USA > New Hampshire > Sketches of the history of New-Hampshire, from its settlement in 1623, to 1833: comprising notices of the memorable events and interesting incidents of a period of two hundred and ten years > Part 6
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All the latter part of the season the country was agitated by apprehensions of a French invasion. The Marquis Nesmond sailed from France with a great force, expecting to be joined at Penobscot by an army from Canada and then to ravage the coast of New-England. It was feared that Portsmouth might be the first point of attack. But the delay of the fleet, which did not arrive on the coast of Newfoundland till late in autumn, rendered the whole design impracticable. The following winter was remarkable for intense cold and deep snows.
In the course of these events Lieut. Gov. Usher became more and more unpopular. He irritated the people by sus- pending from their seats in he Council some of the chief op- posers of the proprietary claim, among whom were Hinckes, Waldron, and Vaughan. Disappointed in his expectations
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52
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1697.
both of obtaining grants of the Assembly and of receiving the stipulated salary from Allen, he had solicited leave to re- sign. His opponents however had the address to get him superseded by procuring, without his suspecting their designs, the appointment of William Partridge as Lieut. Governor and Commander in Chief in Allen's absence. He was a na- tive of Portsmouth-distinguished for skill in naval architecture -a man of popular address-and had been largely engaged in trade. Early in 1697 he returned from England with his commission, containing a full revocation of Usher's authority ; but for some reason did not qualify himself to act in his of- fice, by taking the necessary oath, till almost a year after- wards. In the mean time, the suspended Councillors resumed their seats, and John Hinckes as President of the Council, officiated as Chief Magistrate till Partridge was duly quali- fied.
To be thus superseded was to Usher unexpected and mor- tifying. He made some efforts to retain his authority, and attempted to excite the people of Hampton to support him by force of arms; but the tide of public feeling ran strong against him, and he found it necessary to quit the Province .- President Hinckes and the Council issued a proclamation sta- ting the revocation of Usher's powers, and commanding all persons to submit to their authority. In answer to a complaint of these proceedings which he transmitted to England, the government there directed him to continue to act in his office, till Partridge should duly qualify himself. Bearing this com- munication, and also an official notice of the peace just con- cluded between France and England, he came to Portsmouth in December, to reassume the reins of government ; on which Partridge the very next day qualified himself in due form. and entered on the duties of the chief magistracy. Chagrin- ed and mortified, Usher returned to Boston.
The loss of the Rev. Mr. Moodey of Portsmouth, excited the general regret of the people. On the approach of his last sickness, he repaired for medical advice to Boston, where he died in 1697. Such was his eminence that he was once elected President of Harvard College, but modestly declined that important trust. Of his courageous resistance of Cran- field's arbitrary designs, an account has been given in a pre ceding page. His disposition was benevolent, and led him to embrace every opportunity of doing good. He had the good sense to oppose at the time of the Salem Witchcraf that torrent of delusion which swept away almost all others and exposed himself to no small obloquy, by his efforts to be
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1698.]
PERIOD III .- 1679-1698.
friend the unfortunate accused. A Mr. English, a merchant of Salem, and his wife were among the accused, and were imprisoned at Boston. The day before they were to be re- moved to Salem for trial, Mr. Moodey invited them to attend public worship, and preached from the text, " When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another." This was intended as a hint to them to make their escape. After ser- vice he visited them in prison, and warned them of their danger. By his advice and assistance, they escaped to New- York, furnished with letters of introduction to Col. Fletcher, Governor of that Province, by whom they were kindly en- tertained in his own house. After the phrenzy had subsided, they returned to Salem. But for. this kind interference of Mr. Moodey, they had probably fallen victims to the popular delusion.
