0^ ^^0^ ■^ qV N O ^ -^^O A^ -^ oTo ^ ^^ o V -0 ^■ ' • • s V ^ ,^^''^ ^^yiw:' /^^^ ^^p;^,^^^ .-^•^ THE NIPMUCK INDIANS, CALEB A. WALL, ESQ., DELIVERED AT AUBURN, rvIASS., BEFORE THE ORASKASO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, JUNE n, 1898. Press of O. B. Wood. Worcester. M.\ss. i8qS. v^ '^'i^S '^7t The Nipmuck Indians, BY CALEB A. WAEI., Esq. This paper was first delivered before the Oraskaso Historical Society, at a special meeting held in Auburn, Mass., on June ii, 1898. The territory originally com|)rising the old town of Worcester included, besides that of the present City of Worcester, the whole town of Holdcn which was set oflf in 1740, and the north- east quarter of Auburn which was set off in 1778, the latter section including the old Common where the Auburn Church and Town Hall now stand. To this original territory the first in- habitants, the Indians, gave the name of Quinsigamond, from the name of the lake bounding it on the east, with its numerous aliases, Quansigamaug, Quonsicamug, Quansigamog, etc., etc., meaning in the Indian dialect, " fishing place for pickerel." This is one of the earliest places in the interior of New England to which the attention of the first settlers from the seaboard or coast was directed, towards the west. Plymouth, the oldest New England town, was settled on the arrival of the Pilgrims in the Mayflower, in the bleak month of December, 1620. Within ten years from that date a large number of new towns, including Weymouth, Braintree, Salem, CharlcstoAvn, Lynn, Boston, Roxbury, Watertown, Dorchester, Cambridge, Med- io rd, along the eastern coast, had been settled or incorporated, and then movements began toward the interior. Settlements began at Concord in 1635, Sudbury in 1638, Lancaster in 1643, and Marlboro in 1654. Lancaster, the oldest town in Worcester County, was incorporated in 1654, Mendon in 1667, and Brooklield in 1673, Worcester rankino- the fourth in age or time of first settlement of the towns in this county. The first settlements or attempts at settlement in all these four towns, as well as in many other places in New England, were destroyed by the Indian.";. The first settlements 1)egan at Worcester or "(^uinsigauiond," in 1674, were burned l)y the Indians in December, 1675, tbllowing the destruction 1)y them of Mendon, Brookficld, and Lancaster. The second attempt at settlement in Worcester began in 1684, when the name Worcester was given to the place l)y the General Court, was also broken up by the Indians during the wars waged under King William and Queen Anne, against the French, termina- ting ill 1713, when the third and permanent settlement of Worcester began. Of what happened here during the inter- veuing period of nearly forty years between the first and third settlement, but little record has come down to us except in connectioii with the murderous and devastating wars of the Indians. Previous to the advent of the white man, there were three tribes of Indians here, having their respective headquarters on three well-known hills. One of them, the largest tribe, com- prising about 100 souls, under Sagamore John, had their seat on Pakachoag Hill, a little south of where the college of the Holy Cross noAV stands ; another trilie under Sagamore Solo- mon, dwelt on Asnebumskit* (sometimes called Tetaessit), on the south face of which they cam})ed in summer time, in the west-northwest part of the town, and another smaller tribe was on Wigwam Hill, on the northwestern border of Lake Quinsigamond, under Sagamore Pannasanet. These hills took their names from the Indians then inhabiting them. The rights of these tribes of Indians to all this land, com- prising 64 square miles, 43,000 acres, were purchased by the Committee of the General Court having in charge the settle- ment of the place, the consideration given being " twelve jjounds of lawful money of New England, or the full value thereof in other specie, two coats and four yards of trading- cloth, valued at 26 shillings, and full satisfaction in trucking cloth and corn." The limits of the Nipmuck (or Nipnet) country Avere not well defined, but generally included the central and southern ■■'Asnebumskit meaning in the Indian dialect, "a place of rocks," or " a stony place." ( yide Trumbull.) portions of Worcester County and :i few of the adjoinino- towns in Rhode Island and Connecticut. These Indians possessed a milder and less warlike character than most of the neighboring tribes, and were accordingi^'^ brought in subjection to them. What was the nature of this subjection, or in what special relation to the other tribes they stood, cannot lie stated with accuracy. But it is known that they paid a tribute. The tirst mention made of this Nipmuck or Nipnet country is by Gov, John AVinthroi), who, with others, made an excursion up Charles River in January, 1632. After they had gone up aliout fifteen miles, he says, "they ascended a very high rock, where they might see all over Nipnett, and a ver}^ high hill due west." No wkite man, probably, ever set foot on its soil till the fall of l(io5, when it was traversed by a company of 60 English emigrants, who, thinking themselves straightened for land in Massachusetts Bay, had determined, thus