USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 34
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'Squire Jonathan and his companions in office were indignant. " To send such soldiers will be a disgrace to the town," said they ; " They shall not go, the draft shall proceed." Accordingly the name of each man on a slip of paper was placed in a hat, and when well shaken up, Joseph Patch, Jr., drew forth four of them. Stephen Whiteman was in luck. He, with John Copp, William Merrill, and Obadiah Whitcher, were drafted to go. But William Merrill, son of Joseph Merrill, inn keeper, would not be a soldier, and Daniel Pillsbury went as his substitute.
Perkins Fellows, who lived over the Height-o'-land, was also on hand again and went with the quota of Warren. They helped to make up a company which was commanded by Captain John D. Harty, of Dover. Perkins Fellows was first Lieutenant, and by his influence Daniel Pillsbury was first corporal, and Obadiah Whitcher third corporal. These men had gay times down at Portsmouth, by the side of the " deep blue sea," where they went fishing, catching sheep's heads and cuttle-fish, and the only hazar- dous service they saw was when some shiney nights they made raids upon pig-styes and hen roosts. John Copp and Stephen Whiteman were great on a raid. At the end of sixty days they were all discharged and came safe home.
When peace had been declared, and the war was over, there
* FAMILY RECORD OF WILLIAM AND MEHITABLE (Merrill) WHITEMAN. Stephen, born Ang. 12, 1784. Betsey, born May 24, 1792. Richard, born June 24, 1786. Hannah, born June 17, 1794. 1 Levi, born Apr. 8, 1789.
Mrs. Whiteman died March 29, 1798. She was a daughter of Farmer Joshua. William Whiteman was a Dutchman.
t Jolin Copp was the fourth little man who volunteered .- Stephen Whiteman's statement.
Mr. Whiteman said John Copp was not so tall as he was. Jesse Eastman who lived a long time in the East-parte regions, went from Coventry and carried his own gun.
395
THE OLD-FASHIONED MUSTER.
was great joy in all the land, but the military spirit did not die out. Little training day in May, and muster day were more anxiously expected than ever, and great was the enthusiasm on such occa- sions.
The old 13th regiment, composed of the companies of Warren, Benton, Haverhill, Piermont, and Orford, was now in all its glory. Moses H. Clement, of Warren, was Colonel, James Rogers, Lieut. Colonel, and James R. Page, Major. Col. Clement had been a captain of infantry, a captain of cavalry or troop, as it was gener- ally called, and now he had got to be a colonel of a whole regiment. What a high honor, thought he, and Warren shall share it. So when the annual muster-day came, all the troops were commanded to meet on the "parade," in front of Joseph Merrill's inn, in our little democracy.
Who of those who lived in the last generation, does not remember what a time they had going to muster. It was the great day of the year. Every body was up by one o'clock A. M., on that morning. All the country round was alive; men, women, and children, hurrying away by thousands over the hills and through the valleys in the morning dawn, to muster. What shouting, what running of horses, what a caravan of peddlers, traveling through the country, going through a whole brigade of musters.
Every one must be on the ground at sunrise at the beating of the reveille, when the companies would be formed. All around the parade, booths, victualing tents, and showmen's tents had sprung up in the night like Jonah's gourd. These would reap a harvest on that eventful day. The whole field north of the parade was thrown open for the muster, and the line was always formed where the railroad embankment is now. What rivalry was there to be the color company, to be the escort company. How gay was the troop, and what splendid uniforms some of the infantry com- panies had.
The whole regiment with colors flying marched that day with its dashing colonel at its head, along the broad turnpike road. Two dozen drums were beating all at once, a dozen fifes were shrilly playing, the brass band joined its inspiriting strains and the two cannon of the artillery company on the field, helped make mu- sic for the regimental march. The forests awoke in echoes, all the
396
HISTORY OF WARREN.
hills gave back the sound, and the wooded mountain crests taking up the melody of war, bore it far across the borders to the dwell- ers beyond Glen ponds in the ancient lands of Trecothick and of old Peeling, along the banks of the Pemigewassett. Those kind neighbors of ours over the mountains, who come to Warren about as often as the Chinese, never forgot the music of the regimental muster, and even now on winter evenings, tell their grandchildren of it.
Col. Obadiah Clement, father of Col. Moses, looked on with ambitious eyes, and a fatherly pride, and said it reminded him of . the time when they had the first little training on Blue ridge, by the bank of the Mikaseota, now called Black brook. Besides many of the soldiers of the Revolution were also there; Col. Stone, an old pensioner who had married the widow of Joshua Copp, and was engaged making a perpetual motion, Samuel Knight, Jacob Low, and Asa Low, and many others, together with the soldiers of the 1812 war, all said it was the finest muster they ever saw .* Especially were they pleased when at the review and inspection the General of the Brigade came upon the field, and every soldier stood up straight and did his prettiest.
