison
ers ; and also on the integrity of the jury, who ventured to give an
upright verdict, in defiance of popular opinions.
The people, not dismayed by the blood of their neighbors thus
wantonly shed, determined no longer to submit to the insolence of
military power. Col. Dalrymple, who commanded in Boston, was
informed the day after the riot in King-Street, ' that he must with
draw his troops from the town within a limited term, or hazard the
consequences.' The inhabitants of the town assembled in Faneuil Hall, where the
subject was1 discussed with becoming spirit, and the people unani
mously resolved that no armed force should be suffered longer to re
side in the capital ; that if the king's troops were not immediately
withdrawn by their own officers, the governor should be requested to
give orders for their removal, and thereby prevent the necessity of
more rigorous steps. A committee from the body was deputed to
wait on the governor, and request him to exert that authority which
the exigencies of the times required from the supreme magistrate.
Mr. Samuel Adams, the chairman of the committee, with a pathos
and address peculiar to himself, exposed the illegality of quartering
troops in the town in the midst of peace ; he urged the apprehensions
of the people, and the fatal consequences that might ensue if their
removal was delayed.
But no arguments could prevail on Mr. Hutchinson ; who either
from timidity, or some more censurable cause, evaded acting at all in
the business, and grounded his refusal on a pretended want of author
ity. After which, Col. Dalrymple, wishing to compromise the matter,
consented that the twenty-ninth regiment, more culpable than any
THE REVOLUTION.
387
Boston Massacre, 1770.
[The above is a reduced copy of a print engraved and published by Mr. Paul
Revere of Boston in 1770. This scene took place near the head 'of King (now
State) street in front of the Town House, which appears in the back ground.
The names of those who were killed on the spot, were Samuel Gray, James Cald
well and Crispus Attucks a colored person. Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr,
were mortally wounded ; Maverick died the next morning, and Can: on the Wednes
day of the next week.]
other in the rate tumult, should be sent to Castle Island. This con
cession was by no means satisfactory ; the people, inflexible in their
demands, insisted that not one British soldier should be left within
the town ; their requisition was reluctantly complied with, and with
in four days the whole army decamped.
The circumstances and probable consequences of the tragical af
fair just related, sunk deep into the minds of the people, and were
turned to the advantage of their cause. Its anniversary, for many
years, was observed with great solemnity, and the most eloquent ora
tors were successively employed to deliver an annual oration to pre
serve the remembrance of it fresh in their minds. On these occa
sions the blessings of liberty-^the horrors of slavery — the dangers
388 EVENTS OF
of a standing army — the rights of the colonies, and a variety of such
topics, were represented to the public view under their most pleasing
and alarming forms. These annual orations administered fuel to the
fire of liberty, and kept it burning with an incessant flame.
Destruction of Tea at Boston, in 1773. — In 1770, owing to
the petitions and remonstrances of the colonies, the duties on all
the commodities imported in America were taken off, except the
duty on tea ; this the British government determined to enforce
in order to maintain the right of raising a revenue from the colo
nies. Finding it difficult to effect their purposes by constraint,
they attempted to do it by policy.
" The measures of the colonists had already produced such
diminutions of exports from Great Britain, that the ware-houses
of the East India company contained about seventeen millions
of pounds of tea, for which a market could not readily be pro
cured. The unwillingness of that company to lose their com
mercial profits, and of the ministry to lose the expected revenue
from the sale of the tea in America, led to a compromise for the
security of both. The East India company were authorised by
law to export their tea, free of duties, to all places whatever ; by
which regulation tea, though loaded with an exceptionable duty,
would come cheaper to America, than before it had been made a
source of revenue. The crisis now approached, when the colo-
riies were to decide, whether they would submit to be taxed by
the British parliament, or practically support their own principles,
and meet the consequences. One sentiment appears to have per
vaded the entire continent. The new ministerial plan was uni
versally considered as a direct attack on the liberties of the colo
nists, which it was the duty of all to oppose. A violent ferment
was every where excited ; the corresponding committees were
extremely active ; and it was very generally declared, that who
ever should, directly or indirectly, countenance this dangerous
invasion of their rights, is an enemy to his country. The East
India company, confident of finding a market for their tea, re
duced as it now was in its price, freighted several ships to the
colonies with that article, and appointed agents for the disposal of
it. Some cargoes were sent to New York ; some, to Philadel
phia ; some, to Charlestown (South Carolina) ; and some, to
Boston. The inhabitants of New York and Philadelphia sent the
ships back to London. The inhabitants of Charlestown unloaded
the tea, and stored it in cellars.* The inhabitants of Boston, hav
ing tried every measure to send back the ships, but without suc
cess, a number of persons, diguised like Indians, boarded them,
and threw the tea into the dock.t
* "Where it could not be used, and where it finally perished."
i Gordon, i. Lett. vii. Marshall, ii. chap. iii. Pres. Adams, Lett. i. Ramsay, S. Car.
THE REVOLUTION. 389
It is said that there was 342 chests of tea destroyed, and the
number of persons engaged in its destruction, disguised as In
dians, was about seventy-five. The following circumstantial ac
count is from a recent publication, entitled "The Boston Tea
Party," the particulars of which were derived from Mr. Hewes,
an actor in the scene.
" The tea destroyed was contained in three ships, laying near each
other, at what was called at that time Griffin's wharf, and were sur
rounded by armed ships of war ; the commanders of which had pub
licly declared, that if the rebels, as they were pleased to style the
Uostonians, should not withdraw their opposition to the landing of the
tea before a certain day, the 17th day of December, 1773, they should
on that day force it on shore, under the cover of their cannon's mouth.
On the day preceding the seventeenth, there was a meeting of the
citizens of the county of Suffolk, convened at one of the churches in
Boston, for the purpose of consulting on what measures might be con
sidered expedient to prevent the landing Of the tea; or secure the peo
ple from the collection of the duty. At that meeting a committee was
appointed to wait on Governor Hutchinson, and request him to inform
them whether he would take any measures to satisfy the people on
the object of the meeting. To the first application of this committee,
the governor told them he would give them a definite answer by five
o'clock in the afternoon. At the hour appointed, the committee again
repaired to the governor's house, and on inquiry found he had gone
to his country seat at Milton, a distance of about six miles. When
the committee returned and informed the meeting of the absence of
the governor, there was a, confused murmur among the members, and
the meeting was immediately dissolved, many of them crying out, Let
every man do his duty, and be true to his country ; and there was a
general huzza for Griffin's wharf. It was now evening, and I imme
diately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a
small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk,
with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands With
coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf,
where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared
in the street, after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were
dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me, and
marched in order to the place of our destination. When we arrived
at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority
to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divi
ded us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships
which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who
commanded the division to which I was assigned, was Leonard Pitt.
The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were imme
diately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships
i. 15, 16. Coll. Hist. Soe. ii. 45. There were about 17 persons, who boarded the
ships ; and they emptied 342 chests of tea.
33*
390 EVENTS IN
at the same time, which we' promptly obeyed. The commander of
the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the
ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain
and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I
made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and
delivered the articles ; but requested me at the same time to do no
damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our com
mander to open the hatches, and take out all the chests of tea and
throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his
orders ; first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so
as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water. In about
three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and
thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship ; while those
in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the
sametime. Wewere surroundedbyBritisharmedships,butnoattempt
was made to resist us. We then quietly retired to our several places
of residence, without having any conversation with each other, or
taking any measures to discover who were our associates ; nor do I
recollect of our having had the knowledge of the name of a single
individual concerned in that affair, except that of Leonard Pitt, the
commander of my division, who I have mentioned. There appeared
to be an understanding that each individual should volunteer his ser
vices, keep his own secret, and risk the consequences for himself.
No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at
that time, that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for
many months.
During the time we Were throwing the tea overboard, there were
several attempts made by some of the citizens of Boston and its
vicinity, to carry off small quantities of it for their family use. To
effect that object, they would watch their opportunity to snatch up a
handful from the deck, where it became plentifully scattered, and put
it into their pockets. One Captain O'Conner, whom I well knew,
came on board for that purpose, and when he supposed he was not
noticed, filled his pockets, and also the lining of his coat. But I had
detected him, and gave information to the captain of what he was
doing. We were orderded to take him into custody, and just as he
was stepping from the vessel, I seized him by the skirt of his coat,
and in attempting to pull him back, I tore it off; but springing for
ward, by a rapid effort, he made his escape. He had however to run
a gauntlet through the crowd upon the wharf ; each one, as he passed,
giving him a kick or a stroke.
The next day we nailed the skirt of his coat, which I had pulled
off, to the whipping post in Charlestown, the place of his residence,
with a label upon it, commemorative of the occasion which had thus
subjected the proprietor to the popular indignation.
Another attempt was made to save a little tea from the ruins of the
cargo, by a tall aged man, who wore a large cocked hat and white
wig, which was fashionable at that time. He had slightly slipped a
little into his pocket, but being detected, they seized him, and taking
THE REVOLUTION. 391
his hat and wig from his head, threw them, together with the tea, of
which they had emptied his pockets, into the water. In considera
tion of his advanced age, he was permitted to escape, with now and
then a slight kick.
The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was
discovered that very considerable quantities of it was floating upon
the surface of the water ; and to prevent the possibility of any of its
being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors
and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever
the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles, so
thoroughly drenched it, as to render its entire destruction inevitable."
Boston Port Bill, Provincial Assembly, fyc. — " Intelligence of
the destruction of the tea at Boston was communicated, March
7th, [1774] in a message from the throne to both houses of par
liament. In this communication, the conduct of the colonists was
represented, as not merely obstructing the commerce of Great
Britain, but as subversive of the British constitution. Although
the papers, accompanying the royal message, rendered it evident,
that the opposition to the sale of the lea was common to all the
colonies ; yet the parliament, enraged at the violence of Boston,
selected that town as the object of legislative vengeance. With
out giving the opportunity of a hearing, a bill was passed, by
which the port of Boston was legally precluded from the privilege
of landing and discharging, or of lading and shipping goods,wares
and merchandise. This act, which shut up the harbor of Boston,
was speedily followed by another, entitled, An act for the better
regulating the government of Massachusetts. The object of this
act was to alter the charter of the province, so as essentially to
abridge the liberties of the people.* In the apprehension that, in
the execution of these acts, riots would take place, and that trials
or murders committed in suppressing them, would be partially
decided by the colonists .; it was provided by law, that if any per- .
son were indicted for murder, or for any capital offence, commit
ted in aiding magistracy, the governor might send the person, so
indicted, to another colony, or to Great Britain, to be tried. These
* The object of this act was to make the following alterations in the charter of
the province. The council, heretofore elected by the general court, was to be ap
pointed by the crown ; the royal governor was invested with the power of appointing
and removing all judges of the inferior courts of common pleas, commissioners of
oyer and terminer, the attorney general, provost martial, justices, sheriffs, dec; town
meetings, which we're sanctioned by the charter, were, with few exceptions, expressly
forbidden, without leave previously obtained of the governor or lieutenant governor
in writing, expressing the special business of said meeting, and as a farther restric
tion, that no matter should be treated of at these meetings, excepting the election of
public officers, and the business expressed in the governor's permission ; jurymen,
who had been elected before by the freeholders and inhabitants of the several towns,
were to be all summoned and returned by the sheriffs of the respective counties ; the
whole executive government was taken out of the hands of the people, and the nomi
nation of all important officers invested in the king, or his governor.
392
EVENTS IN
three acts were passed in such quick succession, as to produce
the most inflammatory effects in America, where they were con
sidered as forming a complete system of tyranny. 'By the first,'
said the colonists, ' the property of unoffending thousands is arbi
trarily taken away, for the act of a few individuals ; by the second,
our chartered liberties are annihilated ; and by the third, our lives
may be destroyed with impunity.'
General Gage, the commander-in-chief of the royal forces in
North America, arrived at Boston, May 13th, with the commis
sion of Governor of Massachusetts. At the moment of his arri
val, the people were in great agitation at the news of the Port Bill ;
notwithstanding which, the General was received with respect,
and treated with politeness. Shortly after, two regiments with
artillery and military stores arrived, indicating the determination
of the British government to reduce the colonies to submission by
force of arms.
On the day designated by the port act, business was finished at
Boston at twelve o'clock, at noon ; and the harbor shut up against all
vessels. The day was devoutly kept at Williamsburg, in Virginia,
as a day of fasting and humiliation. In Philadelphia it was solemn
ized with every manifestation of public grief; the inhabitants shut up
their houses ; and, after divine service, " a stillness reigned over the
city, which exhibited an appearance of the deepest distress." In
other places it was observed as a day of mourning.
The inhabitants of Boston, distinguished for politeness and hospi
tality, no less than for industry and opulence, were sentenced, on the
short notice of twenty days, to a deprivation of the means of sub
sistence. The rents of landholders ceased, or were greatly dimin
ished. The immense property in stores and wharves was rendered
in a great measure useless. Laborers and artificers, and many others,
employed in the numerous occupations, created by an extensive trade,
shared the general calamity. Those of the people, who depended on
a regular income, and those who earned their subsistence by daily
labor, were equally deprived of the means of support. Animated,
however, by the spirit of freedom, they sustained their sufferings with
inflexible fortitude. These sufferings were soon mitigated by the
sympathy, and relieved by the charity of the other colonists. Con
tributions were every where raised for their relief. Corporate bodies,
town meetings, and provincial conventions, sent them letters and ad
dresses, applauding their conduct, and exhorting them to perseverance.
The inhabitants of Marblehead generously offered the Boston mer
chants the use of their harbor, wharves, warehouses, and their per
sonal attendance on the lading or unlading of their goods, free of all
expense. The inhabitants of Salem concluded an address to Gov
ernor Gage, in a manner that reflected great honor on their virtue
and patriotism. " By shutting up the port of Boston, some imagine
that the course of trade might be turned hither, and to our benefit ;
but nature, in the formation of our harbor, forbids our becoming rivals
THE REVOLUTION. 393
in commerce with that convenient mart ; and were it otherwise, we
must be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity,
could we indulge one thought to seize on wealth, and raise our for- •
tunes on the ruins of our suffering neighbors.
Governor Gage had issued writs for the holding of a general as
sembly at Salem on the fifth of October ; but afterward judged it ex
pedient to counteract the writs by a proclamation for suspending the
meeting of the members returned. The legality of the proclamation
however was questioned ; and the new members, to the number of
ninety, meeting according to the precept, and, neither the governor
nor any substitute attending, they resolved themselves into a provin
cial congress, and soon adjourned to Concord. They there chose
Mr. John Hancock president ; and appointed a committee to wait on
the governor with a remonstrance, concluding with an earnest request,
that he would desist from the construction of the fortress at the en
trance into Boston, " and restore that pass to its neutral state." The
governor expressed himself indignantly at their supposition of danger
from English troops to any, excepting enemies ; and warned them to
desist from their illegal proceedings. Without regarding his admo
nition, they adjourned to Cambridge ; and, when re-assembled, they
appointed a committee to draw up a plan for the immediate defence of
the province ; resolved to enlist a number of the inhabitants, to be in
readiness to turn out at a minute's warning ; elected three general
officers* to command those minute men and the militia, in case of
their being called out to action ; and appointed a committee of safety,
and a committee of supplies. The same congress, meeting again in
November, resolved to get in readiness twelve thousand men, to act
On any emergency ; and that a fourth part of the militia should be en
listed, as minute men, and receive pay ; appointed two additional
general officers ; f and sent persons to New Hampshire, Rhode Island
and Connecticut, to inform those colonies of its measures, and to re
quest their co-operation in making up an army of twenty thousand
men. A committee was appointed to correspond with the inhabitants
of Canada ; and a circular letter was addressed to the several minis
ters in the province, requesting their assistance in averting the threat
ened slavery.!;
Toward the close of the year, a proclamation, that had been issued
by the king, prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Great
Britain, reached America. The people of Rhode Island no sooner
* Hon. Jedidiah Prebble, Hon. Artemas Ward, and Col. Pomeroy.
t Col. Thomas, and Col. Heath.
t The form of the letter was as follows : " Rev. Sir, We cannot but acknowledge
the goodness of heaven, in constantly supplying us with preachers of the gospel,
whose concern has been the temporal and spiritual happiness of this people. In a
day like this, when all the friends of civil and religious liberty are exerting them
selves to deliver this country from its present calamities, we cannot but place great
hope in an order of men, who have ever distinguished themselves in their country's
cause, and do therefore recommend to the ministers of the gospel, in the several
towns and other places in this colony, that they assist us in avoiding that dreadful
slavery, with which we are now threatened."
394 ... EVENTS IN
;' *¦¦ **' ' ':-
'.-ft1 .^* It'—'v .
received atf 'afcwhmV.of it, than they moved from the public battery
about forty nj.eces«r>f /cannon ; and the assembly of the colony passed
resolutions for obtahsing arms and military stores, and for raising and
arming the.irehaM'tarits. In New Hampshire, four hundred men as
sailed his Hiajes^'s castle at Portsmouth ; stormed it ; and confined
the garrison, till they had broken open the powder-house, and taken
away the powder.* — Holmes' Annals.
Action at Lexington and Concord. — " A considerable quantity
of military Stores having been deposited at Concord, an inland
town about eighteen miles from Boston, General Gage purposed
to destroy them. For the execution of this design, he, on the
night preceding the nineteenth of April, detached lieutenant colo
nel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with eight hundred grenadiers and
light infantry ; who at eleven o'clock embarked in boats at the
bottom of the common in Boston, crossed the river Charles, and,
landing at Phipps' farm in Cambridge, commenced a silent and
expeditious march for Concorde Although several British offi
cers, who dined at Cambridge the preceding day, had taken the
precaution to disperse themselves along the road leading to Con
cord, to intercept any expresses that might be sent from Boston
to alarm the country ; yet messengers,! who had been sent from
town for that purpose, had eluded the British patrols, and given
an alarm, which was rapidly spread by church bells, signal guns,
and vollies. On the arrival of the British troops at Lexington,
toward five in the morning, about seventy men, belonging to the
minute company of that town, were found on the parade, under
arms. Major Pitcairn, who led the van, galloping up to them,
called out, ' Disperse, disperse, you rebels ; throw down your
arms, and disperse.' The sturdy yeomanry not instantly obeying
the order, he advanced nearer ; fired his pistol ; flourished his
sword, and ordered his soldiers to fire. A discharge of arms from
the British troops, with a huzza, immediately succeeded ; several
of the provincials fell; and the rest dispersed. The firing con
tinued after the dispersion, and the fugitives stopped and returned
the fire. Eight Americans were killed ; X three or four of them
* Ramsay Americ. Revol. vol. i. ch. v ; and S. Car. i. 16 — 23. Gordon, vol. L.
Lett. viii. ix, a. History of the Dispute with America, from its origin in 1754,
Having seen in Bibliotheca Americana this title of a work, which was there ascribed
to Mr. John Adams, I made inquiry of the late President of the United States, and
ascertained that he was the author of it. That history was first printed in the Boston
Gazette. It is the first article inserted in trie first volume of Almon's Remembran
cer. See also Adams' Letters, Lett. i. Marshall, ii. 152 — 189. Adams' New
England, chap, xxiii, xxiv.
t These messengers were sent to Lexington, a town 6 miles below Concord, by
Dr. Warren, who received notice of the intended expedition just before the embar
kation of the troops.
t Robert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Caleb
Harrington, Isaac Muzzy, and John Brown, o'f Lexingtbn, and Azael Porter, of Wo-
THE BRITISH TROOPS FIRING ON THE AMERICANS AT LEXINGTON.
Copied from a drawing made by Mr. Earle, on the spot, a few days after the Americans were killed. — Lexington Meeting House and some other
buildings are seen in the background.
THE REVOLUTION.
397
by the first fire of the British : the others, after they had left the
parade. Several were also wounded.
The British detachment proceeded to Concord. The inhab
itants of that town, having received the alarm, drew up in order
for defence ; but, observing the number of the regulars to be too
great for them to encounter, they retired over the north bridge at
some distance beyond the town, and waited for reinforcements.
A party of British light infantry followed them, and took pos
session of the bridge, while the main body entered the town, and
proceeded to execute their commission. They disabled two
twenty four pounders ; threw five hundred pounds of ball into the
river and wells; and broke in pieces about sixty barrels of flour.
The militia being reinforced, Major Buttrick, of Concord, who
had gallantly offered to command them, advanced toward the
bridge ; but, not knowing the transaction at Lexington, ordered
the men not to give the first fire, that the provincials might not
be the aggressors."
Engagement at the North Bridge, at Concord.
[The above cut is drawn from a large engraving, published in 1775, by Mr. Doo-
little, of New Haven, Conn., entitled "The Engagement at the North, Bridge, at
Concord." This engraving represents what may be considered the first regular con
flict of the Revolution.]
" The Americans commenced their march in double file. The
British observing their motions, hastily formed on the east side of the
river. When the Americans passed the angle near the river, the
British began to take up the planks of the bridge ; against which
Major Buttrick remonstrated in an elevated voice, and ordered a
burn. A handsome monument has been erected to their memory, on the green
where the first of them fell.
34
398 EVENTS IN
quicker step of his soldiers. On this the British desisted from in
jury to the bridge, convinced, no doubt, that the Americans were de
termined and able to pass the bridge. At that moment two or three
guns, in quick succession, were tired into the river on the right of the
Americans, who considered them as alarm guns, and not aimed at
them. In a minute or two, the Americans being in quick motion, and
within ten or fifteen rods of the bridge, a single gun was fired by a
British soldier, which marked its way, passing under Col. Robinson's
arm, slightly wounding the side of Luther Blanchard, a fifer in the
Acton company. This gun was instantly followed by a volley, which
killed Captain Davis and Mr. Hosmer, both of the same company.
On seeing this, as quickly as possible, Major Buttrick leaped from
the ground, and partly turning to his men, exclaimed, " Fire, fellow-
soldiers, for God's sake, fire." Mr. Tilly Buttrick, a respectable man
now living, stood near the Major, and is positive that he distinctly
heard the words and saw the motions of the speaker. He was in
front of Captain Brown's company. No sooner were the words ut
tered, than the word fire ran like electricity through the whole line of
the Americans, extending to the high land from whence they had
marched ; and for a few .seconds, the word fire, fire, was heard from
hundreds of mouths. The order of Major Buttrick was instantly
obeyed. Two of the British were killed and several wounded. The
firing on each side lasted but a minute or two. The British immedi
ately retreated. When the Americans had fired, most of the forward
companies leaped over a wall on the left and fired from behind it.
Military order and regularity of proceeding were soon after broken
up. A part of the Americans rushed over the bridge, and pursued
the British till they saw a large reinforcement advancing, when they
turned to the left, and ascended a hill east of the main road ; and a
part returned to the high ground, conveying and taking care of the
dead."* Soon after the firing at the bridge, the whole British detach
ment at Concord commenced their retreat. " All the people from
the adjacent country were by this lime in arms ; and they at
tacked the retreating troops in every direction. Some fired from
behind stone walls and other coverts ; others pressed on their
rear ; and, thus harrassed, they made good their retreat six miles
back to Lexington. Here they were joined by lord Piercy, who,
most opportunely for them, had arrived with a detachment of nine
hundred men and two pieces of cannon.f The enemy, now
* In the engraving the British troops are seen on the right. On this spot a large
granite monument has been recently erected, on which is the following inscription :
"Here, on the 19th of April, 1775, was made the first forcible resistance to British
aggression. On the opposite bank stood the American militia. Here stood the in
vading army, and on this spot the first of the enemy fell in the war of the Revolu
tion, which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and in
the love of Freedom, this monument was erected, A. D. 1836."
t Lord Piercy formed his detachment into a square, in which he inclosed Colonel
Smith's party, " who were so much exhausted with fatigue, that they were obliged to
THE REVOLUTION. 399
amounting to about eighteen hundred men, having halted an hour
or two at Lexington, recommenced their march ; but the attack
from the provincials was renewed at the same time ; and an ir
regular yet very galling fire was kept up on each flank, as well as
in the front and rear. The close firing from hehind stone walls by
good marksmen put them in no small confusion ; but they kept
up a brisk retreating fire on the militia and minute men. A little
after sunset, the regulars reached Bunker's hill, where, exhausted
with excessive fatigue, they remained during the night, under the
protection of the Somerset man of war ; and the next morning
went into Boston."
In this expedition the British loss was 65 killed, 180 wounded,
and 28 missing ; total 273. The American loss was 50 killed, 34
wounded, and 4 missing ; .total 88.
Surprisal of Ticonderoga. — Soon after the bloodshed at Lex
ington, it was readily perceived that if the controversy with the
parent state were to be decided by the sword, the possession of
Ticonderoga and Crown Point would be of essential importance
to the security of the colonies.
" The first steps for this object seem to have been taken by some
gentlemen in Connecticut ; and Messrs. Deane, Wooster, Parsons,
and others engaged in the affair. The success depended on the se
cresy with which the affair could be managed. Their first object
was to obtain % sum of money to bear the necessary expenses. They
procured this to the amount of about eighteen hundred dollars, from
the general assembly of Connecticut, by way of loan. Several of the
militia captains pushed forward to Salisbury, the northwestern town
in that colony ; and after a little consultation concluded not to spend
any time in raising men, but to procure a quantity of powder and ball,
and set off immediately for Bennington, and engage Ethan Allen in
the business. With his usual spirit of activity and enterprise, Allen
undertook the management of the scheme ; and set off to the north
ward, to raise and collect all the men that he could find. The Con
necticut gentlemen having procured a small quantity of provisions,
went on to Castleton ; and were there joined by Allen, with the men
that he had raised from the new settlements. The whole number
that were assembled amounted to two hundred and seventy, of which
two hundred and thirty were raised on the New Hampshire grants,
distinguished at that time by the name of Green Mountain Boys ; so
called, from the green mountains, among which they resided. Sen
tries were immediately placed on all the roads, and the necessary
measures taken to procure intelligence of the state of the works and
garrison at Ticonderoga.
While Allen and his associates were collecting at Castleton, Col.
Arnold arrived, attended only by a servant. This officer belonged
lie down for rest on the ground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those
of dogs after a chase." — Stedman.
400 EVENTS IN
to New Haven in Connecticut. As soon as the news arrived at that
place that hostilities had commenced at Lexington, Arnold, then a
captain, set out at the head of a volunteer company, and marched with
the greatest expedition to Cambridge. The day after his arrival, he
attended the Massachusetts committee of safety, and reported to them
that the fort at Ticonderoga was in a ruinous condition ; that it was
garrisoned by about forty men, and contained a large quantity of ar
tillery and military stores ; and might easily be captured. The com
mittee wished to avail themselves of his information and activity ; and
on the third of May, appointed him a colonel, and gave him directions
to enlist four hundred men, and march for the reduction of Ticonde
roga. Under these orders, and with this design, he joined the men
that were assembling at Castleton ; but was unknown to any of them
but a Mr. Blagden, one of the Connecticut officers. His commission
being examined, it was agreed in a council, that he should be admit
ted to join and act with them ; but that Allen should also have the
commission of a colonel, and have the command ; and that Arnold
should be considered as his assistant.
To procure intelligence, captain Noah Phelps, one of the gentle
men from Connecticut, disguised himself in the habit of one of the
poor settlers, and went into the fort, pretending he wanted to be
shaved, and enquired for a barber. Affecting an awkward appear
ance, and asking many simple questions, he passed unsuspected, and
had an opportunity to observe the state of every thing within the walls.
Returning to his party, he gave them the necessary information, and
the same night they began their march to the fort.
With so much expedition and secresy had the enterprise been con
ducted, that colonel Allen arrived at Orwell, opposite to Ticonde
roga, on the ninth of May at night, with his two hundred and thirty
green mountain boys, without any intelligence or apprehension on the
part of the garrison. It was with difficulty that boats could be pro
cured to pass the lake ; a few however being collected, Allen and
Arnold passed over, with eighty-three men, and landed near the
works. Arnold now wished to assume the command, to lead on the
men, and swore that he would go in himself the first. Allen swore
that he should not, but that he himself would be the first man that
should enter. The dispute beginning to run high, some of the gen
tlemen that were present interposed, and it was agreed that both
should go in together, Allen on the right hand, and Arnold on the left.
On the tenth of May, in the gray of the morning, they both entered
the port leading to the fort, followed by their men. The sentry snap
ped his fusee at Allen, and retreated through the covered way. The
Americans followed the sentry, and immediately drew up on the
parade. Captain De la Place commanded, but he was so little appre
hensive of any danger or hostility, that he was surprised in his bed.
As soon as he appeared, he was ordered to surrender the fort. Upon
what authority do you require it, said De la Place. ' I demand it,'
said Allen, ' in the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental
Congress.' Surrounded by the Americans who were already in pos-
THE REVOLUTION. 401
session of the works, it was not in the power of the British captain to
make any opposition, and he surrendered his garrison prisoners of
war, without knowing by what authority Allen was acting, or that
hostilities had commenced between Britain and the colonies. After
Allen had landed with his party, the boats were sent back for colonel
Seth Warner with the remainder of the men, who had been left under
his command. Warner did not arrive till after the place had surren
dered, but he took the command of a party who set off for Crown
Point. At that place there were only a sergeant and twelve men to
perform garrison duty. They surrendered upon the first summons,
and Warner took possession of Crown Point, on the same day that
Tyconderoga was given up. Another party surprised Skeensborough,
made a prisoner of major Skeen, the son, took possession of a strong
stone house which he had built, secured his dependents and domes
tics, and made themselves masters of that important harbor.
By these enterprises the Americans had captured a British captain,
lieutenant, and forty-four privates. In the forts they found above two
hundred pieces of cannon, some mortars, howitzers, and large quan
tities of ammunition and military stores ; and a warehouse full of
materials for carrying on the business of building boats. Having
succeeded in their attempts against Tyconderoga and Crown Point,
it was still necessary in order to secure the command of lake Cham
plain, to get possession of an armed sloop which lay at St. Johns, at
the north end of the lake. To effect this purpose, it was determined
to man and arm a schooner, which lay at South Bay. Arnold had
the command of the schooner, and Allen took the command of a num
ber of batteaux, and both sailed for St. Johns. The wind being fresh
at the south, Arnold soon passed the lake, surprised and captured the,
armed sloop in the harbor of St. Johns : in about an hour after he had
taken her, the wind suddenly shifted to the north, and Arnold made
sail with his prize, and met Allen with his batteaux at some distance
from St. Johns. — Williams' Hist. Vermont.
Battle of Bunker's Hill. — On the 5th of May 1775, the Mas
sachusetts Provincial Congress declared General Gage to be dis
qualified for governor of the province, and that he ought to be
treated as an enemy. Towards the end of May a considerable
reinforcement of British troops arrived in Boston: Gen. Gage
thus strengthened, prepared himself to act with more decision, and
it was apprehended that he intended to penetrate into the country.
It was therefore recommended by the Provincial Congress to the
council of war, to take measures for the defence of Dorchester
neck, and to occupy Bunker's Hill.
" Orders were accordingly issued on the sixteenth of June, for
a detachment of one thousand men, under the command of Colonel
Prescot, to take possession of that eminence ; but, by some mis
take, Breed's Hill was marked out, instead of Bunker's Hill, for
the projected entrenchments. About nine in the evening, the de-
402
EVENTS IN
tachment moved from Cambridge, and, passing silently over
Charlestown Neck, ascended Breed's Hill, and reached the top of
it unobserved. This hill is situated on the farther part of the
peninsula, next to Boston ; and is so high as to overlook every
part of that town, and so near it, as to be within cannon shot.
The provincials, who had provided themselves with entrenching
tools, immediately commenced the work, and labored with such
diligence, that, by the dawn of day, they had thrown up a redoubt,
about eight rods square. Although the peninsula was almost
gurrounded with ships of war and transports, the provincials
worked so silently, that they were not discovered until morning.
At break of day, the alarm was given at Boston by a cannonade,
begun on the provincial works by the ship of war Lively. A bat
tery of six guns was soon after opened upon them from Copp's
Hill, in Boston. Under an incessant shower of shot and bombs,
the provincials indefatigably persevered in their labor, until they
had thrown up a small breast work, extending from the east side
of the redoubt to the bottom of the hill, toward the river Mystic.
General Gage, judging it necessary to drive the provincials from
this eminence, detached major general Howe and brigadier general
Pigot, about noon, with ten companies of grenadiers, and ten of
light infantry, with a due proportion of field artillery, to perform
that service. These troops landed at Morton's point, where they
immediately formed ; but, perceiving that the Americans waited
for them with firmness, they remained in their first position until
the arrival of a reinforcement from Boston. Meanwhile the
Americans were also reinforced by a body of their countrymen,
with generals Warren and Pomeroy ; and the troops on the open
THE REVOLUTION. 403
ground pulled up some adjoining post and rail fences, and, placing
them at a small distance apart in two parallel lines, filled up the
space with new mown grass, and formed a cover from the mus
ketry of the enemy.
The British troops, now joined by the second detachment, and
formed in two lines, moved forward with the light infantry on the
right wing, commanded by general Howe, and the grenadiers on
the left, by brigadier general Pigot ; the former to attack the pro
vincial lines in flank, and the latter the redoubt in front. The
attack was begun by a very heavy discharge of field pieces and
howitzers, the troops advancing slowly, and halting at short inter
vals, to allow time for the artillery to produce effect on the works.
While they were advancing, orders were given to set fire to
Charlestown, a handsome village on their left flank, containing
about four hundred houses, chiefly of wood ; and in a very short
time the town was wrapped in one great blaze. This awfully
majestic spectacle added indescribable grandeur to the scene, in
the view of the unnumbered spectators, who, occupying the
heights of Boston and of its neighborhood, were eagerly looking
for the approaching battle. The provincials, having permitted
the enemy to approach within less than one hundred yards of
their works, unmolested, then poured in upon them such a deadly
fire of small arms, that the British line was broken, and fell pre
cipitately back toward the landing place. This disorder was
repaired by the vigorous exertions of the officers, who again
brought them up to the attack ;i but the Americans renewing their
fire, as before, drove them back again in confusion. Gen. Clinton,
arriving at this juncture from Boston, united his exertions with
those of general Howe and the other officers, and was eminently
serviceable in rallying the troops, who, with extreme reluctance,
were a third time led on to the charge. The powder of the
Americans now began so far to fail, that their fire became neces
sarily slackened. The British brought some of their cannon to
bear, which raked the inside of the breastwork from end to end ;
the fire from the ships, batteries, and field artillery, was redoubled ;
and the redoubt, attacked on three sides at once, was carried at
the point of the bayonet. The provincials, though a retreat was
ordered, delayed, and made obstinate resistance with their dis
charged guns, until the assailants, who easily mounted the works,
had half filled the redoubt.
During these operations, the British light infantry were attempt
ing to force the left point of the breastwork, that they might take
the American line in flank ; but, while they advanced with signal
bravery, they were received with unyielding firmness. The pro
vincials here, as well as at the redoubt, reserved their fire until
the near approach of the enemy, and then poured in their shot
404 EVENTS IN
with such well directed aim, as to mow them down in ranks. No
sooner was the redoubt lost, than the breastwork was necessarily
abandoned. The retreat of the provincials was now to be made
over Charlestown neck, which was completely raked by the shot
of the Glasgow man of war, and of two floating batteries ; but,
great as was the apparent danger, the retreat was effected with
inconsiderable loss.
On the part of the British, about three thousand men were en
gaged in this action ; and their killed and wounded amounted to
one thousand and fifty-four. The number of Americans in this
engagement was fifteen hundred ; and their killed, wounded, and
missing, amounted to four hundred and fifty-three."* — Holmes.
Invasion of Canada, by Generals Montgomery and Arnold. —
Emboldened by the capture of Ticonderoga, the Americans formed
a plan for more extensive operations. Generals Schuyler and
Montgomery were sent with a body of troops into Canada : Gen
eral Schuyler falling sick, the command devolved on General
Montgomery. A small fort at Chamblee was first taken, where a
supply of powder was obtained, and siege was laid to St. Johns.
Some attempts were made to relieve the garrison by Governor
Carleton, but in vain ; the garrison consisting of about seven hun
dred men, surrendered Nov. 3d, 1775. This was soon after fol
lowed by the surrender of Montreal. The greatest loss attending
* Of the British, 226 were killed, and 828 wounded ; 19 commissioned officers
being among the former, and 70 among the latter. Of the Americans, 139 were
killed, and 314 wounded and missing. The only provincial officers of distinction
lost, were general Joseph Warren of Boston, colonel Gardner of Cambridge, lieu
tenant colonel Parker of Chelmsford, major Moore, and major McClany. The death
of general Warren was deeply and universally lamented. He had received the com
mission of major general four days only before the battle, into which he rushed as a
volunteer. Just as the retreat of the provincials commenced, a ball struck him in
the head, and he fell dead on the spot. In private life, he was esteemed for his en
gaging manners ; and as a physician, for his professional abilities. In counsel, he
was judicious ; in action, anient and daring. •' To the purest patriotism and most
undaunted bravery, he added the virtues of domestic life, the eloquence of an ac
complished orator, and the wisdom of an able statesman." The memory of colonel
Gardner is cherished with high regard in Cambridge. It is impossible to do justice
to all the officers and soldiers, who distinguished themselves in this hard fought battle.
A number of the Massachusetts troops were in the redoubt, which was So nobly de
fended, and in that part of the breastwork nearest to it. The left of the breastwork,
and the open ground stretching beyond it to the water side, were occupied partly by
the Massachusetts forces, and partly by the Connecticut, under captain Knowlton of
Ashford (whose conduct was much applauded), and by the New Hampshire troops,
under colonel Stark. General Putnam was in this battle, and fought with his usual
intrepidity. He expressly charged his men to retain their fire till the very near ap
proach of the enemy ; reminded them of their skill in their customary shooting at
home j and directed them to take sight at the enemy. He appears to have conduct
ed the retreat. " There strides bold Putnam, and from all the plains
Calls the tired host, the tardy rear sustains,
And, mid the whizzing deaths that fill the air,
Waves back his sword, and dares tho following war."
THE REVOLUTION. 405
these enterprises was the loss of Col. Ethan Allen, who without
orders, with a small party, while engaged in a rash attempt on
Montreal, was made prisoner and sent in irons to England.
While Gen. Montgomery was proceeding on his route towards
Quebec, Col. Arnold was sent from the army at Cambridge to
penetrate into Canada by descending the Kennebeck and through
the wilderness to Quebec. " On the 13th of September, Arnold
set out from the camp at Cambridge, with eleven hundred men,
and proceeded to Newburyport, at the mouth of Merrimac river.
There he embarked on board ten transports, and arrived at the
mouth of Kennebec river, on September the twentieth. Dismis
sing the transports, they embarked on board batteaux, and pro
ceeded up that river with ill the expedition that the business
would admit. It would be difficult to find any thing in the his
tories of war, or indeed to conceive of greater hardship, labor and
resolution, than attended the exertions of this body of men. On
the river, they were impeded by a rapid stream, with a rocky
bottom and shores ; by cataracts, carrying places, descents, and
rapids, impassable for boats. On the shores they had to travel
through deep swamps, thick woods, mountains, precipices, and
large streams of water : nor could they, for the most part, advance
more than from four to eight miles a day. By their incessant
labors and hardships, several fell sick, and so much of their pro
visions was lost in passing the rapids, that they became scarce,
and many suffered severely with hunger. Some of the men
killed and eat their dogs, and a few were reduced to such ex
tremity as to devour their cartouch boxes, breeches, and shoes.
Having arrived at the head of Kennebec river, Colonel Enos was
ordered to send back the sick, and those that could not be fur
nished with provisions ; but contrary to Arnold's expectation, he
returned himself with his whole division, consisting of three com
panies ; a council of war which Enos held on the occasion, hav
ing pronounced it impossible to proceed for want of provisions.
Arnold with the other divisions went on with a steady and daring
resolution, determined either to succeed or to perish. Having
crossed the heights of land, they arrived at length at the head of
Chandiere river, a stream which falls into the river St. Lawrence,
not far from Quebec. Travelling on this river, they soon ap
proached the inhabited parts of Canada, and on November the
third, they procured some provisions, and soon after came to a
house, being the first they had seen for thirty-one days. During
all that period, they had been struggling against difficulties almost
insurmountable, in a rough, barren, uninhabited country, where
even the Indians did not reside.
As soon as Arnold appeared with his troops, the Canadians dis
covered the same disposition to give him a favorable reception,
406 EVENTS IN
that they had manifested towards Montgomery ; at Sertigan, the
first French village at which they arrived, about twenty-five
leagues from Quebec, they were kindly entertained, and plenti
fully supplied with fresh beef, butter, fowls, and vegetables.
Washington had prepared and signed a declaration, announcing
to the Canadians that the Americans were not come to injure,
plunder, or make war upon them, but to defend and preserve
the liberties of every part of the continent ; inviting them to join
in the grand object and pursuit, and assuring them that they should
be protected in their persons, property, and religion. The pro
clamation had a good effect ; the Canadians afforded Arnold such
assistance as was in their power, and he marched on in ease and
safety, and arrived at point Levi, November the 9th, with about
seven hundred men."
" The arrival of Arnold with his troops, was not known at Quebec
for twenty-four hours ; at this period, the inhabitants of that city were
not in a situation to have made any defence. An universal discon
tent and division prevailed among the British inhabitants, owing to
the opposition of the British merchants and others to the Quebec bill.
The French inhabitants were still less disposed to engage in hostili
ties. It was known that they were very generally wavering and un
determined ; and many were much inclined to favor the American
proceedings. No confidence could be placed in either, to undertake
the defence of the city ; and had it not been for the intervention of
the river, it does not seem that there would have been much difficulty
or opposition to Arnold's marching in and taking immediate pos
session. On the twelfth of November, Colonel Maclean marched into the
city, with one hundred and seventy of his new raised regiment of
emigrants. On the intelligence of this event, the next day at nine
o'clock in the evening, Arnold began to embark his men on board a
number of canoes which he had procured ; and by four the next
morning, five hundred of his men were landed at Wolfe's cave, un
discovered by the enemy. The next morning, it was known in the
city what had taken place. Some of the sailors were landed from
the ships, to manage the guns on the fortifications ; several of the
most active of the citizens came forward, and all began to doubt
whether Arnold was in such force that it would be prudent to appear
to assist or favor him. Arnold paraded his men on the plains of
Abraham, set guards to cut off the communication between the city
and country, and sent a flag to demand the surrender of the place.
His flag was fired upon, and refused admittance ; he was not strong
enough to attempt to storm the city ; and the hour in which it might
probably have been carried by a coup de main, amidst the surprise
and consternation of the inhabitants, was now past. On the nine
teenth, the Americans decamped, and marched up to Point au Trem
bles, about seven leagues from the city ; and the same day General
THE REVOLUTION. 407
Carleton arrived at Quebec. Determined to defend the place, his
first step was to turn out the suspected, and all that would not engage
to assist in the defence of the city ; and nothing now remained for
Arnold, but to wait the arrival of assistance from Montreal.
Encouraged and animated by the vigorous proceedings of Arnold,
Montgomery made all the exertions in his power to join him. Having
left some troops in Montreal and the forts, and sent detachments into
the different parts of the province to encourage and secure the Cana
dians, he pushed on with as many men as could be spared, and such
artillery and supplies as he could procure, to join the troops before
Quebec ; but his whole force did not amount to but a little more than
three hundred men. Their march was in the winter, through bad
roads, in a severe climate, amidst the falls of the first snows, and in
the water and mire ; but such was the activity and perseverance of
Montgomery and his adherents, that on December the first, he joined
Arnold at Point au Trembles, with three armed schooners, about
three hundred men, and ammunition, clothing and prpvisions for the
troops. On December the fifth, Montgomery with his army appeared
before Quebec ; his effective troops amounted to but a few more
than eight hundred men, and he could have but little prospect of
success. General Carleton was informed of the state of his army,
and had made such preparations for defence, that he could have but
little to apprehend from any attempts that could be made against the
city, by so small a force, at that season of the year. His force con
sisted of Colonel Maclean's men, one hundred and seventy; a com
pany of the seventh regiment, amounting to sixty ; forty marines,
four hundred and fifty seamen, belonging to the king's frigates, and to
the merchantmen ; and about eight hundred militia ; amounting in
the whole to fifteen hundred and twenty ; but on the militia little
dependence was to be placed. Montgomery attempted both to in
timidate, and to persuade the British general to surrender ; he also
opened two small batteries, one of five mortars, and the other of six
cannon, against the place ; but his artillery was too small, and the
season of the year too severe to have any hope of succeeding by a
regular siege. Nothing remained but to put all to the risk of a gen
eral assault ; and rather than to abandon the object it was determined
to venture upon this desperate measure.
It was not till December the thirty-first, that circumstances would
admit of an attack : on that morning there was a heavy storm of snow,
and under this cover, Montgomery and Arnold led on their troops to
storm the city, the garrison of which was much more numerous than
their own army. The American troops were divided into four bodies,
of which two were directed to make false attacks upon the upper,
town, while the real ones were made by Montgomery and Arnold,
against the lower part of the city. With undaunted resolution, Mont
gomery led on his men, about two hundred, to the first barrier, which
they soon passed, and advanced boldly to the second ; but here a
violent discharge of grape shot from several well placed cannon,
together with a well directed fire of musketry, put an end to the life
408 EVENTS IN
of this brave and enterprising officer. Most of the officers and others
who were near their general, fell at the same time, and the command
devolved on a Mr. Campbell ; but he was so unused to this new kind
of business, of storming a well fortified city, and so discouraged by
the fall of Montgomery, that he retreated without any further exertions.
Arnold, with his division, amounting to about three hundred, made
a vigorous attack upon another part of the town, and after an hour's
engagement carried a small battery. In this conflict, one or two
men fell, and Arnold had his leg shattered, so that he was obliged to
be carried off. His officers, however, continued the attack with
much vigor, till the British having dispersed the Americans in every
other quarter, directed their whole force against this small body, and
entirely surrounded them. Nor did their courage forsake them even
in these desperate circumstances. They continued the fight for
three hours longer, till their numbers were much reduced, and they
were fully convinced that some misfortune must have befallen Mont
gomery and his party. At length no hope or prospect of relief re
maining, they were forced to submit to necessity, and surrendered
themselves prisoners of war.
In this unfortunate affair, the Americans lost nearly half their troops.
About one hundred were slain, and many more were in captivity ;
and not more than four hundred remained, who were fit for duty. A
council of war determined that Arnold should take the command, and
continue the blockade; but the troops immediately quitted their camp,
and retired about three miles from the city, and placed themselves in
the best situation they could ; hoping for relief, but expecting an
attack." — Williams' Hist. Vermont.
General Arnold, under all his discouragements, continued the
blockade of Quebec through the winter. On the 5th of May,
1776, it was unanimously determined in a council of war that the
troops were in no condition to risk an assault, and the Army was
removed to a more defensible position. The Canadians at this
period receiving considerable reinforcements, the Americans were
compelled to abandon one post after another, and by the 18th of
June they had evacuated Canada.
Siege and evacuation of Boston. — General Washington, soon
after his appointment as commander in chief, repaired to the
American army in the vicinity of Boston and established his head
quarters at Cambridge. The want of powder and the necessity
of re-enlisting the troops whose term of service had expired, ren
dered the army investing Boston inactive, during the summer and
autumn of 1775. About the middle of February, 1776, a severe
cold setting in, and the ice becoming sufficiently firm to bear the
troops, Washington formed the plan of marching into Boston and
dislodge the enemy. A council of war being summoned on this
occasion, being almost unanimous against the measure, Washing
ton reluctantly abandoned the project.
THE REVOLUTION. 409
"The effective regular force of the Americans now amounted to
upward of fourteen thousand men ; in addition to which the com
mander in chief called out about six thousand of the militia of Massa
chusetts. With these troops he determined to take possession of the
heights of Dorchester, whence it would he in his power greatly to
annoy the ships in the harbour and the soldiers in the town. By
taking this position, from which the enemy would inevitably attempt
to drive him, he expected to bring on a general action, during which
he intended to cross over from Cambridge side with four thousand
chosen men, and attack the town of Boston. To conceal his design.
and to divert the attention of the garrison, a heavy bombardment of
the town and lines of the enemy was begun on the evening of the
second of March, and repeated the two succeeding nights. On the
night of the fourth, immediately after the firing began, a considerable
detachment, under the command of general Thomas, passing from
Roxbury, took silent possession of Dorchester heights. The ground
was almost impenetrably hard, but the night was mild, and by labour
ing with great diligence, their works were so far advanced by morn
ing, as to cover them in a great measure from the shot of the enemy.
When the British after day break discovered these works, which
were magnified to the view by a hazy atmosphere, nothing could ex
ceed their astonishment. Some of their officers afterward acknowl
edged, that the expedition with which they were thrown up, with
their sudden and unexpected appearance, recalled to their minds those
wonderful stories of enchantment and invisible agency, which are so
frequent in the Eastern romances. Nothing now remained, but to
abandon the town, or to dislodge the provincials. General Howe,
with his usual spirit, chose the latter part of the alternative, and took
measures for the embarkation, on that very evening, of five regiments
with the light infantry and grenadiers, on the important but most haz
ardous service. The transports fell down in the evening toward the
castle, with the troops, amounting to about two thousand men; but a
tremendous storm at night rendered the execution of the design ab
solutely impracticable. A council of war was called the next morn
ing, and agreed to evacuate the town as soon as possible. A fortnight
elapsed before that measure was effected. Meanwhile the Ameri
cans strengthened and extended their works ; and on the morning of
the seventeenth of March the British discovered a breast work, that
had been thrown up in the night at Nook's Hill, on Dorchester penin
sula, which perfectly commanded Boston neck, and the south part of
the town. Delay was no longer safe. By four in the morning, the
king's troops, with those Americans, who were attached to the royal
cause, began to embark ; and before ten all of them were under sail.
As the rear embarked, general Washington marched triumphantly into
Boston, where he was joyfully received, as a deliverer. The British
fleet, after a detention of nine days in Nantasket road, set sail for
Halifax." During the siege, " horse flesh was not refused by those who
35
410 EVENTS IN
could procure it.* For want of fuel, the pews and benches of
churches were taken for this purpose ; the counters and partitions
of warehouses were applied to the same use ; and even houses,
not inhabited, were demolished for the sake of the wood. The
English left a great quantity of artillery and munitions. Two
hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, of different calibre, were
found in Boston, in Castle Island, and in the intrenchments of
Bunker's Hill, and the Neck. The English had attempted, but
with little success, in their haste, to destroy or to spike these last
pieces ; others had been thrown into the sea, but they were re
covered. There were found, besides, four mortars, a considera
ble quantity of coal, of wheat, and of other grains, and one hun
dred and fifty horses." — Botta's Revolution.
Battle of Long Island. — " The command of the British force,
destined to operate against New York, was given to admiral lord
Howe, and his brother Sir William ; who, in addition to their mil
itary powers, were appointed commissioners for restoring peace
to the colonies. General Howe, after waiting two months at Hal
ifax for his brother and the expected reinforcements from Eng
land, sailed with the force which he had previously commanded
in Boston ; and directing his course toward New York, arri
ved in the latter end of June off Sandy Hook. Admiral lord
Howe, with part of the reinforcement from England, arrived at
Halifax soon after his brother's departure ; and, without dropping
anchor, followed and joined him near Staten Island. These two
royal commissioners, before they commenced military operations,
attempted to effect a reunion between the colonies and Great Bri
tain ; but both the substance and the form of their communications
for that purpose were too exceptionable, to be for a moment seri
ously regarded.
The British forces waited so long to receive accession from Hali
fax, South Carolina, Florida, the West Indies, and Europe, that the
month of August was far advanced before they were in a condition to
open the campaign. Their commanders, having resolved to make
their first attempt on Long Island, landed their troops, estimated at
about twenty-four thousand men, at Gravesend Bay, to the right of
the Narrows. The Americans, to the amount of fifteen thousand,
under major general Sullivan, were posted on a peninsula between
Mill Creek, a little above Red Hook, and an elbow of East river,
called Whaaleboght Bay. Here they had erected strong fortifica-
* Provisions were become so scarce at Boston, that a pound of fresh fish cost
twelve pence sterling, a goose eight shillings and four pence, a turkey twelve shil
lings and six pence, a duck four shillings and two pence, hams two shillings and a
penny per pound. Vegetables were altogether wanting. A sheep cost thirty-five
shillings sterling, apples thirty-three shillings and four pence per barrel. Fire wood
forty-one shillings and eight pence the cord ; and finally, it was not to be procured at
any price.
THE REVOLUTION.
411
Newitown -n
f*&or* tSl>**
x LONG * *
{i&ITat&usA
lions, which were separated from New York by East river, at the dis
tance of a mile. A line of intrenchment from the Mill Creek enclo
sed a large space of ground, on which stood the American camp, near
the village of Brooklyn. This line was secured by abbatis, and
flanked by strong redoubts. The armies were separated by a range of
hills, covered with a thick wood, which intersects the country from
west to east, terminating on the east near Jamaica. Through these
hills there were three roads ; one near the narrows, a second on the
Flatbush road, and a third on the Bedford road ; and these were the
only passes from the south side of the hills to the American lines, ex
cepting a road which led to Jamaica round the easterly end of the
hills. General Putnam, agreeably to the instructions of General
Washington, had detached a considerable part of his men to occupy
the woody hills and passes ; but in the performance of this service
there appears to have been a deficiency either of skill or of vigilance.
When the whole British army was landed, the Hessians, under
general Heister, composed the centre at Flatbush ; major general
Grant commanded the left wing, which extended to the coast ;
and the principal army, under the command of general Clinton,
earl Percy, and lord Cornwallis, turned short to the right, and ap
proached the opposite coast at Flatland. The position of the
Americans having been reconnoitered, Sir William Howe, from
the intelligence given him, determined to attempt to turn their left
flank. The right wing of his army, consisting of a strong ad
vanced corps, commanded by general Clinton and supported by
the brigades under lord Percy, began at nine o'clock at night on
the 26th' of August to move from Flatland ; and passing through
the New Lots, arrived on the road that crosses the hills from
Bedford to Jamaica. Having taken a patrol, they seized the pass,
without alarming the Americans. At half after eight in the
412 EVENTS IN
morning, the British troops, having passed the heights and
reached Bedford, began an attack on the left of the American
army. In the centre, general De Heister, soon after day light,
had begun to cannonade the troops, which occupied the direct
road to Brooklyn, and which were commanded by general Sulli
van in person. As soon as the firing toward Bedford was heard,
De Heister advanced and attacked the centre of the Americans,
who, after a warm engagement, were routed and driven into the
woods. The firing toward Bedford giving them the alarming no
tice, that the British had turned their left flank, and were getting
completely into their rear; they endeavored to escape to the
camp. The sudden rout of this party enabled De Heister to de
tach a part of his force against those who were engaged near
Bedford. There also the Americans were broken and driven into
the woods ; and the front of the British column, led by general
Clinton, continuing to move forward, intercepted and engaged
those, whom De, Heister had routed, and drove them back into
the woods. There they again met the Hessians, who drove them
back on the British. Thus alternately chased and intercepted,
some forced their way through the enemy to the lines of Brook
lyn ; several saved themselves in the coverts of the woods ; but
a great part of the detachment was killed or taken.
The left column, led by general Grant, advancing from the
Narrows along the coast, to divert the attention of the Americans
from the principal attack on the right, had about midnight fallen
in with lord Stirling's advanced guard, stationed at a strong pass,
and compelled them to relinquish it. As they were slowly reti
ring, they -were met on the summit of the hills about break of
day by lord Stirling, who had been directed, with the two nearest
regiments, to meet the British on the road leading from the Nar
rows. Lord Stirling having posted his men advantageously, a
furious cannonade commenced on both sides, which continued sev
eral hours. The firing towards Brooklyn, where the fugitives
were pursued by the British, giving notice to Lord Stirling, that
the enemy had gained his rear, he instantly gave orders to retreat
across a creek, near the Yellow Mills. The more effectually to
secure the retreat of the main body of the detachment, he deter
mined to attack in person a British corps under lord Cornwallis,
stationed at a house somewhat above the place where he proposed
crossing the creek. With about four hundred men, drawn out of
Smallwood's regiment for that purpose, he made a very spirited
attack, and brought up this small corps several times to the charge,
with constant expectation of dislodging lord Cornwallis from his
post ; but, the force in his front increasing, and general Grant
now advancing on his rear, he was compelled to surrender him
self and his brave men prisoners of war. This bold attempt
THE REVOLUTION. 413
however gave opportunity to a large part of the detachment to
cross the creek, and effect an escape.*
The enemy encamped in front of the American lines ; and on
the succeeding night broke ground within six hundred yards of a
redoubt on the left. In this critical state of the American army
on Long Island ; in front a numerous and victorious enemy, with
a formidable train of artillery ; the fleet indicating an intention to
force a passage into East river to make some attempt on New
York ; the troops lying without shelter from heavy rains, fatigued
and dispirited ; it was determined to withdraw from the island ;
and this difficult movement was effected with great skill and
judgment, and with complete success.!"
Washington's Retreat from New York. — Immediately after
their victory on Long Island, the British made dispositions to at
tack New York. Gen. Washington having called a council of
general officers, it was decided by them, that a middle course
should be adopted between abandoning the city, and concentra
ting their whole force for its defence. By the plan recommended,
the army was to be arranged in three divisions, one of which,
consisting of 5000 men to remain in New York : another, con
sisting of 9,000, was to be stationed at King's Bridge ; and the
residue to occupy the intermediate space, so as to support either
extreme. The unexpected movements of the enemy, however,
induced a change of operations.
