USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Simsbury > A record and documentary history of Simsbury > Part 5
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Col. Rec. Vol. I P. 214
B. I.
P. 7
Col. Rec. Vol. II P. 60
S. T. R. B. I. to be their Deputy, which sd Inhabitants have betrusted the sd Pipkin with their Affayrs according to his best Skill and P. 2 judgment, according to the rules of righteous ness and equity also to defend the sd Towne case respecting ye Difference now impending and ariseing bettween Simsbury and Farmingtowne: which sd Farmingtowne men pounds our hogges and cattlert when they come into their fields: and yet yr said fields, contray to Law lyes unfenct: further ye sd Pipkin is to implore and de- sire the Generall Court for to grant us a further forberance of the country rate. Sam1 Wilcocksun is chosen by ye Inhabi- tants of Simsbury to enform the sd Pipkin with the above written, and of ye sallery the Town alowes, which is I1b; IOS: ye sd Wilcocksun is also to convey to ye sd Mr. Pipkin what Instruments he can produce, sufficient by writting and testimony". In accordance with these instructions Mr. Pitkin laid the matter before the General Court, where, at its October Session, the following action was taken:
Col. Rec. Vol. I P. 240
"Major Tallcott, Mr. James Richards and the SecretTy are by this Court desired to take the paynes to endeauour an accomodation between the people of Farmington and Sims- bury, in refference to the fenceing of their meadowes, and some course to prevent damage to their cattell and meadowes".
At its Session in May 1675, the Court again considered the matter, with the following result:
Ib.
P. 254
"Vpon the application of the inhabitants of Simsbury this Court haueing veiwed a grant of liberty by them made to Farmington May 9, '67 concerning the improvement of there land without fence, doe now see good reason to order that the people of Farmington shall haue that priuileds or liberty continued to them no longer than to the first of Aprill next."
S. T. R. B. I. P. 3
In accordance with a recommendation of the General Court the town, "Desembr ye last, 1674, Agreed yt ye rates this present year, shall be Raised on persons Stocks and land ac- cording to law."
Prior to this time, they had been exempt from the "Country rates" by order of the General Court. From the time of the first settlement of the Colony, the manufacture and
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sale of alcoholic liquors and wine have been controlled and regulated by law. Their sale and use have ever been con- sidered a proper subject of legislation, on the ground that personal rights must yield to the public welfare. The usual mode of regulating them, has been by special license. The first license for this purpose, in Simsbury, was by the General Court, in 1671, in these words:
"This Court grants to Mr. Simon Woolcott liberty to retaile wine and liqrs (prouided he keep good order in the dispose of it,) untill there be an Ordinary set up in Simsbury".
No "Ordinary" was set up there till 1675, when "At a meting of ye Inhabitants of Simsbury, June 2Ist 1675, Sam1 pinny promissing to provide for strangers and Travellers & also such of ye Inhabitants as lives remote, to provide on ye Sabbaths, Training daies, etc. such provision as is neessary: the town accepted ye said motion, & have given him full powr to make demaund of al such as shall fal into debt to ye Said pinny vpon the sd account, and sue for his dues as fully as if he had received Lycence from the Gener11 Court." The object here set forth was not a public revenue to the town, but "to provide for strangers and travellers." It was not a sale of a privilege, but an appointment to an important duty. It was a law of the Colony, "that the severall Townes shall pruide amongst themselues in ech Towne, one sufficient in- habitant to keepe an Ordinary, for p"visio and lodgeing in some comfortable manner, that passengers or strayngers may know where to resorte."
By the terms of the purchase of Massaco, by John Griffen from the Indians in 1648, as we have seen, its boundaries were, "from the foot of the Hills on both Syds the Rivr up to the brook that is now called Nod meadow." But the General Court, by the Act incorporating the town of Simsbury, extended these boundaries ten miles West from Windsor bounds, thus including a large territory which had never been purchased from the Indians. In 1674-5, Waquaheag, (alias Cherry,) a prominent Indian of Tunxis or Massaco, laid claim to this land, embracing that portion lying on the book, called Cherry's brook.
