HISTORY OF NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE - Part II
FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT to 1702
INDIAN WARS FROM 1702 to 1725, Including:
Proprietors - Charter of Old Dunstable - List of Heads of Families in 1699 - 
- Indians Wars - [up to Lovewell's War with the Pequawkets in 1725]
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On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 
and its counties TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN 
Please see the web site for my email contact.
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The original source of this information is in the public domain, 
however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is 
restricted without written permission from the transcriber 
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SOURCE: History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire 
Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 878 pgs.

page 144
NASHUA, N.H.
by John H. Goodale

EXCERPTS ONLY... SEE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FOR COMPLETE DOCUMENT

CHAPTER III
FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT TO 1702
Making of Land Grants-- Charter Granted to Dunstable-- Names of Grantees--
Boundaries of the Township-- Withdrawal of the Indians-- 
Laying out of House-Lots-- Uncertain Date of Settlement-- King Philip's War--
Death of the Hassell Family-- Garrison Houses-- Poverty and Hardships--

After the earliest settlements in New Hampshire, at Dover and Portsmouth in 1623,
the growth of population was, for some years, slow. The first settlers of these
two towns were speculators, rather than farmers, and this circumstance did not
strongly attract newcomers.
  Meanwhile, the settlements of the Massachusetts colony grew rapidly. From 1650
to 1665 was a period of unwonted activity and prosperity. In 1655 the settlements
had extended northward to Chelmsford and Groton. The Massachusetts colonial
government, disregarding the Masonian claim, and considering all that part of
New Hampshire south of Lake Winnipesaukee within her own limits, began to
distribute grants of land in the Merrimack Valley as far north as the present
towns of Merrimack and Litchfield. Four hundred acres of land were granted to
John Whiting, lying on the south side of Salmon Brook and extending up the brook
one mile. In 1673 a grant of one thousand acres, on the north side of the Nashua
River, was made to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. It
included that part of the present city north of the river, and was called the
"Artillery Farm."  From this circumstance the central part of North Common was
called Artillery Pond.  After owning this tract for seventy years, the company
sold it to Colonel Joseph Blanchard, a man of note in the early history of
Dunstable.
  Numerous other grants were made on both sides of the river until their
aggregate was fourteen thousand acres. It became desirable, therefore, to
consolidate these grants into an incorporation, so as to secure to the 
inhabitants all the privileges of an organized township. Accordingly, in 1673,
the proprietors of the farms already laid out, and others who were disposed to
settle there, presented a petition to the government of Massachusetts, of which
the following is a verbatin copy:
  
  "To the Honored Goveror, Deputy Governor, with the Magistrates now assembled
in the General Court at Boston, September 19, 1673
  "The Petition of the Proprietors of the farm that are laid out upon the
Merrimack River and places adjacent, with others who desire to joyn with them in
the settlement of a plantation there:
  "HUMBLY SHEWETH
  "That whereas, there is a considerable tract of the Country's land that is
invironed with the properties of particular persons and towns, viz: By the line
of the town of Chelmsford, and by the Groton line, and by Mr. Brenton's farm,
by Souhegan farms, and beyond Merrimack River by the outermost lines of Henry
Kimball's farms, and so to Chelmsford line again. All is in little capacity of
doing the country any service except the farms bordering upon it be adjoined to
said land, to make a plantation there; and there being a considerable number of
persons who are of sober and orderly conservation, who do stand in need of great
accommodations, who are willing to make improvement of the said vacant lands;
And the proprietors of the said farms are willing to add those that shall
improve the said lands; the farms of those that are within the tract of land 
before described, being about 14,000 acres at the least:--
  "Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly request the favor of the Honorable Court
that they will grant the said tract of land to your Petitioners and to such as
will join with them in the settlement of the lands before mentioned, so those
who have improved their farms, and those who intend to do so, may be in a way to
support the ordinances of God, without which they will be mostly deprived, the
farms lying so remote from any towns; And farther, that the Honorable Court will
please grant the like immunities to this plantation, as they have formerly 
granted to other plantations; So shall your Petitioners be ever engaged to
pray:--
  "1. Thomas Brattle      2. Jonathan Tyng      3. Joseph Wheeler
   4. James Parkeson      5. Robert Gibbs       6. John Turner
   7. Sampson Sheafe      8. Samuel Scarlet     9. William Larkin
  10. Abraham Parker     11. James Knapp       12. Robert Proctor
  13. Simon Willard Jr.  14. Thomas Edwards    15. Thomas Wheeler
  16. Peter Bulkley      17. Joseph Parker     18. John Morse
  19. Samuel Combs       20. James Parker Jr.  21. John Parker
  22. Josiah Parker      23. Nathaniel Blood   24. Robert Parris
  25. John Joliffe       26, Zachariah Long

On the 26th of October this petition was granted, and the township of DUNSTABLE
chartered. It was granted with the condition universally required, viz: that
"at least twenty actual settlers shall be in the township within three years,
that a meeting-house shall be built and an able and orthodox minister shall be
obtained."  These requirements were complied with by the specified time.

