ARTICLE. I. The Occasion and Beginning of the WAR.

IF Diodorus Siculus had never given it as a great Rule of History, Historiae primum Studium, pri­maria (que) consideratio esse videtur, insoliti gravis (que) Casus principio causas investigare, Yet my Reader would have expected, that I should Begin the History of our War, with an History of the Oc­currences and Occasions which did Begin the War. Now, Reader, I am at the very first fal­len upon a Difficult Point; and I am in danger of pulling a War upon my self, by Endeavour­ing of thy Satisfaction. In Truth, I had rather be called a Coward, than undertake my self to Determine the Truth in this matter: but having Armed my self with some good Authority, for [Page 15] it, I will Transcribe Two or Three Reports of the matter, now in my Hands, and Leave it unto thy own Determination.

One Account, I have now lying by me, Written by a Gentleman of Dover; in these Terms.

Doubtless, these Indian Allegations may be an­swered with many English Vindications. But I shall at present Intermeddle no further, than to offer another Account, which also I have in my Hands, written by a Gentleman of Casco.

It runs in such Terms as these.

Many were the Outrages and Insultings of the Indians upon the English, while Sir E. A. was Governour. At North Yarmouth, and other places at the Eastward, the Indians killed sundry Cattel, came into Houses, and threatned to knock the people on the Head; and at several Times gave out Reports, that they would make a War upon the English, and that they were ani­mated to do so, by the French. The Indians behaving themselves so insultingly, gave just occasion of great suspicion. In order for the finding out the Truth, and to Endeavour the preventing of a War, Capt. Blackman, a Justice of Peace, with some of the Neighbourhood, of Saco River, Seized several Indians that had been bloody murderous Rogues, in the first In­dian War; being the chie [...] Ring Leaders, and most capable to do mischief. The said Capt. Blackman Seized to the Number of between Sixteen and Twenty, in order for t [...]eir Ex­amination, [Page 17] and to bring in the rest to a Treaty. The said Blackman soon sent the said Indians, with a Good Guard, to Falmouth, in Casco-bay, there to be Secured, until orders could come from Boston, concerning them. And in the mean Time, the said Indians, were well provided with Provisions, and Suitable Necessaries. The rest of the Indians Robb'd the English, and took some English Prisoners: Whereupon Post was sent to Boston. Sir Edmond Andross being at New-York, the Gentlemen of Boston sent to Falmouth, some Souldiers for the Defence of the Country, and also the Worshipful Mr. Stoughton, with others, to Treat with the Indians, in order for the Settling of a Peace, and getting in of our English Captives. As soon as the said Gentle­men arrived at the East-ward, they sent away one of the Indian Prisoners, to the rest of the Indians, to Summon them, to bring in the Eng­lish they had taken; Also, that their Sachims should come in, to treat with the English, in order that a Just Satisfaction should be made on both sides. The Gentlemen waited the Return of the Indian Messenger; and when he Return­ed, he brought Answer, That they would meet our English at a place, called, Macquoit, and there they would bring in the English Captives, and Treat with the English. And although the place appointed by the Indians, for the Meeting, was some Leagues distant from Fal­mouth, [Page 18] yet our English Gentlemen did conde­scend to it, in hope of getting in our Captives, & putting a stop to further Trouble. They Dis­pa [...]ch'd away to the place, and carried the In­dian Prisoners with them, and staid at the place appointed, expecting the coming of the Indi­ans, that had promised a Meeting. But they like false perfidious Rogues, did not appear. Without doubt they had been counselled what to do, by the French, and their Abettors; as the Indians did declare afterwards; and that they were near the place, and saw our English, that were to Treat with them, but would not shew themselves, but did Endeavour to take an Opportunity to Destroy our English, that were to Treat them. Such was their Treachery! Our Gentlemen staid days to wait their co­ming; but seeing they did not appear at the place appointed, they Returned to Falmouth, and brought the Indian Prisoners; expecting that the other Indians would have sent down some Reason, why they did not appear at the place appointed, and to make some excuse for themselves. But instead of any compliance; they fell upon North Yarmouth, and there kill'd several of our English. Whereupon the East­ern parts were ordered to get into Garrisons, and to be upon their Guard, until further Or­ders from Sir Edmond Andros; and that the In­dian Prisoners should be sent to Boston; which [Page 19] was done with great care, and not one of them hurt; and care taken daily for provision. But Sir E. A. Returning from New York, set them all at Liberty; not so much as taking care to Redeem those of our English for them, that were in their hands. I had kept one at Fal­mouth, a Prisoner to be a Guide into the Woods, for our English, to find out the Haunts of our Heathen Enemies. But Sir E. A sent an Ex­press to me, that upon my utmost peril I should set the said Indian at Liberty, and take care that all the Arms, that were taken from him, and all the rest of those Capt. Blackman had Seized, should be delivered up to them, without any Orders to Receive the like of ours from them.

It will be readily Acknowledged, that here was enough done, to render the Indians Inexcu­sable, for not coming in, upon the Proclamation, which Sir Edmond Andros, then Governour of New-England, immediately Emitted thereupon, requiring them, to Surrender the Murderers, now among them. A Spaniard, that was a Souldier, would say, That if we hav [...] a Good Cause, the smell of Gunpowder in the Field is as sweet as the Incense at the Altar. Let the Reader judge after these things, what scent there was in the Gun­powder spent for Nine or Ten years together in our War with the Indian Salvages.

Now, that while we are upon this Head, we [Page 20] may at once dispatch it, I will unto these Two Accounts, add certain passages of one more; which was published in September. 1689.

Such were the Obscure Measures taken at that Time of Day, that the Rise of this War, hath been as dark as that of the River Nilus; only the Generality of Thinking People through the Country, can Remember When, and Why, every one did foretel, A War. If any Wild English (for there are such as well as of another Na­tion,) did then, Begin to Provoke and Affront the Indians, yet those Indians had a fairer way to come by Right, than that of Blood shed; no­thing worthy of, or calling for, any Such Re­venge was done unto them. The most Injured of them all, (if there were any Such) were af­terwards dismissed by the English, with Favours, that were then Admirable even to Our selves; and These too, instead of Surrendring the Per­sons, did increase the Numbers, of the Murderers. But upon the REVOLUTION of the Govern­ment [April 1689.] the State of the War, be­came wholly New: and we are more arrived unto Righteousness as the Light, and Justice as the Noon day. A great Sachim of the East, we then immediately Applied our selves unto, and with no small Expences to our selves we Engaged Him, to Employ his Interest for a Good Un­derstanding between us, & the party of Indians then in Hostility against us. This was the Likely, [Page 21] the Only way, of coming at those Wandring Salvages: But That very Sachim now treache­rously, of an Embassador became a Traitor, and annexed himself, with his People, to the Heard of our Enemies, which have since been Ravag­ing, Pillaging, and Murdering at a rate, which we ought to count, Intolerable. The Penacook Indians, of whom we were Jealous, we likewise Treated with; and while we were, by our Kindnesses and Courtesies Endeavouring to render them utterly Inexcusable, if ever they sought our Harm: Even Then did These also, by some Evil Instigation (the Devils, no doubt!) quickly Surprize a Plantation, where they had been Civilly treated a Day or Two before, & Commit at once, more Plunder and Murder, than can be heard with any patience.

Reader, Having so placed these Three Ac­counts as to defend my Teeth, I think, I may safely proceed with our Story. But because Tacitus teaches us, to distinguish between, the meer Occasions, and the real Causes, of a War, it may be some will go a little Higher up in their Enquiries: They will Enquire, whether no body Seized a parcel of Wines, that were Landed at a French Plantation to the East ward? Whether an Order were not obtained from the King of England, at the Instance of the French Embassa­dor, to Restore these Wines? Whether upon the Vexation of this Order, we none of us ran a New [Page 22] Line for the Bounds of the Province? Whether we did not contrive our New Line, so as to take in the Country of Monsieur St. Casteen? Whe­ther Monsieur St. Casteen flying from our En­croachments, we did not Seize upon his Arms, and Goods, and bring them away to Pemmaquid? And, Who, were the We, which did these things? And whether, the Indians, who were Extremely under the Influence of St. Casteen, that had Mar­ried a Sagamores Daughter among them, did not from this very Moment begin to be obstre­perous? And, whether all the Sober English in the Country, did not from this very Moment, foretel a War? But for any Answer to all these Enquiries, I will be my self a Tacitus.

ARTICLE. II. The first Acts of Hostility, between the Indians, and the English.

WHen one Capt. Sargeant had Seized some of the principal Indians about Saco, by order of Justice Blackman, presently the Indians fell to Seizing as many of the English, as they could catch. Capt. Rowden, with many more, in one place, and Capt. Gendal, with sundry more, in another place, particularly fell into the Hands of these desperate Man catchers. Rowden, with many of his Folks, never got out of their [Page 23] Cruel Hands: but Gendal with his, got a Re­lease, one can scarce tell, How, upon the Re­turn of those which had been detain'd in Boston. Hitherto there was no Spilling of Blood! But some Time in September following, this Capt. Gen­dal, went up, with Souldiers and others, to a place above Casco, called, North Yarmouth; having Orders to build Stockado's, on both sides the Ri­ver, for Defence of the place, in case of any Sud­den Invasion. While they were at work, an English Captive came to 'em, with Information, that Seventy or Eighty of the Enemy were just coming upon 'em: and he advised 'em, To yeeld quietly, that they might Save their Lives. The Souldiers that went thither from the Southward, being terrifyed at this Report, Ran with an Hasty Terror to get over the River; but with more Hast, than Good Speed; for they ran directly into the Hands of the Indians. The Indians dragging along these their Prisoners with 'em, came up to­wards the Casconians; who, having but a very Little Time to Consult, yet in this Time Resolved; First, That they would not be Seized by the Salvages; Next, That they would free their Friends out of the Hands of the Salvages, if it were possible; Thirdly, That if it were possible, they would use all other Force upon the Salvages, without coming to down right Fight. Accordingly, They laid hold on their Neighbours, whom the Salvages had Seized, and this with so much Dexterity, that [Page 24] they cleared them all, Except one or Two; whereof the whole Number was about a Dozen. But in the Scuffle, one Sturdy and Surly Indian, held his prey so fast, that one Benedict Pulcifer, gave the Mastiff a Blow, with the Edge of his Broad Ax upon the Shoulder, upon which they fell to't with a Vengeance, and Fired their Guns, on both sides, till some on both sides were Slain. These were, as one may call them, The Scower-pit, of a long War to follow. At last, the English, Victoriously chased away the Salvage [...] and Re­turned safely unto the other side of the River. And Thus was the Vein of New England first o­pened, that afterwards Bled for Ten years toge­ther! The Skirmish being over, Capt. Gendal, in the Evening, passed over the River, in a Ca­noo, with none but a Servant; but Landing where the Enemy lay hid in the Bushes, they were both Slain immediately. And the same Evening, one Ryal, with another man, fell un­awares into the Hands of the Enemy; Ryal was afterwards Ransomed, by Monsieur St. Casteen, but the other man, was barbarously Butchered. Soon after this, the Enemy went Eastward, unto a place call'd, Merry-Meeting, (from the Con­course of diverse Rivers there,) where several English had a Sad Meeting with them; for they were killed, several of them even in Cold Blood, after the Indians had Seized upon their Houses & their Persons. And about this Time, the Town [Page 25] call'd Sheepscote, was entred by these Rapacious Wolves; who burnt all the Houses of the Town, save Two or Three. The People saved them­selves by getting into the Fort, all but one Man, who going out of the Fort, for to Treat with 'em, was Treacherously Assassinated. Thus the place, which was counted, The Garden of the East, was infested by Serpents; and a Sword Expell'd the poor Inhabitants. Little more Spoil was done by the Salvages before Winter, Except only, that at a place called Kennebunk, near Winter harbour, they cut off Two Families, to wit, Barrows, and Bussies; but Winter coming on, the Serpents retired into their Holes. When Summer comes, Reader, look for Tornadoes enough to over-set a greater Vessel, than little New-England.

ARTICLE. III. The First Expedition of the English, against the Indians.

WHen the Keeper of the Wild Beasts, at Florence, ha's entertain'd the Spectators, with their Encounters on the Stage, he ha's this Device to make 'em Retire into the several Dens of their Seraglio. He ha's a fearful Machin of Wood, made like a Gre [...]t Green Dragon, which a man within it roules upon Wheels, and holding out a Couple of Lighted Torches at the Eyes of [Page 26] it, frights the fiercest Beast of them all, into the Cell that belongs unto him. Sir Edmond Andros, the Governour of New-England, that he might Express his Resolutions, to force the Wild Beasts of the East into order, in the Winter now come­ing on, turned upon them as Effectual a Machin, as the Green Dragon of Florence; that is to say, An Army of near a Thousand men. With this Army, he marched himself in Person, into the Caucasaean Regions, where he built a Fort at Pemmaquid, and another Fort at Pechypscot Falls, besides the Fort at Sheepscote. He, and his Army, underwent no little Hard ship, thus in the Depth of Winter to Expose themselves unto the Cir­cumstances of a Campaign, in all the Bleak Winds and Thick Snows of that Northern Country. But it was Hop'd, That Good Forts, being thus Garrison'd with Stout Hearts, in several Conve­nient places, [...]he Indians might be kept from their usual Retreats, both for Planting, and for Fishing, and lye open also to perpetual Incursions from the English, in the fittest seasons thereof: And it was Thought by the most sensible, this method would in a little while compel the Enemy to Submit unto any Terms: albeit others conside­ring the Vast Woods of the Wilderness, and the French on the back of these Woods, fancied, that this was but a project to Hedge in the Cuckow. However, partly the Army, and partly the Win­ter, frighted the Salvages, into their Inaccessible [Page 27] Dens: & yet not one of the Indians was killed; but Sickness, & Service, kill'd it may be more of our English, than there were Indians then in Ho­stility against them. The News of matters ap­proaching towards a REVOLUTION in Eng­land, caused the Governour to Return unto Boston in the Spring; & upon his Return, there fell out several odd Events, with Rumours, where­of I have now nothing to say, but, That I love my Eyes too well, to mention them. Some of the Souldiers, took Advantage, from the Absence of the Governour, to desert their Stations in the Army; and tho' this Action, was by Good men generally condemned, as an Evil Action, yet their Friends began to gather together here and there in Little Bodies, to protect them from the Gover­nour, concerning whom, abundance of odd Sto­ries then buzz'd about the Country made 'em to imagine, that he had carried 'em out, only to Sacrifice 'em. Some of the principal Gen­tlemen in Boston, consulting what was to be done, in this Extraordinary Juncture, They A­greed, that altho' New-England had as much to Justify a Revolution as old, yet they would, if it were possible, extinguish all Essayes in the people, towards an Insurrection; in daily hopes of Orders from England for our Safety: but that if the Country people, by any unrestrainable Violen­ces pushed the business on so far, as to make a Revolution unavoidable, Then, to prevent the [Page 28] Shedding of Blood by an ungoverned Mobile, some of the Gentlemen present, should appear at the Head of it, with a Declaration accordingly prepared. He that Reads the Narrative of Grie­vances under the Male Administrations of the Government then Tyrannizing. Written and Signed by the Chief Gentlemen of the Gover­nours Council, will not wonder at it, that a Revo­lution was now rendred indeed unavoidable. It was a Government whereof Ned Randolph, a Bird of their own Feather, confess'd, as we find in one of his published Letters, That they were as Arbitrary as the Great Turk. And for such a Go­vernment, a better Similitude cannot perhaps be thought on, than that of Monsr Souligne; 'Tis like the Condition of persons possessed with Evil Spirits, which will go an Hundred Leagues in less time than others can Ten; but at the Journies End find them­selves to be so Bruised that they never can Recover it. The Revolution, (and, ye Tories, a Just one) was accordingly Made, on the Eighteenth of April; which Their Majesties, then happily Seated on the British Throne, kindly Accepted and Approved. The Governour and Magistrates of the Massachusetts Colony, which were in pow­er Three years and Half before, [a period often observed!] did some Time after this Resume their places, and apply themselves to such Acts of Government, as Emergencies made necessary for them, Fortifyed with a Letter from the King, [Page 29] to Authorize and Empower them in their Admini­strations. Thus they waited for further Di­rections from the Authority of England, and such a Settlement, as would most Conduce (which were the words of the Kings Letter, bearing Date, Aug. 12 1689.) to the Security and Satisfaction of the Subjects in that Colony.

ARTICLE. IV. A Flame Spreading, upon the best Endeavours to Quench it.

IT was hop'd, the War would now come to an Immediate End; but the Great God, who Creates that Evil, had further Intentions to Chas­tise a Sinful People, by those who are not a People. The Government sent Capt. Greenleaf, to treat with the Indians at Penacook, who answered him with fair pretences and Promises of Amity. They procured an Interview, with some of the more Eastern Sagamores, who not only promised Friend­ship themselves, but also undertook to make our Enemies become our Friends. They sent unto the Souldiers, yet remaining at Pemmaquid, for to keep their Post, Engaging to them that they should not want their Pay. But all this care, was defeated by Methods of Mischiefs, too deep for our present penetration. The Salvages, be­gan to Renew their Hostilities, at Saco Falls, in [Page 30] the Beginning of April, on a Lords day morning, some while before the Revolution. The Penacook Indians, were all this while peaceably Conver­sant at Quochecho; and so long as that Conversa­tion continued, the Inhabitants were very Secure, of any Danger, not only from those Cut-throats, but also from their Brethren. Happy had it been for those Honest People, if their Fear, had made so much Hast, as my Pen ha's done, to call 'em Cut throats! For, the Penacookian joining with the Saconian Indians, hovered about Quochecho, where one Mesandowit, a Sagamore, being that Night kindly Entertained by Major Richard Waldein, horribly betray'd his kind Host, with the Neigh­bours into the hands of Murderers. Above an Hundred, some say Five Hundred of the Indians, about break of Day, having Surprized the Secure and Silent English, they particularly rushed into the Garrison of the Generous Major, which was by Sinon Mesandowit (for, bestowing a Heathen Name upon him, we'l now call him so,) opened for them, and having first barbarously Murdered the Old Gentleman, who was Aequivalent unto Two and Twenty, they then Murdered Two and Twenty more, and Captived Nine and Twenty of the People; burn't four or five of the best Houses, took much Plunder, and so drew off: but kill'd Mr. John Broughton in their drawing off: while Mr. John Emmerson, a worthy Preach­er at Barwick, by declining to lodge at the Hospi­table [Page 31] Majors, that Night, when strongly Invited, received a remarkable Deliverance. Hereupon, Forces were dispatch'd for the Relief of what Remained in Quochecho; Capt. Noyes also with more Forces, visited Penacook, where though the Men escaped him, he destroy'd the Corn of our New Enemies: but the Skulking Enemies, at the same Time Slew several Persons at an out-farm, on the North-side of Mer­rimack River. A party of men, were soon after sent out of Piscataqua, under the Command of Capt. Wincal, who went up to Winnopisseag ponds, (upon Advice of one John Church, who ran from them, that the Indians were there:) where they kill'd One or Two of the Monsters they Hunted for, and cut down their Corn. Four young men of Saco, desirous to joyn with them, went into the woods to Seek their Horses, and Found their Deaths, by an Ambush of Indians. Twenty Four Armed men, going forth from Saco Falls, to bury the Slain, had a brisk Encounter with the Indians, whom they pursued into a Vast Swamp, until a Greater Number of Indians pouring in upon them, obliged 'em with the loss of about Five or Six more, to Retire from any further Action. But before the Dog dayes were out, there was more Bleeding still, that prov'd fatal to us. On Aug. 2. One Starky, going early in the Morning, from the Fort at Pemmaquid, unto New Harbour, fell into the Hands of the Indians, who to obtain [Page 32] his own Liberty, informed Them, That the Fort had at that Instant, but Few men in it: and that one Mr. Giles, with Fourteen men, was gone up to his Farm, and the rest Scattered abroad, about their Occasions The Indians hereupon divided their Army; Part going up to the Falls, kill'd Mr. Giles, and others; Part, upon the Advantage of the Tide, Snapt the rest, before they could Recover the Fort. From a Rock near the Fort, which inconveniently over look'd it, the Assailants now over look'd it, as over Lincoln, and grievously galled the Defendents. Capt. Weems, had but few with him, that were able to Fight; and his own Face, was in the Fight by an Acci­dent, horribly Scorched with Gun Powder. Wherefore, the day following, they Surrendred the Fort, upon Capitulations for Life and Liber­ty; which yet the Indians broke, by Butchering and Captiving many of them. Capt. Skynner & Capt. Farnham, repairing to the Fort, from an Island about half a Mile distant from it, were both Slain, as they Landed on the Rocks; and Mr. Patishal, as he lay with his Sloop in the Bar­bican, was also taken and Slain. This, together with more Spoil done by the Indians on the Eng­lish, at Sheepscote, and Kennebeck, and other places East-ward, caused the Inhabitants to draw off unto Falmouth as fast as they could: and, Well if they could have made Good their Standing there!