49
Col. Rec. 2 P. 162
Town Rec. B. I. P. 7
Col. Rec. Vol. I P. 103
For the purpose of securing this land, and quieting the title, a Committee was chosen by the town to treat with him for it. Following is the record:
"March II '7-4/5. Whereas cherry layd claim to a certain Tract of Land westward of the Habitable Town plat of Sims- bury (where ye Inhabitants of ye sd Towne picht vpon for their setling, and plat for to build vpon,) there was a committee chosen to Treat with the sd Cherry; ye Committee chosen were The Townsmen of Simsbury; and there was to, Aide ym in ye sd barter and bargain with ye Said Indian cherry, Capt. New- bery & Capt Clak. Ye Sd Gentlm were to see that the Sd cherrys claym & title were good, and also to tak good Confirma- tion of ye sd Indian cherry." This Committee probably suc- ceeded in securing a title, as it was shortly afterward taken possession of by the town, and no further complaint was heard.
In the early settlement of a country, one of the first duties was the laying out and maintaining highways for public use and travel. For this purpose a law was passed, requiring each town to choose, annually, one or two surveyors to take care of, and oversee the mending and repairing the Highways of the town, with "power to call out the severall cartes or persons fitt for labor in each town, two days at least in each year."
Accordingly "June ye 8th, 1674. Ordered that all the In- habitants of Simsbury, from fourteen years old to Sixty, shall, next mundy Sennett, stub Bushes."
The highways of the period were probably only openings through the forest, made by clearing the undergrowth and fallen trees, so as to admit the passage of teams without obstruction, leaving the standing timber. The law required that, in mending the highways, "they are to have a spetiall regard to those com- mon ways, which are betwixt Towne and Towne." Probably the first highway, "betwixt Towne and Towne" was from Massaco to Windsor, as it was from Windsor that the first settlers came, and this road is mentioned among the earliest records of the town.
In 1673, serious apprehensions were entertained, by the Colonial authorities, of an attack by the Dutch, and the General Court Ordered "that five hundred dragoons be forthwith raysed
50
Town Rec. B. I. P. 7
Col. Rec. B. I. P. 528
Town Rec. B. I. P. 3
Col. Rec. 2 P. 207-8
to be ready, upon an howers warning", and apportioned their number among the several towns. The number assigned to Sims- bury was seven; and the "Grand Committee for the Ordering of the Militiae", "appoynted Mr. Simon Woolcott and John Griffin to be those that shall command the Traine Band of Simsbury, for the present, and vntill the Generall Court order otherwise, or the people there make their choyse." Six years had now passed since the families that first came from Windsor were settle there. Though rapid progress had not been made in building up the town, still these pioneers were steadily and sure- ly advancing. They had erected houses and other buildings, and gathered around them many of the conveniences of life and the means of enjoyment, which, in a new country, only time and labor can bring. Thus, with brightening prospects, they had begun to enjoy, as well as to anticipate, the endearments and comforts of home.
But this prosperity, and these brightening anticipations were suddenly and sadly brought to a close. In 1675 a dread calamity impended, which, in the following year, overwhelmed them.
But in order to have a full understanding of the causes which led to the disaster, it will be necessary to revert to the earliest period of the country's history.
5 I
FIRST CHURCH BUILDING . 1683
VIII Burning of Simsbury
When the Pilgrim Fathers first landed on the shores of Massachusetts, they found it sparesely people by an uncivilized race, timorous and shy, but of a kindly disposition. The same kindly feeling existed on the part of the emigrants, towards them, and for several years their conduct towards the Indians was such as justice, as well as policy, dictated, carrying them- selves with such prudence and magnanimity in their treatment of them, as to produce the most happy influence in preserving the peace of the Colonies.
