History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 196

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 196

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Previous to the formation of the church a road was laid out from the meeting-house to Groton Centre, probably on the old Indian trail, as far as Massapoag Pond, at least; and in 1687 the town was assessed £1 128. 3d. to aid in building what was long . called "the Great Bridge," over the Concord River, near " the Fordway," in Billerica, this being then on the main route of travel to Boston. At a town-meet- ing held on the 21st of May, of the following year, Samuel Gould was chosen "dog whipper " for the meeting-honse-an office then very needful, since the country was infested with wild animals as well as Indians, and as a means of protection the settler used to take his dog and gun with him to church. The Bay Psalm Book was at this time the manual of song. The words of the Psalm as

" O, all yee servants of the Lord, Behold the Lord bless yee ;

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Yee who within Jehovah's house I' the night time standing hee,"

were "lined out " by one of the deacons, and sung to some such tune as " Hackney " or " York tune," by the congregation standing.

The great English Revolution came on in 1688, the house of Stuart fell, a contest between France and England, known in history as "King William's War," resulted. The French Jesuits instigated many Indians to set out upon the war-path. Along the frontier many ravages were committed.

An attack on Dunstable was intended, but was averted through seasonable information given by two friendly Indians to Major Thomas Henchman, then commander of the little garrison at Pawtucket Falls. Two companies were promptly sent to scour the country from Lancaster to Dunstable. The danger to which the few settlers in this frontier plantation were then exposed, and the sufferings they experi- enced, may be inferred from the following petition in vol. cvii., p. 230, of the " Massachusetts Archives":

"DUNSTABLE, ye July 23, 1689.

" To the Honorable Gouenor and Councill & Company of Representa- tives now assembled at Boston :- The petition of the Inhabitants of Dun- stable humbly sheweth that wes are much obliged to your Honors for your last supply of Meu, notwithstanding finding ourselves still weak and unable both to keep our Garrisons and to send men out to get hay for our Cattle, without doeiug which we cannot subsist ; wee doe therefore humbly Intreat your Honours to send and Supply us with twenty foot- men for the Space of a month to scout about the towne while we get our hay ; and the towne being very bare of provisions, by reason of billeting souldiers all the last winter, we doe, therefore, intreat your Honours to send a supply of meat, for bread we can supply, aod without this help We cannot subsist, but must be forced to draw of and leave the towne. Hoping your Honours will consider us in this request, wes Remaine your servants ever to pray for you. Subscribed by the select Men in the name of the towne.

" JOHN BLANCHARD, JOHN LOVEWELL, ROBT. PARRIS, CHRISTOPHER REED, SAMUEL WHITING."

Four Indian spies were seen lurking around one of the garrisons at Dunstable about the time of the mas- sacre at Dover, yet, through the promptitude of Major Henchman, Jonathan Tyng, Sergeant Varnum and others, no attack was then made on the town.

The foe again appeared on the morning of the 28th of the same month, and murdered two more of the people, one of whom, Obadiah Perry, as we have said, had been allowed to hire a house in Billerica during King Philip's War.

Brave and hardy as the original settlers were, such was their exposed situation, and such the havoc of the Indians in other places, that by the year 1696 nearly two-thirds of them had abandoned the town, and on this account the State made an abatement of £50 to the town for such as had deserted it. The same reason led to a grant of £30 by the State to help the town support the minister.

In April, 1697, the noted heroine, Mrs. Hannah Duston, passed through the town in a canoe, and was kindly entertained by Col. Jonathan Tyng. She was

on her way to Boston from Contoocook, N. H., where she had, with Mary Neff and a boy, taken the scalps of ten Indiaus.

The first grist-mill in town was owned by Samuel Adams, and was established at "The Gulf," at Mas- sapoag Pond, before July, 1689, as may be seen from the following petition for meu to defend it :

"July ye 31, 1689. The humble petission of the towne of Dunstable, To the honerable gouernor & Councill & Company of the Representatives now as- sembled ; in behalf of Samuell Addams, owner of a Corn mill, without the use of which mill the Towne Cannot Subsist, And therefore we doe intreat your honers to allow such a number of men as may be able to secure it. And so we remain your humble devotes ever to pray. By the selectmen in the name of the towne, John blanchard, John Lovevell, Christopher Reed, Samuel Whiting, Robert Parris."

