USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Early Rehoboth, documented historical studies of families and events in this Plymouth colony township, Volume III > Part 13
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A General Court held at Plymouth 17 Dec. 1673, upon serious consideration of the seizure of several vessels by the Dutch at New York, voted to raise an expedition of one hundred men to go against the Dutch "by march or voyage". The officers chosen were: Capt. James Cudworth, Lieut. John Gorham, and Ensign Micaell Peirse; Serjants William Witherell, Thomas Harvey, John Witherell, and Philip Leonard. Capt. Mathew Fuller was chosen surjeañ generall for the expedition. Wages per day to be,-for a captain, 6s .; Lieutenant, 5s .; ensign, 4s .; Serjant, 3s; drummer 2s.6d .; and to a private soldier, 2s. [Plymouth Colony Records, vol. V, p. 136]. Peace was declared the next spring, so that there was no need for an ex- pedition.
In the following letter to Governor Winslow, Captain Cudworth refused to accept the command of this expedition :
Scituate the 16th of January 1673.
To the much Honored Josiah Winslow Governor of New-Plymouth.
Much Honored,
My service and due respects being presented; yours of the 19th of De- cember, 1673, came to my hands the last day of that month; wherein your honour acquainted me, that the General Court, by a clear vote, have pitched upon myself to command an hundred men, in joining with the rest, in prose- cuting the expedition against the Dutch; and hitherto I have been silent in returning your honour an answer, partly because, though there is some preparation, yet no determination, of any sudden going forth; neither, in- deed, will the season admit of such an undertaking at present; also the many urgent occasions and pressing necessities of my own, has longer detained me than indeed has been meet. Hoping those considerations, though they will not justify, yet they may, in some measure, excuse my neglect herein.
Concerning the design, how well grounded and warranted such an under- taking is, to me seems doubtful, peradvanture it may be my ignorance; and I do apprehend we are in great straight; but whether to sit still, or to be doing, will be best, it is too hard for any to determine. But whether we do the one, or the other, trouble and disquietment threatens to be our portion. However, it does behove all, that are to be principal actors in such a design, to be clear in themselves, not only concerning the lawfulness, but also how expedient such an undertaking may be; then they may, with more comfort and courage, manage that part of the works they are designed unto.
Sir, I do unfeignedly and most ingenuously receive the Court's valuation and estimation of me, in preferring me to such a place. It is not below me, or beneath me, (as some deem theirs to be), but is above me, and far beyond any desert of mine; and had the Court been well acquainted with my in- sufficiency for such an undertaking, doubtless I should not have been in nomination; neither would it have been their wisdom to hazard the cause and lives of their men upon an instrument so unaccomplished for the well- management of so great concern.
So being persuaded to myself of my own insufficiency, it appears clearly and undoubtedly unto me, that I have no call of God thereunto; for vox.
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populi is not always vox Dei; and therefore I cannot, in any thing, give a more full and real demonstration of my loyalty and faithfulness unto my king and country, than in declaring my unfitness for the acceptation of the management of such a design; and should I embrace and accept of the call, knowing my own insufficiency for the work, what should I less, than what in me lies, but betray the cause and lives of men into the hands of the enemy.
Learned, judicious, and worthy Mr. Ward, in his animadversions to war, says, that the inexperience of a captain hath been the ruin of armies, and destruction of commonwealths; and that, in the time of peace, every brave fellow desires to be honoured with the name and charge of a captain; but when war is approaching, and the enemy at hand, they quake, their swords out of their scabbards, and had rather make use, in fight, of their wings, than of their talons. Beside, it is evident unto me, upon other considerations, I am not called of God, unto this work, at this time.
The estate and condition of my family is such, as will not admit of such a thing; being such as can hardly be paralleled; which was well known unto some, but it was not well nor friendly done as to me, nor faithfully as to the country, if they did not lay my condition before the Court. My wife, as is well known to the whole town, is not only a weak woman, and has so been all along; but now, by reason of age, being sixty-seven years and upwards, and nature decaying, so her illness grows more strongly upon her, never a day passes, but she is forced to rise at break of day, or before; she cannot lay for want of breath; and when she is up, she cannot light a pipe of to- bacco, but must be lighted for her; and until she has taken two or three pipes, for want of breath, she is not able to stir; and she has never a maid.
