USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 4
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Most of the so-called battles of this war, from our viewpoint, were little more than a few skirmishes, with a handful of people on either side contending-that is, as the present Bristol county bounds have to do with the trouble. Yet the results, so comparatively few were the white and Indian inhabitants here at the time, were looked upon either as terribly calamitous or as wonderful victories. The dispatching of the three Indians, the slaying of the Swansea family -- both were events of the most serious kind, and they so affected both parties.
While our concern is with the greater affairs of the Indians and of this war, we shall refer to the main facts that featured the action of the war to its close, in this region. After the Swansea attack, a battle was fought at Punkateset, now the south part of Tiverton, by a small number of white men under command of Captain Benjamin Church, and three hundred In- dians. The record has it that a Captain Golding, who approached the land in his sloop, was the means of saving the colonists from their predica- ment. Again, Philip and Weetamoe and some Indians were engaged in battle, July 18, 1675, in the Pocasset swamp, near the present Fall River. The English on this occasion lost sixteen of their men, and took possession of one hundred wigwams, while about one hundred Indians fell into their hands. Philip and Weetamoe and most of their party got away.
Infantry, volunteers and mounted men stationed at Swansea, the con- tingent furnished by Massachusetts Bay for this section, were in charge of
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
Captain Daniel Henchman, Samuel Moseley and Thomas Prentice; and Captain James Cudworth commanded a company from Plymouth Colony. He, as ranking officer, had charge of all, with headquarters at Barneyville. Besides skirmishes like that at Myles Bridge, where colonists were killed and wounded, Captain Moseley led in an open fight against the Indians, killing some, and on his way finding the decapitated heads of English, which he buried. When he arrived at Mount Hope, he found that King Philip and his followers had fled to Pocasset, where he was able to re- enforce his outfit with the help of Weetamoe and Awashunks. Meantime, Major Thomas Savage having arrived at Swansea from Boston with one hundred and twenty men, Captain Prentice led a skirmish at Rehoboth June 30, with disastrous results to a number of Indians.
Philip continued to lay waste the white settlements. A battle was fought at Pawtucket, then within this county's bounds, when Captain Michael Pierce and nearly all his command were slain by Indians under Canonchet. Rehoboth was burned March 28, nearly seventy buildings being destroyed, and on April 9 the fighter Canonchet was captured. Swan- sea received its second attack June 19, and was burned flat. Taunton was attacked July 11, and houses burned; and it was about this time that the battle of Lockety Neck occurred, with Indian defeat. Twenty Taunton men captured Weetamoe and the last of her followers, at Swansea, August 6, with the result referred to. King Philip himself was killed at Mount Hope, August 12, 1676, and on August 28 his leading captain, Anawan, was captured by Captain Benjamin Church at the place known as Ana- wan's Rock, at Rehoboth. Thereafter, peace prevailed between the races in this county. The place and power of the aboriginal régime were super- seded by those of the newcomer. Henceforth the colonists availed. The wigwam perished and towns and cities appeared and flourished.
The piratical visitations of pre-Pilgrim times, and afterwards the in- evitable intrusions of racial pride, preferment and greed for gain, as well as the cruelties practiced by individuals on both sides, were causes of all the trouble the later men of the Old Colony and of Bristol county had with the original holders of the land. The preponderance of statements of any who have written concerning the Indians (particularly of those remnants of the Algonquin tribes of the Massachusetts shores), and the conduct of the white men towards them, is, in effect, that humane treatment of them was a pre-determined factor of the Pilgrim methods. Had the precedent established by the first governors and their councillors with regard to popu- lar treatment of the Indians been preserved and held sacred by all the townsmen of the settlements, there could have been no war.
An ideal basis, at least for all transactions with the Red Race, was that set forth by the Plymouth General Court in 1643, when it was enacted that "it shall be holden unlawful and of dangerous consequence, as it hath been our constant custom from the very first beginning, that no person should purchase, rent or hire any lands, herbage, wood or timber of the Indians but by the magistrates' consent." And even so far along as the year 1660 it was further enacted that the law should be so interpreted as to prevent any from taking land as a gift.
