USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Hardwick > History of Hardwick, Massachusetts, with a genealogical register > Part 2
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THERE is no evidence within my knowledge, that the present township of Hardwick was ever occupied by the Indians as a place of residence; but that these hills furnished favorite hunt- ing-grounds, there were manifest tokens in my younger days. Stone arrow-heads 1 were found so abundantly in the fields as to indicate their frequent and long-continued visitation in pursuit of game. Moreover, long before the settlement of the town by Englishmen the Indians had a military stronghold at Winni- misset, now in New Braintree, but for many years included in Hardwick. At this place occurred a sanguinary conflict between the two races, at the commencement of what is generally called King Philip's War. "From 1671 to 1674 we meet with no transaction of moment relative to the Indians, but it is affirmed that Philip was all this time using measures to engage the Indians in all parts of New England to unite against the English. . .. They did not expect to be prepared before the spring of 1676, but Philip precipitated his own nation and his allies into a war before they were prepared. . . . The war was hurried on by a
1 Another vestige of Indian occupancy the present owner of the field (formerly a is in my possession. It is a stone imple- part of my father's homestead), where it was found half a century ago. Very prob- ably it passed unnoticed under my own hoe in my boyhood, when laboring in that field ; and hence it has an additional value to me as a memento. ment, fashioned like a pestle, ten inches in length, with a groove at the smaller end for the purpose of attachment to a handle. The stone is different from the Hardwick rocks, and of much finer grain. It was given to me by Mr. William C. Wesson,
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piece of revenge, which Philip caused to be taken on John Sausa- man, a praying Indian."1 Sausaman had exposed to the English some of the plots of Philip, who thereupon caused him to be murdered. The murderers were tried and executed at Plymouth in June, 1675. Philip was enraged, and commenced hostilities at once. "June 24th, in the morning, one of the inhabitants of Rehoboth was fired upon by a party of Indians, and the hilt of his sword shot off. The same day in the afternoon, being a fast, as Swanzey people were coming from public worship, the Indians attacked them, killed one and wounded others, and killed two men who were going for a surgeon, beset a house in another part of the town, and there murdered six more."2 The English gathered troops, and in July attacked the Indians in a swamp at Pocasset, hoping to capture or destroy them ; but the attempt was unsuccessful. " This disappointment encouraged the Indians in other parts of New England to follow Philip's example, and begin their hostilities against the English. Some few had begun before. The Nipnet or Nipmuck Indians had killed four or five people at Mendon, in the Massachusetts Colony, the 14th of July. The Governor and Council, in hopes of reclaiming the Nipnets, sent Captain Hutchinson with twenty horsemen to Quabaog (Brookfield), near which place there was to be a great rendez- vous of those Indians. The inhabitants of Quabaog had been deluded with the promise of a treaty, at a place agreed upon, the 2d of August. Some of the principal of them accompanied Cap- tain Hutchinson thither. Not finding the Indians there, they rode forward four or five miles towards the Nipnets' chief town. When they came to a place called Meminimisset,3 a narrow passage between a steep hill and a thick swamp, they were am- bushed by two or three hundred Indians, who shot down eight of the company, and mortally wounded three more, Captain Hutch- inson being one of the number. The rest escaped through a by-path to Quabaog. The Indians flocked into the town; but the inhabitants, being alarmed, had all gathered together in the principal house. They had the mortification to see all their dwelling-houses, about twenty, with their barns and outhouses burnt." 4
A more particular "narrative " of this sanguinary struggle,
1 Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., i. 283- 285.
