USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Old landmarks and historic fields of Middlesex > Part 11
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Entering the mill, the youth ascended by a ladder to the loft ; the miller fastened the oaken door and withdrew. Left alone, the strange lad turned to the narrow loophole, through which a single star was visible in the heavens, and, taking some object from his breast, pressed it to his lips. He then threw himself, sobbing, on a heap of empty bags. Silence fell upon the old mill.
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The slumbers of the lonely occupant were erelong rudely disturbed by the sound of voices, among which he distinguished that of the miller, who appeared to be engaged in unfastening his locks in a manner far too leisurely to satisfy the haste of his companions. Another voice, one which seemed to terrify the boy by its harsh yet familiar accents, bade the miller despatch for a bungling fool. The boy, moved with a sudden impulse, drew the ladder by which he had gained the loft up to his retreat, and, placing it against the scuttle, ascended yet higher.
The flash of lights below showed that the men were within, as a volley of oaths betrayed the disappointment of the princi- pal speaker at finding access cut off to the object of his pursuit. " Ho there, Claudine !" exclaimed this person, " descend, and you shall be forgiven this escapade ; come down, I say. Curse the girl ! - Miller ! another ladder, and I'll bring her down, or my name 's not Dick Wynne."
Another ladder was brought, which the speaker, uttering wild threats, mounted, but, not finding his victim as he ex- pected at the first stage, he was compelled to climb to that above. The fugitive, crouched panting in a corner, betrayed her presence only by her quickened breathing, while the man, whose eyes were yet unaccustomed to the darkness, could only grope cautiously around the cramped area.
Finding it impossible longer to elude her pursuer, the girl, with a piercing cry for help, attempted to reach the ladder, when the man, making a sudden effort to grasp her, missed his footing, and fell headlong through the opening. In his descent, his hand coming in contact with something, he grasped it instinctively, and felt his flight arrested at the moment a yell of horror smote upon his ears. "Damnation !" screamed the miller, "let go the cord, or you 're a dead man."
It was too late. In an instant the old mill, shaking off its lethargy, was all astir with life. The ponderous arms were already in quick revolution, and the man was caught and crushed within the mechanism he had set in motion. The mill was stopped ; the helpless sufferer extricated and conveyed to the farm-house. He uttered but one word, "Claudine," and became insensible.
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The poor Acadian peasant girl was one of those who had been separated from their homes by the rigorous policy of their conquerors. These victims were parcelled out among the dif- ferent towns like so many brutes, and Claudine had fallen into the power of a wretch. This man, who wished to degrade the pretty French girl to the position of his mistress, had pushed his importunities so far that at last the girl had obtained a dis- guise, and, watching her opportunity, saddled her master's horse and fled. The man, with a warrant and an officer, was, as we have seen, close upon her track.
At break of day the officer returned from the town with a chirurgeon and a clergyman. The examination of the man of medicine left no room for hope, and he gave place to the man of God. Consciousness returns for a moment to the bruised and bleeding Wynne. Powerless to move, his eyes turn to the bedside, where stands, in her proper attire, the object of his fatal passion, bitterly weeping, and holding a crucifix in her hands. The morning sun gilds the old mill with touches a Turner could not reproduce. His rays fall aslant the farm- house, and penetrate through the little diamond panes within the chamber, where a stricken group stand hushed and awe- struck in the presence of death.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE PLANTATION AT MYSTIC SIDE.
" Come pass about the bowl to me; A health to our distressed king."
A S you approach Medford by the Old Boston Road, you see at your left hand, standing on a rise of ground not half a mile out of the village, a mansion so strongly marked with the evidences of a decayed magnificence that your atten- tion is at once arrested, and you will not proceed without a nearer view of an object which has so justly excited your interest, or awakened, perhaps, a mere transient curiosity.
Whatever the motive which leads you to thread the broad avenue that leads up to the entrance door, our word for it you will not depart with regret that your footsteps have strayed to its portal. Built by a West-Indian nabob, inhabited by one whose character and history have been for a hundred years a puzzle to historians, - a man "full of strange oaths," the very prince of egotists, and yet not without claim to our kindly con- sideration, - the old house fairly challenges our inquiry.
