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 2
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* Mather's Magnalia, 1, 404.
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victors brought alive with them reported that it was too true, for they had made sad work at Sudbury.
On the day after the battle the Indians besieged the Haynes garrison house and tried to burn it. They shot arrows of pitch pine lighted at the end into the thatched roof, but the fire was extinguished, and they suffered much from the arms of the garrison. One squaw lost six sons, who were considered distinguished and valiant warriors, as a young man, who was then a prisoner among the attacking party, afterwards testified. A cart loaded with flax which had been stolen from a neighboring barn, was then set on fire and rolled down against the garrison; but this was upset by striking against a stump, and with its contents was consumed. The enemy were so elated with their victory upon the hill, that they sent word to the authorities in Boston to provide store of good cheer, for they intended to dine with them on election day.
The date of the battle has from the first been a matter of uncertainty, and it has ever since been a subject of dispute. We ought not perhaps to be sur- prised at this, since the distance from Charlestown and Boston was considerable, the intelligence might be delayed, and different statements might be made by persons who had different sources of information. In favor of the 18th of April are Hubbard, President Wadsworth of Harvard College, who was pastor of the First Church in Boston in 1696, twenty years after the fight, and Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham; they are followed by Charles Hudson. Those who give the 21st as the true date are General Gookin, the
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Letters of the Massachusetts Council, a narrative written in Boston in July, 1676, the Roxbury Records, the Probate Records of Middlesex, and this date is adopted by Savage, Drake, Barry, Gage, Shattuck, Dexter, and others. Governor Boutwell, in his address at the dedication of the Monument said, it may not be proved that the battle was fought on the 18th, but it is settled that it was fought previous to the 21st; and afterwards he maintained that the former was the correct date. Dr. Palfrey, in his history, records the defeat of Captain Wadsworth as having occurred April 20th, thus giving an intermediate day, while in his abridgment it is set down as on the 18th. Since our most impartial historians thus differ, it seems likely that the exact date must ever remain an open question .*
The slaughter of the brave men who fell on yonder heights was felt as a severe loss to the country. Governor Winslow, in a letter which is still preserved at the State House, says: "god is still writing bitter things against us. the Lord help us to make a good improvement of every dispensation."f Even the. friendly Indian soldiers, who came upon the battle ground the next day, wept when they saw so many English lying dead among the slain. The two principal officers especially, who were both forty-six years of age at the time of their deaths, were most highly esteemed
* The fullest discussion of this subject with an elaborate report upon it may be found in the New England Ilist. and Gen. Register, VII, 221, and XX, 135, 341. See also Savage. Gen. Dictionary, IV, 380. Hudson, History of Marlborough, p. 75. Barry, History of Massachusetts, I, 488. Palfrey, History of New England, III, 192.
t Mass. Archives, Vol. 68, p. 243. 1
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for their characters as well as services. "Worthy and pious captains " they are called, "men for piety, pru- dence and courage eminent, and much lamented." Captain Samuel Wadsworth is spoken of as "that resolute, stout-hearted soldier," " one worthy to live in our history under the name of a good man; " and Captain Samuel Brocklebank is described as "a godly and choice-spirited man." There were also killed in the fight, Lieut. John Sharp of Brookline, Lieut. Samuel Gardner of Roxbury, and others, "as brave soldiers as any were ever employed in the present service."* Besides these were Josiah Nowell, a friendly Indian, and John Tahatta, a sagamore or chief of second rank, both of whom were mortally wounded.
On the receipt of the news of this disaster the Governor and Council directed that forty troopers from Suffolk and as many from Middlesex, well accoutred and completely armed, should march to Sudbury and discover where the Indians might be, and if they found them going in the direction of either Concord or Medfield that they should visit those places and report forthwith their condition and the enemy's move- ments. After this Plymouth, Bridgewater and Scituate were assailed. But the war had culminated. The tide of success now turned against the Indians. Philip's influence began to wane. His resources were exhausted, his allies upbraided and deserted him, his enemies increased, and he retired to Mount Hope only to find it " Mount Misery " and " Mount Confusion."
