USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > Falmouth on Cape Cod : picturesque, romantic, historic > Part 3
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At a town meeting held October 14, 1719, Ensign Parker and Timothy Robinson were chosen "to treat with Philip Dexter for to try to bring him to some other term to grind our corn than he hath done." This Philip Dexter, it seems, had been an enterpris- ing soul, and had built a grist mill, the only one in town, on Five Mile River, where he enjoyed the patronage of the entire community at a price which each and every mem- ber of this community deemed more than reasonable or just-all of which would prove that a monopoly in the early eighteenth century could be as oppressive and distasteful as the controlling industries today. Five Mile River, on which the mill was located, has come today to be called after the inland pond, Coonamesset River. In 1767, it became evident that the town would no longer stand the exorbitant charges demanded by Philip
A CRANBERRY BOG Showing the low, well-irrigated land necessary for successful cranberry growing.
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Dexter, for "it was put to vote to see if the town will build a mill dam at William Green's river if Benja- min Gifford will build a mill and keep her in repair and grind for two quarts out of a bushel; and it passed in the affirmative." Millers were important persons in the eighteenth century on account of the small number engaged in the trade, and their work was con- sidered so important that they were exempted from military serv- ice and other public duties.
The most eventful years in CRANBERRY PICKING Harvest time on a Falmouth cranberry bog. This industry gives employ- ment to many Cape residents. the history of any of our New England towns were during the period of the Revolution. The prevalent idea that bands of untrained farmers defeated the seasoned troops of England is faulty, because for many years men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were equipped with rifles and were trained to shoot; in fact, a form of national guard or reserve really existed previous to the outbreak of war with England, for as has already been cited, it was written in the laws of the Colony that no person might be a house keeper "that hath not arms to serve the country. . ." At a town meeting held in October of 1774, several months before the battle of Lexington, it was voted that every man between the ages of sixteen and sixty be provided with arms and ammunition and that all should appear in one fortnight equipped as completely as possible. This same meeting extended over several adjournments, until it was voted that every private soldier be provided, by the funds in the town treasury, with a sufficient stock of powder, balls, and flints, and also that there be appointed a large committee "to see that the Continental Congress be adhered to," which probably meant to locate the Tories in town. During this period there was recognized, in Falmouth, a man possessed with the outstanding qualities of leadership, Joseph Dimmick, later to be known as General Dimmick, a brave and warm-hearted patriot, under whose tutelage the body of Minute Men was organ- ized and drilled, later to prove its worth in several encounters with the enemy. The tide of patriotism and enthusiasm ran high, and higher still when the following letter was received from the Com- mittee of Safety in Concord :
GENTLEMEN :-
The barbarous murders committed on our innocent brethren, on Wednes- day, the 19th inst. (referring to the battle of Lexington) have made it absolutely necessary that we immedi- ately raise an army to defend our wives and children from the butcher- ing hands of an inhuman soldiery who, incensed at the obstacles they meet with, in their bloody progress, and
A STRAWBERRY FIELD The picture is a fair example of the carefully worked fields that abound in the interior of the township.
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enraged at being repulsed from the field of slaughter, will, without the least doubt, take the first opportu- nity in their power to ravage this de- voted country with fire and sword. We conjure you, therefore, by all that is sacred, that you give assistance in forming an army. Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain consequences of delay. Every mo- ment is infinitely precious. An hour lost may deluge your country in blood and entail perpetual slavery upon the few of our posterity who may survive the carnage. We beg and entreat, as you will answer to your country, to your own consciences and above all to God Himself, that you will hasten and CHILDS RIVER encourage by all possible means, the White's Landing, where many of Falmouth's boats were built, is shown. The river flows from John's Pond to the sea. enlistment of men to form the army and to send them forward to head-quarters, at Cambridge, with that expedition, which the vast importance and instant urgency of the affair demands.
Melodramatic and spread-eagle though it is, it must have aroused in the rank and file, whose daily life supplied so little of the unusual, an emotional excitement beyond description; yet even so, troops could not be moved from Falmouth, for the English war- ships had begun to skirt the coast of the Cape and every available man was needed to protect the seaboard towns. A company of thirty was sent to the Elizabeth Islands, and some time later, after the coast stations were fairly garrisoned, men were hired for the Continental Army. These men served in Cambridge guarding the prisoners of Bur- goyne's army.
