new information on Capt Benjamin Swett - my Husband Raymond Paul Swett's ancestor.
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN SWETT (1624-1677)
Stackpole
Captain Benjamin Swett (John1), born in England as early as 1626, married, 1 Nov. 1647, Hester, dau. of Hon. Nathaniel Weare of Hampton, N.H. He lived seven years in Newbury, on the Woodbridge farm, just east of the upper green and about where the Woodbridge School now stands. Removed to Hampton Falls, N.H. The Gove house, where the poet Whittier died, stands very near the site of Capt. Benjamin Swett's house, and the enormous elm tree close by is said to have been brought from England by Swett's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Weare. He was Captain in the militia and commanded the expedition to Black Point, Scarborough, where he was killed in battle with the Indians, 29 June 1677. His widow married Ensign Stephen Greenleaf, 31 March 1679. She died in Hampton, N.H, 16 Jan. 1718, aged 89. Mr. Swett was one of the leading men of Hampton and a brave military officer. For sketch of him see Bodge's Soldiers of King Phillip's War. Seven children recorded in Newbury and four in Hampton:Hester b. 17 June 1648; m. Abraham Green 5 Sept. 1668.Sarah b. 7 Nov. 1650; m. Morris Hobbs, 1678.Mary b. 7 Jan. 1651; died young.Mary b. 2 May 1654; m. Richard Waterhouse 3 Dec. 1701.[8] Joseph b. 21 Jan. 1658; m. (1) Hannah ____, (2) Sarah Andrews.[9] Moses b. 16 April 1661; m. Mary Hussey.[10] Benjamin b. 20 May 1664; m. Theodate Hussey.Hannah b. 16 March 1665; m. John Rust, 12 May 1682.Elizabeth b. 2 May 1667; m. 8 Dec. 1709, John French?North Hampton records:[11] John b. 17 March 1670; m. Bethiah Page.[12] Stephen b. 13 July 1672; m. Mary Kent.
1624. Benjamin Swett, son of John Swett, was baptized 12 May 1624 in Wymondham Parish, Norfolk, England. [Parish records: LDS Film # 1911510] [Stackpole #5]
1642 March 12: A pasture agreement at Newbury, Massachusetts, called "The Stint of the Ox and Cow Common" is the first record we have of this family in New England. [Newbury VR, Vol. 1, p. 55] Benjamin Swett was 18 years old.
1647 November 1: Benjamin Swett married Hester Weare, daughter of Nathaniel Weare of Hampton, in the northern part of Massachusetts that later became New Hampshire. [Stackpole and several other sources. Newbury VR has Nov. _ 164-?]
1648 June 17: Hester Swett was born in Newbury, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR] She married Abraham Green, 5 September 1688.
1650 September 7: "Ben. Swet of Newbery was made freeman at court at Ipswich." And in a list of the freemen of Newbury: "Benjamin Swet, admitted 7 Sep 1650." [Essex County Court Records, cited by Rolfe, p. 25] [Ipswich Court Records, Book I, leaf 21, cited in Coffin's Newbury, p. 100]
1650 November 7: Sarah Swett was born in Newbury, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR] She married Morris Hobbs in 1678.
1650 December 11: "[---]ra Swett" died in Newbury. [Newbury VR] The assumption that she was Benjamin's mother, wife of John Swett of Newbury, is not supported.
1651 The General Court passed the following orders:
May 23: In ansr to the request of the towne of Newbury itt is ordered that Mr. Wm. Gerrish shall be their Captaine, and John Pike their leftennant and that the said towne shall goe to a new eleccon for an ensigne when they see meete. [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iv, part i, p 47]October 14: Whereas it was ordered, the last session of this Court, that the towne of Newbury should goe to a newe election for theire ensigne, in respect the last choyce was not cleare, which accordingly they haue done & haue legally made choyce of Benjamin Sweate, which uppon theire request, this Court doth aproue of for yt place & hereby confirms him therin. [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iii, p. 254. Currier, p. 495]
1652 January 7: Mary Swett was born in Newbury, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR] She died young. [Stackpole has January 1651, but her next younger sister was born in November 1650.]
1652 January 13: Died at Newbury, "old" John Swett. [Newbury Records, Vol. 2, p. 732. Quotation marks in the original.] He was Benjamin's father, John Swett of Newbury.
1653 June 8: At the court at Hampton, Benjamin Sweat was one of the jury in the Hampton case. At the same court: "Nat Winsley v. Benjamin Sweat. Debt for a runlet of sack worth about three pounds. No action." [Rolfe, p. 25]
1653 May 18:
The General Court passed an order declaring it unlawful for any person to preach in any town in the colony without the consent of the elders of four neighboring churches or by the approval of the county court. Lt. Robert Pike of Salisbury boldly denounced this act as an unjustifiable interference with the personal rights and privileges of freemen, and further said "several churches had called theire members to accompt which did not act in that lawe making, and that some places were about to show theire mends to the General Court about it." On 30 August he was ordered to appear at the General Court and answer for his intemperate zeal and seditious speech. He was disfranchized 7 September 1653, and prohibited from holding public office in the town or in the colony. A fine of twenty marks, equal to thirteen pounds, six shillings, eightpence, was imposed as an additional penalty, and he was required to give bonds for his good behavior during the court's pleasure. [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iv, part I, p 156. Currier, p. 162]
1654 May 2: Mary Swett was born in Newbury, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR] She married Richard Waterhouse, 3 December 1701.
1654: The Lieutenant Robert Pike petition:
The measures adopted by the General Court against Lt. Robert Pike aroused a strong feeling of indignation among the inhabitants of Newbury, Haverhill, Andover, Hampton and Salisbury. Petitions were prepared and circulated in these towns asking that the fine and punishment imposed upon him be remitted. The petition from Newbury, presented to the General Court May 14, 1654, was signed by 58 men including Joseph Swett, Stephen Swett, and Benj. Swett. [Mass. Archives, vol. x, p 299. Currier, p. 162-164]The court was displeased, and established a commission to investigate those who signed the petition. [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iv, part I, p. 194]In October 1654, Captain William Gerrish and Nicholas Noyes reported to the General Court the reasons given for signing the petition by the men of Newbury: "Benjamin Swett saith, 'Every free subject hath liberty to petition for any that had been in esteem, without offense to any.' John Emery demanded our Commission and the sight of the petition, and then he would answer. Being produced, he answered we had no power to demand who brought him the petition; and hearing John Bond make answer, told him he was a wise man in a bold, flouting manner. His carriage we conceive was insulting." [Mass. Archives, vol. x, p. 299]On 1 November 1654, the General Court ordered the petitioners whose answers were not satisfactory to appear at the county court and give bonds in the sum of ten pounds to answer for their several offences. The names of the Newbury men "to be summoned by warrant from the clark of the court" were "Jno Emery, Sen, Jno Hull, Jno Bishop, Benjamin Swett, Daniell Thirston, Jun., Joseph Plomer, Daniell Cheny, Jno Wilcott." [Mass. Colony Records, vol iv, part I, p. 215]The objectionable order relating to public preaching in the colony was repealed 30 August 1655; but at the same time it was enacted that "every person that shall publish and maintain any hetrodoxe and erronjous doctrine shal be lyable to be questioned and censured by the county court where he liveth according to the meritt of his offence." [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iv, part I, p 151]The sentence imposed on Lieutenant Pike was not revoked until 23 October 1657: "In ansr to the peticon of Robert Pike, humbly desiring ye courts favor his fine being paid, to remitt to him & release him from the other pte of the Courts former sentence against him. Mr. Worcester ye pastor of ye church at Salisbury appearing on ye behalfe of the peticoner and acknowledging himself much bound to the court if they would be pleased to grant ye said Pikes request, the court grants his request." [Mass. Colony Records, vol. iv, part I, p. 313. Currier, p. 165. Newbury Records, Vol. 1, p. 162-164]
1656 August 5: Benjamin [10] Swett was born in Newbury, son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR. Stackpole doesn't have this date of birth; instead, he has 20 May 1664, which was the birth of Benjamin son of Stephen.] Benjamin [10] Swett married Theodate Hussey in 1682 (aged 26) and moved to New Castle, Delaware.
1657 March 31: Thomas Davis v. Benjamin Swett, for taking away plaintiff's servant, Stephen Dow. Ipswich court ordered the boy returned. [Rolfe, p. 25]
1657 November 19: Ipswich: "In the case of John Cheater presented for detaining a beast, William Morse deposed that the beast was appraised by Anthony Morse and Bengemine Sweate." [Rolfe, p. 25]
1658/59 January 21: Joseph [8] Swett was born in Newbury son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR] He lived in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, and married (1) Hannah Ward. They had five children, Hannah [died young], Margaret, Abigail, Esther, and Joseph [17]. His wife Hannah died 14 August 1701. He married (2) Sarah Andrews 20 November 1701. They had six children: Lydia, Hannah, Benjamin [18], Jonathan [19], Moses [died young], and David [20]. [Stackpole, plus RootsWeb]
1659 February: A petition to the court at Ipswich asked that "one John godfrey resydent at Andover or else whear at his plesure" might be called before the court to explain sundry offences, one of which was "Benjamin Swet in the case of his child." [Rolfe, p. 25-26]
1659 A petition for permission to establish a town at a place called Pennacook, now Concord, New Hampshire, was signed by 22 men including "Benja. Swett." On 18 May 1659, a committee reported in favor of granting the petitioners a plantation 8 miles square, provided they report to the General Court in October 1660, their resolution to carry on the work, "and that within two years then next ensyuing there be 20 families there settled." The deputies and magistrates accepted this report "and consented thereunto" but the conditions imposed on the petitioners were not complied with, and the grant was subsequently declared forfeited. Concord was not settled until nearly seventy years later. [Mass. Archives, vol. cxii, pp. 117-118. Currier, p. 168-170]
1660 September 25: "Benjamen Swett and Nathaniell Weare deposed that being at Nantukett Iland last May at the house of Thomas Macy, they heard the agreement that Goodman Bishop made about the squaw, Mall Indian." [Rolfe, p. 26]
1661 April 16: Moses [9] Swett was born in Newbury, son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Newbury VR has "Swet"] He married Mary Hussey 12 May 1687. They were Quakers, and lived in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, but may have lived elsewhere for awhile, probably Nantucket Island. They had eleven children: Mary, Esther, Elizabeth, Daniel [21], Deliverance, Theodate, Stephen [22], Phebe, Huldah, Patience, and Benjamin [23].
1663: Rev. John Woodbridge, who came to New England in the ship Mary and John with his uncle, Rev. Thomas Parker, returned to England in 1647 with his wife and family and remained there for 16 years. On 26 July 1663, he came again to New England and was elected assistant pastor of the church at Newbury. His farm in Newbury was on the easterly side of "trayneing green." Benjamin Swett and his brother-in-law Nathaniel Weare had a lease on this farm for seven years, from 1655 to 1662. [Register vol. vi, p. 50. Currier, p. 316. Coffin's Newbury, p. 68]
1664 April 12: Salisbury: "Lt. Benj. Swett foreman of jury of trials." [Rolfe, p. 26]
1664 October 11: Hampton, NH: "Lt. Benjamin Sweat foreman of grand jury." [Rolfe, p. 26]
1665 March 16: Hannah Swett was born in Hampton, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Not in Newbury VR. Stackpole has her listed with children of Benjamin Swett born in Newbury, but says the last four were born in Hampton.] She married John Rust 12 May 1682.
1667 May 2: Elizabeth Swett was born in Hampton, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Not in Newbury VR. Stackpole has her listed with children of Benjamin Swett born in Newbury, but says the last four were born in Hampton.] She married John French (?) on 8 December 1709.
1665 May 6: "Phebe Swett, widow" died. [Newbury VR, Vol. 2, p. 733.] She probably was Benjamin's mother, wife of John Swett of Newbury.
1670 March 17: John [11] Swett was born in North Hampton son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Stackpole] He married (1) Bethiah Page on 3 October 1696, (2) Mrs. Sarah Brown on 10 November 1736.
1671 May 31: Benjamin Swett wrote, on behalf of himself and twelve other men, a petition to the General Court in Boston, objecting to their arbitrary appointment of Capt. Robert Pike as Sergeant-Major to oversee the militia of Norfolk County, when no such appointment was requested and without leaving it to the choice of the people. [Mass. Archives, Vol. 67, p. 57] [Thornton's "Mementos of the Swett Family" has this petition with a facsimile of Benjamin Swett's signature; and, yes, he did spell his name "Swett" although various clerks spelled it other ways.]
1671 October 10: Capt. Walter Barefoot and Dr. Henry Greenland were involved in a law-suit with Abraham Drake, Benjamin Swett, and Henry Green. The court, held at Hampton, ordered the marshall to levy on the "goods, chattels and land owned by Capt. Walter Barefoot, at Kittery Point over against ye great island," and also upon two thousand feet of pine boards owned by Dr. Greenland. [Norfolk County Deeds, vol. ii, p. 342 , 228, 229, cited by Currier, p. 143]
1672 July 13: Stephen [12] Swett was born in North Hampton, son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare. [Stackpole] He married Mary Kent of Kent's Island, Newbury, daughter of John Kent and Sarah Woodman, intentions 7 December 1695. [Newbury VR. Stackpole has 27 December which may be when they were married.] They lived in Newbury, and had 13 children: Sarah, Benjamin [28], Stephen [29], Mary, Joseph [30], John [31], Moses [32], Judith, Esther [died], Abigail, Esther, Joshua [33], and Elizabeth.
King Phillip's War [direct quotations]
Late in 1674, a converted Indian named John Sausaman acquainted the governor of Plymouth that the profane Indians were plotting mischief against the English, and expressed his apprehension that they would murder him. This apprehension was realized, as, before the close of the winter, he was murdered by three Indians, who were afterward tried and executed. [Coffin's Newbury, p. 115]
In June, 1675, the three Indians were executed, who murdered John Sausaman. On the 24th of June was shed the first English blood, in what was afterward called Philip's war. On that day, nine Englishmen were murdered in Swanzy by the Indians as they were returning from the meeting house. Being thus unexpectedly involved in trouble, the inhabitants of Plymouth sent to the other colonies for assistance. On June 26th, soldiers marched from Boston to Plymouth. On the 29th, a day of humiliation and prayer was appointed on account of the war. [Coffin's Newbury, p. 116-117]
Although it only lasted about a year, six hundred of the inhabitants, the greatest part of whom were the flower of the country, fell in battle or were murdered. Twelve towns in Massachusetts, Plymouth and Rhode Island were utterly destroyed, and many more greatly injured. Six hundred buildings, mostly dwelling houses, are known to have been burned, and, according to doctor Trumbull's calculation, one man in eleven of the arms bearing population was killed, and one house in eleven laid in ashes. [Coffin's Newbury, p. 389. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, 2nd edition, pp. 153-154. Currier, pp. 506-507]
Hubbard, after relating many tragedies of the dreadful year 1675, says, "Much about this time [September] one Goodman Robinson of Exeter, with his son, were travelling toward Hampton, when, as they were going along, they were way-laid by three Indians, viz. John Sampson, Cromwel, and John Linde, who shot down the old man, whom they left dead upon the place; his son, hearing the guns, escaped their hands by running into a swamp wither the Indians pursued him, but could not overtake him, so as he got safe into Hampton about midnight, where he declared what befell him by the way, and how narrowly he avoided the danger; intimating likewise that he feared that his father was killed, which was proved too true, by Lieut. Swet, who the next day with a dozen soldiers of the town went to search those woods, where they found the poor old man, shot through at his back, the bullet having pierced through his body and was stopped by the skin on the other side. [Hubbard's "Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians" London, 1677, p. 12-19, quoted by Thornton "Mementos of the Swett Family" 1851]
An expedition against the Indian fort at Narragansett was decided upon, and Major Samuel Appleton was appointed to the command of the Massachusetts forces. The town of Newbury was called upon to furnish its proportion of the men needed. December 6, 1675, 24 men were impressed for service in that expedition, including Steven Sweet. [This was Stephen Swett, Jr., son of Stephen Swett]. On the 9th the troops mustered on Dedham plain; and the next day took up their line of march for Rhode Island, arriving on the evening of the 12th. [Bodge, "Soldiers in King Philip's War" second edition, pp. 153-154. Currier, p. 506-507]
(Apparently Lieutenant Benjamin Swett did not go to Narragansett. Orders of the Council dated 17 January, 1 February, and 29 February 1676 show that he was in charge of the recruits then being sent to Narragansett.) [Bodge, p. 342]
The Indian, King Philip, with a few of his faithful followers, was surprised by a scouting party under the command of Benjamin Church, and shot through the breast 12 August 1676. He was instantly killed; but the war was continued for several months in a desultory way by hostile Indians in the vicinity of the Connecticut river, and for a year or more by the Eastern tribes under the command of their skillful chieftan, Mugg, otherwise known as Mogg Megone, on the banks of the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers. [Currier, p. 508]
The Indians on the Kennebec were not deterred from hostilities, which were renewed by the killing of nine of the garrison left the year before, at that place. So the Massachusetts Court at once called upon the other colonies to assist them in raising a new force to send to those parts. Up to that time, Massachusetts had borne the whole expense of the Eastern wars, but now called them to raise their proportional part of one hundred English, and two hundred Indian soldiers, to rendezvous at Black Point. But in the meantime Massachusetts had acted with promptness by sending Capt. Hunting to bring in the remaining garrison at Kennebec, and by strengthening the garrisons at Wells with a company under Lieut. Benjamin Swett, and at Black Point with another under Lieut. Tippin. [Bodge, p. 42, has "Captain Benjamin Swett" although he was still a Lieutenant.]
