USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 34
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and fireing some Volunteers from Watertowne, & Concord & deserving Capt : Wadsworth with his force came to Our releife, which speedy & noble service is not to be forgotten. The Enemy well knowing our Grounds, passes, avenues, and Scituations had neare surrounded Our towne in ye Morning early (wee not knowing of it) till discovered by fireing sev- erall disserted houses : the Enemy with greate force & fury assaulted Deacon Haines House well fortified yet badly scituated, as advantageous to ye Enemys approach & dan- gerous to ye Repellant, yet (by ye help of God) ye garrison not onely defended ye place from betwene five or six of yc clock in ye Morning till about One in ye Afternoon but forced ye Enemy with Considerable slaughter to draw-off.
Many Observables worthy of Record hapned in this assault, Vizt That noe man or woman seemed to be pos- sessed with feare; Our Garrison men kept not within their garrisons, but issued forth to fight ye Enemy in theire sculk- ing approaches : Wee had but two of our townesmen slaine, & yt by indiscretion, none wounded; the Enemy was by few beaten out of houses which they had entered and were plundering ; And by a few hands were forced to a running flight which way they would; The spoyle taken by them on ye East side of ye river was in greate pte recovered."
Almost immediately after the fight at Sudbury, the In- dians betook themselves to the westward. Their work had been done but there are reasons for believing that they did not consider it successfully done. Mrs. Rowlandson who was with them writes in her book of "Removes" that "They came home without that rejoicing or triumphing over their victory which they were wont to show at other times, but rather like dogs [as they say] which have lost their ears, when they went, they acted as if the devil had told them that they should gain the victory, and now they acted as if the Devil had told them they should have a fall. Whether it were so or no, I cannot tell, but so it quickly proved, for they quickly began to fall, and so held on that Summer till they came to utter ruin. Hubbard says;
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"It was observed by some (at that time their prisoners, since released), that they seemed very pensive after they had come to ther quarters, showing no such signs of rejoic- ing as they were usually wont to do in like cases. Whether from the loss of some of their own company in that day's enterprise (said to be an hundred and twenty) or whether it were the devil in whom they trusted, that deceived them, and to whom they paid their addresses the day before by sundry conjurations of their powwows, or whether it were by any dread that the Almighty sent upon their execrable Blasphemies which 'tis said they used in the torturing of some of their poor captives (bidding Jesus come and deliver them out of their hands from death if he could) we leave as uncertain, though some have so reported. Yet sure it is, that after this day they never prospered in any attempt they made against the English, but were continually scattered and broken till they were in a manner all consumed."
The Old Petition states,
"Secondly, ye service pformed at Sudbury by ye help of ye Almighty whereby ye Enemy lost some say 100, some 105, some 120, and by that service much damage prevented from hapning to other places whereby ye Country in Generall was advantaged, reason requires some favorable considerations to ye servants of Sudbury. For if it be con- sidered what it hath cost our Country in sending out some forces some of which p ties have not returned with ye cer- taine newes of such a number slaine as with us."
A variety of facts, circumstances and statements in- dicate that the 21st day of April 1676 was a day of destiny to King Philip, and that the long hours of stub- born resistence by the combined forces that confronted him were disastrous in the extreme.
His losses can never be known. Probably somewhere in the wilderness many graves were made or else many car- cases remained unburied a prey to the beasts and birds.
It is true that had the battle at Sudbury never occurred victory to the English would have finally come, since it is
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the rule in history that a superior race supplants the weaker. But at this juncture, time was of much account. Every day and hour that the strife continued lives were being consumed by an almost intolerable bitterness ; homesteads were growing fewer and fewer; households were becoming thinned and hearts sickening with hopes deferred. But whether Philip received the decisive blow at Sudbury or not, certain it is that about that time his fortune began to change. A new army was raised to operate against him ; dissensions crept into the ranks of his followers ; and after some desultory fighting, the great chief- tain turned his footsteps towards his old home at Mount Hope, and in the following summer he was shot by a rene- gade from his own race. Capt. Hull in his contemporary diary wrote "Aug. 12, Sagamore Philip that began the war was slain."
With the death of Philip the war closed except at the eastward, whither some of the vanquished savages had betaken themselves.
