USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 4
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" It is ordered by this Court, that as many of our friend In- dians as are fit for warre and can be prevailed with, and furnished with all things suitable, shall goe with our forces against the com - mon enemie; and Major Ebenezer Johnson is hereby impowered and ordered to imploy suitable persons to acquaint the Indians in the counties of New Haven and Fairfield, of this conclusion con- cerning them, and to furnish such of said Indians as shall offer themselves for the service as abovesaid, with arms and ammunition, and what else may be needful to fitt them out for warre, and canse them forthwith to repair to Derby, to march with our Eng- lish forces under the command of the chief officer for the said service. The like to be done with respect to raising Indians in the Countie of New London by the mayr of said Countie. And this Court allows the wages to such Indian volunteers as those have that are gone to the eastward. And the superiour offi- cer of the forces now to be raised shall have power to release so many English from the service as there are Indians added to them, so that the whole number be still four hundred. And for the in- couragement of our forces gone, or going against the enemy, this
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Court will allow out of the public treasurie the sum of five pounds for every man's scalp of the enemy killed in this Colony, to be paid to the person that doth that service, over and above his or their wages, and the plunder taken by them." 1
The people of our day have little idea of the mode or the ardu- ousness of the service of our forefathers in those early aboriginal wars. The savages had no rules of war-no recognized code of dealing death to their enemies, as modern nations have-no rule requiring them to proclaim war before making it. But they made secret and sudden irruptions upon peaceable communities, when all was apparently peaceful and harmonious, by deadly ambuscades, or by the midnight torch, in the deep snows of mid-winter, in these northern lands, where there were no roads and marching was impossible. Though they had few arts in their savage igno- rance, they were yet provided with means of attack and annoy- ance, and at the same time with avenues of escape when over- matched, or overpowered, not open to the whites. The early white settlers had to learn these, and prepare themselves to meet them. With our present ideas of warfare, after our late great civil conflict, it would be difficult for us to conceive of a army on snow-shoes, whether it were large or small. If the early soldiers thus provided, kept step, their march must, indeed, have been ma- jestic, and their line of battle impressive. But the line of battle was not much in vogue in those days, when it became necessary to fight an enemy that did not stand up in open field, but sought every shelter and protection, and where it was necessary for each man to select his particular tree, rock, or other protection, behind which to fight, and pick off his unwary foe. The inhabitants early learned to fight the Indians, and later, the French with them, after their own fashion. Accordingly, we find the following order passed at the October session of the General Court, 1704 :- " It is ordered and enacted by this Court; That every towne and plant- ation in this Colonie shall be provided with a number of snow- shoes and Indian shoes, no less than one pair of snow-shoes with two pair of Indian shoes for every thousand pounds in the list of estate in such towne, which snow-shoes and Indian shoes shall be provided at or before the tenth day of December next, by the selectmen in every towne, at the charge of the Colonie, and shall be kept by them in good repair and fit for service when there may
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Records, 1 vol. 462.
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be occasion to make use of them. And the selectmen of the sey- eral townes who shall neglect to provide such a number of snow- shoes and Indian shoes, and to keep them in good repair as above- said, shall each of them pay a fine to the Colonie treasurie, the sume of ten shillings." 1
In these early days of frequent alarm, the General Court found it necessary, in order to avoid the too frequent meeting of their whole body, to appoint a number out of it to meet as occasion might require, for instant action in cases of emergency, and their orders were as binding as though enacted by the full Court. In the early part of 1707, there was a special alarm sounded through- out New England, and the ever-vigilant officers of the frontier town of Woodbury, were quick to take action, for the protection of this most north-western town in the colony,
The record of the Council, held at Hartford, Feb. 6th 1706-7, runs thus :-
" A letter from Deputy Governour Treat to the Governour's Council, and also a letter from Colonel Schuyler, signifying that he was informed that the French and enemy Indians were preparing to make a descent upon the frontier towns of New England ; also a letter from Capt. John Minor and Mr. John Sherman, to the Dep- uty Governour, signifying their suspicion that the Pohtatuck and Owiantonuck Indians, were invited to joyn with the enemy; as also the examination of the Owiantonuck and Pohtatuck Indians, before his honour our Deputy Governour, and other gentlemen, with divers other writings relating to the matter, with the opin- ion of our Deputy Governour, what might be needful to be done to prevent the defection of those Indians, and to secure their fidelitie, and for the preservation of the small frontier towns .-
Resolved by the Hon11 the Governour and Council, in order to prevent the defection of the Pohtatuck and Owiantonuck Indians to the common enemy and to secure their fidelitie, that order be sent to Capt. John Minor and Mr. John Sherman, of Woodbury, with all convenient speed to remove the said Indians down to Fairfield or Stratford, or both, as should be judged most conven- ient. But if, by reason of sickness prevailing among them, they cannot at present be removed, then to take two of their prin- cipal persons, and convey them to Fairfield, there to be kept safely as hostages, to secure the fidelity of those that remain at those inland places."
