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It
would be extremely gratifying, if we could roll back the veil of oblivion
which shrouds the early history of the American continent, and through the
sunlight which must once have illumined those regions of now impenetrable
darkness, behold the scenery, and trace the events, which occupied that
long space of silence or activity. Has one half of this great globe
slumbered in unprofitable and inglorious uselessness since the morning of
the creation, serving no other purpose than to balance the opposite
portion in its revolutions through unvarying ages? or has it been
peopled by innumerable nations, enjoying all the vicissitudes of animal
and intellectual life?
The most
strenuous advocates of the priority of the claim of Columbus to the
discovery of America, admit that he found people here - and we can look
back with certainty to no period, however remote, in which we do not find
the continent inhabited. How came those people here? Were they
the descendants of a cis-atlantic Adam? Or did they find their way,
by accident or design, from the eastern continent? If the
latter supposition be the most probable, then a corresponding accident or
design might have returned some of those daring adventurers to their
homes, and thus a knowledge have been conveyed of the existence of another
continent. Nor are the difficulties of a passage, either from Europe
or Asia, so great as may at first be supposed. The continent of Asia
approaches within fifty miles of the northwest coast of America; and
ships which traded, from Iceland to the Levant, might easily have sailed
from Greenland along the shore of New England. People were much more
venturous in early days than we are generally willing to allow. And canoes
might have passed across the ocean from Japan, and even by the isles of
the Pacific - as it is evident they must have done, to people those
islands. When Captain Blighe was cast adrift by Christian, he passed
twelve hundred miles in an open boat with safety. Why might not such
an event have happened three thousand years ago as well as
yesterday?
The Scandinavian manuscripts
inform us that in the year 986, Eric the Red, an Icelandic prince,
emigrated to Greenland. In his company was Bardson, whose son Biarne
was then on a voyage to Norway. On his return, going in search of
his father, he was driven far to sea, and discovered an unknown
country. In the year 1000, Leif, a son of Eric, pursued the
discovery of the new country, and sailed along the coast as far as Rhode
Island, where he made a settlement; and because he found grapes there, he
called it Vineland. In 1002, Thorwald, his brother, went to
Vineland, where he remained two years.
It is very reasonable to suppose that these voyagers, in sailing along the
coast, discovered Lynn, and it is even probable that they landed at
Nahant. In 1004, we are informed that Thorwald, leaving Vineland, or
Rhode Island, "sailed eastward, and then northward, past a remarkable
headland, enclosing a bay, and which was opposite to another headland.
They called it Kialarnes, or Keel-cape," from its resemblance to the keel
of a ship. There is no doubt that this was Cape Cod. And as they had
no map, and could not see Cape Ann, it is probable that the other
headland was the Gurnet. "From thence, they sailed along the eastern
coast of the land to a promontory which there projected (probably
Nahant) and which was everywhere covered with wood. Here Thorwald
went ashore, with all his companions. He was so pleased with the
place, that he exclaimed -' Here it is beautiful! and here I should like
to fix my dwelling!' Afterwards, when they were prepared to go on
board, they observed on the sandy beach, within the promontory, three
hillocks. They repaired thither, and found three canoes, and under
each three Skrellings, (Indians.) They came to blows with them, and
killed eight of them, but the ninth escaped in his canoe. Afterward
a countless multitude of them came out from the interior of the bay
against them. They endeavored to protect themselves by raising
battle-screens on the ship's side. The Skrellings continued shooting
at them for a while and then retired. Thorwald had been wounded by
an arrow under the arm. When he found that the wound was mortal, he
said, ' I now advise you to prepare for your departure as soon as
possible; but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I thought it good
to dwell. It may be that it was a prophetic word which fell from my
mouth, about my abiding there for a season. There ye shall bury me;
and plant a cross at my head and also at my feet, and call the place
Krossanes - [the Cape of the Cross] -in all time coming. He died,
and they did as he had ordered; afterward they returned." (Antiquitates
Americanae, xxx.)
The question has arisen
whether Krossanes, was Nahant or Gurnet Point. There is nothing
remarkable about the latter place, and though so long a time has passed,
no person has thought it desirable to dwell there, but it is used as a
sheep pasture. It is far otherwise with Nahant, which answers to the
description well. An early writer says that it was "well wooded with
oaks, pines, and cedars;" and it has a "sandy beach within the
promontory." Thousands also, on visiting it, have borne witness to
the appropriateness of Thorwald's exclamation-" Here it is beautiful! and
here I should like to fix my dwelling!"
If the authenticity of the Scandinavian manuscripts be admitted, the
Northmen, as the people of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are called,
visited this country repeatedly, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries;
but if they made any settlements, they were probably destroyed in some of
the numerous wars of the aborigines. The Welch Triads and
Chronicles, those treasures of historic and bardic lore, inform us, that
in 1170, Madoc, Prince of Wales, on the tyrannous usurpation of his
brother David, came to America with a party of his followers, and settled
a colony. I see no reason to doubt this record - but if there were
no descendants of Welchmen in America then, there are plenty
now.
Alonzo Sanchez, of Huelva, in
Spain, in a small vessel with seventeen men, as we are informed by De la
Vega, was driven on the American coast in 1487. He returned with
only five men, and died at the house of Columbus.
In 1492, the immortal Columbus made his first
voyage to South America, but he did not come to North America until
1498.
In 1497, Sebastian Cabot, a bold
and enterprising English man visited the coast of North America, and took
possession of it in the name of his king, Henry VII.
In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold visited our
shores. He discovered land on Friday, 14 May, at six o'clock in the
morning, according to Purchas's Pilgrim, vol. 4, p. 1647. Sailing
along by the shore, at noon, he anchored near a place which he called
Savage Rock, and which many have supposed to have been Nahant.
