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 20
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accord they advised a surrender. The entire army, amounting to five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one men, became prisoners of war. The entire loss of the British army in their march from Canada was ten thousand. Their arms were the property of the victor, though they marched out of their camp with the honors of war. They were sent to Boston with a pledge that they would fight no more during the war. General Whipple was one of the officers who led the escort.
After this victory, which diffused general joy throughout all the land, the New Hampshire troops marched forty miles in fourteen hours and forded the Mohawk near its mouth that they might prevent Clinton from sending troops northward to sack Albany. Hearing of the surrender of Burgoyne, Clinton retired to New York, and the New Hampshire volunteers pushed on to Pennsylvania, joined Washington's army and fought the enemy with him at Germantown, where Major Sherburne, the aid-de- camp of General Sullivan, fell. They passed that fearful winter in huts at Valley Forge, where the sufferings of the American army scarcely find a parallel in history.
With the fall of Burgoyne the danger from Canada ceased, and the scene of war was removed to the south. The middle states had yielded few victories and numerous defeats. New Hampshire men everywhere bore their full share of perils and sufferings. In the battle of Monmouth they fought with such bravery under Colonel Cilley and Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn, as to receive special commendation from the commander-in-chief. So intense was the heat on that summer day, June 28, that many men in both armies died from exposure to it. Their tongues were so parched with thirst that they swelled and protruded from their mouths. The following winter they passed in huts at Reading. A detachment of them was sent during the summer of 1778 to Newport, R. I., to aid the French fleet in their at- tack upon the British at that station. General Sullivan was in command. Owing to the want of cooperation by the French, the enterprise failed.
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CHAPTER LII.
EMPLOYMENT OF MERCENARIES AND SAVAGES BY THE ENGLISH.
England attempted to reduce her disobedient children to sub- jection by hired assassins and merciless savages. Her own sub- jects must be forced into the service by the brutal press-gang ; for many of them were decidedly opposed to the war. The pious king, George III., though he confessed some scruples about be- coming "a man-stealer," resolved to employ mercenaries. He first applied to Russia, then to Holland, for recruits ; but both these countries indignantly rejected the degrading proposal. He next turned to the needy, greedy and vainglorious princes and dukes of the petty states of Germany. They readily sold their subjects to the rich sovereign, as an English nobleman would sell the right of warren in his forests. The poor victims of power were hunted down in the fields or shops or streets, where they were pursuing their humble callings, and were sent into a foreign service, without food or clothes suitable to their condi- tion ; and were then crowded together in British ships of war, to endure in transportation " the horrors of the middle passage." They almost robbed the cradle and the grave to secure the re- quired number. Twenty-nine thousand one hundred and sixty- six soldiers were thus furnished from six of the petty states of Germany. Brunswick and Hesse-Cassel hunted and sold a large majority of them. The total loss from these recruits was eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. Probably about the same number of Indians were decoyed into the service of the English.
Dr. Dwight, speaking of the perils of the first settlers of New England, says :
" The greatest of all the evils which they suffered were derived from the savages. These people, of whom Europeans still form very imperfect con- ceptions, kept the colonists, after the first hostilities commenced, in almost perpetual terror and alarm. The first annunciation of an Indian war is its actual commencement. In the hour of security, silence and sleep, when your enemies are supposed to be friends quietly employed in hunting and fishing, when they are believed to be at the distance of several hundred miles and perfectly thoughtless of you and yours ; when thus unsuspecting, thus at ease, slumbering on your pillow, your sleep is broken up by the war- whoop ; your house, your village, are set on fire ; your family and friends are butchered and scalped; yourself and a few other wretched survivors are hurried into captivity to be roasted alive at the stake, or to have your body stuck full of skewers and burnt by inches. You are a farmer and have gone
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abroad to the customary business of the field; there you are shot down from behind a tree in the hour of perfect security, or you return at evening and find your house burnt and your family vanished, or, perhaps, discover their half-consumed bones mingled with the ashes of your dwelling, or your wife murdered and your little ones lying beside her after having been dashed against a tree."
