USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, from its first discovery to the year 1830; with dissertations upon the rise of opinions and institutions, the growth of agriculture and manufactures, and the influence of leading families and distinguished men, to the year 1874; > Part 10
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garrison at Exeter, but were repulsed. A bloody battle was fought on the sixth of July in Lee, in which fifteen brave men were killed and several wounded. In the march of the enemy westward, from Lamprey River to Amesbury, they killed forty people. Life and property were everywhere insecure. No one knew an hour beforehand where the blow would next strike. No person could enjoy a quiet meal or an hour's rest. The air was full of groans and the ground was strown with the dead.
The advent of these savage bands from Canada turned the eyes of the colonists to that country as the source of their ca- lamities. They resolved to invade that country. Every nerve was strained to fit out a suitable fleet. The command was given to Sir William Phipps, a patriot and an honest man, but incompe- tent to such hazardous service. Two thousand men were placed on board. They did not reach Quebec till October. Sickness invaded the troops ; they became discouraged and the enterprise was given up. The New England ships were scattered on their return, by storms; one was wrecked. The remnant of the troops, with the governor, returned in May. For some time after this repulse the colonies aimed only to protect their frontiers. For a season hostilities in Maine were suspended by a treaty with the Abenaquis. They brought in ten captives and settled a truce till May 1, 1691. In June, they assaulted a garrison at Wells, and were repulsed. They then began to commit murders at Exeter, Rye and Portsmouth. They continued these desul- tory attacks for many months, till the commencement of the year 1693, when they became comparatively quiet. Their means were spent, not their rage. Their diminished resources, not their extinguished hate, arrested them. Their braves were in captiv- ity and they could only recover them by treaty. Accordingly they came to Pemaquid and entered into a solemn covenant to aban- don the French and become subjects of England ; to perpetuate peace and refrain from private revenge ; to restore captives and to give hostages for the due performance of their engagements. This truce was hailed with joy by the people of New Hampshire. Their trade had been nearly ruined ; their harvests had been de- stroyed ; their homes burned ; their friends tortured and slain ; and at one time they were so despondent as to contemplate the desertion of the province. There were neither men, money nor provisions for the garrisons. The province owed four hundred pounds but had nothing with which to pay the debt. Massachu- setts aided them but little, because of their domestic feuds in politics and the general devotion of the people to the prosecu- tion of witches.
The peace with the Indians was of short duration. In less than a year, solely through the influence of the French Jesuits,
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they were again on the war path. New Hampshire, then the Niobe of our infant republics, was once more called to weep for her slaughtered children. Oyster River was again the object of Indian fury. Ninety-four persons were killed and carried away. Twenty houses were burned, five of which were garrisoned. The atrocities of this campaign, if possible, exceeded those of former years. The young wife of Thomas Drew was taken to Norridgewock ; there, in winter, in the open air, in a storm of snow "she brought forth her first born son," whom the Indians immediately destroyed. The sufferings she afterwards endured in captivity are almost incredible. She was at length restored to her husband, and lived to the age of eighty-nine years. The Jesuit historian of France relates, with exultation, that these atrocious deeds had their origin with the French missionaries. He also lauds the heroic daring of Taxus, the bravest of the Abenaquis, in executing these fearful massacres. The scalps taken in this whole foray were sold in Canada to Count Fron- tenac. During the year 1695 there was little movement among the Indians. In 1696, they again resumed hostilities and visited the towns of New Hampshire. On the twenty-sixth of June they made an attack on Portsmouth Plain and took nineteen prisoners. Captain Shackford, with a company of militia, im- mediately went in pursuit of them and overtook them between Greenland and Rye, while they were taking their morning meal. He recovered all the prisoners. The place has ever since borne the name of " Breakfast Hill." Other towns suffered from In- dian invasions during this and the following year. After the peace of Ryswick, in 1698, Count Frontenac informed the In- dians that he could no longer support them in a war against the English, with whom his nation had made peace. He therefore advised them to bury the hatchet and restore their captives. They soon assembled at Casco and entered again into solemn covenant to observe and do all that they had promised in pre- vious treaties. This treaty they kept till the French needed their services again. This fact shows what stimulated the In- dians to their deeds of blood and violence.
