USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > Bi-centennial celebration at Sudbury, Mass., April 18, 1876. Full report of exercises, including the oration by Prof. Edward J. Young > Part 1
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Gc 974.402 Su21su 1781123
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01101 3098
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BI-CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION
AT SUDBURY, MASS.
APRIL 18, 1876.
FULL REPORT OF EXERCISES.
INCLUDING THE ORATION
BY
PROF. EDWARD J. YOUNG,
OF HARVARD COLLEGE.
THE NEWBERRY LIBARY CHI. AGO
PUBLISHED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE GOODNOW LIBRARY. 1876.
1:81123 BI-CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION
1870
1070
THE WADSWORTH MONI MLAT.
AT SUDBURY, MASS.
APRIL 18, 1876.
NEWBERRY
..
F 84491 .85
Sudbury. M. Bi-centennial celebration at Smibury. Ma -. April 1- 2. Full report of exercises, including the otation In Prof. .. ! ward . Young ... Sudbury. Massy Trustees of the tien now library: ( Lowell, Mass. Printed by Marden and Row. A. 1876.
41 p. illus. 25 x 15cm.
1. Sudbury. Mass - Hist. 1. Young. Edward James, 1:29-1: . 6. II. Title.
1-1 :.....
Library of Congress
F74.80159
3712
ORATION.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:
We are living in a year that is crowded with historic recollections. The incidents connected with the war of our independence have been so fully rehearsed to us, that that period is almost as familiar as the present. To-day, however, we meet to commem- orate an event which took place long before the stirring scenes of the Revolution, when Massachusetts was not yet a State, nor even a province, but only a colony. While the nation is celebrating its centennial with great joy, you mark this year as your two hundredth anniversary. Your ancient town has a history and has memorials such as none of the modern ones can claim, which must ever give to it a peculiar interest. And there is a charm in reverting to those early days, which were so different from ours, when the red man roamed through the forests, and nature was in her primitive simplicity, and the first settlers had just obtained a foothold in the country. We go back to that time with the same feelings of wonder as when we meet with the evidences of Roman civilization in
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England. As the traveller to that country is astonished to find in the very heart of London, under the Coal Exchange, a Roman bath which is connected with the river Thames, which is furnished with stone seats and is still admirably preserved, so the visitor who comes for the first time to this region is surprised to learn that here are buildings still standing which were erected when the aborigines possessed the land, and that a deadly battle was fought here with the rep- resentatives of a race which has since entirely disappeared, in which the most heroic courage was exhibited and the most terrible sufferings were endured by our ancestors a hundred years previous to the birth of the republic. Yet, though that age seems some- what distant, two centuries is not a long period in the life of a people. In the little university town of Göttingen in Germany there is a house that was built before America was discovered; and within a few hours' journey from it is a cathedral, the crypt of which is said to date back to the age of Charlemagne. There is no such desire in that country to destroy the ancient edifices as seems in many places to prevail with us.
In order that we may be able to understand the circumstances of that time, let us glance at the con- dition of this place as it then existed, a picture of which we may derive from the earliest records, from the statements of contemporary historians, and from other original sources of information.