Most welcome was the news of peace. The French Gov- mor- , and him trong ce,- n sta- og al plaint d, the office s com- st con- smouth which form, hagrin- ernor of Canada, in 1698, notified the Indians that he could no longer aid them in the war, and advised them to bury the hatchet. They had themselves suffered much from famine, sickness, and the sword ; and after some delay were induced to conclude at Portland, a treaty with the English, in which they engaged future peace and the restoration of the captives. Thus ended the first ten years' war, which had inflicted on the northern parts of New-England great evils. The lot of the unhappy captives was often wretched in the extreme .- Such aged, infirm or corpulent persons as could not travel in the pathless wilderness, were at once butchered on the spot ; crying infants, whom their mothers could not at once quiet, were dashed against a tree, or despatched with a toma- hawk. A married woman, taken at Durham, unable to nurse an infant child, born in the open air in a violent snow-storm, was doomed to see it thus destroyed. Those able to travel were compelled, though almost unclad and unfed, to traverse excited miry swamps, steep mountains, and almost interminable of his forests, through rivers and through snows. If they lived , where as once declined to reach Canada, the happiest allotment they could expect was to be sold to the French, to be detained as prisoners till ransomed by their friends. Truth however requires us to of Cran add that amid many barbarities, there were not wanting in- n a pre stances on the part both of Frenchmen and Indians, of kind- led him ness and humanity. Some of the younger captives became had the attached to savage life and voluntarily remained with the Fitcheraf: Indians-to the poignant grief of their relatives at home, to all others, whom such an event was little less distressing, than to have rts to be heard of their death.
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7.
PERIOD IV.
FROM THE CLOSE OF KING WILLIAM'S WAR IN 1698 TO THE TERMINATION OF QUEEN ANN'S WAR IN 1713.
After a delay of six years from the date of his appointment as Chief Magistrate of New-Hampshire, Gov. Allen came over for the first time from England to America in the summer of 1698. It being well known that his errand was the establish- ment of the proprietary claim he had derived by purchase from Mason, he met but a cold reception. The people with whom he had to deal were men both of hard hands and of independent spirits ; and spurned the idea of being considered as the mere tenantry of the soil they cultivated. They well knew that the Earl of Bellomont had received the appointment of Governor of New-York, Massachusetts, and New-Hampshire :- but it being uncertain when he would arrive, and undeniable that Allen's commission remained in force till the arrival of his successor, he assumed without opposition the administration of the government and retained it almost a year. By his au- thority, Usher resumed his place in the Council as Lieut. Gov- ernor, to the exclusion of Partridge. This measure gave great offence ; and was considered as illegal both by the Assembly and a majority of the Council, who regarded Partridge's com- mission as being still in force. Most of the old Counsellors refused to sit at the board with Usher, and the whole of Allen's short administration was little else than a scene of altercation His own temper was placable and yielding-but Usher's was otherwise, and his influence pushed on the Governor into measures, which, had he followed the bent of his own feelings he would not have attempted.
He was superseded the next year by the arrival of the Ear of Bellomont, a nobleman of accomplished manners and lib- eral principles, who was received by the people with great cordiality. From this time and onward through a period o: forty-two years, Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, though each Province had its own separate Lieutenant Governor
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55
PERIOD IV .- 1698-1713.
1700.]
Council, and Assembly of Representatives, and its own code of laws, were placed under the administration of the same Governor. The new Governor shewed himself friendly to the popular cause and reversed the former decision of Gov. Allen in favor of Usher, thereby restoring Partridge to the office of Lieut. Governor. By his authority the Counsellors whom Usher had suspended, resumed their seats at the board; and their associates who had retired from their places rather than sit with Usher, returned of course. Bellomont made but one visit, and that a short one, to New-Hampshire, on which occa- sion he received from the Assembly a liberal grant. On his return to Boston, he left the Lieut. Governor and Council, now constituted in accordance with the popular wishes, to manage the affairs of government.
In anticipation of the efforts expected soon to be made by the Proprietor, they availed themselves of the favorable opportunity to new-model the Courts, making John Hinckes Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and selecting the side Judges from among the decided opponents of the proprietary claim. This organization of the Judicial tribunals left to Allen but a faint prospect of succeed- ing in his views on the lands, unless by an appeal from the Courts here to the authorities in England.
