USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > Warwick > The history of Warwick, Rhode Island, from its settlement in 1642 to the present time; including accounts of the early settlement and development of its several villages; sketches of the origin and progress of the different churches of the town, &c., &c > Part 7
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Reference has already been made to the famous tax of six hundred pounds, levied in 1664, and apportioned among the several towns. William Harris, the assistant from Providence, was chief of the committee for its col- lection, and between him and some of the leaders in this town a sharp controversy existed because of the vigorous measures he had adopted in regard to the matter. Harris had previously occasioned so much trouble in the Assembly that he had been deposed from office, but in March, 1668-9, had been returned, and an Assembly order had been passed " that a pending indict-
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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ment should not prevent any general officer, fairly elected, from holding his office." The Newport mem- bers sustained Harris, and on the January preceding had sent a letter to Warwick, which called forth the follow- ing answer, which, as Mr. Arnold justly observes, “ de- serves a place among the curiosities of legislation. The writing bears the date of March 25th, 1669.
" Voted upon the reading of a letter directed to 'Mr. Ed- mund Calverly and Mr. John Greene and the rest of that fac- tion,' &c. desiring to be communicated to the honest inhabit- ants of Warwicke town, subscribed John Cranston to the end of the chapter, dated the 20th January, 1668, and finding the same doth not answer the town's letter to that part of the committee, &c., who reside at Newport, touching the rate; but is full of 4* uncivil language. * * * Therefore the town unani- mously do condemn the same and think it not fit to be put amongst the records of the town, but do order that the clerk put in on a file where impertinent papers shall be for the future; to the end that those persons who have not learned in the school of good manners how to speak to men in the language of sobriety (if they be sought for) may be there found."
I have made dilgent inquiries respecting this " file," but have not been able to find it. It doubtless contained other curiosities, and among them the " pernissious" letter of Roger Williams. It was afterwards referred to, and received a still more vigor- ous title, which we forbear mentioning. The curious reader may find the title in the town records under date of Oct. 18, 1669, when a letter of William Harris was consigned to its keeping. Harris himself was warned the following month " not to enter the town without leave," and such was the feel- ing against him that had he done so the inhabitants would have put him upon the same file-metaphorically.
At a meeting of the General Assembly, June 29, 1670, held in this town, a rate of three hundred pounds was ordered for an agent to England. Dr. John Clarke and Mr. John Greene were appointed "to bee agents jointly to be commissionated in the Collonyes behalfe .to goe to England to vindicate the said charter before his gratious majestye." *
An error in the records assigns this session to New- port. But from the minutes of the Governor and mag-
* R. I. Col. Rec. II. 338-9.
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DEPUTY GOVERNOR GREENE.
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istrates of Newport, held the Friday previous, and those held the October following, it is evident the place was Warwick.
Major John Greene, son of John, senior, married Ann Almy, daughter of William Almy, of Portsmouth. He held at differ- ent times the offices of General Recorder, General Attorney, and General Solicitor. In company with the Rev. John Clarke, (a man whom the colony delighted to honor) he was appointed an agent to England to attend to important matters pertaining to the interests of the Colony. He was in office a considerable portion of his life, and from 1690 to 1700 was annually elected to the office of Deputy Governor. He had eleven children, Deborah, the eldest, was born August 10, 1649, and Samuel, the youngest, January 30, 1670-1. The latter married the daughter of Benjamin Gorton, one of the sons of Samuel Gorton, senior. He lived at Apponaug, in a house torn down within the memory of persons now living. It stood in back of the house now owned and occupied by Samuel Greene, on the southwest cor- ner of the Centreville and Greenwich roads. A portion of the old timbers were used in the erection of the present house. In the old burial place at Occupasnetuxet, on tombstones still well preserved, may be seen the following inscriptions :
Here lyeth the Here lyeth the body
body of Iohn Greene, Esq. of Ann ye wife of & late debt-ie Gover ny he departed this life She deceased in the
in ye 89th year of his age Novem br ye 27th, 1708.
Major Iohn Greene
82d year of her age May ye 6th, 1709.