In 1677, the savages seemed to have marked out the town of Wells, in Maine, for early and utter destruction. From their first entering it, April 6th, when they killed three, to the end of the month, they made attacks upon the people and their garrison several times. On the 13th, [or 29th] John Weld and Benjamin Storer were killed by them. Two or three, approaching a man and boy who were fowling in the marshes, were first espied by the boy, when the man was half sitting and fixing his flint. Springing up as the boy spoke, he aimed his gun directly at them, crying out, "Ah, you rogues, I've been looking for you;" when they, being startled by his bold rebuff, turned and fled. The fort was commanded by Lieut. Swett, a brave and vigilant officer, always alert and active for the safety of the inhabitants. Seeing a strolling Indian, who was in fact a decoy, Swett despatched eleven of his men towards the place, to make discoveries. By venturing too far, they fell into an ambush, when two were shot dead and one mortally wounded. Hearing the report of the guns, Swett sent out auxiliaries, who killed five or six, and would have done thorough execution, had not an Irishman sung out, "Here they be! here they be!" which so alarmed them, that they withdrew and sheltered themselves among the thick trees and bushes. [Hubbard's History of New England, p. 632, Harris' edition, quoted by Thornton, p. 14]
In May, the Eastern tribes, elated by their success in driving the English out of their country, gathered all their forces against the above garrisons. Indian leaders in this campaign were Symon, a renegade Christian Indian, and Mugg, above mentioned, both wary and skilful, and well acquainted with the country around, and with the English people and their habits. The Indian forces under these leaders at this time were well-tried men from the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Ammoscoggin tribes of the Tarratines, ranking as fighters next to the Pequods and Mohawks. They were well equipped and supplied, probably by the French in Canada. It does not appear that either of the other colonies sent men to assist in this campaign, and the force that was raised by Massachusetts was too small, and the English part of it was mostly of young and untried men and boys who had seen no service except in garrisons. They also seem to have entirely underrated the numbers and temper of the enemy. On the 13th of May, the Black Point garrison beat off a large body of Indians after a fierce assault of three days, on the last day of which Lieut. Tippin shot and killed the leader, Mugg. After that, the Indians went away towards Wells and York. [Bodge, p. 42]
The governor and council of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decided to send a force of two or three hundred men to strengthen the garrisons at Winter Harbor, York Harbor, and Wells, Maine. On 22 June 1677, Lieutenant Benjamin Swett was appointed captain, and placed in charge of the expedition.
Ordered that Leiftenant Benjamin Swett have a Commission for a Captains place & that he be the Conduct & chiefe of Commanders of the English & Indian forces now raysed & to Goe forth on the Service of the Country agt the Eastern Indian Ennemy as also to order and dispose of the masters & marines & vessels now Going to said service for the better management of that affayre.Capt. Swett, You are ordered with the forces now raysed & by your Commission put under your Command to repayr to Blackpoynt & there use all possible diligence by searching & otherwise to understand the state & motions of the enemy & with your force to assayle & annoy them as much as in you lyeth. If ye Headquarters of the Enemy by advice of Major Clark & those upon the place be possible to be assaulted you are ordered to march thither with all your force; if any other small quarter of the enemy lye near & your force be in any Measure Capable in a short time to visit and fall upon them you are accordingly with all ye force Indians & English to make your march thither & assalt them; if otherwise no service against the enemy offer advising with Major Clark to whom the Councill doth refer you for advice, you shall with your whole force march down towards Pascataq, on the Backside of winter Harbor, wels, york &c, if possible to discover the lurking places of ye enemy & fall upon them after which you shall supply, out of your company ye places of ye old garrison soldiers which went out under C. Swayne or other dismissing them home & lodge ye remayners in most convenient and necessary places for the Countryes Service & in such Companyes that upon prime exigent or order you may call ym again forth on further excursion or expedition keeping good correspondence giving account to ye Governor & Council of all occurrences. [Mass. Archives, vol. 69, p. 132. Bodge, p. 343]
The forces were embarked in vessels which came to an anchor off Black Point, in Scarboro, on the 28th of June, where Captain Swett, being informed that some Indians had been seen, went on shore with a party, confident in his strength, and began to try the valor and courage of his company before he had disciplined them, or had any experience of their ability to fight. They were joined by some of the inhabitants, so as to make ninety in all. [Thornton, p. 14]
In Major Daniel Gookin's "History of the Christian Indians," he says: "In June, 1677, another expedition into the Eastern parts, among whom were about 36 of our Christian Indians, who were in a fight near Black Point; the English lost about forty men whereof were eight of our friendly Indians, the greatest loss our [Christian] Indians sustained all the war." This seems to imply that the eight Indians are a part of the forty that were slain, and also that but thirty-six Indians were in the command. The instructions given in making up the force of his Lieutenant also give additional light:
Order of the Council, June 15th, 1677: It is reffered to Major Gookin forthwith to Supply Leift. Richardson & his pty at Chelmsford with provision Ammunition & appl necessary & to order him to scout & range ye woods between Merrimack & Pascatawq River & endeavour to kill and sease ye Lurking enemy in those parts for wch the Major is ordered to encourage ym wth a reward of twenty shillings for every scalpe & forty shillings for every prisoner or ye prisoner. And also to make up in number 25 men, & to order ym after some time spent there, to mrch to Blackpoint garison & Their to bee at ye ordering of Liftenant Tipping until further order from the Council the time of Randevous at Blackpoint is to bee the 26 of this Instant June if possible. [Mass. Archives, vol. 69, p. 129]
If these instructions were carried out, Lieut. Richardson and his Indians from Chelmsford marched overland to Black Point, and evidently arrived there before the hostile Indians had come from the Kennebec and Androscoggin. The vessels were a day behind the appointed time in arriving. In making up his force for scouting the woods from Black Point to Saco, and in the vicinity, Capt. Swett had no thought of the large numbers of the enemy that were actually near them; so that when he had drawn out his English to the number of forty, and his Lieutenant's force of thirty-six, and some of the Black Point men of Lieutenant Tippen's command joined, he mustered in all a company of ninety.
The very next morning after he had landed his men, understanding by his scouts that many of the enemies were up and down upon the place, he made too much haste to fall upon them, and not mistrusting their number while he was marching up the edge of an hill with one party, and his Lieutenant with another, the Indians, that had hid themselves in the swamp on each side of the hill, suddenly fired upon the English on both sides, which not a little discouraged his young and undisciplined company, so as they could not, or did not keep their ranks, but while some were ready to run and shift for themselves, the Captain strived to keep them together, to bring off the dead and wounded men, so long that he brought himself and all the company in danger of an utter overthrow, which soon after took place; for the poor unskilful soldiers, being scattered, were shifting for themselves, while a few resolute men of courage bore the brunt of the service till they were in a manner all knocked down. The Lieutenant was killed soon after the first onset; the Captain having received near twenty wounds, yet still held out defending and encouraging his men, till he was surrounded with more of his enemies than he was able to grapple with, and so was at the last barbarously murdered by them within a little of the garrison-house. There were slain at this time somewhat above forty of the English, and twelve of the friendly Indians that assisted, very few escaping but were either killed right out or dangerously wounded. [Hubbard, quoted by Bodge, p. 344]
[The composition of the English and Indian forces, and what happened to several of Captain Swett's men who survived, is presented in a very well researched paper by Sumner Hunnewell entitled "A Doleful Slaughter Near Black Point: The Battle of Moore's Brook, Scarborough, Maine, June 29, 1677." It was published in The Maine Genealogist: Journal of the Maine Genealogical Society, Vol. 25, No. 2, May 2003, and Vol. 25, No. 3, August 2003, and made available online by the Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, New Hampshire.]
Williamson's description of the fight is that "though the ranks were broken, the engagement was sharp and protracted, Richardson was presently slain and many on both sides soon shared the same fate. Swett fought the enemy hand to hand; displaying upon the spot and in a retreat of two miles, great presence of mind as well as personal courage, in repeated rallies of his men, in his exertions to bring off the dead and wounded, and in defence of his rear, upon which the savages hung with destructive fury. At last, wounded in twenty places, and exhausted by loss of blood and by fatigue, he was grappled, thrown to the ground, and barbarously cut in pieces at the gates of the garrison. With this intrepid officer, fell sixty of his men, forty English and twenty Indians, being two thirds of the whole number in the engagement. Seldom is the merit of a military officer more genuine, seldom is the death of one more deeply lamented." [Williamson's "Maine", quoted by Thornton, p. 15]
He was a Captain for seven days.
Because those who were in the garrison house were afraid to venture forth, the bodies of men killed in this battle were not buried until the next November; then the remains of friend and foe were buried near where they fell. [Scarborough Becomes a Town by Dorothy Shaw Libby, Bond Wheelwright Company, Publisher, 1955, page 76].
Garrison Lane and Massacre Lane go east from Black Point Road (Maine highway 207) about 1/3 mile north of Prouts Neck, which is the narrowest part of the Black Point penninsula, and Massacre Pond lies along the east side of Black Point Road a little farther north of Prouts Neck.
His widow married Ensign Steven Greenleaf of Newbury 31 March 1679. They had no children. She died in Hampton, New Hampshire, 16 January 1718, aged 89 years.
Summary
The life of Captain Benjamin Swett is well documented. He had five sons, Joseph [8], Moses [9], Benjamin [10], John [11] and Stephen [12]. They all established families, and many of the Swetts in America descended from them.
Newbury vital records provide two corrections to Stackpole's account: Benjamin [10] Swett, son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare, was born 5 August 1656 instead of 20 May 1664, and the Benjamin Swett born 20 May 1664 was a son of Stephen Swett and Rebecca Smith.
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The Battle at Moore's Brook, Scarborough, Maine, June 29, 1677
The Battle at Moore's Brook, Scarborough, Maine, June 29, 1677
The Battle at Moore’s Brook, Scarborough, Maine, June 29, 1677
by Sumner Hunnewell
Originally published in two parts in the May 2003 and August 2003 issues of The Maine Genealogist.
These articles are also available in two parts in PDF format. Follow these links for part one and part two. Republished on the library's website with permission of the publisher and author. This page may not be reproduced on any other website without the express written consent of the editor of The Maine Genealogist.
The rediscovery of a 1677 casualty list of men wounded and killed in Maine’s last pitched battle of the King Philip’s War prompted the writing of this paper. Genealogists over the decades have equated the casualty list to those men of Essex County, Massachusetts, under Captain Swett, but no historian of the war ever wrote about the battle fully, and rarely had they discovered the names of the other men who traveled to Maine to fight there. This paper will give a face to the ordinary men who served under various commanders and found themselves far from home. It attempts to compare and contrast the Indians who fought alongside of or against the English as well as putting the battle in a broader historical context of land disputes in Maine between the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New York.
THE ARMY ARRIVES
Three ships of war lay off the coast of Black Point on 29 June 1677. They had arrived the day before and in them were an ancient major, a newly commissioned captain, and men gathered from towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Traveling from Massachusetts by foot were English and Indians following their beloved lieutenant. Many were impressed, obligated to fight far from their home in the service of the government. Some had taken part in fighting southwards and westwards during the King Philip’s War. Others were culled from the refugees of Maine, finding themselves with no work in Massachusetts. In some cases, the town fathers who sent them thought that these youths were to be impressed for service locally, not along the war-ravaged coast of Maine where they found themselves now. The enemy they sought were the natives of the land who, after years of peaceful relations with the settlers, began settling disagreements with powder and shot and, at closer quarters, fire, war club, and tomahawk. Black Point was an important English rendezvous location throughout this war, the easternmost settlement in the province of Maine, while all else to the east was laid to waste.1
King Philip’s War in the colonies of Connecticut, Plymouth, and Massachusetts spilled over into Maine, but the attacks there were not (for the most part) orchestrated from without. Years of trading abuse, misunderstanding, and illegal actions by the settlers took their toll and few were spared. By mid-1677 when the ships were anchored off Black Point, peace was around the corner, but many would not live to see it.
Scarborough, of which Black Point was only a part, had seen enough of Indian warfare not to enjoy any of it. For two years now settlers were slain, fled for their safety, or taken captive. Houses and outbuildings had been burned and crops destroyed. The town was abandoned in the fall of 1676. Without a shot being fired, Captain Joshua Scottow’s well-fortified garrison on the neck was given up to Mogg, one of the most influential of Maine’s Indians of the time, known as both an ambassador and agitator during the war. The aged statesman, Henry Jocelyn, who once owned much of the land in Scarborough, had been taken prisoner. The garrison was looted but not destroyed and, after the reoccupation of the garrison by Massachusetts’s Lieutenant Bartholomew Tippen and his men, settlers returned to the town. In March 1677 almost thirty families had returned to the town but their condition was poor. The Indians attacked again in May but in this latest battle for the fort Mogg and half a dozen of his confederates were killed in a frontal attack, Tippen firing the shot to kill him. The Indians, many of their leaders gone, withdrew from the town for awhile, wreaking havoc down the coast as they did so.2
But this was a morning in June, the enemy of the English had returned, and the alarm was given. A small band of Indians had been spotted moving half a mile away east of the ferry, which serviced Black Point and Blue Point. Having said their morning prayers, the soldiers marched forth, ninety to one hundred men. Twenty were under the command of Major Clarke, a man nearly 70, who stayed behind. Friendly Indians alongside English soldiers and their leader, Lieutenant Richardson, were in one party, probably at their forefront. English and friendly Indian soldiers from the remaining ships marched on under the command of Captain Swett. To protect what they called their own, garrisoned townsmen joined in rank, probably led by their town’s savior and garrison commander, Lieutenant Tippen. As they marched with their backs to the sea, they traveled the pastured land of the neck. The lands to the left sloped down to the mouth of the river where, by water’s edge, lay the now unused fishing stages and the evaporating pools. Beyond this, across the broken lands of the marsh, lay Winnock’s Neck with its chalky bright clam heaps marking the feasting place for the local natives. The men marched through the fields past the blooming English roses that Henry Joceyln’s brother, John Josselyn, wrote about during quieter days. The desolation of the cultivated land they walked through was complete: blackened fields, houses, and barns burned the year before.3
THE ANCIENT MAJOR
Major THOMAS CLARKE was a wealthy man who had suffered losses of his own along these coasts. He was well acquainted in commerce and warfare having been the senior partner with Captain Thomas Lake of a large trading post at Arrowsic (Georgetown), further eastward along the coast. For years their company had dealt peacefully with the natives. Although the outpost was well protected, less than a year before the Kennebec Indians forced their way in, taking the inhabitants unawares. Many were killed, including Lake, and the place was ransacked.4
Clarke was old by this time, near his allotted three score and ten, when he arrived at Black Point. He had received a commission on the same day of Swett’s departure; his role was counselor to Swett and envoy from the government. Besides having men under his command, the government had given him authority to do as he saw fit. Circumstances would drive his actions.5
THE NEWLY COMMISSIONED CAPTAIN
Captain BENJAMIN SWETT came to this new land when he was a boy, settling in Newbury, Massachusetts, with his family. He was well educated and forthright. In his twenties, he married Esther Weare and entered military life. Swett was his own man and on more than one occasion (with dutiful respect) signed petitions to the Council in Boston regarding military affairs. As were many of his contemporaries, he was a strong advocate of self-determination and the ability to petition the government without retribution. pq and his family left Newbury to settle in Hampton, New Hampshire, where he and his wife raised ten children. Here Swett grew in prominence among its citizenry. He became a leader of the community, holding a variety of offices. With the coming of the war, Swett would have many challenges; utmost was to protect his own town of Hampton. Chroniclers tell of the few skirmishes that occurred in his town, which was not visited by the wholesale slaughter or destruction shared by many towns of that time. Whether by Swett’s diligence or the Indians’ indifference, Hampton was spared for the most part until 13 June 1677 when four men were killed outside of town.6
Swett was not always there to help protect his town. During the war he had already served as an ensign in the Essex regiment under Captain Gardiner and fought at the famous Great Narragansett Fort Fight in December 1675. The ensign was soon promoted to lieutenant after Gardiner died during the battle. He probably took part in "The Hungry March" in the attempt to attack the Indians in the heart of the winter the month after, the soldiers in such need that they had to eat their horses. There must have been such a feeling of safety in Hampton that in the Spring of 1677, towards the end of the war, Swett was requested to go to Wells to bolster the garrison there.7
It may have passed through Swett’s mind as he marched with his men at Black Point that exactly two months earlier, while at Wells, he had experienced Indian tactics of stealth over outright attack. Espying an Indian in the distance, Swett dispatched eleven men to pursue him whereupon they fell into ambush. Two were killed immediately and one was mortally wounded. Reinforcements were sent out, which resulted in the death of six Indians.8 Some satisfaction could be gained from this but it was a lesson hard learned.