(Bancroft's U. S., vol. 1, p. 112.) A sail-boat went off to
them, containing eight Indians, dressed in deer-skins, excepting their
chief, who wore a complete suit of English clothes, which he had obtained
by trading at the eastward. The Indians treated them kindly, and
desired their longer stay; but they left, about three in the afternoon,
(Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. 27,) and sailing southerly, "sixteen leagues," the
next morning they found themselves just within Cape Cod.
Archer's account of the voyage says, "The Coast we left was full of goodly
Woods, faire Plaines, with little green, round Hils above the Cliffs
appearing unto vs, which are indifferently raised, but all Rockie, and of
shining stones, which might have perswaded vs a longer stay there."
This answers well to the appearances at Nahant; but some have supposed
Savage Rock to be somewhere on the coast of Maine. There is,
however, no spot on that coast which answers exactly to the description;
and Judge Williamson, the historian of Maine, says, " we have doubts
whether Gosnold ever saw any land of ours. (Hist. Maine, vol. 1, p.
185.)
In 1603, Martin Pring came
over with two vessels, the Speedwell and the Discoverer, to obtain
medicinal plants. He says, "Coming to the Maine, in latitude 43
degrees, we ranged the same to the southwest. Meeting with no
sassafras, we left those places, with all the aforesaid islands, shaping
our course for Savage Rocke, discovered the yeare before by Captain
Gosnold; where, going upon the Mayne, we found people, with whom we had no
long conversation, because we could find no sassafras. Departing
thence, we bear into that great gulf, (Cape Cod Bay,) which Captain
Gosnold overshot the yeare before, coasting and finding people on the
north side thereof; yet not satisfied with our expectation, we left them
and sailed over, and came to anchor on the south side." (Purchas,
vol. 4, p. 1654.) Other voyagers, doubtless, visited our coast, but
as places were unnamed, and the language of the natives unknown, little
information can be gained from their descriptions.
Thus far we
have pursued our way through the shadows which envelope the whole early
history of the American continent. We have now come to a period when
the indications of truth give place to certainty; when the shadows
disappear, and the sun of civilization and refinement begins to dawn
brightly upon us. We have now particulars enough, perhaps to satisfy
the most fastidious - certainly more than any other people on
earth.
The next white man who appears at
Nahant, was that dauntless hero and enterprising statesman Captain
John Smith. Having established the colony of Virginia, he
came north, in 1614, made a survey of the whole coast, and published a
map. In his description of the islands of Massachusetts Bay,
proceeding westward from Naumkeag, now Salem, he says, "The next I can
remember by name are the Mattahunts, two pleasant Isles of Groves, Gardens
and Cornfields, a league in the sea from the Maine. The Isles of
Mattahunts are on the west side of this bay, where are many Isles, and
some Rocks, that appear a great height above the water, like the
Pieramides of Egypt." It is evident that by the Mattahunts he meant
the Nahants, the pronunciation of which, perhaps, he imperfectly
"remembered." His delineation of these islands on the map, though
very small, is very correct; and he named them the "Fullerton Islands,"
probably from the name of the surveyor, or some other friend. He
appears to have examined the islands and shores attentively. He
says, " The coast of Massachusetts is so indifferently mixed with high
clay or sandy cliffs in one place, and the tracts of large, long ledges of
divers sorts, and quarries of stones in other places, so strangely divided
with tinctured veins of divers colours, as free stone for building, slate
for tyling, smooth stone for making Furnaces and Forges for Glasse and
Iron, and Iron ore sufficient conveniently to melt in them.... who will
undertake the rectifying of an Iron Forge, in my opinion cannot lose."
(Smith's New England) As the beds of iron in Saugus had not
then been discovered, he probably mistook the hornblende ledge on the
north of Nahant for a mine of iron ore.
The Nahants appear to have been admired and coveted by all who
visited them. On the 20th of December, 1622, we find them granted by
the Council in England, to Captain Robert Gorges.
He came over in 1623, took possession of his lands, and probably commenced
a settlement at Winnisimet, which was also included in his
grant.
'The said Councill
grant unto Robert Gorges, youngest son of Sir
Fernando Gorges, Knight, and his heires, all that part of the
Maine land in New England, commonly called and known by the name of the
Massachusetts, scytuate and lyeing vpon the North East side of the Bay,
called and known by the name of the Massachusetts, or by whatever name or
names whatsoever called, with all coastes and shoares along the Sea for
Ten English miles in a straight line towards the North East, accounting
seventeen hundred and sixty yards to the mile; and 30 English miles, after
the same rate, into the Mayne Land, through all the breadth aforesaid;
togeather with all Islands so lyeinge within 3 miles of any part of the
said land.
Robert Gorges
dyes without issue; the said lands descend to John
Gorges, his eldest brother. John Gorges by deed
bearing date 20 January, 1628-9, (4 Car. I.) grants to Sir William
Brereton, of Handforth, in the County of Chester, Baronet, and
his heires, all the lande, in breadth, lyeinge from the East side of
Charles River to the Easterly parte of the Cape called Nahannte, and all
the lands lyeinge in length 20 miles northeast into the Maine land from
the mouth of the said Charles River, lyeinge also in length 20 miles into
the Maine land from the said Cape Nahannte: also two Islands lyeinge next
unto the shoare between Nahannte and Charles River, the bigger called
Brereton, and the lesser Susanna. (These two islands were East
Boston and Belle Isle.)
Sir William Brereton dyes, leaving
Thomas, his only son, afterward Sir
Thomas, and Susanna his daughter. Sir
Thomas dyes without issue. Susanna marries
Edward Lenthall, Esq. and dyes, leaving
Mary, her only daughter and heire.
Mary is married to Mr. Leavitt of the
Inner Temple, who claymes the said Lands in right of Mary
his wife, who is heire to Sir William Brereton and Sir
Thomas Brereton.
Sir
William Brereton sent over Severall familyes and
Servants, who possessed and Improved severall Large tracts of the said
Lands, and made Severall Leases, as appeares by the said deedes.
[Mass. Archives.]