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Records, ] vol. p. 486.
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" Resolved, for the preservation of the frontier towns of Syms- bury, Waterbury, Woodbury and Danbury, that order be sent to the inhabitants of those towns to provide with all possible speed a sufficient number of well fortified houses for the safetie of them- selves and families in their respective towns. The houses for for- tification to be appointed by the vote of the major part of the inhabitants of each respective town assembled, if they can agree ; in case of their disagreement, to be appointed by the commission officers of the town."
" Resolved, that the inhabitants of Woodbury, Waterbury and Danbury, do every of them maintain a good scout out every day from their respective towns, of two faithful and trusty men, to observe the motions of the enemy. The scouts in Woodbury and Waterbury to be appointed and directed by the commission offi- cers in cach town. The scouts in Symsbury to be appointed and directed by the major of the countie. The charges of the several scouts to be borne by the countrie, as by law provided." 1
Till the peace of 1713, our fathers in the frontier towns were kept in a state of continual worry from fear of attack and am- buscade on the part of the foreign Indians, and their allies, the French, who had early imbibed all the evil and irresponsible modes of warfare and revenge, for which the Indians have been criticised by all historians. There was a constant hurrying forth of the " grand scout " and the town scout, watching, fighting and forti- fying. Orders were continually proclaimed by the General Court and by the Council. In Oct., 1707, Woodbury was granted " seven pounds, to be paid out of the country rate, in considera- tion of their charge of fortifying." In Oct. 1708, the Deputy Governor was ordered to " cause to be erected such and so many garrisons at Woodbury, Danbury and Oweantinuck (New Mil- ford) and support them with men and provisions, as he shall judge necessary, at the Colony's charge. Provided there shall not be any other than two garrisons at Woodbury, and one at Danbury, erected at the Colony's charge." At the same session it was enacted " that there should be allowed and paid out of the pub- lic treasury of this Colony, the sum of fifty pounds, in pay for the bringing up and maintaining of Dogs in the Northern frontier towns in this Colony, to hunt after the Indian enemy."" So great was the fear that weapons would get into the hands of hostile
1 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Records, 2 vol. 15.
2 Hoadley's Conn. Col. Records, 2 vol. p. 86.
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Indians, that it was ordered that no person whatsoever, upon any pretence whatsoever, should " furnish, lend or sell to any of our friend Indians, any gun, for any time, longer or shorter." In May, 1709, an expedition against the French and Indians, for the reduc- tion of Montreal and Quebec, was organized by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The latter colony fur- nished 350 men, and of this number. Woodbury sent its quota of nine, the quota of Hartford, in the same expedition, being but twenty-two. So that this frontier town, besides attending to its own " watching and warding," sent nearly one half as many men as the pioneer town and capital of the colony. This fact shows the importance of our town to the colony. even at that early day. Two of this quota of Woodbury, viz :- Sergeant Thomas Skeel and John J. Johnson, died a few days after their return home, of disease contracted by exposure in the camp.