Swett was a very competent soldier but he knew that many men left home and hearth never to return. No doubt this was a concern when he took friends aside before his departure from Hampton. If he were to die, he wished it to be known that he wanted his wife to live in comfort and to receive a double portion of his estate, a decision that was not common at that time.9
The new captain must have felt very confident as he led his troops. All of his men might not have the experience of hardened soldiers but he had men in numbers. These were not a few soldiers garrisoned at Wells where the posture was defense. He now had a small army at his command of English and Indians, the latter skilled at discrete warfare, reputations unimpeachable when fighting alongside the English, while in the distance lay a small band of the retreating enemy.
THE BELOVED LIEUTENANT
Lieutenant JAMES RICHARDSON was the son of one of the first English settlers of Massachusetts and a founder of Woburn. The second-generation Richardsons formed many military ties. James, the youngest son, was the brother of Captain Josiah Richardson and James at 19 married Bridget Henchman, daughter of the famous Captain Thomas Henchman. He followed his brother and settled in Chelmsford, which over time had extended to include the Christian Indian village of Wamesit. In his thirties, he was entrusted to supervise the Indian settlement.10
Lieutenant James Richardson was distinguished in his military career and with his evenhandedness with the Christian Indians under his responsibility. On many occasions when the townsmen of the area would quickly blame the Indians and seek to do them harm, Richardson would juxtapose himself—sometimes to no avail—as the English settlers would wreak undeserved vengeance on the innocent. The friendly Indians either escaped from a hostile environment by flying into the wilderness or to the enemies of the English. Others were rounded up by the government and placed on Deer Island in the fall of 1675. On the island they lived a miserable existence until commanders with foresight realized the need to reinstate the use of Indian scouts. A few scouts’ unwavering loyalty and bravery liberated their people in the spring of 1676. Employing some of the released natives, the government had ordered that a garrison be built at Pawtucket Falls (Lowell). Forty Indians and eventually the garrison were to be put under Richardson’s command. These natives were severely limited in where they could live or travel in Massachusetts.11 It was fitting to call on Richardson to lead the expeditionary forces inland with a band of Indians and English. In the summer of 1675 at Brookfield he had proven himself an able leader as he and the other lesser officers repelled an attack on a garrison in which they took refuge while their commanding officer lay dying within. His bravery came second to his devotion to the Wamesit Indians. He had proven time and again to be faithful to them. Trust was given for trust and they loved him for it. He was a defender of them when falsely accused by the nearby settlers.12
Richardson impressed into service English soldiers from his own Middlesex County and gained help from the Wamesit Indians. eorgrder to raise men for Richardson’s force, the government allowed an incentive 20 shillings bounty for each enemy scalp and twice that for any enemy they could make their prisoner.13
As he took to the pathways to Maine, he left his wife and as many as seven children behind.14
THE FORCES UNDER CLARKE, SWETT, AND RICHARDSON
Swett and Richardson’s men were hastily gathered from the surrounding counties in Massachusetts. Orders from the commanders went to the local militia or constables to fill their quotas.
ESSEX COUNTY
Essex was commanded to raise 24 men for the expedition.15 Many more heeded the call as every town sent a soldier representative.
Andover
Not all men pressed for service were freemen. DANIEL BLANCHARD was a servant of Christopher Osgood, a member of a prominent family in Andover. How he came to be indentured to Osgood, who was a militia lieutenant at the time, is not known, nor is it related to how he fared under his tanner master.16
Two first cousins, whose educated fathers helped settle Andover and found the church there, also joined the ranks. When JOHN PARKER prepared himself for battle, it was the day before his twenty-first birthday. His father was well off, owning a corn mill as well as being styled a tanner or carpenter. His cousin, JAMES PARKER, whose father may have been a scrivener, was 21. John had already seen military duty as one of the ten men from Andover accompanying Captain Gardiner and Ensign Swett during the Swamp Fort campaign.17
Portion of William Hubbard’s "Map of New England," in his volume, The History of the Indian Wars in New England (1677)
JOHN PHELPS was 20 when he disembarked from the ship at Black Point. His father, a weaver, may have known Ensign Swett since both had lived previously in Newbury. His older brother or cousin, Samuel, was a soldier and fought alongside of John Parker and Swett at the Great Swamp Fight.18
Beverly
Beverly sent FRANCIS LAWRENCE and JAMES MANSLY. Accompanying them was BENJAMIN MORGAN, whose father helped found the church at Beverly ten years before. Benjamin’s brothers, Moses and Joseph Morgan, were no strangers to the war. Moses was with Gardiner and Swett at the Great Swamp Fight and served at the Hadley garrison under Captain Turner.19
Gloucester
Gloucester was quiet during the war. From the fishing town, VINCENT DAVIS was drafted in 1675, one of the first eight men in the war to serve from Gloucester. He was one of the many who were ill clad for the war, wanting for warm clothing. After he was impressed he participated at the Great Swamp Fight under Swett. He continued in military service at Gloucester, having been paid in January.20
Gloucester also sent along NATHANIEL KNIGHTS.21
Ipswich
Ipswich’s men came in force, at least five joining the expedition. JAMES FORD was a soldier of long standing and in his thirties during the war. He was an educated man and was probably a junior officer. During the war, Ford was found in the payrolls of Captains Paige and Brocklebank. Under the former, he was a cavalryman and participated in the Mt. Hope campaign early in the war. Under the latter he was sent to Swett as reinforcement in Narragansett country and probably took part in the "Hungry March" in early 1676.22
THOMAS BURNHAM JR. was a carpenter and freeman around the age of 30.23 His father was once shipwrecked on the coast of Maine. He was now an ensign, had taken part in the Pequot War a generation before, and served alongside John Wildes Sr. His younger brother, James, was a trooper under Captain Prentice. Thomas may have been a junior officer because of his age and station, but there is no record of him in any military lists up to that time. He left his wife and many children behind as he made his way to Maine.24
Now in his early twenties, ISRAEL HONEYWELL was familiar with Black Point. His fisherman father made his livelihood in nearby Saco until his death by drowning while Israel was a baby. His brother, Richard, had started a family at Black Point and was probably at the garrison at the time. Israel seems to have been a laborer in Ipswich.25
JOHN POLAND was 19 when he landed in Maine. He was the first son and namesake of his father.26
Also in the party were JAMES BURBEE and SAMUEL POOLER.27
Lynn
THADDEUS BRAND (or Bran), living on the outskirts of Lynn, may have been a farmer. He and his wife suffered the loss of two children before the children were yet five. Sorrow upon sorrow, he lost his wife less than a month after the birth of his youngest daughter. Realizing that he could not care for her, he gave her to Zaccheus Curtis Sr. and his family to bring up. Now Thaddeus found himself impressed for service, leaving his precious daughters in the care of neighbors until his return, the only man from Lynn.28
Marblehead
The rough and tumble town of Marblehead sent more men then most. SAMUEL BEALE was the son of a miller and landowner. He had just turned 23.29
Beale as well as THOMAS EDWARDS, RICHARD HURLS, PHILIP HUTTON, and JOSEPH MORGAN prepared themselves for battle.30
Newbury
Newbury sent two men. MORGAN JONES was on the rolls under Major Appleton and he participated in the Great Swamp Fight. In 1676, he was a soldier at the garrison at Marlborough.31
CALEB PILSBURY was 24 and the fifth child of a well-to-do farmer and husbandman, who tradition tells hid his money under the eaves of his barn. Whether Caleb was new to warfare is unknown but unlikely. His younger brother William may have been garrisoned at Springfield, Salem, or both the year before.32
Rowley
From Rowley came NICHOLAS RICHARDSON. Nicholas served earlier in the war under fellow townsman, Captain Samuel Brocklebank. He may have been in the company of James Ford of Ipswich and must have seen service during the Narragansett campaigns.33
Salem
The generous town of Salem sent four men at least. NATHANIEL HUNN was married to a strong-willed wife, Priscilla, whose family were Quakers. Her wealthy father was stripped of his rank of sergeant before the war because of his religious beliefs. Nathaniel’s father was a shoemaker and once a member of The Ancient and Honorable Artillery, but his son does not appear on any wartime records other than his participation here. Priscilla and Nathaniel had married five years before and now had two daughters and a son. Along with eleven other men in 1672, he was told by the town "not [to] frequent the Ordinaries, nor Spend ther tyme and Estates in Tipling." No further record is found about this transgression of excessive drinking. Nathaniel’s wife was not a stranger to trouble either and was censured by the church for "uncleanness" in 1675.34
PETER PATTEE hailed from Virginia and was married as well, but his wife and child did not accompany him to the northern climes. He was in his thirties and a maker of shoes, having moved to Salem in 1675.35
JAMES VERIN was not a stranger to Maine like many of his companions. He lived with his family along the coast in the Sagadahoc area, now a desolate casualty of the war. He may have found refuge in Salem where many of his kinsmen lived, Verin being a prominent name in the town. James and his older brother John were garrisoned together at Hatfield under the command of Captain Turner the year before. Later in the year, James was garrisoned at Hadley, further down the Connecticut River valley.36
The fourth man in the Salem party, ANTHONY WALDRON, may have been a refugee from Maine. A man of this name made his mark on a petition to the government, one of a score of men from Falmouth requesting the removal of their timorous lieutenant in the late winter of 1676.37
Topsfield
In his thirties, JOHN WILDES JR. had come from Topsfield. His carpenter father, a man of good standing in the town, had fought in the Pequot war a generation earlier. His younger brother, Jonathan, was a soldier who seems to have taken part in the Narragansett campaign. He died a year before John Jr. went to the Eastward. John was not new to war. He served under Captain Turner as a corporal alongside his brother-in-law, Edward Bishop. They both served under Captain Poole as well. It seems likely that he was a junior officer in the campaign to Maine. John’s mother, Priscilla Gould, died when he was young. Sometime after his father’s subsequent marriage to Sarah Averill, trouble started within the Gould family. John had difficulty with his stepmother and told his maternal aunt in his youth that "he believed his mother wiles was a witch & told her storys of his mother." As with Swett, John Jr. felt it important to take care of his estate in the event that he, like his brother, should never return.38
NORFOLK COUNTY
Norfolk County, closest to Maine, may have sent more men than history tells.39
Hampton
Only one man from Swett’s town of Hampton was recorded to have accompanied him. STEPHEN BROWN was a teenager probably living with his widowed father, a first settler and prosperous landowner in Hampton. It may have been a shortlived but merry meeting for Stephen and John Parker of Andover. Stephen’s older sister had married John’s oldest brother. Some (if not all) of Stephen’s brothers were soldiers during the war and now it was his turn to play the man.40
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
Middlesex County provided men to scout up the coast with Richardson or sail with Clarke and Swett to Black Point.
Billerica
Billerica sent at least one man. THOMAS DUTTON was 27 when he took up his arms and traveled to Maine under the command of Major Clarke. He was the oldest of nine children, his father and mother moving from Reading to Woburn when he was a child. At the outset of the war, he was living with his mother, father, and brother in Billerica, where he was a husbandman.41
Chelmsford
Along with Lieutenant Richardson, only one other soldier from Chelmsford is identified. JACOB PARKER was about 24 when he went with the scouting party along the coast. His father was learned man and one of five brothers to settle Chelmsford. Also, his father was the first town clerk and held that position as well as selectman (sometimes both) for nearly 10 years. His uncle was Captain James Parker of the outlying town of Groton, which was attacked and abandoned in 1676. The eldest brother in a large family, the teenaged Jacob must have taken on a greater role in the family when his father died. In 1674 he was counted among the able-bodied men to protect Chelmsford.42
Concord
Four young men were impressed from Concord. The leaders of the militia thought that their impressments meant a tour to guard against the enemy at nearby Chelmsford, but once at that town they were added to ranks of soldiers finding themselves miles away at the Eastward, probably under the command of Lieutenant Richardson. JOHN BALL was only 16 as he and three of his townsmen traveled to Chelmsford. His father was a second-generation settler, living in present-day Bedford. Members of his uncle’s family were either killed or captured during the attack on Lancaster in the winter of 1676.43
SAMUEL STRATTON was 16 as well, the eldest boy of six surviving children at the time. His father was a farmer and a second-generation settler, coming from Watertown to Concord before Samuel’s birth. In 1675, a year after his mother died, his father married Hannah Wheat.44
JOHN WHEAT, a yeoman, must have been the leader of the band of four at the age of 27. He had good reason to keep an eye on Samuel Stratton. John’s sister, Hannah, married Samuel Stratton’s father, making Samuel his nephew. John’s mother, father, and uncle were among the first settling families of Concord, their homestead situated north of Mill Brook. His father was an unusual man, a prosperous one to be sure, owning well-tilled lands, orchards, and pastures, but he kept his family close under his watchful eye. John’s brother saw military service in the Narragansett Fort Fight as well as serving under Captains Syll and Wheeler. There is no earlier record of John or his other older brother having taken part in the war. 45
THOMAS WOOLLEY may have been as young as Ball and Stratton or as old as Wheat when he traveled to Chelmsford. His father was a weaver, whose family had lived in Concord for over 20 years.46
SUFFOLK COUNTY
Suffolk County had always provided men for expeditions to the Eastward and this time would send more of her sons.
Boston
When a man was impressed, it was not uncommon for him to hire someone else to serve in his place. Sergeant William Coleman of Boston chose Joseph Dill but Dill in turn recruited Zackery Crispt to go. However, when Crispt was found, he had hired himself out to Captain Henchman. To take his place, Crispt paid JOHN HARKER from Boston as a substitute. Harker was credited as a soldier under Captain Holbrook the year before. At 34, Harker walked away with 30 shillings in his pocket, a richer man on a fateful journey.47
Medfield
Medfield, attempting to recover from near destruction the winter before, sent two men. JOHN MASON may have been in the military for two years before his call to go to the Eastward. It seems likely that he participated with James Ford in the attack on Mt. Hope, King Philip’s stronghold. He is credited for maintaining the garrison at Wrentham during the winter of 1675–76. Later Mason was employed as a soldier under Captain Brattle. Closer to home, his father and two younger brothers were killed during the devastating raid on Medfield. His family’s homestead, livestock, and stored crops were destroyed, a fate shared by his uncle as well.48
BENJAMIN ROCKWOOD (or Rocket), who was nearly killed while serving in the military before, was 26 when he disembarked from one of the ships at Black Point. The Rockwoods survived the attack on Medfield but their house perished by fire.49
Milton
DANIEL DIKE from Milton had been credited at being at the garrison of his hometown earlier that winter. That winter also found him in court in Boston where he confessed he stole ten pounds while on a ship bound for Piscataqua. He was jailed and forced to repay treble the amount stolen, charges for prosecution, and court fees. One of the men on the court who passed judgment was Major Clarke.50
THE "FRIENDLY" INDIANS
Some of the Christian Indians in Massachusetts lived in communities like those of their English counterparts but apart from them. Early in the seventeenth century the missionary efforts of the Congregationalist John Eliot and others bore fruit as Indians made their confessions of faith. These were known as "praying" or "friendly" Indians, and as new converts they struggled with their newfound faith. Powwows, men who had power over others, power to heal or power to bring death, renounced their pagan practices. Individuals tried to live a godly life and understand this new English God, while great personal loss and persecution were about them. During military campaigns throughout the war they distinguished themselves in service to the English and against other native groups.51
Although the Governor and Council requested that 200 Indians be raised for the foray into Maine, there were not that many native men, women, and children left in the Christian Indian communities in Massachusetts. Major Gookin’s census of the Indians in November 1676 shows that there were about 117 men in total, with some 30 more already in the service of the English to the Eastward. Major Gookin was to make sure that Richardson’s party had 25 men, this included Wasemit Indians as well as some English from the surrounding towns. Some of the Wasemit Indians had accompanied Captain Hunting to Maine in the fall of 1676 and there were not more than fifteen from four villages, including Wasemit, that survived. Another fifteen or so accompanied Hunting, but from whence they came is not clear. Combining the Indians in the vicinity of Wasemit, Natick, and perhaps other Indian towns, 36 Indians went, some with Richardson by land or Swett by ship.52
Of the names of these natives, none of the Wasemit Indians are known, while only three are known from the village of Natick.
