USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > History of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; its history for 275 years, 1643-1918, in which is incorporated the vital parts of the original history of the town > Part 7
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At the same meeting, "the town with one consent declared by vote, that the proposition from the Court about sales of guns, powder, and shot to the Indians, they apprehend it will be greatly detrimental to our English interest, and therefore declare them- selves against it."
July 29, 1669. At a town meeting it was voted "that a rate should be made to answer the warrant from the Court; and the raters chosen were Mr. Stephen Paine, senior, Lieutenant Hunt, Henry Smith, Nicholas Peck, Deacon Cooper, Philip Walker.
"Voted that those that pay butter, shall pay for the trans- portation of butter, and they that pay wheat, shall pay for the transportation of their wheat, and they that pay money, to pay for no transportation of either wheat or butter.'
There was a rate made the 30th of July, 1669, being the first part of the payment of the county rate, amounting to the sum of £13.3s.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH
November 4, 1669. "It was voted and agreed that there should be a rate made for the purchasing of powder and lead, as much as will make up the town stock, according to the order of the Court, with what there is already. Mr. Stephen Paine, Lieutenant Hunt, Ensign Smith, Philip Walker, and Nicholas Peck, were chosen to make the rate."
December 12, 1670. At a town meeting, "Deacon Cooper, Lieutenant Hunt, John Reade, senior, and William Sabin, were chosen raters, to make a rate for Mr. Newman's maintenance, according to a former vote."
November 8, 1670. "At a town meeting lawfully warned, it was voted that the line should be forthwith run between the North Purchase and the mile and a half given to the town for en- largement."
The "mile and a half," here referred to, was the subject of con- siderable dispute between the town of Rehoboth and the pro- prietors of the North Purchase, being claimed by both. It was given to Rehoboth by a mere verbal grant from commissioners of the Colony; and was at length confirmed to them by the Plymouth Court, in the following act of June, 1668:
"This Court have ordered, that a tract of land, containing a mile and a half, lying on the north side of the town of Rehoboth, is allowed to be the proper right of the said township. And such lands as are lying betwixt the Bay line and it, is to be accounted within the constablerick of Rehoboth, until the Court shall order otherwise. And that such farms as lyeth within the said liberties shall be responsible in point of rating at the Colony's disposal." (Plym. Col. Records.)
November 23, 1670. A committee was chosen to meet the Treasurer of Taunton to settle the bounds between the North Purchase and Taunton North Purchase. The committee were Ensign Smith, William Sabin, and William Carpenter.
"January 9, 1670-1. At a town meeting lawfully warned, it was voted and agreed, that Capt. Hudson of Boston, and John Fitch (probably of Rehoboth) shall have liberty to build a ware- house at the water side, and a wharf; and Mr. Paine, senior, and Ensign Smith were chosen to appoint them the place and quantity of ground for the ware-house .- John Dogget also had the like liberty granted him."
May 12, 1671. "It was voted and agreed upon by the town, that, whereas Mr. Newman's maintenance hath not reached unto what hath been engaged unto him by the towne, that there shall be a trial made by contribution every Sabbath day, to see whether
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EARLY SETTLERS AND ANNALS
it may amount to his comfortable maintenance; and that the next Sabbath day there be a trial made, and all persons whom it concerns do bring in, the first Sabbath, for the time that is past from the first of March last."
November 7, 1671. "It was voted that a fence be built to the minister's house, and weather-boards put upon the house for the preservation of it; and the townsmen were chosen to see it effected, and also they were empowered to make a rate for the payment of it."
May 16, 1672. "It was agreed and voted that the townsmen are to draw up such particulars as may be necessary for the gen- eral good of the town, as instructions for the deputies to manage at the Court."
February 6, 1673. "It was voted and agreed that the townsmen and Anthony Page should treat with our Reverend Pastor, Mr. Noah Newman, respecting the house and lot that he lives in."
May 14, 1673. John Woodcock, Thomas Willmarth, Josiah Palmer, Thomas Reade, and John Ormsby, were propounded to the freemen at the town meeting, to take up their freedom, and approved of.
May 20, 1673. "At a town meeting lawfully warned, it was voted and agreed upon, that the house that our Reverend Pastor now lives in, and the lot that the house stands upon shall be his forever, in consideration and in lieu of the four-score pounds that was engaged at Mr. Newman's death; and that the former act of the town, concerning the four-score pounds, shall be invalid when the town give our Reverend Pastor assurance of the afore- said house and lot."
