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MEMORIES 
 
 "•'» ,1, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INDIANS AND PIONEERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REGION OF LOWELL. 
 
 BY CHARLES CmVLEY. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ♦/- 
 
 ^. 
 
 ibition mock their useful toil, ' 
 ieirJlojuely joys and destiny obscure, 
 N(^|tan^ir hear, with a disdainful smile, 
 TE^hof^nd simple annals of the poor. 
 
 '^ — Gray's Elegy. 
 
 % 
 
 
 LOWELL: 
 
 STONE & HUSE, BOOK PEIvrERS, 21 CENTRAL STEEET. 
 
 1862. 
 
 Vvi 
 

 iilA«'% 
 
 ,q t'4- 
 
 TH^following pages contain the substance of an address delivered several times by 
 r. CS^rley, before different local societies in Lowell, and now published in compliance 
 with tSe req^uest of those who heard it, and in the belief that the history of the Indians 
 and Pibneers of Lowell can never be barren of interest to those who tread the dust in 
 which *« The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 
 
 \n n 
 
 ^^ ., 
 
 >// 
 
 
INDIAN AND PIONEEH MEMORIES. 
 
 When the Merrimack River wag dis- their season by canoe-loads. Next to the 
 covered by the Sieur de Champlain,* in Falls of Amoskeag, the Falls of Pawtucket 
 the year 1605, the spot where Lowell now were the most noted forBshing facilities on 
 stands, was a principal rendezvous of the the Merrimack River. The centrality and 
 Pawtucket or Pennacook Indians. This accessibility of its geographical position 
 tribe, or confederation of tribes, was among also added much to the importance of the 
 the foremost in New England, and num- place. The upper Merrimack and the 
 bered several thousand souls. The terri- Musketaquid or Concord, communicated 
 tory of this confederacy stretched almost with a vast region of the interior ; while 
 from the Penobscot to the Connecticut, em- the lower Merrimack afforded a safe and 
 bracing the whole of New Hampshire, a convenient channel to the seaboard. Here, 
 part of Massachusetts, and a part of Maine, then, were Indian councils held ; here were 
 The tribes, or sub-tribes, composing this the wise wont to counsel, and the eloquent 
 confederacy, lived, when at home, in sepa- to persuade ; and such decorum was ob- 
 rate villages, under their several local served by these braves and sages as would 
 chiefs. Every good fishing-ground was the do honor to the British or the American 
 site of one of these villages, the population Senate. " Here was the war-whoop sound- 
 of which ranged from fifty to three hun- ed, and the death-song sung ; and when 
 dred souls. This place, however, attracted the tiger strife was over, here curled the 
 a more numerous population. It was no smoke <jf peace." 
 
 unusual spectacle to see thousands of the It would be foreign to my purpose to 
 dusky sons and daughters of the forest en- consider whether the Pawiuckets and 
 camped here in the season of 8pring„catch- their cognate tribes descended from the 
 ing, with rude strala^'em, their winter's Scandinavians, the Egyptians, the Phopni- 
 store of fish. Aside from this periodical cians, the Hindoos, the Scythians, the 
 confluence of Indians, this region contained Chinese, the Japanese, the Islanders of the 
 two or more villages of more permanent Pacific, the tribes dispersed after the 
 inhabitants — one at Pawtucket Falls, and building of Babel, or the ten lost tribes of 
 another at Massick or Wauiesit Falls. Israel. It would be equally foreign to my 
 
 ,„„.„,, ^. . . ... purpose to trace the relationship between 
 
 LOWELL IN INDIAN TIMES. ^ . ^ », . 
 
 the Indians of the Merrimack Valley and 
 
 This territory, indeed, offered as many .1 „ i •■ ■ „/..i 1 r ^i i«. .i. 
 
 •',' ' ^ the builders of the mounds of the U est, the 
 
 attractions to the lords of the forest as u-. . r .u * 1 t -m ■ l 
 
 architects of the temples of Mexico, the 
 
 LoweU now presents to the lords of the ^^^^.^^ ^f ^^e hieroglyphs of Peru, and 
 bom. Its alluvial soil possessed sufficient ^^o founders of the buried cities of Yuca- 
 
 fertility to yield excellent crops of Indian , ^t« ^ i j •» 1 -.u * 
 
 ' ■' P I i u jjjjj Nor would It accord with my present 
 
 corn. The hunting-grounds round about it 1 . j -u .k • ~ *u • 
 
 ^ ^ "11. pjjjjj jQ describe their wigwams, their 
 
 abounded with game. The rivers swarmed »u • . -y i j u 1 * 
 
 *'. . c o a lutu ggnogg^ tijgjf utensils of wood, bark, stone 
 
 with many varieties of fish. Sturgeon. j i »u • ■ • 1 * 1 
 
 •' >^^^"> and clay ; their curious implements, carved 
 
 salmon, shad and alewives were caught in ^ r. »i m «n .,1., ^u n o.,j k 
 
 ' ° out of turtle-snells, clam-sfif^lis and bones; 
 
 their primitive modes of cooking, hunting, 
 
 * Let Voyagtt du fHfur df Champlain en la Nvu- . ,. „ , . , , . , . , , , 
 
 9€Ut Pranc* OeoidentaU, edition oi 1033, p. 80. fowling, fishing and farming ; their belts 01 
 
wampum-money; tteir gewgaw-ornaments, marrjtill they had attained adult years, 
 ingeniously formed from the bones and The men employed themselves in fighting, 
 shells of fishes, the claws and horns of hunting, fowling and fishing. The women 
 beasts, and the feathers of birds. But a performed all menial services, which were 
 few words upon their social usages, their deemed dishonorable by the men. Even 
 government, their polygamy and their when they travelled, the men went empty- 
 polytheism, will not be out of place. handed, while the women toiled along 
 
 Though destitute of many of those noble with bundles of baggage and basketsfull 
 relationships which soften the heart and of babies at their backs. Yet all agree 
 sweeten the intercourse of life, the Indians that these Indian women were afi'ectionate 
 held all the social and private virtues in wives and most devoted mothers, 
 equal esteem with us. Their hospitality Polytheists in religion, they paid their 
 was unbounded. It was the custom of the devotions to the sun, the moon, Arcturus, 
 Indians in the interior to visit their sea- Orion, Sirius, the Pleiades, and those far- 
 board allies every summer ; and on these ofi' stars that seemed to weep in pity over 
 occasions as Hubbard relates, " they used the lowly lot of the red man. Intimations 
 like good fellows to make all common;" of one Infinite Power they also had, in the 
 the hospitalities thus received being duly holy scriptures of Nature — in the constant 
 reciprocated on other occasions when the march of the seasons — in the tender forth- 
 seaboard Indians visited theiv interior puttings of spring— in the ripening heats 
 friends. Firm alike in their attachments of summer— in the falling leaves of autumn 
 and resentments, they never forgot a friend — in the thunder, the artillery of heaven, 
 and never forgave a foe ; yet Gookin com- that boomed over the lonely waste — in 
 plains, that, like the Cretians of Scripture, the lightning, God's pyrotechnics, whose 
 they were incorrigible liars. They were flashes changed night to day — in the wild, 
 fond of gambling, and sometimes hazarded requiem wail of wintry winds like spirit 
 and lost all that they had. They were voices whispering in the tree-tops their 
 also fond of violent dancing and bolster- weird and pensive melody— in the deep 
 ous revels, which were sometimes pro- moaning of the river's waves rolling down- 
 tracted for a week at a time. ward toward the melancholy main. Some 
 
 Their government was a despotism : but dim conception they also formed, of a ma- 
 in its administration it was popular and terialistic Paradise, like the Paradise fore- 
 paternal ; for as the old despotism ot shadowed in the Koran. The location of 
 France was ''tempered by epigrams," this Indian Heaven was in the far South- 
 and that of Russia by assassination, so west. They had a general belief in the 
 was this Indian despotism mitigated and immortality of the soul, and in the resur- 
 mellowed by the recognition of the right rection, not of mankind only, but of all 
 in every citizen to expatriate himself at animated nature. With the bodies ot their 
 his pleasure. But rarely indeed did an dead they buried bows, arrows, war-clubs, 
 Indian desert his natal tribe. To their tomahawks, scalping-knives, spears, and 
 honor be it recorded, that in countless other weapons and implements, of supposed 
 instances, in the most desperate emergen- utility in the world to come. 
 cies, these Indian braves proved as con- From the number of human bones ex- 
 fitant to their chief as the Old Guard of humed wiihin the last twenty years in 
 Napoleon, the Continentals of VVaf-hingtou, (he teintory embraced within the Lowell 
 the Ironsides of Cromwell, or the Tenth Cemetery, it is evident that that spot was 
 Legion of Csesar. a favorite burial-place of the Indians long 
 
 Like other tribes, the Pawtuckets were before the waters of the Merrimack had 
 addicted to pohgamy; and their matri- murmured in the white man's ear. In 
 
 monial ronneciions were dissoluble at the 1858, when the hill which once overlooked 
 option of either party ; but none could the Concord was pared down, a large hu- 
 
man skeleton was found, which was sup- Smith's visit, a regular traffic was opened 
 
 posed to be that of an Indian chief, being ^itij t^e Indians; blankets, hatchets, ket- 
 
 carefully embedded in a substance resemb- ties and trinkets being bartered for fish, 
 
 ling charcoal. It was apparently buried fowls, berries, baskets, poultry and furs, 
 
 in a sitting posture, facing the rising sun. Thousands of English, French, Spanish, 
 
 The skull bore indications of fracture with Flemish and Portuguese fishermen cruised 
 
 a tomahawk. Near it was found the skele- annually on the banks of Newfoundland 
 
 ton ofa woman, perhaps the chief's squaw, and on the fishing-grounds of Cape Cod, 
 
 The Pawtuckets had no priest-hood ; while as yet no settlement existed, save in 
 but every village had its powwow. These the visionary's dream. Occasional visits 
 powwows answered to the description were received from these fishermen by the 
 which the author of the Anatomy of Melan- natives along the shore, 
 choly gives of Pythagoras, being " part rusTiLEXCE and war. 
 philosopher, part magician, and part About the year 1614, the Pawtuckets 
 witch." They exerted an almost para- became embroiled in a most sanguinary 
 mount influence in their tribe, as men of war with a tribe in Maine, called the 
 intellect always do ; and frequently attain- Tarrantines. This war raged with great 
 ed the rank of chiefs. They are believed to fury during three years, and greatly re- 
 have posFessed pome secrets of the healing duoed the numbers of all the belligerent 
 art, of which the sons of Esculapius mu.st tribes. The process of depopulation was 
 still confess their ignorance; and it is cer- vastly accelerated by an epidemic disease, 
 tain they used with great efficacy, many which followed close on the heels of the 
 plants, roots and barks which to the phar- war, and continued its ravages for two 
 macopa?ia of medical science are still un- years. What this pestilence was it is im- 
 known. They were also familiar with the possible to determine and fanciful to con- 
 modern doctrine of the Water Cure.* jecture. Some writers call it small po.x ; 
 
 Such were the people who inhabited this ^''- ^°^^ VVebster asserts it to be the 
 
 regi .n when the De Monts, the Cham- common American plague or yellow fever, 
 
 plains, the Cabots, the Gosnolds, and other ^^''^ '^^ Puritans deemed it the agent of 
 
 learlers in American discovery, first landed P'-ovidence to prepare the way for the 
 
 on these shores. The first Englishman to *=*'°'^" P'^P'*"- '^^''"^ '■^"^'" """^ ^"O""^^ 
 
 whom the existence of the Merrimack be- °^ ^^'' P'^^"^' ""^'"^ *^'^ "' '^^^ ^^^ ^'<=- 
 
 came known, was Captain John Smith, ^^"^ " '^''"^ '° ^^^P«'" ^""^ ^^^^ " ^^^ 
 
 whose exploits in both hemispheres have ^'"''"S ''"'''^ '" "° ^''^'' ^^^^ *« bury the 
 
 mad^ his n-tme famous wherever the ^^^'^•" ^'he appearance of the great comet 
 
 English language is spoken; who, in 1614, °' ^^^^> by arousing the superstition of 
 
 in an open boat, explored and manped the ^^e victims, added greatly to the terrors of 
 
 wliole coast ot New England, from the '^e plague. Thousands of corpses were 
 
 Penobscot to Cape Cod, and learned of the ''^*'^ ^'^ P""'^>' '" ^^e wigwams ; hundreds, 
 
 existence of the Merrimack from the In- '"^•'^out burial or shelter, were devoured 
 
 dians.t Within a few years after Captain *^ «^*'"'^°" ^y beasts and birds of prey; 
 
 and their bones were bleachf-d in the wind 
 
 o For ihoRonpral history, condlUon.mimors and and sun. But beyond this the old chroni- 
 
 cu8t.m.sor the inrtian^ consult schoMcraa's Ai^ic c\e% are silent. The plagiie which deso- 
 
