Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, Part 5

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1399

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts > Part 5

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

upon a stipulation made by him that the conference should be held in the meeting-house, the English on one side and he and his men on the other. It was a memorable gathering and upon its conclusions hung momentous events. There is no doubt that at that time the wily chief was maturing plans to unite all the Indian nations of New York and New England against the colonists, which, had they been successfully consummated, might have changed the whole course of events.

Philip at first denied all hostility to the English, insisting that his warlike preparations were made for attack upon the Narragansetts; but when he was confronted with proofs that he was on the best of terms with that nation, he reluctantly admitted the truth. He was then required by the commissioners to make reparation for past injuries and to give security for his peaceful attitude in the future. The latter only he agreed to do, and he and his council signed a humiliating treaty of submission, acknowledging his folly and wickedness and agreeing to give up his "English arms " to the "government of New Plymouth." The treaty was signed by him and five others.

It is not strange that this agreement was broken by the Indians. While they might, but probably would not, have kept faith as to their peaceful actions in the future, it might have been foreseen that they would never give up their arms without a struggle. Guns and powder and lead were almost a necessity for the natives in the chase, and in the following June it was learned that Philip was influencing his subjects to secrete their arms; such as had been surrendered were distributed among the towns. The Council of War met on the 23d of August, 1671, a part of the proceedings of which was the sending of letters to Philip requiring him to come forward and submit to the provisions of the treaty before noticed, and to the authorities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island invoking their co-operation against the Indians. Philip did not reply to this summons, but went to the Massachusetts author- ities and entered complaint against the Plymouth government. This resulted in the meeting of commissioners from Massachusetts and Con- necticut, and others, with the Plymouth authorities, for "a fair and deliberate hearing of the controversy between our colony and the said sachem, Philip, he being present, at which meeting it was proved by sufficient testimony to the conviction of the said Philip and satisfaction of all that audience, that he had broken his covenant made with our colony at Taunton in April last in divers particulars, as also carried very unkindly unto us divers ways." A series of articles of agreement

INDIAN TROUBLES.

were then drawn and read to Philip, in which he acknowledged his al- legiance to the English king; agreed to pay £100 in three years; would refer any difference between himself and the English to the governor of Plymouth for settlement; would not make war without the gover- nor's consent, and would not sell any of his lands without approval of the Plymouth government. The sachem and seven of his council signed these articles, but evidently with a mental reservation; they continued their plots and schemes. The peace thus secured was only temporary. The war-cloud hung constantly in the sky, and minor in- cidents of hostilities kept the settlers in continual apprehension of the terrible outbreak that finally came.

While it is both impracticable and unnecessary to here present a de- tailed history of this war, a brief review of the important events in which the settlers of Bristol county took part is admissible. The con- test began with the plundering of houses in what is now Swansea (then in old Rehoboth), on Sunday, June 20, 1675, while the families were absent at meeting, and the first bloodshed followed in the same locality on the 24th. That day had been set apart for fasting and prayer on account of anticipated suffering, and as the people were returning from meeting they were fired upon by the Indians and one man killed, while others were wounded. Two men were then sent away for a surgeon and both were killed. In another part of the town six others were killed. Such was the beginning in Bristol county territory of a terrible harvest of death and destruction.

On Sunday previous to the outbreak a message of alarm was sent to Plymouth and the governor ordered the captains in the town to march their companies to Taunton and assemble on June 21, where Major Bradford would receive them. The first relief received by the Swansea settlers was a company of seventeen mounted men from Bridgewater, who arrived at a fortified house at what is Gardiner's Neck on the 22d. In this house were collected sixteen men and fifty-four women and children, who were defended until reinforcements came, when the non- combatants were sent into Rhode Island. Besides the mounted men there were at Swansea a company of infantry under Capt. Daniel Henchman; a company of volunteers under Capt. Samuel Moseley, and a company under Capt. James Cudworth, of Scituate. On the 26th several companies of troops left Boston and arrived just before night at the scene of the war. On the 27th a party of Indians burned the houses of John Tisdall, sr., and James Walker in Taunton, and killed