We have been taught to consider the Aborigines a treacher- ous, cruel and untrustworthy race, but facts do not warrant the teaching. Wherever and whenever they have been kindly dealt by, their conduct has always disproved it. Their faith- fulness in observing the celebrated treaty with William Penn, negotiated under the "Big-tree" at Philadelphia, disproves it. This treaty recognized the common humanity of the Indian, and stipulated that "the English and the Indian should re- spect the same moral law, and that no advantage should be taken on either side, but all should be openness and love." It was faithfully kept. The treaty, too, which the Pilgrims soon after their landing, made with Massasoit, the Grand Sachem, whose sway extended over more than thirty tribes, disproves the teaching. This treaty was faithfully kept during the remainder of his life-a period of forty years. The ob- servance of this treaty, indeed the treaty itself, was the result of mutual acts of kindness and a spirit of love. When the envoys
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of the Pilgrims were sent to Massasoit, at his home at Mount Hope, they were escorted by his men through the forest trail with marks of kindness and respect. In crossing the streams the Indians took them on their shoulders and bore them across; and, on their arrival at his palace-hut they were received with warm- est welcome, partook of his hospitality, and, on retiring to rest, as a special honor, were permitted to sleep in the same bed with the Sachem and his Squaw. The result of this interchange of civilities and acts of kindness was an Alliance, offensive and defensive, between Governor Carver and the Chief, and Mas- sasoit was received as an ally of the dread King James.
The treaty recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Indians as a people. How it was kept, we have the testimony of Winslow, one of the envoys. In a letter to a friend in London he wrote: "We have found the Indians very faithful to their convenant of peace with us; very loving, and ready to pleasure us. We often go to them, and they come to us, and we, for our part, walk as peaceably and safely in the wood as in the high- ways in England."
Had these feelings and principles continued to prevail in our fathers' intercourse with them, there would have been no Indian wars for the historian to record, and no such scenes of desolation as afterwards occurred.
Fifteen years has passed since the landing of the Pilgrims and the making of the treaty. Peace had prevailed. But now the Pilgrims took a new departure. Coercion took the place of kind- ness. Instead of carrying out the principles which governed Penn in his treaty with the natives, wherein it was stipulated that "the English and the Indian should be alike secure in their pursuits, and their possessions, and adjust every difference by a peaceful tribunal, composed of an equal number of men from each race", thus recognizing their equal civil rights, the New England Colonists assumed jurisdiction over the Indians, brought them before their Courts, and made them amenable to their laws, laws which they had no voice in making, thus treat- ing them like subjects, rather than equals and allies. They "sowed the wind, they must reap the whirlwind."
The valley of the Connecticut had just come into notice as
53
a desirable place for settlement. The original occupants, the Mohicans, had shortly before been conquered and driven from their country by the powerful Pequot tribe. The first pioneer from Plymouth brought back the conquered Sachem. The Ply- mouth pioneers had also shown great kindness to the "River Indians", when suffering from small-pox, which in 1633 so fatally prevailed among them, "and this mercy which they showed them was kindly taken and thankfully acknowledged of all the Indians that knew or heard of the same." These acts of kindness to a hated and rival tribe excited the jealousy and ire of the Pequots. The chiefs of these rival tribes were at deadly enmity; and the showing kindness to one was evidence of an unfriendly feeling towards the other; consequently, the Pequots looked upon the whites as their enemies.
In 1634, Captain Stone and White had come into the Connecticut on board their vessel from the West Indies, with a view to trade at the Dutch Trading-house. A quarrel arose between them and the Indians on the river, and they were killed. According to the Indians' statement, Capt. Stone had used them ill, and provoked them to kill them, but who can believe an Indian's story? The next year John Oldham was killed by the natives. If we may judge from the character given him by Gov. Bradford, such a fate might have been expected. "He came out from England about ten years before, not as one of the Pilgrim emigrants, for the sake of religious freedom, but on his own account, and had been a factious bawler from the outset."
He was in close intimacy with John Lyford, who was repre- sented by Bradford as "the seed of many and sad disturbances." "From so congenial an association, evil could not but be be- gotten." They were represented as "the bully and the hypo- crite." "As very perverse", and having "showed a spirit of great malignity." At length they were brought before the Court, tried and convicted, and both were sentenced to banishment. In 1625, "despite his banishment, Oldham ventured to return to Ply- mouth and revile his judges." For this he was made "to run the gauntlet, a custom borrowed from the Indians." "In the village street was drawn up a Guard of musketeers, in two files;
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between which he was made to run, as he passed, each soldier gave him a thump behind, with the butt of his musket;" and on being struck by each, was bidden "to mend his manners." Is it strange that such a man, a few years later, on coming into the Connecticut for the purpose of trade with the Indians "should become involved in a petty quarrel with them", and have his brains knocked out with a tomahawk? Such was his fate. In prosecuting his trade with them a quarrel arose, and he was killed on board his vessel near the mouth of the river, by Indians, mainly from Block Island, with some Narragansetts.