Externally the building presents three stories, the upper tier of windows being, as is usual in houses of even a much later date, smaller than those underneath. Every pane has rattled at the boom of the British morning-gun on Bunker Hill ; every timber shook with the fierce cannonade which warned the in- vaders to their ships.
The house is of brick, but is on three sides entirely sheathed in wood, while the south end stands exposed. The reason which prompted the builder to make the west front by far the most ornamental does not readily appear; but certain it is, that the mansion, in defiance of our homely maxim, " Put your best foot foremost," seems to have turned its back to the
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highway, as if it would ignore what was passing in the outer world.
Sufficient unto himself, no doubt, with his gardens, his slaves, and his rich wines, was the old Antigua merchant, Isaac Royall, who came, in 1737, from his tropical home to establish his seat here in ancient Charlestown. He is said to have brought with him twenty-seven slaves. In December, 1737, he laid before the General Court his petition, as follows, in regard to these " chattels " :-
" Petition of Isaac Royall, late of Antigua, now of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex, that he removed from Antigua with his family, and brought with him, among other things and chattels, a parcel of negroes, designed for his own use and not any of them for merchandise. He prays that he may not be taxed with impost."
The brick quarters which the slaves occupied are situated on the south side of the mansion and front upon the court-yard, one side of which they enclose. These have remained un- changed, and are, we believe, the last visible relics of slavery in New England. The deep fireplace where the blacks pre- pared their food is still there, and the roll of slaves has cer- tainly been called in sight of Bunker Hill, though never on its summit.
At either end of the building the brick wall, furnished with a pair of stout chimneys, rises above the pitched roof. The cornice and corners are relieved by ornamental wood-work, while the west face is panelled, and further decorated with fluted pilasters. On this side, too, the original windows are seen.
The Royall House stood in the midst of grounds laid out in elegant taste, and embellished with fruit-trees and shrubbery. These grounds were separated from the highway by a low brick wall, now demolished. The gateway opening upon the grand avenue was flanked by wooden posts. Farther to the right was the carriage-drive, on either side of which stood massive stone gate-posts, as antique in appearance as anything about the old mansion. Seventy paces back from the road, along the broad gravelled walk, bordered with box, brings you to the door.
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A visitor arriving in a carriage either alighted at the front entrance or passed by the broad drive, under the shade of mag- nificent old elms, around into the court-yard previously men- tioned, and paved with round beach pebbles, through this interstices of which the grass grows thickly. Emerging from the west entrance-door, the old proprietor mounted the steps of the family coach, and rolled away in state to Boston Town- House, where, as a member of the Great and General Court, he long served his fellow-citizens of Charlestown. The driveway has now become a street, to the ruin of its former glory, the stately trees.
Behind the house, as we view it, was an enclosed garden of half an acre or more, with walks, fruit, and a summer-house at the farther extremity. No doubt this was the favorite resort of the family and their guests.
This summer-house, a veritable curiosity in its way, is placed upon an artificial mound, with two terraces, and is reached by broad flights of red sandstone steps. It is octagonal in form, with a bell-shaped roof, surmounted by a cupola, on which is placed a figure of Mercury. At present the statue, with the loss of both wings and arms, cannot be said to resemble the dashing god. The exterior is highly ornamented with Ionic pilasters, and, taken as a whole, is delightfully ruinous. We discover that utility led to the elevation of the mound, within which was an ice-house, the existence of which is disclosed by a trap-door in the floor of the summer-house. An artist drew the plan of this little structure, a worthy companion of that formerly existing in Peter Faneuil's grounds in Boston. Doubt- less George Erving and Sir William Pepperell came hither to pay their court to the royalist's daughters, and greatly we mis- take if its dilapidated walls might not whisper of many a love-tryst.
After having rambled through the grounds and examined the surroundings of the mansion, we returned to the house, prepared to inspect the interior.