November 13, 1674. "It was voted and agreed upon, that to every hundred pounds estate rate, such persons shall carry in to our Reverend pastor half a cord of wood for his winter fire.
"It was also agreed upon, that a due proportion be made upon the polls, for the raising of fifty pounds for our Reverend Pastor for the present year.
"It was also agreed upon that a new meeting-house should be built, and the townsmen were chosen to take into consideration the business of it, and what is material to the furthering of it; and to bring in their apprehensions the next town-meeting."
CHAPTER II KING PHILIP'S WAR
IN this tragedy involving the extinction of a race, the reader's interest will be quickened by considering the relation of the chief actors to each other.
Osamequin, commonly known as Massassoit, was the chief sachem of the Wampanoags, a once powerful tribe of 3,000 war- riors, but, a short time before the landing of the Pilgrim fathers, much weakened by a fearful plague which swept away a large part of the population. This tribe occupied the territory of South- eastern Massachusetts, including all the land between Narragan- sett Bay and Pawtucket River on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, or what is now Plymouth and Bristol Counties in Massachusetts, and Bristol County in Rhode Island; also the Cape Cod area, and possibly a part of Norfolk County.
Within his domain there were several subordinate tribes which gave him allegiance, but each had its own sachem. There were the Namaskets about Middleborough, of which Tuspaquin was chief; the Pocassets at Tiverton and westward as far as Somerset, of which Conbitant (or Corbitant) was chief, succeeded by Weeta- moo, wife, first of Wamsutta, brother of Philip, then of Petono- wowett (or Petananuit), called by the English "Ben," and also "Peter Nunuit," who cast in his lot with the English; the Sacon- nets at Little Compton, ruled by the "squaw sachem" Awashonks, a neighbor of Benjamin Church; the Nausets at Eastham on Cape Cod; the Matachees at Barnstable; the Monomoys at Chatham; the Saukatuckets at Mashpee; and the Nobsquassets at Yar- mouth. The Massachusetts tribe was north of the Wampanoags in the vicinity of Boston.
Some writers designate all these cognate tribes, even including the Massachusetts, by the term Pokanoket, so called from the tribal seat at Mount Hope, within the County of Bristol, R.I. "The dominion properly belonging to the Wampanoags was known as Pokanoket" (Bodge).
Massassoit's residence was at Sowams (now Barrington, R.I.). One of his residences was also at Mount Hope, which afterwards became the residence of his son Philip or Metacomet.
[62]
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Massassoit had two brothers, Akkompoin and Quadequina, who were his counselors. The two of his sons known to fame were Wamsutta (Alexander) and Pometacom, Metacom or Metacomet (Philip). Alexander married Weetamoo, queen of the Pocassets, and Philip married her sister Wootonekanuske. After Alexander's death Weetamoo married Petonowowett, known as "Peter Nunuit" or "Ben."
Massassoit had a daughter Amie, who became the wife of Tuspaquin, chief of the Namaskets, and their daughter (Philip's niece) married John Sassamon, who became private secretary to Philip and betrayed him to the English.
King Philip had a nine-year-old son, who was captured by the English and with his noble mother was sold into slavery in the West Indies.
The Narragansetts were a large and important tribe who lived to the west of Narragansett Bay. Their chief sachem was the great Canonicus, who was succeeded by his nephew, Miantonomi, and he in turn by his son Canonchet, who led his braves at Pierce's fight and died heroically for the lost cause of his people.
King Philip's War began on "Fast Day," June 24, 1675, in Swansea, on the borders of Rehoboth, and ended within the limits of Rehoboth by the capture of Annawan, Aug. 28, 1676.
Between these two dates Rehoboth was kept in an almost constant state of alarm and suffered severely from its proximity to Mount Hope, Philip's head-quarters. With the exception of the garrison houses the whole town was at one time laid in ashes, and a number of the inhabitants were, at different times, slain.
Massassoit was a wise pacifist and the abiding friend of the white settlers, so that during his lifetime there was no serious trouble. However much he may have felt the encroachments of the English on his territory, he continued to surrender to them large tracts of land for a meager compensation, and, dying in 1662, left his sons a legacy of good-will and a good name. His eldest son Alexander succeeded him, but died the same year under cir- cumstances which seemed to the Indians suspicious. By the order of succession Philip, alias Metacomet, the second son of the noble Osamequin, became chief of the Wampanoags. Bliss, in his history, sets forth vividly what he conceives to have been Philip's motives in bringing on war.