 Ri'searclits : liubliaids, and Pallroy V, History of t ta >•" "tou 
 
 New hn;ilaiid; lititciiiiison's, and H^inv's. r>r .Mng'ia- lated Athens has been vividly delineated 
 
 cliusetts; UnlLnap's, of New llani|i8lilrt<; Drake's , , , i m, • ,. , 
 
 Bookorihoin-iiMi«; Wools N'ew Ensiand's Prospect by the masterly pen ot Ihucidides; that of 
 
 I'arl -2. cluiptera 1-20; Morton's Now KniliPh Cn- T.""l««.,n/.n U-,, T}««^»„:.^ .u *. r t j 
 
 im.n. Booki.cha,.tor8i-3J; Oookin, in 1 \L8a.-hu- i 'orence, by lioccacio ; that of London, 
 
 Botts Uisu)ricai Colixotlons. pp. l« 1-226 ; RoRor Wil- by the incomparable author of Rcbinson 
 
 lianis', in 3 Mass. Ilibl. Coll., pp. 203-23S ; Potter's ' „ . . . 
 
 nisii)ry of MaiicheBi-r. N. U.. cliap. 4; Yung's Crusoe. But imagination only can des- 
 
 Clironiclrs of 1'!' moutti and Massachusetts Bay: ., . ... , ,• ^., 
 
 Force's Fiiaioric Tracts, etc. cribe how this Indian pestilence came ; 
 
 1 8«e Smith's Oeneraii uiatorie, vol. II. p. 184. how it sprtad like fire on a prairie from 
 
TTigwam to wigwam, and from village to in summer and into fire in winter ; that he 
 
 village, until nineteen-twentieths of all could clothe the dried leaves of autumn 
 
 the Indians between the Penobscot and with the tints of spring, and bring dead 
 
 Narragansett Bay had succumbed to its serpents to life; that he could metamor- 
 
 mysterious power; how the babe of a day phose himself into a shining flame, and 
 
 and the patriarch of a century fell together career through space like a Connecticut 
 
 beneath its stroke ; witch on a broomstick ; and perform many 
 
 " How wolves came with fierce gallop, other impossible feats. 
 
 ToTjr,r^:ro)%lZ%' J^l^^^' ^^^« Passaconaway became the 
 
 And pluck the ejes of kings."* chief of the Pawtucket confederacy, we are 
 
 It is remarkable that Richard Vines and °°* j^fo^n^ed ; but he probably attained 
 other Europeans, whom Sir Fernando t^^t^^g^'t^ before or soon after the land - 
 Gorges had left to settle on the adjacent '"^ °^ *^' ^^'^"""' at Plymouth; for in 
 coast, who lodged in wigwams with the ^^^^' ^'P^''° Christopher Leavitt visited 
 Indians during the whole period of this *^'^ neighboring coast, and saw a chief 
 plague, did not experience " so much as a ^^"""^ ^^ ^'^^^ ^""""^y' ""^^ ""^^ probably 
 headache" all the time. When the pio- "°°® °*^^' ^^^'^ Passaconaway. Within 
 neers of civilization penetrated the country ^ ^^^ ^^"^ ^^'^'" C^P^^i" Leavitt's visit, we 
 in after years, they found skeletons of the ^"'^ """^^rous references to this chief in 
 victims by hundreds. Thomas Morton ^°'^°"' ^^^o^^' Dudley, and other writers 
 Bays, the country seemed to him " a new- ""^ *^' ""'^^ ''"''""'^^ ^S^' 
 found Golgotha."! On the seventeenth of May, 1629, Pas- 
 
 The first Merrimack Eiver Indian, of 8*<^o"»^^y conveyed to John Wheelwright 
 whom history has preserved any account, *^^ *''^ ^^^^ '^^"^ between the Piscataqua 
 was a chief, famous in his day, who bore ^"'^ *^^ Merrimack, by a deed which is 
 the name of Passaconaway, or Papassacon- still preserved in the office of the Secre- 
 away, which means ''the child of the ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^' ^^^ "^^^"^ ^^^''^' ^^^^^^ 
 bear." Ho was regarded by all who *''^ ™'^''^ °^ Passaconaway, the marks of 
 knew him as a man o"f decided capacity, ^^^^'^' ^°''^^ ''^'^^^' ^^^ acknowledged 
 and had the sagacity to perceive that tJ ^^'^S^*"*^^ *« bim ; and among these was 
 contend with the English would be suicide ^"""*^^*' who, as is supposed, was at 
 He first became famous among his tribe '^^* ^'""^ ^^^ ^°^^^ ^^'^^ °^ ^^^'^ *^ "^"^ 
 as a powwow; in other words, he was a ^°'''®^'- Passaconaway had other places 
 prestidigitateur, conjurer and magician, °^ rendezvous besides Pawtucket: one at 
 " parson, fiddler and physician." If the ^moskeag Falls, nowMa.ichester ; anotb- 
 reports which William Wood received ^^ ^^ Pennacook Island, now Sewall's Is- 
 from the Indians can be relied on, Passa- ^^^^' ^" ^^""'^'"'^ ' ^°*^ ^^'^^ o^^^^rs on dif- 
 conaway's feats of prestidigitation surpass- ^^^^^^ islands in the Merrimack River, 
 ed even those of our celebrated eontempo- ^ ^°°^ understanding seems to have ex- 
 rary, Monsieur Hermann. It is said he ^^^^^ between Passaconaway and the white 
 could make the rocks move and the trees *®*^^^" '^'^^ ^''^ ^^^^' -^" ^^^^> two years 
 dance ; that he could turn water into ice ^^*®'" *^^ settlement of the Colony of Mas- 
 
 sachusetts Bay, this chief captured and 
 
 oMacauiay's Lays of Ancient Rome. delivered to Governor Winthrop for pun- 
 
 coL'u U %e^ZrToTtTmSol' '^LlTZ!' ^^'^"'"*' "" ^"-^^^^ ^^° ^^^ ^'"^'^ ^° Eng- 
 Y-^uXZlnf^^''o^TlyJ:i^^^^^^^^^ lish trader. Ten years after this, in Sep- 
 
 Dr. Noah "Viebster'a History of Epidemic and Pestl- timber, 1642, the Colonial authorities 
 
 Ifintial Diaeases, vol 2. i j u u r t • ' 
 
 This plague bore a Btriking re8en]blance to that ^^^^^^'^ '^y ^"^^ report of an Indian con- 
 
 rn'dlrdand-LTnS ^P'^^''^ ^° Connecticut, for the massacre 
 
 P- 101. • of the white settlers, sent forty armed men 
 
to disarm Passaconaway and his tribe. — to be gouprned aud protected by them, accord- 
 T-u^ r„-i 1 i. c J T) u * ing to their Just Lawes and orderi so farrc aa 
 They failed to find Tassaconaway ; but ^e shall be made capable of vnderstandinK 
 found and arrested his son Wannalancet, them. And we doe promise for orselues * all 
 ,„ „.,^ .,, ,- , ,.,, ,,r or subiects & all or posteritie to be true & faith- 
 together with his squaw and child. Wan- f^^ ^^ i^^ g^id Gourmt & ayding to the main- 
 
 nalancet contrived to escape ; but his tenance thereof to or best abilitie, And from 
 J..,, _, ■j«-i.r> tyme to tyme to giue speedy notice of any con- 
 squaw and child were hurried off to Bos- gpiracie attempt or evill intention of any wch 
 ton as prisoners. An outrage like this ^e shall know or heare o( against the same & 
 
 ^„ 1. . r„;i * .. * i r '^e doe pmise to be willing from tyme to tyme 
 
 could not fail to arouse the resentment of to be instructed in the knowledge & worship of 
 
 any man of spirit j but such was the mod- ^od. In witnes whereof wee haue heereTnto 
 
 . . - r> , , , put or hands the day & yeare aboue written.* 
 eration of 1 assaconaway, he accepted an 
 
 apolocry for these proceedings, which the °° ^^^ P^'* °^ ^^^ ^"'^'^^^ «^^""y «^'P"- 
 
 colonial authorities declared were unau- ^^*'°° '° ''^'^ instrument was faithfully 
 
 thorized; and soon afterward, when the ^"^P' ^""^ performed. Would that the 
 
 prisoners had been returned to him, he same praise could be awarded to the whites, 
 
 sent his son and delivered up all his guns ^'s^o^y must weep to relate that, within 
 
 to the colonial governor. ^"'^"^y y^"^ ^''o'^ ^^^ ^^y °^' ^^'^^ treaty of 
 
 In the first years of the history of the submission, Passaconaway was reduced to 
 colonies, the Indians were treated, in some ^^^ condition of a pauper, a stranger in 
 measure, as independent nations ; but in ^^^ ^^^"^ °^' ^'^ fathers, dependent for his 
 1644, the settlers proceeded by diplomacy subsistence on the cold charity of those 
 to reduce the various chiefs to the rank of ^^^ ^^^ dispossessed him of his native soil, 
 petty local magistrates under colonial ^^'"^'^^ *^^ ^^^"^ of ^^^ y^" 1^'^^' a 
 authority. The year before this project ^^^^^^ber of other chiefs submitted to the 
 was attempted, the Colony was divided in- colonial jurisdiction, and consented to re- 
 to counties. At that time, namely, in ''^'"^ missionaries among them to teach 
 1643, Middlesex County contained eight ^^^'^ children. On the thirteenth of No- 
 towns, viz : - Charlestown, Cambridge, ^^mber of that year, an order was passed 
 Watertown, Sudbury, Concord, Woburn, ^^ *^® General Court, instructing the 
 Medford and Reading. Among the first County Courts to provide " that the Indians 
 that submitted to this arrangement was residing in the several shires should be 
 the chief of the Pawtuckets. The instru- civilized and instructed in the knowledge 
 ment of submission bearing Passacona- '^^^ worship of God." Though this first 
 way's mark, and also the mark of his son, ^*^P toward the Christianization of the 
 Nahnanacommock, the local chief of the ^^^ians was not taken until a quarter of a 
 Wauchusetts, is still preserved among the century after the landing at Plymouth, the 
 archives in the office of the Secretary of ^^J^^* ^'"^'^ ** ^^'^ ''*^e" ^^P^ ™ore or less 
 the Commonwealth, though two centuries steadily in view from the first. As early as 
 have rolled by since all who assisted at its ^^'^^' ^® ^^^ ^^^ ^^^' William Morrell re- 
 «xecuuon passed to the Silent Land. As fclurn'^g to England and invoking the 
 this is the oldest document in existence ^^'"8' ^"^ *'^ '^<^ " ^^^'^ Aarons" of the 
 relating to the region of Lowell, it is ^"'^'^ hierarchy, to engage in the propa- 
 proper to introduce it here, in full. Ration of Christianity among the red men. 
 INDIAN TREATY. '^"^ ^^^ misgiopary operations of the settlers 
 
 At a general! Court held at Boston the 12 ^^^^ necessarily postponed until they had 
 
 day of the tlourth moneth [June] 1644. felled the forests, broke up the fallow 
 
 Papassaconaway, Nahnancommock, did vol- „„„,,„j k,.:u i, > l , , 
 
 untarilie submiu themselues to us. as appear- gro"°a. Duilt houses and barns, enclosed 
 
 eth by their Couenant subscribea by their owne corn-fields, fortified themselves against 
 
 hands heere lollowing <S other articles to wch r„„:„„ i.„ui- u j l u j . . 
 
 they consented. We haue & doe by theise 'a^iine, established churches and schools, 
 
 prsents voluntarily & wthout any constraint or 
 
 psusaion, but of or owne free motion put or- 'See Mnssachuietts Archives, vol. 30, page 3; Wln- 
 
 selues, or subiects Lauds & estates vnder the throp'g Journal, (Savages' Kdltionj toL 2, pp. 168 
 
 Oouermt and Jurisdiction of the Massachusetts ^^*' 
 
8 
 
 instituted a government of laws, informed 
 themselves respecting the country, and pro- 
 vided for their own safety and subsistence. 
 To do all this in a quarter of a century 
 ■was doing well. And before this had been 
 done, came the Antinomian controversy of 
 Anne Hutchinson, and the Pequot War, 
 which occasioned a further adjournment 
 of missionary enterprise. 
 
