USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > The history of Concord : from its first grant in 1725, to the organization of the city government in 1853, with a history of the ancient Penacooks ; the whole interspersed with numerous interesting incidents and anecdotes, down to the present period, 1885 > Part 20
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Having received particular instructions and orders from Major Rogers, as to the route, they took the despatches, and also nu- merous letters from officers at Crown Point to their friends in Quebec, and first proceeded under a convoy to Missisqui Bay. Thence they were to travel on foot to Quebec, taking the route by St. Francis, which the rangers under Rogers had travelled the year before. In relating the incidents of this journey, as Mr. Shute often did, in after life,; he says :
With these instructions, they left the Bay, and proceeding many days through wet, marshy grounds, where they could scarcely find a dry spot to encamp upon at night, they reached the St. Francis one Sunday morning, striking the river just above a rapid. They now consulted whether it was better for them to disobey orders, and cross immediately, or to wait until night. They came to a conclusion that
* Tradition by Jonathan Eastman, Esq. For further notice of Stilson Eastman, see Bio- graphical Chapter.
t This account was taken down form Mr. Shute's lips, by Samuel A. Kimball, Esq., about the year 1820.
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they were far enough from the army to be their own masters, and determined to eross the river as soon as possible. For this purpose, they collected a quantity of driftwood and constructed two rafts, at some distance above the falls, in order that two of the party might first cross, and if they found no cause of alarm, notify the others to follow with the letters. By casting lots, it fell upon Shute and Eastman to eross first, who immediately pushed off ; but as they had no better instruments than poles with which to work the raft, the current proving stronger than they expected, carried them some distance down stream, and they saved themselves by leaping upon a rock, just at the head of the falls, against the point of which their raft struck. They saved their guns and knapsacks, with all their provisions and ammunition.
After reconnoitering, and finding no traces of the enemy, they called to the others to come over, warning them to attempt the passage higher up the stream ; but, not sufficiently regarding this caution, their raft was suffered to enter the current, where it soon became unmanageable. Finding that they must go over the falls, they threw down their poles and eried for merey. Shute and Eastman told them to throw off their clothes and sit down, which they did ; and the raft went down the rapids. From a tree which overlooked the stream, Shute and his companion watched their descent, as they alternately appeared and disappeared, passing through a rapid of nearly an eighth of a mile in extent. They then ran down to the foot of the fall, when they found Beverly climbing up the bank, and Goodwin clinging to a press of driftwood, whom they extricated from his per- ilous situation. By this disaster, two of the party had lost their arms, clothing, and provisions, together with all the letters. Shute and Eastman here divided their clothing and provisions with the other two, and the whole party again consulted as to the expediency of going forward, or returning. They considered that if they should fall into the enemy's hands without their papers, they would be in danger of being hanged as spies; and if they went back Rogers would call them cowards, and traitors, who had made up a false and improbable account, to excuse their own imbecility. They con- eluded rather to take their chance of the cruelty of the enemy, than meet the reproaches of Rogers, and proceeded on their journey. From this place they proceeded through a wet, swampy country, with scarecly any provisions for several days, until one Sunday morning, when they heard the sound of a bell. They followed the sound, and came in sight of people going to a Catholic Chapel. Concealing themselves until the services had commenced, and all was quiet, they entered a house whose occupants were at church, helped themselves to provisions and clothing, and retired.
From this they followed a foot path into the woods, which, at a quarter of a mile's distance, brought them to a log house, against the gable end of which a ladder rested, leading to a door fastened with a padlock, which, breaking open with their hatchets, they discovered a large chest, filled with female clothing of the richest quality.
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HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
Helping themselves to a share of the plunder,* they pursued their march in the woods, avoiding all roads, until nearly night, when they ventured again to approach the settlements. After the village people had retired to rest, they entered a barn in quest of a hog for provi- sion. As they opened the door, a calf ran out, which they killed and divided into four parts. Then proceeding to the garden of a gentleman's house, they rifled it of what vegetables they had oeca- sion for, and after doing all the mischief they could in the garden, it being part of the rangers' creed to do their enemies all the damage in their power, retreated. Retiring with their booty about four miles into the woods, they kindled a fire, refreshed themselves with part of their provision, dried the remainder in the smoke, and made mocca- sins of the skin.
