LOVEWELL'S FIGHT.
Vaudreuil and Dummer.—Embassy to Canada.—Indians intractable.—Treaty of Peace.—The Pequawkets.—John Lovewell.—A Hunting Party.—Another Expedition.—The Ambuscade.—The Fight.—Chaplain Frye: his Fate.—The Survivors1.—Susanna Rogers.
[Pg 250]The death of Rale and the destruction of Norridgewock did not at once end the war. Vaudreuil turned all the savages3 of the Canadian missions against the borders, not only of Maine, but of western Massachusetts, whose peaceful settlers had given no offence. Soon after the Norridgewock expedition, Dummer wrote to the French governor, who had lately proclaimed the Abenakis his allies: "As they are subjects of his Britannic Majesty4, they cannot be your allies, except through me, his representative. You have instigated5 them to fall on our people in the most outrageous6 manner. I have seen your commission to Sebastien Rale. But for your protection and incitements they would have made peace long ago."[267]
In reply, Vaudreuil admitted that he had given a safe-conduct and a commission to Rale, which he[Pg 251] could not deny, as the Jesuit's papers were in the hands of the English governor. "You will have to answer to your king for his murder," he tells Dummer. "It would have been strange if I had abandoned our Indians to please you. I cannot help taking the part of our allies. You have brought your troubles upon yourself. I advise you to pull down all the forts you have built on the Abenaki lands since the Peace of Utrecht. If you do so, I will be your mediator7 with the Norridgewocks. As to the murder of Rale, I leave that to be settled between the two Crowns."[268]
Apparently8 the French court thought it wise to let the question rest, and make no complaint. Dummer, however, gave his views on the subject to Vaudreuil. "Instead of preaching peace, love, and friendship, agreeably to the Christian9 religion, Rale was an incendiary, as appears by many letters I have by me. He has once and again appeared at the head of a great many Indians, threatening and insulting us. If such a disturber of the peace has been killed in the heat of action, nobody is to blame but himself. I have much more cause to complain that Mr. Willard, minister of Rutland, who is innocent of all that is charged against Rale, and always confined himself to preaching the Gospel, was slain10 and scalped by your Indians, and his scalp carried in triumph to Quebec."
Dummer then denies that France has any claim to[Pg 252] the Abenakis, and declares that the war between them and the English is due to the instigations of Rale and the encouragements given them by Vaudreuil. But he adds that in his wish to promote peace he sends two prominent gentlemen, Colonel Samuel Thaxter and Colonel William Dudley, as bearers of his letter.[269]
Mr. Atkinson, envoy11 on the part of New Hampshire, joined Thaxter and Dudley, and the three set out for Montreal, over the ice of Lake Champlain. Vaudreuil received them with courtesy. As required by their instructions, they demanded the release of the English prisoners in Canada, and protested against the action of the French governor in setting on the Indians to attack English settlements when there was peace between the two Crowns. Vaudreuil denied that he had done so, till they showed him his own letters to Rale, captured at Norridgewock. These were unanswerable; but Vaudreuil insisted that the supplies sent to the Indians were only the presents which they received every year from the King. As to the English prisoners, he said that those in the hands of the Indians were beyond his power; but that the envoys12 could have those whom the French had bought from their captors, on paying back the price they had cost. The demands were exorbitant13, but sixteen prisoners were ransomed14, and bargains were made for ten more. Vaudreuil proposed[Pg 253] to Thaxter and his colleagues to have an interview with the Indians, which they at first declined, saying that they had no powers to treat with them, though, if the Indians wished to ask for peace, they were ready to hear them. At length a meeting was arranged. The French governor writes: "Being satisfied that nothing was more opposed to our interests than a peace between the Abenakis and the English, I thought that I would sound the chiefs before they spoke15 to the English envoys, and insinuate16 to them everything that I had to say."[270] This he did with such success that, instead of asking for peace, the Indians demanded the demolition17 of the English forts, and heavy damages for burning their church and killing18 their missionary19. In short, to Vaudreuil's great satisfaction, they talked nothing but war. The French despatch20 reporting this interview has the following marginal note: "Nothing better can be done than to foment21 this war, which at least retards22 the settlements of the English;" and against this is written, in the hand of the colonial minister, the word "Approved."[271] This was, in fact, the policy pursued from the first, and Rale had been an instrument of it. The Jesuit La Chasse, who[Pg 254] spoke both English and Abenaki, had acted as interpreter, and so had had the meeting in his power, as he could make both parties say what he pleased. The envoys thought him more anti-English than Vaudreuil himself, and ascribed the intractable mood of the Indians to his devices. Under the circumstances, they made a mistake in consenting to the interview at all. The governor, who had treated them with civility throughout, gave them an escort of soldiers for the homeward journey, and they and the redeemed23 prisoners returned safely to Albany.