 Various preliminary notes were sounded 
 on the Gospel trumpet, but nothing of 
 moment was accomplished till 16 i6, when 
 the General Court passed an order request- 
 ing the elders of the several churches to 
 consider what should be done for the dif- 
 fusion of Christianity among the Indians, 
 This order met with a prompt response. 
 Eliot, Cotton, Thatcher, and the two May- 
 hews, girded themselves to the work with 
 that apostolic heroism and that holy ardor 
 which have made their names blessed 
 forevermore. But on this occasion it is 
 only with Eliot that we are concerned,* 
 
 JOHN ELIOT, 
 
 John Eliot — whom Edward Everett so 
 justly eulogises as one of the noblest spirits 
 that have walked the earth since the days 
 of the Apostle Paul — was born in Essex- 
 shire, England, in 1604. He was educated 
 at Cambridge, and was for some time usher 
 to Hooker, the author of the celebrated 
 work on Ecclesiastical Polity, at his gram- 
 mar-school near Chelmsford — the town 
 from which our neighboring town of 
 Chelmsford took its name. In 1613, he 
 came to Massachusetts, and settled at West 
 Roxbury, where he became pastor of the 
 same church of which he had been pastor 
 in England. Notwithstanding his accumu- 
 lated labors as an author and a missionary, 
 he retained his pastoral charge at West 
 Koxbury until his death, which occurred 
 on the twentieth of May, 1690. 
 
 The events of Eliot's life being narrated 
 
 o For an account of the efTorta for the converBion of 
 the Indians, between 1647 and 1655, consult the tracts 
 in 24 Mass. Hist. Collections; Gookin, in 1 Mass. 
 Hist. Coll.; Hutchinson's History of Mass., vol. 2, 
 p. 161 ; 3 Mass. Hist. Coll.; Palfrey's History of New 
 England, vol. 2 ; Francis" Life of Eliot ; 2 Mass. Ee- 
 corda, etc. 
 
 in full in works to which access is easy, it 
 is unnecessary to relate them here.* The 
 pages which record the labors of this great 
 Apostle of the Indians, are. indeed, the 
 brightest pages in our colonial history. In 
 its ordinary features, the Puritanism of 
 that day was sour, austere, uncouth, rugged 
 and grim ; but the softening radiance of 
 celestial light that played over the Puritan- 
 ism of the sainted Eliot, gave it a beauty 
 that was not born of earth, and that can 
 never fade away, 
 
 Eliot had taken pains to learn the Indian 
 language, even before the passage of the 
 order to which reference has been made, 
 and was the first to enter upon the mis- 
 sionary work. On the twenty-eighth of 
 October, 1646, after proper notice of his 
 design, he proceeded, with three friends 
 to what is now Newton Corner ; and then 
 and there was the Puritan interpretation 
 of the Gospel of Christ for the first time 
 preached to the red men of America. 
 Encouraged by the success of this first 
 effort, Eliot, a fortnight afterward, preach- 
 ed again at the same place ; and found 
 that he could make himself tolerably well 
 understood without the aid of an inter- 
 preter. Not satisfied with what he was 
 accomplishing among the Indians whom he 
 gathered at Nonantum, he soon extended 
 his ministrations to other places more re- 
 mote until the whole colony from Cape 
 Cod to the Connecticut had been conse- 
 crated by his labors of love — his zeal being 
 continually quickened by his belief that he 
 saw, in the dusky faces that shone under 
 his preaching, the descendants of the ten 
 lost tribes of ancient Israel. 
 
 On the twenty-sixth of May, 1647, the 
 General Court established monthly courts 
 in those villages which were visited by El- 
 iot or the other Indian missionaries ; and 
 the chiefs were constituted judges, for the 
 trial of petty causes, both civil and crimi- 
 nal ; their powers being substantially the 
 same as those of justices of the peace. — 
 An Indian constabulary was also establish- 
 
 * See Mather's Magnalia; Francis', and Moore's, Llf« 
 of Eliot; Young's Curoniclea of Mass. Bay, p. 365, 
 note, etc. 
 
ed, to serve warrants and summonses, much yearneth toward them, and I have a 
 
 and execute generally the orders and judg- great desire to make an Indian Towne 
 
 ments of these Indian courts. Once in that way." 
 
 three months, one of the magistrates of the It would be scarcely reasonable to sup- 
 colony visited each of these villages, and, pose that Eliot left Passaconaway without 
 in connection with the local Indianjudges giving him from time to time, some gen- 
 held what may be called a county court eral information touching the tragic scenes 
 for the Indians. These colonial and In- then being enacted in the far-ofl' land of 
 dian magistrates also led the way in the his birth— the land about which the Indians 
 general civilization of the people over ever made so many strange inquiries. — 
 whom they had the charge. That would indeed be a most pleasing 
 Nor did they labor altogether in vain. V'^^^^^e, which should exhibit Eliot and 
 Gradually, the Indians under their super- Passaconaway sitting together upon the 
 intondence shook off that habit of indo- bank of the bowlder- bottomed Merrimack, 
 lence which had become second nature, while Eliot relates the marvelous story- 
 and applied themselves to agricultural pur- ^"^ Charles the First and his Parliament 
 suits. Bear-skins were laid aside, and ^^™« '"*« collision-how Strafford and 
 clothes like those of the whites generally ^aud, the king's nearest friends, were put 
 assumed. It was soon noticed that they to death upon the scaffold-how the king's 
 lived in better wigwams than their neigh- armies were routed, the king himself be- 
 bors, and were solicitous that their chil- ''e^^'^d, the order of Bisnops abolished, 
 dren should be educated like the children ^^^ ^^I°"«« «f Lords compelled to succumb, 
 of the whites. ^"'^ ^^^ glorious old monarchy of England 
 
 In 1647. or possibly in 1646, Eliot, after ^^''P^''^ '"^ ^'°°** '• 
 preaching at Concord, made his first visit passaconaway. 
 
 to this place, accompanied by Captain After this we hear no more of Passacon- 
 
 Simon Willard, and other friends, of both away for about twelve years ; and if there 
 
 races. At that time, Passaconaway, sus- be truth in the saying, " Happy are the 
 
 pecting him of hostile designs, left the people whose annals are barren," both he 
 
 place, with his two sons, and woild not see and his people may be supposed to have 
 
 hiofi. Eliot's second visit to this spot passed this period in tranquil felicity, and 
 
 was in the spring of 1648, when he found in blissful unconsciousness of the trials that 
 
 here a great confluence of the Indians, were in store for them. Before the leaves 
 
 engaged in fishing, and in wild festivities, fell from the trees in the autumn of 1660, 
 
 — reminding him of the fairs in Englan'l. Passaconaway found himself burdened 
 
 Finding excellent opportunities for his with the weight of about four score years, 
 
 favorite work, he remained here many His star had long passed the zenitb, and 
 
 days, preaching and conversing, now to was sinking rapidly down the sky. His 
 
 one g'oup, and now to another. Passa- eye had become dim, and his natural force 
 
 conaway and his sons lisfennd with willing abated. Time had furrowed his face with 
 
 ears to his discourses, and declared them- wrinkles, and turned his straight, black 
 
 selves deeply impressed with the truth of locks to gray. He could not be uncon- 
 
 his words. Nor was this impression mere- scious that the time was near when bis 
 
 ly momentary ; for, on visiting this place footsteps would be heard no more, upon 
 
 iii the following spring, Eliot wai press- his native river-bank — that he was liable 
 
 ingly importuned by Passaconaway to come at any moment to be served with that per- 
 
 and live with the Pawtu-jkets, and be their emplory summons which no child of mor- 
 
 teacher ; and though, from the multiplicity talil)' may ever disobey — a summons to 
 
 of other cares, Eliot could not accede to the great council fire of his fathers in the 
 
 this proposal, he says: — ''truly ray heart land of shades. He therefore resolved to 
 
10 
 
 resign the sachemship to his son, Wanna- kept it in lasting remembrance. Some of 
 
 lancet, and to pass the remainder of his them, indeed, disregarded it ; but by 
 
 life unburdened by the cares of official many of them it was sacredly observed.— 
 
 station. It kept them from joining the coalition of 
 
 His abdication was signalized by a grand King Phillip, and thus saved them from 
 banquet,— given possibly here, though the fate which finally befell the partizans 
 more probably at Amoskeag Falls, where of that able but unfortunate patriot, 
 the stately city of Manchester has since The chief of the Pawtucket or Penna- 
 arisen,— which was attended by a vast con- cook Confederacy who succeeded Passa- 
 course of chiefs and braves, and other In- conaway, resided only occasionally here ; 
 dians of high and low degree. Feasting most of his time, during the first fourteen 
 and dancing were the order of the day.— years of his sachemehip, being spent far- 
 Belknap tells us that some white gentle- ther up the valley, at the places already 
 men of the colony were present by invita- mentioned as the abodes of Passaconaway. 
 tion, participating gleefully in all the fes- -Tbe local chief of this place, at this time, 
 tivities of the occasion. The old warriors was Nobhow or Numpbow, who had mar- 
 aud sages of the tribe regaled the audience ried one of Passaconaway's daughters, 
 with the triumphant recital of their proud- Two years after his abdication, iii May, 
 est exploits in battle and in the chase. — 1662, Passaconaway turns up again, in a 
 Finally, in profound silence, Passaconaway condition truly pitiable, 
 arose, like General Jackson on a similar «< Trtined from his tree-rocked cradle to his bier 
 occasion, to deliver his farewell address. — The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook," 
 The feelings of this prophet, priest and he now comes before us supplicating the 
 king on meeting his people for the last General Court '' that this honord Courte 
 time officially, and their feelings on part- wolde pleas to gr&nte vnto vs a parcell of 
 ing with the chief who had led them in the land for a comfortable cituation, to be 
 council and in the field, so long, so ably stated for our Injoyment ; as also that this 
 and so well, can be better imagined than honord Courte wold pleas to take into yr 
 described. From the imperfect remains serious and grave corsidtration the condi- 
 of this speech, as preserved by Hubbard, tion and also the request of yr pore sup- 
 Beiknap, and others, we may infer that pliant." In answer to this petition, which 
 this far-sighted old Indiau statesman had is still preserved among our State Ar. 
 a presentiment of the great war between chives, Passaconaway received a grant of 
 the colonists and the Indians which broke lands which included parts of Manchester, 
 out fifteen years afterward, and desolated Londonderry, Litchfield, Merrimack, and 
 New England with fire and blood. Among Bedford, in New Hampshire. The lands 
 other things, he is reported to have said — were chiefly pine plains; but they inckid- 
 
 " I am now going the way of all the earth ; I ed a good fishing-ground, and probably 
 
 am ready to die, and not likely to see you ever sufficed for all the wants of the " pore 
 mpt tofether any more. I will now leave this i- ^ -5 i :_• i i ^ -n 
 
 word of counsel with you :-Take heed how you suppliant '' and his dependents. Passa- 
 
 quarrel with the English. Hearken to the last conaway did not live long to enjoy his 
 words of your father and fdeud. The white ^ a au- • i j i? i • 
 
 men are the sons of the morning. The Great grant. As nothing more is heard of him 
 
 Spirit is their father. His sun shines bright about ft'om the writers of the day, it i' supposed 
 them, ^ever make war with them. Sure as , . .ui ^ „ u .i x-. 
 
 you light the fires, the breath of heaven will that his earthly da} s were shortly after- 
 
 turn the flame upon you, and destroy you.— ward numbered and finished.* 
 Listen to my advice. It is the last I shall he „ . , -.in x 
 
 allowed to give you. Remember it and live." Having now done with Passaconaway. I 
 
 The solemn counsel of such a chief as "^^ ^^^ narrative of the efforts that 
 
 Passaconaway, uttered on so memorable an --;;7"^„,, ,„„^t Pasaaconaw.y and his son. Wan- 
 
 nooflsion was not likelv to be soon forgot- nalancet, see the Farmer's Visitor tor 1852 ; Potter.a 
 
 occasiuij, vvaa uuu i i^-^ J b History of Manchester, N. H.; Drake's Book of the 
 
 ten. Both the new chief and his people Indians, etc. 
 