Sudbury was first settled as early as 1638, and the township was established in 1639, less than a score of years after the landing at Plymouth. It was five
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miles square, and was bounded by Watertown on one side and by the wilderness on another, and, according to an old map published in 1677, it joined Concord, Groton and Marlborough. The number of original inhabitants was fifty-four, and among them we find the names of Goodnow, Hunt, Bent, Loker, Maynard, Parmenter, Rutter, and shortly after we meet with Grout, Brigham, Willis and others. The earliest settlements were on the east side of the river, in what is now Wayland. Here, in the old burying ground, the first meeting-house was built in 1642, which was a log house of one story, eight feet high, having six windows; and every man was ordered to attend the raising of it, or send a substitute, or else forfeit two shillings and sixpence for his default. Here, also, the second meeting-house was erected in 1652; and it was voted that there should be a convenient place for the storing of the ammunition of the town over the window in the southwest gable of it, and afterward it was surrounded by a stockade, as a defence against the Indians. The earliest burials were made near this spot; and on an old tombstone may still be deciphered this inscription:
HERE . LYETH . YE . BODY . OF . ANNE Y: . WIFE . OF . CAP . EDMOND . GOOD ENOW . WHO . DYED . Y: 9 : OF : MA RCH 1675:| AGED . 67 . YEARS 6 | 1 1
This stone, which lies in a horizontal position, as it was originally placed, was inscribed a year before
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the battle in this town. There are other slabs, bearing the dates 1676 and 1688 .*
Undoubtedly the principal cause of the very early occupancy of this "plantation," as it was then called, was the luxuriancy of the meadows, where the grass is described as being thick and strong and as high as a man's middle, and some as high as the shoulders, so that one could eut three loads in a day. They were, however, liable to be overflowed, and a writer of that period says of the town that it is "furnished with great plenty of fresh marsh, but it lying very low, is much indamaged by land floods, insomuch that when the summer proves wet they lose part of their hay; yet are they so sufficiently provided that they take in cattle of other towns to winter." f In 1668, the river mead-
* Each slab is about six feet long by two and a half feet wide. The letters generally have dots between them, and there are some interlineations. The following is an exact copy of the inscriptions :
e HERE . LYETH . Y : BODY . OF JOSEPH GOODENOW. WHO. DYED . Y: 30. OF MAY : 1676 : AGED 31 YERS
FEBY . 18 . 1691
YE HEARE LYETH . PRETIOVS
DVST OF THAT . EMENANT . SARW NT OF GOD . CAP . EDMOND GOOD ENOW WHO. DIED. YE. 77. OF HIS
yeare AYGE . APRIL . YE 6 . 1688
t Jolinson, History of New England, 1654, p. 141. The same writer says : " This Towne is very well watered and hath store of plow-land, but by reason of the oaken roots they have little broke up, considering the many Acres the place affords ; but this kinde of land requires great strength to break up, yet brings very good erops, and lasts long without mending ; the people are industrious and have enereased in their estates, some of them, yet the great distance it lyes from the Mart Towns maketh it burdensome to the Inhabitants to bring their eorne so far by land ; some Gentlemen here have laid out part of their estates in procuring farmes, by reason of the store of meadow."
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ows were so completely flooded that those who hired them were released from payment of the rent. Four years after the incorporation of the town a ferry was established, which was kept by Thomas Noyes for one year, and he was allowed to take twopence for a single passenger and a penny a head for a greater number. Ten years later, we are told, the causeway was so much injured in the spring by the heavy rains that an extra rate was voted to repair it, and the surveyors were authorized to call out men for the work. In 1659, a new mill for grinding the corn of the town was built on the site of the old one at Hop-brook, and a new highway was laid out from the gravel pits on the west side of the river to the said mill, six rods wide. The making of tar from the huge pines in the forest became quite a lucrative business, so that persons came over from the neighboring towns, cut down the trees, and were sued for trespass.
We can learn what was raised on the farms by noting what was voted as the salary of the minister. The first pastor of the church, which was the nineteenth built in Massachusetts, Rev. Edmund Brown, was paid forty pounds a year; and the second pastor, Rev. James Sherman, was offered his choice - either sixty pounds in money, or eighty pounds, half in money and the other half in " country pay at country price." This latter included pork, beef, mutton, but- ter, cheese, wheat, rye, Indian corn, peas, hemp and flax. The spinning-wheel was then a necessary article in every family, and homespun fabrics were universal. All neat cattle above a year old, it was required, should be herded and put in charge of some person, and
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sixpence a head was the penalty for every one found without a keeper. Swine must have a yoke on their necks and a ring in their snouts to prevent rooting, and damage to the corn. "The bottom part of every yoke is to be as long as the swine (standing upon his fore feet) is high from the ground to the top of his shoul- der; and sticks that are placed up and down through the yoke are to be six inches higher than the neck and three inches lower than the bottom of the yoke that is usually placed acrosswise under his throat (for all swine of a year old and upward, and so proportion- ably for all swine that are younger) ; only the fine on abovesaid penalty [6d.] shall not be required or paid above once in one day." These yokes must be worn from the fifteenth of April to the end of the Indian harvest. In the woods were found bears, deer, rac- coons, wild-cats, wolves and foxes. A bounty of one shilling and sixpence was offered for every fox killed within the limits of the town, ten shillings and even twenty shillings were promised for every wolf, while a penny was given for every jay and every woodpecker. There were also beavers and otters in such numbers' that a considerable trade was done in furs, which was a source of profit to the government.
