USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume I > Part 24
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their fathers or to themselves, sought new homes at New Pennycook, on the Androscoggin.
Strangely like was this locality to the old Pennycook on the Mer- rimack where they had first seen the light. At both places the river bisected the township and flowed through fertile intervals which lined its banks. Near the northern border of the former the Ellis river entered the Androscoggin to increase its volume, just as at the northern border of the latter the Contoocook joined the Merrimack ; while, furthermore, as just over the southern line of the latter the last named river made an important descent of some twenty-five feet, so just within the former's southern boundary, the Androscoggin made a single plunge of forty, and thence hastened down rapids of more than half as much more in the next eighty rods of its course. And to still further enhance the likeness, the flood plains of the Merrimack, rising to terraces of higher ground and backed by hill ranges of granite formation, were almost exactly duplicated on the Andros- coggin.
Moreover, as if these topographical similarities were not enough, a parallel equally surprising was to be found, two generations ago, by a visitor from the older town to the new, in a duplication, at the younger, of the surnames of his neighbors at home. Never did a fair daughter more closely resemble a fair mother; never did a hardy son more exactly reflect the characteristics of a stalwart father.
Hard indeed was it for this visitor to realize that he had wandered an hundred and twenty miles from the old Rumford on the Merri- mack and found its near facsimile in a new Rumford on the Andros- coggin, for, scattered over this new town, were families whose names had been familiar to him from his earliest days: of Abbot, David, Henry, Jacob, Moses, and Philip ; of Farnum, Benjamin, David, and Stephen : of Hall, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Joseph; of Hutchins, David and Hezekiah; of Martin, Daniel, John, and Kimball ; of Virgin, Daniel, Ebenezer, Peter C., Phineas, Simeon, and William ; of Wheeler, Abel and William; of families bearing the surnames of Carter, Colby, Eastman, Eaton, Elliot, Hoyt, Kimball, Knight, Page, Putnam, Rolfe, Sweat, and Walker. This list, partial only, might be much enlarged by the addition of the names of women who, singly or as the wives of settlers, found new homes in this new town in the district of Maine. It suffices, however, accompanied with that before presented of some of the first settlers of Fryeburg and Conway, on the Saco, to establish the proposition at first enunciated,-that Con- cord, itself originally a colony, became in time a colonizer of new communities.
CHAPTER VII.
THE LAST FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR .- RUMFORD BECOMES CONCORD, A PARISH OF BOW.
1754-1765.
While the war of land titles was raging, the last French and Indian War came on, and the alarm along the frontier, which had hardly subsided during the peace of Aix-la-chapelle, was renewed. Military hostilities existed in America for two years before the actual declaration of war in Europe, in 1756.
Even at an earlier date the Indian allies of France had, with or without French instigation, been troublesome along the New Hamp- shire frontier. As early as 1752 they had shown a mischievous dis- position. During the last days of April four hunters-Amos East- man 1 of Rumford, John Stark and his brother William of Derryfield,2 and David Stinson of Londonderry, while trapping along Baker's river, within the present limits of Rumney, fell in with a scout of ten St. Francis Indians headed by Thomas Titigaw. The trappers had been successful, having collected furs to the value of more than five hun- dred pounds. Though "they seasonably discovered " the savages, yet "they gave them no offence, . but esteeming it a time of peace with all the Indians who owned themselves the subjects of the French king," and being " free from any expectation of any hostilities being committed against them," they "peaceably applied themselves to their business." 3 They were about to return home when, towards evening of the 28th of April, the Indians rising from ambush, cap- tured John Stark, who, apart from his friends, was busy in taking up traps. His companions, alarmed at his prolonged absence, discharged guns in the night, and thus discovered their encampment to the sav- ages, whom their wily prisoner had led two miles in a contrary direc- tion. Early next morning the three hunters, suspecting that their comrade had been captured, left the encampment to go down the river; Eastman passing on foot along the bank, Stinson and William Stark taking a canoe. The Indians retraced to the encampment the route over which John Stark had misled them, and made an ambus-
1 A son of Jonathan Eastman, who had a garrison on the Hopkinton road in the previous war.
2 Afterwards Manchester.
$ Affidavit of John and William Stark and Amos Eastman, May 21, 1754; N. H. Prov. Papers, Vol. V, 309.