11 
 
 were made to convert and civilize those of hered to the charter. lie died in poverty 
 
 his tribe who commonly abode at this in 1687, leaving a widow and severdi chil* 
 
 place. The iabora of Eliot, here and else- dren. Though a man of some bigotry and 
 
 where, were cordially seconded by the many prejudices, his understanding was 
 
 General Court, and especially by General cultivated, his integrity inflexible, his pa- 
 
 Gookin, author of Historical Collections triotism disinterested and unconquerable, 
 
 of the Indians, published in the first vol- his piety exemplary, his religious and po- 
 
 ume of the Collections ofthe Massachusetts litical principles firm and unchangeable ; 
 
 Historical Society, and of tne History of he was zealous, active and benevolent, and 
 
 the Christian Indians, published in the a true friend to the Indians, who mourned 
 
 second volume of the Transactions of the bis death with unfeigned sorrow.* 
 American Antiquarian Society. Consid- 
 
 1 .1 II .-•... II 1 • INDIAN L\W8, 
 
 ering how ably and how faithfully this 
 
 man labored to improve the condition of ^" ^^'« "°^'*=« "^ ^°°^*"' ^ mentioned 
 
 the Indians of this place, and considering *^^* ^° '^^ appointed superintendent of 
 
 the comparitive oblivion to which his mem- ^^« ^"'^'^"^ ^^^' ^^^ submitted to the 
 
 ory has been consigned, I cannot deny ^"^''^h, by an act passed in 1G5G. This 
 
 myself the pleasure of brushing away the ^^* Provided that said Gookin do " take 
 
 dust from his urn ; though I am conscious ^^''^^ ^^^^ ''''^ '"'^^ Indians do live according, 
 
 of the probable failure ofthe attempt. ^ """^ ^*^'' *' f^"" ^ '^^^ ^'"'^ capable;' 
 
 that he "shall constitute and appoint In- 
 GooKiN. dian Commissioners in their several plan- 
 Major-General Daniel Gookin was born tations, to hear and determine all such 
 in England, but immigrated early in life matters that do arise among themselves, as 
 to Virginia. In 1G41. he settled in Cam- our magistrates [or Justices of the Peace] 
 bridge, where he was chosen captain of a Qiay do among the English ; with officers 
 military company and a member of the to execute all commands and warrints as 
 house of deputies. In 1652, he was elected marshals and constables." The Indian 
 an assistant in the colonial magistracy, Commissioners here mentioned, were no- 
 and, in 16.jt), was appointed by the Gener- minated by the Indians themselves, and 
 al Court superintendent over all the In- commissioned by Gookin. And in addi- 
 dians that had submitted to the allegiance tion to the petty courts of this local native 
 of the colony, among whom were the In- magistracy, the same statute provided that 
 diansof the region of Lowell. Soon after Gookin, jointly with the local judge of each 
 this appointment, he visited England, and village, "shall hav3 the power of a county 
 was received with many marks of attention court, to hear and determine all causes 
 at the court of the Lord Protector, Oliver arising among them ; the English magis- 
 Cromwell, who, having recently conquered trate (Gookin) appointing the time and 
 Jamaica from Spain, desired to remove place of the court, and consenting to the 
 the Massachusetts colonists to that island, determination and judgment. And all 
 and sought, but in vain, to enlist Gookin other matters beyond their cognizance, 
 iu that enterprise. Daring Gookin's ab- shall be issued and determined by the 
 sence, Major-ticneral Alherton filled the court of assistants" at Boston. Many other 
 office of Indian superintendent. General laws and orders were passed by the general 
 Atherton dying soon after General Gookin's court, with a view to the civilization of 
 return to iNIassachusats, in 16(31, Gookin these Indians, which had important in- 
 was at once reinstated in the superinten- fiuences upon the Indians here. They pro- 
 dency. He was was made Major-General vided among other things that the title to 
 in 16S1. He continued in the magistracy the soil should be deemed to have been 
 
 till the dissolution of the charter in 16.S6. 
 
 ,T ,.iLjri 111 "For a fuller account of Oookin. Bee 1 Maes Hist. 
 
 lie was at the head of the party which ad- Coll.pp. 238— 230; and EUoVs. and Allen'*. Bing. DieU 
 
12 
 
 vested rightfully in the Indians ; that such 
 of them as acknowledged the colonial juris- 
 diction, should retain their lands for towns ; 
 that none of them should be dispossessed of 
 their cultivated lands, corn-helds or fishing- 
 grounds ; that no assignment of land from 
 them to any white man should be valid 
 unless by license of the court ; that no in- 
 toxicating drinks should be sold or given 
 to them except in case of sickness ; (but 
 in those days, as in our days, prohibitory 
 liquor laws proved a poor barrier against 
 the force of depraved appetite ;) that none 
 should practice as powwows, wizards or 
 witches under severe penalties; that all 
 these and other laws relative to the Indians 
 «' shall be once a year, if the time be safe, 
 made known to them by such fit person 
 as the general court shall appoint." The 
 doctrine of the lawyers, that ignorance of 
 the law is no excuse for transgression, 
 was not applied to the Indians. 
 
 It was also made the duty of the super- 
 intendent, Gookin, to make order and give 
 instruction, backed with suitable penalties, 
 for promoting morality, industry, good 
 manners, and a proper observance of Sun- 
 day ; to see that the children attended the 
 schools, and all the people the churches ; 
 "and to provide that the Indian teachers 
 and rulers have some small encouragement 
 distributed among them, according to the 
 people's ability." This " small encourage- 
 ment" was obtained by a tax of one-tenth 
 of " their yearly increase of all sorts of 
 grain and pulse." But Gookin himself 
 admits that this custom of tithes savored 
 •'too much of Judaism and anti-Chris- 
 tianism." 
 
 While these efforts were being made for 
 the improvement of the aborigines, the 
 work of settlement was prosecuted with 
 great activity and success by the English. 
 In 1652, the valley of the Merrimack was 
 surveyed by Captain Simon Willard and 
 Captain Edward Johnson, as far north as 
 the outlet of Lake Winnipisiogee. Itg 
 rich basins and valuable fishing-stations 
 were thus laid open to the eager gaze of 
 the great host of adventurers, and the tide 
 of white population rolled onward with un- 
 
 wonted rapidity. As early as 1653, a 
 number of white settlers took up their 
 abode in this vicinity ; and on the twen- 
 ty-ninth of May, 1655, the General Court 
 incorporated the town of Chelmsford, and 
 also the town of Billerica, which, until the 
 twenty-third of December, 1734, included 
 what is now Tewksbury. 
 
 WAMESIT RESERVATION. 
 
 In order that this tide of white settlers 
 might not disposses the Indians of their 
 lands here, on which they had erected 
 quite substantial wigwams, and some of 
 which they had enclosed and brought un- 
 der cultivation, Eliot, in 1653, two 
 years before the incorporation of Chelms- 
 ford and Billerica, procured the passage of 
 an act by the General Court, reserving a 
 good part of the land on which Lowell now 
 stands, to the exclusive use of the natives. 
 This land then contained two Indian vil- 
 lages — Pawtucket, which lay east of Paw- 
 tucket Falls, and Wamesit, which lay east 
 of Massick or Wamesit Falls, in Belvidere. 
 The village of Pawtucket, however, was 
 finally merged in that of Wamesit. The 
 bounds of this Indian reservation were en- 
 larged in 1656 and in 1660. A ditch to 
 mark these bounds was dug about the year 
 1665. Traces of this ditch may still be 
 seen. 
 
 Here, as in other Indian towns, super- 
 intended by Eliot and Gookin, the work 
 of Indian civilization went on promisingly 
 for ten years. An extensive traffic grew 
 up between the whites and the Indians ; 
 and in 1657 this traffic was regulated by 
 an act of the Legislature. Major Simon 
 Willard, and three olhtrs, paid twenty- 
 five pounds sterling for the exclusive right 
 to trade with the Indians on the Merri- 
 mack River. 
 
 In 1669, Wannalancet and a party of 
 Indians from Concord, fearing an attack 
 from the Mohawks, came down the Merri- 
 mack in canoes, and built a fort for 
 their protection on the hill in Belvidere, 
 which has ever since been called Fort Hill, 
 and surrounded it with palisades. At 
 this the white settlers in the vicinity be- 
 
13 
 
 came alarmed, and some of them shut ^iderable numbers at that season. And this 
 
 ' _ place being an ancient and capital seat of In- 
 
 themselves up in garrison houses. In dians, they come tu tish, and this good man 
 
 lejfb, the strange Indians whoso presence takes .his opportunity lo spread the net of the 
 
 f gospel to hsh for their souls. • 
 cifeated this alarm, united with several .^.^o magistrate. Numphow, here men- 
 hundred others, including all the more tioned, held his monthly court in a log cab- 
 turbulent and dangerous Indians belong- ;„ „,„ ^^^^ p^^^^ Canal. Samuel, the In- 
 ing to this partofNew England, in an ex- diun teacher, imparted his teachings in a 
 
 pedition against the Mohawks, by whom 1.1,1 ». . 1 < » 1 . 
 
 f o » J log chapel near the west end of Appleton 
 
 they were OTCrpowered, and almost entire- Street. 
 
 \y destroyed. The wars of the Indians That would be an interesting picture, 
 were generally fought on the principle of which should portray this Indian teach- 
 No-Surrender : and in this single cam- er standing in his rude pulpit preach- 
 paign, it is said, more than fifty chiefs \ng and catechizing, with a zeal out 
 were slain. The mild disposition of of all projiortion to his knowledge, the 
 Wannalancet, always peaceably disposed, simple subjects of his pastoral care; or 
 saved him Iroin the destruction which thus the whole flock crowded around the chapel 
 befell 80 many of his associates. to listen to the persuasive words of Eliot 
 
 Wamesit IN 1674. — their Beucher, their Chapin, their Bishop 
 
 Speaking of the Indian village here, Fitzpatrick. More interesting still would 
 in 1674, Gookin says :— ^^ ^^"^ P'^'"''^ o^' '^"'Ise Numpnow, the 
 
 ..T 1 .u V, . «(• c -v 1 archetype of our Police Judge, sitlinif 
 
 "It hath about fifteen families, and conse- , " ' ° 
 
 quently, as we compute, about Bcvtnty-five serenely OQ the bench in his rude cabin, 
 
 souls. [This must mean seventy-five ' praying deciding every case by the law of Moses. 
 Indians; tas entire population being about i- • 1 . 
 
 two hundred and fifty.] The quantity of land believing the wit of man could make none 
 
 belonginKt.. itia at^Qut twonty-five hundred ben^r. Most pleasing of all would that 
 acres. Ihe land is fertile, yieuhng plenty ot ' ° 
 
 corn. It is excellently acconmiodatea with a picture be, which should bhow us that 
 fishing place ; and there .. taken variety of fish couri-house during the May term-Gookin 
 in their seas >n, as salinon, shad, lamprey eels, _ ° _ j ^ -^ vjv>un,iu 
 sturaeon. bass, and uivers others. There i^ a sitting as chief justice, with Eliot on his 
 peat confluence of Indians, that usually r.sort j ., and Kuuiphow on his left- dispen- 
 to this place in the fishing season. Of these ° ' » " wijj;v,u 
 strange lu'lians, divers a. e vicious and wicked sing hues, llDjjgings, and imprisonments, 
 men and women ; which Satan makes use of to „,;,i 1; „. .„ ,1 „c r , .u * • 1. 1 
 obstruct thp prosperity of religion here. The ^»'^ "" disregard of forms that might have 
 ruler of tiiis peo, lie la called Numphow, He is astonished Sir Matthew Hale and the other 
 one of the blood of their chief sachems. Their «t ^i^.^ ..,,.1,,. » , r \if ... ;„ . 11 n j. 
 teacher is called Samuel, son to the rul, r, "slowcoaches ' of Westminster llail.t 
 a young man of good pans. and c.inspeak, reici But we are not left to our imagination 
 and write Kiinlish und IiiJiati compleiety. He < . • „. ^r ♦u„ ;_, , .. i- 
 is one of tho.e that was bred u(. a. school at the ^""^ * ''^'^ ^^ ^^^ circumstances attending 
 charge of the Corporation for the Inui.ms. — ttie annual visits of Eiiot and Gookin to 
 These Indians, if th^y were dilieeiit and imus- .1; u ..^ .: .1 •, 1 .1 
 trious-to which they have bee.r frequently ex- »^"' " ancient and capital Hen ot In- 
 cited—might ^p\, much by then tish, especially dians." The pen of Gookin has transmil- 
 fre-.h sahnon, whii-h are of es'.eem and i;ood . 1 , •. ■ . r .1 • 
 price at Boston in the season ; and the Indians '«^ '" "» * ^"''"^ "'"4"^ account of their 
 beinit stored witli horses of a l>jw price, mi^ht visit in 1674. They arrived hereon the 
 furiiiNh the market fullv, biiiigatsj small a „• ,• ., ,•/•.■ »• -xt 1 ., r 
 distance. And divers other sorts of fish -hey evening ol the hflh ol May; and the In- 
 might salt or pickle, as sturgeon and bass, — diaus, elated witli the news of their arri- 
 whicli Would be III ich to tiieir profi:. But not- . ii 1 . .l. ■ 1 
 withstanding divers argumtnts used to pur- ^^^^ assembled to greet them, in the wig- 
 suade them, and some orders mide to tncjur- vram of Wannalancet, near Pawlucket 
 age thtm ; yet their idleneas and improvidence ,, ,, ,r., ■ 1-. ■ 
 doth hitherto prevHil. ^ alls, fhe same evening, Eiiot preached 
 
 At 'his plate, Kiice a year, at the beginning „^ , , , „. -,,,„, 
 of May, the E..gli.h magistrae [to ^it. Uook.a "Gookln's UU. Coll.. Chap. 7. 
 himself I keeps hi* court, acromiianied witn tThls joint exercise of Judicial fuDctlons by the 
 
 Mr. Eliot, the minister; who at this time takes J-l^sy ""'J '''.L'-""" a^K'^iJ-^^, "f ""'/"''"^cl » 
 
 ,. . •. • I. . 1 » . thlnK a» may tM? soniioBol. By tho laws ol Kln;r Kd- 
 
 his oppor unity to preach, not oi.ly to tno m- ^^^ *;,,^ y.^^^ ^^\\^^ Alderman ( t. in bis aUronco 
 
 habitants, but to ai many ot the strange Indians nn, sherltl) of tho County, eat i-.ttoiber In the Coun 
 
 that can be pursuadul to hear him ; of whu^h ly court. Vaugban's Kevohiiinua io Kni^llsb Uihto- 
 
 surt, Ubually in times of peace, there are con- ry, vol. 1. p. 224 ; 3 Blackstoue'sCoinmenurios, p. 01. 
 
