USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Westerly > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 3
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Charlestown > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 3
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Hopkinton > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 3
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Richmond > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 3
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The red men had, indeed, some conception of sin and guilt, but no proper notion of holiness. Their virtues were those of economy, constraint, and policy. All things were viewed from an earthly stand-point. Their spirituality was thoroughly carnalized; they lacked the illuminations and inspirations that come from above; they were powerless in respect to their disinthrallment. Constantly they were degenerating and decreasing. They were evidently sink- ing in intellectual and moral debasement. Passions and supersti- tions, born of their depravity and ignorance, perpetually reacted to the increase of their bewilderment. Uncleanness of the flesh fol-
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THE ABORIGINES.
lowed that of the spirit. Paganism is necessarily degrading and demoralizing, since its divinities, whatever they may be, are only the fancies and imaginings of our fallen natures ; and waters can never rise higher than their fountain. Roger Williams speaks of them as "remarkably free and courteous, to invite all strangers in ; and if any came to them upon any occasion, they request them to come in." Their hospitality was a conspicuous trait.
The real condition of Indian life was truly deplorable. The men were only hunters and warriors; the females were only overtasked slaves. They together made up only precarious hordes, scarcely superior to the wild beasts with which they disputed the possession of the forests. Their raiment was borrowed from birds and brutes, supplemented at times by a coarse species of native hemp. Even their kingly apparel would scarcely become a civilized buffoon. They were utterly ignorant of the use of metals. Arts and sciences they knew not. Rudely indeed they wrought with hides, bark, wood, bones, shells, and stones. Their implements are the painful evidence of their darkness. Their frail, smoky, filthy wigwams had much to do with their swarthy complexion, acting through a period of untold generations, aided by their black, oily anointings, the use of smoked meat and fish, and charred corn and ground nuts. They roamed the forests ; wandered on the shores ; crouched in their huts ; rushed to savage wars; danced in their days of coarse feast- ing; gloamed in their many hours of adversity and suffering, - almost entire strangers to the proper life of intelligent beings. Their best works of art, their dwellings and canoes, were fit types of their national life, temporary and decaying. Even when knowledge came, their gloomy and offended hearts turned from the light. As a people, they had so far pursued their downward career, that no persuasions or incitements of civilization were sufficient to kindle in them a desire for a higher destiny. Only stern necessity induced them, in any essential particular, to imitate Europeans. The fatal depravity and blindness which we sometimes discover in individuals was painfully illustrated in them as a people.
After the purchase of Misquamicut from Sosoa by the whites in 1660, the history of the Niantics is readily traced. They now occu- pied their reserved lands under Ninigret, of whom we have previ- ously made some extended mention, whose neutrality in Philip's war saved his own life and that of his people. His alliance with the Narragansett throne was both political and domestic. His sister, Quaiapen, married Maxauno, the son of Canonicus. When Canon- chet, the last sachem of the Narragansetts, perished at the close of Philip's war, the sceptre of the allied tribes, Narragansetts and Niantics, devolved upon Ninigret. But he died soon after the close of the war.
From this Ninigret descended the subsequent rulers of the united
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
tribes, since popularly designated the Narragansetts. He had two wives. By one he had a daughter; by the other he had a son, Ninigret, and two daughters. His first daughter succeeded him in the throne, and was crowned at Chemunganock (in Charlestown). This queen was succeeded by her half-brother Ninigret, whose reign terminated by his death near 1722. He left two sons, Charles Augustus Ninigret and George Ninigret.
Charles Augustus assumed the crown. Dying, he left an infant son Charles, " who was acknowledged as sachem by a portion of the tribe, but the greater part adhered to George, his uncle, as being of pure royal blood." The dispute ended by the death of young Charles. George received the royal belt of peage and the other kingly insignia in 1735. He left three children, Thomas, George, and Esther.
