USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902 > Part 42
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* Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxiv., pp. 178, 179 : Society of Colonial Wars' Year Book, 1898, pp. 174, 175.
517
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
Instructions for Captain John March and Capt Daniel King (the like for Capt King & Capt March)
Whereas yourselfs are commissioned to take the conduct of the Sol- diers now raised out of the Militia of the Massachusetts Colony for their Majties service against the French and Indian Enemy, to be dis- posed at yor place of Generall Rendevous into two companys of equal number.
In pursuance of your sd commissions you are to take effectual care that the soldiers under yor conduct be kept under good order and dis- cipline. That the worship of God be daily attended among them in publick prayer morning and evening and reading of Gods holy word as you have opportunity, and to keep an holy rest on the Sabath, so far as the necessity of your service will give leave.
That all disorders, mutinies cursing, swearing, drunkenness, stealing and all manner of Prophaness and wickedness be suppressed and duly punished according to the Rules and discipline of war.
Yor Soldiers being mustered and furnished with Armes and amuni- tion fit for service you are forthwith to advance in search of the Enemy ffrench or Indians, first ranging the Woods about the ffrontiers on the north of Merrimack to clear off any sculking Parties of them and then march further East in pursuit and prosecution of the sd Enemy accord- ing as you may receive Intelligence of their Motions, or the most likely places where to find them, and make what spoils you can upon them : also give necessary release and succour as you have opportunity to any Towns Plantations or persons of the English that may be endangered or distressed by the Enemy.
In all yor marchings and encampings be sure to keep out Good Scouts and watches that you be not ambuscaded, surprised or overpowered by the Enemy.
If any of yor Soldiers happen to fall lame or be disabled for Travel you may apply to the next garrisons to have them exchanged. When yor Company happen at any time to be joyned in any Expedition, Let there be no contending for Superiority but let each one be ambitious who shall do the most service for God, their King and Country and as you have opportunity advise with Majr Vaughan, Majr Frost and other Gentlemen of the Provinces of the best Methods to be taken to effect the same and let your diligence and industry appear in action as much as may be.
You are to advise the Governor from time to time of yor proceedings and what success it shall please God to give you
Past and agreed to by the Governor and Council
ISA ADDINGTON, Secry.
BOSTON, June 29th, 1691 .*
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xxxvii., leaf 67.
518
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
In October, 1691, a small band of Indians appeared in the vicinity of Amesbury, and soon after made an attack upon Haverhill, killing several persons there. The inhabitants of Newbury, Rowley, and Ipswich, were greatly alarmed by this unexpected display of hostility, and presented the following petition November 6, 1691, to the governor and council : -
Whereas by reason of the approach of the common enemy several places are in great & present danger to be daily weakened by their getting over Merrimack river and destroying inhabitants, we humbly petition that there be thirty men kept upon the river from such places as we shall appoint in the town of Newbury up the river to Bradford, and also request that other towns in the county keep a guard from Bradford to Andover.
SAML APPLETON HENRY SOMERBY.
DANIEL EPPS THOMAS NOYES
THOMAS WADE STEPHEN GREENLEAF
and many others .*
November 22, 1691 granted, by the governor & assistants, as many men as needed not exceeding thirty to be selected out of the towns by the superior officers .*
February 5, 1691-2, a party of Indians attacked and burned the town of York. Rev. Shubael Dummer, pastor of the church there, while in the act of mounting a horse at the door of his house, was shot and instantly killed, and his wife and family were taken prisoners. He was the son of Richard Dummer, and was born in Newbury, February 17, 1636.
The new charter, establishing the province of Massachusetts Bay, was granted by King William, October 7, 1691 ; and Sir William Phips, who was then in England, was appointed gov- ernor. He arrived in Boston, May 14, 1692, bringing the charter with him; and during the following summer " he rebuilt and greatly strengthened the fort which Andros had erected at Pemaquid," now Bristol, Me.
The Indians continued to harass and annoy the defenceless towns on the eastern frontier, and in the month of September surprised and killed several persons at Berwick, Exeter, and Dover. On the twenty-third day of October, 1692, a small
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xxxvii., leaf 207.
519
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
number of these hostile savages succeeded in crossing the Merrimack river, and, following a well-trodden path through the woods, appeared suddenly in that part of Rowley now in- cluded within the limits of Georgetown, where they made an attack upon a small and unprotected dwelling-house, killing Mr. Benjamin Goodrich (the owner of the house), his wife, and two children .*
Capt. John March, of Newbury, with a company of sixty men, was placed in command of the fort at Pemaquid ; and Rev. John Pike, grandson of John Pike, who came from England and settled in Newbury in 1635, was appointed chaplain .; In the summer of 1693, the Indians between the Piscataqua and Kennebec rivers were anxious to conclude a treaty of peace.
