USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 12
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 12
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 12
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Whites Consented to Murder of Miontonimo-Following the defeat of Sassacus and the end of the Pequots as a tribe the most potent tribes in this vicinity were the Pokanokets, or Wampanoags, of which Massasoit was the sachem; and the Narragansetts. The latter were ruled by Miontonimo, who succeeded his father, Canonicus, and were of greater numerical strength than any other New England tribe. Mion-
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tonimo was desirous of defeating Uncas, who had arrived at consider- able distinction and was regarded as a power, with his Mohicans, on account of his having championed the cause of the whites in their warfare against Sassacus. They had been held in check when they were asked to join the Pequots in the attempt to exterminate the colonists, by Roger Williams, to whom they had sold Aquidneck, now Rhode Island. They entered into an agreement with the colonists at Boston, Plymouth and Hartford not to engage in hostilities against Uncas, without apprising the then united colonists.
After several years of mutual distrust, the Narragansetts, in 1644, marched nine hundred warriors into the territory occupied by Uncas and his Mohican followers. In order to save his village, Uncas marched out several miles to meet the adversary, with five or six hundred war- riors, an inferior force. He was evidently convinced that, if he made a sufficiently sudden attack to cause confusion among the Narragan- setts, he could drive them before him and thus overcome the disad- vantage of fewer numbers. Consequently, he challenged Miontonimo, who was personally in command, saying :
"You have a good many brave warriors. So have I. It is unjust that so many of these brave men should lose their lives because of a personal quarrel between you and me. If you are as much of a war- rior as you pretend to be, you will come forward and we will fight it out between ourselves. If you kill me, my men shall be yours. If I slay you, your men shall be mine."
Uncas was of unusual size, and would have had a marked ad- vantage if the challenge had been accepted, but Miontonimo answered : "My men have come a long way to fight. They shall not go home without a fight."
Uncas was ready for just such an answer. He dropped swiftly to the ground, which was the signal agreed upon for his warriors to shoot their arrows and rush over him against the Narragansetts. The in- vaders were thrown into a panic and were cut down without mercy. Some of the swift Mohican runners caught Miontonimo and held him until Uncas had him at his mercy and gave the whoop of victory.
' Uncas asked his enemy to beg that his life be spared but the proud Narragansett chieftain was speechless. Uncas, however, wanted the whites to have a hand in settling the fate of this Indian who, while a personal enemy to Uncas, had violated an agreement with the Eng- lish, and he fancied he could force them to take the position of being his executioner and at the same time he would make a show of serving the English.
The English were embarrassed by the situation, but side-stepped it cleverly by deciding that, inasmuch as the territory was Indian,
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aboriginal customs and laws must be allowed to take their course.
Miontonimo was remanded to the spot of his capture and, on his way there, was struck by a tomahawk by one of Uncas' war captains and fell dead at the spot which is now called Sachem's Plain, and so referred to in Trumbull's "History of Connecticut."
Historians have never agreed as to the real character of Uncas. He was of great assistance to the whites in their desperate struggle against the Pequots, but there was personal animosity which prompted him. It was a personal matter with him in dealing with Miontonimo. Of the latter, Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, governor of Rhode Island nine years, says: "This was the end of Miontonimo, the most potent Indian prince the people of New England had ever any concern with, and this was the reward he re- ceived for assisting them seven years before, in their war with the Pequots." The name is given as Miantonomah by some historians.
Another Inhuman Holocaust-The terrible tales of inhuman tor- tures and atrocities in the contests between the white and red men were by no means confined to one side. The burning alive of the Indians in the fort on the Mystic, in the Pequot War, under command of John Mason, was duplicated in King Philip's War.
In the special expedition against the Narragansetts, under command of Josiah Winslow, the Indians were discovered in a swamp, where they had six hundred wigwams. It was winter and the Narragansetts had conveyed their women and children there for shelter. Some of the English captains are said to have been former sea captains and possibly buccaneers. The wigwams containing the aged, the wounded who were unable to escape, and about 300 women and children were set on fire. The victims ran about, shrieking in fear and agony, but there was no way of escape and they were consumed in this inhuman holocaust. This was a barbarous and mistaken policy on the part of General Winslow. The survivors cherished the most intense hatred against the English.