Thomas Ninigret, better known as "King Tom," was born in 1736, and came to the throne in 1746. During his reign much of the Indian reservation was sold, and a portion of the tribe, dissatis- fied from the increase of the whites and the narrowing of their hunt- ing grounds, emigrated to the State of New York, and affiliated with the red men in that region. King Tom yielded somewhat to the light that shone around him. In 1764 the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel sent a Mr. Bennett as a teacher to the Indians, and furnished him with books. His labors were so successful that in the following year King Tom petitioned the society to establish free schools for the children, and closed his letter with the following beautifully expressed hope, "That when time with us shall be no more ; that when we and the children over whom you have been such benefactors, shall leave the sun and stars, we shall rejoice in a far superior light." Thus the light from above had touched his vision. The door of access for Mr. Bennett and the school had been prepared long before by the labors of Roger Williams and others. The Great Revival prior to 1750 had won happy fruits in this tribe ; and the Indian Church, of which we shall speak in another chapter, was planted in 1750. King Tom was a sincere friend of Christian teachers and churches. A residence built by him is still standing in Charlestown, and is now owned by James N. Kenyon, Esq. It stands south of the post-road, near Coronation Rock and Fort Neck. The plan of the house was brought from England ; the wainscoting was wrought in Newport. In the parlor is a quaint and beautiful cupboard, the top of which is an elegantly wrought sun-burst.
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On the death of King Tom the crown descended to Esther, his sister, the next heir. Her coronation was a pageant. There were present about twenty Indian soldiers with guns, who marched her to Coronation Rock, where the council surrounded her. She stood forth on the rock in the midst of the multitude. The Indians nearest the royal blood, in presence of her councillors, put the crown on her
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THE ABORIGINES.
head. This was made of cloth covered with blue and white peage. At the act of crowning the soldiers fired a royal salute, and hurrahed in the Indian tongue. The ceremony was imposing, and everything was conducted with great order. The soldiers escorted her to her home and fired national salutes.
Queen Esther left one son, George. He was crowned after the death of his mother, and was reigning during the period of our Rev- olution. But when about twenty-two years of age, he was acci- dentally killed by the falling of a tree. He was the last of the Niantic kings, commonly called Narragansett kings.
Since the death of George Ninigret, the tribe has been governed by an annually elected governor or president, and a council of four members. Since 1707, however, the tribe and the reservation of lands have virtually been under the jurisdiction of the State, as the kings and councils could act only with the consent of the State authorities. But while their actions have thus harmonized with the State legislation, their government is all their own. As they under- stand it, they are connected with the State by treaty, receiving cer- tain privileges and protections in consideration of granted lands under their old sovereignty. Election day and their annual religious meeting are the great days of the tribe. Their manners, however, like their blood, have undergone great changes from their inter- mingling with Europeans and Africans.
In 1833 the tribe numbered 198, only seven of whom were pure blood. In 1858 they enrolled but 138 members. Not a pure- blooded Indian now remains among them. Modified by civilization, the tribe has at times put on a little of the hope and vigor of true life. Indeed, the aboriginal life has almost wholly disappeared. A subtle decay seemed to be in the Indian. nature, and it is only too evident that this remnant of the hordes of the forest must soon fol- low their fathers to the land of forgetfulness.
Of the old pride and power of the Indian kings and warriors, only their moldering sepulchres now remain. The royal burying- ground of most ancient date is located in Charlestown, about a mile north of Cross's Mills, on a piece of pleasant table-land, near fifteen feet above the surrounding high ground. The spot is 125 yards in circumference, and commands a beautiful view of the adjacent coun- try and the sea. The natives evidently, in this case, had a choice ideal in reference to a place of burial. Royal graves were privi- leged above others. On this inviting plateau, in a mound one hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, and three feet high, and in the spaces around it, are the remains of the kings, queens, members of the royal family, and chiefs of the Narragansett nation. Some of the graves are evidently very ancient. A forest has now overgrown the consecrated ground. Many of the tombs are of princely dimen- zions.
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
Of old they buried in a sitting posture. At a later day they adopted the supine position. The personal property of the departed was usually laid by the side of the body. From the grave of a queen opened in 1859 were taken many and curious relics, though she was buried after Europeans had reached the country.
Another burying-ground, containing the Ninigrets and other nota- ble persons, is situated on Fort Neck, and is of more recent date than the above-named grounds. Yet here sleep royal personages. There are also smaller and more obscure places of burial in different localities in this region, anciently called Misquamicut, that are believed to contain the remains of the aborigines. All are fast fading from view. Of the old fort and other important matters we shall have occasion to speak in other chapters.
We have been contemplating a general outline of the Indian life. . Many points of interest have necessarily been omitted. But we shall have occasion to speak further of this by-gone people when we come to treat of the first settlement of the country by the whites, and the history of the Indian Church.
