USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire. Comprehending the events of one complete century and seventy-five years from the discovery of the River Pascataqua to the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, Vol I > Part 8
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The Indians have been reprefented as re- vengeful. When any perfon was killed, the neareft relative thought himfelf bound to be the avenger of blood, and never left feeking, till he found an opportunity to execute his purpofe. Whether in a ftate, where govern- Numbers ment is confeffedly fo feeble as among them, 19. ch. 85. v. fuch a conduct is not juftifiable, and even my ch. 19.
countenanced by the Jewifh law may deferve v. 12. our confideration.
The treachery with which thefe people are juftly charged, is exactly the fame difpofition which operates in the breach of folemn trea- ties made between nations which call them- felves chriftian. Can it be more criminal in an Indian, than in an European, not to think himfelf bound by promifes and oaths extort- ed from him when under durefs ?
Their jealoufy and hatred of their Englifh neighbours may eafily be accounted for, if we allow them to have the fame feelings with ourfelves. How natural is it for us to form a difagrecable idea of a whole nation, from the bad conduct of fome individuals with whom we are acquainted ? and though others
Deuterono-
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of them may be of a different character, yet will not that prudence which is efteemed a virtue, lead us to fufpect the faireft appear- ances, as ufed to cover the moft fraudulent defigns, efpecially if pains are taken by the moft politic among us, to foment fuch jeal- oufies to fubferve their own ambitious pur- pofes ?
Though the greater part of the Englifh fettlers came hither with religious views, and fairly purchafed their lands of the Indians, yet it cannot be denied that fome, efpecially in the eaftern parts of New-England, had lu- crative views only ; and from the beginning ufed fraudulent methods in trade with them. Such things were indeed difallowed by the government, and would always have been punifhed if the Indians had made com- plaint : but they knew only the law of re- taliation, and when an injury was received, it was never forgotten till revenged. En- croachments made on their lands, and fraud committed in trade, afforded fufficient grounds for a quarrel, though at ever fo great a length of time ; and kept alive a per- petual jealoufy of the like treatment again *.
1675.
Such was the temper of the Indians of New-England when the firft general war be- gan. It was thought by the Englifh in that day, that Philip, fachem of the Wompanoags, a crafty and afpiring man, partly by intrigue, and partly by example, excited them to fuch
* Mons. du Pratz gives neally the same account of the Indians on the Missisippi. " There needs nothing but prudence and good sense to per- " suade these people to what is reasonable, and to preserve their friendship " without interruption. We may safely affirm, that the differences we have " had with them have been more owing to the French than to them. When " they are treated insolently, or oppressively, they have no less sensibility cl " injuries than others." History of Louisiana, lib. 4. cap. 3.
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a general combination. He was the fon of 1675. Maffaffoiet, the neareft fachem to the colony of Plymouth, with whom he had concluded a peace, which he maintained more through fear than good will, as long as he lived. His fon and immediate fucceffor Alexander, pre- ferved the fame external fhew of friendfhip ; but died with choler on being detected in a plot againft them. Philip, it is faid, diffembled his hoftile purpofes ; he was ready, on every fufpicion of his infidelity, to renew his fub- miffion, and teftify it even by the delivery of his arms, till he had fecretly infufed a cruel jealoufy into many of the neighbour- ing Indians ; which excited them to attempt the recovering their country by extirpating the new poffeffors. The plot, it is faid, was difcovered before it was ripe for execution ; and as he could no longer promife himfelf fecurity under the mafk of friendthip, he was conftrained to fhew himfelf in his true char- acter, and accordingly began hoftilities upon the plantation of Swanzy, in the colony of Plymouth, in the month of June 1675.