That day your letter came to my hands, my maid's year being out, she went away, and I cannot get nor hear of another .- And then, in regard of my occasions abroad, for the tending and looking after all my creatures, the fetching home my hay, that is yet at the place where it grew, getting of wood, going to mill, and for the performing all other family occasions, I have none but a small Indian boy, about thirteen years of age, to help me. Also, a man that goes forth upon such a design, ought to set his house in order, and to settle his outward estate, so as though he never were to return again,
And your honour knows how I am blocked up there in respect of the differ- ence and contest betwixt my brother Hoare and myself, which behoves me to stand as it were upon guard, to defend my just interest; and if God should take me away, my poor family, in all likelihood, cannot expect but to be great sufferers by him. Sir, I can truly say, that I do not in the least wave the business out of any discontent in my spirit, arising from any former differ- ence; for the thought of all which is, and shall be, forever buried, so as not to come in remembrance though happily such a thing may be too much fo- mented; neither out of an effeminate or dastardly spirit; but as freely willing to serve my king and my country as any man whatsoever, in what I am capa- ble and fitted for; but do not understand that a man is so called to serve his country with the inevitable ruin and destruction of his own family; neither indeed can it be imagined, that such an one can manage his business with any comfort and courage abroad, when, by reason of his absence, things are like to succeed so ill at home; neither can he expect a blessing of God upon his undertakings. These things being premised, I know your honour's wisdom and prudence to be such, as that you will, upon serious consideration thereof, conclude, that I am not called of God to embrace the call of the General Court.
Sir, when I consider the Court's act, in pitching their thoughts upon me, I have many musings, what should be the reasons moving them thereunto; I conceive it cannot be, that I should be thought to have more experience and better abilities than others; for you, with many others, do well know, that when I entered upon military employ, I was very raw in the theoretick part of war, and less acquainted with the practical part; and it was not long I sustained my place, in which I had occasions to bend my mind and thoughts that way; but was discharged thereof, and of other public concern; and therin I took vox populi to be vox Dei; and that God did thereby call and de-
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sign me to sit still, and be sequestered from all public transactions; which condition suits me so well that I have received more satisfaction and con- tentment therein, than ever I did in sustaining any public place.
You also well know, that there are many settled and established military commission officers in this colony, who have sustained their place double and treble the time I sustained mine, which doubtless has given them large and fair opportunity to gain more experience, and to attain greater experience in military affairs than, in reason, can be expected from me; so that my not embracing the court's call cannot be a prejudice and detriment to the country, but a benefit and advantage, in causing them to make a better choice of some more able, and better experienced in affairs of that nature.
Sir, in all this I have not dealt feignedly nor fraudulently with you; but really and truly; hoping it will be so accepted and taken; desiring the Almighty to so endow you with all wisdom, for the management of such concerns as you are called to be exercised in; that all under you may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty; and so prays he, that is willing, wherein he may, to serve you, Sir, who is
your humble servant, James Cudworth. [1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. VI (1800), pp. 80-83.]
Captain Cudworth was in command of the Plymouth forces at the outbreak of King Philip's War. Well over seventy years of age, his two letters are important, for they give us the only clear picture we have of him. After reading his letters, it is easy to conclude that he played a dominant part in the regrettable decision to discontinue the fight in Pocasset Cedar Swamp on 19 July 1675.
On 27 Jan. 1675/6, some 300 Indians attacked Pawtuxet, burned William Harris' house and about 50 loads of hay; killed his son, drove away 50 cows and 80 horses. Harris fled to Rhode Island, where he recorded the news of the war from reports brought in by various messengers. On 12 Aug. 1676, he wrote a long letter, some 6,500 words, to Sir Joseph Williamson, the King's Secretary of State, detailing the progress of King Philip's War.
Containing much information found nowhere else, this letter is an extremely important addition to the contemporaneous records of King Philip's War. The original is in the British Public Record Office, London, Colonial Papers, vol. XXXXII, No. 47, a transcript of which is printed in the "Harris Papers" (with notes by Dr. Clarence S. Brigham), Rhode Island Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. X (1902), pp. 162-179. The following few excerpts show the impor- tance of the letter:
. . allsoe formerly I haue told phillip (after he plotted against ye Eng- lish) that he aboue all other Indeans should loue ye English & be true to them, for, had it not bin for ye plimoth old plantors (now dead) ye narragansets had then cutt of his fathers head (then called Mas-sa-soyt, since was called Osa- mea-quen, whom I knew forty years since .