When the Indians were stimulated by the French to murder the defenceless inhabitants of the English colonies, their con- duct received not only denunciation but execration. During the Revolutionary war the English made use of the same allies, in butchering and scalping their brethren. Chatham, with peerless eloquence and pathos, denounced this inhuman custom and in- voked the aid of the bishops to arrest it. During the year 1778, the Wyoming, Mohawk, Schoharie and Cherry Valleys were con- verted into theatres of bloodshed and violence by the union of tories and Indians. On the second day of July, 1778, eleven hundred of these white and red savages entered the lovely val- ley of Wyoming, when the strong men were engaged in the army, conquered the feeble force sent to resist them, burned the houses, desolated the land, murdered the women and children except a remnant that escaped to the neighboring mountains to die of hunger. Travelers and historians agree in describing this infant colony as one of the happiest spots of human existence, for the hospitable and innocent manners of the inhabitants, the beauty of the country and the luxuriant fertility of the soil. In an evil hour the junction of European with Indian arms converted this terrestrial paradise into a hideous desolation. Campbell, the poet, in his beautiful poem entitled, “Gertrude of Wyoming," has "married to immortal verse" the beauty, glory and desolation of this once " Happy Valley." The open- ing lines read thus :
" On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming ! Although the wild flowers on thy ruined wall And roofless homes a sad remembrance bring Of what thy gentle people did befall, Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all That see the Atlantic wave their morn restore. Sweet land! may I thy lost delights recall, And paint thy Gertrude in her bowers of yore, Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore."
The massacre of the innocent inhabitants of this valley ex- cited both the indignation and compassion of Congress. They resolved to chastise the savages who "wrought this deed of blood." General Sullivan was appointed to that service. He led an army up the Susquehanna into the country of the Senecas. It was an unexplored and pathless region. The general had to contend with nature as savage and wild as the men whom he pursued. His sagacity led and his prudence supplied the army. Their rations were scanty, but their courage was manly. They
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suffered patiently and triumphed gloriously. They met the enemy, composed of tories and Indians, upon the Susquehanna, and drove them into the forest. The victorious troops then marched into western New York and destroyed the deserted Ind- ian towns which had already begun to wear the aspect of civilized life. The Indians suffered according to the old Jewish law, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." It seems a hard case, as we view it, that these infant settlements of the red men should be annihilated ; but in that day there was no safety to the whites, but in the literal application of the maxim of that stern cove- nanter, John Knox: "Tear down the nests and the rooks will fly away." Having chastised the heathen, Sullivan returned to Easton, in Pennsylvania, having lost forty men ; and among them Captain Cloyes and Lieutenant McAulay of New Hampshire. Major Titcomb, another brave officer, was badly wounded. These victorious troops joined the main army in Connecticut, and passed the third winter of their service in huts at Newtown. In the year following, 1780, the New Hampshire troops served at West-Point; and afterwards in New Jersey, where General Poor died. Three regiments belonged to the regular army this year. They passed the next winter in huts at a place called Soldier's Fortune, near Hudson river. The three regiments were at the close of the year reduced to two, and commanded by Generals Scammell and Reed.
CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
During all the long years of privation, suffering and bloodshed of the American war for liberty, New Hampshire furnished her full share of men and means for the conflict. The courage of her citizens never wavered; their hope of victory never abated. They were poor and in distress ; yet, "out of their deep poverty" they contributed to the wants of their common country ; and from their already bereaved hearts sent out the only and well beloved sons to fight her battles. The soldiers from New Hampshire were familiar with every battlefield, from Canada to Yorktown. They shared the woe of every defeat and the joy of every vic- tory. They were present at the last great battle when Cornwallis surrendered and in which the heroic Scammell laid down his life for his country. They remained in the army till "the last armed foe expired" or left the country. They waited at their post of duty till the obstinate George III. from his throne declared " his revolted subjects " "free and independent states." Every yoke was broken, and New Hampshire was a sovereign state with her sister republics.