The war went on as before, but the Indians were fast growing tired of it. The Penobscots had made themselves obnoxious24 by their attacks on Fort St. George, and Captain Heath marched across country from the Kennebec to punish them. He found their village empty. It was built, since Westbrook's attack, at or near the site of Bangor, a little below Indian Old Town,—the present abode26 of the tribe,—and consisted of fifty wigwams, which Heath's men burned to the ground.
One of the four hostages still detained at Boston, together with another Indian captured in the war, was allowed to visit his people, under a promise to return. Strange to say, the promise was kept. They came back bringing a request for peace from their tribesmen. On this, commissioners27 were sent to the St. George, where a conference was held with some of the Penobscot chiefs, and it was arranged that deputies of that people should be sent to Boston to[Pg 255] conclude a solid peace. After long delay, four chiefs appeared, fully28 empowered, as they said, to make peace, not for the Penobscots only, but for the other Abenaki tribes, their allies. The speeches and ceremonies being at last ended, the four deputies affixed29 their marks to a paper in which, for themselves and those they represented, they made submission30 "unto his most excellent Majesty George, by the grace of God king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender31 of the Faith," etc., promising32 to "cease and forbear all acts of hostility33, injuries, and discord34 towards all his subjects, and never confederate or combine with any other nation to their prejudice." Here was a curious anomaly. The English claimed the Abenakis as subjects of the British Crown, and at the same time treated with them as a foreign power. Each of the four deputies signed the above-mentioned paper, one with the likeness35 of a turtle, the next with that of a bird, the third with the untutored portrait of a beaver36, and the fourth with an extraordinary scrawl37, meant, it seems, for a lobster,—such being their respective totems. To these the lieutenant38-governor added the seal of the province of Massachusetts, coupled with his own autograph.
In the next summer, and again a year later, other meetings were held at Casco Bay with the chiefs of the various Abenaki tribes, in which, after prodigious39 circumlocution40, the Boston treaty was ratified41, and [Pg 256]the war ended.[272] This time the Massachusetts Assembly, taught wisdom by experience, furnished a guarantee of peace by providing for government trading-houses in the Indian country, where goods were supplied, through responsible hands, at honest prices.
The Norridgewocks, with whom the quarrel began, were completely broken. Some of the survivors joined their kindred in Canada, and others were merged42 in the Abenaki bands of the Penobscot, Saco, or Androscoggin. Peace reigned43 at last along the borders of New England; but it had cost her dear. In the year after the death of Rale, there was an incident of the conflict too noted44 in its day, and too strongly rooted in popular tradition, to be passed unnoticed.
Out of the heart of the White Mountains springs the river Saco, fed by the bright cascades45 that leap from the crags of Mount Webster, brawling46 among rocks and bowlders down the great defile47 of the Crawford Notch48, winding49 through the forests and intervales of Conway, then circling northward50 by the village of Fryeburg in devious51 wanderings by meadows, woods, and mountains, and at last turning eastward52 and southward to join the sea.