2 Ibid., i. 286, 287.
3 Now called Winnimisset, in New Braintree.
4 Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass., i. 291, 292.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
written by Captain Thomas Wheeler, one of the actors therein, which Hutchinson seems not to have seen, was reprinted in the Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society in 1827; and somc manuscript details of preliminary proceedings have been preserved in the Massachusetts Archives, but I think have never been printed. From these sources it appears that in July, 1675, the Governor and Council employed Ephraim Curtis 1 to visit the Nipmuck Indians at Quabaog (Brookfield), and to ascer- tain their position in the controversy which had commenced. On his return he exhibited a report as follows : -
" To the honered Governer and Councle of the Massathusets Colony in New England.2
" Wheras your honors imployed your servant to conduct Un- cheas his six men homwards as far as Wabaquesesue, and alsoe to make a perffet discovery of the motions of the Nepmug or Western Indians, your honors may be pleased here to see my return and relation. I conducted Unkeas his men safly while I com in sight of Wabquesesue new planting fielde; first to Na- tuck, from thenc to Marelborrow, from thenc to Esnemisco, from thenc to Mumchogg, from thenc to Chabanagonkomug, from thenc to Mayenecket, from thenc over the river to Seneksig, while wee cam nere to Wabaquasesu, wher they were very willing that wee should leve them, and returned thanks to Mr. Governer, and to all them that shewed them kindness, and alsoe to us for our company. And in my jorny my chefe indever was to inquire after the motions of the Indians. The first information which I had was at Marelborrow att the Indian fort, which was that my hous at Quansigamug 3 was robed ; the Indians, to conferm it, shewed me som of the goods and alsoe som other goods which was non of mine. They told mee it was very daingerous for mee to goe into the woods, for that Mattounas, which they said was the leader of them that robed my house, was in company of fifty men of Phillips complices rainging between Chabanagonkamug and Quatesook and Mendam and Warwick, and they might
1 Ephraim Curtis was of Sudbury (aft-
. 3 Worcester. During the attack on erward of Worcester), and described him- Brookfield, "Ephraim Curtis, who may be self as thirty-five years old in a deposition dated Sept. 11, 1675, now in the Mass. Arch., lxvii. 254. He was an active scout and guide, and rendered very important service.
2 I preserve the orthography, but sup- ply the punctuation.
considered as the first settler of Worces- ter, distinguished himself as a gallant soldier in repelling their attacks. Having actively engaged in military service, he re- ceived the commission of lieutenant." He left posterity in Worcester. Lincoln's Hist. of Worcester, pp. 19, 43.
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hapen to mett mee; and if I mised them, yet it was daingerous to meet or see the other Nipmug Indians which wer gathered together, for they would be reddy to shoot mee as soon as they saw mee. With this newes, thos three Natuck Indians which wer with mee as vollenteres were discurriged and tould mee that if I did not provide mor company they wer not willing to goe with mee. Hearing this, I repaired to the Consable of Marel- borrow and to the milletary officers and tould them my busnes, and they presed two men with horses and armes to goe along with mee. And soe as wee pased the forementioned place, wee could not find any Indians, neither in tents nor feldes ; but after wee pased Senecksik som milds into the woods westwards, wee found an Indian path newly mad. There being with mee a vollenter Indian that cam from the Indians out of the wilderness but two or three days before, and hee tould mee hee would find them out. Soe in our travell wee followed this tract many milds, and found many tents built, wherin I supos they might keep their randivos for a day or two ; and soe wee found three places wher they had piched, but found no Indians. And following still in pursut of the tract, wee com to the lead mynes by Springfield ould road, wher wee saw new footing of Indians : and soe looking out sharp, in about two milds riding wee saw two Indians, which when wee saw I sent the Indian that went with mee from Marrelborrow to speek with them. But soe soone as they had discovered us they ran away from us, but with fast riding and much calling two of our Indians stopped one of them ; the other ran away. Wee asked the Indian wher the other Indians were ; hee being sup- prised with feare could scarcely speak to us, but only tould us that the Indians were but a littel way from us. . Soe then I sent the Marrelborrow Indian before us, to tell them that the Gouv- ner of the Massathusets messenger was a coming with peacable words ; but when hee cam to them they would not beleve him ; hee therfore cam riding back and meet us. Thes Indians have newly begun to settel themselves uppon an Iland conteinging about four acres of ground, being compased round with a brood miry swamp on the one sid and a mudy river with meaddow on both sids of it one the other sid, and but only one place that a hors could posably pas, and there with a great deal of difficulty by reson of the mier and dirt. Befor wee com to the river ther mett us att least forty Indians at a littell distance from the river, some with ther guns uppon ther shoulders, others with ther guns in ther hands reddy cocked and primed. As wee cam nere to the
