USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Early Rehoboth, documented historical studies of families and events in this Plymouth colony township, Volume III > Part 6
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Only a brief reading of his verse and prose is necessary to bring him out of the shadowy centuries and into the light as a deep- thinking, forcible, religious man who had his own individual ideas about current events and was not at all afraid to express them. We find him with a somewhat unexpected knowledge of ancient, medieval, English, and New England history; Greek and Roman mythology; some knowledge of the physical sciences; of English writers of the period; and also considerable knowledge of the Bible.
Deacon Walker was undoubtedly a self-educated man, for what- ever regular schooling he had must have been obtained before 1643, when as a boy of about fifteen years of age he came with his mother to the Seekonk settlement. From that time on, the business of clearing land, house building, planting crops, and providing food for his mother and himself must have precluded any further formal schooling. Under the circumstances, the extent of knowledge dis- played in his verse and poetry is astonishing. With the exception of the Newmans, he probably had as good a general education as anyone in Rehoboth.
Walker's education must have been obtained by extensive reading, with perhaps some help from Samuel Newman. From the founding of Seekonk in 1643 there were plenty of books in the settlement. Samuel Newman had a large library, but unfortunately there is no record of the names of the books. On his death he left his "library" to his son Noah, who was later a minister, but the only book men- tioned by name in his will is his "Concordance" which he left to his son Samuel. One of Walker's nearest neighbors was William Car- penter, who came to Seekonk in 1643 and was buried there on 7 Feb.
* According to the principles laid down by Frith, Walker's type of handwriting indicates that he was unpretentious, benevolent, good-hearted, liberal, cautious, and that he was of high intelligence with a well-regulated mind; of logical reasoning power, imagination, talent; a lover of detail and slightly sensitive [A Guide to the Study of Graphology, by Henry Frith, F.A.S., London, 1886].
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Deacon Philip Walker, Poet
1658/9. He had a considerable library and in his will, made 10 Dec. 1658, he mentioned the following books: "Ainsworth's five books of Moses, Canticles, and Psalms; Brightman's Revelation; Concordance to the Bible (probably Newman's); Mahew's Four Evangelists upon the fourteen chapters of Saule (or Paul); Latin books; Greek and Hebrew grammars, Greek Lexicon; Perkin's Works; Barrow's Pri- vate Contentions called Harts Divisions; a book of Psalms; a Dic- tionary; Bibles (3), Practice of Piety, a volume of Prayer; Perkin's books, Christ's Sermon on the Mount; Burrough's Jewell of Con- tentment, the Oil of Gladness; Dr. Jarvis' Catechism, and Helen's History of the World" [Plymouth Colony Wills, vol. II, pp. 80-83].
Deacon Walker made many suggestions about the conduct of the war, some of which were ultimately adopted. He advocated an all- out war to kill the Indians as fast as possible; that the English leave the garrison-houses and fight; that more friendly Indians be employed to help kill the enemy Indians; and even offered the novel plan of giving the enemy poisoned liquor.
All through Walker's work, runs the belief that the Lord is punish- ing the English for their sins by turning the Indians loose on them with fire and death. This same theme is found in all the writings of this period, and is especially to be noticed in the contemporaneous letters of Newman, Cotton, Kingsley, and other writers printed in this book. This is not surprising for New England was largely ruled by the Law of Moses.
Walker displayed an unusual power of direct expression and the ability to use some rather uncommon words with just the right mean- ing to express his thoughts, as for instance, in the first stanza of his poem on "Captain Perse and his coragios Company" where he said "picaring", which is undoubtedly the phonetic spelling of the now obsolete word "pickeering", meaning reconnoitering or scouting- just the word he needed. Then there is that line about the death of the Narragansett Sachem "Miontonimo" (Quanonshet), near Pawtucket on 11 Apr. 1676, where he said, "his buffel head on a powl thay raysed". Here he gave a complete word picture of Quanonshet, for a "bufflehead" is a duck, the male of which has a remarkable fullness of feathers on the head with plumage black above and white below.
Although a poor speller, Deacon Walker had a good command of language and put his thoughts into words regardless of his ability to spell. There is no doubt as to what he meant, for his words as he spelled them usually had the exact number of syllables. In his words "goea", "whoea" and "doea" he carried out the same in- flection with the addition of a syllable which doubtless had some- thing to do with his dialect. Once we have the idea of his phonetic spelling we can usually determine the right word. The following are a few of his phonetic spellings: "Cru" for crew, "dun" for done, "Elikssander" for Alexander, "gilti" for guilty, "gresi" for greasy, "inosent" for innocent, "juils" for jewels, "otion" for ocean, "powl" for pole, "sed" for said, "sitty" for city, "Urope" for Europe, and "Zurksses" for Xerxes.