Since this was a frontier town, it was exposed to the inroads of the Indians. Here formerly had been their habitations, as the numerous arrow-heads which are picked up every year in various parts of Wayland and Sudbury attest. On the table before you are many interesting antiquities, such as stone gauges (one of them ribbed and rudely ornamented), stone chisels, a stone axe, a stone plummet, and so forth. I hold in
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my hand an arrow-head and a spear-head, such as were in common use at that day. Here, too, is a stone war club and a tomahawk which were pieked up in the north part of the town, and which were fearful imple- ments of destruction in the hands of the savages. Here, also, they found excellent opportunities to fish and hunt, going on their trails through the forest and paddling their canoes along the river. Some of the names of those who once lived in this vicinity have come down to us. Cato, called Goodman, probably on aeeount of his character or benevolent disposition, sold the first land to the people of Sudbury. His wig- wam is spoken of in the Town Records, and it was situated doubtless on Goodman's hill .* Nataous, ealled William, was another who was converted to Chris- tianity by the preaching of Rev. Mr. Brown. Jethro, still another, whose original name was Tantamous, resided on Nobseot Hill, but having joined those who were hostile to the English, he was betrayed by his own son, and was executed in Boston in 1676. The
* In the Suffolk Registry of Deeds may be seen a copy of the original deed given by Cato, otherwise Goodman, to Walter Lane and Luke Griffin in behalf of themselves and the rest of the planters of Sudbury, in which, for and in consideration of fyve pounds, he gives and grants, bargains and sells so much land, with all meadows, brooks, liberties, privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging ; and the bounds of the town are to be full fyve miles square. The deed was signed on the twentieth day of the fourth month, in the year sixteen hundred forty-six ; and, in place of the name, is drawn a figure of a four- legged animal lying on his back, with a cross made upon its side. As witnesses there appear, besides the names of two Englishmen, those of two Indians, "Cutchamekin " and "Jojeuny, brother to Cato," each of whom makes his mark. At the close is the attestation :-
" This deed was sealed and acknowledged by ye said Cato (who truly understood the contents of it) before me.
JOHN WINTHROP, Governor."
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Indians were provided with firearms, which, notwith- standing the law, were sold to them by some of the white people for the sake of gain. This made them much more dangerous neighbors, and lest any of the inhabitants should be induced through fear to move away, the General Court passed an order prohibiting emigration from any of the sparsely settled towns without leave of the magistrates, since thereby such places would be left more defenceless. The colonists were obliged to go armed even to church ..
"Each man equipped, on Sunday morn, With psalm-book, shot and powder horn."
When an attack was made, they would abandon their homes and flee for refuge to the garrison houses, where they could be protected. There are still stand- ing in this town three buildings which, either in whole or in part, have been preserved as they were erected, and well illustrate the simple yet substantial architect- ure of that day. The first of these is that known as the Haynes Garrison, near the river, which in recent years has been altered and repaired, but which originally must have been of great strength and dura- bility, as the huge beams, ten by fourteen inches thick, and the massive chimney bear witness. Far more interesting, however, because it is almost entirely unchanged, is the dwelling now owned by the vener- able Mr. Willard Walker, which was built by his great-grandfather two hundred years ago, and which has been in the possession of the family ever since. There is one beam in this house even larger than in the other, measuring twelve by fourteen inches. The
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building is covered on all sides with four-inch plank of pitch pine, which is set up endwise and reaches to the roof, and is held on the inside by wooden pins.
It is thus made bullet-proof. The chimney, likewise, is immense, and has several enormous flues, while the fireplace was large enough to contain logs that were eight feet long. The windows were originally of diamond-shaped glass set in lead, but these have been removed. It is a most unique curiosity and an invalu- able relic, which ought never to be destroyed. No money ought to be able to purchase it, and no induce- ment should make its owners willing to part with it. . Contemporaneous with the two already mentioned is another, which, though not constructed for purposes of defence, has been far more celebrated, which has been the resort of the witty and wise, has been sung by the
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poets, and has been the scene of many a private and public rejoicing. It is unnecessary for me to say that I allude to the "Wayside Inn," which formerly was known as the " Red Horse Inn."