ARTICLE. V. New Forces Rais'd, and New Actions done.

ON Aug. 28. 1689. Major Swayn with Seven or Eight Companies raised by the Massachu­sett Colony, marched Eastward; and soon af­ter, Major Church with a party of English, and Christian-Indians, raised in Plymouth Colony, fol­low'd them. While these were on their March, the Indians, that lay Skulking after the Indian-fashion in the Thick Woods, took notice how [Page 40] many men, belong'd unto Lieut. Huckins's Garri­son: and seeing 'em all go out unto their daily work, nimbly ran so between them and the Gar­rison, as to kill 'em all (about Eighteen) but one, who being accidentally gone over the River, escaped them. They then Attacqued the Garri­son, in which there now were only Two Boyes, (and one of them Lame) with some Women and Children; but these Two Boyes, very Man­fully held 'em in play a Considerable while, and wounded several of them, and kept 'em off, till the Assailants had found a way to set the House on a Light Fire over their Heads. They then urging 'em to Surrender, for the sake of the Goods, the Boyes, [Brave Boyes, truly!] would not, until they had Solemnly promised 'em their Lives: but the perfidious Wretches broke their promise, for they presently kill'd Three or Four of the Children: however one of these Minu­tius's, the Day after, very happily got out of thei [...] Clutches. It was by a particular Accident, that these Indians, were delivered from falling into the Hands of Capt. Garner, who pursued 'em Vigorously. But while the Forces now gone into the East, were Settling of Garrisons in con­venient places, a huge Body of Indians, fell upon Casco, where one of their first Exploits, was their killing of Capt. Bracket. Ne­vertheless, Capt. Hall, (a valiant Souldier in the Former War, and a valiant Commander in This) [Page 41] with his Vigorous Lieutenant Dawes, just then arriving with his Company, the English hotly Engaged them for several Hours; and after a deal of true English Valour discovered in this Engagement, and the loss of Ten or a Dozen men, the Indians Ran for it, with What loss on their part, we do not know: that with Some we Do. Presently after this, Major Swayn, pass­ing through Extreme Difficulties to get at it, gave some Relief to a Garrison at Blue point, which was beset by the Indians; who still Fled into their Inaccessible Swamps, when our Bullets began to be Hail'd upon them. It was judg'd, That here one or Two Opportunities, of bringing the War unto an End, were strangely mist, and lost: but where the mismanagement lay, I cannot Remember: nor what were the Faux Pas of the Actors. Our Honest Major will clear himself, who Returning then to his Head Quarters at Berwick, sent abroad Scouts, to Learn, if it were possible, where they might have the best Game, at the Chasse a La Bete noire, then to be followed. Capt. Wiswel having with him, a party of Indian Auxiliaries, they were sent out, under the Con­duct of Lieu. Flag: but coming to Winnopisseag, these Indians, had a Consult in their own Lan­guage, and Sending back their Lieutenant, with Two Indians, Nineteen of them Stai'd in that Countrey Eleven Dayes, not having any English with them: at which the Major was justly, and [Page 42] greatly offended. It was then Suspected, and af­terwards (by Escap'd Captives) Asserted, that these Wretches, found the Enemy, and Lodg'd with 'em Two Nights, and told 'em what they knew of the English Numbers and Motions. The Enemy then Retired into the howling De­sarts, where there was no Coming at them: & no Endeavours being able to reach them, the Army, in the Month of November following was Dismissed: only some Souldiers were left in Garrison at Wells, at York, at Barwick, and at Quechecho, for the Assistence of the poor Inhabi­tants, against any more Invasions. There ha's been little Doubt, That our Northern Indians are Originally Scythians, and it is become less a Doubt, since it appears from later Discoveries, That the pretended Straits of Anian are a Sham; for Asia and America, it seems, are there Conti­guous. Now of these our Scythians in America, we have still found, what Julius Caesar does re­port concerning Them of Asia; ‘Difficilius Invenire quam Interficere:’

It is harder to Find them, than to Foil them.

ARTICLE. VI. New Assaults from the Indians, with some Re­markables of Captives taken in those Assaults.

THE Sun, and the War, be again Returning! The year 1690. must begin, very Inaus­piciously. In February, the French, with Indians, made a Descent from Canada, upon a Dutch Town called Schenectada, Twenty Miles above Albany under the Government of New York; and in that Surprizing Incursion, they killed about Sixty Persons, whereof one was their Minister, and carried about Half as many into Captivity; but the People there, assisted by the Maqua's, pursued them, and Recovered some of their Captives from them. Upon the Advice of this Mischief in the West, order was dispatch'd unto Major Frost, in the East, that the Towns there should stand upon their Guard. The Major did his Duty; but they did not Theirs: They Dream't that while the Deep Snow of the Win­ter continued, they were Safe enough; but this prov'd as Vain as a Dream of a Dry Summer. [Page 46] On March 18th. the French, with Indians, being Half one, Half t'other, Half Indianized French, and Half Frenchified Indians, commanded by Monsieur Artel, and Hope-hood, fell Suddenly upon Salmon Falls, destroying the best part of the Town, with Fire and Sword. Near Thirty Per­sons were Slain, and more than Fifty were led into what the Reader will by'nd by call, The worst Captivity in the World. It would be a Long Story to tell, what a particular Share in this Ca­lamity, fell to the Family of One Clement Short; This Honest Man, with his Pious Wife, and Three Children, were kill'd; and Six or Seven of their Children, were made Prisoners: the most of which arrived Safe to Canada, through a thousand Hardships; and the most of these were with more than a Thousand Mercies after­wards Redeemed from Canada, unto their Eng­lish Friends again. But my Readers, will be so Reasonable, as to Excuse me, if I do not men­tion the Fate of every Family, that hath Suffer­ed a Share in the Calamity of this grievous War; for 'tis impossible that I should Know All that hath happened; and it would be improper for me to Write All that I know: And very little is the Advantage of having a Name Standing upon Record, only among unhappy Sufferers. About Seven Score English went out after 'em, and came up with 'em: nevertheless, through the Disadvantages of their Feet by the Snow, they [Page 47] could make no Hand on it. Four or Five of ours were kill'd, and as many of the Enemy; but the Night put an End unto the Action. Ours took one Prisoner, a French man, who Con­fessed, that they came from Canada, where both French and Indians, were in Pay, at Ten Livers Per Month, and he particularly Declared the State of Canada. This Prisoner met with such kind usage from us, that he became a Freeman of Christ, and Embraced and Professed the Prote­stant Religion. But of the Prisoners, which the Enemy took from us, there were Two which immediately met with a very Different Fate. Three Indians hotly pursued one Thomas Toogood, and One of them overtaking him, while the rest perceiving it, staid behind the Hill, he yielded himself a Prisoner. While the Salvage was get­ting Strings to bind him, he held his Gun under his Arm; which Toogood Observing, Suddenly pluck't it from his Friend Stark Naught, Threatening and Protesting, that he would Shoot him down, if he made any Noise; and so, A­ [...]ay he ran with it, unto Quochecho. If my Rea­der be inclined now to Smile, when he thinks, how Simply poor Isgrim look'd, returning to his Mates behind the Hill, without either Gun, or Prey, or any thing but Strings, to Remember him of his own Deserts; the Smiles will all be present­ly turn'd into Tears. The Indians had now made a Prisoner of one Robert Rogers, and being [Page 48] on their Journey, they came to an Hill, where this man, being through his Corpulency, (for which [...]he was usually Nicknamed, Robin Pork) and an Insupportable and Intolerable Burden laid upon his Back, not so able to Travel as the rest, he Absconded. The Wretches missing him, im­mediately went in pursuit of him; and it was not long before they found his Burden cast in the way, and the Track of his going out of the way, which they follow'd, until they found him hidden in an Hollow Tree. They Took him out, they Stript him, they beat him, and prickt him, and push'd him forward with their Swords, un­til they were got back to the Hill; and it being almost Night, they fastned him to a Tree, with his Hands behind him, and made themselves a Supper, Singing, Dancing, Roaring, and Urtering many Signs of Joy, but with Joy little enough to the poor Creature, who foresaw, what all this Tended unto. They then cut a parcel of Wood, and bringing it into a plain place, they cut off the Top of a small Red Oak Tree, Leaving the Trunk for a Stake, whereto they bound their Sa­crifice. They first made a Great Fire near this Tree of Death, and bringing him unto it, they bid him take his Leave of his Friends; which he did in a doleful manner; no Pen, though made of an Harpies Quill, were able to describe the Dolour of it! They then allow'd him a lit­tle Time, to make his Prayers, unto Heaven; [Page 49] which he did with an Extreme Fervency and Agony: Where-upon they bound him to the Stake, and brought the rest of the Prisoners, with their Arms tyed each to other, so setting them round the Fire. This being done, they went be­hind the Fire, and thrust it forwards upon the man, with much Laughter and Shouting; and when the Fire had burnt some while upon him, even till he was near Stiffled, they pull'd it again from him. They Danced about him, and at every Turn, they did with their knives, cut col­lops of his Flesh, from his Naked Limbs, & throw them with his Blood into his Face. When he was Dead, they set his Body down upon the Glowing Coals, and left him Tyed with his Back to the Stake; where the English Army soon af­ter found him. He was left for Us, to put out the Fire with our Tears!

Reader, Who should be the Father of these Myrmidons?

ARTICLE. VII. The Condition of the Captives, that from time to time fell into the Hands of the Indians: with some very Remarkable Accidents.

WE have had Some Occasion, and shall have More, to mention Captives, falling into the Hands of the Indians. We will here, without [Page 50] any thing worthy to be call'd A Digression, a little Stand Still, and with mournful Hearts, look upon the Condition of the Captives in those cruel Hands. Their Condition truly might be Express'd in the Terms of the ancient Lamentations, (thus by some Translated,) Lam 4 3. The Daughter of my People, is in the Hands of the Cruel, that are like the Ostrich in the Wilderness. Truly, the Dark places of New England, where the Indians had their Unapproacheable Kennels, were Habitations of Cruelty: and no words can Sufficiently describe the Cruelty undergone by our Captives in those Habitations. The Cold, and Heat, and Hunger, & Weariness, and Mockings, and Scourgings, and In­solencies, Endured by the Captives, would enough deserve the Name of Cruelty; but there was this also added unto the rest, that they must ever now and then have their Friends made a Sacrifice of Devils before their Eyes, but be afraid of drop­ping a Tear from those Eyes, lest it should, upon that provocation, be next their own Turn, to be so Barbarously Sacrificed. Indeed some few of the Captives, did very happily Escape from their Barbarous Oppressors, by a Flight wisely manag­ed: and many more of them, were Bought by the French, who treated them with a Civility ever to be acknowledged, until care was taken to fetch 'em home. Nevertheless, many Scores of them Dyed among the Indians; and what usage they had, may be gathered from the following [Page 51] Relations, which I have obtained from Credible Witnesses.

ARTICLE VIII. A Little Account of the Greatest Action, that ever New England Attempted.

I have Read or Heard, That when the Insuf­ferable Abuses, which the English Nation suffered from the Abbeys, were in the Parliament complained of, the Total Dissolution of those Abbeys, was much forwarded, by a Speech of a Gentleman in the House of Commons, to this pur­pose; That his own House had been much annoy'd by Rooks building in a Tree, near unto it, and that he had used many ineffectual ways to disturb, and disroost these mischievous Rooks: until at Last, he found out an infallible way to be delivered from the Rooks, and that was to cut down the Tree that Lodged 'em. The Di­stresses into which New-Eng [...]and was now fallen, made this very comparison to be thought of. The Indian Rooks grievously infested the Coun­trey; and while the Country was only on the Defensive Part, their Men were Thinned, their Towns were Broken, and their Treasures consu­med, [Page 59] without any Hope of seeing an End of these Troublesome Tragedies. The French Co­lonies to the Northward, were the Tree, in which those Rooks had their Nests; and the French ha­ving in person first fallen upon the English of New-England, it was thought that the New-Eng­landers might very justly take this Occasion, to Reduce those French Colonies under the English Government, and so at once take away from all the Rooks for ever, all that gave 'em any Ad­vantage to Infest us. Accordingly, a Naval Force, with about Seven Hundred men, under the Conduct of Sr. William Phips, was dispatch'd away to L'accady, and Nova Scotia. This Fleet, setting Sail from New-England, April 28. 1690. in a Fortnight Arrived at Port-Royal, and Sir William having the Fort Surrendred unto him, took Possession of that Province, for the Crown of England. But this was only a step towards a far greater Action! There was no Speech about the Methods of Safety made, which did not conclude, with, a, Delenda est Carthago. It was become the concurring Resolution, of all New-England, with New-York, that a vigorous Attack should be made upon Canada, at once, both by Sea, and Land. A Fleet of Thirty Two Sail, under the Command of Sr. William Phips, was Equipp'd at Boston, and began their Voyage, Aug. 9. and the whole Matter was put into Form, with so much Contrivance and Caution, and [Page 60] Courage, that nothing but an Evident Hand of Heaven, was likely to have given such a Defeat unto it, as ha's been indeed generally and Remar­kably given unto all the Colonies of America, when they have Invaded one another. If this Expedition did miscarry, and if Canada proved unto New England, what it prov'd unto the Spa­niards, when at their Deserting it, they call'd it, Il Capo de Nada or, The Cape of Nothing (whence the Name Canada) there is no New Englander, but what will mentain, that it was with a less Dis­graceful miscarriage, than what baffled, every one of those, that were made in this War, against the French Islands, by more powerful Fleets of those, who were forward Enough to Reproach New-England. I am sure, he that Reads the Ac­count of what was done at Martineco, in the Re­lation of the Voyage of M. de Gennes, lately pub­lished, must be very easy in his Reflections upon what was done at Canada. And I will add, That if the New-England men return'd re infecta from Canada, yet they did not leave Two Hundred men behind them to the mercy of the French, as they who most Reproached New England, soon after did at Guadalupa.

The fuller Narrative of these memorable Things, the Reader may find written, in, The Life of Sir William Phipps, lately published; of wh [...]ch I must here give this Attestation, That as my Acquaintance with the Author, gives me [Page 61] Assurance, of his being as Willing to Retract a Mistake, as unwilling to Commit one, and of his Care in whatever he writes, to be able to make the profession of Oecolampadius, Nolui aliquid Scribere, quod improbaturum putem Christum: So I have Compared this Narrative with the Jour­nals of the Expedition, and I find the most Con­tested passages of the Story (nor did I ever hear of any more than one or two little circumstantial passages contested, as carrying a sound a little too Rhetorical; but, I say, I find them) to be the very Express Words thereof, contained in those Journals; and more than so, that very credible Persons, concerned therein, have readily offered their Depositions upon Oath, to the Truth of what is Written. So I take my leave of that History, and of Sir William Phipps, the Memora­ble Subject of that History, whom I leave under this

ARTICLE. IX. Casco Lost.

WHen the Indians at last perceived that the New Englanders were upon a Likely De­sign to Swallow up the French Territories, the Prospect of it began to have the same Operati­on upon them, that the Success of the Design, would have made Perpetual; that is, to Dispirit them, for giving the New Englanders any further Molestations. Nevertheless, Before and Until, [Page 65] they were thoroughly Advised of what was a doing, and likely to be done, they did molest the Country with some Tragical Efforts of their Fury. Captain James Convers was Marching through the vast Wilderness, to Albany, with some Forces, which the Massachusets Colony were willing to send by Land (besides what they did send by Sea unto Quebeck,) for the Assistence of the Army, in the West, that was to go from thence over the Lake, and there fall upon Mount Real: but unhappy Tidings out of the East required the Diversion of those Forces thither. About the Beginning of May, the French and Indians, be­tween Four and Five Hundred, were seen at Casco, in a great Fleet of Canoo's passing over the Bay: but not Seeing or Hearing any more of them, for Two or Three Weeks together, the Casconians flattered themselves with Hopes, That they were gone another way. But about May 16 those Hopes were over; For one Gresson, a Scotchman, then going out Early, sell into the mouths of these Hungry Salvages. It proved no kindness to Casco, tho' it proved a great one to himself, that a Commander so qualified, as Captain Willard, was called off, Two or Three Dayes be­fore. But, The Officers of the place, now con­cluding, that the whole Army of the Enemy, were watching for an Advantage to Surprize the Town, Resolved that they would keep a Strict watch, for Two or Three dayes, to make some further [Page 66] Discovery, before they Salley'd forth. Notwith­standing this, one Lieut. Clark, with near Thirty of their Stoutest young men, would venture out, as far as the Top of an Hill, in the Entrance of the Wood, half a mile distant from the Town. The out-let from the Town to the Wood, was thro' a Lane, that had a Fence on each side, which had a certain Block-house at one End of it: and the English were Suspicious, when they came to Enter the Lane, that the Indians were lying behind the Fence, because the Cattel stood staring that way, and would not pass into the Wood as they use to do. This mettlesome Company, then ran up to the Fence, with an, Huzzab! thinking thereby to discourage the Enemy, if they should be lurking there: but the Enemy were so well prepared for them, that they answered them with an horrible Vengeance, which kill'd the Lieutenant, with Thirteen more upon the Spot, and the rest escaped with much ado unto one of the Garri­sons. The Enemy then coming into Town, be­set all the Garrisons at once, Except the Fort; which were manfully Defended, so long as their Ammunition lasted; but That being spent, with­out a prospect of a Recruit, they quitted all the Four Garrisons, and by the Advantage of the Night, got into the Fort. Upon this, the Enemy Setting the Town on Fire, bent their whole Force against the Fort, which had hard by it, a deep Gully, that contributed not a little unto the Ruin [Page 67] of it: For, the Besiegers getting into that Gully, lay below the Danger of our Guns. Here the Enemy began their Mine, which was carried so near the Walls, that the English, who by Fighting Five Dayes and Four Nights, had the greatest part of their men killed and wounded, (Captain Lawrence mortally, among the rest,) began a parley with them. Articles were Agreed, That they should have liberty to March unto the Next English Town, and have a Guard for their Safety in their March; and the French Commander, lift­ing up his Hand, Swore by the Everlasting God, for the performance of these Articles. But the Agreement was kept, as those that are made with Hugonots use to be: The English being first Ad­monished, by the French, that they were all Re­bels, for proclaming the Prince of Orange their King, were Captived, and many of them cruelly Murdered by the Indians: Only some of them (and particularly, Major Davis,) were Carried unto Canada, where the Gentry, very civilly Treated them. The Garrisons at Papoodack, Spurwink, Black Point, and Blue Point, were so disanimated at these Disasters, that, without Or­ders they drew off immediately, to Saco, Twen­ty miles, within Casco, and from Saco in a few Dayes also they drew off to Wells, Twenty miles within the said Saco; and about Half Wells drew off as far as Lieut. Storers. But the Arrival of Orders and Souldiers from the Government, stopt [Page 68] them from Retiring any further, and Hope Hood, with a party that staid for further mischief, meet­ing with some Resistence here, turn'd about, and having first had a skirmish with Captain Sherborn, they appear'd the Next Lords day at Newicha­wannick, or, Barwick, where they Burnt some Houses, and Slew a man. Three Dayes alter, they came upon a Small Hamlet, on the South side of Piscataqua River, called, Fox Point, and be­sides the Burning of several Houses, they Took Half a Dozen, and kill'd more than a Dozen, of the too Securely Ungar [...]isoned People: which it was as easy to do, as to have Spoiled an ordi­nary Hen Roost. But Captain Floyd, and Capt. Greenleaf, coming upon those Indians, made some Slaugh [...]er among them, Recovered some Captives, with much Plunder, and bestow'd a Good wound upon Hope-Hood, who left his Gun, [Villian! Thou shalt not escape so: There must quickly be ano­ther stroke upon thee!] (which was next his Life) in this Action.

All that shall further belong to this Paragraph of our Story, is, That when the Indians were got into the Woods, they made one Goody Stockford their messenger, to her Neighbours, whose Charity she so well Sol­licited, that she got a Shalop full of it unto Casco, where the Indians permitted us to Redeem se­veral of the Prisoners.

