USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 6
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
Mr. Walker has related two occurrences worthy of notice, " they being so considerable, in demonstrating that prov- idence which attended the defence of the town."
There was at one time a large quantity of ammunition in the cellar of a Mr. Campsie, and it was thought advisable to remove it. The very next day after it was removed, a bomb broke into the cellar, and if the gunpowder had been there, the greatest destruction of life must have ensued.
At another time, a bomb from the enemy broke into a cellar near the Butcher's-gate. Some persons were induced by curiosity to examine the cellar, to see what injury had been done, and there they found seven men lying dead, who had been secretly working at a mine, "and," says he, "if it had not been for so miraculous a countermine, they might have gone on with their work and ruined us."
By the middle of June the besieged began to suffer for want of provision, and were reduced to the necessity of salting and eating the flesh of the horses that were killed in the various skirmishes about the city. They obtained a tem- porary supply by digging up cellars and other places, where they found considerable quantities of meal and other provis- ion, which had been buried by those who had died or left the city. But they had the prospect of famine before their eyes, if they continued the defence, unless speedy relief should be sent them.
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
In addition to this, sickness and disease became very prev- alent, owing to their close confinement, and the scarcity of pure water. By the concussion of the ground, caused by the bursting of the shells, the water in most of the wells became so muddy and impure as to be unfit for use, and a supply of this necessary article had to be obtained without the walls, with great difficulty and peril.
On the thirteenth of June, the hopes of the brave defend- ers of Londonderry were much raised, by the sight of a fleet of thirty sail, in Lough Foyle. It was from England, sent for the relief of the city, under the command of Major- General Kirke, and brought a reinforcement of five thousand men and a supply of provision. The besieged expressed their joy by the firing of cannon, and also made signals of distress ; but Kirke, deterred by the batteries erected on each side of the river, made no attempt to send relief into the city, and sailed out of the harbor, to the great dismay of the dis- tressed garrison.
General Kirke has been much and deservedly censured for his conduct on this occasion. The boom which was afterwards thrown across the river, had not at that time been completed, and had he not been wanting in energy and humanity, he could, without much difficulty or danger, have relieved the city. The first appearance of the fleet in the river produced a visible consternation in the camp of the besiegers. Many were observed to strike their tents, and to make preparations for a speedy flight, and it is probable that if Kirke had but remained in the river until the next morn- ing, the enemy would before that time have decamped. General Kirke, on leaving the Foyle, sailed round into Lough Swilly, and fortified the island of Inch, which he considered a favorable position for holding communication with Enniskillen and Londonderry.
On the eighteenth day of June, General Conrad de Rosen, a Frenchman, of much military skill, but haughty, unscrupu-
23
EVENTS PRIOR TO ITS SETTLEMENT.
lous, and cruel, appeared before the city with a reinforce- ment of fifteen hundred men, and took the command of the besieging army. He expressed extreme contempt for the walls and other defences of the city, and swore that he could make his men bring them to him stone by stone.
Notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances in which they were now placed, the men of Londonderry did not waver in their determination to defend the city to the last extremity. Though they had suffered much, and must probably endure still more severe trials, they were well aware that the surrender of their strong-hold, would be the abandonment of Protestantism in Ireland ; and trusting that that Providence which had protected them thus far would continue to watch over them, they, on the very day of De Rosen's arrival, issued the order that no man, on pain of death, should speak of surrendering the city.
De Rosen, the French commander, despairing of being able to reduce the garrison by other means, at length had recourse to an expedient unparalleled in atrocity. On the thirtieth of June, he sent into Londonderry a declaration that, unless they would surrender, before the evening of that day, he would drive all the Protestants from the sur- rounding country, men, women, and children, protected and unprotected, under the walls of the city; and, if the gar- rison would not then surrender, he would put them all to the sword. This threat being received with contempt and indignation, on the next day Rosen issued his barbarous and cruel orders; and his inhuman purpose, revolting to most of his own officers, was rigorously executed. "The Irish officers employed in this melancholy service," says Mr. Graham, "executed these orders with tears in their eyes, and many of them declared that the cries of these victims of cruelty, seemed to ring in their ears ever afterwards. General Hamilton was so shocked at the sight, that, in defiance of Rosen, his commanding officer, he ordered meal
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
and other provision to be distributed among the wretched groups, as they passed through the Irish camp."
