_Increase and Growth of the Settlements._
The Virginia Emigrants.--Humanity and Enterprise of the Governor.--
Envoy Sent to England.--Trading Posts on the Kennebec and
Penobscot Rivers.--Capture by the French.--The Massachusetts
Colony.--Its Numbers and Distinguished Characters.--Trade
with the Indians.--Wampum the New Currency.--Trading Post at
Sandwich.--Sir Christopher Gardener.--Captain Standish Moves to
Duxbury.--Lament of Governor Bradford.
An incident occurred at this time, quite interesting, as illustrative
of the adventurous life upon which these men had entered, in the
wilderness of this New World; a life of excitement and heroic
achievements, with its full share of earthly joys as well as griefs.
A ship, laden with passengers and goods, left England for Virginia.
The captain was taken sick, so that he could not leave his cabin.
The inefficient mate became bewildered. After six weeks at sea their
provisions were exhausted. Starvation stared them in the face. Knowing
not where they were, in the night, and in a gale of wind, they were
almost miraculously swept over the shoals of Cape Cod, and striking
a sand bar, were driven over it into a little bay, then called
Manamoyake, now Chatham. The vessel leaking badly, with many of her
planks sprung, was forced high upon the beach, so that, with the
receding tide, not only the crew safely landed, and the cargo, though
much damaged with salt water, was taken on shore.
The shipwrecked people, rejoicing to have escaped with their lives,
reared their huts upon the shore, not knowing where they were or what
would become of them. While in this state of suspense and sadness,
they were alarmed one morning in seeing several birch canoes coming
around a headland filled with Indians. They seized their guns and
stood upon defense. But the Indians paddled rapidly along as if
apprehending no harm, and addressing them in English, inquired if they
were the Governor of Plymouth’s people, or his friends. The Indians
told them where they were, offered to conduct them to Plymouth, or to
take letters for them. The Englishmen were greatly comforted by this
intelligence. They gave the Indians several valuable presents from
their shipwrecked stores, and despatched, under their guidance, two
men, with a letter to Governor Bradford, entreating him to send a boat
to them with spikes, oakum, pitch and sundry other materials, with
which they hoped to repair their vessel, and again to get her afloat
from her soft bed in the sand.
The Governor immediately loaded a large boat with the needful
articles, including a generous supply of corn, and taking also trading
commodities with which to buy additional supplies of the Indians,
went himself to the aid of his unfortunate countrymen. It was winter,
when the chill sea was swept by angry storms. It was not safe, at
that season, in the boat, to attempt to sail around the head of the
cape, and to brave the storms of the Atlantic on the eastern shore.
He therefore sailed across the bay in a southeasterly direction, and
entering Barnstable Bay, ascended a little creek called Namskeket,
which ran inland nearly a mile. From the head of this creek it was
but two miles across the cape to Manamoyake Bay, where the vessel was
stranded.
The Indians, accustomed to portages, were readily hired to transport
the articles across the land. The shoulders of the Indian women would
bear very heavy burdens. The arrival of the Governor with the abundant
supplies caused great rejoicing. He spent a few days with them, and
then, returning to his boat, sailed along the inner coast till he
had purchased of the natives a full cargo of corn, with which he
replenished the granaries at Plymouth.
The stranded vessel was repaired and floated, when another fierce
tempest arose, and she was driven, a hopeless wreck, upon the shore.
The beach in Chatham, where she was stranded, is still called the “Old
Ship.” Remains of the wreck were visible within the present century.
Some of these shipwrecked emigrants were men of wealth, bringing
with them many servants to cultivate large estates in Virginia. But
the majority were men in the humble walks of life. Application was
immediately made to Governor Bradford that they all might be permitted
to repair to Plymouth, and to remain there until they should have the
means to convey themselves to Virginia. The humane Pilgrims, ever ready
to do a kind deed, without hesitancy acceded to their request. Boats
were sent up the Namskeket Creek, and with great labor the shipwrecked
emigrants and their goods were transported to the Christian colony.
“After they were hither come,” writes the Governor, “and something
settled, the masters desired some ground to employ their servants
upon, seeing it was like to be the latter end of the year before they
could have passage for Virginia, and they had now the winter before
them; they might clear some ground and plant a crop, to help bear
their charge, and keep their servants in employment. And if they had
opportunities to depart before the same was ripe, they would sell it on
the ground. So they had ground appointed them in convenient places.”