The consensus of belief, too, is that the Indians were paid all their lands were worth. There is a generally understood axiom contained in
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THE INDIAN STORY
the history of property that the value of the latter is destined to vary ac- cording to its successive eras and possessors. Bristol county lands today, comprising the wealth of the townships, highways, railroads and bridges, have greatly amassed values over those of other ages. The impoverished province of 1640, for example, was worth to the nomad Indian, who cared but little for it, and to the white man, who gave all he could afford, only that wampum, those useful tools, and often the specie of circulation that were used as medium of exchange. Again and again we are told that the Wampanoags and the Narragansetts were satisfied with the bargains made. "That he do not too much straiten the Indians" was the proviso of Captain Thomas Willett, who was given liberty to make purchase of lands in this county. The Taunton deed of the early purchasers was well understood by the previous owners, and its equitable title, made in 1637, signed by Massasoit, was confirmed by Philip in 1663. And moreover, reservations of land for the Indians were made both by the white men and the Indians themselves.
A word genealogical, concerning recent generations of the Indian race in this county. At the time the writer interviewed Zerviah (Mitchell) Robinson, it was of more than passing interest to note these facts that had been gleaned by herself and the late General E. W. Pierce. Zerviah was one of the children of Thomas C. and Zerviah Gould Mitchell, most of whom were born in North Abington, though Zerviah was born in Charles- town, June 17, 1828. She received her education at the Abington High School, graduated at Union Academy, and married Joseph Robinson, No- vember 14, 1854. In her younger days Mrs. Robinson taught school, and later travelled with her husband in South America. Her sisters, Deloris B., Melinda, Emma J. and Charlotte J., received academic training; and a brother, Thomas C., prepared himself for the ministry, but was drowned at Elder's pond, at Lakeville, in 1859.
The record of the descent of Zerviah from Massasoit has been kept, and is as follows: Massasoit had five children, three sons and two daugh- ters. Amie, one of the daughters, married Tuspaquin, who was known as the "Black Sachem" and was chief of the Assawampsett branch of the Wampanoags. Tuspaquin and Amie had sons, one of whom, Benjamin Tuspaquin, married Weecum, as she was known, and to them were born four children. One of their sons, Benjamin, married Mary Felix in Lake- ville, Mary herself being a direct descendant of Chief John Sassamon. It was Mary's father, Felix, who first received from the Indian owners Chief Tuspaquin's deed of the lands at "Betty's Neck," which place was so called, as was shown, because, in the sixteenth century, the English called Asso- wetough, the daughter of Sassamon, who resided there, "Betty." There lived Charlotte, a sister of Zerviah. Benjamin and Mary had a daughter Lydia, who married "Wamsley," also an Indian. Lydia received a good education while residing with a family named Moore at Petersham, Massa- chusetts, but she spent her later days at "Betty's Neck," where she became the chief amanuensis for her people.
"Wamsley" and Lydia had five children, two sons and three daughters. A daughter Phœbe married, for her first husband, Silas Rosten, an Indian soldier of the patriot army of the Revolution. She married (second) Bris- ter Gould. Of the seven children by the second marriage (six daughters
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
and one son), a daughter, Zerviah, married Thomas C. Mitchell, October 17, 1824. He died at Fall River, March 27, 1859. She received her educa- tion in Abington and Boston schools, and before her marriage she taught school. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell were the parents of eleven children, of whom Zerviah (Mitchell) Robinson was one. This being one of the most unique genealogies in New England, and pertinent to the subject itself, it is offered as a vital part of this chapter.
The endeavor of this retrospect has been to present an impartial esti- mate of conditions that prevailed in these county limits at a time when one race of people must give way to another. There is a customary tendency to gloss over the faulty methods of the purchasers from overseas; there is another and a persistent poetic tendency to endow the Indians that were found here with an overplus of the mysticism of the "Children of the woods." The truth is that neither tribe of men ever quite understood one another. In a word, a period of unusual migration was on from the East. The West was uninformed and unprepared. The inevitable conflict soon ensued, and the new race won.
CHAPTER III. THE COUNTY IN THE WARS
Up to the year 1685 there was no Bristol county; it was the New Plymouth, or Old Colony, as yet, with the towns and a people in the mak- ing, though it must be through the severities of a war, that of King Philip. Not a town within the bounds of this colony but was forced to share in that conflict, and the companies or parts of companies that entered into any of the battles or skirmishes, as we might call them today, were the nucleus, or heralds, rather, of all Bristol county regiments to come. The essential story of the King Philip War has been recounted in the narrative of the Indian occupancy of this territory. It but remains to restate the fact that the hostilities that lasted but a year, 1675-1676, resulted in the triumph of the new-comers, and the departure of the Indians from power. General Josiah Winslow, son of Edward Winslow of the "Mayflower," was in charge of the Colonists' army throughout New England, and General James Cudworth directed the general plan of the battles hereabouts.
