USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Cape Cod, the right arm of Massachusetts : an historical narrative > Part 9
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*Mr. Freeman, Hist. Cape Cod, gives the impression that Awashonks was found on the Cape, which Church's narrative shows not to have been the case.
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KING PHILIP'S WAR.
Attacks, with varying results, were sustained during this year by towns in the westerly part of Massachusetts, when the tide of war again turned towards Plymouth colony. Capt. Michael Pierce of Scituate, with about seventy men, twenty of whom were friendly Indians from Cape Cod, went in pursuit of the enemy on the western border of the colony. After an engagement without important results, at Seekonk on the 25th of March, 1676, he the next day pressed forward in pursuit of the enemy. At a short distance from the town four or five Indians were discovered limping, as if wounded. Unsuspicious of treachery, the company eagerly followed, and found themselves in ambush, and in the presence of overwhelming numbers. To escape was impossible ; retreat was desperate. A furious attack ensued ; a fresh band of assailants appeared, and the little company, like the Spartans at Thermopylæ, fought against overwhelming odds for above two hours, the men in double ring, until hardly any were spared to tell the story of their valor. The enemy paid dearly for their victory, nearly a hundred of their warriors forfeiting their lives. Of those who fell, five of them were from Sandwich : Benj. Nye, Daniel Bessey, Caleb Blake, Job Gibbs, Stephen Wing; six from Barnstable, Lieut. Fuller, John Lewis, Eleazer Cobb, - - Linnell, Samuel Childs, Samuel Bowman; Yarmouth five, John Matthews,* John Gage, Wm. Gage, Henry Gage, Henry Gold; Eastham five, Joseph Nessefield, John Walker, John M-, John Fittz, Jr., John Miller. An Indian named Amos, who was one of the Barnstable quota, and who fought bravely to the end of the battle, escaped by a stratagem illustrative of the
*Letter of Rev. Noah Newman of Rehoboth, partially illegible. The report of the death of John Matthews was probably incorrect. The only person in Yarmouth of that name at that time over fourteen years old, lived to old age.
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tact and eunning of his race ; seeing that the hostile Indians had blackened their faces that they might know each other from the friendly Indians with Capt. Pierce, he wet some powder and disguised his own face, and thus eluded the enemy.
In June, both men and money for the renewed prosecution of the war were called for: From Sandwich £16 and 13 men; Barnstable, the same; Yarmouth, £14 and 13 men; Eastham, £10, 5s. and 10 men. But the war was now visibly drawing to a close. The Indians were at the end of their resourees ; having no leisure to plant, their bread was getting searee, and the vigilance of the English gave them no opportunity to recruit their diminished stores. Philip's confederates deserted him and left the field, and betaking himself with a few followers to Mount Hope, he was surrounded and shot down by an Indian bullet in an effort to escape from his environment. The barbarous exposure of his mutilated eareass to publie observation, and the execution of Indian chiefs who had surrendered with an implied pledge that their lives were to be spared, with the selling of Philip's son into slavery, indicate the bitterness of resentment which our fathers felt towards those who were the authors of so many woes that had befallen their country- men, but not a degree of barbarity beyond that of the times in which they lived, that has been so often and so persistently imputed to them. Only seventeen years before this, the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, and his generals, Ireton and Bradshaw, were disinterred, their remains hanged at Tyburn, and their heads fastened to poles, exhibited on the top of Westminster Hall, fronting palace yard. The practice of displaying heads of traitors in this manner was practieed in England for a century after the death of Philip.