After a short residence in Massachusetts, Bellomont returned to New-York where he soon after died, much regretted. His attention had been considerably directed to the suppression of the piracies, which at that time harrassed the commerce of the American coasts. In the course of his administration, the fa- mous Capt. Kidd and other pirates were taken, sent to England for trial, and executed. Almost down to this day credulous persons have imagined that these pirates buried large sums of money in the earth, and have had the folly to dig for concealed treasures which have never yet been found.
Prior to the Earl's death, Allen commenced a series of efforts to establish his proprietary claim which kept the Province in agitation for some years. The details are rather uninteresting. To give a connected view of the affair, we must anticipate dates and trace the progress of the controversy from 1700 to 1715. From the Provincial Courts he had little to hope, but looked for a favorable issue on an appeal to the King. On examining the records of the Superior Court, many leaves, supposed to contain the record of the judgments formerly given in Mason's favor, were missing-having probably been destroyed by design ; the consequence was that he was obliged to begin altogether anew. He brought a suit of ejectment in overno 1700 against Waldron of Dover, one of the largest landholders.
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56
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1701.
Judgment being given in Waldron's favor, the case was brought by appeal before the King. As the cause of Waldron was equally that of every other landholder, the Assembly appointed George Vaughan, a son of Maj. William Vaughan the chief op- ponent of Cranfield, to repair to England as their agent and Waldron's attorney. In the mean time King William died, and was succeeded by Queen Ann in 1702. When the appeal came before the Queen's Council there was some defect of proof on the part of Allen, which occasioned the judgment of the New-Hampshire Court in Waldron's favor to be affirmed : with permission however to Allen to begin anew by a writ of ejectment in the Courts here. He availed himself of this per- mission and judgment was again given against him. These perplexing disappointments, together with want of funds and the infirmities of age, inclined the Proprietor to make to the people overtures of accommodation. A Convention of Dep- uties from the different towns, holden at Portsmouth in 1705, agreed to propose to him, that on condition of quitclaiming to the inhabitants and their heirs all the lands within the limits of the townships then settled, they would admit his claim to all the remaining parts of the Province, allot him tracts in the settled towns to the amount of 5000 acres, and pay him a con- siderable sum of money. Probably Allen would have accepted these proposals, had not his death prevented an issue so desi- rable. Though his proprietary claim made him obnoxious to the people, it should not be forgotten that his character as a merchant was honorable, his private deportment amiable, and his christian profession well supported. His son Thomas Al- len renewed the suit, but unsuccessfully : on which he appealed to the Queen in 1707. The distresses of the war then raging induced the English government to delay an hearing on the appeal for some years, till at length the death of Allen termi- nated the suit, and the inhabitants of the Province were reliev- ed from the fear of disturbance in the possession of their lands.
Glad to dismiss this almost interminable controversy, we return to chronological order. A society of the people called Quakers or Friends was formed at Seabrook, then a part of Hampton, in 1701. For some years before, a few individuals of this denomination had been found in the Province; but this was the first regular society. At the present day the number of their societies is almost twenty. As is well known, the unlawfulness of war in all cases whatever is one of the tenets of this respectable denomination ; and so far as the re- sults, in the case of the Quakers, Moravians, and some other
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57
PERIOD IV .- 1698-1713.
1703.]
denominations of kindred views, have become matters of his- tory, they go to prove that pacific principles serve rather to protect from wrong than to invite aggression ; and that of course they may be safely adopted, and the final issue left with confidence at the disposal of the Supreme Ruler of the world.
Joseph Dudley, Esquire, who had formerly occupied the chair a short time, was appointed in 1702 Governor of Mas- sachusetts and New-Hampshire. As he was favorably disposed to the interests of the people in relation to the proprietary claim, the appointment was acceptable, and the Assembly granted him a permanent salary. The next year Uslier ob- tained a second commission constituting him Lieut. Gov- ernor of New-Hampshire, much to the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants. It is a fact not a little singular that this man, who had been twice superseded by Partridge, should now in his turn a second time supersede his rival. The latter, on his final retirement from public life, removed from the Province and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits at Newbury .- The population of New-Hampshire had increased at this tine to 10,000 ; the number of towns was six; of Congrega- tional Churches, five.