ARTICLE. X. Harm Watch'd, and Catch'd by the Indians, and several Rare Instances of Mortal wounds upon the English, not proving Mortal.

THat memorable Tygre, Hope-Hood, (called also, Wohawa,) finding the Coast herea­bouts too hot for him, went away with his Crue, a great way to the West-ward, with a Design to Be­witch another Crue at Aquadocta into his Assistence. Here a party of French Indians, by a strange Mistake, supposing Hope Hood, & his Wretches, to have been the Indians, who had lately done some Spoil upon them at Canada, furiously fell upon them, and in their Blind Fury slew him, and a considerable part of his Company. So, we have now done with him! [...]n the mean Time, some other Indians came upon an Helpless place, called, Spruce Creek, and kill'd an old man, and carried a Woman in­to Captivity; but tho' Captain Convers pursued 'em Three Dayes, they were too Nimble for him. On July, 4 Eight or Nine persons work­ing in a Field, at a place call'd, Lampereel River, the Scythe of Death, unhappily mow'd them down, in that Field of Blood: The Indians by Sur­prize, kill'd 'em all, and carried a Lad Captive. About this Time, a Council of War, was called, at Portsmouth, by which t'was thought adviseable, to [Page 70] send out Captain Wiswel, with a considerable Scout for to Scour the Woods, as far as Casco: and it being Resolved, That one of the other Captains with about Fourscore Stout men should accom­pany Captain Wiswal in this Action, they All with such a Generous Emulation offered it, that it was necessary to determine it by a Lot, which fell upon Captain Floyd. On July 4. assisted with Lieut. Andrews, and a Detachment of Twenty Two men from Wells, they took their March from Quochecho, into the Woods. But the Day following, the Enemy set upon Captain Hiltons Garrison in Exeter, which Lieut. Bancroft, then posted at Exeter, with the loss of a few of his men, Relieved. At this Time, there happened a Remarkable Thing. I know not whether the Story told by Plato be true, That one Herus Ar­menius (whom Clemens will have to be Zoroaster) being Slain in War, lay Ten Days among the Dead, and then being brought away, and on the Twelfth Day laid on the Funeral Pile, he came to Life again. But it is true, that one Simon Stone being here wounded with Shot, in Nine several places, lay for Dead, (as it was Time!) among the Dead. The Indians coming to Strip him, at­tempted, with Two several Blows of an Hatchet at his Neck, to cut off his Head, which Blows added, you may be sure, more Enormous wounds unto those Port-holes of Death, at which the Life of the poor man, was already running out, as fast [Page 71] as it could. Being charged hard by Lieut. Ban­croft, they left the man, without Scalping him; and the English now coming to Bury the Dead, one of the Souldiers perceived this poor man to fetch a gasp: whereupon an Irish Fellow then present, advised 'em, to give him another Dab with an Hatchet, and so Bury him with the rest. The English detesting this Barbarous Advice, lifted up the wounded man, and poured a little Fair Water into his Mouth, at which he Coughed; then they poured a little Strong Water alter it, at which he opened his Eyes. The Irish Fellow was ordered now to hale a Canoo ashore, to car­ry the wounded men up the River, unto a Cheirurgeon; and as Teague was foolishly pull­ing the Canoo ashore, with the Cock of his Gun, while he held the Muzzle in his Hand, his Gun went off, and broke his Arm, whereof he remains a Creeple to this Day: But Simon Stone was tho­roughly cured, and is at this Day a very lusty man, and as he was Born with Two Thumbs on one Hand, his Neighbours have thought him to have at least as many Hearts as Thumbs!

Reader, Let us Leave it now unto the Sons of Aesculapius, to Dispute out the Problem, What Wounds are to be Judged Mortal? The So­vereign Arbiter of Life and Death, seems to have determined it, That no Wounds are Mortal, but such as He shall in His Holy Providence Actually make so. On the one side, Let it be Remem­bred, [Page 72] That a Scratch of a Comb has proved Mor­tal; That the Incomparable Anatomist Spige­lius, at the Wedding of his Daughter, gathering up the Reliques of a Broken Glass, a Fragment of it scratched one of his Fingers; and all his Exquisite Skill in Anatomy, could not prevent its producing an Empyema, that Killed him: That Colonel Rossiter, cracking a Plumbstone with his Teeth, broke his Tooth, and Lost his Life; That the Lord Fairfax, cutting a Corn, in his Foot, Cut asunder the Threed of his Life; That Mr. Fowler, a Vintner, playing with his Child, received a little scratch of a Pin, which turn'd unto a Gangrene, that Cost him his Life. And, Reader, Let the Remembrance of such Things, cause thee to Live, preparing for Death continu­ally. But then, on the other side, That nothing may be Despaired of, Remember Simon Stone. And besides him, I call to Remembrance, That the Indians making an Assault upon Deerfield in this Present War, they struck an Hatchet some Inches into the Skull of a Boy there, even so deep, that the Boy felt the Force of a Wre [...]ch used by 'em to get it out. There he lay a long while Weltring in his Blood; they found him, they Dress'd him, considerable Quantities of his Brain came out from time to time, when they opened the Wound; yet the Lad Recovered, and is now a Living Monument of the Power and Goodness of God. And in our Former [Page 73] War, there was one Jabez Musgrove, who tho' he were Shot by the Indians, with a Bullet, that went in at his Ear, and went out at his Eye, on the other side of his head; and a Brace of Bul­lets, that went in to his Right Side, a little above his Hip, and passing thro' his Body within the Back Bone, went out at his Left Side; yet he Recovered, and Lived many years after it.

ARTICLE XI. A Worthy Captain Dying in the Bed of Honour.

ON July 6. Lords Day, Captain Floyd, and Captain Wiswell, sent out their Scouts, before their Breakfast, who immediately return­ed, with Tidings of Breakfast enough provided for those, who had their Stomach sharp set for Fighting: Tidings of a considerable Track of the Enemy, going to the Westward. Our Forces vigorously followed the Track, till they came up with the Enemy, at a place call'd Wheelrights Pond; where they Engaged 'em in a Bloody Action for several Hours. The manner of the Fight here, was as it is at all times, with Indi­ans; namely what your Artists at Fighting do call, A la disbandad: And here, the Worthy Cap­tain Wiswel, a man worthy to have been Shot (if he must have been Shot,) with no Gun in­terior to that at Florence, the Barrel whereof is [Page 74] all pure Gold, behaving himself with much Bra­very, Sold his Life, as dear as he could; and his Lieutenant Flag, and Sergeant Walker, who were Valiant in their Lives, in their Death were not divided. Fifteen of ours were Slain, and more Wounded; but how many of the Enemy, 'twas not exactly known, because of a singular care used by them in all their Battels, to carry off their Dead, tho' they were forced now to Leave a good Number of them on the Spot. Captain Floyd maintained the Fight, after the Death of Captain Wiswal, several Hours, until so many of his Tired and Wounded men Drew off, that it was Time for him to Draw off also; for which he was blamed perhaps, by some that would not have continued at it so long as he. Hereupon Captain Convers repaired, with about a score Hands to look after the Wounded men, and finding seven yet Alive, he brought 'em to the Hospital, by Sun-rise the next morning. He then Returned with more Hands, to Bury the Dead, which was done immediately; and Plun­der left by the Enemy at their going off, was then also taken by them. But the same Week, these Rovers made their Descent as far as Ames­bury, where Captain Foot being Ensnared by them, they Tortured him to Death; which Disaster of the Captain, was an Alarum to the Town, and an Effectual Word of Command, causing 'em to Fly out of their Beds into their Garrisons; other­wise [Page 75] they had all undoubtedly before the next morning Slept their last: their Beds would have been their Graves. However, the Enemy Kill'd Three Persons, Burnt Three Houses, Butchered ma­ny Cattel; and so, that Scene of the Tragedy be­ing over, away they went.

In fine; From the First Mischief done, at Lampereel River, to the Last at Amesbury, all be­long'd unto one Indian Expedition, in which, though no English Places were taken, yet Forty English People were cut off.

ARTICLE XII. An Indian Fort or Two, taken, and some other Actions.

REader, I remember the prolixity of Guicciar­dine, the Historian, gave such Offence, that Boccalini, brings in an Offender at Verbosity, Or­dered for his punishment by the Judges at Per­nassus, to Read that punctual Historian; but the poor Fellow begg'd rather to be Flay'd alive, than to be Tortured with Reading an Historian, who in relating the War between the Florentines and Pisans, made longer Narrations, about the Taking of a Pigeon House, than there needed of the most Fortified Castle in the World. For this cause, let me be excused, Reader, if I make short Work; in our Story, and Leave the Honest [Page 76] Actors themselves to Run over Circumstances more at large, with their Friends by the Fire-side.

The Enemy appearing a Little Numerous and Vexatious, the Government sent more For­ces to break up the Enemies Quarters; and Auxiliaries both of English and Indians, under the Command of Major Church, assisted the Enterprize. About Three Hundred Men, were dispatched away upon this Design, in the Be­ginning of September, who Landed by Night in Casco Bay, at a place called, Macquoit, and by Night Marched up to Pechypscot Fort; where, from the Information of some Escaped Captives, they had an Expectation to meet with the Ene­my; but found that the Wretches were gone farther a field. They then marched away for Amonoscoggin Fort, which was about Forty Miles up the River, and Wading through many Diffi­culties, whereof one was a Branch of the River it self, they met with Four or Five Salvages, go­ing to their Fort, with two English Prisoners. They Sav'd the Prisoners, but could not catch the Salvages; however, on the Lords-Day they got up to the Fort undiscovered, where to their Sorrow­ful Disappointment, they found no more than one and Twenty of the Enemy, whereof they Took and Slew Twenty. They found some Conside­rable Store of Plunder, and Rescued Five English Captives, and laid the Fort in Ashes: but one [Page 77] Disaster they much Complained of; That the Captain of the Fort, whose Name was Agamcus, alias, Great Tom, slipt away from the Hands of his too Careless keepers. But if this piece of Carelessness did any Harm, there was another which did some Good: For, Great Tom having terribly Sca­red a party of his Country-men, with the Tidings of what had happened; and an English Lad in their Hands also telling some Truth unto them, they betook themselves to such a Flight, in their Fright, as gave one Mr. Anthony Bracket, then a Prisoner with 'em, an Opportunity to Flie Four­score miles another way. Our Forces returning to Mackquoit, one of our Vessels was there Care­lesly run a ground, and compelled thereby to stay for the next Tide: and Mr. Bracket, had been miserably a ground, if it had not so fell out; for he thereby got thither before she was afloat; o­therwise he might have perished, who was after­wards much Improved in Service against the Murderers of his Father. Arriving at Winter Harbour, a party of men were sent up the River, who coming upon a parcel of the Mankeen Wolves, then hunted for, killed some of them, and Siezed most of their Arms, and Stores, and Re­covered from them an English man, who told them, that the Enemy were intending to Ren­dezvouze on Pechypscot Plain, in order to an At­tempt upon the Town of Wells. Upon this, they Re imbark'd for Macquoit, and repaired as fast [Page 78] as they could unto Pechypscot Plain, and being Divided into Three parties, they there waited for the Approach of the Enemy. But being tyred with one of the Three Italian miseries, Waiting for those who did not come, they only possessed themselves of more Plunder there hid by the E­nemy, and returned unto Casco-Harbor. The Enemy it seems dogg'd their Motions; and in the Night they made a mischievous Assault upon such of the English Army, as were too Remiss, in providing for their own Safety, in their going ashore; Killing, Five of our Plymouth-Friends, who had Lodg'd themselves in an House, without Commanders or Centinels. The English as soon as the Light of the Day, (which was the Lords-Day, Sept. 21.) gave 'em leave, quickly Ran upon the Enemy, and Eased the world of some of them, and made the rest Scamper from that part of the world, and got many of their Canoo's, and not a little of their Ammunition, and their best Fur­niture for the Winter. The Army was after this Dismiss'd; only an Hundred men, were left, with Captain Convers, and Lieutenant Plaisted, who spent their Time, as profitably as they could, in Scouting about the Frontiers, to prevent Sur­prizals, from an Enemy which rarely did Annoy, but when they could Surprize.

ARTICLE. XIII. A Flag of Truce.

NEw-England was now quite out of Breath! A tedious, lingring, expensive Defence a­gainst an Ever Approaching, and Unapproachable Adversary had made it so. But nothing had made it more so, than the Expedition to Canada; which had Exhausted its best Spirits, and seem'd its Ultimus Conatus. While the Country was now in too Great Amazements to proceed any farther in the War, the Indians themselves Entreat them to proceed no farther. The Indians came in to Wells, with a Flag of Truce: and there Ensued some Overtures, with the English Commissioners, Major Hutchinson, and Captain Townsend sent from Boston, to joyn with some others at Wells. At length a meeting was Appointed and obtained at Sagadehock, Nov. 23. Where the Redemption of Ten English Captives was accomplished; one of whom, was one Mrs. Hull, whom the Indians were very loath to part withal, because being able to Write well, they made her serve them in the Quality of a Secretary: Another was named Na­thanael White, whom the Barbarous Canibals had already ty'd unto a Stake, & cut off one of his Ears, and made him Eat it Raw, and intended for to have Roasted the rest of him alive: The poor [Page 80] man, being astonished at his own Deliverance! At last, they Signed Articles, Dated, Nov. 29. 1691. wherein they Engaged, That no Indians, in those parts of the World, should do any In­jury, to the Persons or Esta [...]es, of the English, in any of the English Colonies, until the First of May, next Ensuing; And that on the said First of May, they would bring in to Storers Garrison at Wells all the English Captives in their Hands, and there Make, and Sign, and Seal Articles of Peace with the English; and in the mean time give seasonable Advice of any Plots, which they might know the French to have against them. To this Instrument were set the Pawes, of Edge­remet, and Five more of their Sagamores, and Noblemen.

But as it was not upon the Firm Land, but in their Canooes upon the Water, that they Signed and Sealed this Instrument; so Reader, we will be Jealous, that it will prove but a Fluctua­ting, and Unstable sort of a Business; and that the Indians will Do a Ly, as they use to do. Howe­ver, we will Dismiss all our Souldiers to their several Homes, Leaving only Captain Convers to keep Wells in some Order, until the First of May, do show, whether any more than a meer Flag of Truce be yet shown unto us.

ARTICLE. XIV. Remarkable Encounters.

AT the Day appointed, there came to the place, Mr. Danforth, Mr. Moodey, Mr. Vaughan, Mr. Brattle, and several other Gentle­men, guarded with a Troop, to see how the Frenchified Indians, would keep their Faith with the Hereticks of New-England. The Indians being poor Musicians for keeping of Time, came not ac­cording to their Articles, and when Captain Con­vers had the courage to go fetch in some of them, they would have made a Lying Excuse, That they did not know the Time. They brought in Two Captives, and promised. That in Twenty Dayes more, they would bring in to Captain Con­vers all the rest: but finding that in Two and Twenty Dayes they came not, with much concern upon his Mind, he got himself Supplied, as fast as he could, with Five and Thirty men, from the County of Essex. His men were not come half an Hour to Storers House, on June 9. 1691. nor had they got their Indian Weed fairly lighted into their Mouths, before Fierce Moxus, with Two Hundred Indians, made an Attacque upon the Garrison. This Recruit of Men, thus at the very Nick of Time, Saved the place; For Moxus meet­ting with a brave Repulse, drew off; and gave [Page 82] Modockawando cause to say, (as a Captive after­wards related it) My Brother Moxus ba's miss'd it now, but I will go my self the next year, and have the Dog Convers out of his Hole. About this Time, the Enemy Slew Two men at Berwick, Two more at Exeter, and the biggest part of Nine, load­ing a Vessel at Cape Nidduck. But about the latter End of July, we sent out a small Army, under the Command of Captain March, Captain King, Captain Sherburn, and Captain Walton, (Convers lying Sick all Summer, had this to make him yet more Sick, that he could have no part in these Actions,) who landing at Macquoit, March­ed up to Pechypscot, but not finding any signs of the Enemy, Marched down again. While the Commanders were waiting ashore, till the Souldiers were got aboard, such Great Numbers of Indians poured in upon them, that tho' the Commanders wanted not for Courage or Conduct, yet they found themselves obliged, with much ado, (and not without the Death of Worthy Captain Sher­burn) to retire into the Vessels, which then lay aground. Here they kept pelting at one another all night; but unto little other purpose, than this, which was indeed Remarkable: That the Ene­my was at this Time Going to Take the Isle of Shoales, and no doubt, had they gone, they would have Taken it, but having Exhausted all their Am­munition on this Occasion, they desisted from what they designed. For the Rest of the Year, [Page 83] the Compassion of Heaven towards Distressed New-England, kept the Indians under a Strange Inactivity; only, on Sept. 28. Seven persons were Murthered and Captived, at Berwick; and the Day following, Thrice Seven, of Sandy-Beach: On Octob. 23. One Goodridge, and his Wife, were Murdered at Newberry, and his Children Capti­ved: and the Day following, the like Fate befell a Family at Haverhil. And this year, a very Good Strong Fort, at Cape Nidduck, owned by a Widdow, was unhappily Deserted; after which, the Enemy came, and burnt the Houses in it.

ARTICLE. XV. The Martyrdome of Mr. Shubael Dummer, with the Fate of York.

BUt the Winter must not pass over, without a Storm of Blood! The Popish Indians, after long Silence and Repose, in their Inaccessible Ken­nels, which made our Frontier Towns, a little Re­mit their Tired Vigilance, did, Janu. 25. 1691. Set upon the Town of York, where the Inhabitants were in their unguarded Houses, here and there Scattered, Quiet and Secure. Upon the Firing of a Gun by the Indians, which was their Signal, the Inhabitants looked out, but unto their Amaze­ment, found their Houses to be Invested with horrid Salvages, who immediately kill'd many of [Page 84] those unprovided Inhabitants, and more they took Prisoners. This Body of Indians, Consist­ing of diverse Hundreds, then sent in their Sum­mons, to some of the Garrison'd Houses; and those Garrisons whereof some had no more than Two or Three Men in them, yet being so well Mann'd, as to Reply, That they would Spend their Blood unto the last Drop, e're they would Surrender; these Cowardly Miscreants had not mettle enough to meddle with 'em. So they Retired into their Howling Thickets, having first Murdered about Fifty, and Captived near an Hundred, of that un­happy People. In this Calamity, great was the Share, that fell to the Family of Mr. SHUBAEL DUMMER, the Pastor of the Little Flock thus prey'd upon Those Blood-Hounds, being set on by some Romish Missionaries, had long been wishing, that they might Em [...]r [...]e their Hands, in the Blood of some New English MINISTER; and in this Action, they had their Diabolical Sa­tisfaction. Our Dummer, the Minister of York, was One, of whom, for his Exemplary Holin [...]s [...], Humbleness, Modesty, Industry, and Fidelity, The World was not Worthy. He was a Gentleman Well-Descended, Well-Tempered, Well-Educated; and now short of Sixty years of Age. He might have taken for his Coat of Arms, the same that the Holy Martyr Hooper Prophetically did, A Lamb in a Flaming Bush, with Rayes from Heaven shining [...]n it. He had been Sollicited with many [Page 85] Temptations, to Leave his Place, when the Clouds grew Thick and Black, in the Indian Hostilities, and were like to break upon it; but he chose rather, with a paternal Affection to stay a­mongst those, who had been, so many of them, Converted and Edified by his Ministry; and he spent very much of his own Patramony to Subsist among them, when their Distresses made them unable to support him, as otherwise they would have done. In a word, He was one that might, by way of Eminency, be called, A Good Man. This Good Man was just going to Take Horse, at his own Door, upon a Journey in the Service of God, when the Tygres, that were making their Depredations upon the Sheep of York, Siez'd upon this their Shepherd; & they shot him so, that they left him Dead among the Tribe of Abel, on the Ground. Thus was he, as Ambrose in his Elegant Oration, De obitu Fratris, Expresses it, Non nobis ereptus, sed periculis. His Wife they carried into Captivity, where through Sorrows and Hardships among those Dragons of the De­sart, she also quickly Dyed; and his Church, as many of them, as were in that Captivity, Endur­ed This, among other Anguishes, that on the Next Lord Day, one of the Tawnies, chose to Ex­hibit himself unto them, [A Devil as an Angel of Light!] in the Cloaths, whereof they had Stript the Dead Body of this their Father. Many were the Tears, that were dropt throughout New-England, [Page 86] on this Occasion; and These among the rest: for, tho' we do not, as Tradition tells us, the Antediluvians did use to do, By the Blood of Abel, yet we cannot but mournfully, Sing of the Blood of such an Abel.