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Tisdall, and John Knolles and Samuel Atkins of Eastham.1 Tisdall's house was near Assonet, Walker's on the west side of the great river and probably down Three-Mile River. Taunton being on the direct road from Boston to Swansea and Mount Hope, was made a place of rendezvous for various bodies of soldiers and several houses were trans- formed into garrisoned refuges. A body of troops under Major Savage marched from Swansea and Rehoboth in pursuit of Philip, and not overtaking him, proceeded to Taunton, arriving July 17, where they found "eight garrisoned houses." 2

Returning to the consideration of affairs in Swansea, the combined forces there were placed under command of Capt. James Cudworth. The house of Rev. John Myles (or Miles), standing near a bridge over Palmer's River, about three miles north of Warren, was strengthened against attack and there the troops assembled.3 The Indians were growing bold and bloodthirsty, lurking so near this house that they ·were enabled to shoot two of the sentinels; no one was safe away from his dwelling. Early in the strife, when a detachment of Prentice's cavalry, accompanied by Captain Church, was on a march forward, they had no sooner crossed the Miles bridge than they were fired upon from ambuscade and William Hammond, a pilot, was killed, and Quartermasters Gill and Belcher wounded. The troopers were panic- stricken and fled in disorder. On the 29th of June a body of Indians came into view, whooping at the white men and challenging a fight. Captain Moseley and his company accepted the challenge, rushed furi- ously upon them, driving them about a mile and killing half a dozen. Ensign Savage was wounded in this sortie.

Philip was now closely pressed and prudently abandoned his seat of operations, hastened down into the Pocasset country, where he joined

1 At the March court of 1676-7 three Indians named Timothy Jacked (alias Canjuncke), Nassam- aquat and Pompacanshe, were indicted for killing these three men and were tried by a jury. The verdict was peculiar; as to the first two named it was, "We find they are very suspicious of the murder charged on them. And in the reference unto Pompacanshe, we find nothing against him." They were all " sent out of the country speedily " by the court.

2 Baylies's Memoirs of Plymouth Colony.

3There were three principal garrison houses maintained in old Rehoboth during the war; one was in what is now Attleborough, called Woodcock's garrison; another on the south end of See- konk plain (now Seekonk Common), and the third the one above noticed at the bridge. The Woodcock garrison was named from John Woodcock, who built the house and kept a tavern in it. Several other houses were occupied temporarily as garrisons. Capt. Benjamin Church, in his writings, mentions a Major Brown's garrison, and Mr. Bayiies in his Memoirs notices a garri- son at the house of one Bourn, at Mattapoisett, twelve miles from Swansea; the latter was un- doubtedly at what is now Gardiner's Neck.

INDIAN TROUBLES.

with those and the Seaconnet Indians and began a campaign of blood and fire, laying waste Dartmouth, Freetown, Westport, New Bedford, Compton and Tiverton.1 Early in July Captain Church induced the commander in Swansea to send Captain Fuller and thirty six men to Pocasset and make and effort to treat with the Indians. This was after the brave man had endeavored to incite the troops to a hot pursuit of Philip. When Fuller and his men arrived at their destination they divided into two parties, were pursued by the Indians and barely escaped death or capture.

In the old town of Dartmouth there were three garrisons; one was on the north bank of the Aponagansett River, known as Russell's gar- rison .? Another was the Cooke garrison, at Oxford village, in Fair- haven, the walls of which were in good preservation until recent times. A quarter of a mile distant was the house of John Cooke, from whom the garrison took its name; he was a prominent settler and land owner of Dartmouth, who died in 1695. The third garrison was on Palmer's Island, between New Bedford and Fairhaven, which became a conven- ient and comparatively safe place of refuge. Regarding the destruc- tion of Dartmouth by the Indians, Drake wrote as follows:

They burnt nearly thirty houses in Dartmouth (a place in New Plymouth Colony), killing many people after a most barbarous manner, as skinning them all over alive, some only their heads, cutting off their hands and feet; but any woman they took alive they defiled, afterward putting her to death by some of these or the like ways.

The scattered condition of the inhabitants of Dartmouth rendered them easy prey to the savages, and few escaped to the garrisons. Dartmouth was not required to furnish soldiers during this war on account of her maintenance of the garrisons, and for several years after peace came the town was not taxed because of the great suffering of the inhabitants.