" General Howe having now prepared his plan for a descent on
New York island ; for bringing the Americans to a general action, or
breaking the communication between their posts, on the 15th of Sep
tember began to land his men under cover of five ships of war, be
tween South Bay and Kipp's Bay, about three miles above the city.
Works had been thrown up there, which were capable of withstand
ing an attack for a considerable time, and even till reinforcements
should arrive, if they were necessary, and troops were stationed in
them to oppose any landing of the enemy. But they fled — at the first
* The loss of the British and Hessians is stated by American historians at about
450 ; Stedman says, ' it did not exceed 300 in killed and wounded.' The loss of
the Americans was not admitted by General Washington to exceed 1000 men, ' but
in this estimate he could only have included the regular troops.' General Howe
states the prisoners to have been 1097, among whom were major general Sullivan,
and brigadiers lord Stirling and Woodhull.
t The retreat was to have commenced at eight o'clock in the night of the 29th ;
but a strong northeast wind and a rapid tide caused a delay of several hours. In this
extremity, Heaven remarkably favoured the fugitive army. A southwest wind,
springing up at eleven, essentially facilitated its passage from the Island to the city ;
and a thick fog, hanging over Long Island from about two in the morning, concealed
its movements from the enemy, who were so near, that the sound of their pickaxes
and shovels was heard. General Washington, as far as possible, inspected every
thing. From the commencement of the action on the morning of the 27th until the
troops were safely across East river, he never closed his eyes, and was almost con
stantly on horseback. 35*
414
EVENTS IN
approach of the British, and abandoned the works with the most
shameful precipitation. Two brigades had been put in motion for their
support on the first intimation of the enemy's approach, and General
Washington, in person, hurried to the scene of action, expecting by
his presence to retrieve his late disasters and animate his troops to in
flict a severe retribution on the enemy. He met the whole party in a
tumultuous flight — it was a bitter moment for that great man : to have
risked himself, his country, his immortality, with such dastards ; it
was the most cruel agony of his life. For once, he ceased to be
Washington. He galloped through the crowd ; threw himself in
their rear ; reigned his horse towards the enemy ; commanded, en
treated, threatened ; it was all in vain — he even attempted to cut down
the cowards, and snapped his pistols at them. They were not to be
stayed for a minute : their flight became still more shamefully precipi
tate at the sudden appearance of a small body of their pursuers, not
exceeding sixty or seventy. In this hour of self abandonment, Wash
ington would have been lost, but for the violence of his officers—
they seized the bridle of his horse and gave him a different direction,
as he was advancing towards the enemy.
The ships in the North and East rivers, during this transaction,
were throwing their grape shot and langrage quite across the island.
The Hessians having landed, began their march, but some delay was
caused in their junction by their seizing a number of persons, whom
they found concealed in a barn, that had been placed there for guards.
This mistake was soon explained, and the British having landed their
whole force, they directed their march towards Kingsbridge. The re
treating Americans who had fled in such disorder from Kipp's Bay,
never halted for an instant, until they encountered Colonel Glover,
who was then hastening to their support. This gave them some con
fidence ; they halted, formed and paraded on the high grounds in their
front. At this moment the enemy again appeared on the next emi
nence, with a force then estimated at eight thousand. The Ameri
cans exhibited uncommon fire ; they wished to give battle immedi
ately : for a moment Washington, with the stinging recollection of
the scene he had just witnessed fresh upon his heart, was on the
point of leading them to the attack ; but a moment's consideration
changed his purpose. He could not depend upon undisciplined val
our — the fever of shame and indignation, for a victory of the cool and
steady bravery of well organized veterans.
The Americans encamped on the heights of Haerlem ; and the
British Generals finding no prospect of immediate battle renewed,
repaired to a neighboring mansion for refreshment, where so much
time was consumed, that the rear guard of the American army, about
three thousand four hundred, under General Putnam, were suffered to
escape from New York, unmolested. General Putnam, aware of the
danger of taking the main road by which the enemy would approach,
directed his march along another on the banks of the North River,
continuing along it until it turns abruptly to the right, where it unites
THE REVOLUTION. 415
with a narrow way, passing to Bloomingdale. By this route he
escaped unperceived.
On the day after the shameful retreat of the forces from Kipp's
Bay, a severe skirmish took place between two battalions of light
infantry and Highlanders, with three companies of Hessian Chas
seurs, (riflemen) commanded by Brigadier General Leslie, and a
detachment of Americans under Lt. Col. Knowlton of Connec
ticut and Major Leech of Virginia. The Colonel in the heat of
the action received a mortal wound, and fell at the head of his
men. The Major received three balls through his body. The
Americans behaved with admirable coolness and resolution, and
fairly beat their adversaries by hard fighting. Their loss, ex
cept in their gallant Colonel, was very inconsiderable ; about forty
were wounded. The loss of the enemy, considering the number
engaged, was severe ; amounting to nearly one hundred wounded
and twenty killed. This little affair had a wonderful effect upon
^the Americans. These were the very men, who, but the day be
fore had fled so shamefully at the first approach of an enemy.
They had feelings, and being determined to redeem their reputa
tion, or perish, offered themselves as volunteers to encounter the
enemy." ,
" New York was taken possession of, immediately after the
evacuation, by a brigade of the royal army. They had been there
but a few days, when a fire broke out at a place where a party
of their sailors had been frolicking, which spread with unexam
pled fury. The buildings were then chiefly covered with shin
gles ; the weather had been extremely dry for some days ; a
strong southerly wind prevailed at the time ; and it broke out
about one o'clock in the morning, at a season when the town was
almost empty of its citizens — and the engine sand pumps were
chiefly out of order. About one thousand buildings were de
stroyed, and but for the exertions of the sailors and soldiers with
engines from the fleet, the whole city must have been reduced to
ashes." Action at White Plains. — The American army being inferior
to that of the British in point of numbers, Gen. Washington
drew off the main body of his troops from New- York Island, to
wards White Plains. He was followed by General Howe, who
after posting Lord Percy with two brigades of British, and one of
Hessian troops, amounting to about five thousand, in the lines
near Haerlem, to protect New- York from the garrison at Fort
Washington, and a delay of six days already mentioned, at Throgs
Neck, advanced to the vicinity of New Rochelle, on the eigh
teenth of October. On their march they were constantly an
noyed by a party of Americans, whom General Lee had posted
behind a wall. Their advance was twice repulsed, and the
416 EVENTS IN
Americans did not quit their post till the British threw their whole
force into solid columns, when they gave their several vollies, and
retreated, as they had been ordered. The Americans had a
small number killed and about sixty wounded, but the loss of the
enemy was much more severe, being unprotected and constantly
manceuvering. On the 21st, General Howe moved his right and
centre two miles to the northward of New Rochelle, on the road
to the White Plains, where he received, on the 22d, a large rein
forcement of Hessians and Waldeckers, under General Knyp-
hausen. Owing to the distressing scarcity of wagon and artillery horses
in the American army, the removal of their baggage was pain
ful, laborious, and sluggish in the extreme. The few teams that
could be obtained were utterly inadequate to the purpose, and
the deficiency could only be supplied by the labour of the sol
diers, who toiled night and day at the artillery and baggage.
During the retreat, General Washington constantly presented a
front to the enemy, extending from East Chester nearly to the*
White Plains, on the Eastern side of the high way. This ef
fectually protected the rear, which was uncommonly encum
bered with the sick, cannon, and stores of the army, and pre
vented what was most to be feared, theiribeing outflanked. The
line then presented a chain of small, entrenched and unconnected
camps, occupying successively every height and rising ground,
from Valentine's Hill about a mile from Kingsbridge, on the right,
and extending almost to the White Plains, on the left.
The royal army, enabled by their facilities for transportation, to
move with greater freedom and celerity than the Americans, advanced
on the 25th of October, and took a strong position with the Bronx in
front. The latter immediately made a correspondent movement,
broke up their line of detached camps, left a corps for the protection
of Kingsbridge, and concentrated their whole strength in the White
Plains, behind the entrenchments previously thrown up by their ad
vance. In this position, General Howe having consummated his plan
for bringing his cautious advance to a decisive action, advanced
against the Americans on the 28th in two columns ; his left under
General Heisler. Before noon the American advance parties were
driven in, and the enemy formed with his right upon the road to Ma-
maroneck, about a mile from the American centre ; and with his left
upon the Bronx, about the same distance from the right flank of the
American entrenchments.
General M'Dougall, with sixteen hundred men, had been advanced
by Washington, to a commanding eminence, separated from the right
flank of the Americans by the Bronx, which by its windings, protected
hhn from the left of the Royal force : And General Leslie with the
second British Brigade ; the Hessian Grenadiers, under Colonel Do-
nop, and a battalion of Hessian infantry were ordered on the twenty-
THE REVOLUTION. 417
eighth to dislodge him. With this view, a brigade of the Hessians,
under Colonel Rhal, passed the Bronx, and while the other troops as
sailed General M'Dougall in front, gained a position which enabled
them to annoy his flank. The hill, however, was defended against
this force and twelve pieces of artillery, for more than an hour, though
General M'Dougall was deserted by two thirds of his men ; four
whole regiments of militia had abandoned him in the commencement
of the action, at the approach of a small body of light horse, not ex
ceeding two hundred and fifty.
During this attempt to dislodge General M'Dougall, the American
baggage was moved off in full view of the British army ; and a scat
tering fire was continued along the adjoining walls and enclosures.
The Americans lost forty-seven killed and seventy wounded, and by
a return said to have been found on the field, a common expedient
with the Americans at this time, for discovering the superior loss of
the British, that of the enemy was said to have been ten officers, in
cluding Colonel Leslie, and one hundred and forty-three privates kill
ed and wounded. From the advantage of position, possessed by the
Americans, there seems to be nothing unreasonable in allowing so
small a proportion.
Soon after this the Hessian grenadiers were moved forward, with
in reach of the American cannon ; with the second British Brigade
in their rear, and two Hessian brigades on the left of the second ; the
eighth and centre maintaining their ground. In this position, the
whole royal army lay upon their arms, impatiently waiting for the
left to make their attack. But during the night, Washington
changed his front ; his left kept its post, while his right fell back and
occupied a range of hills. In this admirable position, with his works
increased and strengthened, he was prepared and wished to receive
the enemy. But Sir William Howe was too wary to assail him, and
on the twenty-ninth, after an ineffectual attempt to dislodge a small
force under Glover, from a hill he had occupied, drew off his army
towards Dobb's Ferry, determining, as he said, to defer a general ac
tion until a reinforcement, which was hourly expected under Earl
Percy, who had been left to watch the garrison at Fort Washington ;
and the Americans filed off in a north eastern direction.
The American loss during these evolutions and skirmishings
was very inconsiderable. A few privates and four officers only
were taken by the enemy. At first it was apprehended to be
much more severe ; but the missing militia were constantly re
turning to camp after their terrour had abated. A few prisoners,
and among them a small number of Hessians and Waldeckers,
who testified some astonishment when they found they were to
be neither tortured nor scalped, when captured by the Americans.
The reinforcement under Lord Percy arrived ; and General
Howe determined to attack Washington in his" trenches. Prepa
rations were made for the evening of the thirty-first, but a heavy
418 EVENTS IN
rain delayed the attempt beyond the appointed hour, and it was
afterwards postponed, although the day was serene.
A deserter during the same day to the Americans, gave Wash
ington intelligence of this design, and in the course of the follow
ing night, he withdrew his troops — totally abandoned his camp,
and on the morning of November first, occupied the high grounds
in North Castle District, about two miles distant, leaving a strong
rear in the woods and on the heights at White Plains. So soon
as this was known to the British General, he ordered this corps
to be attacked, but again he was prevented from effecting his pur
pose by a violent rain. The town of White Plains was set on
fire by their rear guard, with all the forage near the lines, and en
tirely consumed. The above measure in the bitterness of party an
imosity, was charged to the American commander, but it became
evident, afterwards, that the burning of the village was wholly
owing to the misconduct of Colonel Austin, from Massachusetts.
After these manceuvers, Washington, with part of his army,
crossed the North River, and took a position on the Jersey side,
near Fort Lee, opposite Fort Washington, leaving seven thousand
five hundred men under General Lee, at North Castle.
Capture of Fort Washington. — On the 15th of November
1776, the royal army approached Fort Washington, and sent a
summons to Colonel Magaw ; to which he replied that the post
should be defended to the last extremity. Intelligence of this was
carried to Washington ; he repaired to Fort Lee, and had nearly
crossed the North River, for the purpose of aiding in the defence,
when he met General Greene and General Putnam returning ;
they informed him that the troops were in high spirits, and would
make a gallant defence — it was late in the evening, he returned.
At this time the garrison might have been withdrawn — there was
a misgiving in the mind of Washington : but even he did not be
lieve the danger so imminent that a night was to determine the
fate of the garrison.
On the following day, November 16th, the royal army advanced
against the post in four different points. While the enemy were
approaching, Generals Washington, Putnam, Greene, and Colo
nel Knox, with their Aids, had crossed the river, and were hast
ening to the fort, when a sudden sense of their imprudence, for
tunately induced them to return.
The first attack on the north side was conducted by General
Knyphausen, at the head of two columns of Hessians and Wal-
deckers. The second, on the eastern side, was made by two bat
talions of guards, supported by Lord Cornwallis, with a body of
grenadiers and the thirty-third regiment. These two parties crossed
Haerlem Creek, in boats, and landed on the American right.
The third attack, meant as a feint, was conducted by Lieutenant
THE REVOLUTION. 419
Colonel Stirling, with the forty-second. The fourth division was
under Lord Percy, with his reinforcements from the south of the
island. Each party was supported by a powerful and well served
artillery. The party under General Knyphausen was compelled to pass
through a thick wood, where a regiment of riflemen under Col.
Rawling were posted. Between these parties an action immedi
ately commenced, which was continued with unexampled spirit
until the Hessians had lost a great number of their men.
In the mean time, a body of the British light infantry ad
vanced against a party of Americans, who were posted upon a
steep and almost inaccessible eminence, which poured a very de
structive fire from behind the rocks and trees ; and after suffering
severely, drove them from their position, and thus secured the
landing of the main body.
Lord Percy carried an advanced work on his side ; and Colonel
Stirling, with the forty-second, and two battalions of the second
brigade, effected a landing on the left pf the American lines,
forced his way to the summit of a steep hill, took one hundred and
seventy prisoners, and then crossed the island. A detachment
from the American flying camp, who were stationed upon the
lines, abandoned them after a slight resistance, and crowded tu-
multuously within the fort ; into which, also, Colonel Magaw had
determined to throw himself, when thus he saw the lines forsaken.
In the mean time, Colonel Rhal, who led the right column of
Knyphausen's attack, pushed forward and lodged his troops with
in one hundred yards of the fort, where he was soon joined by
the left column. A summons was then repeated, and the garri
son surrendered as prisoners of war ; the officers keeping their
side arms and baggage.* The number of men which surren
dered was about two thousand ; the British loss is stated to be
about eight hundred.
Death of Captain Hale. — After General Washington, by his
retreat, had left the British in complete possession of Long Isl
and, and not knowing what would be their future operations, he
* From the position in which Washington was placed, he could distinctly see his
soldiers bayonetted, while upon their knees, with their hands uplifted, and even at
that hour, great as must have been his anxiety, when the fate of so important a post
was at stake, the feelings of the man were as conspicuous as those of the soldier.
It is said, he was affected with the butchery even to tears : and General Lee, to whom
the fate of the post was sent by express, so far forgot the natural and unbending
statelincss of his character, as to burst into the most passionate exclamations, accom
panied also with tears. It was indeed a terrible blow. Even on the 19th, he had
not recovered his composure ; for he wrote thus to Washington on that day — ' Oh
General, why would you be over-persuaded by men of inferior judgment to your
own 1 It was a cursed affair !' The defence of the post had always appeared im
possible to this eccentrick man. The moment he was told that it was determined to
maintain it, he exclaimed, ' then we are undone !'
420 EVENTS IN
applied to Colonel Knowlton, commander of a regiment of light
infantry, to devise some means for gaining necessary information
of the design of the British in their future movements. Captain
Hale nobly offered himself for this hazardous and important ser
vice. His amiable, pioiis, intelligent, and patriotic character, and
the sacrifice of his life in the manner in which he made the sac
rifice, entitle him to a distinguished rank among the first patriots
of the revolution. The particulars of this tragical event, sanc
tioned by General Hull, who was knowing to them at the time,
are related by Miss1 H. Adams, in her History of New-England.
The retreat of General Washington,' -left the British in com
plete possession of Long Island. What would be their future
operations remained uncertain. To obtain information of their
situation, their strength and future movements, was of high im
portance. For this purpose General Washington applied to Colo
nel Knowlton, who commanded a regiment of light infantry,
which formed the van of the American army, and desired him to
adopt some mode of gaining the necessary information. Colonel
Knowlton communicated this request to Nathan Hale, of Con
necticut, who was then a captain in his regiment. This young
officer, animated by a sense of duty, and considering that an op
portunity presented itself by which he might be useful to his
country, at offee offered himself a volunteer for this hazardous
service. He passed in disguise to Long Island, examined every
part of the British army, and obtained the best possible informa
tion respecting their situation and future operations.
In his attempt to return, he was apprehended, carried before
Sir William Howe, and the proof of his object was so clear, that
he frankly acknowledged who he \yas, and what were his views.
Sir William Howe at once gave an order to the provost mar-
shall to execute him the next morning.
The order was accordingly executed in the most unfeeling
manner, and by as great a savage as ever disgraced humanity. A
clergyman, whose attendance he desired, was refused him ; a
Bible, for a moment's devotion was not procured, though he re
quested it. Letters, which on the morning of his execution he
wrote to his mother and other friends, were destroyed ; and this
very extraordinary reason was given by the provost marshall,
' that the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army,
who could die with so much firmness.'
Unknown to all around him, without a single friend to offer him
the least consolation, thus fell as amiable and as worthy a young
man as America could boast, with this as his dying observation,
' that he only lamented he had but one life to lose for his coun-
try.'" Retreat of Washington through New-Jersey. — General Wash-
THE REVOLUTION. 431
ington was posted at Newark, where his little army had been re
freshing themselves, for about a week, without experiencing or
anticipating any further molestation, when he was informed that
Lord Cornwallis, with a chosen body of troops, was on his track.
This was the 28th of November ; he marched immediately for
Brunswick ; and Lord Cornwallis entered Newark the same day.
A rapid retreat was now the only hope of Washington, It must
open the heart of the country to his enemy, but distressing as
was the alternative, he preferred doing this to losing the relicks
of his army, upon which, as a future rallying point, every thing
would depend. Lord Cornwallis had six thousand men, and trod
so vigorously upon the heels of Washington, that his van succes
sively entered Newark, Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, as
the American rear was leaving each ; and finally, at twelve at
night, reached the banks of the Delaware, just as the rear of
the retreating army had left it. Here it was confidently ex
pected by Lord Cornwallis, that the Americans would lose their
baggage and artillery ; and, but for the destruction of a bridge
over the Raritan (at Brunswick) which delayed their pursuers for
some hours, it is extremely probable that his expectations would
have been realized. But here, as Lord Cornwallis had orders
not to advance beyond Brunswick, the pursuit was discontinued ;
and it is probable ,too, but for these orders, that the event would
have taken place notwithstanding this delay, as the Raritan was
fordable at Brunswick at every recess of the tide* Other facts,
somewhat unaccountable at such a season were these* The
Americans did not leave Princeton till the enemy were with
in three miles of it, and the two British columns, which first
reached Princeton at four o'clock in the afternoon, actually slept
there, and consumed seventeen hours, within twelve miles of
Trenton, while Washington was crossing the Delaware at that
place. Sir William Howe, in a despatch of the 20th of Decem
ber, declared that his first design was only to get possession of
East New Jersey, and Washington certainly conducted at this
time, as if he not only knew this design, but was confident that
it would not be departed from ; for after advancing his main body
to Trenton and leaving Lord Stirling with about twelve hundred,
as a covering party ; he afterwards reinforced his Lordship with
the whole militia that arrived, and privately returned himself to
Princeton. Perhaps he also knew, that Lord Cornwallis had
been ordered not to advance beyond Brunswick. Except on this
supposition, the fact of halting so long at Princeton, is inexplica
ble ; and the conduct of the enemy still more so, while Washing
ton was on his way to Trenton. From Brunswick, Lord Corn
wallis had despatched an express to General Howe, assuring him
that then was the time to conclude the war ; that, if vigorously
36
422
EVENTS IN
pursued, Washington must lose his stores and artillery before he
could cross the Delaware. General Howe replied that he would
join him immediately ; but he did not arrive till the sixth of De
cember. At Brunswick, on the first, Washington had hoped to
make a stand, but was again disappointed in his militia. Had
they supported him with spirit, he could have prevented the en
emy from passing the Hackensack. On the very day that he left
that village, the time of service for the Jersey and Maryland bri
gades expired, and both of them abandoned him. Under the pres
sure of this discouragement, Washington wrote to Lee to hasten
his march, or his arrival might be too late.
On the eighth, Lord Howe had arrived at the shores of the
Delaware in his pursuit, with the intention of pushing a strong
body across the river. Early in the morning, he halted with his
rear division, within six' miles of Trenton. The artillery were
prepared to cover his landing, and the troops kept in readiness
for day light. At the place chosen, about two miles below Cor-
lyl's ferry, it was only twenty-eight rods to a ridge of sand, on the
Pennsylvania side, on which a body was to be landed, and
thence it was proposed to march up to Corlyl's ferry and take pos
session of the boats collected there by the Americans, and left
under a guard of only ten men. With the boats thus obtained,
the main body would have been passed over immediately. In
the vicinity of the place, at which the attempt was to be made by
the first party, there was a large flour boat, capable of bearing
one hundred men, concealed beneath a bank. This had been
overlooked, when Washington ordered the boats to be removed ;
but was providentially discovered, and brought off, in season to
prevent the enemy from taking possession of it.
The fate of America, for a season, in all probability depended
upon that incident. The very day before Washington crossed
the Delaware, a return of his forces was made to Congress ;
which made it only thirty-three hundred ; and when he crossed,
he had but two thousand two hundred ; from these, such constant
and rapid deductions had been made, that in two days, he was re
duced to less than seventeen hundred ; and by his own letter of
the twenty-fourth of December, to between fourteen and fifteen
hundred, hourly diminishing.
Why Washington was not pursued when the shores of tho Delaware afforded such
an abundance of materials for the construction of rafts and pontoons, is one of those
events which baffles all speculation, if it be not attributed to positive orders ; but
why those orders were given, still remains to be explained. Washington himself,
declared in a despatch, written after he reached the Pennsylvania bank, that nothing
could have saved him, but the infatuation of the enemy. The city of Philadelphia
was only two days easy march from Trenton : a greater number of men than Wash
ington commanded could have been advanced, and what part of the British fleet and
transports were wanted, could have passed up to the city in one week, without en
THE REVOLUTION. 423
countering any obstruction ; for at that time, the Fort on Mud Island was not built,
the chevaux-de-frize nor chain prepared ; nor had they fire rafts in any place.
This retreat through the Jerseys, was one uninterrupted series of discouragement
to the American people. It had been commenced, immediately after the loss of
Fort Washington, and a fine garrison ; and a large quantity of military stores, aban
doned at Fort Lee. In a few days, the whole flying camp disappeared. This was
followed by the disappearance of whole regiments, whose periods of service had also
expired. Even the reinforcements, which had been sent from the Northern depart
ment, silently dissolved on the march, and General St. Clair, the commander, ap
peared in the camp of Washington, with only a few officers, for his relief. Every
man had abandoned him. Even the few troops, under the command of Washington,
were nearly useless from their wretched deficiency in necessaries. They were the
garrison of Fort Lee, hurried away with such precipitation, as to leave their blankets
and cooking utensils. He had no cavalry, except one troop, miserably mounted ; and
no artillery : yet under all these circumstances of distress and ill fortune, with his
little band, a part of whom were literally barefooted. Washington had the address to
consume nineteen days, in marching ninety miles before his conquerors, and then to
give time for the militia to collect for his succour. As these — the last hope of their
country — fled before their pursuers, scarcely a man had the courage to strengthen
them ; while numbers were flocking to the royal standard, at every step of its pro
gress. Appearance is every thing with the multitude. A gallant, well disciplined
army, well officered, and well provided with all the furniture of war, with their ban
ners, and horns and trumpets, were indeed a formidable trial to the constancy of the
multitude ; and all this, when contrasted with a feeble band of disorderly, tattered
and emaciated wretches, who were flying from the haunts of men, like a troop of
malefactors, caught abroad in open day light. So powerful was the effect of this
contrast, that it operated, not only on the lower classes, but on the opulent and
distinguished. Some of the leading men of New Jersey and Pennsylvania were
terrified into submission by this pageantry.
" Capture of the Hessians at Trenton. — Washington had
observed that general Howe, either to procure more commodi
ous quarters for his troops in this rigorous season, or to impede
the Americans in recruiting, or finally because he believed the
war at an end, and his enemy no longer in a condition to act,
had too far extended the wings of his army, which occupied
the entire province of New Jersey and the left bank of the
Delaware, from Trenton down to Burlington. Colonel Ralle,
a Hessian officer of great merit, was cantoned in the first of these
places, with his brigade of infantry and a detachment of English
dragoons, the whole constituting a corps of fourteen or fifteen
hundred men. Bordentown, a few miles below, was occupied,
by colonel Donop, with another brigade of Hessians ; and still
lower down, within twenty miles of Philadelphia, was stationed
another corps of Hessians and English. Knowing the extreme
weakness of their enemy, and holding him as it were degraded
by his recent defeats, they kept a negligent guard. The rest of
the army was lodged in places more distant, and principally at
Princeton, at New Brunswick, and at Amboy. Washington hav
ing attentively considered the extent of the enemy's quarters, con
ceived the hope of surprising the corps that were nearest to the
river, and too remote from the others to be succored in season.
In order to make his attack with more order and effect, he divided
424 EVENTS IN
his army which consisted almost entirely in the militia of Penn
sylvania and Virginia, into three corps, the first and most consider
able of which, was to pass the Delaware at Mackenky's ferry,
about nine miles above Trenton. The commander-in-chief, ac
companied by generals Sullivan and Greene, had reserved to him
self the conduct of this corps, to which a few pieces of artillery
were attached. It was destined to attack Trenton. The second
division, under the command of general Irwin, was directed to
cross at Trenton Ferry^ab^ut a mile below the village of this
name, and having re^ehecTthe left bank, to seize without loss of
time, the bridge ov^r the little river Assumpink, in order to inter
cept the retreat of/ the enemy when he should be dislodged from
Trenton by the division under Washington. Finally, the third
corps, commanded by general Cadwallader, was ordered to pass
the river at Bristol, and proceed to take post at Burlington. The
night of Christmas was appointed for the expedition. The dis
positions being made according to the plan above mentioned, the
Americans proceeded with achriirable order and silence towards
the Delaware. The chiefs exhorted their soldiers to be firm and
valiant, to wash out the stains of Long Island, of New York,
and of New Jersey ; they represented to them the necessity, the
glory, and the brilliant fruits of victory ; they incessantly re
minded them that this night was about to decide the fate of their
country. An extreme ardor manifested itself throughout the ranks,.
The three columns arrived in the dusk of evening at the bank of
the river. Washington had hoped that the passage of the troops,
and transportation of the artillery, might have been effectuated
before midnight, so as to have time to reach the destined points by
break of day, and to surprise the enemy at Trenton. But the cold
was so intense, and the river so obstructed with floating ice, that it
was impossible to cross and to land the artillery earlier than four
in the morning. All the troops having at length gained the left
bank, the first corps was parted into two divisions, one of which,
turning to the right, marched towards Trenton, by the road which
runs along the river ; the other, guided by Washington in person,
took the upper or Pennington road. The distance, by their route,
being nearly equal, it was hoped that the two columns might ar
rive at the same time. It was enjoined them to engage in combat
without any delay, and after having driven in the outposts, to fall
immediately upon the main body of the enemy, at Trenton, with
out giving him time to recover from his surprise. They exerted
all their efforts to arrive before day ; but a thick fog, and a mist
mingled with sleet, which rendered the road slippery, retarded their
march. The two divisions, however, reached Trenton at 8 o'clock.
Notwithstanding so many obstacles, and the hour already late, the
Hessians of colonel Ralle, had no suspicion of their approach.
THE REVOLUTION.
Passage of the Delaware, Dec. 1776.
The Americans having, therefore, fallen unexpectedly upon the
advanced guards, routed them immediately. Colonel Ralle sent
his regiment to their succor, in order to sustain the first shock,
and to give time for the rest of his forces to arrange themselves
for defence. But the first line involved the second in disorder,
and both fell back tumultuously upon Trenton. Colonel Ralle
having hastily drawn out his Hessians, advanced to encounter the
enemy in the open field ; but he was mortally wounded in the first
onset, and the Americans charging the Germans with great fury,
the latter betook themselves to flight, leaving upon the field six
pieces of light artillery. They attempted to escape by the road
of Princeton, but Washington perceiving it, dispatched several
companies to pre-occupy the way, who received the fugitives in
front. Thus, surrounded on every side, the three German regi
ments, of Ralle, of Anspach, and of Knyphausen, were con
strained to lay down arms and surrender at discretion. Some
few, and chiefly cavalry or light infantry, in all not exceeding five
hundred men, succeeded in effecting their escape by the lower
road which leads to Bordentown. Another detachment of Hes
sians, who were out this same morning upon a foraging excursion,
at some distance from their camp, warned by the noise, and after
wards by the flight of their countrymen, retired precipitately to
Princeton. General Irwin had exerted his utmost endeavors to
pass the river at the time prescribed, in order to take part in the
action ; but the floating ice was so accumulated, in this part of
36"
426 EVENTS IN
the river, as to render the passage absolutely impracticable. This
part of the Hessians, therefore, had the facility of retiring in
safety to Bordentown. General Cadwallader was not more for
tunate in the attempt he made to cross lower down, and to take
post at Burlington, pursuant to the plan of attack. When a part
of his infantry had reached the left bank, it was found impossible
to advance with the artillery ; unable, therefore, to act with any
effect,, and finding himself in a perilous situation, he repassed to
the right bank of the Delaware. Thus the design of the com
mander-in-chief was accomplished only in part ; but the event
demonstrated, that if the rigorous cold of this night had not pre
vented its entire execution, all the royal troops that were stationed
in the vicinity of the river, would have been surrounded and ta
ken. The loss of the Hessians, in killed and wounded, amounted
only to thirty or forty, but the number of prisoners was at first
upwards of nine hundred, and even exceeded a thousand, when
all those were collected who had concealed themselves in the
houses. After having obtained this success, Washington paused ;
not willing to lose by imprudence the advantages he owed to the
wisdom of his measures. His forces were not sufficient to cope
with those which the English generals could have assembled in a
few hours. A strong corps of light infantry was quartered at
Princeton, a town only a few miles distant from Trenton ; to this
might easily have been joined the brigade of Donop, and other
battalions that were cantoned in the neighboring places. The
Americans consequently evacuated Trenton, and passed over to
the right bank of the river, with their prisoners, and the trophies
of their victory. Their generals resolved to make the most of it,
in order to revive the courage and confidence of the dispirited peo
ple. They caused the captive Hessians to defile, with a sort of
triumphal pomp, through the streets of Philadelphia, followed by
their arms and banners. And yet such was the terror inspired by
the very name of these Germans, that even at the moment in
which they traversed the city as vanquished and prisoners, many
of the inhabitants suspected it was only a stratagem of their own
leaders to animate them; so impossible it seemed- to them that
warriors from Germany should have been overcome by American
soldiers. The English appeared to them far less formidable, be
cause they knew them. Man is naturally disposed to fear most
those objects of which he has the least knowledge ; the uncouth
language, the novel manners, and even the dress of the German
soldiers, inspired a certain dread. But when they were satisfied
that the spectacle they beheld was not an illusion, words cannot
describe their exultation at so unexpected a success ; having at first
rated the Hessians far above the English, they now held them as
much below. And, in effect, this affair of Trenton had so changed
THE REVOLUTION. 427
the face of things, that the public mind was rapidly elevated from
despondency to an extreme confidence. Botta's Revolution.
Victory at Princeton. — After the capture of the Hessians the
army of Washington was so much increased, that he thought him
self in a situation to attempt an expedition upon the frontiers of
New Jersey. He accordingly passed the Delaware, and concen
trated his troops at Trenton.
" On the 2d of January 1777, lord Cornwallis marched with the van
guard towards Trenton, where he arrived about four in the morning.
The rear guard was posted at Maidenhead, a village situated half
way between Princeton and Trenton ; other regiments were on the
march from New Brunswick, to reinforce the principal army. Wash
ington, finding the enemy in such force, and so near, retired behind
the river of Trenton, also called the Assumpink, where he set about
intrenching himself, having first secured the bridge. The English
attempted the passage at various points, but every where without suc
cess ; all the fords being diligently guarded. A cannonade was en
gaged, which produced little effect, though it lasted until night ; the
Americans stood firm in their entrenchments. Cornwallis waited for
re-inforcements, intending to advance to the assault the day following ;
but his adversary was not disposed to put so much at stake. On the
other hand, to re-pass the Delaware, then more than ever obstructed
with floating ice, in the presence of a formidable enemy, was too per
ilous an operation to be attempted without temerity. Washington
therefore found himself anew in a very critical position ; but it was
then that he embraced a resolution remarkable for its intrepidity.
Reflecting that he was advanced too far to be able to retreat without
manifest danger, he determined to abandon all at once the banks of the
Delaware, and to carry the war into the very heart of New Jersey.
He considered that Cornwallis, in all probability, would apprehend
being cut off from the province of New York, and fearing besides for
the magazines at New Brunswick, which were abundantly stocked for
the service of the whole British army, would himself also retire from
the river ; and thus the city of Philadelphia would be preserved, a
great part of New Jersey recovered, and defensive war changed into
offensive ; advantages which could not but animate the inhabitants
with new courage. If the English general persisted in his design,
he passed the river, indeed without obstacle, and became master of
Philadelphia. But whatever were to be the effects of this disastrous
event, it was better to abandon Philadelphia, and preserve the army
entire than to lose at the same time both the one and the other. This
plan having been approved in a council of war, composed of all the
generals of the army, dispositions were immediately commenced for
carrying it promptly into effect. The baggage was sent down to Bur
lington ; and at one o'clock in the morning, the enemy appearing per
fectly tranquil, the Americans rekindled the fires of their camp, and
leaving guards at the bridge and fords, with orders to continue the
usual rounds and patrole, they defiled with equal promptitude and si-
428 EVENTS IN
fence. Taking the road of Allentown, which is the longest, in order
to avoid the Assumpink, and the encounter of the enemy at Maiden
head, they proceeded towards Princeton. Three English regiments
had lodged there this same night ; two of them, at break of day, had
renewed their march for Maidenhead. The Americans suddenly ap
peared and charged them with great impetuosity. But the English
defended themselves so vigorously, that the American militia faced
about and retired in disorder. General Mercer, in attempting to rally
them, was mortally wounded. Washington seeing the rout of the
vanguard, and perfectly aware that the loss of the day would involve
the total ruin of his army, immediately advanced at the head of his
select corps, composed of the conquerors of Trenton, and restored
the battle. The two English regiments, overwhelmed by the number
and fury of the assailants, were separated, the one from the other,
and found themselves in the most perilous position. Colonel Maw-
hood, who commanded one of them, after having intrepidly sustained
the attack for some moments, made a violent effort, and opening his
way with the bayonet through the ranks of the enemy, retired in
safety to Maidenhead. The other, which formed the rear guard, find
ing itself, after a vigorous struggle, unable to follow the first, returned
by the way of Hillsborough to New Brunswick. The third, which
was found still at Princeton, retreated also, after a light conflict, with
great precipitation to Brunswick. About one hunded of the English
were killed in this affair, and upwards of three hundred made prison
ers. The loss of the Americans in slain, was nearly equal ; but of
this number was general Mercer, an able and experienced officer of
the province of Virginia. He was universally regretted, but especially
by Washington, who bore him great esteem and affection.
After the combat, the Americans occupied Princeton. At break of
day, lord Cornwallis having perceived that the Americans had de
serted their camp of Trenton, and soon penetrating what was their
design, abandoned in like manner his own, and marched with all ex
pedition towards Brunswick, fearing lest the baggage and munitions
he had accumulated there, should fall into the hands of the enemy.
He arrived at Princeton almost at the same time with the American
rear guard. Washington found himself again in imminent danger.
His soldiers fell with sleep, having taken no repose for the two pre
ceding days ; hunger tormented them, and they were almost naked
in this rigorous season. The enemy who pursued them, besides the
advantage of number, had every thing in abundance. Thus situated,
far from the hope of continuing to act offensively, it was much for
him if he could retire without loss, to a place of security ; where
fore, departing abruptly from Princeton, he moved with rapidity to
wards the upper and mountainous parts of New Jersey. To retard
the enemy, he destroyed the bridges over the Millstone river, which
runs between Princeton and Brunswick. Having afterwards passed
the Rariton, a more considerable river, he proceeded to occupy Pluck-
emin, where his troops refreshed themselves, after so many toils and
sufferings. But soon finding that his army was too feeble, and also
THE REVOLUTION. 429
that it was daily diminished by maladies and desertion, he resolved
to encamp higher up, and in a place of more security. After neces
sity had constrained him to make trial of fortune by adventurous feats,
he was disposed to become again the master of his movements, and
take counsel of prudence alone. He retired, accordingly, to Morris-
town, in upper Jersey. Cornwallis, despairing of being able to con
tinue the pursuit with success, directed his march to New Brunswick,
where he found general Matthews, who, in the violence of his terror,
had commenced the removal of the baggage and warlike stores.
But Washington, having received the few fresh battalions of infantry,
and his little army being recovered from their fatigues, soon entered
the field anew, and scoured the whole country as far as the Rariton.
He even crossed this river, and penetrating into the county of Essex,
made himself master of Newark, of Elizabethtown, and, finally, of
Woodbridge ; so that he commanded the entire coast of New Jersey,
in front of Staten Island. He so judiciously selected his positions,
and fortified them so formidably, that the royalists shrunk from all at
tempt to dislodge him from any of them. Thus the British army,
after having overrun victoriously the whole of New Jersey, quite to
the Delaware, and caused even the city of Philadelphia to tremble
for its safety, found itself now restricted to the two only posts of New
Brunswick and Amboy, which, moreover, could have no communica
tion with New York, except by sea. Thus by an army almost re
duced to extremity, Philadelphia was saved, Pennsylvania protected,
New Jersey nearly recovered, and a victorious and powerful enemy
laid under the necessity of quitting all thoughts of acting offensively,
in order to defend himself.' — Botta's Revolution.
Retreat of the Americans from Ticonderoga. — One of the
principal objects of the British in the campaign of 1777, was to
open a communication between New York and Canada, and sepa
rate New England from the other states. The plan of operations
consisted of two parts : General Burgoyne with the main body of
the army from Canada, was to advance by way of Lake Cham
plain, and effect a junction at Albany with the royal army from
New York. A detachment of British soldiers, and a large body
of Indians under Col. St. Leger, with a regiment from New York,
under Sir John Johnson, were to ascend the St. Lawrence, to
Lake Ontario, and penetrate Albany by the way of Mohawk river.
On the 20th of June, General Burgoyne, with an army of above
seven thousand men, with a large body of Indians, after having
finished the business of speeches and proclamations, advanced to
more formidable operations.
" On the 30th, he advanced with his army to Crown Point ; whence
he proceeded to invest Ticonderoga. In a few days his works were
so far advanced, as to threaten a complete inclosure of the continen
tal army ; and general St. Clair, the commanding officer of the Amer
icans, with the unanimous approbation of a council of general officers,
430 EVENTS IN
abandoned the place. . The evacuation was effected with such se
crecy and expedition, that a considerable part of the public stores,
embarked in two hundred batteaux, and dispatched up the river to
Skenesborough under convoy of five armed gallies, was saved. A
brigade of gun-boats however gave chase to the gallies ; and, coming
up with them near Skenesborough Falls, engaged and captured some
of the largest of them, and obliged the Americans to set the others on
fire, together with a considerable number of their batteaux. The
rear guard of the American army, commanded by colonel Warner,
amounting to more than one thousand men, taking the Castleton road
to Skenesborough, was overtaken and attacked at Hubberton by gen
eral Frazer with eight hundred and fifty fighting men. The Ameri
cans made a gallant resistance ; but, on the arrival of general Reid-
esel with his division of Germans, they were compelled to give way
in all directions. Colonel Francis, a very valuable officer, fell in the
action ; several other American officers, and above two hundred men,
were killed ; and about the same number taken prisoners. Nearly
six hundred are supposed to have been wounded ; many of whom
must have died in the woods. The enemy stated their own loss at
thirty-five killed, and one hundred and forty-four wounded.* Gene
ral St. Clair, after a distressing march of seven days, joined general
Schuyler at Fort Edward. General Burgoyne, having with incredi
ble labour and fatigue conducted his army through the wilderness
from Skenesborough, reached Fort Edward, on Hudson river, on the
30th of July. As he approached that place, general Schuyler, whose
forces, even since the junction of St. Clair, did not exceed four thou
sand four hundred men, retired over the Hudson to Saratoga."
Battle of Bennington. — The progress of Burgoyne thorough
ly alarmed the American .states, it being well known that the
American forces under • General Schuyler were not sufficient to
prevent the capture of Albany, whenever it was reached by the
enemy. Instead of thinking of submission, the Americans met
this alarming crisis with firmness and resolution, and great ex
ertions were made to reinforce the army. General Lincoln was
directed to raise and take the command of the New England mi
litia. Gen. Arnold and Col. Morgan with his riflemen were de
tached to the northern army, and congress elected Gen. Gates as
commander. " While the American army was thus assuming a more respecta
ble appearance, general Burgoyne was making very slow advances
towards Albany. From the twenty-eighth of July to the fifteenth of
August, the British army was continually employed in bringing for
ward batteaux, provisions, and ammunition from fort George, to the
first navigable part of Hudson's river ; a distance of not more than
eighteen miles. The labor was excessive, the Europeans were but
* Stedman says, the loss of the British did not exceed 20 officers, and about
120 men, killed and wounded.
THE REVOLUTION. 431
little acquainted with the methods of performing it to advantage, and
the effect was in no degree equivalent to the expense of labor and
time. With all the efforts that Burgoyne could make, encumbered
with his artillery and baggage, his labors were inadequate to the pur
pose of supplying the army with provisions for its daily consumption,
and the establishment of the necessary magazines. And after his
utmost exertions for fifteen days, there were not above four days pro
visions in the store, nor above ten batteaux in Hudson's river.
In such circumstances the British general found that it would be
impossible to procure sufficient supplies of provisions by the way of
fort George, and determined to replenish his own magazines at the
expense of those of the Americans. Having received information
that a large quantity of stores were laid up at Bennington, and guarded
only by the militia, he formed the design of surprising that place ; and
was made to believe that as soon as a detachment of the royal army
should appear in that quarter, it would receive effectual assistance
from a large body of loyalists, who only waited for the appearance of
a support, and would in that event come forward and aid the royal
cause. Full of these expectations, he detached colonel Baum, a
German officer, with a select body of troops, to surprise the place.
His force consisted of about five hundred regular troops, some Cana
dians, and more than one hundred Indians, with two light pieces of
artillery. To facilitate their operations, and to be ready to take ad
vantage of the success of the detachment, the royal army moved along
the east bank of Hudson's river, and encamped nearly opposite to
Saratoga ; having at the same time thrown a bridge of rafts over the
river, by which the army passed to that place. With a view to sup
port Baum if it should be found necessary, lieutenant colonel Brey-
man's corps, consisting of the Brunswick grenadiers, light infantry
and chas'sieurs, were posted at Battenkill.
General Stark having received information that a party of Indians
were at Cambridge, sent lieutenant colonel Greg, on August the 13th,
with a party of two hundred men to stop their progress. Towards
night he was informed by express that a large body of regulars was
in the rear of the Indians, and advancing towards Bennington. On
this intelligence, Stark drew together his brigade, and the militia
that were at hand, and sent on to Manchester to colonel Warner, to
bring on his regiment ; he sent expresses at the same time to the
neighboring militia, to join him with the utmost speed. On the morn
ing of the fourteenth he marched with his troops, and at the distance
of seven miles he met Greg on the retreat, and the enemy within a
mile of him. Stark drew up his troops in order of battle ; but the
enemy coming in sight, halted upon a very advantageous piece of
ground. Baum perceived the Americans were too strong to be at
tacked with his present force, and sent an express to Burgoyne with
an account of his situation, and to have Breyman march immediately
to support him. In the mean time small parties of the Americans
kept up a skirmish with the enemy, killed and wounded thirty of them,
with two of their Indian chiefs, without any loss to themselves. Tho
432 EVENTS IN
ground the Americans had taken, was unfavorable for a general action,
and Stark retreated about a mile and encamped. A council of war
was held, and it was agreed to send two detachments upon the ene
my's rear, while the rest of the troops should make an attack upon
their front. The next day the weather was rainy, and though it pre
vented a general action, there were frequent skirmishings in small
parties, which proved favorable and encouraging to the Americans.
On August the sixteenth, in the morning, Stark was joined by
colonel Symonds and a body of militia from Berkshire, and pro
ceeded to attack the enemy, agreeably to the plan which had beep
concerted. Colonel Baum in the mean time had entrenched, on
an advantageous piece of ground near St. Koicks mills, on si
branch of Hoosic river ; and rendered his post as strong as his
circumstances and situation would admit* Colonel Nichols was
detached with two hundred men to the rear of his left, colonel
Herrick, with three hundred men to the rear of his right ; both were
to join and then make the attack. Colonels Hubbard and Stick-
ney, with two hundred more were ordered on the right, and one
hundred were advanced towards the front to draw the attention of
the enemy that way. About three o'clock in the afternoon the
troops had taken their situation, and were ready to commence the
action. While Nichols and Herrick were bringing their troops
together, the Indians were alarmed at the prospect, and pushed off
between the two Corps ; but received a fire as they were passing,
by which three of them were killed, and two wounded. Nichols
then began the attack, and was followed by all the other divisions ;
those in the front immediately advanced, and in a few minutes the
action became general. It lasted about two hours, and was like
one continued peal of thunder. Baum made a brave defence ;
and the German dragoons, after they had expended their ammu
nition, led by their colonel, charged with their swords, but they
were soon overpowered. Their works were carried on all sides^
their two pieces of cannon were taken> colonel Baum himself was
mortally wounded and taken prisoner, and all his men, except a
few who had escaped into the woods, were either killed or taken
prisoners. Having completed the business by taking the whole
party, the militia began to disperse, and look out for plunder.
But in a few minutes Stark received information that a large re
inforcement was on their march, and within two miles of him.
Fortunately at that moment colonel Warner came up with his re
giment from Manchester. This brave and experienced officer
commanded a regiment of continental troops, which had been
raised in Vermont. Mortified that he had not been in the former
engagement, he instantly led on his men against Breyman, and
began the second engagement. Stark collected the militia as
soon as possible and pushed on to his assistance. The action
THE REVOLUTION. 433
became general, and the battle continued obstinate on both sides
till sunset, when the Germans were forced to give way, and were
pursued till dark. They left their two field pieces behind, and a
considerable number were made prisoners. They retreated in the
best manner they could, improving the advantages of the evening
and night, to which alone their escape was ascribed.*
In these actions the Americans took four brass field pieces,
twelve brass drums, two hundred and fifty dragoon swords, four
ammunition wagons, and about seven hundred prisoners, with
their arms and accoutrements. Two hundred and seven men
were found dead upon the spot, the numbers of wounded were
unknown. The loss of the Americans was but small ; thirty
were slain, and about forty were wounded." '
Siege of Fort Stanwix. — The following-account of the defeat
of General Herkimer, and the singular circumstances respecting
the siege of Fort Stanwix, [fort Schuyler, at the head of Mohawk
river,] is from the 3d vol. of Dwight's Travels.
" When General Burgoyne commenced his expedition against
the United States, he directed Lieutenant-Colonel Baron St. Le-
ger, with a body of troops, consisting of British, American Refu
gees, Germans, Canadians, and savages, from 1,500 to 1,800 in
number, to proceed from Montreal by Lake Ontario, to attack
Fort Stanwix, and after taking that fortress to march down the
Mohawk to Albany. St. Leger arrived at Fort Stanwix in the
beginning of August, 1777. On the news of his approach; Gen
eral Herkimer, a respectable descendant from one of the Ger
man Colonists, commanding the militia of Tryon County, assem
bled a body of 800 men, and marched to the relief of the garri
son. He arrived within six or seven miles of the fort on the 6th
of August. From his scouts he had learned, that a body of troops
under Sir John Johnson, had been despatched by St. Leger to in
tercept him. He determined, therefore, to halt, and choose his
own ground for the contest ; but his troops, who were raw militia,
without any discipline, insisted peremptorily on being led imme
diately to the attack. The General, after remonstrating with his
usual good sense, and telling them roundly, that ardent as they
were, they would run at the first appearance of the enemy ; and
after finding all his efforts vain, resolved to lead them on, although
he clearly foresaw the disastrous issue. Accordingly he coolly
moved on to what he considered as almost certain destruction.
At the very first fire of the enemy a large proportion of these vio:
lent men fled instantly; leaving their -gallant chief, with the re
mainder of. his troops, to sustain the attack. These men fought
like lions ; and came to close quarters with the enemy. The
* Gordon. Vol. II. p. 243. Starke's letter to Gen. Gates of August 22, 1777.
37
434 EVENTS IN
firing in a great measure ceased ; and the conflict was carried on
with knives, bayonets, and the butt-ends of muskets. A consid
erable number of the Indians were killed. The survivors were,
of course,, thrown into a rage. The mode of fighting was novel ;
and the native jealousy of these people started into their minds a
suspicion, that their own friends had leagued with the Americans
to destroy them. Under its influence they fired upon the British,
as well as upon the Americans. The confusion became intense,
and universal. Such of Herkimer's troops as had neither fled,
nor fallen, had posted themselves behind logs, and trees ; . and an
imated by their brave chief, wounded as he was, fought the enemy
with such resolution, that Sir John finally retreated, and left them
the ground. Herkimer soon after died of his wounds.
The Americans lost in this battle 160 men killed ; and about
240 wounded and prisoners. The loss of the British will never
be known. The Indians left more than 70 of their number on
the field. Among the slain and wounded Americans, were seve
ral persons of reputation and influence."
" Sir John had scarcely left the ground, to attack General Her
kimer, when Lieutenant-Colonel Willet, at the head of a party
from the garrison, made a sortie upon the enemy ; and falling
upon their camp unexpectedly, drove them out of it almost without
resistance. A part fled into the woods, and a part crossed the
river: while Willet plundered the camp of muskets, blankets,
and various other articles of considerable value. A party of the
British attempted to intercept his return to the fort ; but with a
field-piece, and a vigorous musketry, he attacked them with so
much spirit, that they fled a second time. Several of the enemy
fell ; and among them some of the principal Indian warriours
Willet did not lose a man.
At the return of Sir John, St. Leger summoned Gansevoort in
a verbal message, sufficiently pompous and menacing, to surren
der. Gansevoort refused to receive the message. The next day
he received a written demand of the same nature, exhibiting in
magnificent terms the successes of General Burgoyne ; the
strength of the army under St. Leger ; the terrible determination
of the savages ; his own efforts to soften their ferocity ; and the
hopeless situation of the garrison. The laboured strain of this
declamation, instead of producing its intended effect, only per
suaded the Americans that St. Leger's affairs were not very pros
perous, nor his army very formidable. Gansevoort therefore an
swered, that, being entrusted by his country with the command
of the fort, he would defend it to the last, without any regard to
consequences. The situation of the garrison, though not desperate, was far
from being promising. Relief was necessary for them ; and
THE REVOLUTION. 435
Gansevoort determined to advertise, if possible, the country, be
low, of his circumstances. Colonel Willet, and Lieutenant
Stockwell, readily undertook this hazardous mission. An Indian
enemy is in a sense always at hand, and always awake. He is
always roaming from place to place ; the chance of escaping him
scarcely exists ; and the consequence of falling into his hands is
almost of course fatal. These gallant men, however, crept on
their hands and knees through the enemy's encampment ; and,
skilled in the mysteries of Indian war, and adopting the various
arts of concealment, which men, accustomed to forests, acquire
with extreme accuracy, they arrived safely at the German Flats ;
whence without danger they pursued their course directly to the
head quarters of General Schuyler, then commanding the Ameri
can army at Stillwater.
Schuyler immediately dispatched a body of troops to the relief
of Gansevoort, under the command of General Arnold ; who vol
unteered his services on the occasion. As he was advancing up
the Mohawk, a Mr. Schuyler, who was a nephew of General Her
kimer, (but who was a Tory, and accused of being a spy,) was
brought into his camp. After examining the circumstances, Ar
nold wisely determined to avail himself of this man's services.
He proposed to him a scheme for alarming the enemy, particu
larly the savages, by announcing to them, that a formidable army
was in full march to destroy them ; and assured him of his life,
and estate, if he would enter heartily into the interests of his
country, and faithfully execute a mission of this nature. Schuy
ler, who was shrewd, resolute, versed in the language and man
ners of the Indians, acquainted with some of their chiefs, and
therefore perfectly qualified for this business, readily engaged in
the enterprise. His father, and brother, were in the mean time
kept as hostages for his fidelity ; and were both to be hung with
out mercy, if he proved unfaithful. One of the Sachems of the
Six Nations, a friend of the Americans, and of Schuyler also,
was let into the secret ; and cheerfully embarked in the design.
Having settled the whole plan of proceeding with this warriour,
Schuyler made the best of his way to Fort Stanwix.
Colonel St. Leger had pushed the siege with considerable ac
tivity ; and advanced his works within one hundred and fifty yards
of the fort. Upon Schuyler's arrival he told a lamentable story
of his being taken by Arnold, his escape from hanging, and the
danger which he had encountered in his flight. He shewed them
also several holes, made by shot in his coat, while he was attempt
ing to escape ; and declared at the same time that a formidable
army of Americans was marching with full speed, to attack the
British. The Americans; he observed, had no hostility toward
the Indians ; and wished not to injure them ; but added, that, if
436 , EVENTS IN
the Indians continued with the British, they must unquestionably
take their share of whatever calamities might befall their allies."
" The Indians being thus thoroughly alarmed, the chief, who was in
the secret, arrived, as if by mere accident ; and in the mysterious
manner of that people began to insinuate to his countrymen, that a
bird had brought him intelligence, of great moment. This hint set
their curiosity afloat ; and excited a series of anxious enquiries. To
these he replied in hints, and suggestions, concerning warriours in
great numbers, marching with the utmost rapidity, and already far ad
vanced, In the mean time he had despatched two or three young
warriours in search of intelligence. These scouts, who had received
their cue, returned, as they had been directed, at different times ; and
confirmed, as if by mere accident also, all that had been said by
Schuyler, and the Sachem. The Indians, already disgusted with the
service, which they found a mere contrast to the promises of the
British commanders, and their own expectations, and sore with the
loss, which they had sustained in the battle with General Herkimer,
were now so completely alarmed, that they determined upon an imme
diate retreat.
St. Leger, who had unwisely boasted, at first of his own strength,
and his future exploits against the Americans, and spoken contemptu
ously of their weakness and cowardice ; who had predicted in mag
nificent terms the certainty of their flight ; and the ease, and safety,
with which the Indians would reach Albany ; had disgusted these
people thoroughly by failing altogether of the fulfillment of his prom
ises. In vain, therefore, did he exert all his address, when he saw
them preparing to quit the ground, to dissuade them from their pur
pose. He exhorted, argued and promised, in vain. They reproached
him with having violated all his former promises ; and pronounced
him undeserving of any further confidence. He attempted to get
them drunk ; but they refused to drink. When he found all his efforts
fruitless, and saw that they were determined to go, he urged them to
move in the rear of his army ; but they charged him with a design to
sacrifice them for his own safety. In a mixture of rage and despair,
he broke up his encampment with such haste, that he left his tents,
cannon, and stores, to the besieged. The flight of this army (for it
could not be called a retreat,) was through a deep forest, and the
spongy soil which I have elsewhere described. The road was im
perfectly made, and encumbered with all the difficulties, incident to
new roads on such a surface. The march was, therefore, not a little
embarrassed and distressing. The Sachem, who had been partner
with Schuyler in the plot, accompanied the flying army. Naturally a
wag, and pleased to see the garrison rescued from their danger, he
engaged several of his young men to repeat at proper intervals, the
cry 'they are coming.' This unwelcome sound, quickened the march
of the fugitives whenever it was heard. The soldiers threw away
their packs ; and the commanders took care riot to be in the reari
Mortified beyond measure by so disastrous an issue of an expedition.
THE REVOLUTION. 437
from which they had promised themselves no small reputation and
profit, these gentlemen began speedily to accuse each other of folly,
and misconduct, in their respective departments, during the enterprise.
Accusation begat accusation, and reproach, reproach ; until they at
length drew their swords upon each other. Several of the Sachems
now interfered ; and with that native good sense, which is found every
where, persuaded them to a reconciliation. After much fatigue, and
at least an equal degree of mortification, they finally reached the
Oneida Lake ; and there, probably, felt themselves for the first time
secure from the pursuit of their enemies."