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Alas, how soon time will obliterate the last vestiges of the sons of the forest !. They left us no written memorials. Of their lan- guage there remains to us scarcely more than the names they gave to hills and brooks and rivers. How impressive the fact, - once the victorious, powerful, haughty lords of all this land, they now pre- sent scarcely a name or a line of record among men !
No red men's feet the wolf pursue; Time has the bow unstrung: Decay has claimed the war canoe ; No warrior's song is sung.
In dust the tomahawk is found; No more the war-horn blows: All coldly in their mantles bound The Indian braves repose.
We children of a favored day, Inheriting their homes, Would guard their history from decay, And mark their moldering tombs.
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN NAMES.
. As the red men, the ancient proprietors of this region, possessed no writings whatever, no written language indeed, and no arts that have been counted worthy of preservation, the most that we can now do in retaining their memory, and it is surely a sacred duty, is to record their few traditions, and preserve the names they bestowed on their hills, valleys, and streams. These memorials of an ancient and departed race should never be suffered to fall into oblivion.
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We present a catalogue of such names as belong within the orig- inal limits of Westerly. In these names a diversity of spelling is unavoidable, as there existed no Indian orthography, and the names were written alone by the aid of the ear.
Aquantaug .- A brook leading from Burden's Pond northerly to the south bend of the Pawcatuck.
Ashagomiconset. - Land through. which Aquantaug Brook flows.
Ashawague. - River that runs through Ashaway Village, and emp- ties into the Pawcatuck.
Bapetanshat .- Tract of land in the northwest corner of Charlestown.
Chemunganoc. - Pond near the cen- tre of Charlestown, - same as Watch- aùg.
Chemunganoc. - Hill near pond of same name.
Cocumpaug. - Pond in Charles- town, northeast from Watchaug Pond.
Conob. - Pond in Richmond, a few rods east of Brand's Iron Works.
Mammaquag. - Brook running southerly from Hopkinton.
Mashaquamaganset .- Tract of land in the northwest corner of Charles- town.
Mashonaug. - Island in pond in Charlestown.
Masturet. - Brook emptying into the Pawcatuck, near Pawcatuck Rock.
Minacommuck. - Island in Bur- den's Pond.
Minnacommuc. - Island in the ce- dar swamp in Westerly.
Minnabaug. - Pond of much length on the Charlestown shore, sometimes called Babcock's Pond.
Misquamicut. - Signifies salmon, - the neck of land at Watch Hill. and the coast line east to Weecapaug.
Muschaug. - Applied to two ponds, near the ocean, sometimes called East and West Muschaug, - the east- ern often called Musquataug, - now called Babcock's Pond.
Musquataug. - Point in the south- east corner of Westerly.
Muyquataug. - Land between Ward's and Quonocontaug ponds.
Neshudganset. - Brook near the
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
junction of the Ashawague with the Pawcatuck.
Nianticut or Nyantic. - Country of Ninigret, bounded on the west by Weecapaug Brook.
Pascomattas. - Pond, Burden's Pond.
Paspatonage. - Same as Weeca- paug, - brook and neck of land, the boundary between the Pequots and Niantics.
Pasquesit. - Pond and brook enter- ing the Pawcatuck near Kenyon's Mills.
Pawcatuck. - The ford below the present bridge in the village of . Westerly, and finally the name of the river.
Pawtuxent. - Falls in the Pawca- tuck, near Westerly.
Pisquasent .- Land in Charlestown.
Poquinunk. - Brook running from Chemunganoc Pond.
Poquiunk. - Brook in Charles- town, running northwest from Watchaug Pond to the Pawcatuck.
Puscommattas. - Pond on the west side of cedar swamp in Westerly.
Powaget. - Pond in Charlestown, stretching from the beach nearly to the highway, not far from Ninigret's fort.
Quequataug. - Upland in Charles- town, running into the cedar swamp.
Quequatuck. - Locality where Mr. Crandall first built a mill, near Meet- ing-house Bridge.
Quimamogue. - Meadow in the northwest corner of Westerly.
Shannock. - Hills in southeast corner of Richmond ; signifies squir- rel.
Teapanock. - Babcock's Pond in Westerly.
Tiscatuck. - Small round swamp near the centre of Westerly.
Tishcottie. - Farm once owned by Gov. Samuel Ward.
Tomaquay. - A tract near Shat- tuck's Weir, or Dorrville. Also a brook in Hopkinton.
Watchaug. - Pond near middle of Charlestown.
