History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 5

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124

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The tribes were then located throughout this northern and eastern section substantially thus: the Taratines occupied the Penobscot valley, and drew tribute from surrounding tribes. They were a kindred tribe to the Abenaquis, which held its territory from the St Lawrence and Lake Champlain to the Kennebec. The New Hampshire tribes were known as Nipmucks, fresh-water people. The Nipmucks were composed of the Nashaways, living on the Nashua river; the Souhegans, in the Souhegan valley ; the Squamscotts, around Exeter; the Pascataquakes, between Dover and Portsmouth ; the Newichawanocks, along Salmon Falls river; the Amoskeag's, at and around Manchester; the Pennacooks, around Concord ; the Winnipiscogees, south and west of the lake of that name ; the "swift deer-hunting Coo-ash-aukes," on the Connecticut; the Pemigewassets, in the valley of that name; the Ossipees, around Ossipee lake and along the north shore of Winnipiseogee lake; the Peqnawkets, in the Saco valley ; the Anasagunticooks, a powerful tribe, controlled the territory of the Ameriscoggin (Androscoggin).

The Massachusetts occupied the lands around the bay of that name and the adjacent islands. What is now Vermont was a contested ground, where no tribe had a permanent home. It was the beaver-hunting country of the Mohawks, also claimed, and at times occupied, by the Abenaquis.

INDIAN HISTORY.

Passaconaway was in authority from before 1620 to 1660. He was a better friend to the whites than they were to him. He restrained his warriors from making war on the English for many years, and kept the peace during the exciting period of King Philip's War. His warriors later could not be held back from war on the whites, and he resigned the chieftainship to his son Wonalancet. In 1685 Wonalancet was succeeded by Kancamagus, his grandson, an able and adroit statesman and a brave and skilful warrior. He was abused and ill-treated by the English, whose friendship he tried hard to retain, and became their dangerous enemy. He planned and conducted in person the attack on Dover, which proved so disastrous to both whites and Indians. This was in 1686, and the result was the virtual sweeping out of existence of the Pennacooks.

Passaconaway, Wonalancet, and Kancamagus were all of them men of more than ordinary power; equal in mental vigor, physical proportions, and moral qualities to any of their white contemporaries.

From this time the northern tribes of the broken confederation remained in hostility to the English, and war and warlike forays existed for a long term of years. The Indians had been foolishly repulsed by the English, and were stanch and valuable allies of the French. "The war on the part of the Indians was one of ambushes and surprises." They were secret as beasts of prey, skilful marksmen, swift of foot, patient of fatigue, familiar with every path and nook of the forest, and frantic with the passion for vengeance and destruction. The laborer in the field and the woodman felling trees were shot down by skulking foes who were invisible. The mother left alone in the house was in constant fear of the tomahawk for herself and her children. There was no hour of freedom from peril. The dusky red men hung upon the skirts of the colonial villages " like the lightning on the edge of the cloud."

Military expeditions from Massachusetts and the lower New Hampshire settlements, also composed of "skilful marksmen," tireless woodsmen, and daring adventurers, thirsting for vengeance and destruction, were often sent out.

The most important of these in far-reaching consequences of crushing the Indian strength in this part of New England, and securing peace and immunity from attack, were under the leadership of Captain John Lovewell, and have made Carroll county historic ground. The stirring adventures and tragedies enacted on and near the soil of what we now call Carroll county, where he and most of his heroic party met death bravely, carrying death at the same time to their enemies, have been finely given by Hon. John H. Goodale in his History of Nashua, written for J. W. Lewis & Co.'s History of Hillsborough County, and we copy his very graphic account, which will show that neither the English nor the Indians were governed much by humanity or the principles of the gospel of peace.

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

" With the exception of General John Stark, no other name in the colonial annals of New England is so well known as that of Captain John Lovewell. He was born in that part of old Dunstable which afterward fell within the limits of Nashua, in a cabin near Salmon Brook. He was the oldest son of John Lovewell, who came over from England about 1670. His grandfather served in the army of Oliver Cromwell. His father appears to have fought under the famous Captain Church during King Philip's War. He was a man of unusual courage and physical vigor. At the time of his death, in 1752, he was probably a centenarian, but not, as erroneously reported, one hundred and twenty years old.