July 7, 1693 His Excy acquainted the Council that he had received a Letter from Capn March, Commander of their Majties fort at Pemequid that Edgeremet an Indian Sachem had lately come thither with a flag of Truce, and proposed there might be a Cessation of Armes, and prom- ised to return in a weeks time, with some other Sachems to discourse that matter.#
At a conference held at Pemaquid on the eleventh day of August, articles of agreement were drawn up and signed by the Indian chieftains assembled there, and by the com- missioners appointed by the province of Massachusetts Bay. Hostilities ceased, and peace was maintained for more than a year.
In the month of September, 1695, Capt. Pascho Chubb was appointed commander of the fort in place of Capt. March, who was relieved at his own request.§
October 7, 1695, a party of Indians made an attack on the house of John Brown at Turkey hill in Newbury and carried away nine captives, all women and children.|| On the fifteenth of March, 1696-7, they burned nine houses in the town of Haverhill, killed several persons, and took away a
* Goodridge Memorial (Sidney Perley), p. 14.
t History of Bristol, Bremen, and Pemaquid (Johnston, 1873), p. 191.
# Council Records, vol. vi., p. 203 ; Province Laws, vol. vii., p. 377.
§ History of Bristol, Bremen, and Pemaquid (Johnston), p. 199.
11 " Ould Newbury," pp. 288, 289.
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520
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
number of prisoners, among them Mrs. Hannah Dustin, whose remarkable escape from captivity has been frequently described by local historians.
In the summer of 1697, Capt. John March, having been promoted to the rank of "Major," was placed in charge of an expedition to the coast of Maine. He sailed from Newbury in the month of June or July, with five companies of militia, and was afterwards joined by fifty men from Connecticut under the command of Capt. William Whiting. He arrived at York, and sent out scouts to reconnoitre the woods in that vicinity ; but, finding no trace of hostile Indians, he re-em- barked his troops and sailed for Casco bay, and thence to the mouth of the Damariscotta river, where on the ninth day of September he was fired upon by a small party of Indians lying in ambush. After a brief but severe skirmish, he suc- ceeded in driving the enemy from the field, with the loss of several men on both sides .* Returning to York with his troops, he sent to the lieutenant governor in Boston a letter, informing him of his arrival there and asking for further instructions.
Sept. 14, 1697, His Honour the Lieut Govr laid before the Board a letter which he received by express from Major March the last night from Yorke, advising of his return thither with the Forces under his command from their expedition Eastward with an account of their engagement with the Enemy, French and Indians, supposed to be two hundred in number, and a List of the names of the Officers and Soul- diers Slain and wounded in the said engagement, supposing the loss of the side of the Enemy to be as great (if not more) who were beaten off the ground & fled into the Woods, making their escape in their Canoes.
Upon reading whereof his Honour proposed that another expedition might be forthwith formed for further prosecution of the Enemy, and that Colo Gedney, Colo Phillips and Captn Byfield be desired and instructed forthwith to undertake a Journey to Yorke, to visit the army, and to confer and consult with Major March and other Commanders of the wayes and methods for prosecuting the Enemy, and to animate and encourage the same, and that the Government of Connecticut be written to for the continuance of their part of these Forces for some longer time. All which was advised accordingly.t
The term for which the Connecticut soldiers enlisted ex-
* Mather's " Magnalia," vol. ii., book vii., art. xxvi., p. 637.
t Executive Records of the Council, vol. ii., p. 497 ; Province Laws, vol. vii., p. 571.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
521
pired the last of September ; and the commissioners, after consultation with Major March and other commanders of the forces at York, considered it advisable to allow them to re- turn home, and the expedition was abandoned.
On the eleventh day of September, a treaty of peace was signed by representatives of the French and English govern- ments at Ryswick, a village in the Netherlands, a few miles · from the Hague, in the province of South Holland; but the fact was not officially made known in Boston until December 10, 1697. By this treaty, a nominal peace between the French and English settlers in this country was established, and maintained for four or five years.