In June 1671, the town petitioned the General Assem- bly "to have the inhabitants and the lands of Mashanta- tat added to the town .* The petition was referred to the next meeting of the Assembly, but I find no subse- quent action taken in the matter. On the following October the sum of forty shillings was assessed upon the inhabitants of this place as its portion of the two hun- dred pounds levied upon the colony. Warwick at the same time had the sum of £22 15s. assessed as its portion.
The following is a price list of certain articles at this period : "Pork 3d. or 2 1-2 cents per pound: peas, 3s. 6d. or 29 1-2 cts. per bushel; wool 12d. or 8 cts. per pound; butter 6d. or 4 1-2
* Mashantatat was also written Moshanticut and Mashantatuck, and sometimes abbreviated to Shanticut and Shantic. It was situat- ed along the river of that name to the north of Natick and west of Oaklawn in the present town of Cranston.
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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cts. per pound; corn 3s. or 25 cts. per bushel; oats 2s. 3d. or 28 1-2 cts. per bushel .* Forty shillings of the New England cur- rency was equivalent to thirty shillings English currency.
In 1675 the severe conflict between the Indians and the several colonies of New England, generally known as Philip's war, broke out, sending desolation on every hand. Though the Rhode Island colony can hardly be said to have taken an active part in it, her geographical position caused her to suffer as much, if not more, than either of the other colonies. This town was destined to be one of the chief sufferers. With danger threatening them on every hand and without adequate means of pro. tection, the inhabitants sought safety in voluntary exile on the island of Aquidneck, where they remained for more than a year. Every house in the town, with the single exception of one built of stone, was destroyed, and all their improvements laid waste. It will not be neces- sary to trace the causes that led to the war or relate its details. Its general outlines may be given in order to obtain a fair understanding of the terror and danger to which the settlers were subjected.
The storm had been gathering for several years. The relations between the Indians and whites had been grow- ing more and more unsatisfactory since the tragical death of Miantonomi. It was one of the traits of the Indian character never to forget an injury, and the death of the Narragansett chief at the instigation of the United Com- missioners seems never to have been forgiven. But this of itself would have been allowed to pass unrevenged, had there not been other causes that conspired to bring about the same result. The Narragansetts as a tribe were friendly to the settlers of the Rhode Island colony, and were only eventually brought into the conflict by the peculiar position in which they were placed, and by strong influences brought to bear upon them by the more warlike tribes to the eastward. Philip, ; the second
* R. I. Col. Records.
+ Philip's Indian name was Pometacom or Metacomet. His Eng- lish name, Philip, by which he is now more generally known was given him at Plymouth Court about 1656, or according to Mather in 1662. Morton's Memorial 286-7 and Drake, Book iii. p. 6.
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KING PHILIP'S WAR.
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son of Massasoit, sometimes called "the good old Massa- soit," was the chief of the Wampanoags, and had his principal residence at Mt. Hope. His elder brother Wamsutta, had succeeded his father as sachem, and had fallen under suspicion of the settlers in the neighboring colony, and pending some efforts on their part to learn his disposition toward them, had suddenly sickened and died. Philip succeeded his brother as sachem, and in 1671 the English at Plymouth suspecting him of plotting against them, summoned him before them. Philip at first denied the charge, but in view of the strong proofs brought against him he finally made a confession. How extensive were the preparations made at this time does not appear, or whether he contemplated a general up- rising of all the tribes that subsequently were brought into the alliance, it is impossible, perhaps, to determine. Sufficient was revealed to awaken the alarm of the col- onists, and lead them to take immediate and activeme as- ures for their protection.
His hostile intention having been discovered, Philip was obliged to submit for the time being to the demands of Plymouth colony. With four of his chief counsellors he signed an act of submission, agreeing to give up all the arms in possession of his people into the hands of the Governor of Plymouth, to be kept as long as the government should see reason to hold them. Subse- quently a new exaction was made of him, requiring him to pay £100 in three years to the colony of Plymouth, and five wolves' heads annually thereafter, and neither to sell his lands or to make war without their consent. The agreement was submitted to only as a matter of ne- cessity, the alternative being immediate war. The wily chief, knowing that he was unprepared for such an al- ternative, submitted as patiently as possible, but his rest- less, independent spirit was by no means subdued. He saw that the demands of the white men were becoming more and more severe upon his people. They would soon become the sole possessors of the soil and drive them from their territory, unless united and active
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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measures were taken to prevent it. They were becom- ing stronger day by day, while his people were becoming weaker. They who had been received in kindness in the period of their weakness, had requited that kindness by severity when they had become strong. If they would recover their lost power, or retain what they still possessed, they must unite their forces for the destruction of the invaders of their soil. Such seem to have been the views of Philip in his attempts to consolidate the Indian forces previous to the actual breaking out of the war.