A portion of these
lands was granted by Captain Gorges to John
Oldham, including Nahant and part of Saugus. In a letter
from the Council in England to Governor Endicott, dated
17 April, 1629, we find as follows: "Mr. Oldham's grant
from Mr. Gorges, is to him and John
Dorrel, for all the lands within Massachusetts Bay, between
Charles River and Abousett River; Containing in length by streight lyne 5
Miles vp the Charles River into the Maine Land, northeast from the border
of said Bay, including all Creekes and Points by the way, and 3 Myles
in Length from the Mouth of the aforesaid River Abousett, vp into the
Maine Land N. W. including all Creekes and Points, and all the Land in
Breadth and Length between the foresaid Rivers, with all prerogatives,
royall Mynes excepted. (Hazard's Collections.) The writer of
this letter, in reference to the claim of Oldham, says, "
I hold it void in law," and advises Mr Endicott to take
possession. Such possession was taken of the Nahants, as will be
seen in proceeding; and though the heirs of Gorges
afterward renewed their claim, the colony declined either to relinquish or
pay; because Gorges, after being appointed to the
government, had relinquished the possession and returned to
England.
Before we proceed with the
history of the Whites, it will be interesting to learn something more
respecting the Red Men. Come, sit with me in the pleasant shade, and
I will tell you their story.
The emigrants
from England found the country inhabited by a people who were called
Indians, because when first discovered the country was supposed to be a
part of India. They were divided into several great nations, each of
which consisted of many tribes. Lechford says, "
They were governed by sachems, kings and sagamores, petty lords;" but
Smith, who was here before him, calls them " sagamos;"
and as the Indians, in this neighborhood at least, had no r in their
language, he is probably correct. The word sachem,
pronounced sawkum by the Indians, is a word meaning great
strength, or power; and the word sachemo, or sagamo, evidently has the
same derivation. Their plural was formed in uog; Sagamore Hill,
therefore, is the same as Sachemuog Hill, or the Hill of Kings.
There appear to have been as many as
seven nations in New England. The ever-warring Taratines inhabited
the eastern part of Maine, beyond the Penobscot river; and their great
sachem was Nultonanit. From the Penobscot to the
Piscataqua were the Chur-churs, formerly governed by a mighty chief,
called a Bashaba. The Pawtuckets had a great dominion, reaching from
the Piscataqua to the river Charles, and extending north as far as Concord
on the Merrimac. Their name is preserved in Pawtucket Falls, at
Lowell. They were governed by Nanapashemet,
who sometime lived at Lynn, and, according to Gookin,
could raise three thousand warriors. The Massachusetts, so named
from the Blue Hills at Milton, were governed by
Chickataubut, who also commanded three thousand
men. His dominion was bounded on the north and west by Charles
river, and on the south extended to Weymouth and Canton. The
Wampanoags occupied the southeastern part of Massachusetts, from Cape Cod
to Narraganset Bay. They were ruled by Massasoit,
whose chief residence was at Pokanoket, now Bristol, in Rhode Island.
He was a sachem of great power, having dominion over thirty-two
tribes, and could have brought three thousand warriors into the field, by
a word; yet he was a man of peace and a friend to the English, and during
all the provocations and disturbances of that early period, he governed
his nation in tranquillity for more than forty years, leaving an example
of wisdom to future ages. The Narragansets, on the west of
Narraganset Bay, in Rhode Island, numbered five thousand warriors, and
were governed by two sachems, Canonicus and his nephew
Miantonimo, who ruled together in harmony. The
Pequots occupied Connecticut, and were governed by
Sassacus, a name of terror, who commanded four thousand
fighting men, and whose residence was at New London. Besides these, there
were the Nipmucks in the interior of Massachusetts, who had no great
sachem, but united with the other nations in their wars, according to
their inclination. The Pequots and the Taratines were ever at war
with some of the other nations, and were the Goths arid Vandals of
aboriginal New England.
The Indians
were very numerous, until they were reduced by a great war, and by a
devastating sickness. All the early voyagers speak of 'multitudes,'
and 'countless multitudes.' Smith, who took
his survey in 1614, passing along the shore in a little boat, says, - 'The
seacoast as you pass, shows you all along, large corne fields, and great
troupes of well proportioned people;' and adds that there were three
thousand on the islands in Boston harbor. Gookin
has enumerated eighteen thousand warriors in five nations, and if the
remainder were as populous, there must have been twenty-five thousand
fighting men, and at least one hundred thousand people, in New England.
[But could that be called a large population for such an extent of
territory? a population equal to but half that of Boston at this
time. Nomadic and all unsettled branches of our race are usually
small in numbers. And the stories told by some of the early comers,
so magnifying the Indian populations, are no more worthy of credit than
the fanciful chapters of those modern writers who laud their virtues to a
degree hardly within the range of mortal attainment. A page or two
hence it is stated that Sagamore James resided at Lynn.
He was a ruler of some note. And yet, as further evidence that
there could have been but a small Indian population hereabout, at that
time, it may be added that Rev. Mr. Higginson says that
he commanded "not above thirty or forty men, for aught I can
learn."] In the spring of 1615, some provocation was given by the
western Indians to the Taratines, who, with a vindictive spirit, resolved
upon retaliation; and they carried their revenge to an extent scarcely
paralleled in the dreadful history of human warfare. They killed the
great Bashaba of Penobscot, murdered his women and children, and overran
the whole country from Penobscot to the Blue Hills. Their death-word was
"cram! cram! "-kill! kill!-and so effectually did they "suit the action to
the word," and so many thousands on thousands did they slaughter, that, as
Gorges says, it was "horrible to be spoken of." In
1617, commenced a great sickness, which some have supposed was the plague,
others the small pox or yellow fever. This sickness made such
dreadful devastation among those whom the tomahawk had not reached, that
when the English arrived, the land was literally covered with human
bones. Still the vengeance of the Taratines was unsatiated, and we
find them hunting for the lives of the few sagamores who
remained!