ARTICLE. XVI. The Memorable Action at Wells.

A Vessel, the Name whereof I know not, [Reader, Let it be, The Charity,] being immediately dispatched unto Sagadehock, by the Charitable Compassions of the more Southward Neighbours, with Effects to accomplish it, hap­pily Effected the Redemption of many that were taken Captives at York. But the rest of the Peo­ple in that Broken Town, talking of Drawing off, the Government sent Captain Convers and Captain Greenleaf, with such Encouragements unto them, to keep their Station, as prevailed with 'em still to Stand their Ground. In February Major Hutchinson, was made Commander in Chief, & Forces under the Command of Captain Convers, Captain Floyd, and Captain Thaxter, were by him so prudently posted, on the Frontiers, that by mentaining a continual Communication, it be­came a Difficult Thing for the Enemy to make any more Approaches. Lieutenant Wilson parti­cularly hearing of a man Shot at, in Quochecho-Woods, went out with a Scout of about Eighteen men, who came upon the Indians that had shot at the man; and killed and wounded all but one, of the whole Company. But now, Reader, the Longest Day in the Year is come on, and, it I [Page 88] mistake not, the Bravest Act in the War, fell out upon it. Modockawando is now come, according to his Promise a Twelve Month ago. Captain Convers, was lodg'd in Storers Garrison at Wells, with but Fifteen men; and there came into Wells, Two Sloops, with a Shallop, which had aboard Supplies of Ammunition for the Souldiers, and Contribution for the Needy. The Cattel this Day came Frighted, and Bleeding but of the Woods, which was a more certain Omen of Indians a coming, than all the Prodigies that Livy reports of the Sacrificed Oxen. Convers immediately issued out his Commands unto all Quarters, but especi­ally to the Sloops just then arrived. The Sloops were Commanded by Samuel Storer, and James Gouge, and Gouges being Two miles up the River, he wisely brought her down undiscovered, unto Storers, by the advantage of a Mist then prevail­ing. A careful Night, they had on't! The next Morning, before Day-Light, one John Dia­mond, a Stranger that came in the Shallop on a Visit, came to Captain Conver's Garrison, where the Watch invited him in; but he chose rather to go aboard the Sloops, which were little more than a Gun-shot off; and, alas, the Enemy issu­ing out from their Lurking places, immediately Siez'd him, and haled him away by the Hair of the Head, (in spite of all Attempts used by the Garrison, to Recover him) for an horrible Story, to be told by'nd by concerning him. The Gene­ral [Page 89] of the Enemies Army was Monsieur Burniff; and one Monsieur Labrocree was a principal Commander; (the Enemy said, he was Lieute­nant General:) There were also Diverse other Frenchmen of Quality; Accompanied with Mo­dockawando, and Moxus, and Egeremet, and Warum­bo, and several more Indian Sagamores; The Army made up in all, about Five Hundred Men, or Fierce Things in the Shape of Men; all, to Encounter Fifteen Men, in one little Garrison, & about Fifteen more Men, [worthily called Such!] in a Couple of open Sloops. Diamond having in­formed 'em, How t'was, in all points, (only that for Fifteen, by a mistake he said, Thirty,) they fell to Dividing the Persons and Plunder, and A­greeing, that such an English Captain, should be Slave to such a one, and such a Gentleman in the Town should serve such a one, and his Wife be a Maid of Honour, to such or such a Squaw proposed, and Mr. Wheelright (instead of being a Worthy Counsellor of the Province, which he Now is!) was to be the Servant of such a Netop; and the Sloops, with their Stores, to be so and so parted among them. There wanted but One Thing to Consummate the whole matter, even, the Chief Thing o [...] all, which I suppose they had not thought of; That was, For Heaven to Deli­ver all this prize into their Hands: But, Aliter Statutum est in Caelo! A man Habited, like a Gentleman, made a Speech to them in English; [Page 90] Exhorting 'em to Courage, and Assuring 'em, that if they would Courageously fall upon the English, all was their own. The Speech being Ended, they fell to the Work, and with an horrid Shout and Shot, made their Assault, upon the Feeble Garrison: but the English answered with a brisk Volley, and sent such a Leaden Showre among them, that they retired from the Garri­son to spend the Storm of their Fury upon the Sloops. You must know, That Wells-Harbour is rather a Creek than a River, for 'tis very Nar­row, and at low water, in many places Dry: nevertheless, where the Vessels ride, it is Deep enough, and so far off the Bank, that there is from thence no Leaping aboard. But our Sloops were sorely incommoded, by a Turn of the Creek, where the Enemy could ly out of danger, so near 'em, as to throw Mud aboard with their Hands. The Enemy was also privi­ledged with a Great Heap of Plank, lying on the Bank, and with an Hay Stock, which they Streng­thened with Posts, and Rayles; and from all these places, they poured in their Vengeance upon the poor Sloops, while they so placed Smaller parties of their Salvages, as to make it impossible for any of the Garrisons, to afford 'em any relief. Lying thus, within a Dozen yards of the Sloops, they did with their Fire Arrows, diverse times desperately set the Sloops on Fire: but the brave Defendents, with a Swab, at the End of a Rope, [Page 91] tyed unto a Pole, and so dip't into the Water, happily put the Fire out. In brief the Sloops gave the Enemy so brave a Repulse, that at Night they Retreated: when they Renewed their Assault, finding that their Fortitude would not assure the Success of the Assault unto them, they had recourse unto their Policy. First, an Indian comes on, with a Slab, for a Shield, before him; when a Shot from one of the Sloops, pierc­ed the Slab, which fell down, instead of a Tomb­stone with the Dead Indian under it: on which, as little a Fellow as he was, I know not whe­ther some will not reckon it proper to inscribe the Epitaph, which the Italians use to bestow upon their Dead Popes; When the Dog is Dead, all his Malice is Dead with him. Their next Stra­tagem was This: They brought out of the Woods, a kind of a Cart, which they Trim'd, and Rigg'd, and Fitted up into a Thing, that might be called, A Chariot: whereon they built a platform, shot­proof in the Front, and placed many men upon that platform. Such an Engine they understood how to Shape, without having Read, (I suppose) the Description of the Pluteus in Vegetius! This Chariot they push'd on, towards the Sloops, till they were got, it may be, within Fifteen yards of them; when, lo, one of the Wheels to their Admiration Sunk into the Ground. A French­man Stepping to heave the Wheel, with an Help­ful Shoulder, Storer Shot him down; Another [Page 92] Stepping to the Wheel, Storer with a well placed Shot, sent him after his Mate: So the Rest thought, it was best let it stand as it was. The Enemy kept Galling the Sloops, from their Several Batte­ries, and calling 'em to Surrender, with many fine promises to make them Happy, which ours answered with a just Laughter, that had now and then a mortiferous Bullet at the End of it. The Tide Rising, the Chariot overset, so that the men behind it lay open to the Sloops, which im­mediately Dispensed an horrible Slaughter among them; and they that could get away, got as fast, and as far off, as they could. In the Night, the Enemy had much Discourse with the Sloops; they Enquired, Who were their Commanders? and the English gave an Answer, which in some other Cases, and Places, would have been too true, That they had a great many Commanders: but the Indians Replyed, You ly, you have none but Convers, and we will have him too before Morning! They also knowing, that the Magazine was in the Garrison, lay under an Hill-Side, Pelting at That, by Times; but Captain Convers, once in the Night, sent out Three or Four of his men, into a Field of Wheat, for a Shot, if they could get one. There seeing a Black Heap lying together, Ours all at once let Fly upon them, a Shot, that Slew several of them that were thus Caught in that Corn, and made the rest glad, that they found themselves Able to Run for it. Captain Convers [Page 93] was this while in much Distress, about a Scout of Six men, which he had sent forth to Newicha­wannick, the Morning before the Arrival of the Enemy, ordering them to Return the Day follow­ing. The Scout Return'd, into the very Mouth of the Enemy, that lay before the Garrison; but the Corporal, having his Wits about him, call'd out aloud, (as if he had seen Captain Convers making a Salley forth upon 'em,) Captain, Wheel about your men round the Hill, and we shall Catch 'em, there are but a Few Rogues of 'em! Upon which the Indians imagining, that Captain Con­vers had been at their Heels, betook themselves to their Heels; and our Folks got safe into ano­ther Garrison. On the Lords Day Morning, there was for a while, a Deep Silence among the As­sailants; but at length getting into a Body, they marched with great Formality towards the Gar­rison, where the Captain ordered his Handful of men to ly Snug, and not make a Shot, until every Shot might be likely to do some Execution. While they thus beheld a Formidable Crue of Dragons, coming with open mouth upon them, to Swallow them up at a Mouthful, one of the Souldiers began to speak of Surrendring; upon which the Captain Vehemently protested, That he would lay the man Dead, who should so much as mutter that base word any more! and so they heard no more on't: But the Valiant Storer was put upon the like protestation, to keep 'em in good [Page 94] Fighting trim, aboard the Sloops also. The E­nemy now Approaching very near, gave Three Shouts, that made the Earth ring again; and Crying out, in English, Fire, and Fall on, Brave Boyes! the whole Body, drawn into Three Ranks, Fired at once. Captain Convers immediately ran into the several Flankers, and made their Best Guns Fire at such a rate, that several of the E­nemy fell, and the rest of 'em disappeared almost as Nimbly, as if they had been so many Spectres. Particularly, a parcel of them got into a small Deserted House; which having but a Board-Wall to it, the Captain sent in after them, those Bullets of Twelve to the Pound, that made the House too hot, for them that could get out of it. The Women in the Garrison, on this occasion took up the Amazonian Stroke, and not only brought Ammunition to the Men, but also with a Manly Resolution fired several Times upon the Enemy. The Enemy finding that Things would not yet go to their minds, at the Garrison, drew off, to Try their Skill upon the Sloops, which lay still abrest in the Creek, lash'd fast one to another. They built a Great Fire Work, about Eighteen or Twenty Foot Square, and fill'd it up with Com­bustible matter, which they Fired; and then they set it in the way, for the Tide now to Flote it up, unto the Sloops, which had now nothing but an horrible Death before them. Neverthe­less, their Demands, of both the Garrison, and [Page 95] the Sloops, to yield themselves, were answered no otherwise than with Death upon many of them, Spit from the Guns of the Beseiged. Having tow'd their Fire-Work, as far as they durst, they committed it unto the Tide; but the Distres­sed Christians that had this Deadly Fire, Swim­ming along upon the Water towards 'em, com­mitted it unto God: and God looked from Hea­ven upon them, in this prodigious Article of their Distress. These poor men Cryed, and the Lord, heard them, and saved them out of their Troubles; The Wind, unto their Astonishment, immediately Turn'd about, and with a Fresh Gale drove the Machin ashore on the other side, and Split it so, that the Water being let in upon it, the Fire went out. So, the Godly men, that Saw God from Heaven thus Fighting for them, Cryed out, with an Astonishing Joy, If it had not been the Lord, who was on our Side, they had Swallowed us up quick; Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us a prey to their Teeth; our Soul is Escaped, as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowlers! The Enemy were now in a pittiful pickle, with Toyling, and Moyling in the Mud, & black'ned with it, if Mud could add Blackness to such Miscreants: and their Ammunition was pretty well Exhausted: So that now they began to Draw off, in all parts, and with Rafts get over the River; some whereof breaking, there did not a few Cool their late Heat by falling into it. But first, they made [Page 96] all the Spoil they could, upon the Cattel about the Town; and giving one Shot more at the Sloops, they kill'd the only Man, of ours, that was kill'd aboard 'em. Then, after about Half an Hours Consultation, they send a Flag of Truce to the Garrison, advising 'em with much Flatte­ry, to Surrender; but the Captain sent 'em word, That he wanted for nothing, but for men to come, and Fight him. The Indian replyed unto Captain Convers, Being you are so Stout, why don't you come, and Fight in the open Field, like a Man, and not Fight in a Garrison, like a Squaw? The Cap­tain rejoyned; What a Fool, are you? Do you think, Thirty men a Match for Five Hundred? No, (sayes the Captain, counting as well he might, each of his Fifteen men, to be as Good as Two!) Come with your Thirty men upon the Plain, and I'le meet you with my Thirty, as soon as you will. Upon this, the Indian answered; Nay, mee own, English Fashi­on is all one Fool; you kill mee, mee kill you! No, better ly some where, and Shoot a man, and hee no see! That the best Souldier! Then they fell to Coaksing the Captain, with as many Fine Words, as the Fox in the Fable had for the Allurement of his Prey unto him; and urged mightily that Ensign Hill, who stood with the Flag of Truce, might stand a little nearer their Army. The Captain, for a Good Reason, to be presently dis­cerned, would not allow That: whereupon they fell to Threatning, and Raging, like so many [Page 97] Defeated Devils, using these Words, Damn ye, we'll cut you as small as Tobacco, before to morrow Morning. The Captain, bid 'em to make Hast, for, he wanted work; So, the Indian throwing his Flag on the Ground, ran away, and Ensign Hill nimbly Stripping his Flag ran into the Valley, but the Salvages presently Fired, from an Ambush­ment behind an Hill, near the place, where they had urged for a Parley.

And now for poor John Diamond! The Ene­my Retreating (which opportunity the Sloops took, to Burn down the Dangerous Hay-Stock,) into the plain, out of Gun-shot, they fell to Tor­turing their Captive John Diamond, after a man­ner very Diabolical. They Stripped him, they Scalped him alive, and after a Castration, they Finished that Article in the Punishment of Trai­tors upon him; They Slit him with Knives, be­tween his Fingers and his Toes; They made cruel Gashes in the most Fleshy parts of his Body, and stuck the Gashes with Fire-brands, which were afterwards found Sticking in the wounds. Thus they Butchered One poor Englishman, with all the Fury that they would have spent upon them all; and performed an Exploit, for Five Hun­dred Furies to brag of, at their coming home. Ghastly to Express! what was it then to Suffer? They Returned then unto the Garrison, and kept Firing at it now and then, till near Ten a Clock at Night; when they all marched off, leaving [Page 98] behind 'em some of their Dead; whereof one was Monsieur Labocree, who had about his Neck, a Pouch with about a Dozen Reliques ingeniously made up, and a Printed Paper of Indulgences, and several other Implements: but it seems, none of the Amulets about his Neck, would save him from a Mortal Shot in the Head. Thus in Forty Eight Hours, was Finished an Action as Worthy to be Related, as perhaps any that occurs in our Story. And it was not long before the Va­liant Gouge, who bore his part in this Action, did another that was not much inferiour to it, when he suddenly Recovered from the French a valuable prey, which they had newly taken upon our Coast.

I doubt, Reader we have made this Article of our History a little too long. We will finish it, when we have Remark'd, That albeit there were too much Feebleness discovered by my Countrey­men, in some of their Actions, during this War, at Sea, as well as on Shore, yet several of their Actions, especially at Sea, deserve to be Re­membred. And I cannot but particularly be­speak a Remembrance, for the Exploit perform­ed by some of my Neighbours, in a Vessel going into Barbadoes They were in sight of Bar­badoes assaulted by a French Vessel, which had a good number of Guns, and between Sixty and Seventy Hands. Our Vessel had Four Guns, and Eight Fighting Men. [Truly such!] with [Page 99] two Tawny Servants. The Names of these Men, were Barret, Sunderland, Knoles, Nash, Morgan, Fosdyke, and Two more, that I now forget. A desperate Engagement ensued: where­in our Eight Marriners managed the matter with such Bravery, that by the Help of Heaven, they killed between Thirty and Forty of the French Assailants, without loosing one of their own little Number: And they sank the French Vessel, which lay by their side, out of which they took Twenty Seven prisoners, whereof some were wounded, and all crying for Quarter. In the Fight the French Pennant, being by the wind fastned about the Top Mast of the En­glish Vessel, it was torn off by the sinking of the French Vessel, and left pleasently flying there. So they Sail'd into Barbadoes; where the Assembly voted them one Publick Acknowledge­ment, of their Courage and Conduct, in this Brave Action, and our History now gives them Another.

ARTICLE. XVII. The Fort at Pemmaquid.

HIs Excellency Sir William Phipps, being ar­rived now the Governour of New Eng­land, applyed himself, with all possible Vigour, to carry on the War: and the Advice of a New [Page 100] Slaughter some time in July made by the Indi­ans, on certain poor Husband-men, in their Mea­dows, at the North Side of Merrimack River, put an Accent upon the Zeal of the Designs, which he was now vigorously prosecuting. He Raised about Four hundred and Fifty Men, and in pursuance of his Instructions from White­hall, he laid the Foundations of a Fort at Pem­maquid, which was the Finest Thing that had been seen in these parts of America. Captain Wing, assisted with Captain Bancroft, went thro' the former part of the Work; and the latter part of it was Finished by Captain March. His Ex­cellency, attended in this matter, with these worthy Captains, did, in a few Months, dis­patch a Service for the King, with a Prudence, & Industry, and Thirftiness, Greater than any Reward, they ever had for it. The Fort, called, The William Henry, was built of Stone, in a Quadran­gular Figure; being about Seven hundred and thirty seven Foot in Compass, without the Outer Walls, and an Hundred and Eight Foot Square, within the Inner ones. Twenty Eight Ports it had; and Fourteen (if not Eighteen) Guns mounted, whereof Six were Eighteen-Pounders. The Wall, on the South Line, fronting to the Sea, was Twenty Two Foot High, and more than Six Foot Thick at the Ports, which were Eight Foot from the Ground. The Great Flanker, or Round Tower, at the Western End of this Line, was [Page 101] Twenty Nine Foot High. The Wall on the East line, was Twelve Foot High, on the North it was Ten, on the West it was Eighteen. It was Computed, That in the whole, there were laid above Two Thousand Cart-Loads of Stone. It stood about a Score of Rods from High Water Mark; and it had generally at least Sixty men posted in it, for its Defence, which if they were Men, might easily have maintained it against more than Twice Six Hundred Assailants. Yea, we were almost Ready to flatter our selves, that we might have writ on the Gates of this Fort, as the French did over that of Namur, (yet after­wards taken by K. William) Reddi, non Vinci po­test. Now, as the Architect, that built the Strong Fortress at Narne in Poland had, for his Recom­pence, his Eyes put out, lest he should build such another; Sir William Phipps was almost as hard­ly Recompenced, for the Building of This at Pemmaquid. Although this Fort thus Erected in the Heart of the Enemies Country, did so Break the Heart of the Enemy, that indeed they might have call'd it, as the French did theirs upon the River of the Illinois, The Fort of Crevecoeur; and the Tranquillity After Enjoy'd by the Country, (which was very much more than Before,) was, under God, much owing thereunto: yet the Ex­pence of maintaining it, when we were so much impoverished otherwise, made it continually complained of, as one of the Countryes Grievances. [Page 102] The Murmurings about this Fort, were so Epi­demical, that, if we may speak in the Foolish cant of Astrology, and, Prognosticate from the Aspect of Saturn upon Mars, at its Nativity, Fort William-Henry, Thou hast not long to Live! Before the year Ninety Six Expire, thou shalt be demolished. In the mean Time, let us accompany Major Church going with a Company to Penobscot, where he took Five Indians; and afterwards, to Taco­net, where the Indians discovering his Approach, set their own Fort on fire themselves, and flying from it, left only their Corn to be destroy'd by him. And so we come to the End of 1692. Only we are stopt a little, with a very strange Parenthesis.

ARTICLE. XVIII. A Surprising Thing, laid before the Reader, for him to Judge, (if he can) what to make of it.

REader, I must now address thee, with the Words of a Poet:

But with Truths more confirmed, than what uses to come from the Pen of a Poet. The Story of the Prodigious War, made by the Spirits of the Invisible World, upon the People of New Eng­land, in the year, 1692. hath Entertain'd a great [Page 103] part of the English World, with a just Astonish­ment: and I have met with some Strange Things, not here to be mentioned, which have made me often think, that this inexplicable War, might have some of its Original among the In­dians, whose chief Sagamores are well known un­to some of our Captives, to have been horrid Sorcerers, and hellish Conjurers, and such as Con­versed with Daemons. The Sum of that Story is, Written in, The Life of Sir William Phipps; with such Irreproachable Truth, as to Defy the utmost Malice and Cunning of all our Sadducees, to Confute it, in so much as one Material Article: And that the Balant, and Latrant Noises of that sort of People, may be forever Silenced, the Story will be abundantly Justifyed, when the further Account written of it, by Mr. John Hale shall be published: For none can suspect a Gen­tleman, so full of Dissatisfaction, at the proceed­ings then used against the Supposed Witchcraft, as Now that Reverend Person is, to be a Super­stitious Writer upon that Subject.

