USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 8
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Justly alarmed at these suspicious intimations, the general court, during the month of May, 1661, adopted and published a series of resolu- tions, defining the powers with which the au- thorities of Massachusetts were clothed by the
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126
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1661.
charter of the province, and expressing the de- termination of the government to defend the .rights of the people even by force of arms if it should be found necessary. To comply, however, with the requisition of the king, they sent Simon Bradstreet and John Norton to London, to affirm the loyalty of the province, to petition for a continuation of its rights and privileges, and to defend it from unfavourable representations.
It was not without great reluctance that the colonial agents accepted an appointment which threatened to endanger their personal liberty ; but their anticipations of detention in England proved groundless. Charles received them with a graciousness and favour altogether unexpected ; and, finally, enabled them to return to Massa- chusetts, bearing a letter, in which he promised to confirm the charter of the provinces, and to continue to the people those rights and privileges to which they were entitled. There were, how- ever, some requisitions in the letter which the people were inclined to receive with less favour. The general court was directed to administer the oath of allegiance to every person within the province; to pronounce all laws invalid which had been made during the interregnum; to select the officers of the colony for their wisdom and integrity, without regard to their religious tenets ; and to extend the right of suffrage to all freeholders of unblemished character.
127
1664.]
COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED.
There can be no question that the changes thus required to be made in the policy of the Massachusetts government were both liberal and gracious; but the people, having adopted a form of polity which they believed to be best in ac- cordance with their religious faith, were not dis- posed to admit any alterations which might afford a precedent for future interference. They there- fore only so far complied with the requirements of the king as to conduct judicial proceedings in his name.
This sturdy adherence to the principles they had espoused was promptly seized by certain designing persons in England, who were eager for an opportunity of renewing their charges against the Massachusetts authorities. To their complaints Charles himself lent no unwilling ear ; and while protesting his willingness to preserve the provincial charter, he determined to ascer- tain how far the people of Massachusetts had transcended its provisions.
It was speedily understood that commissioners would be appointed to supervise the colonial go- vernment, and that they would be supported by an English fleet intended for the reduction of New York. A commission was in fact issued soon after to Sir Robert Carr, Colonel Nichols, George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick-the latter a determined enemy to the Massachusetts colony. The safety of the charter was imme-
128
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1665.
diately provided for ; preparations for defence were made, and a day of solemn fast speedily appointed.
The commissioners reached Boston toward the close of July, 1664, and at once demanded that troops should be levied to assist in reducing the Dutch. Impatient at the delays to which they were subjected, they re-embarked on board the fleet, and set sail for New York. The bloodless reduction of the territory known as New Netherland to the authority of England, rendering the duties of the commissioners com- paratively easy ; they returned to Massachusetts in the spring of 1665. In the mean time, the authorities of the latter colony had prepared a strong remonstrance against the threatened infringement of their charter, and petitioned, at the same time, that the powers of the com- missioners should be revoked.
But even the warmest friends of Massachu- setts in England were indisposed to support the justice of a protest they could neither under- stand nor appreciate; nor did the subsequent high-handed measures of the commissioners them- selves lead men to see that the authority under which they acted was wholly unconstitutional. Their arbitrary and overbearing conduct was well calculated to increase their unpopularity. The regular authorities refusing to assemble the freemen of the colony, the commissioners
129
ARBITRARY PROCEEDINGS.
1666.]
assumed the sole responsibility of doing so, and issued the order for a convention under their own names. Holding themselves as vested with powers superior to those with which the people had clothed the colonial magistrates, they ex- tended their protection to persons under prose- cution; and recognising the right of appeal to themselves, in a suit already decided by the pro- per judge, they opened the case anew, and sum- moned both parties to appear before them. Against this encroachment upon their acknow- ledged privileges, the general court strongly protested ; and, as a matter of conciliation, of- fered to hear the cause over again in the pre- sence of the commissioners : but this proposition was rejected.