When John Eliot came to preach, the Speen family had great power, laying claim to all of Natick. This they gave up to create a town in 1650. Among the converted were John Speen and Robin Speen. The Speens as well as many of the other Natick Indians had military experience with the English. James Speen was a scout under Major Savage. Thomas Speen was also a soldier whose wife and children were murdered by the English in August 1676. Some of the wiser commanders respected their unique skills as scouts and did not fall to prejudicial hatred that many of the colonists and some military leaders harbored. ABRAHAM SPEEN, who now found himself at Black Point, had his trials. Two years before, as he and a companion were traveling through Marlborough, they found themselves rounded up with some Hassanamesit Indians, all accused of a murder in Lancaster. He and the others spent time imprisoned in Boston. Weeks later, the government released many of the prisoners, having found no evidence of wrongdoing against most of them.53
Another of Eliot’s converts was Ponampam, whose confessions of his coming to faith in Christ were published in 1653. One of his relations, NATHANIEL PENUMPUM, as well as JOHN NUCKWICH were among the other native representatives of the forces.54
TOWNSMEN
Of the Scarborough townsmen who could have participated, there are seven that can be identified positively.55
JOHN MCKENNEY may have been a captured Scottish soldier, indentured to Massachusetts after the battle of Dunbar where Cromwell had routed the Scots sympathetic to Prince Charles. By 1664 he was in Scarborough and there he settled having received a grant of land in 1668. Although he got into a row with Captain Scottow, the owner of the garrison, McKenney supported the captain while others in the town spoke against him. McKenney and his family fled the war and became refugees in Salem.56
The Libbys were a large farming family and the patriarch, John, had four sons in the garrison: JAMES LIBBY, SAMUEL LIBBY, HENRY LIBBY, and ANTHONY LIBBY. All were probably planters like their father. Anthony was also a carpenter. James, Samuel, and Henry were in their thirties while Anthony was in his late twenties. They lived with or near their father about two miles from the garrison, but this was all gone now, burned by the Indians at the start of the war. When Mogg took the garrison in October 1676, all but Henry were living near it. Most of the Libby family took refuge in Boston. However, all four brothers returned to Black Point as soldiers. Henry and perhaps the others volunteered to accompany Lieutenant Tippen to regain the fort taken by Mogg but they were not allowed. Instead Henry and possibly his brothers were impressed to go with Captain Moore and were later left at the Black Point garrison where conditions were mean, the garrisoned men becoming sick (some dying) for want of good clothing.57
ANDREW BROWN Jr. and JOHN BROWN, both in their twenties, were at the garrison at the time of arrival of Clarke, Swett, and Richardson. The Brown family settled in Scarborough where the progenitor, Andrew Sr., was a large landowner, receiving 500 acres in 1651. Far from the safety of the coastal garrison in Scarborough, the family’s house and cattle were destroyed. Andrew, his wife, and family of nine children were in hard straits, living as refugees in Boston, making due but finding no way to make a livelihood for two years. Andrew Jr. and John had been impressed in November 1676 to go to the Kennebec with Captain Moore and were released to the Black Point garrison afterwards.58
THE SOKOSIS AND AMMOSCOGGINS, NATIVES OF MAINE
Evangelism had traveled to Saco and to the Sokosis who lived there. In the early 1640s, a Congregational minister had made his way to the fishing settlement and others followed. However, there was no attempt at conversion of the native population. This occasioned one Indian of the town in which the soldiers now found themselves to admit years later that her fealty to the French was due to their desire to teach the Indians Catholicism.59
One native that heeded the Congregationalists’ calls was a powwow named Squando. While Indians in Massachusetts who were converted to Christianity either rejected powwows or acting as powwows, Squando seems to have found a place in his life for both the new and old ways before the outbreak of the war. He had visions of where he saw God and his conviction led him to keep the Sabbath, give up strong drink, and attend worship services; these he tried to impress upon his men about him. However, it is only through the outbreak of the war that we hear of him, there being no public record before that time.60
Squando’s active participation as a leader against the English of Maine was precipitated by a senseless act against his family. Often what comes down as fancy or fable is based in truth and such is the case of Squando’s wife and son. During a summer day in 1675, some sailors on the Saco River, who believed or out of maliciousness claimed that Indian children could swim naturally, decided to put it to the test with horrific results. A canoe, in which the wife and baby son of the Sokosis sagamore were traveling, was upset (near Cow Island, tradition says). The baby’s mother brought up the child from the river’s depths but he soon died. With this loss, Squando, a friend of the settlers and a convert to the Christian faith, became one of the most dangerous men in Maine.61
Some of the English at the time felt that this senseless act was not sufficient for the destruction soon to be waged upon the scattered settlements on the southern coast of Maine. In the accounts of the time, Squando was feared and derided. He and his men led successful raids against many, if not all, of the coastal towns. And because of the ruthless nature of his attacks, of ambush or singling out families, he was called a murderer, liar, diabolical miscreant, and Minister of Satan. His return of a captured Falmouth girl, Elizabeth Wakely, in June 1676, in contrast to his battling against the English, was described as "A strange Mixture of Mercy and Cruelty." However, a short-lived treaty between the English and Indians was signed at Cocheco (Dover) on 3 July and it was common for prisoners to be redeemed at such times.62 As a leader of the Sokosis and Ammoscoggins, his successes far outweighed his failures in battle. Mogg’s bold attack would not be repeated with disastrous results. Squando would not lay siege to the garrison so well fortified, with an army perched upon the neck of land to defend it. His plan would be more subtle and deadly.
The enemy lay all around him but he and his men knew the land well. It was Squando who prepared for these new English forces. The number of his men may have been less than the number of English who went out to meet him.63 History provides no names of his compatriots.
THE TWOFOLD MISSION OF THE ENGLISH
The initial objective of the government of Massachusetts was a military one. Massachusetts's hope was that it could get help from the other United Colonies, Plymouth and Connecticut. The Great Swamp Fight proved how the concerted efforts of these colonies could work well to their benefit. In December 1675, a combined army of over one thousand men and Indians of the United Colonies marched and took the Narragansett swamp fort, turning the tide of the war. Therefore, on the first of June 1677 it was decided by the Council sitting in Boston to solicit the help of her sister colonies to once again answer the constant attacks now happening at the Eastward. The Massachusetts Council hoped to raise 200 Indians and less than 100 English for the venture, using the agreed-upon quotas filled by all three colonies. However, there would be no help from the other colonies. Massachusetts would have to fight alone. The number of men raised was around 120. The number of English gathered far outnumbered the friendly Indians in this army.64
The deployment of the forces would be approached in two ways. Richardson would take his men to range the woods between the Merrimack and Piscataqua Rivers. To encourage his men, they were to be allowed 20 shillings for every enemy scalp and twice that for any prisoners taken. After a while, they would march up the coast of Maine until they reached Black Point. Clarke and Swett would take a seaward route with the bulk of the army in three ships. The rendezvous date was set at June 26th. The ships left Charlestown on the 25th but something must have impeded the swiftness of their journey, because they did not arrive until the 28th.65
Once gathered at Black Point, they were to receive news from Lieutenant Tippen about the movement of the enemy. Clarke was to help decide what to do based on the information gathered about the Indian forces. He could either counsel that much of the army travel by foot back down the coast trying to rout out the Indians and relieving the garrisons as they passed through or, if the conditions were right, to travel to the headquarters of the Indians to destroy them. It has been intimated that headquarters were on "the falls of Taconick on Kennebeck river; where it was said the Indians had six forts, well furnished with ammunition." It seems more likely that the headquarters that the combined army was to attack was Ossipee (or "Pegwakick"), which Captain Walderne and later Captains Hunting and Sill set upon, destroying the formidable fort the previous winter, rather than Taconnet. Barring a change in plan, Swett and Richardson were to march down the coast and not up it. It seems unlikely that they would have tried to attack Taconnet on the Kennebec, since they anticipated a contingent from New York to reside further up the coast but in the vicinity of that river.66 The appearance of the Indians on the plain would drive the decision to attack here and now. What was to be done after would be settled when the men returned.
The other reason for this mission was political and could be summed up in a single place name—Pemaquid.
Overlapping claims for Pemaquid rankled not a few in the competing governments of Massachusetts and New York (who represented the claim over Pemaquid by the Duke of York). In December 1676, the government of New York sent ships to Boston and Piscataqua to offer succor and draw off to New York any of those who were driven out of Pemaquid. This Massachusetts would not allow. Massachusetts abandoned Pemaquid in April, its soldiers ill equipped to maintain it against any Indian enemy.67
Although Massachusetts and New York were at odds over Pemaquid, Massachusetts sent a delegation to Albany in May and were given "very Curteous enterteinment." Gifts were exchanged there with the Mohawks, the dreaded enemies of the Eastern Indians, who promised to pursue the Eastern Indians up to the Kennebec River. Assuming that the Mohawks would be in Maine by the time the forces were gathered under Swett and Clarke, provisions were granted by Massachusetts for their well being and, when it was time to load the ships commanded by Clarke and Swett, one hundred bushels of Indian corn were hauled aboard.68
The governor of New York, Edmond Andros, who would live long enough to become the hated and jailed governor of Massachusetts, saw the benefit of reestablishing the fort at Pemaquid and the profits to be made from the fisheries there. Noting that everything eastward of Black Point had been either abandoned or destroyed, he sought to flex the ducal muscle and (along with the New York council) decided on June 9th to restore Pemaquid. Captain Anthony Brockholes was provided with sailing orders four days later to occupy and fortify it. They were to further the Duke's interests by making peace with the Eastern Indians of Maine and reopen the lucrative trading and fishing operations. New York's intentions were presented to Massachusetts, who now had thrust upon them the trouble and inconvenience of two powers—the natives, who were seen as the enemies, and the men of New York, who were seen as usurpers. Knowing the strategic as well as economic importance of Pemaquid, Massachusetts made its plans to send Clarke to treat with those in charge there, and attempt to make peace with the natives of the eastern part of Maine and redeem captives held by them. Andros believed the rendezvous at Black Point occurred because Massachusetts heard of New York's preemptive reclamation of Pemaquid, but it is obvious that the plans of Bay Colony were in place well beforehand and New York's actions only added to the complexity of the situation.69
Massachusetts, in order to make her expectations clear, drew up a communiqué and sent it with Clarke: New York would neither interfere with the prosecution of the plans to attack the Indians by the Massachusetts forces nor would they deal with the Indians themselves, which would put to disadvantage the Massachusetts government. When he was to arrive at Pemaquid, it was to be delivered to Captain Nichols there.70
Andros's hopes were not only to reoccupy but also to populate Pemaquid with men more sympathetic to the crown or antagonistic towards the government of Massachusetts. He also suggested that the four ships, which he sent forth, stop at the Piscataqua and offer positions to three influential men there. The first of these was Major Nicholas Shapleigh, a Quaker sympathizer. The second was Reverend Robert Jordan, whose holdings in Scarborough and along the Spurwink River were formidable but abandoned. The third was the esteemed Henry Jocelyn of Black Point. All three men had been thorns in the side of the Massachusetts government since that body's long arm reached up the coast of Maine. The Massachusetts government in the past had imprisoned both Shapleigh and Jordan, and Shapleigh just three years before. One of these three men took the opportunity to go aboard and sail to Pemaquid.71
THE MEN EMBARK AFTER THE INDIANS SHOW THEMSELVES
Drawing by Sylvia Hunnewell
As the men marched, behind them lay plentiful Saco Bay. On their left-hand side were the crescent sands of Saco, Blue Point, and Dunstan. To the right lay the woods of the neck and further on the plains where once the families lived by farming and husbandry, much of their efforts destroyed the year before. An expanse of marshland spread ahead of them where freshwater springs and the sinuous Nonesuch River wound its way.
As the men marched in two or three files, the land gave way to an expanse of marshland on their left, while the land rose before and to the right of them. It took less than half an hour to march to the vicinity of Moore's Brook, a small waterway that led down to the marsh. They were about two miles from the safety of the garrison, finding themselves upon an open plain—a bush here and there to break up the landscape. As the men started crossed over Moore's Brook and started up the hill on the other side, the Indians attacked.72
The English were not outnumbered, but the surprise was their undoing. Squando laid his trap well.
The war whoop, which today seems relegated to myth, was very real and, for those less resolute soldiers, must have struck them with terror. Up came the Indians from behind the bushes and up from the marshland to their left, across the plain from their right. What had started as pursuit of a few Indians turned into a full pitched battle.
The initial slaughter on the side of the English must have been horrific. Lieutenant James Richardson was cut down soon after the first volley along with others of his men. English and friendly Indians fell wounded or dead; others tried to carry the wounded to safety, but shelter was two miles away and they were facing an enemy that knew the territory well. Some badly wounded English found ways to hide. Some men, many of those who served with Swett before, must have held their ground. There is no doubt that some of the men, inexperienced soldiers, "shifting for themselves," left their comrades to bear the brunt of the attack. There is good reason to believe that the friendly Indians stood their ground and there is no record that shows any treachery or perfidy on their part. The townsmen had shown their lack of resolve earlier with their encounter with Mogg the preceding year, but how they reacted now is not known. Soon the English and friendly Indian ranks were thrown into disarray.73
Swett, showing great courage, rallied what men he could again and again, and made a torturous retreat towards the garrison on the neck. The rout had turned into a tremendous defeat and by the time Swett was within sight of the garrison, he had suffered many wounds and was bodily taken by the Indians and hewn to death. Of the nearly one hundred men who left the garrison, less than half a dozen came back without a scratch. Nineteen out of twenty of Major Clarke's men were cut down. A doctor treated those who returned wounded. Fifty to sixty of the New England forces were dead or mortally wounded, including eight friendly Indians.74
The Indians made quick work of the wounded men left on the field. If any were found, they were undoubtedly dispatched. There are no records of any captives being taken. Why the victors left the scene we do not know. It was thought that Squando fled to Canada. Early in the morning soldiers went from the garrison to rescue the wounded and recover the dead.75
Thomas Dutton from Billerica described the battle in a petition for assistance from the government months afterwards.
