'There went a dirge through the forest's gloom.
…An exile was borne to a lonely tomb,
“Brother;”--so the chant was sung
In the slumberer’s native tongue--
“Friend and brother! not for thee
Shall the sound of weeping be.”’ HEMANS.
Sadly and slowly the Pilgrim Fathers passed along the scattered village
of log huts which was their home in their voluntary exile, and wound up
the pathway that led towards the summit of the mount, afterwards called
'the Burying Hill,' on which they had constructed a rude fort or
storehouse, and whither they were now bearing to his last earthly home
the chief and the most respected of their community. The Governor
Carver--he who had presided over their councils, and directed all their
movements since the memorable day of their landing, and had been the
friend, the physician, the comforter of his little flock, through all
their trials and all their sufferings--had fallen a victim to disease
and over-exertion, just as spring, with all its brighter hopes for the
future, had set in.
It was but a few days after Henrich's capture that this heavy
affliction befell the colony, and added greatly to the gloom which the
loss of young Maitland had already cast over the whole village. The
departure, also, of the vessel in which the Pilgrims had come out to
America, occurred at the same time; and, although not one of the exiles
desired to return to the land of their birth, and to abandon the
enterprise on which they had entered so devotedly, yet it was a
melancholy hour when they bade adieu to the captain and his crew, and
saw the Mayflower sail away towards their still much-loved, country.
The scurvy and other diseases—combined with the hardships and
privations to which they had been exposed during the winter and early
spring--had fearfully reduced the number of the ship's company; and of
those who remained, the greater part were weakened by illness, and
dispirited by the loss of so many of their brave comrades, whose graves
they had dug on the bleak shores of New England. The return of spring,
and the supply of provisions that the settlers were able to obtain from
the friendly Indians, had checked the progress of the fatal complaints
that had so fearfully ravaged the colony during the severity of winter;
and had restored the survivors of the ship's crew to comparative health
and strength. The captain was, therefore, glad to seize the first
opportunity of abandoning a shore which had presented to him so
cheerless and melancholy an aspect, and of leaving the steadfast and
devoted exiles to the fate which they had chosen, and which they were
resolved to abide in faith and hope.
On the very day that the Mayflower set sail, and while its white sails
could still be distinguished in the eastern horizon, the Governor--who
took an active part in every occupation, and even every labor that
engaged the settlers--was busily employed in sowing corn in the fields
that were considered as the common property of the colony. In directing
and superintending this work, he was greatly assisted by the skill and
experience of Squanto, the native who, as we have already related, had
been so treacherously carried off to England by Hunt, and had, on his
return to America, sought out, and attached himself to, the settlers.
By them he was greatly regarded, and his knowledge of the English
language rendered his services of inestimable value in all their
intercourse with the Indian tribes; while his acquaintance with the
soil on which they had established themselves, and the native modes of
cultivating grain and other vegetable produce, was of the greatest use
to men who were only accustomed to European agriculture.
The maize and other grain were sown in the fields that had been richly
manured with fish, to ensure an abundant crop;[*] and the laborers
returned in a body to the village, led by their venerable and respected
President; but no sooner had Carver re-entered his dwelling than he
swooned away and never recovered his consciousness. In a few days he
breathed his last, to the unutterable grief of his widow, and the deep
regret of all the settlers, whose love and confidence he had won during
his brief government, by his clear-sighted wisdom and his universal
kindness.
[Footnote: It was the custom of the Indians to manure their fields with
_shads_ or _allezes,_ a small fish that comes up the rivers in vast
numbers at the spawning season. About a thousand fish were used for
every acre of land; and a single alleze was usually put into every
corn-hill, when they buried their grain for winter consumption;
probably as a charm to keep off the evil demons and hostile wandering
spirits.]
As his funeral procession wound up the hill, tears might be seen on the
cheek of many a sturdy Pilgrim; and sobs and lamentations broke forth
from the women and children. After his remains were laid in their
resting-place, a fervent prayer was offered up by Brewster (whose age
and character caused him to be regarded as the pastor of the colony,
although he had never been called to the ministry after the custom of
the Puritans); and then a hymn was sung by the united voices of the
whole congregation.
