USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 18
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But in Copp's Hill it is different. Quiet prevails, and we almost expect to hear the clink of Old Mortality's chisel among the gravestones.
" Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
Copp's Hill is, however, strangely like the Chapel Ground in one respect. The same mathematical precision is observable in the laying out of the walks and arrangement of the stones. While a cemetery may be beautified under a competent hand, what can excuse the wholesale depredations made among the bones of our ancestors of the North End ?
Apparently the oldest stone in this cemetery bears the date of 1625, or before the settlement of Boston, being that of Grace Berry ; that of Joanna, daughter of William Copp, is dated 1625-6. It is said that these stones were altered in a boyish freak, by George Darracott, and thus made to falsify his- tory. It is worthy of remark that in Bridgman's epitaphs of Copp's Hill, these inscriptions are given as altered, without ex- planation. The true dates are 1695-6.
Since the beautiful symbolic customs of the Greeks and Ro- mans, their emblems are to be found in every churchyard. The broken column, the cylinder and sphere, the monumental urn and torch, are types derived from antiquity. The pyramids of Egypt, the tombs by the banks of the Nile, now used by the living, and the splendid mausoleums of the Greeks and Romans, are evidences of the respect and veneration felt for the departed in centuries gone by. Inscriptions were early used by the Greeks until forbidden by Lycurgus, except to such as died in battle. Since then wit, humor, and sentiment have been ex- hausted on marble or stone. Too many, perhaps, profess a virtue if they have it not ; others are facetious, marking the
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passage of a soul into eternity with a flippant jest. Pope and Byron wrote epitaphs on dogs, and Voltaire on a bird, while Prior demolishes the pretensions of Westminster Abbey in four lines : -
" Nobles and heralds, by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior, The son of Adam and of Eve ; Can Stuart or Nassau claim higher ?"
The following is from a stone in Copp's Hill : ---
"A sister of Sarah Lucas lieth here, Whom I did love most dear, And now her soul hath took its flight, And bid her spightful foes good night."
Many of the inscriptions are in rude contrast with the beau- tifully chiselled armorial bearings here seen, as in King's Chapel Ground, the best executed specimens of mortuary sculpture being usually imported from England. Some of the stones are indeed primitive, being little more than solid blocks, - massy, and scarce shaped into form. Quaint inscriptions, the traditional death's-head and hourglass, greet you on every hand. Many of the older inscriptions are illegible, - what wonder, after more than two hundred years' conflict with the elements ! Is the spirit which prompted the pious work of Old Mortality extin- guished in our historical institutions ?
The singular juxtaposition of names strikes the reader of the headstones in Copp's Hill. Here repose the ashes of Mr. John Milk and Mr. William Beer ; of Samuel Mower and Theodocia Hay ; Timothy Gay and Daniel Graves ; of Elizabeth Tout and Thomas Scoot. Here lie Charity Brown, Elizabeth Scarlet, and Marcy White ; Ann Ruby and Emily Stone. The old familiar North End names are here on every side. The Huguenot Sigourneys ; the Grays, of rope-making fame ; the Mountforts, claiming descent from the Norman Conquest. Edmund Hartt, builder of the Constitution ; Deacon Moses Grant and Major Seward of Revolutionary memory, and a host of others who go to swell the ranks of the unnumbered dead.
On the Charter Street side, near the northeast corner of the ground, is a beautiful weeping willow, its foliage drooping grace-
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fully over the monument of Joshua Ellis. This willow came from the grave of the great Corsican at St. Helena, having been brought in a vessel from the island.
Interments are now restricted to the tombs, and if we ex- cept the occasional pilgrimage of a stranger, the cemetery seems to be the common playground of the children of the neighbor- hood. Brick rises on all sides to exclude the glorious view which once expanded before the spectator ; only glimpses are obtained of the distant spires and monument of Charlestown, with perhaps a hand's-breadth here and there of the river and shipping below.
Acts of vandalism are recorded with respect to some of the gravestones in the yard. Those of Grace Berry and Captain Daniel Malcolm having served King George's soldiers for target- practice, by which they were splintered, and the inscriptions defaced. The names on some of the old tombs have been obliterated and others substituted. The beautiful coat of arms of the Hutchinsons has been thus desecrated. So says Thomas Bridgman in his Epitaphs. The remains of Thomas Hutch- inson, father of the governor, once rested here. Besides the Mathers, Andrew and John Eliot, divines of old celebrity, lie here.