The year 1779 is paramount in the town's history, rendered so by the visit of the ten British warships whose firm determination it was to burn the town. On the evening of the second day in April, the fleet landed at the island of Pesque, the home of John Slocum, a Tory, to whom they confided their plan. Regardless of his principles, Slocum could not see Falmouth burned without giving warning; so after the English had returned to their ships, he sent his son down the islands and across the Hole to give the alarm. Expresses were sent to all the neighboring towns, and in the morning when the men-of-war sailed up to the Falmouth Shore, a force of two hundred soldiers stood ready and waiting. A hand- to-hand encounter did not ensue, but the British from their ships commenced a cannonade which, most fortunately, owing to the weather, did but little harm, since it was the period of an April thaw and the balls did not rebound. Several houses were hit, but taken by and large, the attack was a fail- ure, and on the following morning the fleet sailed away.
FALMOUTH NATIONAL BANK In perfect keeping with the general atmosphere of the section about the Green.
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SIDERS POND
Looking north and east across the pond toward the center of the town. The pond is named after Consider Hatch. Some delightful Falmouth homes are on its shore.
In 1807 the Falmouth Artillery Company was formed under the command of Captain Weston Jenkins, and for many years it existed, a spirited and efficient organization. It received its charter from the state government and was furnished with brass field-pieces among the usual accoutrement. The "Gun House," the familiar name of their arsenal, was situated near the site of Lawrence Academy. During the last war with England, the body became so well known that the British brig "Nimrod" made a formal demand for the ten cannon, and, as was to be expected, the demand met with a sturdy refusal. Women and children were given two hours to escape from the town, and at the expiration of that period the bombardment commenced. From the ship three hundred thirty-two- pound shots were fired, and the damage resulting to the more exposed buildings was con- siderable. One shot smashed through the dining-room of Elijah Swift's house, another through the dining-room of what is today the Elm Arch Inn, and eight thirty-two-pound shots went through the house of Captain John Crocker. The artillery, however, was not taken.
During the blockade by the English in 1815, Elijah Swift built a fifty or sixty-foot schooner which he named the "Status Anti Bellum." This boat he placed on rollers, and, with the power of fifty oxen, trundled her to the sea. She escaped the blockade and started for Charleston, South Carolina, to trade, but was overtaken by an armed cruiser and searched. The Captain declared he was from Halifax.
"Let me see if your papers are all right," the commander of the cruiser asked.
"I'll show you them as soon as I reach Halifax," was the cool captain's reply. "You don't suppose I would have them where the Yankees would get them in case of capture, do you?" The commander left without further inquiry, and Swift's schooner made good her escape. It was during this same period that Ephraim Sandford made trips to New York with cargoes of salt, and it is said that his sails were painted red to avoid detection at night.
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Old Cape Cod exists today in the atmosphere of yesterday. Romance and tradition lie at the very heart of its being, for as one walks the elm-lined streets of its old-fashioned towns, or wanders far on its sandy shores, looking back from the expanse of sea to the dreary dunes that stretch to the tip of Provincetown, and sees the low, quaint houses that have stood for years, lonely and far re- moved from the rest of the world, yet home to the men who travelled far and won their living from the sea, one understands the deep significance that lies in the phrase PERRY DAVIS' OCTAGON Standing today, picturesque and quaint, in the grounds of the Brewer Homestead. "an old-time sea captain of Cape Cod." Packed away now and for- gotten perhaps, or respectfully resurrected from attic débris and placed behind the bolted doors and show cases of our libraries and historical societies, are the yellow and crisp and dusty records of voyages to the ends of the earth, of whaling expeditions, of discovery, of romance, of adventure, and perhaps of tragedy ... the old ships' logs that modestly tell, in the plainest of language, stories that effervesce with the glamour and extravaganza of life in the uttermost parts of the world.