Bilerikye this (1)st of 8th [October]: (1678)
To the honered govener & the Rest of the honered members of the Generall Court now sitting in boston : this 2:8:1678
The petetion of Thos Dutten Junr: most humbley sheweth: thatt som time in June : 77 : I was imprest into the contrey serves from Billeriky : & was sent with sum others to the estward : under the Command of the honered major clarke esqr & the wise providence of the allwise god : so ordered if I was in tht fattall scirmish : In which capt swett : tht worthey comander : was slaine : and allmost all his officers : with about 50 men besids & : 21 more that were wounded [to my best Rememberance] of which my self was one : I was shott therow the side of my belle : and thorow my left knee & so fell doun wounded amongst the rest not able to help my self : I being of a child lame one my right thigh my hipp bone was putt out of Joynt and never sett againe so if I was now lame one both sides : beside the shott which went thorow my side: as aforesd : I therefor hid my self amongst amongst [sic] the bushes: not being able to stand nor goe : the battell being over : the indians came forth out of the swamp and one of them espied me in a bush : and seing my gonne in my hand : aprehended more danger thn there was : and spake to the rest and they all ran away the which I perceiveing : with much deficoltie : crept into the swamp and Covered my self with mudd & dirt : the Indians qicklie returned to the place to look for me : & fiered into the bush where the indian did se me : & they sought diligentlye for me : but It pleased the lord : they coold nott find me : then in the night after all was still : I crept out of the swamp towards the gareson about a mile & a halfe and whatt with my bleeding and great paine : I was not able to goe one rodd farther : it was the more deficolt for me to creep becase I was shott thorow one of my knees: but there I laye doune & thought I must dye before mornig but the lord who ordereth all things acording to the counsill of his own will : so ordered tht an other wounded soldier came bye me : in the night a letle before daye : and so took my condetion to the Capt of the gareson : who sent forth men imediatelye : and found me and brought me into the gareson who had much adoo to keep life in me : & I was sent by the first opertunitye to salem : where I came upon the 2nd of July : from tht time till the : 28th : of Janeuary I Remained under the hands of docter welds : as will appeare by his certeficate which I gave it to to [sic] the honured counsell76
THE FATE OF CLARKE, SWETT, AND RICHARDSON AND THEIR MEN
More English and friendly Indians from Massachusetts died in this one military action in Maine than at any other time during the war. It was a devastating blow to the colony and once again the men of Essex County bore the brunt of the casualties. Some of the wounded Essex men were shipped to Salem, where nineteen arrived on July 2. Others arrived in Boston. At Salem Dr. Barton and Dr. Welds, physicians of long standing, tended them. Some soldiers were paid for their service, others were not. They or their towns bore the cost of their medical expenses.77
Already feeling vulnerable, since four men were killed outside the town two weeks before and upon hearing the news, the Hampton town fathers wrote to the Governor immediately asking for a suitable replacement for their worthy Captain Swett. Swett's wishes were granted and his wife, Hester, was given twice her portion of his estate. She married Swett's ensign the following March.78
Lieutenant Richardson's wife Bridget's sorrow increased when their seven- year-old daughter died three months later. She received solace, no doubt, from her family and her husband's, many with military ties. She remarried in October 1679.79
The slain men were probably buried in a mass grave, which was a common occurrence during this and other Indian wars. A burying ground lay beyond the ferry and it may have been there where they were interred or they may have been buried close to the battle scene.80
ESSEX COUNTY
Andover
All of the men known to have come from Andover died in the battle: the cousins JAMES PARKER and JOHN PARKER, JOHN PHELPS, and the servant DANIEL BLANCHARD.81
Beverly
All three men from Beverly were slain: FRANCIS LAWRENCE, JAMES MANSLY, and BENJAMIN MORGAN.82
Gloucester
From Gloucester, also known as Cape Ann, both men, VINCENT DAVIS and NATHANIEL KNIGHTS, died.83
Ipswich
THOMAS BURNHAM JR. survived the battle and become prosperous. He followed in his father's military footsteps. By 1688 he was sergeant and in 1702 was made lieutenant by Governor Dudley. His family increased and by two wives he fathered well over a dozen children. He died in 1728 at 86.84
ISRAEL HONEYWELL was shot in the leg and shoulder but made his way back to the garrison. He returned to Ipswich where he found himself before the court a few times where his greatest exploit was revealed. He was accused of and later imprisoned for stealing a horse with his wife-to-be riding behind him. He eventually settled in New York.85
Four of Ipswich's men were killed in battle: JAMES FORD, JAMES BURBEE, SAMUEL POOLER, and JOHN POLAND JR.86
Lynn
The Indians slew THADDEUS BRAND as well. His older daughter Sarah grew up in Lynn, married, and had a large family. Of the baby daughter Mary, nothing more is known.87
Marblehead
Four sons of Marblehead, THOMAS EDWARDS, RICHARD HURLS, PHILIP HUTTON, and JOSEPH MORGAN, would not return to their families and livelihoods, but lay struck down far from home.88
SAMUEL BEALE was the only known survivor from Marblehead. Later in the year, he took the Oath of Fidelity with his brothers there. He married and raised a family, dying by 1699.89
Newbury
The men of Newbury fared better than most. MORGAN JONES was shot through the thigh and sent to Salem. He recovered and went to work for William Lake of Salem, where he once was served a warrant for excessive drinking. He returned to Newbury by the end of 1678 and made an account of what he was owed for use of his personal belongings in the war.90
CALEB PILSBURY was shot in the back. He returned to Newbury, took the Oath of Allegiance there in 1678, and seems to have remained unmarried. He died at 27, three years after the battle.91
Rowley
NICHOLAS RICHARDSON was slain. He must have had some close ties with the Appleton family of Rowley and Ipswich, because Isaac Appleton claimed the land promised as a result of the Narragansett Swamp Fight.92
Salem
NATHANIEL HUNN died, leaving a wife and children in Salem. His widowed wife would receive assistance from the town. During her lifetime, she would marry three more times, eventually moving to Delaware, where she could raise her children from this and the other marriages as Quakers.93
PETER PATTEE was identified as one of the soldiers to have died, but this was a mistake. He may have been wounded in the battle or at another time soon after by spring of the following year. He was impressed again in 1679. Pattee settled in Haverhill where he remarried in 1682 after his first wife would not leave Virginia. There he raised his family and became constable of the town in 1694. He was also a ferryman, carrying people across the Merrimack. Later in life, his attempts to start a gristmill and tavern were squelched by the town. After his second wife's death, he remarried a third time while in his seventies. He died at 80 and his grave was still marked in the Pentucket Cemetery in Haverhill in 1992.94
ANTHONY WALDRON returned to his hometown to recover from being shot in the neck. Nothing further is known of him.95
JAMES VERIN was shot through the upper part of the thigh. He sailed with the others to Salem to recover. Two years later, he and other families living together on a "small fishing Island of Saccadahoc" requested of Edmund Andros of Massachusetts to be allowed land at Arrowsic. This was granted in September 1679.96
Topsfield
Although slain at Black Point, JOHN WILDES JR. still had an impact. His reckless talk about his stepmother helped seal her doom when years later she was accused of being a witch. Her own son and John's half-brother, then the constable of Topsfield, reluctantly had to serve her the warrant and bring her to Salem where she was convicted and put to death as a result of the witch trials of 1692.97
NORFOLK COUNTY
Hampton
STEVEN BROWN died and like his commanding officer would no longer return to his beloved Hampton.98
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
Billerica
THOMAS DUTTON, as has been related before, was shot in the knee and belly and by his wits saved himself. According to one account, he was the only survivor of the twenty men under the command of Clarke. He was sent to Salem where he was under Dr. Weld's care until January 1678. That year he petitioned the government. Unable to work in husbandry due to his wounds and his father's savings spent to maintain a family "vesited with sicknes & lamenes," he petitioned the government for aid. His desire was to "lern the art of a shoemaker : tht by som honest means I may gitt a living. . . ," and his prayers were answered when he received £15. He returned to Billerica and married. There he raised his family, living near Fox Brook in town, but it was not without some tragedy. Not far from his home his sister-in-law, niece, and nephew where killed by Indians in an attack on the town on the first of August 1692.99
Chelmsford
JACOB PARKER, shot through the shoulder, was taken to Salem to recuperate. He later returned to Chelmsford and followed in his father's footsteps, serving as Town Clerk in 1688. He may have married and afterwards moved to Malden by 1690.100
Concord
There is no record that the four men from Concord took part in the battle. All four returned. JOHN BALL married twice and brought up his family in Concord. He died in 1703.101
SAMUEL STRATTON inherited the family homestead and became a weaver. He married, raised his family in Concord, and died in 1717.102
JOHN WHEAT lived out the rest of his life alone or with siblings on land bequeathed by this father. He died by July 1715.103
THOMAS WOOLLEY became a yeoman, married late in life, and had six children. The family was successful and continued to reside in Concord. He died in 1710 within a month of the birth of his last child.104
SUFFOLK COUNTY
Boston
It is uncertain if JOHN HARKER, the only man known to have hired himself out, fought in the battle. He returned to Boston, married, and raised a family there.105
Medfield
When he was cut down at Black Point, JOHN MASON suffered the fate of many of his family but far from his Medfield home. The following year, a townsman, seeing John's uncle, his widowed mother, Benjamin Rockwood's father, and another settler in dire straits, petitioned the court for relief of taxes for the year, which was granted. Only John's youngest brother and two sisters survived the war.106
BENJAMIN ROCKWOOD never fully healed from his wounds, having been shot in the thigh twice. He caught cold while at Black Point and from thence was sailed to Salem where he stayed for three months. He married and move to Wrentham, where he lived a long life. In 1742 when Rockwood was 93, his son-in-law petitioned the government for his maintenance in remembrance of his service during King Philip's War. He was allowed four pounds per year. A neighbor, who supported Rockwood four years later, petitioned the government because his son-in- law was not using the money towards Rockwood. The government allowed the pension to be sent to the "Overseers of the Poor of the Town of Wrentham & their Successors in said Office" henceforth. At 97, he may have been the last surviving member of the English army to fight at Black Point. He died in 1747.107
Milton
Some of those who survived still had to convalesce for months. In May of 1678, the townsmen of Milton petitioned the government to reimburse them for the costs of treating DANIEL DIKE's wounds. Dike's bone splintered as a bullet passed through his arm. He was sent to Salem after the battle and after a time was sent to Boston, placed under the care of Dr. Slice. The Governor and Council addressed the petition in October, where it was rejected. Neither the Governor and Council nor the selectmen of Milton would have the burden of Dike's continued medical expenses, and he died some six weeks after the refusal.108
THE FATE OF THE "FRIENDLY" INDIANS
The friendly Indians from Massachusetts lost more in this one battle than at any time during the war. Eight fell; no doubt many others were wounded. Three wounded Natick Indians were brought to Salem.109
JOHN NUCKWICH was shot in the junction of the knee. NATHANIEL PENUM- PUM was shot in the thigh. History tells no more of them.110
ABRAHAM SPEEN was shot through both of his thighs. He returned to Natick and took part in the town's activities as his name appears in many petitions to the government about the sale of Indian lands. It seems likely that he was married. Either he or a possible son of the same name was a proprietor of the town in 1719.111
THE FATE OF THE TOWNSMEN
JOHN MCKENNEY was shot through the breast and back, and was sent back to Salem where his family waited for him. There they stayed until the town paid to have them returned to Black Point in 1679.112
Only two of the four Libby men would come back to their refugee family. All four may have joined the group of townsmen to go with Swett. It is known that at least JAMES LIBBY or SAMUEL LIBBY was killed in battle. No doubt grief stricken and in terrible condition, their father petitioned (within two weeks of the fight and the night after one of his sons died) to have his other two garrisoned sons returned to him. This petition was answered, allowing the two sons to return to Boston.113
HENRY LIBBY remained at Black Point, married, and became a selectman in 1686. During the abandonment of the town at the start of King William's War in 1690, he lived with his family in Lynn. He was present at the resettlement of the town in 1720, living upon the south side of the present-day Black Point Cemetery. He died twelve years later.114
ANTHONY LIBBY stayed at Black Point for awhile and then moved to Falmouth where he met his wife to be. He moved to his wife's hometown of Hampton (present-day Rye), where he raised his family and did quite well as a prosperous carpenter and farmer. He died in 1718.115
Although they were at the Black Point garrison, there is no documentation whether the Brown brothers participated. Their father petitioned the Governor and Council the same day that John Libby did, requesting that his sons be released from garrison duty. This was granted.116
ANDREW BROWN JR. remained in Scarborough for the next few years. At some point he moved to the "upper part of Kittery" and was an ensign there. During King William's War he moved to York and had a garrison there during Queen Anne's War. He was a selectman in three towns and achieved the rank of lieutenant. He married twice, raised his family through all of this, and died in 1723.117
JOHN BROWN married and sometime moved to Marblehead. There they brought up their children while he made his living as a fisherman. He died by 1695.118
THE FATE OF THE SOKOSIS AND AMMOSCOGGINS
Although it has been stated that the Indians suffered great losses pursuing the men back to the garrison, the Maine Indians reported that only two of their company were killed with an equal amount wounded.119
Casualty List
Reproduced by permission of the Massachusetts Archives
THE CURIOUS CASUALTY LIST
Military leaders from Salem, John Curwin and John Price, sent the Governor and Council a list of the names of the men killed and wounded. Salem records state that they received 19 wounded men and that they arrived on July 2. On July 4th, Curwin and Price wrote (in all likelihood) to their commanding officer, Major Daniel Dennison, supplying him with a list of men wounded or killed at the battle. Only 13 are listed as wounded. Among the 23 that are listed as dead, some of these men seem to have survived. They were Thomas Burnham of Ipswich, Samuel Beale of Marblehead, Peter Pattee of Salem, and, possibly, Thomas Edwards of Marblehead. No easy explanation seems to fit in the case of these men.
Honord: Sr._ :Salem: the: 4th:July 1677.— Vndrstanding, pr doctor Barton, tht yor: honoer desires, & Expected, to receiue a pticular acctt. of the mens names tht are wounded, as alsoe the place they belong to, wth the manner of their wounds, haue accordingly, made Inquiry, & Sent you acctt as followeth— —— | |||
| English | Daniell: Dike: of Milton : through the Arm boan Splintrd //Ben : Rockett of Medfield . two Shots In thigh //Jacob: parker of Chensford: shott through the shouldr. //Tho: Dutton of Bellricke: shott In the knee & belly //Jno: Mechenne, of Blackpoint: throug the brest & back //James Veren of Salem: Through the upr: part of thigh //Anthony waldern Salem: In the neck //Morgan: Joanes of Newberry: through the thigh— //Caleb : pilsberry of Newberry: In the back //Israell Hunewell of Ipswich In the Legg & Shoulder —— | ||
| Indians | //Jno- Nuckwich: In the knee Juncture— //Nathanll: penumpum.— In the thigh— //Abraham Speen, through both the thighs —— Acctt: of the Slaine In this County, Soe far as wee Can gather is— | ||
| Salem// | Nath: Hun //peter: petty— —— James : Ford— | Andivr | Jno.- parker .- James: parker Jno: phelps: Daniell Blackead |
| Ipswich | //James : Burbee | —— | |
//Samll : pooler //Jn : poland //Thom : Burnum —— | Marblehead: | Tho. Edwards Samll. Beal Richard Hurls Joseph : Morgan | |
| Rowly | : Nick : Richardson —— | philip : Hutton —— | |
| Beurly | James Mansly Ben : Morgan Francis Lawrance | Cape an: | Vincen : Davis — Nathaniell Knights —— |
Lin | One man wch was all they sent – | ||
| [Second page] | |||
| Sr- | This acctt: is the best tht att prsant Can giue yor: honor:, as for the other Counties wee Can ~ Enforme noe other waies, butt tht Major Clark sent on shoar nineteen-twenty men where of nine- teen Slaine—wch is all att prsant butt humble Seruice to you—Rest.- | ||
Yor Honors most humble Seruants to Command Jno: Curwin : | |||
POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS
When the news reached the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, it was a devastating shock. Familiar with most of the events of the war, Increase Mather still made this entry in his diary:
June 29. A doleful Slaughter near Black Point. Tis tho't that 50 persons were slain. There were near 100 soldiers, it is questioned whether there were so many of the Enemy. They fought in a plain, not above 5 (or thereabouts) of ours tht came off without being either slain or wounded. Our soldiers, some of thm basely ran away wh occasioned the slaughter. The Enemy strangely bold & courageous. So tht there never was a more solumn rebuke since the War begun.121
Massachusetts in her pious way of confronting such tragedies as seen at Black Point held a day of humiliation.122
The failure of the English can be attributed to many factors. The most obvious was marching into an ambush so far from help. The story of King Philip's War is littered with the bodies of men, whose commanders found themselves in such a predicament. It has been stated that Swett did not have time to harden and sharpen his soldiers. He had only three days to prepare men who had arrived from over a dozen different towns, as they were all requested to be in Charlestown at one o'clock on the 22nd in order to sail on the 25th, expecting to be at Black Point the next day. This hurried pace may have been due to Massachu- setts's resolve to rush what men it could, a smaller force, without waiting for Connecticut or Plymouth to be persuaded to send men. Later Massachusetts would write a scolding letter to the government of Connecticut for its lack of assistance in the cause to defend the Eastward. Another reason to send men hastily may have been the knowledge that Pemaquid had been taken by New York and the new owners' inevitable overtures towards peaceful relations with the Indians about the Kennebec in order to reopen the fisheries and trade there. In his diary, John Hull, treasurer of the Bay Colony, does not write only about Swett's army on their way to Maine. He wrote: "Soldiers sent to Black Point; Major Thomas Clarke, with three vessels, both thither and to Kenibeck, to treat with Captain Nicolds from New York."123
Another complaint was that the men were inexperienced to handle the attack. Of the men identified and records that can be found, just over 20 English had some experience as soldiers either on the field or in the garrison, which seems to uphold the comment. It is safe to assume that the friendly Indians were well versed in war. This would make less than half of all the Massachusetts force (and Black Point garrison recruits) known to have some military experience; the average age of the English soldier from Massachusetts was around 24. Richardson's death early on must have been a crushing blow for the friendly Indians and it is perhaps their unwillingness to leave the field that led to so many of their deaths. The men running from the field of battle only made circumstances worse in what would have been otherwise evenly matched armies.
PEMAQUID, PEACE, AND FATE OF SQUANDO
Major Clarke, taking what men he could, left Black Point and made his way to Pemaquid, where he expected to find the New York soldiery. Upon arriving he was not disappointed by this assumption. Four New York ships lay off the coast. A rebuilt and well-armed fort lay before him. His own soldiers were a little over half of what greeted him. He related the story of the skirmish at Black Point to the commanders of the fort and presented the letter of the Governor and Council. Upon meeting the leaders of the fort, Clarke may have been surprised, if intelligence had not reached him in Boston already, that standing before him was Henry Jocelyn, Esq., late of Black Point and now Justice of the Peace and in the employ of the governor of New York. The communication between the envoy and the new residents was cordial and Major Clarke returned to Boston with a letter explaining the intentions of New York to make peace with the Indians thereabout. It was either this time or later in the weeks of negotiations that, adding insult to injury, Clarke's ship was destroyed at sea.124
The Indians throughout Maine were not a single fighting force and towards the end of the war, the eastern Indians about Pemaquid disowned any allegiance or alliance with Squando. These Indians felt ill used, betrayed, and mistreated but were involved with the early attacks on English settlers. Much of their grievances lay in the mistrust of Major Waldron of Cocheco. After the encounter at Black Point, they were disavowing any of the recent bloodshed, placing the bulk of the blame on Squando and the "damrallscogon" Indians. They said that Squando did not want peace. It was this mood that found them more willing to parley with New York and Massachusetts. By the middle of July, the commanders of Pemaquid had made peace with the Indians of the Kennebec. However, at that time "Squando would not consent to the peace, but vndrstanding the resolution of the other sachems aboute a conclusion of the peace . . . Imediatly falls vpon 7 or 8 captives & kills them. & flyes in his prson to Canada."125
Massachusetts sent other envoys to Pemaquid to make peace with the Indians. Their expectations of the help of New York were great, including their requirement that before any peace was settled that the ketches stolen from Salem in July would be returned. After two weeks of negotiations, Captain Scottow exchanged prisoners and made peace with all of the Indians that August, including Squando. In April of the following year, another peace was made with Squando and other Indian leaders at Casco. From that time to his death, there was no recorded enmity between Squando and the English who dealt with him.126
Six years after the fight at Moore's Brook, Scottow wrote to Increase Mather about the fate of Squando, the Sagamore of Saco, the man who defeated the English at Moore's Brook:
In the latter end of the last yeare, (82) he left Sacho, & went to Casco, & from thence towards the French, prtending his removall was because of disorder of drinking among the Indians, which he could not reforme. In the begining of last winter news was brought to vs that he had hung himself, being some time before dumpish & melancholique, he having formerly told the Indians, & allso did then tell his wife that God told him if he hung himself, he should the next day liue againe, & never should die more. Which God he said was the Englishman's God, & did appeare to him frequently, soe as he could see him when he would. He was a man of a grave & ponderous spirit, & much reformed in his course in abstinence from rum, strong drink, tobacco, plurality of wives, & gñally was a man of a courteous & civill conursac˜on towards the English (except in times of war). He was a strict observer of the Saboth, from even to even, & gñally would not out in that day, & hath told myself & others that this course & reformac˜on of his was the effect of his vision of the English man's God's apping vnto him after a great fit of sicknes; who came to him as a Minister, in blacke clothes, & told him if he did soe as above he should be happy & goe upwards, but if he did not, he should goe downeward & be miserable.127
Mather uses much of this letter to describe Squando but, unlike Scottow, cannot help himself to draw his own conclusions upon Squando's conversion:
Concerning Squando, the Sachem of the Indians at Saco, the story of him is upon sundry accounts remarkable. Many years ago, he was sick and near unto death, after which he said, that one pretending to be the Englishmans God appeared to him in the form of an English minister, and discoursed with him, requiring him to leave off his drinking of rum, and religiously to observe the Sab- bath-day, and to deal justly amongst men, withal promising him that if he did so, then at death his soul should go upwards to an happy place; but if he did not obey these commandments, at death his soul should go downwards, and to be for ever misterable. But this preteneded god said nothing to him about Jesus Christ. However, this apparition so wrought upon Squando, as that he left his drunkenness, and became a strict observer of the Sabbath-day; yea, so that he alwayes kept it as a day of fast, and would hear the English ministers preach, and was very just in his dealing. But in the time of the late Indian war, he was the principal actor in the bloody tragedies in that part of the countrey. The last year the pretended Englishmans God appeared to him again, as afore, in the form of a minister, requiring him to kill himself, and promising him that if he did obey, he should live again the next day, and never die more. Squando acquainted his wife and some other Indians with this new apparition; they most earnestly advised him not to follow the murderous counsel which the spectre had given. Nevertheless, he since hath hanged himself, and so is gone to his own place. This was the end of the man that disturbed the peace of New-England.128
I would like to thank my overly patient family, Sylvia, Tristan, and Rachel, for allowing me to tell the story. Also, I would like to thank my first readers for their support, advice, and corrections: Jeff Hunnewell, Dr. Emerson Baker, Sara Johnson, Sara Lello, and Terry Betts.
