USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 30
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When, after the fight at Narraganset it became import- ant to know the movements of the Indians toward the Connecticut river, Major Gookin sent as spies, the two Christian Indians Kattenanit and Quanapohit. These went among the Indians at Brookfield and after ascertain- ing their plan reported it to the Council, which plan was to
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assault all the frontier towns begining at Lancaster. The Council acting on their report sent messengers to Concord, Lancaster and Marlboro. Captain Wadsworth at once with forty men from Marlboro, marched to Lancaster and the town was saved from entire destruction ; and had the advise of Quanapohit been heeded it is believed that the Rowlinson garrison would have been saved.
It is asserted by Mr. Bodge, " There can be little doubt that if in the pursuit of Philip in the Nipmuck country the counsel of the native Indians had been heeded by Captain Henchman, Philip and most of his company would have been destroyed."
But, notwithstanding these evidences of fidelity to the English, as threatening events thickened and the very existence of the colony was menaced, there crept over the community a feeling of distrust towards these Indians and there was a growing suspicion that some of them were in sympathy with King Philip and had even assisted him. This feeling which was not shared in so much by the ministers and magistrates, was so strong among the laity that at length an order was issued to disband the Christian Indian military companies, that all Christian Indians should repair to one or another of five Indian villages designated, that they should never go more than a mile from their centers unaccompanied by an Englishman, and if anyone was discovered breaking these rules he might be arrested or shot.
Notwithstanding, however, the stringency of the regula- tions the masses were not satisfied, but went so far in their impatience to be rid of the presence of any Indian, that at length the Court, wearied perhaps by the people's com- plaints, ordered the removal of all the Indians to Deer Island in Boston harbor.
The work began by the attempted removal of the Wamesits ; the direct occasion of which was the alleged setting fire to a haystack, which act a hostile Indian who was afterwards executed at Boston confessed to have done.
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The Punkapogs were next to be disturbed ; and soon after, a clamor was raised against the Naticks, who were unjustly accused of burning an old and disused building in Dedham.
The Naticks were conducted from their homes by Captain Prentice who was their friend. They were met by the Apostle John Eliot and Major Gookin and other friends at the "Falls of the Charles river " and carried to Deer Island in boats.
The Hassanamesit Praying station was attacked by the hostile Indians and having been disarmed by the English, about two hundred of them were captured.
The same month the remnant of the Nashoba Indians, which consisted of not more than a dozen ablebodied men and their families, were ordered to Concord, and General Gookin, Rev. John Eliot and Major Simon Willard were a committee of the Court to carry out the order and see that they were properly cared for.
At Concord they were placed in charge of John Hoar, their unfailing friend, the only man in town it is said who was willing to receive them. Standing up stoutly against a strong public sentiment, for the tragic affair at Brookfield and other Indian atrocities which it was suspected some of the Praying Indians had sympathy with were still recent, Mr. Hoar acted as a protector, erecting for them a building where they could be secure from all indignities whether from within or without the town, and providing employment by which they could earn a livelihood.
This act of John Hoar stands out in strong contrast with the treatment they received at other hands. After the Natick Indians were driven away, the English entered and plundered their deserted homes while the banished inmates were landed upon a bleak island with insufficient clothing, and compelled to subsist almost entirely on fish and clams.
When the Marlborough Indians were removed, the soldiers stripped them of everything, even taking from them the pewter communion cup that was given their minister by Mr. Eliot. These and other startling
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incidents of cruelty all unavenged and apparently acquiesced in by the community in general, were the overt expression of a feeling of hostility to some of the Indian converts of the saintly Eliot.
It is true that something may be said explanatory of such severe conduct, if not in mild paliation of it. Society was terribly stirred by recent and startling events. Pub- lic calamities were accumulating. Each day might bring
the report of a new disaster. Every wood path of the long and circuitous frontier was unsafe to the unarmed traveler. The dark war cloud was casting its shadow from the Connecticut river to the sea board. A quota of citizen soldiers from every town where they could be spared, were by Colonial impress assisting by guarding garrison houses or ranging the forests it: scouting squads to beat up the enemy and upon their discovery to fall back and warn the endangered inhabitants. Under such circumstances it is not altogether remarkable that it became unpopular to befriend the Praying Indians ; and even that such good and true men as Gookin and Eliot who had the best means of knowing the nature of the Christian Indians and the actual facts concerning their conduct became the targets of public scorn because of their advocacy of the cause of these helpless creatures.