It was afterward asserted by the Narragansetts that they lost 700 warriors in the fight and 300 who died afterward from wounds. The entire number was approximately 4,000, about 800 families.
French Nobleman Assisted King Philip-King Philip may be re- garded as the true representative of the Indian hunter. He possessed great resolution, activity and power of endurance. He loved the in- dependence of savage life and rule, was enamored of the demonology, magic and soothsaying of the prophets, sagamores and pow-wows, re- garding it as the religion of his fathers. He was proud of his an- cestry and retained in his service a numerous priesthood. He detested
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civilization which despoiled the rivers and forests and placed fences, which, to him, were so many symbols of destruction of freedom and preparation for servitude. At the head of his Bashabary, he ruled both civil and priestly chiefs. His name is printed in histories, as are most other names, with numerous spellings. Good authorities write of him as Metakom and Metacomit. According to the researches of Drake he appears, in Drake's "Book of the Indians," as Pometakom. His brother Alexander is referred to by the Indian name of Popquit.
When Philip prepared for his war, he supplied himself with firearms and ammunition from the commercial depot of the Baron de Castine. The latter was a French nobleman of distinction, a colonel in the king's bodyguard, who formed an alliance with the Indians to impede the progress of the colonies at Plymouth and other parts of New England. He had married and living with him, at one time, six In- dian wives. He acquired a vast influence over the Indians and not only furnished them with firearms but taught them how to use them. According to Hoyt, at the time of King Philip's War the knowledge of the use of gunpowder and firearms was universal among the Indians. Castine maintained a sort of aboriginal court in the location where Castine, Maine, now is.
If the same thoroughness of preparations and alliances had been made by Sassacus, the hopes of the colonies in this section would have been extinguished in blood.
It is estimated that in 1673 the entire white population of New England was 120,000. Of this number, 16,000 were capable of bearing arms. Massachusetts alone mustered twelve troops of cavalry, com- prising sixty men each, who were armed and stationed at various points for purposes of defense. The white population had spread from Plym- outh, in forty years, about one hundred miles northward and the same distance westward. There were exposed points between settlements, subject to depredations of hostile Indians.
Damnation of White Men's Fire Water-One who was commissioned by the United States Government to make a study of the Indians of North America and report on their present status and progress, has made frequent mention of the blighting effect which ardent spirits has had on the red race since the time that the Indian "took his first drink" with Governor Bradford and Myles Standish at the conference in March, 1621, at Plymouth. In a history published by order of Congress many years ago it was stated: "The Indian abandons himself to the degrading indulgence, and may then be said to forego the means of securing prosperity and of perpetuating his race, by poisoning the very source of life. Of all the European luxuries introduced among the Indians, nothing has been more injurious to them than the use of
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ardent spirits. Far in the interior of the continent, it has been ob- served that the taste of liquor was, at first, repulsive to the natives; but the appetite for it, once excited, became rapidly diffused. When under the influence of alcohol, the Indian appears to enjoy a state of beati- tude, in which he would seem to realize the fanciful theories of his mythology, in the creation of the world of happy spirits, and of the human race."
English Hired Indians to Scalp Their Own Colonists-It was of tremendous importance to secure the Indians as allies when there was a war. In the first place it prevented the Indians -from fighting on the opposite side. They were almost sure, whenever there was blood- shed, to have a hand in it. Their method of warfare made it pos- sible for the side on which they fought to break down the morale of the opposing side, inasmuch as an Indian attack was likely to occur at any time, more especially at night or in the early morning, and men, women and children would be pounced upon, murdered in the most revolting manner, scalped, perhaps burned at the stake.
