History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 3

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 3

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Adjacent to the Seconet tribe were the Pocasset Indians, their former home being in what afterwards became the township of Tiverton, that until 1747 was in Bristol County, but then set off to Rhode Island. The Pocasset Indians were probably more numerous and powerful than those at Seconet, and were the subjects of a squaw-sachem named Weetamoo, who had formerly been the wife of Wamsutta, older brother of King Philip, and sister to Wootonekanuske, King Philip's wife. Thus connected to or with the royal family, one would have supposed that Weetamoo would have been among the first and foremost to have espoused the canse of King Philip, her former hus- band's brother and her sister's husband, but still the evidence is quite conclusive that this was not the case; but, instead, that she demurred, and would have kept herself and those over whom she ruled entirely out of the conflict if she could.

Wamsutta, as before remarked, died in 1662, and Weetamoo, thus left a widow at some time before 1675, became the wife of an Indian named Pentonowowett, whom the English called Ben, and Church's history speaks of as Peter Nunuit.

Weetamoo, who was sometimes called Nanumpum, and also Tatapanum, became the wife of Wamsutta, oldest son of Massasoit, in or before 1653, and during the brief reign of Wamsutta in 1662, Weetamoo must

have been queen of the Wampanoag nation. At the death of Wamsutta in 1662, his brother came to the throne, when Weetamoo as queen was succeeded by her sister Wootonekanuske, two brothers having mar- ried these sisters, and the ex-queen thenceforth is mentioned in history only as "squaw-sachem of Po- casset." At the commencement of King Philip's war (in 1675) the Pocasset Indians were so numerons that Weetamoo's armed men able to go out upon the war- path were supposed to number three hundred, and her lands at Pocasset were deemed to be of great value. She had, as before remarked, in her widow- hood become the wife of an Indian named Petonowo- wett, who could not by King Philip be induced to join with him in the war, but aided the English in that conflict.

When Capt. Benjamin Church was on his way to Ply- mouth, carrying the message of Awashuncks, squaw- sachem of Seconet, passing through Pocasset, now Tiverton, he met Petonowowett, the husband of Wee- tamoo, who had just come to shore from Mount Hope, and unreservedly told Church that there certainly would be war, that King Philip had held a war-dance and entertained young Indian warriors from all parts of the country, and had promised them that they might on the next Sunday, when the English had gone to meeting, plunder their houses and kill their cattle.

Petonowowett invited Church to visit his wife Wee- tamoo in their camp on a hill not far distant, and near what is now known as Howland Ferry bridge.

Church accepted the invitation, and repaired to the Indian camp, where he found Weetamoo iu a melan- choly mood, her warriors having left her and gone to Philip's war-dance, which act.of theirs, she declared, was much against her will.

Circumstances are said to make men, and why may not circumstances control women? Weetamoo evi- dently preferred peace, and could she have controlled her warriors, although she could not have had peace, she could, doubtless, by joining with the English, have saved herself and them from the almost total anni- hilation which now awaited them ; but, as a choice of evils, doubtless she accepted that she was least able to resist by joining herself and her fortunes with King Philip, although this act forever separated her from her husband, who adhered to and assisted the Eng- lish in the war just then commencing, and for his services therein was by his employers appointed to take charge of those Indians that after the war were permitted to reside between Sipecan and Dartmouth. And thus it was that in people's minds she came to be chargeable " next unto Philip in respect of the mis- chief done."

After separating from Petonowowett Weetamoo be- came the wife of Quinapin, an Indian of the Narra- gansett tribe, second in command in the great swamp fight, in what is now Kingston, R. I., Dec. 19, 1675. Quinapin was captured in 1676, taken to Newport,

INDIAN HISTORY.

R. I., and shot, and Weetamoo, the wife, fled to the Niantic country, or what is now Westerly, R. I., where, being pursued, she returned to Mettapoisett, now Gardiner's Neck, in Swansea, where she was be- trayed by a deserter from her camp, and a force from Taunton was thus enabled to capture all her followers; but Weetamoo, with a resolution equal to the dis- tressing circumstances, attempted to escape upon a hastily-constructed raft of broken pieces of wood that perished or sunk under her, when, as the last des- perate resort, she doubtless attempted to swim, as her naked corpse drifted ashore, and was soon after found on the beach of Gardiner's Neck, in Swansea.

That greatest and most bloody of New England conflicts, although waged in several different colo- nies, had its commencement and ending within the limits of what became Bristol County, Mass.

