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 11
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CHAPTER XXIX.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR SHUTE.
In October, 1715, Eliseus Burgess was appointed Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He remained in England, and the executive power in the province devolved on the lieu- tenant-governor, George Vaughan. He was a native of the state, the son of Major William Vaughan who acted a very prominent part in resisting the claims of Mason and Allen. His son had been the agent of the province in England, and had thus become known to some of the ministers of the crown. His appointment was deemed a compliment to the state, because he was a son of one of her popular leaders. He was, unfortu- nately, but ill fitted for his responsible station. His first official act rendered him unpopular. The general court, when sum- moned by him, refused to raise money by impost and excise for a longer time than one year ; therefore he dissolved them. At the next session he recommended "the establishment of a per- manent revenue to the king ;" but the people preferred the old custom of raising taxes. New Hampshire at this time was well
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provided with governors. Dudley had retired, without resigning,
expecting to be superseded. Burgess did not condescend to visit the state ; and Samuel Shute was appointed Governor-Gen- eral of New Hampshire. Shute entered upon his duties in Oc- tober, 1716. He abandoned the policy of Vaughan, but intro- duced another element of discord by dismissing six of the old
councilors and appointing six in their places, all from Portsmouth.
The farmers were jealous of these commercial rulers and peti-
tioned for a more equal distribution of the public honors. There was also in Portsmouth a local quarrel respecting the erection of a new parish ; and the parochial difficulty was carried into the council. Money was very scarce. A proposition was made to issue ten thousand pounds in bills on loan ; after some disagree- ment of the two houses, the next assembly issued fifteen thousand pounds, on loan, for eleven years, at ten per cent. A contro-
versy also arose between the two highest officials. The lieuten-
ant-governor claimed that he was the true and sole executive when the governor was absent from the state. He therefore declined to obey his superior when the mandate came from his home in Massachusetts. The town of Hampton adopted the views of Vaughan, which subjected the town to a summons from the governor to answer for a libel. They gave bonds for their future loyalty. The offending subaltern was removed and John Wentworth, Esq., was appointed in his place. He was the grand- son of Elder William Wentworth, who came to Exeter in 1639, and was the founder of a very distinguished family, who for sev- eral generations exercised a controlling influence in the govern- ment of the state. This aged servant of God, then over eighty, was sleeping in a garrisoned house in Dover when the Indians attacked that town, in 1689. The barking of a dog awoke him just as the Indians were opening the door. He threw his body against the door and expelled the intruders ; then, lying upon his back, held the door with his feet till his cry alarmed the peo- ple. The balls that were aimed at him passed through the door, but above his body. Thus was the good man saved. His
grandson was commissioned by George I., Mr. Addison then being secretary of state. Mr. Wentworth had long been engaged in mercantile pursuits ; and, by his practical skill and natural good sense, was eminently fitted for the responsible station he was called to fill. After an interval of peace, the state was recovering its prosperity. Her resources began to be developed.
Her forests, iron mines and fisheries were attracting the atten- tion of capitalists and corporations. The white pines of New Hampshire were in demand for the masts of ships in England, and were allowed to enter her ports free of duty. Numerous laws had been made to protect such trees. A law of 1708 pro-
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hibited the cutting of pines that were twenty-four inches in diameter. The royal navy needed them; and ought not the forests of New Hampshire to yield a revenue to the king?
It was difficult at this date to determine who owned the uncul- tivated lands. The assigns of Allen still claimed them, and the colonists had, many years before, admitted that claim. Within the boundaries of the towns the citizens owned the timber. Hence the people were desirous of establishing new townships. The manufacture of tar and turpentine became a source of profit ; but a few merchants monopolized the business, and at one time three thousand trees, prepared for use, were destroyed in the night. This source of income was soon exhausted by the rapid destruction of the trees. The culture of hemp was also intro- duced ; but it failed to be profitable or was soon abandoned for the raising of crops for food. The manufacture of iron received legislative encouragement, and a strip of land two miles in width, north of Dover, was given for iron works. It was forbidden to be carried out of the province, under penalty of a heavy fine.
