The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire,1735-1905, Part 2

Author: Donovan, Dennis, 1837-; Woodward, Jacob Andrews, 1845- jt. author
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Tufts College, Mass.] The Tufts college press, H.W. Whittemore & co.
Number of Pages: 1091

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire,1735-1905 > Part 2

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But internal strife arose. Mr. Larkham, the Episcopal minis- ter, and Mr. Knollys quarrelled, and Captain John Underhill sided with the latter. There was a resort to arms. Hard words were plentifully hurled, but there was no blood shed. Larkham sought help from Strawberry Bank, whose Governor came with an armed posse, and "beset Mr. Knollys' house, where Captain Underhill was, kept a guard upon him night and day till they could call a court," at which the Governor sat as judge. | Underhill and his company were found guilty of riot, heavily fined, and he and some others were ordered out of the plantation. The Larkham party triumphed, as wishing to maintain their independence. Underhill, though at first reckoned as opposed to Massachusetts, was at last discovered to be plotting in her favor; and when ordered out of Dover, re- turned to Massachusetts, made a confession, and had his sen- tence of banishment revoked, and was restored to favor. Possi-

*N. H. State Papers by Batchellor, Town Charters, II, 684; also Winthrop I, 276. + Prov. Ps. I, p. 157. § Town Charters II, 682.

# Town Charters II, 682. Il Town Charters II, 684.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

bly, a reward for political service. But broils and dissensions continued among the inhabitants of Pascataqua, until in 1640, " Massachusetts saw her long awaited opportunity to spread her jurisdiction " over the territory. But even then it was necessary to resort to some manœuvering to effect the end. Accordingly, " the famous Hugh Peters, with two others, were sent "to understand the minds of the people, to reconcile some differences between them, and to prepare them."* He spent considerable time among them, and on his return reported to Governor Winthrop, " The Piscataqua people are ripe for our Government." "They grone for Government and Gospel all over that side of the country. Alas ! poore bleeding souls."t

There were then four distinct governments or "Combina- tions " within the limits of New Hampshire. These were Portsmouth, Kittery, Dover and Exeter. § A majority of these " poore bleeding souls," made overtures for union which were, of course, very favorably received by the General Court of Massachusetts ; and in 1641, the bonds were sealed and the union consummated, on conditions entirely satisfactory to the New Hampshire applicants. The union thus formed was not destitute of advantages, and lasted thirty-eight years, or from 1641 to 1679.

* 2 Winthrop 38. Town Charters II., 685 ; Mcclintock, p. 47, J. S. Jenness cited t Fourth Series Mass. Hist. Coll. 6, 108. § P. P. I., p 155. 11.

CHAPTER II.

THE INDIANS.

I. The last date mentioned, 1679, carries us a few years past the close of the great Indian War, called the Narra- gansett, or King Phillip's war. Up to that time, to the credit of New Hampshire, be it said that her relations with the Indians had been of a most commendably honorable and friendly nature,

The tribes within and on the borders of the State were the Pequakets on the east and along the Saco River, the Ossipees around the Ossipee and Winnipesaukee lakes, and most im- portant and powerful of all, the Penacooks, who had their head- quarters from Concord down the Merrimac to Lowell. The chief of this latter tribe was Passaconaway, whose influence surpassed that of all others of his kindred and associates. To the end of his days, he lived on terms of unbroken friend- ship with his English neighbors, and in his farewell to his people is reported to have said, "Hearken to the last words of your father and friend. The white men are sons of the morn- ing. The Great Spirit is their father. His sun shines bright upon them ; never make war with them. Surely as you light the fires, the breath of Heaven will turn the flame on you and destroy you. Listen to my advice; it is the last I shall be allowed to give you. Remember it and live."*

So thoroughly did they obey their revered chief that, although Philip repeatedly and earnestly sought them as confederates and allies, they steadfastly refused to join him, and remained strictly and unblamably neutral. For more than fifty years from its first settlement, New Hampshire territory suffered no calamity from Indian massacres! Why this exemption ?

2. But a change finally came, and in the following manner : After the close of King Philip's War, the province of Maine suffered from some incursions of the Indians. Possibly these may have been instigated by refugees from the shattered army of Philip. Whether so or not, when rejoicings over their vic- tory and over the death of Philip were past, Massachusetts dis-

* History of Hillsborough Co., p. 528.