Without lingering in the hall of entrance farther than to mark the elaborately carved balusters and the panelled wainscot,
6
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we passed into the suite of apartments at the right hand, the reception-rooms proper of the house. These were divided in two by an arch, in which folding-doors were concealed ; and from floor to ceiling the walls were panelled in wood, the panels being of single pieces, some of them a yard in breadth. In the rear apartment, and opening to the north, were two alcoves, each flanked by fluted pilasters, on which rested an arch en- riched with mouldings and carved ornaments. Each recess had a window furnished with seats, so inviting for a tête-à-tête, where the ladies of the household sat with their needlework ; these windows were sealed up in winter. The heavy cornice formed an elaborate finish to this truly elegant saloon.
On the right, as the visitor entered, was a sideboard, which old-time hospitality required should be always garnished with wines, or a huge bowl of punch. The host first filled himself a glass, and drank to his guest, who was then expected to pay the same courtesy to the master of the mansion. No little of Colonel Royall's wealth was founded on the traffic in Antigua rum, and we doubt not his sideboard was well furnished. In those days men drank their pint of Antigua, and carried it off, too, with no dread of any enemy but the gout, nor feared to present themselves before ladies with the aroma of good old Xeres upon them. But we have fallen upon sadly degenerate, weak-headed times, when the young men of to-day cannot make a brace of New-Year's calls without an unsteady gait and tell- tale tongue.
The second floor was furnished with four chambers, all open- ing on a spacious and airy hall. Of these the northwest room only demands special description. It had alcoves similar to those already mentioned in the apartment underneath, but instead of panels the walls were finished above the wainscot with a covering of leather on which were embossed, in gorgeous colors, flowers, birds, pagodas, and the concomitants of a Chinese paradise. On this side the original windows, with the small glass and heavy frames, still remain.
The family of Royall in this country originated with William Royall, or Ryal, of North Yarmouth, Maine, who was un-
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doubtedly the person mentioned by Hazard as being sent over as a cooper or cleaver in 1629. His son, Samuel, followed the same trade of cooper in Boston as early as 1665 - 66, living with old Samuel Cole, the comfit-maker and keeper of the first inn mentioned in the annals of Boston. His father, William Royall, had married Hebe Green, daughter of Margaret, former wife to Samuel Cole. William, another son of William, . appears to have settled in Dorchester, where he died, in 1724. His son, Isaac Royall, was a soldier in Philip's War, and built the second meeting-house in Dorchester.
Isaac Royall, the builder of our mansion, did not live long enough to enjoy his princely estate, dying in 1739, not long after its completion. His widow, who survived him eight years, died in this house, but was interred from Colonel Oliver's, in Dorchester, April 25, 1747. The pair share a common tomb in the old burying-place of that ancient town.
Isaac Royall the Second took good care of his patrimony. He was the owner of considerable property in Boston and Med- ford. Among other estates in the latter town, he was the proprietor of the old Admiral Vernon Tavern, which was stand- ing in 1743, near the bridge.
A visitor preceding us by a century and a quarter thus speaks of the same house we are describing : -
" On our journey past through Mistick which is a small Town of abt a hundred Houses, Pleasantly Situated, near to which is a Fine Country Seat belonging to Mr. Isaac Royall being one of the Grand- est in N. America."
When the Revolution begun Colonel Royall fell upon evil times. He was appointed a councillor by mandamus, but de- clined serving, as Gage says to Lord Dartmouth, from timidity. His own account of his movements after the beginning of " these troubles " is such as to confirm the governor's opinion, while it exhibits him as a loyalist of a very moderate cast.
He had prepared to take passage for the West Indies, intend- ing to embark from Salem for Antigua, but, having gone into Boston the Sunday previous to the battle of Lexington, and
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remained there until that affair occurred, he was, by the course of events, shut up in the town. He sailed for Halifax very soon, still intending, as he says, for Antigua, but on the arrival of his son-in-law, George Erving, and his daughter, with the troops from Boston, he was by them persuaded to sail for Eng- land, whither his other son-in-law, Sir William Pepperell, had preceded him.
Upon his arrival in England he waited upon Lord Dartmouth and Lord Germaine, but was not received by them. Governor Pownall, in the course of a long conversation with Colonel Royall, expressed a strong regard for the Province in general, as being a very fine country and a good sort of people, and, while lamenting the difficulties, said that if his advice had pre- vailed they would not have happened. Royall also exchanged visits with Governors Bernard and Hutchinson, but, neglecting an invitation to dine with the 'latter, the acquaintance dropped.
