USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 27
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5 It has been thought too remotely connected with the history of New Hampshire to enter into details of this remarkable siege. The work has been repeatedly and exhaustively done. See Parsons' Life of General Pepperrell; the First Siege of Louisburg, by Henry M. Baker; the minute
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Elated by the capture of Louisburg Governor Shirley of Massachusetts conceived the larger plan of invading Canada and bringing all the French possessions in America under the British flag. He went to Louisburg and consulted with Colonel William Pepperrell and Commodore Peter Warren about the project. Thence he wrote to the British ministry, and the result was that in the spring of 1746 a circular letter was sent by the secretary of state to all the governors in America as far south as Virginia, asking them to raise all the men they could and hold them in readiness for marching orders. The plan was that troops raised in New England should join the British fleet at Louisburg and thence proceed to the conquest of Quebec, while the troops from New York and other provinces should march by way of Albany against Crown Point and Montreal. Governor Wentworth laid the plan before the general assembly and it was voted that in case ten thousand men were raised for such expeditions New Hampshire could probably furnish five hundred of them. The garrison at Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia, having been besieged by the French, Governor Shirley and Commodore Warren wrote to Governor Wentworth, asking New Hampshire to send her contingent for the Canada expedition for the relief of that place. The request was agreed to in council, and two vessels, the sloop Warren and the brig- antine St. Clair, with provisions and stores and as many men as they could accommodate, were held in readiness to go eastward, sailors having been enlisted to man the vessels. About eight hundred men enlisted, under command of Colonel Theo- dore Atkinson. But there was unaccountable delay ; no orders arrived from England. The men waited all summer. Then the plan was changed, to go to Albany and join the expedition against Crown Point. The small pox broke out at Albany and put an end to that plan. Again they were ordered to Nova Scotia, and in November, 1746, two hundred men were sent from Portsmouth to Annapolis. They accomplished nothing, sailed across the bay of Fundy and entered St. John's river, where the commander of one sloop lost eight of his men by mistaking a French skow for a Rhode Island transport. The sloop, instead
account given in Belknap's Hist. of New Hampshire; and especially Louis- bourg, an Historical Sketch, by Joseph Plimsoll Edwards, read before the Nova Scotia Historical Society and published at Halifax in 1895.
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of returning to Annapolis, sailed back to Portsmouth. The Massachusetts forces, under Colonel Arthur Noble, were de- feated and captured, after loss of sixty killed and fifty wounded.
Atkinson's regiment marched to lake Winnepiseogee, built a fort there and encamped for the winter. There was little to do besides scouting, fishing and hunting. No enemy was encountered. Many soldiers deserted. Discipline was lax. Gov- ernor Shirley wanted the New Hampshire men sent in the dead of winter against the Indian village of St. Francis, by way of the Connecticut river, but better counsels prevailed. The fol- lowing spring the troops were disbanded and thus ended a futile campaign. There were too many advisers and no con- certed action under proper leadership.
Meanwhile the Indians were ravaging the frontiers, insti- gated by French leaders in Canada. Their usual procedure was to burn the houses and mills, kill and scalp the men, and carry into captivity women and children, for sale in Canada. Lieu- tenant Governor Phipps of Massachusetts, in the absence of Governor Shirley, declared war against the eastern and Cana- dian Indians, and this proclamation was seconded by the governor and council at Portsmouth.6
In 1736 the general court of Massachusetts granted four new townships on the east side of the Connecticut river above Northfield. These were six miles square and were known as numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, corresponding to Chesterfield, Westmore- land, Walpole and Charlestown at the present time. By the settlement of the boundary line all these towns, together with the upper part of Northfield, now Hinsdale, became a part of the territory of New Hampshire. For the defense of this region the government of Massachusetts built a fort, in 1724. It stood on the west bank of the Connecticut river, just within the southerly limits of the present town of Brattleboro, Vermont. It was named Fort Dummer, in honor of the then governor of Massachusetts.7 It was built of hewn logs, dove-tailed at the
6 N. H. Prov. Papers, V. 105.
7 History of Northfield, by Temple and Sheldon, p. 200. A footnote to N. H. Prov. Papers, V. 182, says that Fort Dummer was on the east side of the Connecticut river, within the limits of the present town of Hinsdale, N. H. Griffin's Hist. of Keene, p. 35, says that it stood "on the west bank of the Connecticut river, in a narrow gorge between the hills, about one mile below the present bridge leading to Hinsdale."