Among these emigrants there were many irreligious and disorderly men.
Some were men of high character, who were highly appreciated by the
Pilgrims. But there was general rejoicing in the little colony at the
end of the summer, when two vessels arrived from England, and conveyed
them to their original destination in Virginia.
It was now decided to build a pinnace, on the southern coast of the
Cape, so that they could easily run along the shore there, in both
directions, engaging in trade with the Indians. About twenty miles
south of Plymouth, upon the shore of Buzzard’s Bay, in the present
town of Sandwich, there was a small harbor called Manomet, which the
Pilgrims had not unfrequently visited. Sailing down from Plymouth on
the north side, they could approach this spot within about four or
five miles. Thus all the furs and corn which they could purchase on
the south and eastern shores of the cape, could be sent across this
“carrying place,” and thence could be conveyed to Plymouth, avoiding
the dangerous navigation around the cape. A boat-house was built here,
and also a dwelling-house, where a few agents were stationed, to
navigate the boat and to engage in agriculture. The enterprise proved
eminently successful.
Again the company sent Mr. Allerton to England with a cargo of furs,
to meet their engagements there, and to obtain authority to establish
a trading-post on the Kennebec River. The Dutch were establishing
trading-posts and agricultural colonies near the mouth of the Hudson,
and many friendly messages and courteous acts were interchanged between
these two parties. There were many English refugees in Leyden who, upon
the death of their pastor, Mr. Robinson, were anxious to join their
friends in America. They had expressed this desire very earnestly; but
they were poor. They were unable to provide themselves with an outfit,
or even to pay for their passage across the Atlantic. In order to aid
these exiled and impoverished brethren, Governor Bradford, Captain
Standish, and several others, formed a company and purchased of the
Plymouth colony all their right to trade with the Indians for six
years. For this they paid twelve thousand dollars. The main object of
the purchasers seemed to be to raise money enough to bring over their
friends from Holland. There were eight of the Pilgrim fathers united
with four gentlemen in London who assumed these responsibilities. Very
truly Mr. Baylies writes:
“The generosity of the chiefs of the colony to their Leyden brethren is
unparalleled. They almost deprived themselves of the common necessaries
of life to get them over, and to support them until they were able to
support themselves; laboring at the same time under heavy debts, for
which they paid exorbitant interest. But their necessities seemed only
to stimulate them to greater exertions.”[40]
This new company, having obtained a patent for a trading-post on the
Kennebec River, erected a house in a place called Cushenoe, now the
city of Augusta. Here they collected, for purposes of trade, a large
supply of coats, shirts, rags, blankets, biscuit, pease, etc. In the
month of August, 1629, thirty-five families arrived at Plymouth from
Leyden. Nine months after, in May, 1630, another ship arrived, bringing
several more families. The new company, of which the Governor and the
captain were the principal men, paid all their expenses, though they
amounted to two thousand seven hundred dollars. Houses were assigned
to them; grounds were purchased for them, and they were fed from the
public stores for more than a year. When we remember that there was
no blood relationship between these parties, no partnership, no bond
of union excepting Christian charity; that the benefactors were poor,
struggling for their own support, and that many of those whom they were
thus aiding they had never seen before, we must regard this act as one
of extraordinary generosity.
A trading-post had been established on the Penobscot River, at a
point called Bagaduce, now Castine. Here a very lucrative trade was
transacted with the Indians, mainly in furs. The French claimed this
post as within their domain. A small French vessel entered the bay,
and finding the post defenceless, rifled it of all its contents, and
carried off three hundred pounds of beaver skins and other property
to the value of over two thousand dollars. Governor Bradford, in his
description of this annoying event, writes:
“It was in this manner: The master of the house, and part of the
company with him, were come with their vessel to the westward to fetch
a supply of goods which was brought over for them. In the mean time
comes a small French ship into the harbor; and amongst the company was
a false Scot. They pretended that they were newly come from the sea,
and knew not where they were, and that their vessel was very leaky,
and desired that they might haul her ashore and stop her leaks. And
many French compliments they used and conges they made. And in the end,
seeing but three or four simple men, that were servants, and by this
Scotchman understanding that the master and the rest of the company
were gone from home, they fell of commending their guns and muskets
that lay upon racks by the wall-side. They took them down to look on
them, asking if they were charged. And when they were possessed of
them, one presents a piece, ready charged, against the servants, and
another a pistol, and bid them not stir, but quietly deliver up their
goods. They carried some of the men aboard, and made the others help to
carry away the goods. And when they had taken what they pleased, they
set them at liberty and went their way with this mockery, bidding them
tell their master when he came, that some of the Isle of Rye gentlemen
had been there.”
