History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families, Part 6

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1082

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 6

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At first, however, things seemed to go on well. Fair prom- ises were made, and pledges given of amity and good will. But they were soon felt to be insincere - disguises to hide an evil purpose, quiet the apprehensions of the whites, throw them off their guard, that they might more easily be made a prey. Cir- cumstances arose and events transpired calculated to create anxiety and alarm, yet Philip renewed his professions of friend- ship, and avowed his readiness to serve those who were sus- picious of his conduct and called him to account. Nevertheless, his real feeling could not be wholly masked, nor his fell purpose be kept out of sight. Both became more and more apparent as time went on, and were evidently awaiting an occasion to openly declare themselves and hurry matters on to a bloody consummation.

That occasion very soon arose. Sassamon, a convert of Eliot, friendly to the whites, reported Philip's doings and his murderous designs. Not long after he was assassinated, his body being thrown into a lake in Middleboro', where it was not long after found. Three Indians, suspected of the crime, were arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.

This transaction set the blood of the sachem and his young warriors on fire. They gathered their forces at Mt. Hope, their chief seat in Bristol, preparatory to a formal onset upon the different English settlements. Marauding parties were sent out in different directions, to commit outrages upon the whites, to provoke them to violence, and to kill them. This was done in most unexpected places, at a most unexpected moment, and after a most brutal and ferocious fashion. The first act of the drama of bloodshed and death, took place at Swansea, Mass., on Sunday, June 24, 1675, when a party of worshippers, returning from church, were assaulted and several of them slain, their bodies being lacerated and mangled in the

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

most inhuman manner. The surprises and horrid massacres at Taunton, Middleboro', Dartmouth, and Mendon, aroused the colonies to the gravity of the situation, and convinced them of the fact that a war had actually been inaugurated by the red men, and was designed to be one of extermination. Companies of soldiery were raised and sent through the country in search of the enemy; but, unaccustomed to the Indian style of warfare, they were often surprised by squads in ambush and repulsed with great loss. Philip, however, hard pressed, fled from his place of retreat at Pocasset, to the Nipmuck country, partly for his personal safety and partly to secure the co-operation of certain inland tribes who had not thus far joined in the uprising. Succeeding in this purpose, the theater of conflict was trans- ferred to central and western Massachusetts, and the record of what transpired at Brookfield, Deerfield, Hadley, Northfield, Springfield, and other places, shows how fearful and desperate was the struggle between the contending forces, - between barbarism and civilization, -for the mastery of the country.

The cold season was drawing on, and the Indians, now pretty generally united in a common purpose, gathered from all direc- tions in the Narragansett country, where they went into winter quarters. Meanwhile, the three colonies of Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, and Connecticut, fully aware of the perils that threat- ened them, rose to the exigences of the situation, and resolved to meet the crisis in an emphatic and decisive way. Hitherto they had acted separately, each on its own account, sending soldiery as they saw fit in different directions, to meet what were thought to be the immediate demands of the case. But now they decided to take counsel together and act in co- operation, to serve a cause common to all of them, and to gain an end in which all had a most vital interest. They therefore sent commissioners to Boston, empowering them to make proper and adequate provision for the defense and safety of all concerned.

These commissioners met on the second day of November, 1675. After due deliberation it was decided that, in addition to the forces already in the field, an army of a thousand men should be raised and furnished with weapons and provisions, to be ready at an hour's notice for marching orders in the public ser- vice. At another meeting, held ten days later, Josiah Winslow, governor of Plymouth, was appointed commander-in-chief of this army, and further arrangements were entered into for enlisting recruits and duly providing for their needs. A third meeting took place Nov. 19th, when final plans were adopted for an expedition against the enemy already encamped, as stated, among the Narragansetts, who, against their repeated pledges, had not only joined Philip and his allies, but received large numbers of other hostile tribes into their territory. Places of rendezvous for the enlisted troops were selected, where

MARCH OF SOLDIERS-THE SWAMP FIGHT.

they were to meet on the 10th of December, and await the orders of the commander-in-chief.