early, to go to the more fertile banks of Connecticut River. No other notice appears to have been taken of the Nip- mucks or their country until the benevolent project of con- verting the Indians to Christianity was undertaken by the Indian Apostle Eliot at Nonantown (Newton), where the first Indian Church was formed in 1646, and removed to Natick in 1651. The next one organized was at Hassana- misco (Grafton), in 1652. This latter is described as lying '^38 miles west from Boston, and two miles easterly of Nip- muck (now called Blackstone) River, and near unto the old road waj'^ to Connecticut River." This " old roadway to Con- necticut River," used before the "new country road" from Boston, through Marlboro and Shrew^sbury, over the head of Lake Quinsigamond and Lincoln Street and out along the old " Joe Bill" road westerly,* .crossed Nipmuck River near what is now Saundersville in Grafton. John Eliot, in an account of his success in his good work, written in 1654, said : " Hassanamisco has become the central point of civiliza- tion and Christianity to the whole Nipmuck country." A * This formed a part of the original "Bay-Path" to the Connecticut River. 6 school was established, and the Bible read and studied in the Indian lanouage. Young men were here educated and sent into the neighboring towns to preach the gospel. A regular government was created, and the forms of law were strictly observed. Gookin says the name of Hassanamisco or Hassa- namisitt, signifies in the Indian dialect, " a place of small stones," probably from the large number of pebbles or rounded stones washed up by the river and its branches, a great many of which may be picked up on the borders of the streams through Saundersville, Farnumsville and vicinity. A number of years elapsed after King Philip's war, before the few remaining proprietors of Hassanamisitt returned to make it a residence. Most of them lived with the Natick In- dians, and came here occasionally only, for the purpose of planting corn and making cider. In 1698 five families had re- turned, among them James Printer (Black James), who was noted for his agency in printing the Indian Bible, as well as for his great intelligence. In 1681 commissioners were ap- pointed by the General Court to examine into the claims of the Indians and see how they could be extinguished. Subse- quently they purchased a tract of land south of the river of 49 of them for the sum of £50 and a coat. The Indians re- mained sole proprietors of Grafton till 1718, when Elisha Johnson and others, first settlers of Sutton, purchased this tract, or a part of it, and built the road from Grafton to Saundersville, over the two branches of the iriver before spoken of. Among the most celebrated of the praying Indians was "James the Printer," or "Black James," abov^e referred to. When a child he was instructed at the Charity Indian School at Cambridge, under direction of Gookin and Eliot. In 1659 he was put to an apprenticeship of 16 years. He had attained some skill in printing, and might have obtained more, if, as Hubbard says, he had not run away from his master before his time was out. Rev. John Eliot, in a letter telling of the slow progress made at that time in the printing of his Indian bible, that they had been much hindered by sickness of the workmen, and they had then but few hands, one Englishman, and a boy, and one Indian — this was James the Printer. He was at one time teacher to five Indian families at Hassanamisco. In 1725 there were 32 Indian proprietors at Hassanamisco, including several descendants and relatives of James the Prin- ter : George Ciscoe and wife ; Ami Printer and wife ; Moses Printer, wife and family, 7 ; Andrew Abraham and family, 8 ; Peter Muckamug (in right of Sarah Bobbins, his mother) and family, 3 ; Joshua Ciscoe and wife; Ami Printer, Jr., and family, 4; Abimelech David (in right of his wife) and family, 3 ; and Peter Lawrence, Andrew Abraham, resided at the old Fordway, the place of crossing Blackstone River, at Saunders- ville, near the old James Leland place, afterwards of Deacon John McClellan, and his son John E. McClellan. These Indians made but little proficiency in agricultural knowledge, chiefly confined to raising apples and making cider, which they used to intoxication. Their attempts in the me- chanical or manufacturing direction were confined to the man- ufacture of baskets and wooden brooms. Mary Printer, alias Thomas, the last of the full-blooded Indians of this tribe and the last blood descendant of the Has- sanamesits, died in Worcester, Feb. 10, 1879, the wife of Gilbert Walker, the noted hair dresser and barber, Sarah (Boston) Walker. Her mother, Sally Boston, who was well known throughout Worcester County, was born in Grafton, Feb. 21, 1819. Maj. Gen. Daniel Gookin, of Cambridge, who was born in Kent Co., Eng., and first settled in Virginia, in 1639, and in Cambridge, in 1644, was the superintendent of all the Indians that had subjected themselves to the colonial government. He was accustomed to accompany the apostle Eliot in his mission- ary tours. While Eliot preached the gospel to the Indians, Gookin administered civil affairs among them. In 1636, Plymouth Colony enacted laws to provide for