The emigration from England rapidly increased and, ere long, the colony
numbered fifteen hundred souls. In the year 1628, John Endicot, with a
party of emigrants, established rather a feeble settlement at Salem,
then called Naumkeag. On the 30th of May, 1630, another party commenced
a colony at Dorchester, then called Mattapan. In the months of June
and July of the same year, a fleet of eleven vessels arrived from
England, bringing over a large number of passengers, and, after some
deliberation, they selected what is now Charlestown for their principal
settlement. A part of the company went to Watertown. About fifteen
hundred came over during the year.
The Puritans in England were now gaining the ascendency. Men of
influence and rank were joining them. They were not at all disposed to
bow the knee to those who had heretofore been their persecutors. The
eminent John Winthrop came as Governor of the powerful Massachusetts
colony, which colony was stronger in numbers, and far stronger in
wealth and influence, when it first landed, than was the Plymouth
Colony after long years of struggle with the hardships of the
wilderness. Governor Winthrop was a gentleman of culture, position and
wealth. Two of the emigrants, Humphry and Johnson, had married sisters
of the Earl of Lincoln. Sir Richard Saltonstall, who was one of their
number, was son of the Lord Mayor of London. There were many others,
men of family and fortune, who, having lived in the enjoyments of large
estates, were accustomed to all the refinements of polished society.
Others, such as Hampden, Cromwell and Pym, who subsequently became
conspicuous in the overthrow of the tyrannic throne of Charles I,
wished to join them, but were prevented by a royal edict.
As early as 1623 there were as many as fifty vessels engaged in
fishing on the New England coast. Several of these were owned by
parties in Dorchester, England. They sent a party of fourteen persons
to a spot near Cape Ann, where Gloucester now stands, to commence a
small settlement. It was their main object to provide a home upon the
land, to which the sailors might resort for refreshment and rest, and
where they might be brought under religious influences. The site
was purchased of the Plymouth colony. They carried out live stock,
and erected a house, with a stage to dry fish, and with vats for the
manufacture of salt. The experiment proved an utter failure, from the
incompetence of the colonists.
The New World, as affording facilities for promising homes, was
attracting ever increasing attention. This led to the organization
of a powerful company, who obtained a grant of lands extending from
the Atlantic to the Western Ocean, and in width, running from three
miles north of the Merrimac river to a line three miles south of the
Charles. The company invested with this immense territory consisted of
a number of private individuals, who, by their charter, became invested
with almost imperial powers. The Plymouth colonists recognized the
superior numbers, opulence and rank of their Massachusetts brethren,
and were ever ready to render to them the precedence. And though the
Massachusetts colonists were occasionally somewhat arrogant, as if
fully conscious of their superiority, they were generally just, and at
times even generous, to those brethren who were in entire accord with
them in religious faith, and whose virtues they could not but revere.
The advent of these colonists was a great blessing to the Indians. The
men of Plymouth and of Massachusetts, alike recognizing that universal
brotherhood which Christianity so prominently enforces, were disposed
to treat the Indians with the utmost kindness, and to do everything
in their power to elevate and bless them. They purchased their lands,
their corn and their furs, and paid fair prices for them, thus
introducing into their wigwams comforts of which they previously had
no conception. The Indians were thus stimulated to industry, and these
friendly relations would have continued, to the inestimable benefit
of both parties, but for the outrages inflicted upon the savages
by such godless wretches as the infamous Captain Hunt, the low and
thieving gang of Weymouth adventurers, and drunken sailors and reckless
vagabonds, who, fleeing from crimes in their own country, gave loose to
unrestrained passions in this New World.