Now in the Time of that matchless War, there fell out a Thing at Glocester, which falls in here most properly to be related: a Town so Scitua­ted, Surrounded, and Neighboured, in the Coun­ty of Essex, that no man in his Witts, will ima­gine, that a Dozen French men and Indians, would come, and alarm the Inhabitants for Three weeks together, and Engage 'em in several Skirmishes, [Page 104] while there were two Regiments Raised, and a Detachment of Threescore men sent unto their Succour, and not one man Hurt in all the Actions, & all End unaccountably. And because the Relation will be Extraordinary, I will not be my self the Author of any one clause in it; but I will Transcribe the words of a Minister of the Gospel, who did me the Favour, with much critical Caution to Examine Witnesses, not long after the Thing happened, and then sent me the Following Account.

NOW, Reader, albeit that passage of the Sa­cred Story, 2 Chron. 20.22. The Lord set Ambushments against the Children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, and they were Smitten: is by the best Expositors thus understood; That there was the Ministry of the Holy Angels wondrously Em­ploy'd in this matter; the Angels in the Shape of Moabites and Ammonites, fell upon them of Mount Seir, and upon this apprehended provo­cation they then all fell upon one another, until the whole Army was destroyed: Nevertheless, I entirely refer it unto thy Judgment (without the least offer of my own,) whether, Satan did not now Set Ambushments against the Good Peo­ple of Glocester, with Daemons, in the Shape of Armed Indians and French-men appearing to con­siderable Numbers of the Inhabitants, and mutu­ally Firing upon them, for the best part of a Month together. I know, the most Considerate Gentlemen in the Neighbourhood, unto this Day, Believe this whole matter to have been a Prodigious piece of the Strange Descent from the [Page 113] Invisible World, then made upon other parts of the Country. And the publication of this Pro­digy among other Wonders of the Invisible World among us, has been Delay'd until Now, that so the Opinion of our most considerate Gentlemen about it, might have Time for a thorough Con­coction: and that the Gentlemen of the Order of St. Thomas, may have no Objection to make against it. But, be it what it will, they are not a few profane Squibs from the Sons of the Ex­travagant Bekker, that will be a fit Explication, for Things thus Attested, and so very Marvellous.

ARTICLE. XIX. PACEM, Te Poscimus Omnes.

IN the year, 1693. His Excellency sent away Captain Convers, to draw off the fittest of the Officers and Souldiers, quartered in the East, for a March, and causing about Three Hundred and Fifty more to be Levied, gave him, what he had merited above a year ago; even a Com­mission of Major and Commander in Chief over these Forces. While Major Convers was at Wells, hearing of some Indians, that were seen in the Woods, he Surprised them all, and finding that they had cut off a poor Family at Oyster River, he gave the c [...]ief of them, something of what they also had merited. Going to Pemmaquid; [Page 114] after some service there, they Sailed up Sheep­scote River, & then marched through the Woods to Taconet, which being Deserted by the Indians, they ranged through many other Woods; but could meet with none of their Enemies. Re­pairing then to Saco, they began another Fort, which was carried on by that worthy Gentleman Major Hook, and the truly commendable Captain Hill, and proved a matter of Good Consequence unto the Province. While these Things were doing, some time in July, the Straggling Indians did some Spoil, upon Quaboag, a remote Vil­lage, in the Road unto Connecticut; but Advice being dispatch'd unto the Towns upon Connecti­cut-River, a party immediately Salley'd out after the Spoilers, and leaving their Horses at the En­trance of a Swamp, whither by their Track they had followed them, they come upon the Secure Adversary, and kill'd the most of them, and Recovered the Captives, with their Plunder; and Returning home, had some Re­ward for so brisk an Action.

But now, the Indians in the East, probably Disheartened by the Forts Erecting that were like to prove a sore Annoyance to them, in their Enterprizes; and by the Fear of wanting Am­munition, with other Provisions, which the French were not so Able just now to dispence unto them; and by a presumption that an Arr [...]y of Maqua's, [part of those Terrible Cannibals to the West-ward, [Page 115] whereof 'tis affirm'd by those who have published the Stories of their Travels among them, That they have destroy'd no less than Two Million Salva­ges of other Nations about them, through their being Supplyed with Fire-Arms, before Hundreds of other Nations, lying between them, & the Ri­ver Meschasippi,] was come into their Country, because they found some of their Squa's killed upon a Whortle berry Plain; and all the Charms of the French Fryar then Resident among them, could not hinder them, from Suing to the Eng­lish for Peace. And the English, being so involved in Debts, that they Scarce knew how to prosecute the War any further; took some Notice of their Suit. Accordingly, a Peace was made, upon the Ensuing Articles.

ARTICLE. XX. Bloody Fishing at Oyster-River. And Sad work at Groton.

A Years Breathing Time, was a great Favour of Heaven to a Country, quite out of Breath, with Numberless Calamities: But the Fa­vour was not so Thankfully Enjoyed, as it should have been. And now, The Clouds Return after the Rain. The Spectre that with Burning Tongs drove Xerxes to his War upon the Graecians, had not lost his Influence upon our Indians. The Perfidy of the Indians appeared first, in their not Restoring the English Captives, according to their Covenant; but the perfidious Wretches Excused this, with many Protestations. That which add­ed unto our Jealousies about them, was, their In­solent carriage towards a Sloop, commanded by Captain Wing; and the Information of a Fellow called Hector, That the Indians intended most certainly to break the Peace, and had promised [Page 121] the French Priests, taking the Sacrament there­upon, to destroy the first English Town they could Surprize. Rumours of Indians Lurking about some of the Frontier-Plantations, now be­gan to put the poor people into Consternation; but upon an Imagination, that they were only cer­tain Bever Hunters the Consternation of the people went off into Security. 'Tis affirmed by English Captives, which were then at Canada, that the Desolation of Oyster-River was com­monly talk'd in the Streets of Quebeck, Two months before it was Effected; for the Spies had found no Town so Secure as That. And now, what was Talk'd at Quebeck in the month of May, must be Done at Oyster River in the month of July; for on Wednesday, July 18 1694. the Treachearous Enemy, with a great Army fell upon that place, about break of Day, and Killed and Captiv'd, Ninety Four, (or, an Hundred) persons; about a Score of whom, were men belonging to the Trained Band, of the Town. Several persons Remarkably Escaped this Bloody Deluge, but none, with more Bravery, than one Thomas Bickford, who had an House, a Little Pallisado'd, by the River Side; but no man in it besides himself. He dexterously put his Wife, and Mother, and Children aboard a Canoo, and Sending them down the River, he Alone, be­took himself to the Defence of his House, against many Indians, that made an Assault upon him. [Page 122] They first would have perswaded him, with many fair Promises, and then, terrified him with as many Fierce Threatnings, to yield himself; but he flouted and fired at them, daring 'em, to come if they durst. His main Stratagem was, to Change his Livery as frequently as he could; appearing Sometimes in one Coat, Sometimes in another, Sometimes in an Hat, and Sometimes in a Cap; which caused his Beseigers, to mistake this One for Many Defendents. In fine, The pittiful Wretches, despairing to Beat him out of his House, e'en left him in it; whereas many that opened unto them, upon their Solemn En­gagements of giving them Life and Good Quar­ter, were barborously butchered by them; and the Wife of one Adams, then with Child, was with horrible Barbarity Ripped up. And thus there was an End of the Peace, made at Pemma­quid! Upon this, the Friends of Mrs Ursula Cutt, (Widow of Mr John Cutt, formerly President of New-Hampshire,) desired her, to leave her Farm, which was about a Mile above the Bank Exposed unto the Enemy, on the South side of Piscataqua River. She Thank'd them for their Care, but added, that she believed, the Enemy had now done their Do for this Time; and however, by the End of the Week, her Business at the Farm would be all dispatched, and on Saturday, she would Repair to her Friends at the Bank. But, alas, before the End of the week, she saw the [Page 123] End of her Life: On Saturday, about one or two a Clock, in the Afternoon, the Business at the Farm was Dispatched, sure enough! The Indians Then Kill'd this Gentlewoman, and Three other People, a little before they had Finished a point of Husbandry, then in their Hand. Nor did the Storm go over so: Some Drops of it fell upon the Town of Groton, a Town that lay, one would think, far enough off, the place, where was the last Scene of the Tragedy. On July 27. About break of Day, Groton felt, some Surprizing Blows, from the Indian Hatchets. They began their At­ta [...]ques, at the House of one Lieutenant Lakin, in the out skirts of the Town: but met with a Repulse there, and lost one of their Crue. Ne­vertheless, in other parts of that Plantation, (when the Good People had been so tired out, as to lay down their Military Watch,) there were more than Twenty persons killed, and more than a Dozen carried away. Mr. Gershom Hobart, the Minister of the place, with part of his Family, was Remarkably preserved, from falling into their Hands, when they made themselves the Masters of his House; though they Took Two of his Children, whereof the one was killed, and the other some Time after happily Rescued out of his Captivity.

I remember, The Jews, in their Book Taanith, tell us, The Elders Proclaimed a Fast in their Cities, on this Occasion, because the Wolves had Devoured [Page 124] two Little Children beyond Jordan. Truly, The Elders of New-England, were not a little concern­ed at it, when they saw the Wolves thus devour­ing their Children, even on this side of Merrimack!

ARTICLE. XXI. More English Blood, Swallowed, but Revenged.

REader, We must after This, ever Now and Then, Expect, the happening of some un­happy Accident. The Blood-thirsty Salvages, not content with quaffing the Blood of Two or Three persons, found at work, in a Field at Spruce creek, on Aug. 20. & of another person at York, the same Day, (Captivating also a Lad, which they found with him;) They did on Aug. 24. Kill & Take, Eight persons at Kittery. Here, a little Girl, a­bout Seven years old, the Daughter of one Mr. Downing, fell into their Barbarous Hands; They knock'd her o' th' Head, and barbarously Scalped her, leaving her on the Cold Ground, (and it was then very Cold, beyond what use to be,) where she lay all the Night Ensuing: Yet she was found Alive the Next Morning, and Recovering, she is to this Day Alive, and well: only the place broke in her skull, will not endure to be closed up. He had another Daughter, which at the same Time, almost miraculously Escaped their Hands. But so could not at another Time, Joseph Pike, of [Page 125] Newbury, the Deputy Sheriff of Essex, who, on Sept. 4. Travelling between Amesbury and Haverhil, in the Execution of his Office, with one Long, they both had an Arrest of Death Served upon them, from an Indian Ambascado. Bommaseen, a Com­mander of prime Quality among the Indians, who had set his Hand unto the late Articles of Submission, came Nov. 19. with Two other In­dians, to Pemmaquid, as Loving as Bears, and as Harmless as Tygres, pretending to be just Arrived from Canada, and much Afflicted for the late mis­chiefs, (whereof there was witness, that he was a principal Actor,) but Captain March, with a Sufficient Activity Siezed them; as Robin Doney, another famous Villain among them, with Three more, had been Siez'd at Saco Fort, a little before. Bommaseen, was Convey'd unto Boston, that he might in a close Imprisonment there, have Time to consider of his Treacheries, and his Cruelties, for which, the Justice of Heaven, had thus De­livered him up. When he was going to Pemma­quid, he left his Company, with a Strange Re­luctancy and Formality, as if he had presaged the Event; and when at Pemmaquid, he found the Event of his coming, he discovered a more than ordinary Disturbance of mind: his Passions foam'd and boyl'd, like the very Waters at the Fall of Niagara.

But being thus fallen upon the mention of that Vengeance, wherewith Heaven pursued the chief [Page 126] of the Salvage Murderers, it may give some Di­version unto the Reader, in the midst of a long and a sad Story, to insert a Relation of an Acci­dent that fell out a little after this Time.

The Indians, (as the Captives inform us) be­ing hungry and hardly bestead, passed through de­serted Casco; where they spied several Horses in Captain Brackets Orchard. Their famished Squa's beg'd them to Shoot the Horses, that they might be revived with a little Roast meat; but the young men, were for having a little Sport before their Supper. Driving the Horses into a Pound, they took one of them, and furnished him with an Halter, suddenly made of the Main and the Tail of the Animal, which they cut off. A Son of the famous Hegon, was ambitious to mount this Pegasaean Steed; but being a pittiful Horseman, he ordered them, for fear of his Fall­ing, to Ty his Legs fast under the Horses Belly. No sooner was this Beggar Set on Horse back, and the Spark in his own opinion throughly Equipt, but the Mettlesome Horse furiously and presently ran with him out of Sight. Neither Horse nor Man, were ever seen any more; the astonish'd Tawnies howl'd after one of their Nobility, disap­pearing by such an unexpected Accident. A few Dayes after they found one of his Legs, (and that was All,) which they buried in Captain Brackets Cellar, with abundance of Lamentation.

ARTICLE. XXII. A Conference with an Indian-Sagamore.

BUt now Bommaseen is fallen into our Hands, let us have a little Discourse with him.

Behold, Reader, the Troubles, and the Trou­blers of New-England! That thou mayst a little more Exactly Behold the Spirit of the matter, I'l Recite certain passages, occurring in a Discourse that pass'd between this Bommaseen (who was one of the Indian Princes, or, Chieftanes,) and a Minister of the Gospel, in the year. 1696.

Bommaseen, was, with some other Indians, now a Prisoner, in Boston. He desired a Confe­rence with a Minister, of Boston, which was granted him. Bommaseen, with the other Indians assenting and asserting to it, then told the Minister, That he pray'd his In­struction in the Christian Religion; inasmuch as he was afraid, that the French, in the Christian Re­ligion, which they taught the Indians, had Abused them. The Minister Enquired of him, What of the Things taught 'em by the French, appear'd most Suspicious to 'em? He said, The French taught 'em, That the Lord JESUS CHRIST, was of the French Nation; That His Mother, the Virgin Mary, was a French Lady; That they were the English who had Murdered him; and, [Page 128] That whereas He Rose from the Dead, & went up to the Heavens, all that would Recommend themselves unto His Favour, must Revenge His Quarrel upon the English, as far as they can. He ask'd the Minister, whether these Things were so; and pray'd the Minister to Instruct him in the True Christian Religion. The Mini­ster considering, that the Humour and Manner of the Indians, was to have their Discourses ma­naged, with much of Similitude in them, Look'd about for some Agreeable object, from whence he might with apt Resemblances Convey the Idae's of Truth unto the minds of Salvages: and he thought, none would be more Agreeable to them, than a Tankard of Drink, which happened then to be standing on the Table. So he pro­ceeded in this Method with 'em.

He told [...]hem, [still with proper Actions painting, and pointing out the Signs unto them,] That our Lord JESUS CHRIST, had given us, a Good Religion, which might be Resembled unto the Good Drink in the Cup, upon the Table.

That if we Take this Good Religion, (even that Good Drink,) into our Hearts, it will do us Good, and preserve us from Death.

That Gods Book, the Bible, is the Cup, wherein that Good Drink, of Religion is offered unto us.

That the French, having the Cup of Good Drink, in their Hands, had put Poison into it; and then made the Indians to Drink that Poisoned Liquor, [Page 129] whereupon, they Run mad, and fell to killing of the English, though they could not but know, it must unavoidably issue in their own Destruction at the Last.

That, it was plain, the English had put no Poi­son, into the Good Drink; for they set the Cup wide open, and invited all men, to Come & See before they Tast; even, the very Indians them­selves; for we Translated the Bible into Indian. That they might gather from hence, that the French had put Poison into the Good Drink; inas­much, as the French kept the Cup fast Shut, (the Bible in an Unknown Tongue,) and kept their Hands upon the Eyes of the Indians, when they put it unto their mouths.

The Indians Expressing themselves to be well-Satisfied, with what the Minister had hitherto said, pray'd him, to go on, with showing 'em, what was the Good Drink, and what was the Poi­son, which the French had put into it.

He then set before them distinctly the chief Articles of the Christian Religion, with all the Sim­plicity and Sincerity of a Protestant: Adding upon each, This is the Good Drink, in the Lords Cup of Life: And they still professed, That they liked it all.

Whereupon, he demonstrated unto them, how the Papists had in their Idolatrous Popery, some way or other Depraved, and Altered, every one of these Articles; with Scandalous Ingredients of [Page 130] their own Invention; Adding upon each, This is the Poison which the French have put into the Cup.

At last, he mentioned this Article.

To obtain the Pardon of your Sins, you must con­fess your Sins to God; & pray to God, That He would Pardon your Sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who dyed for the Sins of His People: God Loves Jesus Christ infinitely, and if you place your Eye on Jesus Christ only, when you beg the Pardon of your Sins, God will Pardon them. You need confess your Sins to none but God, Except in cases, where men have known your Sins, or have been Hurt by your Sins; & then those men should know that you confess your Sins; but after all, none but God can Pardon them.

He then added; The French have put Poison in­to this Good Drink; They tell you, that you must confess your Sins to a Priest, and carry skins to a Priest, and Submit unto a Penance enjoyned by a Priest; and this Priest is to give you a Pardon. There is no need of all This: 'Tis nothing but French Poison, all of it.

The Wretches appearing astonish'd, to meet with one who would so fairly put them into a glorious way to obtain the Pardon of their Sins, and yet take no Bever Skins for it: in a Rap­ture of Astonishment, they fell down on their knees, and got his Hand into theirs, and fell to kissing of it with an Extream show of Affection.

He shaking them off, with dislike of their posture, Bommaseen with the rest of them stood [Page 131] up; and first lifting up his Eyes, and Hands, to Heaven; declaring, That God should be Judge of his Heart in what he said; he then said, Sir, I thank you for these Things; I Resolve to Spit up all the French Poison; You shall be my Father; I will be your Son; I beseech you, to continue, to Instruct me, in that Religion, which may bring me to the Salvation of my Soul! — Now, God knows, what Heart this Indian had, when he so Expressed himself: To Him let us leave it.

But so much for this Digression.

ARTICLE. XXIII. More Mischiefs, in Spite of Treaties.

EXcept it were the Falling of Two Souldiers belonging to Saco Garrison, into the Hands of the Enemy, who Took the one, and Kill'd the other, some Time in March. 1695 Many Months pass'd away, without any Action between Them and Us; And it is Reported by Return­ed Captives, That the Hand of God, reach'd them, when the Hand of Man could not find them, and a Mortal Sickness, did at a Strange Rate carry off multitudes of them. At length, upon the Mediation of old Sheepscoat John, once a Praying Indian, of the Reverend ELIOT's Ca­techmuens, but after-wards, a Pagan, and now a Popish-Apostate, a Great Fleet of Canoo's came, [Page 132] in to an Island, about a League from the Fort at Pemmaquid, May 20. 1695. and, after they had laid still there, all the Lords-Day, on Munday morning they sent unto the English, for another Treaty. They Declared, Their Design was to Exchange Captives, and Renew the Peace, and con­demned themselves for their Violating the Peace made near Two years ago. Eight Captives, they Immediately Delivered up; and upon a Grant of a Truce for Thirty Days, Colonel John Phillips, Lieut. Colonel Hawthorn, and Major Convers, were sent Commissioners unto Pemmaquid, for the management of that affayr. Our Commissio­ners, with Good Reason, demanding a Surren­der of all the English Captives, according to for­mer Agreement, before they would allow any New Propositions of Peace to be offered, the Indians, digusted that their Idol Bommaseen was left at Boston, broke off the Conference, and went off in Discontent. Advice was immediate­ly dispatch'd into all parts of the Eastern Country, to stand well upon their Guard: notwithstand­ing which, on July 6. Major Hammond of Kittery, fell into the Hands of the Lurking Indians; and the next week, Two men at Exeter were kill'd by some of the same Dangerous Lurkers. Ma­jor Hammond was now aboard a Canoo, intending to put ashore at Saco; but some of the Garrison-Souldiers there, not knowing that they had such a good Friend aboard, inadvertently Fired upon [Page 133] the Canoo; and so, the Indians carried him clear away. They transported him at length to Ca­nada; where he met with Extraordinary Civi­lities; Count Frontenack, the Governour himself, nobly purchased him, of his Tawny-master; and sent him home to New-England, by a Vessel, which also fetch'd from thence a Considerable Number, (perhaps near Thirty) of English Prisoners. In August, the House of one Rogers at Billerica, was plundered, and about Fifteen People Kill'd and Taken, by Indians, which, by ap­pearing and Approaching, 'tis said, on Horse-back, were not Suspected for Indians, [for, Who set them on Horse-back?] till they Surprized the House they came to. And about the same Time, Sergeant Haley, Venturing out of his Fort, at Saco, Stept into the Snares of Death. On Sept 9. Sergeant March, with Three more, were Killed by the Indians, and Six more, at the same Time wounded at Pemmaquid, Rowing a Gondula, round an high Rocky point, above the Barbican. On Oct. 7. the Indians entred the House of one John Brown at Newbury; carrying away Nine Persons with them; whereupon Captain Greenlief, nimbly pursuing the Murderers, did unhappily so Stumble on them in the Night, that they wounded the good man, and made their Escape over the River. The Captain Retook all the Captives; but the Indians, in their going off, Strook them all so Violently on the Head, with [Page 134] the Clubs, which I remember a French Historian somewhere calls by the frightful Name of Head-breakers, that they afterwards all of them Dyed, Except a Lad that was only hurt in the Shoulder. Some of them Lingred out for half a year, and some of them for more than a whole year; but if the Doctors closed up the wounds of their Heads, they would grow Light headed, and Faint, and Sick, and could not bear it; So at last, they Dy­ed, with their very Brains working out at their Wounds.