During the year 1718 the Indians began to make attacks upon the settlements in Maine, under pretence of seeking redress for the wrongs inflicted on them by the whites. They com- plained that continual encroachments were made upon their hunting grounds by settlers, which drove off the game; that the building of mills and dams on the rivers destroyed their fisheries. Governor Shute had held a conference with them the preceding year, and had promised that trading-houses should be established among them, and that a smith should be sent to them to keep their guns in repair. The unhappy contentions at home prevented the fulfillment of this promise; and this failure was imputed to treachery. The Indians kept no records ; and of course deeds which they had given for parcels of land could not be certified to their minds. They denied their solemn covenants or charged that the instruments were signed when they were drunk, or that no equivalent was given. Thus a new purchase must be made every few years, or they would complain that they had been wronged. When they consented to the settlements of the whites, and to the erection of mills, they knew not that their game and fish would be driven away. After learning this they hated the whites and sought to kill them. The French in their neighborhood ever encouraged this hostility and supplied them with arms. They were charmed, too, with the labors of French missionaries. They loved the pomp and ceremonies of the Catholic worship, which required no self-denial. With all the extravagant eulogies which have been heaped upon Jesuit mis- sionaries in America, it may be doubted whether the natives have been made wiser or better by their conversion to Roman-
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ism. The Indians of Central America and Mexico are all nom- inal Christians ; and more degraded specimens of our race can scarcely be found on earth. They walk in the Catholic proces- sions and worship images, paying devout reverence to a doll lifted on high to represent the Virgin Mary ; but they have no knowledge of duty or virtue. The English, from the first land- ing on the continent, regarded the soil as theirs by discovery and the inhabitants as subjects of their king. In war they treat- ed them as rebels, in peace as dependents. They were required to acknowledge their allegiance to the British crown. The French treated them as allies and equals. The Jesuits lived among them as friends and spiritual guides. One of their sachems, being asked why they so loved the French, replied, " Because the French have taught us to pray to God, which the English never did." The French did more : they cherished their hatred of the English ; they stimulated their love of vengeance ; they used them as their own favored allies in war. The Jesuits early established a mission among the Abenaquis. Sabastian Rasle, a man of culture, refinement and benevolence, left all the comforts of civilized life for a home in the Indian village of Norridgewock, on the Kennebec. Here he built a church and adorned it with costly decorations. A bell was bought, from Canada, to call the Indian hunters and warriors to matins and vespers. The most glowing accounts have been given of the success of Father Rasle in christianizing these rude savages. The innocence, confidence and devotion of Eden returned again to bless these wigwams in the primeval forests. By his charming conversation, rapt devotion and unselfish beneficence, he won the hearts of the natives and swayed them at his will. Dr. Belknap gives us the other side of this beautiful moral picture. He says of Father Rasle :
"He even made the offices of devotion serve as incentives to their feroc- ity. * * * With this Jesuit the Governor of Canada held a close corres- pondence ; and by him was informed of everything transacted among the Indians. By this means their discontent with the English, on account of their settlements made at the eastward, was heightened and inflamed; and they received every encouragement to assert their title to the lands in ques- tion and molest the settlers by killing their cattle, burning their hay, robbing and insulting them."
The wrongs done to the Indian by those eastern settlers were chiefly imaginary ; in a great measure the creation of the French Jesuit. In the winter of 1721 Colonel Westbrooke was sent to Nor- ridgewock to seize Rasle. He escaped ; but they took his strong box in which were found letters confirming all their suspicions of his hostility to the English. The Governor of Canada was deeply implicated in exciting these Indians to acts of violence. The Indians were greatly exasperated at the attempt to seize
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their spiritual guide. The next summer they resumed their old practices of waylaying and murdering men, women and children in all the towns they had been wont to visit. In Dover, in June, 1724, they entered the house of Mr. Hanson, a non-resistant Quaker, killed and scalped two little children and took his wife, with her infant, her nurse, two daughters and a son, and carried them off. These prisoners were all sold to the French as slaves, in Canada. The sad father converted all his property into gold and went through the wilderness to ransom his wife and chil- dren. He obtained all but his eldest daughter, and returned. But the loss of this child wrung his heart with anguish. He returned to Canada again ; but fatigue and sorrow wasted his strength, and he lay down and died in a strange land. These outrages being repeated for two years, the colonists resolved to destroy Norridgewock. Captains Moulton and Harmon, both of York, with one hundred men surprised the village, killed the Jesuit and eighty Indians, and brought away the spoils.
