USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 3
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reason, could not receive a title even though Simson had one to sell. The same objection existed against all the deeds of the plaintiff. He could not, therefore, "show a better title," and the jury rendered a verdict for the defendent, Stiles, thus establishing his title forever. So that Stiles, when he sold to the American Silver Steel Company, was able to give them a warranty deed.
Thus have we recorded the various items in the physical history of our ancient town. A single item remains. A few rods south of the "Old Stoddard Parsonage" of 1700, is a boggy piece of water, covering, perhaps, an acre of ground, filled with bushes, bogs, turtles and frogs. Twenty-five years ago, a young man passed by this pond, which is called Cranberry Pond, and noti- cing that the frogs were very musical, the odd fancy of the mo- ment suggested to him, that he should name it the "Helicon Spring." Acting upon the thought, he immediately wrote a sol- emn, classical poem, calling this the true fount of poesy, and its musical" inhabitants, the veritable Muses, the goddesses and in- spirers of song. This little effort attracted some attention at the time, and has, occasionally, ever since, been the subject of jocose remark among friends, from the odd conceit. And, in truth, this conceit is not more whimsical, or illy-applied, than some other names, that have been given to the other localities. An extract from the enthusiast ran thus :-
Fair spring within whose sweetly gushing fount The Goddesses of Song are wont to dwell, And nightly sing in notes harmonious, When all's serene around, and quiet reigns, Thou mind'st me of those olden days in which The poets all of high and low degree Came forth from places far remote and near To drink thy soul-inspiring water e'er, And breathe the air poetic, which always, Then as now, bestowed the vital power Melodious, that ever moves the world .-
* * *
Hark ! there's music here, and melody hath Charms for mortal ears with which, on earth, There's nought that can compare. Sweet harmony, And chaunts unearthly, rise on every hand.
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The very atmosphere is filled with sounds Of concord sweet. List the tuneful lyres, that Strike their joyful notes in highest glee While all conspire to fill the chorus grand.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN HISTORY.
WHO WERE THE INDIANS ; THEIR CHARACTER ; COMPARISON WITH MODERN NATIONS ; MILITARY ENACTMENTS ; WATCHES ; DEFINITIONS OF INDIAN NAMES; NONNEWAUG'S GRAVE ; POMPERAUG'S GRAVE ; LEGEND OF BETHEL ROCK ; ANECDOTES; REFLEC- TENS.
HE history of the aboriginal occupants of our hills, and vales and waters, in New England, will always be one of sad though pleasing interest to the thoughtful and truthful historian. It is now a long time since their "light went out on the shore," and the white actors on the stage of life, in the early days, in the order of nature, also passed away with them, and we can now form a true estimate of their character, and the right and wrong of their conduct, since all passion and prejudice have long since been buried in the grave of years. Still, there is yet great diver- sity in the views of writers upon this theme, shaded and tinged, perhaps, by the savage enormities, ever recurring between our people and the powerful tribes in our western borders. But in New England, the bitterness of the early days has passed away, and histo- rians, and, educated people generally, take a kindly interest in each faintest trace of authentic history of the for- mer wild children of the forest. And it speaks well for our common human- ity, and for our advance in knowledge aud true civilization.
A very full history of the Indians of Woodbury was contained
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in the former edition of this work, but the interest that will ever linger around all that pertains to the dim and shadowy days, in which the red man was sole " monarch of all he surveyed," will warrant the record here of the remaining fragments, that have come to hand since the former issue. In a letter received by the writer from the late most gifted poetess of Connecticut, who has done so much for humanity, and for the honor of her native State, Mrs. Lydia II. Sigourney, of Hartford, referring to the chapter on Indian History in the former edition, she writes :-
"I was particularly pleased with the space and spirit you have devoted to our aborigines, who, in my earlier days, seemed sub- jects of romance,-as in later ones, they have been of sympathy." This thought touches the key-note of the subject in our hearts. The wasting away, and final extinction of the race within our borders, is a meet subject for sympathetic contemplation.