NANAPASHEMET, or
the New Moon, was one of the greatest sachems in New England, ruling over
a larger extent of country than any other. He swayed, at one time,
all the tribes north and east of the Charles river, to the river
Piscataqua. The Nipmucks acknowledged his dominion, as far as
Pocontocook, now Deerfield, on the Connecticut; and after his death they
had no great sachem. (Smith, Gookin, Hubbard. See also Samuel G.
Drake's interesting Book of the Indians, published since my first edition,
wherein he has accumulated a vast amount of facts respecting the Sons
of the Forest.) Nanapashemet, like the orb of
night, whose name he bore; had risen and shone in splendor. But his
moon was now full, and had begun to wane. He resided at Lynn until
the great war of the Taratines, in 1615. He then retreated to a hill
on the borders of Mistick river, where he built a house, and fortified
himself in the best manner possible. He survived the desolating
sickness of 1617; but the deadly vengeance of the Taratines, which induced
them to stop at nothing short of his death, pursued him to his retreat,
and there he was killed by them in 1619. In September, 1621, a party
of the Plymouth people, having made a visit to Obatinua,
sachem of Boston, went up to Medford. Mr. Winslow
says, "Having gone three miles, we came to a place where corn had been
newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone. A mile
from hence, Nanapashemet, their king, in his lifetime had
lived. His house was not like others; but a scaffold was largely
built, with poles and planks, some six foot from the ground, and the house
upon that, being situated upon the top of a hill. Not far from
hence, in a bottom, we came to a fort, built by their deceased king - the
manner thus: There were poles, some thirty or forty feet long, stuck in
the ground, as thick as they could be set one by another, and with those
they enclosed a ring some forty or fifty feet over. A trench, breast
high, was digged on each side; one way there was to get into it with a
bridge. In the midst of this palisade stood the frame of a house,
wherein, being dead, he lay buried. About a mile from hence we came
to such another, but seated on the top of a hill. Here
Nanapashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the
time of his death." The care which the great Moon Chief took to
fortify himself, shows the fear which he felt for his mortal enemy.
With his death, the vengeance of the Taratines seems in some degree to
have abated; and his sons, returning to the shore, collected the scattered
remnants of their tribes, over whom they ruled as sagamores on the arrival
of our fathers. The general government was continued by the saunks,
or queen of Nanapashemet, who was called Squaw
Sachem. She married Webbacowet, who was
the great physician of her nation. On the fourth of September, 1640,
she sold Mistick Ponds and a large tract of land now included in
Somerville, to Jotham Gibbons, of Boston. On the
eighth of March, 1644, she submitted to the government of the whites, and
consented to have her subjects instructed in the Bible. She died in
1667, being then old and blind. Nanapashemet had
three sonsWonohaquaham, Montowampate,
and Wenepoykin, all of whom became sagamores; and a
daughter Yawata.
WONOHAQUAHAM, was sagamore on Mistick river, including
Winnisimet. In 1627 he gave the whites liberty to settle at
Charlestown, and on the records of that town he is called a chief 'of
gentle and good disposition'" He was called by the English,
John, and died in 1633.
MONTOWAMPATE, sagamore of Lynn, was born in the year
1609. He lived on Sagamore Hill, near the northern end of Long
Beach. He had jurisdiction of Saugus, Naumkeag, and Masabequash; or
Lynn, Salem, and Marblehead. He was called by the white people,
James. Mr. Dudley in his letter to
the Countess of Lincoln, says, " Vppon the river of Mistick is seated
Saggamore John, and vppon the river of Saugus
Sagamore James, both soe named from the English.
The elder brother, John, is a handsome young.... (one
line wanting).... conversant with us, affecting English apparel and
houses, and speaking well of our God. His brother
James is of a far worse disposition, yet repaireth to us
often." He married Wenuchus, a daughter of
Passaconaway, the great powah, or priest of the nation,
whose chief residence was at Penacook, now Concord, on the Merrimac.
This venerable, and in some respects wonderful man, died about the year
1673, when he was one hundred and twenty years of age. On his death
bed, he called his friends around, and told them that he was going to the
land of spirits, to see them no more. He said he had been opposed to
the English at their first coming, and sought to prevent their settlement;
but now he advised them to oppose the white men no more, or they would all
be destroyed. The marriage of Montowampate took
place in the year 1629, when he was twenty years of age; and it gave him
an opportunity to manifest his high sense of the dignity which appertained
to a sachem. Thomas Morton, who was in the country
at the time, and wrote a work entitled the New English Canaan,
furnishes us with the following interesting particulars:
'The sachem or sagamore of Sagus, made
choice, when he came to man's estate, of a lady of noble descent, daughter
of Papasiquineo, the sachem or sagamore of the
territories near Merrimack river; a man of the best note in all those
parts, and, as my countryman, Mr. Wood, declares, in his
Prospect, a great nigromancer. This lady, the young sachem, with the
consent and good liking of her father, marries, and takes for his
wife. Great entertainment hee and his received in those parts, at
her father's hands, wheare they were rested in the best manner that might
be expected, according to the custome of their nation, with reveling, and
such other solemnities as is usual amongst them. The solemnity being
ended, Papasiquineo caused a selected number of his men
to waite on his daughter home into those parts that did properly belong to
her lord and husband; where the attendants had entertainment by the sachem
of Sagus and his countrymen. The solemnity being ended, the
attendants were gratified.
Not long after,
the new married lady had a great desire to see her father and her native
country, from whence she came. Her lord was willing to pleasure her,
and not deny her request, amongst them thought to be reasonable, commanded
a select number of his own men to conduct his lady to her father, where
with great respect they brought her; and having feasted there awhile,
returned to their own country againe, leaving the lady to continue there
at her owne pleasure, amongst her friends and old acquaintance, where she
passed away the time for awhile, and in the end desired to returne to her
lord againe. Her father, the old Papasiquineo,
having notice of her intent, sent some of his men on ambassage to the
young sachem, his sonne in law, to let him understand that his daughter
was not willing to absent herself from his company any longer; and
therefore, as the messengers had in charge, desired the young lord to send
a convoy for her; but he, standing upon tearmes of honor, and the
maintaining of his reputation, returned to his father in law this answer:
" That when she departed from him, hee caused his men to waite upon her to
her father's territories as it did become him; but now she had an intent
to returne, it did become her father to send her back with a convoy of his
own people; and that it stood not with his reputation to make himself or
his men so servile as to fetch her againe."