While the dispute was still unsettled, the commissioners visited New Hampshire and Maine. A hasty decision pronounced the claims of Mason and Gorges to those territories to be valid; and annulled, at the same time, the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. After suppress- ing the old authorities, and appointing new, they returned to Boston. Exasperated by these summary measures, the general court demanded an interview with the commissioners. This, how- ever, the latter indignantly refused, and having reported the conduct of Massachusetts to the king, with more vindictiveness than became their station, they were recalled in 1666; and, at. the
130
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1675.
same time, the general court was ordered to send deputies to England, to answer the charges preferred against the province. By a cautious and temporizing policy, and by presents of masts and provisions judiciously timed, the imminence of the danger was averted. But the ultimate de- sign of the king was suspended, not abandoned.
The great plague and the fire of London occurred to prevent him from immediately car- rying out his plans ; and for several years subse- quent to the recall of the commissioners, the New England provinces continued in the enjoy- ment of their ancient privileges without inter- ruption.
Governor Bellingham, a man of great learning and integrity, was continually re-elected until 1670. During this period the province greatly increased in wealth and population. An exten- sive and profitable traffic in lumber and fish was carried on with Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies, the commercial restrictions which had been imposed in England being systematically and resolutely evaded.
From the period of the Pequod war until 1675, the colonies of New England had been enabled to preserve amicable relations with the neigh- bouring Indians, many of whom, by the unwearied exertions of Eliot and Mayhew, and other de- voted missionaries, were induced to embrace the Christian religion. These converts, how-
131
1675.] RESTLESSNESS OF THE INDIANS.
ever, were mostly confined to the smaller Indian communities ; the powerful tribes of the Narra- gansets and the Wampanoags, or Pokanokets, still retaining the belief of their fathers.
Of these two warlike nations, one, by the rapid spread of the English plantations, was shut in between Plymouth and Connecticut; and the other confined mainly to the narrow peninsulas formed by the northern and eastern branches of Narraganset Bay.
Being in a measure constrained, from time to time, to part with portions of their territory to the colonists, the limits of their ancient hunting- grounds became gradually circumscribed within bounds which admitted of being watched by the English. Thus forced back by the advancing tide of population, Philip of Pokanoket, chief of the Wampanoags, the son and successor of the friendly sachem Massasoit, began to grow restless under the various restraints to which his own movements, and those of his tribe, were subjected. Canonchet, the sachem of the Narra- gansets, a tribe at this period numbering a thousand warriors, was scarcely less uneasy. The Wampanoags themselves boasted seven hun- dred fighting men. Suspicion of hostile designs already rested on Philip, who had been com- pelled to surrender the firearms in his possession, and to enter upon stipulations, which failing to comply with, he was in consequence, subse-
132
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1675.
quently mulcted by the Plymouth authorities in a heavy fine.
An Indian convert, who had resided for some time at Mount Hope in the service of Philip, on returning to Cambridge to resume his former office of teacher there, charged Philip with being engaged in planning an extensive massacre of the English. The haughty chieftain was at once sent for to answer the accusation, and although . his replies were scarcely considered satisfactory, was permitted to return to his tribe. A short time afterward, the treacherous informer was waylaid and murdered by three of Philip's people, who themselves were subsequently seized, tried by a mixed jury, condemned, and executed.
Eager to revenge the death of their compa- nions, a party of warriors, on the 24th of June, fell suddenly upon the frontier settlement at Swanzey, and slew some eight or nine English. Already some houses had been burned in the neighbourhood of Mount Hope, and their in- habitants driven off. Magnified by terror, the belief in an extensive conspiracy quickly spread. Plymouth, as the most exposed, quickly took measures for defence, and within four days from the attack on Swanzey, a party of horse from Massachusetts set out to form a junction with the Plymouth forces.
These troops succeeded in capturing, with but
133
INDIAN RAVAGES.
1675.]
,
little resistance, the Wampanoag villages at Mount Hope; but they were already partially abandoned. Crossing the bay, the Provincials next penetrated the Narraganset country, and constrained that powerful tribe to deliver up hostages for the maintenance of peace.