Colonel Royall, after the loss of some of his nearest relatives and of his own health, begged earnestly to be allowed to return " home " to Medford, and to be relieved from the acts which had been passed affecting the absentees. The estate had, how- ever, been taken out of the hands of his agent, Dr. Tufts, in 1788, under the Act of Confiscation.
In Colonel Royall's plea to be permitted to return home, in 1789, half ludicrous, half pathetic, he declares he was ever a true friend of the Province, and expresses the wish to marry again in his own country, where, having already had one good wife, he was in hopes to get another, and in some degree repair his loss. Penelope Royall, sister of Isaac, was married to Colonel Henry Vassall of Cambridge.
Peace be with the absconding royalist for an inoffensive, well-meaning, but shockingly timid old tory ! He would fain have lived in amity with all men and with his king too, but the crisis engulfed him even as his valor forsook him. His fears counselled him to run, and he obeyed. But he is not for- gotten. His large-hearted benevolence showed itself in many bequests to that country to which he was alien only in name. The Royall Professorship of Law at Harvard was founded by
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his bounty. He has a town (Royalston) in Massachusetts named for him, and is remembered with affection in the place of his former abode.
After inspecting the kitchen, with its monstrous brick ovenl still in perfect repair, its iron chimney-back, with the Royall arms impressed upon it, we inquired of the lady who had kindly attended us if she had ever been disturbed by strange visions or frightful dreams. She looked somewhat perplexed at the question, but replied in the negative. "They were all good people, you know, who dwelt here in bygone times," she said.
When the yeomen began pouring into the environs of Boston, encircling it with a belt of steel, the New Hampshire levies pitched their tents in Medford. They found the Royall man- sion in the occupancy of Madam Royall and her accomplished daughters, who willingly received Colonel John Stark into the house as a safeguard against insult or any invasion of the estate the soldiery might attempt. A few rooms were set apart for the use of the bluff old ranger, and he, on his part, treated the family with considerate respect. Stark's wife afterwards fol- lowed him to camp, and when Dorchester Heights were occu- pied was by him directed to mount on horseback and watch the passage of his detachment over to West Boston. If his landing was opposed, she was to ride into the country and spread the alarm. These were the men and women of 1776.
John Stark was formed by nature for a leader. Though the reins of discipline chafed his impetuous spirit, few men pos- sessed in a greater degree the confidence of his soldiers. The very hairs of his head seem bristling for the fray. A counte- nance strongly marked, high cheek-bones, eyes keen and thought- ful, nose prominent, - in short, the aspect of an eagle of his own mountains, with a soul as vcid of fear. He was at times somewhat "splenetive and rash." While stationed here he one day sent a file of his men to arrest and bring to camp a civilian accused of some extortion towards his men. Such acts, with- out the knowledge of his general, were sure to bring reproof upon Stark, which he received with tolerable grace. But he was always ready to render ample satisfaction for a wrong. The
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election for colonel of the New Hampshire regiment was held in the public hall of Billings's tavern in Medford, afterwards called the New Hampshire Hall. It was a hand vote, and some, they say, held up both hands for John Stark.
In the fall of 1776 a small party of the British came up the lake before Ticonderoga to take soundings of the depth of water. From the prospect of attack Gates summoned a council of war. There were no officers who had been in actual service except Gates and Stark. Gates took Stark aside, and the fol- lowing dialogue ensued : -
Gates. What do you think of it, John ?
Stark. I think if they come we must fight them.
Gates. Psho, John ! Tell me what your opinion is, seriously.
Stark. My opinion is, that they will not fire a shot against this place this season, but whoever is here next must look out.
Stark and Gates were very intimate; they addressed each other familiarly by their given names. The events justified Stark's sagacity.