14 
 
 to them on the Saviour's Parable of the 
 Marriage of the King's son, being the first 
 fourteen verses of the twenty-second chap- 
 ter of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Gookin 
 describes Wannalancet as a sober and 
 grave sachem, between fifty and sixty 
 years of age. •' He hath been always 
 loving and friendly to the English. Many 
 endeavors have been used several years 
 to gain this sachem to embrace the Chris- 
 tain religion ; but he hath stood off from 
 time to time, and not yielded up himself 
 personally, though for four years past he 
 hath been willing to hear the word of God 
 preached, and to keep the Sabbath. A 
 great reason that hath kept him off, I con- 
 ceive, hath been the indisposition and 
 averseness of sundry of his chief men and 
 relatives to pray to God ; which he fore- 
 saw would desert him, in case he turned 
 Christian. But at this time [May 6th, 1674] 
 it pleased God so to influence and overcome 
 his heart, that it being proposed to him to 
 give his answer concerning praying to 
 God, after some deliberation and serious 
 pause, he stood up, and made a speech to 
 this effect ; — 
 
 " ' Sirs, you have been pleased for four years 
 last past, in your abundant love, to apply your- 
 selves particularly unto me and my people, to 
 exhort, press and persuade uo to pray to God. 
 I am very thankful to ynu for your pains. I 
 must acknowldge, 1 have, all my days, used to 
 pass in an old canoe, (alluding to his frequent 
 custom to pass in a canoe up the river,) and 
 now you exhort me to change and leave my old 
 canoe, and embark in a neiv canoe, to which I 
 have hitherto been unwilling; but now 1 yield 
 up myself to your advice, and enter into a new 
 canoe, and do engage to pray to God hereafter.' " 
 
 Gookin adds that Wannalancet afterward 
 persevered in his new mode of life, kept 
 the Sabbath, and heard the word of God 
 diligently, notwithstanding some of his 
 people abandoned him on this account. — 
 For it is not to be forgotten, that only a 
 part of the Indians in the "praying towns," 
 so called, ever embraced (Jhrisiianity. The 
 rest were corrupted, rather than improved, 
 by contact with the whites ; and Gookin de- 
 clares that *' excepting thtil rational souls, 
 they were like unto the wild ass's colt, and 
 not many degress above the beasts." The 
 whole population suffered from their con- 
 tiguity to the border savages of the wilder- 
 
 ness, particularly the Mohawks, who per- 
 petrated upon them continual outrages. — 
 Now, herds of cattle were stolen; libw, 
 cabins were pillaged ; now, a stray Indi'^n 
 was caught in the woods and murdered. — 
 Every atrocity, in short, from the scalping 
 of a man to the robbing of a hen-roost, was 
 practiced upon them with impunity. 
 
 At the time of the conversion of Wan- 
 nalancet, the work of planting Christianity 
 among the Indians had attained the acme 
 of its success. Thirty years had rolled 
 by since Elliot preached his first Indian 
 sermon at Newton Corner. During this 
 period, he had organized fourteen towns, 
 inhabited by eleven hundred praying In- 
 dians. Dr. Dwigbt says, the whole num- 
 ber of Christian Indians in New England, 
 at this time, was " not far from 10,000." 
 It was written in the book of Destiny that 
 this work should proceed no further. The 
 trump of war was now to be sounded by 
 the chief of the Pokonokets, and all these 
 things were to pass away. 
 
 KING Phillip's war. 
 At the beginning of King Phillip's War, 
 in 1675, the white population of New Eng- 
 land, as computed by Mr. Bancroft, num- 
 bered fifty-five thousand souls ; the red 
 race was nearly as numerous ; and both 
 were about equally expert in the use of 
 firearms ; though the moral superiority of 
 the whites, coupled with their superior dis- 
 cipline, gave them a decided advantage in 
 the struggle. The white settlements had 
 been so far extended during the previous 
 fifty years, that the settlers could now 
 hardly avoid encroaching on the hunting- 
 grounds reserved to the Indians, or prevent 
 their cattle destroying the Indians' corn- 
 fields. Nor did they exercise that justice, 
 magnanimity, and forbearance toward their 
 red neighbors.which might have postponed 
 the impending struggle. And yet, how- 
 ever fairly and however magnanimously 
 they might have dealt, they could not have 
 saved from ultimate extinction the weaker 
 race upon whose lands they had settled.-— 
 Like the savages ot Australia, like the 
 Hottentots of South Africa, like the na- 
 
15 
 
 tives of British India, like the Moors of hunger, of every variety of bodily snffer- 
 Barbary, like the Aztecs of Mexico, the ing, and ready to perish in the cause he 
 islanders of the Pacific, and inferior races had espoused. With heroic qualities and 
 everywhere, these Indians could not but bold achievements that would have graced 
 melt away like polar ice under a tropical a civilized warrior, and have rendered 
 sun. The first English axe that rung in him the theme of the poet and the histo- 
 the primeval forest sounded the red man's rian ; he lived a wanderer and a fugitive 
 knell. in his native land, and went down, like a 
 
 The dire collision came — not because lonely bark foundering amid darkness and 
 the Devil was piqued at the prosperity of tempest — without a pitying eye to weep 
 the New England churches, as good mas- his fall, or a friendly hand to record his 
 ter Hubbard quaintly suggests — not be- struggle." 
 
 cause rhilhp was tho victim of wrongs ^°^ should his faithful adherents be 
 which could only bo wiped out in blood— forgotten, llather let history ascribe all 
 but rather because Providence willed that honor to the brave patriots who stood 
 this great continent should be inhabited by round him in his sullen grandeur and des- 
 a powerful, enlightened and progressive perate struggle with the inevitable.— 
 people, and not by a handful of savages in 'though abandoned from day to day by 
 stereotyped barbarism. The whites are '^eir allies, though beset by traitors in 
 not to be blamed for struggling in defence ^^e council and cowards in the field, 
 of thuir new acquisitions ; neither are the though hunted from swamp to swamp 
 reds to be blamed for contending even un- ^•'^o culprits or wild beasts, starving on 
 to death in defence of their wild lands and groundnuts and hon^eflesh,— worn out by 
 wild liberties. Both acted in obedience to toil, by famine, by disease, by the hard- 
 the instincts witb which God and nature ^hips and ravages of war, — with no sleep 
 had endowed them. Providence put Phil- ^^^ their eyes or slumber for their eyehds, 
 lip at Mount Hope, as it put Lincoln in —with but the faintest hope of victory, 
 the White House, and Napoleon in the ^^d no thought of renown, — they stood by 
 Tuilleries. Fighting for as holy a cause as their falling chief with a martyr-like con- 
 tongue ever pleaded or trumpet pro- stancy that has never been surpassed even 
 claimed — by the brightest of the patriots and he- 
 
 " For the ashes of his fathers, roes whose deeds illustrate the bistoriu 
 
 And the temples of his godi" — pa"e. 
 
 he surely deserves the honors of menu- It is said that Phillip was forced into this 
 ment and pican. war, prematurely, by his younger braves, 
 " We picture him to ourselves," says Ir- and that he wept bitterly when the bloody 
 ving of Phillip, in his Sketch-Book ; " we conflict began ; but the fatal die being 
 picture him to ourselves, seated among once cast, he girded himself with alien's 
 hi^ care-worn followers, brooding in si- heart to the work of extirpating the whole 
 lence over his blasted fortunes, and acquir- white race in New England. He made 
 ing a savage sublimity from tho wildness peace with his Indian enemies, and labor- 
 and dreariness of his lurking-place. De- ed to combine all, the Christian Indians 
 feated, but not dimayed— crushed to the not excepted, in a general coalition against 
 earth, but not humiliate! — hi; seemed to the English. Neither Ponliac, nor Red 
 grow more haujjhty beneath disaster and Jacket, nor Tecuiuseh, nor Osceola, dis- 
 10 experience a fierce satisfaction in drain- played grander abilities or a more com- 
 ing the last dregs of bitterness. He was prehensive statemanship than this Indian 
 a patriot attached to his native soil — a Hercules. But the work which he attemp;- 
 prince true to his subjects, and indignant ed was such as must have baidked and 
 of their wron/Ljs— a soldier daring in bat- balUed even the Hercules of mythology, 
 tic, firm in adversity, patient of fatigue, of As the stars in their courses fought against 
 
16 
 
 Sisera, so did all the powers above now Island and other islands in the harbor. — 
 
 combine against Phillip. For he fought Here, exposed to disease, despair, hunger, 
 
 the battle of barbarism against civilization ; cold, and every species of hardships, they 
 
 and history, while lamenting his fate, must passed the winter of 1675-6. Many of 
 
 rejoice that his enterprise failed. them died ; many more lost all confidence 
 
 The events of this war — the conference in the colonists. Their habits of honesty, 
 and treaty of Phillip and his counsellors sobriety, and industry, were lost ; and 
 with the colonial magistrates in the old their demoralization was complete, 
 church in Taunton — the infraction of that On the approach of hostilities, seeing 
 treaty — the intercession of the Apostle El- himself placed between two fires, and be- 
 iot — the new conference and treaty at ing determined to act a neutral part in the 
 Plymouth — the three years' peace — the sanguinary contest, Wannalancet withdrew, 
 treachery and death of Phillip's private with a portion of his people, from the 
 secretary, Sausaman — the trial, condem- neighborhood of the white settlers, and 
 nation and execution of his supposed mur- lodged himself at Pennacook. Alarmed at 
 derers — the uncontrollable violence of his withdrawal, the General Court sent 
 Phillip's braves demanding to be led on messengers, in September, 1675, to pur- 
 against the whites — the burning of Swanzey suaue him to come back. But instead of 
 — the great fight in Dismal Swamp— the returning, he withdrew, with his people 
 burning of Medford, Sudbury, Marlbo- still further into the wilderness, and pass- 
 rough, and Lancaster — the killing of Phil- ed the winter of 1675 and 1676 about the 
 lip himself in Skunk Swamp— the thousand headwaters of the Connecticut, where there 
 atrocities on both sides — all these are re- was a good supply of moose, deer, bears, 
 corded by Hubbard, Mather, Gookin, and other wild beasts. Subsequent events 
 Church, and Drake, and need only be re- will show that those who remained at 
 ferred to here. Wamesit would have done wisely to have 
 Wannalancet and our Iccal Indians, accompanied Wannalancet to his new win- 
 faithful to the counsel of Passaconaway, ter abode. 
 
 gave no heed to the solicitations of Phillip, In September, 1675, shortly after the 
 and never espoused his cause. As the con- opening of the campaign, a hundred armed 
 sequence of this, they suffered more during scouts, under Captain Mosely, marched up 
 this war than any other of Eliot's towns, the Merrimack to Pennacook, where Con- 
 Some of them were put to death by Phillip cord now stands, and where Wannalancet 
 'forgiving notice of his designs; somewere sometimes took up hisabode; and finding 
 put to death by the colonists as Phillip's the wigwams and winter stores of the In- 
 aceomplices ; some fell in battlo in behalf dians there deserted, wantonly burned 
 of the whites ,• while others fell victims to them. About the same time, a haystack 
 the undiscriminating hatred of the colo- in Chelmsford, belonging to Lieutenant 
 nial rabble, whose passions, on the slightest James Richardson, was burned by some 
 provocation, or suspicion, broke out with- skulking Indians of Phillip's party. But 
 out restraint against the "praying Indians," the inhabitants at once attributed it to the 
 
 The good f^ith of some of these " pray- Wamesit Indians, though the owner of it 
 ing Indians " being suspected by the Gen- protested that it could not have been set 
 eral Court, laws were passed forbidding on fire by them. Hereupon, Count Oakes, 
 the natives in the " pra\ing towns '' from with a body of troops, was ordered to bring 
 going beyond the limits of their several all the Wamesit Indians to Boston. On 
 villages, under severe penalties. Not con- the twentieth day of October, he accord- 
 tent with these precautions, the General ingly sent word to the General Court that 
 Court afterward caused five hundred he had arrested the Indians of Wamesit — 
 Christian Indians, from various places, to about a hundred and forty-five in number 
 be carried to Boston, and confined on Deer —and had them with him on the way to 
 
