USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 8
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The Indians have been represented as
tevengeful.
127
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
revengeful. 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 government is confeffedly fo feeble as among them, fuch a conduct is not juf- tifiable, and even countenanced by the Jewith law may deferve our confideration.
The treachery with which thefe people are juftly charged, is exactly the fame dif- pofition which operates in the breach of folemn treaties made between nations which call themfelves chriftian. Can it be more criminal in an Indian, than in an European, not to think himfelt bound by promifes and oaths extorted from him when under durefs ?
Their jealoufy and hatred of their En- glifh 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 difagreeable idea of a whole nation, from the bad conduct of fome individuals with whom we are ac- quainted ? and though others of them may be of a different character, yet will not that prudence which is efteemed a virtue, lead us to fufpect the faireft appearances,
Numbers ch. 35. v. 19. Deutero- nomy ch. 19. V. 12.
as
128
HISTORY OF
as ufcd to cover the moft fraudulent de figns, efpecially if pains are taken by the moft politic among us, to foment fuch jealoufies to fubferve their own ambitious purpofes ?
Though the greater part of the Englifh fettlers came hither with religious views, and fairly purchafed their lands of the In- dians, yet it cannot be denied that fome, efpecially in the eaftern parts of New- England, had lucrative views only ; and from the beginning ufed fraudulent meth- ods in trade with them. Such things were indeed difallowed by the government, and would always have been punifhed if the Indians had made complaint : but they knew only the law of retaliation, and when an injury was received, it was never forgotten till revenged. Encroachments 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 perpetual jeal- oufy of the like treatment again *.
Such
# Monf. du Pratz gives nearly the fame account of the Indians on the Mitfifippi. " There needs nothing but prudence and good " fenfe to pertuade thefe p:op'e to whit is reafonablc, and to pre- " ferve their friendthip without interruption. We may fa'cly affirm, st that the differences we have had with them have been more ow- "ing tothe French than to them. When they are treated info- "ently, or oppreflively, they have no lefs fenfibility of injuries " than other. " Hiflory of Louifiana, hb. 4. cap. 3.
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NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
Such was the temper of the Indians of New-England when the firft general war began. It was thought by the Englith in that day, that Philip, fachem of the Wom- panoags, a crafty and afpiring man, partly by intrigue, and partly by example, excit- ed them to fuch a general combination. He was the fon of 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 fuc- ceffor Alexander, preferved the fame ex- ternal fhew of friendthip ; 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 fubmiflion, and teftify it even by the de- livery of his arms, till he had fecretly in- fufed a cruel jealoufy into many of the neighbouring 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 maik of friendfhip, he was conftrained tothow him- felf in his true character, and accordingly began hoftilities upon the plantation of K
Swanzv,
16752
1 30
HISTORY OF
1675. Swanzy, in the colony of Plymouth, in the month of June 1675.
Hubbard's Narrative, P. 12.
Neal's Hift. N. E. Vol. I.p.21.
Notwithftanding this general opinion, it may admit of fome doubt, whether a fingle fachem, whofe authority was limit- ed, could have fuch an extenfive influence overtribes 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 nev- er travelled to any greater diftance than their hunting required ; and fo ignorant were they of the geography of their coun- try, that they imagined New-England to be an ifland, and could tell the name 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 ex- citing this war, is the conftant tradition among the pofterity of thofe people who lived near him, and wore familiarly con- verfant with him, and with thofe of his Indians who furvived the war ; which is, that he was forced on by the fury of his young men, forely against his own judg- ment and that of his chief counfellors ; and that as he forefaw that the Englith would,
in
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in time, eftablifh themfelves and extirpate the Indians, fo he thought that the mak- ing war upon them would only haften the deftruction of his own people. It was al- ways a very common, and fometimes a juft excufe with the Indians, when charg- ed 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 difapproved their rafhnefs. This want of reftraint was owing to the weaknefs of their govern- ment ; their fachems having but the fha- dow of magiftratical authority.
The inhabitants of Briftol fhew a parti- cular fpot where Philip received the news of the firft Englifhmen that were killed, with fo much forrow as to caufe him to weep ; a few days before which he had refcued one who had been taken by his Indians, and privately fent him home. Whatever credit may be given to this ac- count, fo different from the current opin- ion, it muft be owned, that in fuch a fea- fon of general confufion as the firft war occafioned, fear and jealoufy might 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 K 2 of
Callender's Century Sermon, p. 73.
132
HISTORY OF
1675.