Pursuing their march three or four days, they ascended a high hill, the top of which exhibited memorials of an Indian encampment the winter before.
From this eminence they saw, for the first time, the river St. Law- rence, and a large encampment of regular troops upon the bank. This was about twenty miles above Quebec. The party were here in doubt whether the troops were French or English ; but sergeant Beverly determined, against the consent of the others, that he would ascertain whether they were friends or foes; and, if foes, would make a signal, that they might take care of themselves. His companions watched his progress, saw him stopped by the sentinel, and after a moment's pause, enter the camp, where several officers shook hands with him; upon this, they all followed and were received with open arms by the English. After stating their business to the com- mander, he put them on board a boat, to proceed to head quarters at Quebec, where they arrived at midnight, and were conducted to Gen- eral Murray's kitchen. There they slept upon the floor until morn- ing, when they were severally conducted into a large hall, lined with mirrors, in which were about one hundred officers. There, says Mr. Shute, "each man received a glass of liquor, such as I have never tasted before nor since, nor have I ever drank any thing so good in my life." After this they were directed to tell their several stories, which, as they had previously agreed upon a statement of facts, coin- cided very well, although they were separately examined. The Gen- eral and the soldiers made them welcome, and invited them to remain as long as they pleased. After resting a few days they applied to the General for leave to return, who told them to wait a few days longer, and they should move with the army toward Mont- real, and that he would give them four guineas each, extra pay. They did so, and joined their own corps at Montreal, in September. Rogers arriving soon after there, they witnessed the surrender of Canada, September 8, 1760.
General Murray is represented by Mr. Shute as a small, active old gentleman, prompt and decisive in all his movements, and a great
* Shute made himself a frock of ono of the gowns, and brought home another, of the finest silk.
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favorite with the soldiers. While he commanded the garrison at Quebec, after the surrender of that city to the English, some time before his advance to Montreal, Monsieur Levi made an attempt to recapture Quebec. Gen. Murray advanced to meet him at Sillery, with three thousand men ; a severe action took place, and the Eng- lish were driven back to the city, which they defended against the subsequent siege of the French General; who, after several attacks and ineffectual cannonade, drew off his troops, and retired toward Montreal.
After the war, Mr. Shute was accustomed to go on hunting excursions to the northern parts of New-Hampshire and Maine, accompanied only by his dog. One day,* when the snow was on the ground, he discovered that a catamount was on his track ; and knowing, from the habits of the animal, that he would be likely to have an encounter, he went immediately to his camp and built a large fire, so that the catamount could not reach him without passing through the fire. Shute and his dog then lay down in the eamp. The catamount soon made his ap- pearance before the camp, and walked forward and baek several times, growling frightfully. At length he stood up on his hind legs, and sereamed terribly ; (as Mr. Shute expressed it, “ yelled like a sarpent ;") jumped through the fire into the camp, seized the dog, and turned to jump out. At that instant Mr. Shute discharged his gun into the bowels of the beast, which fell dead upon the fire. The dog was so injured by the teeth of the cata- mount and the fire, that he could do but little service afterward. At one time Mr. Shute brought home furs from a hunting exeur- sion, sufficient, with the additional value of a heifer, to build him a barn. One of the double-spring steel traps which he used in hunting beaver is now in the possession of his nephew, Moses Shute, Esq. A sword which he owned was also preserved for many years by the same gentleman, but was taken from his house by some person unknown, and all trace of it lost .¡
" BILL PHILLIPS."
One of Rogers' rangers, who spent several years of his life in Concord, was William Phillips, called lieutenant, and familiarly known as "Bill Phillips." He was part Indian - his father
* Tradition, as related by Rev. Ephraim Abbot, who heard the story from Mr. Shute himself. t See further account in obituary notice of John Shute, 1829.