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cade below, in which they captured Eastman. They ordered " John to hail the boat and bid the occupants to come on shore." He hailed the boat, but urged its occupants " to escape to the opposite shore." They were doing so when ten Indian muskets were leveled at them; and though Stark, with the courage characteristic of the future ranger and Revolutionary commander, "struck up" the guns within his reach, yet the shot of the others killed Stinson and hit the paddle held by William Stark. John shouted to his brother to flee, for the Indians had emptied all their guns ; and William heeding the advice got away. The baffled captors severely beat their undaunted cap- tive; and appropriating the rich store of furs, set out with their two prisoners for Canada. Their course lay by the Lower 1 and Upper 2 Coos, at the former of which had been left two of the original party to prepare supplies for the returning scout. Eastman was sent at once to Canada, with three of the party, where he was sold to a Frenchman ; Stark was retained with the others, who tarried some time in hunting, and reached St. Francis early in June. He remained in captivity about five weeks. In July both he and Eastman were redeemed by agents of Massachusetts-Eastman for sixty dollars ; Stark for one hundred and three.
John Stark's bold demeanor during his captivity was a charm against violence. Eastman, less defiant and dexterous, was, in run- ning the gauntlet at St. Francis, quite spent from the club blows showered upon him by young warriors in the files between which he was compelled to run, while Stark dashed along between the threat- ening lines, smiting right and left with the conventional pole tipped with a loon skin, and returned with a knock-down blow each stroke ventured at him,- thus passing the ordeal unharmed, and pleasing the older men of the village by discomfiting the youngsters. When, too, after having in vain tried to rid himself of the task of hoeing corn, by nurturing the weeds and destroying the corn, he contemptuously threw his hoe into the river, declaring that "it was the business of squaws, not of warriors, to hoe corn," his captors, fascinated by his boldness, took it in good part, and called him "the young chief." So he was a favorite in the school of captivity, learning much of Indian ways that was to stand him in good stead thereafter.
Upon the return of William Stark with news of the affair, a party-of which were Phineas Virgin, Joseph and Moses East- man 3-went up from Rumford to Baker's river, and finding the body of Stinson, laid it in a grave in the lonely woods, with a brook,
1 Haverhill.
" Lancaster.
3 Bouton's Concord, 193 (note). Potter, in History of Manchester, 277, says the party con- sisted of Nathaniel Eastman, Timothy Bradley, and l'hineas Virgin.
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a pond, and a mountain near by, to bear the hunter's name and to commemorate the event in which he lost his life.
In May, just after the affair at Baker's river, Indians from St. Francis made their appearance at Canterbury. Two of . these- if there were any others-were Sabbatis and Christo, who had for- merly lived in the Merrimack valley. What might be the import of their advent was uncertain, and some alarm was felt in the vicinity, so the minister of Rumford-esteemed by the red men-went to Canterbury on a mission of conciliation. The well-intentioned effort was, probably, not entirely fruitless, though Sabbatis especially " discovered a restless and malicious disposition," and after some days, both disappeared, taking with them two kidnapped negro slaves. The appearance of the Canadian savages at Canterbury had more than an accidental connection with the affair at Baker's river; both incidents, in fact, resulted from the ill feeling aroused among the St. Francis Indians, by a movement in New Hampshire, sup- ported by the government, looking to the white occupation of the "Coos Meadows." To this scheme the Indians were bitterly op- posed ; and finally they remonstrated so earnestly, and threatened so fiercely, that the design of settling immediately that desirable region was relinquished. It was suspected that the French themselves were at the bottom of this Indian opposition, inasmuch as they would naturally desire to keep open the easy way for predatory excursions from Canada through Coos county; and it was feared that they might attempt to take armed possession by erecting a fort in that neighborhood.
In June of the next year Sabbatis appeared again in Canterbury -- this time in company with one Plausawa. The conduct of these Indians soon became so outrageous that their lives were threatened by the inhabitants, and they went to Contoocook. There continuing their insolent behavior, and boasting of former robberies and murders in the neighborhood, they were despatched by Peter Bowen, a rough hunter,-in self-defense, as some accounts allege. By the stipula- tions of sundry Indian treaties, the province authorities were bound to take cognizance of such an act; hence Bowen, and another named Morrill, who was supposed to have been concerned in the deed, were indicted and jailed at Portsmouth. But on the night before the day for trial, they were forcibly rescued by a body of men from Canterbury, Contoocook, and other places. A proclamation was issued, and a reward offered by the governor, " for apprehending the rioters ; but no discovery was made, and the action was even deemed meritorious." 1 But the spirit of revenge was inflamed in the tribe
1 Belknap, 308.
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THE LAST FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
to which the victims belonged ; and on the 11th of May, 1754, thirty avengers visited Contoocook and Stevenstown,1 rifled a house in the former place, and carried away into captivity, from the latter, the Maloon family-the father and mother, a son, and two daughters. Twenty men were forthwith ordered out by Governor Wentworth to guard the exposed localities for a month ; but no Indians were seen.
