USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 13
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The captain readily complied to lead them on, though not without manifesting some apprehensions ; and, supposing the enemy were ahead of them (when, as it proved, they were in the rear), ordered the men to lay down their packs, and march with the greatest caution, and in the utmost readiness.
When they had marched about a mile and a half, or two miles, Ensign Wyman espied an Indian coming toward them, where- upon he gave a signal, and they all squatted, and let the Indian come on. In a short time several guns were fired at him ; upon which the Indian fired upon Captain Lovewell with beaver-shot, and wounded him mortally (as is supposed), though he made but little complaint, and was still able to travel, and at the same time wounded Mr. Samuel Whiting. Ensign Wyman immediately fired at and killed the Indian, and Mr. Fry and another scalped him. 1
1 Gov. Hutchinson, in his history of Massachusetts, has ranked this Indian with the Roman Curtius, who devoted himself to death to save his country. Dr. Belknap, who visited the spot in 1784, thinks there is no foundation for the idea that he was placed there as a decoy ; and that he had no claim to the character of a hero. The point on which he stood was a noted fishing place ; the gun which alarmed Lovewell's company was fired at a flock of ducks ; and when they met him he was returning home with his game, and two fowling pieces. The village was situated at the edge of the meadow, on Saco river, which here forms a large bend. The remains of the stockade were found by the first settlers of Fryeburg forty years afterward. Walter Bryant, of Bow, who was employed as surveyor in a company engaged in the intended expedition against Canada, in 1747, passed over the ground where the sanguinary conflict took place. He there "discovered Indian camps large enough to hold thirty men - saw the spot where Lovewell was killed, and the trees full of bullet-holes, hav-
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They then marched back toward their packs (which the enemy had found in the mean time and seized), and about ten of the clock, when they came pretty near to where they had laid them, at the north-east end of Saco pond, on a plain place, where there were few trees and but little brush, the Indians rose up in front and rear in two parties, and ran toward the English, three or four deep, with their guns presented. The English also in- stantly presented their guns, and rushed on to meet them.
When they had advanced to within a few yards of each other they fired on both sides, and the Indians fell in considerable numbers ; but the English, most, if not all of them, escaped the first shot, and drove the Indians several rods. Three or four rounds were fired on both sides; but the Indians being more than double in number to our men, and having already killed Captain Lovewell, Mr. Fullam (only son of Major Fullam of Weston), Ensign Harwood,John Jefts, Jonathan Kittredge, Dan- iel Woods, Ichabod Johnson, Thomas Woods, and Josiah Davis, and wounded Lieutenants Farwell and Robbins and Robert Usher, in the place where the fight began, and striving to surround the rest, the word was given to retreat to the pond, which was done with a great deal of good conduct, and proved a great service to the English (the pond covering their rear), though the Indians got the ground where the dead of our party lay.
The fight continued very furious and obstinate, till towards night - the Indians roaring and yelling and howling like wolves, barking like dogs, and making all sorts of hideous noises -- the English frequently shouting and huzzaing, as they did after the first round. At one time Capt. Wyman is confident the Indians were diverting themselves in powowing, by their striking upon the ground, and other odd motions ; but Wyman, creeping up and shooting their chief actor, broke up their meeting.
Some of the Indians, holding up ropes, asked the English if they would take quarter ; but were briskly answered, that they would have no quarter but at the muzzles of their guns.
ing, also, imitations of men's faces cut out upon them." When Dr. Belknap was there the names of the dead, on the trees, and the holes where balls had entered and been cut out, were plainly visible. The trees hed the appearance of being very old, and one of them was fallen .- Hist. Coll., vol. i, pp. 29, 30.
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About the middle of the afternoon the ingenious Mr. Jon- athan Frye (only son of Captain James Frye of Andover), a young gentleman of liberal education, who took his degree at Harvard College, 1723, and was chaplain to the company and greatly beloved by them for his excellent performances and good behavior, and who fought with undaunted courage till that time of day, was mortally wounded. But when he could fight no longer he prayed audibly several times for the preservation and success of the residue of the company.
Sometime after sunset the enemy drew off and left the field to our men. It was supposed and believed that not more than twenty of the enemy went off well. About midnight the Eng- lish assembled themselves, and upon examination into their situation they found Jacob Farrar just expiring by the pond, and Lieutenant Robbins and Robert Usher unable to travel.