On Sunday, the 20th of June, 1675, open hostilities were commenced by the Indians in the town of Swansea by plundering the houses of English inhab- itants while the latter were absent at meeting. On that day seven or eight of King Philip's Indians went to the house of an inhabitant of Swansea, whom they found at home, and requested the privilege to grind a hatchet, which was objected to on the part of the Englishman, who told the Indians that it was the Sabbath, and God would be very angry if he per- mitted them to grind the hatchet that day, to which they are said to have returned the answer that they knew not who his God was, and that they would grind the hatchet for all him or his God either. The same day these Indians meeting an Englishman upon the road told him to do no work on his God's day, and that he should tell no lies, and then suffered him quietly to pass on.

Four days later, as the English were returning from religious worship, they were fired upon by the Indians, killing one and wounding two others, and two men sent for a surgeon were overtaken by the Indians and slain. Two men in another part of Swansea were that day slain by the Indians and scalped, and thus upon the 24th of June, 1675, were five of the English inhabitants of Swansea killed outright and two wounded, and an Englishman slain at what is now Falls River. The first succor that the English at Swansea received was from a company of seventeen mounted men from Bridgewater, who left their homes on the 21st of June and arrived at a fortified house at Mettapoisett, now Gardiner's Neck, in Swansea, the next day.

These Bridgewater troops were quartered at the house of a man named Bourne, where were also col- lected seventy of the English people, viz., sixteen men and fifty-four women and children, whom they defended till reinforced, when the house was aban- doned, and the non-combatants for greater safety were transported to the island of Rhode Island. Great was the alarm throughout the several colonies, and on the 26th of June several companies of soldiers left !

Boston for the seat of war, where they arrived a little before night on the 28th.

Plymouth Colony troops had been ordered to ren- dezvous at Taunton preparatory to uniting with those from Boston, where, although so far from the chief seat of war, they were severely harassed by the In- dians, and Lieut. John Freeman, in a letter dated at Taunton, said, "This morning three of our men are slain close by one of our courts of guard, houses are burned in our sight, our men are picked off at every bush. The design of the enemy is not to face the army, but to fall on us as they have advantage."

Among the houses that Lieut. Freeman said were | burned in their sight at Taunton was probably that of John Tisdale, that the Indians destroyed by fire June 27, 1675, also slaying Tisdale and taking his gun, that was retaken at Rehoboth, Ang. 1, 1675, being found with the body of an Indian there slain.

The forces assembled at Swansea consisted of a com- pany of infantry under Capt. Daniel Henchman, and a company of hastily collected volunteers. one hun- dred and ten in number, under Capt. Samuel Moseley, and a company of mounted men under Capt. Thomas Prentice. These three companies being furnished by the colony of Massachusetts Bay, added to which was a company from Plymouth Colony under Capt. James Cudworth, of Scituate.

The house of the Rev. John Myles, a Baptist clergy- man, that stood near a bridge in what is now called Barneyville, was so strengthened as to resist attack, and here the combined forces of Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies were assembled and placed under the command of the ranking officer, Capt. James Cud- worth, who for the time being became commander- in-chief.

Flushed with their successes thus far the Indians became encouraged, and seemed to lurk almost every- where, shooting at all passengers, and killing many who ventured abroad, venturing so near the gar- risoned house as to shoot down two of the sentinels.

A detachment of the cavalry of Capt. Prentice, under the command of Quartermasters Gill and Belcher, accompanied by Benjamin Church, was sent forward, but were no sooner over Myle's Bridge than fired upon from an ambuscade, when William Ham- mond the pilot, who was probably a resident of Swansea, was killed, Belcher's horse shot under him, and both himself and Mr. Gill wounded, which so surprised and terrified the troopers that they became panic-stricken, wheeled their horses, and fled in the utmost disorder, regardless alike of the threats and entreaties of their officers, and but for Gill and Church the dead body of Hammond would have been left in the possession of the enemy.

June 29, 1675. The Indians appeared boldly in view, and by their shouts and yells seemed to chal- lenge the English to come out and fight. Capt. Moseley with his company rushed furiously upon them, when the Indians immediately fled to their

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

coverts, there making a momentary stand, where, being fired upon, they again fled. Capt. Moseley pur- sued about a mile, slaying five or six Indians and sus- taining no loss on his own part save the wounding of his ensign, Mr. Savage, who received a musket-ball in his thigh and a bullet passed through his hat, and even this, some authorities state, was by mistake, and that he was fired upon by one of his own company. Capt. Moseley pushed on, and at Keek-a-muit his sol- diers found the heads of eight Englishmen slain by the Indians set on poles. These heads they took down and buried.