In the afternoon they had a sham fight, and the side that had the artillery company won the victory, and then even Moosehil- lock's bald head echoed back the fray. There were also several smaller fights where there was not much noise, but a few broken heads and black eyes, all induced by good whisky; but we won't say much about these as the actors did not want any record made . of their glorious achievements.
Thus passed the day. The children and spectators eat ginger- bread, nuts, candy, honey, and drank new cider and something stronger, bought wares of the peddlers, watched the march, reviews, and drills, and looked at the shows.
At night they went home, and all the peddlers who had sold at auction, and hallooed and yelled till their throats were sore, all
* Jacob Low would twit his brother Asa Low of stealing his money, and when he would ask for it to buy tobacco, the latter would say, " Chaw tow, Jake, chaw tow." Jacob would then piously call Asa a d-d traitor, and said he no busi- ness to draw a pension, if he did go to the war. Asa had property and could not get his pension for many years. Jacob Low was at the battle of Bunker hill, and helped fire a cannon thirteen times at the British, and then run with the rest. He said he, himself alone, moved the cannon back and forth behind the breast work with a " handspike" as he called it. He was once a member of Gen. Lee's body-
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THE PARADE IS DISMISSED.
the show-men and victuallers, had pulled up stakes and were off to the muster that would be held somewhere down the river next day.
The soldiers too, all hurried away as soon as they got their silver half dollar, and the drums and the fifes, and the bugle of the troop was heard no more for several years in Warren .*
One man was certainly happy on the night of the muster,- Joseph Merrill, inn-keeper, for he had made $200 clear profit that day, a large sum for those times.
Many musters have been held since in Warren, but none better or more successful than the one when Moses H. Clement was Colonel.
guard. In Warren he lived with Amos Little several years, but died at Jo. Boyn- ton's, just above the Cold brook on the old turnpike. Gen. Joseph Low of Con- cord, once Adjutant General of N. H., was a nephew of Jacob Low.
Jacob said Asa deserted once, then got ashamed of himself and came skulking back.
* Paid Abel Merrill for what he expended for the soldiers on regimental mus- ter day, with adding twenty-five cents for each soldier belonging to the cavalry and artillery companies, $12.10 .- Selectmen's. Records, Vol. i.
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CHAPTER V.
HOW THE FIRST COVERED STAGE ACCOMPANIED BY SWEET MUSIC RAN THROUGH WARREN, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST POST- OFFICE, AND WHO DELIVERED THE LETTERS.
GREAT eras happen in the histories of all nations. They may not be fully realized, they may be hardly perceived at the time, but the consequences are felt and appreciated through the whole life of the State.
Our little democracy had experienced important events, and its discovery by white men, its name, its settlement, its first town meeting when the people assembled to choose rulers, raise reve- nue, and make proper enactments, were all turning points in our hamlet's existence. Now was to come another. What was it? says our expectant reader. Be patient and we will relate it.
The first post-rider up the Asquamchumauke, through Warren, as we have told, was John Balch of revolutionary times. Several others followed him in rapid succession, whose names and memo- ries are now forgotten. Then at the commencement of the present century, Col. Silas May carried the mail through town,- on horse- back with his good horn slung at his side, a worthy successor to Johnny Balch, he " dashed through the woods."
When the turnpike was built he drove a small Dutch wagon, like that Obadiah Clement first brought to town, and then he blew his horn louder and more than ever. He also commenced a new business in addition to carrying the mail. For a ninepence he would do small errands as far away as Portsmouth, and would
399
THE FIRST MAIL WAGON IN TOWN
carry small bundles and distribute them all through the country, where he went. For the agreeable part of these small jobs, the pay, he blew his clear, ringing horn as he passed every dwelling. Twice a week the inhabitants saw him climbing up the turnpike, twice a week they saw him disappearing down the valley of the Asquamchumauke.
