USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Bristol > History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 4
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Yet in this northern land Amid these mountains grand, I know no spot more beautiful, more b ight; No spot more fit to keep The dead in their long sleep 'Till Resurrection morn shall banish night.1
Cross's hill affords a pleasing view of Newfound valley and Bristol village, and a favorable prospect of the Sugar hill range. The mountain view to the north is similar to that from Gale's hill. Until a few years ago this summit afforded an extensive view of Newfound lake, but the foliage now excludes a great part of the prospect.
Every county in New Hampshire, except Cheshire, can be seen from Bristol territory. Of the mountains visible, which lie beyond the limits of the town, we append a list of those which reach an altitude of 2,000 feet, and a few neighboring summits of less than 2,000 feet, with their distance from Bristol village and their location. In the list of altitudes, A signifies measure- ments by the Appalachian club; C, by the United States coast survey ; H, by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, of the recent state geolog- ical survey ; J, by Dr. C. T. Jackson, of the early state geological survey ; G, by Prof. Arnold Guyot, of Princeton; and B, baro- metrical.
NAME
ALTITUDE
DISTANCE
LOCATION
Bald Head
B
2,200
14
Groton
Bald Knob
C
2,391
25
Sandwich
Bear
B
1,846
6
Hebron
Beech hill
H
1,300
IO
New Hampton
Belknap
J
2,062
18
Gilford
Black
B
2,900
34
Livermore
Black Snout
H J
2,36I
24
Tamworth
Bond
H
4,800
43
Livermore
Bridgewater Peak
H
1,700
4
Bridgewater
Burleigh
H
1,700
3
New Hampton
Campton
H
2,879
22
Campton
Cannon (or Profile)
G H
3,850
39
Franconia
Cardigan :
Baldface
C
3,156
IO
Orange
Firescrew
B
3,060
IO
Orange
I Fred Lewis Pattee.
VIEW FROM BURNS'S HILL (Sanbornton Mountain in the distance)
SCENERY
NAME
ALTITUDE
DISTANCE
LOCATION
Carr
GH
3,522
22
Warren
Carrigain
GH
4,678
37
Livermore
Chocorua
GH
3,540
33
Albany
Clement's hill
H
1,300
6
Bridgewater
Copple Crown
H
2,100
33
Brookfield
Crosby
B
1,600
9
Hebron
Crotched
c
2,066
42
Francestown
Cube
C
2,927
27
Orford
Eagle Cliff
H
3,446
40
Franconia.
Fisher
C
3,470
26
Waterville
Flat
B
2,700
27
Sandwich
Flume
A
4,340
36
Lincoln
Forbes
B
2,200
8
Orange
Green hills
H
2,390
46
Conway
Gunstock
CA
2,394
18
Gilford
Guyot
A
4,589
43
Livermore
Hancock
HA
4,420
37
Livermore
Israel
H
2,880
22
Sandwich
Kancamagus
A
3,774
33
Livermore
Kearsarge
H
2,943
Kimball hill
R
2,200
13
Groton
Kinsman (Blue)
GHA
4,370
36
Lincoln
Lafayette
C
5,259
39
Franconia
Lincoln
HG
5,IOI
39
Franconia
Lovell
C
2,487
32
Washington
Melvin hill
C
2,134
I4
Springfield
Moosilauke
CA
4,811
32
Benton
Osceola
HG
4,400
32
Livermore
Pack Monadnock
C
2,289
53
Peterboro
Passaconaway
H
4,200
32
Waterville
Paugus
A
3,248
32
Albany
Pine
B
2,100
5
Alexandria
Pinnacle hill
H
1,500
5
New Hampton
Plymouth
H
1,900
Plymouth
Ragged
C
2,256
9
Wilmot
Red hill (n. pk.)
CH
2,038
I'9
Moultonboro
Sanbornton
H
2,300
2
Sanbornton
Sandwich Dome (or Black) Scar Ridge
A
3,816
33
Livermore
Shaw
C
2,956
24
Moultonboro
Smart's
H
2,500
21
Lyme
Squam (Morgan)
H
2,162
I7
Campton
Stinson
CH
2,707
18
Rumney
Sunapee
C
2,683
26
Newbury
Tecumseh
A
4,008
27
Waterville
Tenney hill
B
1,900
9
Hebron
Twin (s. pk.)
HA
4,922
44
Franconia
Wade's hill
H
1,650
8
Hebron
Washington
CH
6,293
52
unincorporated
Welch
H
3,500
26
Thornton
Whiteface
4,007
30
Albany
Wonalancet
B
2,000
31
Albany
H
3,999
25
Sandwich
16
Warner
I7
2
CHAPTER III
THE ABORIGINES AND THE FIRST WHITE MEN WHO VISITED THIS SECTION
'Tis good to muse on nations passed away Forever from the land we call our own. -Eastburn.