In point of population, Dunstable was at this time the smallest town in the Province. The persevering efforts of Major Jonathan Tyng, Lieut. Samnel French, John Lovewell, Samuel Whiting, and the Rev. Mr. Weld prevented it from being again aban- doned.

In 1702 the town was called to deplore the loss of its honored pastor, the Rev. Thomas Weld, who died on the 9th day of June, and was buried in the old cemetery near his church.

King William's War, closed by the treaty of Ryswick in 1698, was followed by a brief interval of peace. What was called " Queen Anne's War" com- menced in 1702, and continued ten years, involving the colonists in many conflicts with the Indians, who, as usual, took part with the French.

Various settlements along the northeastern frontier were assaulted by the French and Indians during the month of August, 1703. More than two hundred people were at that time either killed or led into cap- tivity. To guard against these acts of violence, the government offered a reward of £40 for every Indian scalp brought in.

On the 3d of November, 1704, the General Court ordered the sum of £24 for building four block houses on the Merrimac River, "one in Billerica, two in Chelmsford, and one in Dunstable."

On the night of the 3d of July, 1706, a party of two hundred and seventy Mohawk Indians suddenly ag- saulted a garrison-house, in which Capt. Pearson and twenty of his "troopers" had been posted. The company was taken by surprise, for the door had been left open. Mr. Cummings and his wife, it is said, had goue out at the close of the day, for milking, when the Indians shot Mrs. Cummings, the wound proving fatal. Mr. Cummings was wounded, and taken cap- tive. Rushing into the house, they found the armed men. The amazement of the Indians and soldiers was mutual. A. bloody conflict ensued, during which several of Capt. Pearson's men were either killed or wounded. The Indians withdrawing, set fire to the

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

house of Daniel Galusha, living on Salmon Brook. One woman was killed, and another escaped from the flames by loosening the stones around a small window. A party of these Indians, on the same fatal day, entered the garrison-house of Nathaniel Blanchard, and murdered himself, his wife Lydia, his daughter Susannah, and also Mrs. Hannah Blanchard.

The Rev. John Pike, of Dover, wrote in his journals: " The whole number said to have been slain in Dun- stable at this time was nine persons."

The noted Joe English was shot by the enemy near Holden's Brook on the 27th of July, 1706. He and another soldier were acting as a guard to Capt. Butter- field and his wife, who were passing through what is now Tyngsborough. The Indians shot the horse on which these people were riding, and then taking Mrs. Butterfield captive, while her husband escaped, pur- sued Joe English, firing upon him until he fell, wounded and exhausted, into their merciless hands. He well knew the exquisite torture to which they would subject him, and so provoked them with some taunting words that they immediately dispatched him with their tomahawks. His widow and two children received a grant of money from the government because " he died in the service of his country." He was brave, intelligent, and always faithful to the English people. His grandfather was Masconnomet, Sagamore of Agawam (now Ipswich).

In the year 1711 there were seven fortified houses in Dunstable, and they were named as follows :- Col. Jonathan Tyng's, Mr. Henry Farwell's, Mr. John Cummings', Col. Samuel Whiting's, Mr. Thomas Lund's, Queen's Garrison and Mr. John Sollendine's. Thirteen families, seven males, nineteen soldiers, total of eighty-six people.

The people, reduced to so small a number, lived in constant dread of the lurking foe. Their time was mostly spent in the garrisons, and but little improve- ment was made in the aspect of the town. They wore plain garments of their own making; their fare was very frugal, and their opportunities for mental culti- vation very limited. As they ventured forth to labor in the fields they found the loaded musket a neces- sary accompaniment. Their crops were slender and they were very destitute of the common supplies of life. Had not fish, game and berries been abundant they would have been compelled to leave the lands which had been granted to them and to return into the older settlements.

Peace was at length secured by the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713; the doors of the garrisons at Dun- stable were opened, and the hope of returning pros- perity began to cheer and animate the people. The town increased in numbers. Some of the large tracts of land, originally granted, were sold in sections for the accommodation of small farmers, and other in- ducements were held forth for an incoming popula- tion.

At the time of the death of Rev. Mr. Weld the

town was so reduced in respect to population as to be unable then to settle another minister. In a petition to the General Court March 8, 1703-4, it is said that the inhabitants " can never hear a sermon without traveling more than twelve miles from their principal post." In answer to this petition the Court granted £20 towards the support of the ministry.