"Captain John Lovewell, Jr, was, like his father, a man of great courage and ready to engage in daring enterprises. During his boyhood Dunstable was constantly assailed by merciless savages, and at a very early age he began to engage in scouts, which required the exercise of the utmost caution, prompti- tude, and bravery. At eighteen years of age he was actively engaged in exploring the wilderness to find the lurking-places of the Indians. Having the qualities of leadership, his ability was early recognized, and at the age of twenty-five he ranked as the best equipped, most daring and versatile scout in the frontier settlements. This was no trivial compliment, for no township in New England had, in the first half of the eighteenth century, a more experienced, adroit, and courageous corps of Indian fighters than Dunstable. " The fate of Lieutenant French and his party, in September, 1724, had a dispiriting effect on the inhabitants of Dunstable. But Captain John Lovewell, Jr, then thirty years old, was determined to carry the war to the strongholds of the savages and destroy them, as Captain Church had destroyed the followers of King Philip. 'These barbarous outrages must be stopped, and I am ready to lead the men who will do it,' was his declaration to his comrades. Joined by Josiah Farwell and Jonathan Robbins, a petition was sent to the General Court of Massachusetts for leave to raise a company to scout against the Indians. The original petition, signed by them, is on file in the office of the Secretary of State in Boston, and is as follows : -

The humble memorial of John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, Jonathan Roberts, all of Dunstable, sheweth :

That your petitioners, with near forty or fifty others, are inclinable to range and to keep out in the woods for several months together, in order to kill and destroy their enemy Indians, provided they can meet with Incouragement suitable. And your Petitioners are Imployed and desired by many others Humbly to propose and submit to your Honors' consid- eration, that if such soldiers may be allowed five shillings per day, in case they kill any enemy Indian, and possess his scalp, they will Imploy themselves in Indian hunting one whole year; and if within that time they do not kill any, they are content to be allowed nothing for their wages, time and trouble.

John Lovewell. Josiah Farwell. Jonathan Robbins.

Dunstable, Nov., 1721.

INDIAN HISTORY.

"This petition was granted, with the change of the compensation to a bounty of one hundred pounds per sealp. Volunteers came forward with alaerity, the company was organized, and the commission of captain given to Lovewell.

" With this picked company Captain Lovewell started on an excursion northward to Lake Winnipesaukee. On the 10th of December, 1724, the party came upon a wigwam in which were two Indians-a man and a boy. They killed and scalped the man, and brought the boy alive to Boston, where they received the promised bounty and two shillings and sixpence per day.

" This success was small, but it gave courage, and the company grew from thirty to eighty-seven. They started the second time on January 27, 1725. Crossing the Merrimack at Nashua, they followed the river route on the east side to the southeast corner of Lake Winnipesaukee, where they arrived on the 9th of February. Provisions falling short, thirty of them were dismissed by lot and returned home. The company went on to Bear Camp river, in Tam- worth, where, discovering Indian tracks, they changed their course and followed them in a southeast direction till, just before sunset on the 20th, they saw smoke, by which they judged the enemy were encamped for the night. Keeping concealed till after midnight, they then silently advanced, and discovered ten Indians asleep round a fire by the side of a frozen pond. Lovewell now resolved to make sure work, and placing his men conveniently, ordered them to fire, five at once, as quickly after each other as possible, and another part to reserve their fire. He gave the signal by firing his own gun, which killed two of them ; the men, firing as directed, killed five more on the spot; the other three starting up from their sleep, two were shot dead on the spot by the reserve. The other, wounded, attempted to escape across the pond, was seized by a dog and held fast till they killed him. In a few minutes the whole party was killed, and a raid on some settlement prevented. These Indians were coming from Canada with new guns and plenty of ammunition. They had also some spare blankets, moccasins and snowshoes for the use of the prisoners they expected to take. The pond where this success was achieved is in the town of Wakefield, and has ever since borne the name of Lovewell's Pond. The company then went to Boston through Dover, where they displayed the scalps and guns taken from the savages. In Boston they received the bounty of one thousand pounds from the publie treasury.