The success of the expedition to Norridgewock and a pre- mium of one hundred pounds offered for scalps called out sev- eral volunteer companies to visit Indian villages. One company, commanded by Captain John Lovewell of Dunstable, became famous in New Hampshire history, both for its success and de- feat. It consisted at first of thirty men, afterwards of seventy. It made three expeditions into the eastern part of the state. Two were successful ; the last disastrous. On the second foray they killed ten Indians encamped for the night in the town of Wakefield, near a pond since called "Lovewell's pond." On their return to Dover they enjoyed a triumph such as no Ro- man consul ever received. It was a cordial, sincere and grate- ful outpouring of the people's gratitude. In Boston they re- ceived the bounty which had been promised. Thus encouraged, Lovewell and his brave men marched the third time into the wilderness. He had forty-six men. They went to Ossipee pond, and on its west shore built a fort. Here the surgeon, one sick man and eight guards were left. The remaining thirty-four marched northward twenty-two miles, to another pond, where they encamped. In their explorations they were discovered by two parties of Indians, numbering forty-one men, under the com- mand of the sachem Paugus, who had been scouting on the Saco and were returning to the lower village of Pequawkett, about a mile and one half from the pond. Lovewell and his men, before their march round the pond, had left their packs without guard, on a plain at the southeast end of the pond. Following their trail, the Indians found those packs and thus learned their weakness. They lay in ambush to surprise them on their return. Captain Lovewell and eight of his men fell at
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the first fire of the Indians. The survivors retreated a little and renewed the fight.' They had no food nor drink. At noon their savage foes, by signs and infernal yells, indicated an order for their surrender. They declined their request and fought on "till the going down of the sun." The war-whoop grew fainter, the as- saults less vigorous ; the Indians were greatly weakened; Pau- gus* was slain. They retired at the coming on of evening, car- rying with them their dead and wounded, leaving the whites masters of the field. Only nine of Lovewell's men were free from wounds. Of the injured, eleven were able to walk. It was the hardest problem of the entire struggle to dispose of those who could not move. It would be certain death to re- main with them ; and they had no power to remove them. They were compelled to leave their disabled and dying companions to fall into the hands of their merciless foes. Ensign Robinson requested them to lay his loaded gun by his side, that he might kill one more Indian. After the moon arose they returned to their fort. It was deserted. A fugitive from the battle had re- ported to the guard the probable defeat of their friends. They therefore abandoned the fort and went home. They left some provisions there, which greatly relieved the distressed soldiers. Lieutenant Farwell, the chaplain, who had in his pocket the record of their march, and one other person perished in the woods from loss of blood and privation. The others, after se- vere suffering, came in one by one to their old homes and were kindly cared for by friends and the public. Colonel Tyng of Dunstable, with a company of men, went to the scene of action and buried the dead. This was one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles ever fought with the Indians. They had the advantage of numbers and of an ambuscade. Some writers estimate their number as high as eighty. Hence they fought with uncommon bravery and fury.
[From the Boston Centinel.] LOVELL'S POND.
The scene of 1725 of a desperate encounter with the savages.
Ah! where are the soldiers that fought here of yore? The sod is upon them, they'll struggle no more, The hatchet is fallen, the redman is low: But near him reposes the arm of his foe.
The bugle is silent, the war-whoop is dead ; There's a murmur of waters and woods in their stead ; And the raven and owl chant a symphony drear, From the dark-waving pines o'er the combatants' bier.
* There is a tradition that John Chamberlain, one of the sharp-shooters of the age, shot Paugus. For some time they attempted to shoot one another from their coverts; but their guns were foul and only flashed in the pans. Being known to one another, they agreed to go down to the water, cleanse their guns and renew the fight. Finding that Paugus was too expeditious for him Chamberlain did not wait to withdraw his ramrod, nor to prime his gun, (for the well worn piece would prime itself, by the aid of a sharp blow of the hand,) but fired and drove both the rod and the ball through the heart of his foe.