Lieutenant Robbins desired his companions to charge his gun, and leave it with him, which they did; he declaring that " As the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, I will kill one more of them if I can."
There were eleven more of the English who were badly wounded, namely, Lieut. Farwell, Mr. Frye, Sergeant Johnson, Samuel Whiting, Elias Barron, John Chamberlain, Isaac Lakin, Eleazer Davis and Josiah Jones ; but they, however, marched off the ground with the nine others who received no consider- able wounds, namely, Ensign Wyman, Edward Lingfield, Thomas Richardson, the two Melvins, Ebenezer Ayer, Abiel Asten, Joseph Farrar and Joseph Gilson. These all proceeded on their return for the fort, and did not perceive that they were waylaid or pursued by the enemy, though they knew our men had no provision, and must therefore be very faint.
Four of the wounded men, namely, Farwell, Frye, Davis and Jones, after they had travelled about a mile and a half, found themselves unable to go any further, and with their free consent the rest kept on their march, hoping to find a recruit at the fort, and to return with fresh hands to relieve them
As they proceeded on they divided into three companies one morning, as they were passing a thick wood, for fear of making
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a track by which the enemy might follow them. One of the companies came upon three Indians, who pursued them some time. Meanwhile Elias Barron, one of this party, strayed from the others, and got over Ossipee river, by the side of which his gun case was found, and he was not heard of afterward. Eleven, in another party, reached the fort at Ossipee ; but to their great surprise found it deserted. The coward who fled in the beginning of the battle ran directly to the fort, and gave the men posted there such a frightful account of what had hap- pened that they all fled from the fort and made the best of their way home.
Solomon Keyes also came to the fort. When he had fought in the battle till he had received three wounds, and had become so weak by the loss of blood that he could not stand, he crawled up to Ensign Wyman, in the heat of the battle, and told him he was a dead man ; but (said he) if it be possible I will get out of the way of the Indians that they may not get my scalp. Keyes then crept off by the side of the pond to where he provident- ially found a canoe, when he rolled himself into it, and was driven by the wind several miles toward the fort; he gained strength fast, and reached the fort as soon as the eleven before mentioned, and they all arrived at Dunstable on the 13th of May, at night.
On the 15th of May, Ensign Wyman, and three others, arrived at Dunstable. They suffered greatly for want of provisions. They informed that they were wholly destitute of all kinds of food from a Saturday morning till the Wednesday following, when they caught two mouse-squirrels, which they roasted whole, and found to be a sweet morsel. They afterwards killed some partridges and other game, and were comfortably supplied till they got home.
Eleazer Davis arrived at Berwick, and reported that he and the other three who were left with him waited some days for the return of the men from the fort, and at length despairing of their return, though their wounds were putrefied and stank, and they were almost dead with famine, yet they all travelled on several miles together, till Mr. Frye desired Davis and Farwell
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not to hinder themselves any longer on his account, for he found himself dying, and he laid himself down, telling them he should never rise more, and charged Davis, if it should please God to bring him home, to go to his father and tell him that he expected in a few hours to be in eternity, and that he was not afraid to die. They left him, and this amiable and promising young gentleman, who had the journal of the march in his pocket, was not heard of again.
Lieutenant Farwell, who was greatly and no doubt deservedly applauded and lamented, was also left by Davis within a few miles of the fort, and was not afterward heard of. But Davis, getting to the fort, and finding provision there, tarried and re- freshed himself, and recovered strength to travel to Berwick.
Josiah Jones, another of the four wounded who were left the day after the fight but a short distance from the scene of action, traversed Saco river, and after a fatiguing ramble arrived at Saco (now Biddeford), emaciated and almost dead from the loss of blood, the putrefaction of his wounds, and the want of food. He had subsisted upon the spontaneous vegetables of the forest, and cranberries, &c., which he had eaten came out at a wound he had received in his body. He was kindly treated by the peo- ple at Saco, and recovered of his wounds.
Several of the Indians, particularly Paugus, their chief, were well known to Lovewell's men, and frequently conversed with each other during the engagement.