On the banks of this erratic53 stream lived an Abenaki tribe called the Sokokis. When the first white man visited the country, these Indians lived at the Falls, a few miles from the mouth of the river. They retired54 before the English settlers, and either joined their kindred in Maine, or migrated to St. Francis[Pg 257] and other Abenaki settlements in Canada; but a Sokoki band called Pigwackets, or Pequawkets, still kept its place far in the interior, on the upper waters of the Saco, near Pine Hill, in the present town of Fryeburg. Except a small band of their near kindred on Lake Ossipee, they were the only human tenants55 of a wilderness56 many thousand square miles in extent. In their wild and remote abode they were difficult of access, and the forest and the river were well stocked with moose, deer, bear, beaver, otter57, lynx, fisher, mink58, and marten. In this, their happy hunting-ground, the Pequawkets thought themselves safe; and they would have been so for some time longer if they had not taken up the quarrel of the Norridgewocks and made bloody59 raids against the English border, under their war-chief, Paugus.
Not far from where their wigwams stood clustered in a bend of the Saco was the small lake now called Lovewell's Pond, named for John Lovewell of Dunstable, a Massachusetts town on the New Hampshire line. Lovewell's father, a person of consideration in the village, where he owned a "garrison60 house," had served in Philip's War, and taken part in the famous Narragansett Swamp Fight. The younger Lovewell, now about thirty-three years of age, lived with his wife, Hannah, and two or three children on a farm of two hundred acres. The inventory61 of his effects, made after his death, includes five or six cattle, one mare62, two steel traps with chains, a gun, two or three books, a feather-bed, and[Pg 258] "under-bed," or mattress63, along with sundry64 tools, pots, barrels, chests, tubs, and the like,—the equipment, in short, of a decent frontier yeoman of the time.[273] But being, like the tough veteran, his father, of a bold and adventurous65 disposition66, he seems to have been less given to farming than to hunting and bush-fighting.
Dunstable was attacked by Indians in the autumn of 1724, and two men were carried off. Ten others went in pursuit, but fell into an ambush67, and nearly all were killed, Josiah Farwell, Lovewell's brother-in-law, being, by some accounts, the only one who escaped.[274] Soon after this, a petition, styled a "Humble68 Memorial," was laid before the House of Representatives at Boston. It declares that in order "to kill and destroy their enemy Indians," the petitioners69 and forty or fifty others are ready to spend one whole year in hunting them, "provided they can meet with Encouragement suitable." The petition is signed by John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and Jonathan Robbins, all of Dunstable, Lovewell's name being well written, and the others after a cramped70 and unaccustomed fashion. The representatives accepted the proposal and voted to give each adventurer two shillings and sixpence a day,—then equal in[Pg 259] Massachusetts currency to about one English shilling,—out of which he was to maintain himself. The men were, in addition, promised large rewards for the scalps of male Indians old enough to fight.
A company of thirty was soon raised. Lovewell was chosen captain, Farwell, lieutenant, and Robbins, ensign. They set out towards the end of November, and reappeared at Dunstable early in January, bringing one prisoner and one scalp. Towards the end of the month Lovewell set out again, this time with eighty-seven men, gathered from the villages of Dunstable, Groton, Lancaster, Haverhill, and Billerica. They ascended71 the frozen Merrimac, passed Lake Winnepesaukee, pushed nearly to the White Mountains, and encamped on a branch of the upper Saco. Here they killed a moose,—a timely piece of luck, for they were in danger of starvation, and Lovewell had been compelled by want of food to send back a good number of his men. The rest held their way, filing on snow-shoes through the deathlike solitude72 that gave no sign of life except the light track of some squirrel on the snow, and the brisk note of the hardy73 little chickadee, or black-capped titmouse, so familiar to the winter woods. Thus far the scouts74 had seen no human footprint; but on the twentieth of February they found a lately abandoned wigwam, and, following the snow-shoe tracks that led from it, at length saw smoke rising at a distance out of the gray forest. The party lay close till two o'clock in the morning; then cautiously approached, found one[Pg 260] or more wigwams, surrounded them, and killed all the inmates75, ten in number. They were warriors76 from Canada on a winter raid against the borders. Lovewell and his men, it will be seen, were much like hunters of wolves, catamounts, or other dangerous beasts, except that the chase of this fierce and wily human game demanded far more hardihood and skill.