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
river most of them next to the river presented att us. All my aquantanc would not know mee, although I saw ner twenty of them together and asked ther wellfare, knowing that many of them could speek good Englesh. I speak to many of them in the Governor's name, which I called my master, the great Sachim of the Massathuset Englesh, requiring them to owne ther fidellyty and ingidgement to the Englesh, telling them that I cam not to fight with them or to hurt them, but as a messinger from the Governer to put them in mind of their ingaidgment to the Eng- lish. I think some of them did beleve mee, but the most of them would not. Ther was a very great upror amonghst them : som of them would have had mee and my company presently kiled ; but many others, as I understood afterwards, wer against it. I re- quired ther Sachims to com over the river ; but they refused, say- ing that I must com over to them. My comppany wer somthing unwilling, for they thought themselves in very great dainger wher wee wer; they said what shall wee bee when [wee] are over the river amongst all the vile rout ? I tould them wee had better never have sen them, then not to speak with ther Sachims, and if wee run from them in the tim of this tumult they would shoot after us and kill som of us. Soe with much difficulty wee got over the river and meaddow to the Iland wher they stood to face us att our coming out of the mire, many Indians with ther guns presented att us, redy cocked and primed. Soe wee rushed between them and called for ther Sachim ; they presently faced about and went to surround us, many of them with ther guns cocked and primed at us. We rushed between them onc or twice, and bid them stand in a body, and I would face them ; but still the uprore continued with such noyes that the aire rang. I required them to lay down their armes, and they comanded us to put up our armes first, and com of our horses, which I refused to doe. Som of them which wer inclinable to beleve us, or wer our friends, som layd down ther armes, but the others continued the uprore for a while ; and with much threattening and perswa- sion, at last the uprore ceased. Many of them sayd they would neyther beleve mee nor my master without hee would send them two or three bushells of powder. Att lingth I spok with ther Sachims, which wer five, and ther other grandes which I think wer about twelve more; our Natuck Indians semed to be very in- dustrous all this tim to still the tumult and to persuad the In- dians. And as soone as I cam to speek with the Sachims, we dis- mounted and put up our armes. I had a great deal of spech with
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INDIAN HISTORY.
them by an interpreter, being brought to ther court and sent out again three or four times. The nams of the Sachims are thes : 1, Muttaump ; 2, Konkewasco; 3, Willymachen ; 4, Upchat- tuck; 5, Keehood ; 6, Nontatousoo. Muttaump I perceive is chosen to bee head over the other five, and was the chefe speaker. There company in number I judg may bee ner two hundred of men. They would fain have had mee to stay all night : I asked the reson of some that could speak Englesh ; they sayd that they had som messengers at Cunnetequt and som southward, and that was the reson they would have mee stay. I asked them the re- son of ther rud behavour toward us, and they sayd they heard that the Englesh had kiled a man of thyres about Merrymak River, and that they had an intent to destroy them all. I left them well apeased when I cam away. Mor might be added ; but thus far is a true relation, pr your honers most humbel ser- vent. EPHRAIM CURTIS.
" July ye 16, 1675." 1
Immediately afterwards Curtis was sent again with “ a mes- sage to the Nipmug Indians." He reported, July 24, 1675, that he " found them att the same place wher they wer before; " that they manifested a better temper, and that " they promised that Keehoud and one mor of their principle men would come to the Massathusets Bay within foure or five days and speek with our Great Sachim." 2 This promise was not fulfilled, and the govern- ment organized a military expedition. A paper remains in the Archives, indorsed " Capt. Hutchinsons Instructions, 27 July, 1675," to wit : -
" Boston, 27 July, 1675. The Council, beeing informed that the Narraganset Indians are come downe with about one hundred armed men into the Nipmuck country, - Do order you, Capt. Edward Hutcheson, to take with you Capt. Thomas Wheler and his party of horse, with Ephraim Curtis for a guide, and a sufficient interpreter, and forthwith repaire into those parts, and ther laubour to get a right understanding of the motions of the Narraganset Indians, and of the Indians of Nipmuck; and for that end to demand of the leaders of the Narraganset Indians an account of the grounds of their marching in the country, and re- quire an account of the Nipmuck Indians why they have not sent downe their Sagamore according to their promise unto our mes- senger Ephraim Curtis. And further let them know that we are