After the return of the English from their fight, Colonel Tyng, with a company, went to the place of action, where he found and buried the slain.
Colonel Tyng found where the Indians had buried three of their men, which were dug up, and one of them was known to be the bold Paugus, who had been a great scourge to Dunstable.
This encounter resulted in the course of a few years in the grant by Massachusetts authority of the township of Suncook, or Lovewell's township, to the survivors and to the heirs of those who had perished of Captain Lovewell's heroic company. With Rumford this township conflicted with the township of Bow and the matter was not settled until the incorporation of Pembroke,
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many years after, and the granting of another township within the district of Maine.
Early in the year 1725, Theodore Atkinson, joined with two commissioners from Massachusetts, visited the French governor at Montreal and entered a formal protest against his encourag- ing the Indians in the war. He denied the responsibility, but admitted having much influence with them ; and brought about a meeting of some of the chiefs with the commissioners. Upon their return to New England, by way of Crown Point and Albany, under escort to the frontiers, they brought sixteen captives whom they had ransomed, and made arrangements for the ransom of others.
The last attack of the Indians during the war was upon a. party in Dover. Benjamin and William Evans were killed. John Evans was wounded, scalped and left for dead, but re- covered, and lived fifty years after. The attacking party eluded pursuit, and took Benjamin Evans, Jr., a lad of thirteen, captive with them to Canada.
A treaty of peace was brought about in December.
That New Hampshire escaped with so little loss during this war is attributed to the fact that the fury of the enemy was di- rected to the destruction of the eastern settlements, and because the men of the whole Province, by training, had become veterans, soldiers, and scouts.
In May, 1726, the governor and council appointed Nathaniel Weare, Theodore Atkinson and Richard Waldron, J.r., a commit- tee to warn off the settlers at Penacook ; a commission promptly attended to, for they reported the same month that they had visited the locality known as Penacook, where they had found forty men clearing the land and laying out a town. In April, the Lieutenant-Governor, John Wentworth, addressed the General . Assembly, held at Portsmouth, stating the case, and called for supplies to press upon the home government the need of deter- mining the boundary of the Province adjoining the Massachusetts colony. The Assembly voted £100 to Mr. Agent Newman, for him "to prosecute and endeavor a speedy settlement of the lines between this Government and that of the Mass."
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The township of Rye, taken from Portsmouth, Greenland, and Hampton, was incorporated in 1726. It was settled as early as 1635, and for many years it was known as Sandy Beach. The inhabitants having been obliged to attend religious services in neighboring towns, had at length built a meeting house of their own, in 1725, and demanded and received a town charter the following year. They had suffered, in common with adjoining towns, by the depredations of the Indians during the forty years of alternate war and peace preceding their incorporation.
Rev. Nathaniel Merrill was settled in 1726; Rev. Samuel Parsons, in 1736; Rev. Huntington Porter, in 1784, who preached his half century sermon in 1835. He died in Lynn in 1844, aged nearly eighty-nine years.
The first settlers of the town were of the names of Berry, Seavey, Rand, Brackett, Wallis, Jenness and Locke.
The Puritans were distinguished for their large families ; and the older settlements, near tide-water, in the course of several generations, had become crowded. The young men viewed with envy the prosperity of the Scotch-Irish new comers. Why should not they receive land for actual settlement as well as aliens and strangers? Had not their fathers and grandfathers done good service in the various Indian wars ? Many petitions were sent to the Great and General Court of Massachusetts, claiming grants on a multitude of pretexts. This northern part of the colony was even then in dispute, and might at any time, by decision of the home government, be decided to be within the limits of the Royal Province of New Hampshire.
The township of Penacook was granted by Massachusetts, January 11, 1725, to Benjamin Stevens, Ebenezer Eastman and others, and included seven miles square. Settlement was com- menced the following year In 1727, Captain Ebenezer East- man moved his family into the place. In 1728, the south boun- daries of the town were extended, as an equivalent for lands within the limits before granted to Governor Endicott, and claimed by heirs of Judge Sewall.