The English now traversed Mount Hope Neck, found King Philip's deserted wigwam, but himself and nearly all his followers had fled, and with their wives and children, bag and baggage, had gone, made a good and successful retreat, and taken all their canoes with them.

King Philip had outwitted his pursuers, got off with little or no loss of his men, made a change of base, gained a more defensive position, and by going over to Poeasset, as he had done, was enabled to enforce the squaw-sachems Weetamoo and Awashuncks to join him with their warriors; in fact, he had out- flanked his foes and commenced to deal death and destruction to those who thought themselves safe in the rear of the English army, and the frontier town of Swansea was at that moment the safest locality in Plymouth Colony.

Capt. Church very justly said, "The enemy were not really beaten out of Mount Hope Neck, though it was true they fled from thence, yet it was before any pursued them. It was only to strengthen them- selves and to gain a more advantageous post. How- ever, some and not a few pleased themselves with the fancy of a mighty conquest. A grand council was held and a resolve passed to build a fort there to main- tain the first ground they had gained by the Indians leaving it to them, and, to speak the truth, it must be said that as they gained not that field by their sword nor by their bow, so it was rather their fear than their courage that obliged them to set up the marks of their conquests." Church further said that he looked upon this act of remaining and building the fort and talked of it with contempt, and urged hard the pursuing of the enemy on the Pocasset side.

Meanwhile there arrived from Boston at Swansea a reinforcement of one hundred and twenty men under Maj. Thomas Savage.

who was one of the counselors of King Philip. In this action John Druce, one of the troopers, received a wound in the bowels, of which he died.

King Philip in the mean time was laying waste the English settlements in what afterwards became the towns of Little Compton, Tiverton, Dartmouth, Free- town, Fall River, New Bedford, Westport, Fairhaven, and Acushnet, and frightening the English inhabit- ants out of what is now Berkley and Middleborough.

Benjamin Church finally succeeded in persuading the commander at Myles' garrison, in Swansea, to send under Capt. Fuller a company of thirty-six men to Pocasset, in hope to get an opportunity to treat with the Pocasset and Seconet Indians, which force soon after arriving divided, one part starting off' under Capt. Fuller and the other under Church.

Fuller encountered Indians, and two of his men were wounded, and all so hard pressed as to be obliged to seek shelter in a deserted house, from which they escaped to a vessel.

Church and his party were also pursued, and driven on board Capt. Goulding's vessel, and thus barely escaped. This was on the Sth of July, 1675. The Indians were so well supplied with arms and ammuni- tion that they put many bullet-holes into the stern of Goulding's vessel and through his sails as he was taking off Church and his men.

Soon after a detachment of soldiers was put on board a sloop and sent to the Quequechan (now Fall River), there disembarked and marched into Weeta- mo's country, overtook and killed one Indian and alarmed many more that succeeded in escaping to a swamp; but as soon as the English were ordered back those who had been pursued in turn became pursuers, and chased the English back to the sloop and wounded two soldiers. They returned the next day to the camp in Swansea.

July 18, 1675, an expedition was sent against Philip in his camp in a Pocasset swamp, now Tiverton. The English forces, arriving late in the afternoon, discov- ered a few Indians on the edge of the swamp, on whom they rushed with ardor, the Indians meanwhile gradually retreating, and thus drawing their pursuers into an ambuscade, by which, when fired upon, fif- teen of the English were shot down, and were soon ordered to fall back and give up the pursuit. One hundred wigwams, newly constructed of green bark, were found near the edge of the swamp. The loss in that fight sustained by the Indians was probably very small when compared with that of the white men, and the latter, instead of renewing the contest the next day, fortified themselves on the outskirts of the swamp, and there remained in the hope of starving the Indians into submission, and extorting from King Philip terms of capitulation, neither of which they were able to accomplish, as about the last of that month Philip and his followers one night suddenly decamped, and in eanoes unpursued reached the other

June 30th, Capt. Prentice, with his troop, for more convenient quarters, went to lodge at Rehoboth, and as they were returning on the morning of July Ist came upon a company of Indians burning a house, but taking advantage of the fences, over which the horses could not go, the Indians escaped to a swamp. Capt. Prentice's lieutenant, Mr. Oaks, with a part of the troopers, discovered another body of Indians, that they pursued on an open plain, overtook, and slew four or five of them, one of whom was Peebe or Phebe, . shore in safety en route for the Nipensie country, now

