USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > West Brookfield > Quabaug, 1660-1910 : an account of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration held at West Brookfield, Mass., September 21, 1910 ; > Part 2
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J. THOMAS WEBB CHARLES S. LANE JAMES E. BARR
HAROLD A. FOSTER
ARCHETARY
19
PREPARING THE WAY
of Boston, Springfield, and Worcester, as well as in the local press. In this work the foremost place was taken by Hon. Theodore C. Bates and Frederick M. Ashby, of North Brook- field. In addition, posters were put up in all conspicuous places and otherwise scattered broadcast throughout the region, circulars were issued, and hundreds of letters written.
So, all through the summer of 1910, no effort was spared to pave the way for the biggest and most successful celebra- tion ever held in the Quabaug territory. As the plans ma- tured, public enthusiasm steadily increased. On September 18, the Sunday immediately preceding the anniversary, special services were held, on the invitation of the committee, in most of the churches of the four towns. At these services, the higher lessons of patriotism, civic morality and religious duty were dwelt upon, and the brave story of the past was employed to inspire profound gratitude in the hearts of the hearers, a deeper faith in the divine leadership, and a more vivid consciousness of personal obligation to advance the nobler ends of living. Through the kindness of the superin- tendents and teachers of the public schools, a day was also set apart for special historical and patriotic exercises in the schools.
Monday and Tuesday were, for the members of the Joint Executive Committee, doubtless, the most strenuous days of their lives. With a thousand last things to be done, there was scarcely time to crowd in a brief meeting, the last held by the committee previous to the long-awaited event. "Members of the General Committee"-so runs the laconic report of the secretary-"announced that the arrangements for the following day were progressing rapidly; and, as the members were busy making final arrangements, it was voted to adjourn to the call of the chairman."
It may be doubted whether the members of the com- mittee went to bed at all that night, or, if they did, whether, with brains still working at fever heat in the vain endeavor to detect a single detail that had been overlooked, they caught
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
a wink of sleep. But the other residents of the Quabaug townships, knowing full well in whom of their fellow-citizens they had placed their trust, went calmly to their beds, their only anxiety in the world being some apprehension as to the possible antics of the weather-man.
II. THE PARADE.
If the aforesaid weather-man had been a native of Brook- field and had devoted all his life to practicing the difficult art of producing a perfect day for the celebration of his mother town's quarter-millenium, he could not have compassed a more brilliant success. In the early gray of the morning, a heavy shower of rain cleared the air and laid the dust upon the country roads. No wonder the face of the rising sun beamed with satisfaction, for wherever he looked upon the Quabaug landscape, field and hill, highway and byway, farmstead and village-home, shone clean and fresh from its matutinal ablutions, while his bright rays agreeably tempered the crisp air of autumn.
In every village, too, he found a profusion of gay bunt- ing; for not only the public buildings, but many of the private residences as well, proudly returned his gaze, as though con- scious of the brave apparel in which the decorator had adorned them.
From the spires of the four villages, the merry peal of sunrise bells proclaimed the dawning of the gala day. Hardly had they ceased, when from the remotest outposts of the dis- trict each house and hamlet began to send out little groups of pilgrims, all wending toward the center of the day's festi- vities. The scene must have reminded the ghosts of the long- ago dwellers in the land-if any such were lurking in the morning twilight-of that autumn day in 1740, when the roads for miles around were dotted with little knots of folk journeying up to Foster's Hill to hear George Whitefield preach. Here and there, too-in striking contrast with the
Congregational Church
School House
WEST BROOKFIELD COMMON, LOOKING SOUTH,
SITE OF THE 200TH AND 250TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS, 1860-1910
21
THE PARADE
sober appearance of the earlier pilgrims-were gaily decora- ted floats, companies of red-shirted firemen with their shining apparatus, and everywhere bevies of maidens clad in festive raiment that their great-great-grandmothers would have opened wide their eyes to gaze on.
Every means of egress to West Brookfield-highway, trolley road, steam railway-poured in its living stream. By eight o'clock, the Common and the surrounding streets were filled with happy throngs. The village was even braver in bunting than its sister villages. Old Glory waved from countless windows, or was twined in various shapes across the house-fronts, while side by side with emblems carrying the mind back to the infancy of the country were banners bearing the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, and the Pres- ident of the hour, William H. Taft. So was the past linked visibly with the present, and the patriotism that looks with pride to a famous history joined with the living love and loyalty that are the truest presage of a future no less glorious.