the preaching of the gospel among the Indians, and ten years later the Massachusetts Colony passed a similar act, under which, or in accord with which, the good work of Gookin and Eliot was done, though their efforts went beyond the letter of the law, in the direction of humanity, for the uplifting and Chris- tianization of the Indians, and nothino- in this direction appears to have been (h)ne by the Colonists until the ^vol■k was taken hold of by Eliot and Gookin. Gen. Gookin, who knew more about the Indians of his time, in this country, than any other person, has put on record his work among them for their benefit. He included in his description of the Nipnmck country, so called, ten villaoes of " Christian Converts," Christianized by his efforts in conjunc- tion with the Apostle P]liot. These ten villages, particularly described by Gookin, were Hassanamisit, now Grafton ; Manchoag or Manchage, now Oxford; Chabanahonkamon, or Chal)ungabungamaug, now Dudley — this giving the name to the lake in that ]mrt of old Dudley, now Webster; Maanesit, Quantisset and Waquisset, in Woodstock, Ct. ; Waetung, now Uxbridge ; Weshakim, or Waushacum, in Sterling; Qual)oag, in Brooktield — giving the name to the Quaboag Historical So- ciety ; and Pakachoag, Asnebumskit and Wigwam Hill, in Worcester. From the position of these places the domain of the Nip- muck's must have extended over all the south, and [lart of the north of what is now the County of Worcester, and included an adjoining section of Connecticut. On the south were the Pequots and Narragansotts ; on the east what were called the Massachusetts Indians ; and the Merrimacks on the north. The principal settlement of the Indians in Worcester, as before stated, was on Pakachoag or Bogochoag Hill, extending south into what is now Aulnirn ; another tribe was on Asne- bumskit Hill, and another smaller tribe made their ren- dezvous on Wigwam Hill, on the northwest shore of Lake Quinsigamond, where war relics of the Indians have been found. Gookin descril)es the Indian village on Packachoag or Bagachoge Hill in 1(574, as follows: "This village lieth about three miles south from the new roadway (the then country road, so called) that leadeth from Boston to Connecticut, about 18 miles west-southwest from Marlborough, and from Boston al)Out 44 miles. It consists of about 20 families, and hath about 100 souls therein. It is seated upon a fertile hill, and is denominated from a delicate spring of water called ' pleas- 9 ant water,' that is there." This spring is on what was the Stearns farm, near the northeast corner of Auburn, a little way east of College Street, leading over the hill to Auburn. Sept. 28, 1674, Gen. Gookin and the Apostle Eliot visited Pakachoas Hill on their return from an excursion amono- the nations of red men entrusted to their paternal guardianship, Gookin being Indian superintendent, and Eliot generally ac- com})anying him. The following description affords a view of the condition of the Indians here previous to the b&ginning of King Philip's war, when so many of their kindred were exter- minated. Here is Gookin's account of his visit to Pakachoag Hill, to which he went with Eliot from Dudley and Oxford : " We took leave of the Christian Indians at Chabanakongko- mon (Dudley), and took our journey 17th of 7th month (September 28, new style), 1674, by Manchage (Indian name for Oxford), to Pakachoag, which lieth from Manchage, north- west about twelve miles. We arrived there about noon. We repaired to the house of the Sagamore called John, alias How- wanninit, who kindly entertained us. There is another Saga- more belonging to this place, of kindred to the above, whose name is Solomon, alias Woonakochu, chief of the Tetaesett tribe, whose seat is on Asnebumskit. This man was also present, and courteously welcomed us. As soon as the peo- ple could be got together, Mr. Eliot preached unto them, and they attended reverently. Their teacher, named James Speen, read and set the tune of a psalm that was sung atfectionately. Then was the whole duty concluded with prayer. "After some short respite, a Court was kept (or held) among them. My chief assistant was Wattasa Companum, ruler of the Nipmuck Indians, a grave and pious man of the chief Sachem's blood of the Nipmuck Country. He resides at Has- sanamisset (now Grafton), but by former appointment calleth here, together with some others. The principal matter done at this Court was first to constitute John and Solomon to be rulers of this people and co-ordinate in })()wer, clothed with the authority of the Englit?h government, which they accepted; also to allow and approve James Speen for their minister. This man is of good parts, and pious. He hath preached to 10 this people iilmost two years, but he yet resides at Hassana- misset, about seven miles distant (from Pakachoag) . Also they chose, and the Court confirmed, a new constable, called Matoonus. Then I gave both the rulers, teacher, constable, and people, their respective charges, to be diligent and faithful for God, zealous against sin, and careful in sanctifying the Sabbath," Gookin then commissioned Jethro, of Natick, one of the most pious and distinguished of the converted Indians, to be a teacher in the