USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 46
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It seems to be proper to insert here some legendary or traditional history of Joe English, a friendly Indian, who resided in Dunstable. He was a grandson of Masconnomet, sagamore of Agawam, (Ipswich, Mass.), and as such was noted and influential. Belknap says, "He was much distinguished for his attachment to the white inhabitants. In a previous war (to that of 1703) he had been taken prisoner in the vicinity of Dunstable and carried to Canada, from whence, by his shrewd- ness and sagacity, he effected his escape and returned to his friends at Dunstable."
Joe English was quite a hero in these regions in those days, and a hill in New Boston, very abrupt on one side, and a pond in Amherst are still called by his name. A tradition is current that Joe was once pursued by an Indian on this hill, and finding it impossible to escape otherwise, he allowed his pursuer to approach him very closely and then ran directly toward the precipice, threw himself suddenly down upon a large ledge with which he was familiar, while his pursuer, unable to arrest his course and unconscious of danger, was dashed to pieces at the bottom.
Many other anecdotes are related of Joe but our space will not permit their repetition. One of the traditions leads us to believe that a party of English was attacked by the Indians on Pennichuck brook in the north part of Dunstable and all were killed except four persons, one of whom was Joe English, whom they took prisoner and sent to Canada whence he escaped and returned to duty as a soldier at Dunstable. Whether or not the numerous stories told of this faithful Indian friend of the whites are authentic, they can not be vouched for. We know that he was captured and escaped from captivity, but how or when no record discloses. "It appears from a grant made by the general court of Massachusetts, June 14, 1698, to 'Joseph English an Indian escaped from French captivity' that he had just returned, and the sum of {6 was allowed him as a recompense for his services."* On July 27, 1706, Joe English was slain by the Indians while acting with another soldier as escort or guard to Captain Butterfield and his wife on a visit from Dunstable to friends in Chelmsford. The attack was made a little south of the state line, at or near Holden's brook. "Many stories were related of his courage, fidelity and hairbreadth escapes. His death was lamented as a public loss. The general assembly made a grant to his widow and two children 'because he died in the service of his country.'t His memory, though humble, was long cherished as one who fell by the hands of his own brethren on account of his friendship for the whites."
It was also during this war, in 1697, that Mrs. Dustin was captured at Haverhill, and escaped by killing her captors while they were asleep at the mouth of the Contoocook river in Concord, N. H.# This was considered one of the most remarkable and heroic exploits on record. In her lonely wander- ings down the Merrimack homeward the first house she reached was that of John Lovewell, father of "worthy Captain Lovewell," which stood on the north side of Salmon brook a few rods north of the Allds street bridge.
Although Dunstable suffered little during the war from actual injuries, yet constant exposure to the tomahawk and scalping knife and the frequent alarms prevented its growth. In 1680 there were thirty families in the town, while in 1701 the number did not exceed twenty-five. The settlement had more than once been nearly deserted and very few improvements were made.
"Early in the summer of 1706, Colonel Schuyler of Albany gave notice to Governor Dudley of New Hampshire, that a party of Mohawks, two hundred and seventy in number, were marching to attack Piscataqua. 'Their first descent was at Dunstable, July 3, 1706, where they fell on a house
* Mass. Military Record, 1698, Journals, 590.
t Joe English's signature was a bow with the arrow drawn to its head. History of Rowley, 373, 381.
¿ A handsome monument with suitable inscription was erected in the year 1874, near the mouth of the Contoocook river to commemorate this exploit.
276
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
that had twenty troopers posted in it, who by their negligence and folly, keeping no watch, suffered them to enter, which tended to the destruction of one-half their number. '* This was, it is said, at 'the Weld garrison.'"'
"A more particular account of this attack has been preserved which is as follows. These troopers, who were mounted scouts, 'had been ranging the woods in the vicinity and came towards night to this garrison. Apprehending no danger, they turned their horses loose upon the interval, piled their arms and harness in the house, and began a carousal to exhilarate their spirits after the fatigues of the day. A party of Indians had lately arrived in the vicinity, and on that day had designed to attack both Weld's and Galusha's garrisons. One of their number had been stationed to watch each of these garrisons, to see that no assistance approached and no alarm was given. A short time previous to the approach of the cavalry the Indian stationed at Weld's had retired to his party, and reported that all was safe.