Footnotes
Sumner Hunnewell (2030 San Pedro, Arnold MO 63010; e-mail sh2030 @ sbc . com) originally hails from Scarborough but now makes his home south of St. Louis. His other interests are playing on the vintage St. Louis Perfectos baseball team and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.
1. William S. Southgate, "The History of Scarborough from 1633 to 1783," Collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. 3 (Portland: Brown Thurston, 1853), hereafter Southgate, "Hist. of Scarborough," p. 47; Documentary History of the State of Maine, Series II, 24 vols. (Portland: Maine Historical Society, 1869–1916), hereafter Documentary Hist. of Maine, 3:63 [map facing]. Black Point could be roughly considered from the Black Rocks at Ferry Beach to the Spurwink River, encompassing the whole of the original patent to Cammock. Black Point, Blue Point, and Stratton Island were included in the land incorporated as Scarborough in 1658. The ships were described as "a light vessel and two shallops" or "three vessels" (Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 5 vols. in 6 [Boston: William White, 1853–54], hereafter Mass. Bay Records, 5:134; John Hull, "Diary of John Hull," hereafter "Hull Diary," Archæologia Americana, Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, 7 vols. [Worcester, Mass.: The American Antiquarian Society, 1820–85], hereafter Archæologia Americana, 3:243). Thomas Hammond of Cambridge petitioned the government two weeks after the battle, as he felt his servant’s fine for not going when impressed was excessive, especially since he was impressed for 25 weeks before and used Hammond’s own team for the country’s service. He appealed the £4 fine levied against the unnamed servant, which is galling when one considers his master’s wealth and the hindsight of the events at Black Point. Another impressed man from Medfield, Vincent Shuttleworth, also refused service and found himself fined £4. (Thomas Hammond to the Governor and Council, 12 July 1677, Massachusetts Archives 69:153; Fredrick Stam Hammond, History and Genealogies of the Hammond Families in America, 2 vols. [Oneida, New York: Ryan & Burkhart, 1902–4], 2:1–6; William S. Tilden, History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts [Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, 1887], hereafter Tilden, Hist. of Medfield, p. 94; Documentary Hist. of Maine 6:170, 176–77; Mass. Bay Records, 5:144–45; John Romeyn Brodhead, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York, Procured in Holland, England and France, 15 vols. [Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1853–87], hereafter Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:264–65 [Edmund Andros, 18 April 1678]).
2. In Jan. 1677, over 500 families and an estimated 2300 people had been displaced and resided in towns in Massachusetts; many of these refugees were from Maine (Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society, 3[1832; reprint, Manchester, N.H.: John B. Clarke, 1870]:101–2). Although a member The Ancient and Honorable Artillery and receiving a promotion from lieutenant to captain soon after the outbreak of war, Joshua Scottow, one of the largest landowners in Scarborough, seems never to have taken any part in any military action during the war. (Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [Portland: Southworth Press, 1928–39], hereafter Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., pp. 614–15; Edward Rawson to Bryan Pendleton, Humphrey Warren, Joshua Scottow and George Munjoy, 16 Oct. 1675, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:96–97; Joshua Scottow to Gov. Leverett, 6 Nov. 1675, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:99–102). Bartholomew Tippen (or Tipping) was in command many times at the garrison and was a freeman of Boston (Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:99–102, 141–42, 145–46, 148–49, 157–58, 162–64, 169, 171, 174–75; Mass. Bay Records, 5:129–30; Lucius R. Paige, "List of Freeman," New England Historical and Genealogical Register [NEHGR] 3[1849]:241). Scottow relates that the Indian "Andrew" was killed in this attack on 16 May 1677. The historian Drake mistakenly assumes that the Andrew in King Philip’s War and King William’s War are one in the same (Joshua Scottow to Increase Mather, 30 Oct. 1683, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, hereafter Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 4th ser., 7 [Boston, the Society: 1868]:631–32; Samuel G. Drake and H. L. Williams, The Aboriginal Races of North America, 15th ed. [New York: Hurst & Co., 1880], pp. 295, 300).
3. Southgate, "Hist. of Scarborough," p. 113n; John Josselyn, New-England’s Rarities Discovered (1672; reprint, Boston: William Veazie, 1865), p. 146; Augustus F. Moulton, Old Prout’s Neck (Portland: Marks Printing House, 1924), hereafter Moulton, Old Prout’s Neck, p. 53. "Major Clark sent on shoar nineteen-twenty men" (John Curwin and John Price to Daniel Dennison?, 4 July 1677, Massachusetts Archives, 69:137–38, hereafter "Casualty List"). The historian Hubbard wrote, "having had good Experience of the Faithfulness and Valor of the Christian Indians about Natick, armed two hundred of them and sent them together with forty English," which is repeated or confused by most subsequent historians (only Bodge doubted these figures and surmised 40 English and 36 Indians) and is highly inaccurate. The number of men Massachusetts sent was 120 according to Gov. Andros of New York, whose intelligence came from Maj. Clarke. Gookin states there were 36 Indians. The number of men actually who took part in the battle were between 90 and 100, which included townsmen. Mather wrote 100. Later historians (Folsom, Williamson, Belknap, and Thornton) stated 90. A descendant of Capt. Swett and Maj. Gookins’s grandson, Nathaniel, wrote a letter describing the battle but the author has had no fortune finding the original. (William Hubbard, The History of the Indian Wars in New England . . . , 2 vols. [Roxbury, Mass., W. E. Woodward, 1865], hereafter Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:234; Edmund Andros, March 1678 and 18 April 1678, Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:254–57, 264–65; George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War (Boston, Mass.: the author, 1906), hereafter Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 42; Daniel Gookin, "An Historical Account of the Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians in New England," hereafter Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:471, 482–83; Samuel A. Green, ed., Diary of Increase Mather [Cambridge: John Wilson and Son, 1900], hereafter Diary of Increase Mather, p. 48; George Folsom, History of Saco and Biddeford [Saco: A. C. Putnam, 1830], hereafter Folsom, Hist. of Saco, p. 160; Jeremy Belknap, The History of New-Hampshire, 3 vols. [Dover, N.H.: privately printed, 1812], 1:82; [John Wingate Thornton], "The Swett Family," NEHGR 6[1852]:55, hereafter Thornton, "Swett Family").
4. Thomas Clarke was born around 1607 (James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 4 vols. [Boston: Little, Brown, 1860–62], hereafter Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 1:401; Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., pp. 148–49). According to Hubbard, "the Body of Captain Lake, preserved entire and whole and free from Purtrefaction by the Coldness of the long Winter, so as it was when found by the Discretion of one that was near him when he was slain, easily discerned to be his, by such as had known him before" (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:224). Mather paints a different picture when he says soldiers returned "the bones of Capt Lake & as much of his body as remained unconsumed" (Diary of Increase Mather, p. 48).
5. Gov. John Leverett and Council to Thomas Clarke, 22 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:173–74.
6. Thornton, "Swett Family", NEHGR 6(1852):50; Roland L. Warren, Loyal Dissenter: The Life and Times of Robert Pike (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, Inc., 1992), pp. 49–55; Joseph Dow, History of the Town of Hampton: From Its First Settlement in 1638, To the Autumn of 1892, Genealogical and Biographical, 2 vols. (n.p.: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1988), 2:987; Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:233–34. Benjamin was possibly the same bp. Wymondham, co. Norfolk, 12 May 1624, son of John Swett (Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., p. 670).
7. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 182–84, 201–5.
8. Hubbard described Swett’s earlier experience at Wells: "April 29 an Indian discovered himself near Wells, on purpose, as was judged, to draw out the English into a Snare. Lieutenant Swett, that commanded the Garrison at that Time left for securing the Town, sent out eleven of the Soldiers under his Command to lie in wait in some convenient Place; but as they passed along they fell into an Ambush of the Indians, who shot down two of them and mortally wound a third. The Lieutenant hearing the Guns, sent with all Speed upon the Enemy, and shot down five or six of them; but was prevented of doing any considerable Spoil upon them by the Folly of an Irishman that was in his Company, who gave the Notice of the Lieutenant’s Approach, by calling out aloud, ‘here they be, here they be’; for upon that Alarum they presently ran all away out of Sight, and too fast to be pursued." (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:231–32).
9. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 9 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1911–75), hereafter Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:435.
10. John Adams Vinton, The Richardson Memorial (Portland: Brown Thurston & Co., 1876), hereafter Vinton, Richardson Memorial, pp. 31–37, 42–44. James Richardson was bp. Charlestown, Mass., 11 July 1641, son of Ezekiel and Susanna (—) Richardson (Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 3 vols. [Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995], hereafter Anderson, Great Migration Begins, 3:1580–83. See also the treatment of the Richardson family in Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Sarah Hildreth, 1773–1857, Wife of Annis Spear of Litchfield, Maine (Portland, Maine: The Anthoensen Press, 1958), pp. 25–37.
11. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 109, 300–1, 397, 399; Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:471, 482–83; Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts (Lowell: Courier-Citizen Co., 1917), hereafter Waters, Hist. of Chelmsford, pp. 116–18. Richard- son’s hay and barn were set on fire at different times and, although unwarranted blame was placed on the Indians by the townsmen, Richardson trusted the local Indians as it later came to light that Indians outside of the area had set them alight. The Indians were only allowed to live in four Indian towns and were only allowed to leave with a certificate from an English authority (Mass. Bay Records, 5:136–37).
12. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 108–10; Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:471.
13. Maj. Gookin who commanded the forces for Middlesex County was charged with supplying Richardson his orders and his recruits (Edward Rawson to Daniel Gookin, 15 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:171).
14. Vinton, Richardson Memorial, pp. 43–44.
15. Letter, [1? June] 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:172.
16. "Casualty List." Daniel Blanchard (or Blackhead) may have been the son of Samuel and Mary (Sweester) Blanchard, who lived in Andover "after 1664" and married in 1654. However, Abbot says that Samuel Blanchard moved from Charlestown to Andover in 1686 and that two of his sons settled there. (Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 1:196; Abiel Abbot, History of Andover from its Settlement to 1829 [Andover, Mass.: Flagg and Gould, 1829], hereafter Abbot, History of Andover, p. 39).
17. Abbot, History of Andover, pp. 19–20, 39; Sarah Loring Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, (Comprising the Present Towns of North Andover and Andover) (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1880), hereafter Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, pp. 11, 102–4, 151, 170, 416, 574; Augustus G. Parker, Parker in America 1630–1910 (Buffalo: Niagara Frontier Publishing Co., 1911), hereafter Parker, Parker in America, pp. 54–55; Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:343–44; "Casualty List." John Parker was b. 30 June 1656, son of Joseph and Mary (—) Parker. James Parker was b. 14 Aug. 1655, son of Nathan and Mary (—) Parker (Vital Records of Andover to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. [Topsfield, Mass.: Topsfield Historical Society, 1912], 1:292).
18. Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:404; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 167, 437; Abbot, History of Andover, p. 38; Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, pp. 118, 152, 170; "Casualty List." John Phelps was b. 13 or 15 Dec. 1657, son of Edward and Elizabeth (Adams) Phelps (Vital Records of Newbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. [Salem: Essex Institute, 1911], hereafter Newbury VRs, 1:401). It seems evident that Samuel and John were related. As restitution for the Swamp Fort battle, Samuel was entitled to land, which Edward, John’s older brother, claimed in 1735.
19. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 166–67, 240; "Casualty List." Benjamin Morgan was born before 1650, son of Robert and Margaret (—) Morgan of Beverly (Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:233). Moses may have fallen at Black Point during this battle. His brother, Samuel, was given administration of his estate in April 1678 ([George Ernest Dow, ed.,], The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts, 3 vols. [Salem, Mass., 1916–20], hereafter Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:234). Although there were attacks on Black Point after this time, they were to kill cattle; no deaths were reported (Andrew Johnson to Joshua Scottow, 8 Oct. 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:196–97). Joseph’s role is unknown other than he laid claim to one of the Narragansett townships (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 423, 443, 446–47).
20. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 166–67, 449; "Casualty List." "In all this troubled period, there is no record that any hostile Indian set his foot on our soil; nor is it known that more than one person belonging to the town fell in fight during the war" (John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport [Gloucester: Proctor Brothers, 1860], p. 206). Vincent Davis was perhaps the son of John Davis, who settled in Gloucester in 1656. John’s son Jacob was also in this group of eight men. (Babson, History of the Town of Glouchester, p. 206; John J. Babson, Notes and Additions to the History of Gloucester [Gloucester: M.V.B. Perley, 1876], pp. 14, 16).
21. "Casualty List."
22. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 86, 157, 201, 207; "Casualty List"; Joshua Coffin, "Early Settlers of Essex and Old Norfolk," NEHGR 6(1852):254. In a letter to the Council while in Narragansett country on 12 June 1676, he wrote with authority requesting supplies for the troops, sending a man to Sudbury for convalescence, and sending two men to the Council (James Ford to the Governor and Council, Massachusetts Archives, 69:17). He seems to have been expected to be in Maj. Appleton’s army for the Narragansett Fort Fight, but is identified as one of "Those tht are wanting."
23. "Casualty List." Thomas Burnham Jr. was born in 1646, son of Thomas and Mary (Lawrence) Burnham. For more information on the Burnham family, see Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 2 vols. (n.p.: the author, 1931–43), 1:129. [His mother's maiden name is a correction to information published in part one of the original Maine Genealogist article, which stated that her maiden name was Tuttle. That incorrect information came from Roderick H. Burnham's "The Burnham Family" [Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1869], p. 308). Appreciation is expressed to Martin E. Hollick for pointing out this error.]
24. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 82–83, 428, 474; Burnham, The Burnham Family, p. 311; Thomas Franklin Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 2 vols. (Ipswich: The Ipswich Historical Society, 1905–17), 1:92, 94, 127, 161; Abraham Hammatt, The Hammatt Papers: Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1633–1700 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1980), pp. 41–42.
25. "Casualty List." Israel Honeywell was born before 1654, the son of Roger and Bridget (—) Hunnewell. Richard Hunnewell (the author’s ancestor) was a soldier, his name appearing on surviving payrolls. He was in the garrison in July and Oct. 1676 and in Aug. 1677; he was identified as a corporal at the garrison. (James M. Hunnewell and Samuel Willet Honeywell, The Descendants of Roger and Ambrose Hunnewell (Honeywell) [Columbus, Ohio: Samuel Willet Honeywell, 1972], hereafter Hunnewell Descendants, pp. 1–2, 81–83; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:409; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 338–39; "Account of Narrative of ye Voyage to Pemmaquid", mss., Maine Historical Society, Collection 420 "Fogg", Vol. 8, "Scottow" file (hereafter "Voyage to Pemmaquid").
26. "Casualty List"; Lloyd Orville Poland, The Polands from Essex County, Massachusetts, 3rd ed. (Chelsea, Michigan: BookCrafters, Inc., 1981), pp. 52–59. John Poland was b. Wenham, Mass., 6 Oct. 1657, son of John and Bethiah (Friend) Poland (Vital Records of Wenham, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 [Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1904], p. 72 [John "Powlings"]). It may be that he had been a soldier before, a "John Pollard" being on the rolls of Capt. Brocklebank (and in the same pay list as James Ford) the year before (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 207).
27. "Casualty list." A James Birdly of Ipswich was b. 10 Feb. 1659 (Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 3 vols. [Salem: Essex Institute, 1910-19], 1:39).
28. "Casualty List"; Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1905–6), 1:60 [daughters’ births], 2:432 [death of wife], 440 [daughters’ deaths]; Joseph B. Felt, "Genealogical Items Relative to Lynn, Mass," NEHGR 5(1851):94. "Sarra & mary were the two children of deceased" (Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:156–58). The daughter Sarah seems to have been lost to recordkeepers and genealogists.