There is no military arm which can cope with the guerilla form of warfare carried on by the Indians. The clumsy infantry and dragoon soldiers sent into the woods after them in colonial days were little more than targets for the savages. The Indians were not encumbered by baggage and could charge and disperse with great alacrity and in an almost unbelievably short time be many miles away. An Indian considers 100 miles a short distance to travel through the wilderness, which is his natural home. To camp in the woods brings as much content to the Indian as to be at home, for he is not much attached to his own fireside. He is never wearied by traveling and never afraid of death but in a receptive attitude toward it.
The Indians were enlisted on the side of the English against the colonists in the Revolutionary War. The savage had been encour- aged to deeds too horrible to relate by the French in their struggle for supremacy against the English, but they had been won over to the English for the Revolution, because they believed that the struggle would wipe out the colonists and they wanted to be on the winning side. It was estimated that there were 770 tomahawks and a like num- ber of scalping knives which the English could have at their com- mand, and the savages were incited to greater activity in their bloody deeds by rewards paid for the scalps of the unfortunate victims.
General Burgoyne came with his expedition in 1777 with a threat to march through the country and crush it at a blow. He had an army of 10,000 men, fully equipped with every means of offense which ships could bring, and this army was opposed by a handful of undis-
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ciplined militia, which knew only too well that the skulking savages would visit the homes and murder old men, women and children so far as they were able, while the able-bodied men were in the army. It seemed reasonable to suppose that Burgoyne's threat might be car- ried out and his disposition to turn loose his savage allies was shown conclusively in the fate of Miss Jane McCrea.
It has been well said by Schoolcraft: "The policy of employing savages at all in war admits of no defense. The act of scalping and the indiscriminate slaughter of both sexes, are the most horrid traits of savage life. None but a weak and bigoted prince, counselled by a short-sighted and narrow-minded premier, would have adopted this system as a part of the extraneous means of reducing the colonies to subjection."
Schoolcraft's assertion against King George and Lord North did not seem to be correct. Rather did he give too great credit to the British mind for mercy in time of war, as in the War of 1812 Great Britain had made the same unjustifiable use of the Indians as she had previously done in 1776. They were her cruel and atrocious allies, and this time Tecumseh led in the tortures. The Indians had been made to believe that, in the War of 1812, they had an opportunity to regain possession of the western country. This is shown in the speech made by Tecumseh to General Proctor at Amherstburg in 1813. "When the war was declared, our Father stood up and gave us the tomahawk and told us that he was now ready to strike the Americans; that he wanted our assistance; and that he would certainly get us our lands back, which the Americans had taken from us," were his words.
In the great struggle for supremacy between the French and Eng- lish, the French succeeded in arraying the numerous and scattered tribes of the Algonquins, of which the Wampanoags about Plymouth were a branch, against the English colonies. The Indian tribes had, un- doubtedly, been given the idea that they had the power to crush the English colonies and had been urged to do so by every hint which could be given them to cause hatred. Students of history know that the red men could easily have annihilated the colonists at any period, if they had been able to forego their own quarrels between tribes and combine against the English. They were good fighters but poor or- ganizers, and to this fact the colonists owe their lives and the colony its start. The Indians felt the need of a European leadership and the French were able to get closer to them than the English, because they required little of them, so far as giving up their own customs and habits were concerned, and were content to eat and lodge with the Indians, which the more fastidious English colonists could not bring
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themselves to do. The Indians preferred to be allies, rather than principals in any war of annihilation.
Boys or Wigs Caused Philip's War ?- At the close of the King Philip War it was solemnly asserted from at least one pulpit that the war had been caused by the behavior of boys in the meeting-houses. The war was the punishment of the Plymouth Colony for the "disorder and rudeness of youth in many congregations in time of the worship of God, whereby sin and profaneness is greatly increased."
Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians and a kind-hearted indi- vidual, not so much disposed to look with jaundiced eyes on trifling displays of bubbling spirits in youth in an austere age, expressed the opinion that boys had not displeased God to that extent but that wars and disturbances in the meeting-houses and other untoward hap- penings were a judgment on the people for wearing wigs. Whether the beloved apostle made this utterance in the light of humor is a matter of conjecture.
CHAPTER VII PIONEERS, PATRIOTS AND PRACTITIONERS.