In the mean time Philip, driven from his pa- ternal home, and forced into a war in opposition to his own wishes, sought refuge among the in- land tribes, whom he speedily succeeded in win- ning over to his assistance. The hatchet was soon after uplifted all along the entire frontier of New England, and the usual horrors of Indian warfare speedily followed. Its desultory cha- racter only rendered it the more alarming. The feeble, outlying villages were the first to experi- ence the vengeance of the exasperated savages.
On the second of August, Captain Hutchinson and sixteen men fell into an ambush and were killed. The same day Brookfield was attacked and devastated. The river Indians now joined in the war. Deerfield was burned; Northfield was abandoned. Captain Beers, with twenty of his men, while hastening to the relief of North- field, fell victims to the vigilance of outlying savages. On the 18th of September, Captain Lathrop, with an entire company of eighty picked men, experienced a similar fate. Springfield was next partially burned ; and an unsuccessful at- tempt was made, on the 19th of October, to
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134
ยท HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1675.
capture the town of Hatfield. These successes stimulated the Indians on the Merrimack to commence hostilities also. The alarmed settlers upon the Massachusetts frontiers were driven in toward Boston, and the whole colony was thrown
into a fever of excitement. Imagination now lent its aid to swell the extasy of terror. Strange signs and configurations were seen in the heavens. An Indian bow, distinct in shape, was beheld by credulous persons in the sky. Spectral horse- men bestrode the clouds, and the rush of their invisible steeds was heard through the air. The moon was eclipsed, and displayed in the centre of its orb the figure of an Indian scalp. Fanati- cism saw in the war, and the ominous portents by which it was said to be accompanied, a judg- ment upon their sins; and the general court, after deliberate consultation with the elders, recounted many little follies and vanities which had of late been fostered and encouraged, especially by the younger portion of the com- munity.
The commissioners for the New England colo- nies met in September, and resolved to make common cause in carrying on the war. A thou- sand men was at once ordered to be raised for the general protection of the plantations, and an equal number was soon after directed to be levied for an expedition against the Narragan- sets, who, though not in arms themselves, were
135
MASSACRE OF THE INDIANS.
1675.]
charged with encouraging and sheltering the hostile tribes.
On the 18th of December these troops, led by Josiah Winslow, entered the Narraganset coun- try. The following day, after wading with difficulty through a deep snow for fifteen miles, they came in sight of the numerous wigwams of the enemy, clustered upon a small island in the midst of a morass, and protected by a palisade of logs and a thick and almost impenetrable hedge. Through the only entrance into this enclosure, exposed to a perfect blaze of fire from the sheltered Indians within, the captains reso- lutely advanced at the head of their respective companies. Six of these gallant officers were shot dead in the fierce struggle which ensued. For two hours, with varying fortune, the fight was maintained; but at length the Indians gave way, the fort was carried by the assailants, and nearly six hundred wigwams were immediately in a blaze. The winter's store of provisions was consumed, and hundreds of the aged, the timid, and the weak perished in the flames. The sur- vivors of this terrible massacre, driven shelterless into the forest, deprived of food, and in constant terror of pursuit, dragged out a miserable exist- ence, until, weakened by famine and stricken by exposure, many of them died. Others, infuriated by their disasters, joined with roving bands of
136
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1676.
Indians and revenged themselves by falling upon the frontier settlements.
On the 10th of February, 1676, Lancaster was burned, and forty of its inhabitants killed or carried away into captivity. Groton and Chelmsford were also subjected to repeated attacks. On the 21st, Medfield, a village within twenty miles of Boston, was vigorously assaulted and one-half of the houses laid in ashes. War- wick and Providence, towns in Rhode Island, were next wholly or partially destroyed. The whole of the Narraganset country was aban- doned. The colony of Plymouth bled at every pore. At Pawtucket a company, commanded by Captain Pierce, was almost annihilated. Another, under Captain Wadsworth, experienced a similar fate. But the injuries inflicted by the savages were not equal to the endurance of the English. Armed parties scoured the forests in every direction. Deprived of their accustomed supplies of food, many of the Indians suffered all the pangs of starvation. On the Connecticut, an encampment, consisting of a large number of hostile Indians, was surprised on the 19th of May by a strong volunteer detachment under Turner and Holyoke, and almost completely annihilated. The Narraganset country was overrun, and Canonchet, the chief sachem, taken a prisoner. Glorying in the resistance of the Indians, he refused the offer of his life on con-
137
DEATH OF PHILIP.