17 
 
 Boston. Thirty-i-iree of them were able- wounded ; and one of them, a little bov, 
 bodied men, unarmed. The rest were old, the son of a chief, was killed. The mur- 
 decrepit men, women, children and infants, derers were subsequently indicted and 
 Many of them were naked, and all desti- tried for this crime ; but in this, as in the 
 tute of food. The General Court now or- other case, the jury were dominated by the 
 dered all the old men, women and children popular prejudice against the red men. — 
 to be returned to their homes. The others " To the great grief and trouble generally 
 were carried to Boston, where three of them of magistracy and ministry, and other wise 
 were sold as slaves. The rest after being and godly men," says Gookin, these wan- 
 kept for some time in prison in Charles- ton murderers were acquitted, 
 town, were found innocent of setting the Fearing a continuance of these outrages, 
 haystack on fire, (though the House of Nuraphow and John a Line, the local 
 Deputies had passed a vote declaring them chiefs of Wamesit, together with the In- 
 guilty ;) and they were returned to Warn- dian teachers, Samuel Numphow, Simon 
 esit, escorted by Lieutenant Richardson, Betokom, and Mystic George, and all the 
 the owner of the property destroyed. Christian Indians then remaining here, fled 
 While on their return home, an incident into the wilderness, on their way toward 
 occurred which shows the brutality of the French settlements in Canada, expect- 
 some of the colonial population. They ing to find Wannalancet, who, as already 
 happened to march through Woburn while stated, had previously removed beyond 
 thetrain-band was exercising; and Knight, the reach of either of the belligerents, 
 one of the campany, deliberately levelled The authorities at Boston, hearing of their 
 his gun, and shot one of the Indians dead, departure, sent Lieutenant Henchman of 
 For this cold-blooded murder he was in- Chelmsford, to persuade them to return, 
 dieted and tried by a jury of his peers. This they declined to do ; and the letter 
 but pleaded " that his gun went off by ac- which they sent to Henchman, giving the 
 cident ;" and as " the witnesses were mealy- reasons for their declinal, being a good 
 mouthed in giving evidence," the jury, specimen of native composition, written 
 though •' sent out again and again by the by Simon Betokom, one of their teachers, 
 judges, who were much dissatisfed," base- who had been Eliot's pupil, is deserving 
 ly returned a verdict of acquittal. of insertion here. 
 
 Not long after this, a barn filled with ..^^ ^j^ Thomas Henchman, of Chelmsford. 
 
 hay and grain, the property of this Lieuten- l, Numphow, and John a Line, we send a mes- 
 
 ant Richardson, was burned to the ground. ^'^;,f;;e'^ann"otTmehome^^^^^^^ 
 
 The perpetrators of this incendiary act. as the French, we go where Wannalancet is ; the 
 
 ^, „ c ..u u .u i.1. u* reason is, we went away from our home, we had 
 
 the proprietor of the barn then thought, ^^ip ^,0^; the Council, but that did not do us 
 
 and as was afterward ascertained, were not pood, but we had wrong by the English^ 2dly. 
 
 - , T,T .. T J- u i. *• The reason is we went away from the Enelisb, 
 
 of the Wamesit Indians, but were parti- ^^^ ^^^^ ^,^^^3 ^^^ any harm done in Chelms- 
 
 zans of rhillip. But the scoundrel mob ford, they laid it to us, and said we did it, but 
 
 c r>i. t c t • * 1 • I • •* we know ourselves we never did harm to the 
 
 of Chelmsford persisted in charging it up- English, but we go away peaceably and quietly, 
 
 on the Indians of Wamesit, and " took the 3dly. As for the Island, we say there is no safe- 
 
 , ■ . »!, • u I .) /-k .u cf ty for us. because many English be not good, 
 
 law into their own hands.' On the fit- /,,j ^^ay be they come to us and kill us. as iu the 
 
 teenth of November, 1675, fourteen armed other case. We are notsorry for what we leave 
 
 , r-u 1 <• J . \u » behind, but we are sorrv the Enghsh have driv- 
 
 men from Chelmsford came to Wamesit, ^^ ^^ from our praying to God and from our 
 
 and called the Indians, who were chiefly teacher. We did begin to understand a little 
 
 , , , J u •. 1 X f .u • of praying to God. We thank humbly the 
 
 helpless women and children, out of their council. VV'erememberour loveto Mr. Hench- 
 
 wiewams ; but no sooner had they appeared man and James Richardson."* 
 
 ' ,, ^,, , , , ^. , [Signed with the mark of Numphow and Joha 
 
 than two of the Chelmsford ruffians, named Ling.] 
 
 Lorgin and Robbins, fiendishly fired upon 
 
 ..u .. x. ri.ii.iT->- t o3ea Uookin'B HUtorv of the Christian Indians, In 
 
 them two charges of buck shot. Five of t^o eecond vo"umoof t^eTninsacUonsof the Amcrl- 
 
 the Indian women and children were can Antiquarian Society, p. 483. 
 
18 
 
 They failed to find Wannalancet ; and valids were lodged, and burned them all to 
 twenty-three days after writing this letter death in one funereal pyre. In this, as in 
 to Henchman, worn out with wandering previous cases, the murderers went " un- 
 up and down in the woods in winter, and whipt of justice." The better classes were 
 reduced to the last extremity for want of indeed shocked at these atrocities ; but the 
 iood, the greater part of them resumed great mass of the colonists seemed to think 
 their residence at Wamesit. Three com- it a small matter to kill an Indian in cold 
 missioners— Eliot, Gookin and Willard— blood. As we proceed, however, we shall 
 were then sent to them to assure them of find the saying terribly true, that " history 
 the good will of the Council, and to create hath its revenges," Whole hecatombs ol 
 if possible, a more humane feeling toward white lives will yet be sacrificed as a 
 them among the people of Chelmsford.— propitiatory offering to appease the manes 
 In connection with this mission of peace of those thus barbarously murdered, 
 and good-will, a descendant of the last History delights to relate that two holy 
 named commissioner — Joseph Willard, and heroic men— Eliot and Gookin— 
 Esq., ofBoston—in his excellent "Willard struggled manfully to the last in defence 
 Memoir," makes the following just re- of these expiring tribes. With an elo- 
 mark :— " Harrassed and persecuted as quence inspired from above, they denounc- 
 were the Christian Indians, the marvel is ed this barbarous treatment of these un- 
 that they did not turn to a man against happy Indians, whom God had made, for 
 the English, and manifest those traits of whom Christ had died, and against whom, 
 character which are ever so dear to the or most of whom, no man could bring any 
 savage nature. If here and there they just accusation. But they received no 
 were driven to madness, it was the inevi- thanks from the magistrates, and were ia- 
 table consequence of their wrongs. Had suited in the streets by the " rascal rabble " 
 they been well treated by the Massachusetts of Boston. 
 
 -that is, by the masses, who controlled In their pursuit of their chief, W^anna- 
 pubhc sentiment for the hour-tbey would lancet, the fugitives this time met with 
 have been a strong wall of defence to the better success than in their former flight 
 colonists, as those in Connecticut were to They found him, and joined his party and 
 that Colony. In the spring of 1676, this remained with him till the close of the war 
 was done j and they rendered effectual aid But before they found him they experienced 
 in bringing the war to a close." all the horrors of a French retreat from 
 
 The woes of theWamesit Indians were not Moscow. Their chief, Numphow and 
 ended even here, though Lieutenant Tho- Mystic George, one of their teachers, and 
 mas Henchman was appointed as their guar- various other men, women and children 
 dian. On the fifth of February, 1676, we perished in the woods of hunger, cold and 
 find them petitioning to be removed from fatigue. Even after being thus driven in- 
 Wamesit, giving as a reason that, in all to the wilderness by the barbarities of the 
 probabihty, " other Indians would come colonists, Wannalancet still provpd bim- 
 and do mischief shortly, and it would be self the white man's friend, always sending 
 imputed to them, and they would suffer notice to the colonial authorities when he 
 for it." Finding this petition disregarded, heard of the approach of their enemies.— 
 and themselves in imminent danger, they But I must now leave Wannalancet and 
 agam fled in terror toward Canada ; but his people in the woods, while I record 
 they left behind them six or seven aged what befell the white settlers of the region 
 persons who were blind and lame, and too to which our narrative relates 
 infirm to be removed. History weeps to In .August. 1675, shortly after the open- 
 relate that the cowardly villains of Chelms- ing of the contest, the house of Lieutenant i 
 ford came to Wamesit by night, set fire Henchman, in Chelmsford, was fortified 
 to the wigwams in which these helpless in- with a garrison, and so continued for 
 
19 
 
 everal months. About the same time, the (May, 1676), intelligence of the approach 
 
 brty-eight families which then constituted of the enemy having been received, an 
 
 be population of Billerica (including additional force was placed in this fort, and 
 
 ?ewksbury) were, by order of the Council, Captain Henchman took command. This 
 
 athered into twelve garrisons for safety ; proved an effectual check to the incur- 
 
 ut John Farmer, the historian of Biller- sions of Phillip's party. In the following 
 
 sa, states that that town received no August, Phillip being slain in Skunk 
 
 ssential injury during this war; though Swamp, the war closed, the settlers re- 
 
 ae people were harrassed with visits from sumed their customary avocations, and the 
 
 ie partisans of Phillip, as were also the tide of population rolled on with new 
 
 eople of Dracut and Chelmsford. Two vigor.* 
 
 sns of Samuel Varnum, ancestor of Gen- Before passing from this war, it may not 
 
 ral Varnum— who was four years Speaker be amiss to sum up briefly its results. The 
 
 f the National House of Representatives, ^oss of life on the part of the Indians is un- 
 
 nd once President pro tempore of the known ; but it was doubtless much greater 
 
 enate, and whose remains now rest in than that of the colonists. The military 
 
 eace on the banks of the murmuring operations of the whites involved the ex- 
 
 lerrimack in Dracut— were shot while penditure of five hundred thousand dollars, 
 
 rossina; the river in a boat. Six hundred colonists were killed. Thir- 
 
 On the third of February, 1676, some of teen towns, containing six hundred houses, 
 'hillip's partizans attacked Chelmsford, were destroyed by fire. Both races took 
 nd burned several buildings. Colburn's a savage delight in compelling their 
 arrison on the east side of (he Merri- enemies, in the language of Sir Walter 
 jack was now strengthened, and nearly Scott, " to taste of the tortures which an- 
 il the outer settlements were deserted, ticipate hell," and exhausted their inge- 
 L second attack was made on the twentieth ^^^^y i" devising new modes of protract- 
 f March, and Joseph Parker was wounded, ing t^e agonies of their captives. On the 
 Ither depredations were also committed one hand, a crew of savages tied a white 
 1 the region round about. captive to a stake, bit off his nails, tore 
 
 On the nineteenth of April, 1676,— a o"' ^is hair by the roots, pulled out his 
 
 ay f.ignalized since by the memorable tongue, gouged out his eyes, cut out pieces 
 
 onflicts of Lexington and Baltimore,— of his flesh and threw them into the fire, 
 
 laptain Samuel Hunting and Lieutenant compelled him to run the gauntlet of their 
 
 aines Richardson, were ordered by the tomahawks, clubs and knives, and finally 
 
 lovernor and Council, with all dispatch, roasted him to death by a slow fire. On 
 
 ) take command of a party of English and t^^e other hand, it must be remembered, 
 
 •iendly Indians, march to PawtucRei Falls, the colonists, when Phillip was slain, de- 
 
 nd erect fortifications against the allies nied hia body the decency of a burial, but 
 
 f Phillip. Their instructions were as foU cut off his head and bore it in triumph 
 
 )ws :— " If you meet wh the enimy you through the colony on a pole ; and even 
 
 re to use yor best skill & utmost endeuer seized his only son, a guileless boy of nine 
 
 ) sla)e, kill & destroy ym. * * ♦ You years, shipped him to the Bermuda Islands, 
 
 re wh all care to Gouvern the soldiers and sold him as a slave. Men that are 
 
 nder yr command according to the Rules dogs may strike a balance in favor of 
 
 f God's word & the wholesome laws of the which party they please ; men that are 
 
 juntry & take care to punish all profanes " , ^. „^.„. . 
 