NORTH SIDE OF PINNACLE, FROM D. E. PROCTOR PLACE.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

patched two companies of her returned soldiers to assist the eastern colonists .* They set out from Boston with orders "to seize all southern Indians wherever they might be found." Having marched to Cocheco, or Dover, they found a large body of the red men encamped near the house of Major Waldron, commander of the New Hampshire militia, who had just con- firmed a peace with them. The Boston men seemed to have anticipated the hateful modern notion, that "the only good Indian is the dead one," and wished to fall upon and slaughter the multitude at once. But to this Waldron would not readily consent. He, however, under pressure, as it seemed, did pro- pose a sham fight for the next day, to which they agreed ; the Indians forming one party, and his own troops with those of Kittery and the Boston men the other. "In the midst of their fight, the whites suddenly surrounded the whole body of Indians, and made them prisoners, almost without exception, before the Indians were aware of the intended deception."} The Indians had discharged their muskets, were treacherously entrapped, disarmed, and divided into two companies. The Penacooks and other friendly Indians were set at liberty. But the recognized confederates of Philip, fugitives who had sought hiding among their friends, and who with them had made peace and supposed themselves safe; these to the number of about two hundred, were seized and shipped to Boston for trial. A few of them who were counted guilty of murder were executed without delay, and the rest were deported to Algeria and sold into slavery. There were different opinions and views expressed in regard to the transaction. To the Penacooks it was a piece of base treachery, most deeply resented and never forgiven. But to pious, civilized, and enlightened Massachusetts, it was a piece of masterly strategy " highly applauded." It was said that Major Waldron felt compelled to this course by Massa- chusetts' authority as against his own better judgment, because he knew that many of those Indians were true friends of the New Hampshire colony. Thus was sown among the Indians in New Hampshire the seed from which the frightful massacres sprung-surely a baleful harvest. The strategists marched on into Maine, and the enemy disappeared from before them. They planned a winter campaign to the north country, but found no more enemies to entrap; and after a few unimportant skirmishes and the erection of a fort on the Kennebec, the ex-

* Bouton's Prov. Ps. I, p. 357 ; Prov. Ps. I, 357.

HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH

pedition returned after its toilsome marches over frozen moun- tains and pathless snows, without accomplishing anything proportioned to their effort.

But troubles did not end. There was a lull for a few years, and then, new fuel was added to the flames .* "Imagining that an incursion of Mohawks might terrify the hostile Indians into submission, the Government of Massachusetts sent agents into their country, who found it easy to persuade them to take up arms against their eastern enemies." They appeared in New Hampshire, killed some of Waldron's friendly Indian scouts, but failed to effect the purpose of those who invited their incur- sion. On the contrary, the Penacooks were the more embittered against the English, who had in addition to the treacherous seizure and sale of their friends, now plotted with their most ferocious enemies for their destruction. Consequently, individ- uals were frequently killed by parties of the red men who seemed continually hovering near the settlements. A short lived peace was concluded with them, and the change was made in the government by which New Hampshire was consti- tuted a royal Province. A general uneasiness, nevertheless, prevailed among the people.

3. Nor were matters improved very much by the change made in the government. Sir Edmund Andros became royal Governor over the colonies of New York and New England, and his administration was very offensive to most honest men. He was regarded as tyrannical and rapacious. He was appointed Governor by the Duke of York, then King James II. and was naturally anxious to ingratiate himself with the King as well as to enrich himself by the plunder of those whom he governed.

4. "The lands from Penobscot to Nova Scotia had been ceded to the French by the treaty of Breda, in exchange for the island of St. Christopher. On these lands the Baron de St. Castine had for many years resided, and carried on a large trade with the Indians, with whom he was intimately connected. The lands which had been granted by the Crown of England to the Duke of York (now King James the Second) interfered with Castine's plantation, as the Duke claimed to the river St. Croix. A fort had been built by his order at Pemaquid, and a garrison stationed there to prevent any intrusion on his property. In the spring of 1688, Andros went in the "Rose " frigate and

*Whiton, p. 30.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

plundered Castine's house and fort, leaving only the ornaments of his chapel to console him for the loss of his arms and goods. This base action provoked Castine to excite the Indians to a new war."* This was called King William's, or the French and Indian war. The Baron Castine had to some extent adopted Indian customs and modes of life ; had married the daughter of one of the most powerful of the Indian chiefs ; had taught the Indians military tactics and the use of firearms, and had obtained an immense influence over them. Resenting in- tensely the injuries done him, he aroused the Indians of Maine, and even those of Canada to join the French in hostilities against the English. Some of the tribes had grievances of their own, and needed little incitement. Some of those Indians also who had been sold into slavery had succeeded in escaping and returning to their native wilds, and these kindled the deepest possible enmity against those whom they somewhat appropriately regarded as their kidnappers. Thus, the eastern Province was in a state of ferment.