Mammoth tents pitched on the northern portion of the Common added their gay decorations to the swelling sym- phony of color. The largest of these, two hundred and fifty feet long, was to be used for the literary and musical features of the afternoon, while two more, each one hundred feet in length, were to house the multitudes at dinner. A smaller one nearby served as the headquarters of the caterer and his little army of assistants. Still another was occupied by the Bureau of Information.
If the Man in the Moon had dropped down upon the scene at that early morning hour, he might well have felt some bewilderment as to the precise historical era on which he had lighted. In addition to the spectators, there were, to be sure, hundreds of school children, all excitement in anticipation of the coming parade, whose pretty attire was plainly that of the twentieth century. But there were many others who were to take part in the parade as Colonials, and their quaint garments contrasted strangely with the frills
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
and gaudy ribbons of the present. The suggestion they afforded of Colonial days was heightened, too, by the pre- sence in the crowd of members of the Quabaug Tribe of Red Men, in full paint and feathers, whose part in the parade was overshadowed by the conspicuous rôle they were to play in the sham battle afterwards. Finally, the era of the Civil War was represented by the blue uniforms of the Grand Army veterans. Altogether it was a motley throng, whose endless variety added much to the charm of the spectacle.
Soon after eight o'clock, the parade began to form, and the masterly way in which orderly arrangement was grad- ually wrought out of apparent chaos testified to the com- manding generalship of the chief marshal, Carlton D. Rich- ardson, and his aides. These were: Alfred C. Stoddard and John P. Ranger, of North Brookfield; Walter A. Putnam and I. Walter Moore, of Warren; Judge Henry E. Cottle and George A. Putney, of Brookfield; Charles S. Lane and Charles M. Daily, of New Braintree, and Robert Converse, John J. Mulvey, Dr. Windsor R. Smith, Martin Walsh and Alfred C. White, of West Brookfield. The parade formed at the north end of the Common, on School and North Main Streets, the line extending the entire length of School street and down North Main street to a point beyond the Town Hall. The following description of the procession, based upon a news- paper account of the celebration, preserves a vivid picture of the spectacle.
The parade was headed by the Chief Marshal and his aides. Then came the Worcester Brass Band, followed by a coach trimmed in purple and white, driven by Leon H. Adams, and bearing the colors of the North Brookfield High School. The coach was followed by seventy-five North Brookfield High School pupils, led by William Mahoney, pres- ident of the senior class. Each pupil carried a purple and white banner. Then came two hundred pupils, dressed in white, of grades 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, North Brookfield public schools. The Brookfield High School Cadets, eighteen mem- bers, followed, under the command of Captain R. S. Clough,
23
THE PARADE
and behind them were 150 pupils of the graded schools of Brookfield, West Brookfield and New Braintree.
Following the school children was a float representing the Merriam Public Library, of West Brookfield. It was in the form of a mammoth Webster's Dictionary, which work was originally published in West Brookfield, and on it rode B. S. Beeman and Harold Chesson, trustees of the library.
The Ezra Batcheller Post, G. A. R., of North Brookfield, twenty-two members, followed, under Commander G. T. Webber, and next were the Sons of Veterans, of North Brook- field, under Captain Colby H. Johnson.
Then came a carriage, in which rode Edward Haskins, Charles Allen and Joseph Malloy, selectmen of West Brook- field, and Town Clerk Dwight Fairbanks, of the same town.
They were followed by the Holmes Steamer Company, of North Brookfield, forty-two men in uniform, under Chief Engineer Harold A. Foster, and behind them were two pieces of apparatus, the Holmes steamer, driven by John Mattoon, and the Ezra Batcheller Hook and Ladder truck, decorated in red, white, and blue, and driven by Eugene McCarthy.
The Brookfield Fire Engineers came next, Edward F. Delaney, Albert H. Bellows and Robert G. Livermore, in a carriage, followed by Steamer Company No. 2, of Brook- field, eighteen men, and the steamer. The members of the company wore dark trousers, white shirts, and red, white and blue neckties, and carried canes. The steamer was driv- en by Eddie Whitney.
After them came the West Brookfield Fire Department, twenty-two men, under command of Foreman John P. Cregan, and Fire Engineers George N. Sanford and George H. Boothby. The hand-tub "American," of West Brookfield, built in 1855, was driven by W. H. Bruce, while Henry W. Bartlett drove the Fullam Hook and Ladder truck, of West Brookfield.