tribe at Nashaway, or Weshakim, with a letter of advice and exhortation to his brethren there, whom Eliot had never visited. One of that tribe happening to be pres- ent at this Court, declared that he was desirously willing, as well as some others of his people, to pray to God, but that there were many of them very wicked and much addicted to drunken- ness, and thereby many disorders were committed among them ; and he entreated Gookin to put forth his power to suppress this vice — an emphatic indorsement of the prin- ciple of prohibition. The Nashaway Indian was asked, " whether he would take u})on him the office of constable and receive power to apprehend drunkards, take away their strong drink, and bring the offenders before the Court for pun-' ishment." Like some modern })oliticians, wishing before de- claring his decision as to acceptance until he had "sounded public sentiment at home," the candidate for constabulary honors replied, that he would first speak with his friends, and if they chose him and would strengthen his hand in the work, he would come for a black staff' and authority. The appoint- ment of Jetliro for teacher, and another Indian for constable, at Nashaway, concluded the business of this celebrated Indian Court held by Gen. Gookin at Pakachoag Hill, Sept. 28, 1674, first court of any kind in this part of New England ; the exercises on that occasion being concluded with psalm singing and prayer, after which all retired to rest. The next morning, early. Gen. Gookin, the Apostle Eliot and party, passed to Marlborough, and thence to their respec- tive homes in Cambridge and Roxbury. Gookin has the following description of the Indians at Chabanakonkomun, or Chabungabungamaug (Dudley), made 11 during one of his visits there : " About five miles distant from Manchage (Oxford), is a town called Chahanakonkomun. It hath its name from a very great pond about five or six miles long, that borders upon the southward of it. This village is 55 miles southwest from Boston. There are about 9 families and 45 souls. The people are of sober deportment, and better instructed in the worship of God than any other of the new praying towns. Their teacher's name is Joseph, who is one of the Church of Hassanamessit, a sober, pious and ingenious person, who speaks English well, and is well versed in the scriptures. He was the first that settled this town, and got the people to him about two years since. It is a new planta- tion, and is well accommodated with uplands and meadows. At this place dwells an Indian called Black James, who, about a year since, was constituted constable of all the praying towns. He is a person that hath approved himself diligent and cour- ageous, faithful and zealous to suppress sin ; and so he was confirmed in his oflSce another year. Mr. Eliot preached unto this people, and we prayed and sang psalms with them, and we exhorted them to stand fast in the faith. A part of one night we spent in discoursing with them and resolvino- a variety of questions propounded by them, touching matters of religion and civil order. The teacher Joseph, and constable James, went with us unto the next town, which is called Man- nexit, or Mannesit (Woodstock, Ct.), about seven miles west- erly from Chabanakongkonum. It is situated in a very fertile country, and near unto a fresh river upon the west of it, called Mohegan River. It is distant from Boston about 60 miles, west and by south. The inhabitants are about 20 families, and we compute about 100 souls. Mr. Eliot preached unto this people out of the 24th Psalm, 7th verse to the end : Lift up your heads, oh, ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlast- ing doors, and the King of glory shall come in, etc. After the sermon was ended we presented to them John Moqua, a pious and sober person there present, for their minister, whom they thankfully accepted. Then their teacher named and set and re- hearsed a suitable psalm, which was sung, and a prayer made, and the teacher exhorted to be diligent and faithful, and to 12 take care of the flock whereof the Holy Ghost had made him overseer, and the people also to give obedience and subjection to him in the Lord." In his description of Hassanemissit (now Grafton), at this time (1674), Gookin speaks of it as " a town of praying In- dians, about two miles eastward of Nipmuck (now Blackstone) River, and near unto the old roadway to Connecticut, consisting of about twelve families and about sixty souls. "Here," says Gookin, "they have a meeting house for the worship of God, after the English fashion of building, and two or three other houses after the same mode. In this town was the second In- dian church, gathered in 1671, Natick being the first, and three years afterwards there were in full communion in this (Hassanamessitt) Church, and living in the town, about six- teen men and women, and al>out thirty baptized persons, and several other members livino; in other places. The pastor here is Tackuppawillin, with a ruling elder and deacon." Of the Manchage (Oxford) village Gookin speaks as being " eight miles westward of Nipmuck River," and " ten miles west and by south from Hassannamessitt, and from Bos- ton about fift}^ miles ; to it belongeth about