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corners, and was one hundred and eighty feet square. It served in time of peace as a truck-house, for trade with the Indians, and houses were built for the accommodation of the Indians. Six chiefs held commissions from colonel down to lieutenant and were in the pay of Massachusetts. They were always ready to guard the fort in time of peace, but invariably withdrew in time of war, to reconduct thither savages to burn and plunder the places they knew so well. On the eastern side of the Connec- ticut river and about sixty rods from its bank, on the trail lead- ing from Northfield to Fort Dummer, Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale built a fort in 1743. This was in the present town of Hinsdale. Block houses, or garrison houses, were built by Daniel Shattuck and Orlando Bridgman. There were also forts in the new townships, that at number 4, or Charlestown, being particularly strong and well defended.
Governor Shirley made request of Governor Wentworth that Fort Dummer might be garrisoned by New Hampshire troops. The house of representatives at first refused to grant this request, needing all the troops and means at command to defend other portions of the frontier. Fort Dummer was fifty miles from other settlements in New Hampshire. It was more of a defense to Massachusetts than to New Hampshire and therefore the former ought to care for it. It would be better, were they able, to put a garrison at Number 4, twenty-five miles further north. In fact if now the defense of Fort Dummer were undertaken, the protection of the whole valley of the Connec- ticut, above Northfield, would fall on New Hampshire, that had neither men nor money to spare. It was a question, too, whether the new towns on the Connecticut could be taxed for their own protection. Therefore it would be better to leave them to their own resources and the aid of Massachusetts. This was not selfish heartlessness on the part of New Hampshire, but good military strategy. It were better that those towns should be deserted during the war. Moreover, it was only just that Massachusetts should defend her own frontier, especially since New Hampshire paid all the expenses of Fort William and Mary, whereby Kittery and Berwick, belonging to Massachusetts, were defended. However, Governor Wentworth was alarmed because the lords of trade had threatened to restore Fort Dummer with
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a district contiguous thereto to Massachusetts, if New Hamp- shire refused to guard it. He dissolved the house and ordered a new election of representatives, urging the same duty upon them, and Andrew Wiggin, ex-speaker of the house, wrote a letter to the representatives, showing them that it would result in great loss of territory and favor of the king, were they now to refuse the king's request.8 Consequently on the fifteenth of June, 1745, the house voted, twelve to four, to receive Fort Dum- mer, to make provisions for its support, and that twenty men be enlisted or impressed to serve for six months as a garrison to the fort. When the colonies were partially reimbursed by England for the expenses of the war, the agents of Massachu- setts sought to have deducted from the share to be paid to New Hampshire the amount of expense Massachusetts had incurred in the defense of this place, and to have the same paid to Massachusetts instead, but the attempt was frustrated through the efforts of agent Thomlinson in London. Until this day it has been too much the custom of towns and states to shift their financial burdens upon their neighbors, whenever a legal pre- text could be found.
In the spring of 1745 the Indians began prowling the forests and appearing on the edges of the settlements. On the twenty- fifth of March they burned the house of the Rev. Timothy Harrington at Lower Ashuelot, now Swanzey. On the fifth of July a small party of Indians captured William Phipps as he was hoeing corn at the southwest corner of Great Meadow, the name for what is now Westmoreland. Two Indians took Phipps into the woods about half a mile, when one went back for something he had left, and Phipps, watching his opportunity, struck down the other Indian with his hoe. Then with the disabled Indian's gun he shot down the other as he came up the hill on his return. In going to the fort Phipps unfortun- ately encountered three other Indians, who seized, killed and scalped him. Five days later the Indians appeared at Upper Ashuelot, now Keene, and killed Deacon Josiah Fisher, as he was driving his cow to pasture. He was found dead and scalped in the road, shot, as was supposed, by an Indian con- cealed behind a log.