Previous to the settlement of New Hampshire by the English the Indians roamed at will over every portion of the state. Their homes or wigwams were chiefly along the rivers and on the shores of the lakes. The Indians were not, however, so numerous that they did not find ample ground for the planting of corn, pumpkins, and beans, and such other products of the soil as they cultivated, in close proximity to the fishing afforded by the waters of the state.
That the Indians were as numerous within the limits of the old town of New Chester as in the state at large there are many reasons to believe. Indian arrow-heads, spear-heads, stone axes, gouges, pestles, and other stone implements and weapons, have been found on the shores of Newfound lake and on the borders of Newfound, Smith's, and Pemigewasset rivers. On the east side of the last named stream, near the old Moses Favor house, is an Indian burying-ground. Numerous fireplaces are still found, indicating the permanent abiding places of these people at least for one winter. These fireplaces are shown by stones protruding from the ground in a circle four or five feet in diameter. The accumulated earth being removed from within this circle, flat rocks are invariably found on which are ashes and charcoal made by the fires of the Indian wigwam more than one hundred and fifty years ago. The author has opened several of these fireplaces in this vicinity, always near some body of water, and gathered charcoal therefrom. On the west shore of the lake he discovered, in 1901, a veritable workshop, where, perhaps for many years, Indian squaws made stone and flint arrow-heads and other implements. Here within a space of one square rod he found several hundred flint chips and imperfect and broken arrow-heads, evidently spoiled in the making, and fragments of pottery. All these things attest the large number of Indians that once made their homes in this vicinity.
19
THE ABORIGINES AND EARLY EXPEDITIONS
The Indians of New Hampshire were a part of the great Algonquin race. Those in the interior of the state were called Nipmucks, meaning fresh water Indians, in distinction from those who lived on the seacoast. The Nipmucks were divided into numerous tribes that took their names from the locality in which they lived. Thus the Indians of the Pemigewasset valley were called the Pemigewassets; other tribes were called the Pennacooks, the Amoskeags, the Nashuas, the Squamscotts, the Ossipees, the Winnepissaukies, and the Winnecowetts. The early settlers regarded all the Indians of New Hampshire as the Pennacooks. Chandler E. Potter, in his admirable History of Manchester, accounts for this from the fact that Passaconaway, the chief of the Pennacooks, was a man of great power and virtually held all the tribes of the state under his sway. Passa- conaway was at the height of his power when New England was first settled, and the tribes from the northern part of Massachu- setts to the source of the Connecticut river were completely subservient to his will. It was Passaconaway who sold to Rev. John Wheelright the tract of land extending from the Piscataqua river to the Merrimack, and from the Massachusetts line thirty miles north. This deed was signed May 17, 1629, by him and three chiefs of his subordinate tribes. Passaconaway's rule extended to the time of his death, which occurred shortly prior to 1669. He was succeeded by Wonalancet, one of his four sons, who continued the sway of his father till 1685. Wonalancet was succeeded by Kancamagus, son of Nanamocomuch and grandson of Passaconaway.
From the time of the earliest settlements on the coast, wars between the white men and the Indians were frequent. For wrongs at the hands of the white men, the Indians slaughtered men, women, and children, and marked their paths with the blackened ruins of the homes of the settlers. In turn the whites made incursions into the Indian country and, with torch and bullet, reduced their numbers and drove them from the homes and the lands of their fathers.
The first whites to visit this section were, doubtless, the captives of Indians. The Pemigewasset river was the natural highway for the Indians in their intercourse between the northern part of the state and the coast. One trail extended through the Franconia Notch to Plymouth; another from the Cohos country up the Oliverian and down Baker's river to Plymouth, where the two united. From there south the journey was made chiefly by canoes as far as the head of Fellows's falls in Bristol, where commenced the "long carrying place." At that point boats were taken from the river and carried to the foot of Bristol falls. The carry did not follow the long bend in the river between these points, but took a direct course from the head of the falls to the Blake brook, east of White's hill in New
20
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
Hampton, thence down the valley of the brook to its mouth at the Pemigewasset river, where the canoes were again launched. This carry was known as the "long carrying place," because it was the longest on the river. The Bristol side of the river, opposite the mouth of Blake's brook, is the scene of a once favorite camping place for both the whites and Indians. From this point south, the Indian route followed the river.