Notwithftanding this general opinion, it may admit of fome doubt, whether a fingle fachem, whofe authority was limited, could have fuch an extenfive influence over tribes fo remote and unconnected with him as the caftern Indians ; much more improbable is it, that thofe in Virginia fhould have joined in the confederacy, as it hath been intimated. The Indians never travelled to any greater Hubbard'e, Narrative, diftance than their hunting required ; and page 12. fo ignorant were they of the geography of their country, that they imagined New-Eng- Hist. N.E. Neal's land to be an ifland, and could tell the name
Vol. 1.p.2),
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-
1675. of an inlet or ftreight by which they fup- pofed it was feparated from the main land. But what renders it more improbable that Philip was fo active an inftrument in excit- ing this war, is the conftant tradition among the pofterity of thofe people who lived near him, and were familiarly converfant with him, and with thofe of his Indians who fur- vived the war: which is, that he was forced on by the fury of his young men, forely againft his own judgment and that of his chief counfellors ; and that as he forcfaw that the Englith would, in time, eftablith themfelves and extirpate the Indians, fo he thought that the making war upon them would only haften the deftruction of his own people. It was always a very common, and fometimes a juft excufe with the Indians, when charged with breach of faith, that the old men were not able to reftrain the younger from fignalizing their valour, and gratifying their revenge, though they difap- proved their rafhnefs. This want of reftraint was owing to the weaknefs of their govern- ment ; their fachems having but the shadow of magiftratical authority.
Callender's Y'entury - Seimon. P.
The inhabitants of Briftol thew a particu- lar fpot where Philip received the news of the firft Englifhmen that were killed, with fo much forrow as to caufe him to weop; a few days before which he had refered one who had been taken by his Indians, and privatdly fent him home. Whatever credit may be given to this account, fo different from the current opinion, it must be owned, that in fuch a feafon of general confubon as the firfl war occafioned, fear and jealous might
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create many fufpicions, which would foon be formed into reports of a general confede- racy, through Philip's contrivance ; and it is to be noted that the principal hiftories of this war, [Increafe Mather's and Hubbard's ] were printed in 1676 and 1677, when the ftrangeft reports were eafily credited, and the people were ready to believe every thing that was bad of fo formidable a neighbour as Philip. But as the fact cannot now be precifely afcertained, I fhall detain the reader no longer from the real caufes of the war in thefe eaftern parts.
There dwelled near the river Saco a fa- chem named Squando, a noted enthufiaft, a leader in the devotions of their religion, and one that pretended to a familiar intercourfe with the invifible world. Thefe qualifica- tions rendered him a perfon of the higheft dignity, importance and influence among all the eaftern Indians. His fquaw paffing a- long the river in a canoe, with her infant child, was met by fome rude failors, who ha- ving heard that the Indian children could fwim as naturally as the young of the brutal kind, in a thoughtlefs and unguarded hu- mour overfet the canoe. The child funk, and the mother inftantly diving fetched it up alive, but the child dying foon after, its death was imputed to the treatment it had received from the feamen ; and Squando was fo provoked that he conceived a bitter antipathy to the Englifh, and employed his great art and influence to excite the Indians againft them. Some other injuries were al- ledged as the ground of the quarrel ; and, Lib. 7, p. confidering the interefted views and irregu- 55.
1675.
Hubbard, p. 29. 61.
Magnali3,
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1675. gular lives of many of the eaftern fettlers, their diftance from the feat of government, and the want of due fubordination among them, it is not improbable that a great part of the blame of the eaftern war belonged to them.
--
The firft alarm of the war in Plymouth colony fpread great confternation among the diftant Indians, and held them a while in fufpence what part to act ; for there had been a long external friendfhip fubfifting between them and the Englifh, and they were afraid of provoking fo powerful neigh- bours. But the feeds of jealoufy and hatred had been fo effectually fown, that the crafty and revengeful, and thofe who were ambi- tious of doing fome exploits, foon found means to urge them on to an open rupture ; fo that within twenty days after Philip had begun the war at the fouthward, the flame broke out in the moft northeafterly part of the country, at the diftance of two hundred miles.
The Englifh inhabitants about the river Kennebeck, hearing of the infurrection in Plymouth colony, determined to make trial of the fidelity of their Indian neighbours, by requefting them to deliver their arms. They made a fhew of compliance ; but in doing it, committed an act of violence on a French- man, who lived in an Englifh family ; which being judged an offence, both by the Eng- lifh and the elder Indians, the offender was feized ; but upon a promife, with fecurity, for his future good behaviour, his life was fpared, and fome of them confented to re-
Hubbard, page 13.
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main as hoftages ; who foon made their 1675. efcape, and joined with their fellows in rob- bing the houfe of Purchas, an ancient plan- ter at Pechypfcot.
