USA > Rhode Island > Picturesque Rhode Island : pen and pencil sketches of the scenery and history its cities, towns, and hamlets, and of men who have made them famous > Part 22
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The force that was to attempt its reduction was made up of troops from Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut ; in all, thirteen com- panies of infantry and one troop of cavalry. Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, was its commander. Some Rhode Island soldiers accom- panied the expedition as volunteers, but Rhode Island, as a colony, was allowed no part in the war. "To the confederated Puritans, heathens and heretics were classed together as beneath the regard of Christian fellowship."
The English troops reached the borders of the swamp at about one o'clock in the afternoon, fatigued and disheartened by a long march of fifteen miles over a very rough country, through deep drifts of snow. A renegade Indian was found to conduct them to the one entrance to the fort. At the first attempt to cross the narrow bridge, so murderous a fire was poured out from the block-house that six captains and a very large number of the soldiers sank before it. But
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with the death of their comrades, weariness for a time fled away from the limbs of the survivors, and an insane desire for vengeance took possession of every heart. "Over the mangled corpses of their comrades, the desperate assailants climbed the logs and breastworks to effect an entrance. The struggle on either side was one for life. Whichever party triumphed, there was no hope of quarter to the vanquished. Christian and savage fought alike with the fury of fiends, and the sanctity of a New England Sabbath was broken by the yells of conflict, the roar of musketry, the clash of steel, and all the demoniac passions which make a battle-ground an earthly hell. It was the great conflict of New England. A century was to roll by before the sons of the Puritans were again to witness upon their own soil so fierce a struggle."
For three hours the Indians held their assailants in check. At one time, indeed, it seemed likely that they would succeed in beating them back. All at once the exulting warriors were stricken down by a withering fire poured upon them from behind. Some of the Connecticut troops, crossing over the frozen trenches, had succeeded in breaking through the barricades when there were none to oppose them, and had entered the fort.
After that the fight was quickly turned into a massacre. The Indians with desperate valor continued to wage the combat, but their powder was long since exhausted, and even their stock of arrows began to fail them. At last the torch of an infuriated soldier was applied to one of the wigwams. Despite the earnest protest of Capt. Benjamin Church, whose humane spirit revolted at the need- less cruelty, and whose military forecast plainly discerned the exceed- ing folly of the act, a hundred others were immediately set on fire, and the doom of the Narragansetts was sealed. When the curtain of night was mercifully drawn over the scene the fort was only a smoul- dering ruin, the sickening stench from hundreds of half-consumed corpses marked where its wigwams had been. Almost all of the women and children perished amid those terrible flames. Only the more active of the Indians escaped to the neighboring swamp, and there, in the bitter cold of the night which followed, many of them lay down to die from the combined effects of exposure and of weari- ness.
In October, 1674, just before King Philip's War, and a generation after Richard Smith had taken up his abode within its borders, King's Towne was incorporated. It thus became the seventh town in the
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colony of Rhode Island, although in point of fact it was probably the third settlement. In 1679 the incorporation was reaffirmed. Dur- ing the years of the " usurpation " of Sir Edmund Andros, the name King's Towne was changed to Rochester, but with his deposition the old name was resumed. In 1722 the town was divided into North and South Kingstown, the act of the Legislature providing that North Kingstown should be considered the elder town.
The Congregational Church, Peacedale.
Four years later the title to the Narragansett Country, which had been so long held in dispute, was finally confirmed by the king to Rhode Island, and from that time forward, until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, prosperity attended the fortunes of its inhabitants.
The tract of country Richard Smith secured from the Indians was almost nine miles long by three miles wide, large enough, one would suppose, to comfort him for the loss of the " faire posses- sions " he had left in his native Gloster Shire. A considerable portion of this land was not at first sold outright, but was simply leased - for a thousand years. Before the lease had been a long time in force Mr. Smith was prudent enough to secure a quit-claim deed to the territory it covered.