When this simple ceremony was over, and the grave of the departed
President was closed, and laid level with the surrounding ground--in
order to conceal it from the prowling Indians--the assembly repaired to
the fort, or store-house, that stood on the summit of the hill, and
which also served the purpose of a meeting-house or chapel. Its rude
end unadorned simplicity suited, the peculiar ideas of the Puritans,
who, in their zeal to escape from the elaborate ornaments and pompous
ceremonial employed by the Papists, had rushed into the opposite
extreme, and desired that both their place of worship, and their mode
of performing it, should be divested of every external decoration and
every prescribed form. The more their place of meeting for prayer
resembled an ordinary habitation, the better they considered it suited
to the sacred purpose; and they were, therefore, perfectly satisfied to
possess no other church than the rude fort, built of logs and posts,
and used indifferently as a granary for the public stores, and as a
fortress for the defense of the colony from any incursions of the
hostile tribes.
In this primitive chapel, Brewster was accustomed to lead the devotions
of the Pilgrims and their families, every 'Lord's Day' morning and
afternoon;[*] and also on any other occasion of their assembling
together. But as they were in continual expectation of the arrival of
the venerated John Robinson, to resume his office of regular pastor of
the flock, they had not taken any measures to gratify their ardent
desire of hearing the _'blessed sermon'_ three times en every Lord's
Day, from some holy man entirely devoted to the service of God. The
addresses occasionally delivered to the congregation by Brewster, or by
any other of the ruling elders who might preside at a meeting, were
called _‘discourses’_ not sermons; and the interpretation of certain
portions of Scripture, which was sometimes undertaken by any member of
the congregation who felt equal to it, was called _'prophesying.'_
These were the only modes of spiritual instruction employed by the
first settlers, until they procured clergymen from England, or
appointed ministers from among their own elders; and these means were
highly valued by the settlers, who had abandoned home, and kindred, and
the comforts of civilized life, for no other motive than to secure to
themselves the privilege of worshipping God according to their own
ideas of what was good and profitable to their souls. The talents and
the elevated piety of William Brewster rendered him both a very
valuable teacher, and also, in the eyes of the Puritans, an efficient
substitute for their expected pastor.
[Footnote: The Puritans never used the names _Sunday_ or _Sabbath._
They objected is the first as savoring of Paganism and to the second as
pertaining to Judaism; and yet they enforced the observance of the
Christian’s day of rest with almost Mosaic strictness.]
On the present mournful occasion he addressed the congregation, in a
very impressive manner, on the heavy loss they had sustained in the
death of their valued President; and exhorted them to remember and to
imitate his piety, his charity, and his exemplary patience and self-
denial, under the trying circumstances that had marked the period of
his brief government. These circumstances had become less painful, it
is true, since their friendly intercourse with the Wampanoges, and the
genial change in the weather; but still the trials of the Pilgrims were
by no means over, and their need of faith in the good providence of
God, and of persevering resolution in the path which they had chosen
for themselves, remained as great as ever.
Deeply was the less of their first President felt by the colony, for
every individual mourned him as a private friend, as well as a wise end
benevolent ruler. But the blow fell with more crushing power on her who
had shared his checkered life of joy and sorrow for many years in
Europe, and had accompanied him into exile, with the devoted feeling
that his presence would make the wilderness a home. His sudden removal,
and the cheerless blank that succeeded, were more than the strength of
his afflicted widow could endure; and in six weeks she followed him
the grave. From that time, it appeared as if the severity of the
scourge that had ravaged the infant settlement was exhausted, for
scarcely any more deaths occurred during that year; and many who had
hitherto suffered from the effects of disease, regained their usual
strength, and lived to a remarkably advanced age.
William Bradford was the individual selected by the community to fill
the arduous and responsible office that had been held so few months by
Carver; and the choice was a most judicious one, for he was a man well
suited to be the leader of a colony exposed to the peculiar
difficulties that surrounded the Puritan exiles. His uncommon sagacity
and penetration of character, and his undaunted resolution in times of
danger, caused him to be regarded as the very prop and support of the
settlement; and his worth was so generally acknowledged, and so highly
appreciated, that he continued to be annually elected Governor for
twelve succeeding years: and never did he disappoint the confidence
thus reposed in him. His treatment of the Indians was one point on
which he showed both the correctness of his judgement, and the right
feelings of his heart. He ever acted towards them with true Christian
benevolence and equity; and, at the same, he preserved that authority
and superiority over them which were necessary to the safety and well-
being of the colony; and he also carefully kept from them those
European weapons, the possession of which might render them dangerous
to the settlers, and aggravate the frequent hostilities among their own
rival tribes. Unhappily, a different course was afterwards pursued by
the leaders of the colony of Massachusetts; and the evil con sequences
of such short-sighted policy were soon but too apparent, and tended to
involve not only the new settlers, but also the original colony of New
Plymouth, in quarrels and disturbances with the natives. This however,
did not occur for some time after the period of which we are now
speaking; and, for the present, Bradford succeeded in maintaining the
best possible relations with the already friendly Wampanoges.
