USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America. > Part 56
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A direeting hand appeared to be over them, and in the face of sickness, disaster, and capture, ills to which they were liable, they pursued their course, reaching their home in safety, to the astonish- ment of those who had for days and weeks given them up for dead. The story of the great achievement was told to an astonished world, every word of which was verified by the trophies she had been eare- ful to preserve. The three heroes soon after visited Boston, carrying with them the ten sealps, the gun, and the tomahawk, for view by the anthorities of the Colony, from whom they reecived expressions of approbation for their heroism, and the General Assembly sub- sequently gave them a bounty of fifty pounds for the courageous act. They were afterwards the recipients of valuable presents from Governor Nicholson, of Maryland, and from other persons.
Historians and others have been somewhat free to criticise this act of Mrs. Duston, in the performance of which there appears to have been a ready co-operation by her companions in captivity, and a eordial approbation of the result by the Exeentive and the Assembly of the Colony, as well as by the publie sentiment of the pioneers in civilization, who had learned to properly estimate the worth of Indian character, and Indian life, when placed in the scale against the life of a white man. That invasion, capture, and murder by the Indians, was by the sword, and their fate was but the speedy fulfilment of the old law that "all that take the sword shall perish with the sword." It was an illustration of the principle of the "survival of the fittest," and of that law which appears to inhere in all things, that the lower
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must give place to the higher. There was, indeed, an opportunity for revenge, and an occasion for the application of that "wild jns- tice "; but there is. in the history of this event, no evidence wbat- ever that such a feeling stirred the breast of that heroic woman. To escape bondage worse than death, to be delivered from indignity the meanest, and to regain her home and friends once more, she aimed her blows at those who were not only murderers, but the destroyers of every opportunity which could make life desirable to her. In the act, she was a law unto herself, and the judge and executioner, and the complete success of the plan, together with her guidance back to her home in the midst of so much peril, and with odds so fearfully against her, is good evidence that an unseen force, overshadowing that age of rudeness and peril, did so direct results, that ont of the conflict between the representatives of the two races, left to settle, between themselves, the question of their inalienable rights, victory was given to the highest in the scale of possibilities.
Hannah Duston was the daughter of Michael and Hannah Webster Emerson, and the eldest of fifteen children. Her descendants are quite widely distributed through the country, and are among our most respected and honored citizens.
In 1855, a Duston Monument Association was formed in Haverhill, originating in the West Parish, of which Charles Corlis was president, and George Coffin, secretary. The association was incorporated in 1856, and met with so general favor with the public, that $553.39 was realized for the purpose from a levee in the town hall, Jan. 22 and 23, 1856, at which the gun Mrs. Duston took from the Indians at the time of her escape. together with the scalping-knife said to have been used by her on the memorable occasion, were exhibited. The monument, which was of Italian marble, five feet square, and twenty- four feet high, resting upon a granite base, was erected and dedicated June, 1861, at a cost of $1,200. The tablets were historically inscribed, and, in design, the memorial shaft was appropriate for the commemorative purpose it was intended to serve.
Unfortunately, a debt was incurred by the association which some- what embarrassed its action, and its adjustment became a matter of litigation. This occurred in 1862, at a time when the fresher and more exciting event of civil war overshadowed the land, causing minor interests to be temporarily lost sight of, and, in 1865, judg- ment having been obtained in the courts, the monument was removed to Barre, Mass., the records on the tablets erased, and, after being suitably inscribed, was erected as a soldiers' monument.
The disagreeable conclusion of so worthy an enterprise, as the commemoration of that tragic ineident of frontier life, was not a result for which the town should be held responsible, it being an enterprise confined to the direction of a few persons, who were unfortunately overmastered by the law's entanglements, and the troublesome events of the hour. The historie spot remains ; a proper regard for the memory of this heroie woman still lives, and it is yet within the power of the association to consummate their memorial plans. " Redemption " ought to be the watchward of every heart possessing the elements which kindles over historie memories, and it is not too much to hope and expect that the ungracious result will be followod by restoration at no distant day. Let the hope be cherished that the child has already been born who will feel it a pleasure, as well as a duty, to perfect the record of this ancient town, by placing on the vacant spot a memorial shaft befitting the historie importance of the event, and the fair fame of the city.