1 Mass. Arch., lxvii. 214-216.
2 Ibid., Ixvii. 222, 223.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
informed that there are some among them that have actually joyned with our enimies in the murder and spoyle made upon the English by Philip, and that Matoones and his complices who have rob'd and murdered our people about Mendon are now among them ; and that wee require them to deliver up to you, or forthwith bring in to us, those our enimies ; otherwise wee must looke at them to bee no freinds to us, ayders and abbetors. .. And in prosecution of this affayre, if you should meet with any Indians that stand in opposition to you or declare themselves to be your enimes, then you are ordered to ingage with them, if you see reson for it, and endeavor to reduce them by force of arms." 1
The tragical result of this expedition was described by Captain Thomas Wheeler, in " A true Narrative of the Lord's Providences in various dispensations towards Captain Edward Hutchinson of Boston and myself, and those that went with us into the Nipmuck Country, and also to Quabaug, alias Brookfield." - " The said Captain Hutchinson and myself, with about twenty men or more, marched from Cambridge to Sudbury July 28, 1675, and from thence into the Nipmuck Country ; and finding that the Indians had deserted their towns, and we having gone until we came within two miles of New Norwitch on July 31, ... we then thought it not expedient to march any further that way, but set our march for Brookfield, whither we came on the Lord's day about noon. From thence the same day (being August 1), we understanding that the Indians were about ten miles northwest from us, we sent out four men 2 to acquaint the Indians that we were not come to harm them, but our business was only to de- liver a message from our honoured Governour and Council to them, and to receive their answer, we desiring to come to a treaty of peace with them (though they had for several days fled from us), they having before professed friendship and promised fidel- ity to the English. When the messengers came to them they made an alarm, and gathered together about an hundred and fifty fighting men, as near as they could judge. The young men amongst them were stout in their speeches, and surly in their car- riage. But at length some of the chief Sachems promised to meet us on the next morning about 8 of the clock upon a plain
1 Mass. Arch., Ixvii. 227.
2 One of these men was Ephraim Cur- tis, who says in his deposition : " The third time I was sent out with Cap.
Hucheson, and by his order went and treated with the Nipmug Indians in a swamp about eight milds from Qua- booge." Mass. Arch., Ixvii. 254.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
within three miles of Brookfield ; with which answer the messen- gers returned to us. . . . Accordingly we with our men, accom- panied with three of the principal inhabitants of that town, marched to the plain appointed. . . . The Indians kept not prom- ise there with us. But the three men who belonged to Brookfield were so strongly persuaded of their freedom from any ill inten- tions towards us . .. that the said Captain Hutchinson, who was principally intrusted with the matter of Treaty with them, was thereby encouraged to proceed and march forward towards a swampe where the Indians then were. When we came near the said swampe, the way was so very bad that we could march only in a single file, there being a very rocky hill on the right hand, and a thick swampe on the left, in which there were many of those cruel bloodthirsty heathen, who there waylaid us, waiting an opportunity to cut us off : there being also much brush on the side of the said hill, where they lay in ambush to surprise us. When we had marched there about sixty or seventy rods, the said perfidious Indians sent out their shot upon us as a showre of haile, they being (as was supposed) about two hundred men or more. We seeing ourselves so beset, and not having room to fight, endeavoured to fly for the safety of our lives. . .. There were then slain, to our great grief, eight men, viz., Zechariah Philips of Boston, Timo- thy Farlow of Billericay, Edward Coleborn of Chelmsford, Sam- uel Smedly of Concord, Sydrach Hopgood of Sudbury, Sergeant Eyres,1 Serjeant Prichard,2 and Corporal Coy,8 the inhabitants of Brookfield, aforesaid. It being the good pleasure of God that they should all there fall by their hands of whose good intentions they were so confident, and whom they so little mistrusted. There were also then five persons wounded, viz., Captain Hutch- inson,4 myself, and my son Thomas, as aforesaid,5 Corporal French of Billericay ; . . The fifth was John Waldoe of Chelmsford." 6
The survivors fled to Brookfield, took possession of " one of the
1 John Ayres.
2 William Prichard.
3 Richard Coye.
4 Captain Hutchinson died of his wounds, August 19, 1675.
5 Captain Wheeler's horse was killed, and himself sorely wounded. He bears this testimony to the good conduct of his son, who "had then received a dangerous wound in the reins : . . . he endeavoured to rescue me, shewing himself therein a
loving and dutiful son, he adventuring himself into great peril of his life to help me in that distress ; there being many of the enemies about me, my son set me on his own horse and so escaped a while on foot himself, until he caught an horse whose rider was slain, on which he mount- ed ; and so through God's great mercy we both escaped."
