USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire > Part 27
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They were extremely offended by the settlements, which the English, after the peace of Utretcht, made on the lands to the eastward, and by their building forts, block houses and mills ; whereby their usual mode of passing the rivers and carrying-places was interrupted ; and they could not believe, though they were told with great solemnity, that these fortifications were erected for their defence against invasion.1 When conferences were held with them on this subject, they either denied that the lands had been sold, or pretended that the sachems had exceeded their power in making the bargains ; or had conveyed lands beyond the limits of their tribe ; or that the English had taken advantage of their drunkenness to make them sign the deeds ; or that no val- uable consideration had been given for the purchase.2 No argu- ments or evidence which could be adduced would satisfy them, unless the lands were paid for again ; and had this been done once, their posterity after a few years would have renewed the demand.
On the other hand, the French did not in a formal manner de- clare them subjects of the crown of France ; but every tribe, however small, was allowed to preserve its independence.3 Those who were situated in the heart of Canada kept their lands to them- selves, which were never solicited from them; those who dwelt
(1) Governor Shute's conference, 1717. (2) Waldo's defence of Loveret's title. (3) Abbo Raynal.
1
199
PROVINCE. SAMUEL SHUTE.
1717.]
on the rivers and shores of the Atlantic, though distant from the French colonies, received annual presents from the king of France ; and solitary traders resided with, or occasionally visited them ; but no attempt was made by any company to settle on their lands.
It was in the power of the English to supply them with provis- ions, arms, ammunition, blankets and other articles which they wanted, cheaper than they could purchase them of the 1717. French. Governor Shute had promised that trading houses should be established among them, and that a smith should be provided to keep their arms and other instruments in repair ; but the unhappy contentions between the governor and assembly of Massachusetts prevented a compliance with this engagement. The Indians were therefore obliged to submit to the impositions of private traders, or to seek supplies from the French ; who failed not to join with them in reproaching the English for this breach of promise, and for their avidity in getting away the land.
'The inhabitants of the eastern parts of New-England were not of the best character for religion, and were ill adapted to engage the affections of the Indians by their example. The frequent hostilities on this quarter, not only kept alive a spirit of jealousy and revenge in individuals, but prevented any endeavors to prop- agate religious knowledge among the Indians by the government ; though it was one of the conditions of their charter ; and though many good men wished it might be attempted. At length, Gov- ernor Shute, in his conference with their sachems at Arrowsick, introduced this important business by offering them in a formal manner, an Indian bible, and a protestant missionary ; but they rejected both, saying ' God hath given us teaching already, and if ' we should go from it, we should displease him.' He would have done much better service, and perhaps prevented a war, if he had complied with their earnest desire to fix a boundary, be- yond which the English should not extend their settlements.1
A gentleman, in conversation with one of their sachems, asked him why they were so strongly attached to the French, from whom they could not expect to receive so much benefit as from the English ; the sachem gravely answered, ' because the French ' have taught us to pray to God, which the English never did.'2
It has been observed in the former part of this work, that the Jesuits had planted themselves among these tribes. They had one church at Penobscot, and another at Norridgewog, where Sebastian Ralle, a French Jesuit, resided. He was a man of good sense, learning and address, and by a compliance with their mode of life, and a gentle, condescending deportment, had gained their affections so as to manage them at his pleasure. Knowing the power of superstition over the savage mind, he took advantage
(1) Judge Sewal's memorial. (2) Penhallow's MSS.
200
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1720.
