History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 38

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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It was in the latter part of the fight that Pangu ;. 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. Chamber- lain 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 Cham- berlain.

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-viz. : Lientenant Farwell, Frye, Jones and Davis-very dangerously 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 com- panions 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." His home was on Long Hill, in the south part of Nashua, and he was a favorite with his comrades. One man, Soloman

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 crept away to some rushes on the beach, where discovering 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 nun :- ber had fallen and eight were groaning with the agony of terrible wounds. After walking a mile and a half, four of the wounded men-Lieutenant Farwell, Captain Frye and Privates Davis and Jones-were unable to go farther, and urged the others to hasten to the fort and send a fresh re- eruit 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 provi- sions were left, but not a tithe of what were needed. Resting briefly, they continued their travels in de- tached 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 wound- ed, 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 Dunstable. A company, under Colonel Tyng, went to the place of action and buried the bodies of Captain Lovewell and ten of his men at

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the foot of a tall pine-tree. A monument now marks the spot. The General Court of Massachusetts gave fifteen hundred pounds to the widows and orphans and a handsome bounty of lands to the survivors.

Of the men from Dunstable who participated in the " Great Fight," all were killed or wounded. Only one, Noah Johnson, survived and returned home. His farm was on the south side of the Nashua River, at its mouth, and extended southward a little beyond the present road leading over the iron bridge to Hudson. He received a pension and a grant of land in Pembroke, to which he removed and passed his later years. He was the last survivor of the Pequaw- ket fight, and died at Pembroke in 1798, in his one hundredth year. Quite a number of his descendants reside in this part of the State.

In the fight which resulted so fatally to Captain Lovewell and a majority of his command the numbers engaged were inconsiderable. But while temporarily disastrous, the results proved of incalculable advan- tage to the border settlements. From that day the courage and the 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 subsequent attacks by an organized force of Indians were made upon Dunstable, and their raids made subsequently at Concord, Hills- borough 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 foot-tall 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.

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 beside the surgeon, was left at the fort at Ossipee. Captain Lovewell intended to surprise Paugus by attacking him in his eamp. Unfortunately, the reverse happened. Paugus and his eighty warriors were re- turning from a journey 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 knowledge 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 of Dunstable at the prospect of peace. For fifty years had the war been raging with little cessation and with a series of surprises, devastations and massacres that seemed to threaten annihilation. The scene of this desperate and bloody action at Frye- burg is often visited, and in song and eulogy are commemorated the heroes of Lovewell's fight.

CHAPTER VI.

NASIIUA-(Continued.)

FRONTIER HARDSHIPS AND STRUGGLES.

Dunstable in 1730-Poverty of the Settlers-Bears and Raccoons-New Towns Organized-Settlement of Boundary Line-Dunstable under New Hampshire Laws-Religious Dissensions-A Tramp through the Wilderness-Lost in the Woods- Night on Lovewell's Mountain- A Safe Return.

THE close of the Indian war in 1725 found the people of Dunstable few in number and extremely poor. War taxes were heavy, ransoms had been paid for captive relations from dire necessity ; the de- struction of houses, cattle and erops, and the destrue- tion of all regular employment had been ruinous. The general poverty had been such that from 1693 to 1733 the voters declined to send a representative to the Massachusetts Assembly. When necessity re- quired, a special messenger was employed.

Money was so scarce that the Assembly issued bills of credit to the amount of fifty thousand pounds, to be distributed among the several towns. Lieutenant Henry Farwell and Joseph Blanchard were trustees to distribute among the residents of Dunstable, in such sums that " no man should have more than five or less than three pounds, paying five percent. yearly for interest." Had the issue been limited to this amount, it might have been of service; but larger issues followed, with subsequent depreciation and much loss and distress.

Voting by ballot became an established rule in all important matters, and in 1723 jurymen were first chosen in this manner. Bridges began to be built, roads extended and better houses built. It was a favorable event that a saw-mill was built soon after the first settlement on Salmon Brook, at the little bridge on the road running east from the Harbor, and which for many years was owned by John Lovewell, the father of the hero of Pequawket. The first cabins had the ground for a floor and logs chinked with clay for walls. Plank and boards now came into use, and framed houses began to be built by the older set- thers. The selectmen were allowed five shillings per day for services. There were no lawyers, and the cases of litigation that occurred were settled by a justice, who was not governed by rule or precedents, but by a common-sense view of what was right. If important, an appeal could be made to the General Assembly.