Though removed from the direct contact with the war,
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yet in consequence of the absence of so many of their vigorous young men, whose lives were in constant peril, the Cape suffered the pangs of continual anxiety, and the privation and want which the absence of their protectors and supporters naturally entailed upon their families. It was a sad and fearful period. Every breeze from the west bore npon its wings the wail of suffering, and the glare of burning villages, seen by night, lighted up the horizen. How soon it might prove their turn to suffer in a like manner, they could not tell. What if the natives by whom they were surrounded, in this hour of distress and danger, should prove treacherous, and seeing their feebleness should take advantage of the absence of so many of their fighting men, and fall upon them in their defenceless condition ? However pacific and friendly their demeanor might be, the colonists could not entirely confide in their constancy, when others had been so bitterly deceived and betrayed. These thoughts must have occurred to them as they pondered upon the tidings which reached them from abroad, and filled their minds with terror and apprehension. The vigilance of the authorities was therefore never relaxed. Watch and ward were maintained. Sandwich, especially, it has been shown, kept guard of the region bordering upon the Plymouth towns, to prevent intercourse between the Cape Indians and those from abroad, who were eagerly seeking communi- cation and co-operation with them. While Mr. Thomas Hinckley was away on publie service a guard was placed upon his dwelling to protect his family, which was believed to be in peril. But their allies, fortunately proved faithful and true. Partly owing to their naturally mild and pacific disposition, but largely in consequence of fair dealing by the settlers and the good seed sown by John Eliot, Richard Bourne, Thomas Tupper, Rev. Mr. Treat, Rev. Thomas
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Thornton and other true and devoted men, the native inhabitants, not only refused to join with Philip and his allies, notwithstanding their supplications, but many of them fought side by side with the English. This was what saved the cause of the colonists from utter overthrow, and preserved them from destruction.
The best authorities agree that not less than 500 or 600 Indians, able to bear arms, then lived on the Cape. It is not too much to say, that had these proved unfriendly and hostile, the struggle, if not doubtful, would have been indefinitely prolonged. As it was, the Cape was the only portion of the colony which remained in peace and security during this terrible struggle, and fugitives from other towns which had been devastated by the enemy, were received here in large numbers and welcomed with christian hospitality. Not only were individual sufferers received and entertained, but whole communities were invited to share their lot with the Cape people until the perilous times were over. The people of Sandwich, in town meeting assembled, offered the fugitives the use of planting lands not otherwise occupied, to those who had been driven from their homes. When Rehoboth, Taunton and Bridgewater were destroyed, the Cape towns, acting through a meeting of leading citizens held in Barnstable, sent a cordial invitation to their people to come with such goods as remained with them, for preservation and safety. Answers were returned filled with expressions of the deepest gratitude, but for prudential reasons they determined not to leave their homes, but to make another effort to rebuild and protect them.
The policy of the war, both in its inception and in the manner in which it was prosecuted, was questioned by many at the time and since its occurrence. There were those who thought it might have been averted by a more conciliatory
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policy, and an effort to impress the Indians with a display of friendly desires and intentions. Whether Philip and his men could have been won by such a policy may well be doubted, but the effort was worthy of trial. The peace party allege that the council of war entered into the crusade with a degree of eagerness unbecoming and impolitic. The same persons also complain of the severity of treatment pursued towards prisoners and non-combatants. A letter from Gov. Winslow to Edmund Freeman and Thomas Hinckley, and forwarded by Mr. Church, remarks : "Mr. Church tells me of an Indian woman brought in," "who seems to be sent with lies and flams to affright and corrupt your Indians ; if so, I wish you would order him to put her to death, but leave it to your discretion ; but let her not have opportunity of returning to the enemy," etc. Mr. Walley, the minister at Barnstable, was one of those who criticised the policy of the government. In a letter, addressed to Rev. Mr. Cotton of Plymouth, he expressed the feeling which was rife in relation to sending away squaws who were suspected to be conveying hostile information, complaining of the " severity" of the measure, and saying that the "country is troubled and grieved at this action, accounting it very unreasonable and that there is much discontent about it." Mr. Walley, in a subsequent letter advocates the employment in the war, of Indians, to which there was much objection, especially in official quarters, and not without good reasons therefor, drawn from the experience of other portions of the country. The peace policy of Roger Williams and his associates in Rhode Island, did not shield that colony from the hostile acts of the Indians. Rhode Island sent no troops to the war, but of its two towns on the mainland, Warwick was destroyed, and a large portion of Providence, notwith-
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standing that the insular settlements were carefully guarded.
The casualties of the war, which raged for more than a year, so far as Massachusetts and Plymouth were concerned, are thus summed up by Dr. Palfrey : In these two colonies there "were eighty or ninety towns. Of these, ten or twelve were totally destroyed, and forty more or less damaged by fire, making together nearly two-thirds of the whole number. Five or six hundred men of military age, one in ten or twelve of the whole, were stealthily murdered or fell in battle, or becoming prisoners were lost sight of forever, an unknown number of them being put to death with horrible tortures." A considerable number of non- combatants, old men, women and children, were ruthlessly put to death.