After settlements had been made in Massachusetts and the southern part of New Hampshire, many a war party passed southward over this route, wreaked its vengeance upon the whites, and returned with women and children, and sometimes men, as captives. It was over this route that the captors of Hannah Dustin were traveling in 1697; and, but for her heroism in despatching her captors on the island at the mouth of the Contoocook river, she would doubtless have passed the following night at the foot of the "long carrying place."
During Queen Anne's war, 1703-12, Massachusetts offered a bounty of forty pounds for each Indian scalp secured. This large bounty stimulated many expeditions against the Indians in the wilderness. Col. Tyng, of Chelmsford, Mass., in the winter of 1703-4, went with a company of rangers on snowshoes to the "headquarters of the Indians among the mountains of New Hampshire," securing five scalps. Col. Winthrop Hilton, with five companies, went to the head of the Pemigewasset valley ; after him went Capt. Wright, Col. Walton, and many others. One party surprised and killed eight Indians without the loss of a man. It is probable that several of these expeditions passed over Bristol soil and encamped at the foot of the "long carrying place."
The first military expedition, of which we have positive knowledge as having pressed Bristol soil, was that of Capt. Thomas Baker. In 1709, Capt. Baker, as a captive, had passed up the Connecticut river from his home in Northampton, Mass., to Canada. After his liberation he organized, in 1712, a company for operations against the Indians. With thirty-four men and a friendly Indian as guide he scouted up the Connecticut as far as Haverhill. Thence he proceeded up the Oliverian brook and down the Asquamchumauke, now called Baker's river, to Plymouth. At the mouth of the last named stream he discovered an Indian encampment, and immediately made an attack. Many of the Indians were killed, and the survivors dispersed. Capt. Baker's party then searched for plunder, and found a large quantity of beaver skins in holes which the Indians had made in a bank. Each man took as many of these as he could carry, and the party at once commenced a march home- ward down the valley of the Pemigewasset. While this was going on the Indians were calling in their hunters and preparing for pursuit. When Capt. Baker had reached a "poplar plain,"
2I
THE ABORIGINES AND EARLY EXPEDITIONS
just south of where now stand the farmhouses on the Walter R. Webster farm in Bridgewater, the Indians, under the leadership of Waternomee, chief of the Pemigewassets, overtook him, and a fight promptly ensued. It is said that Capt. Baker and the chief each fired at the other at the same moment. The bullet from Waternomee's musket grazed the cheek of Capt. Baker as the Indian chief fell dead. The Indians were repulsed, but, fearing a renewal of the conflict with still larger numbers, Capt. Baker and his men made a forced march down the stream till they reached the foot of the "long carrying place." Having crossed the Pemigewasset, they rested on Bristol soil, the men declaring they could go no farther. Here the sagacity of the Indian guide was seen. He directed that every man make several fires and that each use two or three forked sticks in broiling his pork, and leave them beside the fires, as the Indians would count the sticks to ascertain the number in the party. This was done, and the Indians, concluding the party too large for them to attack, gave up the pursuit. For their services in this expedition, Capt. Baker and his men were rewarded by the Massachusetts legislature.
This Indian chief, Waternomee, was first mentioned in English history in connection with the massacre at Andover, Mass., in 1689, when five persons were killed. He was present with thirty or forty of the Pemigewassets, and saved the lives of a family who were his friends. He was also present the same year at the fearful slaughter at Cocheco, when fifty-two persons were killed or captured and six houses destroyed ; but the part he took in this massacre is not known. He was an active par- ticipant in the scenes of Queen Anne's war.
In 1724, Capt. John Lovewell was authorized by the Massa- chusetts legislature to raise a company of men to "range and keep out in the woods in order to kill and destroy the enemy Indians." He was to receive a bounty of one hundred pounds for each scalp secured. With thirty men, he went up the Pemi- gewasset valley. In Campton they surprised a man and a boy in a wigwam. They killed the man and took his scalp, but carried the boy to Boston as a captive. In January, 1725, Capt. Lovewell marched over the same ground again with a larger party. At the mouth of Squam river they turned aside to "Casumpe pond," where they killed a black moose. Here, too, they struck the trail of a party of ten Indians. They hastily pursued and overtook the savages, whom they found sleeping at night in a camp near a frozen pond in what is now Wakefield. They killed every man, took their scalps, stretched them on poles and carried them in triumph to Boston, and were paid $5,000 for their valor. Capt. Lovewell met his death only a few months later in a fight with the savages at Fryeburg, Me., when he and twelve of his men were killed and twenty-two wounded.
2a
...