Defeat and Capture of Burgoyne. General Burgoyne, not
withstanding the disasters at Bennington, and Fort Stanwix, did
not evince any disposition to abandon the object of his expedition.
He was obliged, however, to have recourse to the slow and toil
some mode of obtaining supplies from Fort George, Having
with great labor collected provisions for thirty days, and thrown a
bridge of boats over the Hudson, he crossed that river on the 13th
and 14th of September, and encamped on the flats and heights of
Saratoga. Gen. Gates having been joined by the continental
troops destined for the northern department, and reinforced by
strong bodies of militia, left his camp at Halfmoon, advanced to
wards the enemy and encamped three miles above Saratoga. On
the night of the 17th Burgoyne encamped within four miles of
the American army, and on the 19th advanced in full force against
it. The account of the action which took place, and the subse
quent events which followed, are taken from the 'Military Journal'
of Dr. Thacher, a surgeon in the American army, a very inter
esting work, published by Richardson & Lord, Boston, 1823.
Sept. 23d. — From the officers who were engaged in the battle, I
have obtained the following particulars. Our army under the com
mand of General Gates, was stationed in the vicinity of Stillwater,
when they advanced towards the enemy and offered them battle.
Colonel Morgan's regiment of riflemen, and Major Dearborn's light
infantry, being in front, received the first fire about noon, on the 19th
instant. General Burgoyne was at the head of his army, and Gene
rals Phillips, Reidesel and Frazer, with their respective commands,
were actively engaged. At about three o'clock, both armies being
formed in a line of battle, the action became general, and the com
batants on both sides evinced that ardor and gallantry which shows
a determination to conquer or die. The firing for about three hours
was incessant, with continued tremendous roar and blaze, filling the
field with carnage and death. Few battles have been more obstinate
and unyielding — at one point the British are overpowered ; but being
reinforced, the Americans are baffled, these, being supported and re^
newinf their efforts regain the advantages ; the same ground is occu
pied alternately, the dead and wounded of both parties are mingled
together. The British resort repeatedly to their bayonets without ef-
37*
438 EVENTS IN
feet — the Americans resist and foil their attempts. Captain Jones, of
the British artillery, had the command of four pieces of cannon, which
he conducted with great skill and valor till he fell, and thirty six out
of forty eight of his artillery men were killed or wounded : his can
non were repeatedly taken and retaken, but finally remained with the
enemy for the want of horses to bring them off. During the engage
ment, a number of our soldiers placed themselves in the boughs of
high trees, in the rear and flanks, and took every opportunity of de
stroying the British officers by single shot ; in one instance, General
Burgoyne was the object, but the aid de camp of General Phillips re
ceived the ball through his arm, while delivering a message to Bur
goyne ; the mistake, it is said, was occasioned by having his saddle
furnished with rich lace, and was supposed by the marksman, to be
the British commander. In the dusk of evening the battle terminated,
the British in one quarter silently retreating, the Americans in another
give way, and quit the long contested field. Lieutenant Colonel
Brooks, with the eighth Massachusetts regiment, remained in the
field till about eleven o'clock, and was the last who retired. Major
Hull commanded a detachment of three hundred men, who fought
with such signal ardor, that more than half of them were killed or
wounded. The whole number of Americans engaged in this action,
was about two thousand five hundred ; the remainder of the army,
from its unfavorable situation, took little or no part in the action.
The British have suffered a loss, as is supposed, of more than five
hundred in killed, wounded and prisoners. On the side of the Ameri
cans, sixty four were killed, two hundred and seventeen wounded,
and thirty eight missing. Among the killed, are Colonels Adams and
Colburn, two valuable officers much regretted. The victory on this
important occasion is claimed by the enemy, but the advantages are
most decidedly on the side of the Americans ; they were the assail
ants — they held their ground during the day, and at the close retired
to their encampment without being pursued. The royal army lay all
the ensuing night on their arms at some distance from the field of
battle. 24th. — General Lincoln having the command of a body of New
England militia, detached Col. Brown with five hundred men to the
landing at lake George, about three miles from Ticonderoga, and more
than forty miles in the rear of the British army. Two other detach
ments were also sent towards Mount Independence, Fort Ann and
Fort Edward. These expeditions being faithfully executed, were at
tended with complete success. Colonel Brown had the address to
surprise all the outposts in the vicinity of Ticonderoga, and took im
mediate possession of Mount Defiance, Mount Hope, and a block
house, with two hundred batteaux, an armed sloop, and several gun
boats, about three hundred prisoners, with their small arms, and re
leased one hundred American prisoners from their confinement.
October 1st. — The situation of the royal army under Burgoyne, is
now considered extremely precarious ; his march to Albany is deemed
absolutely impracticable, and a retreat to Canada must be attended
THE REVOLUTION. 439
with insurmountable difficulties and dangers. It is well understood,
that he calculates on the co-operation of Sir Henry Clinton, by send
ing from New York, a force up the North river to endeavor to effect
a passage to Albany, or at least, to occasion such alarm, as to draw
off a part of General Gates' army from before him. Messengers or
persons in the character of spies, are frequently suspected of passing
from one British commander to the other. A man, by name Nathan
Palmer, was, a few days since, seized in general Putnam's camp, at
Peekskill, under suspicious circumstances, and on trial was found to
be a lieutenant in the tory new levies, and he was executed as a spy.
4th. — By intelligence from camp, it appears, that Burgoyne has
thrown up a line of entrenchments in front of his camp, and is mak
ing every possible effort to strengthen his position and prepare for an
other conflict. The Canadians and his Savage allies being greatly
dissatisfied and discouraged, have deserted his standard since the last
battle. The advantages obtained over the enemy on this occasion,
excites the greatest exultation and rejoicing throughout our army and
country. 6th — An express passed through this city, on his way to General
Gates' head quarters, with the information, that a detachment of troops
from New York, supposed to be about four thousand, under command
of Sir Henry Clinton, and General Vaughan, have undertaken an
expedition up the North river. Their object undoubtedly is, to pos
sess themselves of Fort Montgomery, and Fort Clinton, in the high
lands, and to make a diversion in favor of Burgoyne. General Put
nam was stationed at Peekskill with a small force, but being totally
unable to cope with the enemy, has retired to some distance. Should
this expedition be crowned with success, it will be in the power of
Sir Henry Clinton, to convey his army to this city, and even to our
camp at Stillwater, which will place our army between two fires.
Should General Gates detach a part of his troops to oppose the march
qf General Clinton, it will liberate Burgoyne, and he would probably
force his way to this city. In either event, the consequences must
be exceedingly disastrous to our country. We tremble with appre
hensions. 8th. — The anticipated important intelligence has just reached us,
that a most severe engagement took place yesterday, between the two
armies, at a place between Stillwater and Saratoga, called Bemis'
Heights. It is supposed to be the hardest fought battle, and the most
honorable to our army, of any since the commencement of hostilities.'
The enemy was completely repulsed in every quarter, and his defeat
was attended with irreparable loss of officers, men, artillery, tents
and baggage. Officers and men acquired the highest honor, they
fought like heroes, and their loss is very inconsiderable. General
Arnold has received a wound in his leg. I am impatient to receive
the particular details of this capital event.
9th and 10th.-~-l am fortunate enough to obtain from our officers, a
particular account of the glorious event of the 7th instant. The ad
vanced parties of the two armies came in contact, about three o'clock
440 EVENTS IN
on Tuesday afternoon, and immediately displayed their hostile atti
tude. The Americans soon approached the royal army, and each
party in defiance awaited the deadly blow. The gallant Colonel
Morgan, at the head of his famous rifle corps, and Major Dearborn,
leading a detachment of infantry, commenced the action, and rushed
courageously on the British Grenadiers, commanded by Major Ack-
land ; and- the furious attack was most firmly resisted. In all parts of
the field, the conflict became extremely arduous and obstinate ; an
unconquerable spirit on each side, disdaining to yield the palm of vic
tory. Death appeared to have lost his terrors ; breaches in the ranks
were no sooner made than supplied by fresh combatants awaiting a
similar fate. At length the Americans press forward with renewed
strength and ardor, and compel the whole British line, commanded
by Burgoyne himself, to yield to their deadly fire, and they retreat in
disorder. The German troops remain firmly posted at their lines ;
these were now boldly assaulted by Brigadier General Learned,' and
Lieutenant Colonel Brooks, at the head of their respective commands,
with such intrepidity, that the works were carried, and their brave
commander, Lieutenant Colonel Breyman was slain. The Germans
were pursued to their encampment, which, with all the equipage of
the brigade, fell into our hands. Colonel Cilley, of General Poor's
brigade, having acquitted himself honorably, was seen astride on a
brass field piece, exulting in the capture. Major Hull, of the Massa-.
chusetts line, was among those who so bravely stormed the enemy's
entrenchment and acted a conspicuous part. General Arnold, in con
sequence of a serious misunderstanding with General Gates, was no
vested with any command, by which he was exceedingly chagrined
and irritated. He entered the field however, and his conduct was
marked with intemperate rashness ; flourishing his sword and anima
ting the troops, he struck an officer on the head without cause, and
gave him a considerable wound. He exposed himself to danger, and
with a small party of riflemen, rushed into the rear of the enemy,
where he received a ball which fractured his leg, and his horse was
killed under him. Nightfall put a stop to our briliant career, though
the victory was most decisive, and it is with pride and exultation that
we recount the triumph of American bravery. Besides Lieutenant
Colonel Breyman slain, General Frazer, one of the most valuable
officers in the British service, was mortally wounded and survived
but a few hours.* Sir Francis Clark, aid de camp to General Bur
goyne, was brought into our camp with a mortal wound, and Major
Ackland, who commanded the British grenadiers, was wounded
* The death of General Frazer, from Professor Silliman's Travels. " In the ac
tion of the 7th October, 1777, Frazer was the soul of the British army, and waa
just changing the disposition of a part of the troops to repel a strong impression
which the Americans had made, and were still making, on the British right, when
Morgan called together two or three of his best marksmen, and pointing to Frazer,
said, " Do you see that gallant officer, that is General Frazer, — I respect and honor
him ; but it is necessary he should die." This was enough. Frazer immediately
received his mortal wound and was carried off the field."
THE REVOLUTION. 441
through both legs, and is our prisoner. Several other officers and
about two hundred privates are prisoners in our hands, with nine
pieces of cannon and a considerable supply of ammunition, which
was much wanted for our troops. The loss on our side is supposed
not to exceed thirty killed, and one hundred wounded, in obtaining
this signal victory.
11th. — The night after the battle, Burgoyne silently moved from
his position, and on the 8th, there was considerable skirmishing
through the day, with some loss on both sides. We have to lament
the misfortune of Major General Lincoln, who, while reconnoitring
the enemy, advanced so near, that a whole volley of musketry was
discharged at him, and he received a dangerous wound in his leg.
It is reported, that the day after the battle, upwards of one hundred of
the enemy's dead were found unburied in the field. General Gates
having detached a body of troops to get into the rear of the British
army, Burgoyne took the alarm, and resolved to retreat immediately
to Saratoga ; accordingly in the night of the 9th instant, he silently
moved off, leaving in our possession his hospital, containing three
hundred sick and wounded, with medicinal stores, and two hundred
barrels of flour, &c. It is a fact, both unaccountable and disgraceful,
that on their retreat they committed the most wanton devastations,
burning and destroying almost every house within their reach ; the
elegant and valuable country seat of General Schuyler, near Sara
toga, did not escape their fury. The situation of the royal army is
now extremely deplorable, and there is scarcely a possibility of their
final escape. General Gates has so arranged his forces as to cut off
their retreat, and is endeavoring to surround them on every quarter.
May the Almighty Ruler grant that our efforts may be crowned with
still more glorious success.
12th — The wounded officers and soldiers of our army, and those of
the enemy who have fallen into our hands, are crowding into our
hospital, and require our constant attention. The last night I watched
with the celebrated General Arnold, whose leg was badly fractured
by a musket ball while in the engagement with the enemy on the 7th
instant. He is very peevish, and impatient under his misfortunes,
and required all my attention during the night, but I devoted an hour
in writing a letter to a friend in Boston detailing the particulars of
the late battle.
In the severe battle of the 7th, General Burgoyne himself, it is
now ascertained, had a hair breadth escape, having one bullet pass
through his hat and another tore his waistcoat.
We have the most flattering accounts from camp. Our army is
now posted within musket shot of the enemy at Saratoga, and are
forming a circle round them. Some skirmishing takes place every
day, in which we have taken one hundred and twenty prisoners, and
have received one hundred and sixty deserters. A party of our men
have taken fifty batteaux loaded with provisions, stores, and medi
cines* among which are one thousand barrels of pork and beef. This
442 EVENTS IN
must be to the enemy an irreparable loss, and a blow which must
hasten the destruction or surrender of their whole army.
14th. — An express from camp. Burgoyne has this day made pro
posals to General Gates to enter into a treaty for the surrender of his
army. He desires a cessation of arms till the preliminary terms can
be settled, to which General Gates has assented. The glorious
event is about to be consummated.
15th and 16th. — Burgoyne's message to General Gates by the
hands of Major Kingston is as follows. October 14th, 1777.
" After having fought you twice, Lieutenant General Burgoyne has
waited some days, in his present position, determined to try a third
conflict against any force you could bring to attack him.
" He is apprised of the superiority of your numbers, and the dis
position of your troops to impede his supplies and render his retreat
a scene of carnage on both sides. In this situation he is impelled
by humanity, and thinks himself justified by established principles
and precedents of state and of war, to spare the lives of brave men on
honorable terms : should Major Gen. Gates be inclined to treat on
this idea, General Burgoyne would propose a cessation of arms during
the time necessary to communicate the preliminary terms, by which
in any extremity, he, and his army, mean to abide."
A convention was in consequence opened, and two days were
spent in a discussion and interchange of articles between the two
commanders. It was agreed that the two articles should be mutually
signed and exchanged to-morrow morning, the 17th instant, at nine
o'clock ; and the troops under Lieutenant General Burgoyne are to
march out of their intrenchments at 3 o'clock in the afternoon*
The substance of the treaty is, that the troops under the command
of General Burgoyne shall march out of their camp with the honors
of war, and their field artillery, to the place assigned, where their
arms and artillery shall be piled at the command of their own officers.
That the troops be allowed to return to England, on condition that
they shall not serve again in America during the present war. That
the officers be allowed to wear their side arms and be treated accord
ing to their rank. That the European troops march immediately for
* The whole number, which surrendered, was 5752
British troops . . . 2442 Sick and wounded left in the )
Brunswick and other > „,gg British camp when Burgoyne i 528
German troops S began his retreat J
Canadians, Volunteers, &c. 1100 Beside the above, there were)
Staff 12 killed, wounded, taken, and de- 1 2933
serted, between 6 July and 16th )
5752 October Total 9213
Remembrancer for 1777, p. 477. The whole army of general Gates consisted of
9093 continental troops. The number of the militia fluctuated ; but, when the con
vention was signed, it amounted to 4129. The sick exceeded 2500. The troops
under general Burgoyne were to march out of their camp with the honors of war J
and a free passage was to be granted them to Great Britain, on condition of not
serving again in North America during the present contest.
MURDER OF MISS MC'CREA.
. I" 17ll'- du,rin^the exPedi,tion °/ Gf- Burgoyne, two Indian chiefs were employed
to bring Miss Mc'Crea to a place of safety within the British lines. Quarrelins about
the reward, one of them killed her, tore off her scalp, and carried it to her lover
THE REVOLUTION. 445
Boston, to be in readiness to embark when transports shall be sent
for them, and that the Canadians be permitted to return home imme
diately, on the sole condition of their not arming awain against the
United States.
18«A.— At the appointed hour yesterday morning the Americans
marched into the lines of the British to the tune of Yankee Doodle,
where they continued till the royal army had marched to the place
appointed and deposited their arms according to the treaty."
Murder of Miss McCrea. — The murder of this young woman
by the Indians belonging to the army of Burgoyne, excited an
extraordinary degree of interest and sensibility. It was reported
that Gen. Burgoyne encouraged, or, at least, permitted the mur
der. In indignant terms lie denied the charge ; and it does not
appear that he had the least knowledge of it. Miss McCrea
was murdered about one mile north of Fort Edward, on the west
side of the highway, at a spring near the foot of a pine tree.
The following account is from Mr. Drake's Book of the Indians :
" This young lady was the second daughter of James McCrea,
minister of Lamington, New Jersey, who died before the revolu
tion. After his death, she resided with her brother, Col. John
McCrea of Albany, who removed in 1773 to the neighborhood of
Fort Edward. His house was in what is now Northumberland,
on the west side of the Hudson, three miles north of Fort Miller
Falls; In July or August, 1777, being on a visit to the family of
Mrs. McNeil, near Fort Edward, at the close of the week, she
was asked to remain until Monday. On Sunday morning, when
the Indians came to the house, she concealed herself in the cellar ;
but they dragged her out by the hair, and, placing her on a horse,
proceeded oh the road towards Sandy Hill. They soon met
another party of Indians, returning from Argyle, where they had
killed the family of Mr. Bains ; these Indians disapproved the
purpose of taking the captive to the British camp, and one of
them struck her with a tomahawk and tore off her scalp. This
is the account given by her nephew. The account of Mrs.
McNeil is, that her lover, anxious for her safety, employed two
Indians, with the promise of a barrel of rum, to bring her to him ;
and that, in consequence of their dispute for the right of con
ducting her, one of them murdered her. Gen, Gates, in his letter
to Gen. Burgoyne of 2d September, says, ' she was dressed to
receive her promised husband.'
"Her brother, on hearing of her fate, sent his family the next
day to Albany, and, repairing to the American camp, buried his
sister, with one Lieutenant van Vechten, three miles south of
Fort Edward. She was 23 years old, of an amiable and virtu
ous character, and highly esteemed by all her acquaintance. It
is said, and was believed, that she was engaged in marriage to
38
446 EVENTS IN
Captain David Jones, of the British army, a loyalist, who sur
vived her only a few years, and died, as was supposed, of grief
for her loss. Her nephew, Colonel James McCrea, lived at
Saratoga, in 1823.*
Battle of Monmouth. — " On the alliance of America withFrance,
it was resolved in Great Britain immediately to evacuate Phila
delphia, and to concentrate the royal force in the city and
harbour of New York. In pursuance of this resolution, the
royal army on the eighteenth of June passed over the Delaware
into New-Jersey. General Washington, penetrating that design,
had previously detached general Maxwell's brigade to co-operate
with the Jersey militia in impeding their progress, until he with
the main army should fall on their rear. When the American
army, in pursuit of the British, had crossed the Delaware, six
hundred men were immediately detached, under colonel Morgan,
to re-enforce general Maxwell. The British army having passed
up the east side of the Delaware to Allentown, its future course
was dubious. Two roads led to New York ; one, by the way of
Sandy Hook, the other, by South Amboy, opposite to Staten
Island and the North river. The last of these roads was the
shortest; but in that direction the Rarilon intervened ; and the
passage of that river in the face of an enemy, superior in number,
might be difficult and dangerous ; especially as intelligence had
been received, that General Gates with another army was advan
cing from the northward to form a junction with General Wash
ington near that river. The British general concluded to take
the road which led to Sandy Hook ; and when his army had
proceeded some miles along this road, it encamped on the 27th
of June on some high grounds in the neighbourhood of Freehold
court house, in the county of Monmouth.
General Washington, hearing that the enemy were on their
march in that direction, dispatched brigadier General Wayne
with a farther detachment of one thousand select men to strength
en the forces on the lines. The continental troops, now in front
of the main army, amounting to at least four thousand men, gen
eral Washington sent the marquis de la Fayette to take command
of them, and soon after, general Lee, who with two additional
brigades joined the front division, which was now under his
direction, and encamped at Englishtown, a few miles in the rear
of the British army. A corps of six hundred men, under colonel
Morgan, hovered on the right flank of the British ; and eight
hundred of the Jersey militia, under general Dickenson, were on
the left. General Washington with the main body of the Ameri
can army encamped about three miles in the rear of his ad-
* President Allen's American Biographical Dictionary, 574.
THE REVOLUTION. 447
vanced corps. Such was the disposition of the two armies on
the evening of the 27th of June. About twelve miles in front of
the British, the high grounds about Middletown would afford
them a position, which would effectually secure them from the
impression of the Americans. General Washington determined
to risk an attack on their rear before they should reach those
heights. General Lee was accordingly ordered to make his dis
positions for the attack, and to keep his troojP constantly lying
on their arms, that he might take advantage of the first move
ment of the enemy ; and corresponding orders were given to the
rear division of the army.
The British army marched in two divisions, the van command
ed by general Knyphausen, and the rear, by lord Cornwallis ;
but the British commander in chief, judging that the design of
the American general was to make an attempt on his baggage,
put it under the care of general Knyphausen, that the rear
division, consisting of the flower of the British army, might
be ready to act with vigour. This arrangement being made,
general Krtyphausen's division marched, in pursuance of orders,
at break of day on the 28th of June ; but the other division, un
der Lord Cornwallis, attended by the commander in chief, did
not move until eight, that it might not press too closely on the
baggage. General Lee appeared on the heights of Freehold soon
after the British had left them ; and, following them into the
plain, made dispositions for intercepting their covering party in
the rear. While he was advancing to the front of a wood, ad
joining the plain, to reconnoitre the enemy in person, Sir Henry
Clinton was marching back his whole rear division, to attack the
Americans. Lee now perceived that he had mistaken the force,
which formed the rear of the British ; but he still proposed to
engage on that ground. While both armies were preparing for
action, general Scott, mistaking an oblique march of an American
column for a retreat, left his position, and repassed a morass in
his rear. Lee, dissatisfied with the ground, on which the army
was drawn up, did not correct the error of Scott ; but directed
the whole detachment to repass the morass, and regain the
heights. During this retrograde movement, the rear of the army,
which at the first firing had thrown off their packs, and advanced
rapidly to the support of the front, approachea the scene of action ;
and general Washington, riding forward, met the advanced corps,
to his extreme mortification and astonishment, retiring before the
enemy. On coming up to Lee, he spoke to him in terms of dis
approbation ; but, though warm, he lost not for a moment that self
command, than which at so critical a moment nothing could be
more essential to the command of others. He instantly ordered
colonel Stewart's and lieutenant colonel Ramsay's battalions to
448 EVENTS IN
form on a piece of ground, which he judged suitable for giving a
check to the enemy ; and, having directed general Lee to take
proper measures with the residue of his force to stop the British
columns on that ground, he rode back himself to arrange the rear
division of the army. His orders were executed with firmness.
A sharp conflict ensued ; and though Lee was forced from the
ground on which he had been placed, he brought off his troops in
good order, and w^ then directed to form in the rear of English-
town. The check, which he had given to the enemy, procured
time to make a disposition of the left wing and second line of the
American army, in the wood and on the eminence to which Lee
was retreating. Lord Sterling, who commanded the left wing,
placed some cannon on the eminence, which, with the co-opera
tion of some parties of infantry, effectually stopped the advance
of the British in that quarter. The enemy attempted to turn the
left flank of the Americans, but were repulsed. They also made
a movement to the right, but were there repelled by Gen. Greene,
who had taken a very advantageous position. Wayne, advancing
with a body of troops, kept up so severe and well directed a fire,
that the British soon gave way, and took the position, which Lee
had before occupied, where the action commenced immediately
after the arrival of general Washington. Here the British line
was formed on very strong ground. Both flanks were secured by
the woods and morasses, and their front could only be reached
through a narrow pass. The day had been intensely hot ;* and the
tr6ops were greatly fatigued ; yet general Washington resolved to
renew the engagement. He ordered brigadier general Poor with
his own and the Carolina brigade to gain the enemy's right flank,
while Woodford with his brigade should turn their left. The ar
tillery was ordered at the same time to advance and play on them
in front. These orders were promptly obeyed ; but there were
so many impediments to be overcome, that before the attack could
be commenced, it was nearly dark. It was therefore thought most
advisable to postpone farther, operations until morning ; and the
troops lay on their arms in the field of battle. Gen. Washing
ton, who had been exceedingly active through the day, and en
tirely regardless of personal danger, reposed himself at night in
his cloak, under a tree, in the midst of his soldiers. His intention
of renewing the battle was frustrated. The British troops
marched away about midnight in such profound silence, that the
most advanced posts, and those very near, knew nothing of their
departure until morning. The American general, declining all far
ther pursuit of the royal army, detached some light troops to attend
* An effect of heat and fatigue, " unparalleled in the history of the New World,"
was experienced on this memorable day. Fifty-nine British soldiers perished with
out a wound ; and several of the American soldiers died through the same cause.
THE REVOLUTION. 449
its motions, and drew off his troops to the borders of the North
river. Sir Henry Clinton, after remaining a few days on the high
grounds of Middletown, proceeded to Sandy Hook, whence he
passed his army over to New York.
The loss of the Americans in this battle was eight officers and
sixty-one privates killed, and about one hundred and sixty wounded.
Among the slain, and much regretted, were lieutenant colonel Bon
ner, of Pennsylvania, and major Dickenson, of Virginia. The loss
of the British army, in killed, wounded, and missing, is stated to
have been three hundred and fifty-eight men, including officers.
Among their slain was lieutenant colonel Monckton, who was
greatly and deservedly lamented.* About one hundred were taken
prisoners ; and nearly one thousand soldiers, principally foreign
ers, many of whom had married in Philadelphia, deserted the
British standard during the march." — Holmes' Annals.
Action on Rhode Island. — On the 25th of July, 1778, Count
d'Estaing, with a French fleet, arrived off Newport, on Rhode
Island. A plan was concerted between him and General Sullivan
to attack the British army, about 6000 in number, under Gen. Pigot,
at Newport, by sea and land. A landing was effected on Rhode
Island by Gen. Sullivan, who, with an army of about 10,000 men,
advanced to between two and three miles of Newport, and com
menced the siege. A British fleet, under lord Howe, appearing off
the place, Count d'Estaing left the siege, and sailed to fight him.
The two admirals, after manoeuvring two days without coming to
action, were separated by a violent storm ; and it was not until the
evening of the nineteenth, that the French fleet made its re-appear
ance. Instead however of the expected co-operation in the siege, the
fleet sailed on the twenty-second for Boston, to refit, to the extreme
dissatisfaction of the Americans. The militia, thus deserted by their
allies, on whose co-operation much dependence had been placed,
went home in great numbers ; and general Sullivan soon found it ex
pedient to raise the siege. Having on the twenty-sixth sent off his
heavy artillery and baggage, he on the night of the twenty-eighth re
treated from his lines. Very early the next morning, the enemy, dis
covering his retreat, followed in two columns ; and the whole day was
spent in skirmishes between them and covering parties of the Ameri
cans, which successively fell back on the main body of the army.
* He had been selected that day for a hazardous service, on account of the cool
intrepidity of his character. That gallant officer, who had frequently encountered
death in all its forms, had been " more than once grievously wounded, both in the
last war and the present ; and, after a hair-breadth escape of a recovery, when left
among the dead on the field, was only reserved to be killed on this day, at the head
of the second battalion of grenadiers." — Annual Register. " During the confusion
of a dangerous cannonade, the battalion, in parties, relieved each other, until with
their bayonets they perfected a grave, where they laid the body of their commanding
officer, placing over it with their hands the earth they had moistened with their
tears. — Stedman. 38*
450
EVENTS IN
This was now encamped in a commanding situation at the north end
of the island, and, on the approach of the enemy, it drew up in order
of battle. The British formed on Quaker Hill, about a mile in front
of the American line. Sullivan's rear was covered by strong works,
and in his front, somewhat to the right, was a redoubt. A cannonade
and skirmishes having mutually been kept up until about two o'clock,
the enemy, then advancing in force, attempted to turn the right flank,
and made demonstrations of an intention to dislodge general Greene,
who commanded the right wing, from the redoubt in its front. Four
regular regiments were moved forward to meet them, and Gen. Greene
advanced with two other regiments of continental troops, and Lovell's
brigade of militia. Colonel Livingston's regiment was ordered to re
inforce the right. After a very sharp and obstinate engagement of
half an hour, the enemy gave way, and retreated to Quaker Hill.
The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and missing, was two
hundred and eleven. The loss of the enemy is stated to have been
two hundred and sixty.
The day after the action, a cannonade was kept up by both armies.
A letter was now received by general Sullivan from general Wash
ington, giving him information, that a large body of troops had sailed
from New York, most probably for the relief of Newport ; and a re
solution was immediately formed to evacuate the island. This move
ment was effected with great judgment, and entire success. Gen.
Sullivan, while making every show of an intention to resist the enemy
and maintain his ground, passed his army over, by the way of Bristol
and Howland ferries, on the night of the thirtieth, to the continent.
It was a remarkable escape. The delay of a single day would pro
bably have been fatal to the Americans ; for Sir Henry Clinton, who
had been delayed by adverse wmds, arrived with a reinforcement of
four thousand men the very next day, when a retreat, it is presumed,
would have been impracticable." — Holmes' Annals.
Invasion of New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk. — Early in
July, 1779, a marauding expedition was undertaken by the British
at New York against the southern margin of Connecticut. A land
force of 2600, under Governor Tryon and General Garth, accom
panied by a fleet of about forty sail, under Sir George Collier, an
chored off New Haven on the morning of the 5th of July. Their
landing was preceded by an address to the inhabitants of Connec
ticut, signed by both commanders, in which they invited them to
return to their allegiance, and in the usual style of royal procla
mations, promised protection to the persons and property of all
who should remain peaceably at home, with the exception of those
who held public offices. They set the lenity which the people
had experienced from his majesty's officers, and the ungrateful re
turn made for it, adding "that the existence of a single house on
their coast, ought to be a constant reproof of their ingratitude —
that they who lay so much in the British power afforded a striking
THE REVOLUTION. 451
monument of their mercy, and ought therefore to set the first ex
ample of returning to their allegiance." Gen. Garth, with 1000
troops, landed on the west side of the harbor, and though some
what harassed by the few militia which could be collected, en
tered New Haven about one in the afternoon, from which time till
eight in the evening, the town was ravaged and plundered, and
brutal outrages committed on the inhabitants. Governor Tryon
landed on the east side of the harbor, and effected a junction with
' Garth's division in New Haven. The enemy evacuated the town
next morning after burning a few store houses. The fleet left the
harbor the succeeding night, and the morning after anchored off
Fairfield. The following is Dr. Dwight's account of the destruc
tion of this place.
" On the 7th July, 1779, Gov. Tryon, with the army which I have already men
tioned, sailed from New Haven to Fairfield ; and the next morning disembarked upon
the beach. A few militia assembled to oppose them ; and in a desultory, scattered
manner, fought with great intrepidity through most of the day. They killed some ;
took several prisoners ; and wounded more. But the expedition was so sudden, and
unexpected, that the efforts, made in this manner, were necessarily fruitless. The
fown was plundered ; a great part of the houses, together with the two churches, the
court house, jail, and school houses, were burnt. The barns had been just filled with
wheat, and otherproduce. The inhabitants, therefore, were turned out into the world,
almost literally destitute.
Mrs. Burr, the wife of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., High Sheriff of the county, resolved
to continue in the mansion house of the family, and make an attempt to save it from
the conflagration. The house stood at a sufficient distance from other buildings.
Mrs. Burr was adorned with all the qualities, which give distinction to her sex ; pos
sessed of fine accomplishments, and a dignity of character, scarcely rivalled ; and
probably had never known what it was to be treated with disrespect, or even with in
attention. She made a personal application to Gov. Tryon, in terms, which from a
lady of her high respectability, could hardly have failed of a satisfactory answer from
any person, who claimed the title of a gentleman. The answer which she actually
received, was, however, rude, and brutal ; and spoke the want not only of politeness
and humanity, but even of vulgar civility. The house was sentenced to the flames,
and was speedily set on fire. An attempt was made, in the mean time, by some of
the soldiery, to rob her of a valuable watch, with rich furniture : for Gov. Tryon re
fused to protect her, as well as to preserve the house. The watch had been already
conveyed out of their reach ; but the house, filled with every thing, which contributes
either to comfort or elegance of living, was laid in ashes.
While the town was in flames, a thunder storm overspread the heavens, just aa
night came on. The conflagration of near two hundred houses illumined the earth,
the skirts of the clouds, and the waves of the Sound, with an union of gloom and
grandeur, at once inexpressibly awful and magnificent. The sky speedily was hung
with the deepest darkness, wherever the clouds were not tinged by the melancholy
lustre of the flames. At intervals, the lightnings blazed with a livid and terrible
splendor. The thunder rolled above. Beneath, the roaring of the fires filled up the
intervals, with a deep and hollow sound, which seemed to he the protracted murmur
of the thunder, reverberated from one end of heaven to the other. Add to this con
vulsion of the elements, and these dreadful effects of vindictive and wanton devasta
tion, the trembling of the earth ; the sharp sound of muskets, occasionally discharged;
the groans, here and there, of the wounded and dying; and the shouts of triumph :
then place before your eyes crowds of the miserable sufferers, mingled with bodies
of the militia, and from the neighboring hills taking a farewell prospect of their pro
perty and their dwellings, their happiness and their hopes : and you will form a just
but imperfect picture of the burning of Fairfield. It needed no great effort of ima-
452 EVENTS IN
gination to believe, that the final day had arrived ; and that, amid this funereal
darkness, the morning would speedily dawn, to which no night would ever succeed ;
the graves yield up their inhabitants ; and the trial commence, at which was to be
finally settled the destiny of man.
The apology made by Gov. Tryon for this Indian effort, was conveyed in the fol
lowing sentence : ' The village was buret, to resent the fire of the rebels from their
houses, and to mask our retreat.' ¦ This declaration unequivocally proves, that the
rebels were troublesome to their invaders ; and at the same time is to be considered
as the best apology which they were able to make. But it contains a palpable false
hood, intended to justify conduct, which admits of no excuse, and rejects with disdain
every attempt at palliation. Why did this body of men land at Fairfield at all 1
There were here no stores ; no fortress ; no enemy ; except such as were to be found
in every village throughout the United States. It was undoubtedly the original
object of the expedition to set fire to this town, and the apology was created after the
work was done. It was perfectly unnecessary to mask the retreat. The townsmen,
and the little collection of farmers, assembled ,to aid them, had no power to disturb
it. No British officer, no British soldier, would confess, that in these circumstances
he felt the least anxiety concerning any molestation from such opposers.
The injuries done to a single family, were an immense overbalance for all the good
acquired in this expedition, either by the individuals engaged in it, or the nation in
whose service they acted. Particularly that highly respectable pair, Mr. and Mrs.
Burr, in the loss of the mansion of their ancestors, and the treasures, with which it
had been stored through a long succession of years ; where the elegant hospitality,
which had reigned in it ; the refined enjoyments, which were daily felt, and daily
distributed to the friend, and the stranger ; the works of charity, which were there
multiplied ; and the rational piety, which was at once the animating, and controlling
principle ; diffused a brilliancy, marked even by the passing eye ; lost more than the
whole British nation gained by this devastation.
The next morning the troops re-embarked ; and, proceeding to Green's Farms,
set fire to the church, and consumed it, together with fifteen dwelling houses, eleven
barns, and several stores. Among the houses was that of the Rev. Dr. Ripley ; the
respectable clergyman of this parish. Here, also, was another proof, that burning
was the object of the expedition. The number of dwelling houses consumed in Fair
field was eighty-five; of barns, fifty-five ; of stores, fifteen ; of shops, fifteen, &c."
Tryon and Garth, after the destruction of Fairfield, crossed the
sound to Huntington bay, where they remained till the 11th of
July. They then sailed over to Norwalk, and landed in the night
on the plain which lies east of the river. On learning this fact
the inhabitants generally fled. Tryon arrived at the village about
eight o'clock the next morning, after some opposition made by
Capt. Betts with about fifty continental soldiers. Tryon, seated
in a chair on a hillock in the village, gave orders for its confla
gration. Eighty dwelling houses, two churches, eighty-seven
barns, seventeen shops, four mills and five vessels were consumed.
Six houses only were left undestroyed.
Expeditions against the Indians in New York. — " Although the pro
jected invasion of Canada was laid aside, yet several expeditions were
undertaken, and carried into effect against the Indians, who infested
the border settlements of New York and Pennsylvania. General
Schuyler was very instrumental in planning and getting these expe
ditions on foot. The first expedition undertaken was against the
Onondagas, who dwelt on the creek of that name, about fifty-three
miles westerly of Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk. On the nineteenth
THE REVOLUTION. 453
of April, 1779, Colonel Goose Van Schaick, assisted by Lieutenant-
colonel Willet and Major Cochran, with between five and six hundred
men, commenced his march from the latter place, for Onondaga,
which he reached on the morning of the third day. The Onondagas
not apprehending a visit at this season of the year, were entirely un
prepared, and fled to the woods on the first appearance of the Ameri
cans ; twelve, however, were killed, and thirty-four made prisoners
in the flight. Colonel Van Schaick caused all their houses and pro
visions to be burned, and the whole settlement, extending eight miles
along the creek, to be laid waste. This expedition was performed in
less than six days, and without the loss of a man.
Fort Schuyler, from whence the troops set out, stood hard by where
the bridge over the Mohawk at Utica now is. At that time the whole
space between the Mohawk River and Onondaga Creek, was covered
with woods, and was without roads or civilized inhabitants.
The second expedition was principally against the Senecas, who
had their main statioiis on the banks of Genesee River. The chief
command of the troops employed in this enterprise, was conferred on
General Sullivan. Tioga Point, in Pennsylvania, at the union of the
Susquehannah and Tioga Rivers, was selected for the rendezvous of
the troops. General Sullivan, with three thousand men, set out from
Easton on the Delaware, and advanced up the Susquehannah to that
place, where he was joined by General Clinton, with upwards of one
thousand. The latter had marched from the Mohawk to the outlet of
Otsego Lake, by the way of Cherry Valley, whence he descended the
Susquehannah. The water in the river, when he reached the outlet,
was too low to float his boats. To remedy this, General Clinton
caused a dam to be constructed across the outlet, for the purpose of
preventing the escape of the waters, till they should rise sufficiently
high for his boats. This lake being fed by springs, soon rose to the
height he wished, when he ordered the dam to be cut down. This
raised the river so much, that he was enabled to descend in boats to
Oquago, whence to Tioga Point — there is always sufficient depth of
water. After the junction of these troops, General Sullivan resumed
his march for the country of the- Senecas. His route lay up Tioga
and Conhocton Rivers. The Indians on hearing of the expedition
projected against them, behaved with firmness. They collected their
forces, and took a strong position on Tioga River, near Newtown, in
the county of Tioga, and fortified it with skill and judgment. General
Sullivan attacked them in this position. They stood a cannonade for
more than two hours, during which time several assaults were re
pelled ; but they were forced to give way and abandon their works.
This engagement was decisive ; after the trenches were forced, the
Indians fled without attempting to rally. They were pursued by the
Americans for several miles, but with little or no effect. The con
sternation occasioned among them by this defeat, was so great, that
they gave up all ideas of further resistance. As the Americans
advanced into their settlements, the Indians retired before them,
without throwing any obstructions in their way, The Generals Sul*
454 EVENTS IN
livan and Clinton penetrated into the midst of the Seneca's country,
and spread desolation on every side. Eighteen towns and villages,
besides hamlets and detached habitations were burned. All their
fields of corn, and whatever else was in a state of cultivation, were
destroyed. Nothing in the form of a house was left standing, nor
was any Indian to be seen. The lands, about the towns and villages,
were under tolerably good cultivation, and some of their houses were
large and commodious. The quantity of corn destroyed was im
mense. Orchards, in which were several hundred fruit trees, were
cut down. Their gardens, which contained great quantities of useful
vegetables, were laid waste. The troops were so inflamed with in
dignation against the Indians, on account of the many murders they
had committed on the back settlers, that they were determined not to
leave the country, before the work of destruction was fully consum
mated. The Indians, by this expedition, being made to feel in a very sen
sible manner, those calamities they had been accustomed to inflict on
others, became cautious and timid. The sufferings which they had
to endure, and the dread of a repetition of them, in case they should
again provoke the indignation of the American people, damped the
ardour of their warriors considerably, and rendered their inroads less
frequent and destructive," — Macauley's Hist. N. Y. 3. vol.
Storming of Stony Point. — " While the coasts of Connecti
cut were desolated by the British arms, the Americans undertook
an expedition which afforded a brilliant demonstration that, so far
from wanting courage, they could vie in boldness with the most
celebrated nations of Europe. The English had labored with
such industry in finishing the works at Stony Point, that they had
already reduced that rock to the condition of a real fortress. They
had furnished it with a numerous and selected garrison. The
stores were abundant, the defensive preparations formidable.
These considerations could not, however, discourage Washington,
who, on hearing of the capture of Stony Point and Verplanks,
had advanced and taken post on the brow of the mountains of the
Hudson, from forming the design to surprise and attempt both
these forts by assault. He charged General Wayne with the
attack of Stony Point, and General Howe with that of Verplanks.
He provided the first with a strong detachment of the most enter
prising and veteran infantry in all his army.
These troops set out on their expedition the fifteenth of July,
and having accomplished their march over high mountains,
through deep morasses, difficult defiles, and roads exceedingly bad
and narrow, arrived about eight o'clock in the evening within a
mile of Stony Point. General Wayne then halted to reconnoitre
the works, and to observe the situation of the garrison. The
English, however, did not perceive him. He formed his corps in
two columns, and put himself at the head of the right. It was
THE REVOLUTION. 455
preceded by a vanguard of an hundred and fifty picked men, com
manded by that brave and adventurous Frenchman, Lieutenant-
colonel Fleury. This vanguard was itself guided by a forlorn
hope of about twenty, led by Lieutenant Gibbon. The column on
the left, conducted by Major Stewart, had a similar vanguard, also
f>receded by a forlorn hope under Lieutenant Knox. These for-
orn hopes, among other offices, were particularly intended to re
move trie abattis and other obstructions, which lay in the way of
the succeeding troops. General Wayne directed both columns
to march in order and silence, with unloaded muskets and fixed
bayonets. At midnight they arrived under the walls of the fort.
The two columns attacked upon the flanks, while Major Murfee
engaged the attention of the garrison by a feint in their front. An
unexpected obstacle presented itself; the deep morass which cov
ered the works was at this time overflowed by the tide. The
English opened a most tremendous fire of musketry, and of can
non loaded with grape-shot; but neither the inundated morass,
nor a double palisade, nor the bastioned ramparts, nor the storm
of fire that was poured from them, could arrest the impetuosity of
the Americans; they opened their way with the bayonet, pros
trated whatever opposed them, scaled the fort, and the two columns
met in the centre of the works. General Wayne received a con
tusion in the head, by a musket ball, as he passed the last abattis ;
Colonel Fleury struck with his own hand the royal standard that
waved upon the walls. Of the forlorn hope of Gibbon, seventeen
out of the twenty perished in the attack. The English lost up
wards of six hundred men in killed and prisoners. The con
querors abstained from pillage and from all discord ; a conduct the
more worthy to be commended, as they had still present in mind
the ravages and butcheries which their enemies had so recently
committed in Carolina, in Connecticut, and in Virginia. Humanity
imparted new effulgence to the victory which valor had obtained.
The attack meditated against Verplanks, had not the same suc
cess ; General Howe encountered insurmountable obstacles. —
Meanwhile, Clinton had received intelligence of the capture of
Stony Point ; and, being resolved not to suffer the enemy to es
tablish themselves in that position, he instantly detached a corps of
cavalry and light infantry to dislodge them. But Washington had
attained his object; he had originally intended nothing more than
to make himself master of the artillery and stores of the fort, to
destroy the works, and to bring off the garrison. It was abso
lutely inconsistent with his views to risk a general action, in or
der to favor a partial operation ; he therefore ordered General
Wayne to retire ; which he did successfully, after having dis
mantled the fortifications. This expedition, so glorious for the
American arms, was celebrated with rapture in all parts of the
456
EVENTS IN
confederation. The congress decreed their acknowledgments to
Washington, and to Wayne, to Fleury, Stewart, Gibbon, and
Knox. They presented General Wayne with a medal of gold,
which represented this brilliant achievement. Fleury and Stewart
received a similar medal of silver. Not willing to leave the
bravery of their soldiers without its retribution, they ordered an
estimate of the military stores taken at Stony Point, and the value
thereof to be shared among them." — Botta's Rev.
Murder of Mrs. Caldwell.
Murder of Mrs. and Mr. Caldwell. — "In the summer of 1780,
the British troops made frequent incursions into New Jersey, rav
aging and plundering the country, and committing numerous atro
cities upon its inhabitants. In June, a large body of the enemy,
commanded by Gen. Kniphausen, landed at Elizabethtown Point
and proceeded into the country. They were much harassed in
their progress by Col. Dayton, and the troops under his command.
When they arrived at Connecticut Farms, according to their usual
but sacrilegious custom, they burnt the Presbyterian church, par
sonage house,- and a considerable part of the village. But the
most cruel and wanton act that was perpetrated during this incur
sion, was the murder of Mrs. Caldwell, the wife of the Rev. Mr.
Caldwell of Elizabethtown.
This amiable woman seeing the enemy advancing, retired with
her housekeeper, a child of three years old, an infant of eight
months, and a little maid, to a room secured on all sides by stone
walls, except at a window opposite the enemy. She prudently
took this precaution to avoid the danger of transient shot, should
THE REVOLUTION. 457
the ground be disputed near that place, which happened not to be
the case ; neither was there any firing from either party near the
house, until the fatal moment, when Mrs. Caldwell, unsuspicious
of any immediate danger, sitting on the bed with her little child
by the hand, and her nurse, with her infant babe by her side,
was instantly shot dead by an unfeeling British soldier, who had
come round to an unguarded part of the house, with an evident
design to perpetrate the horrid deed. Many circumstances at
tending this inhuman murder, evince, not only that it was com
mitted by the enemy with design, but also, that it was by the per
mission, if not by the command, of Gen. Kniphausen, in order to
intimidate the populace to relinquish their cause. A circumstance
which aggravated this piece of cruelty, was, that when the British
officers were made acquainted with the murder, they did not in
terfere to prevent the corpse from being stripped and burnt, but
left it half the day, stripped in part, to be tumbled about by the
rude soldiery ; and at last it was removed from the house, before
it was burned, by the aid of those who were not of the army.
Mrs. Caldwell was an amiable woman, of a sweet and even
temper, discreet, prudent,' benevolent, soft and engaging in her
manners, and beloved by all her acquaintance. She left nine
promising children.
Mrs. Caldwell's death was soon followed by that of her hus
band. In November, 1781, Mr. Caldwell hearing of the arrival
of a young lady at Elizabethtown Point, whose family in New
York had been peculiarly kind to the American prisoners, rode
down to escort her up to town. Having received her into his
chair, the sentinel observing a little bundle tied in the lady's hand
kerchief, said it must be seized for the state. Mr. Caldwell im
mediately left the chair, saying he would deliver it to the com
manding officer, who was then present ; and as he stepped for
ward with this view, another soldier impertinently told him to
stop, which he immediately did; the soldier notwithstanding,
without further provocation, shot him dead on the spot. Such
was the untimely fate of Mr. Caldwell. His public discourses
were sensible, animated and persuasive ; his manner of delivery
agreeable and pathetic. He was a very warm patriot, and greatly
distinguished himself in supporting the cause of his suffering
country. As a husband he was kind; as a citizen, given to hos
pitality. The villain who murdered him was seized and exe
cuted."* Treason of Arnold, and Capture of Andre. — General Arnold,
after his wounds had disabled him in a measure from active pub
lic service, was appointed to a command in Philadelphia ; where
39 * Morse.
458 EVENTS OF
his oppressive and overbearing measures had provoked a severe
inquiry into his conduct, and he was sentenced by Congress to
be reprimanded by the commander in chief. Arnold was exas
perated, and he determined on revenge. Being connected by a
royalist family in Philadelphia by marriage, he found means to
open a negotiation with the British commanders at New York,
for the purpose of betraying his country. Pretending an aversion
to a residence is Philadelphia, he solicited and obtained from
Washington the command of the important post of West Point,
about fifty miles northward of New York, on the Hudson river.
' Arnold was brave and hardy, but dissipated and profligate.
Extravagant in his expenses, he had involved himself in debts, and
having had, on frequent occasions, the administration of considera
ble sums of the public money, his accounts were so unsatisfactory,
that he was liable to an impeachment on charges of peculation.
Much had been forgiven indeed, and more would probably have
been forgiven to his valor and military skill. But alarmed by the
terrors of a guilty conscience, he determined to get rid of pecu
niary responsibility, by betraying his country ; and accordingly
entered into a negotiation with Sir Henry Clinton, in which he
engaged, when a proper opportunity should present itself, to make
such a disposition of his troops as would enable the British to
make themselves masters of West Point. The details of this ne
gotiation were conducted by Major Andre, the adjutant-general of
the British army, with whom Arnold carried on a clandestine cor
respondence, addressing him under the name of Anderson, whilst
he himself assumed that ofGustavus. To facilitate their commu
nications, the Vulture sloop of war was moved near to West Point,
and the absence of Washington seemed to present a fit opportu
nity for the final arrangement of their plans, on the night of the
21st of September, Arnold sent a boat to the Vulture to bring
Andre on shore. That officer landed in his uniform between the
posts of the two armies, and was met by Arnold, with whom he
held a conference which lasted till day-break, when it was too late
for him to return to the vessel. In this extremity, unfortunately
for himself, he allowed Arnold to conduct him within one of the
American posts, where he lay concealed till the next night. In
the meantime, the Vulture having been incommoded by an Amer
ican battery, had moved lower down the river, and the boatmen
now refused to convey the stranger on board her. Being cut off
from this way of escape, Andre was advised to make for New
York by land ; and, for this purpose, he was furnished with a dis
guise, and a passport signed by Arnold, designating him as John
Anderson. He had advanced in safety near the British lines, when
he was stopped by three New York militia-men. Instead of
showing his pass to these scouts, he asked them ' where they be-
THE REVOLUTION. 459
longed to?' and, on their answering 'to below,' meaning to New
York, with singular want of judgment, he stated that he was a
British officer, and begged them to let him proceed without delay.
The men, now throwing off the mask, seized him ; and, notwith
standing his offers of a considerable bribe if they would release
him, they proceeded to search him, and found upon his person,
papers which gave fatal evidence of his own culpability and of
Arnold's treachery. These papers were in Arnold's hand-writing,
and contained exact and detailed returns of the state of the forces,
ordnance, and defences of West Point and its dependencies, with
the artillery orders, critical remarks on the works, an estimate of
the number of .men that were ordinarily on duty to man them, and
the copy of a state of matters that had, on the sixth of the month,
been laid before a council of war by the commander in chief."
" Andre offered his captors a purse of gold, and a new valuable
watch, if they would let him pass, and permanent provision, and
future promotion, if they would convey and accompany him to
New York. They nobly rejected the proffered bribe, and deliv
ered him a prisoner to lieutenant colonel Jameson, the com
mandant of the scouting parties. The captors of Andre were
John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wert. Congress
resolved, tha't each of them should receive annually, during life,
two hundred dollars. Andre, when delivered to Col. Jameson,
continued to call himself by the name of Anderson, and asked
leave to send a letter to general Arnold to acquaint him of Ander
son's detention. This was inconsiderately granted. General
Arnold, on the receipt of this letter, abandoned every thing, and
went on board the Vulture sloop of war. Colonel Jameson for
warded to Washington all the papers found on Andre, together
with a letter, giving an account of the affair ; hut the express, by
taking a different route from that of the General, who was return
ing from a conference at Hartford, missed him. This caused such
a delay as gave Arnold time to effect his escape. The same
packet which detailed the particulars of Andre's capture, brought
a letter from him, in which he avowed his name and character,
and endeavoured to show that he had not come under the descrip
tion of a spy.
Washington referred the whole case of Major Andre to the
examination and decision of a board, consisting of fourteen general
officers. On his examination he voluntarily confessed every thing
that related to himself, and that he did not come on shore under
the protection of a flag. The board did not examine a witness,
but founded their report on his own confession. In this they
stated the following facts : — ' That Major Andre came on shore
on the night of the twenty-first of September, in a private and
secret manner, and that he changed his dress within the Ameri-
460 EVENTS OF
can lines, and under a feigned name, and disguised habit, passed
their works, and was taken in a disguised habit, when on his way
to New York ; and when taken several papers were found in his
possession, which contained intelligence for the enemy.' From
these facts they farther reported it as their opinion, ' 1'hat Major
Andre ought to be considered as a spy, and that agreeably to the
laws and usages of nations, he ought to suffer death."
Execution of Andre. — The following particular account relative to
the execution of the unfortunate Andre, is from Dr. Thacher's Military
Journal. " October 1st, 1780. — I went this afternoon to witness the
execution of Major Andre, — a large concourse of people had assem
bled, the gallows was erected, and the grave and coffin prepared to
receive the remains of this celebrated but unfortunate officer ; but a
flag of truce arrived with a communication from Sir Henry Clinton,
making another and further proposals for the release of Major Andre,
in consequence of which the execution was postponed till to-morrow,
at twelve o'clock.
The flag which came out this morning brought General Robertson,
Andrew Eliot, and William Smith, Esqrs. for the purpose of pleading
for the release of Major Andre, the royal army being in the greatest
affliction on the occasion. The two latter gentlemen, not being mil
itary officers, were not permitted to land, but General Greene was ap
pointed by his excellency to meet General Robertson at Dobb's Ferry,
and to receive his communications. He had nothing material to
urge, but that Andre had come on shore under the sanction of a flag,
and therefore could not be considered as a spy. But this is not true :
he came on shore in the night, and had no flag, on business totally in
compatible with the nature of a flag. " Besides, Andre himself, can
didly confessed, on his trial, that he did not consider himself under
the sanction of a flag. General Robertson, having failed in his point,
requested that the opinion of disinterested persons might be taken,
and proposed Generals Knyphausen and Rochambeau as proper per
sons. After this he had recourse to threats of retaliation on some
people in New York and Charleston, but he was told that such con
versation could neither be heard nor understood. He next urged the
release of Andre on motives of humanity, saying, he wished an in
tercourse of such civilities as might lessen the horrors of war, and
cited instances of General Clinton's merciful disposition, adding that
Andre possessed a great share of that gentleman's affection and es
teem, and that he would be infinitely obliged if he was spared. He
offered, that if his earnest wishes were complied with, to engage that
any prisoner in their possession, whom General Washington might
name, should immediately be set at liberty. But it must be viewed
as the height of absurdity that General Robertson should, on this oc
casion, suffer himself to be the bearer of a letter which the vile traitor
had the consummate effrontery to write to General Washington.
This insolent letter is filled with threats of retaliation, and the account
ability of his Excellency for the torrents of blood that might be spilt
THE REVOLUTION. 461
if he should order the execution of Major Andre. It should seem im
possible that General Robertson could suppose that such insolence
would receive any other treatment than utter contempt.
October 2d. — Major Andre is no more among the living. I have
just witnessed his exit. It was a tragical scene of the deepest inter
est. During his confinement and trial, he exhibited those proud
and elevated sensibilities which designate greatness and dignity of
mind. Not a murmur or a sigh ever escaped him, and the civilities
and attentions bestowed on him were politely acknowledged. Having
left a mother and two sisters in England, he was heard to mention
them in terms of the tenderest affection, and in his letter to Sir Henry
Clinton, he recommends them to his particular attention.
The principal guard officer, who was constantly in the room with
the prisoner, relates that when the hour of his execution was an
nounced to him in the morning, he received it without emotion, and
while all present were affected with silent gloom, he retained a firm
countenance, with calmness and composure of mind. Observing his
servant enter the room in tears, he exclaimed, ' leave me till you can
show yourself more manly.' His breakfast being sent to him from
the table of General Washington, which had been done every day of
his confinement, he partook of it as usual, and having shaved and
dressed himself, he placed his hat on the table, and cheerfully said
to the guard officers, ' I am ready at any moment, gentlemen, to wait
on you.' The fatal hour having arrived, a large detachment of troops
was paraded, and an immense concourse of people assembled; almost
all our general and field officers, excepting his Excellency and his
staff, were present on horseback ; melancholy and gloom pervaded
all ranks, and the scene was aftectingly awful. I was so near during
the solemn march to the fatal spot, as to observe every movement,
and participate in every emotion which the melancholy scene was
calculated fo produce. Major Andre walked from the stone house,
in which he had been confined, between two of our subaltern officers,
arm in arm ; the eyes of the immense multitude were fixed on him,
who, rising superior to the fears of death, appeared as if conscious of
the dignified deportment which he displayed. He betrayed no want
of fortitude, but retained a complacent smile on his countenance, and
politely bowed to several gentlemen whom he knew, which was
respectfully returned. It was his earnest desire to be shot, as being
the mode of death most conformable to* the feelings of a military man,
and he had indulged the hope that his request would be granted. At
the moment, therefore, when suddenly he came in view of the gallows,
he involuntarily started backward, and made a pause. ' Why this
emotion, sir,' said an officer by his side 1 Instantly recovering his
composure, he said, ' I am reconciled to my death, but I detest the
mode.' While waiting and standing near the gallows, I observed
some degree of trepidation ; placing his foot on a stone, and rolling it
over, and choking in his throat, as if attempting to swallow. So
soon, however, as he perceived that things were in readiness, he step
ped quickly into the wagon, and at this moment he appeared to shrink,
462 EVENTS IN
but instantly elevating his head with firmness, he said, 'It will be but
a momentary pang,' and taking from his pocket two white handker
chiefs, the provost marshal with one, loosely pinioned his arms, and
with the other, the victim, after taking off his hat and stock, ban
daged his own eyes with perfect firmness, which melted the hearts,
and moistened the cheeks, not only of his servant, but of the throng
of spectators. The rope being appended to the gallows, he slipped
the noose over his head and adjusted it to his neck, without the as
sistance of the awkward executioner. Colonel Scammel now inform
ed him that he had an opportunity to speak, if he desired it ; he raised
the handkerchief from his eyes and said, ' I pray you to bear me
witness that I meet my fate like a brave man.' The wagon being
now removed from under him, he was suspended, and instantly ex
pired; it proved indeed 'but a momentary pang.' He was dressed
in his. royal.regimentals and boots, and his remains were placed in
an ordinary coffin, and interred at the foot of the gallows ; and the
spot was consecrated by the tears of thousands."