With the closing of the war there soon followed an utter downfall of the red race, that once dominated New England. The overthrow was final ; and so complete was the destruc- tion of Indian supremacy that it was stated in a proclama- tion of Thanksgiving in December of that year "Of those several tribes and parties that have hitherto risen up against us, which were not a few, there now scarce remains a name or family of them in their former habitations, but are either slain, captivated, or fled into remote parts of this wilderness, or lie hid, despairing of their first intentions against us."
The instances where any of the Indians kept their wig- wams as permanent homes, or became squatters or wild freeholders of the waste woodlands were exceptional. They made up a mere vagrant element, beseeching but little more of their conquerors than a night's shelter, a bit of bread, or some coarse work.
For a while they lingered in the settlements in isolated
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or fragmentary families as if loth to lose all their iden- tity. But it was to little purpose, and only as a fire which flickers before it goes out; for although men of great heart have sought to fan the fading embers of the race into a flame there yet remains for it of earth but dust and darkness. The race will doubtless have no resurrection except such as will come to all mortals, but the process of total extinction has been slow and painful. Even as late as into the 18th century the latch string of the farm house was occasionally pulled at nightfall by some wayfaring abo- rigine who came seeking temporary shelter or a place of resting upon the fireside mat. Now and then also there straggled into the village or hamlet, an object of interest to the children, a company of two or three forlorn and neg- lected creatures who more fortunate than their fellows had survived the hate of one generation and not starved upon the hospitality of another, begging for the small price of a willow basket or a birch broom. But the end of this came, and the years have passed into decades, and decades into scores since the last pure bred Massachusetts aborigine, a rude lone tenant at suffrance, was seen in the land which he once owned.
As a race the Indians have passed away, without a his- tory except as the white man has written it, or made it a part of his own, and without one work of coarse art where- with by strange hieroglyphics to inform the world what he once was.
It may never be definitely known just how many men were engaged in the struggle at Sudbury. The following summary perhaps fairly sets forth the English force. In the command of Capt. Wadsworth 50 men. In that of Capt. Cowell 18, soldiers from Concord 12, Sudbury soldiers 80.
Beside these there was a company of Christian Indians in charge of Capt. Hunting and a ."ply of horse" from Capt. Prentice's troop under the command of Corporal Phipps. The following is a summary of the soldiers known to have been killed before the Indians left Sudbury. Of Wads-
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worth command two Captains, one Lieutenant and twenty- six private soldiers, 29
Concord soldiers, Captain Cowell's command, Sudbury men,
II
4
I
-
45
That these are all the fatalities is hardly probable since the records of the events are so scant, the time of fighting was so long and the number of combatants were so many. It would be almost remarkable if none of the Watertown men were slain and only one of the soldiers of Sudbury.
The Sudbury records give but very little information rel- ative to the Indian invasion. There is an order giving direction as to logs that were used in the fortifications about the meeting house, but this is about all. The inhabitants of the various towns that were the hardest beset by the sav- ages were too much engaged in the struggle for sheer exist- ence to keep a written account of current events, momentous although they were, and the town clerks were only expected to make a record of things that strictly appertained to the public. Stationary was expensive; all were not able to write; and the importance of saving data for historic purposes was a matter perhaps little thought of. Family traditions would for a time naturally keep fresh the memory of husbands, fathers, brothers and sons, and it is not improbable that more than one grave in the woods had its lonely pathway which was occasionally trod- den by the inhabitants of neighboring farm houses; but after a time new families gave place to the old and these paths were no longer trodden. It may be supposed that after the havoc of battle bodies of scattered combatants were here and there found and buried where they fell. A few years ago a person while digging on the estate of Mr. Francis F. Walker, not far from the Green hill battle ground, found what might have been such a grave. There was a slight discoloration of the earth about the rusty bar-
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rel of a firearm and that was all. According to the author- ity of the Indians, if any reliance is to be placed on their rude reports, more Englishmen were slain at Sudbury than there is any record of. The following letter of Capt. Jacobs of the Marlborough garrison to the Council gives the estimate of the English loss as set forth by the Indians on the morning after their invasion of Sudbury :
"This morning about sun two hours high ye enemy alarmed us by firing and shouting towards ye government garrison house at Sudbury." He goes on to state that "soon after they gave a shout and came in great numbers on Indian Hill, and one, as their accustomed manner is after a fight, began to signify to us how many were slain ; they whooped seventy-four times, which we hope was only to affright us, seeing as we have had no intelligence of any such thing, yet we have reason to fear the worst, consider- ing the numbers, which we apprehend to be five hundred at the most, others think a thousand."