The soldiers of the colonies were raised and assigned to their different places and posts of duty. Those belonging to Mas- sachusetts marched from Boston, where they first assembled, to Dedham, Dec. 9th, and bivouacked for the night. Before starting out on the following day, proclamation was made to them, in the name of the colonial government, that, in addition to their regular pay for service, they, or their heirs or repre- sentatives after them, should have a special grant of land, "provided they played the man, captured the fort where the great body of the enemy was entrenched, and drove him out of the country." Proceeding thereafter from Dedham, these forces were soon joined by those from Plymouth, and still later by the quota from Connecticut, when all went together to the land of the Narragansetts, on the westerly borders of Narragansett Bay, arriving there Dec. 18th. They spent the night at a place some fifteen miles from the intrenchments, within which the Indians had taken refuge. These intrenchments included an area of several acres in extent, located upon a swell of dry land, the center of a large swamp, in what is now the town of South Kingston, R. I. There the enemy had built a village of six hundred wigwams, surrounding it with a strong stockade, through which there were but two small entrances, both pro- tected on the outside by an efficient guard. This was the objective point toward which the English army was making its way.

Early on the morning of the 19th, this army, still weary from previous marches, took up its line of advance in the midst of a driving snowstorm which continued all day. Arriving at the swamp about two o'clock, an attack was at once made upon the fortification. The guard outside, after a sharp contest, was slain, entrance was gained, and a terrible battle ensued, lasting several hours, and terminating in the entire destruction of the place by fire. The result was a complete triumph over the Indians, of whom it was estimated that a thousand persons, in- cluding three hundred warriors, were killed or taken captive, while as many more, perhaps, driven forth into the wilderness, perished by hunger and exposure. The English paid dearly for their victory, losing six of their brave captains and about eighty men, while one hundred and fifty others were more or less severely wounded. Nor was this the sum total of their suffer- ings. Over-wearied with the morning's march, and weakened by want of food when they began battle, they were in a poor con- dition, when it closed, to retrace their steps through the snow to the place where they encamped the preceding night. Yet they succeeded in doing this, though many of their num- ber came near perishing before it was accomplished. Happily, they found, upon waking from their slumbers the

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

following morning, that a vessel was moored in the bay close by, which had been sent by the Governor of Massachusetts with a cargo of provisions for their special use. By the supplies thus furnished, their exhausted, famishing frames were refreshed and strengthened anew, enabling them to return home at an early day.

This was the great battle of the Narragansett War, the battle known in history as " The Swamp Fight." But, though result- ing so disastrously to the Indians, it did not, by any means, bring the conflict to an end. Hostilities and massacres of a desultory, guerilla character continued through the winter, spring, and most of the ensuing summer. Bands of Indian warriors went roaming through the country, attacking and de- stroying settlements, killing many, and carrying others into captivity, and working all possible injury to the white population. Lancaster, Medfield, and Groton were surprised and burned before the spring of 1676 opened, and assaults were made on Northampton, Seekonk, Marlboro', Sudbury, and other places, not long afterward, with varying results; the victory inclining sometimes to one side and again to the other. A terrible tragedy at Turner's Falls occurred in the latter part of May, and during the early summer several towns in different sections of the country were attacked with more or less decisive effect. As time went on, the English, in no wise disposed to withdraw from the conflict or relax their efforts, made slow but substan- tial progress, while the power of the red man was evidently waning. The Indians, realizing this, began to lose heart and hope. The Nipmucks withdrew from Philip's support, as did others, leaving him at length with few adherents.

Where the proud and haughty chieftain was all the while, it is difficult to tell. When he first left his native retreat at Mount Hope, he tarried for a time with the Quaboags, at Brookfield. Afterwards he appeared among the tribes of the Connecticut valley. During the winter he visited the Mohawks in New York, and endeavored to enlist that warlike tribe in his behalf, but with indifferent success. Early in the spring he was back in the valley of the Connecticut where Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of the minister of Lancaster, a captive at the time of the destruction of the town in February, testifies to meeting him repeatedly. In May he accompanied the party having Mrs. Rowlandson in charge to Redemption Rock, near what is now Everettville, and was present when the terms of her ransom were agreed upon, but refused to unite with other warriors present in consenting to the same. They, however, overruled him and she was set free. From this fact, it is evident that he had lost prestige and power among his own people, and that the day of his utter discomfiture and overthrow was at hand. Of this he himself must have been painfully aware, as, bereft of his most trusted and valiant defenders, he turned from his long wander-