The above cut is copied from an engraving of Andre in the
" Political Magazine, published in London in 1781, to which is
affixed a fac simile of his hand writing. Major Andre at the
time of his death was 31 years of age. " He was well made,
rather slender, about five feet nine inches high, and remarkably
active ; his complexion was dark, his countenance good and some
what, serious. He excelled in many elegant accomplishments,
such as drawing, painting, and dancing ; and possessed the mod
ern languages, particularly French, Italian, and German to an
uncommon degree of perfection." A monument was erected by
THE REVOLUTION. 463
order of the king, in Westminster Abbey, to his memory. His re
mains were taken up in 1821, by Mr. Buchanan, British Consul
ih New York, removed to England and deposited near this monu
ment. Burning of New London and Storming of Fort Griswold. —
While the combined French and American armies were advan
cing to the siege of Yorktown, Gen. Arnold, the traitor, was ap
pointed to conduct an expedition against New London, Conn.
The troops employed in this service were landed, on the 6th of
September, 1781, on each side of the harbor, in two detachments ;
one commanded by Lieut. Colonel Eyre, the other by General
Arnold. " About daybreak (says the Connecticut Gazette) on Thursday
morning last, 24 sail of the enemy's shipping appeared to the
westward of this harbor, which by many were supposed to be a ¦
plundering party after stock ; alarm guns were immediately fired,
but the discharge of cannon in the harbor has become so frequent
of late, that they answered little or no purpose. The defenceless
state of the fortifications and the town are obvious to our readers ;
a few of the inhabitants who were equipped, advanced towards the
place where the enemy were thought likely to make their landing,
and manoeuvred on the heights adjacent, until the enemy about 9
o'clock landed in two divisions, and about 800 men each, one of
them at Brown's farm near the light-house, the other at Groton
Point : the division that landed near the light-house marched up
the road keeping up large flanking parties, who were attacked in
different places on their march by the inhabitants, who had spirit
and resolution to oppose their progress. The main body of the
enemy proceeded to the town, and set fire to the stores on the
beach, and immediately after to the dwelling houses lying on the
Mill Cove. The scattered fire of our little parties, unsupported
by our neighbors more distant, galled them so that they soon be
gan to retire, setting fire promiscuously on their way. The fire
from the stores communicated to the shipping that lay at the
wharves, and a number were burnt ; others swung to single fast,
and remained unhurt.
At 4 o'clock, they began to quit the town with great precipita
tion, and were pursued by our brave citizens with the spirit and
ardor of veterans, and driven on board their boats. Five of the
enemy were killed, and about twenty wounded ; among the latter
is a Hessian captain, who is a prisoner, as are seven others. We
lost four killed and ten or twelve wounded, some mortally. The
most valuable part of the town is reduced to ashes, and all the
stores. Fort Trumbull, not being tenable on the land side, was
evacuated as the enemy advanced, and the few men in it crossed
464 EVENTS IN
the river to Fort Griswold, on Groton Hill, which was soon after
invested by the division that landed at the point.
The buildings burnt at New London in this expedition by the
British troops, were 65 dwelling houses containing 97 families, 31
stores, 18 shops, 20 barns, and 9 public and other buildings, among
which were the Court House, Jail and Church — in all 143.
In many instances where houses were situated at a great dis
tance from any stores, and contained nothing but household fur
niture, they were set on fire, notwithstanding the earnest cries and
entreaties of the women and children in them, who were threat
ened with being burnt in them if they did not instantly leave them.
Indeed two houses were bought off for 10Z. each, of an officer
who appeared to be a captain, upon condition, however, that he
should not be made known ; and where the houses were not burnt,
they were chiefly plundered of all that could be carried off. At
the harbor's mouth, the houses of poor fishermen were stripped
of all their furniture of every kind, the poor people having nothing
but the clothes that they had on."
The detachment under Lieut. Col. Eyre, about eight hundred
in number, landed on the east side of the harbor, opposite the light
house, and having found a lame boy collecting cattle, compelled
him to show them the cart path to the fort. They landed about
nine o'clock in the morning of a most delightful day, clear and
still. Fort Griswold was under the command of Lieut. Col. Wm.
Ledyard, uncle to the celebrated traveller of the same name.
He resided on Groton bank opposite New London, and was much
beloved and respected by his neighbors. On the advance of the
enemy, Col. Ledyard having but about one hundred and fifty men
with him in the fort, sent out an officer to get assistance, as there
were a number of hundred of people collected in the vicinity ; this
officer, by drinking too much, became intoxicated, and no rein
forcement was obtained. On the rejection of a summons to sur
render, the British extended their lines so that they were scattered
over the fields and rushed on to the attack with trailed arms, under
the fire of the Americans, to the assault of the fort on three sides.
Having effected a lodgment in the ditch, they cut away the pick
ets, and having scaling ladders, they entered the fort and knocked
away the gate on the inside. While the British were in the ditch,
they had cold shot thrown on them, and as they were entering the
embrazures, the garrison changed their weapons and fought des
perately with spears or pikes fifteen or sixteen feet in length, which
did considerable execution. Unfortunately they had lent the
greater part of the pikes belonging to the fort to a privateer a few
days before. Major Montgomery was hoisted up on the walls of
the fort by his soldiers ; as he was flourishing his sword on his
THE REVOLUTION. 465
entrance, he was mortally wounded by Jordan Freeman,* a col
ored man, who pierced him through with a spear. Another offi
cer was killed by a musket ball while in the fort. As he fell, he
exclaimed, 'put every one to death, don't spare one.' Col. Led
yard finding further resistance useless, presented his sword to an
officer, who asked him who commanded the fort. ' I did,' said
Col. Ledyard, 'but you do now;' the officer (Capt. Bloomfield,)
took his sword and instantly plunged it into his bosom. Colonel
Ledyard fell on his face and instantly expired. An indiscriminate
massacre now took place, till a British officer exclaimed, ' my
soul cannot bear such destruction,' and ordered a parley to be beat.
Such had been the butchery in the fort, that it was over shoes in
blood in some parts of the parade ground. Soon after the sur
render, a wagon was loaded with wounded Americans and set off
down the hill ; it struck an apple tree with great force, and knocked
several of these bleeding men out, and caused their instant death.
One of these distressed men having been thrown out of the wagon,
and while crawling towards the fence on his hands and knees, was
brutally knocked on the head by the but end of a musket, by one
of the refugees who were attached to the British army. The
British embarked at the foot of the hill near the ferry, and took off
a number of prisoners with them. As they left the fort, they set
fire to a train, intending to blow up the magazine, in which were
about one hundred barrels of powder. Fortunately it was extin
guished by our people, who entered the fort soon after the enemy
left it. It is stated that the enemy lost in the attack on the fort 54
killed and 143 wounded, several of whom afterwards died of their
wounds. The killed of the enemy were buried by their comrades
at the gate of the fort, and were so slightly covered that many of
their legs and arms remained above ground. ; our people who were
killed at the fort, were stripped, and so disfigured, covered with
blood and dust, that with the exception of two or three, they could
not be recognized by their friends, except by some particular
marks on their persons.
A granite monument, 1 27 feet in height, has been erected on this
spot, on which is the following inscription, to which is added a
list of the names of those who fell, eighty-five in number.
* Most of the facts mentioned in this account were related to the compiler of this
work by an eye witness, Mr. Joshua Baker, of Groton, who was in the fort at the
time it was stormed. He was wounded, carried off prisoner to New York, and con
fined in the *¦ Sugar House." He mentioned that when the enemy arrived at New
York they reported a loss of five hundred men in killed, wounded, and missing, in
this expedition. Mr. Baker was under the command of Col. Ledyard upwards of
two years, and was the first man who stood sentry at Fort Griswold. Some particu
lars were also obtained from Capt. Elijah Bailey, the post master at Groton Bank,
who was one of the defenders of the fort at the time of the massacre.
466 EVENTS IN
This Monument
was erected under the patronage of the State of Connecticut, A. D. 1830,
and in the 55th year of the Independence of the U. S. A.
In memory of the brave Patriots,
who fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold, near this spot,
on the 6th September, A. D. 1781,
when the British, under the command of
the traitor Benedict Arnold,
burnt the towns of New London and Groton and spread
desolation and woe throughout this region.
On the south side of the pedestal, opposite the fort, is the following inscription :
" Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, in
the high places of the field. — Judges, 5 Chap. 18 verse.
Shays' Insurrection. — " This year [1786,] is rendered memo
rable by an insurrection in Massachusetts. A heavy debt, lying
on the state, with a similar burden on almost every corporation
within it ; a relaxation of manners, and a free use of foreign lux
uries ; a decay of trade and manufactures, with a scarcity of
money ; and, above all, the debts due from individuals to each other;
were the primary causes of this dangerous sedition. Heavy
taxes, necessarily imposed at this time, were the immediate ex
citement to discontent and insurgency. On the twenty second of
August, a convention of delegates from fifty towns in the county
of Hampshire met at Hatfield, and voted a great number of arti
cles as grievances and "unnecessary burdens now lying on the
people ; and gave directions for transmitting these proceedings
to the convention of Worcester, and to the county of Berkshire.
Very soon after, a number of insurgents, supposed to be nearly
fifteen hundred, assembled under arms at Northampton ; took
possession of the court house ; and effectually prevented the sit
ting of the courts of common pleas and general sessions of the
peace. The governor issued a proclamation, calling on the offi
cers and citizens of the commonwealth to suppress such treasona
ble proceedings ; but it had little effect. 1 he counties of Wor
cester, Middlesex, Bristol, and Berkshire, were set in a flame.
In the week succeeding the proclamation, a body of more than
three hundred insurgents posted themselves at the court house in
Worcester, and obliged the courts of common pleas and general
sessions to adjourn: Insurgents in Middlesex counties prevented
the courts from sitting at Concord. In the county of Bristol, the
malcontents assembled to prevent the sitting of the courts at
Taunton ; but the people to the number of three hundred, appear
ing in arms under major Gen. Cobb, counteracted their designs."
" On the twenty third of November a convention of delegates from
several towns in the county of Worcester sent out an address to the
people. An attempt was at length made to prevent the sitting of the
supreme judicial court. itself by a number of insurgents headed by
Daniel' Shays* The general court, at this distressing period, passed
* He had been a captain in the continental army, but had resigned his commission.
THE REVOLUTION. 467
three laws for easing the burdens of the people : an act for collecting
the back taxes in specific articles ; an act for making real and per
sonal estate a tender in discharge of executions and actions commen
ced at law ; and an act for rendering law processes less expensive.
They provided for the apprehending and trial of dangerous persons ;
but at the same time tendered pardon to all the insurgents. These
lenient measures of government were ascribed, not to clemency, but
to weakness or timidity. The judicial courts being adjourned by the
legislature to the twenty sixth of December, to sit at Springfield;
Shays with about three hundred malcontents marched into that town
to oppose the administration of justice, and took possession of the
court house. A committee was appointed to wait on the court with
an order, couched in the humble form of a petition, requiring them not
to proceed on business ; and both parties retired."
" The insurgents in Massachusetts continuing to assemble, and
to endeavour to impede the measures of government by an armed
force ; a body of troops, to the amount of above four thousand,
was ordered out to support the judicial courts, and suppress the
insurrection. The command of this respectable force was given
by the governor to major general Lincoln, ' whose reputation and
mildness of temper rendered him doubly capacitated for so deli
cate and important a trust.' The army reached Worcester on
the twenty second of January ; and the judicial courts set there
without interruption. Previously to the marching of the troops
from Roxbury, orders had been given to general Shepard to take
possession of the post at Springfield, where was a continental ar
senal. Here he accordingly collected about nine hundred men,
who were afterwards reinforced with the addition of nearly three
hundred of the Hampshire militia. To this post the insurgents
<iirected their first attention, from a hope of carrying it before the
arrival of general Lincoln. About four o'clock in the afternoon
of the twenty fifth of January, general Shepard perceived Shays
advancing on the Boston road toward the arsenal, with his troops
(which amounted to eleven hundred men) in open column. The
general sent one of his aids with two other gentlemen, several
times, to know the intention of the enemy, and to warn them of
their danger. Their answer purported, that they would have the
barracks ; and they immediately marched forward within two
hundred and fifty yards of the arsenal. A message was again
sent to inform them, that the militia were posted there by order
of the governor and of congress ; and that if they approached
nearer, they would be fired on. " That," said one of the leaders,
' is all we want ;' and they advanced one hundred yards farther.
General Shepard now gave orders to fire ; but he ordered the two
first shot to be directed over their heads. This discharge quick
ening, instead of retarding their approach ; the artillery was lev-
468 EVENTS IN
tilled against the centre of their column. A cry of murder in
stantly rose from the rear of the insurgents, and their whole body
was thrown into total confusion. Shays attempted to display his
column, but in vain. His troops retreated percipitately to Lud
low, about ten miles, leaving three of their men dead, and one
wounded, on the field.
The main body of the insurgents took post at Pelham ; from
which place, on the thirteenth of January, their officers addressed
a petition to the general court. On the third of February, while
a conference was holding between one of their leaders and an of
ficer of the army, the insurgents withdrew from Pelham to Peter
sham. General Lincoln, who was then at Hadley, receiving in
telligence of their movement, put his army in motion, in pursuit
of them, and made one of the most indefatigable marches, that
was ever performed in America. His troops commenced their
march at eight in the evening, and by two in the morning, reached
New Salem. Here a violent north wind rose ; the cold was ex
treme ; a snow storm at once heightened the inclemency of the
weather, and filled the paths ; the route lay over high land, where
the exposure was great; the;.; country was thinly settled, and for
many miles afforded them no covering. Exposed to all these
evils, they advanced, without scarcely halting, the distance of
thirty miles ; their front reaching Petersham by nine in the morn
ing, and their rear being five miles distant. A pursuit through
so many difficulties being totally unexpected, the insurgents were
completely surprised ; and, scarcely firing a gun, quitted the
town in great confusion. They were pursued about two miles,
and one hundred and fifty of them were taken prisoners. Many
of the fugitives retired to their own houses ; and the rest, inclu
ding all their principal officers, fled into the states of New Hamp
shire, New York, and Vermont. Some predatory incursions
were afterwards made by them from their lodgments in the neigh
bouring states ; hut such decisive measures were taken, as obli
ged them to seek refuge in Vermont as their last resort."
" On the tenth of March the general court appointed three com
missioners, whose duty it was, on certain conditions, to promise in
demnity to those who were concerned in the rebellion. Seven hun
dred and ninety persons took the benefit of the commission. Four
teen persons, who were tried at the supreme judicial court, received
sentence of death ; but they were successively pardoned. ' Thus,'
says the historian of the Insurrection, ' was a dangerous internal war
finally suppressed by the spirited use of constitutional powers, with
out the shedding of blood by the hand of the civil magistrate ; a cir
cumstance, which it is the duty of every citizen to ascribe to its real
cause, the lenity of government, and not to their weakness ; a circum
stance too, that must attach every man to a constitution, which, from
THE REVOLUTION.
469
a happy principle of mediocrity, governs its subjects without oppres
sion, and reclaims them without severity.'" — Holmes' Annals.
Inauguration of Washington at Federal Hall,
Inauguration of Washington. — " On the 3d of March, 1789,
the delegates from the eleven States, which at that time had rati
fied the constitution, assembled at New York, where a conven
ient and elegant building had been prepared for their accommo
dation. On opening and counting the votes for President, it was
found that George Washington was unanimously elected to that
dignified office, and that John Adams was chosen Vice President.
The annunciation of the choice of the first and second magis
trates of the United States, occasn*fed a general diffusion of joy
among the friends of the Union, and fully evinced that these em
inent characters were the choice of the people.
On the 30th of April, 1789, George Washington was inaugu
rated President of the United States of America, in the city of
New York. The ceremony was performed in the open gallery
of Federal Hall, in the view of many thousand spectators. The
oath was administered by Chancellor Livingston. Several cir
cumstances concurred to render the scene unusually solemn —
the presence of the beloved father and deliverer of his country —
the impressions of gratitude for past service — the vast concourse
of spectators — the devout fervency with which he repeated the
oath, and the reverential manner in which he bowed to kiss the
40
470 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
sacred volume — these circumstances, together with that of his
being chosen to the most dignified office in America, and perhaps
in the world, by the unanimous voice of more than three millions
of enlightened freemen, all conspired to place this among the
most august and interesting scenes which have ever been exhib
ited on this globe.*
' It seemed from the number of witnesses,' said a spectator of
the scene, to be a solemn appeal to heaven and earth at once.
Upon the subject of this great and good man, I may perhaps be
an enthusiast ; but I confess I was under an awful and religious
persuasion, that the gracious Ruler of the universe was looking
down at that moment, with peculiar complacency on an act,
which to a part of his creatures, was so very important. Under
this impression, when the Chancellor pronounced in a very feeling
manner, ' Long live George Washington? my sensibility was
wound up to such a pitch, that I could do no more than wave my
hat with the rest, without the power of joining in the repeated
acclamations which rent the air.' "
REMARKABLE EVENTS.
DISEASES, STORMS, UNCOMMON SEASONS, EARTHQUAKES, AND OTHER
REMARKABLE EVENTS.
Just before the arrival of the settlers at Plymouth, Mass. a very
mortal disease swept off the greater part of the Indians in this part
of the country. " As this is one of the most remarkable facts in
history" (says Dr. Webster in his^work on Pestilential Diseases,
&c.) I have taken great pains to ascertain the species of disease,
and the time of its appearance.
" Captain Dermer, an English adventurer, who had arrived in
America in a fishing vessel a year or two before, passed the winter
of 1618 — 19 in Mouhiggan, an Indian town on the northern coast.
On the 19th of May, 1619, he sailed along the coast on his way to
Virginia, and landed at several places where he had been the year
before ; and he found many Indian towns totally depopulated ; in oth
ers a few natives remained alive but ' not free of sickness ;' ' their dis
ease, the plague, for we might perceive the sores of some that had
escaped, who described the spots of such as usually die.' These are
his words. He found some villages which in his former visit were
populous, all deserted ; the Indians ' all dead ' " — Purchas, vol. 4, 1778.
" Richard Vines and his companions who had been sent by Ferdi-
nando Gorges to explore the country, wintered among the Indians
*Dr. Morse.
REMARKABLE EVENTS.
471
y Great Mortality .among the Indians.
during the pestilence, and remained untouched, the disease attacking
none of the English." — Belknap's Life of Gorges, American Biogra
phy, vol. 1, page 355, but the year is not specified.
Gookin in his account of the Indians, (Historical Collections, p. 8,)
places this pestilence in 1612 and 13, about seven or eight years be
fore the landing of the English at Plymouth. But this cannot be ac
curate unless the disease began to rage for a number of years previ
ous to 1618. Capt. Dermer's letter in Purchas is decisive of the
time of the principal sickness, and fortunately we have another au
thority which is indisputable. A sermon was preached by Elder
Cushman, at Plymouth, in 1620, just after the colony arrived, and sent
to London to be published. In the epistle dedicatory, which is da
ted Dec. 21st, 1621, the author has these words : "They (the In
dians) were very much wasted of late by a great mortality that fell
among them three years since, which, with their own civil dissen
sions and bloody wars, hath so wasted them as I think the twentieth
person is scarce left alive. — Hazard's Collection, vol. I, p. 148.
This corresponds also with the accounts in Prince's Chronology
from original manuscripts. This fixes the time in 1618, precisely
agreeable to Capt. Dermer's account. This was the year of the
principal mortality ; but like other pestilential periods this continued
for a number of years ; for some of the Plymouth settlers went to Mas
sachusetts (now Boston) in 1622, to purchase corn of the natives,
and " found among the Indians a great sickness not unlike the plague
if not the same." It raged in winter and affected the Indians only.
(See Purchas, 4, 1858. — Prince's Chron. 124.)
The time then is fixed. The disease commenced, or raged with its
472 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
principal violence in 1 6 1 8 and through the winter. This was the year
of the remarkable comet when the plague was raging in many parts of
the world. So fatal was the pestilence in America that the warriors
from Narragansett to Penobscot, the distance to which the disease
seems to have been limited," were reduced from 9000 to a few hun
dreds.* When our ancestors arrived in 1620, they found the bones of
those who perished in many places unburied. — Magnalia, book l,p. 7.
The kind of disease is another important question. Dermer seems
to think it a species of plague, and he saw some of the sores of those
who had survived. Hutchinson, vol. 1, pages 34, 35, says, some
have supposed it to be the small pox, but the Indians who were per
fectly acquainted with this disease after the English arrived, always
gave a very different account of it and described it as a pestilential
putrid fever. Fortunately General Gookin in the passage above cited
has left us a fact which leaves no doubt as to the nature of the mal
ady. His words are " what the disease was which so generally and
mortally swept them away I cannot leam. Doubtless it was pesti
lential disease. I have discoursed with some old Indians that were
then youths who say, that the bodies all over were exceedingly yellow
(describing it by a yellow garment they showed me) both before they
died and afterwards."
This account may be relied upon for its authenticity and it decides
the question, that the pestilence was the true American plague, called
yellow fever. In Prince's Chronology, it is recorded that this fever
produced hemorrhagy from the nose.
At the time Gookin wrote, about forty or fifty years after the set
tlement of New England, the infectious fevers of autumn were called
" pestilent," and they were frequent in the country but had not then
acquired the appellation of yellow. — Winthrop's Journal, p. 51.
Severe Drought. — In 1622, the Plymouth settlers were threatened
with a famine in consequence of a severe drought. The following
account is from Morton's New England's Memorial :
[1622.] "It may not here be omitted, that notwithstanding all
their great pains and industry and the great hopes they had of a large
crop, the Lord seemed to threaten them with more and sorer famine
by a great drought which continued from the third week in May, until
the middle of July, without any. rain, and with great heat of weather
for the most part, insomuch that their corn began to wither away,
although it was planted with fish, according to their usual manner in
those times ; yet at length it began to languish sore and some of the
drier grounds was parched like withered hay, part whereof never re
covered. Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation, to
seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress :
And he was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both
to their own and the Indians admiration, that lived among them, for all
the morning it was clear weather, and very hot, and not a cloud nor
* Hutchinson says 30,000 of the Massachusetts tribe alone were supposed to be re
duced to 300.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 473
any sign of rain, yet towards evening it began to be overcast, and
shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers, as gave
cause of rejoicing and blessing God : It came without either wind or
thunder, or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance, as that
the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith, which did so
apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as
was wonderful, and made the Indians astonished to behold. A little
before the Lord sent this rain of liberalities upon his people, one of
,them having occasion to go to the house of the afore named Hobamack,
the Indian, he the said Hobamack said unto him, ' lam much troubled
for the English for I am afraid they will lose all their corn by the drought,
and so they will all be starved ; as for the Indians, they can shift better
than the English, for they can get fish for themselves.' But afterwards
the same man having occasion to go again to his house, he said to him,
' Now I see Englishman's God is a good God, for he hath heard you
and sent you rain, and that without storms and tempests, and thunder,
which usually we have with our rain, which breaks down our corn, but
yours stands whole and good still.' And, after this gracious return of
prayers in this so seasonable a blessing of the rain, the Lord sent
them such seasonable showers, with interchange of warm weather,
as (through his blessing) caused in its time a fruitful and liberal har
vest, to their great comfort and rejoicing ; for which mercy, in time
convenient, they also solemnized a day of thanksgiving to the Lord."
1638, June 1. " Between three and four in the afternoon, being
clear and warm weather, the wind westerly, there was a great earth
quake ; it came with a noise like a continued thunder, or the rattling
of coaches in London, but was presently gone. It was at Connecti
cut, at Narragansett, at Piscataqua, and all the parts round about. It
shook the ships which rode in the harbor and all the islands. The
noise of the shaking continued about four minutes. The earth was
unquiet twenty days after by times." — Winthrop. The spring of this
year " was so cold" says Winthrop " that men were forced to re
plant their corn two or three times, for it rotted in the ground ; but
when we feared a great dearth, God sent a warm season, which
brought on corn beyond our expectation." — "This year (says Dr.
Webster) was also distinguished for tempestuous weather ; not for
ordinary storms which occur many times every year, but violent hur
ricanes of vast extent. On the third of August a tempest raised the
tide on the Narragansett shore, fourteen feet above common spring
tides. The autumn was very rainy and considerable snow fell in
October, which was ascribed to the earthquake. On the 25th of Sep
tember, another mighty tempest occurred and the highest swell of the
sea that had then been observed in America."
The spring of 1639 in America was very dry ; there was no rain
from April 26th to June 4th, O. S. and from the southward came
swarms of small flies, which covered the sea, but they did not invade
the land.— -Winthrop. On the 16th of March, 0. S., in 1639, there
was such a tempest and rain that Connecticut river rose twenty feet
above the meadows. — Webster.
40*
474 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
The summer of 1641 was remarkably wet and cold, so that a great
part of the corn did not come to maturity. Those who fed on it the
year following, were exceedingly troubled with worms, and some
persons found a remedy in leaving bread and feeding on salt fish. —
The following winter was the most severe that had been known for
forty years. The bay of Boston was frozen so that loaded teams
passed to the town from the neighboring islands, and the ice extended
as far as the eye could reach. The following spring (1642) wag
early but wet. — Winthrop.
The very wet weather of 1 642 produced a dearth of corn in Bos
ton in the spring of 1643, myriads of pigeons appeared the same sea
son and did much injury. It is an old observation in America, that
pigeons are uncommonly numerous in the spring of sickly years.
The Massachusetts colony suffered also from the number of mice
which devoured their grain. " Corn was very scarce all over the
country, so as by the end of the 2d. month many families in most
towns had none to eat, but were forced to live of clams, muscles,
cataos, dry fish, &c. and since this came by the just hand of the
Lord to punish our ingratitude and covetousness, for corn being plenty
divers years before, it was so undervalued, as it would not pass for
any commodity ; if one offered a shop keeper corn for any thing, his
answer would be, he knew not what to do with it. So for labourers
and artificers ; but now they would have done any work, or parted
with any commodity for com, and the husbandman he now made his
advantage, for he would part with no corn, for the most part, but for
ready money or for cattle at such a price as should be 12d. in the
bushel more to him than ready money, and indeed it was a very sad
thing to see how little of a public spirit appeared in the country, but
of self-love too much. Yet there were some here and there who
were men of another spirit, and were willing to abridge themselves
that others might be supplied. The immediate causes of this scar
city were the cold and wet summer, especially in the time of the first
harvest ; also the pigeons came in such flocks (about 1 0,000 in one
flock) that beat down and eat up a very great quantity of all sorts of
english grain, much corn spent in setting out the ships catchers, &c.
Lastly there were such abundance of mice in the barns that devoured
much there ; the mice also did much spoil in orchards eating off the
bark at the bottom of the fruit trees in the time of the snow, so as
never had been known the like spoil in any former winter. So many
enemies doth the Lord arm against our daily bread, that we might
know we are to eat it in the sweat of our brows." — Winthrop.
A. D. 1647. This year appeared an epidemic catarrh in America,
the first of which we have any account. It is not named either in
fluenza or catarrh, but is clearly the same disease. Hubbard thus
describes it: "In 1647, an epidemic sickness passed through the
whole country, affecting the colonists and the natives, English,
French and Dutch. It began with a cold, and in many accompanied
with a light fever. Such as bled or used cooling drinks died, — such
as made use of cordials, and more strengthening things recovered for
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 475
the most part. It extended through the plantations in America and in
the West Indies. There died in Barbadoes and St. Kitts 5 or 6000
each. Whether it was a plague, or pestilential fever, in the islands,
accompanied by great drought, which cut short potatoes and fruits."
The year 1658 is distinguished for what is called in our annals
the " Great Earthquake," no particulars of which however appear to
be preserved. The summer was so rainy that the christianized In
dians observed days of fasting, apprehending their crops would fail
and the world be drowned. — Neal, vol. 1, 259.
In 1662, another considerable earthquake happened in New Eng
land, a drouth, and malignant diseases prevailed. In 1663, Canada
was convulsed for five months by a series of successive shocks,—
small rivers and springs were dried up ; the waters of others were
tinctured with the taste of sulphur, an immense ridge of mountains
subsided to a plain. — Mem. Royal Society, vol. 6, 86. NeaVs Hist.
N. England. Mem. Amer. Acad. vol. 1, 263. — In 1664 the mildew of
wheat commenced in New England. — Webster.
In 1668 a comet appeared with a stupendous coma. This was at
tended by an excessively hot summer, and malignant diseases in
America. In New York the epidemic was so fatal, that a fast was
appointed in September, on that account. In this same year was an
earthquake in America, and a meteor in the west, in the form of a
spear, pointing towards the setting sun, which gradually sunk and dis
appeared.— NeaVs Hist. vol. 1 p. 367. — Magnalia, vsl. 4.
In a sermon preached in Boston, September 27, 1698, is the fol
lowing passage. " The harvest hath once and again grievously failed
in these years, and we have been struck through with terrible famine.
The very course of nature hath been altered among us ; a lamentable
cry for bread, bread, hath been heard in our streets.-^Mag-naZia, vol. 7.
The summer of 1 703, " was remarkable for an uncommon mortality,
which prevailed in the city of New York, and makes the grand epoch
among our inhabitants, distinguished by the " time of the great sick
ness." On this occasion Lord Cornbury had his residence and court
at Jamaica, a pleasant village on Long Island, distant about twelve
miles from the city. The fever killed almost every patient seized
with it, and was brought here in a vessel from St. Thomas, in the
West Indies, an island remarkable for contagious diseases." — Smith's
Hist. New York.
In 1709, a body of troops under the command of Gen. Nicholson, '
destined for the reduction of Canada, encamped near Wood Creek in
the province of New York, and in July and August were attacked
with a distemper which made dreadful havoc, and obliged them to
decamp. Some of the men died as if they had been poisoned. This
circumstance gave rise to a report which Charlevoix gravely relates,
that the Indians had poisoned the water of the creek, by throwing
into it all the skins of beasts they had taken in hunting. The disease
was probably the lake fever, or a malignant dysentery. — Webster on
Pestilence, vol. 1 .
476
REMARKABLE EVENTS.
Great Snow in 1717.
The following account of the Great Snow of February, 1717,
by Dr. Mather, is perhaps the most particular description which
can now be obtained.
[AN HORRID SNOW.]
Sr
Boston, 10th Dec. 1717.
Tho' we are gptt so far onward as the beginning of another Winter,
yett we have not forgott ye last, which at the latter end whereof we
were entertained & overwhelmed with a Snow, which was attended
with some Things, which were uncommon enough to afford matter
for a letter from us. Our winter was not so bad as that wherein Ta
citus tells us, that Corbulo made his expedition against the Parthians,
nor that which proved so fatal to ye Beasts & Birds in ye days of ye
Emperor Justinian, & that the very Fishes were killed under ye
freezing sea, when Phocas did as much to ye men whom Tyrants
treat like ye Fishes of ye Sea. But ye conclusion of our Winter was
hard enough, and was too formidable to be easily forgotten, & of a
piece with what you had in Europe a year before. The snow was
ye chief Thing that made it so. For tho' rarely does a Winter pass
us, wherein we may not say with Pliny Ingens Hyeme Nivis apud nos
copia, yet our last Winter brought with it a Snow, that excelled them
all. The Snow, 'tis true, not equal to that, which once fell & lay
twenty Cubits high, about the Beginning of October, in the parts about
ye Euxine Sea, Nor to that which ye French Annals tell us kept fall'
ing for twenty Nine weeks together, Nor to several mentioned by
Boethius, wherein vast numbers of people, & of Cattel perished, Nor
to those that Strabo finds upon Caucasus & Rhodiginus in Armenia.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 477
But yett such an one, & attended with such circumstances as may
deserve to be remembered.
On the twentieth of the last February there came on a Snow, which
being added unto what had covered the ground a few days before,
made a thicker mantle for our Mother than what was usual : And ye
storm with it was, for the following day, so violent as to make all
communication between ye Neighbors every where to cease. People,
for some hours, could not pass from one side of a street unto another,
& ye poor Women, who happened in this critical time to fall into
Travail, were putt unto Hardships, which anon produced many odd
stories for us. But on ye Twenty-fourth day of ye Month, comes
Pelion upon Ossa : Another Snow came on which almost buried ye
Memory of ye former, with a Storm so famous that Heaven laid an
Interdict on ye Religious Assemblies throughout ye Country, on this
Lord's day, ye like whereimto had never been seen before. The In
dians near an hundred years old, affirm that their Fathers never told
them of any thing that equalled it. Vast numbers of Cattel were de
stroyed in this Calamity. Whereof some there were, of ye Stranger
sort, were found standing dead on their legs, as if they had been alive
many weeks after, when ye Snow melted away. And others had
their eyes glazed over with Ice at such a rate, that being not far from
ye Sea, their mistake of their way drowned them there. One gen
tleman, on whose farms were now lost above 1100 sheep, which with
other Cattel, were interred (shall I say) or Innived, in the Snow,
writes me word that there were two Sheep very singularly circum
stanced. For no less than eight and twenty days after the Storm, the
People pulling out the Ruins of above an 100 sheep out of a Snow
Bank, which lay 16 foot high, drifted over them, there was two found
alive, which had been there all this time, and kept themselves alive
by eating the wool of their dead companions. When they were taken
out they shed their own Fleeces, but soon gott into good Case again.
Sheep were not ye only creatures that lived unaccountably, for whole
weeks without their usual sustenance, entirely buried in ye Snow
drifts. The Swine had a share with ye Sheep in strange survivals. A
man had a couple of young Hoggs, which he gave over for dead, But
on the twenty-seventh day after their Burial, they made their way out
of a Snow-Banlt, at the bottom of which they had found a little Tansy
to feed. upon. The Poultry as unaccountably survived as these.
Hens were found alive after seven days ; Turkeys were found alive
after five and twenty days, buried in ye Snow, and at a distance from
ye ground, and altogether destitute of any thing to feed them. The
number of creatures that kept a Rigid Fast, shutt up in Snow for di
verse weeks together, and were found alive after all, have yielded sur
prizing stories unto us.
The Wild Creatures of ye Woods, ye outgoings of ye Evening,
made their Descent as well as they could in this time of scarcity for
them towards ye Sea-side. A vast multitude of Deer, for ye same
cause, taking ye same course, & ye Deep Snow Spoiling them of
478 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
their only Defence, which is to run, they became such a prey to these
Devourers, that it is thought not one in twenty escaped. But here
again occurred a Curiosity. These carniverous Sharpers, & espe
cially the Foxes, would make their Nocturnal visits to the Pens,
where the people had their sheep defended from them. The poor
Ewes big with young, were so terrified with the frequent Approaches
of ye Foxes, & the Terror had such Impression on them, that most
of ye Lambs brought forth in the Spring following, were of Monsieur
Reinard's complexion, when ye Dam, were either White or Black.
It is remarkable that immediately after ye Fall of ye Snow an infinite
multitude of Sparrows made their Appearance, but then, after a short
continuance, all disappeared.
It is incredible how much damage is done to ye Orchards, For the
Snow freezing to a Crust, as high as the boughs of ye trees, anon
Split ym to pieces. The Cattel also, walking on ye crusted Snow a
dozen foot from ye ground, so fed upon ye Trees as very much to
damnify them. The Ocean was in a prodigious Ferment, and after it
was over, vast heaps of little shells were driven ashore, where they
were never seen before. Mighty shoals of Porpoises also kept a
play-day in the disturbed waves of our Harbours. The odd Accidents
befalling many poor people, whose Cottages were totally covered with
ye Snow & not ye very tops of their chimneys to be seen, would afford
a Story. But there not being any Relation to Philosophy in them, I
forbear them.
And now Satis Terris Nivis. And here is enough of my Winter
Tale. If it serve to no other purpose, yett it will give me an oppor
tunity to tell you That nine months ago I did a thousand times wish
myself with you in Gresham Colledge, which is never so horribly
snow'd upon. But instead of so great a Satisfaction, all I can attain
to is the pleasure of talking with you in this Epistolary way & sub
scribing myself Syr Yours with an affection
that knows no Winter,
COTTON MATHER.
Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. — The first appearance
of the Northern Lights in this country, after the period of its first
settlement, was on December 11th, 1719, "when they were re
markably bright, and as people in general had never heard of such
a phenomenon, they were extremely alarmed with the apprehen
sion of the final judgment. All amusements, all business, and
even sleep was interrupted, for want of a little knowledge of his
tory." The following relative to the first appearance of the Au
rora is extracted from a letter published in the first volume of the
Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 479
A Letter to a certain Gentleman desiring a particular account may be
given of a wonderful Meteor, that appeared in New England,on De
cember 11th, 1719, in the evening.
SIR,
I understand by a friend of mine, you desire my thoughts of the
late appearance in the heavens, which was amazing to the people in
many parts of the country. I will therefore endeavor to answer your
desire ; and that 1 . By giving an account of it according as I observed
it, and according to what I can learn from others. And then, by tell
ing you what may in all probability be looked upon to be the natural
cause thereof. And I hope (though I believe I shall differ from some)
I shall say nothing that shall be inconsistent either with Divinity or
Philosophy. 1. For the account of it, &c. take in the following words :
Dec. 11, 1719. This evening, about 8 o'clock, there arose a bright
and red light in the E. N. E. like the light which arises from an house
when on fire (as I am told by several credible persons who saw it
when it first arose) which soon spread itself through the heavens from
east to west, reaching about 43 or 44 degrees in height, and was un
equally broad. It streamed with white flashes or streams of light
down to the horizon (as most tell me) veTy bright and strong. When
I first saw it, which was when it had extended itself over the horizon
from E. to W. it was brightest in the middle, which was from me
N. W. and I could resemble it to nothing but the light of some fire.
I could plainly see streams of light redder than ordinary, and there
seemed to me to be an undulating motion of the whole light ; so thin
was this light, as that I could see the stars very plainly through it.
Below this stream or glade of light, there lay in the horizon, some
thick clouds (which a few hours after arose and covered the heavens)
bright on the tops or edges. It lasted somewhat more than an hour,
though the height of its red color continued but a few minutes. About
eleven the same night the same appearance was visible again ; but
the clouds hindered its being so accurately observed as I could wish
for. Its appearance was how somewhat dreadful ; sometimes it
looked of a flame, sometimes a blood red color ; and the whole N. E.
horizon was very light, and looked as though the moon had been near
her rising. The dreadfulness as well as strangeness of this appear
ance, made me think of Mr. Watts' description of the Day of Judg
ment in English Sapphic.
When the fierce North Wind with his airy forces
Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury,
And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes rushing amain
down, 6fC.
About an hour or two before break of day the next morning, it was
seen again, as I am informed ; and those who saw it, say it was then
the most terrible. I saw it but twice, for the heavens being so over
cast, discouraged me from sitting up longer than my usual time.
This Meteor was seen in many places : To those S. from us, it
appeared lower in the horizon, and therefore to the more southern
480 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
places must be wholly invisible. Thus I have given you the best
account I am able of this Meteor ; which, though very unusual here,
yet in northern countries more frequent, and seems to me to be what
our modern philosophers call Aurora Borealis."
"The earthquake" (says Gov. Hutchinson in his History of Mas
sachusetts) " on the 29th of October, 1727, although not confined to
the Massachusetts, was so remarkable an event in providence that we
maybe excused if we give a circumstantial account of it. About 40
minutes after ten at night, when there was a serene sky and calm but
sharp air, a most amazing noise was heard, like to the roaring of a
chimney when on fire, as some said, only beyond comparison greater,
others compared it to the noise of coaches upon pavements and thought
that of ten thousand together would not have exceeded it. The noise
was judged by some to continue about half a minute before the shock
began, which increased gradually and was thought to have continued
the space of a minute before it was at the heighth, and in about half a
minute more, to have been at an end by a gradual decrease. When
the terror is so great, no dependence can be placed upon the ad
measurement of time in any person's mind, and we always find very
different apprehensions of it. The noise and shock of this and all
earthquakes which preceded it in New England were observed to
come, from the west or northwest and go off to the east or southeast.
At Newbury and other towns upon Merrimack river the shock was
greater than in any other part of Massachusetts, but no buildings were
thrown down, part of the walls of several cellars fell in and the tops
of many chimneys were shook off. At New York it seems to have
been equal to what it was in the Massachusetts, but at Philadelphia
it was very sensibly weaker, and in the colonies southward, it grew
less and less until it had spent itself or became insensible. The sea
men upon the coast supposed their vessels to have struck upon a shoal
of loose ballast. More gentle shocks were frequently felt in most
parts of New England for several months after. There have seldom
passed above 15 or 20 years without an earthquake, but there had
been none, very violent, in the memory of any then living. There
was a general apprehension of danger of destruction and death, and
many, who had very little sense of religion before, appeared to be very
devout penitents, but, too generally, as the fears of another earthquake
went off, the religious impressions went with them, and they, who had
been the subjects of both, returned to their former course of life."
In 1746, Albany was visited by a malignant disease, called by
Colden a nervous fever, and by Douglass the yellow fever. The
bodies of some of the patients were yellow — the crisis of the disease
was the ninth day ; if the patient survived that day he had a good
chance of recovery. The disease left many in a state of imbecility
of mind, appr6aching to childishness or idiocy ; others were after
wards troubled with swelled legs. The disease began in August,
ended with frost, carried off forty -five inhabitants, mostly men of ro
bust bodies. It was said to be imported. — Webster.
REMARKAALE EVENTS. 481
In Hinsdale, on Connecticut river, in the State of New Hampshire,
was an eruption of fire, in 1752, from a volcanic mountain, called the
west river mountain. This miniature eruption was accompanied by a
loud noise resembling the sound of a cannon. A hole was found about
six inches in diameter ; a pine tree, which stood near it, was partially
covered by a black mineral substance, forced out of the passage con
sisting chiefly of melted and calcined iron ore, strongly resembling
the scoria of a blacksmith's forge. — Dr. Dwight.
" In November, 1760, in the small town of Bethlem, Con.,
thirty-four persons died of a kind of fever. The disease was
extremely violent, terminating on the third or fourth day. Du
ring the sickness, a flock of eleven quails flew over the chimney
of a house, in which were several diseased persons ; they all
dropped in the garden ; three rose and flew into the bushes, but
the others were picked up dead." — Con. Hist. Collections.
" In 1762, appeared a comet, and in America, the heat and
drouth exceeded what was ever before known. From June to
September 22d, there was scarcely a drop of rain, almost all the
springs were exhausted, and the distress occasioned by the want
of water was extreme. The forest trees appeared as if scorched.
The winter following was equally remarkable for severity, both
in Europe and America." — Webster.
" The summer of 1763 was a moist and unkindly season. In Au
gust the Indians on Nantucket were attacked by the bilious plague, and
between that time and February following, their number was reduced
from 358 to 136. Of 258 who were attacked, 36 only recovered.
The disease began with high fever and ended with typhus, in about
five days. It appeared to be infectious among the Indians only ; for
no whites were attacked, although they associated freely with the dis
eased. Persons of a mixed blood were attacked but recovered. Not
one died except of full Indian blood. Some Indians who lived in the
families of the whites ; as did a few who lived by themselves on a
distant part of the island. I am informed by respectable authority
that a similar fever attacked Indians on board of ships at a distance
of hundreds of leagues, without any connection with Nantucket. In
December of the same year, the Indians of Martha's Vineyard, dis
tant eight leagues from Nantucket, were invaded by a like fever ; not
a family escaped, and of 52 patients, 39 died. — Webster on Pestilence,
vol. 1, p. 252.
" In 1770, cotemporary with the clouds of flies in India, and a most
fatal pestilence among men and cattle in Europe, appeared in Amer
ica, a black worm about one inch and a half in length, which devoured
the grass and corn. Never was a more singular phenomenon. These
animals were generated suddenly in the northern States of America,
and almost covered two or three hundred miles of country. They all
moved nearly in one direction, and when they were intercepted by
furrows in plowed land, they fell into them in such numbers as to form
41
482 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
heaps. They sought shelter in the grass, the hot sun being fatal to
them. They disappeared suddenly about the close of June and the
begining of July." — New England Farmer, Art. Insect.
"This species of worm has been seen at other times, and in 1791,
in great multitudes. No account can be given of their origin, and
they seem not to have regular periods of return. In July, 1791, the
late Governor Huntington, a gentleman of careful observation, in
formed me he had exposed some of these animals to a hot sun on a
dry board, and in a few hours found them dissolved into mere water.
They seem to be generated by some elementary process, and to be the
harbingers of pestilence ; at least they have preceded diseases in
America. — Webster on Pestilence, vol. I, p. 259.
[From the Connecticut Gazette.] Derby, Feb. 18th, 1764.
On the evening of the seventh of this instant, Feb. 1764, there
was a violent storm of hail and rain ; the next morning a'fter was
observed a large breach in a hill on the west side of the old river,
supposed to be occasioned by some subterraneous wind or fire ;
the breach is about twenty feet deep, though much caved in, in
length one hundred and thirteen feet ; about sixty rods of land was
covered with the gravel and sand cast out of the cavity, some of
which was carried two hundred and fifty-nine feet to the brink of
the river ; four trees of about a foot diameter were carried one
hundred and seventy-three feet distance, and 'tis supposed by
their situation that they must have been forced up forty feet high ;
some small stones about the bigness of walnuts, were carried
with such velocity that they stuck fast in a green tree that stood
near the cavity ; a large dry log better than two feet diameter was
carried up so far in the air, that by the force of the fall one end
of it stuck so fast in the ground that it kept the other end up.
The narrowest part of the breach is about thirty feet at the sur
face of the ground, and the bottom of the breach is crooking,
winding much like the streaks of lightning*.
"In 1775, the oysters in Well fleet harbor, Cape Cod, all per
ished. These oysters had been in great plenty, and furnished the
inhabitants with no small portion of their food : During this pe
riod, the oysters on the shores of Connecticut were in an unheal
thy state, and sometimes excited vomiting in those who ate of
them. It is remarkable also, that in 1776, the lobsters in the vi
cinity of York-Island, all disappeared. This event has generally
been ascribed to the firing of cannon in the summer of that year.
But the place where they lived being many miles from the Brit-.
* ' A light was seen on the spot in the evening before the explosion. It was ac
companied with a loud report, and some fossil substances were ejected, which were
analyzed by Dr. Munson, of New Haven, and found to contain arsenic and sulphur '
Webster on Pestilence, Vol. I, p. 262.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 483
ish shipping, this explanation is not satisfactory. It is more prob
able that they perished, or abandoned the ground, on account of
the bad state of their element. It is remarkable that the prim in
America began to decay and perish about this period ; a disease
among oats also appeared ; and near the same time, jhe wheat
insect appeared about the same period." — Webster.
In 1780, all the harbors and bays on the Atlantic coast, as far
south as Virginia, were frozen. Loaded sleds passed from New
York to Slaten Island : Long Island Sound was frozen into a solid
highway, where it is several miles in width. The birds that win
ter in this climate, almost all perished, and in the succeeding
spring, a few solitary warblers only were heard in bur groves.
The snow was nearly four feet deep in the northern Atlantic
States, for at least three months.
Dark Days. — " We find recorded in History instances of ex
treme darkness in the day time, and in some cases this obscurity
has lasted for a number of days. The 19th of May, 1780, was
distinguished by the phenomenon of a remarkable darkness over
all the northern States, and is still called the Dark day*
The darkness commenced betweenthe hours of 10 and 1 1 A. M.,
and continued to the middle of the next night. It was occasioned
by a thick vapour or cloud, tinged with a yellow color, orfaintred, '
and a thin coat of dust was deposited on white substances.!
The wind was in the southwest ; and the darkness appeared
to come on with clouds in that direction. Its extent was from
Falmouth, (Maine,) to New Jersey. The darkness appears to
have been the greatest in the county of Essex, (Mass.) in the
lower part of New Hampshire, and Maine ; it was also great in
Rhode Island and Connecticut. In most parts of the country
where the darkness prevailed, it was so great, that persons were
unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their
clocks or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, with
out additional light ; ' candles were lighted up in their houses ;
the birds having sung their evening songs, disappeared and be
came silent ; the fowls retired to roost ; the cocks were crowing
all around as at break of day ; objects could be distinguished but
a very little distance ; and every thing bore the appearance and
gloom of night.'J
* At this time the Legislature of Connecticut was in session in Hartford. A very
general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The house of
Representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to
adjoumthe Council was under consideration. When the opinion of Col. Davenport
was asked, he answered, " I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment
is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment ;
if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be
brought."— Dwight's Travels, vol. 3.
t "Webster. % Coll. Hist. Soe. 95—98.
484 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
Besides this instance of uncommon darkness, there was one
on the 21st of October, 1716 ; when ' people were forced to light
candles to eat their dinner by,' but the particulars of it are not
preserved. The following is an extract of a letter from Dr. Tenney to the
Massachusetts Historical Society, giving an account of the dark
day of May, 1780.
" You will readily recollect that, previously to the commencement
of the darkness, the sky was overcast with the common kind of clouds,
from which there was, in some places a light sprinkling of rain. Be
tween these and the earth there intervened another stratum, to appear
ance of very great thickness. As this stratum advanced, the dark
ness commenced and increased with its progress till it came to its
height ; which did not take place till the hemisphere was a second
time overspread. The uncommon thickness of this second stratum
was probably occasioned by two strong currents of wind from the
southward and westward, condensing the vapours and drawing them
in a north-easterly direction. I remember this observation was made
by an anonymous writer in one of the public papers soon after the
event. As I set out the next day, from my father's at Rowley, to join my
regiment in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to inform myself what
were the appearances in different parts of the country between here
and Pennsylvania. The result of my enquiries, on that journey, and
after my return, was that the darkness was most gross in the county
of Essex, the lower part of the State of New-Hampshire and the old
Province of Maine. In Rhode-Island and Connecticut it was not so
great, and still less in New- York. In New-Jersey the second stratum
of clouds was observed, but not of any great thickness ; nor was the
darkness very uncommon. In the lower parts of Pennsylvania, if my
recollection does not fail me, no extraordinary appearance was no
ticed. Through this whole extent the lower stratum had an uncom
mon brassy hue, while the earth and trees were adorned with so en
chanting a verdure as could not escape notice, were amidst the unu
sual gloom that surrounded the spectator. This gradual increase of
the darkness from southwest to northeast, which was nearly the course
of the clouds, affords a pretty good argument in favour of the suppo
sition that they were condensed by two strong currents of wind blow
ing in different directions. To these two strata of clouds we may,
without hesitation, impute the extraordinary darkness of the day."
" The latter part of the summer of 1782, was excessively dry. In
New Jersey, a cedar swamp twenty miles in length and eight in
breadth, took fire by accident, and was consumed. The fire penetra
ted among the roots to the depth of six feet ; corn, grass, and the very
forests withered. The air was loaded with a thick vapor, for some
days in September.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 485
" On the evening of the 10th of February, a dense fog or vapor spread
over some parts of New England, having the smell of burnt leaves.
The ground at the same time was covered with snow." — Mem. Amer.
Acad. vol. 1.
" In 1788, almost all the codfish taken on the banks of New Found-
land, were thin and sickly ; when dried, they were of a dark or blue-
ish color, little better than skeletons, and not well received in foreign
markets. This condition of that fish was confined to those banks ; as
the cod taken at other places were in their usual state.— Webster."
"The crops being thin the preceding year, the Northern States,
in the Spring of 1789, experienced a dearth approaching to a famine.
In Vermont, people were reduced to the necessity of feeding on tad
poles boiled with pea straw. In one instance, four potatoes were Sold
for nine pence. None of the human race were actually starved to
death, but a few died of a flux in consequence of bad diet. Cattle
however, perished in considerable numbers. The Spring of this
year was cold, and vegetation tardy ; part of the Summer succeeding,
was excessively hot. — The winter of 1789-90, was one of the mild
est ever known in this country ; there being but little frost, except for
a few days in February. There fell frequent snows, and in great
abundance ; but they were immediately followed by warm southerly
winds, and dissolved." — Webster.
" On the 16th of May, 1790, at half past 10 o'clock, in a serene
moonlight night, there was an extensive earthquake in the northern
states. It was preceded, a few seconds, by a rattling sound ; its du
ration was short; its course, as usual in America, from N. W. to
S. E. No injury was sustained. On the morning after the earth
quake, was observed at Middletown, in Connecticut, a substance like
honey or butter, covering the grass and earth for a considerable extent.
In 1791, the canker worms devoured the orchards over the New
England States ; and their ravages were repeated the two following
years. Orchards standing on stiff clay, and in low grounds, which
are wet in the Spring, escaped ; but on every species of light and
dry soil, the trees were as dry on the first of June, as on the first of
January. Many trees never recovered from the effects of their rava
ges. Another worm of a distinct species, and called at the time pal
mer-worm, overspread our forests in this, or the next year, devouring
the leaves of oak and other species of wood." — Webster
REMARKABLE AND UNACCOUNTABLE OCCURRENCES.
The following, relating principally to what is called Salem
Witchcraft, is taken from the 2d volume of Hutchinson's History
of Massachusetts. Governor Hutchinson had great facilities in
procuring correct information respecting the circumstances of this
excitement, and it is believed that his account is the most authen
tic which has yet appeared.
41*
486 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
"The great noise which the New England witchcrafts made
throughout the English dominions, proceeded more from the general
panic with which all sorts of persons were seized, and an expectation
that the contagion would spread to all parts of the country, than from
the number of persons who were executed, more having been put to
death in a single county in England, in a short space of time, than
have suffered in all New England from the first settlement until the
present time. Fifteen years had passed, before we find any mention
of witchcraft among the English colonists. The Indians were sup
posed to be worshippers of the Devil, and their powows to be wiz
ards. The first suspicion of witchcraft, among the English, was
about the year 1645 ; at Springfield, upon Connecticut river, several
persons were supposed to be under an evil hand, and among the rest
two of the minister's children. Great pains were taken to prove the
facts upon several persons charged with the crime, but either the na
ture of the evidence was not satisfactory, or the fraud was suspected,
and so no person was convicted until the year 1650, when a poor
wretch, Mary Oliver, probably weary of her life from the general
reputation of being a witch, after long examination was brought to
confession of her guilt, but I do not find that she was executed.
Whilst this inquiry was making, Margaret Jones was executed at
Charlestown ; and Mr. Hale mentions a woman at Dorchester, and an
other at Cambridge about the same time, who all at their death as
serted their innocence. Soon after, Hugh Parsons was tried at Sprino--
field and escaped death. In 1655, Mrs. Hibbins, the assistants
widow, was hanged at Boston. In 1662, at Hartford in Connecticut,
(about 30 miles from Springfield, upon the same river) one Ann Cole,
a young woman who lived next door to a Dutch family, and, no doubt,
had learned something of the language, was supposed to be possessed
with demons, who sometimes spake dutch and sometimes english, and
sometimes a language which no body understood, and who held a
conference with one another. Several ministers, who were present,
took down the conference in writing, and the names of several per
sons, mentioned in the course of the conference, as actors or bearing
parts in it ; particularly a woman, then in prison upon suspicion of
witchcraft, one Greensmith, who upon examination confessed and ap
peared to be surprized at the discovery. She owned that she and the
others named had been familiar with a demon, who had carnal knowl
edge of her, and although she had not made a formal covenant, yet
she had promised to be ready at his call, and was to have had a hi<*h
frolick at Christmas, when the agreement was to have been signed.
Upon this confession she was executed, and two more of the com
pany were condemned at the same time. In 1669, Susanna Martin,
of Salisbury, was bound over to the court, upon suspicion of witch
craft, but escaped at that time.
In 1671, Elizabeth Knap, another ventriloqua, alarmed the people
of Groton in much the same manner as Ann Cole had done those of
Hartford ; but her demon was not so cunning, for instead of confining
himself to old women, he rail'd at the good minister of the town and
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 487
other persons of good character, and the people could not then be
prevailed on to believe him, but believed the girl, when she confessed
she had been deluded, and that the devil had tormented her in the
shaipe of good persons ; and so she escaped the punishment due to
her' fraud and imposture.
In 1673, Eunice Cole of Hampton was tried, and the jury found
her not legally guilty, but that there were strong, grounds to suspect
her of familiarity with the devil.
In 1679, William Morse's house, at Newbury, was troubled with
the throwing of bricks, stones, &c. and a boy, of the family, was sup
posed to be bewitched, who accused one of the neighbors ; and in
1682, the house of George Walton, a quaker, at Portsmouth, and an
other house at Salmon-falls (both in New-Hampshire) were attacked
after the same manner.