From Copp's Hill Burgoyne and Clinton witnessed the fight on Bunker Hill, and directed the fire of the battery. It was a shell from here that set fire to Charlestown, adding to the gran- deur and horror of the scene. Clinton, seeing the ranks of his veterans reel and fall back before the murderous discharges from the redoubt, threw himself into a boat and crossed to the aid of Howe.
The British shipping took a prominent part in this battle, especially the Glasgow, which lay in a position where she swept Charlestown Neck with her guns, thus preventing reinforce- ments passing over to the Americans, and harassing their retreat from the hill. An American officer told Putnam no one could cross that Neck and live ; nevertheless it is stated, on the au- thority of Major Russell, that a number of Boston school-boys crossed and recrossed during the battle.
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The Glasgow was also one of the fleet that brought the Brit- ish troops to Boston in 1768. The engraving is from an original drawing, and shows the style of naval architecture in the last century.
Out of this tranquillity we can with difficulty conjure up the scene of carnage that once raged upon the hillside yon- der. The still, starry night that preceded the battle, when a thousand men, stacking their firelocks, with mattock and spade threw up the first ram- part of the Revolution. Grid- ley, the veteran engineer, marking out the works upon THE GLASGOW. the wet turf, with Pomeroy, Prescott, Putnam, and many more that heard
" The drum that beat at Louisburg and thundered in Quebec !"
How strangely to their ears must have sounded the cry of the British sentinel, " All's well !" as he paced where we now stand. To the laborers on that sultry night this cry was hailed at every hour as proof of their undiscovered toil. So the de- fences grew, hour by hour, until the morning dawned on the eventful day.
In this battle General Gage's military reputation was lost. By his neglect to seize and hold Charlestown heights a battle was forced upon him, with the loss of British prestige and twelve hundred of his bravest soldiers. And Howe, notwithstanding the bitter experience of that day, repeated the same experiment at Dorchester Heights before a year had passed.
It was once the custom to hang the escutcheon of a deceased head of a family from the window or over the entrance of a house from which a funeral was to take place until it was over. The last instance noted is that of Governor Hancock's uncle, Thomas Hancock, in 1764. Copies of the escutcheon were distributed among the pall-bearers, rings afterward, and gloves
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within fifty years. Scarfs were once given the mourners, but this was prohibited, in 1724, by law.
Before Copp's Hill was built upon so densely, it served the North End population as a place of promenade and recreation. The Common was far too distant, and wanted the attraction of the beautiful panorama of the harbor then to be seen from this eminence. The character of this quarter of the town has since then undergone a change, its residents no longer claiming the high standing once their due. The hill, fortunately for its preservation, is not in the line of the movement of traffic, and has experienced little alteration in the last twenty-five years.
After the surrender of Quebec the North-Enders made an unexampled bonfire on Copp's Hill. Forty five tar-barrels, two cords of wood, a mast, spars, and boards, with fifty pounds of powder, were set in a blaze, and must have cast a ruddy glow over the waters of the bay. This, with a similar illumination on Fort Hill, was paid for by the province, together with thirty- two gallons of rum and much beer for the people.
Charter Street, which makes the northern boundary of the cemetery, takes its name from the Charter of King William III. Under it Maine, Plymouth, and Massachusetts formed a single provincial government. The name has stood since 1708.
Sir William Phips's name is closely identified with the street, both as a resident and for having been the first governor under the new charter. His residence was at the westerly cor- ner of Salem and Charter Streets, which long went by the name of Phips's Corner. The house was of brick, altered by the addition of a third story in the present century, and was used in 1830 as an Asylum for Indigent Boys. The governor's name is remembered in Phips Place, near at hand.
Governor Phips's origin was obscure. An apprentice to a ship-carpenter in early youth, he is naturally found among his craftsmen of the North End. He received knighthood for the recovery of £ 300,000 of treasure, in 1687, from a sunken Spanish galleon, near the Bahamas, all of which he turned over to the English government, receiving £ 16,000 as his share. He made two expeditions against Canada in 1690, -
N
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one against Quebec, resulting unsuccessfully, and another in which his fleet captured Port Royal. It is said he received his appointment through the influence of Increase Mather, while the doctor was agent for the colony in England.