Long before these several enactments, requiring the erection of fortifications in the frontier towns, our fathers had proceeded to the erection of defensive structures, called pallasaded houses. Indeed, they were coeval with the first settlement of the town. Honses were pallasaded by digging a diteh around them, and placing logs, sharpened at the top, perpendicularly in the ditch, and firmly securing them there. The logs were from twelve to fifteen feet in height, and, with a strong, well fastened gate, fur- nished a very good protection against a sudden attack of the In . dians, with such weapons as they had, previous to obtaining the arms used by the white men. The location of these tortitied houses has been well preserved. Capt. John Minor's house, being the first one completed, and built of logs, was located six or eight rods south of the late Erastus Minor's residence, on a little knoll. The well used by him was discovered at this place in the spring of 1869, its walls being still in pretty good preservation, though it had been covered over and its exact location unknown, for more than one hundred years. By the tradition handed down in the family, the pallasades about this house were fifteen feet in height above the surface of the ground after being set in place. The fortified house of Isaae Judson was located in Judson Lane, on the opposite side of the highway from Nathan Warner's resi- denee. Another pallasaded house stood on the site now occupied by the dwelling house of Horace Hurd, in West Side. A later fortified house, occupied by one of the Bronsons, in Transylvania, is still in existence. It had a look-out, for the purpose of obser-
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vation, on its top, by the chimney. The old Stoddard Parsonage House, built in 1700, now occupied by George W. DeWolf, and still in a good state of preservation, was the most thoroughly for- tified house in the plantation. One of the bounds in a deed of land next north of this, dated March 31, 1702, was laid within a foot of "ye pallasadoes in Mr. Stoddard's fence."
When, in 1707, the order came to fortify the town, the people, with great alacrity, set about the work of preparing the defences. They repaired the fortified houses of Capt. John Minor and Isaac Judson, the one at Horace Hurd's, and the Bronson house, in Transylvania. They also strengthened the defences of the par- sonage. So great was the promptitude and zeal displayed by the town, that the General Court made them a liberal compensation, as we have seen, as a due acknowledgment of their services for the common defence. It will be seen by one of the preceding votes, that the colonial authorities, the next year, furnished, or paid for a small standing garrison, in addition to the alternate watch furnished by the inhabitants. It was in this year (1708) that a body of Indians appeared in West Side, and drove the peo- ple, by their sudden and formidable appearance, into the fortified houses. What was their intention in coming is not known, as they made no demonstration beyond showing themselves. If the design of their demonstration had been a hostile one, no doubt the watchfulness of the little garrison and of the people, together with the strength of their fortifications, showed them it was bet- ter for them to desist and depart, which they accordingly did. It was during the continnance of these hostilities that Parson Stod- dard is related to have killed two Indians in the bushes by Cran- berry Pond, near his house, as detailed on page 79. During the war with the Maine Indians, in 1723 and 1724, the inhabitants were obliged to keep garrisons for protection against such attacks, several of which occurred. Our limits had by this time extended, and one of these garrisons was located on the Shepaug river, where six men were stationed. In Oct., 1726, the General Court resolved to station five men under Lieut. Ebenezer Warner, for " the defence of the village of Shepaug."
It will have been seen, by the acts and orders quoted, that the military officers of the town were of great importance and author- ity. Their powers, subject only to the letter of their instructions, were autocratic. Not 'y was the safety of the town, but, in some sense, the welfare of the colony, was entrusted to their cour-
1
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age and sagacity. If the savages drove in the inhabitants of a frontier town, the central towns were placed in still greater jeop- ardy. Accordingly, these officers were held in high esteem, and military offices, even of the grade of corporal, were sought with great avidity. Only the most deserving could obtain any military position, even the lowest.
During all these troubled years of Indian wars and depreda- tions, the first forty after the outbreak of King Philip's war in 1675, the officers bearing the military offices, the heavy burdens and responsibilities of the times, were, first and foremost, Capt. John Minor, who held the office more than thirty years, his suc- cessor, Hon. John Sherman, having heen appointed in 1711. Jo- seph Judson was Minor's Ist Lieutenant, till Israel Curtiss was appointed to the place, in 1690, with Samuel Stiles as ensign. Stiles was promoted Ist lieutenant in 1705, with John Mitchell as ensign. Titus Hinman was appointed lieutenant in 1710, a id promoted Captain in 1714. Joseph Minor was appointed ensign in 1710, lieutenant 1714, with John Curtiss as ensign, and was pro- moted rapidly, for those days, through the regular grades, till he rose to the dignity and importance of a Colonel, in 1728.