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Early Rehoboth
Walker's verse and prose are written partly in a dialect unlike anything known in early Rehoboth. The writer has read in manu- script more than 3,000 pages of original Rehoboth records and has found no such words as "goea", "doea" and "whoea". They usually have the "e" ending but never the "ea". Then, to name just a few, are the words "toun, bang, hant, saes, goake", etc. These are all foreign to any written words known to have been in use in Rehoboth. In the preceding and following chapters are shown some half dozen contemporaneous letters written by Rev. Noah Newman, Rev. John Cotton, John Kingsley, Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas, Lieut. Peter Hunt, Maj. John Pynchon, and extracts from numerous other letters, which taken together give an accurate cross- section of the words in use and of common spellings in Walker's period.
The writer suggests that Walker * was a Scotchman and that he wrote in a Scottish dialect. Due to his sometimes fantastic phonetic spelling this statement is difficult to prove, for the evidence is not too conclusive, but the idea is nevertheless worth further investiga- tion. Seekonk was founded by English, Irish, Welsh, and Scotch settlers, so that the verse could have been written in the dialect of any of these countries. It does not seem to be in English dialect, certainly not Irish or Welsh, which leaves only the Scottish. Con- sulting the Scottish Glossary t in the poetical works of Robert Burns, we find that Walker's "blud" may be the Scottish word "bluid"; "toun", toun, a hamlet; "bang", bang, to beat; "hant", hae, to have; "saes", sae, so; "goake", gowk, a fool or simpleton.
In his two poems there are four lines in which he seems to have used Scottish words. The first and strongest case is the line, "they may goea goake with them the self same way". Here he has appar- ently used the Scottish word "gowked" meaning foolish, which is just the right word. In his line, "That Sasaman has & may Saes bee" he has probably used the Scottish word "sae", which means "so" and is the word needed. In his third line, "But give it out they never so wear bangd ", the Scottish word "bang" means to beat, and this dialect word was apparently selected to rhyme with "hanged". In his fourth line, "Lets search ye Cort ye Cuntri toun & Sitty", the Scottish word "toun " means hamlet or farmhouse.
Among the manuscript letters in the Massachusetts Historical Society is a letter written from Taunton, Massachusetts, on 1 Sept. 1671 by James Walker (supposed brother of Philip) to Governor Prince of Plymouth Colony. A copy of this letter was printed in the Collections of the Society in 1800, vol. VI, page 197. The letter as printed could easily have been written by a university man, for the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are carried to such a
* "Lower in his Surnames says that the name Walker signifies either (Anglo Saxon wealeere) a fuller or an officer whose duty consisted in walking over or inspecting a certain piece of forest ground. In the north of England a fulling mill is still called a walk-mill. The same custom obtains in the south of Scotland where the Walkers are numerous" [Walker's Memorial of the Walkers of Old Plymouth Colony (1861)].
t Poetical Works of Robert Burns, with a complete Glossary (Edinburgh 1787, London 1819), Boston, 1847. .
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Deacon Philip Walker, Poet
degree of perfection as to raise a question of its authenticity. An inspection of the original letter shows it to have been edited* in ink by a later hand, apparently for the 1800 printing. The original letter has been so much written over that it is practically impossible to make a true verbatim copy. The following transcript is the best that could be made:
much Honored Sir:
after my humble respects presented to you th[ ] are to aquaynt you with Philips answer to yo[ ] Letter my soons beeing visited with the ague, forced mee to procure brother Haruie to goe ouer to coosen James Broune with the letter, whoe sent for mr Williams to interprit; mr Williams not beeing well, came not til afterwards; yet coosen James & brother haruie went downe to mount hope & the dance beeing broken vp Philip, & the most of his cheefe men weare much in drinke; only Acumou[in] & tom sancsuik; weare sober soe that Philip could not then giue a answer. only there passed sum words betwixt Philip & cosen James, & Philip struck of coosen James Brounes hat. the day following the went agayne to Philip & m" Williams with them the Itter being red, & Philip caused fully to vnderstand it, they could get noe positiu answer about Philips comeing to Plimmoth, because mr Eliot had sent for him to Boston, & he looked for another mesenger that day which mesenger they met about [two] miles from Philips house which mesenger tould them yt his message was to desire Philip to bee at Punkapoge [the present town of Stough- ton] the last day of this weeke at boston the tusday following. Philip & tom Exclmed much agaynst sasimant fo reporting that anie of the naragansit Sachems were there. not farther to troble you; but rest desiring the good lord to be with you, & [guide] you in all youre weightie afayres yours to serue .