The besieged took no pains to conceal the rage which this inhuman proceeding excited. They immediately erected a gallows upon the walls, and threatened that they would hang all their prisoners, unless their distressed friends and countrymen were suffered to depart. The barbarity of Rosen, so far from having the effect intended, only strength- ened the garrison in their resolves to continue the defence of the city; and even the suffering crowds around the city, besought their friends upon the walls to leave them to perish, rather than to surrender to so merciless a foe.
A letter from James, reprehending the course he had pursued, the sight of the gallows erected on the walls for the execution of the Irish prisoners, and the general feeling of abhorrence excited, as well in his own army as through- out the whole country, induced Rosen, on the fourth of July, to suffer the afflicted multitude, amounting to more than four thousand, to return to their homes. Hundreds, however, had died around the walls; other hundreds died on their journey back ; and of those who succeeded in reaching their former places of abode, large numbers, finding their houses plundered or destroyed, perished for want of the necessaries of life.
During the month of July, the most extreme distress was felt from the scarcity of provisions. Many died from starva- tion, and the garrison were reduced to the vilest and most unwholesome food. Horseflesh, cats, dogs, rats, and salted hides were eaten. Tallow, which they humorously called French butter, was mixed with meal, ginger, pepper, and anise-seeds, and in this way, what they considered excellent pancakes were made. Towards the latter part of the month, a quantity of starch was discovered in one of the storehouses. This, mixed with tallow, was found to be not only a valuable article of food, but a remedy for the dysentery, which at that time prevailed.
25
EVENTS PRIOR TO ITS SETTLEMENT.
The following is a list of the market prices of some of the principal articles of food : -
A quarter of a dog, five shillings and sixpence.
A dog's head, two shillings and sixpence.
Horseflesh, per pound, one shilling and eightpence.
A cat, four shillings and sixpence.
A rat, one shilling. A mouse, sixpence.
A pound of tallow, four shillings.
A pound of salted hides, one shilling.
A quart of horseblood, one shilling.
A handful of seawreck, twopence.
So severe was the famine, that some expected to be com- pelled to eat the bodies of the dead ; and it is related, that one very corpulent man, imagining that some of the hungry soldiers regarded his body with a greedy eye, carefully con- cealed himself for several days.
On the twenty-seventh of July, the city had come to an extremity from famine and disease which might well cause the most sanguine to despond. The garrison was reduced to four thousand four hundred and fifty-six men. There was not in the city two days' supply of food of any kind, and a strong boom thrown across the river, and the batteries on the banks, left but little hope of relief from the fleet. Deliverance, however, was at hand.
Mr. Graham thus relates the occurrences of the twenty- eighth of July : -
" Immediately after divine service, the ships in the Loughi were seen to approach the distressed city, now in the last extremity to which famine and disease could reduce it. The defenders of the city discharged eight pieces of cannon from the steeple of the cathedral, and slowly waved their crimson flag, to signify the extremity of their distress. With a fair wind and a favorable tide to facilitate the approach of the relief before their eyes, NOW or NEVER was the simultaneous
3
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
cry of the feeble and emaciated multitude on the walls. The ships approaching were the Mountjoy, of Londonderry, Captain Micah Browning, commander, and the Phenix, of Coleraine, Captain Andrew Douglass, master. They were both laden with provisions, and were convoyed by the Dart- mouth frigate, commanded by Captain Leake. The enemy fired incessantly on the ships from the fort of Culmore, and from both sides of the river, as they sailed up, and the returns were made with the greatest bravery and effect. They passed the fort without sustaining any material injury, and the expectation of the besieged rose into transports of joy, which were almost instantaneously succeeded by despair, when the Mountjoy, repelled by the boom, was run aground, and the enemy, who had crowded in multitudes to the water- side, raised a loud huzza, as they launched their boats to board her. The terror which prevailed in the city at this moment, is not to be described. The multitudes on the wall stood petrified in the silent agony of grief, too great for utter- ance ; a faint and shrill cry from a few women and children alone broke the dreadful silence, as it added to the horrors of the scene. The pallid indications of fear suddenly dis- appearing, were succeeded by a darkness of color, like that which marks the countenance seen by the light of sul- phureous flames. All features gathered blackness, and the general despondency was at its greatest height, when the Mountjoy fired a broadside at the enemy, rebounded from the shore, and the reaction of the vessel, aided by the sudden swell of the rising tide, floated her again into the deep water in the channel. Captain Douglass, of the Phenix, was at this time warmly engaged as he passed up, on the breaking of the boom by the gallant Browning, who, while his vessel lay aground, was killed by a musket-ball from the enemy, which struck him upon the head, as he stood upon the deck with his sword drawn, encouraging his men to the contest. King William afterwards settled a pension upon the widow
27
EVENTS PRIOR TO ITS SETTLEMENT.
