USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 9
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Thus ended the first rebellion in New England. It hastened Cranfield's removal, but was of little permanent consequence com pared with that which occasioned the downfall of Sir Edmund Andros six years afterward, when Cranfield, Randolph and many other supporters of tyranny went down with Sir Edmund. Ran- dolph, who had been active in punishing Gove, was himself imprisoned in Boston, and wrote many piteous letters to King William, asking to be set free.1
The governor and the people of the Province could not arrive at an amicable adjustment of their conflicting interests. The former, as well as Mason, was rash and impetuous, and in deal- ing with such sagacious men as Major Waldron, John Wingate and Thomas Roberts, three of the principal landowners in Dover, they were easily led into the wrong. The governor made extravagant threats, but the people were not intimidated. They had offered to refer the matter to the King, and their offer being refused, they felt that they had justice on their side. On some fresh pretence, Waldron, Martin and Gilman were sus- pended from the council, and the deaths of Daniel and Clem- ents left two other vacancies. Vaughan held his seat the longest, but was at last thrust out. Their places were filled by
1 J. C. Sanborn.
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HISTORA OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1683
Nathaniel Frye, Robert Elliot, John Hinckes, James Sherlock, Francis Champernoon and Edward Randolph, a council made up to the governor's satisfaction. The courts were overturned. Walter Barefoote, the deputy governor, was judge, Mason was chancellor, Chamberlain was clerk, Randolph was attorney- general, and Sherlock was provost-marshal and sheriff. Some, "awed by threats or flattered by promises," took leases from Mason, and served for deputy sheriffs, jurors and witnesses. Then followed a multitude of lawsuits, which were not contested by the landowners; and Mason came into possession of most of the cultivated land of the Province. No attention was paid to legal forms; and as the only redress laid in a direct appeal to the King, Nathaniel Weare of Hampton was privately fur- nished with petitions and statements, and sailed from Boston for England, as the agent for the towns. William Vaughan accompanied Weare as far as Boston, and on his return was thrown into prison and confined for nine months. In the mean- while Cranfield had assumed the whole legislative power, pro- hibited vessels from Massachusetts to enter the port, altered the value of silver money, changed the bounds of townships, sued the former treasurer of the province, and was altogether arbitrary and tyrannical. Finding that he could not raise money for his wants, he summoned the Assembly in January, 1684, and demanded that they should pass an act which had been approved by the council. They took time to deliberate, going from Great Island during the night to Portsmouth to consult with Mr. Moodey, and on their return refused to do as the governor desired. They were dissolved, and many of them were immediately appointed constables, liable to fines for not collecting the rates. Moodey became an object of hatred ; and an early opportunity was taken to visit the governor's dis- pleasure upon him. He was prosecuted as a Non-conformist, according to a law in force in England, sentenced to imprison- ment, and confined with Major Vaughan at the house of Captain Stileman on Great Island for thirteen weeks. Rev. Seaborn Cotton of Hampton fled to Boston to escape persecution. Mr. Moodey was released from confinement on his promising to leave the Province.
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1685]
All through the year 1684, disorder ruled in New Hampshire. The people united to resist the oppression of Cranfield. His marshals and sheriffs were treated to a great variety of abuse. They were welcomed with hot water and clubs. One was tied to his horse and carried to Salisbury. The militia was called out to suppress the riot, but not a trooper appeared. At length Cranfield, finding his authority all gone, was forced to desist. In the meanwhile Weare had received a hearing in England, and the governor was called upon to defend his course. Upon receiving the letter from the Board of Trade, he suspended Mason's suits till the question concerning the legality of the courts should be decided.
At a hearing in March, 1685, it was decided by the English court that Cranfield had exceeded his authority and had not pursued his instructions. Having received a leave of absence with the report, he gave over the contest, and quietly embarked for Jamaica. He was afterwards collector at Barbadoes, and died about the year 1700.
After Cranfield's departure in May, 1685, his authority de- volved on Walter Barefoote, deputy governor ; and he and his friend Mason, the claimant, had a very uneasy time of it. One Thomas Wiggin, in company with Anthony Nutter, a large and powerful man, called at Barefoote's house on Great Island, Wiggin took the law into his where Mason was sojourning. own hands and gave Mason a thrashing. Barefoote interfering, received his share of the assault, in which he lost a tooth and had two ribs broken. Nutter left his friend to do the whipping, while he stood by laughing, and prevented outside interference. The authority of the deputy governor was held in as much con- tempt as had been that of the governor.