Before and During the Revolution .- It now became vitally the interest of the colonists in this section, as well as everywhere else throughout New England, to maintain their lands and their homes, and during the King William, the Queen Anne and the frontier wars of whatever name, the hamlets of this county were represented by their soldiery. The Old Colony and the town records assure us of that fact. These chief military names lead the march from colony to county at this period-Josiah Winslow, James Walley, Benjamin Church, Nathaniel Byfield, James Cudworth, Job Almy.
The military affairs of the Old Colony remained in charge of General Winslow and his successors until Bristol county was organized, June 2,
.
MELINDA MITCHELL (TEEWEELEEMA), DESCENDANT OF MASSASOIT
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THE COUNTY IN WARS
1685, by the coalition of these towns: Taunton, Swansea, Rehoboth, Free- town, Dartmouth, Bristol and Little Compton. Then it was that the mili- tary companies of these towns were for the first time organized into a regi- ment, designated as the Third Regiment of the County of Bristol, with Major John Walley in command, he being succeeded by Benjamin Church of Little Compton. To this regiment was attached a military watch and alarm in 1706. Nathaniel Byfield succeeded Benjamin Church as colonel, and he was succeeded by Job Almy of Tiverton. Again, some time before the year 1739, as the towns in Bristol county had increased in numbers, the First Regiment of the county was subdivided into regiments known as the First, Second and Third regiments.
The general indignation against the Boston Port Bill in 1774 was given local expression to when Bristol county delegates met at the court-house, September 28 and 29 that year, to consult upon proper measures to be taken at the impending crisis. Delegates were present from Taunton, Dart- mouth, Rehoboth, Freetown, Dighton, Swansea, Norton, Mansfield, Rayn- ham, Berkley and Easton. The resolutions adopted at that time proved that the county was ready to "defend our natural and compacted rights." Patriotic ardor flamed and rose, and patriotic forces gathered and obeyed marching and fighting orders. Forthwith, no brigade of soldiers in New England was more loyal and efficient in the Continental cause than the Bristol Brigade of Massachusetts. It was organized in February, 1776, and consisted of four regiments, as follows: First, Colonel Thomas Car- penter, of Rehoboth; Second, Colonel Edward Pope, of Dartmouth; Third, Colonel George Williams, of Taunton; Fourth, Colonel George Daggett, of Attleboro. The field officers of that brigade were: George Williams, colo- nel; Zeph Leonard, lieutenant-colonel; Abiel Mitchell, first major; James Williams, jr., second major; William Sever, adjutant. Companies from the brigade served in this State, in New York, Rhode Island, and elsewhere, in many campaigns of the Revolution. The brigade was loyal to the gov- ernment in the Shays Rebellion and in the 1812 war.
In the Civil War .- The voice of the county was heard in protest to the claims of the South, when civil war threatened in April, 1861. In turn had the towns of the county risen against the natives of Massachusetts; against the recreant Fatherland; and now it was brother against brother. And so it was these regiments that represented the county in the general Northern remonstrance:
The Third Regiment, three months troops, was made up of men from Bristol, Plymouth and Norfolk counties, the field officers being: Colonel David W. Wardrop; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Raymond; Major John H. Jennings; Adjutant Austin S. Cushman; Quartermaster Edward D. Allen; Surgeon Alexander R. Holmes; Assistant Surgeon Johnson Clark; Sergeant- Major A. C. Maggi; Quartermaster-Sergeant F. S. Gifford. Two com- panies were from this county: Company D, from Freetown, the "Assonet Light Infantry," Captain John W. Marble, H. A. Francis and John M. Dean, lieutenants; and the "New Bedford City Guards," Captain Timothy Ingraham, and Lieutenants James Barton and A. S. Cushman. The regi- ment left Boston for Fortress Monroe, April 17, 1861, and was mustered out June 26, 1863, having participated in the battles of Kingston, Whitehall,
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
and Goldsboro. Thirteen of the regiment died in the service, two were killed, fifteen wounded, and fourteen taken prisoners.