To an historian who believes that war in all cases, that of in- evitable self-defence excepted, is repugnant to the example and precepts of Jesus Christ, it must be painful to record its scenes of guilt and devastation. Better were it to commit lis manu- script to the flames, than send to the press what would serve to excite a military feeling not under the control of conscience and religion. That wars of aggression ; of plunder ; of revenge; of false honor ; and of military glory, are anti-christian, is an unquestionable truth :- and it is equally certain that in all wars the guilt of complicated murder must attach, if not to both, at least to one of the parties. Viewed however as events which the Ruler of the Universe has permitted to exist, the events of war belong to history ; and without doubt there is a mode of exhibiting them, free from any tendency to excite military passion or malevolent feeling. By the Author who regards as he ought the moral influence of what he writes, this mode must be considered as a great desideratum.
In 1703 began the second ten years' war with the French and Indians, called Queen Ann's War. The French King having proclaimed the Pretender as King of Great Britain, a declaration of war followed on the part of England. As soon as intelligence of this event reached this country, it was fore- seen that the French would excite the Indians to resume the
ted op- and ed, peal t of t of ed : t of per- hese and the Dep- 1705, ng to imits n to n the con- epted desi- ous to as a e, and is Al pealed raging on the termi- reliev f their
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58
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1704.
hatchet. Desirous of keeping them quiet if possible, Gov. Dudley visited Maine and invited them to a conference at Portland ; where their Chiefs assured him that " as high as the Sun above the Earth, so far distant was their design of breaking the peace." But their professions were insincere : it was after- wards discovered that had they been in sufficient force, they would have seized the Governor on the spot. In the course of a few weeks, they attacked at the instigation of French agents all the settlements from Portland to Wells, and killed and captivated 130 persons.
This wide spread devastation filled the people of New- Hampshire with alarm, and soon were their fears of an assault realized in the butchery of several persons in Hampton. The Penacooks and Pequawkets joined with the eastern tribes in the war. Women and children took refuge in the fortified houses, and the men went armed to public worship and to their labors in the fields. Scouting parties penetrated to Ossi- pee lake and the head waters of the Saco, but the enemy eluded an attack. An expedition undertaken in the winter and led by Col. Winthrop Hilton of Exeter, a gallant officer, and a grandson of Edward Hilton, was equally unsuccessful.
In the destruction of Deerfield, Ms. at the opening of the next year, the enemy struck a blow which excited general consternation. The ensuing summer was however less disas- trous to New-Hampshire than the people had forebo- ded; though lurking parties of Indians infested the woods and occasionally killed a few individuals. A design formed by the French to intercept the vessels which brought supplies of bread stuffs from the South to the harbor of Pas- cataqua, was happily frustrated by the stranding on the shore of Cape Cod, of the armed vessel they had fitted out for this purpose. A body of men under Col. Hilton, joined by a large body from Massachusetts, the whole commanded by Col Church, spent the summer in an expedition to the Eastward killing and taking prisoners several of the enemy at Penob scot, and destroying some French settlements in Nova Scotia then called Acadia. In the western part of the Province war performed an exploit worthy of a memorial. Some Indians after the massacre at Deerfield went up the Connecticut river and established themselves in the fishing season at Coawsuck or Coos, probably not far from Haverhill. This being repor. ted at Northhampton, Ms. Lieut. Lyman with five friendly Indians went nine days march into the wilderness, discovered their encampment in which were ten savages, and killed nine
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59
PERIOD IV .- 1698-1713.
1706.]
of them in a sudden attack made in a thunderstorm in the dead of the night.