"Things for a while wore a pacific aspect, though it is evident
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that, from his accession, Philip cherished feelings of jealousy and hostility towards his English neighbors; and that, sensible of their growing power and the rapid decrease of the Indians, and seeing the inevitable fate that awaited him and his people, should the English be left to spread themselves thus unmolested, he de- termined to make one desperate effort to free himself and his country by a war of utter extermination. The better to effect this and disguise his intentions, he amused the English by professions of friendship and submission; renewed the treaties which his father had made; disposed of his lands, and gave quit-claims of those before sold by his father and brother, to raise the means for supplying his men with fire-arms and ammunition; cultivated the friendship of the neighboring tribes of Indians, smothering the feuds and reconciling the quarrels of centuries; and thus, by deluding the English, and strengthening himself by increasing his connexions and alliances, he was preparing secretly and silently the war which was to shake New England to its center and deluge the land with blood."
Admitting the general fairness of this presentation, we will also look at the matter from a somewhat different point of view. Modern writers have sharply scored the New England Puritans for their selfish greed in dealing with the real owners of the soil. With few exceptions, like John Eliot and Edward Winslow, they were inclined to exploit their Indian neighbors for their own ad- vantage. The Indian's ignorance was his weakness and his un- doing. To the Englishman he was a heathen with no rights one was bound to respect. "Once an undisputed lord of the lands of his ancestors, he became an exile or an object of sordid traffic. He saw the graves of his people robbed and defaced, and later on, himself debauched and unscrupulously plundered." This may help explain the growing hatred of the Indian for his white neighbor, driving him at times to cruel reprisals.
Such bitterness and wrath was not developed in these unsophis- ticated humans without a cause. We call them savages, but their lives were simple and primitive before they learned the vices and deceptive tricks of an aggressive civilization.
The statement is often made by historians that the Indians were fairly paid for their lands. In the case of the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth, led by men like Winslow and Bradford, this was in the main true. The continuance of the colony depended on the
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friendship of Massassoit and his people, while he on his part needed the protection of the colony. Doubtless the treatment of the Indian by the Plymouth Pilgrims was on the whole kind and equitable. Had the later comers been as forbearing as these, there would have been no bloody war to chronicle, for there was a kindly response to such fair treatment from men like the great Massassoit, brave old Canonicus of the Narragansetts, and the noble Samoset, and we believe their successors might have been won in like manner.
But the Puritan coming later with his rougher conscience began to encroach on the Indians' rights, absorbing their hunting- grounds, their cornfields and the streams that supplied them with fish; and the Englishman's apology for all this was his superior civilization, giving him, as he professed to believe, a right to the heathen's inheritance, even as Joshua drove out the old Cana- anites and took possession of their land. If the Indian gave a deed of his lands to the Englishman, it was by an instrument of which he had slight comprehension, the consideration for which was a pittance, - a few fathoms of wampum, a few hatchets and coats, and perhaps a bit of tobacco with a looking-glass thrown in. Too often the poor savage was a modern Esau, selling his birthright for a mess of pottage as in the case of Robin Hood, a Maine sachem, who deeded a large tract of land on the Sasanoa for a hogshead of corn and a few pumpkins. Even old Rehoboth was bought of Massassoit for ten fathoms of wampum, equal at that time to fifty shillings, with a coat thrown in. Thus within two generations the settlers had absorbed all the Pokanoket lands, until Philip found himself and his whole tribe hemmed within the narrow bounds of Mt. Hope Neck, with no way out except by canoe or through his neighbor's fenced land.
Drake in his introductory chapter to "The Old Indian Chron- icle," remarks (p. 2): "Had every white inhabitant who sat him- self down by the side of an Indian been kind and generous, dis- covered less of avarice, and not taken pains to make himself offensive by his unmistakable haughtiness, few cases of contention would have arisen."
Philip had arranged that the great blow should be struck in the spring of 1676, which would wipe out the English Colonists or drive them from the country, but for two reasons mainly he was forced to begin the war before his plans were matured; one of 5
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these was the impatience of the young warriors, and the other was the treachery of John Sassamon. This bursting out of the war nearly a year before the appointed time cost Philip the early support of the Narragansetts, although they joined him some months later.