The Quabaug Corset Company's float, of West Brook- field, was driven by Nicholas Dickson. It was decorated in pink and blue, and carried twenty-six young women clad in white.
Next was the float of the Oxford Linen Mills, of North Brookfield, decorated in drab and white. It was drawn by four handsome horses, one pair of which was owned by John J. Brosnihan, while the other was owned by Patrick Delargy, who acted as driver.
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
This, in turn, was followed by the grocery float of Ed- son & Woodward, of West Brookfield, driven by Frederick L. Woodward, and bearing on its sides the inscription: "1660- 1910. Committee for the Celebration of the 300th Anniver- sary of the Settlement of Quabaug." The "committee" consisted of a group of school children, dressed in white, pupils of the first and second grades of the public schools of West Brookfield, taught by Miss Alice J. White. (For the names of these children and the unusual record of their teach- er, see Appendix G.)
The float of the Sikes Ice Company was driven by Alva Sikes. Behind it came a yoke of small steers drawing a min- iature ox-wagon loaded with vegetables and driven by W. S. Lincoln. Mrs. Homer B. Childs followed, driving a butter and tea wagon decorated with the national colors.
Next was the float of the E. M. Converse grocery store, decorated with flags and bunting, and driven by Mr. Converse. The Alonzo Gilbert Grain Company's float was driven by Charles Tyler, and that of the White Sewing Ma- chine Company, decorated in tinsel and white, by Joel Richards.
Then came the floats of the various Granges. That of the Quaboag Pomona Grange was decorated in white and gold, and carried twelve girls dressed in white. It was driven by Arlo P. Parker, of Brimfield.
The float of the North Brookfield Grange was decorated in white and gold, with trimmings made of vegetables and fruits. It was driven by Albert L. Woodis and carried twelve members of the Grange.
The float of the Brookfield Grange, driven by Elbert L. Bemis, carried fourteen members. That of the New Brain- tree Grange, decorated in white and gold, and driven by J. Arthur Barr, had thirteen passengers.
The Warren Grange had a float driven by Charles E. Rice and Nathan E. Ball. It was trimmed with flags, bunt- ing and evergreen, and carried twelve women dressed in white.
The float of the West Brookfield Grange had upon it a log cabin, in which was seated Keyes Cutler, eighty-eight years old, the oldest male resident of the town. The float was drawn by two yoke of oxen in charge of Asa Walker and Francis S. Beeman. The decorations were of evergreen. The Women's Degree team, of West Brookfield, had a
25
THE PARADE
float decorated in white and driven by Frank Bridges.
A carriage decorated with flowers and containing mem- bers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union came next, and was followed by a wagonette decorated in white, driven by E. D. Allen and containing members of the Dis- trict Nurses Association: Misses Margaret Blair, Marion Blodgett, Mary Campion, Susan Bill, Annie Fitzgerald, Marguerite Fales, Anna O'Day and Florence Benson. Next was a wagonette trimmed with red, white, and blue, and driven by Charles Simpson. It contained Irving Breed, Mrs. Henry Harper, Elsie Bemis, Evie Carlton and Flora Nelson, members of Friendship Lodge N. E. O. P., of Brook- field.
The float of the Lashawa Tribe, I. O. R. M., of East Brookfield, followed. It was arranged to represent an Indian camp, with wigwam, tripod, kettle and forest scenery, and was driven by Paul Cummings.
Behind it came the float of the Quaboag Tribe, I.O.R.M., of West Brookfield, driven by Arthur Cutler. Forty mem- bers of the tribe, in Indian dress and fully painted, accom- panied it, and were followed by twenty other members in white duck trousers and black coats and carrying canes.
Next came a pony phaeton, drawn by a Shetland pony, the property of Charles Shepard, of Warren. In the phaeton were Charles Shepard, Ruth Shepard, Lenthal K. Shumway and Margaret N. Shumway, of Warren, dressed as Indian children, while A. E. Shumway, also in Indian costume, marched at the pony's head.
The last float in the line was that of the J. A. White Overall Company, of North Brookfield. It was trimmed with purple and white asters and was driven by Edward Ledger, with thirty young women as passengers.