DUNSTABLE [Old Dunstable]
The township of Dunstable, thus organized, was a tract of about two hundred 
square iles, or one hundred and twenty-eight thousand acres. It had long been the
favorite home of the savages, though their number, some years previous, had been
greatly diminished by a raid of their hereditary enemy, the bloodthirsty
Mohawks. It included the present city of Nashua, the towns of Hudson, Hollis,
Dunstable and Tyngsborough, besides portions of the towns of Amherst, Milford,
Merrimack, Litchfield, Londonderry, Pelham, Dracut, Brookline, Groton and
Pepperell. It extended ten to twelve miles west of the Merrimack, and three to
five miles east of it, and its average length, from north to south, was from
twelve to fourteen miles. The present city of Nashua is very nearly the center
of the original township of Dunstable--the name that Nashua continued to bear
until within the recollection of many citizens now living.  The name Dunstable is
said to have been given in compliment to Mrs. Mary, wife of Edward Tyng and
mother of Jonathan Tyng, one of the grantees and one of the most prominent of
the first settlers. She was a native of a town of that name in the south of
England.
  By the granting of this charter the twenty-six petitioners became the owners
of all the ungranted lands within the boundaries of Dunstable, which, if
equally shared, would have given to each of them not less than four thousand
acres. What recompense the Indians received for their lands is not known.
Some ten years after granting of the charter it is said that seventy dollars in
silver was paid to the Wamesits, of Chelmsford, and the same sum to the sachem
at Souhegan, for their claims; but there is not evidence that the Nashaways
receivd any consideration. As the most of the tribe and the chief sachem lived
at Lancaster, Mass., it is probable the few families remaining here went
northward with the majority of their tribe, and received little or no 
recompense.
  The little Indian settlement at the mouths of Nashua River and Salmon Brook,
when visited by Captain Simon Willard in 1652, had only forty warriors. It is
known that, in 1669, they joined the Penacooks in an expedition against the
Mohawks, in which the most of them perished. The remnant, dispirited and 
powerless, are said to have united with the Wamesits, and soon after migrated
with them northward. Afterwards nothing was distinctly known of them.
  The twenty-six grantees, and the settlers uniting with them, before taking
possession of their ample domain, made a compact for the equitable division and
disposal of their lands. It was evident that, for their mutual protection, the
occupied lands must be contiguous. The most desirable locality for safety,
convenience and favorable soil appeared to be the land bordering on the
Merrimack River, below Salmon Brook. It was agreed that each actual settler, as
a personal right, should have a "house-lott" of eligible land, not to exceed
thirty acres. These house-lots were laid out with a base on the Merrimack River,
and reaching, side by side, southward as far as the present State line. These
lots, having a narrow base, extended west toward Salmon Brook.
  It is evident that settlements had been commenced on some of these lots several
years before 1673, as we find on the town records that at a meeting of the
proprietors and the settlers in the fall of that year, it was voted that "the
first meeting-house should be built between Salmon Brook and the house of
Lieutenant Wheeler, as convenient as may be, for the accomodation of settlers."
In 1675 orchards are incidentally spoken of as already having some growth.
Therefore, while the exact date of the first settlement within the present limits
of Nashua cannot be definitely established, it is certain that the first
pioneers built their cabins near Salmon Brook between 1665 and 1670. It was, in
truth, a frontier hamlet, having no white settlement on the north nearer than
Canada, and on the east nearer than Exeter, on the west nearer than Albany.
  Two years later, in the summer of 1675, the bloody war began by the crafty
and cruel King Philip, chief of the Wampanoags, burst upon the New England
colonies. It meant the extermination of the whites.
  The new towns of Lancaster and Groton were burned, the inhabitants killed,
carried away captives or driven from their homes. Chelmsford was attacked, and
but for the intervention of Wanolancet, chief of the Penacooks, Dunstable would
have been overwhelmed. So alarming was their situation that, at the approach of
winter, the settlers of Dunstable, with the exception of Jonathan Tyng, fled to
the older settlements. Tyng had a strongly fortified house, two miles below the
present State line, in what is now Tyngsborough, Mass., and he resolved to defend
it to the last.  A small guard was sent to him from Boston, and with his little
band he held the fort until the end of the war.
  Peace came again in the spring of 1678. The fugitive settlers at Salmon Brook
returned, and it is said that the first meeting-house was built during the same
year. It was made of logs, with rude appointments, but well represented the
ability of the congregation. The ensuing year, 1679, the planation, as it was
called, secured and settled Rev. Thomas Weld, as the first "learned and orthodox
minister," among them. He settled in the south part of the town, on land now
included in the "Highland Farm," and then known as the "ministerial lot." Other
events worthy of note occurred the same year. Among them was the building of the
first saw-mill in Southern New Hampshire, located on Salmon Brook, at Alld's
bridge, southeast of the Harbor. There was an old beaver-dam at that place, and
it required little labor to prepare the site of the mill. The first bridge over
Salmon Brook was built this year by John Sollendine, a carpenter, whose marriage,
the next year (1680), was the first which took place in the town.
  In 1679, by the royal decree of Charles II, the "merry monarch" of England,
New Hampshire was erected into a "royal province," independent of Massachusetts,
of which she had been an appendange since 1641.  Dunstable, however, still 
remained under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and continued to be governed
by Massachusetts until the settlment of the boundary line, sixty-two years later
in 1741.  It was better for the early settlers of Dunstable that the authority
of Massachusetts colony should continue to exist. All of them had been residents
of that colony. All of their business interests and social relations were
centered there. An untraversed forest of forty miles separated them from the
nearest New Hampshire settlement, at Exeter, and in the terrible exposure of
Dunstable to savage attacks her reliance for aid was entirely upon Massachusetts.
In addition to inaccessibility, the population of New Hampshire in 1678 did not
exceed four thousand.