* Hubbard adds, " Thus, as in former attempts of like nature, too much courage and eagerness in pursuit of the Enemy hath added another fatal blow to this poor Country."
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Here he was surrounded by his pursuers and his wife and son were captured. Driven into a swamp he was finally shot by one of his own race, in fulfilment of his prediction that no Englishman should ever kill him. Thus the sachem of Pokanoket, the chief of the Wampanoags, who had been the terror of New England, perished August 12th, falling upon his face in the mud and water with his gun under him. In a picture of him, which may be seen in Bancroft's his- tory, he is represented as having a large frame and stalwart limbs, a high forehead and piercing eyes, standing with his arms crossed in an attitude of inde- pendence, and looking like a wily and formidable foe .* He was terribly and justly feared; but, though con- flicts continued after his death, the prestige and power of his tribe were broken. During the year the colony lost six hundred of its best men, so that there was scarcely a family which was not in mourning; thirteen towns were entirely destroyed, and many more suffered from pillage and depredation. The expense of the war, including losses, has been estimated at not less than half a million dollars, no small sum for those days, and, in proportion to the wealth of the country at the time, as great as that which a century later was the price of our national independence.
It is somewhat remarkable that in the first volume of the town records which relate to this period no allusion whatsoever is made to the battle. The
* Bancroft, History of the United States, Tenth Ed. 1844, II,' 109. Philip appears far less dignified and commanding in the likeness which was originally published by Church, and which is prefixed to Drake's Indian Biography.
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usual business appears to have been transacted, but the reader seeks in vain for any reference to an event which was to stand forth more prominently than any other in the future history of Sudbury. A singular silence is observed also in regard to the Indians. The earliest mention of them which I have found is in May, 1692, sixteen years after the battle, when it was agreed to call the people together for the choice of all town officers next lecture day at twelve of the clock, or after lecture if any be had, " it being a troublesome time with the Indians." In 1688 the public stock of ammunition, namely, powder, shot and flints, was distributed to various persons who engaged to respond for the same in case that it should not be spent in real service in the resistance of the enemy. In 1650 it was ordered that a part of the town rate should be to pay for the halberd, which was a weapon with a shaft about six feet long, being a spear and battle-axe com- bined, intended for cutting and thrusting, which has now gone out of use.
Since the parish and town at that time were iden- tical, ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs are found intermingled in the town records. Thus in 1654 John Goodenow was discharged from the town's engagement for beating the drum to call persons to meeting. In 1655, upon the pastor's request, the town granted that he have liberty to set up his seat for his wife in the new meeting house under the window by the pulpit. In 1677 the names are mentioned of persons who had offered themselves for the first month to travel with horses and weekly to fetch and return preachers for
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the supply of the town at least every Lord's day during the pastor's illness. At a meeting of the inhabitants in January, 1679, it was ordered that the selectmen should visit the families of this town and speedily inspect the same as to inmates, loose persons, but especially examine children and servants about their improvement as to reading and catechism, and return an account of that matter at the next meeting. The selectmen attended to their duty and made report that, having gone over the houses throughout the town from house to house and inspected and made inquiry, they find that all children and young persons are in a forward and growing way as to reading and catechiz- ing, and as to work and employment that they are generally diligent and in a hopeful, thriving way in all respects. In 1678 a committee was appointed to collect of the inhabitants of the town what may be wanting of the sum granted towards the new College at Cam- bridge, in building according to an order of the General Court. . The collection was made, as appears from the following receipt. "Cambridge, this 10th of March, 1678. Received of Several persons of the Town of Sudbury several parcels of corn amounting to (with the transportation from Sudbury to Cambridge) the . full sum of what was there subscribed to contribute to the new building for the College. I say received by me, William Manning." The next year Mr. Peter Noyes was chosen to serve as a deputy in the General Court, and he openly declared that he freely gave to the town his time, charge, diet, in and about his ser- vice at the aforesaid session of the General Court,
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which the town thankfully accepted, and ordered that he should not be assessed upon the next town rate. One other item may be given, in regard to the tavern. In 1684, upon the uncomfortable repre- sentations and reports concerning the miscarriage of things at the Ordinary of the town, it was ordered that three or four of the Selectmen inquire into the matter and that they advise with Mr. Walker and his wife and labor by persuasion with them, with all convenient speed, to take down their sign and to lay down and relinquish their selling of any drink.