The Rev. Samuel Hunt, the Rev. Samuel Parris, the Rev. Amos Cheever, the Rev. John Pierpont and the Rev. Enoch Coffin preached successively. Thus one minister after another supplied the pulpit at Dun- stable until Aug. 20, 1720, when the town gave a call to the Rev. Nathaniel Prentice (H. C., 1714) to settle in the ministry, with the same salary before offered to Mr. Coffin, and a settlement of £100.

CHAPTER LVII.

DUNSTABLE-(Continued).

Continued Attacks from the Indians-Growth of the Town-Church and School Affairs-1723-1768.

THE frontier settlements of Maine and New Hamp- sbire became subject to frequent depredations from the Indians, who were instigated by Sebastian Rale, the celebrated Jesuit. His headquarters were at Nor- ridgewock. Lieut. Jabez Fairbanks, with a company having in it several men from Dunstable, spent the early part of the year 1724 in searching for the enemy on Nashua River and adjoining localities.

On the 4th of September some French and Mohawk Indians came to Dunstable and carried captive Na- than Cross and Thomas Blanchard. These men were getting turpentine in the pine forest along the north- erly margin of the Nashua River. A party of ten men or more, commanded hy Lieut. Ebenezer French, at, once proceeded in their pursuit. One of the number, Josiah Farwell, warned the leader to beware of fall- ing into an ambuscade; but he, too venturesome, re- plied, "I am going to take the direct path. If any of you are not afraid, follow me ! "

They followed him, and on reaching what is now Thornton's Ferry, on the Merrimac River, they were waylaid, fired upon by the treacherous foe, and all the party, excepting Mr. Farwell, who had concealed him- self in some bushes, were either at once killed or taken captives.

The bodies of eight of those killed were recovered, and buried in one grave. The names of seven are given in the Boston News Letter as follows :- " Lieut. Ebenezer French, Thomas Lund, Oliver Farwell and Ebenezer Cummings, of Dunstable; Daniel Baldwin and John Burbank, of Woburn ; and Mr. Johnson, of Plainfield." The name of the other man was Benja- min Carter. Four rude headstones in the old ceme-

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tery at Little's Station, not far north of the State line, commemorate the sad event.

Instigated by these acts of Indian harharity, it was thought best to carry on the war more vigorously. Bounties for scalps were again offered by the govern- ment and volunteer companies were formed.

Favored by a grant from the Assembly, Lovewell raised a company of thirty men. When commissioned captain, he started with his followers on an expedi- tion into the wilderness. On the 10th of November his lieutenant, Josiah Farwell, received at Haverhill " four hundred and eighty- seven pounds and one- half of good bread " for the use of soldiers, and on the 19th of December they fell upon an Indian trail abont forty-four miles above " Winnepisockee Pond." Com- ing to a wigwam they killed and scalped an Indian and took a boy about fifteen years old captive. They returned to Boston with these trophies, and it is re- corded by the News Letter of January 7, 1725, that " the lieutenaut-governor and council were pleased to give them £50 over and above £150 allowed them by law."

The intrepid Lovewell, thus encouraged, soon raised another volunteer company of eighty-eight men, among whom were his brother, Zaccheus Lovewell, Thomas Colburn, Peter Powers, Josiah Cummings, Henry Farwell, William Ayers, Samuel Fletcher and others, of Dunstable, and on the 30th of January, 1724-25, set forth on a second expedition against the Indians.

In this journey he came up with the enemy near a pond at the head of one of the branches of Salmon Falls River, now in the town of Wakefield, N. H. He killed the whole party, ten in all, then returned to Boston with the scalps stretched on poles, and there claimed the bounty. Penhallow mentions this inci- dent of the march : "Our men were well entertained with moose, bear and deer, together with salmon trout, some of which were three feet loug and weighed twelve pounds apiece."

On the 15th day of April, 1725, Lovewell, with a band of forty-seven men, left Dunstable with the de- ' sign of attacking the Pequakets, under the noted Sachem Paugus, whose headquarters were in a beauti- ful valley on the Saco River, in what is now the town of Fryehurg, Maine. The distance was more than two hundred miles, and the country to be traversed a dreary wilderness, with occasionally an Indian trail or the track of some wild beast.

Such an adventure demanded men accustomed to hardship, fearless of peril, and such were Lovewell and his comrades.

After marching some distance, Toby, a Mohawk Indian, becoming lame, was obliged to return to the plantation. On reaching Contoocook, William Cum- mings, of Dunstable, being disabled by a wound pre- viously received from the Indians, was sent back in charge of one of his kinsmen.