The amount of taxes from 1726 to 1733 varied from two hundred and fifty dollars to four hundred dollars, including the support of the minister. In March, 1727, the town raised twenty dollars to build a ferry-boat to cross the Merrimack at Blanchard's farm (near the old Little stand), as Hudson was then included in Dunstable, and settlers were locating on that side of the river. In the fall of that year Joseph Blanchard, Sr., the only and earliest inn-keeper in the town, died, and Henry Farwell, Jr., petitioned for and ob-

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tained a license for the same business. During Octo- ber, 1727, several severe shocks of an earthquake occurred, overturning chimneys and attended by unusual noises. At this time corn was the most im- portant field product of the farmer. It was the staple article for food for man, if not for beast. In early autumn it was exposed to depredations from raccoons and bears.

The farmers, aided by their dogs, were able at night to follow the coons, many of whom were " treed " and killed, adding largely to the contents of the family larder. The bears were more wary, and sometimes were destructive. It is said that a settler by the name of Whiting, who lived at the base of Long Hill, began to find his sheep an unprofitable investment, for the reason that so many of them were killed by some black-coated visitor. They had to be yarded every night, and were not entirely safe during the day. One afternoon he found a half-eaten sheep on the hill- side, and, determined on revenge, he placed the re- mains at the end of a hollow pine log near by. In- side the log he placed his gun in such a position that when the bear should disturb the mutton he would discharge the gun and receive the contents in his own head. He heard the report of his old Queen's arm in the night, and rising early the next morning, went to learn the result. He found a very large bear lying dead a short distance from a heap of half-roasted mutton, while the log was a heap of burning coals. Among these was the gun, minus the entire wooden fixtures, with the barrel, lock and ramrod essentially ruined. This was a great loss to him, but he was often wont to relate with glee the way in which he swapped his gun for a bear.

According to tradition, which may not very safely be relied on in matters of importance, though it may assist in delineating the usages of daily life, it was about 1726 that potatoes were first introduced into Dunstable. A Mr. Cummings obtained two or three, which he planted. When he dug the crop, some of them were roasted and eaten merely from curiosity, and the rest were put into a gourd-shell and hung up in the cellar. The next year he planted all the seed, and had enough to fill a two-bushel basket. Think- ing he had no use for so many, he gave some of them to his neighbors. Soon after, one of them said to him, " I have found that potatoes are good for something. I have boiled some of them, and eat them with meat, and they relished well." It was some years later, however, before potatoes came into general use. At this time tea was rarely used, and tea-kettles were unknown. The water was boiled in a skillet. When the women went to an afternoon visiting party each one carried her tea-cup, sancer and spoon. The tea- cups were of the best china and very small, containing about as much as a common wine-glass. Coffee was unknown till more than half a century later.

Under the colonial laws of Massachusetts the public- school system was first established with the provision

that "every child should be taught to read and write." Every town having fifty householders was to employ a teacher for twenty weeks of the year. But deeply as the people of Dunstable felt the importance of education, it was not safe nor practicable in a frontier town where a fierce Indian war was raging, when the inhabitants dwelt in garrisons, and were every day liable to an attack, to establish a common school. The dense adjacent forest, from whence the quiet of the school-room might be broken at any hour by the yell of the savage, was no fitting place for children. Still, home education was not neglected, as the ancient records of the town clearly show. There was no school in the town till 1730. That year, by reckoning in the settlers within the present limits of Hudson, Hollis and Tyngsborough, the required "fifty householders " were obtained, and ten pounds were granted for the support of a teacher. But the school was not successful, and after a brief existence was neglected for some years.

There is no data for ascertaining the number of in- habitants in "Old Dunstable," or in that part now included in Nashua, in 1730. In the latter territory there may have been forty families and two hundred persons. They were scattered over a wide area, and the new-comers were largely settling in Hollis, Hud- son and other outlying localities. Already they were demanding that, for schools, for convenience to public worship and local improvements, they should be set apart from Dunstable, and erected into separate town- ships. The General Court of Massachusetts was dis- posed to grant their petitions.