" As ancient is this hostelry As any in the land may be, Built in the old Colonial day, When men lived in a grander way. With weather stains upon the wall, And stairways worn and crazy doors, And creaking and uneven floors, And chimneys huge and tiled and tall."
The oldest part of the house with its heavy beams and its capacious chimney evidently belongs to the colony times, as do the oaks outside, through the
branches of which two hundred years have hurled their storms. This inn has always been associated with the Howes, having been kept by one of them for
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more than a century since 1666. It is, however, recorded that in 1654 the town agreed that John Par- menter should keep a house of common entertainment, and that the Court should be moved in his behalf to grant him a license. This house was spared by the Indians when they burned many buildings in the town, and tradition says that Captain Wadsworth's men stopped here for refreshment and drink before they went into the fight.
Having thus taken a cursory view of the promi- nent features of the town as it then was, let us turn next to the history. The year of King Philip's war, which began in June, 1675, was a very disastrous one for the colony. It was marked by the burning of vil- lages, the destruction of crops and cattle, and the massacre or carrying into captivity of women and children. It is not easy for us to conceive of the excitement and alarm that prevailed throughout New England, every one being in dread of the "terror by night and of the arrow that flieth by day." The babe was not safe in the cradle nor the mother in her home. The blowing of the wind seemed like the whistling of bullets, and the war was carried on by stratagem on the part of a relentless foe, who, with the firebrand, the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, spread desolation and terror in every quarter. An Indian named Netus, together with others, who pretended to be friendly, set fire to the dwelling and other buildings of Mr. Thomas Eames, which was just within the limits of Framing- ham, killed his wife, threw her body into the flames, and carried his nine children into captivity. The
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husband, who was a member of the church in Sudbury and had formerly resided here, was absent at the time, and he returned only in season to look upon the smouldering ruins. This barbarous warfare was carried on simultaneously in all parts of the settlement. One town after another was ravaged or laid in ashes. Brookfield, Springfield, Hadley, Deerfield, Northfield were attacked, and then Lancaster, Medfield, Wey- mouth, Groton, Warwick, Marlborough were assaulted. At Lancaster, where Mrs. Rowlandson and her children were captured and carried into captivity, many of the inhabitants had previously been residents of Sudbury, and the town would have been consumed if Captain Wadsworth had not come in great haste to its relief.
On the 27th of March, after Marlborough had been destroyed, Lieutenant Jacobs of Captain Brockle- bank's company, with forty soldiers belonging to the garrison of that town, including many Sudbury men, sallied forth in the night and surprised three hundred Indians who were sleeping round a large fire, killed thirty of them, wounded others, and retired without losing a single man. After this the Indians increased in large numbers in this vicinity, so that minute men were appointed to spread the alarm at the first sight of the savages. On the 8th of April the inhabitants here petitioned the Governor and Council, in consequence of the approach of the enemy "made apparent by a late firing near us and constant smokes every day about us," and fearing lest they might suffer the same fate as others, that twenty able and sufficient
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men should be furnished under the command of Lieu- tenant Ephraim Curtis, who should be as scouts to range the woods and to be in readiness upon any occasion. " And we shall adde unto ye said Scout out of our towne so many men inore, although we can hardly spare them and secure our garrisons." Since Captain Curtis belonged to this town and was perfectly familiar with it, this company, it was presumed, would be very serviceable; but unfortunately, in consequence of some delay, they were not ready for duty until after the 18th. On the day of the battle Captain Curtis was in Boston, and the men whom he would have com- manded were in the garrisons, so that no assistance could be rendered by them when it was most wanted.
