USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Three historical addresses at Groton, Massachusetts > Part 7
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for shuts for the windows of the meeting house IO O
At a Generall towne meeting held Janevary 13 1672 This day agreed vpon and by vot declared that their shalbe a commit chossen for to seat the persons in the meeting house according to their best discretion and at the sam time a commitee chosen and their names are thess
Maior Willard
Sergent Parker and S sergent Lakin
James ffiske
John Lakin
At a meeting of the sellect men febr 26 72 Agreed vpon by the sellect men that this division of land which is granted by the towne to the seuerall Inhabitants shalbe as followeth by proportion their shalbe one acre to one shill= disbursement in mr Willards Rat and we doe also agree that of this land that was prohibited shalbe only Indian hill and the hill behind Nath= Lawrances
and we doe furder agree that euery Inhabitant shall haue an equall proportion in these lands according to disbursements in mr Willard rat and for the rest of their proportion shalbe else wheir wheir [sic] it is most convenient for them either Joyning to their medowes or of Oake land on this sid the Riuer
only Mr Willard shall haue a proportion to a forty shilling disbursement - the town consenting here to
At a Generall Towne meeting held no: 19 1673 This day agreed vpon and by vote declared that Mr Willard rat shalbe raised ptly by vissible estat and partly by accommodations what- soeuer votes hau past formerly to the contrary as also it was agreed vpon that euery man hence forward shall haue their draughts of land according to their disbursements and those yt
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haue them not shall have them mad vp and that he shall haue eighty pound for this present yeare and a fourth part of this payment to be payd in money and the other sixty pound to be payd in all sorts of graine at price currant as the court haue determined and in prouision - and ten pound for his firewood which is to be payd in by tim preffixd and if not then to pay their proportion in corne or prouision and also agreed vpon that this twenty pound in money is to be payd in to Capt Parker and to Richard Blood by th last of August or the first of septem- next - as also henceforward he shall haue a quarter of his payment in money yearly
At a Generall Town meeting held October 20 1675 Agreed vpon and by vote declared that our Reuerand Pastor shall haue eighty pound for this present year sixty 1 in Corne and prwisi [ons] forty pound of it to be payd betwixt this and ye twenty fiue of December next ensueing and the other 201 to be payd in the spring of the yeare vnlesse god by some speciall prouidence Doe preuent and the other 201 to be payd in money the last of august or the first of september in the year 1676
and 40 cord of wood to be proportioned according to euery mans proportion to be caryed in now pressently
At a Generall Towne meeting held no= 8 1675 It was this day agreed vpon and by vote declared that their should be a committe chussen to treat with Mr willard about sending down to the generall court to Enforme and supplicat to them that we may haue payd to vs what is our due from the countrey and also that the Billit of the souldiers may be vpon the countreys account and also agreed vpon that if this would not doe for to stand it out at law with them
and the commitee chussen was Capt Parker Leiftenant Lakin William Longley seni= John Page
Nearly one-and-twenty years had passed since the little settlement in the wilderness was begun, and it was fast approaching its majority. The new town had enjoyed a moderate share of prosperity, and was slowly working out its destiny. The founders were poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith and courage. They had now tasted the hard- ships of frontier life, but not as yet felt the horrors of savage warfare. The distant thunders of a threatening storm were
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beginning to be heard, and the occasional flashes put the early settlers on their guard. Philip's War had broken out, and the outlying settlements were exposed to new dangers. The inhabitants of this town took such precautions as seemed needful, and trusted in Providence for the rest. They were just beginning to prepare for the work of another season, when a small band of prowling Indians alarmed the town by pillaging eight or nine houses and driving off some cattle. This occurred on March 2, 1676, and probably was a suffi- cient warning to send the inhabitants to the garrison-houses, whither they were wont to flee in time of danger. These places of refuge were usually houses surrounded by a strong wall of stone or timber built up as high as the eaves, with a gate-way, and port-holes for the use of musketry.