But having thus run o [...]er a Journal of Deaths, for the year, 1695. Let us before the year be quite gone, see some Vengeance taken upon the Heads in the House of the Wicked. Know then, Reader, That Captain March petitioning to be Dismiss'd from his Command of the Fort at Pemmaquid, one Chub Succeeded him. And this Chub, found an Opportunity, in a pretty Chubbed manner, to kill, the famous Egeremet, and, Ahen­quid, a couple of Principal Sagamores, with one or Two other Indians; On a Lords-day, the Six­teenth of February. Some that well enough liked the Thing, which was now done, did not altoge­ther like the manner of doing it, because there was a pretence of Treaty, between Chub, and the Sagamores, whereof he took his Advantage to lay violent Hands on them. If there were any unfair Dealing (which I know not) in this Action of Chub, there will be another February, [Page 135] not far off, wherein the Avengers of Blood, will take their Satisfaction.

ARTICLE. XXIV. Still, Mischief upon Mischief.

THe Next whole year, namely, 1696. had it not been for the Degree of a Famine, which the Alteration of the course of Nature in these, as well as other parts of the world, threat­ned us withal, would have been a Year of Less Trouble, than some of the rest, in our Troublesome Decad. The most uneasy Accident of this year, shall be told, when we arrive unto the Month of August; but in the mean Time, it was a mat­ter of some Uneasiness, that on May. 7. one John Church of Quochecho who had been a Captive, E­scaped from the Hands of the Indians, almost Seven years before, was now Slain, and Stript, by their Barbarous Hands: And, on Jun. 24. one Thomas Cole, of Wells, and his wife, were Slain by the Indians, returning home with two of his Neighbours, and their Wives, all three Sisters, from a Visit, of their Friends at York: And, on Jun. 26. at several places within the Confines of Portsmouth, Several Persons, Twelve or Fourteen, were Massacred, (with some Houses Burnt,) and Four Taken, which, yet were soon Retaken; among whom, there was an Ancient Women [Page 136] Scalpt for Dead, and no doubt the Salvages upon producing her Scalp, received the Price of her Death, from those that hired them, and yet she so Recovered, as to be still Alive. Moreover, on July 26. the Lords Day, the People at Quoche­cho, returning from the Publick Worship of God, Three of them were killed, Three of them were wounded, and Three of them were carried away Prisoners to Penobscut; which last Three, were nevertheless in less than Three weeks returned. But now we are got into fatal August; on the Fifth or Sixth Day of which Month, the French having Taken one of the English Men of War, called, The New-port, and Landed a few men, who joyn'd with the Indians, to pursue their Business, Chub, with an unaccountable Baseness, did Surrender the Brave Fort at Pemmaquid into their Hands. There were Ninety Five men double Armed, in the Fort, which might have Defended it against Nine Times as many Assai­lants; That a Fort now should be so basely given up! Imitating the Style of Homer and Virgil, I cannot forbear crying out, O merae Novanglae, neque enim Novangli! And yet if you read the Story written by the Sieur Froger, how poorly St. James's Fort, in Africa, was given up to the French in the year, 1695. You'l say, the Things done in America, are not so bad, as what have been done in ether parts of the World. The Enemy having Demolished so fair a Citadel, now [Page 137] grown mighty Uppish, Triumph'd, as well they might, Exceedingly; and Threatned, that they would carry all before them. The Honourable Lieutenant Governour Stoughton, who was now Commander in Chief, over the Province, im­mediately did all that could be done, to put a Stop unto the Fury of the Adversary. By Sea, he sent out Three Men of War, who, disadvantag­ed by the Winds, came not soon Enough to en­gage the French. By Land, the Indians being so Posted in all quarters, that the People could hardly Stir out, but about half a Score of the poor People in their Fields here and there were pick't off, he sent Colonel Gidney with Five Hundred men; who perceiving the Salvages to be drawn off, only Strengthened the Garrisons, and Return­ed. The Lieutenant Governour, that he might not in any other point be wanting, to the Pub­lick Safety, hereupon dispatched, Colonel Naw­thorn, with a Suitable Number of Souldiers, and Frigats unto St. Johns, with orders to fetch a­way some Great Guns that were lying there, & joyn with Major Church who was gone with Forces that way, to attack the Fort at St. Johns, which was the Nest of all the Wasps that Stung us: but the Difficulty of the Cold Season so dis­couraged our men, that after the making of some few Shot, the Enterprize found it self un­der too much Congelation to proceed any further. So we will afflict our selves no further for this [Page 138] year; Except only with mentioning the Slaugh­ter of about Five poor Souldiers, belonging to Saco-Fort, Oct. 13. who had a Discovery of the Enemy, Seasonable Enough, to have made their Escape; yet, not Agreeing about the way of making it, as it led by some Fatality to their De­struction, or, as if they had been like the Squirrels, that must run down the Tree, Squeaking and Crying, into the mouths of the Rattle-Snakes, that fix their Eyes upon them; they went back in to the very path, where the Indian Ambush was lying for them.

ARTICLE. XXV. A Notable Exploit; wherein, Dux Faemina Facti.

ON March 15. 1697. the Salvages made a Descent upon the Skirts of Haverhil, Mur­dering and Captiving about Thirty Nine Per­sons, and Burning about Half a Dozen Houses. In this Broil, one Hannah Dustan, having lain in about a Week, attended with her Nurse, Mary Neff, a Widow, a Body of Terrible Indians drew near unto the House, where she lay, with Designs to carry on their Bloody Devastations. Her Husband, hastened from his Employments a­broad, unto the Relief of his Distressed Family; and first bidding Seven of his Eight Children (which were from Two to Seventeen years of Age) [Page 139] to get away as fast as they could, unto some Garrison in the Town, he went in, to inform his Wife, of the horrible Distress come upon them, E're she could get up, the fierce Indians were got so near, that utterly despairing to do her any Service, he ran out after his Children; Resolving, that on the Horse, which he had with him, he would Ride away with That, which he should in this Extremity, find his Affections to pitch most upon, and leave the Rest, unto the care of the Divine Providence. He overtook his Children about Forty Rod from his Door; but then, such was the Agony of his Parental Af­fections, that he found it impossible for him to Distinguish any one of them from the rest; wherefore he took up a Courageous Resolution to Live and Dy with them all. A party of In­dians came up with him; and now, though they Fired at him, and he Fired at them, yet he man­fully kept at the Reer of his Little Army of Un­armed Children, while they Marched off, with the pace of a Child of Five years old; until, by the Singular Providence of God, he arrived safe with them all, unto a place of Safety, about a Mile or two from his House. But his House must in the mean Time, have more dismal Tra­gaedies acted at it. The Nurse trying to Escape, with the New-born Infant, fell into the Hands of the Formidable Salvages; and those furious Tawnies coming into the House, bid poor Dustan, [Page 140] to Rise Immediately. Full of Astonishment, she did so; and sitting down in the Chimney, with an Heart full of most fearful Expectation, she saw the Raging Dragons riffle all that they could carry away, and set the House on Fire. About Nineteen or Twenty Indians, now led these a­way, with about Half a Score other English Captives; but e're they had gone many Steps, they dash'd out the Brains of the Infant, against a Tree; and several of the other Captives, as they began to Tire in their sad Journey, were soon sent unto their Long Home; the Salvages would presently bury their Hatchets in their Brains, and leave their Carcases on the Ground, for Birds and Beasts to feed upon. However, Dustan (with her Nurse) notwithstanding her present Condition, Travelled that Night, about a Dozen Miles; and then kept up with their New Masters, in a long Travel of an Hundred and Fifty Miles, more or less, within a few Days Ensuing, without any sensible Damage, in their Health, from the Hard-ships, of their Travel, their Lodging, their Diet, and their many other Difficulties. These Two poor Women, were now in the Hands of those, whose Tender Mer­cies are Cruelties; but the Good God, who hath all Hearts in His own Hands, heard the Sighs of these Prisoners, and gave them to find unexpected Favour from the Master, who laid claim unto them. That Indian Family consisted of Twelve [Page 141] Persons; Two Stout men, Three Women, and Seven Children; and for the Shame of many an English Family, that ha's the Character of, Prayerless, upon it, I must now Publish what these poor Women assure me: 'Tis This; In Obedience to the Instructions, which the French have given them, they would have Prayers in their Family, no less than Thrice Every Day: In the Morning, at Noon, and in the Evening; nor would they ordinarily let their Children Eat or Sleep, without first saying their Prayers. In­deed these Idolaters, were like the rest of their whiter Brethren, Persecutors; and would not en­dure, that these poor Women should Retire to their English Prayers, if they could hinder them. Nevertheless, the poor Women, had nothing but fervent Prayers, to make their Lives Comfortable, or Tolerable; and by being daily sent out, upon Business, they had Opportunities together and asunder, to do like another Hannah, in Pouring out their Souls before the Lord: Nor did their praying Friends among our selves, forbear to Pour out Supplications for them. Now, they could not observe it without some wonder, that their Indian Master, sometimes, when he saw them Dejected, would say unto them; What need you Trouble your self? If your God will have you delivered, you shall be so! And it seems, our God would have it so to be. This Indian Family, was now Travelling with these Two Cap­tive [Page 142] Women, (and an English youth, taken from Worcester, a year and half before,) unto a Ren­dezvouz of Salvages, which they call, a Town, somewhere beyond Penacook; and they still told these poor Women, that when they came to this Town, they must be Stript, and Scourg'd, and run the Gantlet through the whole Army of Indians. They said, This was the Fashion, when the Captives first came to a Town; and they derided some of the Faint hearted English, which, they said, fainted and swooned away under the Torments of this Discipline. But on April. 30. While they were yet, it may be, a­bout an Hundred and Fifty Miles from the In­dian Town, a little before Break of Day, when the whole Crew was in a Dead Sleep; (Reader, see if it prove not So!) one of these Women, took up a Resolution, to Imitate the Action of Jael upon Sisera; and being where she had not her own Life secured by any Law unto her, she thought she was not Forbidden by any Law, to take away the Life of the Murderers, by whom her Child had been butchered. She heartened the Nurse, and the Youth, to assist her in this En­terprize; and all furnishing themselves with Hat­chets for the purpose, they struck such Home Blows, upon the Heads of their Sleeping Oppressors, that e're they could any of them Struggle into any Effectual Resistence, at the Feet of those poor Prisoners, they bowed, they fell, they lay down; [Page 143] at their feet they bowed, they fell; where they bow­ed, there they fell down Dead. Only one Squaw escaped sorely wounded from them, in the Dark, and one Boy, whom they Reserved Asleep, in­tending to bring him away with them, suddenly wak'd, and skuttled away from this Desolation. But cutting off the Scalps of the Ten Wretches, they came off, and Received Fifty Pounds from the General Assembly of the Province, as a Re­compence of their Action; besides which they Received many presents of Congratulation from their more private Friends, but none gave 'em a greater Tast of Bounty, than Colonel Nichol­son, the Governour of Maryland, who hearing of their Action, sent 'em a very generous Token of his Favour.

ARTICLE. XXVI. Remarkable Salvations; and some Remarkable Disasters.

BEsides a man Taken at York, in May, and a­nother man kill'd at Hatfield, in June, and a Third kill'd at Groton; and a Fourth with Two Children carried Captives: there fell out more Mischief, with no small Mercy, on Jun. 10. at Exeter. The Day before, some Women & Chil­dren, would needs ramble without any Guard, into the Woods, to gather Straw-berries; but [Page 144] some that were willing to Chastise them with a Fright, for their presumption, made an Alarm in the Town; whereupon many came together in their Arms. The Indians it seems, were at this very Time, unknown to the English, lying on the other side of the Town ready to make a Destructive Assault upon it; but Supposing this Alarm to be made on their Account, they there­fore supposed themselves to be discovered. Wherefore they laid aside their purpose of at­tempting the Destruction of the Town; and contented themselves, with Killing one man, Taking another, and Wounding a Third. But on July. 4. Lords Day, Major Charles Frost, who had been a Person of no little Consequence to our Frontiers, Returning from the Publick Wor­ship of God, in Berwick, (to repair unto which, about Five Miles from his own House, he had that Morning express'd such an Earnestness, that much Notice was taken of it,) pass'd several more Dangerous places, without any Damage; but in a place, on a little plain by the Turn of a Path, where no Danger was Expected, the Ad­der in the path Surprized him; the Indians having Stuck up certain Boughs upon a Log, there mor­tally Shot him, with Two more, while his Two Sons, that were in the Front of the Company hap­pily escaped: And the Two young men, that Rode Post unto Wells, with these Tidings, in their going back, had their own Death added for another [Page 145] Article of such unhappy Tidings. About the latter End of this Month also, Three Men Mow­ing the Meadowes at Newichawannic, were themselves Cut down by the Indians; tho' one of the Mowers bravely Slew one of the Murtherers. But the most Important Action of this Year, was a little further off. About the beginning of July, Major March was Employ'd, with a­bout Five Hundred Souldiers, not only to De­fend the Frontiers, but also to seek out, and Beat up, the Enemies Quarters. In the mean time, the Lieutenant Governour, apprehending an Invasion from a Formidable French Fleet on the Coast of New-England, with his accustomed prudence and vigour, applied himself to put the whole Province into a posture of Defence: And the Militia, with the several Forts, especi­ally that of Boston, (very much through the Contrivance and Industry of Captain Fairwea­ther,) were brought into so good a posture, that some could hardly forbear too much Depen­dence on our Preparations. But, it being more particularly Apprehended, that in the Intend [...]d Invasion, the Indians, assisted by the French, would make a Descent upon our Frontiers by Land, Major March was advised therefore to Employ some of his Forces, in Scouting about the Woods. Before the Major arrived at York, a party of the Enemy kill'd a man that stood Centinel for some of his Neighbours at Work [Page 146] in the Marsh at Wells; and catching another A­live, they carried him a mile and half off, and Roasted him to Death: But Captain Brackett, that followed him quite as far as Kennebunk, did but almost overtake them: For truly, Reader, our Souldiers cannot, as Antiquity Reports, the old Graecian, and Roman Souldiers could, march at a Running pace or tro [...], heavily Loaded, five and twenty miles in four Hours; but rather suspect whether those Reports of Anti­quity be not Romantick. Three Souldiers of Saco Fort, after this cutting some Fire-wood, on Cow-Island, for the use of the Fort, were by the Indians cut off; while that Lieutenant Fletcher with his Two Sons, that should have Guarded them, went a Fowling; and by doing so, they likewise sell into the Snare. The Indians carrying these Three Captives down the River in one of their Canoes, Lieutenant Larabe, that was abroad with a Scout, way-laid them; and Firing on the Foremost of the Canooes, that had Three men in it, they all Three fell and sank in the River of Death. Several were kill'd aboard the other Canooes; and the rest ran their Canooes ashore, and E­scaped on the other side of the River: and one of the F [...]etchers, when all the Indians with him were killed, was Delivered out of the Hands which had made a prisoner of him: tho his poor Father afterwards Dyed a­mong [Page 147] them. Hereupon Major March, with his Army, took a Voyage farther Eastward; having several Transport Vessels to accommodate them. Arriving at Casco-Bay, they did, upon the Ninth of September, come as occult as they could, further East among the Islands, near a place called, Corbins Sounds; and Landed be­fore Day, at a place called, Damascotta River: where, before Half of them were well got a­shore, and drawn up, the scarce-yet-expected Enemy, Entertained them with a Volley, and an Huzza! None of ours were Hurt; but Major March, Repaid 'em in their own Lea­den Coin; and it was no sooner Light, but a Considerable Battel Ensued. The Commanders of the Transport-Vessels, were persons of such a mettle, that they could not with any pati­ence, forbear going ashore, to take a part of their Neighbours Fare; but the Enemy seeing things operate this way, fled into their Fleet of Canooes which hitherto Lay out of sight, and got off as fast, and as well, as they could, leaving some of their Dead behind them; which they never do, but when under ex­tream Disadvantages. Our Army thus beat 'em off, with the Loss of about a Dozen men: whereof One was, the worthy Captain Dym­mock of Barnstable: and about as many Woun­ded, whereof one was Captain Phillips of, Charlstown; and in this Action, Captain Whiting [Page 148] a young Gentleman of much Worth, and Hope, Courageously acting his part, as Commander of the Forces, the Helpers of the War, which the Co­lony of Connecticut had Charitably lent unto this Expedition, had his Life remarkably rescued, from a Bullet grazing the Top of his Head. But there was a Singular Providence of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the whole of this matter. For by the seasonable Arrival and Encounter of our Army, an horrible Descent of Indians, which probably might have laid whole Plantations De­solate, was most happily Defeated And at the same Time, the Signal Hand of Heaven, gave a Defeat unto the purposes of the French Squa­drons at Sea, so that they had something else to do, than to Visit the Coast of New-England.

ARTICLE. XXVII. The End of the Year, and we hope of the War.

O Thou Sword of the Wilderness; When wilt thou be quiet? On Sept. 11. A party of the Enemy came upon the Town of Lancaster, then prepared for Mischief by a wonderful Security, and they did no little Mischief unto it. Near Twenty were killed, and among the rest, Mr. John Whiting, the Pastor of the Church there: Five were carryed Captive; Two or Three Houses were burnt, and several Old People in them. [Page 149] Captain Brown, with Fifty men, pursued them, till the Night Stop't their pursuit: but it seems, a Strange Dog or two, unknown to the Company, did by their Barking, alarm the Enemy, to Rise in the Night, and Strip and Scalp an English Captive-Woman, and fly so far into the Woods, that after Two Dayes Bootless Labour, our men Returned. November arrived, before any farther Blood shed; and then, t'was only of one man, in the Woods, at Oyster-River. December arrived with the welcome Tidings, of a Peace concluded be­tween England and France; which made us Hope, that there would be little more of any Blood shed at all. The Winter was the Severest, that ever was in the memory of man. And yet February must not pass, without a Stroke upon Pemmaquid Chub, whom the Government had mercifully permitted after his Examination, to Retire un [...]o his Habitation in Andover. As much out of the way as to Andover, there came above Thirty Indians, about the middle of February, as if their Errand had been for a Vengeance upon Chub, whom (with his Wife) they now Mass [...]cred there. They Took Two or Three House, and Slew Three or Four Persons; and Mr. Thomas Barnard, the worthy Minister of the place, very narrowly Escaped their Fury. But in the midst of their Fury; there was one piece of Mercy, the like whereof had never been seen before: For, they had got Colonel Dudley Bradstreet, with his [Page 150] Family into their Hands; but perceiving, the Town Mustering to follow them, their Hearts were so changed, that they dismissed their Cap­tives without any further Damage unto their Persons. Returning back by Haverhil, they kill'd a couple and a couple they Took, with some Remarkable circumstances, worthy to be made a distinct History. But, Reader, we are now in Hast, for to have our present History come unto an End: and though the end of this Year did not altogether prove the end of the War; for, on May 9. 1698. the Indians Murdered an old man, at Spruce-Creek, and carryed away Three Sons, of that old man; and wounded a man at York: yet we were not without prospect of our Troubles growing towards a period: and even in that very Murder at Spruce-creek there fell out one thing that might a little encourage our Hopes concerning it. The Murderer was a fa­mous kind of a Giant among the Indians; a Fellow Reputed Seven Foot High: This Fellow kill'd the poor old man in cold Blood, after he had Surrendred himself a Prisoner: But behold, Before many Hours were out, this famous and bloody Fellow accidently Shot himself to Death, by his Gun going off, when he was foolishly pulling a Canoo to the Shore with it.