The French have often been commended for their kind treat- ment of the red men. Their conduct has been contrasted with that of the English. They always live in peace with the Indians ; the English generally oppress them. There is some truth in the charge. The French easily assimilate with the Indians. They descend to their level. They often intermarry with them, and their offspring usually inherits all the vices and none of the virtues of the parents. The "half-breeds" are the worst speci- mens of humanity extant. Amalgamation always degrades the superior race ; never elevates the inferior. The French are also
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praised for their missionary labors. Many of their priests have been self-denying and devoted servants of Christ among the In- dians, but during the French and Indian wars they inspired the red man with ferocity rather than forgiveness ; they made him hate rather than love his enemy ; they taught him "to keep no peace with heretics " and made him, with his savage nature, "two-fold more the child of hell " than themselves. The chief cause of the hostility of the Indians to the English settlers was the destruction of the game and fish by the building of mills and the planting of colonies. In Canada the progress of civil- ization has been so slow, that the forests still rise and the rivers still flow in the solitude of primeval nature. The Indians, there- fore, have never removed.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CIVIL POLICY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DURING KING WILLIAM'S WAR.
The assault of foes without usually arrests the feuds of fac- tions within a state. It was not so with New Hampshire during King William's war. The governor was hostile to the interests of the people. James Usher, Esquire, though an American by birth, had little sympathy with the province he was called to govern. He had been a friend of Andros and was personally interested in Mason's claim. The transfer from Mason to Allen was only a change of name. The claim was just as odious as ever. Usher lacked tact, skill and common sense. He was conceited, imperious and insolent. Those qualities, in such a crisis, were peculiarly ill-timed and offensive. He was illiter- ate ; his speeches were coarse and reproachful as well as incor- rect. He was zealous in the enforcement of Allen's title, which the people were resolved to resist even unto death. He also busied himself in determining the boundaries of the state and of the separate towns. In 1694, he granted a charter to twenty petitioners from Hampton for the town of Kingston. During his administration Newcastle was separated from Portsmouth, and Stratham united with Exeter. To his repeated calls for money, the plea of poverty was rendered. To his urgent de- mand for the renewal of the duties on wines and spirituous liq- uors, they replied that the exposed state of the country required all their available resources. His employer, Allen, failed to pay
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his salary as he promised. His aggressive policy upon the peo- ple moved them to petition King William to supersede him by the appointment of William Partridge of Portsmouth lieutenant- governor. This change was made in January, 1697, much to the mortification and chagrin of Usher. He submitted to the change with an ill grace. He and Allen, who had come to Amer- ica to assume the reins of power, labored to break up the gov- ernment by the change of councilors. These controversies continued till the Earl of Bellomont became governor of New England. He was a nobleman of liberal culture, enlarged views and pleasing manners. He was a friend of the people, " a rare bird " among royal governors in these gloomy times. Governor Bellomont came to New Hampshire on the last day of July, 1699. It was his only visit to the state. His speech to the Council and Assembly of the Province of New Hampshire reveals the political and social relation of the people at that time. He says :
"I am very sensible of the great sufferings you have sustained all this last war, by this province being frontier towards the Eastern Indians -a cruel and perfidious enemy in their own nature, but taught and encouraged to be more so by the Jesuits and other Popish missionaries from France, who were not more industrious, during the war, to instigate their disciples and proselytes to kill your people treacherously, than they have been since the peace to debauch those Indians from former subjection to the crown of England : insomuch as at the present they seem to have departed from their allegiance to the Crown and revolted to the French. I have taken such measures as quickly to find out whether these Indians will return to their obedience to the Crown or not. * * Upon report of his Majesty's engin- eer, whom I sent to view the fort on Great Island and the harbor of this town, I find the situation is naturally well disposed; but the fort so very weak and unable, that it requireth the building a new and substantial one to secure you in time of war. You will do well to take this matter into consid- eration as soon as may be. This Province is well situated for trade; and your harbor here on the Piscataqua river so very good that a fort to secure it would invite people to come and settle among you; and as you grow in number, so will your trade advance and flourish; and you will be useful to England, which you ought to covet, above all things, not only as it is your duty, but as it will also be for your glory and interest."