In 1683, the demons removed to Connecticut, river again, where
one Desborough's house was molested by an invisible hand, and a
fire kindled, no body knew how, which burnt up great part of his es
tate ; and in 1684, Philip Smith, a judge of the court, a military offi
cer and a representative of the town of Hadley, upon the same river,
(an hypocondriack person) fancied himself under an evil hand, and
suspected a woman, one of his neighbors, and languished and pined
away, and was generally supposed to be bewitched to death. While
he lay ill, a number of brisk lads tried an experiment upon the old
woman. Having dragged her out of her house, they hung her up un
til she was near dead, let her down, rowled her some time in the
snow, and at last buried her in it and there left her, but it happened
that she survived, and the melancholly man died.
Notwithstanding these frequent instances of supposed witchcrafts,
none had suffered for near thirty years, in the Massachusetts colony.
The execution of the assistant or councellor's widow in 1655, was
disapproved of by many principal persons, and it is not unlikely that
her death saved the lives of many other inferior persons. But in
1685, a very circumstancial account of all or most of the cases I have
mentioned, was published, and many arguments were brought to con
vince the country that they were no delusions nor impostures, but the
effects of a familiarity between the devil and such as he found fit for
his instruments ; and in 1 687 or 1688, began a more alarming instance
than any which had preceded it. Four of the children of John Good
win a grave man and a good liver, at the north part of Boston, were
generally believed to be bewitched. I have often heard persons, who
were of the neighbourhood, speak of the great consternation it occa
sioned. The children were all remarkable for ingenuity of temper,
had been religiously educated and were thought to be without guile.
The eldest was a girl of thirteen or fourteen years. She had charged
a laundress with taking away some of the family linnen. The mother
of the laundress was one of the wild Irish, of bad character, and
gave the girl harsh language ; soon after which she fell 'into fits, which
were said to have something diabolical in them. One of her sisters
and two brothers followed her example, and it is said, were tormented
488 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
in the same part of their bodies at the same time, although kept in
separate apartments, and ignorant of one another's complaints. One
or two things were said to be very remarkable ; all their complaints
were in the day time, and they slept comfortably all night ; they
were struck dead at the sight of the assembly's catechism, Cotton's
milk for babes, and some other good books, but could read in Ox
ford jests, popish and quaker books, and the common prayer, without
any difficulty. Is it possible the mind of man should be capable of
such strong prejudices as that a suspicion of fraud should not imme
diately arise 1 But attachments to modes and forms in religion had
such force that some of these circumstances seem rather to have con
firmed the credit of the children. Sometimes they would be deaf, then
dumb, then blind ; and sometimes all these disorders together would
come upon them. Their tongues would be drawn down their throats,
then pulled out upon their chins. Their jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows
and all their joints would appear to be dislocated, and they would
make most piteous outcries of burnings, of being cut with knives,
beat, &c. and the marks of wounds were afterwards to be seen.
The ministers of Boston and Charlestown kept a day of fasting and
prayer at the troubled house ; after which, the youngest child made
no more complaints. The others persevered, and the magistrates
then interposed, and the old woman was apprehended, but upon ex
amination would neither confess nor deny, and appeared to be disor
dered in her senses. Upon the report of physicians that she was
compos mentis, she was executed, declaring at her death the children
should not be relieved. The eldest, after this, was taken into a min
ister's family, where, at first, she behaved orderly, but, after some
time, suddenly fell into her fits. The account of her affliction is in
print ; some things are mentioned as extraordinary, which tumblers
are every day taught to perform ; others seem more than natural, but
it was a time of great credulity. The children returned to their ordi
nary behaviour, lived to adult age, made profession of religion, and
the affliction they had been under they publicly declared to be one
motive to it. One of them I knew many years after. She had the
character of a very sober virtuous woman, and never made any ac
knowledgment of fraud in this transaction. The printed account
was published with a preface by Mr. Baxter, who says, ' the evidence
is so convincing, that he must be a very obdurate sadducee who will not be
lieve.' It obtained credit sufficient together with other preparatives,
to dispose the whole country to be easily imposed upon by the more
extensive and more tragical scene, which was presently after acted at
Salem and other parts of the county of Essex. Not many years be
fore, Glanvil published his witch stories in England ; Perkins and
other nonconformists were earlier ; but the great authority was that
of Sir Matthew Hale, revered in New England, not only for his know
ledge in the law, but for his gravity and piety. The trial of the
witches in Suffolk was published in 1684. All these books were in
New England, and the conformity between the behavior of Goodwin's
children and most of the supposed bewitched at Salem, and the be-
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 489
havior of those in England, is so exact, as to leave no room to doubt
the stories had been read by the New England persons themselves,
or had been told to them by others who had read them. Indeed, this
conformity, instead of giving suspicion, was urged in confirmation of
the truth of both ; the old England demons and the new being so
much alike. The court justified themselves from books of law, and
the authorities of Keble, Dalton and other lawyers, then of the first
character, who lay down rules of conviction, as absurd and danger
ous as any which were practised in New-England. The trial of
Richard Hatheway, the impostor, before Lord Chief Justice Holt,
was ten or twelve years after. This was a great discouragement to
prosecutions in England for witchcraft, but an effectual stop was not
put to them, until the act of parliament in the reign of his late Ma
jesty. Even this has not wholly cured the common people, and we
hear of old women ducked and cruelly murdered within these last
twenty years. Reproach, then, for hanging witches, although it has
been often cast upon the people of New-England, by those of Old,
yet it must have been done with an ill grace. The people of New-
England were of a grave cast, and had long been disposed to give a
serious solemn construction even to common events in providence ;
but in Old England, the reign of Charles the second was as remarka
ble for gaiety as any whatsoever, and for scepticism and infidelity, as
any which preceded it.
Sir William Phips, the governor, upon his arrival, fell in with the
opinion prevailing. Mr. Stoughton, the lieutenant-governor, upon
whose judgment great stress was laid, had taken up this notion, that
although the devil might appear in the shape of a guilty person, yet
he would never be permitted to assume the shape of an innocent per
son. This opinion, at first, was generally received. Some of the
most religious women who were accused, when they saw the appear
ance of distress and torture in their accusers, and heard their solemn
declarations, that they saw the shapes or spectres of the accused
afflicting them, pursuaded themselves they were witches, and that the
devil, some how or other, although they could not remember how or
when, had taken possession of their evil hearts and obtained some
sort of assent to his afflicting in their shapes ; and thereupon they
thought they might be justified in confessing themselves guilty.
It seems, at this day, with some people, perhaps but few, to be the
question whether the accused or the afflicted were under a preter
natural or diabolical possession, rather than whether the afflicted were
under bodily distempers, or altogether guilty of fraud and imposture.
As many of the original examinations have fallen into my hands, it
may be of service to represent this affair in a more full and impartial
lio-ht than it has yet appeared to the world.
In February 1691-2, u. daughter and a niece of Mr. Parris, the
minister of Salem village, girls of ten or eleven years of age, and
two other girls in the neighborhood, made the same sort of com
plaints as Goodwin's children had made, two or three years before.
The physicians, having no other way of accounting for the disorder,
490 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
pronounced them bewitched. An indian woman, who was brought
into the country from New Spain, and then living with Mr. Parris,
tried some experiments which she pretended to be used to in her own
country, in order to find out the witch. This coming to the chil
dren's knowledge, they cried out upon the poor Indian as appearing to
them, pinching, pricking and tormenting them ; and fell into fits.
Tituba, the Indian, acknowledged that she had learned how to find
out a witch, but denied that she was one herself. Several private
fasts were kept at the minister's house, and several, more public, by
the whole village, and then a general fast through the colony, to seek
to God to rebuke Satan &c. So much notice taken of the children,
together with the pity and compassion, expressed by those who vis
ited them, not only tended to confirm them in their design but to draw
others into the like. Accordingly, the number of the complainants
soon increased, and among them there were two or three women, and
some girls old enough for witnesses. These had their fits too, and,
when in them, cried out, not only against Tituba, but against Sarah
Osburn, a melancholy distracted old woman, and Sarah Good, another
old woman who was bedrid. Tituba, at length, confessed herself a
witch, and that the two old women were her confederates ; and they
were all committed to prison ; and Tituba, upon searchj was found to
have scars upon her back which were called the devil's mark, but
might as well have been supposed those of her Spanish master.
This commitment was on the 1 st of March. About three weeks af
ter, two other women, of good characters and church members, Co
rey and Nurse, were complained of and brought upon their examina
tion ; when these children fell into fits, and the mother of One of
them, and wife of Thomas Putman, joined with the children and com
plained of Nurse as tormenting her ; and made most terrible shrieks,
to the amazement of all the neighborhood. The old women denied
every thing ; but were sent to prison ; and such was the infatuation,
that a child of Sarah Good, about four or five years old, was commit-
tflpdso, being charged with biting some of the afflicted, who showed
JRe print of small teeth on their arms. On April 3d Mr. Parris took
Bor his text, ' Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil.'
Sarah Cloyse, supposing it to be occasioned by Nurse's case, who was
her sister, went out of meeting. She was presently after, complained
of for a witch, examined and committed. Elizabeth Procter was
^charged about the same time : Her husband, as every good husband
'¦would have done, accompanied her tocher examination, but it cost the
poor man his life. Some of the afflicted cried out upon him also, and
they were both committed to prison.
Instead of suspecting and sifting the witnesses, and suffering them
to be cross examined, the authority, to say no more, were imprudent
in making use of leading questions, and thereby putting words into
their mouths or suffering others to do it. Mr. Parris was over offi
cious ; most of the examinations, although in the presence of one or
more of the magistrates, were taken by him.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 491
[Governor Hutchinson, in the second volume of his History, in
troduces an examination of several of the accused, which is cer
tified by John Hawthorne and John Corwin, Assistants, but ow
ing to prescribed limits they are here omitted].
No wonder the whole country was in a consternation, when per
sons, of sober lives and unblemished characters, were committed
to prison upon such sort of evidence. The most effectual way to
prevent an accusation, was to become an accuser ; and accordingly
the number of the afflicted increased every day, and the number of
the accused in proportion, who in general persisted in their inno-
cency ; but, being strongly urged to give glory to God by their con
fession, and intimation, being given that this was the only way to save
their lives, and their friends urging them to it, some were brought to
own their guilt. The first confession upon the files, is of Delive
rance Hobbs, May 11th, 1692, being in prison. She owned every
thing she was required to do. The confessions multiplied the
witches ; new companions were always mentioned, who were imme
diately sent for and examined. Thus more than an hundred women,
many of them of fair characters and of the most reputable families,
in the towns of Salem, Beverly, Andover, Billerica, &c. were appre
hended, examined and, generally, committed to prison. The confes
sions being much of the same tenor, one or two may serve for speci
mens. ' The examination and confession (8. Sept. 92.) of Mary Osgood,
wife of Captain Osgood of Andover, taken before John Hawthorne
and other their Majesties justices.
She confesses, that about 1 1 years ago, when she was in a melan-
cholly state and condition, she used to walk abroad in her orchard ;
and upon a certain time, she saw the appearance of a cat, at the end
of the house, which yet she thought was a real cat. However, at
that time, it diverted her from praying to God, and instead thereof
she prayed to the devil ; about which time she made a covenant with
the devil, who, as a black man, came to her and presented her a book,
upon which she laid her finger and that left a red spot : And that up
on her signing, the devil told her he was her God, and that she should
serve and worship him, and, she believes, she consented to it. She
gays further, that about two years agone, she was carried through the
air, in company with deacon Frye's wife, Ebenezer Baker's wife and
Goody Tyler, to five mile pond, where she was baptized by the devil,
who dipped her face in the water and made her renounce her former
baptism, and told her she must be his, soul and body, forever, and
that she must serve him, which she promised to do. She says, the
renouncing her first baptism was after her first dipping, and that she
was transported back again through the air, in company with the fore-
named persons, in the same manner as she went, and believes they
were carried upon a pole. Q. How many persons were upon the
492 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
pole ? A. As I said before, viz. four persons and no more but whom
she had named above. She confesses she has afflicted three persons,
John Sawdy, Martha Sprague and Rose Foster, and that she did it
by pinching her bed cloaths, and giving consent the devil should do it
in her shape, and that the devil could not do it without her consent.
She confesses the afflicting persons in the court, by the glance of her
eye. She says, as she was coming down to Salem to be examined,
she and the rest of the company with her stopped at Mr. Phillips' to
refresh themselves, and the afflicted persons, being behind them upon
the road, came up just as she was mounting again and were then af
flicted, and cried out upon her, so that she was forced to stay until they
were all past, and said she only looked that way towards them. Q.
Do you know the devil can take the shape of an innocent person and
afflict? A. I believe he cannot. Q. Who taught you this way of witch
craft ? A. Satan, and that he promised her abundance of satisfaction
and quietness in her future state, but never performed any thing; and
that she has lived more miserably and more discontented since, than
ever before. She confesses further, that she herself, in company with
Goody Parker, Goody Tyler and Goody Dean, had a meeting at
Moses Tyler's house, last monday night, to afflict, and that she and
Goody Dean carried the shape of Mr. Dean, the minister, between
them, to make persons believe that Mr. Dean afflicted. Q. What
hindered you from accomplishing what you intended ? A. The Lord
would not suffer it so to be, that the devil should afflict in an innocent
person's shape. Q. Have you been at any other witch meetings? A.
1 know nothing thereof, as 1 shall answer in the presence of God and
his people ; but said, that the black man stood before her, and told
her, that what she had confessed was a lie ; notwithstanding, she said
that what she had confessed was true, and thereto put her hand.
Her husband being present was asked, if he judged his wife to be
any way discomposed. He answered, that having lived with her so
long, he doth not judge her to be any ways discomposed, but has
cause to believe what she has said is true. When Mistress Os
good was first called, she afflicted Martha Sprague and Rose Foster,
by the glance of her eyes, and recovered them out of their fits by the
touch of her hand. Mary Lacey, Betty Johnson and Hannah Post
saw Mistress Osgood afflicting Sprague and Foster. The said
Hannah Post and Mary Lacey and Betty Johnson, jun. and Rose Fos
ter and Mary Richardson were afflicted by Mistress Osgood, in the
time of their examination, and recovered by her touching of their
hands. I underwritten, being appointed by authority, to take this examina
tion, to testify upon oath, taken in court, that this is a true copy of
the substance of it to the best of my knowledge, 5 Jan. 1692-3. The
within Mary Osgood was examined before their Majesties justices
of the peace in Salem.
Attest. John Higginson, Just. Pac.
A miserable negro womanj^jtrged by some of the girls with af-
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 493
flicting them, confessed, but was cunning enough to bring the great
est share of the guilt upon her mistress.
Salem, Monday July 4, 1692. The examination of Candy, a ne
gro woman, before Bartholomew Gedney and John Hawthorne Esq'rs.
Mr. Nicholas Noyes also present.
Q. Candy ! are you a witch 1 A. Candy no witch in her country.
Candy's mother no witch. Candy no witch, Barbados. This coun
try, mistress give Candy witch. Q. Did your mistress make you a
witch in this country ? A. Yes, in this country mistress give Candy
witch. Q. What did your mistress do to make you a witch ? A.
Mistress bring book and pen and ink, make Candy write in it. Q.
What did you write in it. ? She took a pen and ink and upon a
book or paper made a mark. Q. How did you afflict or hurt these
folks, where are the puppets you did it with ? She asked to go out
of the room and she would show or tell ; upon which she had liberty,
one going with her, and she presently brought in two clouts, one with
two knots tied in it, the other one ; which being seen by Mary War
ren, Deliverance Hobbs and Abigail Hobbs, they were greatly af
frighted and fell into violent fits, and all of them said that the black
man and Mrs. Hawkes, and the negro stood by the puppets or rags
and pinched them, and then they were afflicted, and when the knots
were untied yet they continued as aforesaid. A bit of one of the
rags being set on fire, the afflicted all said they were burned, and
cried out dreadfully. The rags being put into water, two of the fore-
named persons were in dreadful fits almost choaked, and the other
was violently running down to the river, but was stopped.
Attest. John Hawthorne, Just. Peace.
Mrs. Hawkes, the mistress, had no other way to save her life but
to confess also.
" The recantation of several persons in Andover will show in what
manner they were brought to their confessions.
We whose names are under-written, inhabitants of Andover ;
when as that horrible and tremendous judgment beginning at Salem
village in the year 1692, by some called witchcraft, first breaking forth
at Mr. Parris's house, several young persons, being seemingly af
flicted, did accuse several persons for afflicting them, and many there
believing it so to be, we being informed that, if a person was sick, the
afflicted person could tell what or who was the cause of that sick
ness : Joseph Ballard, of Andover, his wife being sick at the same
time, he, either from himself or by the advice of others, fetched two
of the persons called the afflicted persons, from Salem village to An
dover, which was the beginning of that dreadful calamity that be-
fel us in Andover, believing the said accusations to be true, sent for
the said persons to come together to the meeting house in Andover,
the afflicted persons being there. After Mr. Barnard had been at
prayer, we were blindfolded, and our hands were laid upon the afflicted
persons, they being in their fits and falling into their fits at our corn-
in"' into their presence, as they said ; and some led us and laid our
42
494 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
hands upon them, and then they said they were well, and that we were
guilty of afflicting them ; Whereupon wc were all seized as prisoners,
by a warrant from the justice of the peace and forthwith carried to Sa
lem, And, by reason of that sudden surprizal, we knowing ourselves
altogether innocent of that crime, we were all exceedingly astonished
and amazed, and consternated and affrighted even out of our reason;
and our nearest and dearest relations, seeing us in that dreadful con
dition, and knowing our great danger, apprehended there was no other
way to save our lives, as the case was then circumstanced, but by our
confessing ourselves to be such and such persons as the afflicted re
presented us to be, they, out of tenderness and pity, persuaded us to
confess what we did confess. And indeed that confession, that it is
said we made, was no other than what was suggested to us by some
gentlemen, they telling us that we were witches, and they knew it,
and we knew it, which made us think it was so ; and our understand
ings, our reason, our faculties, almost gone, we were not capable
of judging of our condition ; as also the hard measures they used
with us rendered us incapable of making our defence, but said any
thing and every thing which they desired, and most of what we said
was but, in effect, a consenting to what they said. Some time after,
when we were better composed, they telling us what we had confessed,
w.e did profess that we were innocent and ignorant of such things ;
and we hearing that Samuel Wardwell had renounced his confession,
and quickly after condemned and executed, some of us were told we
were going after Wardwell.
Mary Osgood, Deliverance Dane, Sarah Wilson,
Mary Tiler, Abigail Barker, Hannah Tiler.
The testimonials to these persons characters by the principal in
habitants of Andover will outweigh the credulity of the justices who
committed them, or of the grand jury which found bills against them.
Although the number of prisoners had been increasing, from Feb
ruary until the beginning of June, yet there had been no trials. The
charter was expected from day to day, and the new constitution of
government to take place. Soon after it's arrival, commissioners of
oyer, and terminer were appointed for the trial of witchcrafts. By the
charter, the general assembly are to constitute courts of justice, and
the governor with the advice of the council is to nominate and appoint
judges, commissioners of oyer and terminer, &c. but whether the
governor, with advice of council, can constitute a court of oyer and
terminer, without authority for that purpose derived from the general
assembly, has been made a question ; however, this, the most impor
tant court to the life of the subject which ever was held in the
province, was constituted in no other manner. It was opened at Sa
lem, the first week in June. Only one of the accused, Bridget Bish
op, alias Oliver, was then brought to trial. She had been charged
with witchcraft twenty years before. The accuser, upon his death
bed, confessed his own guilt in the accusation ; but an old woman,
once charged with being a witch, is never afterwards wholly free
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 495
from the accusation, and she being, besides, of a fractious temper, all
the losses the neighbours met with in their cattle and poultry, and ac
cidents in oversetting their carts, &c. were attributed to her spite
against them, and now suffered to be testified against her. This evi
dence, together with the testimony of the afflicted, and of the con
fessors, what they had heard from the spectres and seen of her spec
tre, and an excrescence, called a teat, found upon her body, were
deemed by court and jury plenary proof, and she was convicted, and
on the 10th of June executed. The further trials were put off to the
adjournment, the 30th of June."
" At the first trial, there was no colony or provincial law against
witchcraft in force. The statute of James the first must therefore
have been considered as in force in the province, witchcraft not be
ing- an offence at common law. Before the adjournment, the old
colony law, which makes witchcraft a capital offence, was revived,
with the other local laws, as they were called, and made a law of the
province. At the adjournment, June 30, five women were brought upon trial,
Sarah Good, Rebekah Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth How, and
Sarah Wilder.
There was no difficulty with any but Nurse. She was a member
of the church and of a good character, and, as to her, the jury brought
in their verdict not guilty ; upon which the accusers made a great
clamour, and the court expressed their dissatisfaction with the ver
dict, which caused some of the jury to desire to goout again; and
then they brought her in guilty. This was a hard case, and can
scarcely be said to be the execution of the law and justice in mercy.
In a capital case, the court often refuses a verdict of guilty, but rarely,
if ever, sends a jury out again, upon one of not guilty. It does not
indeed appear, that in this case the jury was ordered out again ; but
the dissatisfaction expressed by the court seems to have been in such
a manner as to have the same effect."
" At the next adjournment, August 5th, George Burroughs, John
Procter and Elizabeth his wife, John Willard, George Jacobs and
Martha Carrier were all brought upon trial and condemned, and all
executed upon the 19th of August, except Elizabeth Procter, who
escaped by pleading pregnancy.
Burroughs had been a preacher, several years before this, at Sa
lem village, where there had been some misunderstanding between
him and the people. Afterwards he became a preacher at Wells in
the province of Main. We will be a little more particular in our ac
count of his trial. The indictment was as follows,
" Anno Regis et Reginee, &c. quarto.
Essex ss. The Jurors for our sovereign Lord and Lady the King
and Queen, present, that George Burroughs, late of Falmouth in the
Province of Massachusetts bay, clerk, the ninth day of May, in the
fourth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord and Lady William
and Mary, by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and
496 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
Ireland, King and Queen, defenders of the faith, &c. and divers other
days and times, as well before as after, certain detestable arts called
witchcrafts and sorceries; wickedly and feloniously hath used, prac
tised and exercised, at and within the town of Salem, in the county
of Essex aforesaid, in, upon and against one Mary Walcot of Salem
village, in the county of Essex, single woman ; by which said
wicked arts, the said Mary Walcot, the ninth day of May, in the
fourth year above said, and divers other days and times as well be
fore as after, was and is tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted
and tormented, against the peace of our sovereign Lord and Lady the
King and Queen, and against the form of the statute in that case made
and provided. Endorsed Billa vera." Three other bills were found
against him for witchcrafts upon other persons, to all which he
pleaded not guilty, and put himself upon trial; &c."
" September the 9th, Martha Cory, Mary Esty, Alice Parker, Ann
Pudeater, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were tried, and Septem
ber 17th, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Read, Samuel Wardwell, Mary
Parker, Abigail Falkner, Rebekah Eames, Mary Lacey, Ann Foster,
and Abigail Hobbs, and all received sentence of death. Those in
italick were executed the 22d following.
Mary Esty, who was sister to Nurse, gave in to the court a peti
tion ; in which she says, she does not ask her own life, although she
is conscious of her innocence; but prays them, before they condemn
any more, to examine the confessing witches more strictly ; for she
is sure they have belied themselves and others, which will appear in
the world to which she is going, if it should not in this world.
Those who were condemned and not executed, I suppose, all con
fessed their guilt. I have seen the confessions of several of them.
Wardwell also confessed, but he recanted and suffered. His own
wife, as well as his daughter,* accused him and saved themselves.
There are many instances, among the examinations, of children ac
cusing their parents, and some of parents accusing their children.
This is the only instance of a wife or husband, accusing one the
other, and surely this instance ought not to have been suffered. I
shudder while I am relating it. Besides this irregularity, there were
others in the course of these trials. The facts laid in the indict
ments were, witchcrafts upon particular persons, there was no evi
dence of these facts, but what was called spectral evidence, which,
in the opinion of the ministers, was insufficient ; some of the other
evidence was of facts ten or twenty years before, which had no re
lation to those with which they were charged ; and some of them no
relation to the crime of witchcraft. Evidence is not admitted, even
against the general character of persons upon trial, unless to encoun
ter other evidence brought in favor of it ; much less ought their whole
lives to be arranged, without giving time sufficient for defence.
Giles Cory was the only person, besides those already named, who
* The daughter upon a second enquiry denied that she knew her father and mother
to be witches ; the wife was not asked a second time.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 497
suffered. He, seeing the fate of all who had put themselves upon
trial, refused to plead; but the judges, who had not been careful
enough in observing the law in favor of the prisoners, determined to
do it against this unhappy man, and he had judgment of peine fort et
dure for standing mute, and was pressed to death ; the only instance
which ever was, either before this time or since, in New-England.
In all ages of the world superstitious credulity has produced greater
cruelty than is practised among the Hottentots, or other nations, whose
belief of a deity is called in question.
This court of oyer and terminer, happy for the country, sat no more.
Nineteen persons had been executed, all asserting their innocence ;
but this was not enough to open the eyes of the people in general.
The goal at Salem was filled with prisoners, and many had been re
moved to other goals : some were admitted to bail, all reserved for
trial, a law having passed constituting a supreme standing court, with
jurisdiction in capital, as well as all other criminal cases. The gene
ral court also showed their zeal against witchcraft, by a law passed
in the words of the statute of James the first, but this law was disal
lowed by the King.
The time, by law, for holding the court at Salem, was not until
January. This gave opportunity for consideration ; and this alone
might have been sufficient for a change of opinions and measures, but
another reason has been given for it. Ordinarily, persons of the
lowest rank in life have had the misfortune to be charged with witch
crafts ; and although many such had suffered, yet there remained in
prison a number of women, of as reputable families as any in the
towns where they lived, and several persons, of still superior rank,
were hinted at by the pretended bewitched, or by the confessing
witches. Some had been publickly named. Dudley Bradstreet, a
justice of the peace, who had been appointed one of president Dud
ley's council, and who was son to the worthy old governor, then liv
ing, found it necessary to abscond. Having been remiss in prosecu
ting, he had been charged by some of the afflicted as a confederate.
His brother, John Bradstreet, was forced to fly also. Calef says it
was intimated that Sir William Phips's lady was among the accused.
It is certain, that one who pretended to be bewitched at Boston, where
the infection was beginning to spread, charged the secretary of the
colony of Connecticut.
At the court in January, the grand jury found bills against about 50
for witchcraft, one or two men, the rest women ; but upon trial, they
were all acquitted, except three of the worst characters, and those
the governor reprieved for the King's mercy. All that were not
brought upon trial he ordered to be discharged.* Such a goal de
livery was made this court, as has never been known at any other
time in New-England." — Hutchinson's Hist. Mass.
* It is said, the governor's lady, when Sir William was absent, saved one poor
woman from trial. " In Sir William's absence, his lady, I suppose upon account of
her name's being Mary, (William and Mary) was solicited for a favour in behalf of a
woman committed by one of the judges, on accusation of witchcraft, by a formal
42*
498 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
The two following appear to be the only cases of trials for
witchcraft on the records of Connecticut. The orthography is
retained. " A Court held at Hartford, July 2d, 1663. Elizabeth Seger, thou
art here Indited by the name of Elizabeth Seger, for not haveing the
feare of God before thine Eyes ; thou hast enterteined familiarity
with Sathan, the grand Enemie of God and mankind, and by his help,
hast acted things in a preternaturall way beyound the ordenary course
of nature, as allso for that thou hast committed Adultery, and hast
spoken Blasphemy against God, contrary to the Lawes of God and
the established Lawes of this Corporation, for all or any of which
crimes by the said Lawes thou deservest to dye.
The Prisoner pleaded not Guilty of the Inditement, and refered
herselfe to the tryall of the Jury.
The Jury returne that they finde the Prisoner Guilty of the Indite
ment in that perticuler of Adultery. June, A. D. 1665.
The Inditement of Elizabeth Seger.
Elizabeth Seager, thou art here indited by the name of Elizabeth
Seager, the wife of Richard Seager, not having the feare of God be
fore thine eyes, thou hast entertained familiarity with Satan, the
Grand Enemy of God and mankind — hast practiced witchcraft for
merly, and continuist to practice witchcraft, for which, according to
ye Lawes of God and the establisht Law of this Corporation, thou
deservest to die.
The Prisoner answers not guilty, and refers herself to be tried by
God and the Country.
The Jury being called to return their Verdict upon ye Inditement
of Elizabeth Seager, the Foreman declares that they find the prisoner
Guilty of familiarity with Satan.
Respecting Elizabeth Seager, this Court considering the verdict of
ye Jury, and finding that it doth not legally answer the Inditement,
doe therefore discharge and set her free from further suffering or im
prisonment. .
This is a true copy of record.
The same Elizabeth Segar had been before tried and acquitted for
the same offence committed with the crime of adultery, and found
guilty of adultery, and not guilty of witchcraft.
Court of Assistance at Hartford May 25, 1699
Kateram Harrison, thou standest here Indited by ye name of Kate-
ram Harrison, of Weathersfield, as being guilty of Witchcraft, for that
thou not having the fear of God before thine eyes, hast had familiarity
warrant under his hand and seal, and in close prison for trial the next assizes, then
not far off. The good lady, propria virtute, granted and signed a warrant for the
said woman's discharge, which was obeyed by the keeper, and the woman lives still
for aught I know. Truly, I did not believe this story till I saw a copy of the mitti
mus and discharge, under the keeper's hand, attested a true copy, for which discovery
the keeper was discharged from his trust and put out of his employment, as he him
self told me. M.S. Utter.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 499
with Sathan, the grand enamie of God and mankind ; and by his help
hast acted things beyound and besides the ordinary course of nature,
and hast thereby hurt the bodyes of diuers of the Subjects of our Sou-
raigne Lord, the King ; for which, by the law of God and of this Cor
poration, thou oughtest to dye. What sayest thou for thyselfe, guilty
or not guilty. The Prisoner returned not guilty, and referred herself
to a Tryall by the Jury present. — Juryes Oath. You doe sware by
the grate dreadfull name of the euerliuing God, that you well and
truely try, Just verdict giue, and true deliuerance make between our
Sourigan Lord, the King, and such Prisoner or Prisoners at the Barr
as sheals be given you in charge according to, euidence giuen in
Court and the lawes, so help you God, in our Lord Jesus.
The Jury finding difficulty in the matter given them in charge, in
refference to the Indictment of Kathern Harrison, cannot as yet, agree
to give in a verdict ; upon which the Court see cause to adjourne vn-
till the next Sasion of the Court of Assistant in October ; at which
time the Jury are to appare to give their verdict, and the Prisoner to
remaine in duerance till that time.
A Court of Assistants Jield at Hartford October 12, 1699.
The Jury were called in Court, and did appeare, who were by the
Court ordered to pass upon the consideration of the Indictment of
Kath. Harrison, formerly committed to them.
The Jury being called to give in their verdict upon the Indictment
of Katherin Harrison, returne that they find the Prisoner guilty of
the Indictment.
This Court haueing considered the verdict of the Jury respecting
Kathern Harrison, cannot concur with them so as to sentance her to
Death, or to a longer continuance in restraynt, but do dismiss her
from her imprisonment, she paying her Just fees, willing her to minde
the fullfilment of remouing from Weathersfield ; which is that will
tend most to her owne safety and the contentment of the people who
are her neighbours."
The following occurrences, of which no satisfactory explana
tion has yet been given, took place in 1802, in Salisbury in Con
necticut, and Sheffield in Massachusetts. The account was ob
tained in Sheffield, from Mr. S. Sage and his family, who were
still living on the spot, (June, 1836) and could be corroborated by
great numbers of people still living.
" These occurrences commenced Nov. 8th, 1802, at a clothier's
shop : A man and two boys were in the shop ; the boys had retired
to rest, it being between 1 0 and 1 1 o'clock at night. A block of
wood was thrown through the window ; after that, pieces of hard
mortar, till the man and boys became alarmed, and went to the house
to call Mr. Sage, who arose from bed and went to the shop, and could
hear the glass break often, but could not discover from whence it came,
notwithstanding the night was very light. He exerted himself to
500 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
discover the cause without success. It continued constantly till day
light, and then ceased till the next evening at 8 o'clock, when it com
menced again, and continued till midnight ; these ceased till the next
evening at dusk, and continued till some time in the evening, and then
ceased. The next day it commenced about an hour before sun-down,
and continued about an hour, and then it left the shop and began at
the dwelling house of Mr. Ezekiel Landon, 100 rods north, in the
town of Sheffield. It continued several hours, and ceased till next
morning : when the family were at breakfast it began again, and con
tinued two or three hours, and ceased till evening, when it began
again and continued several hours, and ceased till the next morning,
when it began again and continued all the forenoon, and then ceased
altogether. The articles thrown into the shop were pieces of wood,
charcoal, stone, but principally pieces of hard mortar, such as could
not be found in the neighborhood. Nothing but stones were thrown
into the house of Mr. Landon, the first of which were thrown into the
door. There were 38 panes of glass broke out of the shop, and 18
out of the dwelling house : in two or three instances persons were
hit by the things that were thrown. What was remarkable, nothing
could be seen coming till the glass broke, and whatever passed
through, fell directly down on the window sill, as if it had been put
through with a person's fingers, and many pieces of mortar and coal
were thrown through the same hole in the glass in succession. Many
hundreds of people assembled to witness the scene, among whom
were clergymen and other gentlemen, but none were able to detect
the source of the mischief." — Connecticut Hist. Coll.
The following, which is given in Mather's Magnalia, appears
to be well authenticated. Whatever may be our belief respecting
appearances or premonitions of this kind', volumes might be filled
with similar relations, equally unaccountable, given by persons
whose testimony would be received as truth on every other subject.
" It was on the second of May, in the year 1687, that a most in
genious, accomplish'd and well-dispos'd young gentleman, Mr. Joseph
Beacon by name, about 5 a-clock in the morning, as he lay, whether
sleeping or waking, he could not say, (but judg'd the latter of them)
had a view of his brother then at London, although he was now him
self at our Boston, distanc'd from him a thousand leagues. This, his
brother appear'd to him in the morning, (I say) about 5 a-clock, at
Boston, having on him a Bengale gown which he usually wore, with
a napkin ty'd about his head : his countenance was very pale, ghastly,
deadly, and he had a bloody wound on one side of his forehead. —
Brother ! says the affrighted Joseph. Brother ! answer'd the appari
tion. Said Joseph, what's the matter, brother ! how came you here !
The apparition reply'd, brother ! I have been most barbarously and
inhumanly murder'd by a debauch'd fellow, to whom I never did any
wrong in my life. Whereupon he gave a particular description of
the murderer ; adding, brother, this fellow changing his name, is at
tempting to come over unto New-England, in Foy or wild : I would
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 501
pray you on the first arrival of either of these, to get an order from
the governour to seize the person whom I have now describ'd ; and
then do you indict him for the murder of me, your brother. I'll
stand by you, and prove the indictment. And so he vanish'd. Mr.
Beacon was extreamly astonish'd at what he had seen and heard ;
and the people of the family not only observ'd an extraordinary altera
tion upon him for the week following, but have also given me under
their hands a full testimony that he then gave them an account of this
apparition. All this while, Mr. Beacon had no advice of any thing
amiss attending his brother then in England : but about the latter end
of June following, he understood by the common ways of communica
tion, that the April before, his brother going in haste by night to call
a coach for a lady, met a fellow then in drink with his doxy in his
hand. Somfe way or other the fellow thought himself affronted in
the hasty passage of this Beacon, and immediately ran in to the fire
side of a neighbouring tavern, from whence he fetch'd out a fire-fork,
wherewith he grievously wounded Beacon on the skull, even in that
very part where the apparition shew'd his wound. Of this wound he
languished until he dy'd, on the 2d of May, about 5 of the clock in
the morning, at London. The murderer, it seems, was endeavouring
an escape, as the apparition affirm'd ; but the friends of the deceas'd
Beacon seiz'd him ; and prosecuting him at law, he found the help of
such friends, as brought him off without the loss of his life ; since
which, there has no more been heard of the business.
The history (says Dr. Mather) I receiv'd of Mr. Joseph Beacon
himself, who, a little before his own pious and hopeful death, which
follow'd not long after, gave me the story, written and sign'd with his
own hand, and attested with the circumstances I have already men-
tion'd." [From the Connecticut Journal, No. 517.]
" North Stratford, Aug. 28th, 1777.
On the 25th instant died in this place, Mrs. Hannah Henman, aged
99 years. She was a person of good understanding, strict religion,
solid piety, and maintained a firm and unshaken hope in the merits of
Christ to the end. And what is remarkable concerning her exit out
of the world, she died the very day on which she was 99 years of
age, of which she had a premonition near 20 years before her death,
in a dream or vision ; a venerable comely person who she afterwards
used to call her guardian angel, and whom she had seen once before,
appeared to her, and asked her age ; she told him : upon which he
replied, you will not live to an hundred years, but almost ; you will
live to be 99 and then die. She often mentioned this to her friends
and neighbors, and was so confidently persuaded of the truth of it,
that she would frequently count upon it how many years she had to
live. And there are scores of persons now living in the parish, who
have often heard her say, that she should die at 99, on her birth day,
old style. About a fortnight before her decease, she enquired of her
son, landlord John Henman, at whose house she died, the day of the
month : and again repeated to the family that she had just so many
502 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
days to live, which accordingly happened on her very birth day, as it
is called. The great age this person arrived to, together with those
circumstances respecting the time of her death, are so very extraordi
nary, that it was thought proper to communicate them to the public.''
Remarkable Account of Rev. William Tennent, of Freehold,
N. J. — The Rev. W. Tennent, pastor of the Presbyterian Church,
at Freehold, in New Jersey, was born in Ireland, June 3d, 1705.
He arrived in America in the fourteenth year of his age. Being
of a serious turn of mind, he resolved to devote himself to the min
istry of the gospel. He accordingly commenced the study of di
vinity under the direction of his brother, Rev. Gilbert Tennent,
pastor of the church at New Brunswick, N. J. The following
account is from a Life of Mr. Tennent, published in 1813; the
account was first published in the " Evangelical Intelligencer," a
work printed in Philadelphia. The writer appears to have had a
scrupulous regard to truth.
" After a regular course of study in theology, Mr. Tennent was
preparing for his examination by the Presbytery, as a candidate fbr
the gospel ministry. His intense application affected his health, and
brought on a pain in his breast and a slight hectic. He soon became
emaciated, and at length was like a living skeleton. His life was
now threatened. He was attended by a physician, a young man who
was attached to him by the strictest and warmest friendship. He
grew worse and worse, till little hope of his life was left. In this
situation his spirits failed him, and he began to entertain doubts of his
final happiness. He was conversing one morning with his brother,
in Latin, on the state of his soul, when he fainted and died away.
After the usual time, he was laid out on a board, according to the com
mon practice of the country, and the neighborhood were invited to at
tend his funeral on the next day. In the evening, his physician and
friend returned from a ride in the country, and was afflicted beyond
measure at the news of his death. He could not be persuaded that
it was certain ; and on being told that one of the persons who had
assisted in laying out the body, thought he had observed a little tre
mor of the flesh under the arm, although the body was cold and stiff,
he endeavored to ascertain the fact. He first put his own hand into
warm water to make it as sensible as possible, and then felt under the
arm, and at the heart, and affirmed that he felt an unusual warmth,
though no one else could. He had the body restored to a warm bed,
and insisted that the people who had been invited to the funeral, should
be requested not to attend. To this the brother objected as absurd,
the eyes being sunk, the lips discolored, and the whole body cold and
stiff. However, the doctor finally prevailed, and all probable means
were used to discover symptoms of returning life.^ But the third day
arrived, and no hopes were entertained of success but by the doctor,
who never left him night nor day. The people were again invited,
and assembled to attend the funeral. The doctor still objected, and
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 503
at last confined his request for delay to one hour, then to half an hour,
and finally to a quarter of an hour. He had discovered that the tongue
was much svvoln, and threatened to crack. He was endeavoring to
soften it by some emollient ointment put upon it with a feather, when
the brother came in, about the expiration of the last period, and mis
taking what the doctor was doing for an attempt to feed him, mani
fested some resentment, and, in a spirited tone, said, ' It is shameful
to be feeding a lifeless corpse ;' and insisted, with earnestness, that
the funeral should immediately proceed. At this critical and impor
tant moment, the body, to the great alarm and astonishment of all pre
sent, opened its eyes, gave a dreadful groan, and sunk again into
apparent death. This put an end to all thoughts of burying him, and
every effort was again employed in hopes of bringing about a speedy
resuscitation. In about an hour, the eyes again opened, a heavy groan
proceeded from the body, and again all appearance of animation van
ished. In another hour, life seemed to return with more power, and a
complete revival took place, to the great joy of the family and friends,
and to the no small astonishment and conviction of very many who
had been ridiculing the idea of restoring to life a dead body.
Mr. Tennent continued in so weak and low a state for six weeks,
that great doubts were entertained of his final recovery. However,
after that period, he recovered much faster, but it was about twelve
months before he was completely restored. After he was able to walk
the room, and to take notice of what passed around him, on a Sunday
afternoon, his sister, who had staid frOm church to attend him, was
reading in the Bible, when he took notice of it, and asked her what
she had in her hand. She answered, that she was reading the Bible.
He replied, ' What is the Bible ? I know not what you mean." This
affected the sister so much that she burst into tears, and informed him
that he was once well acquainted with it. On her reporting this to
the brother when he returned, Mr. Tennent was found, upon examina
tion, to be totally ignorant of every transaction of his life previous to
his sickness. He could not read a single word, neither did he seem
to have an idea of what it meant. As soon as he became capable of
attention, he was taught to read and write, as children are usually
taught, and afterwards began to learn the Latin language, under the
tuition of his brother. One day as he was reciting a lesson in Cor
nelius Nepos, he suddenly started, clapped his hand to his head, as if
something had hurt him, and made a pause. His brother asking him
what was the matter, he said that he felt a sudden shock in his head,
and it now seemed to him as if he had read that book before. By de
grees his recollection was restored, and he could speak the Latin as
fluently as before his sickness. His memory so completely revived,
that he gained a perfect knowledge of the past transactions of his life,
as if no difficulty had previously occurred. This event, at the time,
made a considerable noise, and afforded not only matter of serious
contemplation to the devout Christian, especially when connected
with what follows in this narration, but furnished a subject of deep
504 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
investigation and learned inquiry to the real philosopher and curious
anatomist. The writer of these memoirs was greatly interested by these un
common events ; and, on a favorable occasion, earnestly pressed Mr.
Tennent for a minute account of what his views and apprehensions
were, while he lay in this extraordinary state of suspended animation.
He discovered great reluctance to enter into any explanation of his
perceptions and feelings at this time ; but being importunately urged
to do it, he at length consented, and proceeded with a solemnity not
to be described.
' While 1 was conversing with my brother,' said he, ' on the state
of my soul, and the fears I had entertained for my future welfare, I
found myself, in an instant, in another state of existence, under the di
rection of a superior Being, who ordered me to follow him. I was
accordingly wafted along, 1 know not how, till I beheld at a distance
an ineffable glory, the impression of which on my mind, it is impos
sible to communicate to mortal man. I immediately reflected on my
happy change, and thought — Well, blessed be God ! I am safe at last,
notwithstanding all my fears. I saw an innumerable host of happy
beings, surrounding the inexpressible glory, in acts of adoration and
joyous worship ; but I did not see any bodily shape or representation
in the glorious appearance. I heard things unutterable. I heard their
songs and hallelujahs, of thanksgiving and praise, with unspeakable
rapture. I felt joy unutterable and full of glory. I then applied to
my conductor, and requested leave to join the happy throng ; on which
he tapped me on the shoulder, and said, ' You must return to the earth.'
This seemed like a sword through my heart. In an instant I recol
lect to have seen my brother standing before me disputing with the
doctor. The three days during which I had appeared lifeless, seemed
to me not more than ten or twenty minutes. The idea of returning
to this world of sorrow and trouble gave me such a shock, that I
fainted repeatedly.' He added, ' Such was the effect upon my mind
of what I had seen and heard, that if it be possible for a human being
to live entirely above the world and the things of it, for some time
afterwards I was that person. The ravishing sounds of the songs and
hallelujahs that I heard, and the very words that were uttered, were
not out of my ears, when awake, for at least three years. All the
kingdoms of the earth-were in my sight as nothing and vanity ; and so
great were my ideas of heavenly glory, that nothing which did not in
some measure relate to it, could command my serious attention.'*
* The author has been particularly solicitous to obtain every confirmation of this
extraordinary event in the life of Mr. Tennent. He, accordingly, wrote to every
person he could think of, likely to have conversed with Mr. T. on the subject. He
received several answers ; but the following letter, from the worthy successor of
Mr. Tennent, in the pastoral charge of his church, will answer for the author's pur
pose. " Monmouth, New Jersey, December 10, 1805.
Dear Sir,
Agreeably to your request, I now send vou, in writing, the remarkable ac
count which I some time since gave you verbally, respecting your good friend, my
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 505
It is not surprising, that after so affecting an account, strong soli
citude should have been felt for further information as to the words, or
at least the subjects of praise and adoration, which Mr. Tennent had
worthy predecessor, the late Rev. William Tennent, of this place. In a very free
and feeling conversation on religion, and on the future rest and blessedness of the
people of God, (while travelling together from Monmouth to Princeton) I mentioned
to Mr. Tennent that I should be highly gratified in hearing, from his own mouth, an
account of the trance which he was said to have been in, unless the relation would be
disagreeable to himself. After a short silence, ho proceeded, saying, that he had
been sick with a fever — that the fever increased, and he by degrees sunk under it.
After some time (as his friends informed him) he died, or appeared to die, in the same
manner as persons usually do ; that in laying him out, one happened to draw his
hand under the left arm, and perceived a small tremor in the flesh ; that he was laid
out, and was cold and stiff. The time for his funeral was appointed, and the people
collected ; but a young doctor, his particular friend, pleaded with great earnestness
that he might not then be buried, as the tremor under the arm continued ; that his
brother, Gilbert, became impatient with the young gentleman, and said to him,
1 What ! a man not dead, who is cold and stiff as a stake !' The importunate young
friend, however, prevailed ; another day was appointed for the burial, and the people
separated. During this interval many means were made use of to discover, if pos
sible, some symptoms of life ; but none appeared excepting the tremor. The doctor
never left him for three nights and three days. The people again met to bury him,
but could not, even then, obtain the consent of his friend, who pleaded for one hour
more ; and when that was gone he pleaded for half an hour, and then for a quarter of
an hour ; when, just at the close of this period, on which hung his last hope, Mr.
Tennent opened his eyes. They then pried open his mouth, which was stiff, so as
to get a quill into it, through which some liquid was conveyed into the stomach, and
be by degrees recovered.
This account, as intimated before, Mr. Tennent said he had received from his
friends. I said to him, ' Sir, you seem to be one indeed raised from the dead, and
and may tell us what it is to die, and what you were sensible of while in that state.'
He replied in the following words : ' As to dying — I found my fever increase, and I
became weaker and weaker, until, all at once, I found myself in heaven, as I thought.
I saw no shape as to the Deity, but glory all unutterable !' Here he paused, as
though unable to find words to express his views, let his bridle fall, and lifting up his
hands proceeded, ' I can say as St. Paul did, I heard and I saw things all unutter
able ! I saw a great multitude before this glory, apparently in the height of bliss,
singing most melodiously. I was transported with my own situation, viewing all
my troubles ended, and my rest and glory begun, and was about to join the great and
happy multitude, when one came to me, looked me full in the face, laid his hand upon
my shoulder, and said, 'You must go back.' These words went through me; no
thing could have shocked me more ; I cried out, Lord, must I go back ! With this
ahock I opened my eyes in this world. When I saw I was in the world, I fainted,
then came to, and fainted for several times, as one probably would naturally have
done in so weak a situation.'
Mr. Tennent further informed me, that he had so entirely lost the recollection of
his past life, and the benefit of his former studies, that he could neither understand
what was spoken to him, nor write, nor read his own name — that he had to begin all
anew, and did not recollect that he had ever read before, until he had again learned
his letters, and was able to pronounce the monosyllables, such as thee and thou.
But, that as his strength returned, which Was very slowly, his memory also returned.
Yet, notwithstanding the extreme feebleness of his situation, his recollection of what
he saw and heard while in heaven, as he supposed, and the sense of divine things
which he there obtained, continued all the time in their full strength, so that he was
continually in something like an ecstacy of mind. ' And,' said he, ' for three years,
the sense of divine things continued so great, and every thing else appeared so com
pletely vain, when compared to heaven, that could I have had the world for stooping
down for it, I believe I should not have thought of doing it.' "
43
506 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
heard. But when he was requested to communicate these, he gave a
decided negative, adding, ' You will know them, with many other par
ticulars, hereafter, as you will find the whole among my papers ;' al
luding to his intention of leaving the writer hereof his executor, which
precluded any further solicitation.'"*
The writer of the life of Mr. Tennent, having requested of the Rev.
Dr. William M. Tennent, a written account of an anecdote relative to
his uncle which he had once heard him repeat verbally, received in
reply the following letter : " Abington, January 11, 1806.
Sir, ,
The anecdote of my venerable relative, the Rev. William Ten
nent, of Freehold, which you wished me to send you, is as follows :
During the great revival of religion, which took place under the
ministry of Mr. Whitefield, and others distinguished for their piety
and zeal at that period, Mr. Tennent was laboriously active, and much
engaged to help forward the work ; in the performance of which he
met with strong and powerful temptations. The following is related
as received, in substance, from his own lips, and may be considered
as extraordinary and singularly striking :
On the evening preceding public worship, which was to be attended
the next day, he selected a subject for the discourse which was to be
delivered, and made some progress in his preparations. In the morn
ing he resumed the same subject, with an intention to extend his
thoughts further on it, but was presently assaulted with a temptation
that the Bible, which he then held in hand, was not of divine authority,
but the invention of man. He instantly endeavored to repel the tempta
tion by prayer, but his endeavors proved unavailing. The temptation
continued, and fastened upon him with greater strength, as the time
advanced for public service. He lost all the thoughts which he had
on his subject the preceding evening. He tried other subjects, but
could get nothing for the people. The whole book of God, under that
distressing state of mind, was a sealed book to him : and to add to
his affliction, he was, to use his own words, ' shut up in prayer.' A
cloud, dark as that of Egypt, oppressed his mind.
Thus agonized in spirit, he proceeded to the church, where he
found a large congregation assembled, and waiting to hear the word:
and then it was, he observed, that he was more deeply distressed
than ever, and especially for the dishonor which he feared would fall
* It was so ordered, in the course of divine Providence, that the writer was sorely
disappointed in his expectation of obtaining the papers here alluded to. Such, how
ever, was the will of Heaven ! Mr. Tennent's death happened during the revolu
tionary war, when the enemy separated the writer from him, so as to render it im
practicable to attend him on a dying bed ; and before it was possible to get to his
house, after his death, (the writer being with the American army at the Valley-Forge)
his son came from Charleston, and took his mother, and his father's papers and pro
perty, and returned to Carolina. About fifty miles from Charleston, the son was
suddenly taken sick, and died among entire strangers ; and never since, though the
writer was left executor to the son, could any trace of the father's papers be dis
covered by him.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 507
upon religion, through him, that day. He resolved, however, to at
tempt the service. He introduced it by singing a psalm, during which
time his agitations were increased to the highest degree. When the
moment for prayer commenced, he arose, as one in the most perilous
and painful situation, and with arms extended to heaven, be^an with
this outcry, ' Lord have mercy upon me !' Upon the utterance of this
petition, he was heard ; the thick cloud instantly broke away, and an
unspeakably joyful light shone in upon his soul, so that his spirit
seemed to be caught up to the heavens, and he felt as though he saw
God, as Moses did on the Mount, face to face, and was carried forth
to him, with an enlargement greater than he had ever before expe
rienced, and on every page of the scriptures saw his divinity inscribed
in brightest colors. The result was a deep solemnity on the face of
the whole congregation, and the house at the end of the prayer was
a Bochim. He gave them the subject of his evening meditations,
which was brought to his full remembrance, with an overflowing
abundance of other weighty and solemn matter. The Lord blessed
the discourse, so that it proved the happy means of the conversion of
about thirty persons. This day he spoke of, ever afterwards, as his
harvest day. WILLIAM M. TENNENT."
Remarkable healing of Mrs. Mercy Wheeler. — A remarkable
instance of healing in the case of Mrs. Wheeler, of Plainfield, Con.,
which took place in 1743, has been published several times. For
sixteen years previous, she was not able to lift a foot or take a
step. The account of her case was drawn up by Rev. Benjamin
Lord, A. M.
" And no sooner was he [Mr. Lord] gone from her, but it turned
in her mind — The Lecture is ended, and the service all over, and I
am not healed ; what is become of my faith now 1 Won't it be with
me as it used to be ? Whereupon a cloud of great darkness came
over her, for a minute or two ; in which time she was led again into
herself, to see what a poor unworthy creature she was, and had some
such thoughts of the wisdom and goodness of God's will, that she
felt a disposition to be as God would have her be. Then those words
were repeated to her — If thou wilt believe, thou shalt see the glory
of God. By which her darkness was carried off, and under the in
fluence of this word now, she seemed (as she expressed it) to be
wholly taken out of herself, into the hands of God, and enabled to be
lieve that he could and would heal her. Immediately upon which,
she felt a strange irresistible motion and shaking, which began first
with her hands, and quickly spreading over her whole frame ; in
which time she felt a kind of weight upon her ;¦ a sort of racking of
her frame ; every joint, as it were, working ; and as if she was with
hands squeezed together in her weak places. As this trembling went
off, her pains went with it, and she felt strong, especially in the seat
of life, where she had been most remarkably weak ; and from thence
strength diffused itself all over her animal frame, into her hips, knees,
508 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
ancles, &c. She felt strong and well, as if she had no disease upon
her, and was under no difficulty. And as she had this sensation of
new strength and freedom, she felt as if she was a raising up, and
must rise ; and immediately rose up and walked away among the peo
ple, with evident sprightliness and vigor, to the astonishment of her
self and those about her. She went this time near 16 feet, crying
out, ' Bless the Lord Jesus, who has healed me '.' But was soon damped
with this thought, that she was only in a phrenzy, and not healed ; and
the more so, when Mr. Lord (surprised at seeing her walk thus, whom
he had just before left impotent and overcome too, so that she could
hardly talk) did observe to her that she was in a phrenzy, and accord
ingly took hold of her and led her to the bed, and bid her sit down ;
yea, even thrust her down. But she could not be confined there ; feel
ing yet strong and at liberty, she quickly rose up again, with those
words in her mind, / have loved thee with everlasting love, and with
the high praises of God in her mouth. Her soul being filled with
such admiration and love, as she declared was inexpressible. Now
she walked several times across the room with strength and steadi
ness ; which even constrained the people to think and say, verily, this
is the power of God ! And they wondered, and praised the same.
And it was about six o'clock in the afternoon, when the thing was
done, at which they all marvelled, and having united in a prayer, and
in praise, on this remarkable occasion, they were dismissed to their
several homes, still wondering and rejoicing at what their eyes had
beheld, and their ears had heard that day." — See Con. Hist. Coll.
Zerah Colburn. — In 1812, the attention of the philosophical
world was attracted by one of the most singular phenomenon in the
history of the human mind which has appeared in modern times.
It was the case of Zerah Colburn, a child under eight years of
age, who, without any previous knowledge of the rules of Arith
metic, or even of the use and power of the Arabic numerals, and
without giving any particular attention to the subject, possessed
the faculty of solving a great variety of arithmetical questions by
the mere operations of the mind, and without the assistance of any
visible symbol or contrivance.
Zerah Colburn was born in Cabot, in Vermont, Sept. 1, 1804.
According to a memoir, written by himself, in 1833, he was the
sixth child of his parents, and was by them, in his earlier years,
considered as the most backward of any, of their children.
" Sometime in the beginning of August, 1810, when about one
month under six years of age, being at home, while his father was
employed at a joiner's work-bench, Zerah was on the floor, playing
in the chips ; suddenly he began to say to himself, ' 5 times 7 are 35
— 6 times 8 are 48, &c.' His father's attention being arrested by
hearing this, so unexpected in a child so young, and who had hitherto
possessed no advantages, except perhaps six weeks' attendance at the
district school, that summer, he left his work, and turnin" to him be-
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 509
gan to examine him through the multiplication table ; he thought it
possible that Zerah had learnt this from the other boys, but finding
him perfect in the table, his attention was more deeply fixed ; and he
asked the product of 13x97 to which 1261 was instantly given in
answer. He now concluded that something unusual had actually
taken place ; indeed he has often said he should not have been more
surprised, if some one had risen up out of the earth and stood erect
before him.
It was not long before a neighbor rode up, and calling in, was in
formed of the singular occurrence. He, too, desired to be a witness
of the fact, and soon it became generally known through the town.
Though many were inclined to doubt the correctness of the reports
they heard, a personal examination attested their truth. Thus the
story originated, which within the short space of a year, found its
way, not only through the United States, but also reached Europe,
and foreign Journals of literature, both in England and France, ex
pressed their surprise at the uncommon incident.