The last Bloody Action, that can have a Room in our Story is This

The Indians, (though sometimes, it hath been [Page 151] much doubted, What Indians!) have in this War, made several Descents upon some of the upper Towns, that were our most Northerly Set­tlements upon Connecticut River. But the Pious, and Honest People in those Towns, have al­ways given them a brave Repulse, and had a no­table Experience of the Divine Favour to them, in their preservations. Deerfield ha's been an Extraordinary Instance of Courage, in keeping their Station, though they have lived all this while in a very Pihahiroth; and their worthy Pastor, Mr. John Williams, deserves the Thanks of all this Province, for his Encouraging them all the ways Imaginable, to Stand their ground. Once the Enemy was like to have Surprised them into a grievous Desolation; but he, with his Praying, and Valiant, little Flock, m [...]st hap­pily Repelled them. And now, about the mid­dle of July, 1698. a little before Sun set, Four Indians, killed a Man and a Boy, in Hatfield Meadows; and carried away Two Boys, into Captivity. The Advice coming to Deerfield in the Night, they presently Dispatched away Twelve men, to way lay the Enemy coming up the River; having first, Look'd up unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might find the Ene­my, and harm none but the Enemy, and Rescue the Children which the Enemy had Seized upon. After a Travel of near Twenty Miles, they per­ceived the Indians, in their Canooes coming up the [Page 152] River, but on the other side of it, within a Rod or Two, of the opposite Shore: Whereupon they so Shot, as to Hitt one of the Indians, and then they all Jump't out of the Canooes, and one of the Boyes with them. The wounded Salvage crawled unto the Shoar; where, his back being broken, he lay in great Angush, often Endea­vouring with his Hatchet, for to knock out his own Brains, and tear open his own Breast, but could not: and another Indian seeing the Two Boyes getting one to another, design'd 'em a Shot, but his Gun would not go off: Where­upon he followed 'em with his Hatchet, for to have knock'd 'em on the Head; but just as he come at 'em, one of our men sent a Shot into him, that Spoilt his Enterprize; and so the Boyes getting together, into one Canooe, brought it o­ver to the Friends thus concerned for them. These good men, seeing their Exploit perform­ed thus far; Two Indians destroy'd, and Two Children delivered, they fell to Praising of God; and one young man particularly, kept thus Ex­pressing himself; Surely, Tis God, and not we, that have wrought this Deliverance! But, as we have sometimes been told. That even in the Beating of a Pulse, the Dilating of the Heart, by a Diastole of Delight, may be turned into a con­tracting of it, with a Systole of Sorrow: In the Beating of a few Pulse, after this, they sent five or six men, with the Canooe, to fetch the other, [Page 153] which was lodged at an Island not far off, that they might pursue the other Indians: when those two Indians having hid themselves in the High-grass, unhappily Shot a quick Death, into the young man, whose Expressions were but now recited. This Hopeful young mans Bro­ther-in-Law, was intending to have gone out, upon this Action; but the young man himself importuned his Mother to let him go: which, because he was an only Son, she denyed; but then, fearing she did not well to withold her Son from the Service of the Publick, she gave him leave: saying, See that you do now, and as you go along, Resign, and give up your self unto the Lord; and I desire to Resign you to Him! So he goes, and so he dies; And may he be the last, that falls in a Long and Sad War, with Indian Salvages!

ARTICLE XXVIII. The Epilogue of a Long Tragaedy.

FOr the present then, the Indians have Done Murdering; They'l Do so no more till next Time. Let us then have done Writing; when we have a little informed our selves what is be­come of the chief Murderers among those Wretches, for whom if we would find a Name of a Length like one of their own Indian Long-winded words, it might be, [Page 154] ‘Bombardo-gladio-fun-hasti-flammi-loquentes.’

Major Convers, and Captain Alden, in pursu­ance of Instructions Received from the Lieut. Governour and Council, arriving at Penobscet, on Oct. 14. 1698. were there informed, That Ma­dockawando, the noted Sagamore, with several o­ther Sachims of the East, were lately Dead. And six days after this, the chief Sachims now Living, with a great Body of Indians, Entertain­ed them with a Friendly Discourse; wherein they said, That the Earl of Frontenac had sent them word, there was a Peace concluded be­tween the Kings of France and England, and that one of the Articles in the Peace was, for Prisoners on both sides to be Returned, and they were Resolved to obey the Earl of Frontenac as their Father; and accordingly such Prisoners of ours, as they had now at hand, might immedi­ately Return, if we could perswade them, for They would not Compel them. When our Eng­lish Messengers argued with them, upon the perfidiousness of their making a New War, after their Submission, the Indians replied, That they were Instigated by the Erench to do what they did, against their own Inclinations; adding, That there were two Jesuites, one toward Amo­noscoggin, the other at Narridgaway, both of which, they desired the Earl of Bellomont, and the Earl of Frontenac, to procure to be Remov­ed; otherwise it could not be expected, that a­ny [Page 155] Peace would continue long. The Indians al­so, and the English Prisoners, gave them to un­derstand, that the last Winter, many, both Indi­ans, and English Prisoners, were Starved to Death; and particularly, Nine Indians, in one company went a Hunting, but met with such hard cir­cumstances, that after they had Eat up their Dogs, and their Coats, they Dyed horribly Fa­mished: And since the last Winter, a grievous and unknown Disease is got among them, which consumed them wonderfully. The Sagamore Saquadock, further told them, That the Kennebeck Indians, would fain have gone to War again, this last Summer, but the other Refused, where­upon they likewise Desisted: And they Resolved now, to Fight no more; but if any Ill Accident or Action, should happen on either side, he did in the Name of the Indians Desire, That we would not presently make a War upon it, but in a more amicable way compose the Differences.

That the Indian Affayrs might come to be yet more exactly understood, the General As­sembly of the Province, Employ'd Colonel John Phillips, and Major Convers, to Settle them. These Gentlemen, took a Difficult and a Dangerous Voyage, in the Depth or Winter, unto the Eastern parts, in the Province-Galley, then under the Command of Captain Cyprian Southack; and the principal Sagamores of the Indians there coming to them, did again Renew, and Sub­scribe [Page 156] the Submission, which they had formerly made in the year 1693. With this Addition unto it.

At this Time also, the Indians Restored as ma­ny of the English Captives, in their Hands, as were able to Travel above an Hundred Miles in this terrible Season of the year, from their Head-quarters, down to the Sea-side; giving all possible satisfaction, for the Restoration of the rest, as Early in the Spring, as there could be a­ny Travelling.

The Condition of these Captives, has afford­ed [Page 158] many very Remarkable Things, whereof 'tis a thousand pitties that so many are lost. But be­cause one of the Two Gentlemen Employ'd as Commissioners for the Treaty with the Indians, took certain Minutes of Remarkable Things from some of the Captives, I am willing to give the Reader a Tast of them.

The Reader now ha's nothing but Peace be­fore him. Doubtless he comforts himself with Hopes, of Times better to Live in, than to Write of!

BUt that which yet more assures a Break of Day after a long and sad Night unto us, is, That the Best King at this Day upon Earth, and the Greatest Monarch, that ever Sway'd the Scep­ter of Great Britain, hath Commission'd a Noble Person, who hath in him an Illustrious Image of His own Royal Vertues, to take the Government of these Provinces; and he is accordingly Ar­rived now near our Horizon. When the Schools of the Jews delivered, That there were Three Great Gifts of the Good God unto the world, The Law, the Rain, and the Light; R. Zeira added, I pray, let us take in Peace for a Fourth. All these Four Gifts of God, are now Enjoy'd by New-England: But I must now ask, That our Hope of a Fifth may be added unto the Num­ber; which is, A GOVERNOUR, of Signalized Vertues. To the truly Noble Earl of BEL­LOMONT, the whole English Nation must own it self Endebted, while it is a Nation, for the [Page 161] most Generous and Successful Zeal, with which he Laboured for those Acts of Parliament; by Assenting whereunto, the Mighty WILLIAM, hath Irradiated England, with Blessings, that it never saw before His Happy Reign: Blessings richly worth all the Expences of a Revolution. England owes no less Immortal Statues, unto the Earl of Bellomont, than Ireland, unto his Illustri­ous Ancestors. But the Continent of America, must now Share in the Influences of that No­ble Person, whose Merits have been Signalized on the most famous Islands of Europe; and the Greatest Person, that ever set foot, on the Eng­lish Continent of America, is now Arrived unto it. We are now satisfying our selves in the Ex­pectations of the Great and Good Influences, to be derived from the Conduct of a Governour, in whom there will meet, ‘—Virtus et Summa potestas.’

And now, Reader, I will conclude our Histo­ry of the Indian War, in Terms like those used by the Syrian Writer at the Conclusion of his Book;

Finis, per Auxilium Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, mense Duodecimo, per manus peccatoris pauperis et Errantis.

ARTICLE XXIX. Quakers Encountred.

FOr the present then, we have done with the Indians: But while the Indians have been thus molesting us, we have suffered Molestati­ons of another sort, from another sort of Ene­mies, which may with very good Reason, be cast into the same History with them. If the Indians have chosen to prey upon the Frontiers, and Out-Skirts, of the Province, the Quakers have chosen the very same Frontiers, and, Out-Skirts, for their more Spiritual Assaults; and fin­ding little Success elsewhere, they have been La­bouring incessantly and sometimes not unsuccessful­ly, to Enchant and Poison the Souls of poor peo­ple, in the very places, where the Bodies and E­states, of the people have presently after been devoured by the Salvages. But that which makes it the more agreeable, to allow the Qua­kers, an Article in our History of the Indians, is, That a certain silly Scribbler, the very First-born of Non-sensicality, (and a First-born too, that one might Salute as the Martyr Polycarp once did the wicked Marcion,) One Tom Maule; at this Time Living in Salem, hath exposed unto the Publick, a Volumn of Nonsensical Blasphemies and Haeresies, wherein he sets himself to Defend [Page 163] the Indians, in their Bloody Villanies, and Revile the Countrey for Defending it self against them. And that the Venome of this Pamphlet might be Improved unto the Heighth of Slanderous Wick­edness, there hath been since added unto it, in a­nother Pamphlet, a parcel of Ingredients com­pounded, for mischief, as if by the Art of the A­pothecary. None but he, whom the Jewes, in their Talmuds call, Ben-tamalion could have inspi­red such a Slanderer! Have the Quakers ever yet Censured, this their Author, for holding forth in his Alcoran, [pag. 221.] That the Devil, Sin, Death, and Hell, are but Nothing, they are but a Non-Entity: And, [pag. 183.] That all men who have a Body of Sin remaining in them, are Witches? I have cause to believe, that they never did! Nor that they ever advised him to pull in his Horns, from goring the sides of New-England, with such passages as those, in [pag. 195.] the same horrible Pamphlet: God hath well Rewarded the Inhabitants of New-England, for their Unrighteous Dealings, towards the Native Indians, whom now the Lord hath suffered to Rew [...]r [...] the Inhabitants, with a double measure of Blood, by Fire and Sword, &c. And those Unrighteous Dealings, he Explains, to be the Killing of the Indians, (or Murdering of them) by the Old Planters of these Colonies, in their First Settle­ment. Thus are the Ashes of our Fathers vilely staled upon, by one, who perhaps would not [Page 164] stick at the Villany of doing as much upon their Baptism it self. I must tell you, Friends, that if you don't publickly, give forth a Testimony to Defy, Tom Maule, and his Works, it will be thought by some, who it may be don't wish you so well, as I do, that you own this Bloody Stuff: which, doubtless you'l not be so ill advi­sed as to do. But, certainly, if the good peo­ple of New-England, now make it not a proverb for a Lyar of the First Magnitude, He is as very a Lyar as TOM MAULE; they will deprive their Language of one Significant Ex­pression, which now offers it self unto them.

Let us now Leave our Friend Maules Works, as a fit Volumn to be an Appendix unto the fa­mous Tartaretus, and worthy of a Room in Pantagruels Library. The fittest way to answer him, would be to send him to Boston Woods!

In the mean Time, I owe unto the Publick, a piece of History, which it may be for the Safe­ty of our Northern Towns, to be acquainted with­al. Know, Sirs, That once the famous George Keith, undertook to be the Champion of our New-English Quakers; and bid fair to be the very Dalae, or Prester John, of all the English Tartars; but a Minister of Boston, upon that oc­casion, publishing a Book, Entituled, Little Flocks guarded against grievous Wolves, could not but complain of it, as a very Scandalous Thing, in George Keith, to maintain the points of the Foxian [Page 165] Quakerism, while he really differed from them. All this while, George Keith was admired by our Quakers, as an Apostle, or, an Oracle: but, he finding it impossible to mentain the gross Tenets of the common Quakers, preach'd unto them the Necessity of Believing on a Christ without, as well as a Christ within. Hereupon, there grew such alienations between him, and the other Quakers, (who had been taught by George Fox, to say, The Devil is in them, who say, they are Saved by Christ without them:) that he not only ha's written diverse Learned Books, to confute those very Doctrines of the Common Quakers, which the Pastors of New-England had, upon his Pro­vocation, Written against, but also ha's therefore undergone a Storm of Persecution, from the Friends in Pensylvania: Yea, 'tis verily thought, that poor George would have been made a Sacri­fice to Squire Samael Jennings, and the rest of the Pensylvanian Dragons, and that, since a crime which their Laws ha [...] made Capital, was men­tion'd in the Mittimus whereby Keith was com­mitted, they would have Hang'd him, if a R [...] ­volution upon their Government had not set him at liberty. Being by the Fines, and Gaols, and Fierce Usages of the Quakers in Pensylvania, driven over to England, the Wonderful Hand of God, hath made this very man, I think I may say, incomparably the greatest Plague, that ever came upon that Sect, of Energumens. Although [Page 166] he do himself still retain the Name of a Quaker, yet he hath in one Treatise after another, Ear­nestly called upon the Divines, throughout the Nation, more Vigorously to Employ their Ta­lants, against the Quakers, as a more Dangerous Generation of People than they are well aware; and he did in the year 1696. with the leave of the Lord Mayor, Challenge the Quakers, to make their Appearance at Turners Hall, in the chief City of Europe; where he proved unto the Satis­faction of a vast Assembly, that the chief Writers of the Quakers, assert Christ neither to be God, nor Man; and that they deny Christ to be pray'd unto; and that they had affirm'd, Christs out­ward Blood, shed on the Ground, to be no more than the Blood of another Saint; and that they had charged him with New-Doctrine, for directing to Faith in Christ without us, as well as within us; and that at their Meetings, they had censured him, for saying, That Christs Body came out of the Grave, which they say, It never did: And many more such horrid matters. To confirm these things, Besides the grievous Bites which Francis Bugg, one of their late Friends, hath given them, one Daniel Leeds, without wholly casting off the Profession of a Quaker, hath lately Printed a Book, wherein he produces above Threescore In­stances, of the Flat Contradictions, which he hath observed in the Books of the Friends, that have most pretended unto Infallibility; and he demon­strates [Page 167] from evident matter of East, that though they declared unto the World, That their Suffe­rings had been greater, and more unjust, than the Sufferings of Jesus, and His Apostles; yet they themselves were no sooner mounted into the Seat of Government, than they fell to Persecuting as bad as any in the World. Albeit Fox writes, They that cause People to be put in Prison, and have their Goods taken away, are Disorderly Teachers, and shall be rooted out: Nevertheless Leeds proves by many Exemples, that the Pensylvanians did it, even upon their own Friends, for meer Scruples of their Consciences. 'Tis reported, The Quakers are so confounded at this Book of Leeds, that they have been at the charge to buy up the whole Impression of it, and so to Stiffle and Smo­ther it: If it be so, I hope 'twill but produce a New Impression of so rare a Book. The Marvel­lous Providence of our Lord Jesus Christ, having thus employ'd, the Pens of the Quakers them­selves, to warn you, that you beware of Quaker­ism, it will be a marvellous Infatuation in any of you, after this, to be led away with that Error of the Wicked. Reader, make a Pause, and here Admire the Marvellous Providence of our Lord Jesus Christ! The first and great Apostle of the Quakers, even George Fox, the Shoe-maker, in his, Great Mystery, Pag. 94. Excludes from the Church of Christ, Those who are not Infallible, in Discern­ing the Hearts of other men. Whereas now in [Page 168] Spite of all their Infallibility, such Friends as Keith (and Leeds) whom they once admired, profess that they never in their Hearts Believed, as the Common Foxian Quakers do; and Qua­kerism Suffers from none in the world more than these. But that I may a little Suggest unto you, certain Methods of Encountring those Adversa­ries of your Faith, which go about, seeking whom they may deceive, and whom I do here offer to prove as horrid Idolaters, as even those that worshipp'd the Rats of Egypt, if it be fairly demanded of me, I will first Recite unto you, certain passages, of a Discourse, which a Minister of Boston, had with a very Busy and Noisy Teacher among the Quakers, (and another of the Friends,) in his Return from his Visitation unto some of our Northern Towns, where the Giddy People, had cry'd him up for a None-Such.

We are come to give thee a Friendly Visit.

I am glad to see you, at my House; you shall be welcome to the best Entertain­ments, my House can afford you.

But will you do me the Favour, to let me understand, the Designs upon which you visit these parts of the Country?

I come to preach Jesus Christ.

Excuse me— What Christ, I pray?

The same Christ, that appeared unto [Page 169] Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and that appear­ed unto Moses in the Bush, and that was with Israel in the Wilderness.—

I would interrupt you. I perceive, that we shall be drawn into some Discourse. Matter of Argument will occur, I foresee, in our Discourse. Argument sometimes does draw forth Words that may have too much Warmth in them. I purpose none such. But if you are sensible, that I do let fall any one such word, in our Disputation, do me the favour, to take notice of it unto me, and I'le immediately cor­rect it. Now, if you please; —

Thou speakest very well. This is but according to the Good Report we have heard of thee.

Friend, I am sensible, that you are come among us, to preach a Religion, different from that which is commonly Preached, Professed, & Practised in the Country. If you approve the Religion of the Country, I can't see, where's the Sense of it, for you to take such tedious Journeys for our Illumination. I pray, be so kind as to let me know, what point in our Holy Religion, you do not Approve?

'Tis not my Business here to Enquire in­to thy Religion. I am come to preach the Religion of Jesus Christ; the same that the Holy Prophets and Apostles believed; even the Inward manifestation of Christ in our Hearts,—

To make short work on it; I per­ceive [Page 170] you both to be that sort of people, we call Quakers. Now, there is among the Quakers, that extream Uncertainty, Varie [...]y, and Con­tradiction, that no man, can say what you hold, any further than each Individual Person, will con­fess his own Tenets. I must therefore, pray the favour of you, to tell me; Do you own George Foxes Book, Entituled, The Great My­stery?

'Tis none of our Business, to tell what Books we own, and what we do not own: And it is none of thy Business to Ask us. I say, We own Je­sus Christ, and His Inward Manifestation in our Hearts. And that's Enough!

You'l Excuse me: I do again ask, whether you do own George Foxes Book, of, The Great Mystery? Because doubtless you have Read it. And if you'l ask me, as much con­cerning any Book under Heaven, (that I have Read,) Whether I own it, or, How much I own of it, I'l answer you with all the Freedom in the world.

I say, What hast thou to do with George Fox? or, to Examine me?

Yes, Friend, I do, and must, and will Examine You. For you are come to Hold Forth unto as many of my Flock, as you can. And the Word of God bids me to Try you. And, I have to do with George Eox too: because George Fox, in his Writings, has to do with me. [Page 171] And if you will sincerely tell me, whether you own George Fox, or no, I shall more probably tell, who you are. In short; If you'l say, you Deny and Renounce George Fox, then I must go another way to work with you. If you'l say you own him, then I must endeavour to Save you, from some of his Damnable Haeresies.

What Haeresies?

Numberless. But I do at this Time call to mind Three of them.

First. That the Soul of man, is without Begin­ning, and Infinite. This is, if I forget not, in the 90th page of that Book.

Secondly. That it is not contrary to the Scrip­ture, That God the Father took upon Him Humane Nature. And, That the Scripture does not tell peo­ple of a Trinity, nor Three Persons in God; but that these Three Persons were brought in by the Pope.