In Groton there were five such garrison-houses, and under their protection many a sleepless, anxious night was passed by the inmates. Four of these houses were very near each other, and the fifth was nearly a mile away. The sites of some of them are well known. One was Mr. Willard's house, which stood near the site of the High School; an- other was Captain Parker's house, which stood just north of the hall in which we are now assembled; and a third was John Nutting's house, on the other side of James's Brook. The fourth was probably north of John Nutting's, but per- haps south of Mr. Willard's. There is a tradition that one stood near the house formerly owned and occupied by the late Eber Woods, which would make the fifth garrison-house " near a mile distant from the rest."
It is recorded in the inventory of his estate, on file in the Middlesex Probate Office at East Cambridge, that Timothy Cooper,* of Groton, was " Sleine by the Indeins the Second day of march 1675-6." Cooper was an Englishman by birth, and lived, probably, somewhere between the present site of the Baptist meeting-house and the beginning of Farmers' Row. It is not known that there was other loss of
* John Cooper, of Weston Hall, England, in his will, written November 21, 1654, and proved the next year, mentions his "brother Timothy Cooper now in New England," with children. The will is on file in the Registry of Probate, London.
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life at this time; but the affair was serious enough to alarm the inhabitants. They sought refuge immediately in the garrison-houses, as the Indians were lurking in the neighbor- hood. On March 9, the savages again threatened the be- leaguered town, and, by a cunningly contrived ambush, man- aged to entrap four men at work, of whom one was killed and one captured, while the other two escaped. This second assault must have produced great alarm and consternation among the people of the town. The final and principal at- tack, however, came on the 13th, when the enemy appeared in full body, thought to be not less than four hundred in number. The inhabitants at this time all were gathered into the several garrison-houses for protection. During the pre- vious night the savages scattered throughout the town, and the first volley of shot on the morning of the 13th was the signal for the general burning of the town; and in this con- flagration the first meeting-house of Groton was destroyed. With its thatched roof it must have burned quickly. In a very short time nothing was left but a heap of smoking em- bers. Although it had never been formally dedicated to religious worship, it had been consecrated in spirit to the service of God by the prayers of the minister and the devo- tion of the congregation. In this assault John Nutting's garrison was taken by stratagem. The men defending it had been drawn out by two Indians apparently alone, when the savages in ambush arose, and killed one of the men, probably John Nutting himself, and wounded three others. At the same time the garrison-house, now defenceless, was attacked in the rear and the palisades pulled down, allowing the enemy to take possession. The women and children, comprising those of five families, escaped to Captain Parker's house, situated just this side of the brook and north of this building.
There is a tradition, which is entitled to credence, that John Nutting was killed while defending his log-house fort during Philip's War. His wife's name appears a few months later in the Woburn town records as "Widow Nutting," which is confirmatory of the tradition.
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The Indians were a cowardly set, and never attacked in open field. They never charged on works in regular column, but depended rather on craft or cunning to defeat their ad- versary. The red "hellhounds " - as they were sometimes called by our pious forefathers - were always ready to attack women and children, but afraid to meet men. The inhabitants of the town were now safely and securely housed, and were masters of the situation. The enemy could do little more than to taunt and jeer them from time to time with insulting remarks. The main body of the savages passed the following night in "an adjacent valley," which cannot now be identified, but some of them lodged in the garrison- house which they had taken; and the next morning, after firing two or three volleys at Captain Parker's house, they departed. They carried off a prisoner, - John Morse, the town-clerk, - who was ransomed a short time afterward. The following reference to him in an undated letter, written by the Reverend Thomas Cobbet to the Reverend Increase Mather, shows very nearly the time of his release: -
May ye 12th Good wife Diuens and Good wife Ketle vpon ransom paid, came into concord. & vpon like ransom presently [a]fter John Moss of Groton & leiftenant Carlors Daughter of Lancaster, were set at liberty & 9 more wtout ransom : ( Mather Manuscripts in the Prince Collection, at the Boston Public Library, i. 76.)
The ransom for John Morse was paid by John Hubbard, of Boston, and amounted to "about five pounds." Morse's petition to the Council to have Hubbard reimbursed is found in the Archives (lxix. 48) at the State House.
The population of Groton at the time of its destruction was about three hundred inhabitants. The Reverend Wil- liam Hubbard, in his Narrative, printed in the year 1677, estimates the number of families at sixty, and five persons to a family may be considered a fair average. The same authority says that there were forty dwelling-houses, besides other buildings, burned in this assault, and only fourteen or fifteen houses left standing.