A report made in congress in 1790, by General Knox, gives the proportion of soldiers to population furnished by each of the colonies in the Revolution as follows: Massachusetts
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(including Maine), one in seven of her population; Connecticut, one in seven; New Hamp- shire, one in eleven; Rhode Island, one in eleven; New Jersey, one in sixteen ; Pennsyl- vania, one in sixteen ; New York, one in nineteen ; Maryland, one in twenty-two; Delaware, one in twenty-four; Virginia, one in twenty-eight; Georgia, one in thirty-two; South Caro- lina, one in thirty-eight ; North Carolina, one in fifty-four. Connecticut had less population at the period of the Revolution than either Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina or South Carolina; nevertheless she furnished more troops for the war than any one of these great states.
CHAPTER LIII.
CONGREGATIONALISM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The first ministers of New Hampshire were settled by major vote of the town in which they officiated. This mode of settle- ment continued till 1818, when the rights of other denomina- tions were acknowledged, and church and state, or rather town and state, were separated. The Congregational denomination was called "the standing order," till the other denominations gained a legal position in the state. The number of Congrega- tional and Presbyterian churches now in the state is one hun- dred ninety-four ; only six of these are Presbyterian. Sixty-nine towns have no clergyman belonging to either of these two de- nominations. The Methodists and Baptists are annually gain- ing upon the Congregationalists, and probably will soon equal them in the number of churches though they will scarcely equal them in membership during the present century. The Metho- dists now have one hundred twenty-three churches; the Free- will Baptists one hundred twenty-one. The original Baptists number thirty-five. Of the other ten sects that are established in the state, the number ranges from one to twenty-two churches. The early ministers of the Congregational order were men of mark in their respective towns, thoroughly educated and well grounded in the doctrines of the so-called orthodox theology. The first convention of Congregational ministers was held at Exeter, July 20, 1747. Their object was to promote harmony, peace and good order among the churches ; and to secure unity of belief and efficiency of action among the ministers of the province. Seventeen clergymen obeyed the summons, which was issued by a private conference of a few leading men. At their first meeting they deemed it inexpedient to make any declara- tion of faith with respect to points of doctrine. They reached, in part, that result negatively, by enumerating the prevailing the- ological errors of the day. They resolved, First, "That we will,
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to the best of our ability, both in our public ministrations and private conversations, maintain and promote the great and im- portant doctrines of the Gospel, according to the form of sound words delivered to us by Christ and his apostles ;" Second, "That we will take particular notice of several doctrinal errors which have more remarkably discovered themselves of late in several places, among some persons who would seem zealous of reli- gion : Ist, That saving faith is nothing but a persuasion that Christ died for me, in particular ; 2d, That morality is not of the' essence of christianity; 3d, That God sees no sin in his children ; 4th, That believers are justified from eternity ; 5th, That no unconverted person can understand the meaning of the Scriptures ; 6th, That sanctification is no evidence of justifica- tion ; and that we will be very frequent in opposing these errors and in inculcating those truths with which they militate." They also agree to discourage uneducated men from entering the min- istry, and to oppose all unwarrantable intrusion by persons who are not legally authorized to exercise the functions of a minis- ter. They also advise frequent visits and interchange of views among pastors, and to withhold recommendations from all can- didates who are not licensed by some association. They ap- pointed a committee to confer with the church in Durham re- specting some reported disorder among its members. At an adjourned meeting the committee reported that a portion of the church had separated from the original organization and were holding meetings at which very disorderly, vile and absurd things were practised, such as "profane singing and dancing, damning the devil, spitting in the faces of persons whom they apprehended not to be of their society, and other similar acts to the dishonor of God and scandal of religion." They were un- able then to gain a hearing from the separatists.
In 1750, they opened a correspondence with English Congre- gationalists. They are called by them "Brethren of the Dis- senting Interest in England." An interesting correspondence followed, revealing a strong sympathy between the English Dis- senters and the New Hampshire Congregationalists.