"And that ye war was not only Just with Phillip but ye narragansets allsoe, for yt many of them wear with phillip in ye first fight* (aboute mounte hope)
* On 25 June 1675, Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas wrote Gov. Josiah Winslow the following letter from Swanzy telling of the Indian massacre that took place the day before. On the same day, Roger Williams wrote a letter to Gov. John Winthrop, Jr. See ante, page 53. Lieutenant Thomas confirmed Williams' report that Uncas had sent Philip 20 men and added the information that Masup [now called Canonicus] sent Philip word that if he would send him six English heads the Indians in the country would join him.
Swanzy Jun 25: 75
Right Honoured Sir
A particular account of our arrival here & the Sad providence that yesterday fell our at Matta-
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And when phillip fled from thence ye sd narragansets fled to narraganset, and ye narragansets sachems or rulers confesed them theyr men and were con- ducted with a great woman [Awasunks] of phillips party & her men to narra- ganset, wherevpon ye English demanded of ye narragansets why they received & shelltered theyr enemyes, and demanded them, but ye narragansets did not deliuer them, but entered into articles to deliuer phillips men, & theyr enemyes yt came among them, but did not, yet then makeing large pretences of peace, intending noe thing les, but they thought that if they should by a suden war lose theyr haruest: yt then it would soone disable them to continew ye war.
"Allsoe they received of ye English rewards: as if they had taken of some of phillips mens heads, but ye sd heads (some of them) doubtles wear heads of Indeans yt ye English & theyr confederates had killd, or els: some heads of others yt they slew yt wear run from them: to phillip formerly: for fear of being put to death by ye narragansets for supposed ofences commited against ye narragansets, or others of phillips men yt in time of peace contrauerted for phillip against ye narragansets . . . & soe tooke yt time to reueng themselues on them (when fallen into disstres & into theyr hands: for supposed deliuer- ance: willing to shelter themselues vnder them) and as to ye last sort against Whome they had such spleen : some of them I knew: & heard them debate, ye sd defferences in open courte at Rhode Island, ye defference arose about a man (to say) an Indean yt liued at Rhode Island: yt kild his wife & a man yt (he sd) lay with her, ye sd man was tryd & condemnd for ye sd murder, but because he killd two, ye sachems sd they would haue two to put to death for ye sd two killd, and out of phillips men, for yt ye murdered wear related to ye narra- gansets: and ye murderor to phillip.
"The narragansets allsoe would haue had ye murderor to haue cast him bound into a fire, but ye court would not admit it . .. whereat: ye narra- gansets shewed great indignation & sd, that before ye English came: they could doe what they list with phillips party, and phillips partty pleaded theyr exemption from them, & theyr owne absolute power, and soe stood theyr defference; and one (a chiefe interpreter among them then) his head was brought to ye English by ye narragansets & tooke a reward as for killing one of phillips men, but doubtles ye sd man (whome I had knowne neer forty year) was slayn by ye English: and then ye narragansets got his head: to get ye reward, & to keep of (for yt present) ye war, . .. ye narragansets had then among them many of phillips partty: whome they neither delivered vp to ye English, nor brought in theyr heads, which shews they did all in deceite; yea, & all this while vp in ye country about hadley & deerfield & there aboute ayd phillip: and others of theyr party: against ye English to ye doeing of very great mischiefe; And further, yt ye sd heads pretended to be taken of by ye narragansets from liueing men of phillips; as enemyes to ye English: seems not to be belieued .
"They marched after phillip in a few files: some miles long, & shot at ye greene shrubes (when they saw not ye enemy) . . . but at ye last found phillip in a swamp theraboutes, and fought him, but did him litle hurt, and he them some allsoe, but when they had got allmoste to him: a retreat was sounded which drew them out of ye swamp, & ye Indeans followed them: & fought
poine of the Lose of 6 men without doubt; you have from our Generall, which may I desire be an indusement to you to Strengthen our Towns that are weakened by our departure since the Indians doe throe exploits one out Houses & Straggled persons: it is reported Credibly [that] Uncuse Sent Phillip 20 men Last Saturday wa [ ] fonight; & Mausup Sent him word that if he Sent him 6 Inglish heads then all the Indians in the Cuntry were ingaged against the English Sir our men are all well & Cherfull: through Gods mercy Send not your Southward mento us but secure your Selves with them; & Send us help from the Matashusets which is our Generalls & Counsells advice; the forces here are disperced to Seuerall places of the Towne & Some to rehoboth which this day we Intend to draw into a narrow compas which when we have done We intend to Lay ambushment in the Indians Walks to cut of there men as they doe to cut off our men for their present michon is to Send forth Scouts to ly in our walks to make disorder & Cut of our men I pray Sir rember me to my wife & bid her be of good Chire the Lord is our keeper our Soldiers here desire to be remem- bered to their wives & friends Will: ford is well of his Ague thus desiring your Honr & all gods Peopls prayers for us I remain your Honours Sarvant
Nath Thomas
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them: as they marched away, but then ye Indeans would not agayne be founde; soe ye English marched home to ye bay (yt wear of ye bay) .