James Walker
Taunton, sept: 1: 1671: for our much honored Gouernour mr Prin[ce] at Plimmoth these
[Original letter, Massachusetts Historical Society, Governor Prince Papers, No. 76.]
In the following pages will be found Walker's verse and prose transcribed verbatim by the writer from photostats made from the original manuscript in the American Antiquarian Society, with foot- note comments and explanations. For a full understanding and appreciation of this work, it is necessary to know something about the background of King Philip's War, which will be found in the preceding and two following chapters.
Deacon Walker's first and longer poem, entitled "Captan Perse and his coragios Company" is an epic graphically describing the tragic ambush and almost total annihilation by the Indians of Capt. Michael Pierce and his whole company at Rehoboth on 26 Mar. 1676 in what is know as "Captain Pierce's Fight", as follows:
* It is hard to understand why these seventeenth-century letters are not printed verbatim "as is" without having the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation first carefully edited and modernized. Volumes of these ancient letters have been printed and in some cases so glorified by the editor that it is impossible to tell whether the writer was a university graduate or a man with little schooling. These original letters are oftentimes our most valuable source evidence and the only clue to the writer's education.
t He was one of the captains of Philip's father, Ousamequin, and called "Saunkussecit of Wau- chimoqt", as written probably by Roger Williams, and "Sunck Suit, called Tom of Wachamoqt" as witnessed by Benedict Arnold, Indian interpreter [Early Rehoboth, vol. II, p. 8].
# This was John Sassamon whose body was found in 1675 under the ice on Assowomset Pond.
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Early Rehoboth
[C]aptan Perse and his coragio8 Company
Jero[ 1
TT ffel unlucky yt thi march* wos Soner then thi apoynted time to yt meronert
[ ]kon[ 1
in thy picaringt thou Lackst thos muskitters
[I]ndian :
and his Experianc gaynd mongst Buckaneers
huntrs or cow kilers
Which are a Ruged Cru of hunting rouers much Like thes Sauag Sneking brutish grovers*
cald yt roves woods [Walker's note]
* hunters in ye woods [Walker's note]
* In the first stanza of his poem Deacon Walker states unequivocally that Captain Pierce marched his company to attack the Indians at Rehoboth before an appointed time when he was to have been joined by a company of musketeers under the command of a "meroner" who had gained his experi- ence among buccaneers. The noun "meroner" is perhaps an incorrect spelling of "marooner", the old meaning of which was buccaneer. On the other hand, the word may be an incorrect spelling of "mariner". In either case there can be no doubt as to the identification of the mariner and musketeers referred to, for the man could have been none other than that famous mariner Capt. Samuel Mosely and the musketeers his Boston company of privateers.
It has always been inexplicable that Captain Pierce should have marched his small company of English across the Seekonk Plain to attack the Indians at Blackstone River, a distance of some five miles away from the Newman garrison-house, at a time when it was generally known that the In- dians were concentrating in very large numbers around the town. That he was to have been joined by Captain Mosely but decided to make the attack alone without waiting for reinforcements places the whole affair in an entirely different light, for this fact is mentioned by none of the historians and is an extremely important addition to our meagre knowledge of Pierce's Fight.
Deacon Walker's statement cannot be lightly passed over, for it is an "on the spot" record made by one of the town officials who was in a position to know what he was talking about. In addition to being a deacon in Mr. Noah Newman's church, he was also one of the two Rehoboth constables and was undoubtedly quartered in Minister Newman's garrison-house, the Rehoboth headquarters of Captain Pierce.
According to Hubbard, "Captain Pierce being apprehensive of the Danger he was in, by the great Numbers of the Enemy, like to overpower him with their Multitude, he sent a Messenger, timely enough to Providence, for Releif; but ... whether through Sloth or Cowardice, is not much mate- rial, this Message was not delivered to them to whom it was immediately sent; by Accident only some of Rehoboth understanding of the Danger, after Evening Exercise (it being on the Lord's Day, March 26, 1676) repaired to the Place; but then it was too late to bring help" [Hubbard's Narrative (Drake Ed., 1865), vol. I, pp. 174-5].