When, in the year 1754, hostile operations between France and England were commenced near the head of the Ohio,-though with- out actual declaration of war,-the Indian allies of the French became more aggressive than before, along the frontiers of New England, including those of New Hampshire. At Stevenstown,2 on the 15th of August, they killed Philip Call's wife and Timothy Cook, and carried three men into captivity. Governor Wentworth at once sent two detachments of " troop " to the exposed neighbor- hood ; and ordered Colonel Joseph Blanchard to raise fifty men from his regiment, to march, under an officer " to be confided in, to Con- toocook and Stevenstown to relieve the detachment of horse posted there." 3 Captain John Goffe, of Amoskeag, was detailed for this service. Reporting to Colonel Blanchard from Contoocook on the first day of September, the captain writes : 4 " I arrived at Pennicook ab't 12 o'clock on Thursday, where I met the troop who came down to guard 10 or 12 horses to mill, and I took their places, and they went home, and I got safe to the fort at Contoocook with all those that went to mill. We have done considerable in guarding the people whose hay was cut before the mischief was done, and has lain ever since till we came; and a great deal more hay & grain we must guard them to get, or they will loose it. And we shall do what we can for them, as souldiers ; for they are here more concerned than ever I knew them any time last war, and durst not go anywhere without a guard. I have not bin to Stevenstown yet, & its that dangerous to attempt without any more men. There is nobody there ; but I am informed that there is a great deal of good corn there which it's pitty should be lost. But four or five of the inhabitants will go back, & them not without twenty men at least, as souldiers with them. The Indians are certainly about; they are tract, & guns heard every day almost, in the woods, . .
. I pray you would send me express what I shall do ab't going to Stevens- town; if I have no more men, if I go, I must take them all with me, & I don't see but Contoocook must loose or sell or kill most of their
1 Salisbury.
2 This occurred in the east part of Salisbury, which afterwards became a part of Franklin. The Maloon affair, in the spring, took place in the west part of Salisbury.
3 N. H. Prov. Papers, Vol. VI, 296; Potter's Manchester, 293.
‘ N. H. Prov. Papers, Vol. VI, 315-16.
16
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
cattle ; for they have got but very little hay since the mischief was done, and have a great deal to get; all their pease almost in the field unhooked and loosing every day, and abundance of them there is. . . Mr. Lovejoy's garrison 1 are all moved off but three familys, and he told me he would not stay any longer without he had some souldiers-and if he had, severall familys would come to them. If that fort breaks up, they can grind none in Contoocook, & must be forced to go to Eastman's mill 2 on Turkey river (about 12 or 14 miles-a dangerous road), and it will be much more dangerous to go to Pennicook. . . . Pray your advice by the bearer; but if I go there-i. e., to Stevenstown-pray your interest for Contoocook, & Lovejoy's mill & Eastman's mill, that there may be an addition of souldiers, &c."
This report indicates the perilous circumstances of Rumford, as well as of its vicinity, in the late summer and early autumn of 1754. Whether or not Captain Goffe's prayer as to protecting the mills in Rumford was directly answered, there was wisdom in it, which was recognized by the authorities ; for Captain John Chandler was as- signed the command of a company of nine men,3 who were on duty, from the 8th to the 17th of September, " scouting and guarding," for the general protection of the township, as well as for the special safety of "people of New Hopkinton, while cutting their hay." Rumford was always in danger when Indians were around. By this time, however, the tiers of settled townships to the northward shel- tered it from the brunt of savage attack. In fact, the valley of the Merrimack, unlike that of the Connecticut, was nearly free from In- dian incursion throughout the ensuing war ; but garrisons were main- tained, and other defensive measures were continued, so that appre- hended evil was doubtless averted by precaution.