And who were the strange people that occupied these pleasant dwelling places in the woods, when the white man reached these shores ? They were, indeed, a strange race, beginning in mystery and ending in annihilation. Their origin and mission on earth seem to be one of the secrets of the Great Creator. The race found inhabiting these new regions, did not live in comfortable dwellings, surrounded by verdant fields, which they cultivated, but semi-nude, or clad in the skins of wild beasts, they wandered in small clans, in the dense forests, among the lofty mountains, by the murmuring streams, and along the meandering rivers. They were destitute of the arts of civilized life; had strange rites, and unheard-of customs. They engaged in fierce conflicts and exter- minating wars. They were men of iron will, who knew no fear, had strongest fortitude, and whom severest tortures could not move. They never forgot a kindness, nor forgave an injury. They were idolaters, and, on our now peaceful and happy plains, they offered human sacrifices to appease the God of evil, created by their own superstitious imaginations. This rude and barbarous people was scattered all over our extended continent, and yet they had hitherto been unknown-insulated from the rest of the world. Our fathers tried to civilize and Christianize them with little sue- cess, though they granted them the privilege of attending their schools and religious assemblies. Some of them, indeed, profited by these privileges, gained the rudiments of knowledge, put them- selves under the care of the ministers, and became approved mem- bers of the churches. But the great majority adhered to their
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dark and cheerless faith, and cruel rites, believed and practiced by their forefathers. Let it be taken for granted, then, as many have asserted, that the Indian was fierce, vindictive, ernel, immor- al, uncultivated, and nntamable, copying the vices rather than the virtues of our people; yet with all his faults and failings, he stood erect, in the midst of nature's leafy temple, God's original free- man ! He believed in the existence of the Great Spirit. He could never be enslaved. No superior intelligence, or cunning, could make him wear the bondsman's chain !
But the great complaint of those who denounce the character of the Indian, is his cruelty, and relentless ferocity. Now nothing can be said in favor of this habit in the red man-scarcely any -. thing by way of mitigation of judgment, save the ignorance with which he had been enveloped-the legacy of long, dark ages. But should not we, who live in the nineteenth century, and boast londly of our civilization, our progress, our intelligence, our Christianity and our humanity, hide our faces in very shame in the light of recent events, instead of casting odium, or sharp crit- ieism upon the memory of the poor, departed denizen of the for- est ? In what page of authentic history do we read of the Indians of this land being guilty of deeds so dark, cruel, malignant and damning, as the horrors inflicted by the white men of the south, in the late civil war, npon their brethren of the north-who were bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Talk you of tortures ? What torture was ever inflicted by the Indians upon their ene- mies that could, for a moment, compare with the slow, malignant tortues of filth, starvation, disease and death, inflicted by those who claimed to be of the highest chivalry of civilization, educa- tion and refinement, in those loathsome, open sepuleres, the prison pens of Belle Isle, Salisbury and Andersonville ? Too inhuman to be content with the swift vengeance of the Indian-the run- ning of the gauntlet, the poisoned arrow, the sealping, or flaying process, or death at the stake, all of which brought speedy death and the end of their torments, the heroes of our boasted civiliza- tion, in these latter, effulgent days, could be satisfied with nothing less than the tortures of demons, long drawn out before their gloating eyes and remorseless hearts. And what are we now be- holding, as these pages are passing through the press, in these pleasant, May days, in the face of the world, under the eye of Heaven, in the vaunted metropolis of the world, which pride itself on the perfection of its civilization, refinement, reason and hu-
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manity-in Paris? Churches, dedicated to the worship of God, are sacked, their sacred implements taken away or destroyed, and the officiating priests, bishops and arch-bishops are slain at the altar, or shot like dogs in the courts, and carried away to Potter's field in carts. Not content with the carnage produced by the most ingenious, effective and deadly of modern weapons of war in legalized combat, prisoners are collected by the thousand, and either shot on sight, or gathered in groups, and mowed down by revolving cannon, or cast into prison pens, that vie in horrers with our Andersonville. Splendid works of art, that have been for long years the pride of the nation, are ruthlessly thrown down and destroyed. The palaces and public buildings are burned to the ground. Furious, mad men and women ply the torch every- where, indiscriminately. A city of two and a half millions of souls is in flames-mined and fired by the most deadly, explosive, and destructive of substances. Friendship has fled the earth. No man trusts his brother. Life is utterly insecure, and society seems dissolving into utter chaos. Less religious and reverent than the Indian, in addition to these untold horrors, they say in their hearts, as well as by their acts, there is no God! Hence- forth, let there be no prating abont the ferocity and cruelty of the Indian. In comparison with such acts of the two foremost civil- ized nations, the character of the benighted red man, in his native forests, stands redeemed !