29. "Casualty List." This Samuel Beale is probably the same b. 15 July 1654, and bp. at Ipswich, son of William and Martha (Bradstreet) Beale (Vital Records of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 3 vols. [Salem: Essex Institute, 1903–8], 1:39; Coffin, "Early Settlers of Essex and Old Norfolk," NEHGR 6[1852]:208; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:77).
30. "Casualty List." The author has found nothing or conflicting items for each of these men from Marblehead. There is a Thomas Edwards from Marblehead who in Oct. 1677 took someone to court and later in Dec. took the Oath of Fidelity. This may mean that this was a relative or that he survived the battle. (Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 30 [Boston: the Society, 1933], p. 855; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:399). Thomas Edwards, a mariner, was also involved in two lawsuits, in 1690 and 1692 (Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay 1630–1692, 3 vols. [New York: AMS Press, 1973], hereafter Court of Assistants Recs., 1:331, 367). The name Joseph Morgan can be found in records, but they refer to Joseph of Beverly, brother of Benjamin who fought at Black Point (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 423, 443, 446; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:235; Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:126).
31. "Casualty List"; Court of Assistants Recs., 1:51; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 156–57, 217; Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. 29 (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1933), pp. 85, 187, 268. The wife of a Morgan Jones of Boston ran a "Coffee house" but was not the same Morgan Jones (ibid.).
32. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, 365, 371; "Casualty List." Caleb Pilsbury was b. Newbury, 28 Jan. 1653, son of William and Dorothy (Crosbey) Pilsbury (Newbury VRs 1:408; David B. Pilsbury and Emily A. Getchell, The Pillsbury Family [Everett, Mass.: Massachusetts Publishing Co., 1898], pp. 4, 7, 10). Coffin mistakes the year of birth as 1654 (Joshua Coffin, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport and West Newbury [n.p.: Peter Randall, 1977], p. 314).
33. "Casualty List." James Ford is credited under Brocklebank on 24 April 1676 and Nicholas Richardson two months later (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 206–7).
34. "Casualty List." A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651 (Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1903), pp. 249–50; George Valentine Massey II, "Priscilla Kitchen, Quakeress, of Salem, Mass., and Kent County, Del., and Her Family," NEHGR 106(1952):38–50, at 39, 41; Joseph B. Felt, Annals of Salem, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Salem: W. & S. B. Ives, 1845–49), 2:213; Town Records of Salem, Massachusetts, 1659-1690, 3 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1868–1934), 2:145; Richard D. Pierce, ed., The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts 1629–1736 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1974), p. 134; Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 2:499; Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:315–16. Nathaniel Hunn was born around 1650, son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Keene) Hunn of Boston. His surname was not "Kun" as Felt relates. Also, Hunn and the men subsequently described by Felt were not killed or wounded in attempting to recover Salem ketches stolen by the Indians the following month (July 1677).
35. Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan, "Peter Pattee Of Haverhill, Massachusetts: A ‘Journeyman Shoemaker’ and His Descendants," NEHGR 146(1992): 315–21; "Casualty List."
36. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 239, 241, 361; "Casualty List." James Verin was born in the mid- to late-1650s, son of John and Eleanor (—) Verin (John B. Threlfall, "The Verin Family of Salem, Massachusetts," NEHGR 131[1977]:108–10).
37. "Casualty List"; The Several Inhabitants of Falmouth to the Governor and Council, 2 Feb. 1676, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 4:351–54; Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., p. 710.
38. George Francis Dow, The History of Topsfield (Topsfield, Mass.: The Topsfield Historical Society, 1940), pp. 40, 143, 327–28, 338; Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:165–66; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 240–41, 259, 423–44. John Wildes Jr. was born about 1645, son of John and Priscilla (Gould) Wildes (Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885–1966), 3 vols. [Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996], pp. 619–28).
39. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 475–76. Norfolk County at that time consisted of Portsmouth, Haverhill, Great Island, Hampton, and Salisbury.
40. Stephen Brown was a son of John and Sarah (—) Brown of Hampton, N.H. (Asa W. Brown, "The Hampton Brown Family," NEHGR 6(1852):232; Gen. Dict. of Maine & N.H., p. 115). Stephen Parker was born in 1659, the son of John and Sarah (Walker) Parker (Parker, Parker in America, p. 55).
41. Rev. Henry A. Hazen, History of Billerica, Massachusetts, With a Genealogical Register, (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1883), genealogical register, p. 45. Thomas Dutton was the son of Thomas and (possibly) Susannah (—) Dutton (ibid.). Savage says he was born in 1648 but in his 1678 petition Dutton writes that he is "now above 28 years of age" (Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 2:84– 85; Thomas Dutton to the General Court, 1 Oct. 1678, Mass. Archives 69:209–10, hereafter "Dutton Petition").
42. Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:350; Waters, Hist. of Chelmsford, pp. 8–9, 89–90, 754; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 122–26, 474. Jacob Parker was born in 1651 or 1652, the son of Jacob and Sarah (—) Parker (Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, [Salem: Essex Institute, 1914], hereafter Chelmsford VRs, p. 108).
43. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 353; Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 1:107; Lemuel Shattuck, A History of the Town of Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from Its Earliest Settlement to 1832 (Boston: Russell, Odiorne & Co., 1835), hereafter Shattuck, Hist. of Concord, p. 362; Concord Registers, Concord, Massachusetts: Births, Marriages, and Deaths: 1635–1850 (Boston: Beacon Press, n.d.), hereafter Concord Registers, p. 26; Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:176–77. John Ball was b. 15 Aug. 1660, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Mousall? or Wayne?) Ball (Frank D. Warren and George H. Ball, The Descendants of John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts 1630–1635 [Boston: Spaulding Moss Co., 1932], p. 11). Taken captive, Mary Rowlandson published the well-known account of this attack on Lancaster and the long sufferings of the settlers taken with her (Mary White Rowlandson, A True History of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson . . . [New England and London: n.p., 1682]).
44. Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 4:221; Harriet Russell Stratton, A Book of Strattons, 2 vols. (New York: The Grafton Press, 1908–18), 1:161–62. Samuel Stratton was b. 5 March 1661, son of Samuel and Mary (Frye) Stratton (ibid.).
45. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 273, 360; Silas C. Wheat, Wheat Genealogy: A History of the Wheat Family in America, 2 vols. (Brooklyn: Silas C. Wheat, 1903–60), 1:42–56. John Wheat was b. 19 Nov. 1649, son of Moses and Tamzen/Thomasine (—) Wheat (ibid.).
46. Thomas Woolley was the son of Christopher and Ursilla (Wodell) Woolley. His parents were married in 1646 and he was probably born after 1650, as his siblings appear in town records up to that time. Gould suggests that he was born around 1660. (Shattuck, Hist. of Concord, p. 389; Concord Registers, 6; Irene Cynthia Gould, "Christopher Woolley of Concord, Mass., and Some of His Descendants," NEHGR 75[1921]:29–30).
47. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 281; William Coleman to John Richards, 18 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:175–76. John Harker was b. 30 Aug. 1643, son of Anthony and Mary (—) Harker (A Report of the Record Commissioners Containing Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1630–1699 [Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1908], p. 16; Anderson, Great Migration Begins, 2:861–63).
48. Tilden, Hist. of Medfield, pp. 93, 95, 429; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 81, 265, 366–67. John Mason was born 3 Nov. 1655, son of Thomas and Margery (Partridge) Mason (Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 [Boston: New-England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903], hereafter Medfield VRs, p. 69; Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:170).
49. Tilden, Hist. of Medfield, pp. 93, 95, 471–73; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 453. Benjamin Rockwood was b. 8 Sept. 1651, son of Nicholas and Joan (—) Rockwood (Medfield VRs, p. 88).
50. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 450; Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 30:781. There are others of this family name found in Milton from that time but nothing is known of Dike’s parentage. A Richard Dike died in 1678 and a Mary Dike was married in 1695. John Dike was discharged from attending training due to old age. (Milton Records [Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1900], pp. 114, 218; Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 30:1019).
51. "The Daybreaking, If Not The Sun-Rising of the Gospell With the Indians in New-England," Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 3rd ser., 4[Cambridge: Charles Folsom, 1834]:19; "The Clear Sun-shine of the Gospel Breaking Forth Upon the Indians in New-England," ibid., 4:56; "The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England," ibid., 4:96; "The Light appearing more and more towards the perfect Day," ibid., 4:116; John Josselyn, An Account of Two Voyages to New- England, Made During the Years 1638, 1663 (Boston: W. Veazie, 1865), hereafter Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, pp. 104–5.
52. Gookin calls James Richardson "their Lieutenant," but it is not likely that he was lieutenant over all 36 Indians that took part in the expedition (Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:516, 532–33). Indians from Natick took part in the expedition and these were probably a part of Swett’s "English & Indian forces now Raysed & to Goe forth on the Service of the Country agt the Eastern Indian Ennemy" (Order of Edward Rawson, 21 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:172–73).
53. William Biglow, History of The Town of Natick, Mass., From the Days of The Apostolic Eliot MDCL, to the Present Time, MDCCXXX (Boston: Marsh, Capen, & Lyon, 1830), hereafter Biglow, Hist. of Natick, p. 23; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 402–3; Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:466, 513–15; "Casualty List." Mr. Nowell, chaplain with Maj. Savage, wrote of the Indians soldiers, "They have behaved themselves like sober honest men since they abode with us, which hath made me look after them more carefully."
54. Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Marlborough (Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1862), pp. 89–91; Biglow, Hist. of Natick, p. 29; "Casualty List"; "Tears of Repentance: Or, A Further Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New-England," Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 3rd ser., 4:240–44. The relationship of the name Ponampam and surname Penumpum is a presumption on the author’s part but not without grounds. Job Pohpono appears on a 1684 land sale. "Job alias Pompomemay of Natick" appears on a land deed two years later. Israel Pomhamun appears as a proprietor of Natick in May 1719. (Middlesex County, Mass., Deeds, 16:511, 1712– 1714). Nothing has been found on John Nuckwich.
55. Bodge provides a list of soldiers who were paid over the next nine months and it is reasonable to believe that some of these men were at the garrison at the time based on many facts. Samuel Libby, who either died during the battle or at Boston by 10 July, was paid on 24 July. Henry and Anthony Libby were to be released from service by consent of the Council on 10 July, but they were paid in August and September, respectively. Similarly, Andrew and John Brown were to be released at the same time and they were paid in October. John Markany [McKenny] was shot "throug the brest & back" during the battle but was found on the payroll in September of the same year, which does not allow time for much convalescence; it also shows that he was more than likely garrisoned there rather than impressed for the mission. Sgt. Andrew Johnson and Corp. Richard Honywell [Hunnewell] were soldiers at Black Point in Aug. 1677 and each was paid in Jan. and March 1678, respectively. (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 339; Charles T. Libby, The Libby Family in America, 1602–1881 [Portland: B. Thurston & Co., 1882], hereafter Libby, Libby Family, p. 24n; Andrew Brown Sr. to the Governor and Council, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:184–85; "Voyage to Pemmaquid").
56. Charles Edward Banks, History of York, Maine (1931; reprint, 2 vols., Portsmouth, N.H: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1990), 1:206–9; Testimony of John Libby, Sr., et al., 18 July 1676, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:113–16; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 333–34; O. Herbert McKenny, Jr., A Story of Many Maine McKenny Families (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1995), pp. 2–4; "Casualty List." John McKenney may have been born about 1630. A "John Mackane" is found in a list of prisoners ("Scotch Prisoners Sent to Massachusetts in 1652, by Order of the English Government," NEHGR 1[1847]:379).
57. Mass. Bay Records, 5:129–30; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 336–37; John Start, Thomas Bigford, and Henry Libby to the Govenor and Council, 8 Jan. 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:148–49. James and Samuel were born between 1636 and 1647, Henry in 1647, and Anthony about 1649; they were sons of John and Mary (—) Libby. On 10 July 1677, John Libby stated that his sons had been at the garrison for nine months. (Libby, Libby Family, pp. 24–25, 28).
58. Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:184–85; Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., pp. 113–14; Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Sarah Miller 1755–1840, Wife of Lieut. Amos Towne of Arundel (Kennebunkport) Maine (Portland, Maine: The Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1939), pp. 50–54. Andrew was born about 1658 and John between 1658 and 1662. The name of their mother is unknown. Their sister, Elizabeth, would later marry fellow soldier Matthew Libby.
59. New England’s First Fruits: with Divers other Special matters Concerning that Country (New York: Joseph Sabin, 1865), p. 17; Folsom, Hist. of Saco, pp. 81–83; Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, 2 vols. (Hartford: Silas Andrus and Son, 1855), 1:357. The gathering of guns by the English early in the war and refusal to sell shot were important factors also (Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:91–93, 118–19).
60. Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 4th ser., 7:631–32. "Sqand doth inform them [Indians at Taconnet] that god doth speak to him and doth tell him that god hath left our nacion to them to destroy and the indenys do tak it for a truth all that he doth tell them because they haue met with no afron now." (Francis Card’s Declaration, 22 Jan. 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:149–51). The treaty was the first document in which Squando is named and styled "Sagamore." It was signed along with seven other Indians, including Samuel Namphow, the leader of the Wamesits. (Bodge. Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 303–5).
61. Josselyn states that natives "can swim naturally, striking their pawes under their throat like a dog, and not spreading their Arms as we do." He does not attribute this to children; however, regarding children he states, "What other ceremonies they use more than dying of them with a liquor of boiled Hemlock-Bark, and their throwing of them into the water if they suspect the Child to be gotten by any other Nation, to see if he will swim, if he swim they acknowledge him for their own." (Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, pp. 100, 110; Daniel E. Owen, Old Times in Saco [Saco: Biddeford Times, 1891], p. 35). Mather writes: "when inquiry was made of another English man (thought to be more discreet then the former) he confirmed what the other had said, and that some rude English did purposely overset a Canoo wherein was an Indian Lad; and that although a Squaw dived to the bottome of the River and fetched him up alive, yet that the Lad never came to himself again. It is greatly to be lamented that the heathen should have any ground for such allegations, or that they should be scandalized by men that call themselves Christians." (Increase Mather, ed., The History of King Philip’s War [Albany: the editor, 1862], hereafter Mather, Hist. of King Philip’s War, p. 141). Hubbard relates a similar story, identifying the wife and child as Squando’s, but makes the offhand comment that his son might have died anyway "if no such Affront had been offered." (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:135). "If Squando or any for him appeare yow may acquaint him that the Gounor was wholly Ignorant of any Injury offered to him or his child at Saco." (Govenor and Council to Daniel Dennison and Joseph Dudley, 10 July 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:187–89).
62. Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:104, 178, 201; Mather, Hist. of King Philip’s War, pp. 90–91.
63. Bodge believed that the Indians who attacked were from the Kennebec and Androscoggin. Squando held sway over the Ammoscoggin Indians but it seems that there was enmity between many of the different Indians groups. A letter written by William Hathorne on 22 Sept. 1676 tells of the captured Pigwacket sagamore’s statement after the destruction of Arrowsic that "Kennebeck Indians kill all" (Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:123–24). Contrast this with the Kennebec Indians’ own comments after the battle at Moore’s Brook that "we have drove Away all the damrallscogon engins from us for they will fight and we are not willing of their company" and "we do understand that Squando is minded to cheat you he is mind to get as many prisners as he can and so b-ing them to you & so make you believe that it is Kenebeck men that have don all this spoul . . ." (Moxes et al. to the Governor, 1 July 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:177–79). Mather states, "There were near 100 soldiers, it is questioned whether there were so many of the Enemy" (Diary of Increase Mather, p. 48). Moulton without authority puts the number at 500 (Moulton, Old Prout’s Neck, p. 53).
64. Mass. Bay Records, 5:140–42; Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:254–57, 264–65. Connecticut felt the request did not fall under the articles of the United Colonies, nor did they have time to comply, and the few men needed could more readily be conscripted from Massachusetts (The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 15 vols. [Hartford: F.A. Brown, 1850–90], hereafter Public Records of Conn., 2:497–98). Hight does not supply his source but states, "With this demand Plymouth colony declined to comply on the ground that the appointed place of rendezvous was ‘without the limit of the colonies’" (Horatio Hight, "Mogg Heigon—His Life, His Death, and its Sequel," Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, Second Series, 10 vols. [Portland: Maine Historical Society, 1890–99], hereafter Maine Hist. Soc. Collections, 2nd series, 6:270).
65. Edward Rawson to Daniel Gookin, 15 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:171; Edward Rawson to Benjamin Swett, 22 June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:174–75; Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:234.
66. Jeremy Belknap, The History of New-Hampshire, 3 vols. (Dover, N.H.: privately printed, 1812), hereafter Belknap, History of New-Hampshire, 1:82; Soldiers of King Philip’s War, pp. 310–11, 323; Mass. Bay Records, 5:122–24. Clarke’s orders were to "Manage the sd forces to the best advantage against the Common enemy by enabling them either to March to the Head quarters, which yet without the Advice of the officers vpon the place & good probability we would not Hazard, or to other service against their private lurking places or for the strengthening & preservation of the frontier towns" (Gov. John Leverett and Council to Thomas Clarke, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:173).
67. Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:254–57; Silvanus Davis et al. to the Governor and Council, 23 April 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:164–65. The sloop may have stopped in Salem as well (Franklin B. Hough, Papers Relating to Pemaquid and Parts Adjacent in the Present State of Maine [Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1856], hereafter Hough, Pemaquid Papers, pp. 8–9).
68. Edward Rawson to Daniel Denison, 5 May 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:166–67; General Court of the Colony of Connecticut to the Governor and Council, 10 May 1677, Public Records of Conn., 2:496–97; "100 bushells of Indian [corn] for prouission for the macquaes," Governor and Council to Daniel Gookin?, 1? June 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:172– 73. There was no mercy shown to the Mohawks among the Eastern Indians, either. Josselyn describes a particularly horrific torture of two Mohawks at the hands of the Eastern Indians (Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, pp. 114–15).
69. Mass. Bay Records, 5:133–34; Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:254–57; Hough, Pemaquid Papers, pp. 14–15; Edmund Andros to Anthony Brockholes, Cæsar Knapton, and Matthias Nicolls, 13 June 13, 1677, Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:248–49. Massachusetts started planning for an extensive foray into Maine on 24 May 1677.
70. Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:172–73; "Hull Diary," Archæologia Americana, 3:243.
71. Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:248–49; Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., pp. 390–91, 624.
72. The Maine Indians "shewed themselves on a plain in three parties. Swett divided his men accordingly, and went to meet them." (Belknap, History of New-Hampshire, 1:82.) Swett "was marching upon the Edge of an Hill with one Party and his Lieutenant with another" (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:235). Moore’s Brook is named after Richard Moore, who settled nearby. He was the stepfather of Israel Honeywell who took part in the battle. The H.G. Storer map of Black Point for Southgate’s history shows "Swett’s Plains" well past what is generally agreed to be the battleground, which is close to the junction of current day Route 207 (Black Point Road) and Route 77 (Spurwink Road). Ware mistakenly places the battle close to present day Massacre Pond. (Southgate, "Hist. of Scarborough," pp. 77–78, map; Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., pp. 361–62, 489; George W. Ellis and John E. Morris, King Philip’s War [New York: Grafton Press, 1906], hereafter Ellis & Morris, King Philip’s War, photo facing p. 312; Moses Weld Ware, Beacon Lights in The History of Prouts Neck [n.p.: Prouts Neck Association, n.d.], p. 16).
73. "The Indians, that had hid themselves in the Swamp on each Side of the Hill, suddenly fired upon the English on both Sides, which not a little discouraged his young and undisciplined Company, so as they could not or did not keep their Ranks, but while some were ready to run and shift for themselves" (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:235). "Our soldiers, some of ym basely ran away wh occasioned the slaughter" (Diary of Increase Mather, p. 48). Hight, without cause, writes: "We imagine [Richardson’s] Indians after the first volley ‘fled the field’" (Horatio Hight, "Mogg Heigon—His Life, His Death, and its Sequel," Maine Hist. Soc. Collections, 2nd series, 6:274).
74. Accounts of the number of English forces that were killed varies with the teller of the tale, but is generally consistent: "Somewhat above forty of the English, and twelve of the friendly Indians that asited . . . either killed right out or dangerously wounded" [1677] (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:235–36); "Tis tho’t that 50 persons were slain" [1677] (Diary of Increase Mather, p. 48); "The English lost about forty men, whereof were eight of our friendly Indians" [1677] (Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:516); "aboutt sixty men" [1678] (Colonial Hist. of N.Y., 3:256); "Capt swett : that worthey comander : was slaine : and allmost all his officers : with about 50 men besids & : 21 more that were wounded [to my best Rememberance] of which my self was one" [1678] ("Dutton Petition"); "sixty more were left dead or wounded" [1812] (Belknap, History of New-Hampshire, 1:82); "Sixty English fell in this action, including a number of the inhabitants" [1830] (Folsom, History of Saco and Biddeford, p. 161); "sixty of his men, forty English and twenty Indians" [1832] (William D. Williamson, The History of the State of Maine, 2 vols. [Hallowell: Glazier, Masters & Co., 1832], 1:551); "Sixty . . . were left dead or wounded" [1852] (Thornton, "Swett Family," NEHGR 6[1852]:55). As for the number of friendly Indians killed, the author defers to Gookin. It may have been the surgeon David Middletown who tended their wounds. He traveled with Capt. Hunting to Maine in April to serve as surgeon and may have been stationed at Black Point, as later pay records show him there (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 339; Governor and Council to David Middleton, 2 April 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:162).
75. Letter from A. Brockholes et al. to the Governor and Council, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:189–90.
76. "Dutton Petition," author’s transcription.
77. Ellis & Morris, King Philip’s War, p. 312; Libby, The Libby Family in America, p. 24n; Richard D. Pierce, ed., The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts 1629–1736 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1974), p. 142; "Casualty List." "I Have Recivd No Wages For My service or anything of Publick Alowance for My loss of time and long suffaringe . . ." (Benjaman Rockwood Sr. to Gov. William Shirley et al., 24 Nov. 1742, Massachusetts Archives 72:622–24 [hereafter "Rockwood Memorial"]). "I never received for all this time more thn : 11 : & 6d for those few dayes before I was wounded " ("Dutton Petition").
78. Seaborne Cotton et al. to the Governor and Council, 3 July 1677, Massachusetts Archives 69:135a; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:435; Thornton, "Swett Family," NEHGR 6(1852):56.
79. Vinton, Richardson Memorial, pp. 43–44.
80. Libbey states without authority that the men were not buried until that November (Dorothy Shaw Libbey, Scarborough Becomes a Town [Freeport: Bond Wheelwright Company, 1955], p. 76). A mass grave was made at Black Point for the ambushed garrison men led by Capt. Hunnewell in 1703 (often incorrectly 1713). The pond nearby carries the name Massacre Pond to this day. Schultz and Tougias confuse this appellation and associate it with the battle between Swett and Squando. (Documentary Hist. of Maine, 3:63 [map facing]; Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias, King Philip’s War [Woodstock, Vt.: Countryman Press, 1999], p. 315).
81. "Casualty List."
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid.
84. Abraham Hammatt, The Hammatt Papers: Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1633–1700 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1980), p. 42; Burnham, The Burnham Family, p. 311; Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 2 vols. (n.p.: the author, 1931–43), 1:129.
85. Hunnewell Descendants, 81; Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:409, 8:181, 9:113–14, 528.
86. "Casualty List."
87. Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1905–6), 2:54; Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne 1737– 1793 of Arundel (Kennebunkport), Maine (Portland: The Southworth Press, 1927), pp. 53–55.
88. "Casualty List."
89. Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:398; Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 1:146. According to the casualty list Samuel Beale was killed. He m. Patience Lowell, whose nephew was John Lovewell of Lovewell’s Fight (Joseph B. Felt, "Genealogical Items Relative to Lynn, Mass.," NEHGR 5[1851]:94; Ezra S. Stearns, "Notes," NEHGR 63[1909]: 300; Albert Henry Silvester, "Richard Silvester of Weymouth, Mass., and Some of His Descendants," NEHGR 85[1931]: 257).
90. Essex Quart. Court Records, 6:452, 7:110.
91. David B. Pilsbury and Emily A. Getchell, The Pillsbury Family (Everett, Mass.: Massachusetts Publishing Co., 1898), p. 7; Essex Quart. Court Records, 7:157.
92. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 142, 415; Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:278. It seems likely that the Maj. Isaac Appleton or his son claimed Nicholas Richardson’s land as two of his grandsons or sons settled in Buxton, a Narragansett township. The Appletons originally hailed from Rowley but moved to Ipswich. (Isaac Appleton Jewett, Memorial of Samuel Appleton [Boston: Bolles and Hougton, 1850], pp. 34–35).
93. Essex Co. Probate Records, 3:315–16; Town Records of Salem, Massachusetts, 1659– 1690, 3 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1868–1934), hereafter Town Records of Salem, 2:323, 325–26; George Valentine Massey II, "Priscilla Kitchen, Quakeress, of Salem, Mass., and Kent County, Del., and Her Family," NEHGR 106(1952): 39–50.
94. Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan, "Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts: A ‘Journeyman Shoemaker’ and His Descendants," NEHGR 146(1992):315–21; Essex Quart. Court Records, 7:289.
95. "Casualty List."
96. Grant from Edmund Andros, 6 Sept. 1679, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 4:386–38; John B. Threlfall, "The Verin Family of Salem, Massachusetts," NEHGR 131(1977):109.
97. Two of his sisters, Sarah and Phoebe, and fellow soldier and brother-in-law, Edward Bishop, were also accused, but escaped the same fate (Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885–1966), 3 vols. [Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996], pp. 619–28).
98. Asa W. Brown, "The Hampton Brown Family," NEHGR 6(1852):232; Parker, Parker in America, p. 55.
99. "Dutton Petition"; Henry A. Hazen, History of Billerica, Massachusetts, With a Genealogical Register (Boston: A. Williams and Co., 1883), pp. 17, 45, 127–28, map. Hazen states that he married "Rebecca Draper, widow, of Concord." Shattuck wrote that Rebecca Brabrook married Adam Draper in 1666 and that they "removed to Marlborough about 1680," which must be incorrect (Shattuck, Hist. of Concord, p. 369).
100. "Casualty List"; Waters, Hist. of Chelmsford, p. 755. A Jacob Parker with wife Joanne lived in Malden. He d. in 1694 at age 42 (Savage, Gen. Dict. N.E., 3:350). Other than Parker, the names of the men who might have come with Richardson from Chelmsford are unknown.
101. Concord Registers, pp. 26, 28, 35, 38, 40, 42, 45, 50, 57, 59, 60; Frank D. Warren and George H. Ball, The Descendants of John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630–1835 (Boston: Spaulding Moss Co., 1932), p. 12.
102. Harriet Russell Stratton, A Book of Strattons, 2 vols. (New York: The Grafton Press, 1908–18), 1:166.
103. Silas C. Wheat, Wheat Genealogy: A History of the Wheat Family in America, 2 vols. (Brooklyn: Silas C. Wheat, 1903–60), 1:54.
104. Irene Cynthia Gould, "Christopher Wooley of Concord, Mass., and Some of His Descendants," NEHGR 75(1921):31.
105. A Report of the Record Commissioners Containing Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1630–1699 (Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1908), pp. 153, 155, 163, 184, 195.
106. John Wilson to the General Court, 4 April 1678, Massachusetts Archives 69:191; Tilden, Hist. of Medfield, pp. 95, 429.
107. "Rockwood Memorial"; The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 27 vols. (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1869–1922), 13:192, 651–52.
108. The petition of the selectmen of Milton was rejected, but those of the wounded Richard Russ of Weymouth and Thomas Parkes (on behalf of his wounded son John) were granted on the day of the council. Gov. John Leverett, Symon Bradstreet, Edward Tyng, and Joseph Dudley, who were on the court when Dike was sentenced for theft earlier that year, also rejected the plea of the townsmen. Dike d. 21 Nov. 1678. (Selectmen of Milton to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, 9 May 1678, Massachusetts Archives 69:202; Mass. Bay Records, 5:207; Milton Records [Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1900], p. 218.)
109. Major Gookin stated that "eight of our friendly Indians . . . was then slain; this was the greatest loss that our Indians sustained all the war." However, at least eight or eleven friendly Indians of Plymouth Colony were killed with Capt. Pierce in Feb. 1676 in an ambush that is tragically similar to the fate of the men at Black Point. (Gookin, "Christian Indians," Archæologia Americana, 2:516; Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, pp. 347–49; Samuel G. Drake, The Old Indian Chronicle [Boston: Samuel A. Drake, 1867], pp. 307–8.)
110. A "Nataniel" (along with Abraham Speen and others of Natick) signed two 1684 petitions about the sale of Indian land (Petition of Capt. Tom, Wahaughton, and Dublett to the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistants, 16 April 1684, Massachusetts Archives 30:287; Petition of the Indian Rulers and Indian Inhabitants of Natick to the Governor and Magistrates, 22 May 1684, Massachusetts Archives 30:279a).
111. List of Indians of Natick for sale of land, 3 Oct. 1683, Massachusetts Archives 30:276; Petition of Capt. Tom, Wahaughton, and Dublett to the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistants, 16 April 1684, Massachusetts Archives 30:287; Petition of the Indian Rulers and Indian Inhabitants of Natick to the Governor and Magistrates, 22 May 1684, Massachusetts Archives 30:279a; Petition of the Indian Natives of Natick to Richard, Earle of Bellomont, 31 May 1699, Massachusetts Archives 30:503; Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Marlborough (Boston: T. R. Marvin & Son, 1862), pp. 89–91. An Abraham Speen died in 1747 but he may have been a son or other relative, as he left behind a teenage daughter (Jean M. O’Brien, Dispossession by Degrees: Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650–1790 [New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997], pp. 100, 134–35, 143, 154, 186).
112. Town Records of Salem, 2:285. He may have drowned in the Ogunquit River in 1697 (Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., p. 473).
113. John Libby wrote: "4 Sonns of yor Petitioner wherof two one is Latly Kild at Black point and two more sickened at Black point of which two) one) was brought here to Boston about Tenn days agoe and Died Last night And the other two Sonns are at Black point . . ." (John Libby to the Governor and Council, 10 July 1677, Massachusetts Archives 69:145). The phrase "and Died Last night" is inserted above the normal sentence.
114. Libby, Libby Family, pp. 27–28.
115. Ibid, pp. 28–30.
116. Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:184–85.
117. Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., p. 114; Grant of Land to John Swarton, 29 June 1687, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:267–68; Charles Edward Banks, History of York, Maine (1931; reprint, 2 vols., Portsmouth, N.H: Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1990), 2:225–26.
118. Gen. Dict. Maine & N.H., p. 116.
119. According to the Kennebec Indians, who claimed no friendship with Squando during this time, "they [Squando and his men] receiueing noe more losse then 2 kild & 2 wounded" (Journal kept by Mr. Manning, 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:180). Holland states without authority that many more Maine Indians were killed (Rupert Sargent Holland, The Story of Prouts Neck [Prouts Neck: Prouts Neck Association, 1924], p. 15).
120. "Casualty List," John Curwin and John Price to Daniel Dennison?, 4 July 1677, Massachusetts Archives, 69:137–38. The transcription was made by the author. It was the discovery of this casualty list and the recognizable names of the men who died from Andover that inspired the author to write this. Although it was identified elsewhere by genealogists, no historian of the battle or of Scarborough seems to have made the connection or attempted to find the names of all the soldiers that took part (Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War, p. 474). Waters transcribes the Ipswich men as "James Burbee, Samll Pooler, Inc Poland, and Thomas Burns" but does not mention James Ford (Waters, Hist. of Chelmsford, p. 214.). No doubt, he renders "Burnum" as "Burns," because he knew that Thomas Burnham Jr. continued to serve Ipswich in a military fashion.
121. Diary of Increase Mather, 48.
122. Ibid.; "Hull Diary," Archæologia Americana, 3:243.
123. Letter from Edward Rawson, July 15, 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:171; "Hull Diary," Archæologia Americana, 3:243. Hubbard writes: The Number they sent of English was a great deal too small, those that were chosen this Bout to take their Turns in the Service Abroad, were many of them young, raw, and unexperienced Soldiers, who were not able to look Danger, much less Death, in the Face, in cool Blood, by which Means it came to pass that the Enterprise succeeded so ill [Swett] began to try the Valor and Courage of the Company before he had disciplined them, or had any Experience of their Ability to fight. (Hubbard, History of the Indian Wars, 2:234–35.) The letter from Massachusetts to Connecticut read in part: Gentm. wee are not willing to say any thing tht may iustly greive or provoake, yet you well know the Proverb, Loosers ought to haue liberty given them to speake. The sad consequence of this yor neglect is apparent, & wee doubt not but tht you haue already heard thereof by Publ. fame, being no less thn the loss of 100: men slayne & taken captive by the Enemy, besides the loss of great estates by sea aswell as by land, wch in an ordinary way had ben prevented had wee had yor ayd & help according to notice given you. (David Pulsifer, ed., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England [Boston: William White, 1859], 2:462–64.)
124. When the news reached Increase Mather in Boston on 15 July, he wrote "The New York men are erecting a fort near Pemaquid they have pretended a Peace with the Indians who are our Enemies & send to us that we may be included therein if we please. A most humbling Providence in more respects than one." (Diary of Increase Mather, 48.) Clarke gave his gov- ernment’s letter to those in charge at Pemaquid on 3 July starting a correspondence between Boston and Pemaquid (Governor and Council to Anthony Brockholes, 10 July 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:185–86). It is unknown if Clarke ever personally returned as an envoy to Pemaquid. On 18 August it was reported that "Medockawando said that Major Clarkes Sloop was Lost, staved upon the Rocks . . ." ("Voyage to Pemmaquid").
125. Moxes et al. to the Governor, 1 July 1677, Documentary Hist. of Maine, 6:177–79, 180.
126. "Voyage to Pemmaquid"; Belknap, History of New-Hampshire, 1:82–83.
127. Joshua Scottow to Increase Mather, Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 4th ser., 7:631.
128. Increase Mather, Remarkable Provinces Illustrative of the Earlier Days of American Colonisation (London: Reeves and Turner, 1890), pp. 252–53.
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