DEATH OF PHILIP-THE WAR ENDED.

ings once more to Mount Hope, the place of his nativity. Even there he found no rest to his feet and no comfort for his heart. His family had been taken captive, and few were the friends left to him. Disarmed and despairing, he sought a refuge from his pursuers, now close upon his track, in the dense thicket of an old swamp not far away, where he hoped to escape discovery. But his place of retreat was found, and Captain Church, a famous Indian fighter, at the head of a company of brave men, determined to capture him. Surrounding the woods where he was concealed, they closed in from every side. As they drew near him, he sprang from his hiding-place, and, seek- ing to break through the ranks of his foes, was shot by one of his own race who had abandoned his cause, the gun of a white man previously aimed at him having missed fire.

The king of the Wampanoags was now no more. He had played a desperate game and had lost all. His death occurred Aug. 12, 1676, which event was the virtual ending of the conflict, called from its chief instigator, King Philip's War, and from the country of its principal battle, the Narragansett War. The colonists had suffered fearfully in the struggle, thirteen towns having been destroyed, and many more greatly damaged, six hundred buildings burned, six hundred lives lost, and an expense of $500,000 incurred. Nevertheless, they had gained the victory, and the power of the red man in this section of country had gone forever. The aborigines, seeking to exter- minate the new-comers, were themselves exterminated. What were left, when hostilities ceased, with few exceptions, soon disappeared, and the sovereignty of the white race was assured for all coming time.

CHAPTER IV.

CLAIMS OF THE NARRAGANSETT SOLDIERS.

PETITIONS FOR LANDS - LEGISLATIVE ACTION -HOPE DEFERRED- THE PROMISE FULFILLED.

Request for Land Grants. Nearly ten years expired after the termination of the war with King Philip and his allies, before anything was done, so far as any known records show, to secure the fulfilment of the promise in regard to lands, which was made to the soldiers on Dedham plain, by authority of the provincial government. At length, early in 1685, a petition, stating the case in full and asking appropriate action, was drawn up and signed by William Bassett and about forty others be- longing to Lynn, Reading, Beverly, and Hingham, acting in behalf of the Narragansett soldiers, as those who had served in the conflict were called, which was presented to the general court at the session convened on the 4th of June. In answer to that petition, the court "judged it meet to grant a tract of Land of eight miles square in the Nipmug country, for the encouragement of the Petitioners and others that were service- able to the Country in the late Indian war to a competent num- ber who shall see meet to join themselves to them in order to the making of a plantation or township, provided it be laid out so as not to interfere with any former Grants, and that an Orthodox minister on their settlement of fifty families be settled within the space of four years next coming."

Of this judgment or "order," nothing practically ever came, so far as can be ascertained, and the subject seemed to receive no further attention for more than forty years, or until a large majority of those engaged in the Narragansett service had gone to their graves. But in the month of June, 1727, "Samuel Chandler and Jacob Wright in behalf of themselves and many others who were personally present at the Fort and Fight at Narraganset, or descendants of those who were there, or in the strictest alliance with them" sent a petition to the colonial legislature, praying "that a Grant be made to them of such vacant lands as may serve for settlements, under such restric- tions and limitations as the Court judge fit."

This petition received favorable consideration from the house of representatives, which appointed a committee to lay out a township eight miles square, as before, for the petitioners and others for whom they acted, but the council, the higher branch

ACTION OF THE GENERAL COURT.

of the government, referred the subject to the next session of the court, which met in the latter part of the year. On the 14th of December the house, in pursuance thereof, passed a re- solve granting two townships, each of the contents of six miles square, in which action the council concurred, but the governor, William Dummer, declined to approve the same, and so nothing decisive was accomplished.