In the preceding chapter a large number of Indian names of local objects were given. They are beautiful in themselves, and worthy of the preservation which they have received for their intrinsic value, as proper names. But there is a still greater inte- rest attached to them from another circumstance. They are all words of the language, possessing a definition and meaning ap- plicable to the objects to which they are attached. In the Eng- lish language, such is not the case. " A proper name has been defined to be, a mere mark put upon an individual, and of which it is the characteristic property, to be destitute of meaning. But the ".Indian languages " tolerated no such 'mere marks.' Every name described the locality to which it is affixed. The description was sometimes topographical ; sometimes historical, preserving the memory of a battle, a feast, the dwelling place of a great sachem, or the like; sometimes it indicates one of the natural products of the place, or of the animals which resorted to it; oc- casionally, its position or direction from a place previously known, or from the territory of the nation by which the name was given." So that each of the aboriginal names of places in these regions
1 Vol. 2 Collections of Conn. Hist. Soc.
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had a definite meaning, such as seemed called for by the object named, or the circumstances surrounding it. As the Indians had no written language, and our fathers had to learn the names by the sounds, and represent them by our characters, each according to his own fancy, or the way in which he caught the sound, and as the same words sounded differently to different ears, nobody at that day caring what they meant, it is a matter of great difficulty to give even an approximate translation to the Indian names still preserved in our territory. But after giving the known meaning of certain words, sounds, or particles, we shall hazard a transla- tion of our local names, which may at least suffice to engage our curiosity and interest, till some more authoritative interpretation shall come to hand.
OHKE, AUKE, signifies LAND, PLACE, country.
Tuk, denotes a river, whose waters are driven in waves by tides and rivers. This may be the origin of the name of the river Naugatuck, and others, though not tidal rivers.
PAUG, POG, BOG, denote water at rest. But in New England, in some instances, it is applied to brooks, rivers, and running streams.
AMAUG, denotes a fishing place.
QUSSUK, means rock, stone, or stony.
POHQUI, means open, clear, and in connection with-
ONIKE, cleared land, or an open space.
PANIKE, means clear, pure.
PEMI, PEEME, means sloping, aslant, twisted.
From these particles, and others, out of which the local names of our territory were constructed, as well as from local tradition, we may, perhaps, translate our Indian appellations as follows :-
POMPERAUG, the great or noble river.
SHIEPAUG, the rocky river.
PAQUEBAUG, the clear or pure water place.
WERAUMAUG, the crooked fishing place.
QUASSAPAUG, the beautiful clear water, or rocky pond.
KISSEWAUG, the laughing water.
QUANOPAUG, the roaring water.
NONNEWAUG, the fresh pond or fresh fishing place.
WEEKEEPEEMEE, or WECUPPEME, the twisted river.
ORENAUG, the sunny place.
Such were the names given to the rivers, hills, and lakes of the territory we now inhabit. Such were the appellations so fitly ap-
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plied by the uncultivated mind of the children of nature. Wild rovers of Pootatuck, Wyantennek, Pomperang, Weranmang, Ban- tam; ye have passed away ! Your lights have gone out on the shore ! Your thin smokes no longer enrl faintly amid the thick woods ! Well do we love your good old Indian names, and would that more of them, almost the sole relic of your once pow- erful people, had been adopted by our fathers to designate the places where your lights went out forever !
A few relics of the departed race are occa- sionally found,to tell us that here a former peo- ple flourished, scarce sufficient, so transient is their nature, to arrest our attention. Arrow- heads, stone-chisels, hatchets, axes, gouges, knives, mortars and pestles, are found in the ancient territory. One of these localities is on Mr. Anthony Strong's land, where they had a hunting village, and another very prolific one on Mr. Frederick M. Minor's land, in Transyl- vania, a few rods in the rear of his dwelling house. All these are more particularly descri- bed on page 109. Some very perfect speci- mens of these relics are now the property of the author. He has a large quantity of arrow- heads, of various sizes, of flint, quartz, and oth- er kinds of stone, showing a widely different de- [Chisel, 1-4 size.] gree of skill in the workmanship. He has a chisel from near Frederick S. Atwood's, another from near Stephen S. Galpin's, and a very excellent specimen from near F. M. Minor's; a
[Knife, 1-4 size.]
slate knife for skinning wild animals; a very fine specimen of gouge from near Quassapaug lake; a slate chopping-knife, or
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
" cleaver," found at Jack's Brook, in Roxbury, in 1852; a very skillfully wrought tomahawk, made of serpentine rock, found
[Gouge, 1-4 size.]