Page 146
KING WILLIAM'S TEN YEARS' WAR.--War, in its best aspects, is a terrible
calamity. When a people few in number, and almost defenseless, are assailed by a
merciless foe, it becomes the most terrible scourge that can befall a people.
After an unquiet peace of nine years, in 1688, the war known in history as 
King William's, one of the fierce conflicts between the English and French
nations, was, in its beginning, signalized in the New England colonies by the
massacre of Major Waldron and twenty others at Dover, by the Penacook and
Eastern Indians, and the carrying off of a larger number as captives to Canada.
  The power of the native warriors left to themselves would have been suppressed
after a few skirmishes. But the French possessions stretching all along the
northern frontier were strongly garrisoned by French soldiers, and as a fierce
war was raging between England and France, the Canadian forces of the latter
were commanded to use all direct and indirect means to assail and weaken the
English colonies.
  The French government saw the advantage of securing the Indians as allies. All
of the New England as well as the Canadian tribes had been conciliated by being
treated as allies, and not subjected dependants, by the French officials. They
were taught the use of the musekt, and were supplied with an abundance of 
firearms, blankets and provisions for border warfare. They had already been
taught by the Jesuit missionaries that they were a wronged race, and that English
supremacy meant the extinction of the red man. The Penacooks, who had now
largely removed to Canada, had felt the truth of this. The desire for vengeance
was intensely stimulated, and they hastened to attack the frontier New England
settlements.
  The same party of Indians which had desolated Dover had planned an attack on
Dunstable, but its execution was prevented by a timely discovery of the plot.
The government sent a mounted patrol to protect the settlement. For a time it did
good service, but on the evening of September 2, 1691, the savaged suddenly
attacked the house of John Hassell, Sr., which stood on the north side of
Salmon Brook, on a knoll just in the rear of the brick cottage on the Allds 
road, a few rods north of the bridge. The assault was unexpected. Hassell and
his wife, Anna, their son, Benjamin and Mark Marks, a kinswoman, were killed.
They were all buried on the knoll, near the house, and for many years a rough
stone marked the spot.  The only record of the massacre is the following brief
note probably written by Rev. Mr. Weld at the time: "Anno Domini 1691, Joseph
Hassel, Senior, Anna Hassell, his wife, Benj. Hassell, their son, were slain by
our Indian enemies on Sept. 2d, in the evening. Mary marks, the daughter of
Patrick Marks, was slain by the Indians, also on Sept. 2d, in the evening."

On the morning of September 28th a party of Indians attacked and killed, on the
south bank of the Nashua River, Obadiah Perry and Christopher Temple, two active
and useful citizens, who were among the original settlers of the town.

The protacted and incessant peril of the settlers at Salmon Brook was so great
that no new-comers arrived, and in 1696 half of the families had left for the
lower towns. There is no authentic record of any further attack upon Dunstable
after the slaughter of Perry and Temple, but the growth of the town was
paralyzed, and the seventeenth century closed with a gloomy prospect for the
settlers of Dunstable.
  There were at this time at Salmon Brook four garrison-houses, as they were
called, and the Massachusetts colonial government stationed about twenty soldiers
at these outposts, as a protection against any savage or French raids. These
fortified houses consisted of a strongly-built log house, about twenty-four
feet square, surrounded by a stockade, built of timbers standing upright,
twelve feet high, with the gates as well as the house-doors secured by iron
bolts and bars.  King Williams's War lasted ten years. Cotton Mather wrote of
it as "the decade of sorrows."  The number of families in Upper Dunstable (now
Nashua) was reduced to twenty.  

The following is the LIST OF HEADS OF FAMILIES IN 1699. The number of inhabitants
did not probably exceed one hundred and twenty.
  Mr. Thomas Weld, Mr. Samuel Searle, Nathaniel Blanchard, Thomas Blanchard,
Joseph Blanchard, Thomas Cummings, Robert Parris, Samuel French, 
Thomas Lunn (Lund), Isaac Whiting, John Sollendine, Mr. Samuel Whiting,
Abraham Cummings, Robert Usher, John Cummings, John Lovewell, Joseph Hassell,
William Harwood, Nathaniel Cummings, Daniel Galusha.

In 1701 the selectmen of the town petitioned the General Court for aid in the
support of the ministry, and at some length set force their condition and
sufferings. It appeared that one-half of the residents, being new settlers, had
not raised enough corn and grain for their own families, and none of the 
citizens were much, if any, above neeed.  This petition was signed by
Joseph Farwell, Robert Parris and William Tyng, as selectmen. In answer to this
petition, the sum of twelve pounds was allowed the town from the treasury.

page 147
CHAPTER IV
INDIAN WARS FROM 1702 to 1725
Watanuck Fort-- Queen Anne's War-- Slaughter of the Parris Family--
Weld's Fort-- Careless Scouts-- Fate of the Galusha Family--
Joe English-- Condition of Dunstable-- Indian Tactics and Cruelty--
A Brief Peace-- Capture of Cross and Blanchard-- 
Fate of Lieutenant French and Party-- Escape of Farwell-- Indian Head--