The pecuniary results of the war were no less heavy to the colonies; and at its close, it is estimated that over £100,000 had been expended in the struggle, and that the Plymouth colony had contracted a debt, which exceeded the value of the entire personal estates of its people. They did not give up in despair, but by a vigorous system of taxation paid up the last dollar, principal and interest. Some portion of the debt was cancelled by grants of lands, which the exterminated savages had occupied, but this formed no considerable part of the expenditure.
The assessment of the last year of the war, in July, 1676, in addition to other taxes already levied, the sum of £3692, 16s., 2d., was ordered to be raised, of which the proportions of the Cape towns were as follows :
Sandwich, £327:15:06
Barnstable, 351: 03:09
Yarmouth, 266:01:00
Easthanı, 236:05:00
It is a circumstance most suggestive of the relation
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KING PHILIP'S WAR.
subsisting between the colonies and the mother country, that during this fearful life-and-death struggle for existence, no word of sympathy and cheer, and no proffer of aid in their distress came from the authorities in England, nor, as far as appears, from any organization there. That such aid should be spontaneously tendered, would have seemed most natural. That such assistance was not asked for or expected, indicates the condition of isolation and self- dependenee which the colonists seemed to have felt that they were assuming, when they forsook their English homes, to establish new ones in America. They appear neither to have expected, nor to have desired, any assistance from England, greatly as they needed it, and thus, while showing their ability to take care of themselves, to be thereby earning a title to immunity from interference and control from the government, whose hand they had every reason to apprehend would have been laid heavily upon them, if put forth in any way.
But from another quarter relief was gratefully received. Contributions to the amount of nearly a thousand pounds, " for such as were impoverished, distressed and in necessity by the late war," were sent " by divers Christians in Ireland." The portion, which in the distribution accrued to the Plymouth colony, amounted to £124, 10s., and was distributed according to the pecuniary disabilities sustained by the people of the several towns. To arrive at a knowledge of the proportions of these losses, together with disbursements on account of the war made prior to July, 1676, the following table is presented :
Sandwich had paid £327 : 15 : 6 and rec'd of Irish donations, £0 : 0: 0
66 10 :0 Yarmouth 266: 1:0
Barnstable
351 : 3 :9
3: 0:0
Eastham
296: 5:0
10:0
Entire Colony 6 $692 : 16 : 2
124 : 10 : 0
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CAPE COD.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1674-1676.
1674. The court ordered that "Manamoyick, Paomet and Satucket be in the town of Eastham," and that "all other places of like capacity shall belong to particular townships, as the court shall see meet." -The house of the town clerk and all the town records of Yarmouth, were destroyed by fire. - Thomas Huckius of Barnstable laid down three acres of land at the meeting-house, for the town's use as a burying-ground. This is the cemetery adjoining the old Methodist meeting-house.
1675. Liberty was granted to any families in Sandwich that may be necessitated to repair to the town garrison for safety. It was also ordered that those citizens entitled to vote, who do not attend town meetings, be fined 2s., 6d. for each and every delinquency. The Indians of the town were granted liberty to set up a house for meeting on the Lord's days for the present summer, provided they will not damage the meadows by letting their horses into the same .- Mr. Thomas Tupper, Sandwich, d., aged 93 years. His wife d. soon after, aged 90 years.)
1676. The court allowed to John Paysley of Yarmouth, a eripple in the late wars, £3; Thomas Tobey of Sandwich, for his services, a grant of land .- Rev. Johu Mayo died in Yarmouth; he removed there from Bostou in 1623. Eastham appropriated €155, 8d. to build a meeting-house, "near the burial place."
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CHAPTER IX.
FROM PHILIP'S WAR TO UNION WITH MASSACHUSETTS.
Neglect of Religious and Educational Causes-Death of Governor Winslow and election of Thomas Hinckley as his successor-Crea- tion of the County of Barnstable-Succannessett, afterwards Falmouth, incorporated-Andros's administration-King William's War-The Union with Massachusetts-Poverty of Plymouth Colony.