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There is another topic connected with our subject that yet remains to be considered, namely, the charac- ter of the Indians and the treatment of them by our forefathers. What judgment are we to form of the red men, and of the course of action which was pursued towards them by our ancestors? We are happily in a position where we can look at this subject without prejudice. Our remoteness from that period enables us to be disinterested and impartial. We can be just to both parties. There can no longer be any feelings of bitterness against the one, and it is not necessary for us to defend the faults of the other. We should have no desire or motive except to ascertain the truth. And for this purpose we need to have carefully pondered all the facts, divested our minds of all preconceived opinions, and set ourselves back amid the circumstances of that age. It would be manifestly unjust to allow the views which we may hold in regard to the Indians of our day and the manner in which they have been dealt with, to determine our conclu-
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sions in regard to the conduet of the Puritans two hundred years ago. Each historieal period is to be judged by itself.
There have not been wanting those who deelare that the Indians have from the beginning received nothing but wrong at the hands of the white men; that they have first been dispossessed of their heredi- tary possessions by mereenary and wanton warfare, and then that their characters have been vilified by the misrepresentations of hostile writers. Their great chieftains, it has been said, have been persecuted while living, slandered and dishonored when dead. On the other hand there are those who exonerate the founders of New England altogether, denounee the aborigines as savages and pagans, and affirm that they deserved their fate.
It is never safe for us to form our estimate of any elass of men from the romancers and poets. They idealize and embellish. In order to make an attrac- tive tale or poem, they select such scenes or traits as would be pleasing, while they omit or throw into the background those that would be repelling. They magnify the virtues but palliate or conceal the vices of individuals. Hence the impression which is left by them upon the mind is often incorrect. If this impression is received in childhood, it may never be entirely effaced. The sympathies are then easily exeited by the story of misfortune, and we always take the side of the oppressed. This has been our experi- ence in regard to the Indian. We have wept over his sufferings, we have been indignant at his wrongs, we
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have blushed for some of the doings of our fathers whom we would gladly venerate. We have seen the red man steadily retire and disappear, and we have confessed with shame that we and those who have preceded us have caused him to be exterminated from the country. When however we have become better acquainted with those times, and reason has taken the place of sentiment, we have felt that we ought not to condemn our ancestors unheard; that as they were upright, God-fearing men, they could not have com- mitted any intentional injustice; that since "New England was a plantation of religion and not a planta- tion of trade," the first settlers are not lightly to be accused as deliberate, selfish robbers and murderers. Not until we have put ourselves in their places are we in a condition to understand their conduct; and not until we have taken a broader view, and have inquired into the higher reasons for all this and the design of Providence in permitting it, are we prepared to ap- proach the problem that is presented to us in the removal of an entire race from this continent, and the substitution for it of a new stock from the old world.
The Indian is an attractive figure as we see him at a distance, as we behold his form painted on the canvas, or cut in the pure white marble. When we read of the " children of the forest," and how
"wild in woods the noble savage ran,"
we picture to ourselves a being possessing not only admirable physical proportions, but also character- istics which we can esteen. Upon a nearer ac- quaintance with him, however, the fascination and
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the charm vanish. If we had visited the wigwam of a chief we should have found the royal residence a smoky and filthy hut, and the royal ermine a blanket or bearskin that was filled with vermin. The mode of living of this king and his personal habits would have seemed to us repulsive. His two principal employments were war and hunting; and, when not engaged in these, he was idle or asleep. His wife performed all the menial drudgery. He himself had great courage and endurance, but no tenderness or compassion. He was, for the most part, haughty, sullen, and revengeful.