The Fourth Regiment, upon the original call for three months men, left Boston April 17, 1861, under command of Captain A. B. Packard, of Quincy, and arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 20th. In August, 1862, the regiment re-enlisted for nine months. It shared in the assault on Port Hudson, where Captain W. H. Bartlett of Taunton was killed, June 14. With a loss of about 125 men, the regiment was mustered out of ser- vice April 28, 1863. Company G, Captain Timothy Gordon, of Taunton, was of this regiment.
The Seventh Massachusetts was one of the few regiments composed entirely of Bristol county men, and was recruited by Colonel (later Major- general) Darius N. Couch, and the official list was entirely of men from Bristol county cities and towns. The regiment was mustered into the service June 15, 1861. At Camp Brightwood it was assigned to a brigade composed of the Thirty-sixth New York, the Second Rhode Island and the Tenth Massachusetts Volunteers. The chief battles in which the regiment participated were those of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Bull Run, Fredericks- burg, Marye's Heights, Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, the Wilderness. The regiment was mustered out of service June 14, 1864. The surviving members formed an association that meets, usually in Taunton, June 15 each year.
The Eighteenth Regiment was recruited largely from Bristol, Norfolk and Plymouth counties, and was mustered into the service August 27, 1861, under command of Colonel James Barnes. It participated in the battles of Gaines' Mills, Second Bull Run, Shepardstown, Fredericksburg, Chancel- lorsville, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. The regiment was mus- tered out September 2, 1864, and those whose term of service had not ex- pired were transferred to the Thirty-second Regiment.
The Twenty-third Regiment had but a few men from this county. It was mustered into the service November 11, 1861. Forming a part of the Burnside Expedition, it shared in the following battles: Roanoke, New Berne, Rawle's Mills, Kingston, Whitehall, Goldsboro, Wilcox's Bridge, Winton, Smithfield, Heckman's Farm, Arrowfield Church, Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor and the other battles before Richmond, and Kingston, Second Bull Run. It was mustered out of service September 14, 1864. The re- mustered men and recruits remained in the service under the same designa- tion until June 25, 1865.
The Twenty-ninth Regiment was not a Bristol county regiment, but its commander, Colonel Ebenezer W. Pierce, was a Bristol county man.
The Thirty-eighth Regiment went into the service August 24, 1862, and was mustered out June 30, 1865. Company H of this regiment was recruited in the southeastern part of the county, chiefly from New Bedford, Dartmouth and Westport. The regiment shared the battles of Cane River, Mansura, Port Hudson, Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek.
The Thirty-ninth Regiment went into the service September 4, 1862, and was mustered out June 2, 1865. Company F, from Taunton, was the one company from Bristol county, and participated in these engagements : Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomy, Beth-
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THE COUNTY IN WARS
saida Church, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Dabney's Mills, Gravelly Run and Five Forks.
The Fortieth Regiment had one company from Bristol county, chiefly from Attleboro, namely, Company H. The regiment entered the service September 5. 1862, and was mustered out June 16, 1865.
The Forty-seventh, a nine months regiment, had Company C from Attleboro, Captain L. T. Starkey, and Company D from New Bedford, Captain A. S. Cushman. It went into the service November 29, 1862, and was mustered out September 1, 1863.
The Fifty-eighth Regiment left for the front April 28, 1864, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Whiton. There were several com- panies from this county in the regiment, which joined the Army of the Potomac.
The Spanish-American War .- After the war for the freedom of States came the war with Spain, that is sometimes designated as the war for the freedom of dependent states. With her quota of men, money and muni- tions, then, Bristol county offered her help as she had done in all battles for Liberty. War was declared April 15, 1898, and at that time the en- rolled militia of the county of persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years and liable to military duty was 36,443, the cities and towns of the county providing men as follows: Attleboro, 1924; Fall River, 14,119; New Bedford, 10,418; Taunton, 4487; Acushnet, 148; Berkley, 117; Dart- mouth, 472; Dighton, 163; Easton, 662; Fairhaven, 571; Freetown, 168; Mansfield, 570; North Attleboro, 1007; Norton, 284; Raynham, 192; Reho- both, 228; Seekonk, 140; Somerset, 209; Swansea, 217; Westport, 355. The county was represented in the Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, the Massa- chusetts Naval Brigade, Unattached, and the Massachusetts Fifth Regi- ment of Infantry.