Weecapang. - Neck and brook, an- cient boundary of Westerly on the southeast.
Wincheck. - Pond, the eastern one on the beach in Charlestown.
Wotesamoonsuck. - Hill west of Hopkinton.
Yagunsk. - Brook on east side of Ninigret's fort.
Yawcook. - Ponds on the line be- tween Exeter and Richmond.
Yairgoog. - Pond in northwest corner of Hopkinton.
Yawgunsk. - Brook on east side of Ninigret's fort; Cross's Mill brook.
It is sincerely hoped that these ancient names, the only remain- ing representatives of a once powerful people, may not be ruthlessly supplanted.
CHAPTER IV.
WAIFS OF INDIAN LIFE.
THE arts of a people reveal not only their outer, but as well their inner life, their thoughts, their occupations, and their aims. Few and rude were the arts and implements of the aborigines of New England. To civilized men they were utterly worthless, save as curiosities, and as keys for the explanation of Indian customs and character. The red men had neither bridges nor roads ; they had not even permanent residences. No foundations of excavations, save little shallow, dish-like depressions in the earth's surface, tes- tify of their abodes. As marks of their life, to-day nothing remains except such of their rough implements and ornaments as, grimly defying the erasions of time, are upturned by the spade and the plow. In prosecuting his historical studies, the writer has been incited to make a collection of these works of Indian art. His cabinet, now comprising more than 300 pieces, has been gathered from the region between New London and Newport. For the entertainment and instruction of coming generations, since these relies even now are very rare, he has had them photographed in stereoscopic groups, and has donated 500 pieces to Brown University, and 150 to Yale College.
As the study of such works of art is engaging and profitable, aside from their being the only memorials of a people who through years unnumbered ruled these hills and shores, some account of these relics may here properly be given. The red men of this region knew nothing whatever of the use of metals. They wrought only with wood, hair, native hemp, bark, shells, bones, hides, horns, and stone. Their stone, bone, and shell articles are nearly all that now remain.
Samp Grinders. - The largest the writer has ever seen was exhibited in Richmond. It was of common coarse granite, globular and well wrought, about 17 inches in diameter. The one found in Westerly, of the same form and material, is about 9 inches
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in diameter. One, of a size interme- diate between these, but of red sand- stone, was found with Indian bones near Norwich, Conn. Some of these grinders are egg-shaped or oval, taken doubtless from the sea-shore.
Mortars. - These are of two kinds,
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
movable and immovable. The mov- able are fragments of rock hollowed out, holding a few quarts; these may also have been used for heating wa- ter. The immovable are cavities pounded in the tops of large bowl- ders, holding from 6 to 16 quarts. Some of these may be seen in Ricli- mond. No doubt the natives also used troughs of wood, in which they crushed corn and seeds by rolling the larger stones, and striking with the smaller ones. Perhaps the largest stationary mortar in this region is found in the top of a granite bowl- der, weighing say two tons, near the margin of the Charlestown Pond, on - the lands now owned by Oliver D. Clark, Esq., in Charlestown. This mortar measures, as judged, 3 feet in diameter, and 15 inches in depth. The rock should be valued as holding this memorial of a departed people.
Pestles. - Some of these are gran- ite; most, however, are hard sand- stone. The largest in the writer's cabinet was 3 inches in diameter, and 17§ in length. The smallest was 2 inches in diameter, and 7 in length. Most of them are uniform in size and smoothly wrought.
Hoes. - These were either wood of paddle shape, or shells bound upon the ends of sticks. Scarcely any re- mains of these have reached our times.
Axes. - These are of various sizes and qualities: most are of fine quali- ties of granite: a few are of porphy- ritic stone. They are shaped some- what like our metal axes, but usually longer in proportion to the width. All have grooves about the head to receive the withes or split ends of the handles. The largest measures 10} inches in length, by 4 inches in width; the second measures 73 inches in length. 5} in width, and 23 in thickness near the groove. There was one furnished with two grooves. In connection with these cutting or bruising instruments, the natives usually employed the agency of fire.
Chisels. - These are of porphyry, granite, and hard sandstone, and of all sizes, from 8 inches in length to 3
inches, having blades or edges of from 13 to 8 inches, and are round where grasped by the hand. Most of them are finished with great care, and have even a polish.
Gouges. - The best is 53 inches in length, by 2 in width. The edge forms nearly a semicirele, and is really sharp for stone. These tools were used in finishing log canoes and smoothing the inner surface of trays.