Major John March was probably in command of the fort at Casco bay, May 4, 1702, when another war, called Queen Anne's war, or the war of the Spanish succession, was de- clared between France and England. Col. Joseph Dudley, who had been appointed governor of the province of Massa- chusetts Bay, assumed the duties of his office in the month of June following. In order to secure the friendship and good will of the Indians on the eastern frontier, Gov. Dudley left Boston on the ninth day of June, 1703, "to go to the East- ward ... to speak with the Indian Sachems & to endeavor to steady them in the English Interests." *
A treaty of peace was concluded at Casco bay. Presents were distributed, and the conference closed with "dancing, singing and loud acclamations of joy." The Indians declared that nothing could seduce them from their allegiance to the crown of England ; for " they were as firm as the mountains, and should continue so, as long as the sun and moon en- dured." In less than six weeks, however, they attacked the inhabitants of the town of Wells, capturing and killing thirty- nine persons in all, mostly women and children. They de- stroyed the huts of the fishermen at Cape Porpoise, and sur- prised the settlers about the stone fort near the falls of the Saco, killing eleven persons and capturing twenty-four.
July 9, 1703, Gov. Dudley sent to the council several let- ters received " from Casco Bay, Saco and Piscataqua," an-
* Province Laws, vol. viii., pp. 285-288.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
nouncing the arrival of a French ship at Mount Desert, for the purpose, evidently, of inducing the Indians in that neigh- borhood to join with the French forces in making an attack on the English settlements between the Saco and Merrimack rivers. On the eighteenth day of August, the Penacook and Eastern Indians, by and with the advice of the council, were declared to be " Rebels and Enemys against Her Maj- esty Her Crown and Dignity," and all good subjects were enjoined to treat them as such, "and to do and execute all acts of hostility upon them."
At this time, the French troops with their Indian allies were active in their efforts to drive the English from the ter- ritory they inhabited east of the Piscataqua river.
The fort at Casco, or Falmouth,* was held by Major March, with thirty-six men. He had no thought of danger, when three well-known chiefs from Norridgewock appeared with a white flag, and asked for an interview. As they seemed to be alone and unarmed, he went to meet them, followed by two or three soldiers and accompanied by two old men named Phippeny and Kent, inhabitants of the place. They had hardly reached the spot when the three chiefs drew hatchets from under a kind of mantle which they wore and sprang upon them, while other Indians, ambushed near by, leaped up and joined in the attack. The two old men were killed at once: but March, who was noted for strength and agility, wrenched a hatchet from one of his assailants, and kept them all at bay till Sergeant Hook came to his aid with a file of men and drove them off.
They soon reappeared, burned the deserted cabins in the neighbor- hood, and beset the garrison in numbers that continually increased, till in a few days the entire force that had been busied in ravaging the scattered settlements was gathered around the place. It consisted of about five hundred Indians of several tribes, and a few Frenchmen under an officer named Beaubassin. Being elated with past successes, they laid siege to the fort, sheltering themselves under a steep bank by the water-side and burrowing their way towards the rampart. March could not dislodge them, and they continued their approaches till the third day, when Captain Southack, with the Massachusetts armed ves- sel known as the " Province Galley," sailed into the harbor, recaptured three small vessels that the Indians had taken along the coast, and de- stroyed a great number of their canoes, on which they gave up their enterprise and disappeared.t
* Now Portland, Me.
t" A Half-century of Conflict," vol. i., p. 43 ; also,' Penhallow's "Indian Wars" (edition, 1726), pp. 6, 7.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
523
Soon after this encounter with the Indians, Major John March was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; and at the next session of the General Court he presented the following petition : -
To HIS EXCELLENCY JOSEPH DUDLEY, Esqr.
Captain Generall and Commander in chief of Her Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay and the Honorable the Councill, and Representa- tives in Generall Court Assembled.
The Petition of John March Humbly sheweth
That your Petitioner, in the time of the late Peace with the Indians was constituted the Commander of Her Majesty's Fort at Casco Bay, and manager of the Trade for the Publick with the Indians there, and in order to attend that service forsook his own Habitation in Newbury and Removed his ffamily stock of Cattle and other Estate to the said ffort, by which means, upon the perfidious Breach lately made by that barbarous People, your Petitioner was in utmost Hazard of Losing his life, and by a wonderfull Preservation Escaped the bloody hands of those Infidels, and did actually lose a very Considerable Part of his Estate, to the value of more than Five Hundred Pounds, as is set forth, in an account thereof herewith Presented, which had not been so Exposed, if your Petitioner had not Removed into the way of that Danger to serve the Publick in the said Post.