A monument to Mrs. Duston has, within a few years, been erected on the island in the Merrimae River, near Concord, N. H., the very spot where the singular "taking off" ocenrred. Let the rational hope be cherished that the " tooth of time " shall alone take this memorial mark from the observation of men.
On the 22d of February, 1698, another Indian raid was made on the western part of the town, killing Jonathan Haynes and Samuel Ladd, and making prisoners of Joseph Haynes and Daniel Ladd. The latter was treated with great cruelty as a punishment for attempting to escape, and both were many years in captivity. On the 5th of March following, another attack was made on the town for plunder. From this date, till the spring of 1701, there was no Indian invasion of a serious nature, thongh their presence in the neighborhood was a continual source of annoyance and fear.
Early in the spring of this year, small parties of Indians were frequently seen in the adjacent woods, and soon became very bold, attacking the garrison of Jonathan Emerson, in which the Indians lost two killed, but the whites sustained no loss or injury. In 1702, the first exhibition of the Quaker mode of dealing with the Indians was presented by Thomas Whittier, a member of the Society of
Friends, who resided in the northerly part of the town. He declined to conform to the custom of sleeping in the garrison at night, or to protect his house with palisades, and refused to carry about him weapons of war. The Indians knew this, and though frequently heard and seen about his house at night, never offered any injury. Friend Whittier treated them civilly, and they never offered any indignity beyond looking into his windows at night, and whispering abont the house.
For nearly two years there had been a state of relief from Indian invasion, and the record says : "The inhabitants pleased themselves with the hope that they should see no more of them ; " and this sense of security led to neglect in guarding their dwellings. The French, in Canada, desiring to ruin the frontier settlements in New England, stirred up the Indians to deeds of blood and cruelty, which led to a revival of hostilities.
On the 8th of February, 1704, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a party of six Indians attacked the garrison of Joseph Bradley, which was left with the gates open, and the sentries away from their posts. With stealthy tread the wily foe approached, and were within the enclosure before they were discovered. Jonathan Johnson, one of the sentinels, standing in the house, shot at and wounded the fore- most savage, and Mrs. Bradley, having a kettle of boiling soap on the fire, threw a ladle of the scalding fluid upon his head and face, which killed him. The remaining five immediately rushed in, killed John- son, and captured the brave woman, with several others, three only succeeding in making their escape from the garrison. The Indians suddenly retreated with their prisoners, aiming for Canada, which was their favorite headquarters when in possession of captives. Mirick says : " Mrs. Bradley was in delicate circumstances, and in slender health ; still she received no kindness from her savage conquerors. No sitnation of woman would ever protect her from their demon-like cruelties. The weather was cold, the wind blew keenly over the hills, and the ground was covered with a deep snow, yet they obliged her to travel on foot and carry a heavy bnrthen, too large, even, for the strength of man. In this manner they proceeded through the wilder- ness, and Mrs. Bradley informed her family, after she returned, that for many days in succession she subsisted on ground-nuts, the bark of trees, wild onions, and lily roots."
While in this sitnation, with none but savages for her assistants and protectors, and in the midst of a thick forest, she gave birth to a child. The Indians then, as if they were not satisfied with persecut- ing the mother, extended their cruelties to the innocent and almost friendless babe. For the want of proper attention, it was sickly, and probably troublesome ; and when it cried, these remorseless fiends showed their pity by throwing embers into its month. They told the mother that if she would permit them to baptize it in their manner, they would suffer it to live. Unwilling to deny their request, lest it should enrage their fierce and diabolical passions, and hoping that the little innocent would receive kindness at their hands, she complied with their request. They took it from her, and baptized it, gashing its forehead with their knives. The feelings of the mother, when the child was returned to her, with its smooth and white forehead gashed with the knife, and the warm blood coursing down its cheeks, can be better imagined than described. Here was another illustration of the amiable traits of character possessed by the " noble savage," which have proved so fascinating to the minds of some who have regarded the Indian as worthy to be placed on an equality, in the conflict for life, with competitors possessing the characteristics of mind and heart which distinguished the English race.