The following eloquent reply of Philip to Mr. John Borden, a friend of Philip, who tried to dissuade him from the contemplated war, copied from the Foster pa- pers, and given by Gov. Arnold, shows with what clear- ness his mind apprehended the state of affairs.
" The English who came first to this country were but a handful of people, forlorn, poor, and distressed. My father was then sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them land to build and plant upon. He did all in his power to serve them. Others of their countrymen came and joined them. Their numbers rapidly increased. My father's counsellors became uneasy and alarmed lest, as they were possessed of fire arms, which was not the case of the Indians, they should finally undertake to give law to the Indians and take from them their country. They therefore ad- vised him to destroy them before they should become too strong and it should be too late. My father was also the father of the English. He represented to his counsellors and warriors that the English knew many sciences which the Indians did not, that they improved and cultivated the earth, and raised cattle and fruits, and that there was sufficient room for both the English and the Indians. His advice prevailed. They concluded to give victuals to the English. They flourished and increased. Ex- perience taught that the advice of my father's counsellors was right. By various means they got possession of a great part of his territory. But he still remained their friend till he died. My elder brother became sachem. They pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined, and thereby thrown into sickness and died. Soon after I be- came sachem they disarmed all my people. They tried my people by their own laws, and assessed damages which they could not pay. Their land was taken. At length a line of di- vision was agreed upon between the English and my people, and I myself was to be responsible. Sometimes the cattle of
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the English would come into the coun fields of my people, for they did not make fences like the English. I must then be seized and confined till I sold another tract of my country for satisfaction of all damages and costs. Thus tract after tract is gone. But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live till I have no country."
Negotiations between Philip and the other sachems were commenced, looking to a union of the different tribes, with the intention of commencing the war as soon as the necessary arrangements could be effected. The war was finally commenced, sooner than was intended.
The first blood was shed on the 24th of June, 1675, "when eight or nine of the English were slain in and about Swansy."* The next day other troops arrived and the whole were placed under command of Major Savage, who proceeded to the Indian country intending to break up the headquarters of Philip at Mt. Hope. But the In- dians had deserted the place, leaving the heads and hands of the slaughtered English stuck upon poles by the wayside. Philip had gone over to Pocasset, whither Church, who afterwards so distinguished himself, fol- lowed them. To prevent, if possible, the Narragansetts from joining the forces of Philip, commissioners were sent to them, and the Massachusetts troops followed to en- force the terms that might be dictated. They found the villages of Pomham deserted. He had joined the com- mon foe. A general war was now commenced, for a de- tailed account of which the reader is referred to Hub- bard's Indian Wars, Church's History of Philip's War, etc. Only a few of the more important events can be noted in the present account. Hubbard, at the end of his narrative, says that eighteen houses were burned at Providence, June 23th, 1675, and on the 29th of March following, fifty-four more. Arnold credits the latter but doubts the former statement.
In July, 1675, Philip, accompanied by Weetamo, join- ed the Nipmucks who had also taken up arms against the English. Brookfield, Mass., was burnt. Hatfield, Had-
* Hubbard's Narrative, p. 59.