Accordingly, in 1732, the inhabitants on the east side of the Merrimack River were anthorized to es- tablish a new township, with the name of Nottingham. When the settlement of the border-line brought it within New Hampshire, the name was changed to Nottingham West, as there was already a Notting- ham in the eastern part of the State. In 1830, the town assumed the more appropriate name of Hudson.

In 1733 the inhabitants on the north side of the Nashua River and west of Merrimack River peti- tioned for an act of incorporation; but as nearly all the petitioners lived on the Souhegan and the inter- vale at its mouth, the General Court made the Penni- chuck Brook the southern boundary to the new town- ship, with the name of Rumford. It was called Rumford only a short time, for the settlers, annoyed by the insinuation that the first syllable of the name indicated the favorite beverage of the inhabitants, hastened to change it to the name of the beautiful river that flows along its eastern border-Merrimack.

In 1734 the settlement across the river from Merri- mack, then known as "Brenton's Farm," was incor- porated, because, as the petitioners claimed, they " had supported a minister for some time." It was called Litchfield.

In 1736 the fertile lands in the west part of Dun- stable were being rapidly occupied by an enterprising

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people, and were incorporated under the name of West Dunstable. The Indian name was Nissitissit. After the establishment of the boundary line the Legislature, by request, gave to the town the name of Holles. For fifty years the name of the town was spelled Holles; but after the colonies became the Amer- ican Republic the orthography was changed to Hollis.

In the mean time settlements were extending rap- idly all around, and the forest was bowing before the onward march of civilization. Township after town- ship was parceled out from the original body of "Old Dunstable," until, in 1740, the broad and goodly plantation was reduced to that portion which is now embraced within the limits of Nashua, Tyngs- borough and Dunstable.

Settlement of Boundary Line .- For many years prior to 1740 the boundary line between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts had been a subject of bitter controversy. More than seventy years ago Governor Endicott, of Massachusetts, said he had cansed a monument to be fixed three miles northward of the junction of the two rivers forming the Merrimack, in the town of Sanbornton, and Massachusetts claimed all the territory in the present State of New Hampshire sonth of an east and west line passing through that point, and lying west of the Merrimack River.

On the other hand, New Hampshire claimed all the territory lying north of a line running due east and west through a point three miles north of the Merrimack River, measured from the north bank of that river just above its mouth. At length a royal commission was appointed to settle the controversy. It met at Hampton Falls, in this State, in 1737, the General Court of each province attending the sittings of the commission.

This new line, which proved to be the permanent boundary between the two States, was run in 1741, leaving in Massachusetts that part of the old town- ship now in Tyngsborough and in Dunstable, in that State, and adding to New Hampshire the present territory of Nashua, Hudson, Hollis and all the other portions of "Old Dunstable " north of the designated line. The name Dunstable, however, was still re- tained by the territory which now constitutes the city of Nashua till the New Hampshire Legislature of 1836 changed the name to Nashua.

This decision came upon the settlers in Dunstable north of the new line with mingled surprise and con- sternation. Dunstable was eminently and wholly a Massachusetts settlement. The settlers were nearly all from the neighboring towns in that province, with whose people they were connected in sympathy, in business and by the ties of marriage and blood. Their town and parish charters and the titles to their lands and improvements were all Massachusetts' grants, and their civil and ecclesiastical organizations were under Massachusetts' laws. This decision of the King in Council left them wholly out of the juris- diction of that province, and in legal effect made all their charters, the titles to their lands and improve- ments, and all statute laws regulating their civil and church polity wholly void. The decision of the King was final, and there was no appeal. Though dis- appointed, embarrassed and indignant, there was no alternative but submission.

Hitherto the history of Nashua has been associated with that of the extended territory of "Old Dun- stable," an appendage of Massachusetts. Henceforth it is to be a distinct, independent town in New Hampshire, comprised within the same limits as the Nashua of to-day.