Once he got snowed in at Warren, and was obliged to stop at Joseph Merrill's inn over the Sabbath. Let us stop there with him. 'Twas a neat bar-room, Joseph Merrill's. The floor was white, the old clock ticked in the corner, and the very attractive bar stood in the north end, its long row of decanters on the shelf behind, clean tumblers and mugs, nice toddy-sticks, and bright drainer. But the crowning glory of that bar-room is not the white floor, not the neat bar with its attractive contents, nor yet the clock tick- ing so musically in the corner; but it is the old-fashioned fire- place with its blazing embers, huge back-log, and iron fire-dogs, that shed glory over the whole room, gilds the plain and homely furniture with its light and renders the place a true type of New England in "ye olden times." Joseph Merrill's boys, and he had many of them, roasted apples, which swung round and round upon strings before the bright fire of that Saturday evening. Po- tatoes so rich and mealy, buried deep, were drawn from the ashes on the hearth for the colonel's supper, and Sunday afternoon the wife of our host turned the spit before the golden hue of the blaz- ing embers, on which the turkey roasted, filling the room with delicious odors so suggestive of a dainty repast. Other farmers all over town had a kitchen fire just as beautiful.
There was no meeting-house in town then, no meeting that snowy Sunday. For a long hour Col. May sat gazing in silence into the fire, and conjuring up all sorts of grotesque, fanciful ima- ges from among the burning coals. No fabled genii, with magic lamp of enchantment could build such gorgeous palaces or create such gems as one could discover amid the blazing embers of the old fashioned fire-place. How pure was the air of that bar-room! The huge fire-place with its brisk draught, carried off all the im- purities of the atmosphere and left it life-giving and healthful, not such as we breathe now as we huddle around the air-tight stoves.
When the colonel got tired of this, he got up, walked about,
1
400
HISTORY OF WARREN.
then went to the little crypt like hole in the wall, just to the right of the blazing hearth, where he found some half-dozen books,- the Bible, Baxter's Saint's Everlasting Rest, Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver's Travels, well read books of the last century ; but how entertaining on a snowy day. These served to while away the long hours, and make his stay pleasant.
It was hard climbing the Height-o'-land Monday, and Col. May got through to Haverhill, only after great ox-teams had first broke the road.
But carrying the mail in a one-horse Dutch wagon was not what the people in this northern country wanted. They had heard of something better, and they longed for the rumbling old thor- oughbraced coach, such as Merrie England had possessed for a. hundred years, such as were becoming the fashion down country. In all the towns from Concord to Haverhill, the matter was talked about, and in the spring of 1814, Robert Morse, of Romney, led off in the enterprise. In each town a subscription paper was circu- lated, and a considerable sum having been raised, a coach and horses for the route were bought .*
A change of horses were stationed at Franklin lower village, another at Newfound lake, and another at Morse's village, in Romney .ยก When all was arranged the coach, four horses attached,
* First Stage .- One was put on in 1811, but it only run a short time, and then " bust up." Lemuel Keezer, Benjamin Merrill, Abel Merrill, Amos Little and Colonel William Tarleton, took stock in this first enterprise. Philip Smart drove the stage. Caleb Merrill got in debt to the line, $1.20, for carrying bundles from Warren to Plymouth. . This stage was "to run from Haverhill to Concord via Plymouth Court House."
t Lemuel Keezer once kept the stage horses at his tavern. To save work, he had some wooden harrows made and would put them under the horses at night, teeth up, so that they could not lie down and get dirty. This saved a great deal of work, and withal was very kind to the horses-so Keezer told his hostler.
Keezer once had the toothache-very painful. It made him " holler." He went to old Doctor Thos. Whipple to have it pulled. Dr. Whipple commenced to cut round it. With the terrible aching and the pain of cutting, Keezer could not re- strain himself, and he shut his teeth down on the doctor's fingers till the blood run. The doctor with a struggle got free, and then applied his old fashioned cant-hook tooth-puller. With a turn of the wrist he held Keezer's head for a minute so tight he could not move, looked him square in the face and exclaimed, "Now Keezer bite! d-m ye, bite !"
Keezer used to compliment Captain Daniel Merrill with whom he lived,-said the captain was born in the afternoon, that he never got round with his work till afternoon; that he never got to meeting till afternoon, and that he wouldn't go,to heaven till afternoon. He also said Captain D. was the best farmer in town, for in the fall he always left the plow in the furrow, ready to hitch right on to in the spring. .
Captain Daniel used to plague Keezer about going to see the widow Pudney as he called her. Keezer didn't like it, and said he would come it on the captain. So one day he came running into the house all out of breath, and told him that. his son John, who was up in the woods after a load, was tight between two trees.
401
THE FIRST STAGE COACH.
left Concord for Haverhill. Robert Morse, the father of this enter- prise was on board, and also some of his friends, as invited guests.