This last sentence is very significant. It reveals the entire policy of the mother country toward her colonies. To promote English interests was both their duty and their glory. It was honor enough for these poor New England planters to toil and die to aggrandize the power that drove them from home.
Allen's commission continued in force till Bellomont arrived. He ruled but one year, and Partridge, who had been removed to make room for him, was restored as lieutenant-governor ; and the councilors who had refused to sit with Usher and Allen resum- ed their places. From the date of Bellomont's administration, for forty-two years, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were
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ruled by the same royal governors. The other departments of the government were distinct, each having its own courts, coun- cils and legislatures. The administration of the accomplished and popular favorite Bellomont was very brief. He died at New York in March, 1701, universally lamented. The people could heartily say what the courtly Roman poet addressed to the ab- sent Augustus :
"Return, oh gentle prince, for, thou away,
Nor lustre has the sun, nor joy the day."
Before the Earl's death, Allen began to agitate his claims to the soil. The people, weary of strife, were inclined to compro- mise. The settlement of this apparently interminable dispute was near its conclusion when Allen died. His son and heir revived the controversy. King William died in 1702. Queen Anne ascended the English throne. A change of rulers in "the old country " usually produced a modification of government in the new. Joseph Dudley, who had formerly been president of New England, was appointed governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The assembly of the latter state conciliated him with a gift, and afterwards voted him a fixed salary, as the queen required. The suits which Allen originated had not yet been settled. His appeals to the English crown were still unde- cided. After Allen's death in 1705, his son Thomas renewed the suit, and on petition to the queen he was allowed to bring a writ of ejectment in the New Hampshire court. The entire his- tory of the controversy was reviewed, but the verdict was for the defendants. An appeal to the queen's counsel was taken, but before a hearing was had Allen died. His death ended the suit, and his heirs did not renew it during the lifetime of that genera- tion. There is probably no controversy on record that involved so many parties, continued so many years and created so many law-suits as Mason's claim to New Hampshire. Kings and queens, nobles and plebeians, proprietors and councilors, courts and legislatures, for nearly a century, were constantly agitating the question of the right of soil of this wild, rough and rocky state. Generation after generation of claimants died, but still the controversy lived. Judges of the king's bench and of the state courts again and again decided cases at issue, but still the spirits which avarice had conjured up "would not down at their bidding." The people outlived their prosecutors, and the fire went out for want of fuel.
In 1730 certain queries were addressed by the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London to the Legislature of New Hamp- shire. From the answers officially made to those queries, we glean the following facts : The number of inhabitants was about
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ten thousand whites and two hundred blacks. The militia con- sisted of eighteen hundred men, in two regiments of foot and one company of horse in each. The trade of the province was lum- ber and fish. Five vessels belonged to the province, of about one hundred tons each. The ships from other provinces and countries visiting New Hampshire averaged about four hundred tons burden. Only about forty of the provincials were sailors. British goods via Boston to the amount of five thousand pounds sterling were annually imported. A considerable trade was kept up with the West Indies, whence rum, sugar, cotton and molasses were brought. The revenues of the province were three hundred and ninety-six pounds, by excise. The other expenses of govern- ment, amounting in all in times of peace to fifteen hundred pounds, were raised by direct taxes.
Dr. Dwight, in 1796, thus records his impressions of the early planters in New Hampshire :
"Their land was granted over and over again, in successive patents; and, with the different patentees, they had many perplexing disputes. Their cli- mate was more severe and their soil less fruitful than that of Massachusetts and Connecticut. They were more divided in their principles and less har- monious in their measures than the people of those colonies. At the same time they had no stable government of sufficient rigor to discourage dissen- sions. They were not a little perplexed by loose ministers and magistrates ; such as always withdraw from regular, well-principled society to indulge their mischievous dispositions in rude, imperfect communities. The Indians in their neighborhood at the same time were formidable, while the settlers were few, feeble and incompetent for their own defence. The government of Great Britain paid them, for many years, very little attention."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
QUEEN ANNE'S WAR.