A third attempt, made the next summer, proved more suc- cessful, as shown by the following extract from the records :

"15 June 1728. In the House of Representatives. In answer to the Petition of the Soldiers that served in the Narraganset War :-

" Resolved, that Major Chandler, Mr. Edward Shove, Major Tilestone, & Mr. John Hobson, (or any three of them,) be a committee fully authorized and empowered to survey & lay out two Townships of the contents of Six miles square each in some of the unappropriated Lands of this Province and that the said Lands be granted and disposed of to the Persons, whether Officers or Soldiers, belonging to this Province, who were in the Service of their Country in the said Narraganset War, or to their lawful Representa- tives, as a Reward for their publick services and as a full Satisfaction of the Grant formerly made by the Great and General Court :- and, inas- much as it is the full Intent and Purpose that every Officer & Soldier who served in the said war should have a Compensation made him over & above what Wages & Gratuities any of them have already received :- That pub- lick Notice be given in the News Letter & Advertisements be posted up in every Town in the Province, notifying all Persons that now survive & were in the Fight & the legal Representatives of those deceased, that they give or send a List of their names & Descents to the Court in their next Fall Sessions; and when such List is completed by a Committee then to be ap- pointed by this Court, the Grantees shall be obliged to assemble in as short a time as they can, conveniently, not exceeding six months, & proceed to the Choice of a Committee to regulate each Propriety, who shall pass such Orders & Rules as will effectually oblige them to settle sixty Families at least in each Township, with a learned Orthodox Minister, within the Space of Seven years from the Date of the Grant: Provided, nevertheless, if the said Grantees shall not effectually settle the said number of Families in each Township & also lay out a Lot for the said settled Minister, one for the Ministry & one for the School in each of the said Townships they shall have no advantage but forfeit their said Grants; anything to the contrary herein contained notwithstanding.

"In Council : Read and Concurred.

" Consented to: WM. DUMMER."

Pursuant to the provisions of the above resolve, a majority of the committee named therein made report of their doings to the legislature on the 18th of the following December, as shown by the records of that body at that date. So much of those , records as relates to the matter in hand, is herewith submitted :

" A Plan given in by Maj. John Chandler, Mr. Edward Shove, & Mr. John Hobson, a Committee of the Court, describing a Tract of Land containing Twenty three thousand, two hundred & eighty six acres two rods and one Perch, without allowance for the Pond, which is supposed to contain at least two hundred and forty six acres, two rods and one perch; the Resi- due, (being 23,400 acres) is the Contents of six miles Square and laid out in as regular a Figure as the Land would admit of for one of the Towns granted by the General Court at their Session held the 29th day of May

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

[June 15], 1728, to the Narraganset Soldiers, Surveyed by the Assistance of Mr. Jonas Houghton, Surveyor, and four Chainmen, all upon Oath ; which land lies adjoining to the Towns of Rutland and Lunenburg additional Grant, & also adjoins to Province Land.

" In the House of Representatives, Read & Accepted & Voted that the Land protracted & described in the within Plan be & hereby [is] confirmed to the Officers and Soldiers belonging to the Province who were in the Ser- vice of the Country in the late Narraganset War, & to their heirs and As- signs or lawful Representatives, Provided it exceeds not the quantity of Land within mentioned, nor interferes with any other or former grant of this Court; Provided, also, they Comply with the Conditions mentioned in the said vote of the seventh [15th] of June for settling the said Town.

" In Council, Read and Concurred. Consented to, W. BURNET."

This was the township afterwards called Narragansett No. 2 (Westminster), although, in point of time, it was the first one submitted to and accepted by the several departments of the provincial legislature. Another, No. 3 (afterwards Amherst, N. H.), was reported and approved the same day.

In further compliance with the requisitions of the resolve of June 15th, notices were issued to all persons claiming an interest in the lands therein granted, to report themselves to the court, responses to which seem to have been made in con- siderable numbers, though not in season to secure, as was intended, the appointment of a committee at the next fall session, to consider and determine the rights of such claimants. For it was not till April 11, 1729, that the matter received further attention. At that date, Major Quincy and Mr. Thomas Cushing, on the part of the house, and Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., on the part of the council, were appointed, with the approval of the governor, a committee "to take and examine a List of the Claimers to those Lands lately granted to the Narraganset Soldiers and Compleat the same according to the order of the 8th [15th] of June last, and report of their doings at the next May Session at the publick Charge."