Charles II died in February, 1685, and was succeeded by his even more arbitrary and tyrannical brother, James II, who immediately put in force a new scheme for the government of New England. A commission was issued to a president, Joseph Dudley, a son of the former governor, Thomas Dudley of Massa- chusetts, and to a council, only one member of which, John Hinckes, was a resident of New Hampshire, for the governing
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[1688
of all New England. The territory was divided into the four counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex and Hampshire, and the three provinces of Maine, New Hampshire and Narragansett. New courts were established. The new form of government went into effect in May, 1686; and from the tolerable decency with which it commenced operations, the way was paved for the appointment of a governor general. At the end of the year Sir Edmund Andros, who had been governor of New York, arrived at Boston, with a commission appointing him captain-general and governor-in-chief of the territory and dominion of New England, which was made to include Plymouth colony, with the counties and provinces before mentioned. In the council of fifteen, besides Hinckes, were Robert Mason and Edward Ran- dolph. No Assembly was provided for. Members of the council were judges. The governor and any five of the council consti- tuted a quorum ; seven were a full board, and were authorized to make laws, execute them, and preside as justices. Andros commenced his administration with the fairest professions, but soon became a tyrant. Those of his council who did not sustain him in all his designs were not summoned. Randolph and Mason were his confidants. The press was restrained, liberty of conscience infringed, and exorbitant fees and taxes de- manded. The people had no privilege of representation. Titles to land were annulled. Indian deeds were declared "no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." New patents were issued, covering old grants, as the charter was vacated. The only town meeting allowed was for the election of town officers. No per- son was permitted to go out of the country without express leave from the governor. An appeal to the King was of no effect.
All through the year 1687 and 1688 the people submitted to the encroachments of the government. In England, at the same time, the people were subjected to like obnoxious laws, and were preparing for a change. On the annexation of New York to New England, Andros found ready tools for his service, and neglected Mason and his claims. Having received a favor- able verdict before the English court of appeal, Mason returned
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1690]
to New England to take possession of his province, when he was met by a new difficulty. The new authorities seemed jealous of his increased importance, and would not grant execu- tion, or allow that he had the power to grant land by leases. In the midst of his troubles he died, in July, 1688, leaving his claims and lawsuits to his two sons, John and Robert Mason.
On the news of the landing in England of William Prince of Orange reaching Boston, Andros imprisoned the messenger ; but the people of Massachusetts rose in April, 1689, and scized the governor and his accomplices, whom they imprisoned, and afterward sent as prisoners of State to the old country. The magistrates under the old charter, with Bradstreet, the late governor, at their head, assumed the name of a Council of Safety, and maintained a form of government until orders were received from England.
New Hampshire was left without a government.
The people of the Province were persuaded by some of the leading men to meet in convention and take measures for their future government. The following deputies were chosen : From Portsmouth, Major William Vaughan, Richard Waldron, Nathaniel Fryer, Robert Elliot, Thomas Cobbet and Capt. John Pickering ; from Dover, Capt. John Woodman, Capt. John Gerrish, John Tuttle, John Roberts, Thomas Edgerly and Nicholas Follet ; from Exeter, Robert Wadley, William Moore and Samuel Leavitt. Hampton was in sympathy with the move- ment, but dissensions arising in town meeting no deputies were sent. At an adjourned meeting of the convention in January, 1690, it was decided to renew their union with Massachusetts until the King's pleasure should be known. A petition signed by 372 "inhabitants and trained soldiers of the Province of New Hampshire " was presented to the Massachusetts authori- ties, and favorably received.
This union was the more desired on account of the breaking . out of what was known as King William's War, and lasted until the appointment, in 1692, of Governor Samuel Allen and Lieu- tenant-Governor John Usher.