Yet, though this is the general character of the North American savage, let us not forget that there were honorable men among them, like Massasoit, that faithful friend and ally of our fathers whose name can never be mentioned without honor. And it was not without reason that the Indians grew suspicious and finally rose in arms against the English. They had seen the settlements of the invaders constantly in- creasing, and their own hunting grounds contracted, so that instead of forests there were cultivated fields. Their means of subsistence were thus steadily di- minished. They witnessed not only the transfer of the domains, which they and their fathers had occupied, into the hands of strangers, but they saw before them in the future their own gradual extinction. They felt the superiority of the foreigner. They had experi- enced many outrages from him. We cannot censure them for fighting on their own land for their lives and property. If they had had a historian to tell the story
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of their trials and to do justice to their claims, a very strong defence doubtless would have been presented.
Nor, on the other hand, can we blame our ances- tors for their policy and action. They felt authorized in doing what they did. They had no desire to injure the natives. They endeavored to deal fairly with them. They never, except once in the course of war, despoiled them of any territory. They always made compensation, giving indeed frequently a small sum, yet what was satisfactory at the time. "I think I can truly say," wrote the Governor of Plymouth colony in 1676, " that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this colony but what was fairly obtained by honest pur- chase of the Indian proprietors."
Our fathers also tried to civilize and christianize the natives. The men were taught to read and write, and the women were taught to spin. In Cambridge, a separate building was erected and called the "Indian College." For more than fifty years students of that race were there, and one is mentioned who, according to the custom of that day, made a public confession of some fault in the chapel at prayers; "and the flowing of his passions was extraordinarily timed, and his ex- pressions accented, and most peculiarly and emphati- cally those of the grace of God to him; which indeed," says President Leverett, " did give a peculiar grace to the performance itself, and raised, I believe, a charity in some, that had very little I am sure, and ratified wonderfully that which I had conceived of him. Having made his public confession, he was restored
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to his standing in the College." There is, however, only a single.Indian who is recorded in the College Catalogue as having graduated. His name was Caleb Cheeshaliteaumuck, and he belonged to the class of 1665. It was found very difficult to educate these people. They seemed, like the gypsies, to prefer a roving to a sedentary life. The love of their native woods was born in them, and, even after they had finished their studies, they nearly all went back to their wild life.
Wherever the experiment has been tried, it has been with the same result. They cannot be weaned from their original practices and bred to habits of regular industry. They cannot acquire the sciences and the arts, and still less the amenities of civil- ized life. This indeed seems to be recognized and expressed in one of their legends, by which the at- tempt is made to account for the differences existing among mankind. When the Great Spirit made man, he first took some dust, mixed and dried it and blew upon it, sending it from his hand, and there stood before him the white man. The Great Spirit was sorry. . What he had made was not what he intended. The man was white, and looked feeble and sickly. But the Great Spirit said, "I have given you life. You are not what I want. But I will not take away your life." Then the Great Spirit mixed the dust again, and, drying, blew upon it and there stood before him a black man. The Great Spirit was grieved. This man was dark and ugly; so he bade him stand aside, and mixing up the dust again, he blew upon it,
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and there stood before him a red man. The Great Spirit smiled. At this moment there was an opening in the heavens, and through it descended slowly three boxes. Then the Great Spirit spoke: "I have given life to you all. The red man alone is my favorite, but . .you all shall live. You must however fulfil, each of you, the duties that are suited to you. These three boxes contain the tools you are to use in getting what is necessary to support you." So saying, he called the white man and said, " You are not my favorite, but I made you first. Open these boxes and look, and choose which you will take. They contain the imple- ments you are all three to use through life." The white man opened the boxes, looked in and said " I'll take this." It was full of pens, ink and paper, and all things white people use. The Great Spirit looked at the black man, saying: "I made you next, but I can- not allow you to have the second choice." Then, turning to the red man, he smiled and spoke, "Come, my favorite, and make a choice." The red man looked into the two remaining boxes and said: "I'll take this." That one was full of beaver traps, bows and arrows and all the kind of things the Indians use. Then the Great Spirit said to . the negro, "You can take this"; and that was full of hoes and axes, plainly showing that the black man was made to labor for both the white and red man. That is the Indians' view of the origin of man; and it has proved true, at least in this, that the red man has not been able to accomplish much with the articles either of the white man's or the black man's box.