William Bradford had been originally brought up as a husbandman; and
although he had abandoned this calling to devote himself to the study
of the Scriptures, and the writings of the Fathers--for which purpose
he had acquired the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages--he still
retained such a, know ledge of agriculture as proved extremely useful
to him as the leader of a young colony, whose support was to be mainly
derived from the land of which they had taken possession. He also
spoke French and Dutch fluently; and the diary and letters that he has
left to posterity show him to have been both a well informed and a
truly pious man. When the Puritans left Amsterdam under their pastor,
John Robinson, and settled at Leyden, Bradford was scarcely twenty
years of age. He there learnt the art of dyeing silk, in order to
support himself while he pursued his theological studies, and also
performed the part of historian to the community of which he had become
a member; and he remained with the congregation during all the years of
their residence in Holland, and attached himself with the most
affectionate reverence to their generally beloved and respected
minister.
One of the first acts of his administration, as Governor of New
Plymouth, was to send another embassy to Masasoyt, the Great Sagamore
of the whole Wampanoge tribe, in order to strengthen and confirm his
present amicable feelings towards the white men, by means of presents,
and other marks of friendship. Squanto, as usual, accompanied the
party as interpreter; and nothing could be more satisfactory than the
interview proved to all parties, especially to the Indian Chief, who
was made both proud and happy by the gift of a red military coat,
adorned with silver lace. This he immediately put on, over the paint
and other savage ornaments in which he was decorated for the state
occasion; and he greatly diverted the members of the embassy by the
increased air of dignity that he assumed, and the grandiloquous manner
in which he began to extol his own power and glory.
'Am I not,' he exclaimed, in a loud voice, 'Masasoyt, the great king?
Am I not lord of all the people of the Lowsons; and of such and such
places? And he enumerated nearly thirty uncouth Indian names of places
over which he claimed sovereignty, his wild subjects uttering a yell of
joy and exultation in answer to each word he uttered. The savage
monarch then proceeded to ratify and augment the agreement into which
he had already catered with Edward Winslow, and promised to guarantee
to the English settlers an exclusive trade with his tribe; at the same
time entreating them to prevent his powerful enemies, the
Narragansetts, from carrying on a commercial intercourse with the
French colonists.
Notwithstanding the boasted power of this 'Chief of chiefs,' the
scarcity of provisions was so great in his village of Packanokick at
the time of this embassy, that he was only able to offer his white
friends one meal during their visit to him, which lasted a day and two
nights; and this solitary display of regal hospitality consisted of two
large fishes just caught in a neighboring lake, and which were divided
amongst forty hungry persons. In spite of this temporary distress, he
pressed the deputation to remain longer with him; but the object of
their mission having been attained, they were glad to leave the
residence of the Sagamore, which possessed far less of comfort and
civilization than were to be found in the picturesque summer camp of
his son and inferior Sachem, Mooanam.
This lovely spot continued to be much frequented by the settlers,
between whom and their copper-colored neighbors a strong feeling of
mutual regard became established; and this friendship proved a great
advantage to both parties, in a social as well as a political point of
view. The Wampanoges found the benefit of their alliance with the
mighty English during the autumn of that year, when the dread which
their name and power had inspired proved a safeguard to the friendly
Indian tribe, and preserved them from a combined attack of several
other tribes who had, by some mysterious means, been instigated to
unite for their destruction.
The intelligence of this conspiracy reached the settlers when a party
of them were on the peninsula of Cape Cod, whither they had gone to
bring back a young English boy, named Francis Billington, who had lost
himself in the forest some time previously, and, after having subsisted
for several days on wild fruits and berries, had reached a camp of the
Nausett Indians, hitherto so adverse to the Pilgrims. This seemed a
good opportunity for endeavoring to establish more friendly relations
with the tribe, and Bradford sent off ten men in the shallop to
negotiate for the boy's restoration, and to offer gifts to the
Nausetts, who, happily, were not so cruel and blood-thirsty a party as
those who had kidnapped Henrich Maitland. The overtures of the settlers
were well received, and they presented the Chief of the village with a
pair of knives, and also returned to the natives a quantity of corn,
more than equal to that which they had taken from the graves and huts
that they had discovered on their first landing, and which belonged to
the Nausetts. This act of justice gained for the settlers the esteem
and confidence of the Indians; and as these original possessors of the
soil did not dispute the title of the newcomers to the portion of the
American soil on which they had established themselves, they considered
henceforth that their claim was valid, and that they could stand before
the natives on terms of equality.