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being of French or Dutch extraction. He came from the region of Albany, and enlisted in Rogers' company in 1755 ; soon after became a sergeant, and after the battle on Lake Champlain, January 21, 1757, he received a lieutenant's commission, which was signed by the Earl of Loudon .* In the bloody fight at Lake George, March 13, 1758, when Phillips and his company of about twenty men were nearly surrounded by about three hun- dred Indians, he said to Rogers, " if the enemy would give good quarters, he thought it best to surrender ; otherwise he would fight while he had one man left to fire a gun !" He and his party were all taken, and then fastened to trees by the Indians, for the purpose of being shot or hewn to pieces. Phillips got one hand loose, took a knife from his pocket, which he opened with his teeth, cut the strings that bound him, and escaped .; He was in the fight at St. Francis, in 1759. On retreating from that place, he had command of a small party, which, one tradi- tion says, separated from Lieut. Benjamin Bradley, at the " Upper Coos ;" Phillips following the Connecticut river down as far as Haverhill, or " Lower Coos ;" - thence he and his party struck across till they reached the Merrimack river, which they followed, and arrived safely at Rumford. But, on the other hand, the late Mr. Isaac Shute says : "My father, John Shute, always said that Lieut. Phillips led a party from St. Francis to Crown Point, and that he afterwards came to Concord." This agrees with what Rogers says in a note to his journal, (p. 94,) after the fight at St. Francis : "Upon our separation on the shores of Memphremagog lake, some of the parties were ordered to make Crown Point, that being the best route for hunting. One party, conducted by Phillips, an Indian,
* reached home without the loss of a man - returning by the route which I went to St. Francis." On the way, however, the party sub- sisted on bark and buds of trees; chewed the straps of their knapsacks, powder-horns and pouches, and some fed upon lumps of tallow. They were reduced to such extremity that they determined to kill and eat a captive boy they had brought from
* " This commission," says Hon. C. E. Potter, " I have seen a hundred times; yes, per- haps a thousand times ; for it was the first I ever saw, and I used to creep slyly to Unclo Phillips' drawer, get it and peruse it with an eager curiosity."
+ Tradition.
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St. Francis, but fortunately shot a muskrat, which, cooked and divided among them, appeased for a time the gnawings of hunger .*
After the French war, Phillips lived for some time in Rum- ford ; formed an acquaintance with Miss Eleanor Eastman, daughter of Ebenezer Eastman, jr., whom he married on a forged license. Tradition says that the marriage took place in Lieut. John Chandler's tavern, which is the identical building now oceupied by Mr. Cyrus Farrar, as a silk dye-shop in the East Village. Instead of the parish minister, the marriage service was performed by a justice of the peaec - Samuel Fowler, Esq., of Boscawen .¡ Phillips and his wife lived together a while in a small house which stood on the corner opposite Mr. John M. Dearborn's store. They had one son. About the year 1784 Phillips' wife left him and joined the Shakers at Canterbury, who had held meetings or " dances," as they were called, at Phillips' house, in which his wife joined ; but Phillips said he " couldn't danee, and would not join." He afterward led a roving, unsettled life-fishing, hunting and stealing ; sometimes working at the blacksmith's trade, of which he knew a little, and at other times working at days' labor. He lived a while with his wife's brother, Stilson Eastman, but at length became a pau- per, and, according to usage of the times, was " bid off," to be supported at the town charge. He lived several years in the family of Richard Potter, of Anthony Potter, of Joseph Potter, and of Ebenezer Tenney, on the Loudon road. At length it was discovered by the selectmen that Phillips had once resided in Northfield, as a blacksmith, where he had gained " a residence ;" and he was put upon that town, where he died about the year 1819, supposed to be nearly a hundred years of age. Phillips' wife, Eleanor Eastman, died at the Shaker settlement in Canter- bury, November 17, 1816, aged seventy .¿
* Tradition, as related by C. E. Potter.
¡ This Esq. Fowler was a Quaker. In 1750 he entered his protest against paying the min- ister of Boscawen, " not from personal dislike, but for conscience sake."
Esteemed Friend :
# SHAKER VILLAGE, N. H., October 10, 1853.
Eleanor Eastman died of consumption, November 17, 1816, aged seventy years. She lived in Concord, near tho fort, and was once married to a man by the name of Phillips. She resumed her maiden name after she united with the society of Shakers.
Miriam Eastman, sister of Eleanor, died of dropsy, June 1, 1813, aged fifty-seven years. She was never married.
With perfect respect,
Rev. N. BOUTON, Concord, N. H.
DAVID PARKER.