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The light of the sun lias just sunk in the wave, And a long time ago sat the sun of the brave.
The waters complain, as they roll o'er the stones,
And the rank grass encircles a few scattered bones.
The names of the fallen the traveler leaves
Cut out with his knife in the bark of the trees.
But little avail his affectionate arts,
For the names of the fallen are graved in our hearts.
The voice of the hunter is loud on the breeze,
There's a dashing of waters, a rustling of trees, But the jangling of armour hath all passed away,
No gushing of life-blood is here seen to-day.
The eye that was sparkling no longer is bright ; The arm of the mighty, death conquered its might ;
The bosoms that once for their country beat high,
To those bosoms the sods of the valley are nigh.
Sleep, soldiers of merit, sleep, gallant of yore, The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er. While the fir-tree is green and the wind rolls a wave; The tear-drop shall brighten the turf of the brave.
A. K.
Massachusetts and New Hampshire united, other colonies re- fusing to act, in sending commissioners to the governor of Can- ada to remonstrate with him for his conduct in exciting the Ind- ians to war. Theodore Atkinson was sent on the part of New Hampshire. On their arrival they recited the complaints of the colonists to the Marquis de Vaudreuil. He, at first, denied the allegations and assumed an air of offended dignity. Mr. Atkin- son then produced his letters to Father Rasle confirming all his charges. His tone was then softened and he consented to the redemption of prisoners, sixteen of whom were ransomed at an exorbitant price, and terms were agreed upon for the recovery of ten more. The governor requested the commissioners to hold an interview with the Indians. A delegation came but could not be persuaded to propose reasonable terms of peace, because Father LeChase, a Jesuit, controlled them. The commissioners then returned with the ransomed captives.
The Indians made one more attack upon citizens in Dover. Their purpose was to recover the family of the Quaker Hanson, who had been redeemed by the father. They killed one man and shot another named John Evans, stripped, scalped and beat him with their guns, till he was thought to be dead. But after this inhuman torture he recovered and lived fifty years. A peace was finally concluded with the Indians in December, 1725.
Massachusetts and New Hampshire bore the entire expense of this war. It must be remembered that, if we admit all the charges of the Indians against the eastern settlers, New Hamp- shire never wronged them in any particular. No charge was brought against their citizens except that they belonged to a hated race. Bradford in his History of Massachusetts says :
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"There are no proofs that the people of Maine committed acts of injustice or aggression on the natives ; and there was no other cause to be assigned for their work of destruction than that false statements were made to them of the views and de- signs of the English."
CHAPTER XXX.
EMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND.
Ireland was subjected to the arms of Henry II., in 1171-2. He left the Irish princes in possession of their territories, and bestowed some land on English adventurers, appointing Earl Richard de Clare, surnamed "Strongbow," seneschal of the kingdom. This division of imperial power disturbed the peace of the island and led to repeated rebellions. In the reign of James I. the Earl of Tyrone raised the standard of insurrection ; and, after being once pardoned, renewed the conflict, was de- feated and fled to Spain. A large tract of land in the province of Ulster was confiscated and offered on liberal terms to new settlers. James, being by birth a Scotchman, induced a colony of his countrymen from Argyleshire to settle in Ulster, in 1612. They were Scotch Presbyterians. During the next twenty years many clergymen of that denomination, with their flocks, emi- grated to Ireland and added strength and prosperity to the col- ony. They of course became objects of intense hate to their Irish neighbors, who only waited a convenient opportunity to rise and avenge their wrongs. In 1641, they attempted to ex- terminate the entire Protestant population of Ireland ; and so far succeeded that forty thousand of them were suddenly mas- sacred in different parts of the island. Some authorities place the number as high as two hundred thousand. "No age, no sex, no condition, was spared. But death was the slightest punish- ment inflicted by the rebels; all the tortures which wanton cruelty could devise, all the lingering pains of body, the anguish of mind, the agonies of despair, could not satiate the revenge of the Irish." This rebellion
- "dragged its slow length along "
till, in 1649, the sword of Cromwell avenged the blood of slaugh- tered saints, and, by making a solitude, conquered peace. After
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the restoration in 1660, James, the brother of Charles, a bigoted Catholic, was appointed Viceroy of Scotland. The Scotch Pres- byterians were the objects of his hatred and persecution. He let loose upon them the dogs of war, and among them such monsters of cruelty as James Graham of Claverhouse. "The chief of this Tophet upon earth, a soldier of distinguished cour- age and professional skill, but rapacious and profane, of violent temper and obdurate heart, has left a name, wherever the Scot- tish race is settled on the face of the globe, which is mentioned with a peculiar energy of hatred." This persecution drove multitudes into exile. Large numbers fled to Ireland to join the remnant of their brethren whom the knives of Catholic assassins had spared. Among these were many of the immediate ancestors of the "Scotch Irish" who came to this country in 1718 and settled, the next year, in Londonderry. One century later an. unknown poet thus commemorates their arrival at Portland.