William III., during the last year of his life, resolved on a war with France and Spain for the balance of power in Europe. By the will of Charles II. of Spain, the crown of that country fell to Philip of Anjou, nephew of Louis XIV. The acquisition of such a kingdom, with its numerous dependencies, would render the French monarch, then the head of the Bourbon family, a dangerous neighbor. The Emperor of Germany, the king of England and the Netherlands formed a "grand alliance " to arrest such a perilous growth of power. When Queen Anne came to the throne, she adopted the policy of her predecessor,
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and declared war in May, 1702, against France. It was called "the war of the Spanish Succession." This war cost England an immense sacrifice of life, with sixty-nine millions of pounds ; and yet it was continued so long that the parties in the quarrel had changed places, and when peace was concluded the Bour- bon was allowed to sit on the throne of Spain. Louis abandoned the Pretender and yielded to England Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay and St. Christopher's. Spain gave up to her Gibraltar and Minorca.
"Yet reason frowns on war's unequal game, Where wasted nations raise a single name ;. And mortgaged states their grandsires' wreaths regret, From age to age in everlasting debt."
The English colonies were involved in this accursed strife. The scattered inhabitants in the wilds of New Hampshire were com- pelled to fight for their life and liberty, to prevent a miserable, imbecile Bourbon from sitting on the Spanish throne! The In- dians fought for the French. A congress of chiefs met Governor Dudley at Casco, in June, 1703, and in lofty language pledged their fidelity to the colonists. "The sun," said they, is not more distant from the earth than our thoughts from war." Yet within six weeks the whole eastern frontier was in a blaze ! Not a house from Casco to Wells was passed by. "Neither the milk-white brows of the ancient nor the mournful cries of tender infants" were pitied. Cruelty became an art. The prowling Indian lurked near every dwelling. The farmer at his toil, the wor- shiper at the altar, the mother beside her cradle and the in- fant slumbering in it were the victims of the merciless savage ; and all this to determine who should be king of Spain ! Again and again was every town in New Hampshire visited and the shocking atrocities of former years repeated. The men culti- vated their fields with arms at their sides or within their reach ; the women and children shut themselves up in garrisoned houses, and sometimes, when their husbands and sons had been mur- dered, heroically defended themselves. No night passed without posting sentinels ; no day without careful search for concealed foes. Not a meal was taken with quiet repose. It was impossi- ble to enjoy the meagre comforts which "fire, famine and slaugh- ter " had spared. Their very dreams were terrific ; because, in them, the scalping-knife seemed to flash before their eyes and the war-whoop to resound in their ears. To most men a prema- ture death would be preferred to such a life. It was one long protracted agony of apprehension, alarm, terror and suffering ! The French missionaries were regarded as the authors of all these outrages ; hence our fathers naturally hated them. They also became willing to exterminate the natives, as this seemed the only means of preserving themselves. The Indians disap-
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peared as soon as their homes were invaded ; they could not en- dure regular warfare. Hence a bounty was offered for Indian scalps : ten pounds to regular soldiers ; twice that sum to volun- teers ; and to hunting parties, who scoured the woods as for wild beasts, " the encouragement of fifty pounds per scalp " was offered. This lesson was taught by the French. They rewarded the Indians for the scalps of white men. Companies were often sent from New Hampshire in pursuit of the Indians ; but they seldom met with success. It was easy for the natives to hide in the boundless forests of Maine and New Hampshire. The brave Col. Hilton, in 1705, with two hundred and seventy men, went on snow-shoes to Norridgewock, on the Kennebec, to attack the enemy in their winter quarters ; but the expedition proved un- successful. In 1707 the colonists resolved to attack Port Royal in Acadia. The conquest of this stronghold seemed essential to the security of their trade and fishery. New Hampshire fur- nished her quota of troops ; but the expedition was a failure, owing to a quarrel between the military and naval officers. Such a defeat disheartened the people.