The English government had been urging the American colonies to put themselves in a posture of efficient resistance to French " encroachments on the frontier from the Ohio to the Gulf of St. Lawrence "; and, in 1755, sent over two regiments of regulars, with General Edward Braddock as commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America. A French fleet was not slow to follow, bringing reinforcements for Canada under command of Baron Dies- kau. To this fleet Admiral Boscawen, with English ships, gave close pursuit, though peace still "existed between England and France under ratified treaties," and " England had avowed only the
1 Situated in West Concord, and mentioned in the previous chapter.
2 At Millville, being probably the one erected by Barachias Farnum and Henry Lovejoy, as described in a previous chapter. It seems to have come, subsequently, into the hands of Jonathan Eastman, who had a garrison in the vicinity, on the Hopkinton road.
3 Adjutant-General's Report, Vol. II, 1866, p. 156; see Roll of Scout, 1754, in note at close of chapter,
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THE LAST FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
intention to resist encroachments on her territory." Expeditions were at once planned against Du Quesne, at the fork of the Ohio; Niagara, on the river and near the falls of that name; and Crown Point, on Lake Champlain-three important strategic points in the French cordon of military posts from Canada to Louisiana.
The first expedition for the reduction of Crown Point was placed under the command of Sir William Johnson, a resident in the valley of the Mohawk, and of great influence with the Six Nations of In- dians. To it New Hampshire contributed, in 1755, a regiment of five hundred men, commanded by Colonel Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable.1 Rumford had eighteen men of the sixty-five upon the roll of the fifth company in this regiment. Among these were the captain, Joseph Eastman, and his brother Moses, a sergeant, -- both sons of Ebenezer Eastman so prominent in the earlier history of Penacook ; also, the lieutenant, Nathaniel Abbot, and private Ebenezer Virgin, who were of the original settlers and proprietors.2
Captain Joseph Eastman's company of Blanchard's regiment was in Johnson's camp during the battle of Lake George3 and the men of Rumford had a share in the fighting. It is said, too, that Nathaniel Eastman, another son of Captain Ebenezer, was in Colonel Williams's detachment which fell into ambuscade there. Though wounded in the knee, Eastman continued to fire at the enemy till he was left almost alone4 in the retreat, and then he limped through the woods to join his company. After the battle the entire regiment had sta- tion at Lake George, and its men were acceptably engaged in scout- ing and ranging service until their discharge in October.
For the second Crown Point expedition (1756), a regiment of six hundred men was raised in New Hampshire, and put under the com- mand Colonel Meserve of Portsmouth. In Captain John Goffe's com- pany of this regiment were enrolled eight men of Rumford,5 including Thomas Merrill, second lieutenant. But this number did not em- brace all the Rumford men engaged in the campaign of 1756 and the operations of the following winter. Others were enrolled under an independent organization, which had been determined upon by the authorities, the preceding winter. The satisfactory ranging and scouting service performed by the men of New Hampshire in the last year's campaign had proved the desirability of a permanent corps of Rangers. These were to be men who thoroughly knew Indian char- acter and practices in war. They were to be "rugged foresters,
1 Nashua.
2 See full list of Concord men in the company, in note at close of chapter,
3 See note at close of chapter.
4 Bouton's Concord, 195.
5 See list in note at close of chapter,
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
every man of whom, as a hunter, could hit the size of a dollar at a hundred yards' distance ; could follow the trail of man or beast; en- dure the fatigues of long marches, the pangs of hunger, and the cold of winter nights, often passed without fire, shelter, or covering other than their common clothing, a blanket, perhaps a bearskin, and the boughs of the pine or hemlock."] They were to range woods dan- gerous with hidden foes; to serve as guides and couriers ; to pro- cure, at deadly risk, intelligence of the enemy's movements ; to re- connoiter at short distance; to skirmish with detached parties; to fall with sudden force upon exposed points, and as suddenly find security in inaccessible retreats ; to venture, in fine, upon any peril- ous enterprise, in which muscle, nerve, sharp wits, and a dauntless heart were requisite.