 / o For original authorities touching King Phillip's 
 
 : wickednes. War, see Hubbard's Indian Wars; Increase Matlier's 
 
 A i' . „«^„_ri;^„I,, K..;]* „» Po... Briel History; Church's History of Kin;? Puiilip's 
 
 A fort was accordingly built at Paw- -w.„.; Mather's MagnUia. vol.2, pp 485-199; CUlen- 
 
 icket Falls, commanded by Lieutenant dor's Historical Discourse, pp. 126-136; Grahime'8 
 
 ' ■' . Hist. U. 8, vol.1, pp. 346-3.)l; Gook.n's History of 
 
 Lichardson. In the following monlh, christian Indians, 2 Am. Ant. Soc. Coll. See also, 
 
 Dralio'B History of Boston, and hia Book of the In- 
 
 OMass, Archives, vol. 68, p. 212,; dians.; Barry's History of Massachusetts, etc 
 
20 
 
 men will pronounce the conduct of both 
 parties superlatively execrable. 
 
 WANNALANCET. 
 
 Wannalancet and the Wamesit Indians, 
 whom we left in the northern wilderness, 
 kept wisely aloof from the contest until the 
 return ot peace. Their final return was 
 accomplished by intrigue. Major Waldron^ 
 who then commanded a military force at 
 Dover, New Hampshire, contrived by 
 diplomatic persuasion, to lure the Indians, 
 far and near, to the number of four hun- 
 dred, to engage with him in a general 
 military muster. While perfoiming their 
 evolutions, they were all suddenly sur- 
 rounded and taken as prisoners of war. 
 Two hundred of them, some of whom 
 were as innocent of hostile acts or designs 
 against the colonists as babes unborn, were 
 shipped to the West Indies, and in spite 
 of the solemn remonstrance of the Apostle 
 Eliot, sold into perpetual slavery. Among 
 those thus trepanned by Waldron was the 
 gentle Wannalancet, with his tribe. A 
 number of them were falsely accused of 
 having borne arms against the colonists ; 
 some of these were sent off and sold as 
 slaves with other Indian captives, and the 
 rest of the accused were publicly executed 
 at Boston. Even one of the sons of Nump- 
 how barely escaped the gallows. 
 
 On his return from the wilderness, Wan- 
 nalancet brought with him seven white 
 captives — Phillip Eastman, and the wife 
 and five children of Thomas Kimball, of 
 Bradford — who had been captured by some 
 of the adherents of Phillip — whom Wanna- 
 lancet's good offices had saved from death, 
 even after they had been condemned, and 
 the fires twice prepared to burn them 
 This return of good for evil, kindness for 
 cruelty, was the only revenge which Wan- 
 nalancet ever inflicted on his persecutors. 
 
 Wannalancet, with the remains of his 
 broken tribe, now returned to his abode 
 at Wamesit ; but he never afterward felt 
 reconciled here ; for his corn-fields had 
 been seized by the white settlers, and the 
 whole aspect of his affairs was changed. 
 By order of the General Court, he and his 
 
 people were placed under the guardianship 
 of Colonel Jonathan Tyng of Dunstable, 
 who received twenty pounds sterling per 
 annum for keeping them ; and lands were 
 given to them on Wickasauke Island. The 
 number thus placed at Wickasauke Falls 
 was about ten men and fifty women and 
 children ; fifteen men and fifty women and 
 children having been removed elsewhere 
 and " bound out to service ;" — a most un- 
 grateful requital for their steadfast friend- 
 ship to the colonists. Calling one day on 
 the Rev. Mr. Fiske, the minister in Chelms- 
 ford, Wannalancet kindly inquired about 
 all his old acquaintances, and particularly 
 whether that town had suffered much 
 during the late war. Mr. Eiske replied 
 that the people there had not suffered 
 much, but had been highly favored, and 
 he thanked God for it. "Me, next," re- 
 plied Wannalancet, referring to his own 
 kind offices in defense of his white neigh- 
 bors, notwithstanding they had been his 
 persecutors. 
 
 Nor did the kind offices of Wannalancet 
 terminate even here. In March, 1677^ 
 during the war between the French and 
 English, he called on Captain Henchman 
 in Chelmsford, informed him that the Mo- 
 hawks, who were in league with the French 
 against the English colonists, were up the 
 river at Souhegan, and warned the Cap- 
 tain to be on his guard. By order of the 
 Council, Lieutenant Richardson traversed 
 the whole valley during the following sea- 
 son, with a scouting party, to ward off 
 attack. 
 
 in September, 1677, Wannalancet re- 
 ceived a visit from a party of the St. Fran- 
 cis Indians from Canada, accompanied by 
 one of his brothers, who urged him to unite 
 with them. He finally yielded to their 
 solicitations, and with nearly all the In- 
 dians then residing here, about fifty in 
 number, bade a final adieu to Wamesit. 
 
 In July, 1678, the treaty of Nimeguen 
 being concluded between Charles the Sec- 
 ond and Louis the Fourteenth^ hostilities 
 ceased, and the white settlers left their 
 garrison houses and resumed their former 
 abodes. The dwellers on the Merrimack 
 
21 
 
 slept under the security of that treaty as frontier towns, should desert the same 
 
 calmly as the dwellers on the Thames or during the war, such estate should be for- 
 
 the Seine. feited ; and that if any male inhabitant of 
 
 Wannalancet soon regretted the facility either of said towns, above sixteen years 
 
 with which he had yielded to the solicita- of age, should desert such town, he should 
 
 tions of bis French-Canadian friends. He forfeit the sum of ten pounds.* 
 
 returned to I'ennacook, and in September, The Indians of the region of Canada, 
 
 1085, received a grant of ten pounds ster- excited by the Jesuits in league with the 
 
 ling from the Massachusetts General Court. French, made continual attacks on the 
 
 In 1(>80, Wannalancet and the Indians re- colonists of the frontiers. Forts and forti- 
 
 maining at Wameait, Puwtucket, Nashua, fiod houses were again the retreats of all 
 
 Concord, Groton, Lancaster, Stow, and such as could get into them. Garrisons 
 
 Dunstable, sold ail their lands in those were established in Amesbury, Haverhill, 
 
 places to Jonathan Tyng and others, and Billerica (including Tewksbury), Chelms- 
 
 retired to the fast-receding forests of the ford, Dunstable, Groton, and Marlbo- 
 
 North and Xorth-East.* Their final depar- rough. t 
 
 ture must have presented a scene not dis- The fort at Fawtucket Falls was occupied 
 
 similar to that pictured by Goldsmith in by a garrison commanded by Major Ilench- 
 
 his " Deserted Village :'' — man ; and mounted scouts were employed 
 
 "Good Heavens I what Borrowe gloomed that parting to scour the frontiers, and ward off attack. 
 
 „. ''"y,, , ,, . ... .. ,, „ But this did not entirely save them. On 
 
 That called thorn from their native walks away," ■" " / ^ • ^" 
 
 etc. the first of August, 1692, the Indians in 
 
 In 1688 came the English Revolution, league with the French in Canada, at- 
 
 the dethronement of the Stuart Dynasty, tacked Billerica, and killed eight of the 
 
 and the accession of William, Prince of inhabitants— Mrs. Ann Shed and two 
 
 Orange, The New England Colonists, daughters, Mrs. Joanna Dutton and two 
 
 rising against their Governor, Sir Edmund daughters, and two others. On the fifth 
 
 Andros, warmly espoused the cause of of August, 1G95, they visited that part of 
 
 •' the immortal Deliverer." In the follow- Billerica which is now Tewksbury, and 
 
 ing year came King William's War; killed Mr. John Rogers and fourteen oth- 
 
 France and her Colonies supporting the era. These attacks were planned with 
 
 dethroned King James ; while the English gr^a* secrecy and skill. It was always 
 
 Colonies, prompted alike by principle and when the danger of assault seemed the 
 
 by self-interest, fought on the side of King 'east, that the foe. with stealthy step, ac- 
 
 William. This conHict lasted nine years, ^^^^lly appeared, to execute the work of 
 
 and was closed by the treaty of liyswick death. Colonel Joseph Lynde, of Charles- 
 
 in 1798. The general events of this war, town, with three hundrod armed men, 
 
 from its commencement to its brilliant ^^0"^ and foot, ranged all the swamps and 
 
 termination, have been narrated in full by woods of Andover, Chelmsford and Bil- 
 
 the masterly pen of Lord Macaulay, and 'erica, but found no trace of the foe. The 
 
 need no recital here. ^'" '° Belvidero called Lynde's Kill, de- 
 
 The nine years of this war were years "^^s its name from this Colonel Lynde, 
 
 of terror to the people of this region and '^'^^'"g ^^*^" fortified and occupied for 
 
 of all the border settlements of New Eng- ^ome time by him and his command, 
 land. To prevent the settlers from sur- '^^'e ^^ar nothing of Wannalancet after 
 
 rendering to their fears, in March, 1G94, the sale of lands before meniioned, till 
 
 the General Court enacted that if any '^^^ and 1698, at the close of King Wil- 
 
 person, having an estate of freehold in ''a™'^ ^^ar, when he turns up for the last 
 
 Chelmsford, Dunstable, and sundry other ^'^"^*^> ""^^^^ ^^^ guardianship of Colonel 
 
 • See Bentiey'a History of Balom. t Ibid. p. 2tn. 
 
 • S.o Mass. Archives, vol. 70, pp. 240—242. 
 
22 
 
 Tyng. After this, we bear of him no more. 
 Wandering, a stranger — if not also a prison- 
 er — among the haunts of his infancy, and 
 over the graves of his fathers, with the 
 impress of hope long deferred stamped in 
 deep furrows upon his brow, the sighing 
 breezes of heaven, and the multitudinous 
 voices of the river's waves, must have 
 filled him with sad and pensive memories, 
 falling upon his ear like voices from the 
 spirit-land. That he lingered so long 
 around the graves of his fathers, shows 
 that it would have pleased him to be laid 
 at their feei at last, and to mingle his own 
 dust with theirs. But this was not to be. 
 It is believed by all who have made Indian 
 history their study, that, dissatisfied with 
 his strange life here, he finally retired to 
 the St. Francis tribe, and ended his days 
 with them. The chief glory of his life 
 was to be a true Christian, and to be ever 
 the white man's friend. His renunciation 
 of the rude creed of his childhood, and 
 his refusal to join the coalition of King 
 Phillip, lost him a majority of the old 
 Pawtucket or Pennacook Confederacy, 
 which chose his nephew, the brave and 
 wary Kancamagus, or John Hogkins, as 
 their chief, — he being in full sympathy with 
 the young and warlike spirits of the 
 tribe. 
 
 The portion of the tribe which followed 
 Kancamagus, took part in all the wars of 
 this period. On the night of the twenty- 
 seventh of June, 1689, they attacked Do- 
 ver, New Hampshire, put the commander, 
 Waldron, to death with the most protract- 
 ed tortures, burned six houses and the 
 mills of the settlement, and captured and 
 killed fifty-two men, women and children. 
 They afterward became merged with the 
 Androscoggin tribe in Maine, as those 
 who adhered to Wannalancet became 
 merged with the St. Francis tribe in 
 Canada. 
 
 The Apostle Eliot did not live to see the 
 end of this war, but passed to the world 
 which had been the theme of his dis- 
 courses, in 1690. He had the mortification 
 to see the labors of more than forty years 
 terminate in failure. He lived to witness 
 
 the fourteen Christian towns which he had 
 organized, reduced first to seven, and af- 
 terward to four ; and even these were not 
 long to survive. Much of his time toward 
 the close of his life was spent in promoting 
 education among the negroes, many of 
 whom were now living in the colony as 
 slaves. In his old age, he was compared 
 to Homer's Nestor, whose lips dropped 
 manna sweeter than honey ; and his bi- 
 ographers point out many beautiful corres- 
 pondences between him and John, " the 
 disciple whom Jesus loved." 
 
 But while history must accord to Eliot 
 the highest honors as a philanthropist, a 
 saint, and an apostle, it cannot withhold 
 the confession that, when compared with 
 the missionary achievements of the Jesu- 
 its, the eS"orls of Eliot sink into almost 
 perfect insignificance. About all that 
 now remains to remind us of the labors of 
 Eliot and his compeers, are a few copies 
 of his Bible and other Indian books, as 
 unintelligible as the inscriptions on the 
 obelisk ot Luxor. The works of the Jesu- 
 it fathers, on the other hand, are visible 
 from the tropics to the poles. There is 
 not a tribe on the whole continent, from 
 Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands, 
 which has not furnished converts to the So- 
 ciety of Jesus. We Protestants may re- 
 gret it ; we may dislike to confess it ; but 
 the fact is incontestable, that as a mission- 
 ary or proselyting church, the Roman 
 Catholic Church ranks far superior to any 
 of the heretical churches that have sprung 
 from her prolific loins. 
 