8 N. H. Prov. Papers, V. 308-9.
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Three months passed without further molestation. On the eleventh of October the fort at Great Meadow was assaulted by twelve Indians according to Belknap, and by eighty according to the History of Northfield, and they took captive Nehemiah How, as he was cutting wood about forty rods from the fort. He was hurried off to a swamp and pinioned. His captors were seen and fired on from the fort, one of their number being killed and another wounded. The cattle in the vicinity of the fort were killed and their hides were carried away. David Rugg and Thomas Baker were coming down the river in a canoe. Rugg was killed and scalped, but Baker got away. Three men by sculking under the river bank got safe to the fort. One of these was Caleb How, the prisoner's son. Opposite Number 4 the Indians made their captive write his name on a piece of bark and left it there. How was taken to Crown Point and thence to Quebec, where he was treated humanely by the French but died in prison, 25th May, 1747. He is described as a useful man and much lamented. He left a narrative of his experiences in captivity.
During the following winter a few soldiers were stationed at each of the forts along the Connecticut river and all was quiet till spring. In March Captain Phinehas Stevens set out, with fifty-nine men, to save the fort at Number 4 from falling into the enemy's hands and arrived in time. On the nineteenth of April, 1746, about forty French and Indians, under the com- mand of Ensign de Neverville, who had been watching the town, waylaid three workmen who were going with a team of four oxen to the mill to fetch boards. The oxen were killed, and their tongues were cut out and carried away as choice morsels. The men, Captain John Spafford, Lieutenant Isaac Parker and Stephen Farnsworth, were carried to Canada and after some time were permitted to return to Boston under a flag of truce. The saw and grist mills at Number 4 were burned.
The fort at Number 4 was regarrisoned with sixty men, thirty of whom remained in the fort while the others were scout- ing, and thus the two parties took turns in guarding and scout- ing. New Hampshire offered a bounty of fifty pounds for an Indian's scalp, and Massachusetts offered seventy-five pounds, and eighty pounds for a live male captive over twelve years old.
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About fifty Indians planned to capture the fort at Upper Ashuelot, now Keene, on the twenty-third of April, intending to rush into the fort just as the people were going out to their work in the morning. Ephraim Dorman was abroad early and gave the alarm. Two Indians concealed in a thicket sprang upon him. He knocked one of them down with a blow and tore the blanket from another, so making his escape. The com- mander of the fort, Captain William Symes, was reading the Bible at morning devotions. He ordered all to help those outside to get in. John Bullard was shot in the back as he was running from his barn to the fort. He fell near the door, was carried in and expired in a few hours. The wife of Daniel McKenney had gone to milk the cows. Being old and corpulent she could not walk fast, and the Indian whom Dorman had half stripped ran up behind her and plunged a long knife into her back. A Mrs. Clark outran a pursuing Indian and escaped to the fort. Nathan Blake was captured and taken to Canada, where he remained two years. Several houses and barns were burned. It was thought that several Indians were killed by the firing from the fort. A force of between four hundred and five hundred men was collected within two days, who scoured the woods about, but the bird had flown. The Indians seem to have known the woods better than the whitemen did, and they knew how to scatter in small groups and so evade their pursuers. The same or another party of Indians were prowling about early in May, and one of them was shot by a sentry, the son of the Mrs. McKenny above mentioned. He heard a noise at the gate by night and fired through the boards at a venture. Blood and beads found the next morning indicated that he had aimed well.
On the second day of May the Indians appeared again at Number 4 early in the evening, as the women went out to milk the cows, according to the custom of those days, guarded by several soldiers under command of Major Josiah Willard, son of the Colonel Willard who held command at Fort Dummer. Eight Indians were concealed in the barn and as the party approached they fired, killing Seth Putnam. The Indians sprang out to take his scalp, and a volley from the guard killed two of them. The Indians siezed their dying companions and made
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their escape. On the sixth of May Deacon Timothy Brown and Robert Maffett were captured at Lower Ashuelot, now Swanzey, and taken to Canada, returning at the end of the war.