" Captain Lovewell now planned the bold design of attacking the Pequaw- kets in their chief village on the Saco river, in Fryeburg, Maine. This tribe was powerful and ferocious. Its chief was Paugus, a noted warrior, whose name inspired terror wherever he was known. To reach Pequawket was a task involving hardships and danger. There is no doubt that Captain Lovewell underestimated the perils of the march and the risk from ambuscades. One hundred and thirty miles in early spring, through a wilderness not marked by a trail to a locality never visited by the invaders, but every rod familiar to the

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

wily foe, were serious disadvantages. Besides this, the company, at the start, only consisted of forty-six men. They left Salmon brook on the 16th of April, 1725. They had traveled but a few miles when Toby, an Indian, falling sick, was obliged to return, which he did with great reluctance.

" At Contoocook (now Boscawen) William Cummings, of Dunstable, became so disabled by a wound received from the enemy years before that the captain sent him back with a kinsman to accompany him. They proceeded on to the west shore of Ossipee lake, where Benjamin Kidder, of Nutfield (now London- derry), falling sick, the captain halted and built a rude fort, having the lake shore to the east and Ossipee river on the north side. This was intended as a refuge in case of disaster. Here Captain Lovewell left with Kidder the surgeon, a sergeant, and seven other men as a guard. He also left a quantity of provisions to lighten the loads of the men, and which would be a needed supply on their return.

" With only thirty-four men, Captain Lovewell, not disheartened, proceeded on his march from Ossipee lake to Pequawket village, a distance of nearly forty miles through a rough forest. None of the party were acquainted with the route. Of the thirty-four in the company, only eight were from that portion of Dunstable now included in Nashua. The others were from neigh- boring towns, largely from Groton, Billerica, and Woburn. Dunstable fur- nished the captain, lieutenants, and nearly all the minor officers of the expedi- tion. The eight men from Dunstable were Captain John Lovewell, Lieutenant Josiah Farwell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, Ensign John Harwood, Sergeant Noah Johnson, Corporal Benjamin Hassell, Robert Usher, and Samuel Whiting, privates.

"On Thursday, two days before the fight, the company were apprehensive that they were discovered and watched by the enemy, and on Friday night the watch heard the Indians rustling in the underbrush, and alarmed the company, but the darkness was such they made no discovery. Very early in the morning of Saturday, May 8, while they were at prayers, they heard the report of a gun. Soon after they discovered an Indian on a point running out into Saco pond. The company decided that the purpose of the Indian was to draw them into an ambush concealed between himself and the soldiers. The inference was a mis- take, and a fatal one to a majority of the party. Expecting an immediate attack, a consultation was held to determine whether it was better to venture an engagement with the enemy or to make a speedy retreat. The men boldly answered : 'We have prayed all along that we might find the foe, and we had rather trust Providence with our lives, yea, die for our country, than try to return without seeing them, and be called cowards for our conduct.'

"Captain Lovewell readily complied, and led them on, though not without manifesting some apprehensions. Supposing the enemy to be in front, he ordered the men to lay down their packs and march with the greatest caution

INDIAN HISTORY.

and in the utmost readiness. In this way they advanced a mile and a half, when Ensign Wyman spied an Indian approaching among the trees. Giving a signal, all the men concealed themselves, and as the Indian came nearer several guns were fired at him. He at once fired at Captain Lovewell with beaver shot, wounding him severely, though he made little complaint, and was still able to travel. Ensign Wyman then fired and killed the Indian, and Chaplain Frye scalped him. They then returned toward their packs, which had already been found and seized by the savages, who, in reality, were lurking in their rear, and who were elated by discovering from the number of the packs that their own force was more than double that of the whites. It was now ten o'clock, and just before reaching the place, on a plain of scattered pines about thirty rods from the pond, the Indians rose up in front and rear in two parties, and ran toward the whites with their guns presented. The whites instantly presented their guns and rushed to meet them.