How John Tomson Went Out to Found a New Town, Which Had the First Sunday School in America-Halifax, a Small Town in the Coun- ty, Taken as a Typical Example of Life in Early Colonial Days- Plympton Furnished the Most Distinguished Heroine of the Revolu- tionary War-Commendation from George Washington-"May- flower" Physician First in Long Line of Eminent Medical Prac- titioners-Adventures and Side Lines-Plymouth District Medical Society-Discovery of Ether-Educational Work and Sanitation- Dr. Giles Heale on the "Mayflower" -- Ordeal by Touch-Lunar In- fluence.
The first framed meeting-house in Plymouth was built by John Tom- son and Richard Church. The latter was a brother of Colonel Benjamin Church, the noted Indian fighter who performed such conspicuous service in King Philip's War.
John Tomson was one of the "First Comers," a name given to those who came over in the "Mayflower," "Fortune" and "Anne." As he was a man of prominence in the community, performed notable military service, was a skilled artisan, helped found one of the towns which sprang from Plymouth, and left a worthy posterity, he becomes a fit- ting example to take as a type and show how the "First Comers" pro- ceeded to take advantage of the rights and privileges "to which nature and nature's God entitled them," under the rules of the colony.
One of the first settlers of Halifax was John Tomson who arrived at Plymouth in August, 1623, on "The Little James and Anne," with fifty-nine other passengers. Some writers say that a Mr. Sturtevant had already settled in the town and it is possible that there were a few others who were seized with that wanderlust which seems to have inspired many of the "First Comers" in Plymouth to take up land suf- ficiently far from the meeting-house in Plymouth to make it very in- convenient, to say the least, for them to participate in the services and meetings.
We of the present day wonder why, when the woods were filled with Indians, from whom all kinds of evil was expected and sometimes received, that the early settlers of Plymouth did not form a com- munity for common defense, with houses near enough together to enable them to act as a body at short notice. But Winslow's home was a dozen miles from Plymouth in Marshfield; John Alden, after his marriage to Priscilla Mullens, lived in Duxbury, some ten miles
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from Plymouth Rock; Captain Myles Standish, the leader of the Pil- grim Army, in South Duxbury; Elder Brewster, Governor Bradford and Francis Cooke in Kingston, and others were equally scattered. John Tomson (the spelling is the same as he used in signing his will, although he is said to have employed other ways on other occasions) lived two miles from the center of Plymouth. He had married the daughter of Francis Cooke, one of the "Mayflower" passengers.
Halifax was, in the days of John Tomson, a part of Plymouth, as were most of the towns in Plymouth County now bearing separate names. It was incorporated as a town July 4, 1734. The previous. year a meeting-house had been built. The first settlers were, in most instances, direct descendants of the first Plymouth settlers, and the names of most prominence were Thompson, Waterman, Bosworth, Briggs and Sturtevant.
As the name Thompson, the most common spelling at present, oc- curs so many times, it is well to explain that John Thompson was born in the northern part of Wales in 1616. In the southwestern part of England the name was spelled Tompson. Rev. John Tompson, who settled in the ministry at Berwick, on the Piscataqua River, was descended from this family. In Ireland the spelling was Thompson. In the south of Scotland it was Thomson, and of this family was James Thomson, the poet, and Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress in the days of the American Revolution. Since the early settler of Halifax was born in the northern part of Wales, in the vicinity of Scotland, he is usually considered a descendant of the Scottish family, although in his will he spelled his name differently from any of the branches which have been mentioned. The letter p was not introduced into the spelling by any of his descendants until a century and a half had passed. Rev. John Cotton, the first minister in Halifax, spelled the name Thomson in some of his writings which have been handed down since his ministry in the meeting-house erected when George Washington was one year old. The tombstones of Thompsons of the fourth generation usually have the h and p.