INDIAN HISTORY.

in the county of Worcester. King Philip, with his forces, would have got off not only unperceived but unharmed but for the Rev. Noah Newman, of Reho- both, who, as the Indians were passing through that town (Ang. 1, 1675), brought out the " home guards," who, with Oneko and some Mohegan and Natic Indians, did some spoil upon King Philip, slaying one of his chief men called Nimrod. Oneko was the son of Uncas, and had been to Boston, where he had engaged to fight for the English, and being with some Mohegan and Natie Indians en route for Swansea, happened to be in Rehoboth just as King Philip was passing through.

On Sunday, March 26, 1676, was fought near Pawtucket, but within the original limits of Bristol County, a sanguinary battle between the English under Capt. Michael Peirce, of Scituate, and the Indians led by the chieftain Canonchet. Capt. Peirce and nearly all his command were slain, and the loss of the Indians even exceeded that of the English.

Tuesday, March 28, 1676, the Indians burned at Rehoboth (afterward Seekonk), forty-five dwelling- houses, twenty-one barns, two grist-mills, and one saw-mill, and slew an Irishman named Robert Beers. King Philip is said to have been present at the burn- ing of Rehoboth, and the frame-work of an ancient chair is still preserved in which tradition saith he sat to witness the conflagration.

April 9, 1676, Canonchet was captured in or near Pawtucket.

April 27, 1676, Woodcock's fortified house, in what was then Rehoboth, now Attleborough, suffered an Indian attack ; Nathaniel Woodcock and another Englishman slain, John Woodcock wounded, and Nathaniel Woodcook's house burned.

Some time in May, 1676, four Taunton men were slain by the Indians, viz., Sergt. James Philips, James Bell, Henry Andrews, and Edward Babbitt. Thus were left thirty-two fatherless children.

May 24, 1676, Capt. Thomas Brattle, of Boston, with a company of about fifty mounted men, being joined by a body of infantry, marched to the Paw- tucket Falls, where, arriving on the easterly side of the river, the Indians were discovered on the opposite bank of the stream.

Leaving the infantry at the falls, the cavalry pro- ceeded up the river to a fording-place, crossed over, proceeded down on the other side, making a sudden attack upon the Indians, killing several of them and capturing an Indian boy, taking two horses, several guns, and some ammunition. Lieut. Jacob Elliot, of the cavalry, was wounded in the hand, and one cav- alry soldier killed.

The Indians first attempted to retreat through the river, but discovering the infantry upon the opposite side hastily turned about, retraced their steps to the shore, and took refuge in a swamp.

June 19, 1676, Swansea was again attacked by the Indians, and nearly all the remaining houses burned.

Some authorities say all save five were burned, and of these, four were garrisoned.

June 26, 1676, the Indians captured Hezekiah Wil- lett in or near Swansea ; he was twenty-five years of age, and a son of Capt. Thomas Willett. The In- dians cnt off the prisoner's ears and nose and then set him at liberty ; he probably soon after died, as some of the authorities state that he was slain by the Indians.

A negro who was captured by the Indians at Swan- sea, and who is supposed to have been a slave of Capt. Thomas Willett, escaped, fled to Taunton, and informed the people that the Indians proposed at- tacking that place. Being warned, the Taunton people prepared themselves for the attack that was made on the 11th day of July, 1676, and in which two houses were fired by the Indians and one Englishman slain.

Ang. 1, 1676, Wootonekanuse, the wife of King Philip, together with his son, aged about nine years, and several women and children, were taken captives by the English.

At about this time a battle between the English and Indians came off in what is now the town of Norton, at a place called Lockety Neck, in which the Indians were defeated.

Aug. 6, 1676, twenty Taunton men captured at Gardiner's Neck, in Swansea, the few remaining fol- lowers of Weetamoo, squaw-sachem of Seconet ; she sought to escape by attempting to cross Taunton River on a hastily-constructed raft, but was drowned, and her dead body being found on the shores in Swan- sea, her head was cut off and carried to Taunton.

Saturday, Ang. 12, 1676, early in the morning King Philip was slain near Mount Hope, in Pokanoket, now the town of Bristol.

Aug. 28, 1676, Philip's great captain, Anawan, who had in like capacity served his father, Massasoit, and at the death of Philip became chief sachem, or king of the Wampanoag tribe or nation, was captured by Capt. Benjamin Church at a place still known as Ana- wan's Rock, in the easterly part of the town of Reho- both, a few rods south of the turnpike road leading from Taunton to Providence, about eight miles from Taunton, and ten from Providence.