7
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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ley, Deerfield, Northfield and Springfield were attacked, and many of the inhabitants killed and their houses de- stroyed. The Narragansetts received and gave shelter to the hostile Indians in violation of their compulsory treaty, but had not yet taken any active part in the con- flict. It was feared that they would join the hostile In- dians in the spring, and the United Colonies resolved to. send an army of a thousand men into their country. The Narragansetts were ordered to give up Philip's fol- lowers who had taken refuge among them. These ap- pear to have been chiefly women and children. The haughty reply of Canonchet, son and successor of Mian- tonomi, who remembered the sad fate of his father is worthy of record, displaying as it does the honorable spirit of the brave sachem : "Not a Wampanoag, nor the par- ing of a Wampanoag's nail shall be delivered up." Can- onchet, alias Nanuntehoo, "was heir to all his father's pride and insolency, as well as of his malice against the English." The remark needs qualifying. The Narra- gansetts as a body, and especially its successive sachems, had ample reasons for a dislike to the Massachusetts col-
ony. Their friendship for the colonists of Rhode Island was manifested in many ways, and doubtless would have been continued indefinitely but for the many unjust and oppressive acts of the other colonies, which had led them to doubt the integrity of the English generally.
The reply of Canonchet caused all future attempts at reconciliation to be abandoned. A force of eleven hun- dred and thirty-five men was raised,; besides volunteers that joined it as it marched through Providence and this town. The whole army was under command of Gov. Winslow, of Plymouth. Bull's garrison house at South Kingston was attacked in December, and fifteen persons were slain, only two escaping.
On the next day, (Dec. 19,) the army were on the march to the place where the Indians had taken refuge in the middle of a swamp, where they were found
* Arnold, i, 401.
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POMHAM'S WIGWAMS BURNED.
1663-67.]
strongly fortified. Here occurred the celebrated "Swamp" battle, which has been so minutely described by Church, who was one of the principal actors in it, and others, that it need not be related in detail. Eighty of the En- glish were slain and one hundred and fifty wounded. Captains Davenport, Gardner, Johnson, Gallop and Mar- shall were killed. The principal part of those wounded in the battle were afterwards carried to Rhode Island where they were taken care of until the greater part of them recovered. Eight of them died there .* Hutchin- son further states that when they left the fort they had
about 210 dead and wounded. They left eight dead in the fort and brought twelve away with them. Within the enclosure or fort were some five hundred Indian wig- wams which were set on fire, in the flames of which per- ished not less than three hundred of the sick and wound- ed, the infant and aged. The entire loss of the Indians in killed, wounded and prisoners, was not less than one thousand, including those who perished in the burning wigwams. This was the principal battle of the war, al- though afterward there were several skirmishes, and many towns and villages were burned.
On the 27th of December, Capt. Prentice was sent into this town, where he burnt nearly a hundred of Pomham's wigwams, but the Indians had departed. Pomham joined his fortunes with the other tribes, and was afterward killed near Dedham, Massachusetts, in an engagement .; At about the same time one of his sons was also taken prisoner, who, according to Hubbard, would have received some consideration from his captors on account of his prepossessing countenance, "had he not belonged to so bloody and barbarous an Indian as his father was."
The injury inflicted upon the Indians by the destruc- tion of their wigwams was fully avenged on the 17th of the following March, when a party of the natives fell upon the town and utterly destroyed it. Governor
* Hutchinson, i, 301. t Judge Potter.
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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Arnold says " the town was utterly destroyed, except one house built of stone, which could not be destroyed."
RG
The Old Stone Castle, a cut of which is given on this page, is from a pencil sketch, made under the direction of
The Old Stone Castle, built, as is supposed, by John Smith in 1649; demolished in 1795. (From a pencil sketch by Mrs. John Wickes Greene, of Old Warwick, as described by her grandmother, Mrs. Welthain (Greene) Waterman.
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DEATH OF JOHN WICKES.