Whaling, perhaps more than any of the other sea trades, drew men from Falmouth. It was a work that demanded seamen of the utmost skill and courage, for the capture was only effected after almost bodily contact with the monster, and many times a boat has been tossed high in the air by the powerful flukes of the fighting right whale, or crushed into splinters by the massive jaws of the sperm. The days when this industry was at its height in Falmouth may be placed roughly between the years 1820 and 1865, and though several ventures had been made previous to 1820 they had been decidedly sporadic. There is a story told of old Cape Cod that when a boy was born his parents straightway schemed and planned for the day when he might put to sea, and it is said that when the lad was large enough to pull a brick, tied to one end of a rope, from the ground to a second-story window, in the or- thodox manner, he was old enough to go.
Elijah Swift, who was known as Falmouth's "king pin," was the originator of whaling as a source of real income, and we find his name standing as owner of almost all the ships that sailed from Falmouth. Among them were the Awashonks, the Brunette, the Hobomok, the Pocahontas, the Sarah Herrick, and the Uncas. Oliver Swift, son of Elijah, followed his father's lead, and in his turn became owner of
GULESIAN ESTATE
Appropriately old-fashioned and quaint in its proximity to the Old Stone Pier, the building faces the south and Marthas Vineyard.
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many of the boats mentioned. The Commodore Morris and the William Penn were two ships that he added to the fleet himself.
Stories of the sea have ever been tragedies, and of these Fal- mouth sailors had their share. The ship William Penn was built in Falmouth in 1832; and on her first trip, which lasted through the years from 1833 to 1836, the first mate, Mr. Eldridge, under Captain John C. Lincoln, was killed, and two boats' crews were captured by the natives of the Navigators Islands. Later, in 1847, under Captain Wimpenny, the ship was totally FALMOUTH, ENGLAND Pendennis Castle is on the left. Falmouth, England, was the home port of Gosnold, the first Englishman to touch the shores of Massachusetts. lost on the island of Whytootacke. The bark Brunette, which sailed for Elijah Swift between the years 1831 and 1842, was at the expiration of that period sold to Colonel Colt, the revolver manufacturer. She was taken by him to Washington, and there blown to atoms when he proved in a test the value of a torpedo of his invention.
The ship Awashonks was built in Falmouth in 1830, and completed her first trip of three years without mishap. In 1834 she again set out on a whaling expedition, and it was on this voyage that there was enacted an episode which has been related in nearly all the more prominent books on whaling. William N. Davis, one of the best known of the old-time whalemen, and the author of one of the foremost books on the subject, "Nimrod of the Sea," wrote a detailed account of it in his diary, which, through the courtesy of Francis B. Davis of Belmont, who has in his possession all the original logs and diaries of his grandfather, we present verbatim.
In the harbour (of Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands) lay the Awashonks of Falmouth, which we last saw at Payta. Since then what terrible scenes have been enacted on her decks! I have seen a number of the crew on shore badly wounded. From one of them, I received the following account, which, as it shows the treach- erous nature of the natives of some of the Islands of the South seas and as it shows the indomitable courage of some of oceans sons, I thought I would write a full account, risking the charge of being tiresome in spinning so long a yarn.
TERRACE GABLES Overlooking the coastal traffic, the hotel occupies an enviable location on the Drive at Falmouth Heights.
On the morning of Nov. 18th the noble ship bore down on a small Island which lay directly ahead of her. As she approached, numbers of small islands shot up on every side. Be- fore the sun had set, she lay becalmed in the midst of the group. Not far distant from the shores of the largest island, in the haze of the twilight, a canoe was seen passing across the bow of the ship. The Captain hailing the solitary bark, it glided from its course, and in a moment after shot alongside.
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THE WINDMILL ON THE GULESIAN ESTATE
Although not in actual use, the windmill lends itself readily to the atmos- phere of Falmouth.