The first settlers of the plantation of Penacook were carefully selected men, brave, law-abiding, God-fearing, chosen from
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among their fellows by a committee of the court, to establish a model community. They came to stay. Very many of the first families are represented by their descendants to this day. They laid out wide and beautiful Main street substantially as it is now; they divided the land into home lots and farms, cleared away the forest trees, built log-houses at first (which were soon replaced by frame buildings, some still standing), and a meeting- house. Their plantation was incorporated, under the name of Rumford, in 1733. They built several garrison-houses for the protection of their families, for an Indian war broke out soon after the settlement was effected. For a number of years this was a frontier post, exposed to the attacks of the savages. Of a Sunday their minister would go into the pulpit, armed with the best gun in the parish, and preach to a congregation armed and equipped to repulse a possible Indian surprise. Men went to their work in the fields with an armed escort.
^ 1 The First Congregational Church in Penacook or Rumford or Concord was organized in November, 1730. The proprietors of the town, at a meeting in Andover, Mass., in February, 1726, voted to build a block-house, which should serve the double pur- pose of a fort and a meeting-house. Early in 1727, the first family moved into the town, and Rev. Bezaleel Toppan was employed to preach one year from May. Mr. Toppan and Rev. Enoch Coffin, both proprietors of the town, were employed by the settlers to preach till October, 1730, when it was resolved to establish a permanent ministry. Rev. Timothy Walker was at once called to be the minister of the town.
He was a native of Woburn, Mass., and a graduate of Har- vard College, in the class of 1725. He died suddenly, on Sabbath morning, in September, 1782, aged seventy-seven years, deeply mourned by the people he had so faithfully served and led, and between whom and himself the mutual attachment had remained strong to the last.
The deep impress of this early ministry has never been effaced, and the influence of Mr. Walker, to a large degree, decided the moral tone and habits of the town. For more than
I Rev. F. D. Ayer.
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half a century he directed the thought, and was the religious teacher of the early settlers ; and his clear convictions, his bold utterances, and his firm adherence to practical principles, made him a wise leader. He served the town as well as the church. His wise counsel and prompt and judicious action in relation to every matter of public interest were of great benefit to the people, and gave him a wide and acknowledged influence. Three times he visited England, as agent for the town, to confirm its endangered rights, and was enabled by his personal influence and wisdom to make secure forever the claims and privileges of the settlers. His influence will be acknowledged, and his name remembered with gratitude by future generations. His daugh- ter married Benjamin Thompson, afterwards Count Rumford, and was the mother of the Countess of Rumford.
The first meeting-house of Concord was built of logs, in 1727, and served as a fort an:la place of worship. It stood near West's brook, and was occupied by this church twenty-three years. The second house was that so long known as the "Old North." The main body of the house was built in 1751. In 1783 it was completed with porches and a spire, and in 1802 enlarged so as to furnish sittings for twelve hundred people, and a bell was placed in the tower. Central in its location, it was for a long time the only place of public worship in the town, and was used by the Church for ninety years. It served the State also. In this house the Convention of 1788 met " to form a permanent plan of government for the State." Here, with religious services, in 1784, the new State Constitution was first introduced, and here, too, in June, 1788, the Federal Constitu- tion was adopted, by which New Hampshire became one of the States of the Union. This was the ninth State to adopt that Constitution, the number required to render it operative ; so that, by this vote, it became binding upon the United States. After another church edifice was built this was used by the " Methodist Biblical Institute" till 1866. When it was de- stroyed by fire, in November, 1870, there passed from sight the church building which had associated with it more of marked and precious history than with any other in the State.
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The third house of worship was dedicated in 1842 and burned in 1873. The present house of worship was dedicated in 1876.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT CONCORD.
From the parent church have been separated the South church and the churche's at East and West Concord. To Mr. Walker
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succeeded Rev. Israel Evans, a chaplain in the continental army, Rev. Asa McFarland, Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, D. D., the State historian, and the present pastor, Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, D. D. Concord was incorporated by New Hampshire, June 7, 1765. 1 So great was the security felt by the settlers at the close of Lovewell's war, that they emigrated into the wilderness in every direction. The first settlement in that part of West Dunstable known as Witch Brook Valley was made about the year 1728 by Caleb Fry, according to a copy of an original draft or plan of the township of Dunstable by Jonathan Blanchard, dated June, " 1720. This plan is now in a tolerable state of preservation, to be seen at the office of the Hillsborough county registry of deeds at Nashua. Mr. Fry held a land grant west of Timothy Rogers's grant, lying on the west of Penichuck pond, and embraced nearly all the territory now included in District No. 8 in the town of Hollis, lying west of the school-house. According to tradi- tion, he came from Andover, was a son of James Fry, who was a soldier in the Narragansett war of 1676, and a brother of James Fry, of Andover, one of the grantees of Souhegan West, after- wards called Amherst.