It is also related that at the memorable council of war where the movement to Trenton was decided upon, Stark, who came in late, said to Washington, " Your men have long been accus- tomed to place dependence upon spades, pickaxes, and hoes for safety, but if you ever mean to establish the independence of the United States, you must teach them to put confidence in their fire-arms." Washington answered, "That is what we have agreed upon ; we are to march to-morrow to the attack of Trenton ; you are to take command of the right wing of the advanced guard, and General Greene the left." Stark observed he could not have been better suited. It is noticeable that several officers attached to the brigade on Winter Hill served in this action, namely, Sullivan, Stark, Scammell, and Wilkinson.
One of Washington's most trusted officers thus wrote to a friend in Boston of the battle of Bennington : --
" The news of the victory at the northward, under General Stark, must give you singular satisfaction; indeed, it was a most noble stroke for the oldest troops, but the achievement by militia doubly enhances the value of the action. America will ever be free if all her sons exert themselves equally."
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This battle, like that of Trenton, was an act of inspiration. We cannot, at this distance of time, appreciate its electric effect upon the public mind, then sunk in despondency by the fall of Ticonderoga, and the rapid and unchecked advance of Burgoyne. It was generally believed that Boston was the British general's destination. Great alarm prevailed in conse- quence, and many families removed from the town. The news of Bennington, therefore, was received with great joy. At sundown about one hundred of the first gentlemen of the town, with all the strangers then in Boston, met at the Bunch of Grapes in State Street, where good liquors and a side table were provided. In the street were two brass field-pieces with a detachment of Colonel Craft's regiment. In the balcony of the Old State House all the musicians of Henry Jackson's regi- ment were assembled, with their fifes and drums. The ball was opened by the discharge of thirteen cannon, and at every toast three guns were fired, followed by a flight of rockets. About nine o'clock two barrels of grog were brought into the street for the people that had collected there. The whole affair was conducted with the greatest propriety, and by ten o'clock every man was at his home.
The effect on enlistments was equally happy. In the back parts of the State the militia turned out to a man. The best farmers went into the ranks, and Massachusetts soon enrolled the finest body of militia that had taken the field. The sea- ports were more backward. The towns that had not secured their quotas for the continental army were giving £ 100, lawful money, bounty for men. Some towns gave as much as five hundred dollars for each man enlisted.
Captain Barns, who brought the news of the battle of Ben- nington to Boston, related that, " after the first action, General Stark ordered a hogshead of rum for the refreshment of the militia ; but so eager were they to attack the enemy, upon be- ing reinforced, that they tarried not to taste of it, but rushed on the enemy with an ardor perhaps unparalleled."
Stark sent to Boston not long after the battle the trophies, presented to the State, now placed in the Senate Chamber.
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The drum is one of several captured on the field, while the sword, carried by one of Riedesel's dragoons, required no pygmy to wield it ; in fact, the hat and sword of a German dragoon were as heavy as the whole equipment of a British soldier.
There are other memorials of the battles of Bennington and of Saratoga preserved in Boston. The original orders of Bur- goyne to Baum were deposited with the Massachusetts Histori- cal Society by General Lincoln, while the capitulation of Sara- toga is in the Public Library. It is not a little remarkable, too, that the original draft of the surrender of Cornwallis was found among the papers of General Knox, now in the archives of the Historic Genealogical Society. All these are memorials of great events, and are of inestimable value. What is really noticeable about the battle of Bennington is, that Baum, find- ing himself surrounded, had strongly intrenched himself. His works were attacked and carried by raw militia, of whom Baum took little note because they were in their shirt-sleeves. He held his adversaries cheaply and paid dearly for his confi- dence. Of Stark he doubtless thought as one
" That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster."
The Bennington prisoners arrived at Boston on Friday, Sep- tember 5, 1777, and were confined on board guard-ships in the harbor. Some of the officers were permitted to quarter in farm-houses along the route, where they soon had the melancholy pleasure of welcoming their brethren of the main army.
Of the Hessians confined on board the guard-ships, ten made their escape on the night of the 26th of October, in a most daring manner. Having, through the connivance of their friends outside, obtained a boat, in which arms were provided, they boarded the sloop Julia off the Hardings, took possession of her, and bore away for the southward, expecting, no doubt, to fall in with some of the enemy's vessels of war in Long Island Sound.
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