Late in the summer of 1702 the General Court of Massachusetts authorized the
building of a fort, not to exceed forty feet square, at "Watanuck," the Indian
name for Salmon Brook. It was fortified with a stockage of hewn timber, and
stood about sixty rods north of Salmon Brook, and about the same distance east
of Main Street, on the premises now owned by Elbridge G. Reed. The cellar, which
was deep, has been filled, and a thrifty walnut-tree planted by Mr. Reed now
marks the spot. This fort was occupied by a small garrison, consisting of eleven
men, namely: William Tyng, lieutenant; John Bowers, sargeant; Joseph Butterfield,
drummer; John Spalding, John Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Ebenezer Cummings,
Daniel Galusha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French and Thomas Lund, privates. Most of
these men were residents, and in the day-time the presence of only four soldiers
was required at the fort.
  In 1703 the war was renewed between England and France. It lasted ten years,
and is known in history as Queen Ann's War. The Indians, instigated by Jesuit
priests and equipped by the French Governor, made a general attack on all the
frontier settlements. Within six weeks two hundred whites along the northern
frontier were killed or carried into captivity.  The Massachusetts colonial
government, alarmed by these massacres, offered a bounty of forty pounds (one
hundred and forty dollars) for every Indian scalp.
  It was soon after the beginning of this war that the garrison of Robert Parris
was surprised, and himself and family massacred. He lived in the south part of
the town, on the main road to Chelmsford, just south of the site now occupied
by the "Highland Farm" buildings. He was a large land proprietor, and had been
selectman and representative of the town. Just at the close of twilight the
savages attacked the house. Unfortunately, the door was unfastened, and, having
gained an entrance, they killed Mr. Parris, his wife and oldest daughter. Two
small girls, who composed the rest of the family, ran down into the cellar, and
crept under an empty hogshead. The savages plundered the house, struck with their
tomahawks upon the hogshead, but in the dark failed to examine closely. They
left, leaving the house unburned, probably fearing the flames would alarm the
neighbors. The orphan girls were sent to their relatives in Charlestown, Mass.,
where they were raised and educated.
  In the summer of 1706 a party of Mohawks, two hundred and seventy in number,
came East to attack the New Hampshire settlements. For centuries they had been
accustomed to make mid-summer raids to the Merrimack Valley, and sometimes to
the sea-coast beyond for plunder. Vermont and Western New Hampshire had been
depopulated by them, for they spared none. The red men having departed, they
now fell upon the white settlers. Their first descent was upon Dunstable,
on July 3d, where they entered the "Weld fort," a garrison-house so named for the
Rev. Mr. Weld who died in 1702. Strangely, there were twenty troopers in it. 
These men, who were mounted scouts, had been ranging the wood, and toward night
reached the garrison. Apprehending no danger, they turned their horses loose
upon the intervale, and without a sentry began a night carousal. A detachment of
Mohawks, lurking in the vicinity, had intended to attack both Weld's and
Galusha's garrisons on the same night. Spies had been sent to watch these
garrisons to see that no assistance arrived, and no alarm was given. A short
time before the approach of the cavalry the spy stationed at Weld's, seeing no
movement, retired to his party, and reported that all was safe.
  Just after sunset Mr. John Cummings and his wife went out to milk the cows,
and left the gate open.  The Indians, who had advanced undiscovered, rushing
forward, shot Mrs. Cummings dead upon the spot and wounded Mr. Cummings. They
then rushed through the open gate into the house with the horrible yells of
conquering savages, but halted with amazement on finding the room filled with
soldiers merrily feasting.  Both parties were astonished, and neither showed
much self-possession. The soldiers, suddenly interrupted in their jovial
entertainment, found themselves compelled to fight for life, without arms, and
incapable of obtaining them. Most of them were panic-struck, and uanble to
fight or fly. Fortunately, six or seven courageous souls, with chairs, benches
or whatever else they could seize, furiously attacked the advancing foe. The
savages, surprised and disconcerted, rushed from the house without any loss,
save a few heads.
  There are conflicting accounts as to the loss of the troopers. Penhallow,
who wrote a history of the Indian wars, and was a contemporary author, says
that about one-half of the troopers were killed by the Indians, who had loaded
guns on entering the fort; while another and probably less reliable account says
that no one save the trumpeter, who was blowing his horn in the attic when he
saw the Indians entering, was shot fatally at the head of the stairway. The
carelessness of the soldiers was very deservedly censured.  Cummings, who was
wounded outside, fled with a broken arm to the woods while the savages were
engaged in the house. That night he lay in a swamp a few rods south of the State
line, and the next morning reached the garrison just above the present
Tyngsborough village.
  The same night the Indians attacked the fortified house of Daniel Galusha,
two miles eastward, and near the present residence of Willard Cummings. The
inmates were three men, one woman and one boy. They fought bravely, but finding
that the Indians were kindling a fire outside, endeavored to escape. One account
says that one man and the boy escaped, but Penhallow writes that only the woman
escaped. When the assult grew dangerous she sought concealment in the cellar.
Hastily plundering the house, and thinking they had killed all the inmates,
the savages set fire to the house and immediately left.  The woman, finding the
house in flames, tried to escape by the cellar window, but found it too small.
By effort she removed a stone, forced a passage, and crawling over burning
cinders, reached the nearest bushes, from whence in the morning she fled to a
neighboring garrison.
  On the same night of the attack on the Weld and Galusha garrisons, the Indians,
at a later hour, probably past midnight, assaulted the house of Nathaniel
Blanchard, three miles below Salmon Brook, and near the old cemetery in the south
part of the town. It appears from the ancient town records that Nathaniel
Blanchard, his wife, Susannah, his daughter, Susannah, and his brother's wife,
Hannah, all four "died" by the hands of the savages on the night of the 3d of
July, 1706.  Captain Samuel Whiting was taken prisoner on Long Hill, and carried
to Canada. He returned after several years of captivity, but for many years after
was an invalid on account of his wounds and sufferings.
  Three weeks later, on the 27th of July, Captain Butterfield and wife, mounted
on the same horse, started to ride from Dunstable to Chelmsford. They were
accompanied by the well-known friendly Indian, Joe English, and another soldier
as a guard, English going before and the soldier in the rear of the mounted
couple.  THey had just crossed the present State line, and reached Holden's
Brook, when a party of Indians in ambush fired and killed the horse.  Captain
Butterfield and the soldier escaped, but the wife was taken prisoner. Joe
English, however, was the chief object of pursuit, and they at once ran toward
him. WIth his loaded musket, he made all possible haste to reach the nearest
thicket, when a ball struck the arm holding the gun, which compelled him to drop
it.  Just as he reached the thicket another ball broke his thigh. Undaunted by
tortures, he bravely met his death.
  Joe English was an Agawan Indian, born in Ipswich, Mass., the son of a noted
sachem. He possessed unusual sagacity and on several occasions had notified the
white settlers of the terrific attacks about to be made on them. For this the
northern savages had sworn a terrible revenge.  Many traditional stories have
been told of his ingenuity and prowess.  Of his fidelity, courage, adventures
and hairbreadth escapes there is no doubt.  His death was lamented as a public
loss.  The General Assembly of Massachusetts made a grant to his widow and
two children, "because he died in the service of the country." His memory was
long cherished as one who fell by the hands of his own race on account of his
friendship for the whites.  A noted hill in New Boston, easy of ascent on the
north and terminating in a precipice on the south side, perpetuates his name.

Queen Ann's War bore heavily on all the New Hampshire settlements, then numbering
only five,--Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter, Hampton and Dunstable.  The scholarly
Penhallow, who was an actor in this war and wrote a history of it, inscribed
the title page of his book with these sad words,--
 "Nescio tu quibus es, Lector, lecturus oculis
  Hoc scio, quod siccis, scribere non potui."
  (With what eyes, O reader, you will read this tale I know not--
  This I do know, mine were not dry when writing it.)."