The old sachem
Papasiquineo, having this message returned, was inraged
to think that his young son in law did not esteem him at a higher rate
than to capitulate with him about the matter, and returned him this sharp
reply: "That his daughter's blood and birth deserved more respect than to
be slighted, and therefore, if he would have her company, he were best to
send or come for her."
The young
sachem, not willing to undervalue himself, and being a man of a stout
spirit, did not stick to say, " That he should either send her by his own
convoy, or keepe her; for he was determined not to stoope so lowe."
So much these two sachems stood upon tearmes
of reputation with each other, the one would not send for her, lest it
should be any diminishing of honor on his part that should seeme to
comply, that the lady, when I came out of the country, remained still with
her father; which is a thing worth the noting, that salvage people should
seek to maintaine their reputation so much as they doe.
A chief who could treat a lady so
discourteously deserved to lose her. Montowampate
had not the felicity to read the Fairy Queen, or he would have thought
with Spenser:
"What vertue is so fitting for a Knight,
Or for a Ladie
whom a knight should love,
As curtesie."
My lady readers will undoubtedly be anxious
to know if the separation was final. I am happy to inform them that
it was not; as we find the Princess of Penacook enjoying the luxuries of
the shores and the sea breezes at Lynn, the next summer. How they
met without compromiting the dignity of the proud sagamore, history does
not inform us; but probably, as ladies are fertile in expedients, she met
him half way. In 1631 she was taken prisoner by the Taratines, as
will hereafter be related. Montowampate died in
1633. Wenuchus returned to her father; and in 1686,
we find metion made of her grand-daughter
Pahpocksit. Other interesting incidents in the life
of Montowampate will be found in the following pages.
WENEPOYKIN, erroneously
called Winnepurkit, was the youngest son of
Nanapashemet. His name was pronounced with an
accent and a lingering on the third syllable, We-ne-pawwe-kin. He
was born in 1616, and was a little boy, thirteen years of age, when the
white men came. The Rev. John Higginson, of Salem,
says: "To the best of my remembrance, when I came over with my father, to
this place, there was in these parts a widow woman, called Squaw
Sachem, who had three sons; Sagamore John kept
at Mistick, Sagamore James at Saugus, and
Sagamore George here at Naumkeke. Whether he was
actual sachem here I cannot say, for he was then young, about my age, and
I think there was an elder man that was at least his guardian." On
the death of his brothers, in 1633, he became sagamore of Lynn and
Chelsea; and after the death of his mother, in 1667, he was sachem of all
that part of Massachusetts which is north and east of Charles river.
He was the proprietor of Deer Island, which he sold to Boston. He was
called Sagamore George, and George Rumney
Marsh; Until the year 1738, the limits of Boston
extended to Saugus, including Chelsea, which was called Rumney Marsh.
Part of this great marsh is now in Chelsea and part in Saugus.
The Indians living on the borders of this marsh in Lynn and Saugus, were
sometimes called the Rumney Marsh Indians.
Weiepoykin was taken prisoner in the Wampanoag war, in
1676, and died in 1684. He married Ahawayet,
daughter of Poquanum, who lived on Nahant. She
presented him with one son, Manatahqua, and three
daughters, Petagunsk, Wattaquattinusk,
and Petagoonaquah, who, if early historians are correct
in their descriptions, were as beautiful, almost, as the lovely forms
which have wandered on the rocks of Nabant in later times. They were
called Wanapanaquin, or the plumed ones. This word is but another
spelling of Wenepoykin, their father's name, which signifies a wing, or a
feather. I suppose they were the belles of the forest, in their day,
and wore finer plumes than any of their tribe.
Petagunsk was called
Cicely. She had a son
Tontoquon, called John.
Wattaquattinusk, or the Little Walnut, was called
Sarah; and Petagoonaquah was named
Susanna. Manatahqua had two sons,
Nonupanohow, called David and
Wuttanoh, which means a staff, called
Samuel. The family of Wenepoykin
left Lynn about the time of the Wampanoag war, and went to Wameset, or
Chelmsford, now Lowell, where they settled near Pawtucket falls. On
the 16th of September, 1684, immediately after the death of
Wenepoykin, the people of Marblehead embraced the
opportunity of obtaining a deed of their town. It was signed by
Ahawayet, and many others, her relatives. She is
called "Joane Ahawayet, Squawe, relict, widow of
George Saggamore, alias
Wenepawweekin." (Essex Reg. Deeds, 11, 132.)
She survived her husband about a year, and died in 1685. On the 19th
of March, 1685, David Nonupanohow, " heir of
Sagamore George, and in his right having some claim to
Deer Island, doth hereby, for just consideration, relinquish his right, to
the town of Boston." (Suffolk Records.) On the 11th of
October, 1686, the people of Salem obtained a deed of their town, which
was signed by the relatives of
Wenepoykin.
YAWATA, daughter of Nanapashemet, and
sister of the three sagamores, married Oonsumog.
She lived to sign the deed of Salem, in 1686, and died at Natick. She had
a son, Muminquash, born in 1636, and called James
Rumney Marsh, who also removed to Natick. There is great
softness and euphony in the name of this Indess. Ya-wa-ta; six
letters, and only one hard consonant. Probably her heart was as
delicate and feminine as her name. The early settlers indicated
their poetic taste by calling her
Abigail.
POQUANUM, or 'Dark Skin', was sachem of Nahant.