On the 18th of July an expedition was sent against Philip, who was located in a swamp in what is now Tiverton. The English, discovering a few Indians at the edge of the swamp, rushed recklessly forward; the Indians retreated, thus drawing on the soldiers until they reached

1 Captain Church says: "The enemy were not really beaten out of Mount Hope Neck, though it was true they fled from thence, yet it was before any pursued them. It was only to strengthen themselves and to secure a more advantageous post."

2 Russell's garrison was situated "about a mile from the mouth of the river on land now (1892) owned by Capt. Charles Gifford. The cellars are still as clearly defined as when visited by Drake in 1827. . . Years ago there were walls of rude masonry about four feet high, with an exit on the northeast corner, leading to a brook near by."-Ellis's History of New Bedford, p. 25.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

an ambuscade, when fifteen were shot down, and they were compelled to retreat for the day. Fortifications were then built around the out- skirts of the swamp, with the hope of starving the Indians into sub- mission. One night near the last of the month Philip and his subjects suddenly fled, reached the opposite shore in canoes and made their way into the Nipensic country (now in Worcester county), where he joined with other tribes and swept through the Connecticut valley, burning villages, devastating homes and slaying settlers. In the mean time the colonial soldiery had reached the Narragansett country and extorted a treaty of friendship from Canonchet, the powerful chief of that tribe. The news of this event reached Philip and spurred him on to greater activity in his war of extermination.

While these operations were in progress to the westward, the Massa- chusetts and Plymouth authorities were unremitting in their efforts to adequately prepare for further warfare with the Indians. On the 9th of September, 1675, commissioners of each colony met at Boston, and the representatives of Plymouth Colony made a statement, "Shewing the manner of the beginning of the present war with the Indians of Mount Hope and Pocasset." A general declaration of war was then signed by the commissioners under which combined action could be secured. An order of the General Court was issued on the 4th of Octo- ber, 1675, appointing James Cudworth to the " office of a Generall, or Commander in Cheife, to take the charge of our forces that are or may be sent forth in the behalfe of the Colonie against the Enemie as occa- tion may require." The proportion of men to be furnished by each town was also fixed and further appointments of officers made. Early in December the following order was issued:

Gentle, You are hereby to requre your men pressed, to be in reddiness to march soe as they attaine to meet at Providence on the 10th of Dec. next, and in order thereunto, that they rendevous on the seaventh of the said month att Plymouth, on eighth att Taunton, att Rheoboth on the 9th, and Providence on the tenth, as afore- said, And that you see that they not only be able and fitt men, but alsoe well fitted with clothing nessary for the season, and provided with knapsack and ammunition, according to order, viz. : Halfe a pound of powder and 4 pounds of bullets to each man. Fayle not.

The last important attack made by Philip in the interior was that upon Hatfield, Mass., on October 29, when he with his one thousand warriors was repulsed with heavy loss. He was now alarmed and moved hurriedly into Rhode Island, where he joined the Narragansetts, who united with him, regardless of their recently made treaty. . Philip

INDIAN TROUBLES.

now had a force of about three thousand warriors. Proceeding to the site of South Kingston, R. I., where there was a fort in a large swamp, and where winter provisions had been gathered, he awaited the expected oncoming of the English. About fifteen hundred colonial troops marched forward amid the snows of winter, on the 12th of December, and soon arrived at Wickford, R. I. From that time to the 18th re- connoitering was kept up and a number of Indians were captured. As soon as a body of Connecticut forces arrived, the forward movement was begun and on the 19th the siege of the Indian fort commenced. It was a feeble palisade and in a few hours five hundred wigwams and the store of provisions were in flames; hundreds of men, women and children perished in the fire. Quarter was neither asked nor given and a thousand warriors were slain and several hundred made prisoners. The English lost eighty-six killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. Canonchet was killed, but Philip escaped and again fled to the Nip- mucks, whence he started on another campaign of slaughter and de- struction in the spring. Weymouth, Groton, Medfield, Lancaster and Marlborough, and Warwick and Providence in Rhode Island, were at- tacked and within a few weeks the war extended over a space of three hundred miles. But notwithstanding this temporary success and the terrible consequences thereby entailed, there could be but one end to the struggle of savagery against civilization.