Like the first settler in the fair King's Province, his successors of a century later were also men of great wealth and large landed pos- sessions. Farms of fifteen hundred acres were very common. The
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ordinary farms contained three hundred acres. " They were im- proved by slaves and laboring Indians. The slaves and horses were. about equal in number." Douglass, in a summary, printed in 1760, says of the Rhode Island Colony : " It is noted for its dairies, whence the best of cheese made in any part of New England, is called abroad Rhode Island cheese. The most considerable farms are in the Narragansett Country. Their highest dairy of one farm, com- munibus annis, milks about one hundred and ten cows, cuts two hundred loads of hay, makes about thirteen thousand pounds of cheese, besides butter, and sells off' considerable in calves and fatted bullocks."
Very charming is the account that Updike, in his Narragansell Church, gives of those halcyon days : "Ancient Narragansett was distinguished for its frank and generous hospitality. Strangers and traveling gentlemen were always received and entertained as guests. If not acquainted with some family, they were introduced by letter, and an acquaintance with one family of respectability was an intro- duction to all their friends. Public houses for the entertainment of strangers were rare." The landed aristocracy showed a proper sense of the value of education. For the instruction of their children the very best tutors possible were employed. In the families of Allison, the learned Irish clergyman, of Dr. McSparran, of Wick- ford, and of Dr. Checkley, the minister at Providence (and an Ox- ford graduate), many of the sons of Narragansett were educated. "Festivity was the natural outcome of a life of wealth and leisure. Excursions to Hartford, to luxuriate on bloated salmon, were the annual indulgencies of May. Pace races on the beach, for the prize of a silver tankard, and roasts of shelled and scaled fish were the social indulgencies of summer. When autumn arrived the corn-husking fes- tivals commenced. Large numbers would be gathered of both sexes ; expensive entertainments prepared, and after the repast the recreation of dancing commenced . . . the gentlemen in their scarlet cloaks and swords, with laced ruffles over their hands, hair turned back from the forehead and curled and frizzled, clubbed or queued behind, highly powdered and pomatumed, small-clothes, silk stockings, and shoes ornamented with brilliant buckles ; and ladies dressed in brocade, cushioned head-dresses, and high-heeled shoes, performed the formal minuet, with its thirty-six different positions and changes . . . At Christmas commenced the Holy days. The work of the season was completed and done up, and the twelve days were generally devoted
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to festive associations. Every gentleman of estate had his circle of . connections, friends, and acquaintances, and they were invited from one plantation to another. Every member of the family had his particular horse and servant, and they rarely rode unattended by their
A Bit of Wickford.
servant, to open gates and to take charge of the horse. Carriages were unknown The fox-chase, with hounds and horns, fishing and fowling, were objects of enchanting recreation. Such were the amusements, pastimes, festivities and galas of Ancient Nar- ragansett."
A very easy life the slaves of Narragansett led in those days. They assumed among themselves the power and the rank of their mas- ters, and many of their amusements were borrowed from the domi- nant race. Every year, on the third Saturday in June, they elected a governor, and the electioneering expenses were comparatively more expensive than those of the gubernatorial elections in Rhode Island of to-day are supposed to be. The masters of the respective candi- dates paid all the election expenses. It is told of the late E. R. Potter that after one of these elections he summoned his servant, the governor for that year, to him and announced that one of the two must give up politics or both would be ruined. On election-day the horses upon the plantations were all surrendered to the use of the colored servants. The election proper commenced at ten o'clock, though, of course, many weeks before had been devoted to election- eering (parmateering, i. e., parlia-menteering, the negroes called it.) At that time tables would be spread and loaded with various refresh- ments. Of these viands all the friends of the candidates were
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invited to partake, and at one o'clock the vote was taken. The friends of the respective candidates were ranged in two lines under the direc- tion of a chief marshal, and no one was allowed to change sides until the vote was counted. Then the marshal announced the result, and proclaimed the victor governor for the year. A " treat," as ex- tensive as the means of the master permitted, followed the election. As the number of slaves decreased these elections became more and more rare. About the year 1800 they ceased to be held.