CHAPTER XLII
The Attack Upon Lancaster - Capture of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson - Efforts for Her Release - Heroic Services of Thomas Doublet or Nepanet - Humane Work of John Hoar, Esq. - The Process of Ransom - Extracts from the Book of Removes - Rowlandson Rock.
A S stated in a previous chapter the Indians attacked the town of Lancaster on the 10th of February. This however was not the only time, the first being on Sunday Aug. 30, 1675. The attack was led by a chief named Monoco, or one-eyed John, and the point of attack was the house of a Scotch settler named Mordecai Macloud. At that time seven persons were killed. Other mischievous work was done in the place and its vicinity, and taken all together perhaps no other settlement suffered more during Philip's war by the burning of its buildings, the slaughter of its inhabitants and the captivity of the living.
The town is situated in Worcester county along the Nashua river; and the first settlement by the English was begun there in 1643. Lancaster like Groton which also was successively assailed is historically associated with Con- cord, inasmuch as the three towns had Major Simon Wil- lard as a chief promoter of their early interests.
The Indians who dwelt in the vicinity of Lancaster were the Nashaways, whose tribal relations were with the Nip- mucks. After the sad happenings on August 30, the people of Lancaster gathered together in several garrisons and measures were taken to defend them by details of sol- diers. But notwithstanding the presence of the soldiers, towards the last of January 1675-6, word was brought by several Christian Indians that the place was in jeopardy.
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ON THE HILL NASHAWTUCK AT THE MEETING OF THE RIVERS AND ALONC THE BANKS LIVED THE INDIAN OWNERS OF MUSKETAQUID BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
TABLET AT EGG ROCK.
ON . THIS FIELD
THE MINUTE MEN AND MILITIA FORMED BEFORE MARCHING DOWN TO THE FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE
TABLET ON BATTLE LAWN.
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One of the Indians, Quanapohit, whom the Council had employed to act as a spy in the woods about Wachuset and on towards Brookfield predicted the very day of the proposed attack. Another of them named Kattenanit brought a similar report.
After escaping from the hostile Indians at Meminisset whither he had gone to obtain important facts, he trav- elled upon snow-shoes about eighty miles to Boston to report to Major Gookin that about four hundred Indians were on their way to attack Lancaster, arriving with his message in a wearied and half famished condition. The authorities at once despatched messengers to Marlboro, Concord and Lancaster to fortify in great haste ; but the order came too late. The blow had fallen. Before Capt. Wadsworth could reach the town, the savages had encom- passed it and burned the bridge on the regular road, and it was only by the fidelity of the friendly Indian guides that Wadsworth and his company being led along another route escaped an ambush. By Wadsworth's safe detour a part of the town was saved, but it was only a part. The garrison house of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson was burned and of thirty-seven or forty persons within it only one escaped death or captivity ; among the captives was Mr. Rowland- son's wife.
The capture of Mrs. Rowlandson was one of the sad- dest events of Philip's war and called out unusual sympathy. It was terrible enough to be slain by the tomahawk and to have the body subsequently subjected to the scalping knife, but it was doubly terrible for womankind in helpless cap- tivity to be subjected to a wilderness exposure in time of war with whatever of want or long marches or rough weather might betide her captors and also to be kept in suspense as to what the end might be; but such was captivity among the Indians. They held their pris- oners for a ransom. The English sold their Indian prisoners into slavery ; the Indians sold their English captives to the white men. To lighten the burdens of the
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captives and make their lives more tolerable would not hasten the day of their redemption.
Mrs. Rowlandson was held in captivity from Feb. 10 to May 2. During this time she was compelled to travel from place to place with her Indian captors and so be an unwill- ing witness to many daring and revolting exploits. She was a close observer and after her release wrote and pub- lished a detailed account of her captivity, noting the daily movements of her captors and giving a graphic description of their ways of living, their customs, and their treatment of prisoners. The book is known as "Mrs. Rowlandson's Removes ; " a title suggestive of the frequent changes to which she was subjected. The author describes the grand pow-wow held by the Indians just previous to their assault on Sudbury, and some of the incidents connected with the event in general so that the book is a great acquisition to the literature relating to King Philip's war.