The spot where the workhouse provided by Mr. Hoar probably stood was not far from the town's central garrison house.
Gookin says of its situation that it was "about the midst of the town and very nigh the town's watchhouse."
As showing the interest of Mr. Hoar by this friendly act, we quote the following from Gookin's " History of the Praying Indians."
" About this time there befell another great trouble and exercise to the Christian Indians of Nashobah, who sojourned in Concord by order. The matter was this ; the Council had, by several orders, empowered a committee, who, with the consent of the selectmen of Concord, settled
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those Indians at that town, under the government and tuition of Mr. John Hoare ; the number of those Indians were about fifty-eight of all sorts, whereof there were not above twelve able men, the rest women and children. These Indians lived very soberly, and quietly, and industriously, and were all unarmed ; neither could any of them be charged with any unfaithfulness to the English interests.
" In pursuance of this settlement, Mr. Hoare had begun to build a large and convenient work-house for the Indians near his own dwelling, which stood about the midst of the town, and very nigh the town watch-house.
" This house was made, not only to secure those Indians under lock and key by night, but to employ them and to set them to work by day, whereby they earned their own bread, and in an ordinary way ( with God's blessing ) would have lived well in a short time."
That any suspicion of treachery on the part of the Nashobah Indians was ill founded is evident from the fact that they who knew the most about them had an unstinted belief in their sincerity. Their conduct from the beginning had inspired confidence. Tahattawan, the Sachem of Nashoba who once dwelt at Nashawtuc, as tradition has it, became one of the first converts to Christianity by the preaching of Eliot at Nonantum. The tribe or clan which he represented went to Nashoba from the region of the Musketequid, by the advice of Mr. Eliot that they adopt the government that Jethro proposed to Moses in the wilderness, whereby they were to choose rulers of hundreds and of fifties and of tens. In this way they came to live in towns separate from the English, and upon this principle, Natick and Nashoba and the other Indian villages or "Praying towns " were originated.
As the sequel to the removal of the Nashobah Indians to the place provided for them by Mr. Hoar is of a later date, the subject will be left here to be resumed in its chronological order.
Before dismissing the subject however it may be appro-
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priate, since these Indians are properly associated with the history of Concord in other relations than those which are religious, to print the following sketch of them which by permission is quoted from a paper prepared by Herbert Joseph Harwood, Historian of the town of Littleton and published in a pamphlet of the Littleton Historical Society entitled Proceedings No. I.
"John Eliot in his 'Brief Narrative' written in 1670 says, 'Nashope is our next Praying Town, a place of much Afflic- tion ; it is the chief place of Residence, where Tahattawans lived, a Sachem of the Blood, a faithful and zealous Chris- tian, a strict yet gentle Ruler ; he was a Ruler of 50 in our Civil Order ; and when God took him, a chief man in our Israel was taken away from us. His only son was a while vain, but proved good, expert in the Scripture, was Elected to Rule in his Father's place, but soon died, insomuch that this place is now destitute of a Ruler.'
"This was the earliest Nashoba sachem of whom we have any knowledge, he is spoken of in different publications and records by the various names, Tahattawarre, Tahattawan, Tahatawants, Attawan, Attawance, Ahattawance and Natta- hattawants, under which last name he is recorded in Suffolk deeds, Vol. I No. 34 as the grantor in a sale made in 1642, of a large tract of land on both sides of Concord River to Symon Willard in behalf of Governor Winthrop, Mr. Dud- ley, Mr. Nowell, and Mr. Allen.
"The tract was in extent 3760 acres and the consideration 'six fadom of waompampege, one waistcoat and one breeches.' In the deed Nattahatawants is referred to as 'sachem of that land' and is referred to by some writers as sachem of Musketaquid (Concord), in view of which it is important to note that Eliot states that 'Nashope' [Nashobah] was his, 'chief place of Residence.'
"Barber gives Tahattawan jointly with Squaw Sachem as the vendors of Concord to the white settlers in 1635.
"Tahattawan's only son who succeeded him as sachem of Nashobah was John Tahattawan, also referred to as Taha-
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tooner by Samuel G. Drake.