5. On the 28th of June, 1689, the shock came, and came first at Dover, the very neighborhood of the "sham fight " of thirteen years before. Major Waldron had "sown the wind ;" he was now destined to " reap the whirlwind."

The day before the shock, some squaws were permitted to lodge in some of the garrison houses, who informed the Major that "a number of Indians were coming to trade with him the next day." An Indian chief named Mesandowit, whom he entertained, said to him at supper, "Brother Waldron, what would you do if the strange Indians should come? " He answered carelessly, "I could assemble a hundred men by lift- ing up my finger." He set no watch, and with his family retired to rest in fancied security. "In the hours of deepest quiet the gates were opened. The Indians, who were waiting without, immediately entered, placed a guard at the gate, and rushed into the Major's apartment. Awakened by the noise, he sprang from his bed, seized a sword and, though over eighty years old, drove them through two or three rooms; but return- ing for other arms, they came behind himn, stunned him with a hatchet, and overpowered him. Drawing him into the hall, they then placed him in an elbow-chair on a long table with a derisive cry, ' Who shall judge Indians now?' They cut the Major across the breast with knives, each one with a stroke

*Prov. Ps. II, 46, 47 ; Farmer's Belknap, p. 124.

HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH

saying, 'I cross out my account.' Cutting off his nose and ears, they thrust them into his mouth ; and when he was falling down, spent with the loss of blood, one of them held his own sword beneath him; he fell upon it, and his sufferings were ended."

"Twenty-three persons fell victims in this bloody tragedy and twenty-nine were made prisoners " and carried to Canada, where they were sold to the French ; " the first English prison- ers," it is said, "ever carried to that country." Sad results surely, from the treacherous sham fight, "applauded by the voice of the colony " of Massachusetts ..

The next year "the French Governor of Canada entered resolutely into the war and furnished the hostile Indians with arms and supplies. He offered a bounty for scalps and prison- ers. Salmon Falls was attacked in March by a combined French and Indian force, and twenty-seven of its brave de- fenders were slain, and fifty-two, mostly women and children, were carried into captivity."*

6. But enough of this. The purpose is not to recount horrors, of which there were far too many, but to explain facts, as far as history offers explanation of them. These events and many others of like nature led to the fitting out of the Canada Ex- pedition of 1690, so often referred to, and so seldom described, even in the histories of those towns which were granted in view of services rendered in that ill-fated expedition. Let it be remembered that New Hampshire had no serious trouble with the Indians till after its union with Massachusetts, and its trouble came largely in consequence of that union. After the severance of the two interests, however, the disturbances became so frequent and so great, that New Hampshire again in the revo- lutionary period of 1689, sought and renewed its union with Massachusetts until some satisfactory agreement should put an end to the uneasiness.

*Whiton, pp. 43, 44; Provincial Papers II, p. 49; Mcclintock, pp. 111, 112, 113.

CHAPTER III.

THE CANADA EXPEDITION OF 1690.

I. The French were accounted the chief instigators of Indian massacres. It was therefore considered important, if possible, to suppress both. In the English revolution of 1689, James the Second fled the Kingdom, and William and Mary became the sovereigns. The same year a popular uprising in Massachu- setts deposed the royal Governor, Andros, from office, made him a prisoner, and sent him to England for trial. England and Holland declared war against France, and the dependencies of these nations naturally acted in full sympathy with them. This they faithfully did. "Sir William Phipps,* afterwards governor of the province of Massachusetts," and a native of Pemaquid, had recently arrived in the country, under his appointment as high sheriff for New England ; and as he was an experienced seaman, the command of the colonial forces was entrusted to his care. The General Court meditated an attack upon Port Royal and Quebec. Eight small vessels and seven or eight hundred men constituted the armament sent to Port Royal; and sailing from Boston early in the spring, in about two weeks he reached his destination ; the fort surrendered with but little resistance, yielding plunder sufficient to pay expenses. Sir William took possession of the whole sea coast from Port Royal to New Eng- land ; and three weeks later he returned to Boston .*

" The success of this enterprise encouraged the prosecution of the design upon Canada ; and the expedition was hastened by the horrible ravages of the Indians and French upon the frontier settlements, and by the desire of the colonists to commend them- selves to the favor of the king, from whom they were expecting a renewal of their charter."