The only authentic account of the losses suffered in Captain Pierce's Fight is contained in a letter written from Rehoboth on 27 Mar. 1676 (ante, page 14), the day after the fight, by Rev. Noah New- man of Rehoboth to his friend the Reverend John Cotton at Plymouth, and in his second letter dated 19 Apr. 1676 (ante, page 15), telling of Rehoboth's three days' labor in burying the English slain in Pierce's Fight.
t Capt. Samuel Mosely was one of the most conspicuous and best-known officers in King Philip's War. A cooper by trade, he later became a skillful mariner and married Anne, daughter of Governor Leverett's sister Anne, wife of Mr. Isaac Addington.
Our authority for the composition of Captain Mosely's company is found in the letter written in 1675 by the unknown Boston merchant to his friend in London in which he said: "Immediately after [20 June 1675] notice came hereof of the trouble at Swansea to the Governour of the Massa- chusetts Colony (Boston being Metropolis, and the Honourable John Leveret Governour thereof). Drums beat up for Volunteers and in three Hours time were Mustered up about an Hundred and ten Men, Captain Samuel Mosely being their Commander. This Captain Mosely hath been an old Privateer at Jamaica, an excellent Souldier, and an undaunted Spirit, one whose Memory will be Honourable in New-England for his many eminent Services he hath done the Publick. There were also among these Men about Ten or Twelve Privateers that had been there sometime before . . There went out also amongst these Men one Cornellis, a Dutchman, who had lately been Condemned to die for Piracy" [The Present State of New England with Respect to the Indian War (London, 1675), pp. 4, 5-John Carter Brown Library].
James Savage said that Captain Mosely, "in the way of trade, visited Jamaica and other parts of the West Indies where his adventurous spirit was excited and schooled, perhaps, by Sir Henry Morgan and associate Buccaneers, the result of which was his bringing home to Boston two prizes from some unmentioned enemy" [probably the Dutch]. These two vessels were prized by the Governor and Council on 9 Apr. 1675 as follows: "The shallop Edward & Thomas, £57:13:00; The shallop that Roads went out in, £15. On 9 July 1675 John Roads, Peter Grout, Richard Foulers, and Randal
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Deacon Philip Walker, Poet
But man Euents cannot at all fforcee it is the eternall gods propriitee ffor twas decreed by yt Eternal power yt gave them being to fixe yt fatal ower
That orders men & times & ends & all Efittiant Cases Epidemicall not as the ould Philosophers beleve prodiggious planits Il Efectts doe give
They did like Hectters whoea well deserve yt nam[e] New ly Intered in the bed of ffame Whoea lost ther Blud not much unlike to marter[s] by disadvantage with thes helish Tarters
In ffighting for ther Cuntry & ther ffrinds have dun ther dooea mad hear ther final Ends meethinks ther vallour should our harts provoke To take reveng ffor Such a dredfull stroke
Judson, condemned malefactors, petitioned the court from jail" [Mass. Bay Records, vol. V, p. 45]. At Swansea on 29 June 1675 "our horsemen with the whole Body of the Privateers under Captain Mosely pursued the Indians a mile and a quarter on the other side of Myles' Bridge" [Hubbard's Narrative (Drake Ed., 1865), vol. I, p. 70].
There is plenty of evidence that Captain Mosely was well known to the Indians and greatly feared by them. On 11 Oct. 1675 Roger Williams wrote from Providence to Governor Leverett at Boston saying that "he was requested by Captain Arthur Fenner of Providence to give him notice that he had it from a native that Philip's great design is . .. to draw Capt. Mosely and others of your forces, by training and drilling, and seeming flights, into such places as are full of long grass, flags, Sedge, &c., and then environ them round with fire, smoke and bullets. Some say no wise soldier will so be caught; but as I told the young prince on his return lately from you, all their war is comooting; they have commootined our houses, our cattle, our heads, &c., and that not by their artillery, but our weapons; that yet they were so cowardly that they have not taken one poor fort from us in all the country, nor won, nor scarce fought one battle since the beginning" [Narr. Club Publications, vol. VI, p. 375].
In the Narragansett Swamp Fight on 19 Dec. 1675, nine of Captain Mosely's company were slain and ten wounded. The Boston merchant writing under date of "the 9th 1675" said: "Our Forces entered the Fort, Captain Mosely being in the front, the Indians knowing him very well many directed their shot at him, as he afterward told the General [Winslow] that he believed he saw 50 aim at him" [Drake's Old Indian Chronicle (1836), p. 49].