HE exigencies of the war having presum- ably caused some degree of neglect of the ordinances of religion and the cause of education, a law was in 1677 enacted by the court, requiring suitable provision to be made in each town for the support of public worship. This statute was a revival of the spirit and intent of already existing enactments, modified to suit the exigencies of the times, and was the first legal provision for the coercive collection of taxes for ministerial support. Heretofore reliance had been made upon the voluntary offerings of the people, prompted by their attachment and consideration for the ministerial office. But this sentiment had visibly weakened in public estimation, and men had begun to attach greater importance to individual experience, and to undervalue, in the estimation of the authorities, the efficacy of church work and organization. This law was supplemented, the following year, by another enactment, requiring that in each town a house of worship should be
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erected and maintained, suited to the necessities of the people, and in case of any neglect on their part to carry out this provision, the government was to have it done at the expense of the delinquent town. Educational qualifications seem also to have been neglected or discredited, and the laws for the permanent establishment and support of grammar schools were also re-enacted, provision being made for the application of the funds arising from the Cape fisheries for that purpose. These fisheries were farmed out for a term of seven years, at £30 per annum.
" Select Courts," which by the enactment of 1679, "were allowed in each town or jurisdiction," seem to have been nothing more than an extension of the powers of the existing boards of selectmen.
A committee to consider and adjust the claims growing out of the war, was this year raised, and among those Cape citizens who were members were, Wm. Swift, Mr. John Miller, Thomas Huckens, Mr. Daniel Smith, Capt. Sparrow.
Dec. 18, 1680, died Josias Winslow, who for seven years had held the office of governor of Plymouth colony. He was the only governor of the colony who was born in New England, his father, Edward Winslow, being one of the early governors of the colony. Like his father, he was a man of ability and accomplishments, a brave soldier during Philip's war. Thomas Hinckley of Barnstable, who was deputy governor, succeeded him, and at the election in March, 1681, was chosen governor, with James Cudworth as deputy. The election of Mr. Hinckley did not result, however, in a reversal of the policy of his predecessor in relation to religious toleration, that principle having come to be more generally recognized as the result of the contro- versies with the Friends and other sects, who differed from
PHILIP'S WAR TO UNION WITH MASSACHUSETTS. 123
the standing order of the colony. The laws against the Quakers were so far relaxed, that upon their petition those of Sandwich were granted liberty to act in the disposal of lands, etc., "so long as they carry themselves civilly and do not abuse their liberty." Local military discipline was not permitted to relax in the outlying villages- of the Cape. The court ordered that "Mannamoiett do choose a fit man to exercise its men in arms," and that "the men of Succanessett repair three times a year to Barnstable to train."
The "government being much enlarged," Plymouth Colony, in 1685, was divided into three counties, called, respectively, Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable. The County of Barnstable consisted of the towns of Barnstable, Eastham, Sandwich and Yarmouth, and the plantations of Monnamoit, Succonesset, and Sippecan. The latter comprised the region subsequently incorporated under the name of Roches- ter, embracing the present town of that name, and Wareham, Marion and Mattapoisett. Each of the towns was authorized to send three, and each plantation one, grand jurymen, to the court to be held at the shire town, Barn- stable. They were ordered to appear on the third Tuesday of June, 1686, to take their oaths, and to receive their charge. A session of the Court of Assistants for trials was held on the first Tuesday of July in the same year.
There was the usual rivalry and competition for the location of the county buildings, the Gorliams desiring to erect them near the Yarmouth line, where their lands were located, they building houses in that region for the prospective accommodation of those resorting to the courts, but the influence of Gov. Hinckley and his assistants, Barnabas Lothrop and John Walley, prevailed, and the
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court house was built near the present centre of the town .* Sippecan, which subsequently took the name Rochester, remained a part of Barnstable county until 1708, when, upon the petition of its inhabitants, it was annexed to Plymouth county. The laws of the colony, which had been some time under revision, were printed this year, and confirmatory titles given, under the seal of the government, the several purchases being particularly described.
