CHAPTER III.

FRONTIER LIFE.

Preparations for Defence-Life of the Frontier Settlers-Soldiers' QuartersDiversions of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter-Effects of a Declaration of War-Grants of Townships on Connecticut River by Massachusetts-Number One or New Taunton-Conditions of a Grant-First Settlement of New Taunton, now Westminster-The place abandoned-Re-settled-Proposition to Settle the Coos Country-John Stark-Convention at Albany-Incursion at Charlestown-Birth of Captive Johnson-Inscription commemorative of the Circumstance-Other Depredations-Defences The Great Meadow-Its Settlement-Partisan Corps-The Life of a "Ranger"-Continuation of Incursions-Attack on Bridgman's Fort-Captivity of Mrs. How-Attack near Hinsdale's Fort-Dispute as to the Maintenance of Fort Dummer-Death of Col. Ephraim Williams.

THE peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded on the 18th of October, 1748, and proclaimed at Boston in January, 1749, although it put an end to the war between England and France, did not immediately restore tranquillity to the colonies. Early in the next year, hostile Indians began as usual to hover around the frontier settlements, and on the 20th of June, a party of them in ambush shot Ensign Obadiah Sartwell, of Number Four, as he was harrowing corn in his house-lot, and took captive Enos Stevens, son of the renowned captain. About the same time Lieut. Moses Willard, in company with his two sons and James Porter Jr., discovered at the north of West river mountain five fires, and numerous Indian tracks; and as Mr. Andros was going from Fort Dummer to Hinsdell's gar rison, he saw a gun fired among some cattle as they were graz ing but a short distance from him. These indications were enough to awaken suspicions of a bloody season, and the General Court accordingly enlisted a force of fifty men to serve as scouts between Northfield and Number Four, having their head-quarters at Fort Dummer and Col. Hinsdell's garrison,

and being under the command of Col. Josiah Willard. They continued on this service from the 26th of June to the 17th of July, and were then dismissed, it appearing that the enemy had removed from that portion of the country. Although hostilities had ceased, and notwithstanding a treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians at Falmouth in the month of September following, yet the forces were not wholly withdrawn from the frontiers. A garrison of fifteen men, afterwards reduced to ten, was continued at Fort Dummer from September, 1749, to June, 1750, and the same number of men was stationed respectively at Number Four and Fort Massachusetts during the same period.

Throughout the whole of this war, the Indians were generally successful in their attacks upon the whites, and yet there were no instances in which deliberate murder was committed, or cruel torture inflicted on those who fell into their hands. On the contrary, their captives were always treated with kindness; blankets and shoes were provided to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather, and in case of a scarcity of provisions the vanquished and victor shared alike.

Civilization in this part of the country, even if it had not retrograded during these struggles, had made but little advance, and many of the settlements which had been commenced before the war, were wholly abandoned during its progress. The people not belonging to the garrisons and who still remained on the frontiers, lived in fortified houses which were distinguished by the names of the owners or occupants, and afforded sufficient defence from the attacks of musketry. The settler never went to his labors unarmed, and were he to toil in the field would as soon have left his instruments of husbandry at home as his gun or his pistols. Often was it the case, that the woods which surrounded his little patch of cleared ground and sheltered his poor but comfortable dwelling, sheltered also his most deadly enemy ready to plunder and destroy.*

* The fortified houses were in some instances surrounded with palisades of cleft or hewn timber, planted perpendicularly in the ground, and without ditches. The villages were inclosed by larger works of a similar style. Occasionally, flanking works were placed at the angles of fortified houses, similar to small bastions. "A work called a mount was often erected at exposed points. These [mounts] were a kind of elevated block-house, affording a view of the neighboring country, and where they were wanting, sentry-boxes were generally placed upon the roofs of houses."-Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 185.

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Solitary and unsocial as the life might seem to be which the soldiers led in the garrisons-distant as they were from any but the smallest settlements, and liable at almost any moment to the attack of the enemy-yet it had also its bright side, and to a close observer does not appear to have been wholly devoid of pleasure. The soldiers' quarters were for the most part comfortable, and their fare, though not always the richest, was good of its kind. Hard labor in the woods or field, or on camp duty, afforded a seasoning to their simple repast, the piquancy of which effeminate ease never imagined. Those who kept watch by night, rested by day, and none, except in times of imminent danger, were deprived of their customary quota of sleep.

In the spring, when the ground was to be ploughed and the grain sown, with a proper guard stationed in different parts of the field, the laborers accomplished their toil. In the pleasant afternoons when the genial sunshine was bringing out "the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn," a game at ball on the well trodden parade, or of whist with a broad flat stone for a table, and a knapsack for an easy cushion, served either to nerve the arm for brave deeds, and quicken the eye with an Indian instinct, or to sharpen in the English mind that principle, which nowadays has its full development in Yankee cunning. Pleasant also was it to snare the unsuspecting salmon as he pursued his way up the river; exciting to spear him, when endeavoring to leap the falls which impeded his advance.