Very soon after the first discovery of his remarkable powers, many
gentlemen at that time possessing influence and public confidence
throughout the State, being made acquainted with the circumstances,
were desirous of having such a course adopted as might most directly
lead to a full development of his talent, and its application to purposes
of general utility. Accordingly Mr. Colburn carried his son to Dan
ville, to be present during the session of the Court. His child was
very generally seen and questioned by the Judges, members of the
bar, and others. The Legislature of Vermont being about to con
vene at Montpelier, they were advised to visit that place, which they
did in October. Here large numbers had an opportunity of witnessing
his calculating powers, and the conclusion was general that such a
thing had never been known before. Many questions which were
out of the common limits of Arithmetic, were proposed with a view to
puzzle him, but he answered them correctly ; as for instance — which
is the most, twice twenty-five, or twice five and twenty (2 X 25 or
2 x 5+20) ? Ans. twice twenty-five. Which is the most, six dozen
dozen, or half a dozen dozen (6 X 12 X 12 or 6 x 12) ? Ans. 6 dozen
dozen. It is a fact too that somebody asked how many black beans
would make five white ones ? Ans. 5, if you skin them. Thus it ap
peared that not only could he compute and combine numbers readily,
but also he possessed a quickness of thought somewhat uncommon
among children, in other things."
Mr. Colburn visited various parts of the United States with his
son for the purpose of exhibiting his extraordinary power of cal
culation. Having resolved on a voyage to Europe, they arrived
in London in May, 1812, where they continued about two years.
Here Zerah attracted considerable attention, and was visited by
many of the nobility and the most distinguished persons in the
kingdom. After leaving London, Mr. Colburn and his son visited
Ireland, Scotland, and finally passed over to Paris, where Zerah
43*
510 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
was for a time a pupil in the Lyceum Napoleon. He returned to
London in 1816, and from thence to Birmingham. At this period,
being impoverished in their circumstances, the Earl of Bristol be
came the patron of Zerah and placed him at the Westminster
school. His father becoming dissatisfied with some things
relative to the school, Zerah was taken from it in 1819. In
order to support himself he was for a while an actor on the stage,
and afterwards opened a small school. Mr. Colburn, harassed
by the many disappointments and privations of himself and son,
fell a victim to his troubles, and died in February, 1823. Zerah
now returned to this country and removed to Burlington, Vermont.
Soon after his return his attention was drawn to the subject of re
ligion, and having experienced a change in his feelings, he joined
the Congregational Church. Being dissatisfied with some of the
doctrines of that church, he united himself with the Methodist
Society in Cabot, Vermont, in 1825. He soon became a devoted
preacher in that denomination, and continued in that office till his
death, which took place a few years since.
The following is a list of questions answered by Zerah Colburn ;
they are extracted from his memoirs, and are also to be found in
other publications :
In Boston, on his first visit, in the fall of 1810.
The number of seconds in 2000 years was required.
730,000 days.
17,520,000 hours.
1,051,200,000 minutes.
63,072,000,000 seconds— Answer.
Allowing that a clock strikes 156 times in 1 day, how many times
will it strike in 2000 years ? 1 13,880,000 times.
What is the product of 12,225 multiplied by 1,223 ? 14,951,175.
What is the square of 1,449 ? 2,099,601.
Supposing I have a corn field, in which are 7 acres, having 17
rows to each acre ; 64 hills to each row ; 8 ears on a hill, and 150
kernels on an ear ; how many kernels on the corn field ? 9,139,200.
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, June, 1811.
Admitting the distance between Concord and Boston to be 65
miles, how many steps must I take in going this distance, allowing
that I go three feet at a step? The answer, 114,400, was given in
ten seconds.
How many days and hours since the Christian Era commenced,
1811 years ? Answered in twenty seconds.
661,015 days.
15,864,360 hours.
How many seconds in eleven years ? Answer in four seconds ;
346,896,000.
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 511
What sum multiplied by itself will produce 998,001 ? In less than
four seconds, 999.
How many hours in 38 years, 2 months, and 7 days? In six sec
onds ; 334,488.
When at London " at a meeting of his friends which was held for
the purpose of concerting the best method of promoting the interest
of the child by an education suited to his turn of mind, he undertook
and succeeded in raising the number 8 to the sixteenth power, and
gave the answer correctly in the last result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656.
He was then tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure, all of
which he raised as high as the tenth power, with so much facility
and dispatch that the person appointed to take down the results was
obliged to enjoin him not to be too rapid. With respect to numbers
consisting of two figures, he would raise some of them to the sixth,
seventh and eighth power, but not always with equal facility ; for
the larger the products became, the more difficult he found it to pro
ceed. He was asked the square root of 106,929, and before the num
ber could be written down he immediately answered 327. He was
then requested to name the cube root of 268,336,125, and with equal
facility and promptness he replied 645.
Various other questions of a similar nature respecting the roots
and powers of very high numbers, were proposed by several of the
gentlemen present, to all of which satisfactory answers were given.
One of the party requested him to name the factors which produced
the number 247,483, which he did by mentioning 941 and 263, which
indeed are the only two factors that will produce it. Another of them
proposed 171,395, and he named the following factors as the only
ones, viz: 5x34279, 7x24485, 59x2905, 83x2065, 35x4897,
295x581, 413x415. He was then asked to give the factors of
36,083, but he immediately replied that it had none ; which in fact
was the case, as 36,083 is a prime number." [Extract from a Pros
pectus printed in London, 1813.]
" It had been asserted and maintained by the French mathemati
cians that 4294967297 ( =;2 3 2 + 1 ) was a prime number ; but the cel
ebrated Euler detected the error by discovering that it was equal to
641 X 6,700,417. The same number was proposed to this child, who
found out the factors by the mere operation of his mind." Ibid. On
another occasion, he was requested to give the square of 999,999 ;
he said he could not do this, but he accomplished it by multiplying
37037 by itself, and that product twice by 27. Ans. 999,998,000,001 .
He then said he could multiply that by 49 which he did : Ans. 48,999,-
902,000,049. He again undertook to multiply this number by 49 : Ans.
2,400,995,198,002,401. And lastly he multiplied this great sum by
25, giving as the final product, 60,024,879,950,060,025. Various ef
forts were made by the friends of the boy to elicit a disclosure of the
methods by which he performed his calculations, but for nearly three
years he was unable to satisfy their inquiries. There was, through
practice, an increase in his power of computation ; when first be
ginning, he went no farther in multiplying than three places of figures;
512 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
it afterwards became a common thing with him to multiply four pla
ces by four ; in some instances five figures by five have been given."
The question will naturally arise, by what means, or process
was this faculty of computation acquired ? In the absence of any
satisfactory explanation by others it will be proper to let the sub
ject of this notice give his own testimony on this subject. The
following are his words, extracted from different parts of his me
moirs. [It will be observed he speaks of himself in the second
person.] " The inquiry has often been made whether the gift were natural
or supernatural ; his answer is that it was partly both ; understanding
by this, not the putting forth of Divine energy in the entirely new
creation of a faculty hitherto unknown to the mind, but the uncom
mon extension of a faculty already given, and common to all ; ex
tension in a manner beyond the operations of nature, as we see her
exhibited, and therefore supernatural ; but natural, in as much as
every one is to a certain extent, able to compute by mental process
alone." " That such calculations should be made by the power of mind
alone, even in a person of mature age, and who had disciplined him
self by opportunity and study, would be surprising, because far ex
ceeding the common attainments of mankind ; that they should be
made by a child six years old, unable to read, and ignorant of the
name or properties of one figure traced on paper, without any previ
ous effort to train him to such a task, will not diminish the surprise.
The remembrance that this faculty was bestowed and exercised
under such circumstances, while it necessarily prompts the possessor
to speak of it as wonderful indeed, at the same time precludes all
room for boasting, if he were thus disposed ; for it ever has been,
and still is, as much a matter of astonishment to him as it can be to
any other one ; God was its author, its object and aim perhaps are
still unknown."
" In relation to the faculty of computation which he possessed, he
would observe that in every particular, from its first development to
the present day, it has been to him a matter of astonishment. He
has felt and still feels, that it was undoubtedly a gift from his Maker,
and consequently designed to be productive of some valuable ends.
What the specific object was is unknown."
" This may be a suitable place for introducing a few remarks con
cerning the mind of Zerah in regard to other things than mental cal
culation. As might be expected from the nature of his early gift, he
ever had a taste for figures. To answer questions by the mere ope
ration of mind, though perfectly easy, was not any thing in which he
ever took satisfaction ; for, unless when questioned, his attention was
not engrossed by it at all. The study of Arithmetic was not par
ticularly easy to him, but it afforded a very pleasing employment,
and even now, were he in a situation to feel justified in such a course,
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 513
he should be gratified to spend his time in pursuits of this nature.
The faculty which he possessed, as it increased and strengthened by
practice, so by giving up exhibition, began speedily to depreciate.
This was not as some have supposed, on account of being engaged in
study ; it is more probable to him that the study of any branch that
included the use and practice of figures would have served to keep up
the facility and readiness of mind. The study of Algebra, while he
attended to it, was very pleasant, but when just entering upon the
more abstruse rules of the first part, he was taken away from his books
and carried to France."
Remarkable case of Miss Rachel Baker, the Sleeping Preach
er. — Perhaps the most remarkable case on record of " Devotional
Somnium," so called, is that of Miss Rachel Baker, of the State
of New York. A full history of her case may be found in " The
Transactions of the Physico Medical Society of New York, vol.
1, p. 395."
Rachel Baker was born at Pelham, Massachusetts, May 29th,
1794. Her parents were religious persons, and early taught her
the importance of religion. From childhood, she appeared to
possess a contemplative disposition ; "but her mind was not vig
orous, nor was she much disposed to improve it by reading. At
the age of nine years, she removed with her parents to the town
of Marcellus, State of New York. From that time she said, she
had " frequently strong convictions of the importance of eternal
things, and the thoughts of God and eternity would make her
tremble." — In June, 1811, while on a visit to the town of Scipio,
she was deeply affected in witnessing the baptism of a young
lady ; and from that period she was impressed with a stronger
conviction of her own sinfulness. On her return to Marcellus,
she endeavored to suppress her religious anxiety, but in vain, her
anguish of mind was fully depicted in her countenance.
" On the evening of the 28th of November, as she was sitting
in a chair apparently asleep, she began to sigh and groan,- as if
in excessive pain. She had said a short time before, that she
would live only a little while, and as she now repeated the ex-
?ression, her parents were apprehensive that she was dying. —
'his evening she talked incoherently; but manifested, in what she
said, much religious concern. She continued almost every night
talking in her sleep in this way, till the 27th Jan. 1812. On that
evening soon after she had fallen asleep, she was seized with a
fit of trembling. She shrieked aloud and awoke in great terror.
Horror and despondency overwhelmed her with the dread of a
miserable eternity, and of her speedy and inevitable doom. But
these agonizing feelings soon were succeeded by a calm; her
mind became tranquil, and in her nightly devotions, which were
now regular and coherent, she poured forth a spirit of meekness,
514 REMARKABLE EVENTS.
gratitude and love." From this time, the whole tenor of her soul
seemed to be changed ; she was incapable of expressing her sen
timents on Divine things clearly when awake ; but her sleep
ing exercises were so solemn and impressive, that few, who heard
them, doubted that they were the genuine fruits of penitence,
piety and peace."
Dr. Mitchell, in describing Miss Baker's case, says, " to the
latter of those remarkable affections of the human mind (Som
nium cum religione) i. e. sleep with religion, belongs to Miss
Rachel Baker, who, for several years, has been seized with Som-
nium of a devotional kind once a day with great regularity. These
daily paroxysms recur with wonderful exactness, and, from long
prevalence, have now become habitual. They invade her at early
bedtime, and a fit usually lasts about three quarters of an hour.
A paroxysm has been known to end in thirty-five minutes and
to continue ninety-eight The transition from the
waking state to that of somnium is very quick ; frequently in a
quarter of an hour or even less. After she retires from company
in the parlour, she is discovered to be occupied in praising God,
with a distinct and sonorous voice Her discourses are
usually pronounced in a private chamber, for the purpose of de
livering them with more decorum on her own part, and with great
er satisfaction to her hearers. She has been advised to take the
recumbent posture, her face being turned towards the heavens.
She performs her nightly devotions with a consistency and fervor,
wholly unexampled, for a human being in a state of somnium.
Her body and limbs are motionless ; they stir no more than the
trunk and extremities of a statue ; the only motion the spectator
perceives is that of her organs of speech, and an oratorial incli
nation of the head and neck, as if she was intently engaged in
performing an academic or theological exercise Ac
cording to the tenor and solemnity of the address, the attendants
are affected with seriousness She commences and ends
with an address to the throne of grace, consisting of proper topics
of acknowledgment, submission and reverence ; of praise and
thanksgiving and of prayer for herself, her friends, the church, the
nation, for enemies and the human race in general. Between
these, is her sermon or exhortation. She begins without a text,
and proceeds with an even course to the end ; embellishing it some
times with fine metaphors, vivid descriptions, and poetical quo
tations There is a state of the body like groaning, sob
bing or moaning ; and the distressful sound continues from two
minutes, to a quarter of an hour. This agitation, however, does
not wake her ; it gradually subsides and she passes into a sound
and natural sleep, which continues during the remainder of the
night. In the morning she wakes as if nothing had happened ;
REMARKABLE EVENTS. 515
and entirely ignorant of the scenes in which she has acted. She
declares she knows nothing of the nightly exercises, except from
the information of others. With the exception of the before men
tioned agitation of body and exercise of mind, she enjoys perfect
health." In October 1814, Miss Baker was brought to New York by her
friends in hopes that her somnial exercises, (which were consid
ered by some of them as owing to disease) might, by the exercise
of a journey and the novelty of a large city, be removed. But
none of these means produced the desired effect. Her acquain
tances stated that her somnial exercises took place every night
regularly, except in a few instances, when interrupted by severe
sickness, from the time they commenced in 1812. In September
1816, Dr. Sears, by a course of medical treatment, particularly by
the use of opium, appears to have prevented the recurrence of Miss
Baker's nightly exercises.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST PRINTING, &c.
[Extracted principally from Thomas' History of Printing in America.]
Introduction of Printing. — The Rev. Jesse Glover, a worthy and
wealthy dissenting clergyman of England, may be considered as the
father of the American press. This benefactor of the infant colony
of Massachusetts, was early engaged in pursuing such measures as
he judged would be for its interest and prosperity. Among other
things, he was desirous of establishing a press for the accommodation
of the business of the church and state. To raise a sum sufficient to
purchase printing materials, he contributed liberally himself, and soli
cited aid from others, in England and Holland. In 1638, Mr. Glover
having obtained the means, procured good printing apparatus, and en
gaged a printer to accompany it to New England. Mr. Glover, with
his family, embarked in the same vessel ; he however died on the
passage, and his widow and children, after their arrival, settled at
Cambridge. — Stephen Daye, (the printer engaged by Mr. Glover,) by
the direction of the magistrates and elders, having erected the press
and prepared the other parts of the apparatus, began business in the
first month of 1639. The first thing which issued from the press,
was The Freeman's Oath ; the second, An Almanac ; and the third,
The Psalms in metre.
Samuel Green, the successor of Daye in the printing business, was
in Cambridge eight years before the arrival of Daye from England.
Green probably obtained a knowledge of the art from Daye, as he
was not known as a printer until about the year 1649. Mr. Green
died at Cambridge, in 1702, aged eighty-seven years. He was es
teemed for his virtues, and was the father of nineteen children. For
a long period, many of his descendants of his name, have been en
gaged in the printing business.
Indian Bible. — The first Bible printed in America, was the Bible
516 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
translated by Mr. Eliot into the Indian language. From the Records
of the Commissioners of the United Colonies, who were agents for
the Corporation in England, for propagating the Gospel in New Eng
land, we find that there were two presses in Cambridge, under the
care of Green, in 1656. One was in possession of the College ; this
was the press purchased by Mr. Glover, and first used by Daye ; the
other was the property of the Corporation in England. There were
types appropriated to each. The Corporation, for a time, had their
printing done in London, but after Mr. Eliot, and others, had made a
translation of the Bible, and other works, into the Indian tongue, it
became necessary, in order to print them, that it should be done un
der the inspection of the translators. For this purpose, the Corpora
tion sent over printing materials, the most of which arrived in 1655.
Green now began printing the Indian Bible, which was at that period
an undertaking of great magnitude. It was a work of so much con
sequence as to arrest the attention of the nobility and gentry of Eng
land, as well as that of king Charles to whom it was dedicated. The
press of Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass., was for a time as
celebrated as the presses of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,
in England. In order to assist Mr. Green, the Corporation, in 1660,
sent over Marmaduke Johnson, who had been regularly bred to the
printing business in London.
The New Testament was first printed; this was in 1661 : its In
dian title was Wusku Wuttestamentum Nul-Lordumun Jesus Christ
Nuppoguohwussuaeneumun. The first edition of the Old Testament
was published in 1663, being in the press three years. It was in a
quarto form with marginal notes ; this edition consisted of one thou
sand copies. The second edition was published in 1685 : like the
first, it had marginal notes and an Indian translation of the Neweng-
land Version of the Psalms. The rev. mr. Cotton, a great proficient
in the Indian language, assisted mr. Eliot in revising and correcting
this edition. Both editions had title pages in English and Indian.
The title in the Indian language, is as follows, Mamusse Wunneetu-
panatamwe Up-Biblum God naneeswe Nukkone-Testament kah wonk
Wusku Testament. Nequoshinnumuk nashpe Wuttinneumak Christ
jioh asoowesit John Eliot. Nahohtoeu ontehetoe Printewoomuk.
Cambridge : Printeuoop nashpe Samuel Green. 4 to. It was six
years in the press. Two thousand copies were printed. It was not
so expensive as the first edition. Mr. Eliot had the management of
it ; and, in his letters to the hon. Robert Boyle, president of the corpo
ration for propagating the gospel among the Indians in Newengland,
he acknowledges the reception of 9001. sterling, in three payments,
for carrying it through the press.
New England version of the Psalms. — The first Psalm book was
printed by Daye, in 4640, and was commonly called •• The Bay Psalm
Book." The Rev. Mr. Prince of Boston, the Annalist, says, " By
1636, there were come over hither, near thirty pious and learned min
isters, educated in the Universities of England, and from the same
exalted Principles of Scripture purity in Religious Worship, they set
FIRST PRINTING, &C.
517
themselves to translate the Psalms and other Scripture Songs, into
English Metre, as near as possible to the inspired original. They
committed this work especially to the Rev. Mr. Weld, and the Rev.
John Eliot of Roxbury." A second edition was printed in 1647 ;
this was somewhat amended, and a few Spiritual Songs added. Af
ter this edition was published, the rev. Henry Dunster, president of
Harvard college, and a master of the Oriental languages, and mr.
Richard Lyon, educated at a university in Europe, were appointed
a committee further to revise and improve the Psalms, which service
they performed in two or three years ; when another edition was pub
lished, with the addition of other scriptural Songs. This revised
version went through numerous editions, in Newengland. It was re
printed in England and Scotland ; and was used in many of the Eng
lish dissenting congregations, as well as in a number of the churches
in Scotland — it was added to several English and Scotch editions of
the Bible ; and, went through fifty editions, including those published
in Europe.
The following is given as a specimen of the Newengland version
of the Psalms ; first, as they were originally printed ; and, secondly,
as they appeared after being revised and corrected by president Dun
ster and mr. Lyon. The first psalm of each edition is selected.
[No. II — Correctedby Dunster and Lyon.
[No. I — By Eliot and others.']
THE PSALMES
In Metre
PSALME I
O blessed man, that in th'adviee
of wicked doeth not walk:
nor stand in sinner's way, nor sit
in chayre of scornful folk.
2 But in the law of Iehovah,
Is his longing delight :
'and in his law doth meditate,
by day and -eke by night.
i And he shall be like to a tree
planted by water-rivers :
that in his season yields his fruit,
and his leafe never withers.
4 And all he doth, shall prosper well,
the wicked are not so :
but they are like vnto the chaffe,
-which winde drives to and fro.
£> Therefore' shall not ungodly men,
rise to st^nd in the doome,
nor shall the sinners with the just,
in their assemblie come.
6 For of the righteous men the Lord
acknowledged the way :
but the way of vngodly men,
THE
BOOK of PSALMS.
PSAL. I.
O blessed man that walks not in
th'adviee of wicked men
Nor standeth in the sinners way
nor scomers seat sits in.
2 But he upon Jehovah's law
doth set his whole delight :
And in his law doth meditate
Both in the day and night.
3 He shall be like a planted tree
by water brooks, which shall
In his due season yield his fruit.
whose leaf shall never fall :
4 And all he doth shall prosper well,
the wicked are not so:
But they are like unto the chaff.
which wind drived to and fro.
5 Therefore shall no ungodly men
in judgement stand upright :
Nor in th'assembly of the just
shall stand the sinfull wight.
6 For of ye righteous men, ye LORD
acknowledgeth the way :
Whereas the way of wicked men,
shall utterly decay.
shall vterly decay.
First Gazette or Newspaper. — The first newspaper in the British
Colonies was published in Boston, April 24th, 1704, by John Camp
bell a Scotchman, a bookseller and Post Master in that place. His
paper- was entitled " The Boston News Letter." It was printed on a
half sheet of pot paper, with a small pica type, folio.
The first oa»e is filled with an extract from " The London Flying Post," respecting the
pretender, who stiled himsetf James the 8th of Scotland, sending popish missionaries
44
518 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
from France into Scotland, &c. by which the kingdoms of England and Scotland were
endangered. The queen's speech to both houses of parliament on that occasion, a few
articles under the Boston head, four short paragraphs of marine intelligence from New-
york, Philadelphia, Newlondon, and one advertisement, form its whole contents. The
advertisement is from Campbell, the proprietor of the paper, and is as follows.
" This News Letter is to be continued Weekly ; and all Persons who have any Houses,
Lands, Tenements, Farmes, Ships, Vessels, Goods, Wares or Merchandizes &c. to be
Sold or Lett ; or Servants Runaway : or Goods Stoll or Lost may have the same Inserted
at a Reasonable Rate ; from Twelve Pence to Five Shillings, and not to exceed : Who
may agree with Nicholas Boone for the same at his Shop next door to Major Davis's,
Apothecary in Boston near the Old Meeting House.
"All Persons in Town and Country may have said News-Letter Weekly upon reason
able tearms agreeing with John Campbell Post Master for the same."
The imprint is, " Boston : Printed by B. Green. Sold by Nicholas Boone, at his Shop
near the Old Meeting-House."
This paper languished for a long time, on account of having but
few subscribers, and not much encouragement from advertising cus
tomers. It was however continued through various changes, fill
1776, having been published for seventy-two years. The second pa
per in British America was entitled " The Boston Gazette:" this pa
per was first issued Monday, December 21, 1719. Its imprint was
" Boston : Printed by J. Franklin, and may be had at the Post Office,
where advertisements are taken in." The third newspaper in Boston
was the " New England Courant," was first published in August,
1721, by James Franklin.
First Newspaper in New York. — In 1668, Governor Lovelace, of
New York was desirous of having a press established in that prov
ince ; and it appears by a record made at the time, that he sent to
Boston to procure a printer, but did not succeed. In 1686, among
other articles of instruction sent by king James to Governor Donegan,
one was, that he should " allow no printing press in the province."
The pamphlets which appeared in the dispute respecting the unfortu
nate Colonel Leislee in 1689 and 1690, are supposed to have been
printed in Boston. — The first newspaper published in New York, was
printed by William Bradford. It made its first appearance, Oct. 16,
1725, and was entitled " The New York Gazette." It was printed on
a foolscap sheet. Bradford must have been about seventy years of
age, when he began the publication of the Gazette ; he continued it
about sixteen or seventeen years, and then retired from business.
James Parker began the New York Gazette anew in Jan., 1742 — 3.
" The New York Weekly Journal" was the second paper established in
the province ; it made its appearance Nov. 5, 1733.
The Journal was of the small size usually printed at that time, that is foolscap ; gene
rally a whole sheet, printed chiefly on Pica. It was published every " Mnndny." Im
print — " New York : Printed and Sold by John Peter Zenger : By whom Subscriptions
for this Paper are taken in at Three Shillings per quarter."
The Journal was established for a political purpose. For three years it was in a state
of warfare with the administration of governor Crosby and his successor lieutenant gov
ernor Clarke, It was supposed to be published under the patronage of the honorable
Rip Van Dam, who had been president of the council, and opposed the governor and his
successor. The New-York Gazette, printed by Bradford, was then under the control of
the governor.
In January, 1748 — 9, John Zenger new modelled the title of the
Journal, and added a cut, coarsely executed, of a section of the royal
arms, containing three lions gardant, encircled with the usual motto,
FIRST PRINTING, &C. 519
" Honi soit qve mal y pense ;" surmounted by a crown. The imprint
— New- York : Printed by John Zenger, in Stone-Street, near Fort
George ; Where Advertisements are taken in at a moderate rate."
John Zenger published this paper until about 1752, when it was
discontinued, but in 1766, the title was revived by John Holt.*
The Gazette which attained the greatest notoriety during the Rev
olutionary War was published by James Rivington, New-York, and
was at first entitled
Rivington's New- York Gazetteer ; or, The Connecticut, New-Jersey, Hudson's
River, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser.
This Gazette commenced its career April 22, 1773, on a large medium sheet folio. It
was printed, weekly, on Thursday ; and when it had been established one year, this im
print followed the title, " Printed, at his* Ever open and uninfluenced press, fronting
Hanover-Square." A large cut of a ship under sail was at first introduced into the title,
under which were the words "New York Packet." This cut soon gave place to one of
a smaller size. In November, 1774, the ship was removed, and the king's arms took the
place of it. In August, 1775, the words " Ever open and uninfluenced" were omitted in the
imprint. The Gazetteer was patronized in all the principal towns by the advocates of the Brit
ish administration who approved the measures adopted toward the colonies ; and it un
doubtedly had some support from " his Majesty's government." The paper obtained an
extensive circulation, but eventually paid very little respect to " the majesty of the people ;
and, in consequence, the paper and its publisher soon became obnoxious to the whigs.
Rivington continued the Gazetteer until November 27, 1775, on which day a number of
armed men from Connecticut entered the city, on horseback, and beset his habitation,
broke into his printing house, destroyed his press, threw his types into heaps and carried
away a large quantity of them, which they melted and formed into bullets. A stop was
thus put to the Gazetteer.
Soon after this event, Rivington went to England, where he supplied himself with a
new printing apparatus, and was appointed king's printer for Newyork. After the Brit
ish gained possession of the city, he returned ; and, on October 4, 1777, re-commenced
the publication of his Gazette under the original title, but in two weeks, he exchanged
that title, for the following, " Rivington's New-York Loyal Gazette," and on the 13th of
December following, he called his paper "The Royal Gazette." Imprint — "Published
by James Rivington, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty." The Royal Ga
zette was numbered as a continuation of the Gazetteer, and Loyal Gazette, and was pub
lished on Wednesdays and Saturdays ; printed on a sheet of royal size, with the royal
arms in the title.
First Newspaper in Rhode Island. — Although the press had been
established many years in Connecticut before it was introduced into
Rhode Island, yet a newspaper was published twenty years earlier in
Rhode Island, than in Connecticut. This paper was entitled " The
Rhode Island Gazette," and was first published Sept. 27th, 1732.
The day of publication was Wednesday; the imprint, "Newport,
Rhode Island : Printed and sold by James Franklin, at his Printing-
House, under the Town-School-House, where Advertisements, and
* In The New- York Journal, of February 25, 1751, is the following advertisement.
" My country subscribers are earnestly desired to pay their arrearages for this Jour
nal, which if they don't speedily, I shall leave off sending, and seek my money an
other way. Some of these kind customers are in arrears upwards of seven years !
Now as I have served them so long, I think it is time, ay, and high time too, that they
give me my outset ; for they may verily believe that my every-day cloathes are al
most worn out. N. B. Gentlemen, If you have not ready money with you, still
think of the Printer, and when you have read this advertisement and considered it,
vou cannot bnt say, Come Dame, (especially you inquisitive wedded men, let the
Batchelors take it to themselves) let us send the poor Printer a few Gammons or
some Meal, some Butter, Cheese, Poultry, &o. In the mean time I am yours, &c.
J. Zenger."
520 AN ACCOUNT OF THE
Letters to the Author are taken in." This paper continued but seven
months. " The Newport Mercury" was first published about Septem
ber, 1758, and gained a permanent establishment. It was printed by
James Franklin, afterwards by Mrs. Franklin and Samuel HalL In
1768, Hall resigned the Mercury to Solomon Southwick. During
the Revolutionary War, while the British troops possessed Newport,
Southwick set up a press in Attleborough, Massachusetts, and pub
lished the Mercury at that place. He returned to Newport on its
evacuation by the enemy, and during the revolutionary contest con
ducted the Mercury with ability and patriotic zeal. " The Providence
Gazette, and Country Journal" was first published Oct. 20th, 1762, by
William Goddard. In 1769, William and Sarah Goddard resigned
their right in the Gazette to John Carter. This was the only paper
in Providence previous to the Revolution.
First Printing in Connecticut. — The first printing press in Connecti*
cut, was set up by Thomas Short, at New London, in 1709. He was
recommended by Bartholomew Green, who at that time printed at
Boston, and from whom he probably learned the art of printing. In
1710, he printed "The Saybrook Platform of Church Discipline,"
which is said to be the first book printed in the colony. After the
Platform, he printed a number of Sermons and sundry pamphlets on
religious subjects, and was employed by the Governor and Company
to do the work for the colony. He died at New London, three or
four years after his settlement there. The next printer was Timothy
Green, grandson of Samuel Green, senior, of Cambridge. Having re
ceived art invitation from the Council and Assembly of Connecticut,
he removed from Boston to New London, in 1714, and was appointed
printer to the Governor and Company, on a salary of fifty pounds per
annum. It was stipulated that for this sum he should print the elec
tion sermons, proclamations, and the laws which should be enacted
by the Assembly. Besides the work of the Government, Green
printed a number of pamphlets on religious subjects, particularly ser
mons. It has been said of him, that whenever he heard a sermon
which he highly approved, he would solicit a copy of the author, and
print it for his own sales. This honest zeal, however, often proved
injurious to his estate. Large quantities of these sermons lay on
hand as dead stock ; and after his decease, they were put into bas
kets, appraised by the bushel, and sold under the value of common
waste paper.
The first newspaper in Connecticut was " The Connecticut Gazette,"
which made its first appearance January 1st, 1755. It was printed at
New Haven, by James Parker and Company. John Holt was the
editor and junior partner of the firm, till he removed to New York
in 1760. Thomas Green was then employed by the company to
conduct the Gazette. By the establishment of post riders at this pe
riod, to the seat of war at the northward, and to several parts of the
colony, this paper, at this time, had a considerable circulation. It
was continued by Parker & Co. till 1764, when it was suspended for
a short time, but was afterwards revived by Benjamin Mecom a
FIRST PRINTING, &C. 521
nephew of Dr. Franklin. It was discontinued in 1767, and in Octo
ber of the same year, " The Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post
Boy" was first published, by Thomas and Samuel Green.
The New London Summary, the second paper in Connecticut, was
first published by the second Timothy Green, Aug. 8th, 1758, and
was continued till 1763, when it was succeeded by the " New London
Gazette," which in Dec. 1773, was entitled " The Connecticut Ga
zette." " The Connecticut Courant," the third paper in Connecticut,
was first published in Hartford, December, 1764, by Thomas Green.
The paper was published next by Ebenezer Watson, then by Watson
& Goodwin, and in 1779, by Hudson & Goodwin. This was one of
the most respectable papers in the State, and is still continued. —
" The Norwich Packet," the first paper in that place, was commenced
in Oct. 1773, " Printed by Alexander Robertson, James Robertson,
and John Trumbull." The Packet was continued by this company
until June, 1776, when Trumbull became the sole publisher, and con
tinued it with various alterations till his death in 1802.
First Newspapers in New Hampshire. — A press having been estab
lished in Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, by Daniel Fowle, from
Boston, he, in Aug. 1756, began to publish " The New Hampshire
Gazette," the first paper in the province. The following is the imprint.
" Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, Printed by Daniel Fowle, where
this paper may be had at one Dollar per annum : or Equivalent in
Bills of Credit, computing a Dollar this year at Four Pounds Old
Tenor." — The second newspaper was " The Portsmouth Mercury and
Weekly Advertiser," and was first published Jan. 21st, 1765. Imprint,
" Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, Printed by Thomas Furber, at the
New Printing Office, near the Parade, where this paper may be had
for one Dollar, or Six Pounds, 0. T. per year ; one half to be paid at
Entrance." The third newspaper which appeared in New Hamp
shire, was issued in Exeter, in 1775, published by Robert Fowle ; it
was continued irregularly under various titles.
First Printing in New Jersey. — The first newspaper in this colony,
was " The New Jersey Gazette," first published, Dec. 3d, 1777, at
Burlington. It was printed weekly, on Wednesday, with a good long
primer type, and on a sheet of crown paper, folio. Imprint — Bur
lington : Printed by Isaac Collins. All Persons may be supplied
with this Gazette for Twenty Six Shillings per Annum. Advertise
ments of a moderate Length are inserted for Seven Shillings and
Six Pence the first Week, and Two Shillings and Sixpence for every
continuance ; and long Ones in Proportion." This paper was neatly
printed, and well conducted. Its publisher, although of the society
of friends, was a firm supporter of the rights of his country ; and he
carefully avoided publishing any thing which tended to injure the re
ligious, civil, or political interests of his fellow citizens. It was dis
continued in 1786.
After the American stamp act was passed by the British parliament, and near the time
it was to be put in operation, a political paper was privately printed at Burlington, which
attracted much notice. It was entitled " The Constitutional Gazette, containing Matters
interesting to Liberty — but no wise repugnant to Loyalty." Imprint— " Printed by An-
44*
522
FIRST PRINTING, &C.
drew Marvel, at the Sign of the Bribe refused, on Constitution-Hill, North America."
In the centre of the title was a device of a snake, cut into parts, to represent the colo
nies. Motto — "Join or Die." After the title, followed an address to the public from the
fictitious printer and publisher, Andrew Marvel. This paper was without date, but was
printed in September, 1765. It contained several well written and spirited essays against
the obnoxious stamp act, which were so highly colored, that the editors of newspapers in
Newyork, even Holt, declined to publish them.
A large edition was printed, secretly forwarded to Newyork, and there sold by hawkers
selected for the purpose. It had a rapid sale, and was, I believe, reprinted there, and at
Boston. It excited some commotion in Newyork, and was taken notice of by govern
ment. A council was called, and holden at the fort in that city, but as no discovery was
made of the author or printer, nothing was done. One of the council demanded of a
hawker named Samuel Sweeney, "where that incendiary paper was printed?" Sweeney,
as he had been instructed, answered, " At Peter Hassenclever's iron-works, please your
honor." Peter Hassenclever was a wealthy German, well known as the owner of exten
sive iron-works in Newjersey. Afterward, other publications of alike kind frequently
appeared with an imprint. — " Printed at Peter Hassenclever's iron-works." Only one
number of the Constitutional Gazette was published ; a continuance of it was never in
tended. It was printed by William Goddard, at Parker's printing house at Burlington" —
Goddard having previously obtained Parker's permission occasionally to use his press.
The above map of the country in the vicinity of Boston, is a close copy of part of a
map of New England, published in the New Memorial in 1667, and it is believed to have
been the first map ever engraved in this country
COINAGE, BILLS OF CREDIT, &C 523
COINAGE, BILLS OF CREDIT, &c.
[The following, relative to the first coinage in this country, and
the emission of bills of credit in New England, is extracted prin
cipally from Gov. Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts.]
About 1650, " the trade of the
,,.,,.. , .. .; 4 province increasing, especially
/£jflMS#w^fe?i wilh the West Indies where the
'rf^ JaS?$ were numerous, and part of the
bucaneers or pirates at this time
-*p« were numerous, and part of the
*^@ffi$^l^ir wea^tn which they took from the
^^Su^* Spaniards as well as what was
produced by the trade being brought to New England in bullion, it was
thought necessary for preventing fraud in money to erect a mint for
coining shillings, six-pences and three-pences, with no other im
pression at first than N E on the one side and XII. VI. or III, on
the other, but in October 1651, the court ordered that all pieces
of money should have a double ring with this inscription, Massa
chusetts, and a tree in the centre on one side, and New England
and the year of our Lord one the other side.
The first money being struck in 1652 the same date was continued
upon all that was struck for 30 years after, and although there are a
great variety of dies, it cannot now be determined in what years the
pieces were coined. No other colony ever presumed to coin any
metal into money. It must be considered that at this time there was
no King in Israel. No notice was taken of it by the parliament nor
by Cromwell, and having been thus indulged, there was a tacit allow
ance of it afterwards even by King Charles the 2d. for more than 20
years, and although it was made one of the charges against the colony
when the charter was called in question, yet no great stress was laid
upon it. It appeared to have been -so beneficial, that during Sir Ed
mund Andross's administration endeavors were used to obtain leave
for continuing it, and the objections against it seem not to have pro*
ceeded from its being an encroachment upon the prerogative, for the
motion was referred to the master of the mint and the report against
it was upon meer prudential considerations. It is certain that great
care was taken to preserve the purity of the coin. I don't find, not
withstanding, that it obtained a currency any where, otherwise than as
bullion, except in the New England colonies, A very large sum was
coined. The mint master John Hull raised a large fortune from it,
He was to coin the money, of the just allay of the then new sterling
English money, and for all charges which should attend melting, re
fining and coining he was to be allowed to take fifteen pence out of
every twenty shillings. The court were afterwards sensible that
this was too advantageous a contract, and Mr. Hull was offered a sum
of money by the court to release them from it but he refused to do it.
He left a large personal estate and one of the best real estates in the
country. Samuel Sewall who married his only daughter, received
524 COINAGE, BILLS OF CREDIT, &C.
with her as was commonly reported, thirty thousand pounds in New
England shillings. " He was the son of a poor woman but dutiful to
and tender of his mother, which Mr. Wilson his minister observing
pronounced that God would bless him, and altho' he was then poor
yet he should raise a great estate." (Magnalia.)
First emissson of Paper currency. — Upon the unfortunate expedi
tion against Quebec in 1690, the government of Massachusetts in par
ticular was utterly unprepared for the return of the forces. They
seem to have presumed, not only upon success, but upon the enemy's
treasure, to bear the charge of the expedition. The soldiers were
upon the point of mutiny for want of their wages. It was utterly
impracticable to raise, in a few days, such a sum of money as would
be necessary. An act was passed for levying the sum, but the men
could not stay until it should be brought into the treasury. The ex
treme difficulty, to which the government was thus reduced, was the
occasion of the first bills of credit ever issued in the colonies, as a
substitute in the place of money. The debt was paid by paper notes
from two shillings to ten pounds denomination, which notes were to
be received for payment of the tax which was to be levied, and all
other payments in the treasury. This was a new experiment. They
had better credit than King James's leather money in Ireland, about
the same time. But the notes would not command money, nor any
commodities at money price. Sir William Phips, it is said, exchang
ed a large sum, at par, in order to give them credit. The soldiers in
general were great sufferers, and could get no more than twelve or
fourteen shillings in the pound. As the time of payment of the tax
approached, the credit of the notes was raised, and the government
allowing five per cent, to those who paid their taxes in notes, they
became better than money. This was gain to the possessor, but it
did not restore to the poor soldier what he had lost by the discount.*
* The government, encouraged by the restoration "of credit to their bills, afterwards
issued others for charges of government. They obtained good credit at the time of
their being issued. The charges of government were paid in this manner from year to
year. Whilst the sum was small, silver continued the measure, and bills continued
their value. When the charges of government increased after the second expedi
tion to Canada in 1711, the bills likewise increased, in the same or greater propor
tion the silver and gold were sent out of the country. There being a cry of scarcity
of money in 1714, the government caused 50,00(M. to be issued, and in 1716,
100,0007. to be paid in at a certain period, and in the mean time to pass as money.
Lands were mortgaged for security. As soon as the silver and gold were gone and
the bills were the sole instrument of commerce, pounds shillings and pence were
altogether ideal, for no possible reason could be assigned why a bill of twenty .shil
lings should bear a certain proportion to any one quantity of silver more than another :
Sums in bills were drawing into the treasury from time to time by taxes or payment
of the loans, but then other sums were continually issuing out, and all the bills were
paid, and received without any distinction either in public or private payments, so
that, for near forty years together, the currency was much in the same state as if a
hundred thousand pounds sterling had been stamped in pieces of leather or paper of
various denominations and declared to be the money of the' government without any
other sanction than this, that, when there should be taxes to pay, the treasury would
receive this sort of money, and that every creditor should be obliged to receive it
from his debtor.
COINAGE, BILLS OF CREDIT, &C. 525
Depreciation of the Paper Currency.— In 1733 there was a general
complaint throughout the four governments of New England of the
unusual scarcity of money. There was as large a sum current in bills
of credit as ever, but the bills having depreciated they answered the
purposes of money so much less in proportion. The Massachusets
and New Hampshire were clogged with royal instructions. It was
owing to them that those governments had not issued bills to as great
an amount as Rhode Island. Connecticut, although under no re
straint, yet, consisting of more husbandmen and fewer traders than
the rest, did not so much feel the want of money. The Massachu
sets people were dissatisfied that Rhode Island should send their bills
among them and take away their substance and employ it in trade,
and many people wished to see the bills of each government current
within the limits of such government only. In the midst of this dis
content, Rhode Island passed an act for issuing 100,0002. upon loan,
for, I think, 20 years to their own inhabitants, who would immediately
have it in their power to add 100,0002. to their trading stock from the
horses, sheep, lumber, fish, &c. of the Massachusets inhabitants.
The merchants of Boston therefore cofederated and mutually promised
and engaged not to receive any bills of this new emission, but, to provide
a currency, a large number formed themselves into a company, entered
into covenants, chose directors, &c. and issued 110,000Z. redeemable
in 10 years, in silver at 19s. per oz. the then current rate, or gold in
proportion, a tenth part annually. About the same time the Massa
chusets treasury, which had been long shut was opened, and the
debts of two or three years were all paid at one time in bills of credit ;
to this was added the ordinary emissions of bills from New Hampshire
and Connecticut, and some of the Boston merchants, tempted by an
opportunity of selling their English goods, having broke through their
engagements and received the Rhode Island bills, all the rest soon
followed the example. All these emissions made a flood of money,
silver rose from 1 9s. to 27s. the oz. and exchange with all other
countries consequently rose also, and every creditor was defrauded of
about one third of his just dues. As soon as silver rose to 27s. the
notes issued by the merchants payable at 19*, were hoarded up and
no longer answered the purposes of money. Although the currency
was lessened by taking away the notes, yet what remained never in
creased in value, silver continuing several years about the same rate,
until it took another large jump. Thus very great injustice was caused
by this wretched paper currency and no relief of any sort obtained ; for,
by this sinking in value, though the nominal sum was higher than
it had ever been before, yet the currency would produce no more
sterling money than it would have done before the late emissions
were made.
In 1702, six shillings and eight pence was equal to an ounce of
silver. In 1749, the period when bills of credit were abolished in
Massachusetts, there being more than seven millions of dollars in
paper in circulation, fifty shillings was judged only^equal to an ounce
of silver. " The honorable efforts of Massachusetts in the conquest
526 COINAGE, BILLS OF CREDIT, &C
of Lewisburg, had induced the parliament of Great Britain, to grant
one hundred and eighty thousand pounds sterling, to indemnify that
colony for her expenses. While the bill for this grant was depend
ing, the legislature of Massachusetts passed an act that, with the
specie which was expected from England, the bills of credit should
be purchased, at the rate of fifty shillings in paper for an ounce of
silver, or nearly seven and a half for one. This act was fortunately
carried into effect, though much against popular clamor, and thus was
redeemed the largest part of the paper currency. The remainder
was directed to be paid into the treasury upon taxes, and an end was
put to a multitude of frauds, and numberless public evils, arising from
the circulation of a depreciated currency."
Currency in New York. — Judge Smith, in his history of New York,
published in 1757, says, " The money used in this province is. silver,
gold, British halfpence, and bills of credit. To counterfeit either of
them is felony without benefit of clergy ; but none, except the latter,
and Lyon dollars, are a legal tender. Twelve halfpence, till lately,
passed for a shilling; which being much beyond their value in
any of the neighboring colonies, the assembly, in 1753, resolved to
proceed, at their next meeting, after the first of May ensuing, to
the Consideration of a method for ascertaining their value. A set
of gentlemen, in number seventy-two, took the advantage of the dis
credit that resolve put upon copper halfpence, and on the 22d Decem
ber, subscribed a paper, engaging not to receive or pass them, except
at the rate of fourteen coppers to a shilling. This gave rise to a mob
for a few days, among the lower class of people ; but some of them
being imprisoned, the scheme was carried into execution, and estab
lished in every part of the province, without the aid of law. Our
paper bills, which are issued to serve the exigencies of the govern
ment, were at first equal to an ounce of silver, then valued at eight
shillings. Before the late Spanish war, silver and gold were in great
demand, to make remittances for European goods, and then the bills
sunk, an ounce of silver being worth nine shillings and three pence.
During the war, the credit of our bills was well supported, partly by
the number of prizes taken by our privateers, and the high price of
our produce abroad ; and partly by the logwood trade and the depre
ciation of the New England paper money, which gave ours a free cir
culation through the eastern colonies. Since the war, silver has
been valued at about nine shillings and two pence an ounce, and is
doubtless fixed there, till our imports exceed what we export. To
assist his majesty for removing the late encroachments of the French,
we have issued 80,000/. to be sunk in short periods, by a tax on es
tates real and personal ; and the whole amount of our paper currency
is thought to be about 160,0002."
COINS. ANCIENT HOUSES.
527
Copper Coin of New Jersey.
ANCIENT HOUSES.
First Church in Connecticut. Mr. Hooker's House.
The building seen on the left is believed to be a correct representation of the first
house ever erected in Connecticut for Christian worship. It was built at Hartford
528
ANCIENT houses.
in 1638. The house on the right is the dwelling of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, tho
first minister of Hartford, Conn. There is a projection in front, called the porch,
the upper part of which was used as his study.
Hingham Church. House in Medfield.
" The house in Medfield is one of the oldest houses now standing in New England.
This house was standing when Philip with his Indians burnt the greater part of the
town in 1676. It is probably the only house of the kind now standing in this coun
try ; it is 24 feet in length, 14^ in breadth, 10 feet from the ground to the eaves of
the roof, and about 12 from the eaves to the top of the roof. There are three divis
ions on. the ground floor, consisting of one principal room, an entry, and a pantry ;
on the second floor are two chambers, above which is a narrow garret. It is an in
teresting relic of antiquity, showing the manner in which most of the houses of the
first settlers were built. The church at Hingham, Mass., represented above, is the
oldest house of worship now standing in New England, it being erected in 1680;
length 55, breadth 45 feet.
Johnson HalL
The above is a representation of Johnson Hall, now standing in Johnstown, N. T. ;
it was erected by Sir William Johnson, previous to the American Revolution.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONS IN
NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, AND NEW JERSEY.
Adams, Hannah, a distinguished female writer, was born at Med
field, Massachusetts. Her first work that brought her into notice was
her " View of Religion," printed in 1784. She also wrote the " His
tory of New England," a History of the Jews, and a number of other
valuable works. She died at Brookline, near Boston, December 15th,
1831, aged seventy-six.
Adams, John, a patriot of the revolution, a descendant of one of the
first settlers of Massachusetts, was born in 1735, at Quincy, then a
part of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts. He was educated at
Harvard college, and took his first degree in 1755. While pursuing
the study of law, he had charge of the grammar school at Worcester,
and during his residence there, attracted the notice and favor of Mr.
Gridley, the attorney general of the province. He began the practice
of law in his native town, and in 1763 married Miss Smith, the
daughter of a country clergyman, with whom he lived in wedlock
more than half a century. In 1765 Mr. Adams published a " Disser
tation on the Canon and Feudal Law," in which he explained the
puritan principles of religion and government, and brought them to bear
upon the disputes of Great Britain and her colonies ; the next year
he removed to Boston. In 1768 his professional standing was so high,
that Governor Bernard offered him the post of advocate general of
the court of admiralty. Mr. Adams, however, declined this lucrative
office under the crown, on account of his attachment to the liberties
and rights of the people. In 1773 he was chosen a member of the
Provincial Council, but was rejected by Governor Hutchinson, and
afterwards by Gen. Gage.
In 1775, John Adams, as a delegate in Congress, nominated George Washington
to the office of commander in chief of the American army. He was one of the com
mittee who drafted the Declaration of Independence. In 1777 he was appointed
commissioner to France, in the room of Silas Deane. Returning home in 1779, he
was again sent out in the autumn of the year, to conclude a treaty of peace and com
merce. In 1785 he was appointed as the first American minister to the court of
Great Britain. After his' return, he assisted in forming the constitution of his native
state. During the Presidency of Washington, he was Vice President, and when the
former retired from office, Mr. Adams, after a hard contest with his competitor, Mr.
Jefferson, became President. Though bitterly assailed by many politicians, yet
during the latter part of his life, the world acknowledged him as an honest man and
patriot. On the 4th of July, 1826, on the same day with his compatriot, Jeffer
son, at the first American jubilee, John Adams died ; the last words which he was
heard to utter, were, " Independence forever."
Adams, John Quincy, the son of the preceding, was born at Quincy,
45
530 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mass., in July, 1767. He has long been engaged in public life, and
has been sent an ambassador of the United States to several Euro
pean courts. He was one of the commissioners who signed the
treaty at Ghent in 1815; he was secretary of state under President
Monroe, and discharged the duties of that station with reputation and
distinguished ability for eight years. Mr. Adams was elected Presi
dent of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1825, and continued
in this office four years. Since this period, he has been a member of
congress in the House of Representatives.
Adams, Samuel, governor of Massachusetts, a signer of the Decla
ration of Independence, and a most distinguished patriot of the revo
lution, was born in Boston, Sept. 27, 1722. He was graduated at
Harvard college in 1740. In 1774 he was elected a member of the
general congress, and in this station he remained a number of years,
where he rendered the most important services to his country. He
was elected governor of Massachusetts in. 1794. He is distinguished
as an incorruptible patriot, of stern integrity, and of dignified manners.
He died Oct. 2d, 1803, in the 82d year of his age.
Alexander, William, " commonly called Lord Stirling, a major
general in the American army, was a native of the city of New York,
but spent a considerable part of his life in New Jersey. He was con
sidered by many as the rightful heir to the title and estate of an earl
dom in Scotland, of which country his father was a native ; and al
though, when he went to North Britain in pursuit of this inheritance,
he failed of obtaining an acknowledgment of his claim by government ;
yet among his friends and acquaintances he received by courtesy the
title of lord Stirling. He discovered an early fondness for the study
of mathematics and astronomy, and attained great eminence in these
sciences. In the battle on Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776, he was taken
prisoner, after having secured to a large part of the detachment an op
portunity to escape by a bold attack with four hundred men upon a
corps under lord Cornwallis.
He died at Albany, Jan. 15, 1783, aged 57 years. He was a brave,
discerning, and intrepid officer." — Allen's Biog. Diet. Allen Ethan, a
/C&777 f (^//"U/r brigadier general in
c^O//2Jj7 the Revolutionary
; <jrfcr/y??s war' was born at
n. *s/<^yris Litchfield) Ct Jan
10th, 1737. Hav-
F.than Allen' > facsimile signature. \r\rr emigrated tO
Vermont near the period of the disturbances in this territory about the
year 1770, he took a most active part in favor of the green mountain
boys, as the settlers were then called, in opposition to the govern
ment of New York.
He captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; was taken prisoner
in an attempt on Montreal and sent in irons to England, and after
having experienced much cruelty was exchanged. He died in Ver-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 531
inontin 1789. In his religious opinions he maintained many absurd
notions, and in his writings ridiculed the scriptures.
Ames, Fisher, LL. D. a distinguished statesman, and an eloquent
orator, was born at Dedham, Mass. in which town his father was a
respectable physician. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1774,
and after a few years, commenced the study of the law in Boston.
Rising into life about the period of the American revolution and taking
u most affectionate interest in the concerns of his country, he felt him
self strongly attached to politics.
When the general government of the United States commenced its
operations in 1789, he appeared in the national legislature as the first
representative of his district, and for eight successive years he took a
distinguished part in the national councils. He died July 4, 1808.
Ashmun, Jehudi, the first colonial agent at Liberia, Africa, was
born at Champlain, N. Y. April 21st, 1794. He landed in Africa Aug.
8, 1822. This philanthropist was eminently qualified for the station
appointed him. Upon his arrival in the colony he found it in a feeble
and defeFiceless state, and only twenty-eight effective men could be
mustered when the colony was attacked by more than eight hundred
armed savages. By his uncommon energy and prowess, he saved the
colony from destruction, and laid the foundation of a large and well
organized community of freemen. " Like the patriarchs of old he was
their captain, their lawgiver, judge, priest and governor." By his
hardships and exposure to the climate his health failed him, and he
returned to the United States, and soon after his arrival, died, at the
age of 34, in New-Haven, August 26th, 1828, deeply lamented by his
christian brethren.
Backus, Isaac, a distinguished Baptist minister of Massachusetts,
was born at Norwich, Con. Jan. 20th, 1724. In 1748, he was or
dained minister of a Congregational church in Titicut precinct in Mid-
dleborough, Mass. In 1749 a number of the members of Mr. Backus'
church altered their sentiments with regard to baptism, and obtained an
exemption from the congregational tax ; and he at length united with
them in opinion. He was baptized by immersion in Aug. 1751. For
some years afterwards he held communion with those who were bap
tized in infancy, but perceiving that this implied an acknowledgment,
that baptism by sprinkling was valid, which he could not admit, he
withdrew from this intercourse with christians of other denominations.
A baptist church was formed January 16, 1756, and he was installed
its pastor June 23 of the same year by ministers from Boston and Re-
hoboth. In this relation he continued through the remainder of his
life. He died November 20, 1 806, in the 60th year of his ministry
and the 83d year of his age.
Bass, Edward, D. D., first bishop of Massachusetts, was born at Dor
chester, Nov. 23, 1726, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1744.
For several years afterwards he was the teacher of a school. From
1747 to 1751 he resided at Cambridge, pursuing his theological
studies, and occasionally preaching. In 1752, at the request of the
episcopal society in Newburyport he went to England for orders, and
hire put themselves under his jt
532 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
was ordained May 24, by bishop Sherlock. In 1796 he was unani
mously elected by the convention of the protestant episcopal churches
of Massachusetts to the office of bishop, and was consecrated May
7, 1797 by the bishops of Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland.
Sometime after, the episcopal churches in Rhode Island elected him
their bishop, and in 1803 a convention of the churches in New Hamp
shire put themselves under his jurisdiction. He died Sept. 10, 1803.
Barlow, Joel, LL. D. minister of
the United States to France, was
born at Reading, Con. in 1758. He
^11* °r " . commenced his collegial course at
" S? Dartmouth, but soon removed to
^ Yale college, and was graduated at
Joel Barlow, fac simile of signature. ^ institution in 1778. He Served.
a short time in the army of the revolution as a volunteer, and after
wards as chaplain of a regiment.
After the war he went to France, and resided for a time at Paris.
When in England, in 1791, he published his " Advice to the
Privileged Orders," and in 1792 " The Conspiracy of Kings."
While at Paris he wrote his celebrated " Hasty Pudding." He re
turned to the United States in 1805, and in 1808 published his " Co-
lumbiad," a poem, and his principal work. In February, 1811, ho
was appointed minister to France. In the autumn of the next year,
he was invited, by the emperor, to a conference at Wilna, in Poland,
and on his way thither, died at Zarnowica, a village near Cracow,
Dec. 22d, 1812, aged 54.
Bartlett, Josiah, governor of New Hampshire, was a native of
Amesbury, Mass. and was born in November, 1729. He had not the
advantages of a collegial education, but rose to distinction and useful
ness by the superiority of his endowments, and uncommon application.
He studied medicind, and established himself in its practice in early
life at Kingston, New Hampshire. He for a long time held a seat in
the legislature, and was elected a delegate in 1774, and again in 1776,
to the continental congress, and signed the declaration of Indepen
dence. He died in 1795."
Belknap, Jeremy, a divine, and author, was bom in Boston, June 4th, 1744. He gradua
ted at Harvard College in 1762; was settled in the Christian ministry at Dover, New-
Hampshire, in 1767, and remained pastor of the church there till 1786, when the connex
ion was dissolved at his own request. After this period he was invited to settle in his
native town, and in 1787, was installed pastor of the church in Federal-street, Boston,
and consequently became one of the overseers of the university at Cambridge, in which
he tookan active interest ; the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him by that
university in 1792. He was the proposer, and one of the founders of the Massachusetts
Historical Society '- ¦ ' ¦ ''"' ! 1- ¦ ' '¦ ' > ... . .
miton.
istorical Society, incorporated m 1794, and devoted much of his time to their object of
ultiplying and diffusing copies of historical documents. He died of apoplexy, at Bos-
>n, m 1798. He published the History of New-Hampshire, 3 volumes.
Bellamont, Richard, earl of, governor of New York Massachusetts, and New Hamp
shire, was appointed to these offices early in May. 1695, but did not arrive al New York
until May, 1698. He had to struggle with many difficulties, for the people were divided,
the treasury was unsupplied, and the fortifications were out of repair. Notwithstanding
the care of government, the pirates, who in time of peace made great depredations upon
Spanish ships and settlements in America, were frequently in the sound, and were sup
plied, with provisions by the inhabitants of Long Island. The belief, that large quanti
ties of money were hid by these pirates along the coast, led to many a fruitless search ;
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 533
and thus the natural credulity of the human mind and the desire of sudden wealth were
suitably punished.