The rear of the parade was brought up by a lumber wagon, containing an old bedstead and mattress, on which reclined J. P. Morgan, E. J. Ducy, and R. L. Gould, while placards attached to the sides of the wagon read: "Board of Trade," "Not Dead but Sleeping," "We Are Hustlers, What?" and "Oh-hum." Fastened behind the wagon was another containing a hogshead surmounted by an old iron pump. On the hogshead was a placard reading, "West Brookfield Water Works. Pulling the Plug." On this wagon rode Frederick Potter.
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
Nine o'clock had hardly struck when, prompt almost to the advertised minute, the procession moved. The line of march was down Main Street to Cross street, thence to Ware street, on to Central street, and so back to Main street and around the Common. When the command was given to halt, the line extended in a loop from the Town Hall, around the entire circumference of the Common, back to the Town Hall, a distance of nearly a mile. The line countermarched around the small Common, and effected its disbanding with an entire absence of confusion or congestion at any point.
III. THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL
No sooner was the parade disbanded than the throngs of spectators began to stream across the fields and along the road leading to Foster's Hill, where was made the first settle- ment of white men in the Quabaug territory. Here the most elaborate spectacle of the day was to take place, namely, a mimic representation of the Indian attack upon the fortified block house, and its stubborn defense by the settlers and Captain Wheeler's soldiers, in 1675. Familiar as is the story of that most tragic chapter in the history of Brookfield, a brief survey of its leading features will help the reader to appreciate the significance of the drama played out there two hundred and thirty-five years later.
It was in the spring of 1675 that the bloody struggle known as King Philip's War broke out. Early in the con- flict, the Quabaug Indians assumed a threatening aspect. In order to discover and thwart their plans and, if possible, to conclude with them a new treaty of peace, Captain Hutch- inson and Captain Wheeler, with a little body of soldiers and three Brookfield men, proceeded to a rendezvous near the head of Wickaboag Pond. This was on the second day of August. As the Indians, however, did not appear, the white men, in the hope of meeting them, marched two or three miles farther up the valley, toward King Philip's camp, which
HERE STOOD .THE FIRST AND SECOND MEETING HOUSES FIRST BORNED BY INDIANS AUG. 4,1675.+
HERE STCOG
SECOND DEDICATED
OCT.16.1717.
THE FORTIFIED I . I BESIEGED IN KING PHILIP'S
. AUG 2-41679.
"THE WELL AT WHICH MAJ. WILSON
VAS SAOT
ISTS
INDIAN ROCK
1675
WHITEFIELD ROCK
GROUP OF HISTORICAL MARKERS ON "FOSTER" HILL
27
THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL
was near the Indian villages. The wily savages, having thus drawn their victims into an ambush, suddenly set upon them. Several of the white men were slain, and the survivors, after a desperate rally, were driven back in disastrous rout.
"Being got to the town," says Captain Wheeler in his famous narrative of the occurence, "we speedily betook our- selves to one of the largest and strongest houses therein, where we fortified ourselves in the best manner we could in such straits of time, and there resolved to keep garrison, though we were but few, and meanly fitted to make resis- tance against so furious enemies. The news of the Indians' treacherous dealing with us, and the loss of so many of our company thereby, did so amaze the inhabitants of the town, that they being informed thereof by us, presently left their houses, divers of them carrying very little away with them, they being afraid of the Indians sudden coming upon them; and so came to the house we were entered into, very meanly provided of clothing or furnished with provisions." The Indians were, indeed, hard on their heels, burning the de- serted houses as they came, slaughtering cattle, and destroy- ing whatever else their hands could find to wreak their fury on. In the siege that followed, several of the defenders were slain. Efforts were made by the Indians to burn the fortified house, and one of these attempts would have succeeded, but for a providential shower of rain.
On the second day of the siege, as Wheeler tells us, many of the Indians "went to the town's meeting-house, (which was within twenty rods of the house in which we were), who mocked saying, come and pray, and sing psalms, and in con- tempt made an hideous noise somewhat resembling singing." On the third day, "the Indians fortified themselves at the meeting-house, and the barn, belonging to our house." The outcome could not much longer have been in doubt, had not Major Willard, unexpectedly arriving from the eastward with reinforcements, put the savages to flight. Says Cap- tain Wheeler:
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
When they (the Indians) saw their divers designs unsuc- cessful and their hopes therein disappointed, they then fired the house and barn (wherein they had before kept to lie in wait to surprise any coming to us) that by the light thereof they might the better direct their shot at us, but no hurt was done thereby, praised be the Lord. And not long after they burnt the meeting-house wherein their fortifications were, as also the barn, which belonged to our house, and so per- ceiving more strength come to our assistance, they did, as we suppose, despair of effecting any more mischief against us. And therefore the greatest part of them, towards the breaking of the day, August the fifth, went away and left us, and we were quiet from any further molestations by them.