Soon after the capture of Mrs. Rowlandson great efforts were made to ascertain the amount demanded for her safe delivery to the English, to raise the sum and to secure the services of some one who would be able wisely and suc- cessfully to negotiate with the savages. The following description of the release of Mary Rowlandson is by Rev. George M. Bodge in his work on "Soldiers in Philip's War" :
"Rev. Mr. Rowlandson sought the aid of the Council in his efforts to redeem the captives, many of whom were his own kindred. At first it was impossible to find any one of the friendly Indians willing to venture as messengers among the hostiles, mainly because they had been so cruelly and shamefully abused by the English and were now con- fined at Deer Island, where they could not be accused or placed under suspicion. At last, however, one Tom Dub- let, or Nepanet, consented to go, and was fitted and instructed by Major Gookin, and upon April 3d started from Cambridge, and returned with the answer of the Sachems on April 12th. The correspondence between the Council and the Sachems is still preserved, in part, though
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the original letters are lost. The messenger brought back word from Sam Sachem, Kutquen and Quanohit, Samuel Uskatuhgun and other owners of the captives taken at Lancaster that all were well except the youngest child of Mr. Rowlandson, who was dead. At last, after many negotiations by the faithful Nepanet, Mr. John Hoar, of Concord, who, more than any man in the colony, had the confidence of the Indians, accompanied by Nepanet, and another friendly Indian, "Peter Conway, " and bearing the ransom, twenty pounds in money and goods, raised by sev- eral gentlemen for the redemption of Mrs. Rowlandson, met the Sachems near Wachusett Hill, and on May 2d received and conducted that lady to Lancaster, and the next day to Boston. The other captives were redeemed at vari- ous times and places afterwards.
The place where Mr. Hoar met the Sachems is well iden- tified, being marked by a large rock called "Redemption Rock, " a noble landmark near the ancient Indian trail, be- tween Lancaster and Mount Wachusett, and in the present town of Princton, on the easterly side of a beautiful valley, across which, in the distance, towers Mount Wachusett. The locality is known as "Everettville," from the name of an ancient family who have lived here for generations. In 1880, Hon. Geo. F. Hoar, of Worcester, a lineal descend- ant of the chief actor in this transaction, for the English, purchased the land containing this site and set it apart for memorial purposes, and caused the following inscription to be placed upon the face of the rock :
" UPON THIS ROCK MAY 2d 1676 WAS MADE THE AGREEMENT FOR THE RANSOM OF MRS. MARY ROWLANDSON OF LANCASTER BETWEEN THE INDIANS AND JOHN HOAR OF CONCORD KING PHILIP WAS WITH THE INDIANS BUT REFUSED HIS CONSENT. "
As several of the principal actors in the release of Mrs. Rowlandson were connected with the town of Concord, and
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the graphic description which she gives sets forth some of the methods and some thing of the character of the com- batants with whom the colonists had to deal, we have con- sidered it expedient to publish some portions of the book already referred to, entitled "The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson ":
"On the tenth of February, 1675, came the Indians with great number upon Lancaster. The first coming was about Sun-rising ; hearing the noise of some guns, we looked out; Several Houses were burning, and the Smoke ascending to Heaven. There were five persons taken in one house, the Father and the Mother and a sucking Child ; they were knocked on the head ; the other two they took and carried away alive. Their were two others who, being out of their garrison upon some occasion, were set upon ; one was knocked on the head, the other escaped: Another there was who running along was shot and wounded, and fell down ; he begged of them his life, promising them money (as they told me), but they would not hearkan to him but knockt him in head, and stript him naked, and split open his bowels. Another, seeing many of the Indians about his Barn, ventured and went out, but was quickly shot down. There were three others belonging to the same garrison who were killed, the Indians, getting upon the roof of the Barn, had advantage to shoot down upon them and their Fortifications. Thus these murtherous wretches went on burning and destroying before them.