1
The quarrel being thus begun, and their natural hatred of the Englifh, and jealoufy of their defigns, having rifen to a great height under the malignant influence of Squando and other leading men ; and being encourag- ed by the example of the weftern Indians, who were daily making depredations on the colonies of Plymouth, and Maffachufetts ; they took every opportunity to rob and mur- der. the people.in the fcattered fettlements of the province of Maine ; and having difperf- ed themfelves into many fmall parties, that they might be the more extenfively mif- chievous, in the month of September they approached the plantations at Pafcataqua, and made their firft onfet at Oyfter river then a part of the town of Dover, but now Durham. Here they burned two houfes belonging to two perfons named Chefley, killed two men page 19. in a canoe, and carried away two captives ; both of whom foon after made their efcape. About the fame time a party of four laid in ambufh near the road between Exeter and Hampton, where they killed one, and took another, who made his efcape. Within a few days an affault was made on the houfe of one Tozer at Newichwannock, wherein were fifteen women and children, all of whom, except two, were faved by the intre- pidity of a girl of eighteen. She firft feeing the Indians as they advanced to the houfe, fhut the door and food againft it, till the others efcaped to the next houfe, which was
Hubbard,
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HISTORY OF
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1675. better fecured. The Indians chopped the door to pieces with their hatchets, and then entering, they knocked her down, and leav- ing her for dead, went in purfuit of the others, of whom two children, who could not get over the fence, fell into their hands. The adventurous heroine recovered, and was perfectly healed of her wound.
The two following days they made feveral appearances on both fides of the river, ufing much infolence, and burning two houfes and three barns, with a large quantity of grain. Some fhot were exchanged without effect, and a purfuit was made after them into the woods by eight men, but night obliged them to re- turn without fuccefs. Five or fix houfes were burned at Oyfter river, and two more men killed., Thefe daily infules could not be borne without indignation and reprifal. About twenty young men, chiefly of Dover, obtained leave of Major Waldron, then com- mander of the militia, to try their fkill and courage with the Indians in their own way. Having fcattered themfelves in the woods, a fmall party of them difcovered five Indians in a field near a deferted houfe, fome of whom were gathering corn, and others kind- ling a fire to roaft it. The men were at fuch a diftance from their fellows that they could make no fignal to them without danger of a difcovery; two of them, therefore, crept along filently, near to the houfe, from whence they fuddenly rufhed upon thofe two Indians, who were bufy at the fire, and knocked them down with the butts of their guns ; the other three took the alarm and efcaped.
Hubbard page 22. (
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1675.
All the plantations at Pafcataqua, with the whole eaftern country, were now filled with fear and confufion : Bufinefs was fufpended, and every man was obliged to provide for his own and his family's fafety. The only way was to defert their habitations, and re- tire together within the larger and more con- venient houfes, which they fortified with a timber wall and flankarts, placing a centry- box on the roof. Thus the labour of the field was exchanged for the duty of the gar- rifon, and they who had long lived in peace and fecurity were upon their guard night and day, fubject to continual alarms, and the moft fearful apprehenfions.
The feventh of October was obferved as a day of fafting and prayer ; and on the fix- teenth the enemy made an affault upon the inhabitants at Salmon-falls, in Berwick. Lieutenant Roger Plaifted, being a man of true courage and of a public fpirit, immedi- ately fent out a party of feven from his gar- rifon to make difcovery. They fell into an ambufh ; three were killed, and the reft re- treated. The Lieutenant then difpatched an exprefs to Major Waldron and Lieutenant Coffin at Cochecho, begging moft importu- nately for help, which they were in no ca- pacity to afford, confiftently with their own fafety. The next day Plaifted ventured out with twenty men, and a cart to fetch the dead bodies of their friends, and unhappily fell into another ambufh. The cattle affrighted ran back, and Plaifted being deferted by his men, and difdaining either to yield or fly, was killed on the fpot, with his eldeft fon and one more ; his other fon died of his
P
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Hubbard,
p. 24.