" When both parties came within twenty yards of each other, they fired. The Indians suffered far the more heavily, and hastily retreated a few rods into a low pine thicket, where it was hardly possible to sce one of them. Three or four rounds followed from each side. The savages had more than twice the number of our men and greatly the advantage in their concealed position, and their shots began to tell fearfully. Already nine of the whites were killed and three were fatally wounded. This was more than one third of their number. Among the dead were Captain Lovewell and Ensign Harwood, and both lieu- tenant Farwell and Lieutenant Robbins were injured beyond recovery. Ensign Wyman ordered a retreat to the pond, and probably saved the company from entire destruction, as the pond protected their rear.

" The fight continued obstinately till sunset, the savages howling, yelling, and barking, and making all sorts of hideous noises, the whites frequently shouting and huzzahing. Some of the Indians, holding up ropes, asked the English if they would take quarter, but were promptly told that they would have no quarter save at the muzzles of their guns.

" About the middle of the afternoon the chaplain, Jonathan Frye, of Andover, who graduated at Harvard in 1723, and who had fought bravely, fell terribly wounded. When he could fight no longer, he prayed audibly for the preservation of the rest of the company.

" The fight had lasted nearly eight hours, and at intervals was furious. The reader will understand that it was very unlike a battle between two parties of civilized infantry. In fighting these savages, who concealed themselves behind trees, logs, bushes, and rocks, the whites were compelled to adopt similar tactics. In such a fight, while obeying general orders, each soldier fires at the foe when he can discern an exposed head or body. This Pequawket contest lasted from ten in the morning till night, but it was not continuous. There were intervals of nearly or quite half an hour, which were hardly disturbed by

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

the crack of a single musket. But in these intervals the savages were skulking and creeping to get a near view and sure aim at some white soldier, while our men were desperately on the alert to detect their approach and slay them. Noticing a lull among the warriors, Ensign Wyman crept up behind a bush and discovered a group apparently in council, and by a careful shot brought down their leader.

"It was in the latter part of the fight that Paugus, the Indian chief, met his fate. He was well known by most of Lovewell's men, and several times he called aloud to John Chamberlain, a stalwart soldier from Groton. Meanwhile the guns of both these combatants became too foul for use, and both went down to the pond to clean them. Standing but a few yards apart, with a small brook between them, both began to load together, and with mutual threats thrust powder and ball into their weapons. Chamberlain primed his gun by striking the breach heavily on the ground. This enabled him to fire a second before his foe, whose erring aim failed to hit Chamberlain.

"At twilight the savages withdrew, disheartened by the loss of their chief. From information afterwards obtained, it is believed that not more than twenty of the Indians escaped unhurt, and, thus weakened, they did not hazard a renewal of the struggle. But our men, not knowing their condition, expected a speedy return. About midnight, the moon having arisen, they collected together, hungry and very faint, all their food having been snatched by the Indians with their packs. On examining the situation, they found Jacob Farrar just expiring, and Lieutenant Robbins and Robert Usher unable to rise ; four others, namely, Lieutenant Farwell, Frye, Jones, and Davis, very danger- ously wounded, seven badly wounded, and nine unhurt.

" A speedy return to the fort at Ossipee was the only course left them. Lieutenant Robbins told his companions to load his gun and leave it with him, saying, 'As the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, I will kill one more if I can.' One man, Solomon Keyes, of Billerica, was missing. When he had fought till he had received three wounds, and had become so weak that he could not stand, he crawled up to Ensign Wyman and said : 'I am a dead man, but if possible I will get out of the way so that the Indians shall not have my scalp.' He then erept away to some rushes on the beach, where, dis- covering a canoe, he rolled over into it. There was a gentle north wind, and drifting southward three miles, he was landed on the shore nearest the fort. Gaining strength, he was able to reach the fort and join his comrades.

" Leaving the dead unburied, and faint from hunger and fatigue, the survivors started before dawn for Ossipee. A sad prospect was before them. The Indians, knowing their destitution, were expected at every moment to fall upon them. Their homes were a hundred and thirty miles distant; ten of their number had fallen, and eight were groaning with the agony of terrible wounds. After walking a mile and a half, four of the wounded men -

INDIAN HISTORY.