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The efforts also that were made to christianize the Indians, though undertaken with great devotedness and zeal, appear to have met with comparatively small success. They asked many puzzling questions about the doctrines. Their attitude in relation to Christianity might perhaps be expressed in the blunt words of Red Jacket: " If the Great Spirit had intended that they should be Christians, he would have made his revela- tion to them as well as to the whites; and not having made it, it was clearly his will that they should con- tinue in the faith of their fathers. He believed that Jesus Christ was a good man, and that the whites should all be sent to hell for killing him; but the red men, having no hand in his death, were clear of that crime."
In extenuation of the severity which was employed by the Puritans in their conflicts with the aborigines, it must be remembered that they were in constant terror for themselves and their families; that they knew not how soon their houses might be reduced to a heap of ruins, and their wives and children brought to a most dreadful death; that they had to deal with a cruel, cunning and treacherous foe, who spared neither sex nor age, who cut out children's tongues, and made necklaces from the fingers of his captives. In indigna- tion and exasperation, is it strange that the colonists should have retaliated in order to intimidate these barbarians? The public safety seemed to require that such fiends should be extirpated. Their own existence, they thought, could be secured only by the utter de- struction of their enemies. And, in this course, they
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believed that they were upheld by the Old Testament. They considered that they were commissioned to root out these Canaanites, to smite them hip and thigh, and to hew them in pieces before the Lord. They felt that they were the chosen people and that they must drive the heathen out of the land. We shudder as we read of some of the enormities that they committed - of the selling and transporting prisoners as slaves to the Bermudas; of the burning of the Pequod fort by which hundreds of men, women and children perished in the flames; of the mutilation of the lifeless body of Philip, * which was quartered, while his head was placed on a pole and carried in triumph to Plymouth on Thanks- giving day. We have no apology to make for such frightful deeds. Only we must bear in mind the intolerant and unenlightened spirit of the age.
While we must all lament these exceptional cruel- - ties, it is nevertheless true, that no parallel can be drawn between the principles and practices of our forefathers in regard to the Indians and those of their descendants. No language can too severely denounce the iniqui- ties and the outrages, the shameful extortions that have been perpetrated year after year upon them. Instead of being benefited from their proximity to us, they have greatly suffered from it. They have been treated by those on the frontier as if they were wild beasts, rather than their brother men. Our govern- ment has not kept its plighted faith, but it has broken its most solemn treaties. There has not been an In- dian war since the days of Washington in which the
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white man has not been the aggressor .* If we had been more just and humane, they would have been more peaceable and quiet. At the same time we must acknowledge that the disappearance of this race could not have been prevented, and seems to be a providen- tial necessity. Since they cannot be civilized and assimilated with us, since they remain stationary and have no desire to improve or to live otherwise than as their fathers lived, they must pass away, like the forests. Hunting grounds cannot co-exist with civil- ization, and as we increase they must decrease. This country is manifestly designed to be the theatre of action for a new type of humanity, which is to be formed by the mingling of all the races of the old world, and by which the greatest results are yet to be wrought out.
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