1676.]
dition of procuring a peace. He received his sentence of death heroically. "I like it well," said-he. "I shall die before I speak any thing unworthy of myself."
Philip himself, hunted from place to place and deserted by his allies, after vainly endeavouring to prevail upon the Mohawks to take part in the contest, desperately returned to Mount Hope with the shattered remnant of those who still clung to him. Being closely pressed by the re- nowned partisan, Captain Church, his wife and son fell into the hands of his pursuers, and he himself escaped with difficulty. A few days after he was again surprised in his hiding-place; and while his terrified followers were offering a feeble resistance, he was shot dead by an Indian fighting in the ranks of the English. His cap- tive son was transported to Bermuda and sold as a slave. Thus ended King Philip's war, dis- astrous alike to the conquerors and the conquered. Thirteen villages had been destroyed, six hun- dred houses laid in ashes, and more than that number of English had perished by the hands of the infuriated savages. On the other hand, the losses sustained by the Indians were immense. The great tribes of the Wampanoags and the Narragansets had been nearly annihilated ; and of those who had escaped, but very few ever ven- tured to return to their ancient hunting-grounds.
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138
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1676.
CHAPTER X.
Charter of Massachusetts threatened-Agents sent to England -Their return-The charter vacated-Dudley appointed president-Andros appointed governor of all the New Eng- land provinces-His exactions and tyrannical conduct- Revolution in England-Insurrection in Massachusetts- Deposition and imprisonment of Andros-Bradstreet chosen president-War between England and France-Activity of Frontenac-Cocheco devastated-Pemaquid attacked and taken-Schenectady burned-Settlement at Salmon Falls surprised-Capture of fort at Casco Bay-Phipps captures Port Royal-Expedition to Canada-Its ill success-Issue of paper money-New charter of Massachusetts-Phipps appointed governor-Salem witchcraft-Cotton Mather- Spread of the delusion-Its terrible effects throughout the colony-Execution of Mr. Burroughs-Flight of the Brad- streets-Accusation of Lady' Phipps-Reaction-Conduct of Judge Sewell-Of Mr. Parrish.
IN the mean while, during the progress of a war which laid nearly one-half of the English settlements in ruins, the privy council of Charles II. were meditating the recall of the Massachusetts charter. On the 10th of June, while the contest was still raging on the northern frontiers, Edward Randolph reached New Eng- land, bearing a letter to the Massachusetts authorities, commanding them to send over com- missioners to answer charges preferred against the colony. These commands were reluctantly complied with, and William Stoughton and Peter
139
THE CHARTER VACATED.
1684.]
Bulkley were despatched with a memorial from the general court, having particular reference to the right of jurisdiction exercised by Massa- chusetts over Maine and New Hampshire.
The committee appointed in the early part of 1677 to examine the charters, having pronounced the title to the territory of Maine to be vested in the heirs of Gorges, Massachusetts sought to put an end to the dispute by purchasing the charter of that province from the proprietaries for twelve hundred and fifty pounds.
The agents from Massachusetts being entrusted with powers expressly limited, found but little favour from the English ministry. They re- turned to the province in 1679, other agents, clothed with fuller authority, being demanded by the king. But the fate of the charter had been predetermined. Firmly resolved not to surrender by a. voluntary act those rights and privileges which had been formally granted the original founders of the province, the general court instructed their agents to that effect ; and a quo warranto having been issued, they declined contending with the king in a court of law. Such being the case, the suit steadily progressed to a close without opposition, and on the 18th of June, 1684, the charter was adjudged to be vacated. This judgment being subsequently confirmed, a copy of it was despatched to the
140
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1686.
colony, where it arrived on the second of July, 1685.