So far as the Indians of Woodbury were concerned, they were always the friends of our fathers, and maintained with them a a perpetual peace. None ever kept the faith of treaties better than they. There were some Indian conflicts here, but they arose from the incursions of the Mohawks, who, previous to the arrival of the settlers, held the Indians of this territory as tributaries, by superior prowess. As early as 1675, during King Philip's war, they made a treaty with the pioneers in these valleys, in which they covenanted to continue in " friendship with the white settlers, and be enemies to their enemies, and discover them timely, or de- stroy them." This treaty was ever kept, as a perpetual league, with entire good faith, by both the contracting parties, and many were the mutual offices of kindness they performed for each other.
Notwithstanding this treaty, and the aid of the native Indians, our fathers were not able to maintain their settlement during King Philip's war, but were driven back to Stratford, as we have seen, on pages 46-47, and were kept there for some two years, or
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until King Philip's death. In all the subsequent Indian and French wars, Woodbury, as a frontier town, far removed from succor, was exposed to continued dangers. It was obliged to maintain pallisaded, or fortified houses, for more than fifty years after the first settlement. These, be it remembered, were not erected for fear of the native Indians, but for fear of the French and their Indian allies, at times, and of the Mohaws, at all times, on their own account, as long as they existed as a tribe. In 1690 there was another war alarm, and it was enacted by the General Court, "For the better maintenance of the military watches throughout this Colony in times of danger, which is of so great importance, this Court doe order, that all male persons whatsoever, except negroes and Indians, upwards of sixteen years of age, shall serve and doe duty equally on the military watch, whoe are resident on the place where such watches are to be kept, and that all male persons aforesaid, inhabiting in this Colony, being absent at sea, or elsewhere, shall, by those of their family left at home, provide a person to watch, instead of the absent person, or per- sons, and also that all widowes whose estates in the publique list amounteth to fifty pounds, shall each of them provide a man to watch in their steads, and, if there be any old or impotent men, that by such disability cannot watch, if there estates in the pub- lique list amounteth to fifty pounds, they shall find a man to watch in their steads, provided this order shall not extend to the Assist- ants, nor ministers, nor such impotent men as the respective com- mission officers of the sayd town judg incapable of it, and who have not estate of fifty pounds in the publique list, and that all defects on these military watches, shall be punishable by the com- mission officers, or any one of them, in the same measure and manner, as is by law provided in the constable watches, and the commission officers in the exercise of their offices by commission are by this order freed from watching."
" This Court appoynts the commission officers in each towne to list and appoynt every seventh man in each company to be a fly- ing army of dragoons, to be listed under the officers appoynted by . this Court in each county, to lead them forth against the enimie, if any occasion shall be. Derby, Danbury, Woodbury, Water- bury and Simsbury, are exempted from this order."1
We cannot, at this day, in our peaceful communities, picture to
1 Conn. Col. Rec., 4 vol. 18.
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ourselves the urgency for the public safety which must exist to force the wise men of the General Court to order, not only every person who was present, to take his place as sentinel, and his share of the common danger, but the families of the absent, and even widows and impotent old men, to furnish their sentinel in turn, by substitute, unless they were so poverty-stricken that they had not the means wherewith to hire one. After all, there is a mani- fest equity in this distribution, and comports well with a late legal decision by our Supreme Court, in Booth vs. Town of Woodbury. It is not certain but that the Court obtained light from this old statute.