This is in pag. 246.

Thirdly. That they that are not compleat in San­ctification, are not compleat in Justification.

This is in, pag. 284. Now,

What say ye, Syrs?

What hast thou to do, to Rake into the Ashes of the Dead? Let George Fox alone. Hast thou any thing to charge upon me?

I shall know, if you'l tell me, whe­ther you own George Fox or no. And you can tell me, if you will. I would be more civil to you, Syrs.

I never saw that Book of George Fox.

[And so said, the other Quaker, that was with him.]

Syrs, you astonish me! What? Ne­ver see George Foxes Book, of, The Great Mystery! 'Tis impossible! This Thing is to me, a Myste­ry! Syrs, That Book is the very Bible of Quake­rism. 'Tis Essential unto a Quaker, at least, un­to a Teaching Quaker, as you are, to be Indoctri­nated from that Book. Never see it, man!— However, if you say so, I must Believe it.

[Fell into an Harangue, Repeating what he had Preached abroad, about the Coun­trey; which, because I would misrecite no­thing, I dare not undertake exactly to Recite in this place.]

I perceive our Conversation, will be to little Advantage, except we get a little closer to some certain point, which I have hitherto En­deavoured but ineffectually.

Syrs, There are several points, which I would willingly bring you to. And there happening to be several of my Honest Neighbours at hand, I have pray'd them (with your leave,) to walk in, that they may be Witnesses of what passes between us.

First, I'll begin, if you please, with This.

I told you at the Beginning, I would not wil­lingly Treat you, with one Hard word. There is an Hard word, which will presently occur, by [Page 173] the unavoidable course of Disputation. I would pray you, to ease me of the Trouble of speak­ing it. You shall your self have the speaking of it.

What's that?

I pray, Friend, what doth the Scrip­ture say, of them that say, They know Jesus Christ, and yet keep not His Commandments?

Nay, What dost thou say, the Scripture sayes in that case?

You will compel me, I see.—I say then: The Scripture saies, He that says, I know Him, and keeps not His Commandments, is a Lyar, and the Truth is not in him. 'Tis in 1 Joh. 2.4.

And what then?

Why this then. He that says, I know Jesus Christ, and yet keeps not the Command­ments of Jesus Christ, is a Lyar, and the Truth is not in him.

You say, You know Jesus Christ. But you must give me leave to say, That you Keep not the Com­mandments of Jesus Christ.

Therefore,—pray Syrs, do you help out the Con­clusion. I am loth to speak it. You know what it is.

Yes, yes. We know well enough what Conclusion, thou wouldest be at: Thou wouldest say, That we are Lyars, and that the Truth is not in us.

Right! Since it must be so.

But what Commandment of Jesus Christ, is there, that we don't keep?

The Commandment of Jesus Christ, is, For His Disciples to be Baptised with Water; But you, Qua [...]kers, do not keep that Com­mandment of Jesus Christ.

How dost thou prove, that Jesus Christ commanded Baptism with Water?

I know, you must have the word, Water, or nothing will content you. Else I would have urged, for a Sufficient proof, our Lords Commanding His Ministers, to Baptise men, [Matth. 28.19.] This Command Expresses our Duty. 'Tis not our Duty to Baptise men with the Holy Spirit. This belongs not unto Us, but unto Him, who's that Holy Spirit is. You will not say, we Sin, if we don't Baptise the Disciples in all Nations, with the Holy Spirit. So then, it must be a Baptism with Water, which is there Commanded by our Lord. But, as I said, you must have the word, Water; & you shall have it.

The Apostle Peter said,—

The Apostle Peter! The Apostle Peter! Thou wast to prove that Jesus Christ Commanded Bap­tism with Water. And now, Thou art come to the Apostle Peter!

Stay, Friend; not so fast! Will you say then, that the Commandments brought by the Apostle Peter, as the Commandments of Je­sus Christ, are not the Commandments of Jesus Christ? But however, I'le mend the Expression,—

The Spirit of Jesus Christ in the Apostle Pe­ter, [Page 175] (Now, I hope, it fits you!)—

[J. S.] Thou art a Monster, all Mouth, and no Ears,—

—Prethee, talk Civilly, Don't make me Believe, that I am at Ephesus. If I were in one of your Houses, I would not give you such Language; you had but now, a greater liberty to use your Mouth, than I have hitherto taken; and my Ears were patient. But, you foresee my Argument, is going to pinch you. 'Tis but Civility to let me Finish it.

Thou wast to prove, that Jesus Christ Commanded Baptism with Water. And thou hast not proved it. And therefore thou Speakest Falsely.

What do you mean? These little Shuffles won't help you.

I say, The Spirit of Jesus Christ, in the A­postle Peter, after our Lords Ascension, when it was Impossible for Johns Baptism (which was into the Messiah Suddenly to come, not, already come,) should have place, did say, in Act. 10 47. Can any man Forbid Water, that these should not be Baptised, which have Received the Holy Ghost?

How does this prove, That Jesus Christ Commanded these to be Baptised with water?

Thus; —

If Jesus Christ had not Commanded Baptism with Water, any man might have then Forbid it.

But, no man could Forbid it.

Therefore Jesus Christ Commanded it.

Therefore! Therefore! Argo, Argo! Why, Dost thou think, Religion is to be proved by thy Th [...]efore's, by thy Argo's?

Friend, I perceive, the word, There­fore, is a ver [...] dead doing sort of a Word to yee. I'le dismiss this Terrible Word. I'le only say, The Reason, why none could forbid Believers to be Baptised with Water, was meerly Because Jesus Christ Commanded it.

BECAUSE; Why, the word, Because is as bad as the word, Therefore.

[Smiling.] It may be so. But in the mean time, you are wonderfully unreasona­ble! I say, why could none forbid Water, for the Faithful to be Baptised.

Who sayes, None could Forbid Water? 'Tis only said, Can any man Forbid Water?

I pray, Syrs; And is not this, None can.

But I'l bring the matter to bear upon you, without those two Dangerous words, THERE­FORE, and BECAUSE; at which you are so terrified.

I will put the matter into the Form of a Question: And your Answer to this Question, shall put an End, to our present Velitations.

What have we to do to Answer thy Questions?

My Question is,

Whether a man might not forbid in the Worship [Page 177] of Jesus Christ, what Jesus Christ Himself hath no way Commanded?

You can Answer this Question, if you will; & I desire, I demand your Answer.

What? For us to answer thy Questions! That would be, to Ensnare our selves.

I am very sensible of That. There­fore, take Notice, You are Ensnared, in the Toyls of your own miserable Delusions. But still, I say, Answer my Question.

Do you see, Neighbours? Friend M. was to prove, that Jesus Christ commanded Baptism, and now, he's come to a Question!

So I am Truly. And, I see 'tis a Question, that puts you into a Sweat. I beseech you to Answer it. I Require you to Answer it. What shall I say? I Defy you to Answer it. Par­don my Cogency; You Force me to 't!

I say, How does a Question prove, That Jesus Christ commanded Baptism with Water? And why dost thou Baptise Infants?

Nay, I'le keep you to the Question. Your Answer to the Question, will prove it; I am designing to make you your selves prove it. And, Sirs, I do here offer to you, That I will give the best Answer I can, to any Question in the world, that you shall put unto me: why are you so loath to Answer one short Question of mine?

I be not obliged to Answer thy Question?

I must contrive some fair way, to [Page 178] Compel some Answer unto this one Question. Give me leave therefore to tell you, That if you do not Answer this Question, you go away conquered and confounded. Yea, Sirs, I must in Faithful­ness tell you, That you carry away, the dreadful Mark of Hereticks, upon you, Even, To be Con­demned in your own Conscience. You go away, Self-Condemned, That you don't keep the Com­mandments of Jesus Christ; and Therefore, That you are, — what, you Remember, the Apostle John said concerning you.

I don't condemn Thee, for using Baptism with Water.

This is no Answer to the Question still: For you don't observe it your self; nei­ther you, nor any Quakers under Heaven. Where­fore I still urge for an Answer.

Thou art not Civil to us. Is this thy Ci­vility to Strangers? We have heard a Great Fam [...] of thee, for thy Civil, and obliging carriage, towards others that are not of thy perswasion. But now thou are uncivil to us. That which I have to say, is, I will keep to that Book, the Bible, and I will preach what is in that Book.

[Taking up the Bible,] Friend, you pretend then to understand this Book. I do here make you this offer; That I will immedi­ately Turn you to Ten several places, in one Book of this Holy Bible, [the Chronicles,] And if you can give me a Tolerable Solution of any one of [Page 179] them, I'le acknowledge that you are worthy to preach out of it.

Canst thou do it thy self?

I Humbly Hope, I can.

How dost thou know that I can't?

I say, you can't. Now do you Accept my offer: If you can, I'l own, that I have wrong'd you.

What's that to thee, what I can do?

Look you, Neighbours: I think, 'tis to no purpose, to proceed unto any other points, with such unreasonable Folks as these. You see, how 'Tis. If you desire it, I'l proceed.

No, Syr, 'Tis to no purpose, they are a people of no Reason.

Nay, Friend M.— I would not have thee to be so Hard upon us. I mean Thee no Harm. I hear, thou takest a great deal of pains for the good of thy people. And they will do well, to Hearken to Thee. I have Rebuked some of them for speaking Evil of thee. Yea, It is my Judgment, That thou, and other such Ministers as Thou art, ought Honou­rably to be maintained by the people.

You differ from all your Friends, me­thinks. What? Would you have us to be Hire­lings? 'Tis very strange to hear a Quaker plead for the Maintainance of our Ministry. But for your satisfaction, I'l tell you, The people whom I Serve, I never once in all my Life Ask'd for any Maintainance or Salary; and I never made [Page 180] any Agreement with them about any Salary, in all my Life.

I say, I would not have Thee too Hard upon us. New England has Persecuted our Friends at a grievous Rate.—

Nay, Friends, Be not you too Hard upon me, about that matter. I Approve Perse­cution, as Little as any of you all. I abhor it; I have Preach'd against it, I have Writ against it, I have Bewayled the mistakes that some Good men have committed in it. I would have you Treated with all the Civility, imaginable. I would not have the Civil Magistrate inflict up on you, the Damage of one Farthing for your Consciences.

But now, you may see, how the Judg­ments of God, are come upon the East Country, by the Indians for your Persecution.

I can't tell That neither. For tho' I am sorry at my Heart, that ever you were Persecuted: Yet, I can't say, That because Bo­ston was guilty of Persecution, therefore Newi­chawannic, and Casc [...] Bay, (places in other Pro­vinces,) that never had any such thing in it, must be cut off.

Yes, they Persecuted at the East ward. There were Two Women, of our Friends, cruel [...]y Scourged there.

I suppose, you refer to a Story, published by one George Bishop, a Quaker: He [Page 181] Complains bitterly, of the New England Persecu­tion, because there came Two Quaker women Stark Naked, into our Publick Assemblies, and they were carried unto the Whipping post for it. This was in the Northern parts of the Country, as I have been told. These Baggages, I believe, were the persecuted women, you talk of!

Well, and what if they did appear Nak­ed, to show the People the Nakedness of their Sins?

For Shame, Sirs, let us have no more of This Talk.

Why didst thou treat George Keith so hardly?

He deserved it, when I so Treated him. And you Quakers, have since Treated him Ten Times worse than ever I did. You write whole Books of Railing against him. I never got him into Goals, and under Fines. I should have been Troubled at any that would have done so. But you have done it. Therefore, I believe, 'tis best for you to leave that Subject.

And so after a few other small Pulls, the Saw stood still. The Conference ended.

There are Five or Six witnesses, which I have to attest unto the Truth of this Relation, which I have here given, of a Conference, with a Quaker, which had all the Friends far and near wondering (as well as wandring) after him. And yet these Cretians boasted among their Friends, how much they had confounded the Minister in this Con­ference.

All that I would presume now to Commend unto those Towns, which have such Quakers an­noying of them, is This Brethren, carry it well, even with all convenient Civility & Humanity, towards this Poor Deluded People; while you Charge your Children and Servants, that they do not go unto their Meetings: and cast not your selves also into Temptation, by needlessly being There. But after all, yea, before all, make an Experi­ment, which the Good People at Lyn made a little while ago, with a Success truly observable and memorable.

The Quakers made a more than ordinary De­scent upon the Town of Lyn, and Quakerism suddenly spread there, at such a rate as to A­larum the Neighbourhood. The Pastor of the Church there, Indicted a Day, for Prayer with Fasting, to Implore the Help of Heaven against the unaccountable Enchantment; and the Good People presented accordingly, on July 19 1694. their fervent Supplica [...]ions, unto the Lord, that the Spiritual Plague might proceed no further. The Spiri [...] of our Lord Jesus Christ gave a Re­markable Effect, unto this Holy Method of En­countring the Charms of Quakerism: It proved a Better method, than any Coercion of the Civil Magistrate: Quakerism in Lyn received (as I am informed) a Death-Wound, from that very Day; The Number of Quakers in that place hath been so far from Increasing, that I am [Page 183] told, it hath since rather Decreased notably. Now let other Endangered Plantations; Go, and do likewise.

The Quakers, are such Enemies, to the Holy Religion, which is the Life of New England, That you must Excuse my concern to have you For­tify'd against their Attempts also, while I am giving you an History of your other Enemies. What all of them would be at, methinks, was a little intimated by what One of them once De­clared. The Globe Tavern was near our Publick and Spacious Meeting-House at Salem: and a No­ted Quaker there caused a paper to be set up on the Door of that Meeting-House, which had such Stuff as this written in it.

This is but like a passage mentioned in the Life, of that Excellent man Mr. P. Henry, lately published. A Debauched Gentleman, in his Re­vels, Drinking and Swearing, at Malpas, was Re­proved by a Quaker, then in his Company. Why, said the Gentleman, I'le ask thee one Question; Whether it is better for me to follow Drinking and Swearing, or to go and Hear Henry? The Quaker answered; Nay, of the Two, rather follow thy Drinking and Swearing. Behold, the Spirit of Quakerism! When I once compelled a Quaker [Page 184] to confess, that the Body of Jesus of Nazareth rose from the Grave, and went up into the Hea­vens, he begg'd me that I would not improve his confession, as if made on the behalf of all his Friends. And another of them, as, I hear, pub­lickly Held Forth by one of his late Stercorations, That the Husks of the Swine, on which the Pro­digal fed in the Parable, were, The Bread and Wine, in that which People call, The Sacrament.

But what will become of those Forlorn Villages, that shall Resign themselves to the conduct of that Light within; which our Sa­cred Scriptures indeed never expresly mention but once or twice, and then call it, Real Dark­ness; and which may lead men to all this wick­edness? There was among the Mahometans in the Eastern parts of the World, a Sect called Batenists, from the Arabic, Baten, which sig­nifies within:) who were Enthusiasts that fol­lowed, The Light within, like our Quakers; and on this principle, they did such Numberless Vil­lanies, that the World was not able to bear them. None of all their Diabolical Raveries which I know I am now pulling on my self, and which I value no more, than if they came from the Pouliats of Malabar, shall frighten me from solliciting your Christian Cares & Prayers, That you be not over-run with English Batenists. And I must sollicitously make the Observation, That although such a Number of Quakers in our [Page 185] Nation, be a dreadful Judgment of God upon men, smiting them with Spiritual Plagues for their Unfruitfulness and Unthankfulness under the Gospel; nevertheless, of a special Favour of God, that the Number of Quakers is no Greater; for if they should multiply, not only would Christianity be utterly Extinguished, [...]ut Humanity it self Exterminated. It is well known, That when a Quaker had Stollen an Hour-glass, their Mahomet, George Fox of whom Sol. Eccles, in a Sheet call'd, The Quakers Challenge, pag. 6. saies, He was the Christ,) thus vindicated it [Great Myst. pag. 77.] As for any being moved of the Lord, to take away your Hour-glass from you, by the Eternal Power it is owned. Reader, Dost not thou even Tremble to think, what a Dark Land, we should have, if it should ever be fill'd with these pretended followers of the Light; who wear the Name of Tremblers? In Truth, I know not unto what better one might com­pare them, than unto the Macheveliers growing upon St. Lucia; Trees which bear Apples of such an Odour and Colour as invites people to Eat thereof; but it is horribly Dangerous to do so; for there is no Antidote that can secure a man from speedy Death, who hath once tasted of them. The Leaf of the Trees, makes an Ulcer on any place touched with it; the Dew that falls from them fetches off the Skin; the very Shadow swells a man, so as to kill him, if he be not speedily helped.

ARTICLE XXX. Things to Come.

FRom Relating of Things past, it would no doubt, be very Acceptable to the Reader if we could pass to Foretelling of Things to come Our Curiosity in this point may easily come to a, Degree Culpable, and Criminal. We must be Humbly content, with what the God in whose Hands are our Times, hath Reveal'd unto us.

Two Things we will venture to Insert.

First, For our selves, at home, Let us Remem­ber an awful Saying of our Goodwin, quoted by my Reverend Friend, Mr. Noyes, in his late Excellent Sermon at our Anniversary Election.

As you Look for Storms in Autumn, and Frosts in Winter, so Expect Judgments, where the Gospel hath been Preached; for the Quar­rel of the Covenant must be Avenged.

Secondly. For the Church abroad, I am far from deserting, what was Asserted, in the Sermon Preached at our Anniversary Election, in the year, 1696. The Tidings which I bring unto you, are, That there is a Revolution, and a Reformation, at the very Door, which will be vastly more wonderful, than any of the Deliverances yet seen by the Church of God, from the Beginning of the World. I do [Page 187] not say, That the Next year will bring on this Happy Period: but this I do say, The Bigger part of this Assembly, may, in the course of Nature, Live to see it. These Things will come on, with horrible Commotions, and Concussions, and Confusions: The mighty Angels of the Lord Jesus Christ, will make their Descent, and set the World a Trembling at the Approaches of their Almighty Lord: They will Shake Nations, and Shake Church­es, and Shake mighty Kingdoms, and Shake once more, not Earth only, but Heaven also.

Unto these Two Things, my Reader will not misimprove it, I hope, if I add a Third, lately fallen into my Hands; and never yet so Expo­sed unto the Publick.

A Worthy and a Godly Gentleman, at this Time, Living in Roterdam, and well-acquainted, with both Mr. Daniel, and Mr. John Sadler, Sends this to Mr. Increase Mather, in New-England; with a Letter Dated, 26. March. 1698.

REader, I am not Ignorant, that many Cheats and Shams, have been Imposed upon the World, under the Notion of Communications from the Invisible World; and, I hope, I am not becoming a Visionary. But Fancies, and Juggles, have their Foundation laid in Realities: there would never have been Impostures of Apparitions, and of Communications from the Invisible World, if there never had been Really some such things, to be Counterfeited and Imitated. Wise men [Page 192] therefore, will count it a Folly in its Exaltation and Extremity, to D [...]ride all Instances, of Strange Things arriving to us, from the Invisible World, because that Some Things have been Delusions. No, 'tis a Wisdom, that is pleasing to God, and useful to the World, for a due Notice to be taken, of Rare Things; wherein we have In­contestable Proofs, of an Invisible World, and of the Interest it hath in Humane Affayrs. The Narrative of Mr. Sadler, is advantaged with such Incontestable Proofs, and contains in it such Notable passages, that, I believe, I do well to lay it before Serious Men; and, I believe, no Serious Men, will play the Buffoon upon it. By no means pretend I to pass any Judgment upon this Remarkable Narrative; by no means do I presume to tell what I think it, any more than this, that it is Remarkable. Nevertheless, for the Caution of unwary Readers, I will annex the words of an Excellent Writer upon Divine Providence.

Watch against an Unmortified Itch, after Ex­centrical, or Extraordinary Dispensations of Providence. Luther said, The Martyrs, without the Apparition of Angels, being confirmed by the word of God alone, dyed for the Name of Christ; and why should not we acquiesce? And he observeth, how the Devil hath greatly deluded parties who have been gaping after Visions.

Nor will it be unprofitable, to Recite the words of another Author, whom I must quote, as R. David Kimchi, did use to quote R. Joseph Kimchi, under the Title of, Adoni Avi.

Evil Angels do now appear, more often than Good Ones. 'Tis an unwarrantable, and a very Dangerous Thing, for men to wish, that they might see Angels, and converse with them. Some have done so; and God hath been pro­voked with them for their Curiosity and Pre­sumption, and hath permitted Devils to come unto them, whereby they have been Deceived and Undone.