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persons who had intimate personal recollections of it, and pro- nounced by them to be a correct representation of the ancient structure. John Smith was a stone mason by trade, which ac- counts, in part, for the material of his domicil. He was President of the Colony at the time his house was being built. In 1652, he was chosen President of Providence and Warwick, the other two towns, Newport and Portsmouth, having with- drawn from the compact and set up for themselves. He died in the early part of the year 1664, being at the time Assistant for Warwick. Randall Holden was chosen to fill the vacancy occasioned by his death. He married, I think, a widow Sweet, and the estate went into the Sweet family, thence into the pos- session of Thomas Greene, youngest son of John Greene, Senior. The decendants of Thomas Greene, from this circum- stance, have been styled the "Stone Castle Greenes." Thomas Greene purchased a dwelling house on the opposite side of the road, and in 1795, had the old house demolished, which he afterwards regretted. The materials were converted into the cellar walls of the dwelling that stands near the site of the old castle, and the walls upon the farm. It stood on the north side of the road leading from Old Warwick to Appo- naug. The old castle was doubtless regarded as a place of safety to which the inhabitants might fly in times of danger. In the old cemetery, a few rods from the house, were buried in separate graves the head and body of John Wickes, the only person in this town, who is known to have been slain in the Indian war, thus allowing the only dwelling in town that sur- vived the Indian war, and the only man that was killed to re- main in close proximity for upwards of a century. The estate is now owned by Mr. George Anthony.
The following account of the death of John Wickes, is taken from Updike's Narraganset Church :
"In relation to his death there is this tradition : That on the approach of danger. when garrisons had been provided and the inhabitants generally had repaired to them, he could not be persuaded that he required any protection against the natives. From his past experience of their uniform kindness and good- will towards him personally, he was slow to believe himself in danger, and to the oft-repeated admonitions of his friends to be more careful of his safety, his answer was that he had no fears of injury from the Indians-that they would not hurt him. With this mistaken confidence in their fidelity, he ven- tured beyond the protection of the garrisons; and going at evening into the woods in search of his cows, he did not return. His fate was first known to his friends on seeing his head set upon a pole near his own dwelling on the following morning. This they immediately-and before venturing in
*7
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
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search of the body-buried near the stone garrison and within a few rods of it. The body. which was found on the succeed- ing day, was interred beside the head, but in a distinct grave; and two little hillocks, which mark the spot are still shown as the grave of John Wickes."
His dwelling house was on the corner leading to Rocky Point, nearly opposite the old Quaker Meeting House. It stood a short distance in the rear of the present residence of Mr. Thomas Wickes Gardiner. It was torn down about the year 1838. Thomas Wickes, a son of John, Senior, was a repre- sentative in the General Assembly for several years, and for more than twenty consecutive years (1715-1738), Assistant, a position corresponding to that of State Senator of the present day. He was Town Clerk from 1712 to his death in 1742, with the exception of the year 1720. His descendants are numerous in the State. One of the Coweset farms, set off in 1684, lying about a mile east of Rocky Hill School House, still remains in possession of his descendants, the present occupant being Mr. Oliver A. Wickes.
April 4, 1676. Canonchet, the Narragansett sachem, was surprised and taken near Pawtucket or Blackstone river, where he and about thirty of his men had gone to get seed corn to plant their grounds. When first dis- covered he sought safety in flight, and was so hard pressed that he was obliged to throw off his blanket, which had been presented to him in Boston in October, and finally his belt of peage. He then took to the water, and accidentally " wet his gun, when, as he afterwards said, his heart and bowels turned within him so that he became void of strength as a rotten stick." Robert Stan- ton. the first Englishman that came up to him, being about twenty-one years old, the sachem looked disdain- fully upon his youthful face and saic' in broken English, " You much child, no understand matters of war; let your brother or your chief come, him will I answer." He was offered his life if he would persuade the Narragansetts to submit, which he rejected, and said he wished " to hear no more about it." He was told that he must die then, to which he bravely replied, " I like it well. I shall die before my heart is soft, or I have said anything unworthy of myself." * Arnold says, "To insure the fidelity of
* Hubbard.
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DEATH OF KING PHILIP.
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the friendly tribes by committing them to a deed that would forever deter the Narragansetts from seeking their alliance, it was arranged that each of them should take a part in his execution. Accordingly the Pequots shot him, the Mohegans cut off his head and quartered him, and the Niantics, who had joined the English, burned his body and sent his head as " a token of love and loy- alty to the Commissioners at Hartford."
Canonchet was the last great sachem of the Narra- gansetts and the chief supporter of Phillip, who was now left comparatively alone. If there was any more barbarous treatment of a prisoner of war in the annals of savage or civilized warfare upon this continent than that meted out to this brave enemy, by a professedly civilized and Christian people, we have failed to notice it.
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