The earl of Bellamont remained in the province of New York about a year. He arri
ved at Boston May 26, 1009, and in Massachusetts he was received with the greatest re
spect, as it was a new thing to see a nobleman at the head of the government. He in re
turn took every method to ingratiate himself with i he people. He was condescending.
affable, and courteous upon all occasions. Though a churchman he attended the weekly
lecture in Boston with the general court, who a)ways adjourned for the purpose. For the
preachers lie professed the greatest regard. By his u ise conduct he obtained a larger
surn as a salary and as a gratuity, than any of his predecessors or successors. Though
he remained but fourteen months, the grants made him were one thousand eight hundred
and seventy five pounds sterling. His time was much taken up in securing the pirates
and their eil'ects, to accomplish which was a principal reason of his appointment. During
his administration captain Kidd was seized, and sent to England for trial. Soon after
the session of the general court in May, 1700, he returned to New York, where he died
March 5, 1701.
Bellamy, Joseph, D. D. wa.s bom in Cheshire, Con. He graduated at Yale College in
1735, being then sixteen years old. When he was eighteen years old, he became a
preacher. He was ordained in Bethlrhem in 1740. He died in 1790, in the 72d year of
his age, and 50th of his ministry. "He possessed a vigorous mind, and was well versed
in theology. His style was plain and ins manner impressive. He held a high rank
among his cotemporaries as a preacher. During the great religious revival with which
the churches were visited in 1742, he devoted much of his time to itinerant labor, and was
the instrument of much good in many congregations. He was also distinguished as a the
ological instructor, both by a happy method of teaching, and by the great number of .young
men who studied for the ministry under his care. The most important of his publica
tions is his ' True Religion Delineated.' His works have been republished in three oc
tavo volumes."
Bellingham, Richard, governor of Massachusetts, was a native of England, where he
was bred a lawyer, lie came to this country in 1U34, and in the following year was cho
sen deputy governor. In 1U41 he was elected governor in opposition to Mr. Winthrop by
a majority of six votes ; but the election did not seem to be agreeable to the general court.
He was rechosen to this office in 1C54, and after the death of governor Endicott was
again elected in May, IGG5. He continued chief magistrate of Massachusetts during the
remainder of his life. He died Dec. 7, 1(172, aged eighty years.
Governor Bellingham lived to be the only surviving patentee named in the charter. He
was severe against those who were called sectaries ; but he was a man of incorruptible
integrity, and it is mentioned as rather a remarkable circumstance, that he never took a
bribe. In the ecclesiastical controversy, which was occasioned in Boston by the settle
ment of the reverend Mr. Davenport, he w as an advocate of the first church. Though a
lawyer, his will was drawn up in such a manner, that the general court were obliged to
make a disposition of his property themselves.
Berkeley, George, bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, and a distinguished benefactor of Yale
College, was born March 12, 1681 at Kilcrin in the county of Kilkenny, and was educa
ted at Trinity college, Dublin. After publishing a number of his works, which gained
him a high reputation, he travelled four or five years upon the continent. He returned in
172] , and a fortune was soon bequeathed him by a lady of Dublin, the " Vanessa" of
Swift. In 1724 ho was promoted to the deanery of Deny, worth eleven hundred pounds
' per annum.
Having for some time conceived the benevolent project of converting the savages of
America to Christianity by means of a college to be erected in one of ihe isles of Ber
muda, he published a proposal for this purpose at London in 1725, and offered to resign
his own opulent preferment, and to dedicate the remainder of his life to the instruction of
youth in America, on the subsistence of a hundred pounds a year. He obtained a grant
of 10,0001. from the government of Groat Britain, and immediately set sail for the field of
his labors. He arrived at Newport, Khode Island, in February, 1729, with a view of set
tling a correspondence there for supplying his college with such provisions, as might be
wanted from the northern colonies. Here he purchased a country seat and farm in the
neighborhood of Newport, and resided about two years and a half. His residence in this
country had some influence on the progress of literature, particularly in Rhode Island and
Connecticut. The presence and conversation of a man so illustrious for talents learn
ing, virtue, and social attractions could not fail of giving a spring to the literary diligence
and ambition of many, who enjoyed his acquaintance.
Finding at length, that the promised aid of the ministry towards his new college would
fail him, dean Berkeley returned to England. At liis departure he distributed the books,
which he had brought with him, among the clergy of Rhode Island. He embarked at
Boston, in September, 1731. In the following year he published his Minute Philosopher,
a work of great ingenuity and merit, which he wrote -while at Newport. It was not long
45*
534 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
before he sent as a gift to Yale college, a deed of the farm which he held in Rhode Island j
the rents of which he directed to be appropriated to the maintenance of the three best clas
sical scholars, who should reside at college at least nine months in a year in each of the
three years between their first and second degrees. All surplusages of money, arising from
accidental vacancies, were to be distributed in Greek and Latin books to such under
graduates, as should make the best composition in the Latin tongue upon such a moral
theme as should be given them. He also made a present to the library of Yale College
of near one thousand volumes. When it is considered, that he was warmly attached
to the Episcopal church, and that he came to America for the express purpose of found
ing an episcopal college, his munificence to an institution, under the exclusive direction
of a different denomination, must be thought worthy of high praise. It was in the year
1733, that he was made bishop of Cloyne, and from this period he discharged with exem
plary faithfulness the episcopal duties and prosecuted his studies with unabating dili
gence. On the 14th of January, 1753, he was suddenly seized by a disorder, called the
palsy of the heart, and instantly expired, being near sixty nine years of age.
Bernard, Francis, governor of New Jersey, in 1758 and 1759, and afterwards of Mas
sachusetts, entered on his administration in the latter province in 1760. His measures
were at first popular, but he soon rendered himself extremely odious, by his zeal to sus
tain the British ministry in their encroachments on the rights of the people. He ap
pointed Mr. Hutchinson instead of Mr. Otis to the office of chief justice in opposition to
the wishes of the people ; favoured the introduction of troops into Boston for the purpose
of constraining obedience to the arbitrary acts of parliament; and endeavoured to obtain
an alteration of the charter so as to transfer the rignt of electing the council from the peo
ple to the crown. Arbitrary in his principles, severe in his manners, and zealous to ad
vance the interests of the king, he was peculiarly unfit for the station he occupied, and
seems by his severity and rashness to have accelerated the rupture between the colonies
and the parent country. He was, however, rewarded for his devotedness to the king by
being knighted, and in 1769, returned to England, where he died in 1779.
Bogardus, Everardus, the first minister of the reformed Dutch church in New York,
came early to this country, though the exact time of his arrival is not known. The rec
ords of this church begin with the year 1639. He was ordained and sent forth, it is be.
lieved, by the classis of Amsterdam, which had for a number of years the superintendence
of the Dutch church in New Netherlands, or the province of New York. The tradition
is, that Mr. Bogardus became blind and returned to Holland some time before the surren
der of the colony to the British in 1664. He was succeeded by John and Samuel Mega-
polensis. Boudinot, Elias, LL. D., an eminent lawyer of New Jersey, was
born at Philadelphia, May 2d, 1740. He was a descendant of one of
the French protestants, who at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
fled from persecution in that country to America. He engaged in
the study of law under the Hon. Richard Stockton, of Princeton, New
Jersey, a member of the first American Congress. In a short time
after his admission to the New Jersey Bar, he rose to the highest
rank in his profession. In 1 777, he was chosen a member of Con
gress ; and in 1782 was elected President of that body. Afterwards,
he was appointed by Washington, Director of the National Mint,
which office he held twelve or fourteen years. He was at an early
period a sincere and devoted friend of religion, the patron of various
benevolent societies, and was the first President of the " American
Bible Society." He died at Burlington, Oct. 1821.
Bowdoin, James, LL. D., governor of Massachusetts, was born at
Boston, in 1727, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1745. He
possessed superior talents, and was distinguished at the university for
his attainments. He inherited large possessions from his father, and
at an early period attracted the public regard, and received an appoint
ment to several honourable stations. In 1775 he was elected Presi
dent of the Council of Massachusetts, and continued in that office a
large portion of the time, till the adoption of the state constitution, in
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 535
1780. He presided in the convention which formed that instrument,
and contributed several of its most important articles. He was dis
tinguished as a scholar as well as a politician, was a liberal bene
factor of Harvard college, had a principal agency in forming the Amer
ican academy of arts and sciences at Boston, in 1780, was appointed
its first president, and left it valuable bequests. His literary charac
ter was known in Europe, and acknowledged by a diploma of LL. D.
from several universities, and an election as member of the Royal So
cieties of London and Dublin. His publications on philosophical
subjects were numerous and highly respectable. He was a man of
piety, well versed in theology, and highly amiable and exemplary in
his life. He died in 1790. — Lord's Lempriere.
Bowdich, Nathaniel, lAa. D. one of the most celebrated mathemati
cians of the age, was born at Salem, Mass. March 26th, 1 773. His
ancestors, for three generations, had been ship masters, and his father,
on retiring from that business, " carried on the trade of a cooper, by
which he gained a scanty and precarious subsistence for a family of
seven children." Dr. Bo#dich was obliged at the early age of ten
years to forego the advantages of a school, that he might go into his
father's shop and help support the family. He was afterwards ap
prenticed to a ship chandler. While in this station, he manifested
that genius for mathematical pursuits for which he afterwards was so
distinguished. He died in Boston in 1838.
Boylston, Zabdiel, F. R. S. an eminent physician of Boston, Mass.
was born at Brookline in that state in 1680. He became particularly
distinguished in 1720, by first introducing the inoculation of the Small
pox into the British dominions. He made an experiment first in his
own family, and meeting with success, soon extended it to several
hundreds, and completely demonstrated the safety and usefulness of
the practice. The innovation was regarded by his fellow-physicians
and citizens as rash and murderous, and drew on him their violent
hatred and persecution. After a long life distinguished by profes
sional skill, usefulness and humanity, he died at his seat in Brookline,
March 1st, 1766, in the 87th year of his age.
Bradford, William, second governor of Plymouth Colony, was born in Ansterfield, a vil
lage in the north of England, in 1588. He was educated in the practice of agriculture.
In 1607, at the age of eighteen, he was one of the company of dissenters, who made an
attempt to go over to Holland where a commercial spirit had established a free toleration
of religious opinions ; but the master of the vessel betrayed them, and they were thrown
into prison at Boston, in Lincolnshire. He however effected his escape from England,
and joined his brethren at Amsterdam. After a residence of about ten years m Holland
he removed to America. He was one of the foremost in the several hazardous attempts
to find a proper place for the seat of the Colony. On the death of governor Carver at
Plymouth, in April 1621, Mr. Bradford was elected governor in his place.
Governor Bradford wrote a his
tory of Plymouth people and colony,
beginning with the first formation of
the church in 1602 and ending with
?/-MrVT *J&,Jst-flJ-ni>di- 1646. It was contained m a folio
li^/lL. XLLV^UYW. volume of 270 pages. Morton's me-
0~ U morial is an abridgment of it.
Foe simile of Goo. Bradford's writing. Prince and Hutchinson had the use
of it, and the manuscript was deposited with Mr. Prince's valuable collection of papers
in the library of the olcl south church in Boston. In the year 1775 it shared the fate of
536 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
many other manuscripts in this place. It was destroyed or carried away by the barbari
ans of the British army, who converted the old south church into a riding school. He
had also a large book, of copies of letters, relative to the affairs of the colony, which is
lost. A fragment of it however, found in a grocer's shop at Halifax, has been published
by the Massachusetts historical sociely, to which is subjoined a descriptive and historical
account of New England in verse. If this production is somewhat deficient in the beau
ties of poetry, it has the more substantia] graces of piety and truth. He died May 9, 1C57.
Brainerd, David, the pious and devoted christian missionary to the
Indians, was born at Haddam Con. April 20th 1718. He lost both
his parents while but a youth ; his mind was early impressed by the
truths of religion, and engaged with uncommon ardor in the duties of
religion.
<*AW- LnJ^d*^ ^L!;J;ryVaty,e3
__, /J . "*^\ English divine. • exhibits a
gtyuZjr J^OA^CZ^ lief which "houlf disUnguth
FffC simile of David Brainerd's writing. the instructor of rude and
barbarous tribes ; the most invincible patience and self denial, the profoundest hu
mility, exquisite prudence, indefatigable industry, and such a devotedness to God, or
rather such an absorption of the whole soul in zeal for the divine glory, and the sal
vation of men, as is scarcely paralleled since the age of the Apostles His con
stitutional melancholy, though it must be regarded as a physical imperfection, im
parts an additional interest and pathos to the narrative, since we more easily sympa
thize with the emotion of sorrow than of joy. There is a monotony in his feelings,
it must be acknowledged, and consequently a frequent repetition of the same ideas,
which will disgust a fastidious or superficial reader, but it is the monotony of sub
limity.' The ancestor of the Brainerds, came to this country when a lad, and lived in the
W'yllis family of Hartford. He afterwards removed to Haddam, and was one of tho
first Settlers of the town. David, the missionary, was the third son of Hczekiah
Brainerd, a man of piety and respectability, who for many years represented his na
tive town in the General Assembly. The Rev. David Brainerd commenced his la
bors among the Indians in 1743, at a place called Kaunaumeek. southeast from Al
bany, near Kinderhook ; from this place he went to the Forks of the Delaware, near
the line between New York and Pennsylvania. His greatest success was among the
Indians at Crosweeksunk, near Freehold in New Jersey. Overcome by wearisome
journeyings, and arduous labors, in the work of tho ministry, he travelled into New
England for tho benefit of his health. He died at the house of the Rev. Jonathan
Edwards, at Northampton, Mass. Oct. 10. 1747, in the thirtieth year of his age.
Brant, Colonel, a famous Indian chief, was educated under the care
of the reverend Dr. Wheelock, first president of Dartmouth college.
In the war of the American revolution he attached himself to the
British cause. In 1778 he, with colonel John Butler, headed a party
of one thousand one hundred men, nine hundred of whom were In
dians, and broke up the settlements on the Susquehannah. Wyo
ming, on the eastern branch of that river, was destroyed with cir
cumstances of treachery and cruelty. Near two hundred of the
whites were killed in one engagement. In July 1779 he attacked
the Minisink settlement in New York, and did much mischief. After
the war he resided in upper Canada. He was a chief of the Mo
hawk tribe. It is said, that he was once under the necessity of
killing one of his sons in order to preserve his own life. He died
in upper Canada in the year 1807.
He translated into the Mohawk language the gospel of St. Mark
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 537
and the liturgy of the English church. This translation was pub
lished for the benefit of the Indians.
Brooks, Eleazer, a brigadier general in the Revolutionary war, was born in Concord,
Massachusetts, in 1726. Without the advantages of education he acquired a valu
able fund of knowledge. It was his practice in early life to read the most approved
books, and then to converse with the most intelligent men respecting them. In 1774
he was chosen a representative to the general court, and continued twenty seven
years in public life, being successively a representative, a member of the senate,
and of the council. He took a decided part in the American revolution. At the
head of a regiment he was engaged in the battle at White Plains in 1776, and in
the second action near Stillwater, October 7th 1777, and distinguished himself by his
cool, determined bravery. From the year 1801 he secluded himself in the tranquil
scenes of domestic life. He died at Lincoln, Massachusetts, November 9, 1806,
aged eighty years.
Brooks, John, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Medford ; the following,
descriptive of his character, is on his monnment at that place. J" Sacred to the me
mory of John Brooks, who was born at Medford in the month of May 1752, and edu
cated at the Town School. He took up arms for his country on the 19th of April
1775. He commanded the regiment which first entered the enemy's lines at Sara
toga, and served with honor, to the close of the war. He was appointed marshal of
the District of Massachusetts, by President Washington, and after filling several
important civil and military offices, he was in the year 1816, chosen governor of the
Commonwealth, and discharged the duties of that station for seven successive
years. He died March 1st, 1825."
Bulkley, Peter, first minister of Concord, Mass. was born in Wood-
hill, England, Jan. 1583. He was educated at St. John's, Cambridge,
and was fellow of the college. He had a large estate left him by his fa
ther, whom he succeeded in the ministry at Woodhill. Having been si
lenced for non conformity, he came to New England in 1635, and after
residing a number of years at Cambridge, he began the settlement of
Concord with a number of planters, forming the twelfth church which
was established in the colony. He died at that place in 1659, leav
ing a numerous posterity. Mr. Bulkley was remarkable for his be
nevolence, piety, and learning. He published a work which was
much esteemed, entitled ' The Gospel Covenant, or the Covenant
of Grace opened ;' he also wrote Latin poetry, some specimens of
which may be seen in Mather's Magnalia.
Burgoyne, John, a British Lieutenant General in America, was the
natural son of Lord Bingley. In 1762 he had the command of a
body of troops sent to Portugal for the defence of that kingdom
against the Spaniards. After his return to England he became privy
counsellor, and was chosen a member of parliament. In 1777 he
was entrusted with the command of the northerrvarmy which invaded
the United States from Canada, and was surrendered to General
Gates. He was the author of four dramatic pieces, of which the
Maid of the Oak, a comic opera — Benton, an entertainment — and
the Heiress, a comedy, written in sprightly and elegant dialogue, were
received with great applause on the public theatres. He wrote also
several other pieces. He died of the gout in 1792, and was pri
vately buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
Burnet, William, governor of New York, New Jersey, Massachu
setts and New Hampshire, was the son of Gilbert Burnet, bishop of
538 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Salisbury, and born at the Hague, in 1688 ; after having held the of
fice of comptroller of the customs in England, he was in 1720, ap
pointed governor of New York and New Jersey, and entered on the
duties of the office in September of that year. He introduced a ju
dicious system of measures for the purpose of guarding the province
against the encroachments of the French, but it excited the clamour
of the merchants, and rendered him so unpopular that in 1729, ho
was superseded. He was then appointed to the government of Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire. His administration there was ren
dered unpleasant by a controversy with the assembly respecting his
salary. He died at Boston, September 7th, 1729. He was a man
of superior talents and learning, and published several philosophical
and theological works of reputation." — Lord's Lempriere.
Burr, Aaron, president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey,
was born at Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1714, and graduated at Yale
college, in 1735. In 1742, he was invested with the pastoral charge
of the Presbyterian church at Newark, New Jersey, where he be
came so conspicuous by his talents and learning, that in 1748, he was
elected the successor of Mr. Dickinson to the presidency of the col
lege then at Elizabethtown, and afterwards removed to Newark, and
thence to Princeton. He discharged the duties of that station with
great dignity, popularity, and usefulness till his death, in September
1757. He was unrivalled by his cotemporaries in force and ele»
gance of mind, in learning, eloquence, and excellence as a preacher,
in piety, public spirit, and popularity, in the knowledge of human na
ture, in polish of manners, and facility of communicating knowledge.
His wife was the daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards of North
hampton, and possessed superior endowments, knowledge, and piety."
-Lord's Lempriere.
" Burr, Aaron, colonel, son of the preceding,
FactlmiU. was born Feb. 6th, 1756, at Newark, New Jer
sey. Both his parents died before he reached the third year of his
age, and was left in the possession of a handsome estate. While
under the care of Dr. Shippen of Philadelphia, when but about four
years old, having some difficulty with his preceptor, he ran away,
and was not found until the third or fourth day afterwards : thus in
dicating at this early age, a fearlessness of mind, and reliance on
himself, which characterised the subsequent acts of his life. At the
age of ten he ran away from his uncle Timothy Edwards for the pur
pose of going to sea. He entered Princeton College, and graduated
at the age of sixteen years, receiving the highest academic honors
of the institution, though his moral character at this period could not
be considered of the highest order. On the breaking out of the Rev
olution, Col. Burr, impelled by military ardor, joined the American
army, and was a volunteer in Arnold's celebrated expedition through
the wilderness to Quebec. He was afterwards for a short period in
the family of Washington, but becoming somewhat dissatisfied with
that great man, he became aid to Gen Putnam, and was afterwards
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 539
appointed lieutenant colonel. Col. Burr next turned' his attention to
the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1782, and commenced
practice in Albany. In 1791, he was appointed a Senator of the
United States.
In the autumn of 1806, a project was detected, at the head of
which was Col. Burr, said to be for revolutionising the territory west
of the Alleghanies, and for establishing an independent empire there,
of which New Orleans was to be the capital, and himself the chief.
Burr was apprehended and brought to trial Aug. 1807, no overt act
being proved against him, he was acquitted. Col. Burr died at Staten
Island, N. Y. Sept. 14th 1836.
" It is truly surprising" says his biographer, " how any individual
could have become so eminent a soldier, a statesman, and as a
professional man who devoted so much time to the other sex, as was
devoted by Colonel Burr. For more than half a century of his life
they seemed to absorb his whole thoughts. His intrigues were with
out number ; his conduct most licentious."
Byles, Mather, D. D., congregational minister of Boston, Massa
chusetts, was born in that town in 1706. He was graduated at Har
vard college, in 1725, and in 1733, wasprdained pastor of the church
in Hollis-street. He held a high rank among those of his profession
in talents and usefulness, and was pre-eminently distinguished for the
keenness and exuberance of his wit. He was a popular writer, and
possessed talents for poetry. His literary merits procured him an
acquaintance with many of the first characters in Europe. Pope and
Watts were among his correspondents. He continued happily with
his people until the commencement of the revolution, when on account
of his friendliness to the royal cause, he was separated from them,
arraigned before a court, and sentenced to transportation to England ;
in place of which, however, he was only confined to his house, and
for several weeks subjected to the care of a guard, and occasionally
for short periods afterwards ; in reference to which he remarked, that
" he was guarded, regarded, and disregarded." He died in 1783. *
Callender, John, an eminent Baptist minister and writer, in Rhode
Island, was graduated at Harvard college in 1723. He was a man of
very considerable powers of mind, and was distinguished for his
candor and piety. He collected many papers relating to the history
of the Baptists in this country, which were used by Mr. Backus. He
published in 1739, a historical discourse on the civil and religious
affairs of Rhode Island, &c, from the settlement in 1638, to the end
of the first century. He died in 1748, in the forty-second year of
his age.
Carrier, Thomas, remarkable for longevity, died at Colchester,
Connecticut, May 16. 1735, aged one hundred and nine years. He
was born in the west of England, and removed thence to Andover,
Massachusetts. ¦ His wife suffered at Salem in the witchcraft delu
sion. He had lived at Colchester about twenty years, and was a
member of the church in that town. His head in his last years was
not bald, nor his hair gray. Not many days before his death he
540
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
travelled on foot six miles to see a sick man, and the very day before
he died, he was visiting his neighbors. — New England weekly Journal,
June 9, 1735.
Carteret, Philip, governor of New Jersey, commenced his adminis
tration by the appointment of the proprietors of 1665. About 1672,
there was an insurrection of the people, by which he was expelled
from the government, and James Carteret substituted in his place.
But he returned in 1674, and resumed his authority; soon after a
division of the proprietary took place, which occasioned great confu
sion of jurisdiction and uncertainty of property, and finally annihilated
the rule of the proprietors. He continued in the government of East
Jersey, excepting the short period of the usurpation of Sir Edmund
Andross, until his death in November, 1682.
Carver, John, the first governor of the Plymouth colony, was a nar
tive of England, and was one of the emigrants at Leyden, who com
posed Mr. Robinson's church, and came over with the first settlers at
Plymouth, in 1620. Governor Carver was distinguished for his pru
dence, integrity and firmness. He had a good estate in England,
which he spent in the emigration to Holland and America. He
exerted himself to promote the interests of the colony, and bore a large
share of its sufferings. Piety, humility, and benevolence, were emi
nent traits in his character. In the time of the general sickness
which befel the colony, after he had himself recovered, he was assidu
ous in attending to the sick, and performing the most humiliating
services for them without any distinction of persons or characters.
While engaged in labor in the field. April 5th, 1621, he was taken
with a pain his head, which in a few hours deprived him of his senses,
and in a few days of his life.
Carver, Jonathan, an enterprising traveller, was a native of Connecticut, and was
born, it is believed, in Canterbury, in 1732. He was intended for the profession of
medicine, which he left for a military life. In the French war he commanded an
independent company of provincials in tho expedition carried on across the lakes
rigainst Canada ; he served with reputation till the peace of 1763. Having formed
the project of exploring the interior parts of North America, he set out from Boston
in 1766, and in September of that year arrived at Michillimakinac, the most interior
British post. Having been disappointed in receiving the means of prosecuting his
travels to the extent he desired, he continued some months on the north and east
borders of Lake Superior, exploring the bays and rivers which empty themselves into
that large body of water, carefully observing the natural productions of the country,
and the customs and manners of the inhabitants. He arrived at Boston in October,
1768, having been absent on this expedition two years and five months, and travelled
nearly seven thousand miles. As soon as he had properly arranged his journal and
charts, he went to England to publish them, and petitioned for a reimbursement of
his expenses from the government. When his papers were about ready for publica
tion, they were ordered to be put into the hands of the government officers, and were
not published till ten years afterwards. Being disappointed in hopes of preferment,
he became clerk of the lottery. As he sold his name to a historical compilation,
which was published in 1779 in folio, entitled "The New Universal Traveller," he
was abandoned by those whose duty it was to support him, and he died in want of
the common necessaries of life in 1780, aged forty-eight years. Captain Carver pub
lished a tract on the cultivation of tobacco ; and " Travels through the interior parts
of North America," octavo, London, 1778 ; an edition of this work was published in
Boston, in 1797.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 541
Chandler, Thomas Bradbury, D. D., a distinguished episcopal min
ister, and writer, was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, and educated
at Yale College, where he was graduated in 1745. Embracing epis
copacy in 1748, he went to England for ordination, and on his return,
settled at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, where he resided till his death
in 1790. He held a high rank in talents and learning, and was hon
oured with a degree of D. D. frdlh the University of Oxford. He
published a number of tracts, chiefly controversial, and relating to
episcopacy. — Lord's Lempriere 's Dictionary.
Chauncey, Charles, the second president of Harvard College, was
born in England, in 1589. He became vicar of Ware, in 1627.
Being silenced for refusing to read the book of sports, he came to
New England in 1638. In 1654, he was appointed president of
Harvard College, and continued in this station till his death, in 1672,
at the age of 86. He was of opinion, that the baptism of infants and
adults should be by immersion, and that the Lord's Supper should be
celebrated in the evening.
Chauncey, Charles, D. D., a descendant of the preceding, was
born in Boston, January 1, 1705. He entered Harvard College at
the age of twelve. He became pastor of the first church in Boston,
and died in 1787, in the sixtieth year of his ministry. He was
ardently attached to the civil and religious liberties of his country, and
his publications on various subjects were numerous.
Cheever, Ezckiel, an eminent instructor, was bom in London, January 25, 1615,
and came to this country in June, 1637, for the sake of the peaceable enjoyment of
christian worship in its purity. He was first employed as a schoolmaster at New
Haven for twelve years ; then at Ipswich, Massachusetts, eleven years ; and after
wards at Charlestown, nine years. He removed to Boston, January 6, 1671, where
he continued his labors during the remainder of his life. He died August 21, 1708,
in the ninety-fourth year of his age. Most of the principal gentlemen in Boston, at
that time, had been his pupils, and took pleasure in acknowledging their obligations,
and honoring their old master. He was not only an excellent teacher, but a pious
christian. He constantly prayed with his pupils every day, and catechised them every
week. He also took frequent occasions to address them upon religious subjects.
Being well acquainted with divinity, he was an able defender of the faith and order
of the gospel. In his old age his intellectual powers were very little impaired.T He
published an essay on the millenium, and a Latin accidence, which has passed through
twenty editions. Chittenden, Thomas,
first governor of Ver-
cr///J//P H^/^M^E^:
uary 6th, 1730. He
received but a com
mon school education,
Fax simile of Governor Chittenden's signature. and agreeable to the
New England custom, married early in life, and soon removed to
Salisbury, in Litchfield county, in Connecticut. Here by a regular
advance he passed through the several grades in the militia, to the
command of a regiment ; he likewise represented the town where he
lived in the general assembly. With a numerous family, he fcter-
46
ty editions.
iff ffui^M^i
542 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
mined to lay a foundation for their future prosperity, by emigrating
through an almost trackless wilderness to Williston, on the Onion
river, in the New Hampshire Grants, as Vermont was then called.
In the controversy with New York, he was a strong supporter of the
feeble settlers. During the war of the revolution, while Warner,
Allen, and many others were in the field, he was engaged in council
at home, where he rendered important services. He was a member
of the convention, January 16th, 1777, which declared Vermont an
independent state. When the constitution of the state was estab
lished, in 1778, Mr. Chittenden was appointed the first magistrate,
which office he held, (one year excepted,) till his death, August 24th,
1797. Governor Chittenden was conspicuous for his private as well
as his public virtues. In times of scarcity and distress, which are
not unfrequent in new settlements, his granary was open to all the
needy. Church, Benjamin, distinguished for his exploits in the Indian wars
of New England, was born at Duxbury, Mass., in 1639. He com
manded the party which killed King Philip, in 1676. In 1704,
Colonel Church went on an expedition against the eastern Indians of
New England, and did them and the French much damage. He was
a man of integrity and piety. He died in 1718, of the rupture of a
blood vessel, occasioned by a fall from his horse. He published a
narrative of Philip's war, 1716.
Clarke, John, one of the first founders of Rhode Island, was a phy
sician in London before he came to this country. Being driven from
Massachusetts, on account of his religious sentiments, he, with a
number of others, on March 7,- 1638, formed themselves into a body
politic, and purchased Aquetneck, or Rhode Island. Mr. Clarke was
soon employed as a preacher, and in 1644 he formed a church at
Newport, being the second Baptist church established in America. In
1651, he was sent with Mr. Williams to England, to promote the in
terests of Rhode Island ; he returned in 1664, having the year pre
vious mortgaged his estate, in order to procure a charter for the
polony. Mr. Clarke continued pastor of his church till his death in
1676, at about the age of fifty-six years, leaving behind him a name
dear to the friends of civil and religious liberty.
Clinton, Charles, was born in Ireland, in 1690. Having resolved
to emigrate to America, he with a number of friends chartered a ship
fbr the purpose of conveying them to Philadelphia. On their passage,
it was discovered that the captain " had formed a design of starving
his passengers to death, either with a design to obtain their property,''
or to deter emigration. Several of the passengers actually died,
among whom were a son and daughter of Mr. Clinton." They were
compelled to commute with the captain for their lives, by paying a
large sum of money, who accordingly landed them on Cape Cod,°on
the 4th of October. Mr. Clinton and his friends continued in this
part of the country, until the spring of 1731, when he removed to the
county of Ulster, in the colony o| New York, where he formed a
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 543
flourishing settlement. He was a colonel in the French war; he died
at his place in Ulster, now Orange county, in 1773, in his 83d year.
Clinton, James, the fourth son of the preceding, was born in 1736,
and was favored with an excellent education. In 1776 he was ap
pointed a brigadier general in the army of the United States, in which
station he continued during the greater part of the revolutionary war.
He was appointed to various public offices; he died, December 22d,
1812, and was interred in the family burying place at Little Britain, ii»
Orange county.
Clinton, George, vice president of the United States, the youngest
brother of the preceding, was born July, 1739, and was bred a law
yer. He was appointed, in 1775, a delegate to the Continental Con
gress, and was present at the declaration of independence, and as
sented to that measure ; but having been appointed a brigadier
general in the army, was obliged to retire from Congress immediately
after his vote was given, for which reason, his name does not appear
among the signers. In 1777, he was elected both governor and
lieutenant governor of New York, and was continued in the former
office for eighteen years. In 1804, he was advanced to the vice-
presidency of the United States, and continued in the office till his
death, which took place in Washington, April 20, 1812. He pos
sessed great energy of character, was distinguished as a soldier,
statesman, and patriot.
Clinton, De Witt, son of James Clinton, was born in Orange coun
ty, N. Y. in 1769. He was chosen to many important offices in his
native State, and was elected governor in 1817. In his native State,
his name, his genius, and his services, are stamped upon many mon
uments of public munificence and private utility. He died suddenly
in February 1828.
Clinton, George, one of the colonial governors of New York, was
the youngest son of Francis Clinton, the sixth Earl of Lincoln. He
was appointed governor of the colony of New York in 1743. E~"
unskilled in civil affairs, he Was peculiarly exposed to the tumuli
commotions of colonial governments. Mr. Clinton, after his rel
ment from New York, became governor of Greenwich Hospital, l|
land. His son, Sir Henry Clinton, commanded the British armies a
considerable portion of the Revolutionary war.
Coddington, William, one of the principal founders of Rhode Island,
and its first governor, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and came
to Massachusetts in 1630. He was for some time a magistrate in
that colony, but in 1538 removed to Rhode Island, and was the chief
instrument of establishing a settlement there. In 1640, he was ap
pointed governor of the colony, and held the office till a charter was
obtained in 1648 ; and again in 1674, and 1675. He was a strenuous
advocate for liberty of conscience, and had the honor of a chief agen
cy in organizing the first government in modern ages under which
that blessing was fully enjoyed. He died in 1678
544 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Colden, Cadwalla-
der, a distinguished
scholar and civilian,
was born at Dunse,
Scotland, in 1688,
Fac simile of CadwaUader Colden's signature. and educated at Ed
inburgh. He studied medicine, and in 1708 came to Philadelphia,
and established himself as a physician. In 1718 he removed to New-
York, and was soon appointed surveyor general, and afterwards mas
ter in chancery. In 1720 he was advanced to a place in the King's
council of the province, and was for a long time one of the most con
spicuous members of that body. In 1761 he was appointed lieutenant
governor, and held the office till his death in 1776. He was a distin
guished scholar as well as a civilian ; was thoroughly versed in the
knowledge of medicine, botany, and astronomy ; and corresponded
with many of the most eminent scholars both in America and Europe.
Beside his publications relating to mathematics, botany, and medicine,
and which were highly respectable, he wrote a valuable history of the
five Indian nations.
Cooper, Myles, D. D., president of King's college, New York, was
educated in the university of Oxford, where he took the degree of
master of arts in 1760. He arrived at New York in the autumn of
1762, being recommended by the archbishop of Canterbury as a per
son well qualified to assist in the management of the college, and in
a few years to succeed the president. In the year J 775 Dr. Cooper,
as his politics leaned towards the British, was reduced to the neces
sity of withdrawing from the college, and returning to England. He
was afterwards one of the ministers of the episcopal chapel of Edin
burgh, in which city he died May 1, 1785, aged about fifty years.
Cornbury, Lord, governor of New York, was the son of the Earl of
Clarendon, and being one of the first officers who deserted the army
ting James, King William, in gratitude, appointed him to an Amer-
rovernment. He commenced his administration in 1702, and
became detested for his avarice, bigotry, meanness and tyranny.
His behavior was trifling and extravagant. It was not uncommon for
him to dress himself in a woman's habit, and then to patrol the fort in
which he resided. His oppressions reaching the ears of the qileen,
he was displaced, and succeeded as governor by Lord Lovelace in
1708. Cotton, John, one of the most distinguished of the early ministers
of New England, was born at Derby, England, December 4th. 1585.
He was admitted a member of Trinity College at the age of thirteen,
and afterwards removed to Emanuel College, where he obtained a
fellowship. About the year 1612, he became minister of Boston, in
Lincolnshire, where he was remarkably useful, though he entertained
doubts of the lawfulness of complying with some of the ceremonies of
the established church. At length, after the government of the Eng
lish church fell into the hands of bishop Laud, divisions arose among
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 545
the parishioners of Mr. Cotton ; a dissolute fellow, who had been pun
ished for his immoralities, informed against the magistrates and the
minister for not kneeling at the sacrament ; and Mr. Cotton, being
cited before the high commission court, was obliged to flee. After
being concealed for some time in London, he embarked for this coun
try, anxious to secure to himself the peaceable enjoyment of the rights
of conscience, though in a wilderness. He sailed in the same vessel
with Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, and the circumstance of their names
caused the people to say on their arrival, September 4, 1633, that
their three great necessities would be now supplied, for they had
Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their
building. This was an age of conceits. During the voyage three
sermons or expositions were delivered almost every day, and Mr.
Cotton was blessed in the birth of his eldest son, whom, at his bap
tism in Boston, he called Seaborn.
On the tenth of October, 1633, he was established teacher of the
church in Boston, as colleague with the reverend Mr. Wilson, who
was pastor. He was set apart to this office, on a day of fasting, by
imposition of the hands of Mr. Wilson, and his two elders. He re
mained in this town, connected with this church, more than nineteen
years, and such was his influence in establishing the order of our
churches, and so extensive was his usefulness, that he has been called
the patriarch of New England. The prevalence of those erroneous
doctrines, which occasioned the synod of 1637, so much disturbed his
peace, that he. was almost induced to remove to New Haven. Mrs.
Hutchinson endeavored to promote her wild sentiments by shielding
them under the name of Mr. Cotton ; but though he was imposed upon
for some time by the artifices of those of her party, yet when he dis
covered their real opinions, he was bold and decided in his opposition
to them Though he did not sign the result of the synod of 1637, on
account of his differing from it in one or two points ; he yet approve
of it in general, and his peaceable intercourse with his brethren/ "
ministry was not afterwards interrupted on account of his suj
errors. In 1742 he was invited to England with Mr. Hook
Mr. Davenport, to assist in the assembly of divines at WestmrHstd
and he was in favor of accepting the invitation, but Mr. Hooker was
opposed to it, as he was at that time forming a system of church gov
ernment for New England. His death, which was occasioned by an
inflammation of the lungs, 'brought on by exposure in crossing the
ferry to Cambridge, where he went to preach, took place December
23, 1652, when he was sixty-seven years. of age. So universally
was he venerated, that many sermons were preached on his decease
in different parts of the country.
Dr. Cotton sustained a high reputation for learning, and was the
author of numerous publications, some of which were of a controver
sial character. — Aliens Biog. Die.
Davenport, John, first minister of New Haven, and one of the found
ers of that colony, was born in jhe city of Coventry, England, in
1597. He entered Merton College in 1613. By his great industry
46*
546
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
he became an universal scholar, and as a preacher he held the first
rank. As Mr. Davenport was a conscientious non-conformist, the
persecutions to which he was exposed obliged him to resign his pas-
^^)aJVtnfo-i/h
toral charge in London, and retire to Holland in 1633. In June 1637,
he came to Boston, in company with Mr. Eaton and Mr- Hopkins.
In 1638 he sailed with his company to Quinnipiac, or New Haven.
He removed to Boston in 1667, where he died in 1670.
Davies, Samuel, president of Princeton College, New Jersey, was
a native of Delaware, and born the 3d of November, 1724. He en
tered the ministry at an early age, and immediately rendered himself
jttcuous by his eminently popular talents. In 1748, he was set-
fcHanover county, Virginia, and labored there with remarkable
lis till ] 759. He was then chosen president of the college, a
K for which he was most happily fitted, by his superior intelli
gence, fervid eloquence, and ardent piety. He had several years be
fore gone to England, and obtained considerable benefactions to the
seminary. He died January 1766, at the early age of 36. He was
distinguished alike by a superiority of -genius, love of knowledge,
patriotism, and devotedness to his professional duties, and enjoyed
the highest rank among his cotemporaries in usefulness and popu
larity. A selection of his sermons have been published in 3 volumes,
octavo. Dayton, Elias, a revolutionary officer, was appointed by congress
colonel of a New Jersey regiment in Feb. 1778 ; and at the close of
the war was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. His services
were particularly useful when the enemy under Kniphausen penetra-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 547
ted into New Jersey, in directing the execution of the measures adopted
for their annoyance ; after the war was concluded, he held the office
of major general of the militia. In private life he sustained a high
reputation. He died at Philadelphia, July, 1806, aged 71.
Deane,, Silas, a native of Connecticut, was a member of Congress
in 1774, and afterwards was appointed minister to France. He died
in 1789.
Delancy, James, lieutenant governor of New York, was the son of
a protestant refugee from Caen, in Normandy, and was sent to Cam
bridge, England, for his education. On his return to New York in
1729, he was appointed a member of Montgomery's council, and
after studying law, obtained the appointment of judge of the supreme
court, and in 1734,. in consequence of his attachment to governor
Crosby, was advanced to the office of chief justice. He possessed
commanding talents, and an extensive knowledge of law, was ambi
tious and intriguing, and was for a long time one of the most influ
ential characters in the colony. In 1753 he was appointed lieuten
ant governor. Under his administration the charter of King's college
was granted. He was at the head of the association which founded
that institution, and one of the first board of trustees. He died Aug.
2d, 1760, aged 57.
Dexter, Samuel, LL. D. an eminent lawyer, son of Hon. Samuel
Dexter, was born at Boston in 1751. During the administration
of the first president Adams he was appointed Secretary of war, and
afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. On the accession of Mr.
Jefferson to the Presidency, he resigned his public employments and
resumed the practice of law. He died suddenly at Athens, New
York, May 3d, 1816.
Dickinson, Jonathan, first president of New Jersey College, received
his education at Yale college, where he was graduated in 1706. He
was settled a year or two after pastor of the presbyterian church at
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and laboured there with great reputation
and success for forty years. On the establishment of the college of
New Jersey at Elizabethtown in 1746 — he was appointed its pjf °"
dent, but died in October of the next year. He possessed s|""
endowments and extensive learning, and enjoyed much celebrf
preacher and controversial writer on theology. f1:
Dickinson, Philemon, an officer in the war of the American revtofu-
tion, who engaged in that contest at an early period, and enjoyed the
praise of courage and zeal in the cause of liberty. He commanded
the Jersey militia at the battle of Monmouth. After the organization
of the national government in its present form, he was appointed to
a seat in congress. Having discharged the duties of the several
civil and military stations which he held with reputation, and enjoyed
several years of retirement from public life, he died at Trenton
in 1809. .
Dudley, Thomas, governor of Massachusetts, was born m North
ampton, England, in 1574. After having been for some time in the
army, his mind was impressed by religious truth, and he attached
548 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
himself to the nonconformists. He came to Massachusetts in 1630,
as deputy governor, and was one of the founders and pillars of the
colony. He was chosen governor in the years 1634, 1640 and 1645.
His zeal against heretics did not content itself with arguments, ad
dressed to the understanding, and reproofs, aimed at the conscience ;
but his intolerance was not singular in an age, when the principles
of religious liberty were not understood. He died at Roxbury, July
31, 1653, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He was a man of
sound judgment, of inflexible integrity, of public spirit, and of strict
and exemplary piety.
Dudley, Joseph, governor of Massachusetts, was the »on of the
preceding. In 1682 he went to England as an agent of the province.
He was appointed governor of Massachusetts in 1702. He died at
Roxbury in 1720, in the 73d year of his age.
Dummer, Jeremiah, an agent of Massachusetts, in England, and a
distinguished scholar, was a native of Boston. He graduated at
Harvard College in 1699, and soon afterwards went to Europe and
spent a number of years in the university of Utrecht, where he re
ceived a doctor's degree. He then returned to New England, but
finding no prospect of employment in this country, that would be
agreeable to him, he went to England, where he arrived a little before
the change of queen Ann's ministry. In 1710 he was appointed
agent of Massachusetts, and his services were important. Contrary
to the expectation of his countrymen he devoted himself to the per
sons in power, and was an advocate of their measures. He was em
ployed by lord Bolingbroke in some secret negotiations, and had as
surances of promotion to a place of honor and profit ; but the death
of the queen blasted all his hopes. If he had espoused a different
side, it is thought that his great talents might have elevated him to
some of the highest offices. He died in 1739.
Dummer, William, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, received
a^aommission for this office at the time that Shute was appointed
||or in 1716. At the departure of Shute, January 1, 1723, he
|t at the head of the province, and he continued commander in
11 the arrival of Burnet in 1728. He was also commander in
chief in the interval between his death and the arrival of Belcher.
His administration is spoken of with great respect, and he is repre
sented as governed by a pure regard to the public good. The
war with the Indians was conducted with great skill, the Norridge-
wocks being cut off in 1724. From the year 1730 Mr. Dummer
lived chiefly in retirement for the remainder of his life, selecting for
his acquaintance and friends men of sense, virtue, and relioion, and
receiving the blessings and applauses of his country. He died at
Boston, October 10 1761, aged eighty-two years. He preserved an
unspotted character through life. During his life his alms were a
memorial of his benevolence, and at his death he left a great part of
his estate to pious and charitable purposes. He laid the foundation
of Dummer Academy at Newbury.
Dunster, Henry, first President of Harvard College, was inducted
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 549
into this office August 27, 1640. He succeeded Mr. Nathaniel Ea
ton, who was the first master of the seminary, being chosen in 1637
or 1638, and who had been removed on account of the severity of his
discipline. He was highly respected for his learning, piety, and
spirit of government ; but having at length imbibed the principles of
antipedobaptism, and publicly advocated them, he was induced to re
sign the presidentship October 24, 1654, and was succeeded by the
reverend Mr. Chauncey. He now retired to Scituate, where he spent
the remainder of his days in peace. He died in 1659. He was a
modest, humble, charitable man. By his last will he ordered his body
to be buried at Cambridge, and bequeathed legacies to the very per
sons, who had occasioned his removal from the college.
Dwight, Timothy, D. D. LL.D. president of Yale College, was
born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. His mother was the
daughter of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, president of the col
lege of New Jersey. He was graduated at Yale College in 1769 at
the age of seventeen. He was tutor in that institution for six years,
and afterwards for a short time served as chaplain of the American
army in the revolution. In 1783 he settled as clergyman in the par
ish of Greenfield in the town of Fairfield, Con. In 1785 he pub
lished an epic poem in eleven books, entitled the ' Conquest of Ca
naan." In 1794, he published " Greenfield Hill," a poem in seven
books. In May 1795, on the death of president*Stiles, he was elect
ed to the presidency of Yale college. Under his superintendence
the institution began to flourish beyond all preceding example. He
died February 11th, 1817, and was universally and deeply lamented.
Since his death, his theological lectures, under the title of "Theology,"
have been published in five volumes octavo, and have passed through
several large editions, both in the United States and Great Britain.
His " Travels in New England and New York" have also been pub
lished in four volumes octavo.
Eaton, Theophilus, first governor of New Haven colony, was
Stony Stratford in Oxfordshire, Eng., his father being ministe
place. He was bred a merchant, and was for several years i
the king of England at the court of Denmark, and after his"
prosecuted his business in London with high reputation. He accom
panied Mr. Davenport to New Erigland, and was one of the founders
of New Haven in 1638, and was annually elected governor till his
death in Jan. 1657, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. The wis
dom and integrity of his administration attracted universal respect.
He was amiable in all the relations of life, beloved by his domestics,
and ever preserved the esteem of the commonwealth. His monu
ment at New Haven has upon it the following lines :
Eaton, so meek, so fam'd, so just,
The Phenix of our world, here hides his dust ;
This name forget, New England never must.
Eaton, William, a general in the service of the United States, was
born at Woodstock, Con. in Feb. 23d, 1764. In March, 1792, he
was appointed a captain in the army of the United States ; and whilst
550 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
in this situation he performed various services upon the western and
southern frontiers. In 1797, he was appointed consul to Tunis.
In 1804, Gen. Eaton returned to America and visited Washington,
where he disclosed the famous enterprise which he had planned to
restore the ex-bashaw of Tripoli ; and having obtained the sanction of
government, he arrived at Alexandria in Egypt, on the 25th of
November. Having made suitable arrangements, and recruited about
500 men, (100 of which only were christians,) it was determined by
Eaton and the ex-bashaw, to cross the desert and seize the province
and city of Derne. After a difficult and fatiguing journey through a
dreary desert, they arrived within the province of Derne, and soon at
tacked and captured the city, having the assistance of the Hornet
sloop of war. After this, Gen. Eaton returned to his native country,
and was every where received with the most distinguished applause.
He fixed his residence in Brimfield, Mass. where he continued until
his death in 1811.
0*
n a t£a n OclWa r^l
Edwards, Jonathan, a celebrated American divine, and a most acute
metaphysician, was born at East Windsor, Con. Oct. 5, 1703. His
uncommon genius discovered itself early, and while yet a boy he read
Locke on the human understanding with a keen relish. Though he
took much pleasure in examining the kingdom of nature ; yet moral
and theological researches yielded him the highest satisfaction. He
was not only distinguished for his vigor and penetration of mind, but
also for his Christian virtues. In 1727, he entered the pastoral office
in Northampton, Mass. where he preached the gospel about twenty-
four years. In 1751, he succeeded the Rev. Mr. Sergeant as mission
ary to the Indians at Stockbridge, Mass. He continued here six
BIOCRAPHTCAL SKETCHES. 551
years, preaching to the Indians and white people ; during this time he
found leisure for prosecuting his theological and metaphysical studies,
and produced works which have distinguished his name. In Jan.
1758, he accepted the office of president of the college in New Jersey.
Before he had fully entered upon the duties of his station, he was in
oculated with the small pox, which was the cause of his death in
March 22d, 1758. His most celebrated works are ' On Original
Sin,' ' Freedom of the Will,' ' Treatise on Religious Affections,' &c.
His essay on the freedom of the will, is considered by many as one of
the greatest efforts of the human mind.
Edwards, Jonathan, D. D. president of Union college, Schenectady,
New York, and son of the preceding, was born at Northampton,
Mass. in 1745. In his infancy his father removing to Stockbridge,
where the population was chiefly composed of Indians who spoke
their native language, Mr. Edwards acquired a perfect familiarity
with it, which he afterwards retained. He was sent at a tender age
in company with the Rev. Mr. Hawley, as a missionary to the Oneida
Indians. He finished his education at Princeton college, and after
wards preached in Colebrook and New Haven, Con. In 1799 he
was appointed president of Union college, Schenectady, where he
died in August, 1801, in the 56th year of his age. 'There was a
number of remarkable coincidences in the lives of Dr. Edwards and his
father. Both were tutors in seminaries, in which they were educated,
were dismissed on account of their religious opinions, were settled
again in retired situations, were elected to the presidentship of a col
lege, and in a short time after they were inaugurated, died at near
the same age. They were also remarkably similar in person and
character.' _^_i a Eliot, John, minis-
/*/**?«<-- U'W/ fa l*lA3j-y<>— ^ofR^bury-Mass.
7 / > /. * / and usually denonii-
r j_ „3 SJ$r • Qjfa nated 'The AP«a
-> f-J- OlIAjA nated 'The Ap|
1+* V> Z'^fifn to the Indiansf
. C P t korn at Nasin,
f\j\. C>Vi6t~ land, in 1604, and
»¦ j was educated at Cam-
\s- bridge university. In
Fac simile of John Eliot's hand writing. 1632, a year after his
arrival in Massachusetts, he settled in the ministry at Roxbury,
in which office he remained till his death. His labors were not
confined to his own people. About the year 1646, he began his
labors among the Indians in his vicinity ; he commenced by learn
ing their language which it was difficult to acquire. With great
labor he translated the whole Bible into the Indian tongue which was
printed in Cambridge in 1664. He also translated in the Indian lan
guage the ' Practice of Piety,' ' Baxter's Call to the Unconverted,'
besides some other smaller works. In the course of his labors, Mr.
Eliot passed through many scenes of danger, difficulty and suffering.
Having performed many wearisome journeys, and endured many
^
552 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
hardships and '.privations, this indefatigable missionary closed his
labors in 1690, aged eighty-six years.
Ellsworth, Oliver, LL. D., chief justice of the United States, was
born at Windsor, Con. 1745. Devoting himself to the practice of
law he rose to eminence. In 1777, he was sent a delegate to the
continental congress. In 1799 he was appointed envoy extraordinary
to France. He died in 1807.
Endicot, John, governor of Massachusetts, was sent to England as
agent for the plantation at Salem in 1628. In 1644, he was elected
governor of Massachusetts. He died in 1665.
Faneuil Peter, founder of Faneuil Hall in Boston, was a descendant
of the French protestants. He possessed a large estate, and employ
ed it in doing good. His liberal spirit induced him to present to the
town of Boston a large edifice, for the accommodation of the inhabi
tants in their public meetings. He died in 1743.
Finley, Samuel, D. D., president of the college of New Jersey, was
a native of Armagh, Ireland, born in 1715. He came to Philadel
phia in 1734, and was ordained as an evangelist in 1740, by the pres
bytery of New Brunswick. He contributed his efforts with the Rev.
Gilbert Tennent and Mr. Whitefield, in promoting the great revival
of religion about the year 1740, and suffered some persecution on that
account. In 1744, he was settled at Nottingham, Maryland, where
he labored nearly seventeen years, with distinguished fidelity and
success. Upon the death of president Davies, of the New Jersey
college, Dr. Finley was chosen his successor, and removed to Prince
ton, July, 1766. After occupying this station about five years with
reputation he died in July, 1766.
Finley, Robert, D. D., a highly respectable minister of the Presby
terian Church, was born at Princeton, N. J., in 1772. He graduated
at the college in his native town, in his sixteenth year. In 1817 he
accepted the presidency of the University of Athens, in Georgia. He
"^scarcely entered upon the duties of his office, when he was
ted by death in the 46th year of his age.
Witok, James, first minister of Saybrook and Norwich, Conn., was born in the
county of Essex, England, and came to this country in 1638. In 1646 he was or
dained over a church gathered in Saybrook ; in 1660 he removed with the greater part
of his church to Norwich. He became acquainted with the Mohegan language, and
preached the gospel to the Indians in his vicinity. He died in Lebanon, Conn., in
1702, in the eightieth year of his age.
Fitch, John, inventor of the first steamboat in this country, was born at East
Windsor, Connecticut. He was apprenticed to a watch and clock maker, and before
the revolutionary war, set up the business of clock making, engraving, and repairing
muskets at New Brunswick, in New Jersey. When this state was overrun by the
British troops, he retired into the interior of Pennsylvania, where he employed him
self in repairing arms for the American army. In the year 1785, Mr. Fitch conceived
the project of propelling a vessel by the force of condensed vapor. " When the
idea occurred to him, as he himself tells us, he did not know that there was such a
thing as a steam engine in existence." In 1788 he obtained a patent for the appli
cation of steam to navigation. By unwearied exertion he succeeded in interesting
about twenty persons ih his plan, and inducing them to take shares of fifty dollars
each. A boat was built in 1787 at Philadelphia, which went at the rate of eight
miles an hour. The governor and council of Pennsylvania were so much gratified
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 553
with the experiment that they presented the company with a rich silk flag. About
this time tho company sent Mr. Fitch to France, in order to introduce the invention
into that country ; nothing, however, was effected, as France was in the midst of a
revolution. Mr. Fitch returned; in 1790 he made an alteration in his boat, and it
worked tolerably well, but still required further alterations. He was not able, how
ever, to obtain the necessary means to perfect his invention. He became disheart
ened and impoverished, " and to drown his reflections, he had recourse to the common
but deceptive remedy, strong drink, in which he indulged to excess, and retiring to
Pittsburg, he ended his days by plunging into the Alleghany."
Franklin, Benjamin, LL. D., a philosopher and statesman, was born
at Boston, January 17th, 1706. His father, who was a native of
England, was a soap boiler and tallow chandler in that town. At the
age of eight years, he was sent to a grammar school, but at the age of
ten, his father required his services to assist him in his business.
Two years afterwards, he was bound as an apprentice to his brother,
a printer. In this employment he made great proficiency, and having
a taste for books, he devoted much of his leisure time to reading. His
brother having experienced some difficulties in regard to his business,
Franklin went to Philadelphia in search of employment. He went
to London in 1724, where he supported himself as a journeyman
printer. He returned to Philadelphia in 1726, where he established himself in the printing
business, which, however, did not extinguish his taste for science. He formed1 a
club of intelligent young men for the discussion of various subjects, which continued
for almost forty years. This society has been the source of most of the useful estab
lishments in Philadelphia for the purpose of promoting the cause of the sciences and
mechanic arts. In 1732 Franklin began to publish "Poor Richard's Almanac,"
which contained maxims of frugality, industry and integrity ; it was continued by
him about twenty-five years. In 1736, he was appointed clerk of the general assem
bly of Pennsylvania, and next year post master of Philadelphia, and afterwards mem
ber of the assembly. In 1752 he made his great discovery of the identity of the
electric fluid and lightning, and recommended the utility of lightning rods. In 1757
he was sent an agent from Pennsylvania to Great Britain. In 1766 he was examined
at the bar of the House of Commons respecting the repeal of the celebrated stamp
act, and by his answers raised his name in the political world. He was a membejof
the first congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence ; he was sejmLto
France, where he effected important services for his country. He died, Aprij|l7th,
1790, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
Franklin, William, son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, was appointed in
1762 governor of New Jersey, and was the last royal governor of that
province. When the revolution commenced, he adhered to the
British interest, and was sent prisoner to Connecticut in June, 1776.