twelve families and about sixteen souls. For this place," he says, " we appointed Waaberktamen, a hopeful young man, for their minister." The aid of the General Court was promised to all the pray- ing Indians, through Gookin, in grants of land for their benefits "on condition of their subjection to the yoke of Christ," and this promise would have been carried out on those conditions to all of them had not King Philip's war broken out and put a check to many of Gen. Gookin's contemplated philanthropic projects for the benefit of the uncivilized races. Westerly of the Indian camps at PaUachoag and Tetaessit in Worcester, was a tribe in Towtaid, the Indian name for Leicester, whose territory of eight miles square, adjoining- Worcester, was purchased of the Indians in 1686, for the sum of "£15 current money of New England," by the petitioners for the first settlement of Leicester. This territory, which in- cluded originally the southern half of Paxton, Spencer and the northwest part of Auburn, had been under the jurisdiction of 13 Oraskaso as chief Sachem, who had then just deceased, leaving two daughters who with their husbands claimed title to the soil, and they received the money. It is from this Sachem, whose domain extended from the hills in Aul)urn and south Leicester to the great Asnebumskit Hill on the north, that the name "Oraskaso Historical Society," is taken. His principal camp or headquarters was probably on the south side of Asnebumskit Hill. Westerly of these were the Quaboags of the Brookfields, whose history is being well investigated by the Quaboag His- torical Society. The villages of praying Indians, under the care of Gookin and Eliot, easterly of the Nipmucks, included the Ockoocangan- setts in Marlborough, Naticks at Natick, Wamesits in what is now Lowell, Nashol)ahs in Littleton, Maguncooks in Hopkin- ton, and Pakemits in Stoughton, being the Indian names of those towns. All observed the same decorum for religion and order, having each a teacher, constable, and other officers, as the rest have. Of the praying Indians at Pakemitt (Stoughton), Gookin says: "Here they worship God and keep the Sabbath as is done at Natick. They have a ruler, a constable, and school- master. Their ruler's name is Ahawton, an old and faithful fi-iend to the P^nglish ; their teacher is Wm. Ahawton, his son, an ingenious person and pious man, of good parts. Here was a very able teacher that died about three years since (1671). He was a very knowing person, of great ability, and of genteel deporment, and spoke very good English. Here it was that Rev, John Eliot, Jr., (son of the apostle), preached and lectured once a fortnight, until his decease in l(i(i8." The Indian plantation at Marlborough, comprising about 6,000 acres of good land, "well husbanded, well wooded and watered, with several good orchards upon it, planted by the Indians," according to Gookin's description in 1674, had ten families and al)out 50 souls. This plantation, originally called by the Indians, Whipsutieradge, or Whipsuppenicke, was granted b}' the General Court to the Indians for a settlement long prior to the first grant to the white settlers in that 14 vicinity, and comprised the northeast section of the township of Marlborough, an arrangement ])eing made with the Indians by which they had reserved to them about 150 acres at the southeast corner, called the hill jiart, for a planting field, the remainder of the 6,000 acres to be laid out adjoining to it as might be most convenient for both whites and Indians. This 150 acres of land, constituting what was the "old common" in Marlborough, where the first meeting houses stood, has au important history in connection with Gen. Gookin, who pur- chased it of the Indians in 1677, for the establishment thereon of a free school for the instruction and enlightenment of the Indians under the direction of the General Court, a most beneficent scheme, frustrated through want of public support from prejudice against the Indians on account of the war against King Philip, some of the praying Indians who had previousl}^ been faithful and true friends of the whites, having been induced to join that wily chieftain in his war against the white settlers. To show that in the beginning of the coming here of the white settlers from the old world there was a friendly feeling, which might have been made lasting between them and the Indians, we have only to refer to the circumstance, among other records of the early time, that the greeting, " Welcome, Englishmen ! Welcome, Englishmen ! " were the first words which the Pil- grim Fathers heard from the lips of a son of the American for- est. It was the voice of Samoset, a Wampanoag chief, who had learned a few English words from some fishermen whom he had come across before he had met any of the new comers with whom he had dared to hold communication or speak to. The red men had hovered around the little community of new comers at Plymouth for some little time before any of them had mustered the courage to express themselves, and this they then did in a manner which showed the utmost friendly feel- ing, which might and should have been cherished and made perpetual. Samoset told the new comers in his first words to them