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HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
DANIEL ABBOT, son of Dea. George, enlisted in March, 1759, then not quite twenty-one years of age. He was breaking flax in his father's barn, in the forenoon, when a recruiting officer came along, and he enlisted, unknown to his parents, and went away to the rendezvous at one of the garrisons at the north end of Main street. Being soon missed, his friends feared he had been taken off by the Indians; but, as he returned at night, their fears were allayed. Soon after, he marched with his corps to join the army at Quebec. Arriving at or near the Canada line, they judged from the appearance of the country that a large body of Indians was in the vicinity. The company to which he belonged was sent out on a scout, and stopped for the night ; but the commander ordered every man to stand upon his feet with his gun in his hands, ready for action in case of neces- sity. "About noon, next day," Mr. Abbot used to relate, " on our way back to the army, the captain, not perceiving any danger, gave orders to have us form into two ranks and lie down to rest about an hour. We soon fell into a sound sleep ; and, while quietly reposing, the captain hallooed, and waking up, we saw two Indians and two Frenchmen standing in about the middle of the two ranks, with their tomahawks and knives ready to commence the work of death ; but we sprung upon our feet and made prisoners of them. They were surly and stubborn, and the captain gave orders to shoot them through if either of them stepped out of the ranks."
One day Daniel's turn came to go on a scout with another man. The night before he dreamed that he saw the Indians roasting meat and dancing and whooping around him. In the morning he told the man who was to accompany him that, ac- cording to his dream and the dream-book, he should be taken by the Indians that day. "Well," said the man, "if you are taken I shall not be taken." When ready to start the man drank health to Daniel. About noon, as pigeons were flying very plenty, the man said-" Come, let us sit down and rest, and shoot a few pigeons for our dinner." In about five minutes afterward, the Indians fired and hallooed. Daniel ran for an old wind-fall, where he thought he might hide and then run back to the army ; but, as he jumped over it, four Indians seized him and led him
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back to his comrade, who was shot in the thigh. The poor fellow cried and begged for his life, but the Indians killed, scalped, stripped him, and left the body naked on the ground. Daniel was taken to the Indian village, where he met several of his acquaintances, prisoners, who said -" Daniel, we are glad to see you, but not to see you here." The old Indian chief, who had lost a son, adopted Daniel and treated him well. Sometimes he would be sent out to work ; but he pretended not to know how to work -saying "he was a minister's son and never learned how to work." At one time they told him to cut down a large tree that shaded the corn. He hacked it down after a long while, but it fell into the corn-field. When hoeing corn he hoed up corn and weeds together.
While a prisoner he was a witness to the savage barbarity of the Indians. Several English prisoners were killed by torture. The Indians dug holes in the earth about three feet deep, put their victims in, pressing them down, and then filled up the holes with dirt till they were suffocated. Some they stuck full of splinters of pitch-wood and set them on fire. Others had logs piled up near them and set on fire, and were roasted to death. Some were jointed, as they called it-that is, they begun at one of the little toes, and cut off one joint a day until all the toes were cut off- something being put on to stop the blood. Next, the fingers were cut off in like manner ; then the wrists, &c., till the poor victim died. An old Indian warrior that was taken from the English was put to death by being roasted alive on a large rock, which was heated for the purpose.
Young Abbot remained in captivity about a year; was then sold, with six or eight others, to the French, and exchanged for French prisoners that had been taken by the English. On their way to the English army they killed a heifer and cut off pieces of meat, but were afraid to stop to cook it until night. Kindling fire at night they placed their meat around it to roast, but they were so overcome by fatigue that they fell asleep, and on awak- ing found the meat all burnt up. When they reached the Eng- lish army the doctor told them " it was a good hit to them that their meat did burn up; for, having been without meat or salt so long, you would eat enough to have killed the whole of you."
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Daniel soon afterward returned to his friends in Concord. He settled on a farm on the west side of Long Pond, where his youngest son, Nathan K. Abbot, now lives .*
A Mr. Nutter, a soldier in the French war, in returning, came very near starving to death. When he came to Contoocook river, at the Mast Yard, he was so weak that he was unable to walk. He got a few old sticks of what is called drift-wood, and suc- ceeding in getting upon them, he floated down the river. When he got below Broad Cove, he crawled from his raft to shore, and then crept perhaps one fourth of a mile, and became exhausted, and laid down by the side of a small bank, and expected to die there ; but some person came along and discovered him, and had him carried to Mr. Enoch Webster's, where he soon after died. The Nutter brook, so called, is upon the farm formerly owned and occupied by Lieut. Ezra Abbot. Mr. Enoch Webster lived near where Capt. Samuel Knowlton's blacksmith shop now stands. Mr. Webster's house was afterward destroyed by fire.