Lieutenant Farwell, Chaplain Frye, and Privates Davis and Jones -- were unable to go farther, and urged the others to hasten to the fort and send a fresh recruit to their rescue. The party hurried on as fast as strength would permit to the Ossipee fort. To their dismay they found it deserted. One of their number, in the first hour of the battle, terrified by the death of the commander and others, sneakingly had fled to the fort and gave the men posted there so frightful an account that they all fled hastily toward Dunstable. Fortunately, some of the coarse provisions were left, but not a tithe of what were needed. Resting briefly, they continued their travels in detached parties to Dunstable, the majority reaching there on the night of the 13th of May, and the others two days later. They suffered severely from want of food. From Saturday morning till Wednesday - four days - they were entirely without any kind of food, when they caught some squirrels and partridges, which were roasted whole and greatly improved their strength.

" Eleazer Davis and Josiah Jones, two of the wounded, who were left near the battle-ground, survived, and after great suffering reached Berwick, Me. Finding, after several days, no aid from the fort, they all went several miles together. Chaplain Frye laid down and probably survived only a few hours. Lieutenant Farwell reached within a few miles of the fort, and was not heard of afterwards. He was deservedly lamented as a man in whom was combined unusual bravery with timely discretion. There is little doubt but he and several others of the wounded would have recovered if they could have had food and medical care. Their sufferings must have been terrible.

" The news of this disaster caused deep grief and consternation at Dun- stable. A company, under Colonel Tyng, went to the place of action, and buried the bodies of Captain Lovewell and ten of his men at the foot of a tall pine-tree. A monument now marks the spot. The General Court of Massa- chusetts gave fifteen hundred pounds to the widows and orphans, and a handsome bounty of lands to the survivors."

In the fight which resulted so fatally to Captain Lovewell and a majority of his command, the numbers engaged were inconsiderable. But, while tempo- rarily disastrous, the results proved of incalculable advantage to the border settlements. From that day the courage and power of the red men were destroyed. They soon withdrew from their ancient haunts and hunting grounds in New Hampshire to the French settlements in Canada. No subse- quent attacks by an organized force of Indians were made upon Dunstable, and their raids made afterwards at Concord, Hillsborough, and Charlestown were merely spasmodic efforts, instigated, and in some instances led, by French officers. Yet such had been the experience of the past that for years the pioneer settlers listened in the still watches of the night for the footfall of the stealthy savage ; the musket was the companion of his pillow, and in his sleep he dreamed of the fierce yells of the merciless foe.

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

The expedition of Captain Lovewell was no doubt hazardous in view of the difficulties of the march and the small number of his men. One fifth of his force, besides the surgeon, was left at the fort at Ossipee. Captain Lovewell intended to surprise Paugus by attacking him in his camp. Unfortunately, the reverse happened. Paugus and his eighty warriors were returning from a jour- ney down the Saco, when they discovered the track of the invaders. For forty hours they stealthily_ followed and saw the soldiers dispose of their packs, so that all the provisions and blankets fell into their own hands, with the knowl- edge of their small force. Thus prepared, they expected from their chosen ambush to annihilate or to capture the entire party.

Thus ended the memorable campaign against the Pequawkets. Deep and universal was the gratitude of the people at the prospect of peace. For fifty years had the war been raging with little cessation and with a series of sur- prises, devastations, and massacres that seemed to threaten annihilation. The scene of this desperate and bloody action at Fryeburg is often visited, and in song and eulogy are commemorated the heroes of " Lovewell's fight."

[Suncook, now Pembroke, was granted originally in May, 1727, by Massa- chusetts to Captain Lovewell and his faithful comrades, in consideration of their services against the Indians. There were sixty grantees, forty-six of whom went with Lovewell in his last march to Pequawket. The others were among those who were in his first enterprises. ]

Abnaquis. - A veil of romance surrounds this now really extinct people. The French, who have been in circumstances to know them best, award them a high place, with, perhaps, a kinship with that peculiar European people, the Basques. The Jesuit father, Eugene Vetromile, in his work, " The Abnakis Indians," expresses the French view of them in these words: " The Abnakis bear evident marks of having been an original people in their name, manners, and language. They show a kind of civilization which must be the effect of antiquity and of a past flourishing age. We never read of their having been treacherous, nor of a want of honor or conscience in fulfilling their private or public word. They had a regular method of writing, like the Chinese, Japanese, etc., but with different characters."

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 5

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co. Number of Pages: 1124

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124