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During the union, Portsmouth was represented at the Massachusetts Gen- eral Court in 1690, 1691 and 1692, by one or two of their delegates, Elias Stileman, John Foster, Richard Waldron and John Pickering. The military and civil officers of the Province during the union approved by the governor and council were : Samuel Penhallow, treasurer ; John Pickering, recorder ; William Vaughan, Richard Martin and Nathaniel Fryer, justices of the peace, at Portsmouth : John Gerrish, at Dover : Robert Wadleigh, at Exeter ; Major William Vaughan, commander of the military forces. Of the military company, at Dover, John Gerrish was commissioned captain ; John Tuttle, lieutenant ; William Furber, ensign : at Oyster River (Durham), John Woodman, captain ; James Davis, lieutenant ; Stephen Jones, ensign : at Portsmouth, Walter Neale, captain; John Pickering, lieutenant; Tobias Langdon, ensign: at Exeter, William Moore, captain; Samuel Leavitt, lieutenant; Jonathan Thing, ensign : at Great Island ( New Castle ), Nathaniel Fryer, captain ; Thomas Cobbet, lieutenant; Shadrach Walton, ensign : at Hampton, Sam- uel Sherburne, captain; Edward Gove, lieutenant ; John Moulton, ensign.
CHAPTER V.
KING WILLIAM'S AND QUEEN ANNE'S WARS, 1689-1713.
CAUSES - ST. CASTINE - GRIEVANCES - RICHARD WALDRON'S DEATH - DOVER - OYSTER RIVER - SALMON FALLS - NEWINGTON - LAMPREY RIVER - WHEELWRIGHT'S POND - SANDY BEACH - PORTSMOUTH - RANGERS - DURHAM MASSACRE - WIDOW CUTT -BREAKFAST HILL - RETURN OF CAPTIVES -TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES - QUEEN ANNE'S WAR - PEACE AT PEMAQUID - EASTERN SETTLEMENTS RAVAGED - HAMPTON - KINGSTON - REMOVAL OF INDIANS TO CANADA - DUNSTABLE - DEATH OF COLONEL WINTHROP HILTON - PEACE - CONDITION OF PAR- TIES.
T HE first Indian war resulted to the advantage of the set- tlers. A large proportion of the New England Indians had been exterminated. The most stalwart and the fiercest, who survived, nursed their wrath; magnified their grievances, and plotted future vengeance. Their anger was increased by artful enemies of the English settlers, until the basest treachery and demoniac cruelty became a part of their character in their deal- ings with the New England colonies. The war became one of extermination on both sides. The French made it a little less fearful by offering a much larger bounty for captives than for scalps. A bounty on scalps was offered also by the colonial authorities. In 1689 commenced a contest of races, which, with but a brief suspension of hostilities, was destined to be pro- longed for a quarter of a century, a generation, and to result in the practical dispersion of the aborigines from the whole ter- ritory of New England, their former home and hunting ground.
King William's War was the most disastrous as it was the most prolonged of the many contests in which the New Engl-
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and colonists were engaged. It lasted with but an occasional truce for ten years, and was the more fierce because to race hatred was added religious fanaticism. Besides, the Indians had a base of supplies in Canada, and counted on the French as allies and confederates. Before the French monarch, Louis XIV, had made war on William and Mary, the sovereigns of England, in the interest of James II, the dethroned king, An- dros, by his overbearing and arbitrary course in New England, had prepared the way, before he was driven from office, for a general Indian war, the horrors of which were greatly increased when war was declared between the home governments of France and England. France held all land to the eastward of Penobscot river by treaty, and Baron de St. Castine had for many years resided on the peninsular of Castine and carried on a large trade with the Indians. A new line was run which left Castine within English territory, and soon afterward, in 1688, Andros went with an armed force and plundered De Castine's house and fort. Thereupon the Frenchman, who had the sym- pathy and confidence of the Indians to the fullest extent, incited them to open hostility. This was the more easily done as they had grievances of their own for which they could obtain no redress. Their tribute of corn was withheld, seines obstructed their fishery, cattle destroyed their crops, and their land was granted to settlers without their consent. To this was added the fact that they had become Catholics, and considered the English as heretics and their natural enemies. War com- menced in Maine. Andros led an army of seven hundred men into their territory ; but the only loss was sustained by his own force, for not an Indian was seen on the march.