 Nor is it difficult to account for this. 
 The Protestant labored mainly to elevate 
 the savage to the plane of his own civili- 
 zation — a task in itself impossible. The 
 religion which he presented consisted in 
 abstract ideas and dogmas hard to be- 
 lieve and impossible to understand. — 
 The Jesuits, on the contrary, talked lit- 
 tle of dogma, made nothing of abstrac- 
 tions, and adopted, to a great extent, 
 the Indian modes of thought and life. 
 They initiated their simple minded re- 
 cruits into the mysteries of their elabo- 
 rate and beautiful symbolism ; they chant- 
 
23 
 
 ed in their ears Te Deum Laudamus, 
 hymns to Mary, and all those glorious 
 soul-stirring anthems which grew like blos- 
 soms out of the piety of the Catholic 
 Church of the early ages ; and the hearts 
 of their converts throbbed and melted un- 
 der the tones of this divine music ; they 
 saw the Jesuits bow down before the host 
 and kiss the crucifix, and they bowed 
 down before the host and kissed the cru- 
 cifix too. Thus almost unconsciously, 
 they caught the spirit of the new faith, 
 and became, with their children, willing 
 subjects for the baptism without which, 
 they were assured, they must perish ever- 
 lastingly. 
 
 REVENGES OF HISTORY. 
 
 The remainder of our narrative is chief- 
 ly a record of bloody revenges. Wc have al- 
 ready seen what abominable cruelties the 
 Indians suffered from the whites. We 
 have seen them sold into West Indian 
 Slavery, shot down like dogs in the street 
 at noonday, hung on trees in Boston, and 
 burned to death in their own wigwams. 
 The souls of the slain cried for years for 
 redress to that God who has said, " ven- 
 geance is mine ;" nor did they cry in vain. 
 As long as the helm of this universe is 
 held by God, and not by the Devil, such 
 villainies as we have related can never 
 pass unpunished. 
 
 •' Tlio hand that Blew till It could slay no more, 
 Waa gluod to tho Bword-hllt with Indian gore." 
 
 But for every drop of Indian blood shed 
 by the early s'ittlers, the sons of those 
 settlers were com])elled to make full and 
 fearful expiation. The record that was 
 written in blood was wiped out in blood. 
 Driven from the valley of the Meirimack, 
 and from the other river-bottoms of Mas- 
 sachusetts, the red sons of fhe forest found 
 refuge in the trackless wilds of Canada 
 and Maine, and infused their own thirst 
 for revenge into the tribes whom they 
 joined. Sallying forth from these far-off 
 forest homes, their war-whoop reverber- 
 ated through the colonies for seventy 
 years, and kept the people of the fron- 
 tiers in continual consternation. Scarce- 
 
 ly a week passed without witnessing scenes 
 of blood and cruelty, the mere recital of 
 which shocks tho feelings, and makes 
 the flesh creep with horror. Neither 
 ago nor sex was spared. The blood of 
 the whites everywhere crimsoned the 
 ground. Tho flames of burning dwellings 
 reddened the midnight sky. The shrieks 
 of captives, dying in excruciating tortures, 
 echoed from every mountain-top ; and 
 the whole body of the colonists, like Mac- 
 beth in the tragedy, " supped full of hor- 
 rors." Those in this region, though liv- 
 ing at the time in garrisons, were not 
 spared their share of these troubles, more 
 especially during Queen Anne's War, 
 which lasted from 1703 to 1713, — as the 
 histories of Chelmsford and Dunstable, 
 by Allen and Fox, abundantly attest. 
 From the beginning of King Phillip's War 
 to the close of Queen Anne's War, that is, 
 from 1675 to 1714, the colonies of Massa- 
 chusetts and New Hampshire alone lost 
 not less than six thousand of their male 
 population.* These troubles did not whol- 
 ly cease till the fall of Quebec before the 
 arms of the heroic Wolfe, and the final 
 conquest of Canada. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 But it is time these retrospections were 
 ended. Though some of them must shock 
 our sense of justice, others of them bring 
 the satisfying assurance that there is a law 
 of covipensation traceable through history, 
 and that, as Tennyson beautifully says, — 
 
 "All the whiln the whirligig of Timo 
 Is brln(,'iug its roTOiigoB. 
 
 Our narrative has unfolded many facts 
 calculated to live in the memory, and im- 
 part new attractions to the region in 
 which our lot is cast. No part of the 
 earth's service is more worthy of study, 
 for us, than that on which we live. No 
 part can boast a history more replete with 
 the elements of poetry and romance. 
 
 • For a piotnre, drawn by a master-band, of th» 
 condition of the rioniiers during ibis period, tee Ban- 
 croft* UiBtory, vol. 2, p. 102, 
 
24 
 
 What Lowell now is, — what her industry 
 is, — what she has done for the advance- 
 ment of the mechanic arts, — what she has 
 contributed to the comfort and well-being 
 of civilized mankind, — what her citizens 
 have done, and are now doing, for the 
 preservation of the unity and nationality 
 of America, — the world well knows. If 
 this narrative has not wholly failed of its 
 object, it has shown that there are Indian 
 and Pioneer memories associated with this 
 region, not unworthy to be remembered 
 in connection with more recent events.f 
 
 t For information in relation to Lowell, see Cow- 
 ley's History of Lowell ; Appleton's Origin of Low- 
 
 Well and truly does one of our Merrimack 
 Valley poets say — 
 
 "Had Homer, 'stead of Argos' classic strand, 
 Claimed this fair valley as his native land. 
 How would uhese scenes have swarmed with noble 
 
 men ; 
 How buried heroes would have lived againi 
 Each lofty mountain, and each woody hill. 
 Each winding stream, and gently flowing rill, 
 Each rocli and dell along this river shore, 
 In flowing verse would live lorevermore." X 
 
 ell ; Miles' Lowell as it was and aa it is ; V^hlttier's 
 Stranser In Lowell ; Francis' Lowell Hydraulic Ex- 
 periments; Watson's Hand-Book for the Visitor to 
 Lowell ; Scoresby's American Factories and their Fe- 
 mal« Operatives; Montgomery's History of the Cot- 
 ton vianufacture in America; Everett's Memoir of 
 John Lowell ; Lowell's Memoir of Patricli T. Jacli- 
 Bon; Edson's, of Warren Colburn ; Huntington's, of 
 Elisha Bartlett, etc. 
 
 X William Starls's Manchester, N. H., CentenniaL 
 Poem (1851), in Potter's Manckester, p. 30. 
 
 »D 
 
 1.4 B.K''^'^ 
 
NOTICEiS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 In this well written and readable pamiiliiet we have another tribute to " the poor Indian " of 
 by -gone ilays, wiioonce flourished on the hanlts of our goodh- river, by Charles Cowiev, Ksii., the 
 Lowell historian. In reading it, we forget that we are inhalnting theCity of Spindles, and begin 
 to wonder what sort nf an anpearanee wliat is now called Lowell assiuneil, two InindriMl yi-ars ago. 
 Mr. Cowley seems to be well posted in the history of the Merrimack river. He is well read in the 
 adventures of the Sieur de < 'hamj)lain, who was the lirst J'",uropean who.se eyes were gladdened 
 by the waters of the Merrimaek. One rannot read the details of cruelty, (to the Indian.s) unfolded 
 in Mr. Cowdey'.s essay, without a touch of indignation. — J.oinll Ai/rtiiinir. 
 
 Charles Cowley, Ksq., of our city, has given much and jiatient attention to antifpiarian re- 
 .searches. The early reminiscences here brought together occupy a wide space in our local history, 
 and have only been accessible, heretofore, to the few who are within reach of the re«'orils of aborigi- 
 nal tunes. We can but hope that Mr. Cowley will lind a reasonable re<iuilal for hii creditable 
 work. — LowtU Citizen ./ Xews. 
 
 His terse style and poetic comparisons, as he introduces the "lords of the forest" in contrast 
 with the "lords of the loom," the wigwams of the nalive.s, their gewgaws and social ties, their 
 governments and attaclnnents — in contradistinction to our present state of society — our modern- 
 ized and civili/.ed characteristics — all combine to invest his work with [jcculiar interest. In 
 addition to niiu-h re;dly important information, and many interesting incidents, there is much 
 suggcstctl that does not appear on the surface, alfording food for thought to the rellccting mind. 
 In the character, conduct, iiosition, and treatment of the Chri.stiaji Indians, during King I'hiHip'a 
 "War, in ll)7')-li, so graphically described bv the writer, we think we can discern much that is 
 analogous to the character, conduct, jxisitfon, and treatment of the contraband negroes of the 
 ](reseul day. King I'liillip's War, in 1(!7.'>, is treated at some length, and with great ability, atler 
 whicli, the gentle \\'annalancet is introiluced; but we are uualde. in a short newspaper notice, to 
 point out half the e.\cellences of this little work. — Lmrrll I'nx I'ltpuli. 
 
 The author has rescued and pre.served much, which otherwise, it may be feared, would have 
 j)!issed into ol)livion. A succinct and well digested account of the tribe of Indians Ibrmcrly occupy- 
 nig Lowell and the surrounding region is given, with an e.vi-elli^nt delineation and portraiture of 
 their ]iriiicii)al chief The history of the lirst white settlers is also interwovi-n with the narrative, 
 so as to complete the graphic picture. The foot notes are valuable, and the citations of authorities 
 ample. The reflections arising from the subject are, in the njain, just, accurate, ami discriminat- 
 ing, evincing good taste and careful judgment. It exhibits much research, a patient attention to 
 details, a careful adherence to accuracy, and a proper ada])tation and elucidation of the several 
 parts of the subject. The whole couil)ines, in an entertaining and instructive narrative, many 
 valuable facts not otherwise easily accessible, and is of permanent value. — Loivtll Courier. 
 
 The work is really the history of Lowell befoi'e Lowell was, and shows how much of interesting 
 matter there is to be told of that important section of country ere cotton had been ginned at the 
 South, or cottons manutactured at the North. We are glad to see that Mr. Cowley does justice to 
 tlie Indians, a race vilely used by the whites, who generalh' libel those whom they "trample upon or 
 destroy. Often rising to eloquence, just in its opinions, and abounding with facts not ea.silv to be 
 oblaiiiid, Mr. tjowley's pamphlet deserves high i)raise; and we should think it might be usefully 
 e.vtended into a larger and more elaborate work. — Boston Tninller. 
 
 He has taki-n great pains to look up his authorities, and has thus brought much matter which is 
 both interesting and usefid, within the compass of twenty-tbur pages. AVe regret to say that a 
 jurusal of the narrative does not tend to elevate our conceptions of the mode of treatment finally 
 ailministered to thi' Indians by our ancestors. It is a chapter in our history painful to dwell 
 upon. — JJoston Couritr. 
 
 ■We have here, compressed in a few pages, a complete history, as far as known, of a people ex- 
 tending through more than a century. While it is pleasant to gather u]> tlie memorials of these 
 pioneer settlers in our land, it is .sad to think how suddenly the.se "red men" have nearly all 
 disappeared Irom the earth, ami that, too, occasioned in part by the wrongs inflicted upon them by 
 tlic " white man." — Boaton Coni/nynliomtlist. 
 
 Itco:Uains many facts concorning the early settleaient of that region by the colonists, and, as 
 an historical sketch of the Indians and Pioneers of Lowell, will doubtless be of both interest and 
 value. — Boston Coninierciil Built tin. 
 
 Citizens anil former residents of Lowell, as well as all who live in the beautiful valley of the 
 Merrimack, will liml it very interesting. None can read ths glowing address without feeling ever 
 atU>r a \varmer, deeper, and closer attachment to the place where the events which it recites took 
 place. — Lnwrence Journnl. 
 
 The narrative is comi)rehensive and instructive, and is enriched by many fact.s and in< ident.s, 
 tlie result of cjireful research and inrjiiiry. The sketches of the jwrsi'nial history of the leading 
 Indians, are vividly delineated. We observe throughout a clearness and symmetry of style whicJi 
 renders this valuable contribution to colonial history of additional worth.— Jhil/iai'/i (Jnzi'tte. 
 
 This work, though of special interest to the dwellers in those parts where the .^-cenes and incidents 
 90 grapiiically de.s<rilied were enacted, can be scarcely less interesting to the antiquary ami the 
 student of our country's history, even-where. We have a rich fund of information, gleaned with 
 much patient industry from ilocuments never yet, we believe, made |>ublic,<ir thun works publi-lied 
 but rare and little known. The narrative is widl worth a <-areful iierusal, and we cordialiv com- 
 mend it to all who teel any interest in the history of the early .settlements of our country. Ami wc 
 would here express the hojK', shared by many who have read this pamphlet, that the author a 
 gentleman who, in the pra.tice of his profession of the law, and formerly a.s editor of the most 
 inrtuential journal pul>li.slied in Lowell, hiis already displayed those intellectual qualifies which ijo 
 to make the acceptable historian, might be induced to give this subject in a more eniarired and 
 permanent form. — Xcuo York Protcslunl. 
 

 
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