of this, and of their prejudice against the English, to promote the cause, and strengthen the interest of the French among them. He even made the offices of devotion serve as incentives to their ferocity, and kept a flag, in which was depicted a cross, surround- ed by bows and arrows, which he used to hoist on a pole, at the door of his church, when he gave them absolution, previously to their engaging in any warlike enterprise.1 *
With this Jesuit, the governor of Canada held a close corres- pondence ; and by him was informed of every thing transacted among the Indians. By this means, their discontent with the English, on account of the settlements made at the eastward, was heightened and inflamed ; and they received every encourage- ment, to assert their title to the lands in question, and molest the settlers, by killing their cattle, burning their stacks of hay, rob- bing and insulting them. These insolencies discouraged the peo- ple, and caused many of them to remove. The garrisons were then reinforced ; and scouting parties were ordered into the east- ern quarter, under the command of Colonel Shadrach Walton. By this appearance of force, the Indians, who dreaded the power of the English, were restrained from open hostilities. They had frequent parleys with the commanders of forts, and withi commis- sioners who visited them occasionally ; and though at first they seemed to be resolute in demanding the removal of the English, declaring that ' they had fought for the land three times, and ' would fight for it again ;'2 yet when they were told that there was no alternative but perfect peace or open war, and that if they chose peace they must forbear every kind of insult, they seemed to prefer peace; and either pretended ignorance of what had been done, or promised to make inquiry into it ; and as an evi- dence of their good intentions, offered a tribute of skins, and de- livered up four of their young men as hostages.
This proceeding was highly disrelished by the governor of Canada ; who renewed his efforts to keep up the quarrel, and secretly promised to supply the Indians with arms and ammuni- tion ; though as it was a time of peace between the two crowns, he could not openly assist them.3
(1) New-England Courant, No. 160. (2) Captain Penhallow's MSS .-- (3) Hutch. Hist. 263.
* [The writer of a biographical memoir of Ralle, published in the 2 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. viii. 250-257, has attempted to vindicate his character from this charge, and from several aspersions which appear in works of writers contemporary with the missionary. In relation to the statement in the text, derived from the New-England Courant, the writer says, " How much reli- ance is to be placed upon newspaper paragraphs, written respecting those with whom hostilities are carried on, the dispassionate will judge. Imputed reasons are not always correct : if they were, the aborigines might infer that the figure of an Indian, with a drawn sword over his head on the flag of the English inhabitants of Massachusetts, implied that it was borne in menace of an exterminating war against all Indians."]
201
PROVINCE. SAMUEL SHUTE.
1720.]
The New-England governments, though highly incensed, were not easily persuaded to consent to a war. The dispute was be- tween the Indians and the proprietors of the eastern lands, in which the public were not directly interested. No blood had as yet been shed. Canseau had been surprised and plundered, and some people killed there ; but that was in the government of Nova- Scotia. Ralle was regarded as the principal instigator of the In- dians ; and it was thought, that if he could be taken off they would be quiet. It was once proposed to send the sheriff of York county, with a posse of one hundred and fifty men, to seize and bring him to Boston ; but this was not agreed to. The 1721. next summer, Ralle in company with Castine from Penob- scot, and Croisil from Canada, appeared among the Indians, at a conference held on Arrowsick Island, with Captain Penhal- July. low, the commander of the garrison, and brought a letter, written in the name of the several tribes of Indians, directed to Governor Shute ; in which it was declared, ' that if the English ' did not remove in three weeks, they would kill them and their ' cattle, and burn their houses.' An additional guard was sent down; but the government, loatlı to come to a rupture, and de- sirous if possible to treat with the Indians separately from the French emissaries, invited them to another conference, which in- vitation they treated with neglect.
In the succeeding winter, a party under Colonel Thomas West- brooke was ordered to Norridgewog to seize Ralle. They ar- rived at the village undiscovered ; but before they could surround his house, he escaped into the woods, leaving his papers in his strong box, which they brought off without doing any other dam- age. Among these papers were his letters of correspondence with the governor of Canada, by which it clearly appeared, that he was deeply engaged in exciting the Indians to a rupture, and had promised to assist them.
This attempt to seize their spiritual father, could not long be unrevenged. The next summer, they took nine families 1722. from Merrymeeting bay, and after dismissing some of the , June 13. prisoners, retained enough to secure the redemption of their hostages and sent them to Canada.1 About the same time, they made an attempt on the fort at St. George's ; but were re- pulsed with considerable loss. They also surprised some fishing vessels in the eastern harbors ; and at lengthi, made a furious at- tack on the town of Brunswick, which they destroyed. This action determined the government to issue a declar- July 25. ation of war against them, which was published in form at Boston and Portsmouth.