The treachery of Major Waldron, a dozen years before, still rankled in the memory of the Cocheco, the Pigwacket, and the Penacook tribes. The strage Indians, who had been sold into slavery in foreign countries, and had escaped and returned, were thirsting for revenge, and formed a confederacy for sur- prising the Cocheco settlement and taking vengeance. Their plans were carefully matured. Wannalancet, as chief of the Penacooks, was succeeded by Hagkins, who had been treated
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KING WILLIAM'S WAR.
1689]
with neglect by Cranfield and was ready to listen to Castine's emissaries.
Ostensibly they were at peace with the Province, when near the last of June, 1689, they assembled in the neighborhood of Dover. The veteran magistrate, Richard Waldron, feared no treachery. Some of the inhabitants were uneasy on account of meeting so many Indians and warned Waldron without effect. An official warning was on its way from Boston, but arrived too late. There were at the time five garrisoncd houses near the first falls of the Cocheco river, Waldron's, Otis's and Heard's on the north side of the river; Peter Coffin's and his son's on the south side. The Indians sent two squaws to each of the garrisoned houses in the evening, to ask shelter for the night, and they were welcomed at all, except the younger Coffin's, and allowed to sleep by the open fire when the family had retired. One of the chiefs, Mesandowit, was hospitably entertained by Major Waldron the day before, and the squaws told him to expect a trading visit from the Indians the following day. When all was quiet, the squaws opened the gates and admitted their confederates. Waldron, on being aroused, sprang from his bed and bravely defended himself until he was overpowered and cruelly put to death, amid the jibes of his captors. His son-in-law, Abraham Lce, was also killed. The Otis garrison, next to Waldron's, shared the same fate. Heard's and Elder Wentworth's were accidentally saved. The elder Coffin's was surprised, and his son surrendered to save his father; but both families escaped while the Indians were plundering the houses. Twenty-three people were killed and twenty-nine were carried away captives. Five or six houses and the mills were burned, and the Indians had departed with their prisoners and booty before assistance arrived from other parts of the town. The prisoners were carried to Canada and sold to the French ; and they were said to have been the first ever carried there. A pursuing party, under command of Captain Noyes, destroyed the corn of the Indians at Penacook ; and another party, under Captain Wincol, killed several Indians at Lake Winnipiseogee, and despoiled their fields.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1690
In August, the Indians surprised Huckin's garrison at Oyster River and killed them all, to the number of eighteen, while at
GARRISON HOUSE IN KING WILLIAM'S WAR.
COUSINER 7
work in a field, and took the children, after killing three or four of their number, and the women into captivity.
In 1690, Count de Frontenac, the French governor of Canada,
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1693]
entered resolutely into the war and furnished the hostile Indians with arms and supplies. He offered a bounty for scalps and prisoners. Salmon Falls was attacked in March by a combined French and Indian force, and twenty-seven of its brave defenders were slain, and fifty-two, mostly women and children, were car- ried into captivity. After plundering the place, the houses, mills, and barns, together with the stock within them, were burned. The assailants were followed on their retreat and an engagement ensued, in which four or five of the pursuing party were killed and the rest retired. The enemy lost two of their number.
In May, the Indians made an assault on Fox. Point, in New- ington, burned several houses, killed fourteen people, and retreated with six captives. They were pursued by Captains Floyd and Greenleaf, and some of the captives escaped, but the Indians made good their retreat.
In July, the enemy were very active. Within three days they killed eight at Lamprey river, eight at Exeter, and sixteen at Wheelwright's pond, in Lee, taking only one captive. The loss in Exeter was in defending the Hilton garrison house. The loss at Wheelwright's pond was in a bloody engagement in which Captain Wiswall, Lieutenant Flagg and Sergeant Walker were killed. Both parties retreated. Within a week following the Indians killed forty people between Lamprey river and Ames- bury. Captives, if not healthy and vigorous, were cruelly tortured and put out of the way. There were very few instances of
. mercy during the war. In the fall there was a cessation of hostilities, which lasted until June, 1691, when two men were killed at Exeter. In September, the Indians came from the eastward in canoes, landed at Sandy Beach, or Rye, and killed or carried away twenty-one persons. Captain Sherburne of Portsmouth was killed during the year.
In 1692, the frontiers were guarded by ranging parties in the woods, after the destruction of York ; and the Indians found it difficult to surprise a garrison. A party of them near Cocheco were themselves surprised and only one of their number escaped.