"phillip then takeing his march vp into ye Country, & some of his men haueing wounded a man at prouidence, & burnt some houses, prouidence men were willing to be with him, hearing he was to pas by ralied aboute thirty or thirty fiue, & went to ly in ambush for him, but he was gon by, & while they were lookeing him, ther came to them aboute thirty & fiue more of Rehoboth & tanton, two townes of plimoth patent, soone after them forty Indeans confederates with ye English, in all about a hundered (ye sd Indeans were vnckcas his men, A sachem in Conecticot patent) . . . And neer night came neer to phillip, in ye morning they followed agayne, vntill they met with phillips scoute, whome they shott dead, but phillip heard yª gun : & got redy, and instantly ye English came vp with them: & fought them & killd about fifty of phillips, & phillip hardly escaped: he left his powder: & stafe for haste, and fled vp into y& Country (but a great woman [Weetmoe] with phillip then, but left him & went with some narragansets to narraganset)
"Allso a great mulltitude of Indeans came downe out of ye country: in one body, they met with one captayne pierce at a place neer Rehoboth called blackstones River, where he with aboute seuenty lusty vallyent men were fallen into an Ambush of allmoste all ye sd thousand Indeans: & foute with them till they had spent theyr amminition: which when ye Indeans perceived they ran vpone them : & slew all saue some few, whoe fought throughe them & fled, but they slew many of ye Indeans. The sd thousand came to rehoboth & there they burnt such houses as were not fortifyde & killd one man yt they found out of ye garrison from thence they came to prouidence and there burnt many houses vnfortifyd, and killd two persons yt wear ouf of ye garrisons And killd much cattell, And then went to patuxet & ther burnt some houses & an empty garriso, and fought against another, and shott fire vpon arrowes forty or fifty, but ye English put them out.
"It is supposed ye English haue lost fifteen hundered soules in this war (men, women, & children) in a towne called Rehoboth (aboute three miles from prouidence within plimoth patent, they presed there for ye war with ye Indeans) aboute ye proportion of one of six, and yet ye sd towne a frontteer towne, at which time I think they say theyr whole forces English & Indeans was to be thirteen hundered, yea such resolution hath bin: yt If need had re- quired (It was sd) they would haue gon out one of three of ye whole, they now in furtherance of ye war make powder allsoe.
"Captayne Benjamine Church of Plimoth & Captayne Pealeg Sanford of Rhode Island each of them with forty men & ye sd phillip shott through ye heart by an Indean [Alderman] yt liues on Rhode Island and his head & hands are now on ye sd Island, here being one Mr Moore* now bounde for ye north of England I will at ye next conuenyent opertunity make bolde to derect these by him to your Honnor
* It is interesting to note that the last of the five Indian War letters, written by the Merchant of Boston to his friend in London, was carried to England by Caleb Moore, the same shipmaster who had in his possession, when he sailed from Rhode Island for England, William Harris' letter to Sir Joseph Williamson, the King's Secretary of State. From Newport the vessel went to Bos- ton, where the shipmaster took aboard the Boston Merchant's letter-"The warr in England visa- bly ended, Being a True and Perfect Account brought in by Caleb More, Master of a Vessel newly Arrived from Rhode Island". The Boston letter was licensed 4 November and "Published for general Satisfaction" at London; "printed by F. B. for Dorman Newman at the King's Arms in Poultry, 1677". See ante, page 6.