From its stern a dark figure glided silently on deck. He was immediately conducted by the captain into the cabin, where the light displayed the short, stout figure of a chief of the Mulgrave Islands. He could speak no other than his native tongue. The canacka of the Sandwich Islands was sent for. He could understand but little. The chieftain by signs made them understand that he and his people were friendly with the white man and wished them to trade with his people. Finding they could not get an intelligible answer from him, he was shown on deck. He walked to the side and held a low con- versation with his companion who sat in the canoe, and who as the conversation ended passed up the side a half dozen coconuts and a large fish. These he presented to the captain, and then passed over the side into liis canoe, shouting his wild adieus. He was soon lost in the surrounding gloom. The decks were soon deserted by all save the quarter watch, who scattering themselves about the deck were soon wrapped in slumbers as profound as those which weighed on the crew who were below. The man at the helm and the officer of the watch alone were denied this indulgence. They are always supposed to be on the alert.
The second mate thus solitary was pacing his accustomed rounds on the quarter deck, when he was accosted by "Old Tom" with-
"Mr. Johnston, I don't like the looks of the stars to-night."
"Have you turned star gazer, Tom? What the deuce is the matter with the stars that has brought you up on deck when you should be below and asleep? You will have time enough for star gazing in your watch."
"Why, you see, I came up to see if it looked as though we might expect a breeze to-morrow.
COTTAGE ON GULESIAN ESTATE An almost tropical vegetation surrounds this typical Cape Cod colonial. The Gulesian estate is one of the most beautiful in Falmouth.
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THE OLD STONE WHARF
Built about 1817, the old pier for many years formed the connecting link between Falmouth and the outside world. To this old wharf, Falmouth whalers brought the oil and whale-bone from their long cruises.
I'm afeard we shan't, and I would rather see it blow like ten thousand topsail sheet blocks, than to lay here becalmed with these cussed canackas around us thick as hops."
"Why," asked the mate, "what do you fear from these poor naked devils? There was a chief on board this evening. He professed to be very friendly."
"Don't you trust 'em, Mr. Johnston. I've seen too much of the rascals to feel easy only when at open war with 'em and then you know what to expect; but mind what I tell you they will rub noses with you one minute and give you a dig in the ribs the next."
"Oh, Tom, you think too hard of them, and then what could they do? They have no arms. Why, we could keep off all that are on the island."
"That's just what I want," replied Tom. "Keep 'em off and we can manage them, but don't let them get on deck. I know d -- d well that that copper-colored son of a sea cook didn't come aboard for any good."
"Shut up, Tom, the skipper knows his own business. You don't like the poor devils because you know they have no grog to trade with you."
Tom started off muttering "He's gittin' as proud as a midshipman with his pocketfull of scupper nails. He'll have his weather eye opened yet, see if he don't." He dove down into the forecastle, and the night passed quietly away.
In the morning a flag was displayed from the mizzen peak, as a signal for the natives to come off to trade. In a short time a large canoe came off, having ten men in her, one of whom was the chief who had been on board the preceding evening. They brought with them a quantity of fruit which the captain purchased. Then, pointing to a hog that lay on the deck, he by signs made them understand that he should like to purchase some of the same. The chief then spoke to the men in the canoe, who paddled swiftly to the shore, leaving the chief on the ship. They soon returned accompanied by two other canoes, bringing with them a number of hogs. These were hoisted on deck, the natives following them to trade with the men for little curiosities which they had brought with them. Canoe after canoe dropped alongside until the number of Indians on deck amounted to sixty or seventy men.
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Old Tom, who had been an un- easy spectator of this acquisition of numbers and observing the Indians to be collecting about the quarter deck, shouted out that unless. the decks were cleared the ship was a "gone sucker."
"She is a gone sucker," cried tlie chief, for the first time speaking English.
This was the signal for hostilities. The chief seized one of the spades from its place under the boat on the spars, and with one blow severed the captain's head from his shoulders. As the headless trunk fell to the deck, the savages now armed with the long NORTH FALMOUTH TAVERN Here, years ago, the stage that connected Falmouth with points north would stop for meals or a change of horses. spades followed the example of their leader and with hideous yells attacked the crew. The poor fellow at the helm next shared the fate of his captain. The crew sprang to the boats to arm themselves with the lances and harpoons, but they were already occupied by their savage foe. The men now made a short stand forward of the windlass, hurling everything they could obtain at the advancing foe. The unequal contest could not be maintained. The men were compelled to retreat down the forecastle scuttle after seeing three more of their brave shipmates hewn down by the formidable weapons of their enemies. The first mate was killed in the fore hatchway. The second mate running out on the bowsprit was knocked off by a stone thrown from the canoes, and dispatched in the water.