"At sunset a Mr. Cummings and his wife went out to milk their cows, and left the gate open. The Indians who had advanced undiscovered, started up, shot Mrs. Cummings dead upon the spot, and wounded her husband. They then rushed through the open gate into the house with all the horrible yells of conquering savages, but started with amazement on finding the room filled with soldiers merrily feasting. Both parties were completely amazed, and neither acted with much propriety. The soldiers, so suddenly interrupted in their jovial entertainment, found themselves called to fight when entirely destitute of arms, and incapable of obtaining them.
"The greater part were panic struck and unable to fight or fly. Fortunately all were not in this sad condition. Some six or seven courageous souls, with chairs, clubs, or whatever they could seize upon, furiously attacked the advancing foe. The Indians, who were as much surprised as the soldiers, had but little more courage than they, and immediately took to their heels for safety; thus quitting the house defeated by one quarter their number of unarmed men. The trumpeter, who was in the upper part of the house when the attack commenced, seized his trumpet and began sounding an alarm, when he was shot dead by an Indian upon the stairway. He was the only one of the party killed.
"Cummings who was wounded had his arm broken, but was so fortunate as to reach the woods while the Indians were engaged in the house. That night he lay in a swamp in the northerly part of Tyngsborough, about a quarter of a mile west of the great road, and a few rods south of the state line. The next day he arrived at the garrison near Tyngsborough village.'t
" There were several of these garrisons in town to which the inhabitants fled in times of danger like the present, and where they usually spent their nights. 'They were environed by a strong wall of stone or of hewn timber built up to the eaves of the houses, through which was a gate fastened by bars and bolts of iron. They were lined either with brick or plank. Some of them had port holes for the discharge of musketry.' They were generally built of logs, and had the upper story projecting three or four feet beyond the lower story walls, for the purpose of greater security. #
"This last account of the attack contradicts that of Penhallow in some particulars, but as Penhal- low, who wrote the history of the Indian wars of that period, was an officer, and a cotemporary, his statement that half the number of troopers were destroyed is most probably correct. The circum- stances of the surprise corroborate it. In a cotemporary journal of Rev. John Pike of Dover, the attack is thus mentioned: 'July 3, 1706, Captain Pearson of Rowley marching with his troops to Dunstable, and being posted with part of his troops at one Blanchard's house, while they were at supper in the chamber, the enemy had slyly turned Blanchard's sheep into his corn, which he and his wife going out to restore, were both slain. The doors and gates being open, the enemy entered the house, killed Pearson's trumpeter with three other troopers, and wounded five more. At last they were driven out of the house with the loss of one Indian. Pearson was much blamed for not setting his sentinels out.'s
* Penhallow. I N. H. Hist. Col1., 48, 49.
+ I N. H., Hist. Coll. 133.
# Allen's Chelmsford, 148.
§ Pike's Journal. 3 N. H. Hist. Coll. 56.
-- -
277
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
"There is discrepancy and confusion in these accounts, probably arising from the fact that two attacks are blended together. Penhallow is probably correct in his statement that the conflict with the troopers, and the death of Mrs. Cummings occurred at Cummings' house. Blanchard's garrison was at some distance from this scene, and he with most of his family, and others not mentioned by Penhallow or Pike, were killed at the same time, as appears by the following extracts from the ancient records of the town. From these it would seem that the garrisons were attacked 'at night.'
"Nathaniel Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night 1706. Lydia Blanchard, wife of Nathaniel Blanchard, and Susanna Blanchard, daughter Nath'1 Blanchard, dyed on July 3 at night in the year 1706.
"Mrs. Hannah Blanchard dyed on July the 3rd at night in the year 1706.
"Goody Cummings, the wife of John Cummings died on July the third at night, 1706.
" Rachel Galusha died on July the 3rd, 1706.
"After that, on the same day," says Penhallow, "a small party attacked Daniel Galusha's house, who held them in play for some time till the old man's courage failed, when on surrendering himself he informed them of the state of the garrison ; how that one man was killed and only two men and a boy left, which caused them to rally anew and with greater courage than before. Upon which one man and the boy got on the outside, leaving only Jacob (Galusha) to fight the battle, who for some time defended himself with much bravery, but overpowered with force and finding none to assist him, was obliged to quit and make the best escape he could. But before he got far the enemy laid hold of him once again, and yet by much struggling he rescued himself. Upon this day they burned the house, and next day fell on Amesbury.'