When the company reached the westerly shore of

the Great Ossipee Lake, Benjamin Kidder, being un- able to proceed farther, was left under the care of the surgeon, Dr. William Ayer, of Haverhill. Captain Lovewell here erected a stockade, and detailed eight soldiers to remain as a reserve.

Hastening forward with the rest of his company for about twenty miles, the heroic captain arrived, on the eve of the 7th of May, at the northwesterly margin of a beautiful sheet of water, about two miles long and half a mile wide, since known as Lovewell's Pond, and encamped for the night. The enemy had not yet been observed, and nothing but some confused noises in the distance, possibly the howling of wolves, caused any alarm; but while engaged in their devotions about eight o'clock on the following morning, they were startled by the report of a musket, which pro- ceeded from the opposite shore of the pond. They then observed an Indian at the distance of about a mile, standing on a point of land extending into the lake, and supposing that he was acting as a decoy to draw them into danger, held a consultation as to the best course to be pursued.

The young chaplain, Jonathan Frye, of Andover, said, " We came out to meet the enemy, we have all along prayed God that we might find them, and we had rather trust Providence with our lives-yea, die for our country-than try to return without seeing them, if we may, and be called cowards for onr pains."

Moved by this request, Capt. Lovewell ordered his men to go cautiously forward. Soon reaching a smooth plain, the men divested themselves of their packs, which they piled up together, under the im- pression that the main body of the enemy was in front of them. Having then gone through the forest, for about a mile, they came suddenly upon the Indian hunter whom they had before seen standing on the point of land across the lake. He was leisurely re- turning to his people with a couple of muskets and a brace of ducks upon his shoulder. Several guns were instantly fired at him, when, replying, he seriously wounded Capt. Lovewell and Mr. Samuel Whiting with beaver shot. Ensign Seth Wyman then firing, killed the Indian.

The company then turned back, and moved with their wounded leader towards the spot where they had left their packs. But in the mean time Paugus, at the head of about eighty warriors, on their return from an expedition down the Saco River, discovered the pile of packs, and judging from the number that the English force was much less than his own, deter- mined to engage in battle. He, therefore, placed his men in ambush and awaited the arrival of his foe. When Lovewell's company came up for their packs the Indians rushed suddenly from their hiding-places, three or four deep, with their guns presented as if supposing their very numbers would move the Eng- lish to surrender; but they were disappointed. Fear- lessly did Lovewell's men advance upon the Indians

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

till within a short distance, when the combatants on both sides opened a deadly fire. The war-whoop mingled with the roar of musketry was appalling. Capt. Lovewell, with eight of his heroic company, was soon left dead upon the field. Three of his men were seriously wounded.

Having met with such a fearful loss and being al- most defeated ; by the enemy, the English, com- manded by Ersign Seth Wyman, withdrew to the pond, which served to protect them in the rear, while on their right an unfordable stream, and on their left a rocky point in part defended them. Their front was also covered with a deep morass. In this admir- able position they bravely defended themselves against superior numbers for the remainder of the day. About three o'clock in the afternoon the gallant Chaplain Frye was seriously wounded. The Indians, by their yelling and horrid grimaces, rendered the fight more terrible. At one time they held up ropes, inviting the English to surrender. They, however, pointed to the muzzles of their muskets, signified their resolve to fight to the bitter end rather than be taken captive.

During the engagement Paugus, the long-dreaded chief of the Pequakets, fell, and probably, as the ancient ballad states, by a shot from Ensign Wyman, though there is a tradition that the exploit was due to John Chamberlain, of Groton.

Paugus and Wyman were standing near each other and loading their pieces on the margin of the lake, when it is said that Paugus, in the act of forcing down his ball, cried out to Wyman, " Me kill you quick !" To whom the latter answered, "Maybe not!" and his gun, priming itself, gave him the advantage of a little time, thus enabling him by a well-directed shot to lay the sachem prostrate and mortally wounded.

Either from the loss of men or want of ammunition, the Indians withdrew from the contest a little after sunset, removing most of their dead and all of their wounded from the field.