As early as the spring of 1671, the English settlers became alarmed at the evidence they discovered of warlike preparations on the part of King Philip and they suspected that some plot was on foot for their destruction. There is no documentary proof that such was the case, but numerous strange Indians seen mingling with the Wampanoags, together with Philip's reluctance to meet the Colonists at Taunton at their request, excited their suspicions, and they demanded that he appear before them on the 13th of April. Thus coerced, Philip came to Taunton with some of his sachems. Here he was met by the armed militia of the town, not without hostile demonstrations, but after some parleying it was agreed that a council should be held in the Taunton meeting- house, one side of which should be occupied by the English and the other by the Indians.
The English charged him with plotting rebellion against their government, although the question is pertinent, as Pierce says in his Indian History (p. 57), "how King Philip, an independent prince and ruler of another nation, could thus rebel." He was pressed to sign a treaty of allegiance to the King of England and to surrender all guns and ammunition held by the Indians. Into such straits did the hard diplomacy of the English bring this un- tutored savage.
At this date bows and arrows had been mostly superseded by guns, upon which the Indians had come to rely almost exclusively for providing themselves with game for food. To be forced to give up their chief means of livelihood which they had bought and owned, and which if once surrendered could never be recovered, seemed to them nothing less than robbery. But Philip, swallowing his anger and righteous resentment at such demands, signed the treaty known as "his submission," along with his chief captains, and surrendered what guns his men had with them at the time; but one can hardly believe he intended to carry out a promise exacted under such unfair conditions.
The failure of the Indians generally to comply with these terms, which would render them practically helpless, caused a meeting
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of the Commissioners of the United Colonies to be held at Plym- outh in September of that year, which extorted from Philip the promise to pay within three years £100 of such things as he had and to send to the governor of Plymouth Colony five wolves' heads yearly. This new promise, dated Sept. 26, 1671, was signed by Philip and a few of his chiefs. A general disarming of the In- dians was then undertaken with more or less friction, causing hatred and a desire for revenge on the part of the Indians and moving Philip to extend his destructive plot far and wide.
Meanwhile, the whites, thinking they had drawn the lion's teeth, were lulled into a false security for the next three years, when an event occurred which precipitated the war.
John Sassamon (or Sausamon) was a native of Dorchester and the son of "Praying Indians." He was educated by the English, and assisted John Eliot in his translation of the Bible into the In- dian tongue. He became a teacher at Natick, and afterwards a preacher and missionary. He was of a restless and changeable disposition, and when some difficulty arose at Natick, he left and went to Mount Hope, where he became King Philip's private secretary and interpreter and learned his most secret plans. Re- turning after some years to Natick, he was received into full communion and was afterwards sent as missionary to the Na- masket Indians at Middleborough, where he received from Tuspa- quin, their chief, twenty-seven acres of land for a house-lot, at Assawamset Neck, now in the town of Lakeville. The chief also gave fifty-eight and a half acres to an Indian named Felix, who married Sassamon's daughter Betty, and the Neck where she lived was called after her, Betty's Neck, or Squawbetty, which it bears to this day. Tuspaquin's wife was Amie, the sister of King Philip, and Sassamon married their daughter. He was fully trusted by Philip and other members of the royal family and learned at first hand the plot to cut off the English settle- ments. This plot he revealed to the English at Plymouth, en- joining secrecy lest his life should be forfeited. A few days later, Jan. 29, 1674-5, Sassamon's body was found in Assawamset pond with wounds and bruises indicating murder. Three Indians were arrested and executed, two of whom denied all knowledge of the act, but one confessed. One of the three was Tobias, a counselor of King Philip. Probably Philip, on discovering Sassamon's treach- ery, condemned him to death after the Indian fashion. This exe-
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cution of his subjects by the English seemed to Philip a meddle- some interference with the course of Indian justice, and so exas- perated him that he now threw off all disguise and pushed his prep- arations as diligently as possible. The Court, however, took little notice of this except to forbid the lending of arms to the Indians and to guard more carefully the frontier towns.
On the 14th of June, James Brown of Swansea went with a friendly letter to Philip from Governor Winslow and found his young warriors in a hostile mood. "Peter Nunuit" (Petonowo- wett) told Captain Church that Brown would have been killed had not Philip prevented it, saying that "his father had charged him to show kindness to Mr. Brown."