Your Petitioner therefore humbly Pray's your Excellency and Honours, to Take the Premisses into your consideration and Grant your Peti- tioner such Compensation & allowance as in your Wisdom shall be Thought meet for one who has sustained so great a losse by means of his being Imploied in a public service, and your Petitioner will be further obliged to your service, and ever to Pray as in Duty bound &c.
JOHN MARCH.
BOSTON, Nov. 10th, 1703 .*
The account presented includes claims for eight oxen, fourteen cows, ten calves, thirty-six swine, twenty-five sheep, five acres of wheat, six acres of peas, fifty bushels of oats, and various articles of furniture and clothing .*
On the twentieth day of November, " A Resolve for allow- ing and paying fifty pounds out of the Province Treasury to Lieutenant-Colonel John March in consideration of his brave conduct and the wounds he received in the defence of the fort at Casco Bay during the attack by the French and Indian
*Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 312 ; Massachusetts Archives, vol. Ixx., p. 654.
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524
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
enemy " was passed by the General Court and approved by the governor .*
In the month of October, 1704, Lieut. Col. March pre- sented a petition for compensation for the services of himself and others in repairing and rebuilding the fort at Casco; and " A Resolve for paying one hundred forty-four pounds nine- teen shillings and tenpence out of the Province Treasury to the several persons to whom it is due, as set forth in Lieu- tenant-Colonel 'John March's account of labor and disburse- ments on the fort at Casco," ¡ was, after some delay, consented to by Gov. Dudley, February 28, 1704-5.$
For the encouragement of volunteers, "who being com- missioned by his Excellency, set forth and maintain them- selves free from the Province charge," the General Court voted, December 2, 1703, that the sum of " fforty Pounds be Allowed, out of the Treasury of this Province for each Scalp of the Indian Enemy, above ten Years of age, which shall be Taken, and brought in as the law Directs "; § and efforts were made to induce the inhabitants of New Hampshire and Mas- sachusetts to volunteer for service, under this law, during the winter months. Military officers were requested to assist in organizing companies and providing snow-shoes and moccasins for the men enlisting for the winter campaign.
January, 1703-4 Captain Winthrop volunteered his services, but had not had sufficient notice to enable him to enlist volunteers. Colonel John March came in from Hampton to advise the Governor and Coun- cil that Lieutenant Joseph Swett had " beat up for volunteers " at Hamp- ton and had the promise of thirty nine or forty men provided with snow shoes and ready to march with the others, if supplied with provisions. ||
November 17, 1704, the General Court passed an " order for increasing to five shillings each, the allowance to persons furnishing themselves with snow shoes and moccasins " ; Tand on the twenty-second day of June, 1705, the commissary general reported to the governor and council the names of
* Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 32. t Ibid., vol. viii., p. 108.
# " A Plan of Casco Fort as it now stands [1713] being an oblong square of 250 feet in length and a hundred and ninety foot in Breadth - the Bastions not Included - the Covert way to the Block house 230 ffoot in Length," is on file, with other maps and plans, in the Massachusetts Archives, vol. xxxv., p. 27. A reduced copy of the plan is printed on the opposite page.
§ Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 33. Il Ibid., vol. viii., p. 318. " Ibid., vol. viii., p. 92,
190 foot
' 1713.
Falmouth, Me
CASCO FORT.
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27
The Plan of Casco Fort as it now Hands Cung an Oblong Square of 250, foot in length, and a hundred and ninty foot in Breath~ the Bastions not Included, the Covert way to the Block house 230; foot, in length
526
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
twenty-eight soldiers in the "Foot Company in Newbury " with a certificate from Hugh March, captain of the company, that they were " furnished with good serviceable snow shoes and mogginsons."
The treasurer of the province was authorized to pay, "by the Constable or Constables of the sd Town of Newbury, unto each of the sd Twenty eight Souldiers named in the List thereof transmitted to him, the sum of five shillings out of the Poll Tax now collecting." *
For the protection of towns on or near the Merrimack river, block-houses were erected, by order of the General Court, in exposed places from Newbury to Bradford and Bil- lerica, and men were employed to garrison them for several months during the year. The following named persons were probably paid the sums set against their names for personal service, or supplies furnished, at one or more of these block- houses : -
Acct: of Allowance for p'sonal Service at Newbury Blockhouses in 1704.+
Benja Hill
£02.11.05
Jnº Ordway, Jr
£04.06.05
Jos: Scot
06.01.05
Jacob Ivees
00.15.00
Jnº Smith, Jr
01.00.00
Jnº Barker
01.00.00
Ben. Savorie
06.01.05
Peter Cheney
00.16.05
Antho : Crosbie
02.10.00
Benj : Lowle Jr.