The Pilgrims had no power to prevent these atrocities. The poor
savages, ignorant and degraded, knew not how to discriminate. If
drunken white men, vagabond sailors from some English vessel, pilfered
their wigwams, insulting their wives and daughters, there was no
law to which they could appeal, and, in their benighted state, the
only redress before them was to violate, with still more terrible
atrocities, with torture and flame and blood, the inmates of some white
man’s log house, the home, perhaps, of piety and prayer, where the
Indian, if hungry, would be fed, if sick, would be nursed with true
brotherly and sisterly tenderness. Thus, in God’s mysterious government
of this world, the consequences of the crimes of the vilest men fell
with awful desolation upon the heads of the best of men.
The Indians had no circulating medium. Indeed they had no trade among
themselves. In illustration of the benefits which the coming of
the Pilgrim Fathers conferred upon them, let us again refer to the
trading-post established, about twenty miles south from Plymouth,
at Manomet, now Sandwich. Here, upon a small but navigable stream,
a dwelling and storehouses were erected, where canoes and coasting
vessels from all along the shore, as far as New Amsterdam, at the mouth
of the Hudson, could meet in the exchange of their articles of value.
A land carriage of but about six miles, over the neck of the Cape, the
Suez of America, as it was then called, brought them to the waters of
Massachusetts Bay, and to intercourse with all the settlements and
Indian villages scattered along its shores. Indian runners could easily
transport the light articles of traffic, and thus the dangerous passage
around the vast peninsula of Cape Cod was avoided. Some circulating
medium seemed essential in the trade thus commenced and rapidly
extending.
The Narragansets and Pequots, residing upon Narraganset and Buzzard’s
Bays, made, from the small shells of a species of clam, a very
beautiful ornamental belt, called wampum. The shells, graceful in form,
beautifully colored and highly polished, were strung like beads, by a
hole drilled through the centre, or were woven into rich embroidery.
Three purple shells or six white ones were considered equivalent
to an English penny. A string, two yards in length, was valued at
five shillings. The Dutch, from New Amsterdam, sent cargoes to this
trading-post. Thus sugar, cloths of various texture, cutlery and garden
tools were obtained by the Indians. Friendly relations existed, and the
happiness thus fostered might have continued uninterrupted but for the
wickedness of men who were strangers to the principles which animated
the Pilgrims.
A powerful Indian chief had his seat upon an adjoining hill, at the
foot of which a busy Indian village was nestled. When the Dutch, at
the mouth of the Hudson, first heard of this post, they sent a small
trading-vessel to it, with very friendly letters to Governor Bradford.
They landed and marched up to the trading-house, accompanied by a band
of music. The trumpet notes, reverberating through those wilds, must
have emptied the Indian village to gaze upon the unwonted scene. The
Dutch commander sent an Indian runner to Governor Bradford, requesting
him to send a boat for him to the other side of the bay, as he could
not travel so far on foot through the Indian trails. A boat was at
once despatched to what is now called Scussett, and the chief men of
the Dutch party were conveyed to Plymouth, where they were received
with the highest honors. They remained several days with the Pilgrims,
enjoying their profuse hospitality, and were then sent back in the
boat. The friendly intercourse thus commenced, was continued for
several years uninterrupted. Governor Bradford, speaking of the trade
thus introduced, and of its great advantage to the Indians, writes:
“But that which turned most to their profit, in time, was an entrance
into the trade of wampum. Strange it was to see the great alteration
it made in a few years among the Indians themselves. For all the
Indians of these parts and the Massachusetts had none or very little
of it, excepting the chief and some special persons, who wore a little
of it for ornament. It being only made and kept by the Pequots and
Narragansets, who grew rich and potent by it; whereas, the rest, who
use it not, are poor and beggarly.
“Neither did the English of this plantation, or any other in the land,
till now, that they had knowledge of it from the Dutch, so much as know
what it was, much less that it was a commodity of that worth and value.
But after it grew thus to be a commodity in these parts, these Indians
fell into it also, and to learn how to make it. It hath now continued
a current commodity about this twenty years, and it may prove a drug
in time. In the mean time it makes the Indians of these parts rich and
powerful.”
Such were the humble beginnings of the commerce of New England. The
very spot upon which this trading-house stood can now be pointed out.