When again able to travel, they resumed their march for Canada ; but before reaching their destination, the mother's affeetions were tortured by seeing the child of her bosom, born in sorrow, and nursed in the midst of affliction, put to death and borne about on a pole, the sport of the heartless wretches who were her captors, and from whose hands deliverance would have been justifiable by the extreme applica- tion of the first law of nature. She was sold in Canada to the French, for eighty livres. Her husband, hearing of the fact, started on foot, with no companion but a dog, for the purpose of redeeming her, bear- ing a bag of sunff from the governor of this Province to the governor of Canada. He succeeded in finding the object of his search, and redeemed her ; after which they sailed from Montreal to Boston, and from thence returned to Haverhill. The terrible sufferings of this heroic woman render the narrative of her experience, in some respects. more thrilling than the captivity of Mrs. Duston. There is a record suggesting that this was her second capture ; but it does not appear to be very well substantiated. In 1738, in consideration of her suf- ferings during captivity, the General Court granted her two hundred
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and fifty acres of land, surveyed by Richard Hazen ; and Joseph Neff, son of Mary Neff, was also granted two hundred acres of land in con- sideration of the sufferings of his mother at the time of her captivity.
On the 4th of August, in the same year, another attack was made by the Indians, but the details of the struggle were never recorded, except that Joseph Page and Bartholomew Heath were killed, and a young lad in company with them narrowly escaped the same fate.
In the summer of 1706 a second attack was made upon the garrison of Joseph Bradley, at which time the only occupants were Mr. Bradley, his wife and children, and a hired man. It was by night and under the light of the moon, which rendered the approach of the stealthy savages clearly visible, and gave opportunity to prepare for defence. Mr. Bradley, his wife, and hired man, each took a gun, and such of the children as could shoulder one were also armed. Mrs. Bradley supposed they had chiefly come to make her a prisoner, and having learned to appreciate Indian character, by a former captivity, she told her husband she would rather be killed than to be again taken. The Indians rushed upon the garrison, endeavored to beat down the door, and carry it by storm. In this they were partly successful, succeed- ing in pushing the door nearly open. Mrs. Bradley was ready for business, and when the foremost Indian had partly crowded his body in she shot him dead, which terrified his companions, and they beat a hasty retreat.
On the 3d of July, of the same year, it is recorded that Sergeant Kingsbury was either killed or taken prisoner. About this time there was quite a military force employed for frontier defence, the record showing that from thirty to fifty men and horses frequently passed Griffin's Ferry, which was just opposite the village.
On the 24th of June, 1707, Joseph and Ebenczer Page, sons of Joseph Page, were killed, and in the following August another attack was made, in which Nathan Simonds, of this town, and Jonathan Marsh, of Salem, were wounded ; but no details of these assaults are on record.
During the remainder of the year, and the carly part of the year 1708, few Indians were seen lurking in the woods, and no attacks had been made. The inhabitants along the frontier again began to feel a sense of security, and vigilance in defence was again remitted. The lull of war and the repose of the inhabitants was, however, of short dura- tion. Intelligence was received by Governor Dudley, at Boston, that an army of eight hundred men were about to march for attack on some of the frontier settlements. This created the most intense solicitude along the whole line of border settlements, and where there had formerly been attacks and slaughter, the most tormenting fears possessed the hearts of the otherwise peaceful and happy dwell- ers. Troops were furnished for defence, and under Capt. Coffin a body of horsemen patrolled from Kingston to Cocheco, in New Hamp- shire. At this time, four hundred Massachusetts militia were posted in the New Hampshire province along the border. The guard sent to this town consisted of about forty men, with three choice officers from Salem, - Maj. Turner, afterwards a colonel, a principal merchant of that place, and for many years a member of the council, together with Capt. Price and Capt. Gardner, who were at once quartered in the frontier houses and garrisons. The elements and character of this invading army are very well shown by the following extract from Mirick : "Early in the year a grand council was held at Montreal, when an extensive engagement was agreed upon, which was to be joined in by the principal Indians of every tribe in Canada ; the Abena- kis tribe ; one hundred select French Canadians, and a number of vol- unteers, several of whom were officers in the French army, compris- ing a formidable body of about four hundred men. The French were commanded by De Chaillons, and the infamous Hertel de Rouville, the sacker of Deerfield ; and the Indians by La Perriere. The Indians were merciless, insolent, and revengeful ; but the French, at that period, equalled, and we had almost said, exceeded them, in acts of wantonness and barbarity. When the former were weary of murder- ing poor, helpless women and children ; when they were glutted with blood, it is said that M. Vandreuil, then governor of Canada, em- ployed the latter to do it."