Feeble and suffering had been the condition of the settlers of Dunstable from
its earliest years. Fear and desolation reigned everywhere. Compelled to dwell
in garrisons, to labor at the constant peril of life, how could the settlers
thrive?  Dunstable was scarcely more advanced in 1714 than in 1680, so
disastrous had been the effect of the long and bloody wars.  Many of the most
useful inhabitants had been slain or taken captaive, especially heads of
families. Some had removed to places more secure from Indian depredation. Very
few would emigrate to what might be well termed "the dark and bloody ground."
It was no time for marriage feasts when the bridal procession might at every
step become a funeral one and the merry laugh be drowned by the crack of the
rifle and the savage war-hoop.

The historian Bancroft says: "The war on the part of the Indians was one of
ambushes and surprises." They were secret as beasts of prey, skillful marksmen,
swift of foot, patient of fatigue, familiar with every path and nook of the
forest, and frantic with the passion for vengeance and destruction. The
laborer in the field and the woodman felling trees were shot down by skulking
foes who were invisible. The mother left alone in the house was in constant fear
of the tomahawk for herself and her children. There was no house of freedom 
from peril. The dusky red men hung upon the skirts of the colonial villages
"like the lightning on the edge of a cloud."

In 1713 the "peace of Utrecht" closed the war between England and France. The
Indians getting no supplies from their Canadian allies, were quiet. There was an
increase of emigration from England, and permanent homes now for the first time
began to extend beyond the long-exposed frontier settlement below the junction
of the Nashua with the Merrimack River.  As early as 1710 settlements were made
in Hudson; Londonderry was settled in 1719; Litchfield and Chester in 1720;
Merrimack and Pelham in 1722.  In 1722 the Maine Indians, instigated as it was
said, by the Jesuit missionary, Father Rasle, began depredations at Portsmouth,
Dover and the farming settlements in the vicinity, the Pequawkets, under the
lead of Paugus, joining them in plundering corn-fields and destroying cattle.
  Early in the spring of 1724, Lieutenant Jabez Fairbanks, of Groton, took
command of a scouting party organized to protect the frontier settlers.  Six of
the scounts--Joseph Blanchard, Thomas Lund, Isaac Farwell, Ebenezer Cummings,
John Usher and Jonathan Combs--belonged to Dunstable.  They reported that no
trace of a lurking foe could be discovered in the forest north and west of
Dunstable. This news was encouraging, and several men at the Harbor went to
work during the day on the north side of the Nashua River, planting corn and
collecting turpentine. During the summer they were not disturbed.  This 
tranquility, however, was brief.  On the morning of September 4, 1724, Nathan
Cross and Thomas Blanchard started from the Harbor and crossed the Nashua River
to do a day's work in the pine forest growing on the northern bank, on land not
far from the present Nashua Cemetery. The day was wet and drizzly. Reaching
their destination, they placed their arms and ammunition, as well as their lunch
and accompanying jug, in a hollow log to keep them dry.  During the day they 
were surrounded by a party of Indians from Canada, who hurried them into
captivity.
  Their protracted absence aroused the anxiety of their friends and neighbors,
and a relief party of ten was organized the next morning to make a search for the
absentees.  Lieutenant Ebenezer French was chosen leader. When the party arrived
at the spot where these men had been laboring they found the hoops of the barrels
cut and the turpentine spread upon the ground. From certain marks upon the
trees they inferred that the two men were captured, and carried off alive.
  While examining the premises, Josiah Farwell, who was an experienced ranger,
noticed that the turpentine had not ceased spreading, and called the attention
of the party to the circumstance. They decided that the Indians had been gone
but a short time and must be near by.  So they determined on immediate pursuit.
Farwell advised the party to take a circuitous route to avoid an ambush; but,
unfortunately, he and the commander were personally at variance. Lieutenant
French imputed his advice to cowardice, and called out, "I am going to take the
direct path; if any of you are not afraid, let him follow me." French led the
way and the whole party followed, Farwell taking his position in the rear.
  Their route was up the Merrimack, and at the brook just above Thornton's
Ferry, they were waylaid. The Indians fired and killed the larger part
instantly. The rest fled, but were overtaken. Lieutenant French was killed under
an oak a mile from the ambush.  Farwell in the rear sprang behind a tree, fired
and fled. The Indians pursued him. The chase was close and doubtful until
Farwell reached a thicket, where, changing his course, he eluded his foes.
He was the only one of the party who escaped. It is probable that Lieutenant
French and his men were not aware of the strength of the enemy, but supposed
it to be an ordinary foraging-party of eight or ten warriors, when in reality
the Indians numbered seventy well-armed men. The next day a larger company was
mustered, and proceeding to the fatal spot, found the dead bodies. COffins were
prepared for them, and eight were interred in one capacious grave at the
ancient burial-ground near the present State line.  The following epitaph,
"spelt by the unlettered muse," tells the bloody tale. The inscription reads
thus:
 "Momento Mori.
 "Here lies the body of Mr. Thomas Lund, 
  who departed this life Sept. 5th 1724, in the
  42nd year of his age.
  "This man with seven more that lies in
  this grave was slew all in a day by
  The Indians."

Some of the fallen were leading and active citizens, whose loss was deeply felt.
Among them were Oliver Farwell, Thomas Lund, Ebenezer French, Ebenezer Cummings
and Benjamin Carter.  The two captives, Cross and Blanchard, were taken to
Canada. After a years' captivity they obtained a ransom and returned to
Dunstable. The gun, jug and lunch-basket were found in the hollow log where they
had been concealed the year before. The gun has been carefully preserved by the
descendants of Mr. Cross; and recently one of them, Mr. Levi S. Cross, of this
city, has presented it to the Nashua Natural History Society to be kept among
their antiquarian relics.
  It is related by Penhallow that another fight at this time took place somewhat
above the mouth of the Nashua River, and that one white man was killed and four
wounded. Tradition reports that is was the same Indians who captured Cross and
Blanchard, and who had just vanquished Lieutenant French's party. They occupied
the north and the whites the south bank of the river. The savages grew weary
and retired.  When the white soldiers went over the next day to the north side,
they found conspicuously carved on the trunk of a pine-tree an Indian head,
from which was derived the name afterwards given to that locality.