A very curious order was issued at the same session, showing that the early colonial legislators were careful and " troubled about many things." They left little to the discretion of the com- mon scout. Perhaps this was the more necessary, because the watch did not consist of enlisted men, set apart and educated for the purpose, but every able bodied man must take his turn, while earning his daily bread, and might well be considered less likely to be judicious and skillful in the various emergencies that might arise in the irregularity of savage warfare. The order runs thus :
" This Court orders, that the charge, that shall be given to the military watch, shall be as follows, viz :- that they shall charge the watch in his Ma ties name, that they faythfully attend the watch, by walkeing or standing in such place or places where they may best discover danger by the approach of an enemie, or by fire which, if they discover, they are to give notice thereof by crying Fire, Fire, or Arme, Arme; they are allso to examine all such per- sons as they meet with unseasonably, and they are to command them to stand twice, and the third time, to command them to stand on their perill, but if they will not stand, but oppose them, or fly from them, they may shoot at them, but to shoot low, unless they judg him to be an enemie, and then they are to shoot as directly at them as they may, and all such persons as they find out unseasonably, they are to examine them, and if they give no good occasions, they are to return them to the Court of guarde, to be secured till the morning, and then they are to carry them to the next authority, to be examined and disposed of according to law, and they are to give the next watch notice to watch them the night following."
It is to be feared that if the town should now be placed under the care of such a " watch," with power to examine all persons
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who are out "unseasonably," and require them to " give a good account of their occasions," that the magistrates would have more to de each morning, on the report of the "watch," than they would be able to perform well, and the parties themselves would be as little able to give a satisfactory account of themselves, as the lurking " tramps" of the early days. In this time of general alarm and danger, it was further ordered by the General Court, " that soldiers in all plantations bring their arms and ammunition to meeting on Sabbath days, and days of publique worship, when and as often as the County major, or chief military officers in any town shall appoint, upon the penalty of five shillings, to be paid to the town treasury by every soldier convict of neglect hereof before authority, to be levied by distress upon their estate."1
Some twelve years had elapsed since the dispersions and alarms occasioned by King Philip's war had ceased, and it would seem, from the above order, that the former custom of carrying arms to the church had fallen into disuse, and it had become necessary to cause its resumption by the somewhat sharp general enactment just cited. The first church, being located on the site now occu- pied by Hon. N. B. Smith's carriage house, was admirably situated for the purpose of being guarded against surprise. Sentinels placed on Lodge Rock, were in full view of the approaches in every direction, while a large fortified house was near by, on the homestead of the late Erastus Minor, a little south of his dwel- ling house.
In Feb. 1693-4, a unique order was promulgated for the im- pressing, making and storing of what the soldier of the present day would call "hardtack." It shows vividly with what anxious care the authorities guarded the safety of the plantations. It enacts:" Whereas it is a time of warr, and there are fears of sud- dain surprizalls of the enemie, which may occasion suddain march- es of the soldiery to repell the enemies of their Maj ties, and a provission of biskit to that end is necessary, this Court doe there- fore order, that in each of the countyes of this colony, fifty bush- ells of good winter wheat be forthwith empressed by warrant fi m some of the majestrates of the respective countyes, and that the same be by their order made into biskit as soon as is possible, and kept by their order in convenient places, to be used as occa- sion and lawfull order shall require the same, and the wheat so
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Rec., p. 41.
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impressed to be repayd in specia out of the country rate as soone as may be."1
After the treaty of 1675 with our Woodbury Indians, they seem to have been close allies in time of war, and to have been under the entire direction of the whites, This is shown by an act passed by the General Assembly, at its October Session, 1703. It also gives us an idea of the labor and care of fortifying the frontier towns. It enacts: "that the civill and commission officers of each towne shall take all due care concerning the friend Indians belonging to their townes, and assign them their limitts, to the intent that none of them be exposed, or the enemies escape under pretence of being friends ; and that said officers doe strictly charge said friend Indians, not to move out of their respective limitts, or bounds assigned them, without order in writing under the hands of such officers, as they tender their own safetie and at their per- ill ; and all friend Indians are hereby forbidden to hold any com- munication with, harbour, or conceal, any of the enemie Indians, requiring them to seize and secure all such as may come among them, and to deliver them up to justice ; and for their incourage- ment, they shall have ten pounds for every Indian enemie, they shall so seize and deliver up. And what extraordinarie charge there shall be about Wiantonuck and Potatuck Indians shall be born by the Colonie, and that Capt. Ebenezer Johnson have the care and ordering of the Pangassnek Indians."