From 1673 to 1679, John Leverett had been annually elected governor of the colony. At his decease, he was succeeded by the aged Brad- street, almost the only survivor of the earlier colonists. The latter was regularly chosen chief magistrate until the charter was annulled, when James II., who had succeeded to the English crown, commissioned Joseph Dudley, a son of the former governor of that name, as president, until a governor should be regularly appointed. Sixteen others were associated with Dudley, and the joint commission was also au- thorized to exercise authority over Maine, New Hampshire, and Narraganset.
This was, however, but a temporary arrange- ment. Toward the close of 1686, Dudley was superseded by Sir Edmund Andros, who was transferred from the' chief magistracy of New York and appointed governor of all the New England provinces.
The supple and subservient character of An- dros had already preceded him. His arbitrary conduct soon rendered him still more unpopu- lar. Under the specious pretext that the for- foiture of the charter had invalidated all the titles to land in the colony, and that the fee was in the crown, he required a confirmation of all deeds under his own hand, for which he exacted
1689.]
ANDROS IMPRISONED.
141
the most exorbitant charges. In this measure he was supported by Randolph, who had been appointed colonial secretary and judge of pro- bate. By the consent of at least a portion of his council, he proceeded to levy taxes in an equally arbitrary manner, and subjected to fine and imprisonment various respectable citizens, who, disputing the legality of the measure, firmly refused payment. A respectful address to the king failing to put a stop to the rapacity of his governor, Increase Mather, one of the most popular clergymen in the province, was selected to proceed to England and endeavour to obtain some relief from the grievances under which the colonists laboured.
But events were maturing in England by which the gubernatorial career of Andros was brought to an unexpected close. In the spring of 1689, a rumour reached Boston that William Prince of Orange had successfully accomplished a bloodless revolution in the mother country, and that James II. had fled the kingdom and taken refuge in France. Without waiting for the tidings to be confirmed, the people of Massa- chusetts immediately assembled in arms, gained possession of the fort, and seizing Andros, Ran- dolph, and other obnoxious persons, placed them in strict confinement until they could be sent to England.
Until instructions should be received from
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142
HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1689. 1
abroad, a council of safety, of which the vene- rable Bradstreet was appointed president, was organized to administer the government in the form in which it existed under the charter.
In a few weeks, the success of the Protestant revolution, and the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England, was placed be- yond a doubt. The Council of Massachusetts was officially recognised, and ordered to continue the government in the ancient manner until the king's further pleasure should be made known.
In the mean time, war had been declared between England and France. Count Frontenac, the governor of Canada, having been prevented from invading New York by the necessity of de- fending his own territory against an irruption of the Five Nations, encouraged his Indian allies to undertake a number of smaller enterprises along the exposed frontiers of New York and New England.
On the night of the 27th of June, 1689, the Penacook warriors, led by Castine, surprised Cocheco, partly destroyed the village, and killed or bore away into captivity fifty-two of the in- habitants.
The Penobscot Indians, influenced by a French priest, next invested the stockade fort at Pema- quid, on the Merrimack, and after a siege of two days, compelled the garrison to surrender themselves prisoners of war. In mid winter, a
143
CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL.
1690.]
party of French and. Indians from Montreal, after wading through the snows for three weeks, fell suddenly upon the village of Schenectady, burned many of the houses, and massacred sixty of the inhabitants. In the early spring of 1690, the brutal Hertelle, with a mixed party of French and Indians, surprised the village at Salmon Falls, killed nearly all the male inhabitants, and led off into captivity fifty-four persons, mostly
women and children. Forming a junction with a third party of his countrymen, Hertelle next attacked the fort at Casco Bay, destroyed by stratagem a part of the garrison, and captured the remainder.
Impressed with the danger to which the eastern colonies were exposed, the government of Massa- chusetts fitted out at its own expense an expedi- tion against Port Royal, in Acadia, the command of which was given to Sir William Phipps, an officer who, by the force of native energy alone, had raised himself from the humble condition of a farmer's boy to rank and station. The enter- prise proved successful in every respect. Port Royal was captured, and possession taken of the whole territory. Leaving a part of his troops to garrison his conquest, Phipps returned in triumph to Boston. ,
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