From March until the last of August, 1676, important events in the war took place within or near the limits of Bristol county. On Sunday, March 26, was fought within the original bounds of the county and near Pawtucket a bloody battle between the English under Capt. Mi- chael Peirce, of Scituate, and the Indians led by Canonchet. The brave captain was killed with nearly all of his command, and the In- dian losses were even greater. The Indians were now largely divided into smaller parties, roving about among the settlements, lurking in concealment and killing settlers whenever an opportunity offered. For example, Woodcock's garrison, in Rehoboth, before mentioned, was attacked in April; one of Woodcock's sons was killed in a field, an- other workman was wounded and the son's house was burned. Wood- cock swore lasting vengeance against the savages and many fell at his hands after that. There were only fourteen persons living at Wood- cock's settlement at that time, most of whom were members of his own family and those of his sons and daughters.1

1 A meeting of the Council was held in Boston on June 17, 1676, at which an order was issued 6

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Two days after Peirce's fight and on March 28, a party of Indians crossed the river and burned about forty houses, thirty barns and two mills. These houses stood around what is now Seekonk Common. Only the garrison house and one other were left standing. Robert Beers, an Irishman and a bricklayer, was killed on that occasion. Tra- dition credits Philip with being present at the burning of the village.

The Narragansett chief, Canonchet, was captured on the 9th of April. Jealousy arose among the Indians, some of the tribes, among them the Narragansetts, charging their misfortune to Philip's ambition and then deserting his cause. The end of the struggle was approach- ing. On May 24 Capt. Thomas Brattle, of Boston, with about fifty inounted men and a small force of infantry marched to Pawtucket Falls, where they discovered a body of Indians on the opposite side of the river. The cavalry found a fording place further up the stream, crossed over and fell upon the unwarned savages, killing several and capturing others. Some time in the same month, four men of Taun- ton, viz., Sergt. James Phillips, James Bell, Henry Andrews and Ed- ward Babbitt, were killed, leaving thirty-two fatherless children.

On June 19 Swansea was again attacked by the Indians and nearly all of the remaining houses were burned. On the 26th of that month Hezekiah Willett, son of Capt. Thomas Willett, was captured and after cutting off his ears and nose the savages set him free. He probably soon died from his injuries. On the 6th of August an Indian arrived at Taunton and offered to conduct soldiers to a party of the enemy who could be easily captured. Twenty men volunteered and proceeded to what is known as Lockety Neck (now in Norton) and captured the whole party of twenty-six Indians. On the 1st of August Philip's wife and his son, aged about nine years, were taken prisoners by the Eng- lish, with several other women and children, an event that crushed the heart and life of the sachem. On Saturday, August 12, early in the morning, Philip was shot by a faithless Indian near Mount Hope, and Captain Church cut off his head and it was carried on a pole to Plym- out.1 Philip's great warrior chief, Annawan, now became sachem,

that a body of soldiers should "repair to Dedham on 2d day next early, and range the woods to and again for the discovery, distressing and destroying the enemy." This action was taken on account of information received "that the Indians are skulking to and again about Wrentham, Woodcock's, or Mount Hope." These orders were carried out.

1 " The death of Philip occurred in this wise: An Indian deserter came to Capt. Church, in Rhode Island, and told him that Philip was at Mount Hope, at the same time offering to guide him to the place and help to kill him, for the sachem had killed his (the informant's) brother, and it was his duty to kill the murderer. This was the 'faithless Indian' who shot Philip. The

INDIAN TROUBLES.

but his career in that capacity was brief. On the 28th of August he was captured by Captain Church1 at a place known as Annawan's Rock, in the easterly part of the town of Rehoboth. This event ended the war.

King Philip's war was most disastrous to all New England, and the energies and progress of the colonists were crippled for a number of years. In Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies thirteen towns were destroyed, six hundred houses burned, and about six hundred persons killed; the property destroyed had an estimated value of $750, 000.