"In the summer one thousand seven hundred eighteen, Our pious ancestors embark'd on the Ocean ; Oppress'd by the minions and dupes of their king, They quitted sweet Erin with painful emotion. On the wide swelling wave, All dangers they brave, While fleeing from shackles prepar'd for the slave, In quest of a region where genius might roam, And yield an asylum as dear as their home.
"Undaunted they press'd to their prime destination, Allur'd by the prospects that Freedom display'd, And such was the warmth of their fond expectation, That dangers unnumber'd ne'er made them afraid. How serene was the day, And how cheerful and gay,
Were those pilgrims when anchor'd in old Casco bay ; Their prayers, like incense, ascended on high, And fond acclamations then burst to the sky."
One hundred and twenty families constituted this band of exiles. They suffered terribly from the cold and famine during the first winter. They were relieved by supplies from Boston. Early in the spring of 1719, sixteen families of this company, with Rev. James McGregore as their pastor, selected a tract of land above Haverhill, then called Nutfield, and immediately be- gan a settlement. It was afterwards named Londonderry from their old home in Ireland. These people were industrious, eco- nomical, thrifty and virtuous. They had sufficient property to enable them to build comfortable houses and provide for the profitable culture of the soil. They introduced the Irish potato and the manufacture of linen into New Hampshire. In every house was heard the hum of "the little wheel," turned by the foot of the spinner. Great profits accrued from this branch of domestic industry, and it was soon introduced into other towns and states. Their numbers increased so rapidly that in four years after the formation of their church it numbered two hun-
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dred and thirty members. Their pastor, Rev. James McGregore, was a wise and good man. He died in 1729, aged seventy-two. His name is still held in affectionate remembrance by the de- scendants of those early settlers of Derry. This Scotch-Irish population, which contributed greatly to the good order, good laws, good habits and good works of the state, flowed into adja- cent towns and into other states. Chester, Harrytown, after- wards called Derryfield and now Manchester, were partially settled by them. The number of their descendants in 1842 was estimated at twenty thousand.
The first settlers of Londonderry found great difficulty in securing an act of incorporation. They first petitioned Gover- nor Shute for a grant and failed, because their true character was not understood. They then applied to Massachusetts and to the agent of Allen for a title ; but were told that the lands were in controversy and their request was denied. They then obtained a deed of their territory from the grandson of Rev. John Wheelwright who purchased of the Indians. Finally, in 1722, New Hampshire, having learned the worth of these new citizens, gave them a grant of a township ten miles square. The lines were so vaguely described that the claims of other towns and other owners have not been entirely adjusted to this day.
The grantees of Londonderry were actual settlers, farmers who came to live on the soil and improve it. Chester was set- tled about the same time, but the owners were non-residents. They sold shares in the town as the shares of a railroad are sold. The settlers paid rent for their lands. Some grew weary of the annual payments and abandoned their claims ; others sold their right for a small price. The inhabitants were not homogeneous. Some of the Londonderry people came there and settled. They differed in religion and habits from those of English origin. "They had different modes of living. The Irish ate potatoes ; the English did not. The Irish put barley in their pot liquor and made barley broth ; the English put beans in theirs and had bean porridge .. Intermarriages were consid- ered improper." In process of time they became assimilated.
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