This was in 1635, the very year in which the emigration from Massachusetts to Connecticut commenced. For these murders by the Indians, committed far outside of the jurisdic- tion of Massachusetts, the Governor and Council of that Colony despatched Capt. Endicot, with ninety men, to avenge the murderers. The old policy was forgotten or ignored. The Nar- ragansetts made satisfaction. Capt. Endicot was "instructed to proceed to Block Island and burn every Wigwam; destroy all the corn; shoot or put to the sword every man, and take the women and children captive, and take possession of the Island." Arrived at Block Island, about fifty or sixty Indians appeared on the shore and opposed his landing, but after a little skirmish- ing fled to the woods. Then came the fatal example, which forty years afterwards, was so closely and ruthlessly followed by the Indians in Philip's War.
"There were two Indian villages on the Island, containing about sixty Wigwams, some of which were very large and fair," -"the torch was applied and they were consumed." The In- dians had also about two hundred acres of corn. After the English had spent about two days on the island, burning the wigwams, destroying their corn, and staving their canoes, they sailed for the Pequot country whither "they were instructed to go, and demand of the Pequots, the murderers of Stone and White, though they were killed not by the Pequots themselves, but by their confederates; nor were the murdered men settlers of the Colony, but traders from the West Indies. Capt. Endi- cott was likewise to demand of the Pequots a thousand fathom of Wampum for damages, and a number of their children for
Trumbull Vol. I. P. 64
Trumbull Vol. I P. 64
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hostages, until the murderers should be delivered up, and satis- faction made. If they refused to comply with these terms and give satisfaction, he was to take it by force of arms." These were "bloody instructions", which, being taught, returned to plague the inventors. The terms were not complied with, and no satisfaction was given, but the Indians fled. Endicot landed his men, burnt the wigwams on both sides of the harbor, des- troyed their canoes, killed an Indian or two, and then returned to Boston.
Is it to be wondered at, that afterwards, in 1676, under somewhat similar circumstances, this example and mode of war- fare, commenced by the white people, should be imitated and adopted by the Indians when fighting for their homes and for their very existence? This expedition exasperated the Indians but did not subdue them. "They breathed revenge, they de- termined to extirpate, or drive all the English from New Eng- land. For this purpose they conceived the plan of uniting the Indians generally against them."
Meantime the Provisional Government, under which the people of Connecticut had emigrated from Massachusetts, hav- ing expired by its own limitation, a new "Courte" was organized in May 1637, at Hartford. Its very first act was to declare "an offensive warr against the Pequoit."
No effort was made to pacify or make a treaty with the Indians, but they must be subdued by force. For this purpose ninety men were ordered to be levied out of the three planta- tions, Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, and placed under the command of sturdy John Mason.
The horrors of the scene at Pequot Hill are, or should be, familiar to every reader. Even the remembrance of that dread holocaust is soul-sickening. "Enclosed within the palisades were seventy wigwams, filled with seven hundred sleeping In- dians. Aroused from sleep, they attempted resistance, when the fatal order from Capt. Mason rung out-"We must burn them". In one short hour, the fort was in ashes and, except seven who escaped and seven taken prisoners, all its inmates were destroy- ed. "Thus," says Dr. Trumbull, "parents and children, the Sannup and Squaw, the old man and the babe perished in
56
promiscuous ruin." Seven hundred dead bodies were counted amid its ruins.
This was followed by other scenes of carnage; men were taken prisoners by the Colonists and beheaded; women and children were taken and distributed among the colonies, and afterwards sold for slaves or exchanged for "Neagers", in the West Indies and the powerful Pequot nation became extinct.
After such scenes and experience, the Indians could not long be expected to retain their former attachment and affection for their white neighbors, but the lessons they then learned were treasured in their memory and were rehearsed and re- enacted, forty years afterwards, by Philip and his warriors here and all over the land.
Notwithstanding these terribly disturbing influences, how- ever, good old Massasoit, during his life-time, remained true and faithful. He died about 1661-forty years after the landing at Plymouth-leaving two sons, Wamsutta and Metacom. They are more commonly known and spoken of by their English names, Alexander and Philip.