FE bbard, 2.29. 61.
of this war, [Increafe Mather's and Hub- bard's] were printed in 1676 and 1677, when the ftrangeft reports were eafily cre- dited, and the people were ready to be- lieve every thing that was bad of fo formi- dable 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 dwelt near the river Saco a fa- chem named Squando, a noted enthufiaft, a leader in the devotions of their religion, and one who pretended to a familiar inter- courfe with the invifible world. Thefe qualifications rendered him a perfon of the higheft dignity, importance and influ- ence among all the eaftern Indians. His fquaw pafling along the river in a canoe, with her infant child, was met by fome rude failors, who having heard that the Indian children could fwim as naturally as the young of the brutal kind, in a thought- leis and unguarded humour 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 anti- pathy
I 33
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
pathy to the Englifh, and employed his great art and influence to excite the Indi- ans againft them. Some other injuries were alledged as the ground of the quarrel ; and, confidering the intcrefted views and irregular lives of many of the eaftern fet- tlers, their diftance from the feat of gov- ernment, and the want of due fubordi- nation among them, it is not improba- ble 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 neighbours. But the feeds of jealoufy and hatred had been fo effectually fown, that the crafty and revengeful, and thofe who were ambitious 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 Englith inhabitants about the river Kennebeck, hearing of the infurrection in
Plymouth
1675.
Magnalia, Li5. 7. 2 55.
p. 13.
1 34
1675. -
HISTORY OF
Plymouth colony, determined to make trial of the fidelity of their Indian neigh- bours, by requefting them to deliver their arms. They madea fhew of compliance ; but, in doing it, committed an act of vio- lence on a Frenchman, who lived in an Englifh family ; which being judged an offence, both by the Englifh and the elder Indians, the offender was feized; but up- on a promife, with fecurity, for his future good behaviour, his life was fpared, and fome of them confented to remain as hof- tages ; who foon made their efcape, and joined with their fellows in robbing the houfe of Purchas, an ancient planter at Pechypfcot.
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 encouraged by the ex- ample of the weftern Indians, who were daily making depredations on the colonies of Plymouth and Maffachufetts ; they took every opportunity to rob and murder the people in the fcattered fettlements of the province of Maine ; and having dif- perfed themfelves into many fmall parties, that they might be the more extenfively mifchievous,
I 35
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
mifchievous, in the month of September they approached the plantations at Paf- cataqua, 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 Chefly, killed two men 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 ambuth near the road between Exeter and Hamp- ton, where they killed one, and took an- other, who made his efcape. Within a few days an affault was made on the houfe of one Tozer at Newichwanneck, where- in 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 better fecured. The Indians chopped the door to pieces with their hatchets, and then entering, they knocked her down, and leaving 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 recov- ered, and was perfectly healed of her wound.
1675.
Hubbard, F. 19.
The
136 1675.
Hubbard, p. 22.
HISTORY OF
The two following days they made fev- eral appearances on both fides of the riv- er, ufing much infolence, and burning two houfes and three barns, with a large quantity of grain. Some fhot were ex- changed without effect, and a purfuit was made after them into the woods by eight men, but night obliged them to return without fuccefs. Five or fix houfes were burned at Oyfter river, and two more men killed. Thefe daily infults could not be borne without indignation and reprifal. About twenty young men, chiefty of Do- ver, obtained leave of Major Waldron, then commander of the militia, to try their fkill and courage with the Indians in their own way. Having fcattered themfelves in the woods, a finall party of them difco- vered five Indians in a field near a defert- ed houfe, fome of whom were gathering corn, and others kindling 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 fud- denly ruthed 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.
All
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
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 fafe- ty. The only way was to defert their ha- bitations, and retire together within the larger and more convenient houfes, which they fortified with atimber wall an.d flank- arts, placing a centry-box on the roof. Thus the labour of the field was exchang- ed for the duty of the garrifon, 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 fixteenth 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, imme- diately fent out a party of feven from his garrifon to make difcovery. They fell into an ambufh ; three were killed, and the reft retreated. The Lieutenant then difpatched an exprefs to Major Waldron and Lieutenant Coffin at Cochecho, beg- ging moft importunately for help, which they were in no capacity to afford, con- fiftently
1675, L
133
HISTORY OF
1675.
fitently withtheir 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 wound in a few weeks. Had the heroifm of this worthy family been imitated by the reft of the party, and a reinforcement arrived in feafon, the enemy might have received fuch a fevere check as would have prevent- ed 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 be- for the month had expired a mill was burned there, and an affault 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 proceeded down the river, killing and plundering as they found
Hubbard, p. 24.
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found people off their guard, till they came oppofite to Portfmouth; from whence fome cannon being fired they difperfed, 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 plun- der to the purfuers. They foon after did more mifchief at Dover, Lamprey river and Exeter; and with thefe fmall, but ir- ritating affaults and fkirmifhes, the autumn was fpent till the end of November ; when the number of people killed and taken from Kennebeck to Pafcataqua a- mounted to upwards of fifty.
The Maffachufetts government being fully employed in defending the fouthern and weftern parts, could not feafonably fend fuccours to the eaftward. Major General Denifon, who commanded the mi- litia of the colony, had ordered the majors who commanded the regiments on this fide of the country, to draw out a fufficient number of men to reduce 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 rack- ets to travel on the fnow, which by the tenth of December was four feet deep in the
1675.