The occasion of the governor's arrival in Boston, May, 1692, was one of great rejoicing. On the 16th he was escorted from his dwelling to the State House by the Boston Regiment and companies from Charlestown, with the magistrates and people, not only of Boston, but the neighboring towns. The new charter and the governor's commission were then read from the balcony, according to custom, and the old governor, Bradstreet, vacated his office. A banquet closed the ceremonies.
Dr. Cotton Mather says Phips dreamed when a poor boy that he would become rich and build him a house on the Green Lane, the ancient name of Salem Street. He lived to realize his dream, and become the head of the colony.
Sir William was a man of ungovernable temper. He assaulted Brenton, the collector of the port, and caned Captain Short, of the Nonesuch frigate. He was of large stature and great per- sonal strength, which made these personal conflicts undesirable to his foes. An instance is given of his having acted a Crom- wellian part. Having procured, by a bare majority, the passage of an act prohibiting any but residents of the town they repre- sented to be members of the General Court, Sir William rushed into the chamber and drove out the non-resident representa- tives, who did not stand upon the order of their going, but left the governor master of the field. Governor Phips was a mem- ber of the Old North under the ministration of the Mathers. Aside from his impetuous disposition, he is described as a man of sterling traits. He died in London in 1695, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, where a long epitaph commemorates his life and public services.
Hutchinson relates that once in Sir William's absence his wife, whose name was Mary (William and Mary were the reigning sovereigns), was applied to in behalf of a poor woman who had been committed under a charge of witchcraft, and that out of the goodness of her heart she signed a warrant for the
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woman's discharge, which mandate was obeyed by the keeper of the jail without question, but with the ultimate loss of his place.
In Charter Street lived the ancestors of John Foster Wil- liams, who, in the Massachusetts frigate Protector, of twenty- six guns, sunk the English ship Admiral Duff, of thirty guns, during the Revolutionary War. In this action Preble, after- wards commodore, was a midshipman with Williams, who died in Boston in 1814. Foster Street, now Clark, was intended to perpetuate the old family. Paul Revere, the fidus Achates of Warren, lived and died in a house in Charter Street which he bought near the close of the war of Independence. It stood near Hanover Street, on the west side, where Revere Place now is.
Spencer Phips, afterwards lieutenant-governor, was origi- nally named David Bennet, but took the name of his Uncle Phips when adopted by him. He also lived in Sir William's house. Spencer Phips was in office while William Shirley was governor, and was of course overshadowed by that remark- able man. Phips was succeeded by Hutchinson at his death in 1757.
Hull Street bounds the cemetery on the south. It is named for John Hull, through whose pasture it was laid out, and was conveyed to the town by Judge Samuel Sewall and wife, on the express condition that it should always bear that name.
SE H C. 1652 PINE-TREE SHILLING. D MA N John Hull, the primitive owner of this field, is famed as the coiner of the first money in New Eng- land. The scarcity of silver in the col- ony for a circulating medium seems to have rendered the step necessary, The colonists being pur- chasers as yet, the bullion flowed out of the country.
In the "History and Antiquities of Boston" it is remarked :
"It was no small stretch of authority for a Colony or a Province to presume to coin money ; but this Colony was now very peculiarly
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situated, and its presumption in taking this step was greatly favored by the recent state of affairs in the mother country."
The mint was established at John Hull, the silversmith's, . house, and he and his coadjutor, Robert Sanderson, took oath that all the money coined by them should " be of the just alloy of the English cojne ; that every shilling should be of due weight, namely, three penny troj weight, and all other pieces proportionably, so neere as G they could." This was, in SI 1652, the origin of the old E 1632 pine - tree shilling. Hull's house was the same formerly. .00 N .000 N owned by Rev. John Cotton. In 1654 an order of the Gen- eral Court prohibited the transportation out of its jurisdiction of more than twenty shillings " for necessary expenses" by any person. Searchers were appointed " to examine all packs, persons, trunks, chests, boxes or the like." The penalty was. . the seizure of the whole estate of the offender.
Hull began poor, and ended rich, many of his new shillings finding their way into his own strong-box. He was a very worthy NE MI 1 6/2 man, and a member of the First Church under Rev. John Wilson. 2 0 . He married Judith, the daughter of Edmund Quincy, ancestor of that family in New England.