Dunstable under New Hampshire Laws .- For- tunately for the people of Dunstable, the colonial government of New Hampshire was not in condition to extend its authority immediately, and the Dun- stable people remained substantially under the Massachusetts charter till April, 1746, when the town was incorporated by the General Court of New Hampshire. In the mean time a compromise was made with the adverse claimants of their lands and improvements, and their titles to their possessions being secured, they gradually became reconciled to their new political status.

The commission at Hampton Falls did not agree, and the question was reserved for the King in Coun- In 1746 the main road through Dunstable was greatly improved. From the surveyor's record there would seem to have been only a few houses on the road at that time. The following are all that are mentioned: Captain Joseph French's house was eight rods north of the State line; Colonel Joseph Blanch- ard's house, three hundred rods north of the State line and twenty-nine rods south of Cummings' Brook; cil. The decision was finally made in 1740, fixing the province line where the State line now is. This decision took from Massachusetts her claim, and gave to New Hampshire not only all that New Hampshire claimed, but also a tract of territory south of that in controversy, fourteen miles in width and extending from the Merrimack to the Connecticut River, to which New Hampshire had made no pretensions. It ' Cyrus Baldwin's, near Colonel Blanchard's; John included all that part of "Old Dunstable" north of the present State line.

Searles' house, sixty-six rods north of Cummings' Brook; Henry Adams', eighty rods north of Searles' house (the old diteh which led to the fort was ninety rods north of Adams' house); Thomas Harwood's house was ninety rods north of the okl ditch; no other house mentioned between Harwood's and Nashua River excepting Jonathan Lovewell's, which was two hundred and eighty-three rods south of the river, or at the Harbor, south of Salmon Brook. Per- haps the above schedule included only the larger land-holders and tax-payers.

At this time there were neither schools nor school- houses in town. On September 29, 1746, it was voted

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

that "Jonathan Lovewell be desired to hire a school- master until next March for this town, upon the cost and charge of the town." Two dwelling-houses, one in the northern and one in the southern part of the town, were designated in which the school should be kept, if they could be obtained. Only one teacher was employed, and he was to keep school half of the time at cach place. The number of inhabitants was probably about three hundred.

During this year (1746) the Indians from Canada came in small parties to the new settlements in the western and northern parts of Hillsborough County. Their defenseless condition compelled the few families in Peterborough, Lyndeborough, Hillsborough and New Boston to retire to the older towns, chiefly to Northern Massachusetts. In their haste they buried their cooking utensils and farming tools, taking their cattle and lighter goods with them. The only persons taken from Dunstable were Jonathan Farwell and a Mr. Taylor, who were taken by surprise while hunt- ing. They were taken to Canada, sold to the French and remained in captivity three years, but finally succeeded in obtaining a release and returned to their friends. Many of the descendants of Mr. Farwell, under several surnames, reside in this vicinity.

For fifty years the meeting-house of Dunstable had been located near the State line. But in Dunstable reconstructed it was desirable that the house for wor- ship should be centrally located. There was a divided opinion as to the new site and a worse dissension as to the minister. Rev. Samuel Bird, who was installed August 31, 1747, was an Arminian, and accused of being a follower of Whitefield. His friends, at the head of whom was Jonathan Lovewell, stood by him and built a meeting-house, in the autumn of that year, on a spot of rising ground about six rods west of the main road, or just south of the old cemetery, opposite the residence of J. L. H. Marshall. It was about twenty-cight feet by forty, had a small gallery and, like most church edifices of the time, was divided into the "men's side" and the "women's side." Mean- while Colonel Joseph Blanchard, the leader of the opposing faction, continued to hold services in the old house, near the Tyngsborough line.

Twenty-two years had now passed since the loss by Dunstable of some of her prominent citizens in Love- well's fight, at Fryeburg, Me. Since then the popula- tion had doubled and a new generation were coming into active service. Among the leading families were the Lovewells, Blanchards, Farwells, Cummingses, Frenches and Lunds. The number of young persons between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five had largely increased, and the young men, after the gath- ering of the fall erops, made frequent explorations and hunting-trips. These excursions were still haz- ardous, for the unbroken forests on the west and north were occasionally traversed by savages, usually in small parties of from six to eight, who were stimulated by the rewards paid in Canada by the French govern-

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 38

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168