Wood, in his New England's Prospect, calls him
Duke William; and it appears by depositions in Salem
Court Records, that he was known by the familiar appellation of
'Black Will'. He was contemporary with
Nanapashemet. In 1630 he sold Nahant to
Thomas Dexter for a suit of clothes. It is probable
that he was the chief who welcomed Gosnold, in 1602, and
who is represented to have been dressed in a complete suit of English
clothes. If he were the same, that may have been the reason why he was so
desirous to possess another suit. He was killed in 1633, as will be
found under that date. He had two children -
Ahawayet, who married Wenepoykin; and
Queakussen, commonly called Captain Tom,
or Thomas Poquanum, who was born in 1611.
Mr. Gookin, in 1686, says, " He is an Indian of
good repute, and professeth the Christian religion." Probably he is
the one alluded to by Rev. John Eliot, in his letter,
November 13, 1649, in which he says: - Linn Indians are all naught, save
one, who sometimes cometh to hear the word, and telleth me that he prayeth
to God; and the reason why they are bad is partly and principally because
their sachem is naught, and careth not to pray to God." There is a
confession of faith, preserved in Eliot's "Tears of
Repentance," by Poquanum, probably of this same
Indian. He signed the deed of Salem in 1686, and on the 17th of
September, in that year, he gave the following testimony:
' Thomas Queakussen, alias
Captain Tom, Indian, now living at Wamesit, neare
Patucket Falls, aged about seventy-five years, testifieth and saith, That
many yeares since, when he was a youth, he lived with his father,
deceased, named Poquannurn, who some time lived at
Sawgust, now called Linn; he married a second wife, and lived at Nahant;
and himself in after time lived about Mistick, and that he well knew all
these parts about Salem, Marblehead and Linn; and that Salem and the river
running up between that neck of land and Bass river was called Naumkeke,
and the river between Salem and Marblehead was called Massabequash; also
he says he well knew Sagamore George, who married the
Deponent's Owne Sister, named Joane, who died about a
yeare since; and Sagamore George left two daughters, name
Sicilye and Sarah, and two
grand-children by his son; Nonumpanumhow the one called
David, and the other Wuttanoh; and I
myself am one of their kindred as before; and James Rumney
Marsh's mother is one of Sagamore George his
kindred; and I knew two squawes more living now about Pennecooke, one
named Pahpocksitt, and the other's name I know not; and I
knew the grandmother of these two squawes named Wenuchus;
she was a principal proprietor of these lands about Naumkege, now Salem;
all these persons above named are concerned in the antient property of the
lands above mentioned." Wabaquin also testified,
that David was the grandson of Sagamore
George -by his father, deceased
Manatahqua. (Essex Reg, Deeds, 11, 131.)
NAHANTON was born about the
year 1600. On the 7th of April, 1635, Nahanton was
ordered by the Court to pay Rev. William Blackstone, of
Boston, two beaver skins, for damage done to his swine by setting
traps. In a deposition taken at Natick, August 15, 1672, he is
called " Old Ahaton of Punkapog, aged about seaventy
yeares;" and in a deposition at Cambridge, October 7, 1686, he is called "
Old Mahanton, aged about ninety years." In the same
deposition he is called Nahanton. He testifies
concerning the right of the heirs of Wenepoykin to sell
the lands of Salem, and declares himself a relative of Sagamore
George. He signed the deed of Quincy, August 5, 1665, and
in that deed is called "Old Nahatun," one of the "wise
men" of Sagamore Wampatuck. He also signed a
quit-claim deed to "the proprietated inhabitants of the town of Boston,"
March 19, 1685. (Suffolk Records.)
QUANOPKONAT, called John, was another
relative of Wenepoykin. His Widow
Joan, and his son James, signed the deed
of Salem, in 1686. Masconomo was sagamore of
Agawam, now Ipswich. Dudley says,'" he was
tributary to Sagamore James." From the intimacy
which subsisted between them, he was probably a relative. He died
March 8, 1658, and his gun and other implements were buried with
him. (Rev. Joseph B. Felt's History of Ipswich.)
The names of the Indians are variously
spelled in records and depositions, as they were imperfectly understood
from their nasal pronunciation. Some of them were known by different
names, and as they had no baptism, or ceremony of naming their children,
they commonly received no name until it was fixed by some great exploit,
or some remarkable circumstance.
The
Indians have been admirably described by William Wood,
who resided at Lynn, at the first settlement. "They were black
haired, out nosed, broad shouldered, brawny armed, long and slender
handed, out breasted, small waisted, lank bellied, well thighed, flat
kneed, handsome grown legs, and small feet. In a word, they were
more amiable to behold, though only in Adam's livery, than many a
compounded fantastic in the newest fashion." In another place he
speaks of' "their unparalleled beauty." Josselyn,
in his New England Rarities, says: " The women, many of them, have very
good features, seldome without a come-to-me in their countenance, all of
them black eyed, having even, short teeth and very white, their hair
black, thick and long, broad breasted, handsome, straight bodies and
slender, their limbs cleanly, straight, generally plump as a partridge,
and saving now and then one, of a modest deportment."
Lechford says: " The Indesses that are young, are
some of them very comely, having good features. Many prettie
Brownettos and spider fingered lasses may be seen among them." After
such graphic and beautiful descriptions, nothing need be added to complete
the idea that their forms were exquisitely perfect, superb, and
voluptuous.
The dress of the men
was the skin of a deer or seal tied round the waist, and in winter a bear
or wolf skin thrown over the shoulders, with moccasons or shoes of moose
hide. The women wore robes of beaver skins, with sleeves of deer
skin drest, and drawn with lines of different colors into ornamental
figures. Some wore a short mantle of trading cloth, blue or red,
fastened with a knot under the chin, and girt around the waist with a
zone; their buskins fringed with feathers, and a fillet round their heads,
which were often adorned with plumes.