Rev. John Cotton served as first minister in Halifax until 1756. He died in civil office in Plymouth, his native town, in 1789. He was succeeded by Rev. William Patten, Rev. Ephriam Briggs and Rev. Abel Richmond, in the order named, the ministers who served up to 1800 and a few years beyond. It is said that the first Sunday school in America was established in the Halifax church. The town has had, from earliest times, a proud record as a religious and patriotic community. It is the only town in Plymouth County which was incorporated on July 4, a significant date, but the July 4th which saw the beginning
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of Halifax was forty-two years before the liberty bell rang out the tid- ings in Philadelphia.
In the court records it appears that John Tompson and Mary Cooke were married December 26, 1645. He was at one time one of the selectmen of Barnstable, constable and highway surveyor of Barn- stable, constable at Plymouth and held civil offices in Barnstable, Plymouth and Halifax at various times. His name is found with five others who refused to serve on the Grand Enquest June 3, 1657, but there is a record dated June 8, 1664, when he and twenty others were sworn as "the Grand Enquest."
When the court at Plymouth declared war against the Dutch, among those who bestowed a halberd was Sergeant Tompson. The pay of a sergeant was three shillings per day.
In an exact list of all names of the Freemen of the jurisdiction of New Plymouth, there were forty-three in Barnstable, including John Tompson, under date of May 29, 1670. Under various dates he ap- pears referred to as one of the selectmen of Middleborough. This does not mean that he resided in that town as at present located, but he was selectman during a part of the time that the Halifax farm was included in the territory of Middleborough.
John Tomson made a will dated July 8, 1696, which was executed before Judge William Bradford, from which it appears that he was a carpenter and had not only built his own house, half of which he be- queathed to his wife to use "during her widowhood," but he built houses for his sons John and Jacob and bequeathed to the latter the house he built for him. He built, with Richard Church, brother of Colonel Benjamin Church, the Indian fighter, the first framed meet- ing-house in Plymouth, in 1637. For a few years he lived as a farmer in Sandwich. The land in Halifax he purchased from William Wetispa- quin, sachem of the Neponsets, and the purchase was approved by the court at Plymouth. It is recorded in the Registry of Deeds at Plymouth, Book 4, Page 41. His farm consisted of about six thousand acres of land, commencing at the Herring brook in the northern part of Halifax, and extending south into Middleborough nearly five miles. His first house in Halifax was built of logs and was burned by the Indians. It was located near a spring of water on the farm now owned by Jabez P. Thompson, one of the Halifax town officials for many years.
Shortly after building this log house, Tomson and Jabez Soule, who lived about three miles away over the Indian trail, induced Pringle Peter, a young Indian to live with them and learn to work like the English. The Indian divided his time, two weeks with each one.
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When the Indians plotted war against the white men this Indian would steal away and join them and when peace was made he would return, so his disappearance was equivalent to a warning, and the Tomsons and Soules would take refuge in the garrison house at Middleborough. There is a tradition that one day Tomson said to Pringle Peter: "I wonder the Indians never tried to kill me."
"Master," said the Indian, "I have cocked my gun many times to shoot you, but I loved you so well I could not."
One day when Mrs. Tomson was alone some Indians came into the house, pulled a fish which she was cooking from the kettle, and upset the rude furniture. She reprimanded them and one of In- dians brandished a knife in a threatening manner. She drove them out of the house with a splint broom. This occurrence and many others convinced her husband that "There is trouble ahead; we must pack up immediately and go to the garrison."
A portion of their furniture was loaded on wagons, and valuables secreted in the swamp near at hand. They started about nightfall and had not proceeded more than two miles when they saw the light of their burning house. They passed the house of William Danson in Middleborough and urged him to accompany them, but he decided to wait until morning. His decision cost him his life as he was shot while watering his horse at a stream, which has since been called Danson's brook.
John Tomson was chosen to command the garrison. There were sixteen men with him capable of bearing arms. He applied to the governor and council for a commission and was given a general com- mission as Lieutenant Commandant of the garrison and its sixteen men, and in the field and at all posts of danger. This was a sort of roving commission, such as was later given to Colonel Benjamin Church, who was destined to put an end to the King Philip War by bringing about the death of the sachem.
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