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Fortunately the loss of life or limb on the part of the inhabitants of the town was small, and it is not known that more than three persons were killed - of whom one was Timothy Cooper, and another, without doubt, John Nutting - and three wounded; two were made prisoners, of whom one escaped from the savages and reached Lancaster, and the other, John Morse, was ransomed.
The lot of these early settlers was, indeed, hard and bitter ; they had seen their houses destroyed and their cattle killed, leaving them nothing to live on. Their alternative now was to abandon the plantation, which they did with much sadness and sorrow. The settlement was broken up, and the inhab- itants scattered in different directions among their friends and kindred. During the next autumn John Monaco, - or one-eyed John, as he was sometimes called, - the chief leader in the assault, was brought to the gallows in Boston, where he suffered the extreme penalty of the law.
In the early spring of 1678, just two years after the attack, the old settlers returned to re-establish the town. Un- daunted by their bitter experience, they came back to begin life anew in the wilderness, with all its attendant hardships. It does not appear that the inhabitants were molested by the Indians during this period to any great degree, but they were by no means leading lives of ease or security. At times troops were stationed here by the Colonial authorities for the protection of the town; and the orders and counter- orders to the small *garrison tell too well that danger was threatening. In the mean while King William's War broke out; and this time the enemy had material and sympathetic aid from the French in Canada. The second attack on the town came in the summer of 1694, and the accounts of it I prefer to give in the words of contemporaneous writers. Sometimes there are discrepancies in such accounts; but, as a whole, they constitute the best authority.
Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, thus refers to it: -
Nor did the Storm go over so: Some Drops of it fell upon the Town of Groton, a Town that lay, one would think, far enough off the Place where was the last Scene of the Tragedy.
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On July 27. [1694,] about break of Day Groton felt some surprizing Blows from the Indian Hatchets. They began their Attacks at the House of one Lieutenant Lakin, in the Out-skirts of the Town; but met with a Repulse there, and lost one of their Crew. Nevertheless, in other Parts of that Plantation, (where the good People had been so tired out as to lay down their Military Watch) there were more than Twenty Persons killed, and more than a Dozen carried away. Mr. Gershom Hobart, the Minister of the Place, with part of his Family, was Remarkably preserved from falling into their Hands, when they made themselves the Masters of his House; though they Took Two of his Children, whereof the one was Killed, and the other some time after happily Rescued out of his Captivity. (Book vii. page 86.)
Charlevoix, a French missionary in Canada, gives from his own standpoint another version, as follows: -
The Abénaqui chief was Taxous, already celebrated for many exploits, and commendable attachment to our interests. This brave man, not satisfied with what he had just so valiantly achieved, chose forty of his most active men, and, after three days' march, by making a long circuit, arrived at the foot of a fort [at Groton] near Boston, and attacked it in broad day. The English made a better defence than they did at Pescadoué [ Piscataqua]. Taxous had two of his nephews killed by his side, and himself received more than a dozen musket balls in his clothes, but he at last carried the place, and then continued his ravages to the very doors of the capital. (" History of New France," iv. 257, Shea's edition.)
The following reference to the assault is found in the report, made October 26, 1694, by M. Champigny to the Minister Pontchartrain. The original document is in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at Paris; and I am indebted to Mr. Parkman, the distinguished historian, for a copy of it.
These Indians did not stop there; four parties of them have since been detached, who have been within half a day's journey of Boston [i. e., at Groton], where they have killed or cap- tured more than sixty persons, ravaged and pillaged every thing
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they found, which has thrown all the people into such conster- nation that they are leaving the open country to seek refuge in the towns.
A " Relation " of an expedition by Villieu also mentions the assault. A copy of the paper is found among the Ar- chives at the State House, in the volume marked "Docu- ments collected in France " (iv. 260, 261). The writer gives the date of the attack some days later than is usually assigned. He says : -
On the 30, the Indians of the Penobscot, not having taken as many prisoners and as much booty as those of the Kennebec, because they had not found enough to employ themselves; at the solicitation of Villieu and Taxous, their chief, some fifty of them detached themselves to follow this last person, who was piqued at the little that had been done. They were joined by some of the bravest warriors of the Kennebec, to go on a war party above Boston to break heads by surprise ( casser des têtes a la surprise ), after dividing themselves into several squads of four or five each, which cannot fail of producing a good effect.