Such were the Rangers of the French and Indian War. Captain Robert Rogers was commissioned to raise the first independent com- pany of the famous corps. He recruited it in the early spring of 1756, mainly from his old company in Blanchard's regiment, and taking John Stark as lieutenant. Soon, a second company was raised, with Richard Rogers-Robert's brother-as captain, and Nathaniel Abbot of Rumford as second lieutenant. Later that year, two companies from Nova Scotia swelled the corps to three hundred men. In course of time the corps was augmented by five other com- panies,-one from New Jersey, and four from New England ; 2 the whole force being under the command of Robert Rogers, who held commission as major, while the brothers, John and William Stark, became captains. This branch of service had separate enrolment, only fragments of which have remained,2 so that the names of but few from Rumford, or elsewhere, who were engaged in it, are known.
The rangers were kept busy reconnoitering, and in ascertaining what the enemy was about; and after the regular provincial troops had been sent home they occupied Forts Edward and William Henry. A detachment of these, numbering seventy-four, marched in January, 1757, from the latter fort to intercept French supplies passing between Crown Point and Ticonderoga. They passed down Lake George, partly on the ice and partly along shore, on snow- shoes, and succeeded in rounding Ticonderoga without being seen by the enemy. Approaching Lake Champlain, on a line half way between the fortresses, they captured some of the provision sleds passing from Ticonderoga to Crown Point, and destroyed their lading. Other sleds, however, escaping back to the former post, the rangers, knowing that the garrison would be notified of their presence, commenced their homeward retreat. But at two o'clock
1 Memoir of John Stark, 16.
2 Adjutant-General's Report, Vol, 2 (1866).
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in the afternoon of that day-the 21st of January-they were sud- denly fired upon at close range by a body of French and Indians, two hundred and fifty in number. The bloody encounter which ensued lasted till dark, Captain Rogers, the leader, being disabled by two wounds, and Captain Spikeman, of one of the Nova Scotia companies, killed. Lieutenant John Stark, as senior officer, had com- mand. The rangers, while having five or six killed and as many wounded, slew, by their effective gunnery, one hundred and sixteen of the enemy. Retreating with their wounded during the night, they reached, on the morning of the 22d, Lake George at a point six miles south of the French advanced guard. They were now forty miles from Fort William Henry ; and since the wounded men were exhausted and could march no further, Lieutenant Stark, with two others, volunteered to go to the fort and procure sleighs. Though the journey had to be performed on snowshoes, with the snow four feet upon a level, the destination was reached that night ; and the next morning the sleighs arrived to take up the wounded, while the party of effective men marched on, and all at evening arrived at William Henry.1
Stilson Eastman of Rumford-a grandson of Captain Ebenezer Eastman-was in the fight. John Shute and Joseph Eastman, both of Rumford-the former a son of Jacob Shute, an early settler, the latter a nephew of Captain Ebenezer Eastman-and who were mess- mates in the ranger service through the war,2 were also in this en- gagement. Shute used to say that the first notice the party had of the enemy was the noise made in cocking their guns, which he sup- posed was occasioned by some rangers preparing to fire at game. He was struck senseless by a bullet "which ploughed the top of his head." On coming to himself he saw a man cutting off the ribbon of Rogers's queue, to bind up the captain's wrist through which a bullet had passed.3
Mention should here be made of another participant in the action of January 21st, 1757, who after the war became a resident of Rumford. This was William Phillips,4 a half-blood Indian of New York, who enlisted in Rogers's first company of rangers, and soon became a sergeant. He is specially noticed by Rogers,5 as one of the "reserves to protect the flanks and watch the enemy's motions." His efficiency was recognized, for after that action he received a lieutenant's commission, signed by the Earl of Loudon.
1 Major Rogers's Journal; Memoir of John Stark, 18-19.
2 Bouton's Concord, 196.
8 Memoir of John Stark; Appendix, 412 (note).
· See notes at close of chapter.
5 Major Rogers's Journal.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
One battalion of the regiment contributed by New Hampshire to the campaign of 1757, went with its colonel, Nathaniel Meserve, on Loudon's fruitless expedition to Louisburg ; the other, with Lieu- tenant-Colonel Goffe, was stationed at Fort William Henry. Captain Richard Rogers's company of rangers, of which Nathaniel Abbot of Rumford was a lieutenant, also had rendezvous there. The battalion and company were there when the gallant Munro, in command of the fort with his inadequate force, held out in a siege of six days urgently plied by Montcalm with overwhelming numbers, and then submitted to inevitable capitulation. They were witnesses of the infamous violation of the terms of surrender, when the savage allies of the French fell upon the departing garrison, plundering, wound- ing, murdering, or capturing for future torture and death.
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