This force was to be increased by additions from the Norridgewock, the Penobscot, and other Eastern tribes, but to the astonishment of the French commanders the Eastern Indians broke faith, and the original design to attack Portsmouth and afterwards march rapidly on other set- tlements was of necessity modified. The force then only numbered 250, having much dwindled since leaving Canada, and, to prevent the mor- tification of utter failure, the French officers were determined to make an attack at some point while they possessed the power. Haverhill was prominent, and having a compact village of about thirty houses,
it was selected for the slaughter. This attack exceeded all others in its bloody and brutal character, and was the severest blow which had fallen upon the town. The following account of the attack is from Mirick :-
" At the break of day, on the 29th of August, they passed the frontier garrisons undiscovered, and were first seen near the pound, marching two and two, by John Keczar, who was returning from Amesbury. He immediately ran into the village and alarmed the in- habitants, who seemed to have slept totally unguarded, by firing his gun near the meeting-house. The enemy soon appeared, making the air ring with terrific yells, with a sort of whistle which, says tradi- tion, could be heard as far as a horn, and clothed in all the terrors of a war dress. They scattered in every direction over the village, so that they might accomplish their bloody work with more despatch. The first person they saw was Mrs. Smith, whom they shot as she was flying from her house to a garrison. The foremost party attacked the house of the Rev. Benjamin Rolfe, which was then garrisoned with three soldiers, and he, and a part of his beloved and accom- plished family, were suddenly awakened from their slumbers only to hear the horrid knell of their departure. Mr. Rolfe instantly leaped from his bed, placed himself against the door, which they were en- deavoring to beat in, and called on the soldiers for assistance, but these craven-hearted men refused to give it, for they were palsied with fear, and walked to and fro through the chambers, crying and swing- ing their arms. Had they displayed half the ordinary courage of men, no doubtt hey could have successfully defended the house. But, instead of that, they did not fire a gun, or even lift a finger towards its defenee. The enemy finding their entrance strenuously opposed, fired two balls through the door, one of which took effect, and wounded him in the elbow. They then pressed against it with their united strength, and Mr. Rolfe, finding it impossible to resist them any longer, fled precipitately through the house, and out of the back door. The Indians followed, overtook him at the well, and despatched him with their tomahawks. They then searched every part of the house for plunder, and also for other victims on whom they might inflict their savage cruelties. They soon found Mrs. Rolfe and her youngest child, Mehitable, and while one of them sank his hatchet deep in her head, another took the infant from her dying grasp and dashed its head against a stone near the door."
The severity of the attack and the brutality of the warfare may be judged of by this brief extract from the pages detailing the events of that tragic hour. Two of Mr. Rolfe's daughters, respectively six and eight years of age, were providentially saved by the courage and fore- cast of Hagar, a negro slave who resided in the family. She leaped from her bed, fled with the children to the cellar, covered them with tubs, and then concealed herself behind a meat-barrel. The Indians plundered the cellar, drank milk from the pans, took meat from the barrel behind which the faithful Hagar was concealed, and stepped upon a foot of one of the children, but they all escaped their notice and their lives were saved. One of these afterwards became the wife of Col. Hatch, of Dorchester, and the other the wife of the Rev. Samuel Checkley, Sr., of Boston. There is a tradition that Mr. Rolfe was killed by a shot through the door, but it does not appear to be very well authenticated. The door, with its bullet perforation, was preserved as a relic, and was kept in the First Parish Church, where it was lost when the edifice was destroyed by fire. The locality of this terrible scene of slaughter was the site upon which the resi- dence of Dr. Moses Nichols now stands, on the corner of Main and Summer streets.