The First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, Colonel Charles Pfaff com- manding, was composed of twelve batteries, the Bristol county batteries being; Battery E, of New Bedford, Captain Joseph L. Gibbs; First Lieu- tenant H. C. Wing. Battery F, of Taunton, Captain Norris O. Danforth of Taunton; First Lieutenant Ferdinand H. Phillips of Taunton; Second Lieutenant William J. Meek of Fall River. Battery M of Fall River, Cap- tain Sierra L. Braley of Fall River; First Lieutenant David Fuller of Fall River; Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Harrison of Fall River. Also, of the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, Company I of Attleboro, Captain George H. Sykes, First Lieutenant Charles A. Richardson, Second Lieutenant Edward P. Coleman, all of Attleboro.
The Massachusetts Naval Brigade, with twelve companies in service, was represented in this county by the following named companies: Com- pany F, of Fall River, Lieutenant, chief of company, George R. H. Buf- fington, of Fall River; Lieutenant, junior grade, William H. Beattie, Fall River; Ensign Charles N. Borden, Fall River. Company G, New Bed- ford, Lieutenant, chief of company, George N. Gardiner, of New Bedford; Lieutenant, junior grade, A. Ernest Thomas, of New Bedford; Ensign Albert N. Pierce, of New Bedford. Company I, of Fall River; Lieutenant, chief of company, William B. Edgar, of Fall River; Lieutenant, junior grade, Richard F. Borden, of Fall River; Ensign George W. Palmer, of Fall River.
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
In the World War .- From boundary town to boundary town the county made its response to the national call for aid in the World Cause in 1917, and the captains and kings that departed with their regiments were captains and kings indeed, even though of the rank and file. Their' record, retold more fully in the history of the cities of the county, equals in pa- triotism and daring that of the members of any county military group, wherever found. By means of the admirable thoroughness of the office of the Massachusetts Adjutant General, Jesse F. Stevens, this work presents its authentic survey of the military contingents that represented the county during the World War period.
Up to the year 1923, no figures had been prepared to show accurately the number of persons entering the service from Bristol county. However, the entire State furnished approximately two hundred thousand, including Army, Navy and Marine Corps, which, based upon the population as shown by the United States census returns of 1920, and assuming that Bristol county furnished men in the same proportion to the population, would credit the county with 18,638. Of this number, approximately seventy-five per cent were in the army.
In Bristol county, the following units of the Massachusetts National Guard had their headquarters, thus: Fourth Company, C. A. C., at New Bedford; Ninth Company, C. A. C., at Taunton; Twelfth Company, C. A. C., at Fall River; Company I, Fifth Infantry, at Attleboro. These units were called into United States service July 25, 1917, and on August 5, 1917, under authority of an Act of Congress dated May 18, 1917, were drafted into Federal service, which automatically discharged the individual mem- bers of the units from their status as National Guard.
At the time these units were called out, the Fourth Company, C. A. C., was commanded by Captain John A. Stitt, the other company officers be- ing: First Lieutenant William E. James, and Second Lieutenant Clifford B. Kilburn. The officers of the Ninth Company, C. A. C., were Captain Frank A. D. Bullard, First Lieutenant Edwin G. Hopkins, and Second Lieutenant Leo H. Coughlin. The Twelfth Company, C. A. C., was of- ficered by Captain Thomas J. Clifford, and First Lieutenant Harold N. Gunn. In August, 1917, the designation of Fourth Company was changed to Nineteenth Company, and subsequently became Battery D, Fifty-fifth Artillery, C. A. C. The Ninth Company was designated Twenty-fourth Company, and on November 14, 1917, was disbanded, the records being preserved by the Fourteenth Company, C. A. C., U. S. A., Fort Heath, Boston. The Twelfth Company was redesignated Twenty-seventh Com- pany, and disbanded November 13, 1917, the records being preserved by the Fifteenth Company, C. A. C., U. S. A., Fort Andrews, Boston. Com- pany I, Fifth Infantry, was officered by Captain Thomas F. Williams, First Lieutenant Charles T. Crossman, and Second Lieutenant Henry Neval. Late in August, 1917, fifteen of its enlisted men were transferred to Com- pany I of the Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry, which then became Company I, 101st United States Infantry. The remainder of Company I, Fifth Infantry, after being recruited to full strength, was redesignated as a part of the Third Pioneer Infantry Corps Troops.
Other organizations and units whose personnel were taken from the selective service draft lists, those who enlisted in the Regular Army and
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