In consequence of these raids Governor Shirley sent a troop of horse, under Captain Daniel Paine, for the protection of Number 4. On the morning of the twenty-fourth of May, twenty of Paine's men went out to see the place where Seth Putnam was killed and fell into an ambush, being not fully armed. A greatly superior number of Indians fired on the troopers. Aaron Lyon, Peter Perrin, and Joseph Marcy of Paine's troop were killed, and Samuel Farnsworth and Elijah Allen of Number 4 were also slain. Farnsworth was killed by a misdirected shot intended for an Indian he was wrestling with. Ebenezer Bacon was sorely wounded and afterward petitioned for aid and received it from the general court of Massachusetts. Nine years afterward John Spafford sent him a bill for his board while he was recovering from his wounds, forty shillings of lawful money. The Indians were beaten off, leaving some blankets, coats and guns, five of their number having been killed. Obadiah Sartwell was taken prisoner by them.
Soon after Captain Ephraim Brown of Sudbury was sent to Number 4 to reinforce Capt. Phinehas Stevens. On the nine- teenth of June, with about fifty men, they went out to the meadow to look after the horses of the troopers, that had been turned out to graze. Dogs warned them of Indians near and they discovered an ambush of one hundred and fifty. This time the Indians were surprised and received the first fire. Soon they withdrew to a swamp, carrying several of their dead or wounded. They lost blankets, guns, etc., to the value of forty pounds, and the whitemen were elated at capturing so great spoils from such a beggarly company. The troops returned to the fort without further pursuit. Jedediah Winchell was mort- ally wounded and died soon after. Jonathan Stanhope, David Parker and Noah Heaton were wounded but recovered.
Five days later an attack was made on Bridgman's garrison, near Fort Dummer, and William Robbins and James Baker or Barker were killed in a meadow. Michael Gilson and Patrick Ray were wounded, and Daniel How Jr., and John Beaman were captured. One Indian was killed. On the third of July
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a party of twelve Indians ambushed Colonel Hinsdale's lane below his mill. Colonel Willard with a team and guard of twenty men went over from Fort Dummer to get a grist. He detected the ambush, set the mill running and then made a dash upon the Indians who were hid thirty rods below. The Indians fired and Moses Wright lost two of his fingers. That was the only damage done. It is surprising how companies of troopers and Indians would shoot at each other for hours, and only a few would be hit. Old flint-lock muskets were not very effective. The Indians lost their packs in this engagement, worth more to them than a number of lives. This must be said, however, that the Indians invariably looked after their killed and wounded to the best of their ability. They also looked after the scalps of the whitemen who were killed and wounded. The spoils of war and the love of fighting were their reward, and they usually had something to remember revenge- fully.
On the third of August the Indians renewed their attack upon Number 4 fort, in large numbers. Their presence was first indicated by the barking of dogs. Captain Stevens sent out a scout to ascertain whether his surmises were correct. The men had scarcely left the fort, when the Indians fired upon them and killed Ebenezer Phillips. He was so near the gate that at night a soldier crept out, fastened a rope to his body and drew him into the fort. The Indians tried for two days to set fire to the fort or compel its surrender. They killed horses of the troopers and all the cattle of the settlers, burned the mill, which had been rebuilt, and all the houses save one near the fort. Then they withdrew again out of sight and reach. As soon as the news reached Boston, the governor ordered Captain Ephraim Brown and Captain Winchester "to go with their troops to No. 4, and carry as great a quantity of provisions as they conven- iently can, and relieve the garrison and hold the place ; and upon their return in the fall they are to guard off as many of the women and children as may conveniently leave the place." In January, 1747, the fort at Number 4 was deserted. This was simply an invitation to the Indians to go further south on their expeditions. An attempt was made to burn Shattuck's fort, in Hinsdale, wither four families had fled, and Benjamin Wright
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was slain at Northfield, while driving home the cows at evening. An attempt was made to train dogs and thus track the Indians, but proving of little service they were otherwise disposed of.
Early in the spring of 1747 Captain Phinehas Stevens, in answer to his own petition, was ordered to march with thirty men to Number 4 and reoccupy the fort. He found it in good condition and the dog and cat gave him a hearty welcome. Within a few days the enemy reappeared, having come down the Otter river from Crown Point, their usual line of travel. Stevens had asked for a force of one hundred men, that he might go up the river and meet them by surprise before their arrival at the settlements. The celebrated fight that occurred at the fort is best told in his report to Governor Shipley, dated April 9th, 1747.