of this gallant man, and, in the presence of the court, placed a gold chain about her neck. Four of Browning's gallant crew shared his fate, just as the vessel got afloat; and then the Dartmouth opened a heavy and well-directed fire upon the enemy's batteries, diverting them so from both vessels, that, amidst a desponding yell from the crowds on each side of the river, they sailed up slowly, indeed, by reason of a failure in the wind after they had passed Culmore, but steadily and majestically, to the utter confusion of their baffled enemies. It was ten o'clock in the night when they anchored in the ship-quay, upon which a general shout of acclamation was raised by the soldiers on the walls, and reiterated several times, while two guns were fired from the steeple, to give notice to the fleet of the safe arrival of the relief."
" The Phenix contained from six to eight hundred bolls of meal, with which she had been laden in Scotland, and the Mountjoy, carrying one hundred and thirty-five tons burden, brought from England her cargo of beef, pease, flour, biscuit, etc., all of the best kind. This relief," says Walker, " arrived here to the inexpressible joy and transport of our distressed garrison, for we only reckoned upon two days' life. We had nine lean horses left, and one pint of meal to each man. Hunger and fatigue of war, had so prevailed among us, that of seven thousand five hundred men regimented at the com- mencement of the siege, we had now alive but about four thousand three hundred, of whom at least one fourth part were rendered unserviceable !"
" In the course of this night, the Irish army ran away from the position which they had occupied before Londonderry for one hundred and five days, having lost eight or nine thousand men and one hundred of their best officers, in their abortive attempt to reduce the city."
It was deemed important to connect with the history of the town of Londonderry, a concise sketch of this memorable siege, for two reasons,
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
In the first place, as has been already remarked, the defence of Londonderry, by arresting and paralyzing the efforts of James, contributed largely to his ultimate over- throw, and to the establishment of a revolution so important not only to the British nation, but to the world. For not- withstanding James, during the summer of 1690, received reinforcements of men, and supplies of arms and ammuni- tion, from France, yet he was soon after defeated by the Protestant forces, commanded by king William in person, in an engagement on the banks of the river Boyne. The next year his army was again completely routed at Aghrim, and the capitulation of Limerick, his last strong-hold in Ireland, which soon followed, put an end to all his hopes of recover- ing his crown.
Is the battle of Bunker Hill, in its connection with the results of the stand there made in the cause of freedom, so important, as to justify the erection of a splendid monument to tell the story to future ages ? The protracted siege of this little city, when its consequences are duly considered, will appear entitled to quite as conspicuous a place in the annals of freedom. And yet, important as it was, few comparatively, of the descendants of the brave defenders of the place, in this country, are familiar with the history of that event, upon which was suspended the rich inheritance they have received from their fathers, and which they are to transmit to future generations.