There is a sequel to the story of this war that is not a subject for gratifying contemplation. Notwithstanding Captain Church's pledges to Annawan that he would intercede with the English authorities in his behalf, which pledges he kept, the old warrior was beheaded, with others of his tribe. This is not all. Nearer the close of hostilities there were at Russell's garrison about one hundred and fifty Indians who had surrendered to Captain Eels and Ralph Earl, upon solemn promises that they would be protected; these Indians were encamped in the woods near the garrison when Captain Church and his men arrived on the scene. In the face of the promises made, and the em- phatic protest of Captain Church, these Indians were carried off to Plymouth and after a sort of trial were condemned and sold into slav- ery. This unwarranted and unjust act has received condemnation from some of the greatest minds of the country and needs no further consid- eration here.

An order was issued in June, 1676, that an account of the particular disbursements caused by the war should be sent in to the July court, so that there might be a "right proportioning of the whole charge upon the several towns." The amount of disbursements sent in was £3,692 16s. 2d. In 1677 the conquered lands of Showamet and Asso- net were ordered to be sold and the proceeds divided among the towns. In 1680 the Mount Hope lands were sold to John Walley, Col. Nathaniel

barbarous law of England that a traitor should be quartered was carried out in the case of Philip. Church's Indian executioner performed that service with his hatchet."-Lossing's Cyclo- pedia of U. S. History.

1 Col. Benjamin Church was born in Duxbury, Mass., in 1639, and dicd January 17, 1717, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, at Little Compton, R. I. He married Miss Alice Southworth, and had five sons and a daughter. His daring and intrepidity can scarce find an equal in our annals. He was particularly distinguished in Philip's war, and was afterwards sent on an expedition against the Eastern Indians. (Church's History of Philip's war.) William Church, esq., of Providence, R. I., and Church Gray, esq., of Seekonk, are lineal descendants of this hero, the for- mer by the father's and the latter by the mother's side.

OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Byefield, Stephen Burton and Nathaniel Oliver, of Boston, who estab- lished a settlement there which was incorporated the same year as the town of Bristol. A period of thirteen years of peace began.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

The inborn, unconquerable spirit of determination and perseverance of the pioneers of Bristol county, their hopefulness, and their ambition lifted them above the discouragement and suffering of the late war, and under the white banner of peace they soon began a sure, if slow, march of progress. Such increase of population was made throughout the colony during the decade following the close of King Philip's war, that its division became a necessity in order to secure proper local gov- ernment in the various sections. Accordingly, on June 2, 1685, Plym- outh Colony was divided into the counties of Plymouth, Barnstable and Bristol. The towns then composing the latter were Taunton, Rehoboth, Dartmouth, Swansea, Bristol, Tiverton, Little Compton, and Freetown, and the plantation of Cumberland Gore, and Attleborough, in the order of their formation, as described in Chapter II. A consid- erable part of this territory was afterward set off to Rhode Island (1746). Industrial operations within what finally became Bristol county were still confined to a few saw and grist mills, the Leonard iron works in Taunton (see history of Taunton in later chapters), and the working in small shops of shoemakers, blacksmiths and hatmakers. There were only two schools in this territory, one in Taunton and one in Rehoboth. There were several church societies, the pastors of which made teach- ing the young, to some extent, a part of their occupation.

In the same year of the county incorporation Nicholas Peck, Thomas Leonard and Joseph Church were appointed to hold in Bristol county courts similar in character to the old Court of Common Pleas. Bristol (now in Rhode Island) was made the shire town of the county. Taun- ton was very displeased, and with reason, at the way in which the county was constituted. Thomas Leonard and Nathaniel Williams, deputies to the court, were requested "to do their utmost endeavors to

FROM 1685 TO 1776.

get this town free from under ye county of Bristol which the town always have been unwilling to submit unto." The people claimed that " neither Court or Deputies had power to sell us or our privileges to Bristol no more than to sell us to the French;" that the " county rates have been made upon us with an excess above our due pro- portion," etc. The deputies were unable to accomplish what they were hoping for. Again, in 1693, another attempt was made in the interest of Taunton as seen in the following :

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Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts, Part 5

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company Number of Pages: 1399

Author: Borden, Alanson, 1823-1900; Boston History Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 1399