1
1675. wound in a few weeks. Had the heroifm of this worthy family been imitated by the reft of the party, and a reinforcement arriv- ed in feafon, the enemy might have received fuch a fevere check as would have prevented them from appearing in fmall parties. The gallant behaviour of Plaifted, though fatal to himfelf and his fons, had this good effect, that the enemy retreated to the woods ; and the next day Captain Froft came up with a party from Sturgeon creek, and peaceably buried the dead : But before the month had expired a mill was burned there, and an af- fault made on Froft's garrifon, who though he had only three boys with him, kept up a conftant fire, and called aloud as if he were commanding a body of men, to march here and fire there : the ftratagem fucceeded, and the houfe was faved. The enemy then pro- ceeded down the river, killing and plunder- ing as they found people off their guard, till they came oppofite to Portfmouth ; from whence fome cannon being fired they dif- perfed, and were purfued by the help of a light fnow which fell in the night, and were overtaken by the fide of a fwamp, into which they threw themfelves, leaving their packs and plunder to the purfuers. They foon af- ter did more mifchief at Dover, Lamprey river and Exeter ; and with thefe finall, but irritating affaults and ikirmithes, the autumn was fpent until the end of November ; when the number of people killed and taken from Kennebeck to Pafcataqua amounted to up- wards of fifty.
The Maffachufetts government being ful- ły employed in defending the fouthern and
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weftern parts, could not feafonably fend fuc- 1675. cours to the eaftward. Major General Deni- fon, who commanded the militia of the colo- ny, had ordered the majors who commanded the regiments on this fide of the country, to draw out a fufficient number of men to re- duce the enemy, by attacking them at their retreat to their head-quarters at Offapy and Pigwacket. But the winter fetting in early and fiercely, and the men being unprovided with rackets to travel on the fnow, which by the tenth of December was four feet deep in the woods, it was impoffible to execute the defign. This peculiar feverity of the feafon however proved favourable. The Indians were pinched with famine, and having loft by their own confeffion about ninety of their number, partly by the war, and partly for want of food, they were reduced to the neceffity of fuing for peace. With this view they came to Major . Waldron, expreffing great forrow for what had been done, and promifing to be quiet and fubmiffive. By his mediation a peace was concluded with the whole body of eaftern Indians, which continued till the next Auguft; and might have continued longer, if the inhabitants of the eaftern parts had not been too intent on private gain, and of a difpofition too ungov- ernable to be a barrier againft an enemy fo irritable and vindictive. The reftoration of the captives made the peace more pleafant : A return from the dead could not be more welcome than a deliverance from Indian cap- tivity.
The war at the fouthward, though renew- 1676. ed in the fpring, drew toward a clofe. Philip's
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Church's Memoirs,
y. 44.
1676. affairs were defperate ; many of his allies and dependents forfook him ; and in the month of Auguft he was flain by a party under Captain Church. Thofe weftern In . dians who had been engaged in the war, now fearing a total extirpation, endeavoured to conceal themfelves among their brethren of Penacook who had not joined in the war, and with thofe of Offapy and Pigwacket who had made peace. But they could not fo dif- guife themfelves or their behaviour as to efcape the difcernment of thofe who had been converfant with Indians. Several of them were taken at different times and de- livered up to public execution. Three of them, Simon, Andrew and Peter, who had been concerned in killing Thomas Kimbal of Bradford, and captivating his family, did, within fix weeks voluntarily reftore the woman and five children. It being doubted whether this act of fubmiffion was a fufficient atonement for the murder, they were com- mitted to Dover prifon till their cafe could be confidered. Fearing that this confine- ment was a prelude to farther punishment, they broke out of prifon, and going to the caftward, joined with the Indians of Kenne- beck and Amorifcogin in thofe depredations which they renewed on the inhabitants of thofe parts, in Auguft, and were afterward active in diftreffing the people of Pafcataqua.
This renewal of hoftilities occafioned the fending of two companies to the caftward under Captain Jofeph Syll, and Captain Wil- liam Hawthorne. In the courfe of their march they came to Cochecho, on the fixtli of September, where four hundred mixed
1
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1676.
Indians were met at the houfe of Major Waldron, with whom they had made the peace, and whom they confidered as their friend and father. The two captains would have fallen upon them at once, having it in their orders to feize all Indians, who had. been concerned in the war. The major dif- fuaded them from that purpofe, and contriv- ed the following ftratagem. He propofed to the Indians, to have a training the next day, and a fham fight after the Englifh mode ; and fummoning his own men, with thofe under Capt. Froft of Kittery, they, in conjunction with the two companies, formed. one party, and the Indians another. Having diverted them a while in this manner, and caufed the Indians to fire the firft volley ; by a peculiar dexterity, the whole body of them (except two or three) were furrounded, before they could form a fufpicion of what was intended. They were immediately feiz- , ed and difarmed, without the lofs of a man on either fide. A feparation was then made : Wonolanfet, with the Penacook Indians, and others who had joined in making peace the winter before, were peaceably difiniffed; but the ftrange Indians, (as they were called) who had fled from the fouthward and taken refuge among them, were made prifoners, to the number of two hundred ; and being fent to Bofton, feven or eight of them, who were known to have killed any Englifhmen, were condemned and hanged ; the reft were fold into flavery in foreign parts.