In the second place, a short account of this memorable siege seemed to be necessary, as it serves to display the character of the first settlers of the town of Londonderry, most of whom were of the number of those who, on that occasion, fought so bravely, bled so freely, and endured so heroically, for their religion. Such tried spirits, such lovers of Christian liberty, were well prepared to encounter the hardships and endure the trials of forming a new settlement, and to lay the foundations of a community, which has been
29
EVENTS PRIOR TO ITS SETTLEMENT.
distinguished for its intelligence, its steadfast adherence to the great truths and institutions of religion, and its pros- perity.
So important did the king and Parliament consider the defence of this city, and so highly did they appreciate the valor, the endurance, and the worth of its defenders, that, in addition to the bestowment of certain grants, an act was passed, exempting from taxation, throughout the British dominions, all who had borne arms in the city during the siege. Of this act, those who settled in the town of Lon- donderry availed themselves, until the American Revolution. The lands occupied by such individuals were known and designated as the Exempt Farms. They can now be pointed out by some of the older inhabitants.
These considerations, will justify the notice which has been taken of this event, which, as more recent revolutions serve to evince, was among the first and essential links in that great chain of providential dispensations, from which we derived our rich inheritance of civil and religious bless- ings.
May the review serve to revive, in the breasts of the present generation, descendants of the English Puritan, and Scotch Covenanter, here happily and harmoniously mingled, a veneration for those principles which actuated their heroic ancestors.
3*
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
CHAPTER II.
THE IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF THE EMIGRATION - ARRIVAL AT BOSTON -SELECTION OF A TOWNSHIP - SETTLEMENT OF A PASTOR - INTRODUCTION OF THE POTATO - MANUFACTURE OF LINEN - PETITION FOR A CHARTER -TITLE TO THE LAND OBTAINED - ATTEMPTS TO DISPOSSESS THE SETTLERS- INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN - FAIRS -ORIGIN OF TOWN ORGANIZATIONS.
RELIGIOUS toleration, to the conception and acknowledg- ment of which the world has come so slowly, is a most just and most wise principle. It requires that every man be allowed the unbiased exercise of his own choice, as to the religious denomination, the creed, or the mode of worship which he will favor and support. Religion being essential to the virtue, order, and best good of the community, every man is really, if not legally, bound to support religious as well as civil institutions; but the sect or denomination should be left to his own free choice. But such freedom of conscience was unknown in the days of our fathers.
In England even, notwithstanding the light and influence of the Reformation, various laws were passed, enjoining uniformity, not only in sentiment, but in forms of religious worship, subjecting all who refused compliance to severe penalties ; so that, on one occasion, the ever-memorable Bar- tholomew's day, A. D. 1662, two thousand pious and devoted ministers, among whom were Henry, Baxter, How, and Owen, - men eminent for piety and talents, were ejected from their parishes, separated from their beloved flocks, silenced from preaching, and thus deprived of all accustomed means of support for themselves and families, merely for non-compliance with the act of conformity.
This act required that every clergyman should be reor- dained, if he had not before received Episcopal ordination ;
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CIVIL HISTORY.
should declare his assent to everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer ; should take the oath of canonical obe di- ence ; should abjure the common league and covenant, and should renounce the principle of taking up arms on any pre- tence whatsoever, against the king.
It was these oppressive acts, in the days of Elizabeth and her predecessors, which induced the Puritan settlers of New England to seek in this newly-discovered land, a settlement founded on principles of religious freedom. It was a deter- mination not to submit to dictation in matters of faith and modes of worship; to hazard everything, to endure every- thing for "freedom to worship God." No worldly or secular motive was sufficiently powerful to influence these men to exchange their native land, their pleasant homes, their beautiful fields, to abandon all that was endeared by the associations of life, for a hostile wilderness beyond the ocean.
The love of religious liberty is a stronger sentiment, when fully excited, than attachment to civil and political freedom. That freedom which the conscience demands, and for which men feel bound by the hopes of salvation to contend, can hardly fail to be attained. "If the hand of power is laid upon it, this only seems to augment its force and its elasticity, and to cause its action to be more formidable and terrible. Human invention has devised nothing, human power has compassed nothing, that can forcibly restrain it when it breaks forth .. Nothing can stop it, but to give way for it, nothing can check it but by indulgence. It loses its power only when it has gained its object."