[Pestle, 1-4 size.]
while digging a ditch, near the factory of the American Shear Co., at Hotchkissville; and an Indian axe, of the size of a common axe of the present day, only more blunt. This was also made of ser- pentine rock, and may be said to have been imported by the In- dians, if such a word is allowable in this connection, as there is no rock of this kind in all these regions. But by far the most curious and interesting relic that has been found in the ancient territory, is
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY,
also in the writer's possession. It is no less than an Indian idol or charm, artistically ent from a piece of rock, which appears to . have been originally a piece of petrified walnut wood. It was found in 1860, on the lot near F. M . Minor's, before mentioned as the place where the most perfect specimens have been found. It was discovered while hoeing corn. It evidently represents some ani- mał, but it is difficult to divine what. It has a pretty well form- ed head and body, with large, round ears, and holes for the in- sertion of four legs, but the latter are missing. It looks as much like the representative of an enormous lizard, as any thing. It can hardly represent the Good Spirit. It is not of a sufficiently attractive conception for that. It may, therefore, be presumed to be the likeness of Hobbamoeko, or their Spirit of Evil, whom they feared, and worshipped more as- sidnously than the Good Spirit, whom they supposed lived quite at his ease, caring little for the actions or affairs of his red child- ren, after having given them their corn, beans and squash, and taught them the mode of their cultiva- tion. Some of these relics our artist has endeavored to make plain to the " mind's eye."
It is not known when Pompe- rang, from whom this valley was named, became sachem of the Po- otatucks. At the date of the set-
HL.S.CURTIS
[Idol, full size.]
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tlement of Milford and Stratford, in 1639, he was a chief of note among the western clans, his tribe at that time being the
[Tomahawk, 1-4 size.]
most considerable of them, and had a strong fortress on Castle Rock, whence the name to this day. His reign was a long one, being succeeded by Aquiomp, in 1662. Although the principal seat of this tribe was at the Pootatuck Village, on the east side of the Housatonic, about two miles above Bennett's Bridge, in the present town of Southbury, yet, from some cause, he chose to be buried by a large rock, on the west side of the main street, just sonth of Hon. N. B. Smith's carriage house. The Indians always laid out a trail, or path, from village to village, by the graves of their chieftains.
1
11
[Pomperaug's Grave.]
The Indians had a very beautiful custom of honoring their dead chiefs, when laid in their last repose. As each Indian, whether he was on his hunting expeditions or the war-path, passed the grave
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of his honored chief, he reverently cast thereon a small stone, se- lected for that purpose, in token of his respect and remembrance. At the first settlement of the town, a large heap of stones had accumulated in this way, and a considerable quantity yet remain, after the tillage of the field in its vicinity for the long period of two hundred years. These stones, thus accumulated, were of many different varieties, a large number of them not to be found in this valley, nor within long distances, showing clearly, that there was a purpose in their accumulation, and verifying the " tra- dition of the elders," that they were gathered there as a monument of respect and honor to a buried chieftain. There can be no doubt of the correctness of the statement as to where Pomperaug, Non- newang, Wecuppemee and Mauqnash were buried. Pomperang had been dead only about ten or twelve years, when our fathers came hither. Nothing is more natural than that his grave should be pointed out to them. Their first church was built within eight rods of the place, and the first minister's house was not more than twenty rods away. Nonnewaug lived for more than forty years after the first 'settlement, and Mauquash, the last sachem of the Pootatucks, died about 1758.
The latter was buried under an apple-tree, in the " old chimney lot," so-called, now belonging to Amos Mitchell, a short distance east of the old "Eleazur Mitchell House," and a short distance from the elevated plain on which stood the principal and last vil- lage of the Pootatucks in our territory, the last sad remnant of them having removed in 1759, and joined the Seaticooks at Kent, where there are still a few individuals, now (1871) remaining, on their reservations in the mountains, under the care of a white overseer, appointed by the State_ There was still quite a mound remaining over him a few years since. His burial place is near " Tummaseete's old orchard." There are a dozen of these trees still remaining, seeming to flourish quite well, there being apples now (June 1871) growing on them. Several of them are more than three feet in diameter, and were disposed around the area or plaza of the village of wigwams. This orchard was called an " old orchard," in several conveyances, dated more than 150 years ago, and was no doubt planted by the Indians soon after the ad- vent of the whites within the bounds of Stratford, in 1639.
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