“On it may the traveller pause and reflect how things then were!
how they now are! Now, on what sea, to what coast of the habitable
globe have not their descendants carried the products of their soil
and industry, outstripping all other nations, with only England as a
rival.”[41]
In the year 1630 the first public execution took place. It will be
remembered that one John Billington, a man of worthless character,
had, in some way, smuggled himself into the company of the Pilgrims.
He had two boys, who seem to have been as worthless as he himself.
Governor Bradford had written of him, “He is a knave, and so will
live and die.” He had already, in 1621, for vile abuse of Captain
Standish, been condemned to have his neck and heels tied together. For
some alleged injury or insult, he waylaid and shot a young man by the
name of John Newcomen. The murderer had adopted the opinion that the
colonists had no power granted them to inflict capital punishment.
He had a fair trial before a jury of twelve men. There was no doubt
whatever respecting his guilt. The court had some doubt as to its
authority to inflict the penalty of death, since the Council, from whom
its authority was derived, had no such power. The advice of Governor
Winthrop was sought, and that of the ablest men of the Massachusetts
colony. They advised, with perfect unanimity, “that the murderer ought
to die, and the land be purged from blood.” He was accordingly executed
in October, 1630.
In the year 1631, a singular event occurred. A very eccentric man,
calling himself Sir Christopher Gardner, visited Massachusetts. He was
descended, it is said, from the illustrious house of the Bishop of
Winchester, and in his extended travels had visited nearly all quarters
of the globe. At Jerusalem, he had been made knight of the Holy
Sepulchre. Weary, as he said, of the world, and desiring to do penance,
by bodily mortification, for his sins, he came to the Pilgrims,
offering to perform the most menial services for his living. Still he
brought over with him two servants, and a very fine-looking woman whom
he called his cousin. He endeavored to join the church, but they would
not receive him. Being guilty of conduct for which he was about to be
arrested and brought to trial, he fled into the wilderness, and took
refuge with the Indians. The Massachusetts authorities offered a reward
for his capture and return to them.
Some of the Namasket Indians came to Governor Bradford, from the
vicinity of Middleborough, and told him where Sir Christopher was,
and that they could easily kill him, but could not easily take him
alive; that he was a desperate man, and had a gun and sword, and that
he would certainly kill some of them should they attempt to take him.
The Governor told them by no means to kill him, but to watch their
opportunity and to capture him. They did so, and catching him one day
by the side of a river, endeavored to surround him. In his attempts to
escape, by getting into a canoe to cross the stream, as he presented
his musket to his pursuers, to keep them off the frail structure of
bark, swept by the current against a rock, turned under him, and he
was thrown, with his musket, into the water. Dripping, he reached the
shore, his musket no longer of any use, and his only resource the
rapier. He brandished that so fiercely that the Indians did not dare
close in upon him. They, however, got some long poles, and with blows
such as savages would be likely to strike, beat the sword out of his
hands, fearfully bruising and mangling them.
He being thus disarmed and rendered helpless, they seized him and
conveyed him to Governor Bradford. As the Governor looked upon the poor
man, with his arms and hands terribly inflamed and swollen, the Indians
said: “We did not hurt him; we only whipped him a little with our
sticks.” The Governor censured the Indians for beating him so cruelly,
and had his wounds tenderly nursed. Some papers upon his person showed
that he was a concealed papist, and one who had enjoyed the highest
advantages of university education. Governor Winthrop, being informed
of his apprehension, caused him to be brought to Massachusetts, and
then sent him immediately to England.
This man sent in a petition, which two others signed, to the British
Government, condemning severely both the colonies of Plymouth and
Massachusetts, stating that they intended rebellion; “that they meant
to be wholly separate from the church and laws of England, and that
their ministers and people did continually rail against the state, the
church and the bishops.”
Sir Richard Saltonstall, and two other prominent members of the
Massachusetts colony, were then in England. They were called before
the Council to answer the accusation. They did it in writing, and so
satisfactorily, as to draw from the Council a vote of approbation
instead of condemnation. They were also informed that, as freedom of
religious worship was one of the principal reasons of emigration to New
England, and that, as it was important to the government to strengthen
New England, it was not the intention of his Majesty to impose the
ceremonies of the Church of England upon the colonists.
The first party of colonists for Massachusetts embarked in six vessels.