New-Hampshire being seated in the bosom of Massachusetts, had the same interest to serve, and bore a proportionable share
(1) Penhallow's Indian wars, p. 85. 28
202
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1722.
of all these transactions and the expenses attending them. Wal- ton, who first commanded the forces sent into the eastern parts, and Westbrooke, who succeeded him, as well as Penhallow, the commander of the fort at Arrowsick, were New-Hampshire men. The two former were of the council. A declaration of war being made, the enemy were expected on every part of the frontiers ; and the Assembly were obliged to concert measures for their se- curity, after an interval of peace for about ten years.
The usual route of the Indians, in their marches to the frontiers of New-Hampshire, was by the way of Winnipiseogee lake. The distance from Cochecho falls, in the town of Dover, to the southeast bay of that lake, is about thirty miles. It was thought that if a road could be opened to that place, and a fort built there, the enemy would be prevented from coming that way. Orders were accordingly issued, and a party of two hundred and fifty men were employed in cutting down the woods for a road ; but the expense so far exceeded the benefit which could be expected from a fort at such a distance, in the wilderness, to be supplied with provisions and ammunition by land carriage, which might easily be interrupted by the enemy, that the design was laid aside, and the old method of defence by scouts and garrisons was adop- ted.1 Lieutenant Governor Wentworth, being commander in chief in Shute's absence, was particularly careful to supply the garrisons with stores, and visit them in person, to see that the duty was regularly performed ; for which, and other prudent and faithful services, he frequently received the acknowledgments of the Assembly and grants of money, generally amounting to one hundred pounds at every session, and sometimes more. They also took care to enlist men for two years, and to establish the wages of officers and soldiers at the following rates ; a captain, at seven pounds per month ; a lieutenant, four pounds ; a ser- geant, fifty-eight shillings ; a corporal, forty-five shillings, and a private, forty shillings. A bounty of one hundred pounds was offered for every Indian scalp. The difference between the cur- rency and sterling, was two and a half for one .*
(1) Assembly Records.
# [1723. On the 24 February, sixty three of the inhabitants " living in that part of New-Castle, called Little-Harbor and Sandy Beach, and at the east- ward of the Little River, so called, at the easterly end of Hampton next to Sandy Beach, with sundry persons of Portsmouth living near Sandy Beach," being in all sixty families or upwards, petitioned the governor and council to be set off as " a particular district or precinct for maintaining a minister with the privileges of carrying on the affairs of a town or parish." The petition- ers state that by reason of the great distance they live from any meeting house, the " greatest part of their families were deprived of the dispensations of the gospel, and that there had been almost a famine of the word and wor- ship of God amongst them, there being near four hundred souls, whereof not above the sixth or seventh part could attend said worship." MS. Petition .- Their petition was probably granted, as the next year, they built a meeting house, and in 1726, gathered a church, and settled Rev. Nathaniel Morrill for
203
PROVINCE. JOHN WENTWORTH.
1722.]
The first appearance of the enemy in New-Hampshire, was at Dover, where they surprised and killed Joseph Ham, and 1723. took three of his children ; the rest of the family escaped to the garrison. Soon after, they waylaid the road, and killed Tristram Heard .* Their next onset was at Lamprey Aug. 29. river, where they killed Aaron Rawlins and one of his children, taking his wife and three children captive.1 +
(1) Penhallow, page 96.
their first minister. The early names in Rye were those of Berry, Seavey, Brackett, Rand, Locke, Wallis and Jenness, most of which are still found there. It had 72 ratable polls in 1727, and 736 inhabitants in 1767. The settlement of this town dates back to the year 1631, perhaps somewhat earlier.] * [Tristram Heard was son of the widow Elizabeth Heard, who so remark- ably escaped in 1689, when Major Waldron and his neighhors were slain. He was born 4 March, 1667, and was consequently 56 years of age when killed. His mother, who is said by Rev. John Pike to have been, " a grave and pious woman, even the mother of virtue and piety," died 30 November, 1706.]