Before the county had been fully organized, in June, 1686, Succonessett was incorporated as a town, the fifth in the county. The settlement and development of the region had been progressing for twenty-five years before its incor- poration. In 1659, "liberty to view and purchase a tract at Saconesset " was granted to Thomas Hinckley, Henry Cobb, Samuel Hinckley, John Jenkins, Nathaniel Bacon, of Barnstable ; and Thomas Hinckley, and Richard Bourne of Sandwich, were "empowered to arrange with the Indians for the same." It seems probable that nothing came of this arrangement ; but March 5, 1660-1, "liberty to purchase lands at Saconesset and adjacent" was granted to John Howland, Anthony Annable, Isaac Robinson, Nathaniel Thomas, Samuel Fuller, Abraham Pierce and Peter Blossom ; and to these were subsequently added Sam'l Hinckley, Matthew Fuller, John Cooper, Henry Cobb, John Dunham and John Jenkins of Barnstable, and Samuel Fuller, Wm. Nelson and Thomas Burman of Plymouth; and John Phinney, Thomas Burman,; of Barnstable, and John
*The site of the first court house was near the spot now occupied by the stable of the old Crocker hotel, owned by heirs of Mrs. Lydia S. Scudder. See Otis's Gen. Notes of Barnstable Families. The second court house was the building now occupied by the Baptist society as a house of worship, and was erected over a century ago.
+This is the more usual spelling of the word, but it was also variously written Sachonesit, Succannesset, Sugoues, etc.
#This may be the same person as the one preceding, said to be of Plymouth, or it may be a clerical error.
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Dunham, Jr., are also named. The first proprietors' book commenced in 1661, but the names of some of the grantees do not occur on its pages. Jonathan Hatch and Isaac Robinson appear to have been the first bona fide settlers, having built their houses near the southerly borders of Fresh Pond. In 1664-5 Isaac Robinson was allowed to keep an ordinary there "in regard that it doth appear that there is a great recource to and fro by travellers to Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket," etc. In 1668, Wm. Gifford, Thomas Lewis and John Jenkins became "inhabitants of Succon- essit." The Quakers were here in considerable numbers at the time of the incorporation. Isaac Robinson, early of this town, though not of this sect, believed in their sincerity, and was suffering civil disabilities and social outlawry in their behalf, and for his testimony in favor of religious toleration. For many years, for municipal purposes and for the observance of public worship the plantation was associated with Barnstable, during which time the inhabitants travelled fifteen miles to attend service on Sunday. Mr. Samuel Shiverick was the first minister, being here prior to 1700, but at what exact date he first came to the place cannot be ascertained. The name of FALMOUTH, instead of Succanesset, came into use about the year 1694,* although there is no formal act extant authorizing a designation. It may have been derived from Falmouth in England, a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, whence Bartholomew Gosnold sailed on the voyage to this vicinity, attempting a settlement on one of the Elizabeth Islands, near by the main land in this town.
The relations of the people of Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies to the home government had long been the cause
*The Province tax of Sept. 14, 1694, has this item: "Falmouth £22, 88., 0d."
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of anxiety and deep solicitude on their part. At the threshold of the administration of Gov. Hinckley a crisis was seen to be pending. Edmund Randolph, who had been embittered by a controversy with the Massachusetts colony, after several years of exertion had succeeded in procuring of the home government the process of quo warranto, the charter had been vacated, and the Presidency of Joseph Dudley, followed by the Governorship of Sir Edmund Andros, had resulted therefrom. The relations of Plymouth Colony to the royal authority had been of a pacitic nature, and great hopes had been entertained of the granting of a royal charter to the colony. But as the arbitrary character of the Stuarts, especially of James II, had disclosed itself, and his dealings with Massachusetts were developed, the hopes and expectations of the colonists gave way to gloom and apprehension. The fears of the people were, unhappily, realized when, in 1686, Sir Edmund Andros arrived with a commission appointing him governor of all New England. Gov. Hinckley was of course supplanted, and though nominated as one of Andros's councillors, the colony was merged with the Massachusetts colony, and divested of its distinctive character.
The new order of things gave great offence, not only in Massachusetts, but throughout New England. Exorbitant taxes were levied, and under the pretence that all the land titles of the country were invalid, large fees were attempted to be extorted for new ones. Even when, in addition to the grants given them by the government, the Indian titles had been purchased, Andros was said to have declared that such deeds were "no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." Gov. Hinckley, in a petition to the King, in relation to Plymouth Colony, asserted that all the money left in the colony "would scarcely suffice to pay one-half the charges
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