Assistance could not be obtained from the mother country, and hence Massachusetts " formed an alliance with Connecticut and New York," at a "Congress " held in the latter colony, deter- mined to proceed on her own responsibility, and, while a land army of eight hundred men was to march by Lake Champlain

*See Mather's Life of Phipps, Sec. 10. N. Y. Col. Doc., III, 720, and IX., 474-475 ; Williamson's Me., I, 596; Briefer is Quackenbos. History of U. S., p. 136 (Appleton, N. Y., 185) ; See Mather's Life of Phipps, etc., as on preceding page.

HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH

to attack Montreal, her forces, consisting of upwards of thirty vessels and about two thousand men, were to fall upon Quebec .*

It was late in the season when this fleet sailed from Nantasket. Intelligence of the march of the troops from Connecticut and New York had reached Montreal. Dissensions among the English paralyzed their strength, and they fell back to Albany. Had it not been for this and the delay of Phipps' fleet, the fate of Quebec would have been then sealed. This delay enabled the French commanders to put their fortifications into the best possible condition of defense. When on the 6th of October, 1690, they were summoned to surrender, they returned a scorn- ful and indignant reply.

"By noon of October 9 the English assailants were fully sat- isfied that the contest was hopeless, and allowed their vessels to recede out of reach of the enemy's fire. The rear admiral's flag had been shot away, and was seized by a Canadian who swam out into the stream and brought it to the castle, and it was after- wards hung up many years as a trophy in the church of Quebec."t

" Utterly discouraged, the assailants withdrew ; and reembark- ing in their vessels in the utmost confusion, exposed to the fire of the French, and abandoning their guns and the remnant of their stores, they prepared to return home, humbled and disap- pointed. Nor was the return voyage without damage ; for un- acquainted with the passes of the river, nine vessels were wrecked among the shoals of the St. Lawrence."}

The arrival of Sir William at Boston, with the remnant of his fleet, spread an unusual gloom over the community.

Thus the expedition proved a disastrous failure, and the Mas- sachusetts soldiers on their return found also a bankrupt treasury.

2. Says Rev. F. G. Clark, " They had no money with which to pay the soldiers, and so they resorted to the perilous method of issuing bills of credit, or paper money, which very soon depreciated in value, and brought untold misery upon the people. The first issue of bills was called old tenor ; the second, middle tenor, and the third, new tenor; and all soon became depreciated in value, the old tenor more than the others. Finally, the mother country took pity on her colony, and sent over seventeen cartloads of silver, and ten truck loads of copper

* Barry II, p. 79. | Barry Hist. of Mass., p. 84. N. Y. Col. Doc, IX, pp. 457, 488. # See Quackenbos School Hist., Ed. 79, P. 97.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

in 1749, to establish specie payments ; and one Spanish dollar was given for forty-five shillings of paper. This was called lawful money, while the specie was called sterling,- making five kinds of money. All through the earlier history of the town these different currencies are mentioned. Sometimes the bills of credit were called proclamation money, but usually old tenor, or lawful money."*

3. Both the survivors of the expedition and their posterity re- peatedly petitioned for some adequate remuneration of their ser- vice as a means of relief. At last, in 1735, more than forty years after their enlistment, a tract of land equivalent to six miles square was granted by the General Court of Massachu- setts to Captain Samuel King and fifty-nine others. The majority of these were from Salem, and hence the tract granted them was first called Salem Canada, combining the name of their town with that of the expedition.