This rock is upon the northerly border of a wooded country formerly known as Squanakonk Swamp, an area of nearly three thousand acres.

Indian Reservations .- When what subsequently became Freetown was purchased of the Indians in 1659, reservations were made for the Indians Tabada- cason and Pianto; the first for the benefit of those In- dians that maintained a ferry across Taunton River, which doubtless was to remain while the ferry was so kept, and the other for planting land, the Indian title to which should end at Pianto's death. That first reservation is thought to have been a point of land lying between Taunton River and Barnaby's Cove so called.

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Beside these reservations was another of nearly two hundred acres lying within what formerly was the township of Freetown, but now an easterly part of Fall River, at what is sometimes called Indian Town, and is still appropriated to the uses of that race, one lot having been assigned to and still possessed by Mrs. Zerviah Gould Mitchell, a lineal descendant in the seventh generation of the "good old Massasoit," king of the Wampanoags, and "Sassacus the Terrible," king of the Pequots. Mrs. Mitchell is descended from Massasoit through his daughter Amie and her husband Tuspaquin, known in history as the black sachem, chief of the Assawampsett and Nunasket Indians, who was slain by the English in or near September, 1676. Amie, the wife, was a sister of Wamsutta, alias Alexander, the successor of Massa- soit and Pometacom, alias King Philip, successor to Alexander and Sonkanuhoo, who is supposed to have been slain at the swamp fight in Pocasset, now Tiver- ton.

July 18, 1675, Benjamin, a grandson of the black sachem Tuspaquin, married Mercy Felix, a grand- daughter of the educated Indian John Sassamon, whose wife was a daughter of Sassacus, and Benjamin and wife Mercy were the grandparents of Mrs. Zervia Gould Mitchell, who now has her home upon the In- dian reservation at Betty's Neck, so called, in Lake- ville.

CHAPTER III.

BENCH AND BAR.I

AMONG the prominent agencies which give shape and order in the early development of the civil and social condition of society, the pulpit, press, and bar are perhaps the most potential in moulding the in- stitutions of a new community ; and where these are early planted, the school, academy, and college are not long in assuming their legitimate position, and the maintenance of these institutions secures at the start a social and moral foundation upon which we may safely rest the superstructure of the county, the State, and the nation.

The establishment of courts and judicial tribunals, where society is protected iu all its civil rights under the sanction of law, and wrong finds a ready redress in an enlightened and prompt administration of jus- tice, is the first necessity of every civilized community, and without which the forces and press of society, in its changeable developments, even under the teach- ings of the pulpit, the directions of the press, and the culture of the schools, are exposed to peril and disaster from the turbulence of passion and conflicts

of interest ; and hence the best and surest security that even the press, the school, or the pulpit can find for the peaceful performance of its highest functions is when protected by and intrenched behind the bul- warks of law, administered by a pure, independent, and uncorrupted judiciary.

The Bristol County bar has from its beginning numbered among its members able jurists, tal- ented advocates, and safe counselors. Here many have lived, flourished, and died, while others still are upon the stage of action who have been promi- nent in the advancement of the interests of the county and figured conspicuously in the councils of the State.

New Bedford .- One of the earliest members of the Bristol bar, and a leading lawyer of his day in the State, was Timothy Gardner Coffin, who was born in Nantucket in 1790 of humble Quaker parentage. He early developed a remarkable degree of intelligence, brightness, and activity of mind. He was educated at Brown University, studied law in the office of Kilburn Whitman in Plymouth County, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1811. He opened an office in New Bedford, and very quickly became a leading lawyer in the county of Bristol, and in the counties of Nantucket, Dukes, Barnstable, and Plymouth, and for more than forty years was engaged in almost every case of importance before the courts of these counties. His contemporaries were Marcus Morton, of Taun- ton, William Baylies, of Bridgewater, L. Eddy, of Middleborough, Charles Holmes, of Rochester, and N. Marston, of Barnstable, all of whom were eminent and skillful lawyers, and Mr. Coffin was an equal of either of them. He was very quick to observe the weakness of his opponent's cause and to present his client's best points. At times he was eloquent. He was a very sharp cross-examiner of witnesses, and few witnesses could evade his keenness. He was very ready at repartee, and quick to answer every inquiry of counsel or court, and his arguments were difficult to answer.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 3

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818