Anna Whittaker, who was then living in the family, conccaled her- self in an apple-chest under the stairs, and escaped with her life, but Mirick says the cowardly soldiers met with a different fate : "They earnestly begged for mercy of their inhuman conquerers, but their cries were unheeded ; and when the massacre was over, their bodies were numbered with the slain. We can have no pity for the fate of such contemptible cowards. A man who will shrink from danger at such a time, and in such a situation, while he holds the weapons of defence in his hands, should be ranked with the reptile, and ever be looked upon with scorn by the world."
The residence of Thomas Hartshorne was also attacked, and the family suffered as severely as did that of Mr. Rolfe. Mr. Harts- horne and two of his sons were shot dead a short distance from the house, which was situated a little way west of the meeting-house, and a third was tomahawked as he was passing out of the door. Mrs. Hartshorne had only a moment for thought and action. She left her infant on a bed in the garret, through fear that its cries might prevent the success of other plans, and, with her other chil-
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dren, fled through a trap-door into the cellar, where they remained successfully concealed while the house was ravaged for plunder. The infant hoy was thrown from the garret window out upon a pile of clapboards, where it was found after the slaughter was over, completely stunned, but not permanently harmed. He lived and became a man of uneommon stature and strength, who was often jokingly spoken of as heing stunted by the Indians.
One of the attacking parties descended upon the residence of Lient. John Johnson, shooting him, and tomahawking Mrs. Johnson, who had fled to the garden with her infant, but the child was saved, being found on the breast of its dead mother after the massacre was over. Another party attacked the house of Capt. Simon Wainwright, whom they killed on the first fire. Soldiers were stationed in the chambers, intending to defend the house, but Mrs. Wainwright fearlessly unbarred the doors, and let the murderers in, treating them with kindness. This for the moment paralyzed them, and instead of offering further violence, they demanded money. Apparently retiring to bring it, as she said, she fled with her children, which so exasperated them that a furious attack was made on the soldiers, who courageously and suc- cessfully defended the premises, and after attempting to fire the house, the enemy retired, taking with them three prisoners. Two Indians skulked behind a stone, near the house, intending to shoot the soldiers, but they were discovered and pieked off, and their bodies buried in the field, from which resting-place their skeletons were washed out many years afterwards. Two Indians attacked the house of Mr. Swan, in a field afterwards known as " White's Lot," uearly opposite the house of Cant. Emerson. Swan and his wife deter- mined, if possible, to save their own lives and the lives of their chil- dren ; barring the narrow door, and placing themselves against it. The besiegers were too powerful, and Mr. Swan, being a timid man, was inclined to surrender : hut his wife was not disposed to yield. After partly forcing open the door, one of the Indians crowded in, when this plucky woman seized her roasting " spit," an iron weapon about three feet long, and summoning all her strength, drove it through his body: Thus repulsed, the besiegers withdrew, and by this heroic act of a woman the family was saved. Another party set fire to the meeting-house, but it was extinguished.
This work was being done in the gray dawn of the morning, hut the inhabitants soon become generally aroused, and forces began to gather from all quarters. Mr. Davis, a fearless man, resorted to suc- cessful strategy : going behind Mr. Rolfe's barn, striking upon it with a club, and shouting with a loud voice, " Come on ! come on ! we'll have them !" which led the party attacking at that point to think they were being resisted by a large body of English. They at once raised the ery, "The English are come !" and, after attempting to fire the house, they precipitately fled, taking with them a few prisouers.
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