The lost child was safely restored to Rodolph, who, as usual, shared
the conduct of the expedition with Edward Winslow. The joy and
gratitude of the boy's father, at being permitted to convey him home
uninjured, may be better imagined than described; and while Maitland
sympathized in his feelings, he could not help sadly contrasting the
fate of his own lost Henrich with that of the more fortunate Francis
Billington. But he believed that his son's earthly career had closed
for ever; and both he and Helen had submitted to the bereavement with
Christian piety and resignation, and had taught their wounded hearts to
restrain every impulse to repine, and even to feel thankful that their
beloved boy had been spared any protracted sufferings and trials, and
had been permitted so speedily to enter into his rest. Had they known
his actual late and condition, how much of painful anxiety would have
mingled with the sorrow of separation, from which they were now exempt!
The restoration of the little wanderer having been effected, and a good
understanding having been established with the Nausetts of Cape Cod,
the negotiating party lost no time in returning to New Plymouth, and
communicating to Governor Bradford the intelligence of the conspiracy
against Masasoyt, to which allusion has already been made, and of which
they had been informed by the Nausett Sachem. The news was startling to
Bradford and to his council, who all felt the imperative necessity of
using immediate efforts for the assistance of the friendly Wampanoges.
They were impelled to this resolution, not only in consideration of the
alliance that had been formed between themselves and the Sagamore
Masasoyt, but also from a conviction that the safety and welfare of the
infant colony depended essentially upon their possessing the friendship
and the protection of some powerful tribe, like the Wampanoges, whose
numbers and warlike character caused them to be both feared and
respected by their weaker neighbors. It could only be by a combination
of several tribes that any important defeat Of the Wampanoges could
possibly be effected: and such a combination the Nausetts declared they
knew to have been already formed; though by what means, and with what
motive, remained at present a mystery.
The Indian interpreter, Squanto, was therefore sent off to Masasoyt's
residence at Lowams, in order to ascertain the grounds of the quarrel,
and to effect, if possible, a reconciliation, without the necessity of
the Pilgrims having recourse to arms in defense of their allies. The
interpreter was also accompanied by Hobomak, a subject of the Wampanoge
chieftain's, who had lately left his own wigwams and settled among the
English, and who had already attached himself to the white men with an
uncommon degree of devotion. But ere the swarthy ambassadors reached
the village of Packanokick, they were suddenly attacked by a small
party of Narragansett warriors, who lay in ambush near their path
through the forest, and were conveyed away captives to the presence of
a fierce looking Indian, who appeared to be a man of power and
authority, and who was evidently awaiting their arrival in a small
temporary encampment at a little distance.
No sooner had Hobomak glanced at this dark chieftain, than he
recognized Coubitant, the bitter foe of the settlers, and the captor of
Henrich Maitland. Coubitant had originally been a subject of the
Sachem Masasoyt; but some offence, either real or imaginary, had
converted him from a friend into a bitter foe; and then it was that he
had wandered towards the Spanish settlements, and obtained that
prejudiced notion of Christianity to which we have formerly alluded.
When tired of his wild roaming life, he had united himself to that
portion of the Nausett tribe which was under the guidance of
Tisquantum; and his attachment to the Sachem's son, Tekoa, had induced
him to remain a member of the tribe during his life, and to devote
himself to the object of revenging his death, after that event had
occurred at the first encounter with the white settlers.
Hitherto that object had been frustrated by what appeared to him
Tisquantum's incomprehensible partiality fur Henrich, which had so
entirely prevented his wreaking his vengeance on the innocent son of
the slayer. But his was not a revenge that could expire unsatiated, or
change to friendship, and expend itself in acts of kindness, as that of
Tisquantum had done. No: the thirst for blood remained as strong in the
breast of Coubitant as it was on that very hour when he beheld his
brother-in-arms fall, bleeding and dying, beneath the mysterious
firearms of the white men; and he hoped still to pour forth the white
man's blood, as an oblation to the spirit of his friend. Therefore it
was that, when he found himself foiled in all his malicious schemes for
Henrich's destruction, and also perceived that he was himself becoming
an object of suspicion to Jyanough and to the Sachem, he had resolved on
quitting the Nausetts, and returning with the Pequodees into the
neighborhood of the English settlement. He hoped to stir up several
smaller tribes to join with the Narragansetts, and to make war against
the Wampanoges--the allies of the Pilgrims--and thus to deprive the
hated whites of their aid and protection, and, possibly, also to engage
the settlers in the quarrel, and then to find an opportunity of taking
one or more of them captive, and slaking the desires of his vindictive
spirit in the agonies that he would inflict on his victims. Truly, 'the
dark places' of his heart were ‘full of the habitations of cruelty.'