"Galusha's garrison was about two miles west of Weld's garrison on Salmon brook, at a place formerly called Glasgow, where Henry Turrell now lives.i Pike mentions the attack, but in a manner to show that our accounts are very imperfect. 'Near about the same time, or soon after, they assaulted another house belonging to Jacob Galusha, a Dutchman. The house was burned, some persons were killed and some escaped. The whole number said to have been slain in Dunstable at this time was nine persons."#
"In a note to 'Penhallow's Indian Wars,' by John Farmer, the following more particular account of this attack is given : "The savages disappointed in this part of their plan, (the attack on Weld's garrison) immediately proceeded to Galusha's, two miles distant took possession of and burned it. One woman only escaped. Had the company at Weld's armed and immediately pursued they might probably have prevented this disaster; but they spent so much time in arming and getting their horses, that the enemy had an opportunity to perpetrate the mischief, and escape uninjured."
" The woman above mentioned, when the Indians attacked the house, sought refuge in the cellar and concealed herself under a dry cask. After hastily plundering the house, and murdering, as they supposed, all who were within it, the Indians set it on fire, and immediately retired. The woman, in this critical situation attempted to escape by the window but found it too small. She however succeeded in loosening the stones till she had opened a hole sufficient to admit of her passage, and with the house in flames over her head, she forced herself out and crawled into the bushes, not daring to rise for fear she should be discovered. In the bushes she lay concealed until the next day, when she reached one of the neighboring garrisons."§
"In the records of the general court of Massachusetts, mention is made several times of these conflicts. The sum of £4 was granted to 'Robert Rogers of Rowley,' who was 'one of Captain Peirson's company when attacked by the Indians at Dunstable, and was wounded by a spear run into his breast.'| The sum of fro was also allowed to Captain Peirson, 'for the scalp of an Indian enemy slain the last summer by him and his company at Dunstable, to be by him distributed and paid to such of his troops, and the inhabitants of said town, that were at the garrison when and where the Indian was slain.'"
* I N. H. Hist. Coll. 49.
t Henry Turrell at the age of ninety years now (September, 1895, ) lives on the same farm where his father, the Henry Turrell mentioned here, lived and died .- [Ed.]
# Pike's Journal. 3 N. H. Hist. Coll. 56. His name was Daniel.
§ I N. H. Hist. Coll. 133 : note. I Belknap, 173 : note.
Mass. Military Records. May 26, 1707.
278
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
INDIAN WARS FROM 1703 TO 1713.
"In the summer of 1702, it was proposed by the general court to build a trading house for the Indians and a fortified garrison 'at Wataanuck,'* as the settlement at Salmon brook was then called, but owing to the lateness of the season the intention was not accomplished.
"Oct. 24, 1702, Governor Dudley informed the house of representatives that he was going to Dunstable on Monday to meet several of the Penacook Indians there, 'who were come to speak with him.' He was absent until October 29, but the results of his interview whatever they might be, did not allay the fears of the general court. Believing from the movements of the Indians that prepara- tions for the defence of the frontiers should be made, they passed the following order :f
"'Nov. 10, 1702. The winter being too far advanced for the erecting of a trading house for the supply of the Indians at Penacook, and for fortifying the garrison at Wataanuck in the county of Middlesex-Resolved, that a convenient house next adjoining thereto, such as his excellency shall direct, be fitted up and fortified for that purpose with hewn timber and a suitable garrison posted there for the defence thereof ; the fortification not to exceed forty feet square."
" This was probably the old fort, or 'Queen's Garrison,'# as it was called, which stood about sixty rods easterly of Main street in Nashua, and about as far northerly of Salmon brook, near a cluster of oaks on the premises now owned by Elbridge G. Reed. Some traces of the fort were to be seen until within a few years. Here a small garrison was posted, as appears by the following return to the governor and council, dated Dec. 25, 1702, which contains the list of the soldiers then at the garrison. §
"William Tyng, lieutenant ; John Bowers, sergeant; Joseph Butterfield, drummer; John Spalding, John Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Ebenezer Spalding, Daniel Galusha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French, Thomas Lund.
"JONATHAN TYNG, Lt .- Colonel."