at this interview, March 21, 1621, to come and share with them the land, for the original occupants had nearly all been swept away by a pestilence, occasioning a grand field for 15 the settling here of those, who, like our ancestors of nearly three centuries ago, had been driven from the old world on ac- count of religious persecutions, and were desirous of finding a shelter where they could enjoy themselves without surrender- ino; their relioious and civil riohts. The Pilsirims thanked God for this early manifestation of the good will of those they found here, and should have ever acted towards the aborigines in the same spirit. When Samoset again ai)peared he w^as accompanied by Squanto, a chief who had recently returned from captivity in Spain, and they informed the white people that Massasoit, the grand Sachem of the Wampanoags, then residing at Mount Hope desired a conference. An interview ])etween the Indians and white settlers was planned for this purpose, and the old Sachem (Massasoit) came to it at Plymouth, with barbaric but friendly Indian " [)omp and circumstance." At this interview Massasoit and Gov. Carver smoked the calumet to- gether, and a i)rcliminary treaty of friendship and alliance was formed (April 1, 1G21), which remained unl)roken for fifty years, till within a few years of King Philip's war. Massasoit, it is stated, a})proachcd the Pilgrims on this occasion with a guard of sixty warriors, and took position at first on a neigh- boring hill. There he sat in state and received Edward Wins- low as ambassador from the English. Leaving Winslow with his warriors as security for his own safety, the veteran Sachem went to Plymouth and treated with Gov. Carver. John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Colony before tlie union of Plymouth, was equally friendly with Gov. Carver towards the Indians. Chiefs from the Indian tribes dined at Gov. Winthroi)'s table (1630 to 1647), and made covenants of peace and friendship with the English. Winthro}) journeyed on foot to exchange courtesies with Gov. Bradford, the successor of Gov. Carver, at Plymouth, and friendly salutations from others, including the Indians, appear to have existed until other counsels like those of Gov. John Endicott, Rev. John Norton, and Rev. John Wilson, and other religious l)igots, j)red()minated, leading to the quarrel with the son and the successor of Massasoit and the awful massacres of 16 the white settlers following. Gov. John Endicott, who could hang four innocent and pacific Quakers, one of them a woman, upon the gallows for their religious opinions, could be tit instrument for causing Indian revenge and carnage. The late William Lincoln, who had probably a better knowl- edge of American history than any other native of Worcester, except his illustrious contemporary, George Bancroft, put on record the following thoughts regarding the fate and destiny of the red men, who have been obliged to recede before the ad- vancing footsteps of the emigrants from the old world. "Before the Europeans came, the condition of the natives was peaceful and happy ; they possessed the vast territories now occui)ied I)y the encroaching white men ; theirs were the deer upon a thousand hills ; no grass grew in their war path, for their numbers were as the leaves of the forest. They wandered free among their native woods, or rested beneath the shade in the indolence they loved so well. The ships approached their shores, and from that hour the star of the red men grew dim, until it has almost gone -out in darkness. They had, at first, hailed the strangers as beings of a superior nature, and rev- erenced them as gods come to dwell with mortals ; but they soon discovered, that if they were of higher power, they pos- sessed all the unholy passions of infernal deities. The inter- course was at first friendly. The white men asked for a little land to })lant their corn; it was given to them. Then they asked for more ; at length the generosity of the owners was exhausted and then a system of [)urchase was adopted by which the sagacious foreigners took from the simple children of the forest whole townships for the consideration of a string of beads, counties for a knife, and states for a blanket. Finally, when they were strong enough to substitute might for right, the invaders seized on whatever they wanted and drove far away the original })roprietors of the soil. Cultivation ad- vanced, leveling the forest and expelling the game. The Indians became aware of their danger when too late to remedy the evils brought on them. The little band they had cherished and protected in its infant weakness, had arrived to its strength, and became the oppressor. The spirit of hostility sprung up ; 17 injnrv was revenofed hy injury : contest followed contest ; the wigwam was plundered and the house was burnt ; the gray hairs of the aged and the tresses of the young maiden hung in the cal>in ot the savage ; the heads of the chieftain or his followers were bought by the government; the native was hunted as the wild beast, and tJie settler was slaughtered like the deer. A tirm and etiicient union could not l)e established among the roving nations, mutually jealous. The well concocted plans of the most