Their
money was made of shells, gathered on the beaches, and was of two
kinds. The one was called wampum-peag, or white money, and was made
of the twisted part of the cockle strung together like beads. Six of
these passed for a penny, and a foot for about a shilling. The other
was called suckauhoc, or black money, and was made of the hinge of the
poquahoc clam, bored with a sharp stone. The value of this money was
double that of the white. These shells were also very curiously
wrought into pendants, bracelets, and belts of wampum, several inches in
breadth and several feet in length, with figures of animals and
flowers. Their sachems were profusely adorned with it, and some of
the princely females wore dresses worth fifty or a hundred dollars.
It passed for beaver and other commodities as currently as silver.
Their weapons were bows, arrows and
tomahawks. Their bows were made of walnut, or some other elastic
wood, and strung with sinews of deer or moose. Their arrows were
made of elder, and feathered with the quills of eagles. They were
headed with a long, sharp stone of porphyry or jasper, tied to a short
stick, which was thrust into the pith of the elder. Their tomahawks
were made of a flat stone, sharpened to an edge, with a groove round the
middle. This was inserted in a bent walnut stick, the ends of which
were tied together. The flinty heads of their arrows and axes, their
stone gouges and pestles, have been frequently found in the
fields.
Their favorite places of residence
hereabout, appear to have been in the neighborhood of Sagamore Hill and
High Rock, at Swampscot and Nahant. One of their burial places was
on the hill near the eastern end of Mount Vernon street. In Saugus,
many indications of their dwellings have been found on the old Boston
road, for about half a mile from the hotel, westward; and beneath the
house of Mr. Ephraim Rhodes was a burying ground.
On the road which runs north from Charles
Sweetser's, was another Indian village on a plain, defended by a
hill. Nature here formed a lovely spot, and nature's children
occupied it. [The localities here referred to lie between East
Saugus and Cliftondale.] They usually buried their dead on the sides
of hills next the sun. This was both natural and beautiful. It
was the wish of Beattie's Minstrel.
" Where a green
grassy turf is all I crave,
And many an
evening sun shine sweetly on my grave."
The
Indians had but few arts, and only such as were requisite for their
subsistence. Their houses, called wigwams, were rude structures,
made of poles set round in the form of a cone, and covered by bark or
mats. In winter, one great house, built with more care, with a fire
in the middle, served for the accommodation of many. They had two
kinds of boats, called canoes; the one made of a pine log, twenty to sixty
feet in length, burnt and scraped out with shells; the other made of birch
bark, very light and elegant. They made fishing lines of wild hemp,
equal to the finest twine, and used fish bones for hooks. Their
method of catching deer was by making two fences of trees, half a mile in
extent, in the form of an angle, with a snare at the place of meeting, in
which they frequently took the deer alive.
Their chief objects of cultivation were corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes
and melons, which were all indigenous plants. Their fields were
cleared by burning the trees in the autumn. Their season for
planting was when the leaves of the oak were as large as the ear of a
mouse. From this observation was formed the rule of the first
settlers.
When the white
oak trees look goslin gray,
Plant then, be
it April, June, or May.
The corn was
hoed with large clam shells, and harvested in cellars dug in the ground,
and enclosed with mats. When boiled in kernels it was called
samp; when parched and pounded in stone mortars it was termed nokehike;
and when pounded and boiled, it was called hominy. They also boiled
corn and beans together, which they called succatash. They formed
earthen vessels in which they cooked. They made an excellent cake by
mixing strawberries with parched corn. Whortleberries were employed
in a similar manner. Some of their dishes are still well known and
highly relished - their samp, their hominy or hasty pudding, their stewed
beans or succatash, their baked pumpkins, their parched corn, their boiled
and roast ears of corn, and their whortleberry cake - dishes which, when
well prepared, are good enough for any body. And when to these were
added the whole range of field and flood, at a time when wild fowl and
venison were more than abundant, it will be seen that the Indians lived
well.
The woods were filled with wild
animals-foxes, bears, wolves, deer, moose, beaver, racoons, rabbits,
woodchucks, and squirrels - most of which have long since departed.
One of the most troublesome animals was the catamount, one of the numerous
varieties of the cat kind, which has never been particularly
described. It was from three to six feet in length, and commonly of
a cinnamon color. Many stories are related of its attacks upon the
early settlers, by climbing trees and leaping upon them when traveling
through the forest. An Indian in passing through the woods one day,
heard a rustling in the boughs overhead, and looking up, saw a catamount
preparing to spring upon him. He said he "cry all one soosuck" that
is, like a child -knowing that if he did not kill the catamount, he must
lose his own life. He fired as the animal was in the act of
springing, which met the ball and fell dead at his feet.
The wild pigeons are represented to have been
so numerous that they passed in flocks so large as to "obscure the
light." Dudley says, "it passeth credit if but the
truth should be known;" and Wood says, they continued
flying for four or five hours together, to such an extent that one could
see " neither beginning nor ending, length nor breadth, of these millions
of millions." When they alighted in the woods, they frequently broke
down large limbs of trees by their weight, and the crashing was heard at a
great distance. A single family has been known to have killed more
than one hundred dozen in one night, with poles and other weapons; and
they were often taken in such numbers that they were thrown into piles,
and kept to feed the swine. The Indians called the pigeon wuscowan,
a word signifying a wanderer. The wild fowl were so numerous in the
waters, that persons sometimes killed "50 duckes at a shot."
The Indians appear to have been very fond of
amusements. The tribes, even from a great distance, were accustomed
to challenge each other, and to assemble upon Lynn Beach to decide their
contests. Here they sometimes passed many days in the exercises of
running, leaping, wrestling, shooting, and other diversions. Before
they began their sports, they drew a line in the sand, across which the
parties shook hands in evidence of friendship, and they sometimes painted
their faces, to prevent revenge. A tall pole was then planted in the
beach, on which were hung beaver skins, wampum, and other articles, for
which they contended; and frequently, all they were worth was ventured in
the play. One of their games was foot-ball. Another was called
puim, which was played by shuffling together a large number of small
sticks, and contending for them. Another game was played with five
flat pieces of bone, black on one side and white on the other. These
were put into a wooden bowl, which was struck on the ground, causing the
bones to bound aloft, and as they fell white or black, the game was
decided. During this play, the Indians sat in a circle, making a
great noise, by the constant repetition of the word hub, hub, - come,
come- from which it was called hubbub; a word, the derivation of which
seems greatly to have puzzled Dr. Johnson.