Judge Sewall, in his Diary, printed in the Massachusetts Historical Collections (fifth series, v. 391), writes : -
Friday, July 27. Groton set upon by the Indians, 21 persons kill'd, 13 captivated, 13 badly wounded. About 9. night, Mr. Lodowick comes to Boston. Between 10. and II. there is an Alarm through the Town kept up till near day-break. Mr. Brattle was arriv'd at Col. Shrimpton's, then he told me of Mr. Lodowick's unhappiness in coming just then. During the Alarm, Mr. Willard's little daughter Sarah dies, buried on Sabbath-day a little before Sunset.
The Reverend John Pike makes the following reference to the assault, in his Journal, printed in the Proceedings of the same Society, for September, 1875 : -
July 27. The enemy fell upon Groton abt day-break, killed 22 persons & Captivated 13 (xiv. 128).
13
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Governor Hutchinson, in his "History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay," published during the following cen- tury, writes : -
Having crossed Merrimack, on the 27th of July [1694,] they fell upon Groton, about 40 miles from Boston. They were re- pulsed at Lakin's garrison house, but fell upon other houses, where the people were off their guard, and killed and carried away from the vicinity about forty persons. Toxus's two nephews were killed by his side, and he had a dozen bullets through his blanket, according to Charlevoix, who adds, that he carried the fort or garrison and then went to make spoil at the gates of Boston; in both which facts the French account is erroneous (ii. 82).
In this assault the loss on the part of the inhabitants was considerably greater than when the town was destroyed in the former attack. It is said that the scalps of the unfortu- nate victims were given to Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada. It is too late now to give the names of all the sufferers, but a few facts in regard to them may be gathered from fragmentary sources. The families that suffered the worst lived for the most part in the same general neighbor- hood, which was near the site of the first meeting-house. Lieutenant William Lakin's house, where the fight began, was situated in the vicinity of Chicopee Row.
The following list of casualties, in part conjectural, is given as an approximation of the loss sustained by the town : -
Killed
Captured
John Longley's family
7
3
Rev. Mr. Hobart's
I
I
John Shepley's
4?
I
James Parker, Jr.'s "
2
3?
Alexander Rouse's "
2?
I
Mr. Gershom Hobart, the minister, whose house was cap- tured in this assault, lived where the Baptist meeting-house now stands. One of his boys was killed, and another, Ger- shom, Jr., was carried off. There is a tradition extant that
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a third child was concealed under a tub in the cellar, and thus saved from the savages. Judge Sewall writes in his Diary; under the date of May 1, 1695, that -
Mr. Hobarts son Gershom is well at a new Fort a days Journey above Nerigawag [Norridgewock], Masters name is Nassacombêwit, a good Master, and Mistress. Master is chief Captain, now Bambazeen is absent.
It is not known exactly when he was rescued from cap- tivity, but probably not long afterwards. The inscription on the Shepley monument says that " the Indians massacred all the Sheples in Groton save a John Sheple 16 years old who the carried captive to Canada and kept him 4 years. after which he returned to Groton and from him descended all the Sheples or Shepleys in this Vicinity," but there is no record to show how many there were in this family. Mr. Butler, in his History (p. 97), makes the same statement, but does not mention any number. In this list it is placed at five, which is conjectural. Shepley lived near where the Martin's Pond road starts off from the North Common. The knowledge which the boy John obtained of their lan- guage and customs while a prisoner among the Indians was of much use to him in after-life. Tradition relates that, when buying furs and skins of them, he used to put his foot in one scale of the balance instead of a pound weight. In the summer of 1704, while he and thirteen other men were reaping in a field at' Groton, they were attacked by about twenty Indians. After some skirmishing, Shepley and one of his comrades, Butterfield by name, succeeded in killing one of the assailants, for which act they each were allowed four pounds by the Government. He was the direct ances- tor of the late Honorable Ether Shepley, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Maine, and of the late General George F. Shepley, formerly a Justice of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit of the United States.