wily of the warriors were feel)ly executed, and instead of producing powerful confedeiacies, brought forth inefhcient conspiracies. Some keen- sighted sachems attempted to stem the tide of destruction, ])ut the wave grew big, and rolled on, sweeping away the prince and his people. The discipline of the soldier, the common danger and the common interest, bound the colonists, contentious as they were, to a strict union. The Indians fought in dissevered bands, and fell successively beneath the exterminating arm of the conqueror. Life and pos- essions were taken away, and the Indians knew that they must go. A hatred which nothing could appease sprung up in their hearts. The destroj'crs lurked around the settlements in the vast forests, and no signal preceded their blow. The husband- man went out to cultivate his tields armed as if for battle, and when he laid down to rest the sword and nuisket were (com- panions of his pillow. The sacredness of the Sabbath and the sanctity of the house of God, were no protection from the battleaxe or scalping knife of the merciless foe when under the influence of such revengeful feelings as were the unculti- vated savages under the circumstances attending the commission of the murderous deeds of which the history of the Indian wars is so full." A good many may think this too charitalile a view of the native Indian character and disposition. But after we compare the manner in which the Indians were treated by the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts, with the manner in which William Penn treated the Indians in Pennsylvania, I am of the decided opinion that a great improvement might have been made over the manner in which the Indians were dealt with in our section of the country in the colonial times, by which these terrible 18 incursions by the savages on our settlements might have been avoided. Had the voices and influence of men like Eliot and Gookin been listened to and followed, instead of the opposite policy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, or rather the Christian instead of the old Jewish semi-heathen policy of revenge and evil for evil, the awful tragedies accompanying King Philip's raid upon the new white settlements might "have been avoided. Sagamore John, of the Indians on Pakachoag Hill, who had been induced by the wily King Philip to join with his men in the war against the white settlers, alarmed at the dangerous condition of affairs after the defeat and death of King Philip, in July, 1776, [)rudently sought safety by timely submission to the colonial authorities. July 13, Sagamore John ventured to visit Boston to deliver himself up and make terms for his men. The Governor and Council had issued proclamations offering pardon to the Indians who voluntarily came and surrendered. Sagamore John ex[)ressed sincere sorrow for taking part against the English, promised to be true to them in the future, received assurances of security and protection, and was per- mitted to depart. On the 27th of July he returned, bringing with him 180 of his followers. To propitiate favor and pur- chase ]ieace by an acceptable offering, he had treacherousl}' seized Mattoonus, who had shed the first blood in Massachu- setts on the beginning of the war at Mendon, July 14, 1675, with Nehemiah, his son, both probably natives of Pakachoag, and brought them down bound with cords to be given up to justice. Mattoonus, having been examined, was condemned to immediate death. Sagamore John, with the new-born zeal of a traitor and turncoat, in order to signalize his devotion to the cause he adopted by extraordinary rancor against the cause he deserted, entreated for himself and his men the office of execu- tioners. Mattoonus was led out, and being tied to a tree on Boston Common, was shot by his own countrymen, his head cut off and placed upon a pole opposite to that of his son, who formerly suffered on the same spot for a real or supposed mur- der committed in 1671, his head still standing on the pole near the gibbet where he was hanged five years before. Sagamore 19 John and nineteen of those who siiiTcndered with him, w^ere phiced under charge of Capt. Thomas Prentice in Cambridge during the succeeding winter, escaped to the woods, eluding pursuit. Three of the company were executed with some of their associates ; eight were shot on Boston Common ; thirty were sold as slaves under the milder term of putting out to ser- vice, and the residue of the captives were confined to Deer Island, where many died by famine and exposure without suit- able food or shelter from cold. Compare this with the Christain method of Eliot and Gookin. When the white settlers commenced building here, in 1674, there were between 200 and 300 of the natives. They possessed extensive planting fields, and had apple trees, obtained from the English. The light of Christianity had dawned upon them through the humane efforts of Eliot and Gookin, and some advance had been made in civilization. By the sword, by famine, by violent removal, and by flight, they were nearly exterminated. When the second plantation was attempted, in 1684, only superannuated old men, women, and children, remained of the red people ; those able to bear arms had been