A century and a half ago a very considerable trade was carried on between the planters of the King's Province and those of the West India Islands. Great numbers of a famous breed of horses, the " Narragansett Pacers," were exported at that time. Dr. McSparran, in his Amcrica Dissected, termed these horses " the best in the world." "I have often," said he, " rode fifty, nay, sixty miles a day, even here in New England, where the roads are rough, stony and uneven." In another place he writes: " I have seen some of them pace a mile in little more than two minutes, a good deal less than three." The motion of these horses is described as differing from all others, in that " the back-bone moved through the air in a straight line, without inclining the rider from side to side as the common racker or pacer of the present day:" The pacers were of great power and endurance, although small in size, like the mustangs of the western plains. They could easily perform journeys of one hundred miles in a day, if properly cared for. Like the mustangs, they were of Spanish origin, having been introduced into Rhode Island from Andalusia. By the Narragansett planters they were raised in great numbers for the Cuban market. One gentleman raised about a hundred each year upon his estate, and often sent in one season two cargoes of them to the West Indies. The breed is now extinct. Before the Revolution, the pacers became so much sought after in Cuba, that all the better animals were shipped thither. Thus it happened that when the war broke out only inferior horses were left upon the farms. During the war a taste sprang up for trotting-horses. Most of the great landed proprietors were ruined by the contest, and no care was afterward taken to restore the pacer to the place he had once held in the popular esteem.
The Dr. McSparran whose name has been several times men- tioned in this chapter, was an Irishman, born of Scotch parents in the County of Derry. He came to America in June, 1718, as a licentiate of the Presbytery in Scotland. Shortly after his arrival in
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Boston he went to Bristol to visit one of his relatives who was re- siding in that town. The pulpit of the Bristol church (Bristol was then a town of Massachusetts, and its church was of the " standing order ") was vacant at the time, and in it the young Irishman was invited to preach upon the Sunday following. His wonderful oratory made such an impression upon his hearers that he was shortly after- ward invited to settle in the town as its pastor. This invitation having been accepted, a day was set apart for his ordination. Mr. McSparran was not destined to become the pastor of the Bristol church. Although he had been in America but a short time, he had yet managed to draw upon himself the implacable hatred of the Rev. Dr. Mather, of Boston. No sooner had he accepted the call to Bristol, than Dr. Mather wrote to the people, "by no means to settle him." Very soon the air of the little town was full of the most scandalous reports concerning the pastor-elect.
Never since that time have the people of Bristol been so bitterly stirred up. Mr. McSparran bravely faced his accusers, and soon showed that he was innocent of the charges brought against him. A second day was set apart for his ordination, and a second time Dr. Mather interfered to prevent it. The ferment was greater than before, and its result is a curious commentary upon the times. The young minister offered to go to Ireland to procure a confirmation of his credentials, the genuineness of which had been called in ques- tion. He went, but he never come back to the Congregational Church. Somewhat less than a year from that time he was admitted® to the priesthood by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and on the 23d of October, 1720, he was commissioned by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," its missionary "to Nar- ragansett in New England, who is to officiate as opportunity shall offer, at Bristol, Freetown, Swansey, and Little Compton, where there are many people, members of the Church of England, destitute of a minister."
The life of Dr. McSparran in Narragansett furnished the best pos- sible answer to the accusations that had been brought against him in Bristol. Long and useful it was, and its years of usefulness were entirely blameless. Never in the slightest degree was the good name of the missionary seared by any breath of scandal. With his change in religious belief he had taken away from Dr. Mather the power to influence his career in America, and the stern old partisan from that time forward troubled him no more. Mr. McSparran continued from
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1721 until his death in 1757 to be the missionary of the " Propaga- tion Society," and the rector of St. Paul's Church, Narragansett. In 1731 he received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology from the University of Oxford, an honor more unusual in those days than at present. In 1868, by authority of the diocese of Rhode Island, a monument was erected to his memory in the old church-yard of North Kingstown. His portrait is still preserved in the cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
The old church in which Dr. McSparran officiated for so many years was, in 1800, removed from the spot upon which it was erected (in 1707), and carried to Wickford, then a large and prosperous village. In 1847 it had become unfit for further use, and was conse- quently abandoned. Battered by the storms of more than a century and a half, and shorn of its olden comeliness, it is yet standing, the oldest Episcopal church in New England. Sometimes, in the plea- sant days of summer, the doors of the old building are opened, and the people of the parish again assemble to worship within it; but the quaint structure, with its old-fashioned arrangement of pulpit, pews, and gallery, belongs to the past and not to the present, and it seems almost a desecration to expose the aged walls, that are hallowed by so many precious associations, to the carelessly-curious gaze of a nineteenth century congregation.