CHAPTER V
page 149
CAPTAIN JOHN LOVEWELL'S CAMPAIGNS
The Hero of Pequawket-- Early Training-- Petition Granted-- Trip to the Lake--
A Successful Raid-- March to Ossipee-- Reach "Lovewell's Pond"-- 
Fall into an Ambush-- A Bloody Fight-- Deaths of Lovewell and Paugus--
Terrible Suffering-- Deaths of Farwell and Frye-- Noah Johnson--
Results of the Campaign--

Linger among us are a few aged persons who well remember that in their early
childhood, while the family were gathered for a winter night around the ample
hearths of that period, some old man told the story of the brave Captain
Lovewell and his company, their successes and their misfortunes, until an
intense interest was awakened in the breast of every youthful listener. With
the exception of General John Stark, no other name in the colonial annals of
New England is so well known as that of Captain John Lovewell. Born and raised
within the limits of Nashua, whatever related to his history and achievements 
deserves the especial attention of the people of this city.
  Captain John Lovewell was born in that part of old Dunstable which afterward
fell within the limits of Nashua, in a cabin, near Salmon Brook. He was the
oldest son of John Lovewell, who came over from England about 1670. His 
grandfather served in the army of Oliver Cromwell. His father appears to have
fought under the famous Captain Church during King Philip's War. He was a man of
unusual courage, and physical vigor. At the time of his death, in 1752, he was
probably a centarian, but not, as erroneously reported, one hundred and twenty
years old.
  Captain JOhn Lovewell Jr., like his father, a man of great courage and ready to
engage in daring enterprises. DUring his boyhood Dunstable was constantly
assilaed by merciless savages, and at a very early age he began to engage in
scouts, which required the exericse of the utmost caution, promptitude and
bravery. At eighteen years of age he was actively engaged in exploring the
wilderness, to find the lurking-places of the Indians. Having the qualities of
leadership, his ability was early recognized, and at the age of twenty-five
he ranked as the best-equipped, most daring and versatile scout in the frontier
settlements. This was no trivial compliment, for no township in New England had,
in the first half of the eighteenth century, a more experienced, adroit and
courageous corps of Indian fighters than Dunstable.
  The fate of Lieutenant French and his party, in September 1724, had a 
dispiriting effect on the inhabitants of Dunstable. But Captain John Lovewell,
Jr., then thirty years old, was determined to carry the war to the strongholds
of the savages and destroy them, as Captain Church had destroyed the followers
of King Philip.  "These barbarous outrages must be stopped, and I am ready to
lead the men who will do it," was his declaration to his comrades. Joined by
Josiah Farwell and Jonathan Robbins, a petition was sent to the General Court of
Massachusetts for leave to raise a company to scout against the Indians. The
original petition, signed by them, is on file in the office of the Secretary of
State in Boston, and is as follows:
  "The humble memorial of John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, Jonathan Roberts, all of
Dunstable, sheweth:
 "That your petitioners, with near forty or fifty others, are inclinable to
rnage and keep out in the woods for several months together, in order to kill
and destroy their enemy Indians, provided they can meet with Incouragement
suitable. And your Petitioners are Imployed and esired by many others Humbly to
propose and submit to your Honors' consideration, that is such soldiers may be
allowed five shillings per day, in case they kill any enemy Indian, and possess
his scalp, they will Imploy themselves in Indian hunting one whole year; and if
within that time they do not kill any, they are content to be allowed nothing 
for their wages, times and trouble."
 "John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, Jonathan Robbins"
 "Dunstable, Nov. 1724."