Nothing was heard from this committee at the date desig- nated, as there probably had not been sufficient time to prop- erly examine and prove all the claims presented. But on the 17th of the ensuing December, a list of claimants was formally presented, accompanied by the following report, to wit :

"The Committee, having carefully considered the Claimes yt have been laid before them of Rights in the two Tracts of land granted to the Officers & Souldiers that wear att the Narraganset Fight or their Leagall Represen- titives are of Opinion that the said Tracts of Land be granted to the per- sons contained in the aforwriten List and that the said Claimers or Grantees meet att Boston, if the Small Pox be not there, if it be, then at Cambridge, on the first wensday of June next then and ther to Choose a Commitee for Ordering their affaires and to do other things needful for Setling sd Tracts of Land pursuant to the Resolve of this Court at their Session in June 1728 and that publick Notification be given by Order of this Assembly that they meet by them selves or Agents accordingly.

" Per order of the Committee."

FURTHER ACTION OF THE COURT.

The court accepted the report and voted to confirm the grant of lands referred to, to the persons approved, and to adopt the recommendation that a meeting of the claimants or grantees be held as specified, "to take proper action with reference to the right ordering of their affairs &c." This order of the court was signed by the governor. In accordance with this action, the meeting provided for was duly notified, but as the day named for holding it drew near, it was ascertained that the notice had not been sufficiently circulated through the province to reach all the persons interested in the matter. For this reason, the order of the court, under the authority of which the meeting had been called, was suspended on the 30th of May, 1730, and a new one was passed fixing the date "on the 2d Wednesday of the next Fall Session of this Court" [Oct. 28], and the representatives were directed "to give notice of this vote in their towns with all convenient speed."

Many of the grantees, however, who had seen the original announcement of the meeting on the third day of June, but who did not hear of the postponement, came together in Cam- bridge at that date, when they learned what had been done. Nevertheless, they assumed the responsibility, in the interest of all concerned, of appointing Col. Thomas Tilestone, Mr. Jonathan Williams, Mr. John Wadsworth, Mr. Nathaniel Good- win, and Mr. Thomas Hunt, a committee "to Petition the General Court for a further Grant of land to ye Officers and Soldiers, that every Sixty Claimers may have a Township Six Miles square." This committee, though not chosen according to strict forms of law, proceeded to act in the way indicated, and their action was subsequently endorsed by their associate grantees, as will hereafter appear.

As the time to which the meeting of the grantees provided for by the court had been postponed (Oct. 28) drew near, it was found that, on account of the prevalence of the small-pox, it was advisable to make a second change of date. An order of the legislature was passed accordingly, fixing the place and day of meeting at Boston, "on the second Wednesday of the next sitting of this Court after a recess," which was Dec. 23d. Nothing intervening, the grantees convened as required, and, after duly organizing by the choice of Col. Thomas Tilestone, moderator, and Jabez Hunt, clerk, voted ".that Col. William Dudley, Messrs. Samuel Chandler and John Longley be a com- mittee to wait upon the General Court to press the affair now in hand." The " affair now in hand" was evidently the secur- ing of a further grant of land as already petitioned for by Colonel Tilestone and others -the committee chosen at the informal meeting of June 3d, as stated. Four days before this meeting of the grantees, the matter had been considered by the legislature, but had not been carried to a final and satis- factory issue, as appears from the records :

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

"Dec. 19, 1730. On petition of Thomas Tilestone and others represent- ing the Narraganset Soldiers, showing that the number of soldiers was too great for the land assigned and asking that the grant be enlarged and that more time be allowed to complete the work required of them. Voted, that a committee be appointed to receive claims of Narraganset Soldiers till the first Wednesday of April next, and that further grants be made to approved Claimants to the extent of one town to every one hundred and twenty per- sons under the same conditions as enjoined before."

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History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families, Part 6

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905 Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co. Number of Pages: 1082

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1082