On Sunday, June 20, 1675, some Indians coming into Swansea began to annoy the English by killing their cattle and burning two houses, hoping thus to provoke an attack, as they had the idea that the party who shed the first blood would be finally conquered. An Englishman, angered by their insolence, fired upon one of them and wounded him. This was a signal for the Indians to be- gin the onset. Thursday, June 24th, was a day of fasting and prayer in the Plymouth Colony, and during the services at Swan- sea the Indians pillaged several houses and later fired upon the people returning home from church, killing one man and wounding others. Two men who were sent for a surgeon were also killed, and in another part of the town, called Kickemuit, six men were slain while hauling corn to Bourne's garrison, making nine Englishmen who were murdered in Swansea on this first day of the war. Mes- sengers sent to treat with Philip and prevent an outbreak came upon the bodies of the men slain in the highway, and speedily turned back.
The people everywhere fled to the garrison-houses, whither they carried their corn and other provisions. Runners were sent to Boston and Plymouth for assistance. In Boston, at the beat of drums, within three hours 110 men volunteered to take the field under command of Capt. Samuel Mosely, also Capt. Daniel Henchman was soon on the march with his company of regulars, and Capt. Thomas Prentice with his troop of horse.
The Plymouth people had been warned that the attack on Swan- sea was imminent and had sent forward seventeen mounted men from Bridgewater, who arrived at Bourne's garrison in Mat- tapoiset (now Gardner's Neck) on June 22d. Here were col-
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lected seventy of the English, of whom fifty-four were women and children. These were later transferred to the island of Rhode Island for greater safety. The Indians had already taken their women and children over to the Narra- gansetts. The other Plym- outh Colony troops were assembled at Taunton and placed under the command of Capt. James Cudworth of Scituate, who, outrank- ing the Massachusetts offi- cers, became, on reaching BOSTON LAG CO. Swansea, commander-in- chief for the time being of
HATCH HOUSE, NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, PART OF WOODCOCK'S GARRISON, IN THE NORTH PURCHASE
BOSTON ENG.CO.
SUCCESSOR TO THE JOHN MILES GARRISON HOUSE, NEAR MILES' BRIDGE, SWANSEA
the combined forces of both colonies.
The Massachusetts troops leaving Boston on the 26th, with only a brief halt at Woodcock's Garrison (at North Attleborough), ar- rived at Swansea late in the afternoon of June 28th, and there joined the Plymouth
forces at Miles' Garrison, located at the west end of Miles' Bridge, just below the Rehoboth line. By this time the men, women, and children of both Swansea and Rehoboth had been placed in the three chief garrisons.1
BOSTON ENG.CA
1 Of the three principal garrison houses into which the inhabit- BISHOP HOUSE, EAST PROVIDENCE, ON SITE OF GARRISON HOUSE AT SEEKONK COMMON ants of Rehoboth and Swansea were gathered at times during Philip's War, one was in the Rehoboth North Purchase (now North Attle- borough), called "Woodcock's Garrison"; another on Seekonk Common (now
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH
The inaction of the Plymouth Colony forces while awaiting the Boston reinforcements made the Indians so bold that, in the lan- guage of Capt. Church, "they shot down two sentinels under the very noses of the soldiers occupying Miles' Garrison." They were lying in wait on every side to kill all that went abroad. But on the arrival of Capt. Prentice with his troopers, twelve of the men under command of Corporal John Gill and Quartermaster Joseph Belcher ventured a forward movement, and taking with them Wm. Hammond as pilot, they crossed over to the east side of Palmer's River, when they were fired upon from an ambuscade, and their pilot was mortally wounded. Belcher was also wounded besides having his horse shot under him, and a musket-ball ploughed its way through Gill's buff coat. So terrified were the troopers at this their first taste of actual warfare that they fled panic-stricken back to their quarters; and but for the bravery of Benjamin Church, who was in the party and was wounded in the foot, they would have left their wounded companion and their dead pilot in the hands of the enemy.
The next morning, June 29, the troops continued their pursuit of the Indians. Passing over Miles' bridge they swept down through the country on the east bank of the river till they came to the narrow part of the neck, to a place called Kickemuit, where they found the heads of eight white men whom the Indians had murdered and set upon poles by the side of the way. These they took down and buried.1
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