22
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
Capt. Eleazer Tyng ascended the Merrimack river in April, 1725, transporting his provisions by canoes. It is said that he "carried by" the rapids at Franklin and "toted" round the "Sawhegenit falls," as he called the falls at Bristol. This would indicate that he "toted" over the "long carrying place." Farther up the stream he sent a scout up the "Sowheig" river to its source in the "Casumpe" pond. He went as far as North Woodstock, but found no Indians, The same season Capt. Samuel Willard scouted through this section to the "source of the Merrimack in the great Pemigewasset woods."
In 1725, Capt. John White visited Bristol territory. He started Apr. 5, from his home in Lancaster, Mass., for a scout in the North country. The following is his Journal complete :
CAPT. WHITE'S JOURNAL, MAY, 1725
A true jurrnal of my travels began the
5th of April 1725 We traveled to Groton 12 milds and there stayed by reason of foul wether
6 day We travelled to dunstable ' and there lay that night
7 day we lay stil by reason of foul wether
8 day we mustered and went over the river to the house of John Talars about 3 milds
9 day we marched up the river about 8 milds and then campt one of our men being taken very sick for he could travel no farther his name was Thomas Simson and doctor Joseph Whetcomb that night set his fut into a ketel of biling broth that so he could travel no farther
Io day was foul wether & we sent 2 men into dunstable with the sick and lame men and returned that night to us again
II day we travelled about 13 milds & then Campt, about 3 milds above Amuskeag falls. 2
12 day we travelled II milds and then Campt at the mouth of Pene- kook river 3
13 day we travelled 7 milds and then Campt at the irish fort in Pene- kook Entrevals, 4 that day it rayned very hard all day
14 day we travelled 10 milds and then crost Meremock River above the mouth of Contockock river and then Campt
15 day we traveled 8 milds north west from Contockock to a little streame that runs into Meremock River about 3 milds westward from Meremock and then Campt and sent out Skouts
16 day we travelled 12 milds and came to a pond which was very long and we turned to the East sid of it and then Campt and sent out skouts That day we lay about 8 milds westward of the mouth of Winepisseocket 17 day it rained very hard the fore part of the day and a little before night it cleared up and sent skouts but found nothing.
18 day we travelled 14 milds and that day we crost two great streams 5 that runs into Meremock one of them comes out of a great pond 6 which some indens say it is 3 days journey round it The land is very full of great hils and mountains and very rocky Abundance of sprus and hemlock and far and some brch and mapols and we Campt 7
* Nashua.
2 Scouts speak of a cold spring three miles above Amoskeag falls 3 Suncook river. 4 Concord. where they were accustomed to camp.
5 Smith's and Newfound rivers. 6 Newfound lake.
7 This party crossed Newfound river and followed the west bank of the Pemigewasset.
23
THE ABORIGINES AND EARLY EXPEDITIONS
19 day we travelled II milds and then Campt at the lower end of pemichewaset lower entrevals and sent out skouts
20 day we lay stil by reason of foul wether and towards nit it cleared up and we sent out skouts and we found where Cornel Tyng crost the Meremock
21 day we travelled 12 milds up pemichewashet River 1 and found old sins of Indans and we sent out skouts that night and found one new track 2 and we lay that night by the river and made new Camps. The land that lyes by this river is very rich and good. The uplands were full of hills and mountains very bad travelling
22 day we traveled 2 milds and then sent out skouts over the river and up a stream 3 that runs into the river but found nothen
23 day we traveled up the river about 14 milds and that day we crost 3 stremes 4 that rune into the river this river comes steaply from the north west and then we campt
24 day we traveled Io milds westward and that day we found old signs of Indens 5 where they had been this Spring and in the Winter and sent out skouts but cold find no Indens. This day Samll moosman actidently kild himself with his own gun 6
25 day it rained very hard and we lay still that day till a most night it cleared up and we sent out skouts but found northin
26 day we traveled 18 milds and came upon Conetecut river one of our men was taken vere sick that night we campt by the river
27 day we traveled down the river and found a bark cannow which was a great Sarvice to our sick man and to us that day We traveled about 18 milds and then Campt
28 day we traveled 19 milds and then campt. This river runs cheafly upon a south westerly pint. this day we crost serval litel streams that runs into Coneticut river
29 day we traveled 20 milds and then Campt
30 day we traveled 17 milds and crost one litel river7 below the great falls & and then Campt
May the first. we traveled 24 milds and came to the fort above Northfield and there lay all night
2 day we traveled 10 milds and came to Northfield and there staid that night
3 day we lay still it lookt very likely for foul wether and we lay there that night
4 day we set out for Lancaster across the woods and traveled about 12 milds and then Campt
5 day we traveled 15 milds and then campt
6 day we traveled 14 milds and came into Lancaster about 4 o'clock This day it rained very hard all day
Capt. John Goffe, of Amoskeag, was a great Indian hunter. In January, 1746, with a company of men he scouted for Indians and passed several months in the woods of the Pemigewasset valley and adjacent territory. In May of the same year, after
I Now called Baker river; other names of this river given by early travelers were "The west branch of the Merrimack river," "Remithe- waset," "Pemogewaset west branch " "Hastings Brook," and " Asquam- chumauke."