From her is named that much- dreaded point of Narragansett Bay, where Neptune exacts his tribute from voyagers through the Sound. It is said, moreover, that Hannah Hull, his daughter, received for her wedding por- tion her weight in pine-tree shillings when she married Judge Sewall, - a statement probably originating in an ingenious com- putation of the weight of the sum she actually received. "From this marriage," remarks Quincy, " has sprung the eminent family of the Sewalls, which has given three chief justices to Massa- chusetts and one to Canada, and has been distinguished in every generation by the talents and virtues of its members."
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Salem Street was, in 1708, from Mr. Phips's corner in Charter Street to Prince Street ; from thence to Hanover it was Back Street.
Christ Church spire has long dominated over this locality, and served as a landmark for vessels entering the harbor. It is the oldest church in Boston standing on its original ground, having been erected in 1723, - six years before the Old South. Of the fifteen churches built previous to 1750, only seven occupy their original sites ; the others may be found in the new city which has sprung up as if by magic in the old bed of Charles River.
This was the second Episcopal Church erected in the town. It has been in its day considered one of the chief architectural ornaments of the North End. The body of the church has the plain monotonous style peculiar to all the old houses of wor- ship, but the steeple - the design of Charles Bul- finch - beau- tifies the whole structure. The old steeple was blown downin the great gale of 1804, fall- ing upon an old wooden building at the 2 corner of Tiles- ton Street, through which it crashed, to the consterna- tion of the tenants, who, however, es- CHRIST CHURCH.
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caped injury. In rebuilding, the height was shortened about sixteen feet by Joseph Tucker, the builder. Over the entrance is a plain CHRIST CHURCH. 1723. tablet with the name and date of the house.
It is generally known that from this steeple - which was visible far and near - warning was given of the intended march to Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere's narrative gives a relation of the method : -
" On Tuesday evening, the 18th of April, 1775, it was observed that a number of soldiers were marching towards Boston Common. About ten o'clock Dr. Warren sent in great haste for me, and begged that I would immediately set off for Lexington, where were Hancock and Adams, and acquaint them of the movement, and that it was thought they were the objects. The Sunday before, by desire of Dr. Warren, I had been to Lexington to see Hancock and Adams, who were at Rev. Mr. Clark's.
" I returned at night, through Charlestown. There I agreed with a Colonel Conant and some other gentlemen that if the British went out by water we would show two lanterns in the North Church steeple, and if by land, one, as a signal ; for we were apprehensive it would be difficult to cross Charles River, or get over Boston Neck. I left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the signals. I then went home, took my boots and surtout, went to the north part of the town, where I had kept a boat. Two friends rowed me across Charles River, a little to the eastward, where the Somerset lay. It was then young flood ; the ship was winding, and the moon was rising. They landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others. They said they had seen our signals."
Within the steeple are hung a chime of bells, placed there in 1744, - the first whose cadences gladdened the town.
" Low at times and loud at times, And changing like a poet's rhymes, Rang the beautiful wild chimes."
These bells were from the famous West of England foundry of Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, whose bells have been heard in many a town and hamlet of "Merrie England." Each had an inscription containing its own and much contemporary his- tory, as follows : -
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FIRST BELL.
"This peal of eight bells is the gift of a number of generous persons to Christ Church, in Boston, N. E., Anno 1744. A. R."
SECOND BELL.
" This Church was founded in the year 1723. Timothy Cutler, D. D., the first Rector. A. R. 1723."
THIRD BELL.
" We are the first ring of bells cast for the British Empire in North America. A. R. 1744."
FOURTH BELL.
" God preserve the Church of England. 1744."
FIFTH BELL.
" William Shirley, Esq., Governor of the Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng- land. Anno 1744."
SIXTH BELL.
"The subscription for these bells was begun by John Hammock and Robert Temple, Church Wardens, Anno 1743 ; completed by Robert Jenkins and John Gould, Church Wardens, Anno 1744."
SEVENTH BELL.
" Since generosity has opened our mouths, our tongues shall ring aloud its praise. 1744."
EIGHTH BELL. " Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, cast us all, Anno 1744."