"Our dogs being very much disturbed, which gave us reason to think that the enemy were about, occasioned us not to open the gate at the usual time; but one of our men, being desirous to know the certainty, ventured out privately to set on the dogs, about nine o'clock in the morning; and went about twenty rods from the fort firing off his gun and saying, Choboy, to the dogs. Whereupon the enemy, being within a few rods, im- mediately arose from behind a log and fired; but through the goodness of God the man got into the fort with only a slight wound. The enemy being then discovered immediately arose from their ambushments and attacked us on all sides. The wind being very high, and everything exceedingly dry, they set fire to all the old fences, and also to a log-house about forty rods distant from the fort to the windward; so that within a few minutes we were entirely surrounded with fire-all which was performed with the most hideous shouting and firing from all quarters, which they continued in a very terrible manner, until the next day at ten o'clock at night, without intermission; dur- ing which time we had no opportunity to eat or sleep. But not- withstanding all their shouting and threatenings, our men seemed not to be in the least daunted, but fought with great resolution; which, doubtless, gave the enemy to think we had determined to stand it out to the last degree. The enemy had provided themselves with a sort of fortification, which they had determined to push before them and bring fuel to the side
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of the fort, in order to burn it down. But instead of perform- ing what they threatened and seemed to be immediately going to undertake, they called to us and desired a cessation of arms until sunrise the next morning, which was granted; at which time they would come to a parley. Accordingly the French General Debeline came with about sixty of his men, with a flag of truce, and stuck it down within about twenty rods of the fort in plain sight of the same, and said if we would send three men to him he would send as many to us, to which we com- plied. The General sent in a French lieutenant with a French soldier and an Indian.
Upon our men going to the Monsieur he made the follow- ing proposals; viz .- that in case we would immediately resign up the fort, we should all have our lives and liberty to put on all the clothes we had, and also to take a sufficient quantity of provisions to carry us to Montreal, and bind up our provisions and blankets, lay down our arms and march out of the fort.
Upon our men returning, he desired that the Captain of the fort would meet him half way and give an answer to the above proposal, which I did; and upon meeting the Monsieur he did not wait for me to give an answer, but went on in the following manner; viz .- that what had been promised he was ready to perform ; but upon refusal he would immediately set the fort on fire and run over the top; for he had seven hundred men with him; and if we made any further resistance, or should happen to kill one Indian, we might expect all to be put to the sword. 'The fort,' said he, 'I am resolved to have, or die. Now do what you please ; for I am as easy to have you fight as to give up.' I told the General, that in case of extremity his proposal would do; but in as much as I was sent here by my master, the Captain General, to defend this fort, it would not be consistent with my orders to give it up unless I was better satisfied that he was able to perform what he had threatened; and, furthermore, I told him that it was poor encouragement to resign into the hands of the enemy, that upon one of their number being killed they would put all to the sword, when it was probable that we had killed some of them already. 'Well,' said he, 'go into the fort, and see whether your men dare fight any more or not, and give me an answer quick, for my men want to be fighting.'
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Whereupon I came into the fort and called all the men together and informed them what the French General had said, and then put it to vote which they chose, either to fight on or resign; and they voted to a man to stand it out as long as they had life. Upon this I returned the answer that we were determined to fight it out. Upon which they gave a shout and then fired, and so continued firing and shouting until daylight the next morning.
About noon they called to us and said, 'Good Morning,' and desired a cessation of arms for two hours that they might come to a parley; which was granted. The General did not come himself but sent two Indians, who came within about eight rods of the fort and stuck down their flag and desired that I would send out two men to them, which I did, and the Indians made the following proposal, viz .- That in case we would sell them provisions, they would leave and not fight any more; and desired my answer, which was, that selling them provisions for money was contrary to the laws of nations; but if they would send in a captive for every five bushels of corn, I would supply them. Upon the Indians returning the General this answer four or five guns were fired against the fort, and they withdrew, as we supposed, for we heard no more of them.
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