This petition was granted, with the charge of the compensation to a bounty of
one hundred pounds per scalp.  Volunteers came forward with alacrity, the company
was well organized and the commissions of captain given to Lovewell.
  With this picked company Captain Lovewell started on an excursion northward to
Lake Winnipesaukee.  On the 10th of December, 1724, the party came upon a wigwam,
in which were two Indians-- a man and a boy. They killed ahd scalped the man and
brought the boy alive to Boston, where they received the promised bounty and two
shillings and sixpence a day.
  The success was small, but it gave courage, and the company grew from thirty to
eighty-seven. They started the second time on January 27, 1725. Crossing the
Merrimack at Nashua, they followed the river route on the east side to the
southeast corner of Lake WInnipesaukee, where they arrived on the 9th of
February. Provisions falling short, thirty of them were dismissed by lot, and
returned home. The company went on to Bear Camp River, in Tamworth, where,
discovering Indian tracks, they changed their course and followed them in a
southeast direction until, just before sunset on the 20th, they saw smoke, by
which they judged the enemy were encamped for the night. Keeping concealed until 
after midnight, they then silently advanced, and discovered ten Indians asleep
round a fire by the side of a frozen pond. Lovewell now resolved to make sure
work, and placing his men conveninetly, ordered them to fire, five at once, as
quickly after each other as possible, and another part to reserve their fire.
He gave the signal by firing his own gun, which killed two of them; the men,
firing as directed, killed five more on the spot; the other three, starting up
from their sleep, two were shot dead on the spot by the reserve. The other, 
wounded, attempted to escape across the pond, was seized by a dog and held fast
until they killed him.  In a few minutes the whole party was killed, and a raid
on some settlement prevented. These Indians were coming from Canada with new guns
and plenty of ammunition. They had also some spare blankets, moccasins and snow-
shoes for the use of the prisoners they expcted to take. The pond where this
success was achieved is in the town of Wakefield, and has ever since borne the
name of Lovewell's Pond. The company then went to Boston through Dover, where
they displayed the scalps and guns taken from the savages. In Boston they
received the bounty of one thousand pounds from the public treasury.
  Captain Lovewell now planned the bold design of attacking the Pequawkets in
their chief village, on the Saco River, in Fryeburg, Maine. This tribe was
powerful and ferocious. Its chief was Paugus, a noted warrior, who name
inspired terror wherever he was known. TO reach Pequawket wsa a task involving
hardships and danger. There is no doubt that Captain Lovewell underestimated
the perils of the march and the risk from ambuscades. One hundred and thirty
miles in early spring, through a wilderness not marked by a trail, to a locality
never visited by the invaders, but every rod familiar to the wily foe, were
serious disadvantages. Besides this, the company at the start only consisted of
forty-six men. They left Salmon Brook on the 16th of April 1725. They had
traveled but a few miles when Toby, an Indian, falling sick, was obliged to
return, which he did with great reluctance.
  At Contoocook (now Boscawen), William Cummings, of Dunstable, became so
disabled by a wound received from the enemy years before that the captain sent
him back with a kinsman to accompany him. They proceeded on to the west shore
of Ossipee Lake, where Benjamin Kidder, of Nutfield (now Londonderry) falling
sick, the captain halted and built a rude fort, having the lake shore to the
east and Ossipee River on the north side. This was intended as a refuge in case
of disaster. Here Captain Lovewell left with Kidder the surgeon, a sergeant and
seven other men as a guard. He also left a quantity of provisions to lighten the
loads of the men, and which would be a needed supply on their return.
  WIth only thirty-four men, Captain Lovewell, not disheartened, proceeded on his
march to Pequawket village, a distance of nearly forty miles through a rough
forest. None of the party were acquainted with the route. Of the thirty-four
in the company, only eight were from that portion of Dunstable now included in
Nashua. The others were from neighboring towns, largely from Groton, Billerica
and Woburn. Dunstable furnished the captain, lieutenants and nearly all the
minor officers of the expedition. The eight men from Dunstable were Captain John
Lovewell, Lieutenant Josiah Farwell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, Ensign John
Harwood, Sergeant Noah Johnson, Corporal Benjamin Hassell, Robert Usher and
Samuel WHiting, privates.
  On Thursday, two days before the fight, the company were apprehensive that
they were discovered and watched by the enemy, and on Friday night the watch
heard the Indians rusting in the underbrush, and alarmed the company, but the
darkness was such they made no discovery. Very early in the morning of Saturday,
May 8th, while they were at prayers, they heard the report of a gun. Soon after
they discovered an Indian on a point running out into Saco Pond. The company 
decided that the purpose of the Indian was to draw them into an ambush 
concealed between himself and the soldiers. The inference was a mistake, and a
fatal one to a majority of the party. Expected an immediate attack, a 
consultation was held to determine whether it was better to venture an
engagement with the enemy, or to make a speedy retreat. The men bolding answered,
"We have prayed all along that we might find the foe; and we had rather trust
Providence with our lives, yea, die for our country, than try to return without
seeing them, and be called cowards for our conduct."
  Captain Lovewell readily complied, and led them on, though not without
manifesting some apprehensions. Supposing the enemy to be in front, he ordered
the men to lay down their packs, and march with the greatest caution, and in the
utmost readiness. In this way they advanced a mile and a half, when ENsign Wyman
spied an Indian approaching among the trees.  Giving a signal, all the men
concealed themselves, and as the Indian came nearer several guns were fired at
him. He at once fired at Captain Lovewell with beaver shot, wounding him
severely, though he made little complaint, and was still able to travel.
Ensign Wyman then fired and killed the Indian, and Chaplain Frye scalped him. 
They then returned toward their packs, which had already been found and seized
by the savages, who, in reality, were lurking in their rear, and who were
elated by discovering from the number of the packs that their own force was more
than double that of the whites. It was now ten o'clock, and just before reaching
the place, on a plain of scattered pines about thirty rods from the pond, the
Indians rose up in front and rear in two parties, and ran toward the whites with
their guns presented. The whites instantly presented their guns and rushed to
meet them.
  When both parties came within twenty yards of each other, they fired. The
Indians suffered far the more heavily, and hastily retreated a few rods into a
low pine thicket, where it was hardly possible to see one of them. Three or four
more rounds followed from each side. The savages had more than twice the number
of our men and greatly the advantage in their concealed position, and their
shots began to tell fearfully. ALready nine of the whites were killed and three
were fatally wounded. This was more than one-third of their number. Among the
dead were Captain Lovewell and Ensign Harwood, and both Lieutenant Farwell and
Lieutenant Robbins were injured beyond recovery. Engsign Wyman ordered a retreat
to the pond, and probably saved the company from entire destruction, as the
pond protected their rear.
  The fight continued obstinately until sunset, the savages howling, yelling and
barking and making all sorts of hideous noises, the whites frequently shouting
and huzzaing.  Some of the Indians, holding up ropes, asked the English if they
would take quarter, but were promptly told that they would have no quarter save
at the muzzles of their guns.
  About the middle of the afternoon the chaplain, Jonathan Frye, of Andover, who
graduated at Harvard in 1723, and who had fought bravely, fell terribly wounded.
When he could fought no longer he prayed audibly for the preservation of the
rest of the company.