Tomahawks. - In their general form, these resemble the axes, only they are much smaller, and the heads usually taper to a point; their shape suggests a lather's hatchet. In the before-mentioned collection, there is one that is double-edged. All are grooved for handles. The original or most ancient form and style of the tomahawk was that of a club some 2 feet in length, having a knot or knob at the stroke end, into which was in- serted a sharp piece of stone or flint shaped like a spear-head, thus giving to the whole a shape much like a hatchet with a tapering and pointed blade. Such was the general pattern and material of the first tomahawks seen by Europeans.
Skinning Knices. - In shape these are much like the chisels, averaging 3 inches in length by 1} in width. They are commonly of rare qualities of stone, fine-grained, spotted, or of deep color, easily carried in the hunt- er's pocket.
Scalping Knives. - These are fine- grained, thin, and semicircular. The one in the writer's possession was 5 inches long, 22 inches wide, and § of an inch in thickness on the back, and diminishes to a good edge. It even yet retains smears of blood. They were sometimes perforated that they might receive a cord and be hung about the warrior's neck.
Spear-Heads. - These are of great variety, both of shape and material. - Of the specimens, the largest is 7 inches in length by 2 in width, and 3 inch in thickness; the next to this measures 63 inches, while it is but 1} in width and g in thickness. The broadest measures 23 inches, and is ? inch thick. They are of flint, jasper,
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WAIFS OF INDIAN LIFE. ·
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quartz, and slate. Many of them are handsome. and evince skillful work- manship.
Arrow-Heads. - These are similar to the spear-heads. only smaller, and are of every variety of stone, from transparent quartz to red jasper and black flint. They are of every length, from 2 of an inch to 24 inches. Some are triangular shaped. One still re- tains its poisoned tip. Some are very slender. Some are vari-colored. All evince skill, if not taste.
Pipes. - Generally these were wrought from steatite and sandstone, and were in shape much like a hol- low top. Some, indeed, were of baked clay, a rude kind of crockery, and bore certain marks of figures. In the writer's collection there were two pipe stems, one of baked clay, and one of perforated slate stone.
Aurls. - These were of the hardest stone and flint, being in shape not unlike a pegging awl, - a small, ta- pering blade, having a knot at the top. These would bore through thin sub- stances, bothi wood and soft stone. Deep holes were bored by using sand and a stick.
Fish-Hooks. - Bones and pearl- lined shells were rasped into hooks. The heads were notched to receive the hempand hair lines. Commonly, however, seines and weirs were em- ployed in fishing. Spears, likewise. were often called into requisition for this purpose.
Beads. - Small, brilliant shells, en_ tire, or ground into uniform pieces, and tastefully strung, were favorite decorations. Beads were also made of small pieces of bone, round or ob- long, of the size of small peas, and carefully bored. I have a small string of these taken from a queen's grave in Charlestown.
Wampum. - Peage, wampumpeage, or wampum, were terms used to des- ignate the Indian money. There are two kinds. the white and the black; both are alike in shape and size. The pieces are small disks or rings } of an inch in diameter, and 1-16 of an inch in thickness. exactly and elegantly wrought. Often, however, the pieces
were cylindrical in form. The black is taken from a species of muscle. The white is obtained from the head of the periwinkle. The two kinds, one double the value of the other, were strung alternately, and used as beads till wanted for trade. They were strung on native hemp or hair.
Ornaments. - As these were usually feathers and painted leather, they have passed away. They used, however, a curious black and gray layer-striped stone, shaped much like the body of a very small bird, having a head and rump, and perforated under the body. This was probably used as a head ornament.
Pottery. - Besides the hollowed fragments of granite, the red men had pots and kettles, or rather rough basins and pans, cut ont of steatite, soap-stone. which they used in cook- ing their food and making their va- rious decoctions. They also had in rare cases a kind of jar made of baked clay. These were molded in some instances around their vine ap- ples or squashes.
Charms. - These were of great va- riety, as dictated by fancy or super- stition. Whatever was curious or suggestive filled this office. Specta- cle-shaped stones, or whatever seemed to resemble the human eye or face, was invested with a charmed char- acter.
Slung Stones. - These were round or oval pebbles, found on the shores, of the size of a goose-egg, grooved or channeled entirely around to receive a leather or heinpen thong, by means of which they might be thrown at wild beasts or an enemy.
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