t ' This Aaron Rawlins (whose wife was a daughter of Edward Taylor, who ' was killed by the Indians 1704) lived upon the plantation left by Taylor, ' about half a mile west from Lamprey river landing, at the lower falls on ' Piscasick river. The people there at that time, commonly retired, at night, ' to the garrisoned houses, and returned home in the day time ; but that 'night they neglected to retire as usual. His brother Samuel also lived ' about half a mile distant on the same river. It seems the Indian scout con- 'sisted of eighteen, who probably had been reconnoitering some time, and in- ' tended to have destroyed both the families, and for that purpose divided, and ' nine went to each house ; but the party that went to Samuel Rawlins's, ' beating in the windows, and finding the family gone, immediately joined ' their companions, who were engaged at Aaron's. His wife went out at the ' door, perhaps sooner than they would otherwise have assaulted the house, ' and was immediately seized, and one or two of her children who followed ' her. Her husband being alarmed, secured the door before they could enter, ' and with his eldest daughter, about twelve years old, stood upon his defence, ' repeatedly firing wherever they attempted to enter, and at the same time ' calling earnestly to his neighbors for help ; but the people in the several ' garrisoned houses near, apprehending from the noise and incessant firing, ' the number of the enemy to be greater than they were and expecting every ' moment to be attacked themselves, did not venture to come to his assistance. ' Having for some time bravely withstood such unequal force, he was at last ' killed by their random shots through the house, which they then broke open, ' and killed his daughter. They scalped him, and cut off his daughter's head, ' either through haste, or probably being enraged against her, on account of ' the assistance she had afforded her father in their defence, which evidently ' appeared by her hands being soiled with powder. His wife and two chil- ' dren, a son and a daughter, they carried to Canada : The woman was re- ' deemed in a few years. The son was adopted by the Indians, and lived with ' them all his days ; he came into Penacook with the Indians after the peace, 'and expressed to some people with whom he conversed, much resentment ' against his uncle Samuel Rawlins, on supposing he had detained from his ' mother some property left by his father, but manifested no desire of return- ' ing to Newmarket again. The daughter married with a Frenchman, and ' when she was near sixty years old, returned with her husband to her native ' place, in expectation of recovering the patrimony she conceived was left at ' the death of her father : But the estate having been sold by her grand- ' father Taylor's administrators, they were disappointed, and after a year or ' two went back to Canada.'
This account was collected from some of the surviving sufferers, and other aged persons who were witnesses of the scene, by Wentworth Cheswell, Esq. of Newmarket.
204
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1724.
The next spring, they killed James Nock," one of the elders of the church at Oyster river, as he was returning on horeseback
1724. from setting his beaver traps in the woods.1 Soon after, they appeared at Kingston, where they took Peter Col- May 16. cord and Ephraim Stevens, and two children of Ebenezer Stevens.2 They were pursued by scouts from Kingston and Londonderry, but in vain. Colcord made his escape in about six months, and received a gratuity of ten pounds from the Assembly, for his ' courage and ingenuity, and for the account he gave of the ' proceedings of the enemy.'3
May 24.
On a sabbath day, they ambushed the road at Oyster river, and killed George Chesley, and mortally wounded Elizabeth Burnham, as they were returning together from public
worship.4 In a few days more, five Indians took Thomas June 2. Smith and John Carr at Chester ; and after carrying them about thirty miles, bound them and lay down to sleep. The captives escaped, and in three days arrived safe at a garrison in Londonderry.5
The settlements at Oyster river being very much exposed, a company of volunteers under the command of Abraham Benwick, who went out on the encouragement offered by the government for scalps, were about marching to make discoveries. It hap- pened that Moses Davis,f and his son of the same name, June 10. being at work in their corn field, went to a brook to drink, where they discovered three Indian packs. They immediately gave notice of this discovery to the volunteer company, and went before to guide them to the spot. The Indians had placed them- selves in ambush; and the unhappy father and son were both killed. The company then fired, killed one and wounded two others, who made their escape, though they were pursued and tracked by their blood to a considerable distance.6 The slain In- dian was a person of distinction, and wore a kind of coronet of scarlet dyed fur, with an appendage of four small bells, by the sound of which the others might follow him through the thickets. His hair was remarkably soft and fine; and he had about him a devotional book and a muster-roll of one hundred and eighty In- dians ; from which circumstances it was supposed that he was a natural son of the Jesuit Ralle, by an Indian woman who had served him as a laundress.7 į His scalp was presented to the lieu-
(1) MS. of Rev. Hugh Adams. (2) MS. of Rev. Ward Clark. (3) Assem- bly Records. (4) Penhallow and Hugh Adams. (5) New-England Courant. (6) Penhallow, p. 101. (7) Huglı Adams's MS.