At their annual meeting at Hampton, September 25, 1754, they discussed the proper subjects to be enforced in their re- spective pulpits. They agreed to preach once a quarter upon the following subjects : Ist, Carelessness in religion ; 2d, Fam- ily religion and government; 3d, Sabbath-breaking ; 4th, Intem- perance ; and on the day of the annual Fast to inculcate as many of these important subjects as possible.
At the annual meeting at Somersworth, September 26, 1758, they petitioned Governor Benning Wentworth to grant a charter for a college, setting forth at large the necessity and utility of
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such an institution, and expressing the belief that a fund could be raised in the state for the support of the necessary officers. They concluded their memorial by saying : "We are pursuaded that if your Excellency will, first of all, favor us with such a charter, we shall be able soon to make use of it for the public benefit ; and that your Excellency's name will forever be re- membered with honor." By neglecting to grant this reasonable request, the governor lost his only chance of honorable remem- brance by posterity. At this same meeting, it was voted that the convention should, for the future, be held annually at Ports- mouth, and should be known by the name of the "Convention of Ministers at Portsmouth." The number in attendance was usually about twenty.
In September, 1761, the convention, by their committee, con- gratulated George III. on his accession to the English throne. The address is remarkable for its loyalty, beginning thus : "We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, ministers of the Congregational churches in and about Portsmouth, the principal town of your Majesty's Province of New Hampshire, beg leave, from these remote parts of your dominions, upon the first op- portunity of our convening, to present before the throne this humble testimony of our loyal duty and affection to your Maj- esty, whose accession to the British crown gives the highest joy and satisfaction to all his subjects." The whole address is most laudatory of his Majesty's character and conduct, and full of warm congratulations on the late success of the British arms. Ten years later, the same body would have been as eloquent in complaints, and as eager to be released from his Majesty's sway as they were at first to welcome it. It is a little singular that such bold and manly advocates of the moral virtues should have indulged in such extravagant compliments to their new sovereign. However, it was the fault of the times. The elder Pitt himself used more fulsome flattery to George III. than his warmest friends were wont to employ ; and was constantly cast- ing himself, metaphorically, at the feet of his king.
But we have changed all that. Our age has lost its reverence for official station. At a meeting in July, 1762, a testimonial to the excellent character and remarkable labors of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, in founding and supporting Moor's Charity School, in Lebanon, Conn., signed by twenty-five clergymen of that state, was laid before the convention. They say : "We esteem his plan (of educating Indians) to be good ; his measures pru- dently and well concerted ; his endowments peculiar, his zeal fervent, his endeavors indefatigable for the accomplishment of this design, and we know no man like-minded who will naturally
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care for their state. May God prolong his life and make him extensively useful in the kingdom of Christ."
They also give unequivocal testimony to the fidelity, honesty and economy of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock in managing the funds committed to his care for the education of the Indians. The New Hampshire convention cordially approved of his work, and recommended it to the good will of churches under their care. They did not, however, attempt to dictate to the public how they should dispose of their contributions for education. They mention " the corporation erected in the Province of Mas- sachusetts Bay" (meaning Harvard College), as claiming their benefactions as fully as the school in Connecticut, designed to educate the aborigines. In September, 1770, the convention sent a memorial to the general assembly, asking aid for mis- sionary labor among the new settlements of the province. They say, in closing their memorial : " It appears to your memorial- ists that, in many respects, it will be of great advantage to his Majesty's government, as well as for the benefit of particular properties, and the encouragement of the settlers in the new townships, that some provision be speedily made, whereby the knowledge of Christianity and a sense of their duty to God, their King and Author, may be preserved among those scattered inhabitants of the wilderness." John Wentworth was then gov- ernor of the province. The very presentation of such a memo- rial, with the expectation of aid for itinerant missionaries in the new settlements, reveals the paternal regard which the General Assembly was supposed to entertain for the religious welfare of the people. Such a communication addressed to the legislature at this day would be regarded as entirely irrelevant and possi- bly hostile to their duties as law-makers. It would at once raise the cry of union of church and state.