These deep-laid schemes of the wily savage had hitherto met with full
success; and by means of deceit and misrepresentation, he had roused up
and irritated the feelings of several Sachems and their dependants, and
induced them to agree to coalesce for the destruction of the
Wampanoges, and then to turn their arms against the settlers, with the
view of expelling them altogether from the country. His spies had
discovered the intended embassy of Squanto and Hobomak to the village
of the great Sagamore of Lowams; and he had, consequently, taken
effectual means to intercept it, as he feared its having a favorable
aspect.
On the captives being brought before him, he scornfully reproached them
as the dastardly tools of the white men, and as traitors to their own
nation; and he declared his intention of detaining Squanto as a
prisoner, and as a hostage also, in order to ensure the return of
Hobomak to New Plymouth, with the message that be designed for the
Governor. This message consisted of a threat--which Hobomak well knew
he would execute--that if, on being liberated, he proceeded to
Packanokick, instead of returning to the settlement, he would flay the
unhappy Squanto alive, and send his skin and scalp to the white-hearted
English, to show them that the red men scorned their interference, and
knew how to punish it.
Hobomak departed, and reluctantly left his companion in the hands of
the cruel Coubitant. But he had no power to liberate him, and his only
hope of obtaining any effectual succor for him, was in hastening to New
Plymouth, and persuading the Governor to send a well-armed force to cut
off the retreat of the Narragansetts and their leader, and attempt the
rescue of their caked interpreter. Hobomak was fleet of foot, and he
rested not until he had arrived in Bradford's presence, and told him of
the fate that had befallen Squanto. Weak as the colonists were, and
sincerely desirous as they also felt to preserve peace with the
natives, they yet deemed it incumbent on them to show the Indians that
they would not tamely submit to any insult or injury. Captain Standish
was, therefore, immediately dispatched with a body of fourteen men,
well armed and disciplined, who were at that time nearly all the men
capable of bearing arms of whom the colony could boast. Led by Hobomak,
they rapidly traversed the forest, and came upon Coubitant's party soon
after they had left their encampment. The Indian leader had
anticipated, and desired, this result of his conduct; and his heart
swelled with malignant joy when he beheld the hated Rodolph among the
foremost of the assailants. Now he deemed the evil spirit whom he
worshipped was about to repay him for all his abortive schemes and
disappointed efforts, by throwing the very object of his vengeful
hatred into his power.
Forward he sprang, whirling his heavy tomahawk round his head, as if it
had been a child's toy, and preparing to bring it down on the white
man's skull with a force that must have cloven it in two. But Standish
saw the impending blow, and, quick as thought, he drew a pistol from
his belt, and fired it at the savage. The ball passed through his arm,
and the tomahawk fell bloodless to the ground. Had it but drunk the
life-blood of Rodolph, Coubitant would have been content to die. But
his foe still lived unharmed; and quickly he saw that three of his own
followers were also severely wounded, and that his party of naked
warriors were altogether incapable of resisting the fierce and well-
sustained attack of their civilized assailants. His only chance of
safety, and of future vengeance, lay in flight; and to that last
resource of a brave spirit he betook himself. He was quickly followed
by all his band, who were dismayed at the sound and the fatal effects
of the British fire-arms and, leaving Squanto behind them, they were
soon concealed from view by the thick underwood of the forest. The
object of the expedition having been attained, Standish did not pursue
the fugitives, but returned in triumph to the settlement, well
satisfied that he had given the Indians a salutary impression of the
decisive conduct, and the powerful measures, that would ever be adopted
by the white men, when their honor was insulted in the slightest
degree.
That such an impression had been made on the red men was soon evident,
from the anxiety which was manifested by several of the neighboring
tribes to be admitted into the semblance, at least, of an alliance with
the mighty strangers. Nine Sachems intimated their desire to
acknowledge themselves the subjects of the white men's king, who dwelt
on the other side of 'the great water'; and a paper was accordingly
drawn up by Captain Standish to that effect, and subscribed with the
uncouth autographs of the copper-colored chieftains. Among these--
strange to say--the mark of Coubitant, who had been raised to the rank
of Sachem by the Narragansetts, was to be seen; but the sincerity of
his friendly professions will be shown hereafter. At present, it suited
him to unite with the other chiefs in their pledge of allegiance to
King James, and of amity towards his British subjects; but he never
openly approached their settlement, or made the slightest advance
towards becoming better acquainted with them. His evil designs slept,
indeed, but they had not expired. They only waited the fitting
opportunity to be as actively pursued as ever.