ENOCH BISHOP.
Extract of a letter from an officer in Charlestown, otherwise called Number Four, in the Province of New-Hampshire, dated Octo- ber 4, 1756 :
" This day arrived here one Enoch Byshop, an English cap- tive from Canada, who was taken from Contoocook about two years since. He left Canada twenty-six days ago, in company with two other English captives, viz .: William Hair, late of Brookfield, entered into General Shirley's regiment, and taken at Oswego ; the other, (name unknown,) taken from Pennsylva- nia. They came away from Canada without gun, hatchet, or fire-works, and with no more than three loaves of bread and four pounds of pork. As they suffered much for want of provisions, his companions were not able to travel any further than a little on this side Cowass, where he was obliged to leave them last Lord's day, without any sustenance but a few berries. Six men were this evening sent out to look for them, but it is to be feared they perished in the wilderness."}
* Family tradition, collected by George Abbot, Esq. See further notice of Daniel Abbot in Miscellaneous Chapter - ancient houses, customs, &c.
t Copied from the New-York Mercury of October 25, 1756, in the library of the N. Y. Ilist. Society, by John L. Sibly.
CHAPTER VII.
CONTROVERSY WITH BOW.
IN giving the history of the controversy between the pro- prietors of Rumford and of Bow, in regard to the title to their lands, I shall aim to make an impartial statement of facts, with reference to such official documents as are on hand. Long, ex- pensive and vexatious as was the litigation at the time, yet, since the settlement of it by the proper judicial authority, there is no further occasion for acrimony on either side. The present inhab- itants of both towns - for the most part ignorant of the nature of the contest - are living in good neighborhood, which we trust will never more be interrupted.
The reader will bear in mind that Penacook was granted by Massachusetts, January 17, 1725, on the ground of her claim to the lands "lying three miles north of the Merrimack river, from its mouth to the sources thereof." This claim was disputed by New-Hampshire ; and when the surveyors from Haverhill, in May, 1726, came to lay off the lands in Penacook, they were met and warned to desist by a committee from the government of New-Hampshire. May 20, 1727, a grant of a township was made by New-Hampshire to one hundred and seven proprietors and "their associates," bounded as follows: "Beginning on the south-east side of the town of Chichester, and running nine miles by Chichester and Canterbury, and carrying that breadth of nine miles from each of the aforesaid towns, south-west, until the full complement of eighty-one square miles are fully made up, and that the same be a town corporate, by the name of Bow, to the
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HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
persons aforesaid and their associates forever."* This grant, as will be seen by the annexed Plan, f covered about three fourths of the township of Penacook, and also the greater part of Suncook, or Pembroke, and extended even into Hopkinton .¿
The Associates composed the government of New-Hampshire, viz. : His Excellency and Honorable Samuel Shute, Esq., and John Wentworth, Esq., each of them five hundred acres of land and a home lot ; Col. Mark Hunking, Col. Walton, George Jaf- frey, Richard Wibird, Col. Shad. Westbrook, Archibald McPhea- dres, John Frost, Jotham Odiorne, Esquires,§ each a proprietor's share ; Peter Wear, John Plaisted, James Davis, John Gilman, Andrew Wiggin, Capt. John Downing, Capt. John Gillman, Samuel Tibbets, Paul Gerrish, Ens. Ephraim Dennet, John San- burn, Theodore Atkinson, Ebenezer Stevens, Richard Jennes, Capt. William Fellows, James Jeffery, Joseph Loverin, Daniel Loverin, Zah. Hanahford, Joseph Wiggin, Pierce Long.|| To
* See Documents for Chap. VII., No. 1.
+ EXPLANATION OF THE ANNEXED PLAN.
I Rumford-laid out by Massachusetts, seven miles square and one hundred rods on the south, is represented by thick black lines.
2. Suncook -laid out also by Massachusetts, south of Rumford, is on both sides of the river.
3. Bow -laid out by New-Hampshire, represented by double lines - nine miles square, and is apparent on the plan -covering, like a wide sheet, nearly the whole territory, both of Rumford and Suncook.
4. The dotted line on the east represents the " three miles north of the Merrimack river " claimed by Massachusetts.
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