02.08.06
Tobi. Coleman
06.01.05
Joseph Lowle
02.16.05
Jnº French
06.01.05
Wm. Pilsbury, Je
co.18.06
Jno Gutteridge
06.01.05
Tho : Crocket
02.04.03
Sam. Poore, Jr
00.18.06
James Sinkler
02.18.06
Jnº Swett
05.02.10
Benj : Lowle, Senr
06.01.05
Jo : Bayley
06.01.05
£72.16.08
Acc't of allowance for the subsistence of Newbury men at ye Block- houses in 1704.f
Nicholas Noyes
£10.18.06
Jnº Barker
£00.12.00
John Kelly
10.18.06
Benj : Lowle, Jr.
05.02.00
Sam : Poore
00.11.0I
Dan! Cheney
00.09.10
Jnº Swett
03.01.08
Jos : Pike
05.06.08
Josh Bayley
03.12.10
43.13.11
Jnº Ordway
02.11.10
72.16.08
Jacob Freez
00.09.00
£116.10.0.7
* Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 430.
t New England Historical and Genealogical Register, October, 1865, P. 312.
527
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
In the month of January, 1704-5, "at which time the country appeared like a frozen lake, the snow four feet deep," two companies, consisting of about one hundred and fifty men, under the command of Capt. Benjamin Stevens and Capt. William Tyng, marched through the woods to Norridge- wock, but found, on arrival there, that the Indians had de- serted the place, leaving a palisaded fort, enclosing twelve or more wigwams, and a few household utensils of little value. The officers and soldiers engaged in this expedition appear to have suffered extremely from the hardships and privations of the march. Nathaniel Rolfe, of Newbury, who was wounded in the arm on his way home from Norridgewock, applied to the General Court for a gratuity or pension to compensate him for loss of time, and reimburse him for money expended for medical attendance and advice. With his petition the following bill and certificates were filed : -
To Nathaniel Roff, visits, balsams, Injections, Emplasters, unguents and dressing his arme from ye 1 1 th of March to the begining : of August following to the perfecting of the Cure: of a large Gun shot wound : In his arme with a Laceration of Narues and ffociles 06=6=0
It to him speciphyeks and medicans proper for him in an actue and daingerous feuer which Ran 14 day before a crisis which fever was within the time afore sd 02=0=0
HUMPHREY BRADSTREET.
ANDOUER, Sept. ve 5th 1705
These may sertifie whome It may concern that Nath! Rolf of New- bery was under my command at noridgewok In her Majesties service and was wownded in his arme as witnes my hand
BENJAMIN STEVENS
I the Subscriber being then present doe also attest to ye same with Respect to sd Roffe Receiving his wound in the sd seruice to Neridgwork as witness my hand WM TYNG .*
October 26, 1705, the General Court, with the consent of the governor and council, passed an order " For allowing and paying twenty pounds and six shillings to Nathaniel Rolfe of Newbury, a soldier wounded while in the Queen's Service, under the Command of Capt. Benjamin Stevens in the expe- dition to Norridgewock." t
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. Ixxi., pp. 164, 165; Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 524.
t Province Laws, vol. viii., p. 139.
528
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
Two or three months later, Lieut. Col. Thomas Noyes was ordered to report the number of men provided with snow-shoes, in Newbury, that could be depended upon to march against the Indian enemy if needed.
Sr. By His Excellencies direction & Comand I requir you, on sight hereof to call together & have forthwith a strict muster of all your Snow shoe men, appointed by Law : to know how they are fitted and capable if called for, which I must have a speedy account of, and shall wait for: That I may know what return to make to His Ex- cellency, as I am enjoyned to do : I am your Servant
HAVERHILL, Jan : 9 1705-6*
N. SALTONSTALL
How many Newbury men were equipped with snow-shoes and prepared for a winter campaign is somewhat uncertain ; but among the papers and manuscripts of the late Robert Adams, now in the possession of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, Boston, will be found the following undated memorandum : -
A list of the names [ shous & moggensons for [ ] ties service.
] that are [ ] apointed to keep snow
Richard Brown Senr
Corpll Smith
James Coffin
William Salmon
Joshua Moody
Edward Richardson
Anthony Somerby
Nathaniel Coffin
John Woodbridg
Benjamin Woodbridge
Banajh [ ]
Daniell Merrill
Abraham Lunt
Archelaus Woodman
John Weed
Robert Rogers
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