"Old Tahattawan had two daughters (at least), the elder of whom, Tassansquaw, married the celebrated Waban, and another Naanasquaw or Rebeckah married Naanishcow or John Thomas.
"Tahattawan's son referred to by Eliot, John Tahattawan, was one of the signers to 'an agrement mad betwene the Ingene of mashoba and the Town of concord' dated '20 of IO mo. 1660' and if the record on Concord books is an exact copy, both he and John Thomas signed their own names, while seven other Indians made marks, but the fact that John Thomas in 1714 signed a deed by mark, and also that the word 'and' occurs between these two signa- tures on the record would tend to show that perhaps there is an inaccuracy in the record and all may have made marks.
"This 'agreement' of 1660 conveyed land which was after- wards known as Concord's second grant.
John Tahattawan died before 1670, and left a widow Sarah, daughter of Sagamore John of the Wamesits, and children, a daughter Sarah, otherwise called Kehonosquaw, and a young son who was killed at the age of 12 years, Nov. 15, 1675 at Wamesit, near Lowell, when a party of armed men of Chelmsford went to the Indian camp and wantonly fired upon them in retaliation for the burning of a barn of which the Indians were suspected. Five women and children were wounded, among whom was the boy's mother Sarah, who was then a widow for the second time, having had as her second husband Oonamog, ruler of the praying Indians of Marlborough. In my 'Historical Sketch' I made the error of confusing Sarah the widow of John Tahattawan with his daughter Sarah or Kehonosquaw.
"After the death of John Tahattawan, Pennakennit or Pennahannit was the chief of the Nashobah Indians, and was also 'marshal general ' of all the praying Indians and attended court at Natick. He was also called Capt. Josiah, and was no doubt the last who could be called
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Sachem of the Nashobahs, as he is spoken of by Gookin as chief in 1674, and in the year following the settlement was broken up by King Philip's war.
"Waban, as before stated, married Tassansquaw, the eldest daughter of old Tahattawan, and is supposed to have originally been of this vicinity, though it is not by any means certain ; his name is also spelled Waaubon or Waubon, and according to Samuel Gardner Drake, signified ' wind.' He is said to have been about the same age as Rev. John Eliot and consequently was born about 1 604.
"Winthrop says that Eliot in beginning his labors among the Indians in 1646, preached ' one week at the wigwam of one Wabon, a new sachem near Watertown mill, and the other or next week in the wigwam of Cutshamekin near Dorchester mill.'
"Being Eliot's first convert to Christianity and a man of much strength of character, Waban was of great assistance in gaining the good will and attention of other Indians and was recognized as a powerful man both by the white people and by the Indians, both Christians and those hostile in King Philip's war.
"An instance of this is shown in the letters from Sam Sachem and other Indians begging for peace, printed by Samuel Gardner Drake. The first one dated July 6, 1676 is superscribed To all Englishmen and Indians, all of you hear Mr. Waban, Mr. Eliott,' and the addresses of three of these letters include Waban's name.
"Waban was of Natick in 1674 and the chief man there when Gookin wrote in that year, adding ' He is a person of great prudence and piety : I do not know any Indian that excels him.'
"He was alive as late as March 19, 1684, at which date he signed by mark the first of sixteen Natick Indians who sent a letter to Mr. Gookin inviting him to lecture, and is said to have died at Natick the summer following.
"Waban's son, Thomas Waban of Natick, signed in 1714,
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a deed to the heirs of Col. Peter Bulkeley and Maj. Thomas Henchman of half of Nashobah plantation. I own the original document, showing Thomas Waban's signature in a good hand. Two other Indians who signed by mark were John Thomas and John Thomas, jr., also of Natick.
"The town records of Natick were written at one time by Thomas Waban in the Indian language, and it is said he was also a justice of the peace and once issued a warrant as follows :
'You you big constable ; quick you catchum Jeremiah Offscow ; strong you holdum ; safe you bringum afore me, Thomas Waban, Justice peace.'
"A story is told by Samuel Gardner Drake of Waban, which may perhaps more properly be told of his son, as follows: A young justice asked Waban what he would do when Indians got drunk and quarrelled ; he replied ' Tie um all up, and whip um plaintiff, and whip um fendant, and whip um witness.'