  The fight had lasted nearly eight hours, and at intervals was furious. The
reader will understand that it was very unlike a battle between two parties
of civilized infantry. In fighting these savages, who concealed themselves 
behind trees, logs, bushes and rocks, the whites were compelled to adopt similar
tactics.  In sucha fight, while obeying general orders, each soldier fires at
the foe when he can discern an exposed head or body. This Pequawket contest
lasted from ten in the morning until night, but it was not continuous. There
were intervals of nearly or quite half an hour, which were hardly disturbed by
the crack of a single musket. But in these intervals the savages were skulking
and creeping to get a near view and sure aim at some white soldier, while our men
were desperately on the altert to detect their approach and slay them. Noticing a
lull among the warriors, Ensign Wyman crept up behind a bush and discovered a
group apparently in council, and by a careful shot, brought down their leader.
  It was in the latter part of the fight that Paugus, the Indian chief, met
his fate. He was well-known by most of Lovewell's men, and several times he
called aloud to John Chamberlain, a stalwart soldier from Groton. Meanwhile the
guns of both these combatants became too foul for use, and both went down to the
pond to clean them. Standing but a few yards apart, with a small brook between
them, both began to load together, and with mutual threats thrust powder and
ball into their weapons. Chamberlain primed his gun by striking the breach 
heavily on the ground. This enabled him to fire a second before his foe, whose
erring aim failed to hit Chamberlain.
  At twilight the savages withdrew, disheartened by the loss of their chief.
From information afterwards obtained, it is believed that not more than twenty
of the Indians escaped unhurt, and thus weakened, they did not hazard a 
renewal of the struggle. But out men, not knowing their condition, expected a
speedy return. About midnight, the moon having arisen, they collected together,
hungry and very faint, all their food having been snatched by the Indians, with
their packs. On examining the situation, they found Jacob Farrar just expiring,
and Lieutenant RObbins and Robert Usher unable to rise; four others--viz:
Lieutenant Farwell, Frye, Jones and Davis--very dangerously wounded, seven
badly wounded and nine unhurt.
  A speedy return to the fort at Ossipee was the only course left them.
Lieutenant Robbins told his companions to laod his gun and leave it with him,
saying "As the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, I will kill one 
more if I can." His home was on Long Hill, in the south part of Nashua, and
he was a favorite with his comrades. One man, Solomon Keyes, of Billerica, was
missing. When he had fought until he had received three wounds and had become so
weak that he could not stand, he crawled up to Ensign Wyman and said: "I am a
dead man, but if possible I will get out of the way so that the Indians shall not
have my scalp." He then crept away to some rushes on the beach, where discovering
a canoe, he rolled into it. There was a gentle north wind, and drifting southward
three miles, he was landed on the shore nearest the fort. Gaining strength, he 
was able to reach the fort and join the comrades.
  Leaving the dead unburied, and faint from hunger and fatigue, the survivors
started before dawn for Ossipee.  A sad prospect was before them. The Indians,
knowing their destitution, were expected at every moment to fall upon them. Their
homes were a hundred and thirty miles distant, ten of their number had fallen
and eight were groaning with the agony of terrible wounds. After walking a mile
and a half, four of the wounded men--Lieutenant Farwell, Captain FRye, and 
Privates Davis and Jones--were unable to go father, and urged the others to 
hasten to the fort and send a fresh recruit to their rescue. The party hurried on
as fast as strength would permit to the Ossipee fort. To their dismay they
found it deserted.  One of their number, in the first hour of the battle,
terrified by the death of their commander and others, sneakingly had fled to the
fort and gave the men posted there so frightful an account that they all fled
hastily toward Dunstable.  Fortunately, some of the coarse provisions were left,
but not a tithe of what were needed. Resting briefly, the continued their
travels in detached parties to Dunstable, the majority reaching there on the
night of the 13th of May, and the others two days later. They suffered
severly from want of food.  From Saturday morning until Wednesday--four days--
they were entirely without any kind of food, when they caught some squirrels 
and partriges, which were roasted whole and greatly improved their strength.
  Eleazer Davis and Josiah Jones, two of the wounded, who were left near the
battle-ground, survived, and after great suffering, reached Berwick, ME.
Finding after several days, no aid from the fort, they all went several miles
together. Captain Frye laid down and probably survived only a few hours.
Lieutenant Farwell reached within a few miles of the fort, and was not heard of
afterwards. He was deservedly lamented as a man in whom was combined unusual
bravery with timely discretion. There is little doubt but he and several others
of the wounded would have recovered if they could have had food and medical
care. Their sufferings must have been terrible.
  The news of the disaster caused deep grief and consternation at Dunstable.
A company, under Colonel Tyng, went to the place of action and buried the bodies
of Captain Lovewell and ten of his men at the foot of a tall pine-tree. A
monument now marks the spot.  The General COurt of Massachusetts gave fifteen
hundred pounds to the widows and orphans and a handsome bounty of lands to the
survivors.
  Of the men from Dunstable, who participated in the "Great Fight," all were
killed or wounded. Only one, Noah Johnson, survived and returned home.
His farm was on the south side of the Nashua River, as its mouth and extended
southward a little beyond the present road leading over the iron bridge to
Hudson. He received a pension and a grant of land in Pembroke, to which he
removed and passed his later years. He was the last survivor of the Pequawket
fight, and died at Pembroke in 1798, in his one hundredth year. Quite a number
of his descendants reside in this part of the state.
  In the fight which resulted to fatally to Captain Lovewell and a majority of
his command the numbers engaged were inconsiderable. But while temporarily
disastrous, the results proved of incalcuable advantage to the border
settlements. From that day the courage and power of the red men were destroyed.
They soon withdrew from their ancient haunts and hunting-grounds in New
Hampshire to the French settlements in Canada. No subsequent attacks by an
organized force of Indians were made upon Dunstable, and their raids made
subsequently at Concord, Hillsborough and Charlestown were merely spasmodic
efforts instigated, and in some instances led, by French officers. Yet such had
been the experience of the past that for years the pioneer settlers listened
in the still watches of the night for the foot-fall of the stealthy savage,
the musket was the companion of his pillow and in his sleep he dreamed of the 
fierce yells of the merciless foe.
  The expedition of Captain Lovewell was no doubt hazardous in view of the
difficulties of the march and the small number of men. One-fifth of his force,
beside the surgeon, was left at the fort at Ossipee. Captain Lovewell intended
to suprise Paugus by attacking him in his camp. Unfortunately, the reverse
happened. Paugus and his eighty warriors were returning from a journey down the
Saco, when they discovered the track of the invaders. For forty hours they
stealthily followed and saw the soldiers dispose of their packs, so that all
the provisions and blankets fell into their own hands, with the knowledge of 
their small force.  Thus prepared, they expected from their chosen ambush to
annihilate or to capture the entire party.
  Thus ended the memorable campaign against the Pequawkets. Deep and universal
was the gratitude of the people of Dunstable at the prospect of peace. For fifty
years had the war been raging with little cessation and with a series of
surprises, devastations and massacres that seemed to threaten annihilation.
The scene of this desperate and bloody action at Fryeburg is often visited,
and in song and eulogy are commemorated the heroes of Lovewell's fight.


(end)