A petition to the General Court, dated May 31, 1699, and signed by Josiah Parker, says that "James Parker Jun" Brother to yo" humble Petar was Killed with his Wife, sev-
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eral of his Children also were then carryed away Captive." The number of these children is put at three, which is also conjectural. The site of Parker's house is unknown. The late Reverend James D. Farnsworth, in a manuscript ac- count of William Longley, now in the library of the New England Historic, Genealogical Society, says that "two of his neighbors named Rouse " were killed in the same mas- sacre. Alexander Rouse lived in the neighborhood, and this reference is to his family. There was one " Tamasin Rouce of Grotten " received January 17, 1698-99, on board the " Province Galley " at Casco Bay; and she, doubtless, was a daughter of Alexander. ( Archives, 1xx. 399.) Two commissioners had been sent to Casco Bay, to make a treaty of peace with the Indians, and to bring away the captives. One of the commissioners "took certain Minutes of Re- markable Things from some of the Captives," and Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, gives his readers what he calls " a Taste of them." Mather speaks of the little girl, and says that -
Assacombuit sent Thomasin Rouse, a child of about Ten Years old, unto the Water-side to carry something. The Child cried : He took a Stick and struck her down : She lay for Dead : He took her up and threw her into the Water: Some Indians not far off ran in and fetch'd her out. The Child we have now brought Home with us. (Book vii. page 95.)
Among the " Nams of thos Remaining Still in hands of the french at Canada," found in a document at the State House, are those of "Lidey Langly Dº[Douer] gerl " and " Jnº Shiply boy oy" River." In this list the residences of both these children are incorrectly written, Lydia's being given as Dover, New Hampshire, and John's, as Oyster River. The name of Thomas Drew appears in the same list as of Groton, which is a mistake, as he was of Oyster River. (Massachusetts Archives, xxxviii. A 2.)
This expedition against Groton was planned in part by the Indians at a fort called Amsaquonte above Norridgwock, in Maine. It was arranged in the plan of operations that also Oyster River - now Durham, New Hampshire -
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should be attacked on the way; and the assault on that town was made July 18, nine days before the one on Groton. At Oyster River more than ninety persons were either killed or captured; the prisoners from the two towns appear to have been taken to Maine, where they were thrown considerably together during their captivity. Governor William Stough- ton issued a proclamation, January 21, 1695, wherein he refers to the " tragical outrages and barberous murders " at Oyster River and Groton. He says that several of the pris- oners taken at these places "are now detained by the said Indians at Amarascoggin and other adjoining places." (Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, ix. 613, 614.)
Hezekiah Miles, alias Hector, a friendly Indian, at one time a prisoner in the enemy's hands, made a deposition before the Lieutenant-Governor and Council, at Boston, May 31, 1695, stating -
that in the month of July 1694. there was a gathering of the Indians at the said new Fort [Amsaquonte] and preparations to go forth to war, and that two or three days before they in- tended to set out, they kild and boyld several dogs, and held a Feast, where was present Egeremet, Bomaseen, Warumbee, & Ahasombamet with divers others, of the chief among them, they discoursed of falling upon Oyster River and Groton ; and Boma- seen was to command one of the Companys & the day before they intended to set forth, myself with ffour Indians more were dispatched away to Canada with a Letter from the Fryar and were upon our Voyage thither and back again about ffourt! days and brought down about two barrels of powder, shot pro- portionable & some fire armes. About the time of our return, the Indians came in after the mischief done at Oyster River & Groton, and in particular, I saw Bomaseen in his Canoo, which was well laden, there was two English Captives, some scalps, and a large pack of Plunder brought in that Canoo, and Boma- seen two or three days after his return home went away to Canada. (Archives, viii. 39.)
Ann Jenkins, in a deposition given June 11, 1695, testifies that she was captured July 18, 1694, at Oyster River, and that she -
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with nine Captiues more were Carried up to penecook & were Left with Three Indians & that party went to Groaten Boma- zeen being their Commander In nine dayes they returned & brought twelue Captiues & from thence with their Cannoes sometimes a float & sometimes Carried untill that we Came to Norridgeawocke which tooke us fifteen dayes & staied about two months there then dispersed into the woods twoe or thre families in a place & kept Removeing toe and froe staieing about a week in a place untill they brought vss down to pema- quid & delivered vss to Capt March. (Archives, viii. 40.)
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