The savages had now complete possession of the deck. The crew were below. The third mate (Silas Jones, later captain and afterward president of the Falmouth National Bank), the only remaining officer, advised the men to attempt to work a passage aft into the cabin as the arms were there. That this was their only chance they well knew. They felt that had they arms in their hands by a vigorous sortie they might yet carry the decks. Though driven from the deck, they were not conquered. They were made of more stubborn stuff than to sit still and yield passive victims to the numerous foe who were now dancing and yelling on the deck. They crawled silently aft over the tops of the casks, stowed between decks, and at length met, a firm determined band, around the arm chest. The pistols and muskets were loaded and the cut- lasses girded on. They passed silently up the companionway, but found the door barred on the outside. Then for the first time their hearts sank within them. They now felt that their strug- gle would be in vain.
The Indians evidently intended to allow the ship to drift on shore, where surrounded by the whole popu- lation the struggle would be a hope- less one. They retired again to the cabin hopeless and dejected, yet each man was trying to devise some plan by which they could come to the close struggle with the triumphant savages. Whilst sitting here, the cabin was darkened. On looking up they dis- covered the face of the chief peering through a skylight down on his in- tended victims.
ELM ARCH INN An attractive inn on Falmouth's main street. During the Revolution a cannon ball crashed through the walls of the dining room.
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COLUMN TERRACE Situated on the main street of the tocon, Column Terrace offers all the advan- tages of a city hotel.
"Take that, you thundering cop- per-colored rascal," exclaimed old Tom as he discharged his pistol, the muzzle within a foot of his head. A heavy fall was heard on deck, followed by a yell of dismay-and the hasty trampling of feet on deck satisfied those below that the shot had taken effect. "I wonder how he likes the smell of powder," remarked Tom, as he quietly reloaded his pistol.
"Hurrah! boys," exclaimed the mate (Silas Jones). "I have it. We'll make them smell more of it. I'll show 'em a yankee patent for picking a lock. Come, boys, break out the run. Get up a keg of powder, and we will blow the companionway sky high."
The announcement of the plan was received with a cheer. A keg was soon passed up, a small hole bored in the head, and it was placed on the first step, and along the passage into the cabin. The mate stood over this with his pistol in his hand.
"Now, boys," he said, "lay close. If I don't lift them doors, my name is not Silas Jones. Rush up in the smoke and you'll have fair play at 'em."
"Give it to them, Sir," exclaimed the brave-hearted fellows, who were thirsting to avenge the death of their slaughtered shipmates, and who knew their only chance of safety was to gain possession of the deck. The mate flashed his pistol and fired the train. In an instant he was hurled to the deck. The men not stopping to notice him rushed over his prostrate body. Before they reached the deck up the mutilated ladder, he was with them, shouting "Now or never board them in the smoke."
They dashed forward. The whole of the companionway and part of the deck had been torn to pieces, killing several of the Indians who had been placed there as a guard. The explosion created such a panic that when the crew emerged from the smoke they saw a number of the savages springing overboard. The Indians were taken by surprise. They had, it appears, thought they had secured the crew below, and had but to wait patiently until the ship should drift upon the rocks, when they would be completely in their power.
The chief, urged perhaps by curi- osity, had kneeled over the skylight to watch the motions of his victims when he received the ball from Tom's pistol. Hearing the steps of the men about the companionway and think- ing they intended to force the doors, it is supposed a strong party were placed here to prevent their passage. If so, they must have been all de- stroyed. The explosion and its terrific effects so alarmed the Indians that the crew found but little difficulty clearing the decks. A number of In- dians were seen flocking over the bows into a large canoe; one of the men picking up the smith's anvil, dropped it into the bottom of it. It immedi- ately sank amid the frantic yells of its occupants. No one thought of
TOWER HOTEL Overlooking Vineyard Sound and Marthas Vineyard, it faces the prevalent wind, that blows from the Elizabeth Islands.
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