This action was highly applauded by the general voice of the colony ; as it gave them opportunity to deal with their enemies
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1676. in a judicial way, as rebels, and, as they imagined, to extirpate thofe troublefome neighbours. The remaining Indians, how- ever, looked upon the conduct of Major Waldron as a breach of faith ; inafmuch as they had taken thofe fugitive Indians under their protection, and had made peace with him, which had been ftrictly obferved with regard to him and his neighbours, though it had been broken elfewhere. The Indians had no idea of the fame government being extended very far, and thought they might make peace in one place, and war in anoth- er, without any imputation of infidelity ; but a breach of hofpitality and friendship, as they deemed this to be, merited, according to their principles, a fevere revenge, and was never to be forgotten or forgiven. The major's fituation on this occafion was indeed extremely critical ; and he could not have acted either way without blame. It is faid that his own judgment was againft any forcible meafure, as he knew that many of thofe Indians were true friends to the colo- ny ; and that in cafe of failure he fhould ex- pofe the country to their refentment ; but had he not aflifted the forces in the execu- tion of their commillion, (which was to feize all Indians who had been concerned with Philip in the war) he muft have fallen under cenfure, and been deemed acceffary, by his neglect, to the mifchiefs which might after- ward have been perpetrated by them. In this dilemma he finally determined to com- ply with the orders and expectations of gov- ernment ; imagining that he fhould be able to fatisfy thofe of the Indians whom he in-
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tended to difmifs, and that the others would be removed out of the way of doing any fur- ther mifchief ; but he had no fufpicion that he was laying a fnare for his own life. It was unhappy for him, that he was obliged in deference to the laws of his country, and the orders of government, to give offence to a people who, having no public judicatories and penal laws among themfelves, were una- ble to diftinguifh between a legal punifhment and private malice *.
Two days after this furprifal, the forces proceeded on their route to the eaftward, being joined with fome of Waldron's and Froft's men ; and taking with them Blind Will, a fagamore of the Indians who lived about Cochecho, and eight of his people for pilots. The eaftern fettlements were all ei- ther deftroyed or deferted, and no enemy was to be feen ; fo that the expedition proved fruitlefs, and the companies returned to Paf- cataqua.
It was then thought advifeable, that they fhould march up toward the Offapy ponds ; where the Indians had a ftrong fort of tim- ber fourteen feet high, with flankarts ; which they had a few years before hired fome Eng- lifh carpenters to build for them, as a de- fence againft the Mohawks, of whom they were always afraid. It was thought that if the Indians could be furprized on their firft return to their head-quarters, at the begin-
* The above account of the seizure of the Indians is given from the most authentic and credible tradition that could be obtained within the last sixteen years, from the posterity of those persons who were concerned in the affair. It is but just mentioned by Hubbard and Mather, and not in connexion with its consequences. Neal, for want of better information, has given a wrong turn to the relation, and so has Wynne who copies from him. Hutchinson bas not mentioned it at all
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1676. ning of winter, fome confiderable advantage might be gained againft them ; or if they had not arrived there, that the provifions, which they had laid in for their winter fubfiftence, might be deftroyed. Accordingly, the com- panies being well provided for a march at that feafon, fet off on the firft of November ; and after travelling four days through a rug- ged, mountainous wildernefs, and croffing feveral rivers, they arrived at the fpot ; but found the fort and adjacent places entirely deferted, and faw not an Indian in all the way. Thinking it needlefs for the whole body to go further, the weather being fevere, and the fnow deep, a felect party was detached eighteen or twenty miles above ; who difcov- ered nothing but frozen ponds, and fnowy mountains ; and fuppofing the Indians had taken up their winter quarters nearer the fea, they returned to Newichwannock, with- in nine days from their firft departure.
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