The story of the " Unfortunate Hannah Robinson " was one very familiar to the people of Narragansett half a century ago. She was the most celebrated beauty of her day ; as gentle and as accomplished as she was beautiful, her praises were daily upon the lips of all who knew her. A young gentleman of Newport with whom she had been acquainted from childhood, and who was in every way worthy of her love, became greatly attached to her. His affection was recip- rocated, but from some unknown reason the father of the young lady refused his consent to their marriage. Mr. Robinson was harsh, and stern, and unyielding. When he had once made up his mind respect- ing his course of conduct neither entreaties nor arguments could move him from it in the slightest degree. He adopted the most vio- lent and unreasonable measures to prevent the, to him, hateful union. The conduct of his daughter was " constantly subjected to the strict- est scrutiny ; if she walked her movements were watched; if she rode a servant was ordered to be in constant attendance; if a visit was contemplated, he immediately suspected it was only a pretence for an arranged interview; and even after departure, if the most
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The Site of the Old Swamp Fort, South Kingstown.
trifling circumstance gave color to the suspicion, he would immedi- ately pursue and compel her to return. In one instance she left home to visit her aunt at New London; her father soon afterwards dis- covered from his windows a vessel leaving Newport and taking a course for the same place. Although the vessel and the persons on board were entirely unknown to him, his jealousies were immediately aroused, conjecturing it was Mr. Simons, intending to fulfil an ar- rangement previously made. He hastened to New London, arrived a few hours only after his daughter, and insisted upon her immediate return."
The obstacles Mr. Robinson threw in the way of the lovers only served to strengthen their attachment for each other. His daughter, though entirely unlike him in other respects, yet showed his steady determination in this, the great crisis of her life. Her maternal uncle, sympathizing with her in her misfortunes, and knowing well that her resolution could not be broken down by any measures of her father, however tyrannical they might be, contrived at his house meetings between the young lady and Mr. Simons. These interviews were fraught with exceeding peril. For such was Mr. Robinson's ungov- ernable temper, that he would undoubtedly have killed the man to
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whom his daughter was so deeply attached, had he discovered them together.
At last the unhappy maiden, seeing no prospect of ever reconcil- ing her father to her marriage, consented to make arrangements for an elopement. " Having obtained her father's consent to visit her Aunt Updike, near Wickford, she left home, accompanied by the servant who usually attended her. On arriving at the gate that led to her aunt's house, Mr. Simons was in waiting with a carriage, as had been previously arranged, and, disregarding the expostulations of the servent, who feared for his own safety should he return with- out her, she entered the carriage, and that evening they were married in Providence., The intelligence of the elopement, when communicated to Mr. Robinson by the servant, roused all the fury of his ire. He offered a reward for their apprehension, but no dis- covery could be made. Every friend and relative became accessory to their concealment. Even the name of the clergyman who per- formed the nuptial ceremony could never be ascertained."
"But the anticipated happiness of the beautiful and ill-fated lady was destined to be short lived. The severity with which she had been treated, the unkind and harassing perplexities she had endured, had so materially affected her health and preyed upon her constitu- tion, that in a few short months the fairest of her sex exhibited evi- dent symptoms of a speedy decline. At the urgent solicitations of her mother, Mr. Robinson finally permitted the daughter once more to return ; but it was too late : the ceaseless vigils of a mother's love could not restore her ; and in a few short weeks, this beautiful and unfortunate woman -the victim of a father's relentless obstinacy - expired in the arms of her husband."