Preparations for the representation of this stirring drama had been most carefully made. Chief Marshal Carlton D. Richardson played the rôle of Captain Hutchinson, while that of Captain Wheeler was taken by Walter A. Putnam, of Warren. The names of those who served as troopers under their command will be found in Appendix B. Alfred C. Stoddard, of North Brookfield, represented Major Willard, and his chief assistant, Judge Henry E. Cottle, of Brookfield, impersonated Captain Parker, of Groton. A list of those who acted as troopers under them is given in Appendix C.
Willard's party was the first to leave West Brookfield village, at the close of the morning's parade, as this party was to ride by the new road to Brookfield, in order to make its historic dash from the eastward, over the summit of Fos- ter's Hill, to the rescue of the besieged settlers.
Then those who were to take part, both men and women, as settlers (see Appendix D) stationed themselves in and around the rude structures that had been erected near the crest of the hill to represent the homes of the first inhabitants. The members of the Quabaug Tribe of Red Men, too, who were to participate in the pageant as Indian warriors, (see Appendix F) prepared for the fray. The main body of braves, on horseback, taking the main road toward Brook- field, turned in to the fields at the farm of Sumner H. Reed,
29
THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL
and proceeded toward the top of the hill, whence, at the proper time, they could dash down upon the fortified house, which was erected on the old highway, close by the home of Carlton D. Richardson. They were under the command of Chiefs John J. Fitzgerald, David H. Robinson and William McCune, while a smaller body, on foot, under Chiefs Henry H. Flagg and Clarence W. S. Allen, made ready to trail the troopers under Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler up the old hill road, by which the whites were supposed to be re- treating from the rout above Wickaboag Pond.
When all was in readiness, the horsemen under Carlton D. Richardson and Walter A. Putnam, representing respec- tively Hutchinson and Wheeler, left the village. At the foot of the hill, however, they encountered an unforeseen obstacle. The roadway and the bordering grass plats, from wall to wall, were crowded with a solid mass of people, afoot and in car- riages, slowly climbing to points of vantage higher up. The proposed wild gallop up the hill would have been, under the circumstances, not merely hazardous, but, for the moment, quite impossible. A glance behind revealed the stream of spectators extending backward into the village as far as the eye could reach. To delay until all these people had climbed the hill would be disastrous and have resulted, probably, in the rescuing party under Major Willard reaching the fortified house before the siege had begun. But Captain Hutchinson -that is to say, Chief Marshal Richardson-was equal to the occasion. At an order from him, the leaders of his party wheeled their horses across the road, interrupting the stream of spectators and holding those behind in check until those in front had advanced so far that it would be safe for the horsemen to begin their desperate flight up the hill.
Another word from the commander, and the flight was on. As the troopers swept along, the savages, who were skulking behind trees and walls on either side of the road, fired their muskets. The volley was returned by the flying horsemen, and the battle was begun in earnest. From that
4
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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
moment until the pageant closed, there was scarcely a moment when the stricken air was silent. Terrified by the firing and the sight of the galloping horsemen, with the Red Men in pursuit, the settlers, hastily leaving their homes, fled with what speed they could, men, women and children, to the shel- ter of the fortified house and of the church hard by, while the Indians, closing in behind and pressing steadily on, paused in their shooting only long enough to set fire to the abandoned dwellings as they passed. Soon the lurid mass of flame and smoke ascending from the top of the hill must have presented from a distance a spectacle almost precisely similar to that of two hundred and thirty-five years before, while the shrieks of besieged and besiegers, rising above the cracking of mus- ketry, added much to the vividness of the presentation.
By the time the last frightened settler had reached the comparative safety of the church and fort, a new terror was added by the sight of the main body of Indians, who now made their appearance, sweeping down across the field oppo- site, sheltering themselves behind Indian Rock, and showing unmistakably by their actions that they meant no less a mis- chief than an attack in force upon the two buildings within which the Quabaug folk had taken refuge. Thereupon, the church was hurriedly abandoned and the defense concen- trated within the stouter walls of the block-house.
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