Early in 1705, the snow being four feet deep and the whole country exhibiting a n aspect of desolation, Col. Hilton led 270 men on snowshoes to Norridgewalk to attack the enemy in their winter quarters ; but they discovered the design in sea- son to effect their escape. The capture of a large storeship from France, having on board several persons of distinction and valuable supplies destined to Canada, so disabled, the French there, that they could undertake no enterprise of con- sequence, and the frontiers were tolerably quiet all the season. So numerous however were the French privateers on the coasts, that a line of nighly patrols was established from Ports- mouth to Hampton to prevent a surprisal by parties landing in the niglit.
The next year the Indians exhibited more vigor. A small party attacked a house in Durham in which were only a few females, the men being absent. Determined not to fall into the hands of the barbarians-these heroines, putting on their husbands' hats and assuming the appearance of men, kept up so smart a fire that the assailants fled. The unhappy family of John Wheeler, consisting of himself, wife, and six child- ren, met them on their retreat and at first mistook them for friendly Indians ; four of the number were killed-the others led and found concealment and safety in a cave. In July a considerable body of western Indians came to Wells' garrison n Dunstable, in which were twenty soldiers. Unaware of mpending danger they had neglected keeping a watch; the esult of their negligence was that the enemy entered the fort y surprise, and killed half the men in it. Still thirsting for lood, they attacked another house not far distant, where they lew several persons. The unhappy fate of Joe English, a agacious and friendly Indian, distinguished by this name for is uniform attachment to the white people, and for this very eason obnoxious to the hostile Indians, deserves to be re- nembered. Going to accompany two persons from Dunsta- le to Chelmsford, he was waylaid and shot down, much to he gratification of the savages, who had long been seeking is death. He often resided within the present limits of New- Boston, near a lofty and precipitous hill which has ever since orne his name. Having finished their destructive operations 1 the vicinity of Dunstable, the same party of savages went astward, and at Exeter surprised ten men mowing in a field, illing, wounding, or captivating eight of the number. They ext entered Dover. An eccentric man in this town, named
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60
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1708.
Pearl, had lived three years, day and night, summer and win- ter, in a cave almost in the very path by which the Indians used to approach. Often had he been admonished of his danger : but refusing to seek other quarters, he was discover- ed and killed in his sequestered abode,
Col. Hilton conducted a winter expedition to the eastward in January, 1707, of which the results were of some impor- tance. Having surprised a small party of Indians at Scarbo- rough, he despatched four of the number. A squaw who fell into his hands as a prisoner, was induced to conduct him to a larger party of eighteen, lying fast asleep in a place of fancied security, of whom he killed seventeen on the spot. The hopes inspired by this success were however damped by the unfortunate issue of a subsequent expedition to Port Roy- al, the capital of the French settlements in Nova Scotia, and the centre of their influence over the eastern Indians. New- Hampshire united with the adjacent colonies in raising a con- siderable army for the reduction of this place, and an im- portant command was assigned to Col. Hilton, her fa- vorite son. The forces reached the place under the con- voy of two men of war ; but dissentions between the military and naval officers rendered the plan abortive, and the troops returned late in the summer, sickly and disheartened.
Among the officers engaged in the Port Royal Expedition none was more distinguished for bravery and enterprise thar Capt. Chesley of Durham. The tragical fate which awaited him on his return deprived the Province of a man, whom, il her miserably feeble state, it was a serious calamity to lose He was one of a party who went into the woods with thei teams for some timber, and while engaged in work were sur prised by Indians, painted with a blood color, who at the firs fire killed seven men. Chesley with the few survivors mad a gallant defence, but at length himself fell, deeply lamented
Much alarm was excited the next year by the report of powerful army to be sent from Canada to lay waste the Eng lish settlements. A considerable force was indeed sent on a incursion into New-England, but they found the frontiers c New-Hampshire so well guarded, that they directed thei march to Haverhill, Mass., where they slew many of the ir habitants, together with the Rev. Mr. Rolfe, Minister of th town, and burnt most of the buildings. Two daughters and maid-servant of Mr. Rolfe fled into the cellar, and under th shelter of large tubs happily found concealment. The re mainder of this year and all the next passed away without se rious disaster ; the people were however confined to the garr.
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