slain, or dispersed, seeking refuge in Canada among the French, or migrating far westward beyond the reach of the power they had too much provoked for their own safety. The whole nation, as might be said, perished, leaving no monu- ments of their existence on our lands, and no remains, except little articles of ornament, rude utensils of culinary art, and rough weapons of stone, discovered in and around the places where they had formerly had their hal^tation. That grand philosophic poet, Alexander Pope, l)eautifully depicts the better side of the native Indian character in his ' Essay on Man,' as follows : " Lo the poor Indian, whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds and hears Him in the ^viud ; His soul, proud science never taught to stra}- Far as the solar walk or milky waj- ; Yet simple nature to his hope has given, Behind the cloud-capped hill an humbler heaven ; Some safer world, in depth of woods embraced, Some happier island in the watery waste, 20 Where slaves ouce more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold ; To be, contents his natural desire, He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire ; But thinks, admitted to that equal sky. His faithful dog shall bear him company." 1 have often thouiiht, that, takinir into consideration this extract as a truthful })icture of the native Indian charncter, before the i)assions common to human nature have been called into selfish action, how easy it might l)e to cultivate and bring into greater activity the better qualities of the so called savage races, and avoid the consequences of giving a stimulus to their opposite qualities by treating them on the old time Jewish plan of injury for injury. How much more eftective for the permanent good of the white man as well as the Indian it would be to pursue the truly Christian policy of an Eliot, a Gookin, a Penn, or a Roger Williams, than to act as has foo generally been done toward the inferior races, exciting them to acts of revenge rather than stimulating them to good and wholesome deeds l)y considering them as ' children of a com- mon Father,' who, as is generally admitted, created of one blood all the nations of the earth. Who doubts that the same happy experience would have resulted from the same humane and Christian practice by the Puritans in Massachusetts as by the Quakers in Pennsylvania, had the risht kind of treatment been awarded the Indians from the time the confiding sons of the forest extended the friendly greeting of " Welcome, Englishmen," to the new comers on the first arrival of emigrants from the old world to the time of the awful massacres by King Philip's men. When King Philip was approached in the interest of peace, before the l)eginning of his revengeful war, he is reported to have expressed himself in the following eloquent and decided terms, a's a justification for his unfriendly feelings toward the new comers : "The English who first came to this country were but a handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. IVIy father (Massasoit) was the Sachem. He relieved their distress in a R D 1 4. 8 21 most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them hind to build and phmt upon. He did all in his power to serve them. Others of their own countrymen came to join them. Their numbers rapidly increased. My father's counsellors l)ecame uneasy and alarmed, lost, as they were possessed with firearms, which was not the case with the Indians, they should tinall}' undertake to give laws to the Indians and take from them their country. They, therefore, advised 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 in the country for both the English and the Indians. His advice prevailed. It was concluded to give victuals tt) the English. They flourished and increased. Experience taught that the advice of my father's counsellors was right. By various means the English got possession of a great part of his territory. But he still remained a stern friend till he died. My elder brother (Alexander) became Sachem. They pretended to sus[)ect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined, and thereby thrown into sickness and died. Soon after I became Sachem, they dis- owned all my people. They tried my people by their own laws and assessed damages against them which they could not pay. Their land was taken. At length a line of division was agreed upon between the English and my people, and I my- self was to be responsible. Sometimes the cattle of the English would come into the cornfields of ui}^ 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 satis- faction of all damages and costs. Thus, tract after tract is gone. But a small i)art of the dominion of my ancestors now remains. I am det(!rmined not to live till I have no country." % ■ «^"\/:' "ft %^ ,Vf^^^ %/ 4^^v %^ ^'^'^^^■; \ 2; ' " /• _ - ^- .<^' ,^ ^ >. ^ A^ /^Va^ "^«. <^ ^€ P-^ ■^ O N .50^ -■/ -o,'^-/ \-^-;/ -o,--^v ^- .#^= \/ ;^'-, %,.^ ,^c*;;= x/.-; 01 .0^ .^^ ■^^ 'o • I ,;.->->^ V-^'^*/' V'-^-> <-^-V fci' C ^^ ^0 - - ■ - "^ ^ «'' '^'^ ^^ *k LIBRARY BINDING • ^r> "o « li^^S'Wi'^^ ■- "C^^V , A\V^'§'s//7) o ^ C ^ .^ST. AUGUSTINE •' . . s * ^A- ^^ 'o , » * o > LIBRARY OF CONGRESS lii'ihifftiiiiJ^I'iHiiilijiHidas 007 751 628 1