Captain Mosely had great success in destroying the Indians and "by some was thought to take too great a delight in that exercise. The easy manner in which he was allowed to pass through some seemingly arrogant assumption of responsibilities" has been attributed by some writers to his close alliance with Governor Leverett and other influential persons in Boston. However, this contention is not substantiated by the records.
Captain Mosely was largely a free-lance fighter and fought the Indians whenever and wherever he found them without too much restraint or direction from any military commander. No captain in the Massachusetts Bay, or in any other colony, had such discretionary power. The extent of this extraordinary freedom from military direction is shown in the action of the General Court of Election held at Boston, 5 May 1676, which considered Captain Mosely's "conditions" under which he would serve as "a comander over such volunteers as may here after present themselves". His conditions were in brief as follows: "That neither he nor any of his company may be ordered to keep garrison but may always be at liberty to seek out and molest the enemy. That he may not be ordered under the command of any commander that is or may be sent out unless upon a sudden emergency for the special service of the country to join with other forces for their strengthening, but not to be obliged to continue with them longer than the emergency require. That his commission may be as large as may consist with the safety of the country and not to be bound up in marches or execu- tions to particular places but to leave it to his best discretion for destroying the enemy, excepting only special orders from General Court or Council on special occasions. That the profit from captives or plunder be divided among himself and company".
The court appointed Maj. John Pynchon [son-in-law of Rev. William Hubbard], Maj. Thomas Savage, Mr. Humphrey Davy, and Capt. Lawrence Hamond a committee to confer with Captain Mosely and consider the conditions under which he would serve as commander. All of these "conditions" were accepted by the committee which in addition recommended that the country supply the company with money, ammunition, provisions, clothing, etc., and that it be quartered in towns at public charge. The committee made its report the same day and the court "allows, ap- proves, and confirms the return of the committee as an act of this Court" [Mass. Bay Records, vol. V, pp. 94-96].
į "Pickeering", an obsolete word meaning reconnoitering, skirmishing, marauding, scouting.
1149671
36
Early Rehoboth
Stought hartts stood toot till last disdaynd to [fly]* Such Ods has mad the Rooges er since mor shy who have no cas to brag of victtory
But give it out they never so wear bangd* I hoape in time thayl all be shot or hangd
[2] Tis sed at York there is a scarlet dyer Ift bee a ridl antiant ffame a lyer Itt may bee fferd weer hudwinkt in a trance as was our vergin queene t by Imps from france
For maters ffraue as if yt Dragon beste were hither flone to make his helish nest With opn jaes Intending to devour yt child of grace Lord god upone him Shour
The Vials of thy wrath apear for thine Lett all the poure of heven & earth Combin[e] Let hell know it is Curbd by poure devine
Show now thi self Lord in owr habitations who hast so Scatterdly disposd our Stations & gives us Corig and providence from thee for thers no other help or place to fflee
Lett shops & Crops & men of all Estates Sett hartt & hand to fight without debate For non there now can thinke ther Safe Securd How er Suplyd within owr owne Imurd Improve the utmost depending creturs can Leve the suckses to him yt rules Each man
Though what here spoke is but a singl notion :/ and Like a drop lett ffall into the otion Yit my advice If I might hered bee Tist to make a vertu of nesesitee:/
Arme & Incorig owr Indins whot wee Can a theef revers may prove an honist man the Boston Islanders # Capcod § Monhegon| ffor honer profitt Smal thay1 fight winnegon
* Outnumbered more than ten to one, and fighting back to back in a ring surrounded by Indians standing "thirty deep", there was no alternative for the English other than to fight to the inevitable end. The Indians were victorious due solely to their overwhelming numbers. Their loss was great, said at that time by Hubbard to have been one hundred and forty, a figure probably not too greatly exaggerated. Although victorious, the Indians never forgot the mauling they received in this fight and throughout the rest of the war were extremely shy about engaging another company of English.
t The virgin queen was undoubtedly Elizabeth (1533-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Through thirty difficult years she and her ministers played off Spain against France. Under Elizabeth's reign the English Church was re-established by the 1559 Act of Uniformity, re- storing, with modifications, the Prayer Book of Edward VI, and finally barring the door on Rome. The same year saw the expulsion of the French from Scotland, and the 1561 Peace of Edinburgh re- moved the danger of a French invasion of England by way of Scotland.
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