It consisted of three hundred men, eighty women, married and single,
and twenty-six children, with an abundant outfit of food, clothing,
tools, and military weapons, and “a plentiful provision of godly
ministers.” Mr. Francis Higginson, one of the most prominent of these
emigrants, soon after his arrival wrote home saying:
“When we first came to Naumkeag, we found about half a score of houses,
and a fair house newly built for the Governor. We found also abundance
of corn planted by them, very good and well liking. And we brought with
us about two hundred passengers and planters more, which, by common
consent of the old planters, were all combined together in one body
politic, under the same Governor. There are in all of us, both old
and new planters, about three hundred, whereof two hundred of them
are settled at Naumkeag, now called Salem and the rest have planted
themselves at Massachusetts Bay, beginning to build a town there which
we do call Charlestown.
“But that which is our greatest comfort and means of defense above all
others is, that we have here the true religion and holy ordinances of
Almighty God taught among us. Thanks be to God we have here plenty
of preaching and catechizing, with strict and careful exercise and
good and commendable orders to bring our people into a Christian
conversation, with whom we have to do withal. And thus we doubt not
that God will be with us; and if God be with us, who can be against
us?”[42]
About that time an Episcopal clergyman, by the name of William
Blackstone, was the sole occupant and proprietor of the peninsula of
Boston, then called Shawmut. The water at Charlestown was not good.
But there was a very fine supply of crystal water gushing abundantly
from a spring in Shawmut. Rev. Mr. Blackstone, had left England because
“he disliked the power of the Lords-Bishops.” By his invitation many
were led to transfer their habitations across the water, to the
forest-covered peninsula, and thus were laid the foundations of the
renowned capital of New England.
In the year 1632 Plymouth colony was in a state of greater prosperity
than ever before. Increasing troubles in England and encouraging
reports from America gave new impetus to the spirit of emigration.
The products of agriculture were in greater demand. Cattle of all
kinds had much increased, and brought high prices. More land was
required for cultivation. All the land in Plymouth was occupied, and
still new settlers were coming. Fears of any attack on the part of the
Indians had greatly subsided. Enterprising men began to push into the
surrounding region, seeking choice localities and larger farms.
Just across the bay of Plymouth, on the north, there was a reach of
land commanding a fine view of the little settlement at Plymouth and
of the adjacent waters. Captain Standish selected for himself a very
attractive location there, including what is still called “Captain’s
Hill.” Here the descendants of an ancestor so illustrious are now
rearing a monument to his memory.
The town was named Duxbury, in honor of the captain, as that was the
name of the seat which his family occupied in England. Elder Brewster
took a farm by his side. Here both of these distinguished men, warm
friends, could often be seen in their solitary fields, clearing away
the forests, where no sound of the axe had ever before been heard since
the creation of the world. These lands were deemed among the best in
the colony. Governor Bradford seems to have deplored the gradual
dispersion of the colonists. He wrote in terms of lamentation:
“Now as their stocks increased and their increase was vendible, there
was no longer holding them together. They could not otherwise keep
their cattle; and having oxen grown they must have land for ploughing
and tillage. And no man now thought he could live, except he had cattle
and a great deal of ground to keep them; all striving to increase their
stocks. By which means they were scattered all over the bay, and the
town, in which they lived compactly till now, was left very thin, and,
in a short time, almost desolate. And if this had been all, it had been
less, though too much; but the church must also be divided.
“Those that lived on their lots, on the other side of the bay, called
Duxbury, could not long bring their wives and children to public
worship and church meetings here; but they sued to be dismissed and
to become a body of themselves. So they were dismissed, though very
unwillingly. To prevent any further scattering from this place, it was
thought best to give out some good farms to special persons who would
promise to live at Plymouth, and who would be likely to be helpful to
the church or commonwealth, and so to tie the lands to Plymouth as
farms for the same. There they might keep their cattle, and till the
land by some servants, and retain their dwellings here.
“And so some special lands were granted at a place general, called
Green’s Harbor, (Marshfield) where no allotments had been in the
former division; a place very well meadowed and fit to keep and rear
cattle, in good store. But alas! this remedy proved worse than the
disease. For within a few years those that had thus got footing tore
themselves away, partly by force, and partly by wearing out the rest
with importunity and pleas of necessity, so that they must either
suffer them to go, or live in continual opposition and contention. This
I fear will be the ruin of New England, at least of the churches of God
there.”[43]