"Thomas Waban's Indian name was Weegramomenit, as we learn from the deed to Hon. Peter Bulkeley of Con- cord and Maj. Thomas Henchman of Chelmsford dated June 15, 1686 conveying half of Nashobah plantation. At that time the Indians could not legally sell, but were afterward given permission by the General Court to do so, which accounts for the second deed of the same land in 1714, previously referred to.
"John Thomas or Naanishcow who married one of old Tahattawan's daughters is referred to by Gookin as follows :
" Their teacher [i. e. at Nashobah] is named John Thomas, a sober and pious man. His farther was murthered by the Maquas in a secret manner, as he was fishing for eels at his wear, some years since, during the war. He was a pious and useful person, and that place sustained a great loss in him." By ' teacher ' he meant
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minister. John Thomas had sons, Solomon or Naahke- nomenit and John Thomas, jr.
"Several of these relationships I established by the signa- tures to the deed of June 15, 1686, to Bulkeley and Henchman, and there also signed that deed, ' Nuckomme- wosk, relict of Crooked Robin,' 'Natahoonet' and ' Wunnuhhew alias Sarah, wife to Neepanum alias Tom Dublet' from which I infer they may have been also descendants of old Tahattawan.
"Other Nashobah Indians were Nasquan, Merchant Thomas or Marchant Thoms, Wabatut, Great James Natocotus a blind man, Pompant, Gomps and 'Mr. John Sagamore ' who was the father of Sarah the wife of Tom Dublet.
"The petition of Rev. John Eliot for the incorporation of the several Indian towns is of date May 3, 1654 and the portion of his petition that relates to the Nashoba planta- tion is the following :
"First, therefore the inhabitants of Nashoba living 7 or 8 miles west of Concord, desire to have liberty to make a town in y' place, with due accomadations thereunto. And though Concord have some conditional grants of lands yt way, yet I understand that we shall have a loving and Chris- tian agreement betwixt them and the Indians."
The response to the petition is as follows, and of date May, 14, 1654
"In ans' to the peticon of Mr. Jno. Elliott, on behalf of severall Indians, the Court graunts his request, viz. : liberty for the inhabitants of Nashop [Nashobah] and to the inhabitants of Ogkoontiquonkames [Marlborough] and also to the inhabitants of Hasnemesuchoth [Grafton] to erect severall Injan tounes, in the places propounded with convejent acomodacon to each, provided they p'judice not any former graunts ; nor shall they dispose of it with out leave first had and obtained from this Court."
In his history of Concord Mr. Shattuck has the follow- ing reference to the Nashoba territory,
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"Nashobah, lying near Nagog Pond, partly in Littleton and partly in Acton as now bounded, accordingly became an Indian town; and here a part of the Praying Indians in Concord, with others in the vicinity, gathered and adopted civil and religious order, and had a Ruler and other muni- cipal officers, though no church was formed. Such as were entitled to Christian ordinances probably went to Natick to celebrate the communion after a church was organized there in 1660."
Mr. Harwood states that he has found no authority for supposing that the town of Concord ever had any title to the territory of Nashoba, but he locates the original grant outside of any English town boundary lines.
He states in his History :
"If the reader will look at a map of Littleton and note the following points, he will have the four corners of the ancient Indian plantation Nashobah : the northwest corner of Littleton on the side of Brown Hill, near the road to Ayer, was one corner ; a point near the centre of Boxboro', found by prolonging the present west and south lines of Littleton, till they meet, was another corner ; the westerly end of Nagog pond was a third corner, and a point on the Westford line, between the Dodge place and Forge Pond, was the fourth corner. It was uniformly spoken of as four miles square, but was not exactly that, being, as we have seen, only three miles on one side, and having corners which varied slightly from right angles."
Repeatedly in ancient documents relating to lands lying in the vicinity of the Nashoba grant are references to this tract of territory in a way that leads one to infer, as we believe, that it was a distinctive area of wilderness land, entirely independent of any that had hitherto been granted. Petitioners from other places in being allowed their requests are cautioned not to intrude upon this Indian reservation nor in anyway to interfere with it in the establishing of boundary lines; and this precaution was observed in response to petitions from the people of Con-
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cord and made even after the granting of land for the " feeding grounds " from which " Concord Village ", after- wards Acton, was formed.