The Indians believed in a Great Spirit, whom
they called Kichtan, who made all the other gods, and one man and
woman. The evil spirit they called Hobamock. They endured the
most acute pains without a murmur, and seldom laughed loud. They
cultivated a kind of natural music, and had their war and death songs.
The women had lullabies and melodies for their children, and
modulated their voices by the songs of birds. Some early writers
represent the voices of their females, when heard through the shadowy
woods, to have been exquisitely harmonious. It has been said they
had no poets; but their whole ianguage was a poem. What more
poetical than calling the roar of the ocean on the beach, sawkiss, or
great panting? - literally, the noise which a tired animal makes when
spent in the chase. What more poetical than naming a boy
Poquanum, or Dark Skin; and a -girl
Wanapaquin, a Plume? Every word of the Indians was
expressive, and had a meaning. Such is natural poetry in all
ages. The Welch called their great king Arthur, from aruthr,
terribly fair; and such was Alonzo, the name of the Moorish kings of
Spain, from an Arabic word, signifying the fountain of beauty. When
we give our children the names of gems and flowers -when we use language
half as designative as that of the Indians, we may begin to talk of
poetry. " I am an aged hemlock," said one, "whose head has been
whitened by eighty snows!" "We will brighten the chain of our
friendship with you," said the chiefs in their treaties. The Indians
reckoned their time by snows and moons. A snow was a winter; and
thus, a man who had seen eighty snows, was eighty years of age. A
moon was a month; thus they had the harvest moon, the hunting moon, and
the moon of flowers. A sleep was a night; and seven sleeps were
seven days. This figurative language is in the highest degree
poetical and beautiful.
The Indians have ever
been distinguished for friendship, justice, magnanimity, and a high sense
of honor. They have been represented by some as insensible and
brutish, but, with the exception of their revenge, they were not an
insensate race. The old chief, who requested permission of the white
people to smoke one more whiff before he was slaughtered, was thought to
be an unfeeling wretch; but he expressed more than he could have done by
the most eloquent speech. The red people received the immigrants in
a friendly manner, and taught them how to plant; and when any of the
whites traveled through the woods, they entertained them with more
kindness than compliments, kept them freely many days, and often went ten,
and even twenty miles, to conduct them on their way. The
Rev. Roger Williams says: 'They were remarkably free and
courteous to invite all strangers in. I have reaped kindness again
from many, seven years after, whom I myself had forgotten. It is a
strange truth, that a man shall generally find more free entertainment and
refreshment among these barbarians, than among thousands that call
themselves Christians.'
The scene which
presented itself to the first settlers, must have been in the highest
degree interesting and beautiful. The light birchen canoes of the
red men were seen gracefully swimming over the surface of the bright blue
ocean; the half clad females were beheld, bathing their olive limbs in the
lucid flood, or sporting on the smooth beach, and gathering the spotted
eggs from their little hollows in the sands, or the beautiful shells which
abounded among the pebbles, to string into beads or weave into wampum, for
the adornment of their necks and arms. At one time an Indian was
seen with his bow, silently endeavoring to transfix the wild duck or the
brant, as they rose and sunk on the alternate waves; and at another, a
glance was caught of the timid wild deer, rushing through the shadow of
the dark green oaks; or the sly fox, bounding from rock to rock among the
high cliffs of Nahant, and stealing along the shore to find his evening
repast, which the tide had left upon the beach. The little
sand-pipers darted along the thin edge of the wave - the white gulls in
hundreds soared screaming overhead - and the curlews filled the echoes of
the rocks with their wild and watery music. This is no imaginary
picture, wrought up for the embellishment of a fanciful tale, - but the
delineation of an actual scene, which presented itself to the eyes of our
fathers.
An incident respecting the Indians,
about a year before the settlement of Lynn, is related by Rev.
Thomas Cobbett, in a letter to Increase
Mather. 'About the year 1628, when those few that came over
with Colonel Indicot and begun to settle at Nahumnkeeck,
now called Salem, and in a manner all so sick of their journey, that
though they had both small and great guns, and powder and bullets for
them, yet had not strength to manage them, if suddenly put upon it; and
tidings being certainly brought them, on a Lord's day morning, that a
thousand Indians from Saugust, (now called Lyn,) were coming against them
to cut them off, they had much ado amongst them all to charge two or three
of theyre great guns, and traile them to a place of advantage, where the
Indians must pass to them, and there to shoot them off; when they heard by
theyre noise which they made in the woods, that the Indians drew neare,
the noise of which great artillery, to which the Indians were never wonted
before, did occasionally, by the good hand of God, strike such dread into
them, that by some lads who lay as scouts in the woods, they were heard to
reiterate that confused outcrie, (O Hobbamock, much Hoggery,) and then
fled confusedly back with all speed, when none pursued them. One old
Button, (Matthias Button, a Dutchman, who lived in a
thatched house in Haverhill, in 1670. So says Joshua
Coffin, who is now compiling a curious manuscript History of
Newbury). lately living at Haverhill, who was then almost
the only haile man left of that company, confirmed this to be so to me,
accordingly as I had been informed of it.'
There were but few towns planted in Massachusetts before the settlement of
Lynn. In 1622, a plantation was begun at Weymouth. In 1624,
the Rev. William Blackstone, with his family, established
himself at Boston. In 1625; a settlement was begun at
Braintree; and in 1627, at Charlestown. On the 19th of March, 1628,
the Council in England sold all that part of Massachusetts, between three
miles north of Merrimack River, and three miles south of Charles River, to
six gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. John Humfrey
, who afterward came to Lynn. |