"At length they came and beset our own house, and quickly it was the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. The House stood upon the edge of a hill; some of the Indians got behind the hill, others into the Barn, and others behind anything that could shelter them; from all which places they shot against the House, that so the Bullets seemed to fly like hail; and quickly wounded one man among us, then another, then a third. About two hours (according to my observations in that amazing time) they had been about the House, before they prevailed to fire
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it (which they did with Flax and Hemp, which they brought out of the Barn, and there being no defense about the House, only two Flankers at two opposite corners and one of them not finished, they fired it once and ventured out and quenched it, but they quickly fired it again, and that took. Now as this dreadful hour came that I have often heard of (in ยท time of War, was as it was the case of others), but now mine eyes see it. Some in our house were fighting for their lives, others wallowing in theirs, the House on fire over our heads, and the bloody Heathen ready to knock us on the head if we stirred out: Now might we hear Mothers and children crying out for themselves, and one another, ' Lord, what shall we do?' Then I took my Children (and one of my sister's ), hers to go forth and leave the house : but as soon as we came to the dore and appeared the In- dians shot so thick that the Bulletts rattled against the house, as if one had taken an handfull of stones and threw them, so that we were fain to give back. We had six stout dogs belonging to our Garrison, but none of them would stir, though another time, if any Indian had come to the door, they were ready to fly upon him and tear him down. The Lord hereby would make us the more to acknowledge his hand, and to see that our help is alwayes in him. But out we must go, the fire increasing and coming along be- hind us, roaring, and the Indians gaping before us with their Guns, Spears and Hatchets, to devour us. No sooner were we out of the House but my Brother-in-Law (being wounded before in defending the home), in or near the throat fell down dead, whereat the Indian scampered shouted and hallowed, and were presently upon him, strip- ping off his cloaths, the bullets flying thick; one went through my side, and the same, (as would seem,) through my bowels and hand of my dear child in my arms. One
of my elder Sister's Children, named William, had then his Leg broken, which the Indians preceiving, they knocked him on head. Thus were we butchered by those mer- ciless Heathen, standing amaized, with the blood running
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down to our heels. My eldest Sister being yet in the House and seeing those wofull sights, the Infidels haling Mothers one way, and Children another, and some wallowing in their blood : and her elder son telling her that her Son Will- iam was dead, and myself was wounded, she said, And, 'Lord let me dy with them' which was no sooner said, but she was struck with a Bullet, and fell down dead over the threshold. I hope she is reaping the fruit of her good labors, being faithfull to the service of God in her place. In her younger days she lay under much trouble upon spiritual accounts, till it pleased God to make that precious Scripture take hold of her heart, 2 Cor. 12. 9. 'And he said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee.' More than twenty years after I have heard her tell how sweet and com- fortable that place was to her, But to return : The Indians laid hold of us, pulling me one way, and the Children another, and said, 'Come along with us :' I told them they would kill me: they answered, 'If I were willing to go with them, they would not hurt me.'
"O the dolefull sight that now was to behold at this House! 'Come, behold the works of the Lord, what deso- lation he has made in the earth.' Of thirty seven persons who were in this one House, none escaped either present death, or a bitter captivity, save only one, who might say as he; Job 1. 15 'And I only am escaped alone to tell the news.' There were twelve killed, some shot, some stab'd with their Spears, some knocked down with their Hatchets.
*
" That I may the better declare what happened to me during that grievious Captivity, I shall particularly speak of the severall Removes we had up and down the Wilder- ness."
THE FIRST REMOVE.
"Now away we must go with thos eBarbarous Creatures, with our bodies wounded and bleeding, and our hearts no
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less than our bodies. About a mile we went that night, up upon a hill within sight of the Town where we intended to lodge, there was hard by a vacant house, (deserted by the English before, for fear of the Indians.) I asked them whether I might not lodge in the house that night to which they answered, what will you love English men still? this was the dolefullest night that ever my eyes saw. O the roaring and dancing and singing, and yelling of those black creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell. And as miserable was the wast that was made of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, Calves, Lambs, Roasting Pigs, and Fowl [which they had plundered in the town] some roasting, some lying, some burning, and some boyling to feed our merciless Enemies; who were joyful enough though we were disconsolate. To add to the dole- fulness of the former day and the dismalness of the present night, my thoughts ran up on my losses and sad bereaved condition. All was gone, my Husband gone (at least sep- arated from me he being in the Bay; and to add to my grief, the Indians told me they would kill him as he came homeward) my Children gone, my Relations and Friends gone, our House and home and all our comforts within door, and without, all was gone, (except my life) and I knew not but the next moment that might go too. *
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