An English embassador, about to leave his native country upon a foreign journey, called one day at the studio of the famous painter, Benjamin West. "I am going abroad," said he, "and wish to have my portrait painted -what artist would you recommend?"
" Where are you going?" asked Mr. West. "To the United States," was the answer. " Then, sir," said Mr. West, with great emphasis, "you will find there the best portrait painter in the world, and his name is Gilbert Stuart."
Gilbert Charles Stuart was born in what is now North Kingstown, in a gambrel-roofed house, not far from the head of Pettiquamscutt River. His father, Gilbert Stuart, was a Scotchman, brought over from Glasgow by Dr. Moffat, to build a snuff-mill upon his mill
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stream. The mill which the father built was the first of its kind in New England, and was a very profitable investment for its owner. Gil- bert Charles Stuart was the youngest child of the Scotch millwright. His middle name, Charles, was due to the Jacobite principles of his sire. Stuart never used it after he had grown to manhood. He was about thirteen years old when he began to display his artistic talents. Cosmo Alexander, a Scotch gentleman who was ostensibly a painter, but was surmised to have come to America upon a political mission,
Hazard's Castle, Narragansett Pier.
was his first instructor. With Mr. Alexander young Stuart made a tour of the Southern Colonies, and also went to Scotland. He after- ward studied for a time in London with Benjamin West, the great historical painter of the day. The earlier years of his life as an artist were years of struggle, but after all his genius was not long in making itself felt.
When he had achieved a wonderful reputation, and was living in a style of unusual splendor in Great Britain, he suddenly refused any new engagements in England, and came back to his native country. "His great ambition was to paint Washington ; it overcame all other entreaties, and seems to have been the great object of his mind." One of his best portraits of the great President hangs to-day in the State House at Newport.
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Mr. Stuart was not only a wonderful artist, but a man of varied accomplishments, and of remarkable conversational powers. When he first went to London, his unusual musical abilities secured for him the position of organist in one of the churches, and the means of pur- suing his studies as a painter. The anecdotes that have been pre- sented respecting him would fill many pages.
" He was traveling in England in a stage-coach with some gen- tlemen who were strangers to him, but all were sociable and lively. The party stopped to dine at an inn, and after dinner, the conversa- tion being animated and various, Stuart became conspicuous in it, not only for his wit and humor, but for his correct judgment, rapid thought, and apt phrases. The curiosity of his companions was aroused, and with Yankee-like inquisitiveness, they desired to know who and what he was.
Mr. Stuart, with a grave face and in a serious tone of voice, replied that he sometimes dressed gentlemen's and ladies' hair. "Oh! you are a hairdresser, then," returned one of the company, with a some- what derogatory stare. "What ! do I look like a barber?" demanded the incognito artist, sternly. "I beg your pardon, sir," replied the subdued cockney ; " but I inferred it from what you said. If I mis- took you, may I take the liberty to inquire what you are, then?"
" Why, sometimes I brush a gentleman's coat or hat, and adjust his cravat." "Oh ! you are a valet, then, to some nobleman." " A valet !" retorted Stuart, with mock indignation ; "indeed, sir, I am not. I am not a servant. To be sure I make coats and waistcoats for gentlemen." "Ah ! you are a tailor !" "Tailor ! do you take me for a tailor? I'll assure you I never handled a goose, other than a roasted one."
By this time the joke was beginning to be fully appreciated, and the whole company were in a roar of laughter. "What in the world are you, then?" demanded another gentleman, taking up the office of interlocutor. " I will tell you," said Stuart, with great apparent sin- cerity ; " be assured all I have told you is strictly true. I dress hair, brush hats and coats, adjust cravats, and make coats, waistcoats and breeches, and likewise boots and shoes, at your service." "Oho, a boot and shoe maker, after all," contemptuously returned the ques- tioner. "Guess again, gentlemen," continued Stuart, good humor- edly. "I never handled boot or shoe but for my own feet or legs ; yet all I have told you is true." " We may as well give up guessing ; it is of no use."
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