" It is ordered and enacted by this Court : That the inhabitants of every town in this Colonie shall be called together with as con- venient speed as may be, to consider what houses shall be fortified, and if the towne do not agree to fortifie any house or houses, then it shall be in the power of the civill and militarie officers in commission, with the selectmen, or major part of them, if they thinke it necessaire, to order what house or houses shall be forti- fied ; and what they do order to be fortified, shall be done forth- with, and shall also order on whose charge; and if any persons doe refuse or neglect to make their proportions, they shall pay a fine answerable to their proportions, to be levied by the constable by warrant from civill authority. The proportion of each person to be ordered according to their estate in the common list of es- tates."
"It is ordered and enacted by this Court : That there shall be
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Rec., 119.
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constantly eight men upon the scont, untill the grand scout be settled, viz: two from Symsbury, two from Woodbury, and two from Waterbury, and two from Danbury, to be ordered by the discretion of the civill and militarie commission officers in each towne, as also a scout from Windzor, to meet with the scouts from Newroxbury, to be ordered by the councill of Warre." 1
It was, very properly, the constant care and anxiety of the founders of the colony to protect and maintain the frontier towns, as the best and most reliable defence to the remaining towns. If an enemy met with stern and effective resistance on the borders, he would have less hope of successful invasion and victory over the whole. This thought was forcibly stated in the letter of Rev. John Bowers, of Derby, and Rev. Zechariah Walker of Wood- bury, in their letter of 1676 urging the protection of their respec- tive towns, as printed on page 49. "The securing of those two plantations," they say, " of Woodbury and Darby, will, according to second causes, be one of ye most considerable securities, in a time of such dangers, unto ye two western counties, viz : of New Haven and Fairfield : for it can hardly be expected y tany strength of indians will adventure to set upon any lower plantation, till they have attempted ones above, and if they fail, they will be ye more shy of pounding themselves by coming lower." Acting upon this theory, we find our colonial legislators, at their May session, 1704, enacting as follows :-
"Forasmuch as the maintaining and defending of the frontiers in time of warre is of very great importance, and in regard it would greatly prejudice her Majesties interest and encourage an enemy, if any of the outposts should be quitted, or exposed by lessening the strength thereof, --
"It is therefore ordered by this Court : That the frontier towns hereafter named are to be so accounted, that is to say, Symsbury, Waterbury, Woodbury, Danbury, Colchester, Windham, Mans- field and Plainfield, and should not be broken up, or voluntarily deserted withont application first made by the inhabitants and allowance had and obtained from this Court; nor shall any inhab- itant of the frontiers mentioned, having an estate of freehold in lands and tenements within the same, at the time of any insurrec- tion or breaking forth of warre, remove from thence with intent to sojourn elsewhere, without liberty as aforesaid, on penalty of
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Rec. 1 vol. 455.
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forfeiting all his estate in lands and tenements lying within such township, to be recovered by information of and proof made by the Selectmen of such towne.".
" And it is further enacted : That no male person of sixteen years old and upwards, that should be an inhabitant of or belong- ing to any of the townes aforementioned at the time of such warre or insurrection, shall presume to leave such place on penaltie of ten pounds, to be recovered as aforesaid ; all which penalties to be improved towards the defence of such place, or places whereof such person or persons were inhabitants."
" It is ordered by this Court : That ten men shall be put in gar- rison in each of these townes hereafter mentioned, that is to say, Danbury, Woodbury, Waterbury and Symsbury, and that the rest of the men to be raised out of the Counties of New Haven and Fairfield, with such Indians as can be procured, shall be put under sufficient commanders, and have their chief headquarters at West- field, unlesse otherwise ordered by the Councill of Warre in the Countie of Hartford; and said company of English and Indians shall, from time to time, at the discretion of their chief command- er, range the woods to endeavour the discovery of an approaching enemy, and in an especial manner from Westfield to Ousatun- nuck."
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