Soon afterwards the survivors in Lovewell's band, now destitute of powder and provisions, resolved to leave the fatal spot and return, if possible, to the stock - ade fort on Lake Ossipee. But some of them were suffering from loss of blood and could not proceed on the journey. Jacob Farrar was just expiring near the pond. Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, unable to go, desired that his gun might be loaded and placed be- side him. " For," said he, " the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, and I'll kill one more of them, if I can !" Robert Usher, also of Dunstable, was too much exhausted to be removed. Regretfully leaving these three dying comrades, the rest of the men, of whom eleven had been wounded, started for the fort, a distance of more than twenty miles. Hav- ing traveled about a mile and a half, Chaplain Frye, Lieutenant Josiah Farwell, Eleazer Davis and Josiah Jones gave their free consent to be left on the way, hoping that aid might be sent back to them, but the

two former perished in the wilderness. Chaplain Frye, after traveling some distance, sank under his wounds, telling his companions that he was dying and at the same time "charging Davis," says Mr. Symmes, " if it should please God to bring him home, to go to liis father, and tell him that he expected in a few hours to be in eternity, and that he was not afraid to die." Lieutenant Farwell died of exhaus- tion on the eleventh day after the fight. Davis, who was wounded in the body and had one thumb shot off, reached Berwick in a deplorable condition on the 27th of May ; and Jones came in at Saco, after wan- dering, with a severe wound, fourteen days in the wilderness. On reaching the fort, faint and hungry, the little band under Lieutenant Wyman had the grief to find the place abandoned. At the beginning of the fight Benjamin Hassell, thinking all to be lost, had fled, and on reaching the fort had so intimidated the occupants that they all deserted it and made their way back, arriving on the 11th of May at Dunstable. Ensign Wyman returned home with his men on the 15th of May. On the 17th of the same month Col- onel Eleazer Tyng, with a company of eighty-seven men, went to the scene of conflict, and there found and buried the bodies of Captain John Lovewell, En- sign Jonathan Robbins, Ensign John Harwood, Robert Usher, Sergt. Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, John Jefts, Ichabod Johnson and Jonathan Kittridge. He also dug up and identified the body of the great warrior, Paugus.

Dr. Jeremy Belknap once visited the scene of the battle, and discovered the names of the fallen heroes, which Colonel Tyng had inscribed upon the trees.

For the defence of Dunstable during the absence of Col. Tyng, Col. Flagg was ordered to detach a number of men from his regiment.

Capt. Lovewell was the son of John Lovewell, and was born in Dunstable Oct. 14, 1691. His lands and meadows, in all about two hundred acres, and the buildings thereon, together with the half part of a saw-mill, were estimated at £420. In answer to a petition of Hannah Lovewell, to the General Court, June 8, 1726, "it was resolved that fifty pounds be paid to Capt. Henry Farwell and Col. E. Tyng, with which to discharge the claims against the estate of the late Capt. Lovewell." Fifteen hundred pounds were granted to the widows and children of the de- ceased soldiers, and in consideration of the services of Capt. Lovewell and his brave comrades, the Gen- eral Conrt also granted to them and to the legal rep- resentatives of such as had deceased, "a township of six miles square, lying on both sides of Merri- mack River." It is now the town of Pembroke, N. H.

The powder-horn which the hero of Pequawket used in the fight is still preserved by one of his de- scendants.

Capt. Lovewell was brave and adventurous. He

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died with his gun loaded and pointed toward the foe. His life was not sacrificed in vain. The battle at Pequawket closed the war and insured safety. A treaty of peace was soon made with the different In- dian tribes, and the Pequawkets, led by Adeawanda, removed to Canada.

The story of Lovewell's exploits was heard in every dwelling. The following ballad, said by John Far- mer to have been written soon after the tragic event occurred, embodies the chief incidents of the battle. It is to be regretted that neither the name of the au- thor nor the music to which the words were adapted, has been preserved. The ballad was for a long period the most popular song in the colonies.

THE BALLAD OF CAPT. JOHN LOVEWELL'S FIGHT AT PEQUAWKET. I,

Of worthy Captain Lovewell I purpose now to sing, How valiantly he served his country and bis king ; He and bis valiant soldiere did range the woods full wide, And hardships they endured to quell the lodian's pride.

II.

'Twas nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of Mey, They spied a rebel Indian, soon after break of day. He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land Which leads into a pond, as we're made to nuderstand.

III.

Our men resolved to have him, and travelled two miles round, Until they met the Indian, who boldly stood his ground. Then speaks up Capt. Lovewell, " Take you good heed," says he, "This rogue is to decoy ns, I very plainly see.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 196

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034