In September, 1772, the convention voted to have a collection among themselves, for pious and charitable uses, at their annual meetings. The first collection yielded two pounds seven shil- lings and six pence, lawful money. This money, with such other contributions as might be made during the year, was appropriated to the education of Mr. Ewer's son, if he should be found by their committee, Doctors Langdon, Haven and Stevens, to be worthy of their charity. Before the adjournment, nine shillings and seven pence more were added to the first collection. In the year 1774, Rev. Samuel Langdon, of Portsmouth, was appointed president of Harvard College. An address of congratulation was prepared by a committee, and presented to the reverend Doctor ; also filed among their records. They say in that ad- dress, "From the long and intimate connection that has sub- sisted between us, we think we have reason to expect that your
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appointment to this honorable station will be an extensive bles- sing to the country. The prospect of this is sufficient to over- balance that regret which we feel at your removal from our neighborhood." A very devout and grateful response was made by Doctor Langdon, and the record of these transactions is sign- ed by the venerable Jeremy Belknap, as clerk. These facts show us that, at that early day, in the little province of New Hamp- shire there were learned and illustrious ministers of the gospel.
In 1785 we find the following record: "Whereas the civil government appear, at present, disposed to introduce the an- nual public election by a public religious service, we think it our duty to countenance that laudable disposition of our civil
fathers, * * therefore, voted unanimously, that we will, by the leave of Providence, endeavor to meet together on the day of the next election wherever said election may be, and so on from year to year, and that our brethren of every denomination be invited, by public advertisement, to meet with us on said day." This seems to have given their sanction to the annual election sermons, which were delivered by the most distin- guished clergymen of the state, and frequently published, for many years before and after this date.
This abstract of record shows how the clergy of New Hamp- shire were employed during the last century. It reveals their creed, conduct and character. It shows, Ist, That they were decided champions of dogmatic theology, and the uncompro- mising opponents of heresy ; 2d, That they were the devoted friends of education ; 3d, That they preached morality as an essential element of true religion ; 4th, That they appropriated four Sabbaths, besides the annual Fast day, to national sins ; 5th, That they were, in that day, advisers and counselors of the legislature, as well as petitioners for righteous laws ; 6th, That they encouraged the home missionary enterprise, in behalf of the new settlements in the state ; 7th, That they, by word and deed, were the leading men of the community, in every measure that appertained to the highest welfare of the people ; 8th, That they were almost the only literary men of that period ; and that some of them, like Jeremy Belknap and President Langdon, were authors of high repute.
Hon. Joseph B. Walker, of Concord, describing the ministry in New Hampshire a hundred years ago, says :
"The old New Hampshire minister was almost invariably a well educated man. The expression, common in the old town charters, 'a learned ortho- dox minister' was by no means a conventional one merely. It appears, upon examination, that of the fifty-two settled ministers in the province in 1764, no less than forty-eight were graduates of colleges; while, in the county of Rockingham, thirty-one of the thirty-two, and perhaps all, had received a liberal education-one at the University of Scotland, one at Yale, and twenty-nine at Harvard."
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CHAPTER LIV.
RISE OF SEPARATE DENOMINATIONS.
As late as 1750, there were only thirty churches of the stand- ing order. Other denominations were then but little known. This fact reveals the slow progress of religion in the state. A small society of Quakers was organized in 1701. The first Bap- tist church was formed in 1755. Their gain, on an average, till the year 1800, was about one new church annually. An Episco- pal chapel was built in Portsmouth* as early as 1638. In May, 1640, a grant of fifty acres of land "for a glebe " was set apart by the governor and inhabitants of Strawberry Bank, and deeded "to . Thomas Walford and Henry Sherburne, church wardens, and their successors forever, as feoffees, in trust." A parsonage and the chapel had been previously erected upon the glebe. The prayer-books and communion service were sent over by Captain Mason. The first company who settled at Portsmouth and Dover were inclined to Episcopacy. Winthrop says : "Some of them were the professed enemies to the way of our churches." Prior to the beginning of this century, but few Episcopal churches existed in this state. The Methodists were first known in New Hampshire in 1792. They did not come to New England till after the close of the Revolutionary war.
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