140
HISTORY OF
1675. the woods, it was impoffible to execute the defign. This peculiar feverity of the fea- fon however proved favourable. The In- dians were pinched with famine, and hav- ing loft by their own confeffion about ninety of their number, partly by the war, and partly for want of food, they were re- duced to the neceffity of fuing for peace. With this view they came to Major Wal- dron, 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 Au- guft ; 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 ungovernable 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 captivity.
1676.
Church's Memoirs, P. 41.
The war at the fouthward, though re- newed in the fpring, drew toward a clofe. Philip's 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 Indians who had been engaged in the
14L
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
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 difguife themfelves or their behaviour as to efcape the difcern- ment of thofe who had been converfant with Indians. Several of them were taken at different times and delivered up to pub- lic execution. Three of them, Simon, Andrew andPeter, who had been concern- ed 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 atone- ment for the murder, they were commit- ted to Dover prifon till their cafe fhould be confidered. Fearing that this confinement was a prelude to farther punifhment, they broke out of prifon, and going to the eaft- ward, joined with the Indians of Kene- beck and Amorifcogin in thofe depreda- tions which they renewed on the inhabi- tants of thofe parts, in Auguft, and were afterward active in diftreffing the people at Pafcataqua.
This renewalof hoftilities occafioned the fending of two companies to the eaftward under
1676.
142
HISTORY OF
1676. under Captain Jofeph Syll, and Captain William Hawthorne. In the courfe of their march they came to Cochecho, on the fixth of September, where four hun- dred mixed Indians were met at the houfe of Major Waldron, with whom they had made the peace, and whom they confider- ed 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 diffuaded them from that purpofe,and contrived the following itra- tagem. He propofed to the Indians, to have a training the next day, and a fham fight after the Englifh mode; and fum- moning his own men, with thofe under Captain Froft of Kittery, they, in conjunc- tion 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 fur- rounded, before they could form a fufpi- cion of what was intended. They were immediately feized and difarmed, without the lofs of a man on either fide. A fepa- ration was then made : Wonolanfet, with the Penacook Indians, and others who had
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
had joined in making peace the winter be- fore, were peaceably difmiffed ; but the ftrange Indians (as they were called) who had fled from the fouthward and taken re- fuge among them, were made prifoners, to the number of two hundred ; and be- ing 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 ene- mies in a judicial way, as rebels, and, as they imagined, to extirpate thofe trouble- fome neighbours. The remaining Indi- ans, however, looked upon the conduct of' Major Waldron as a breach of faith ; inaf- much as they had taken thofe fugitive In- dians 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 another, without any imputation of infidelity ; but a breach of hofpitality and friendthip, as they deent- ed
16-6.
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HISTORY OF
1676. ed 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 ex- tremely 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 colony ; and that in cafe of failure he fhould expofe the country to their re- fentment ; but had henot affifted the forces in the execution of their commiffion ( which was to feize all Indians who had been con- cerned with Philip in the war ) he muft have fallen under cenfure, and been deemed acceffary, by his neglect, to the mifchiefs which might afterward have been perpe- trated by them. In this dilemma he finally determined to comply with the orders and expectations of government ; imagining that he fhould be able to fatisfy thofe of the Indians whom he intended to difmifs, and that the others would be removed out of the way of doing any further mif_ chief; 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
1.45
1676. 1
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
to a people who, having no public judica- tories and penal laws among themfelves, were unable to diftinguifh between a le- gal 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 either deftroyed or deferted, and no enemy was to be feen ; fo that the expe- dition proved fruitlefs, and the compa- nies returned to Pafcataqua.
It was then thought advifeable, that they fhould march up toward the Offapy ponds ; where the Indians had a ftrong fort of timber fourteen feet high, with flankarts ; which they had a few years before hired fome Englifh carpenters to build for them, as a defence 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 L the
* The above account of the feizure of the Indians is given from the moft authentic and credible tradition that could be obtained within fixteen years, preceding 1784 from the pofterity of thofe perfons who were con- cerned in the affair. It is but juft mentioned by Hubbard and Mather, and not in connexion with its confequences. Neal, for want of better information, has given a wrong turn to the relation, and fo has Wynne who copies from him. Hutchinfon has not mentioned it at all.
1 46
HISTORY OF
1676. the beginning of winter, fome confiderable advantages 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 companies being well provided for a march at that feafon, fet off on the firft of November ; and after tra- velling four days through a rugged, moun- tainous wildernefs, and croffing feveral rivers, they arrived at the fpot; but found the fort and adjacent places entirely de- ferted, and faw not an Indian in all the way. Thinking it needlefs for the whole body to go further, the weather being fe- vere, and the fnow deep, a felect party was detached eighteen or twenty miles above; who difcovered nothing but frozen ponds, and fnowy mountains ; and fuppofing the Indians had taken up their winter quarters nearer the fea, they returned to Newich- wannock, within nine days from their firft departure.
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