The lands of the Nashoba Indians in process of a few years after Philip's war were transferred piecemeal, or in parcels to the English owners or occupants. Lieutenant Joseph Wheeler of Concord by trading with the Nashoba Indians, while they were living on their plantation, became their creditor and besought of the Colonial Court in 1662, a tract of two hundred acres in the south portion of Nashoba by way of satisfaction of his claim, but was refused.
Among the first purchasers of land of the Nashoba Indians, if not the very first, were Peleg Lawrence and Robert Robbins of Groton. The tract purchased by these persons was, according to a plan on file at the State House bearing date Jan. 2, 1686-7, was located in the north east corner of the Nashoba reservation, with an area of a half mile in width by two in length. The next purchaser of a portion of the plantation from the aboriginal owners and the first for which a deed was passed was made Jnne 15, 1869, by Hon. Peter Bulkeley of Concord and Major Thomas Henchman of Chelmsford. These vendees bought the eastern half of the territory, for the sum of seventy pounds. The deed of this tract was placed upon record and the following is a description :
"And it contains one moyety or half e part of said Nash- oba plantations, & the easterly side of it; It is bounded by Chelmsford plantation (about three miles & three quarters) on the easterly side; by Concord village Land Southward, about two miles & three-quarters; Northward it is bounded by Land sold by the aforesaid Indians to Robert Robbins and Peleg Lawrence, both of Groton Town, which land is part of the aforesaid Nashobah plantation, & this is exactly two miles in Length & runs East three degrees Northerly, or West three degrees southerly, & the South end runs parrallell with this Line; On the Westerly side it is bounded by the remainder of said Nashoba plan-
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tation : & that West Line runs (from two little maples marked with H for the Northwest corner) it runs South seven degrees & thirty minutes east, four miles & one- quarter ; the most Southerly corner is bounded by a little red oak marked H, the north east corner is a stake stand- ing about four or five pole southward of a very great Rock that Lyeth in the line between said Nashobah & Chelms- ford plantation."
After the foregoing conveyances there was left in posses- sion of the Indians, says the historian of Littleton, " only that portion of the plantation which Danforth in his plan designated as 'Nashobah the Indians part' being the west- erly portion, four miles long on the west line, two miles theoretically on the north line, but actually only one, and 412 poles on the south line." Deeds from the Indians relating to the transfers are on record at the Cam- bridge Registry of Deeds, one with date May 9, 1694, from Thomas Waban of Natick to Walter Powers of Con- cord and the others with date May 10, 1701 from Solomon and John Thomas, Jr., both of Natick, to Josiah Whit- A deed confirmatory of the title to comb of Lancaster. the tract bought by Bulkeley and Henchman was given in 1714 by Thomas Waban, John Thomas and John Thomas Jr., to Major Henchman and the heirs of Hon. Peter Bulkeley. The original deed which is ancient in appearance and bears the signature of Waban and the marks of the other grantees is in the possession of Herbert Harwood.
For years it was a grave question with the General Court as to what should be done with the territory once occupied by these Indians. Some of the inhabitants of Concord wished to settle upon it and make it an English town. Some of the neighboring towns, as Groton and Stow, desired to annex the whole or a part of the territory and thus absorb it in their own township. Their desires found expression in the form of petition and of an actual attempted annexation of the land. Meanwhile as the
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matter was left open, straggling settlers came upon the land, and some by right of purchase and some without right made their home there. But the colonization element at length prevailed; and in response to a petition of date 171I when twenty-three who represented themselves "Inhabit- ants of Concord, Chelmsford, Lancaster and Stow," etc., asked the General Court for permission to settle a town- ship at Nashoba, a committee was appointed to view the land and make a report of it. The result was that in 1713, it was decided that Nashoba should be a town of English people, and on November 1714, an act incorporating it was passed by the Court, and from this and adjacent territory the town of Littleton was created.
Only a few of the Nashoba Indians ever returned to their ancient corn fields and hunting grounds at Nashoba after their exile to Deer Island. The last occupant of her race was Sarah Dublet the wife of " Tom Dublet " whose Indian name as she signed it in the deed to Bulkeley and Henchman was Wunuhhew, sometimes called "Sarah Indian." Traces of the Nashoba Indians have occasionally been discovered about their ancient haunts. Especially have they been found in the vicinity of Nagog Pond where there are indications of ovens and sites of huts, and where it is said there was once an Indian fort.
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