We come now to the immediate history of the fight. Captain Samuel Wadsworth of Milton had been ordered to repair to Marlborough with fifty soldiers to strengthen the garrison at that place. On his way he marched through Sudbury, and passed the Indians who were lying concealed in large numbers, but who kept themselves undiscovered. On the next morning, however, they assaulted and burned most of the houses that were on the east side of the river. The people, though greatly distressed, made a vigorous resistance, and, being joined by some soldiers from Watertown under command of Captain Hugh Mason, a check was given to the enemy, so that " those that were gotten over the river to the east side of the town were forced to retreat unto the west side of the river, where also several English inhabited." Major-General Gookin, who was in active service at the time, adds
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that there were many women among the enemy who were placed in the centre of the attacking body and were furnished with pieces of wood cut in the form of guns to make the force seem to be very great; and indeed it was estimated as not less than fifteen hun- dred .* When the news of this attack reached Concord twelve resolute young men hastened to the defence of their neighbors. They fell, however, into an ambus- cade near the garrison house of Walter Haynes, where several squaws appeared dancing and shouting. As they pursued them a large number of Indians who lay unseen in the bushes rose up and rushed upon them, and, notwithstanding they made a desperate resistance, most of them were slain.t Among those who were killed was James Hosmer, great-great-great-grand- father of Rev. Dr. George W. Hosmer, formerly President of Antioch College and now pastor of Channing Church in Newton. In a letter to me he says, "My grandfather, when resistance was in vain, plunged into the river to swim across, and a bullet passed through his head. His wife was a sister of Mrs. Rowlandson of Lancaster."
When Captain Wadsworth reached Marlborough, he learned what had befallen Sudbury; and, although he had marched all the day and night before and his men were much exhausted, he hastened back with all
* Gookin's History of the Christian Indians, in the Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, II, 510, 511. Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, 1807, pp. 233, 255.
t Shattuck, History of Concord, pp. 57, 58. Hubbard, in his " Present State of New England," page 80, says that this occurred on the same day as the
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the speed he could, being accompanied by Captain Brocklebank, together with those that could be taken from the garrison at Marlborough. The latter indeed had petitioned the Council that they might be dismissed, alleging their necessities and wants, inasmuch as they had been in the country's service ever since the first of January at Narragansett, and within one week after their return had been sent out again, without having had either time or money (save a fortnight's pay upon their march) to recruit themselves. But their request had not been granted, for the reason probably that they could not be spared. The force arrived in the after- noon within a mile and a half of the town, and the Indians, who had hid themselves behind the hills, sent out some of their number to cross the march of the whites, and decoy them into an ambush. The plot succeeded; for the savages, appearing to fly and to be frightened, drew on the English who followed them for some distance into the woods. Here they found themselves suddenly surrounded by more than five hundred of the enemy, who, raising the war-whoop sprang forth with hideous yells and began to fire upon them. Our soldiers, says Mather, " fought like men and more than so," and after a desperate struggle they retreated and succeeded in gaining the western side of Green hill. Though outnumbered and fatigued, they here gallantly defended themselves for four hours, losing only five men, while the Indians lost more than one hundred. Night was now coming on, and their situation became perilous. The savages then set fire to the woods, which, as the grass was dry and the wind
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blew hard, burned with great fierceness, so that our fathers were almost blinded and suffocated by the heat and smoke. They were forced to abandon their posi- tion in disorder, whereupon the Indians fell upon them like tigers, and the little band was almost literally cut to pieces. Wadsworth, covered with wounds, was, it is said, among the last that fell, endeavoring to keep his company together and encouraging them to the end; while during the terrible encounter the blasts of Brocklebank's trumpet rang out clear and strong, urging on his men though the blood was streaming from his many wounds. Thirty, including these and the two other officers, were slain on the field and were buried in a common grave. Only twenty escaped. A few of them fled to a mill which was fortified, but had been deserted. The enemy, supposing that it was strong, did not venture to attack it, and the soldiers were afterwards rescued by Captain Prentice and Captain Crowell, who came thither, but not in season to save Captain Wadsworth. Five or six were taken prisoners; and, says Cotton Mather, "that the reader may understand what it is to be taken by such devils incarnate, I shall here inform him: they stripped these unhappy prisoners and caused them to run the gaunt- let, and whipped them after a cruel aud bloody manner; they then threw hot ashes upon them, and cutting off collops of their flesh, they put fire into their wounds, and so with exquisite, leisurely, horrible torments, roasted them out of the world."* Mrs. Rowlandson relates that one Englishman whom the
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