2 This was in Rumney. 3 Stinson Brook.
4 Hall Brook, South Branch and Pond Brook.
5 In Warren or the north part of Wentworth.
6 The place of the accident must have been in Warren, for the west line of that town is less than ten miles from the Connecticut river. 7 Cold river. Bellows Falls.
24
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
two men had been killed at Contoocook, he started with fifty men "to visit the Pemagewasset, Winipesseokee and the Great Camping Places in the adjacent Country." The next April the Indians carried off seven persons from Hopkinton; and again Capt. Goffe was off at the head of a party for the woods of the north country, hoping to intercept the savages.
The large returns from hunting and trapping induced many of the young men in the spring of the year to visit localities far from the settlements, notwithstanding the great danger from Indians. : In the spring of 1752, John Stark, afterward general; his brother, William, from Derrytown, now Manchester; Amos Eastman, of Penacook; and David Stinson, of Londonderry, were hunting in Rumney. They had collected furs to the value of five hundred and fifty pounds, when they discovered that Indians were near, and at once commenced to take up their traps. While thus engaged the Indians killed Stinson. John Stark and Eastman were carried captives to Canada, and William Stark escaped by flight to Boscawen. A party from Boscawen at once proceeded to Rumney, where the body of Stinson was found, stripped, and scalped. John Stark and Eastman returned a few months later, giving a glowing account of the country they had seen in the upper portion of the state.
In 1751 and '52, steps were taken looking to the settlement of what is now Haverhill and the west bank of the Connecticut, opposite. The plan was to establish here two strong forts and to enlist for each, 200 men who should become settlers as well as soldiers, and thus prevent the incursions of the Indians from the north by this route. Two roads were to be opened from the south, one along the Connecticut river and the other up the valley of the Merrimack. A committee to survey the last named route consisted of Zaccheus Lovewell, of Dunstable, Maj. John Tolford of Chester, and Caleb Page, of Starktown. They had a party of sixteen men. Half of these carried muskets; the other half were ax men, cooks, and common laborers. Each man was provided with snowshoes, and a blanket, and provisions were taken for twenty-five days. It was decided to "pursue the track of the Indians as they come down the great valley to Baker's river and the Pemigewasset and return again with their prisoners." The party left Concord March 10, 1753. John Stark, who had passed through this country the year before as a prisoner, was guide. The snow was then three feet deep, but they pressed on undaunted. The cooks and assistants pressed forward in the morning to the next night's camping ground, prepared camp and had fires and food ready for the surveying party when it had completed its day's work. This party, like many of the others named, evidently passed through Bristol. When they reached what is now Wentworth they killed a moose. In fifteen days they blazed a path to the Coos meadows at
25
THE ABORIGINES AND EARLY EXPEDITIONS
Haverhill. They occupied six days in returning; and the party was disbanded at Amoskeag March 31.
This committee reported that they had "been upon the spot and searched out a convenient way where a road might be cut & Bridged without any uncommon charge or Difficulty, commencing at the Crotch of Merrimack river, where the rivers of Pemidgewasset & Winnipiseocce meet & Ending about Ten miles below the head of S'd Tract of Land, called Co : os." One account says that this party went up the west side of the Pemigewasset, avoiding the "long carrying place"; and if so they must have passed through what is now Bristol village.
The Indians had divined the purpose of the white men to occupy the Coos country; and a delegation appeared at Charles- town and threatened war so loudly that the project was abandoned. No settlement, therefore, was made at Haverhill till the power of the French and Indians was destroyed by the conquest of Canada in 1760, and forts were no longer needed at this point.
The Major Tolford, spoken of as one of the committee, was one of the men who were the following fall granted the large tract of land along the Pemigewasset called New Chester. He was one of the largest stockholders, owning sixteen lots. What he saw on this trip probably influenced him in investing in this territory; and it is very probable that his flattering report of the fine land here had a large influence in causing the tide of emigration from Chester and Sandown to this region, which occurred later.
The next season another expedition was sent to explore the northern country. Capt. Peter Powers, of Hollis, and Lieut. James Stevens and Ensign Ephraim Hale, of Townsend, Mass., were the officers. They rendezvoused at Concord and started north Saturday, June 15, 1754. The following extracts are from Capt. Powers' journal :
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