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CHAPTER IV
KING PHILIP'S Two ESCAPES
On 29 July 1675, ten days after the four Massachusetts companies were sent home in the belief that Philip and the squaw sachem Weetamoe* were safely holed up in the Pocasset Swamp, both Indian leaders escaped. Accompanied by a party of Indians said to have numbered more than two hundred, Philip and Weetamoe crossed the Taunton River and headed northwest through Swansea and over the Seekonk Plains, where they were discovered and pursued by Rehoboth men until they forded the Pawtucket River into the town of Providence.
The pursuit was continued in Providence by the English, and in a battle fought three days later, at a place called Nipsachuck in the town of Providence, Philip was defeated with the loss of twenty- three men, including several of his chief captains, and fled into a nearby swamp. One hour after the battle ended, Capt. Daniel Henchman arrived with reinforcements, numbering some eighty- five men, and took over command. Instead of following up his ad- vantage, he rested that day and night and did not start his pursuit until the following day, allowing Philip and a few warriors to escape to the Nipmuck Indians, while Weetamoe with one hundred or more Indians, mostly women and children, escaped to the Narragansetts.
* Weetamoe or Namumpam, squaw sachem of Pocasset, married, as her first husband, Wamsitta or Nooanam, alias Alexander, Philip's brother. Philip married Weetamoe's sister Wootonckanuske. After the death of her first husband Weetamoe married, secondly, Benjamin Petananuett, the name corrupted by the English into "Peter Nunnuit". He joined the English on the outbreak of the war, but she did not follow her husband as he appears to have expected. She married, thirdly, Quanopen, a Narragansett chieftain who was a near relative and second in command to Nenanantentt in the Narragansett Fort fight on 19 Dec. 1675. He was executed at Newport, R. I., 26 Aug. 1676.
At the Plymouth Court, 3 June 1662, "Tatacomuncah, an Indian, complained against Wamsitta for selling a neck of land called Seaconett which he said belonged to him-also, a squa sachem called Namumpam [Weetamoe] complained against him. Also, the court considered the differences be- tween Philip, sachem of Sowams, and Quiquequanchett and Namumpam, his wife, for entertaining some Narragansett Indians that were with them against the will of Philip. At the same court, Richard Sisson, aged about sixty, testified that the deed of gift made by Namumpam to John San- ford and himself was a cheat, the intent to deceive Namumpam, squa sachem of her land-they to have corn and peague to secure her land from Wamsutta or Peter Talmon and to resign up the deed at her demand" [Plymouth Colony Records, vol. IV, pp. 17, 24, 186].
On 27 Mar. 1673 a document was recorded testifying as to a tract of land bounded easterly by a small river or brook called by the Indians Mastucksett which compasseth the said tract of land to Assonett River and so to Taunton River and bounded northerly by land belonging to the English men-the whole tract had for many years been in the peaceful possession of Piowant. Signed by the mark of Benjamine, the husband of Wetamo; Wetamo, Squaw Sachem, her marke; Pantausett, his marke; Quanowin, his marke; Nescancoo, his marke; and Panowwin, his marke [Plymouth Colony Records, vol. XII, p. 242].
On 27 June 1673, six Indians headed by "Benjamine the husband of Wetamo and Wetamo Squa Sachem" signed a document stating that for many years a place by the name of Chippascutt near the Assonett and Taunton Rivers had been in the possession of an Indian named Piowant [Plymouth Colony Records, vol. XII, p. 242].
On 22 July 1676 it was ordered by the Court that the Indians who gave themselves up to the government for mercy, should live on the west side of Sepecan River and so westward to Dartmouth bounds. Three Indians, "Numpus, Isaac, and Ben Petananuett" shall have the inspection of them. This order was confirmed again on 1 Nov. 1676 to "Numpas, Isacke, and Ben Sachem, alias, Petana- nuett" [Plymouth Colony Records, vol. V, pp. 210, 215].
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The account of Philip's escape and subsequent pursuit and fight as given in history books is one of the best examples of the paucity of our histories of King Philip's War. It indicates clearly the lack of original research by later historians who have been content to copy the contemporaneous histories written by Mather and Hub- bard without realizing that both writers clearly suppressed the facts as known to them. Hubbard's account of Philip's escape is the fuller of the two, but is not accurate in many details. He did, however, give a hint or intimation to all later historians that there was much more to the affair than he had written, for he said "but what the reason was why Philip was followed no further is better to suspend than to too critically Enquire". But so far as the historians for the last two and three-quarter centuries are concerned, this hint fell on stony ground and never germinated.
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