6 Coll. N. H. Hist. Society, ii. 5-10.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
largest and strongest houses therein" (into which all the inhab- itants were speedily gathered), and there defended themselves two days against the violent assaults of the Indians, until relieved by the force under Major Willard. On his approach, the Indians betook themselves to the wilderness. "But before they went away, they burnt all the town except the house we kept in, and another that was not then finished. They also made great spoyle of the cattel belonging to the inhabitants." 1
After this, the Indians never returned to Brookfield as a place of residence ; but for more than half a century they hovered around the town, occasionally destroying property and killing the inhabitants. It does not appear how long they retained their stronghold at Winnimisset ; but it is certain that after a short time they returned and remained there until after the destruction of Lancaster on the 10th of the ensuing February. Mrs. Rowland- son says that on the second day after that disaster, " in the after- noon, about an hour by sun, we came to the place where they intended, viz. an Indian town called Wenimesset, northward of Quabaug," and remained there until after February 18, on which day her daughter, six years old, and wounded at Lancaster, died, and was buried on the hill east of the swamp.2 Subse- quently Muttaump, the chief Sachem of the Quabaogs, is said to have been hung at Boston, and the remnant of his tribe joined with the River Indians.
I have devoted much space to the narration of these events, partly because they occurred on territory which afterwards became our own, partly because they illustrate the labors and perils and sufferings to which the early settlers in the wilderness were ex- posed, and partly because at least one of the individual sufferers was represented by his posterity among the first English inhabit-
1 Immediately after arriving at Brook- field, Ephraim Curtis and another started for Boston on horseback to report the dis- aster ; but the Indians had already ar- rived, and they were obliged to return. " The next day," says Capt. Wheeler, "I spoke to Ephraim Curtis to adventure forth again on that service, and to at- tempt it on foot, as the way wherein there was most hope of getting away undiscov- ered ; he readily assented and accordingly went out, but there were so many Indians everywhere thereabouts, that he could not pass without apparent hazard of life ; so
he came back again; but towards morn- ing the said Ephraim adventured forth the third time, and was fain to creep on his hands and knees for some space of ground, that he might not be discerned by the enemy, who waited to prevent our sending, if they could have hindered it. But through God's mercy he escaped their hands, and got safely to Marlborough, though very much spent and ready to faint, ... from whence he went to Bos- ton. Coll. N. H. Hist. Soc., ii. 11-13.
2 Indian Captivities, pp. 25, 26.
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ants of this town. With a brief notice of a single affair in which a prominent representative of that posterity was engaged, I shall dismiss what may be called the Indian History of Hardwick. One of the " principal inhabitants " of Brookfield, whose cattle, house, and household goods were destroyed by the Indians, was John Warner,1 who fled for refuge to Hadley (where one or more of his sons then resided), and died there nearly twenty years later. His grandson, Eleazar Warner, who was born 27th Jan- uary, 1686, very early entered the military service of his country, and was assigned to duty on the frontiers. Whether he enlisted in that company of his own choice, or was placed in it by author- ity, does not appear; but the fact is certain that he was for many years stationed at Brookfield (the scene of his grandfather's dis- asters), first as a private soldier, and afterwards, by gradual pro- motion, as sergeant, ensign, and lieutenant of the company com- manded by Captain Samuel Wright of Rutland. Later in life, he was captain of militia in Hardwick and New Braintree, and retained that office until 1756, when he had attained the age of threescore years and ten. About 1730, while yet in the service of the government, he removed his family from his former resi- dence near Ditch Meadow to a farm which included a part of the old Indian fortress at Winnimisset. Soon afterwards he went to Canada, to effect an exchange of prisoners. While there an In- dian became offended, and followed him through the wilderness to his home. According to the family tradition, as I received it from his eldest daughter, my grandmother, after the Indian had lurked about the house for a few days, Captain Warner went into the forest with his musket. He soon discovered his enemy, who stepped behind a tree, and he dropped by the side of a log. He then adopted a common stratagem, placing his hat on a stick and cautiously elevating it above the log, as if to reconnoitre. Almost instantly a bullet passed through it, and he sprang upon his feet. The Indian was rushing forward with his scalping knife in hand ; but his race was soon ended, and his body was consigned to a lily- pond between the road and the river, about half a mile east of the Old Furnace.
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