As the fathers of New England fled, not so much from the civil government as from the hierarchy, and the laws which enforced conformity to the Church establishment, so did the settlers of Londonderry emigrate, to escape religious rather than civil evils. Although by the revolution of 1688, and the accession of William and the House of Hanover to the British throne, the Protestant cause was firmly established,
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
peace restored to the island in which they dwelt, and toler- ation of religious sentiments allowed ; still, as Presbyterians, and Dissenters from the Church of England, they expe- rienced many embarassments.
They were, indeed, permitted to maintain their own forms of worship unmolested ; still, they were compelled to aid in supporting a minister of the established religion, and a tenth part of all their increase was rigorously exacted for this purpose. They also held their lands and tenements by lease from the crown, and not as proprietors of the soil. With an inextinguishable thirst for liberty, they could not bear to be thus trammelled in their civil and religious rights.
Their position in Ireland was uncomfortable, also, sur- rounded as they were with the native Irish, who adhered with tenacity to the Church of Rome; and though they were then subjugated to Protestant power, and not permitted openly to persecute as they had done, yet a spirit of hostility still existed, and was in various ways expressed. Many circum- stances, in addition to the original strong traits of character which separate the Scotch from the Irish, had served to inflame and strengthen the enmity existing between them.
Mr. Macaulay, adverting to the hostility existing between the Irish Catholics and the Protestants, who had settled in Ireland, says : " On the same soil dwelt two populations, locally intermixed, morally and politically sundered. The difference of religion was by no means the only difference, and was perhaps not even the chief difference, which existed between them. They sprang from different stocks. They spoke different languages. They had different national char- acters, as strongly opposed as any two national characters in Europe. They were in widely different stages of civiliza- tion. There could, therefore, be little sympathy between them ; and centuries of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong antipathy. The relation in which the minority stood to the majority, resembled the relation in which the
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CIVIL HISTORY.
followers of William the Conqueror stood to the Saxon churls, or the relation in which the followers of Cortez stood to the Indians of Mexico.
" The appellation of Irish was then given exclusively to the Celts, and to those families which, though not of Celtic origin, had in the course of ages degenerated into Celtic manners. These people, probably somewhat under a million in number, had, with few exceptions, adhered to the Church of Rome. Among them resided about two hundred thou- sand colonists, proud of their Saxon blood and of their Protestant faith.
" The great preponderance of numbers on one side, was more than compensated by a great superiority of intelligence, vigor, and organization on the other. The English settlers seem to have been, in knowledge, energy, and perseverance, rather above than below the average level of the population of the mother country. The aboriginal peasantry, on the contrary, were in an almost savage state."
It was in view of these embarrassments and evils expe- rienced in their native land, that this body of emigrants were disposed to leave their homes and the many comforts there enjoyed for an untried region, and the labors and sufferings incident to a settlement in a new country .*
The residence of the MeKeens, MacGregors, Nesmiths, Dinsmoors, and many other of the emigrants to Londonderry, was in the valley of the river Bann, and in or near the towns or parishes of Coleraine, Bally- money, Ballywoolen, Ballywatick, and Kilrea.
A distinguished descendant of one of the carly settlers, writes to the author, as follows : " On a voyage to the Old World, a few years since, I could not resist the inclination to visit the temporary resting-place of our forefathers, in Ireland. Nut anticipating such an excursion when I left homo, I was miserably prepared for taking advantage of what others knew, as to the exact location of our ancestors; I only knew that Lon- donderry, Coleraine, Antrim, Ballymoney, and Belfast, were some of their places of residence, and of course could receive only general appre- ciations of their homes. Still, viewing the vast extent of excellent land,
34
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
That such were their motives, we learn from a manuscript sermon of the Rev. James MacGregor, one of the four pastors who accompanied their flocks to America, and the first min- ister of Londonderry. It was addressed to them on the eve of their embarking for this country. His discourse was from those very appropriate words of Moses, when conducting the chosen tribes to the promised land : " If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence."
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