The chimes or "ring of bells," were obtained in England by Dr. Cutler, and were consecrated there. They were invested with the power to dispel evil spirits, - according to popular belief. The same bells still hang in the belfry. Their carillon, vibrating harmony on the air of a quiet Sabbath, summons the third generation for whom they have proclaimed "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men."
The chandeliers used formerly in the church were given by that Captain Gruchy we visited not long since. Mrs. Crocker's relation is, that they were taken from a Spanish vessel by one of Gruchy's privateers, and found their way to a Protestant Church instead of a Catholic Cathedral, as was intended. Dr. Cutler, the first rector, lived on the corner of Tileston and Salem Streets, in close proximity to the church.
The height of tower and steeple is 175 feet, and the aggregate weight of the bells 7,272 pounds ; the smallest weighing 620
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pounds, the largest 1,545. General Gage, it is said, witnessed from Christ Church steeple the burning of Charlestown and battle of Bunker Hill.
In this church is the first monument ever erected to the memory of Washington in our country. Dr. Byles, the rector, ' left Boston in 1775, and went to St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he was settled as rector and curé of the church of that place. This Dr. Byles was the son of Rev. Mather Byles, the punning parson of Hollis Street. There does not appear to have been a settled pastor after this until 1778.
The interior has been considerably changed by alterations. Formerly there was a centre aisle, now closed, as is also the large altar window. The chancel is decorated with paintings creditably executed by a Boston artist. The walls of the church are of great strength, being two feet and a half thick; the brick are laid in the style of the last century, in what is termed the English Bond, of which but a few specimens remain in Boston.
Like many of the old Boston churches, this has its vaults underneath for the reception of the dead, and with them, of course, its legendary lore. In Shaw it is recorded that
" In 1812, while the workmen were employed building tombs, one of them found the earth so loose that he settled his bar into it the whole length with a single effort. The superintendent directed him to proceed till he found solid earth. About six feet below the bot- tom of the cellar he found a coffin covered with a coarse linen cloth sized with gum, which, on boiling, became white, and the texture as firm as if it had recently been woven. Within this coffin was another, protected from the air in a similar manner, and the furniture was not in the least injured by time. The flesh was sound, and some- what resembling that of an Egyptian mummy. The skin, when cut, resembled leather. The sprigs of evergreen, deposited in the coffin, resembled the broad-leaved myrtle ; the stem was elastic ; the leaves fresh and apparently in a state of vegetation. From the in- scription it was found to be the body of a Mr. Thomas, a native of New England, who died in Bermuda. Some of his family were among the founders of Christ Church. His remains, when discov- ered, had been entombed about eighty years."
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Major Pitcairn's remains were interred under this church, and thereby hangs another legend. After being twice wounded, Pitcairn rallied his men for a third assault, and received his death-wound while entering the redoubt, falling into the arms of his own son, who bore him to the boat. He was brought across the river and taken to the house of Mr. Stoddard, boat- builder, near the ferry, where he bled to death in a short time.
Pitcairn was a large, portly man, and so was Lieutenant Shea, whose remains were also deposited under the church. The lat- ter died of fever ; and when, some time after the events of the Revolution, the body of Pitcairn was sent for by his relatives in England, it is said that of Lieutenant Shea was forwarded by mistake. The sexton was at a loss to identify the remains, but the presence of a large blistering plaster on the head of the body he sent to England seems to point to a blunder on his part. It has been questioned whether the monument in West- minster Abbey to Pitcairn commemorates his bravery and death on the battle-field, or that of a man who died from inflamma- tion of the brain in his bed.
Pitcairn will always be remembered as the leader of the ad- vance-guard who fired on the provincials at Lexington, and began the great drama of the Revolution. He always main- tained that the minute-men fired first, which those present on the American side warmly disputed. This circumstance has associated Pitcairn's name with undeserved obloquy, for he was a brave officer and a kind-hearted man. Of all the British officers in Boston, he alone, it is said, dealt justly and impar-' tially by the townspeople in their disputes with the troops. His men were warmly attached to him, and declared they had lost a father when he fell. Gage sent his own physician to attend him. The bullet which laid the gallant marine low was fired by a negro soldier from Salem. The regiment which he commanded arrived from England in the latter part of Decem- ber, 1774, in the Asia, Boyne, and Somerset.
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