It was a romantic ride for those passengers who first " dead- headed" it free, through this upper country. The intervals in Salisbury, now Franklin, where Daniel Webster spent his early years, were delightful. The Pemigewassett roared through the deep ravines of Bristol, Newfound lake shone bright as when Samuel Scribner and John Barker, hunting beside it, were carried away by the Indians, and the Asquamchumauke wound calm and clear, kissing the pebbles on its shore, around the foot of Rattle- snake mountain, as when Captain Tolford's men or Captain Pow- ers' men killed moose on its banks.
But where the mountains, their lofty peaks lost in the clouds, sloped down to the very river, which had now become a wild and foamy stream, where the green woods covered all the hills, and the clearings in the valley grew rare, there the beauties of the ride were fully appreciated.
Col. Silas May was a great horse man. His coach rattled over the bridge on the southern border of Warren, and when he crossed Hurricane brook and hurried over Patch brook, he came by Joseph Patch's, reining his mettlesome team with one hand, while with the other he held the bugle on which he played strains so wild and exhilerating that all the echo gods in the ravines of the hills and mountains, woke up and answered back the music. Nearly the whole of the inhabitants in town turned out to see the strange sight of a covered coach, for it was something new; perhaps they would have turned out any way, for all loved the beautiful airs played by Silas May. All the way up over the Asquamchumauke again, past where the depot is now, it was a fine young apple- orchard then, he played martial airs; Napoleon over the Alps, and Washington's March, till he reined in his horses before Joseph Merrill's inn. The latter was greatly pleased to see the stage; he had worked hard for the enterprise.
Again on the way, they passed the Blue ridge, crossed the
Daniel with a bottle of rum, jumped on to his horse bare back, and run him all the way up there; found John all right, and went back mad enough, and asked Kee- zer what he meant lying so. Keezer said he didn't lie; winked his eye and asked Daniel where John could be in the woods, if he wasn't between two trees. As the captain went out Keezer meekly said, " How do you do, Mrs. Pudney."
Z
402
HISTORY OF WARREN.
Mikaseota, or Black brook, and climbing the Height-o'-land by flashing Ore hill stream, our driver enlivened the broad and beau- tiful turnpike road with Lady Washington's reel, Money-musk, and Blue Bonnets over the Border. The Summit passed, they saw a light winged wind blowing across Tarleton lake, and heard the roar of the brook at the outlet. When within half a mile of Hav- erhill, by some accident a linch-pin was lost from the end of one of the wooden axles ; but as the wheel did not come off, owing to May's skill in driving, they succeeded in reaching Haverhill Corner without replacing it.
Another stage route had been established from Concord to Haverhill, via Lebanon, this same season; but the route through Warren was so much shorter that Col. May could easily reach Haverhill Corner three hours earlier than the other stage.
Numerous drivers have since been employed on this route, all genial good fellows whom the whole community liked. The names most familiar and not yet forgotten by the old men of Warren are, Caleb Smart, Archibald McMurphy, George S. Putnam, Peter Dudley, Sanborn Jones, Thomas P. Clifford, Jabez Burnham, Eleazer Smith, William Wright, Peabody Morse, John Sanborn, James Langdon, Samuel Walker, Wm. Wash. Simpson, Seth Greenleaf, and H. B. Marden. Twice a week each way the stage run at first, then three times up and three times down, and finally up and down every day, and sometimes two or three stages both . ways a day, when there was a rush of travel.
With the stage a love of news increased, and the people desired a post-office and a post-master of their own. For a long time they had to send to Plymouth to mail a letter; then the peo- ple of Wentworth had a post-office, and our fathers went there for their mail matter. But this was a great inconvenience, letters frequently laying in the Wentworth post-office a whole month at a time before the owners got them. But now the stage ran so reg- ularly there was no reason why the desire for a post-office should not be gratified. So a petition numerously signed was forwarded to the postmaster-general at Washington. The prayer of the citi- zens was granted at once, and our little democracy became a post town.
Amos Burton, who had a store near the southern termination
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FIRST POSTMASTER.
of the turnpike, was the first post-master in Warren. Anson Mer- rill succeeded him, and then Dr. Jesse Little held the office of post- master nine years. Dr. David C. French, Levi C. Whitcher, Asa Thurston, George W. Prescott, Charles C. Durant, and numerous others have held the office.
With the stage an easy means of travel, the mail with its let- ters and newspapers coming and going every day, our little de- mocracy among the hills felt as though it had got out among folks. At any rate it grew rapidly and became a State of great import- ance, particularly in its own estimation, -a condition especially to be commended, for if a person don't think well of himself, he may be pretty sure no one else will.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BLACK PLAGUE, OTHERWISE CALLED THE SPOTTED FEVER OR THE GREATEST HORROR WARREN PEOPLE EVER HAD.