That Mr. Fry was the first one to occupy his own land grant in all this section is evident from the fact that he built a turn- ing mill, and operated it a number of years. This mill was sit- uated on the Little Gulf brook, east side of Ridge hill, so called, about twenty rods south of the road at the Spaulding place, in the north part of Hollis. At a short distance easterly from this mill is still to be seen the place of an old cellar-hole, indi- cating that a dwelling once stood there. It was on this spot in the wilderness that Mr. Fry erected his log-hut. It is evident that he cultivated a piece of land, and set out thereon three apple-trees, one of which is now standing, and in bearing con- dition, over one hundred and fifty years old, and is the largest apple-tree in the town of Hollis. Mr. Fry also manufactured wooden ware, and was employed a portion of the time in trap- ping. At what time he left is unknown, but it was before 1746.
The early landmarks have disappeared, and it is not easy to : C. S. Spaulding.
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reproduce the scenes in which they planted their habitations. To men employed in subjugating the forests, fighting wild men and wild beasts, clearing lots, and making paths, there was no leisure, and little disposition, to make records of their doings.
The survivors of Captain John Lovewell's expedition to Pig- wacket petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for the grant of a township as a recompense for their sufferings, and received the grant of Suncook, or " Lovewell's Township."
Meanwhile the authorities of the Province of New Hampshire had jealously watched the proceedings of the Massachusetts Bay people. The township of Bow was incorporated May 20, 1727, conflicting with the grants of Penacook and Suncook. The township was laid out January 28, 1728-9, by Andrew Wiggin, William Moor, and Edward Fifield.
April 5, 1725, Colonel Tyng, in command of a scouting party ascending the Merrimack valley to Lake Winnipiseogee, reported meeting a company of "Irish," who were located on and occupy- ing the lands on the intervale about the village of East Concord. They had built a fort for protection against the savages. Later they were dislodged from those fair fields and forced to move on. Previous to the granting of Epsom, in May, 1727, certain Scotch-Irish families, from Londonderry, had settled within that territory. It is probable that the fruitful and fertile lands of Lovewell's township had been thoroughly examined by these hardy pioneers before it was granted by either Province. They were not allowed to purchase land in Penacook ; the proprietor forfeited his right if he sold to one of the race. No such re- striction kept them from purchasing the rights of the proprietors of Suncook, or Lovewell's township ; and a fair field was opened for their settlement.
There is reason to believe that the first movement toward a settlement of Suncook was in the summer of 1728. It was the custom of the young men to start early in the spring for the newly-granted wild lands, build a rude log shanty for temporary shelter, and proceed at once to clear away the forest growth from their lots. The axe and fire-brand were the means em- ployed. Not unfrequently the crop of the first season nearly
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paid for the land. After the harvest the toilers would return to a more settled community in which to pass the winter.
Tradition asserts that Francis Doyne and his wife were the first white inhabitants who ever wintered in the township, 1728-9, and they may be said to have been the first permanent settlers. Their log hut is said to have been located about in the middle of the field west of Pembroke street, just north of the road leading toward Garvin's falls. After a severe snow- storm they were visited by a party from Penacook, who were anxious as to their safety, and were found in a roughly-built cabin, comfortable, contented, and protected against the incle- mency of the weather. Doyne was one of Captain Lovewell's soldiers. During the same summer, 1728, the property was probably visited, both by many of the original grantees, their heirs, and others wanting to purchase. The amount of work accomplished during this first year towards effecting a perma- nent settlement is unknown ; but there is reason to believe that the active settlement was undertaken during the summer of 1729. Land certainly was not at a premium at that time, when the right to three hundred and sixty-five acres, with the chance of drawing the best lands in the township, was sold for twenty-four pounds. As silver was reckoned at twenty shillings, or one pound, to the ounce then, the land brought but six and a half cents for an acre.
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