He was ultimately permitted to retire to England, and was there the
agent for the loyalists of New Jersey and New York to support their
petition for relief, agreeably to the treaty of 1783. He died in
England. Fulton, Robert, distinguished for his success in applying steam to
navigation, was born in Little Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsylva
nia, in 1765. His parents, who were Irish, were respectable, and
gave him a common English education at Lancaster. He early ex
hibited a superior talent for mechanism and painting, and in his
eighteenth year established himself in Philadelphia in the latter em-
47
554 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ployment. In his 22d year he went to England, and was received
into the family of Mr. West, the painter. He afterwards turned his
attention to mechanics, &c, and went to France and spent seven
years in Paris, in the family of Mr. Barlow. Under the patronage of
the first Consul, (Buonaparte,) he performed many experiments with
torpedoes, &c, for the destruction of vessels. While in France, he
turned his attention to the steam engine, for the purpose of propelling
boats. On his return to New York, in 1806, he commenced, in con
junction with Mr. Livingston, the first Fulton boat, which was launched
in the spring of 1807. This boat, which was called the Clermont,
performed a passage to Albany at the rate of about five miles an hour,
and may be considered as the first successful application of steam in
propelling boats. Between this period and his death, he superintended
the building of 14 other steam boats, and made great improvements
in their construction. In 1814, he contrived an armed steam ship for
the defence of the harbor of New York, and also a sub-marine vessel,
or plunging boat, of such dimensions as to carry 100 men, the plans
of which being approved by government, he was authorized to con
struct them at the public expense. But before completing either of
these works, he died suddenly, Feb. 24th, 1815.
Gage, Thomas, the last governor of
Massachusetts appointed by the king, was
an officer of distinction in the British army.
He first came to America as a lieutenant
with Braddock. He was appointed gov
ernor of Montreal in 1760, and in 1763
succeeded general Amherst as commander in chief of the British
forces in North America. In 1774 he succeeded Hutchinson as gov
ernor of Massachusetts, and furnishing several regiments to support
his measures, soon began the course of illegal and oppressive acts,
which drew on the war of the revolution. In 1775 the provincial
cj&gress of Massachusetts declared him an enemy to the colony, and
released the inhabitants from all obligation to obey his mandates.
Not long after, he returned to England, where he died in 1787.
Gerry, Elbridge, a native of Massachusetts ; a signer of the Decla
ration of Independence ; minister to France ; governor of the State of
Massachusetts, and afterwards Vice President of the United States ;
he died at Washington in 1814.
Gookin, Daniel, author of the historical collections respecting the
Indians of New England, and major general of Massachusetts, was
a native of Kent, England. In 1621 he came with his father to Vir
ginia ; but in 1644 removed to Massachusetts, that he might enjoy a
ministry which he approved. He left in manuscript, historical col
lections respecting the New England Indians, which in 1792 were
published by the Massachusetts Historical society in their first volume.
Granger, Gideon, post master general of the United States, was
born at Suffield, Connecticut, 1767. He graduated at Yale Collece
in 1787, and 'in the following year was admitted to the bar of the Su
preme Court of Connecticut. In 1783 he was elected a member of
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 555
the legislature of that State, and in 1801 he was appointed post mas
ter general, the duties of which he executed with great ability till
1814, when he removed to the State of New York. He died at his
seat in Canandaigua in 1822.
Greene, Nathaniel, a major general in the American army, was born
in Warwick, Rhode Island, about the year 1740. He had a strong
passion for the military life, though educated a Quaker. At the com
mencement of the Revolutionary War, he was intrusted, by his native
State, with the command of three regiments, which he led on to Cam
bridge. In 1776 he was appointed by Congress major general, and
soon after, at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, displayed his mil
itary talents. In 1781, by his victory at Eutaw Springs, he won for
himself the most flattering applause from Congress and the American
army. In 1785 he removed to Georgia, to take possession of a tract
of land presented by that State ; but died suddenly, June 19th, 1786,
in the forty-seventh year of his age.
Hancock, John, LL. D. governor of Massachusetts, was the son of
the Rev. Mr. Hancock of Braintree, Mass. He was graduated at
Harvard College in 1754, and receiving a considerable fortune from
an uncle, became a merchant. He was elected a member of the as
sembly, and soon distinguished himself by a talent for business, and a
zealous opposition to the oppressive acts of Great Britain. He was
chosen President of Congress, and in that capacity signed the Decla
ration of Independence. His health declining in 1777, he left that
appointment, and in 1780 was elected the first governor of Massa
chusetts under the new Constitution. He died in 1793, in the fifty
sixth year of his age.
Harvard, John, the founder of Harvard College, died in Charlestown, Mass. in
1638, soon after his arrival in this country. He had been a minister in England, and
he preached a short time in Charlestown. He left a legacy of seven hundred and
seventy nine pounds seventeen shillings and two pence to the school at Newtown or
Cambridge. The next year the general Court constituted it a College.
Hawley, Gideon, many years a missionary to the Indians, was a native of Con
necticut. He commenced his labors among the Stockbridge tribe of Indians -in Mas
sachusetts in 1752. He was afterward a missionary among the Iroquois, or Indians
of the Six Nations. In 1756, the French war compelled him to leave Oughquauga,
the place of his residence on the Susquehanna. He afterwards preached to the
Marshpee tribe of Indians on Cape Cod, where he died Oct. 1807, aged eighty years.
Hicks, Elias, a preacher among the Friends or Quakers. He was
the founder of the sect in that Society called Hicksites. He was
born in Hempstead, Long Island, N. Y. March 19th, 1748, and died
in Jericho, Long Island, Feb. 27th, 1830.
Hooker, Thomas, was born at Leicestershire, Eng. 1586, and edu
cated at Emanuel College, Cambridge ; he preached in London and
Chelmsford with great success. On account of the persecution
which raged, he came to New England, and was the first minister of
Cambridge, Mass. He was one of the founders of the colony of
Connecticut, where he removed with his people in 1636, travelling
through the wilderness with no other guide but a compass. He pub
lished many sermons and treatises which were much admired. He
556 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
died July 7th, 1647. As he lay dying, one of his friends that stood
by his bed side, observed to him that he was now going to receive
the reward of all his labors ; " Brother," said he, " I am going to re
ceive mercy."
Hopkins, Edward, governor of Connecticut, was born in Shrewsbury,
England, in 1600 and became a merchant in London. He arrived at
Boston in 1637. He removed to Hartford, and was chosen governor
of Connecticut repeatedly, between 1640 and 1654. He afterwards
went to England, where he was chosen warden of the English fleet,
and a member of parliament. He died in London in 1657. He left
the sum of fifteen hundred pounds for the benefit of learning in New
England.
Fac simile of Mr. Hopkins' hand writing.
Hopkins, Stephen, LL. D. one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was born in Scituate in Rhode Island. In 1755 he
was elected governor. In 1774 he was elected a delegate to Con
gress, and remained in that office until after the establishment of In
dependence. He died in July, 1785, aged seventy-nine. For seve
ral years before his death he suffered a paralytic affection, the effects
of which are apparent in the signature of his name to the declaration
of Independence.
Hopkins, Samuel, D. D. minister of Newport, R. I. was born at
Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1721, and graduated at Yale College, in
1741. Having studied theology with Mr. Edwards, of Northampton,
he was in 1743, settled in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he
continued till 1769, when he was dismissed, and soon after resettled
at Newport, Rhode Island. He continued there until his death, in
1803, eminently distinguished for piety and devotedness to the labors
of his office. He possessed a vigorous mind, and a love of search
ing for the reasons of mysterious events in the divine government,
that led him to the adoption of some peculiar opinions, such as that
sin is necessary to the divine glory — that submission to God includes
a willingness to suffer the punishment of sin in the future world, if
necessary to his glory. It is from his name, that the term Hopkin-
sianism is derived. His chief publication was a system of Theol
ogy in 2 vols, octavo.
Hopkins, Lemuel, a physician and poet, was born at Waterbury,
Con. in 1750. He died at Hartford, Con. 1801. He was a physi
cian of skill and reputation. He was somewhat singular in his ap
pearance, and was remarkable for his retentive memory. His poetic
productions are but few ; but of singular humor.
Hopkinson, Francis, district judge of the United States, for Pennsyl-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 557
vania, was born in that state in 1738. He was a member of Congress
from New Jersey in 1776, in which year he signed the declaration
of Independence. He died in 1791. He was distinguished for his
vivacity and wit, and published during the Revolution, several poetic
pieces^ which were highly popular, particularly "The battle of the
Kegs." After his death his miscellaneous essays and writings were
published in three vols, octavo, 1792.
Hubbard, William, minister of Ipswich, Mass. and a historian, was
born in 1621, and was graduated at Harvard College, in the first class,
in 1642. In 1677, his first historical work relative to the Indian
Wars, received the approbation of the colonial licencers, and was
soon published. He also wrote a History of New England, for which
he in 1682, received the thanks of the General Court, and a gift of
fifty pounds. This work lay in manuscript till 1815, when it was
printed by the Massachusetts Historical Society, who received a do
nation from the legislature for this purpose. Mr. Hubbard died in
1704. Humphreys, David, LL. D. a soldier of the revolution, aid-de-camp
to Putnam, Greene, and Washington successively, ambassador to Lis
bon, and minister to Spain. He died at New-Haven, Con., in 1818.
He was distinguished for his poetical and patriotic writings, also for
the introduction of merino sheep from Spain into the United States.
Hutchinson, Thomas, LL. D. governor of Massachusetts, was a na
tive of Boston, Mass. and was graduated at Harvard College in 1727.
He employed himself for a time in mercantile pursuits, but soon
turned his attention to politics, and gained popularity as an agent to
Great Britain, and a member of the legislature. In 1758, he was
elected lieutenant Governor, and three years afterwards, he was ap
pointed chief judge. Being suspected of being friendly to the arbi
trary proceedings of the mother country, he became unpopular. In
1769, he was appointed governor, but soon became obnoxious to the
people by his subserviency to the British ministry. In 1772, a num
ber of his letters, hostile to the liberties of the colonies, were ob
tained by Dr. Franklin and sent to Massachusetts ; in consequence,
the general Court took measures to procure his removal. He how
ever remained till he was superseded by governor Gage, in 1774.
He went to England, where he was vindicated by the Privy Council
from all charges brought against him. He died at Brampton, June,
1780, aged sixty-nine years. Governor Hutchinson was the author
of a most valuable work entitled " The History of the Colony of
Massachusetts Bay from the first settlement thereof in 1628, until the
year 1750," in two volumes, octavo.
Irving, Washington, was born in the city of New York about 1783.
He is at the present time one of the most distinguished American
authors. In 1810 he published " Knickerbocker's History of New
York," which established his fame ; since that time, he has added to
his literary reputation by several volumes under the titles of " The
Sketch Book," " Bracebridge Hall," and " Tales of a Traveller,"&c.
47*
558 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Jay, John, was born in the city of New York in 1745, he was a
member of the first American Congress, in 1774, and was president
of that body in 1776. In 1778 he was minister plenipotentiary to
Spain, and was one of the commissioners to negotiate a peace with
Great Britain, at the close of the Revolution. As an envoy extraor
dinary to Great Britain, he negotiated and signed the treaty which
bears his name ; afterwards he was elected governor of the State of'
New York, in 1795 ; this office he held tjll 1807, when he detlined
a re-election, and retired to his farm in Bedford, N. Y., where he died
on the 17th of May, 1829.
Johnson, Edward, an inhabitant of Woburn, Massachusetts, was
one of the military officers, who were sent to seize Gorton in 1643.
He published the wonder working providence of Sion's Savior in
New England, containing a history of New England from 1628 to
1652, London, 4to, 1654. In this work he gives a description of the
country, an account of the civil and ecclesiastical affairs, &c.
Johnson, Sir William, a major general of the militia of New York,
was a native of Ireland, and born about the year 1774. He came to
America in early life, and settled on the Mohawk, where he carried
on an extensive traffic with the Indians, and by learning their lan
guage, and accommodating himself to their manners, gained great
influence over them. In 1755, he commanded the provincial
troops of New York, marched against Crown Point, and gained a
victory over the French under baron Dieskau, for which he received
from the house of commons the gift of 5000 pounds, and the title of '
baronet from the king. He died at his seat on the Mohawk, in 1774.
Johnson, Samuel, D. D. first president of King's college in New
York, was born in Guilford Con. and graduated at Yale College in
1714. In 1722, embracing Episcopalianism, he went to England to
obtain ordination. He returned the following year to Stratford, Con.
He was afterwards appointed president of King's College in New
York. He died in Stratford in 1772.
Kidd, William, a noted pirate, who buried a large sum of money on Gardiner's
Island. He was seized and sent to England, where he was executed for murder
about the year 1699. It has been supposed that he buried other large sums on the
American coast, and many attempts have been made to obtain them by digging in
various places.
Kirkland, Samuel, a distinguished missionary among the Indians,
was the son of the Rev. Mr. Kirkland of Norwich, Con. He was for
a time in Mr. Wheelock's school, but finished his education at the
New Jersey college, where he graduated in 1765. For more than
forty years, his attention was directed to the Oneida tribe of Indians
in New York. He died at Paris, New York, at his residence near
Oneida, March 1808, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
Knox, Henry, major general in the army of the United States, was
a native of Boston, born 25th July, 1750, and received his education at
the schools in that town. He had displayed something of his military
talents, as an officer of militia, antecedent to the revolution, and in
consequence of his entering the army at the commencement of hos
tilities, was placed at the head of the artillery, in which station he
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 559
served during the whole war with the highest reputation, for valor,
talents, and activity, arid rendered the most essential services to the
country. In 1785, he was appointed secretary of war, and enjoyed
the same office after the organization of the present government, till
1784, when he resigned and retired to private life. He settled at
Thomastown, in Maine, where he died October 25, 1806.
_ • x? j Lincoln, Benjamin, a major gen-
/0/2rl^'t-is>sr&7/ eral in tlle army of llle American
<£7S^g< f/ZCl/C/fi/' ' — ¦¦» Revolution, was born at Hingham,
i n mi i».«.«miuw.u!iMi*iiB> Mass. May, 1749, and was bred a
Q_ / farmer. In 1776 he was appointed
Facsimile of B.Lincoln's hand writing. a brigadier, and soon after, major
general in the American army. He took the command of the Ameri
can army in the Southern States. Having retired to Charleston, S.
C. he was compelled to capitulate May 1780. At the siege of York-
town he commanded a central division, and shared largely the dan
gers and triumphs of the day. On the surrender of Cornwallis, he
was appointed to receive the submission of the royal army. In 1781
Congress appointed him secretary of the war department. After the
establishment of peace he returned to his native state, where in
1787 he was appointed to the command of the troops raised for the
suppression of Shay's Insurrection. He died in 1810.
Livingston, Philip, a distinguished member of the American Con
gress in 1776, a signer of the declaration of Independence, was born
at Albany 1716, and graduated at Yale College in 1737. He settled
in the city of New York and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits.
In 1759 he was elected to a seat in the provincial assembly, and was
chosen a member of the general Congress in 1774. He died June
12th 1778, while attending the session of Congress.
Livingston, William, L.L. D. governor of New Jersey, was born
in the city of New York about the year 1723, and graduated at Yale
College in 1741, and afterwards pursued the study of law. After filling
several important stations in New York, he removed to New Jersey,
and was a distinguished representative from that state in the Congress
of 1774. On the formation of the new constitution of New Jersey
in 1776, he was appointed the first governor, and was annually elected
to the office till his death in 1790. His writings evince a vigorous
mind and a refined taste. He died at his seat near Elizabethtown,
July 1790, aged sixtv seven years.
' Livingston, Robert R., .chancellor of New York, and minister of
the United States to France, was born in the city of New York. He
was a member of the first Congress, and was one of the committee
'which drew up the declaration of Independence. In 1780 he was
appointed Secretary of foreign affairs, and held the place till 1783.
He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution
of New York, and was appointed chancellor, in which capacity he
' administered the oath of office to Washington when he was inaugu
rated the first President. He was appointed minister to France in
560 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
1801, and while in that country, assisted Mr. Fulton by furnishing
means to enable him to pursue those experiments which resulted in
the discovery of a successful method of applying the steam engine
for navigation. He died Feb. 15th 1813.
Manly, John, a captain in the navy of the United States was a na
tive of Massachusetts, and born in 1733. He received a naval com
mission from Washington in 1775. Having the command of the
schooner Lee, in which he performed a hazardous cruise in Massa
chusetts Bay during a whole winter, the captures she made were
of immense value at the moment. An ordnance brig, which fell into
his hands, supplied the continental army with heavy pieces, mortars,
and working tools of which it was destitute. Being raised to the
command of the frigate Hancock of 22 guns, he captured the British
frigate Fox, which increased his reputation for bravery and skill.
Before he could return to port with his prize, he was captured by a
superior force, July 1777, and was carried to Halifax, where he was
long held a prisoner. In 1782 he was entrusted with the Hague
frigate with which he was driven on a sand bank at the back of Gua-
daloupe where he sustained a heavy fire from four line of battle ships
for three days, and finally escaped. He died at Boston in 1793, in
the sixtieth year of his age.
Mather, Increase, D. D., president of Harvard college, was born at
Dorchester, June 21st, 1639. He was graduated at the college, over
which he afterwards presided, in 1836. The next year he went to
England, and returned in 1671. He was settled in the North church,
Boston, in which he had before preached several years, in 1664, and
continued there in the labors of the ministry sixty-two years, with great
reputation for talents and piety. He was an indefatigable student, and
gave the world a great number of useful publications on religion, poli
tics, history, and philosophy.
ff »f- &y fc/i-j, ywu-Ca km v-h cuM-isiJa • MjvcoJj D. D., F.R. S., a cel-
gifo u.^ cf. &vyd& iiiSnu^&^f tifrciUy! ebrated minister and
/? it ^ s>vi ~ (P t> -a writer, was a native
L-O&TH TrlMWrf. of Boston, born Feb.
Foe simile of the hand writing of Cotton Mather. j2 1663. He was
distinguished for his early piety, and was ordained colleague with his
father, in 1684. He was a man of unequalled industry, vast learning,
and expansive benevolence, also distinguished for his credulity, pedan
try and want of judgment. No person in America had so large a
library, or had read so many books, or had retained so much of what
he had read. So precious did he consider his time, that, to prevent
visits of unnecessary length, he wrote over his study door ' be short.'
He understood Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Iroquois, and wrote
in them all. By his diary, it appears that in one year he kept sixty
fasts and twenty vigils, and published fourteen books, besides dis
charging the duties of his pastoral office. His publications amount in
number to three hundred and eighty-two. His great work was his
Magnali Christi Americana, or Ecclesiastical history of New England,
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 561
from its founding to the year 1698. His style abounds with puerilities.
puns, and strange conceits, and he makes a great display of learning,
In his Magnalia he has saved numerous and important facts from obli
vion. In the work are contained biographical accounts of many of
the first principal settlers. He died in 1728.
Mayhew, Thomas, governor of Martha's Vineyard, was distinguished
for his regard for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Indians. He died
in 1681. A number of his descendants, of his name, were distinguished for
their ministerial labors among the Indians on Martha's Vineyard.
Miles, John, minister of the first Baptist church in Massachusetts, was
settled near Swansea, in South Wales, from 1649, till his ejectment in 1G62.
He soon came to this country and formed a church at Rehoboth, Mass. in
1663. The legislature of Plymouth colony granted to this Baptist church
in 1667, the town of Svvansey, to which place they removed.
Mills, Samuel J, an American clergyman, distinguished for his
piety and zeal in promoting the missionary cause. He died in 1818,
on his return from Africa, whither he had gone as an agent of the
American Colonization Society.
Montgomery ^Richard, a major general in the army of the American
revolution, was a native of Ireland, and born 1737. He possessed a
fine genius, and enjoyed the advantages of an excellent education.
He entered the British army, and fought with Wolfe at the battle of
Quebec, in 1759. After his return to England he left his regiment and
came to the colony of New York, where he settled. In 1775 he was
appointed a general in the northern army, and on the indisposition of
general Schuyler received the chief command, and soon reduced fort
Chamblee, and took St. John's and Montreal. Uniting with colonel
Arnold at Quebec, they assaulted that city on the 31st of December,
where he fell, in the 39th year of his age. He wa;s an officer of
great bravery, judiciousness, and vigor. An elegant monument was
greeted to his memory by congress, in front of St. Paul's church, New
York. Morgan, Daniel, brigadier general in the revolutionary war, was a
native of New Jersey, but removed in early life to Virginia. Having
neither the advantages of wealth, nor of a good education, he was
dependent for his support on hard labor. He commanded a company
in the army which general Arnold led through the wilderness to
Quebec. In 1781 he fought the famous battle of the Cowpens, in
which he defeated the British force under colonel Tarleton. He died
in Winchester, Virginia, in 1799.
Morris, Lewis, governor of New Jersey, was, for several years, chief
justice of New York. He resided most of his life in New Jersey.
In 1738 he was appointed the first governor of New Jersey as a sepa
rate province from New York. He was a man of letters, and though
a little whimsical in his temper, was grave in his manners, and of a
most penetrating mind. He died in 1746.
Morris, Governeur, an eminent political character, was a descend
ant from the distinguished family of that name, of Morrisania, New
York. He was born in 1751, and graduated at the college at New
York in 1768. He was called into public life at an early age, by
562 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
being elected a member of the provincial legislature of New York, in
1775. In 1792 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France,
and was afterwards a senator in congress. He died at his seat in
Westchester. N. Y„ November, 1816, aged sixty-five.
Morion, Nathaniel, secretary of
0Wfr*W*0iW^ eXtntet^ndTormryyeaS
Facsimile of Nathaniel Morton's signature, employed in the public Service. He
wrote in 1680 a brief ecclesiastical history of the church at Plymouth,
in the records of the church, which is preserved by Hazard ; and
New England's Memorial, or a brief relation of the most memorable
and remarkable passages of the providence of God, manifested to the
planters of New England, 4to, 1669. This work, which is confined
very much to Plymouth colony, was compiled principally from manu
scripts of his uncle, William Bradford, extending from 1620 to 1646,
and he had access also to the journals of Edward Winslow. This
work has been of great service to succeeding historians.
Newell, Samuel, American missionary at Bombay, was graduated at
Harvard College, in 1807. He was a member of the first mission
sent to the East by the American Board of Foreign Missions, and
embarked for Calcutta in 1812. He died at Bombay in 1821. His
wife, Mrs. Harriet Newell, celebrated for her devotion to the same
cause, died at the Isle of France.
Occum, Sampson, an Indian preacher of the Mohegan tribe in Connecticut, em
braced Christianity at the age of eighteen, and was educated by the Rev. Dr. Wheel
ock for the ministry. He was ordained in 1759, and went as missionary to various
tribes of Indians, particularly to the Six Nations. In 1765, or 1766, he accompanied
the Rev. Mr. Wnittaker to London, to solicit donations to Mr. Wheelock's school.
About the year 1786 he removed to the neighborhood of Oneida, in New York.
Tor the last years of his life, he resided with the Indians at New Stockbridge. He
•died, July, 1792, aged sixty-nine years. He wrote an account of the Montauk In
dians, which is preserved in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Osgood, Samuel, post master general of the United States, was born at Andover,
Mass., in 1748, and was educated at Harvard College. He served in various offices,
and in 1785 was appointed by congress the first commissioner of the treasury. He
was post master general for a number of years, and afterwards supervisor for the
state of New York. He became, in 1803, naval officer for the port of New York,
and held the place till near the close of his life, in 1812. He was a man of piety
and literature, and published several volumes on religious subjects.
Otis, James, a distinguished patriot and statesman, was the son of the Hon.
James Otis, of Barnstable, Mass. and was graduated at Harvard college, in
1743. He devoted himself to the study of the law and rose to the highest
distinction. He was a staunch defender of the rights of the colonies against
the partizans of the British ministry. In 1769, he was attacked and severely
wounded by some of them. From this time he was subjected to fits of insan
ity. He survived till 1783, when he was killed by lightning.
Paine, Robert Treat, LL. D., one of the signers of the declaration of In
dependence, was born at Boston in 1731, and was graduated at Harvard col
lege in 1749. He held various public offices, and died in Boston in 1814.
He was an eminent lawyer, well versed in literature, and eminently upright.
His son of the same name, a poet of some celebrity, was born at Taunton,
Mass. in 1773, and graduated at Harvard college with a high reputation for
genius. He died in 1811 in impoverished circumstances.
Parsons, Samuel H. a general in the revolutionary army, was the son of
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 563
the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, of Newburyport, Mass., and was graduated at
Harvard college in 1750. He soon after established himself as a lawyer in
Connecticut, and rose to distinction. At the commencement of the revolu
tion he entered the army as a lieutenant colonel. After the close of the war,
he was appointed one of the commissioners to form a treaty with the Indians
northwest of the Ohio; and, on the establishment of a territorial government
over that district, was appointed the first judge. He removed to Marietta,
and was drowned near Pittsburg, in November, 1789.
Parsons, Theophilus, LL. L>., chief justice of the supreme court of Massa
chusetts, was born at Byfield, in that State, in 1750, and graduated at Har
vard college in 1769. After qualifying himself for the bar he settled at Fal
mouth, now Portland, Maine, but alter the destruction of that place by the
British, in 1776, he removed to Newburyport, Mass. In 1800, he removed
to Boston, and in 1806, was appointed chiefiustice of the State, and contin
ued in that station till his death in 1813. He is considered by many, as one
of the greatest men which this country has produced.
Patterson, William,, governor of New Jersey, was a native of that State,
and was graduated at Princeton, in 1763. His superior talents procured him
several important offices, both from his native State and from the United
States, In 1790, he was chosen governor of New Jersey ; and sometime
after was appointed judge of the supreme court of the United States, in which
office he continued till his death in 1806.
PeppereU, Sir William, lieutenant general in his majesty's service, was
born in Maine, (then in the State of Massachusetts,) and was bred a merchant.
About 1727, he was chosen one of his majesty's council, and was annually re
elected thirty-two years till his death. He rose to the highest military hon
ors his country could bestow upon him. He was entrusted with the success
ful expedition against Louisburg, in 1745. The king, in reward of his servi
ces, conferred upon him the dignity of a baronet, an honor, never before, nor
since, conferred on a native of New England. He died at his seat in Kittery,
Maine, 1759* aged sixty-three years.
Peters, Hugh, minister of Salem, Mass. was born at Fowey, in Cornwall,
in 1599, and was educated at Cambridge. He was licensed by the bishop of
London, and preached in that city with great popularity and success. Meet
ing with some trouble on account of his non-conformity, he went to Holland,
and from thence to New England, where he arrived in 1635. He took charge
of the church at Salem ; but did not however confine his attention to religions
concerns, as he took an active interest in mercantile and civil affairs. Being
considered as a suitable person to send to England to procure an alteration in
the laws of exercise and trade, he was, with Mr. Welde and Mr. Hibbins,
sent over by the general court in 1641. He never returned to America.
During the civil wars in England, he supported the cause of the parliament,
and contributed much aid to it by his preaching. After the restoration of
monarchy, he was tried for conspiring with Cromwell and compassing the
king's death, and was executed, October 16th, 1660, aged sixty-one years.
He was charged by his enemies with great vices ; but it is not probable that
the charges were well founded.
Phillips, John, LL. D. a distinguished friend of learning, was graduated at
Harvard college, Mass. in 1735, and for several years held a seat in the council
of New Hampshire. In 1778, he, in conjunction with Samuel Phillips, Esq.
his brother, founded an academy at Andover, Mass. by liberal endowments,
and eleven years after he added to its funds a further bequest of $20,000.
He also, in 1781, founded an academy at Exeter, by a donation of 15,000/.
and at his death bequeathed the whole of his remaining estate to those insti
tutions. Phips, Sir William, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Pe-
maquid, in Maine, in 1650, of obscure parents, and was one of the
youngest of twenty-six children his mother bore. He followed the
seas, and being sent out by the Duke of Albemarle, he recovered
564 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
from a Spanish wreck, 300,000 pounds. For this success he was
knighted by the king, and appointed high sheriff of New England.
In 1690, he captured Port Royal. He died in 1695.
Pike, Zcbulon Montgomery, a brigadier general of the army of the
United States, was born at Lamberton, New Jersey, 1779. In 1805,
he was employed to explore the Mississippi. In 1813, he was em
ployed a brigadier general. He was killed in an assault on York, Up
per Canada, in April of the same year.
Preble, Edward, commodore in the American navy, son of Gen.
Preble, was born in Falmouth, now Portland, Maine, in 1761. About
the year 1779, he entered the navy as a midshipman. In 1803, he
was appointed commodore, with a squadron of seven sail to act
against the Barbary states. By his skillful and vigorous exertions, he
soon procured a peace from the emperor of Morocco, and repeatedly
attacked Tripoli with considerable success. The Pope declared he
had done more towards humbling the anti-christian barbarians on that
coast, than all the Christian states of Europe had ever done. He
died Aug. 1807, in the forty-sixth year of his age.
Prince, Thomas, minister in Boston, and a descendant of Thomas
Prince, governor of Plymouth Colony, was a native of Middleborough.
He graduated at Harvard College in 1707, and after studying theol
ogy he visited England, and preached at Combs, where he was
invited to sejtle, but he preferred to return to America. He published
a valuable Chronological history of New England, and made large
collections for a civil and religious history of it in manuscripts and
books, many of which unhappily were destroyed during the war of
the revolution. Putnam, Israel, ma-
/ j0r general in the army
'ttjw^^ttisrit SiS
Massachusetts, the 7th
Fac simile of Israel Putnam's hand writing. of January, 1718. He
possessed a mind of great vigour, but had not the advantages of a
thorough education. In 1739 he removed to Pomfret, Connecticut,
and employed himself in agriculture. He there gave an example of
the singular courage, which characterized him as a military officer, by
descending at the imminent hazard of his life into a cavern, and shoot
ing a wolf which he and his neighbours had driven thither. During
the war of 1755 with the French, he commanded a company, and
was engaged in several contests with the enemy.in which he displayed
the most adventurous bravery and great skill. Soon after the battle
at Lexington he joined the army at Cambridge at the head of a regi
ment, and was not long after appointed major-general, and signalized
himself at the battle of Bunker's Hill. On the arrival of general
Washington he was given the command of the reserve. In 1776 he
was despatched to New York to complete its fortification begun by
general Lee, and afterwards sent to Philadelphia to fortify that city.
During the winter of 1777 he was stationed with a small body at
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 565
General Putnam.
Princeton, and in the spring was appointed to a separate command
at the Highlands, where he continuetLmost of the time till the close
of 1779, when he was seized with a paralytic affection, and disqual
ified for further service. He died the 29th of May, 1790.
Quincy, Edmund, a judge of the superior court of Massachusetts,
was born at Braintree, 1681. He was graduated at Harvard College
in 1699, and afterwards sustained several important offices, the duties
of which he discharged with ability and faithfulness. Being sent as
agent to London for the purpose of settling the boundary line between
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he died in that city of the small
pox, in Feb. 1738, in the 57th year of his age. The General Court
caused a monument to be erected to his memory in Bunhill fields.
Quincy, Joseph, a distinguished patriot, was graduated at Harvard
College in 1763, and afterwards became an eminent councillor at law
in Boston. He was distinguished for his firmness and zeal in oppo
sing the arbitrary proceedings and claims of the British parliament.
In 1774, he sailed for England at the request of several of his fellow
patriots, to promote the interests of America. He died on his return
on the 25th of April, 1775, the day the vessel arrived in the harbor
of Cape Ann.
Randolph, Edward, an agent sent from Great Britain to ascertain the
state of the New England colonies, and who gave them great trouble
by his hostility to their interests. He came to Boston in 1676, and
was the principal means of depriving Massachusetts of her charter.
He was a conspicuous character during the government of sir Ed
mund Andross, and was imprisoned with him in 1689 as a traitor.
He was, however, released, and went to the West Indies, where he
died. He was violent in his prejudices, arbitrary, unjust, and impla
cable in enmity to the colonies.
48
566 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Reeve, Tapping, LL. D. chief justice of Connecticut, was born at
Brookhaven, Long Island, and graduated at Princeton College in
1763. He established himself as a lawyer in Litchfield, Hon. and
soon became one of the most eminent in his profession. He founded
the law school, formerly at Litchfield, and for nearly thirty years was
the principal instructor in that institution.
Robinson, John, minister of the English church in Holland, to which
the first settlers of New England belonged, was born in Great Brit
ain in 1575, and educated at Cambridge. In 1602 he became pastor
of a dissenting congregation, and in consequence of persecution,
went with them to Leyden, in Holland. His talents and reputation
were such, that in 1613, he held a public disputation with Episcopius,
the successor of Arminius in the University of Leyden. A part of
his church emigrated to Plymouth in 1620, and it was his intention to
follow them with the remainder, but this was prevented by his sudden
death in March, 1625.
Romeyn, Theodoricus, D. D., professor of ftheology in the Reformed Dutch
Church, was born at Hackensack, New Jersey, 1744, and was educated at Princeton
College. He settled in the ministry in his native town, where he continued till
1784, when he removed to Schenectady, N. Y., where he accepted the care of a
church. It was chiefly by his efforts, that Union College was instituted at Schenec
tady. He died in 1804.
Schuyler, Peter, mayor of Albany, New York, and distinguished for his patriotism
and popularity with the Indians. In the year 1691, with a party of English and
Mohawks, he attacked the French at the north end of lake Champlain, and defeated
them. He had great influence with the five Indian nations, and in 1710 went to
England with five of their chiefs, for the purpose of exciting the government to expel
the French from Canada.
Schuyler, Philip, major general in the army of the American revolution, was ap
pointed to that office in 1775. In consequence of the evacuation of Ticonderoga by
St. Clair, he unreasonably fell under some suspicion, and was superseded in the chief
command by general Gates. He was a member of congress previous to the estab
lishment of the present constitution, and afterwards twice a senator. He died at
Albany in 1804, in his seventy-third year. He possessed a mind of great vigor and
enterprise, and was characterized by integrity and amiableness.
Sergeant, John, missionary among the Indians, was born at Newark, New Jersey,
and was graduated at Yale College, where he was afterwards taken as a tutor for four
years. In 1734 he went to Stockbridge, in Massachusetts, and Degan to preach to
the Indians at that place, and continued his labors till his death in 1 749, in the forty-
ninth year of his age. With great labor he translated the whole of the New Testa
ment, excepting the Revelations, into the Indian tongue, and several parts of the Old
Testament. The Stockbridge Indians were many years under the care of his son,
Rev. John Sergeant, at New Stockbridge, in the state of New York.
Seahury, Samuel, D. D., first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States,
was born in Groton, Conn, in 1728, and was graduated at Yale College in 1751.
He went to Scotland, and studied theology, and in 1753 obtained orders in London.
After returning to America he settled in New London, Connecticut, where his father
had preached. In 1784 he went to England to obtain consecration as bishop of that
state. Not succeeding in England, he went to Scotland, and was consecrated by
three non-juring bishops. Returning to New London, he discharged the duties of
his office with ability, till his death in 1796.
Sedgwick, Theodore, LL. D., judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, was
born in Hartford, Conn., in 1746, and was educated at Yale College. He first
practised law in Great Barrington, then in Sheffield, and in 1785 removed to Stock-
bridge, all in the same county. He rendered important services in the suppression of
Shay's insurrection, in the western counties of Massachusetts. In 1796 he was
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 567
chosen a senator of the United States, and also filled various public offices. He died
at Boston, January, 1813, from whence his remains were removod to Stockbridge,
Mass. Scimll, Samuel, chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts, was born in
England in 1652, and came with his father to America, in 1661. He was graduated
at Harvard College in 1671, was made chief justice in 1718, and died in Jan., 1730.
He was distinguished for his learning and piety. He left behind him a diary in three
volumes, which embraces about forty years.
Scwall, Samuel, LL. D., chief justice of Massachusetts, was born at Boston in
1757, graduated at Harvard College in 1776, and devoted himself to the study of the
law, and soon became eminent in this profession. He was elected a member of con
gress in 1797, and also served in other important offices. He died suddenly at Wis-
cassetin Maine, June, 1814.
Shepard, Thomas, minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was born
in England in 1605, and was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge.
He entered the ministry, but his puritan principles exposing him
to persecution, he came to New England in 1635. The next year he
formed and took charge of a church in Cambridge, Mass., where he
continued till his death, in 1649, aged forty-four years. He was
distinguished for his humility and piety, and as a writer on religious
subjects, he was one of the most distinguished men of his times.
Sherman, Roger, a senator of the United States, was born at New
ton, Mass., in 1724, and by the force of his genius and industry, rose
to distinction as a lawyer and statesman, without the advantages of a
collegiate education. In 1761 he removed to New Haven, Conn., and
was appointed a judge of the superior court, which office he held for
twenty-three years. He was a member of congress in 1774, and was
one of the committee appointed to draw up the Declaration of Inde
pendence in 1776, and signed that instrument. This able statesman,
upright judge, and sincere Christian, died in 1793.
Shirley, William, governor of Massachusetts, was an Englishman
by birth, and educated a lawyer. He came to Boston about the year
1733, and employed himself in the profession till 1741, when he was
appointed governor. In 1755 he was appointed commander-in-chief
of the British forces in America, and proceeded to Oswego on an ex
pedition against Niagara, but was the next year superseded by Aber-
crombie. He was soon after recalled from Massachusetts to Eng
land, and appointed governor of the Bahama islands. In 1770 he re
turned to Massachusetts, and resided at Roxbury till his death the
next year. He possessed a strong mind, great firmness, diligence,
and address, and rendered many important services to the colony.
Smalley, John, D.D. was born at Lebanon Con. 1734, and gradu
ated at Vale College in 1756. He studied theology with Dr. Bella
my, and was ordained pastor of a church in Berlin, Con. in 1758,
where he labored with great fidelity and success for nearly sixty
years. He was considered an eminent divine ; his sermons on Natu
ral and Moral Inability have been repeatedly published in Europe.
He died in June 1S20.
Smith, William, chief justice of New York, was the son ot Wil
liam Smith, an eminent lawyer of new York : he graduated at Yale
College in 1745. He was educated a lawyer, and was one of the
568 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
first of his time in America. In 1763 he was appointed a judge of
the supreme court, and was afterwards chief justice. When the re
volution commenced, he adhered to the royal government, and in
1781 was one of Clinton's deputies for receiving acknowledgments
of allegiance from the colonists. He was afterwards chief justice
of Canada. He published an excellent history of New- York, from
its first settlement until 1732, 4to. London, 1757.
Smith, Samuel, author of a History of New Jersey, from its settle
ment to 1721 was a resident of Burlington, New Jersey. His his
tory, which is considered a judicious and faithful compilation, was
published in 1765, 8vo. He died at Burlington 1776.
Standish, Myles, the first mili
tary commander of Plymouth,
New , England, was born at
Lancashire, about the year
15^4. After having served
Foe simile of Myles Standish's hand writing. some time in the army in the
Netherlands, he settled at Leyden, with Mr. Robinson's congrega
tion, and accompanied them to Plymouth in 1620. He was there
chosen captain, or chief military commander, and rendered the most
important services to the colony, in the wars with the Indians. Many
of his exploits were peculiarly daring, and his escapes extraordinary.
ST s * John, Stark,
~~~ '^-f ^* myoftheKo-
~~~~^^—S ~~ volution was a
Fac simile of the hand writing of John stark. native of Lon
donderry New Hampshire, born Aug. 1728. He commanded a com
pany of rangers in the French war, and on the opening of the Revo
lution, was placed at the head of the New Hampshire troops, and
rendered important aid at the battle of Bunker's HilL On the in
vasion of Burgoyne in 1777, he distinguished himself by his bravery
and skill at the battle of Bennington, by defeating Colonel Baum.
He died May 9th, 1822, in the ninety fourth year of his age.
Stiles, Ezra, president of Yale College, was born at North Haven,
Con. 1727, and graduated at Yale in 1746. After being a tutor at
this institution, he studied theology, and afterwards law. In 1755
he settled at Newport Rhode Island, as a preacher, and continued
there till his congregation was broken up by the Revolutionary war
in 1776. In July 1778 he entered upon the duties of the presidency
of Yale College, and remained in that station till his death in 1795,
in the 68th year of his age. He was one of the most learned men
this country has ever produced. He had a thorough knowledge of
the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, and made considerable
progress in the oriental.
He published a History of the three judges of Charles I., Whal
ley, Goffe and Dixwell, 12 mo. 1795. He left an unfinished ecclesi-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 569
astical history of New England, and more than forty volumes of
manuscripts. Stockton, Richard, a signer of the declaration of Independence
from New Jersey, was graduated at Princeton College in 1748 in
the first class, and was for many years a distinguished patron of that
Seminary. He devoted himself to the law, and soon rose to unri
valled reputation, refusing to engage in any cause, which he knew to
be unjust. He filled various public offices, and was an exemplary
christian. He died at Princeton in 1781.
Stoddard, Solomon, minister of Northampton, Mass., was born at
Boston, in 1643, and graduated at Harvard college in 1662. He
was afterwards a fellow of that institution. In 1672 he was settled
at Northampton, where he preached with little interruption till his
death in 1729. He possessed extensive learning, was particularly
familiar with religious controversies, and an acute disputant on such
subjects. He obtained for himself great notoriety in the churches
of New England by his publications in controversy with Dr. Increase
Mather, in which he taught that all baptised persons not scandalous
in their lives, might, partake of the Lord's Supper, and was the in
strument of extensively introducing that custom.
Stone, Samuel, one of the first ministers of Hartford, Con., was a
native of England, and was educated at the university of Cambridge.
To escape persecution he came to this country with Mr. Cotton and
Mr. Hooker, and was settled as an assistant of the latter at Cambridge,
October 11, 1633. He removed with him in 1636 to Hartford, where
he died, July 20, 1663. While he was regarded as one of the most
accurate and acute disputants of his day, he was also celebrated for
his wit, pleasantry, and good humor. Being eminently pious, he
abounded in fastings and prayer, and was a most strict observer of
the Christian sabbath. He published ' a congregational church is a
catholic visible church,' &c. London, 1652. In this work, which is a
curious specimen of logic, he endeavors to demolish the system of a
national, political church. He left in manuscript a confutation of the
antimonians; and a body of divinity. The latter was so much es
teemed as to be often transcribed by theological students.
Sullivan, John, LL. D. major general in the American revolutionary army,
was born at Berwick, Maine, and was of Irish descent. In 1772, having es
tablished himself as a lawyer in New Hampshire, he received the commis
sion of major in the militia, and in 1775, was appointed a brigadier general,
and during the campaign commanded on Winter Hill. In 1779, he conduct
ed an expedition against the Six Nation Indians m New York, and having
defeated them near Seneca lake, lajd waste their country. He was president
of New Hampshire in 1786, 1787, and 1789. He died at his residence in
Durham, Jan. 1795, in the fifty-first year of his age.
Sullivan. James, LL. D. governor of Massachusetts, brother of the prece-
dins was born in 1744, and was educated by his father. He was destined lor
the military life, but the fracture of a limb in his early years induced him to
aDDlv the vigorous powers of his mind to the study of the law. On the ap
proach of the Revolution, he took an active part on the side of his country.
Soon after his second election to the office of governor, his health failed him
48*
570 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and he died Dec- 10th, 1808, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Amidst the
constant pressure of business he found time for the pursuits of literature
and science, and was the author of several works.
Swift, Zephaniah, LL. D. chief justice of Connecticut, was graduated at
Yale college in 1778, established himself as a lawyer at Windham in that
State. He was early elected to a seat in congress, and in 1800, was secre
tary to Ellsworth, Davie, and Murray, in their mission to France. He pub
lished a digest of the laws of Connecticut in 2 vols, on the model of Black-
stone, a work of great learning and reputation. He died at Warren, Ohio,
Oct. 37th, 1823, in the 65th year of his age.
Thomas, John, a major general in the American army, served in the wars
against the French and Indians with reputation. In 1775, he was appointed
by congress a brigadier general, and during the siege of Boston he command
ed a division of the provincial troops at Roxbury. In the following year he
was appointed major general, and after the death of Montgomery was entrust
ed with the command in Canada. He joined the army before Quebec on the
first of May, but soon found it necessary to raise the siege and commence his
retreat. He died of the small pox at Chamblee, May 30, 1776. On his death
the command devolved for a few days on Arnold, and then on general Sulli
van. He was a man of sound judgment and fixed courage, who was beloved
by his soldiers and amiable in the relations of private life.
Thompson, Benjamin, Count Rumford, was born in New Hampshire, became
a colonel in the British army, and received the honor of knighthood. He was
a lieutenant general in the Bavarian service, and a Count of the Holy Roman
Empire, apd also a member of many scientific societies, and was celebrated
for his rirechanical inventions and philosophical discoveries. He died near
Paris in 1814.
Thornton, Matthew, signer of the declaration of American Independence,
was a native of Ireland, and came to America at an early age. He first set
tled in the eastern part of New Hampshire. He held various public offices,
and was remarkable for his uncommon powers of mind ; his memory was
surprisingly tenacious. He died at Newburyport in 1803, aged 88 years.
Trumbull, Jon
athan, governor
of Connecticut,
was born at Leb-
, anon.Ct. in 1710,
and graduated at
Harvard college
in 1727. He at
first devoted him
self to theology,
afterwards turned
his attention to
law, and became
Fac simile of Jonathan TrumbulVs hand writing. eminent in the pro
fession. He was chosen governor in 1769, and was annually elected till
1783, when he resigned, having been occupied for fifty years without inter
ruption in public employments, and having rendered during eight years war
the most important services to his country. He died Aug. 1785. He enjoy
ed the highest confidence of Washington, and was pronounced by him to be
among the first of patriots. His son of the same name was also governor of
Connecticut, and held important stations both in the state and national gov
ernments and distinguished for his talents and virtues. He was elected in
1798 and continued in his office till his death in 1808, in the seventieth year
of his age.
Truxton, Thomas, a naval commander, was born on Long Island, N. Y. in
1755. He commanded a vessel as early as 1775, and during the Revolution
ary war, annoyed the enemy by his depredations on their commerce. In
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 571
1794, he was appointed to the command of the frigate Constellation. Being
sent to protect the American commerce in the West Indies, he captured the
t rench frigate L Insurgente, though of superior force, Feb. 9th, 1799. In
February ot the next year, he obtained a victory over the La Vengeance of
54 guns and 500 men, though she afterwards escaped him. He died at Phil
adelphia, May, 1822.
Vane, Sir Henry, governor of Massachusetts, was born in England,
and educated at Oxford. He then went to Geneva, where he became
a republican, and found arguments against the established church.
On his return to London, as his non-conformity displeased the bishop,
he came to New England in the beginning of 1635. In the next
year, though he was only twenty-four years of age, he was chosen
governor ; but attaching himself to the party of Mrs. Hutchinson, he
was in 1637 superseded by governor Winthrop. He soon returned to
England, where he joined the party against the king, though he was
opposed to the usurpation of Cromwell. After the restoration, he was
tried for high treason, and beheaded, June 14, 1662, aged fifty years.
Hume, in his history of England, represents his conduct at his execu
tion, in a manner which renders him an object of admiration.
Ward, Artemas, the first major-general in the army of the American
revolution, was graduated at Harvard College in 1748. He served in
the army during the French war. He was chosen a member of con
gress in 1774, and in 1775 appointed the first major general. He
resigned his commission in 1776, and was elected to a seat in congress
both before and after the adoption of the present constitution. He was
greatly esteemed for his integrity, independence, and fidelity. He
died at Shrewsbury in 1800.
Warren, Joseph, a major general in the American army, was born
in Roxbury, Mass., in 1740, and was graduated at Harvard College in
1759. He studied medicine, and rose to eminence in this profession.
He distinguished himself at an early period of the revolution, by a
bold and zealous opposition to the arbitrary measures of the British
government. Four days previously to the battle of Bunker Hill, he
received his commission of major general. He was the first victim of
rank that fell in the struggle with Great Britain.
Warren, Mercy, was the wife of general James Warren, and
daughter of the Hon. James Otis, of Barnstable, Mass. Her connec
tion with these distinguished persons, was the means of leading her
into an acquaintance and correspondence with several leading revolu
tionary characters. The advantages she thus enjoyed, led her to write
a " History of the American Revolution," which was published in 3
volumes 8vo, Boston, 1805. She died in Plymouth, October, 1814.
Wentworth, Benning, governor of New Hampshire, was a native of
that state, and graduated at Harvard College in 1715. He resided at
Portsmouth, and employed himself in merchandize. After having a
seat both in the house of representatives and in the council, he was,
in 1741, when that colony obtained a distinct government, appointed
its governor, and held the office nearly twenty years. He was super
seded in 1767, and died in 1770, in b"is seventy-fifth year.
Wheelock, Eleazer, D. D., first president of Dartmouth College, was
572 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
graduated at Yale College, in 1733. He was settled at Lebanon,.
Conn, where he formed a school for the instruction of Indian youth for
missionaries. He removed to Hanover, N. H., and founded Dartmouth
College, 1770. He died in 1774, aged sixty-eight.
Whipple, William, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a delegate
from New Hampshire. In 1777 he was appointed a brigadier general of the troops of
that state. He was a member of the executive council, and a judge of the supreme
court. He died at Portsmouth, November, 1785.
/ "X Whitney, Eli, the celebrated inventor of
C^C^ y » the cotton gin, was born at Westborough,
/^ //fc/ — lCs> / y ^ass ' December 8t!li 1765, and graduated
L/P l^WTfA/iy'' ^y at Yale c°"ege in 1792. While pursuing
^"^ CS'-s*' ^__~~~s 'he study of law in Georgia, he resided with
^ the widow of general Greene, and it was at
Facsimile of Eli Whitney's handwriting. tuja time that he invented the cotton gin,
a machine for separating the seed from the cotton. In 1798 he contracted with
tho United States to furnish, for 8134,000, ten thousand stand of arms, which he
completed in ten years. He next contracted for fifteen thousand stand of arms.
He died, January 8th, 1825, aged fifty-nine.
Fac simile of Roger Williams' hand writing.
Williams, Roger, the founder of Rhode Island, was born in Wales
in 1599. After being for some time a minister in the Church of
England, his non-conformity induced him to seek religious liberty in
America. He died in April, K383. His memory is deserving of last
ing honor, for the liberty of conscience, and generous toleration which
he established.
Williams, Ephraim, fpunder of Williams College, Massachusetts,
was a native of Newton, in that state. Possessing superior military
talents, he was entrusted with the command of the line of the Massa
chusetts forts on the west side of Connecticut river, during the French
war. At this period, he resided chiefly at Ho6sic fort, in the limits
of the present town of Adams, Mass. In 1755 he received the com
mand of a regiment, and joined Gen. Johnson to the northward of
Albany. He was killed in an ambuscade of the enemy on the 8th of
September. He gave his property for the establishment of a free
school in the town now called Williamstown, on condition that it
should bear that name.
Williams, Samuel, LL. D. professor in Harvard College, was born
at Waltham, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard college in
1761. He was ordained minister of Bradford, November 20th, 1765,
where he continued until his appointment as professor of mathemat
ics and natural philosophy. After holding that office from 1780 to
1788, he resigned and removed, to Rutland, Vermont, where he resi
ded during the remainder of his life. He was a fellow of the Amer-
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
573
ican Academy, of the American Philosophical Society, and of the
Meteorological Society of Manchester, and published several astro
nomical and other papers in the scientific journals. His principal work
was the Natural and Civil History of Vermont, originally published
in 1 vol. 8vo. 1794, and afterwards continued and published in 2 vols.
Winchester, Elhanan, an itinerant preacher of the doctrine of res
toration, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1751. Without
an academical education he commenced preaching, and was the first
minister of the baptist church in Newton. In 1778 he was a minis
ter on Pedee river in South Carolina, zealously teaching the Calvin
istic doctrines, as explained by Dr. Gill. In the following year his
labors were very useful among the negroes. In 1781 he became a
preacher of universal salvation in Philadelphia, where he remained
several years. He afterwards endeavored to propagate his sentiments
in various parts of America and England. He died at Hartford,
Connecticut, in April, 1797, in the forty-sixth year of his age.
m
Winslow, Edward, governor of Plymouth colony, was bom in
1594, in Worcestershire, and came to this country with the first set
tlers of New England in 1620. Possessing great activity and reso
lution, he was eminently useful. He went repeatedly to England as
an agent for the colony. In 1633 he was chosen governor in the
place of Mr. Bradford, and again in 1636 and 1644. He exerted his
influence in England to form the society for propagating the gospel
among the Indians, which was incorporated in 1649. In 1643, he
was appointed a commissioner of the United Colonies;, and in 1655,
a commissioner to superintend the expedition against the Spaniards
574
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
in the West Indies, ancl died near Jamaica, May 8th, 1655, in the
sixty first year of his age. He was the first man married in New
England, and married Mrs. White, the mother of the first English
child born here.
Winslow, Josiah, governor of Plymouth, the son of the preceding,
was chosen governor in 1673, and was continued in this office till
1680. In Philip's War he Was commander of the Plymouth forces.
He died at Marshfield in 1680 in the 52d year of his age.: His grand
son, John Winslow, was a major general in the British service in sev
eral expeditions to Kennebec, Nova Scotia, and Crown Point. H
died at Hingham in, 1774, aged seventy-one years.
Winthrop, John, first governor of Massachusetts, was bom at Gro
ton, in Sufiblk, England, June 12th, 1587. He arrived with the first
colonists of Massachusetts at Salem, June 12th, 1630, having a com
mission as their governor. They soon after removed to Boston. He
was elected to the office of governor annually, with the exception of
6 or 7 years, till his death, in 1649, and rendered the most important
services to the colony by his judicious administration, his prudent ex
amples as a private man, and his wealth, which was very large, and
liberally devoted to the good of the publjc. He was eminent for up
rightness, prudence, piety, and public spirit. He kept a minute jour
nal of the events of the colony down to 1644.
Jv^W^d^^
Winthrop, John, governor of Connecticut, was the son of the pre
ceding, and his fine genius was improved by a liberal education- in the
universities of Cambridge and of Dublin, and by travel upon the con
tinent. He arrived at Boston in October, 1635, with authority to make
a settlement in Connecticut, and the next month despatched a number
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 575
of persons to build a fort at Saybrook,. He was chosen governor in
1657 and again in 1059, and from that period he was annually re
elected till his death, in 1661 he went to England and procured a
charter, incorporating Connecticut and New Haven into one colony.
He died at Boston, April 5, 1676, in the seventy first, year of his age!
He possessed a rich variety of knowledge, and was particularly
skilled in chemistry and physic. His valuable qualities as a gentle
man, a Christian, a philosopher, and a magistrate, secured to him uni
versal respect. He published some valuable communications in the
philosophical transactions.
Witherspoon, John, D. D. LL. D. president of the college at New
Jersey, was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1722, and was lineally
descended from John Knox. He was educated at Edinburgh, and be
came one of the most distinguished of Scotch preachers. He was
invited to remove to several distinguished cities in Europe, but at
length accepted the presidency of the college at Princeton, New Jer
sey, and came with his family to this place in 1768. The Revolu
tionary war dispersing the students, he was called to engage in civil
employments. In 1776, he was appointed a member of congress,
and retained a seat in that body till the end of the war. He was a
signer of the declaration of Independence. He died in 1794 in the
seventy-third year of his age. His works were published in 4 vols.
with an account of his life by Dr. Rogers.
Wolcott, Roger, governor of Connecticut, was born at Windsor, Con.
in 1679, was bred a weaver, and rose to distinction without even the
advantages of a common school education, during his early years.
He was commissary of the Connecticut forces in the expedition
against Canada in 1711. At the capture of Louisburg in 1745, he
bore the commission of major general. He died in 1767 in the eighty-
ninth year of his age. He had some poetical talent and wrote several
pieces, the chief of which is preserved in the collections of the Mas
sachusetts Hist. Soe. It describes with considerable minuteness the
Pequot war.
Wolcott, Oliver, LL. D. son of the preceding, a signer of the declaration
of Independence, and governor of Connecticut, was born at East Windsor,
Con. Dec. 1725. He was graduated at Yale college in 1747, and the next
year commanded a company of soldiers in the French war. Retiring from
the military service, he studied physic. In 1751, he was appointed sheriff of
Litchfield county, Con. and in 1774 a representative in congress. He was
chosen governor in 1796, and died the next year in the seventy-second year
of his age. His son Oliver Wolcott was born in 1760. In 1794, he suc
ceeded Gen. Hamilton as secretary of the treasury. In 1817, he was elected
governor of Connecticut, which,, office he held till 1827. He died in New
York in June, 1833, being the last survivor of the administration of Wash
ington. Wooster, David, major general in the Revolutionary war, was born at Strat
ford in 1711, and was graduated at Yale college in 1738. At the commence
ment of the war with Great Britain he was appointed to the chief command
of the troops in the service of Connecticut, and made a brigadier general in
the continental service ; but this commission he afterwards resigned. In
1776 he was appointed the first major general of the militia of his native
State. While opposing a detachment of British troops, whose object was to
576
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
destroy the public stores at Danbury, he was mortally wounded at Ridgefield
April 27, 1777, and died on the second of May.
Wyllys, George^ .governor of Connecticut in 1642, came from England to
Hartford in 1638; and died in 1044. He was eminently pious, and from a
*egpd to the purity of Divine worship, left a fine estate in the county of
Warwick, and encountered the hardships of a wilderness. — His descendants,
Hezekiah, George and Samuel Wyllys, unitedly in succession, held the office
of Secretary of Connecticut for ninety-eight years, commencing in 1712, and
ending in 1809. . /..
Governor Yale.
rFrom a painting in Yale College.]
Yale, Elihu, the principal benefactor of Yale college, was born in New
Haven, Connecticut, in 1648. He went to England while young, and about
the year 1678 to the East Indies, where he acquired a large fortune, both by
his industry, and by marriage to an Indian lady of wealth, and became gov
ernor of fort St. George. On his return to England he was chosen governor
of the East India company. He presented donations to the college then re
cently established in New Haven, in 1714, 1718, and 1721, amounting in all
to about 400 pounds sterling ; in commemoration of which, the college bears
his name. He died in Wales, July 8th, 1721.