"In 1703 war was renewed between France and England. It lasted until 1713, and was called 'Queen Anne's War.' The Indians, as usual, took part with the French, and in August, 1703, a general attack was made upon all the frontier settlements. Terror and devastation reigned every- where. Within a few weeks more than two hundred whites were either killed or captured. The general assembly being sensibly affected by these massacres, offered a bounty of £40 for every Indian scalp. 'Captain Tyng was the first who embraced the tender. He went in the depth of winter, (1703-4,) to their headquarters, at (Pequawket,) and got five for which he received two hundred pounds. |
"He afterwards became a major, and it is said 'was a true lover of his country, and very often distinguished himself as a gentleman of good valor and conduct.'T The Indians did not forget the slaughter of their friends, or their national law of blood for blood, although its execution might be long delayed. In 1710 he was waylaid by them between Concord and Groton, and so severely wounded that he soon after died .**
"It was probably soon after the commencement of this war that the garrison of Robert Parris was surprised, and himself and family massacred. He lived in the southerly part of Nashua, on the Main road, on the farm which adjoined that of Rev. Mr. Weld on the north.it He was a large landed proprietor, and had been selectman and representative of the town. 'The Indians in one of their predatory excursions attacked his house, and killed him, his wife, and oldest daughter. Two small girls, who composed the rest of his family, ran down cellar, and crawled under an empty hogshead. The savages plundered the house, struck with their tomahawks upon the hogshead, but neglected to examine it, and departed leaving the house unburned, probably fearing that the flames would alarm
* This name, or rather Watananuck, was the one given by the Indians to the falls in the Merrimack near Taylor's falls bridge; to the little pond in Hudson about a mile easterly of these falls; to Salmon brook and Sandy pond ; and to the whole plain in which Nashua Village in Nashua now stands. It is the same word as Outanic.
+ Military Records, 1702, page 336.
# Queen Anne.
§ Mass. Military Records, 1702.
|| Penhallow. I N. H. Hist. Coll. 27. This was Capt. John Tyng, eldest son of Col. Jonathan Tyng of this town.
T Penhallow. I N. H. Hist. Coll. 60.
** Allen's Chelmsford, 35.
tt Proprietary Records of Dunstable.
279
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
the neighbors. The orphan girls were sent to Charlestown, Mass., and there brought up. One of them married a Richardson, and the other a Goffe, father of the celebrated Colonel Goffe, whose posterity are numerous in this vicinity .*
"In January, 1706, 'the trading house at Wataanuck in Dunstable, being now useless, they (the house of representatives,) were not willing to continue to support a garrison there. To which his excellency returned answer, that he made no further use thereof than as a convenient post for lodging some of the persons being under pay and at hand for the relief of Groton and the near parts upon an attack, and for scouting, and not as a fortress or garrison.' From this circumstance, at this time probably little danger was anticipated.
"In April, 1706, the sum of {10 was granted by the general assembly to Samuel Butterfield who had been 'taken captive by the Indians, cruelly treated, and stripped of all, having killed one of them, and knocked down two others, after they seized him.' No hint is given of the time or place of capture.
"After the date when Joe English was slain (July 27, 1706), we find no further mention of dam- age done by the Indians in Dunstable for several years, although many bloody attacks were made upon other neighboring and frontier towns. There were incursions, indeed, and alarms, for in March, 1710, it was 'voted and agreed upon by the inhabitants that the selectmen should take care in order to obtain some help and assistance from the country, by a petition to the general court.' This was done only in cases of great emergency. A company of 'snow men' were kept scouting, and ordered here for the protection of the settlement, under Colonel Tyng, and garrisons established at several places at which the settlers dwelt. The history of the frontiers until the close of Queen Anne's war in 1713, is but a series of attacks, burnings, captivities and massacres. 'From 1675 to 1714 it is estimated that Massachusetts and New Hampshire lost 6000 young men and male children, including those killed and those who were made captives without ever being recovered.'
"In November, 1711, the inhabitants still lived principally in garrison houses, where soldiers under the pay of the colony were stationed constantly for their defence. From a return of the number, location, and situation of these garrisons made to the general court at that time, it appears that there were seven garrisons, containing thirteen families and eighty-six persons, in this town. This perhaps did not include the whole number of families in town. If it did, the number had diminished more than one-half since 1680, so disastrous had been the effects of the long and bloody wars.