Meantime the Indians were constantly making inroads upon the settlements. Every town lost valuable citizens who were cut off by the prowling savages. Durham and Dover lay in the track of the Indians from east to west ; and they were oftener assailed than other towns. "Exeter," says Judge Smith, escaped hostil- ities till 1690. I have drawn a circle, round our village as a centre, twenty-five miles in diameter. The number of killed and captives within this circle, during a period of forty years, ex- ceeded seven hundred." In 1710 the brave Winthrop Hilton fell, while at work in his own woods. He was "among the most fearless of the brave, the most adventurous of the daring." "His sharp black eye and his long bright gun struck terror into the hearts of the savages." They thirsted for his blood. He and his men were armed ; but their guns were wet, and no defence could be made. Col. Hilton was the grandson of Edward Hil- ton, who is, by many, regarded as the founder of New Hampshire. He settled at Dover in 1623, where he resided for fifteen or twenty years, and then removed to Exeter. His grandson was a man who served faithfully "his God and his country." The people of the whole province mourned for him, as for a father.
During the same year, 1710, the English nation resolved to aid the colonies in the conquest of Acadia, a name that had almost passed from the memories of men till Longfellow gave it im- mortality in his story of Evangeline. It was called, by the French, Acadie. The English furnished six ships of war, the New Englanders thirty, with four regiments of soldiers. In six days they reached Port Royal, which immediately surrendered ;
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and the place was called Annapolis in honor of the queen. This success encouraged the English and their colonies to attempt the conquest of Quebec. Magnificent preparations were made for a siege. The English sent fifteen ships of war and fifty-six trans- ports. The veteran troops of Marlborough were selected for the enterprise. When joined by the New England conscripts, the army numbered, according to Dr. Belknap, six thousand and five hundred men ; but from an estimate of the commander, quoted below, there were about twelve thousand men. A fleet so nu- merous, so well equipped and so well manned had never sailed from Boston harbor. Sir Hoveden Walker was appointed ad- miral. By his obstinacy or ignorance, in countermanding the orders of the pilots, the expedition failed. In a dark and stormy night in August eight ships were wrecked and eight hundred and eighty-four men were drowned. The admiral thought this disas- ter providential ; otherwise, says he, had they reached Quebec, "ten or twelve thousand men must have been left to perish of cold and hunger ; by the loss of a part, Providence saved all the rest." This is turning one's stupidity to good account. This failure excited the Indians to renewed effort. Exeter, Durham and Dover again suffered from the sleepless vengeance of the skulking foe. But the time of deliverance was at hand. The peace of Utrecht, concluded in April, 1713, suspended for a season the use of the hatchet, scalping-knife and fire-brand. As soon as the French ceased to aid the Indians, their chiefs were prompt to make peace. Immediately after the proclama- tion of peace, a vessel was sent to Quebec to bring home the captives. When she returned with her precious freight, multi- tudes thronged the beach, to witness the landing of long lost rel- atives. Mothers peered with anxious gaze into the crowd to de- tect the lineaments of their children. Long absence and strange costumes had so changed the forms and faces of loved ones that they could not be recognized. When they became known, parents and children, husbands and wives, welcomed one another with warm embraces and gushing tears. The captives had for- gotten their native tongue ; so that they were compelled to gaze upon faces once familiar in mute ecstasy. Some of the cap- tives failed to return. They had intermarried with the Indians and had become attached to their wild and careless mode of life. They preferred the wigwam in Canada to the cot where they were born. Such are the vicissitudes of war ; and such are the changes, wrought by habit, on plastic natures.
During the continuance of the war, the civil government pur- sued the even tenor of its course, with general satisfaction to all parties. Its chief business was to assess taxes and collect them ; to raise men and money, which was no easy task in a country
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long wasted by war. Governor Dudley showed untarnished loy- alty to the crown and commendable moderation toward the peo- ple. The assembly represented him to the home government as "a prudent, careful and faithful governor." He was more acceptable to the people because he was opposed to the claims of Allen. Usher, the lieutenant-governor, grew more patriotic during the war, but not more popular. The assembly could never be persuaded to vote him a salary. While on duty, he complained of insufficient accommodations. He declared that "negro servants were much better accommodated in his house than the queen's governor was in the fort." Usher was avari- cious, but that was the common attribute of all royal governors ; he was fond of power, yet no patriotic Brutus slew him "be- cause he was ambitious." During this war, paper money, "the cheap defence of nations" in distress, came into general use. The first newspaper in the colonies was established in Boston, in 1704, by Samuel Green, and called the "Boston News-Letter." In 1720 the "Boston Gazette" was issued; in 1721 the "New England Courant."
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