IT was a cold year, 1815. Winter lingered in the lap of spring. The summer was damp, cloudy, and cheerless, and the sun's rays seemed sickly. For two years pestilence had been abroad in the land, although not as yet had it come to Warren.
But now old people said everything appeared to bode some- thing wrong. Strange sounds hurtled in the air, the owl hooted hoarse at midnight, a portentous red meteor fell down with a long trail of blood in the great gorge of Moosehillock, and the frogs croaked ominously ; the whip-poor-will sang a mournful strain in the dusk of evening, and comets flashed like troops of ghosts through the sky.
Silently came the pestilence. Whence, no one could tell. But its first victim was found in the family of Mr. George Bixby, on Beech hill .* A young son of Mr. B. was suddenly taken alarm- ingly ill. A physician was sent for, he came, and not discovering the nature of the disease, gave as he thought a simple remedy, and took his departure. In a few hours the young man was dead. The corpse was laid out and two sons of Amos Little came to
* FAMILY RECORD OF GEORGE AND SARAH ( Annis ) BIXBY. George, Jr. born Oct. 14, 1788.
Elizabeth, born Dec. 9, 1802.
Benjamin, born Apr. 6, 1790.
Anna, born Feb. 8, 1792.
Dudley, born Dec. 6, 1804. Died Aug. 24,1808.
Joseph, born Mar. 2, 1794. Samuel, born Mar. 13, 1796. Sarah, born May 28, 1798.
Asa, born Feb. 7, 1807. Died Nov. 13, 1808.
Hannah B. born Feb 7, 1809.
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THE SPOTTED FEVER.
watch by it the succeeding night. The next day one of them, James Little, was taken sick and five hours after was a corpse. Amos Little, Jr., the other watcher, also died .* Then Dolly Little, a sister of James and Amos, Jr., died.
The disease came down from Beech hill, spread rapidly and soon all was consternation. There was no physician in town and the inhabitants were obliged to send to Piermont and other places for one. Dr. Wellman came, also Dr. Whipple of Wentworth, and Dr. David Gipson of Romney. They visited a patient and while they were consulting, he died under their eyes. Cold, feverish, spotted, they said it was the spotted fever. A few hours after death the corpse turned black, hence in other countries the disease was known as the black plague. It has been more dreaded than the cholera or the yellow fever, because it comes without warning, lighting down on noisome pestilential wings, like a foul bird of prey for its victims.
That night the three physicians were discussing the disease in a sort of undertone at Joseph Merrill's inn. Suddenly Dr. Well- man felt cold, chilly. Dr. Whipplet and Dr. Gipson gave him some stimulating medicine and went home down the valley. Jo- seph French nursed Dr. Wellman, but at night, twenty-four hours after, the doctor was dead. They buried him in the grave yard on Pine hill road, and only carried his corpse to Piermont when the frosts of winter came. Dr. Whipple had the plague, and Dr. Gip- son would not come to Warren again.
Families soon got so reduced they could not get a physician. Physicians in neighboring towns were so frightened that they would not come. The selectmen, Jonathan Merrill, Abel Merrill, and Moses H. Clement, came together and called an informal meeting of the citizens. It was agreed that the town should pro- cure physicians. Dr. Robert Burnst had studied medicine with Dr. Bartlett on Beech hill. He was attending the medical school at Hanover, and the town in its distress sent for him. Daniel Pillsbury went on horseback to Hanover for Dr. B. But he could
* Amos Little, Jr., died in three hours after he was taken sick.
t Dr. Whipple when he lived in Warren, resided first opposite the Abel Merrill house on the west side of the Mikaseota, and afterwards in the house built by Joshua Merrill, Jr., now occupied by Ezra W. Keyes.
# Dr. Burns lived in the Ezra W. Keyes house.
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
not attend to all the sick, and Jonathan Clough immediately went to Hanover for Dr. Amasa Scott. Jonathan Merrill boarded Dr. Scott, and the latter had excellent success treating cases of spotted fever .* Some got well under his care, but the plague did not abate.
At first they had funerals, then they hurried the corpse away to the grave before it was hardly cold in the house. Many were buried in the night, no mourners, and the village cemetery saw in the darkness two or three men digging a grave, the sickly moon looking down upon them, saw the coffin made of rough boards hastily lowered, and heard the falling of the cold clods upon it as the grave was hurriedly filled up. Then they would drive away as though ghosts were screaming after them, and the graves were soon forgotten. Men found weeks afterwards that their nearest friends were dead and buried, no one knew where, whom they thought alive and well. The sexton often digs up those rough coffins even at this late day.t
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