On the death of Massasoit, Alexander succeeded to the Chieftainship of his tribe. From the commencement of his suc- cession the colonists were suspicious of him, that he meditated hostilities. They summoned him before the Court at Plymouth; he failed to appear. The Governor of Plymouth ordered that he should be seized by surprise, and be taken by force to Plymouth to answer to the charge of plotting against the English. He was treacherously arrested and carried in triumph before the Court. The physical and mental excitement from this indignity brought on a fever, of which he died. His proud spirit was crushed. Wetamvo, his powerful queen, and most of the Indians believed he was poisoned. She became the unrelenting foe of the English. All her energies were aroused to avenge her husband's death. Philip succeeded Alexander. A man of keen sagacity and super- ior natural endowments, he clearly comprehended the situation. Till the white man came, the Sachems were the sole rulers of their tribes. They were free, sovereign and independent. Even after that event his father, Massasoit, had for many years been recognized as the ally, rather than the subject of the King of
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England. But now Philip saw himself and his people circum- scribed and circumvented in every way. He saw their lands in the possession of strangers, lands for which they had received no equivalent, and from which, when they nominally sold them, they had not expected to be deprived of their accustomed means of support, by hunting and fishing. It was humiliating to his proud spirit to be called to account, and held to answer in the Courts of those whom his father had received with open arms, as friends and allies. He saw that rum was poisoning his war- riors, and that under its influence his people were depriving themselves of their birth-rights. He saw, as his father, when he made the treaty with Gov. Carver, had not seen, the dangerous and destructive power of the fire-water of the the white man. He pondered for years. He saw everywhere the English extending their settlements over the domain of his ancestors. He felt that this tide of population must be stayed or he and his people must soon be overwhelmed by the encroaching flood. His decision was made: to resist the rising power of the English and to fight in defence of Indian rights. His days and nights he gave to the planning and organizing of a united Indian Confederacy. This was the great, the unpardonable crime of Philip. For this his name was loaded with execration, and is, to this day, associated with all that is base and insolent and terrible, and has come down to us a synonym of treachery, revenge and cruelty. But had he not before him, the example of the Colonists? For thirty years they had been leagued together for mutual help and de- fence, as "the United Colonies of New England." He could no longer brook their assumption of authority over him and his people.
The Colonists dreaded his power and influence. They at- tempted to take him by stratagem and fraud. At length they summoned him to Boston, to answer to, and to treat with the Governor of Massachusetts. Proudly he replied, "Your Gover- nor is but a subject of the English King; I will only treat with my Brother; when he comes I am ready."
Events hastened; the crisis had arrived. John Sausaman (a Christian Indian), his private secretary, revealed to the English the plots of Philip. On discovering that he had been betrayed,
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he procured the death of Sausaman. The murderers of Sausaman were discovered, arrested and tried in an English Court, by English laws, and executed. This fired the Indian heart. Then burst the storm upon the English, in all its fury.
Town after town was assaulted, sacked and pillaged. Town after town was set on fire, and partly or wholly destroyed. As the partisans of Philip rushed through the country, their route was marked by the burning buildings, and the scalps, hands and heads of the English settlers, which they had taken off and fixed upon poles by the wayside. Then followed scenes of butchery on both sides too appalling for description. The years 1675 and 1676 were years of terror and dismay. Philip was everywhere. In celerity of movement and energy he was the prototype of the great Napoleon. Undaunted by defeat, the greater the danger, the greater was the display of his valor. He divided his forces into small bands, which were scattered through the land, committing murders, burning isolated buildings or destroying towns, as opportunity was presented.
Simsbury, from its being a frontier town, and sparesely settled, was peculiarly exposed to danger.
The General Court had provided "that in ye vacancy of the sitting of the Generall Court, there shall be a Councill, consist- ing of the Gouernor, Dept Gouernor and Assistants, with certain other persons named," "And what the aforesayd Councill shall determine, they or any five or seven of them, or agree vpon the Governor or Dept Governor being always present, shall be deemed as good and effectuall to all intents and purposes as if the same were acted by the Generall Court; and this to stand till October Court next."
"At a meeting of the Magistrates, July 6th, 1675, John Griffen was confirmed Sarjt of Simsbury Traine Band, and is impowered to command the Traine Band there, upon all occas- ions, and especially in case of any exigency by the assault of an enemie."
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