" The following is a list of the garrisons, number of families, number of male inhabitants in each garrison, number of soldiers stationed in each garrison, and the whole number of inhabitants in each garrison. 'The Queen's garrison' was probably Wataanuck at Salmon brook. i
Names of Garrisons.
Families.
No. of
Male Inhabitants.
No. of
Soldiers.
No. of
Total.
I
Col. (Jonathan) Tyng's,
1 I
6
8
2
Mr. Henry Farwell's,
3
3
2
28
3
Mr. (John) Cummings'
2
2
2
2I
4
Col. (Sam'1) Whiting's,
3
O
I
S
5
Mr. (Thomas) Lund's,
I
6
Queen's Garrison,
2
I
1
2I
7
Mr. (John) Sollendine's,
I
O
1
Total,
13
7
19
86
-
" It was probably some time during this war that Richard Hassell, a son of Joseph Hassell killed in 1691, was taken captive by Indians on Long hill in the south part of the town and carried to Canada.
* Parris is not improbably the same name as Pierce, since Jan. 8, 1702, we find recorded under marriage of Jane Pierce, alias Parris .- Town Records.
t Mass. Mili ary Records, 1711.
280
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
" Thus feeble and suffering had been the condition of the settlement for many years. Fear and desolation reigned everywhere. Compelled to dwell in garrisons, and to labor at the constant peril of life, how could the settlers thrive? Dunstable was scarcely more advanced in 1714 than it was in 1680, so disastrous had been the effects of the long and bloody wars. Many of the most useful inhabitants had been slain or taken captive, heads of families especially. Some had removed to places more secure from Indian depredation, and deserted all. Few, very few emigrated to what might well be termed 'the dark and bloody ground,' and it was no time for marriage feasts when the bridal procession might at every step become a funeral one, and the merry laugh be drowned by the rifle and the war whoop.
"The war on the part of the Indians," says Bancroft, "was one of ambushes and surprises. They never met the English in open field ; but always, even if eight fold in number, fled timorously before infantry. But they were secret as beasts of prey, skillful marksmen, and in part provided with fire- arms, fleet of foot, conversant with all the paths of the forest, patient of fatigue, and mad with a passion for rapine, vengeance and destruction ; retreating into swamps for their fastnesses, or hiding in the greenwood thickets, where the leaves muffled the eyes of the pursuer.
"By the rapidity of their descent they seemed omnipresent among the scattered villages, which they ravaged like a passing storm, and for years they kept all New England in a state of alarm and excitement. The exploring party was way-laid and cut off, and the mangled carcasses and disjointed limbs of the dead were hung upon the trees to terrify pursuers. The laborer in the field, the reapers as they went forth to the harvest, men as they went to mill, the shepherd's boy among the sheep, were shot down by skulking foes whose approach was invisible.
"Who can tell the heavy hours of woman? The mother if left alone in the house feared the tomahawk for herself and children. On the sudden attack the husband would fly with one child, the wife with another, and perhaps one only escape. The village cavalcade making its way to meeting on Sunday, in files on horseback, the farmer holding his bridle in one hand and a child in the other, his wife seated on a pillion behind him, it may be with a child in her lap as was the fashion in those days, could not proceed safely, but at the moment when least expected bullets would come whizzing by them, discharged with fatal aim from an ambuscade by the wayside .. The forest that protected the ambush of the Indians secured their retreat. They hung upon the skirts of the English villages 'like light- ning on the edge of the cloud.'"*
"'Did they surprise a garrison ? Quickly,' writes Mary Rowlandson of Lancaster, 'it was the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. Now the dreadful hour is come. Some in our house were fighting for their lives : others wallowing in blood : the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody heathen ready to knock us on the head if we stirred out. I took my children to go forth, but the Indians shot so thick that the bullets rattled against the house as if they had thrown a handful of stones. We had six stout dogs but not one of them would stir.'
"' The bullets flying thick, one went through my side, and through my poor child in my arms.' The brutalities of an Indian massacre followed. 'There remained nothing to me,' she continues being in captivity, 'but one poor wounded babe. Down I must sit in the snow with my sick child, the picture of death, in my lap. Not the least crumb of refreshing came within either of our mouths from Wednesday night till Saturday night, excepting only a little cold water. One Indian, and then a second, and then a third would come and tell me : Your master will quickly knock your child on the head. This was the comfort I had from them ; miserable comforters were they all."t
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