* [Penhallow says Sylvanus Nock.]
t [Moses Davis was son of John Davis, and brother of Captain James Davis, afterwards colonel, who is mentioned under 1703 and 1709. He was born at Dover, 30 December, 1657, and was in the 67th year of his age at the time he was killed.]
# [The writer before referred to, (2 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. viii. 256) remarks on this statement as follows : "Now, we learn from Charlevoix, T. II. p.
205
PROVINCE. JOHN WENTWORTH.
1724.]
tenant governor in council, by Robert Burnham, and the promis- ed bounty was paid to captain Francis Matthews, in trust for the company.1
Within the town of Dover were many families of Quakers ; who scrupling the lawfulness of war, could not be persuaded to use any means for their defence ; though equally exposed with their neighbors to an enemy who made no distinction between them. One of these people, Ebenezer Downs, was taken by the Indians, and was grossly insulted and abused by them, because he refused to dance as the other prisoners did, for the diversion of their savage captors. Another of them, John Hanson, who lived on the outside of the town, in a remote situation, could not be per- suaded to remove to a garrison, though he had a a large family of children. A party of thirteen Indians, called French Mo- hawks, had marked his house for their prey ; and lay several days in ambush, waiting for an opportunity to assault it. While Han- son with his eldest daughter were gone to attend the weekly meet- ing of friends, and his two eldest sons were at work in a meadow at some distance ; the Indians entered the house, killed and scalp- ed two small children, and took his wife, with her infant of four- teen days old, her nurse, two daughters and a son, and after rifling the house, carried them off. This was done so suddenly and secretly, that the first person who discovered it was the eldest daughter at her return from the meeting before her father. See- ing the two children dead at the door, she gave a shriek of dis- tress, which was distinctly heard by her mother, then in the hands of the enemy among the bushes, and by her brothers in the meadow. The people being alarmed, went in pursuit ; but the Indians cautiously avoiding all paths, went off with their captives undiscovered. After this disaster had befallen his family, Han- son removed the remainder of them to the house of his brother ; who, though of the same religious persuasion, yet had a number of lusty sons, and always kept his fire-arms in good order, for the purpose of shooting game .*
(1) Assembly Records, June 12.
107 and 379, that the Sieur de S. CASTINE had married an Abnaquis ; that the children lived with their maternal relations ; that the eldest son, the Bar- on de CASTINE, considered himself as belonging on his mother's side to the nation ofthe Abnaquis, and in 1721, had become acknowledged as their chief. ' From which circumstances, it may be supposed' with much greater probabil- ity, that the Indian in question was of the family of Castine, and not a natural son of the priest. His muster roll imports his being a chieftain ; and his cor- onet designates his claim to nobility."]
* This account is given as collected from the information of the family. A narrative of their distresses is in print.' The woman, though of a tender constitution, had a firm and vigorous mind, and passed through the various hardships of an Indian captivity, with much resolution and patience. When her milk failed, she supported her infant with water, which she warmed in her mouth, and dropped on her breast, till the squaws taught her to beat the kernel of walnuts and boil it with bruised corn, which proved a nourishing food for her babe. They were all sold to the French in Canada. Hausou
206
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1724.
These and other insolencies of the enemy being daily perpe- trated on the frontiers, caused the governments to resolve on an expedition to Norridgewog. The captains Moulton* and Har- man, both of York, each at the head of company of one Aug. 12. hundred men, executed their orders with great address. They completely invested and surprised that village ; killed the obnoxious Jesuit with about eighty of his Indians ; recovered three captives ; destroyed the chapel, and brought away the plate and furniture of the altar, and the devotional flag, as trophies of their victory.+ Ralle was then in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and had resided in his mission at Norridgewog twenty-six years ; having before spent six years in travelling among the In- dian nations, in the interior parts of America.1 }
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