The grass ripened in the hot summer's day, and the crop was carefully gathered, that the "kindly cow" might not perish in the long winter, and that the soldier might occasionally renew his homely but healthful bed of hay. By and by, when the golden silk that had swayed so gently on the top of the tall stalk, turning sere and crinkled, told that the maize with which God had supplied the hunger of the Indian for ages, was ready to yield nourishment to his bitterest enemy the white, then for a while was the sword exchanged for the sickle, and the shouts of harvest-home sounded a strange contrast to the whoop of the foeman. And then at the husking, no spacious barn which had received the golden load, beheld beneath its roof the merry company assembled for sport as well as labor, but when gathered in knots of three or four, or it might be a half dozen, as they stripped the dried husk, and filled the basket with the full ears, or cast the dishonored nubbins in some ignoble corner, who doubts that their thoughts wandered back to the dear delights

which even the puritan customs of the old Bay Province had allowed them to enjoy, and that their minds lingered around the pleasant scenes of bygone days, until fancy had filled the picture to which reality had given only the frame. This also was the season when the deer furnished the best venison, and the bear the richest tongue and steak; and when there was no enemy near, to be attracted by the sound, the click of the rifle was sure premonition of a repast, which had it not been for the plainness of its appointments, would have been a feast for an epicure.

When winter had mantled the earth, then did the old woods, which had stood for ages undisturbed, feel the force of the sturdy blow, and many a noble oak yielded up its life, that the axe which wounded it might be new-handled, the fort repaired where time and the enemy had weakened it, and the soldiers warmed when benumbed by cold and exposure. Then, too, would they prepare the trap for the big moose, or on snowshoes attack him on his own premises; and when the heavy carcass arrived piecemeal at its destination, its presence spoke of plenty and good cheer for a long season.

On the Sabbath, if the garrison was provided with a chaplain, what themes could not the preacher find suggestive of God and goodness? The White Hills on one side, and on the other the Green Mountains, pointed to the heaven of which he would speak, and emblemized the majesty of him who reigned there. The simple wild wood flowers taught lessons of gentleness and mercy; and when the hand of the foe had destroyed the habitation, and widowed the wife, and carried the babes captive; when the shriek at midnight, or in the day-time the ambush in the path, told of surprise or insecurity, with what pathos could he warn them of "the terror by night," of "the arrow that flieth by day," of "the destruction that wasteth at noonday," and urge upon them the necessity of preparation not only temporally but for eternity.

Joyful was the hour when the invitation came to attend the raising of some new block-house, or of a dwelling within the walls of a neighboring garrison. As timber rose upon timber, or as mortise received tenon, and mainpost the brace with its bevel joint,tumultuously rose the shouts and merrily passed the canteen from mouth to mouth with its precious freight of rum or cider. And when the last log was laid, or the framework stood complete, foreshadowing the future house in its skeleton outline,

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GARRISON-LIFE.

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then how uproariously would the jolliest of the party in some rude couplet give a name to the building, and christen it by breaking the bottle, or climbing to the top, fasten to the gable end the leafy branch, while his companions rent the air with their lusty plaudits!

Great was the pleasure when the watchful eye of the officer detected the drowsy sentinel sleeping on guard. Forth was brought the timber-mare, and the delinquent, perched on the wooden animal, expiated his fault amid the jeers of his more fortunate comrades. When the black night had enshrouded all objects, with what terror did even brave men hear the hostile whoop of the Indian, or with what anxious attention did they listen to the knocking of some bolder warrior at the gate of their garrison, and how gladly did they hail the approach of light, driving with its presence fears which the darkness had magnified in giant proportions.

And when thus much has been said of the pleasures and of the better feelings appertaining to garrison-life, all has been said. In many instances the soldier impressed into the service was forced to fulfil an unwilling duty. Sometimes the wife or the mother accompanied the husband or son, and shared voluntarily his humble fare and hard lot. Yet there was then but little attention paid to the cultivation even of the more common graces of society, and the heart "tuned to finer issues" found but little sympathy in the continuous round of the severest daily duties.

When a war was declared between England and France, the hostile forces of those countries, on the sea or on the land, in decisive battles determined for a time, at least, the condition of either nation. But when the war was proclaimed at Boston, a series of border depredations, beginning perhaps in the slaughter of an unsuspecting family at midnight, varied with numerous petty but irritating circumstances, every act closing with an ambush attack, and a wild foray composing the conclusion, such was the result in the colonies, such was the drama, a drama of tragedy and blood. Cruelty on the one hand begat cruelty on the other, until large sums were paid by the whites for the captive Indian, or for the bloody scalp of the murdered And yet, on the part of the English in America, the war was not one of retaliation. They prepared their forts and their garrisons, it is true, and sent forth their scouting parties in every direction; but by the former means did they attempt to

one.