Tobias Hanson of Dover was the only victim during the year 1693, except a poor family captured at Oyster River. A truce
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1696
was agreed upon at Pemaquid in August, and the settlers had a respite for the rest of the year. They had become so disheart- ened that they were almost persuaded to leave the Province. To add to their troubles, there was a misunderstanding with the Massachusetts authorities, who had been rather occupied with witchcraft trials than the prosecution of the war, and assistance was sparingly afforded to their neighbors. At length all the Massachusetts soldiers were withdrawn.
After the middle of July, 1694, a long meditated attack was made by two hundred and fifty Indians, led by Sieur de Villieu, upon the settlement at Oyster River (Durham). There were block- houses for the defence of the inhabitants ; but, not suspecting danger, many families were at their own unfortified homes, and the garrisons were unprepared for an attack. Of the twelve fortified houses five were destroyed. Fourteen people were surprised and killed in one. The deserted houses were set on fire. Over ninety people were killed or carried into captivity. There were many narrow escapes and many scenes of frightful cruelty. A French priest accompanied the expedition, which was composed of Maine and New Brunswick Indians, from the Kennebec, Penobscot and St. John rivers, and French troops. Seven of the garrison houses were bravely and successfully de- fended. The enemy, having done what mischief they could, retired ; and the scalps taken were afterward presented to Count Frontenac, in Canada.
Within a few days a wandering party of Indians killed Madam Ursula Cutt, widow of the first president, and three of her laborers, while haymaking at a place called the Pulpit. In July, 1695, two men were killed at Exeter. In May, 1696, John Church was killed at Cocheco. Near the end of June the Indians came from the Nubble, at York, in canoes, and landed at Sandy Beach, or Rye, and made an attack on five houses at once. At Sagamore's Creek, in Portsmouth, fourteen people were in- stantly killed and four carried into captivity. The whole number slain, according to John Farmer, was twenty-four. A pursuing party recovered the prisoners at Breakfast Hill, but the Indians escaped and eluded a fleet of boats sent to cut off their retreat
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1697]
to the eastward. In July, a party in Dover were waylaid while returning from church. Three were killed, three wounded, and three carried away captives. In August, onc settler was killed in Rye and another at Lubberland, on Great Bay. In June, 1697, an attack was planned on the town of Exeter, which was averted by an accident. One person was killed, another wounded, and a third carried into captivity. During the year a grand in- vasion of the country of New England was planned by the French, but was happily postponed until the towns were fortified, when peace was declared. A final treaty was made with the Indians at Casco early in January, 1699, and many captives were restored to their friends. Many of them, however, had become members of Indian tribes and did not return to civili- zation.
During the war of ten years the four towns in the province of New Hampshire and the adjoining settlements at York, Kittery, and Berwick, lost, in killed, wounded and captives, about four hundred of their number. The stories narrated by the returning captives were full of woe. They had been forced to look upon the torture and death of many of their companions, who had incurred the ill-will of the savages. They had been forced to hasten through a wilderness, without proper food or raiment, and had been subjected to so many hardships that only the most robust and healthy survived. The Indians, from friendly neighbors, had become relentless focs. The treachery of Major Waldron, from which they had lost faith in the English settlers, and the attack of the Mohawks on the peaceably inclined Indians, had converted them into fiends incarnate. Nothing seemed too horrible for them to imagine and perpetrate. From superstition or some other cause they respected the chastity of their female captives, but would as ruthlessly murder them as their male prisoners. During an incursion made upon Haverhill, in 1697. the Indians attacked the house of Hannah Dustin. Her husband effected the rescue of his children, but the mother fell into the hands of the attacking party, who murdered her babe and com- pelled her to rise from a bed of sickness, and, with her nurse, to follow them towards Canada. During their journey, the party,
.
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HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[1697
captors and captives, stopped for the night at the small island at the mouth of the Contoocook river at Penacook. Here the two captive women with the assistance of a boy, planned and
ยก
3
HANNAH DUSTIN AT THE MASSACRE.
Upon this spot (the island of Contoocook, N. H.) stands a monument erected to the memory of Hannah Dustin, through the efforts of Colonel Robert B. Caverly, poet and historian.
executed an escape, which was done by killing ten of the twelve Indians of the party, and following the river back to the settle- ments. As a matter of course, they were forced to take their
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