4. How did Massachusetts obtain the right to grant lands in New Hampshire ? "Massachusetts claimed all lands lying south and west of the Merrimack River, - claimed that her line started three miles north of the mouth of the stream, and run at that distance from the stream along its northern and eastern bank up to the Pemigewasset, where the river forks, and where the town of Franklin now is, and thence due west to the South · Sea. Her boundary, according to her charter, was to run ' everwhere ' three miles north of, and parallel to, the Merri- mack, to its head, and from a point three miles north of its head due west to the South Sea." t

" New Hampshire maintained that it was impossible to run a line 'everwhere' three miles north of a stream flowing mostly southward ; " and, "therefore it ought to be drawn as near as possible to what was supposed to be the fact when the charter was given, viz., that the river came from the west. She there- fore claimed that the line should start from a point three miles north of the middle of the stream at its mouth, and run due west to the south sea, or to other provinces." }

Commissioners appointed by both provinces met at Newbury in 1731, " disputed and separated," but decided nothing. In subsequent years the dispute waxed hot and bitter, until in 1737 a board of commissioners from Nova Scotia, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island met at Hampton. The legisla- tures of the two provinces also met within five miles of each

*Salem-Canada, p. 7. +Peterboro, Hist., p. 44. ĮHist. of Peterboro, p. 44.

HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH

other, one at Hampton and the other at Salisbury. The occa- sion was extraordinary, and "the procession, with the governor riding in state attended by the great and general court, was an imposing spectacle which was burlesqued in Hibernian style, thus :

".Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight As yesterday morning was seen before night. You in all your born days saw, nor I didn't neither, So many fine horses and men ride together. At the head, the lower house trotted two in a row,

Then all the higher house pranced after the low ; The governor's coach galloped on like the wind, And the last that came foremost was troopers behind But I fear it means no good to your neck or mine, For they say 'tis to fix a right place for a line."

But with all this pomp and display the commissioners failed to fix the matter. However, while the boundary was thus under heated dispute, Massachusetts assumed a very patriotic attitude toward the veterans of the fruitless and ill-fated Canada Expedition, and the descendants of those who perished in it, or had died since. For she hastened to make grants to them of several townships out of the territory which she so uncon- scionably claimed. The towns thus granted were Dunbarton, Lyndeborough, New Boston, Richmond, Rindge, Salisbury and Weare. Had Massachusetts succeeded in gaining her way, very little of Mason's New Hampshire would have escaped her grasp. But the eastern and northern boundary of New Hamp- shire was fixed by the Commissioners at that time, as it now stands. The southern line, however, was referred back to the king for decision. "In 1740," says Dr. Smith, "the king in council confirmed the northern boundary as fixed by the com- missioners, and decided that the southern boundary should run three miles north of and parallel to the Merrimack, to a point north of Pawtucket Falls when the river turns north, and from that point should run due west. They decided to execute the charter, so far as it could be executed, by following the north bank of the river; and when the river turned so as to have no north bank, they took a straight line. 'Had the river turned to the south,' they said, 'instead of the north, Massachusetts would have justly complained of a loss of territory by follow-

*Rev. F. G. Clark, Salem-Canada, pp. 16, 17; also Hist. of Weare.

tSee Batchellor, State Papers, Vol. XXIV., Pref. VI; also History of Weare, p. 44; History of Peterboro, pp. 45, 46.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

ing the stream, and the same rule ought to hold now that the stream is found to come from the north.'" Now the course of the river from Pawtucket Falls, now Lowell, to Newburyport, is considerably north of east. In tracing the river up from its mouth, therefore, when those Falls are reached, parallells run- ning through both that point and Newburyport, will be fourteen miles apart at the Falls. This decision of the line, therefore, gave "New Hampshire a strip of land fourteen miles wide, extending from the Merrimack to the Connecticut (fifty miles), and containing twenty-eight townships, more than she had ever claimed ! In 1741, the new line was run by New Hamp- shire surveyors, Massachusetts refusing to take any part in it."

Many of the settlers had already begun to establish them- selves in their new abodes before the decision of the line. They were enjoying "placidam sub libertate quietem," (placid rest under freedom's sway) guaranteed by Massachusetts ; and just as this sweet experience came to them, to wake up one fine morning in "the leafy month of June," 1740, and find that the Massachusetts line had receded from them full fourteen miles to the south, leaving them among the cold, hyperborean hills of New Hampshire, was a sensation anything but pleasant. They suffered an indescribable chill !

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The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire,1735-1905, Part 2

Author: Donovan, Dennis, 1837-; Woodward, Jacob Andrews, 1845- jt. author Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Tufts College, Mass.] The Tufts college press, H.W. Whittemore & co. Number of Pages: 1091

Author: Donovan, Dennis, 1837-; Woodward, Jacob Andrews, 1845- jt. author
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Tufts College, Mass.] The Tufts college press, H.W. Whittemore & co.
Number of Pages: 1091