They brought home the scalps in triumph, together with the blankets and the new guns furnished to the slain warriors by their Canadian friends; and Lovewell began at once to gather men for another hunt. The busy season of the farmers was at hand, and volunteers came in less freely than before. At the middle of April, however, he had raised a band of forty-six, of whom he was the captain, with Farwell and Robbins as his lieutenants77. Though they were all regularly commissioned by the governor, they were leaders rather than commanders, for they and their men were neighbors or acquaintances on terms of entire social equality. Two of the number require mention. One was Seth Wyman, of Woburn, an ensign; and the other was Jonathan Frye, of Andover, the chaplain, a youth of twenty-one, graduated at Harvard College in 1723, and now a student of theology. Chaplain though he was, he carried a gun, knife, and hatchet78 like the others, and not one of the party was more prompt to use them.
They began their march on April 15. A few days afterwards, one William Cummings, of Dunstable, became so disabled by the effects of a wound[Pg 261] received from Indians some time before, that he could not keep on with the rest, and Lovewell sent him back in charge of a kinsman79, thus reducing their number to forty-four. When they reached the west shore of Lake Ossipee, Benjamin Kidder, of Nutfield, fell seriously ill. To leave him defenceless in a place so dangerous was not to be thought of; and his comrades built a small fort, or palisaded log-cabin, near the water, where they left the sick man in charge of the surgeon, together with Sergeant80 Woods and a guard of seven men. The rest, now reduced to thirty-four, continued their march through the forest northeastward towards Pequawket, while the savage2 heights of the White Mountains, still covered with snow, rose above the dismal81, bare forests on their left. They seem to have crossed the Saco just below the site of Fryeburg, and in the night of May 7, as they lay in the woods near the northeast end of Lovewell's Pond, the men on guard heard sounds like Indians prowling about them. At daybreak the next morning, as they stood bareheaded, listening to a prayer from the young chaplain, they heard the report of a gun, and soon after discovered an Indian on the shore of the pond at a considerable distance. Apparently he was shooting ducks; but Lovewell, suspecting a device to lure82 them into an ambuscade, asked the men whether they were for pushing forward or falling back, and with one voice they called upon him to lead them on. They were then in a piece of open pine woods traversed by a small brook25.[Pg 262] He ordered them to lay down their packs and advance with extreme caution. They had moved forward for some time in this manner when they met an Indian coming towards them through the dense83 trees and bushes. He no sooner saw them than he fired at the leading men. His gun was charged with beaver-shot; but he was so near his mark that the effect was equal to that of a bullet, and he severely84 wounded Lovewell and one Whiting; on which Seth Wyman shot him dead, and the chaplain and another man scalped him. Lovewell, though believed to be mortally hurt, was still able to walk, and the party fell back to the place where they had left their packs. The packs had disappeared, and suddenly, with frightful85 yells, the whole body of the Pequawket warriors rushed from their hiding-places, firing as they came on. The survivors say that they were more than twice the number of the whites,—which is probably an exaggeration, though their conduct, so unusual with Indians, in rushing forward instead of firing from their ambush, shows a remarkable86 confidence in their numerical strength.[275] They no doubt expected to strike their enemies with a panic. Lovewell received another mortal wound; but he fired more than once on the Indians as he lay dying. His two lieutenants, Farwell and Robbins, were also badly hurt. Eight others fell; but the rest stood their[Pg 263] ground, and pushed the Indians so hard that they drove them back to cover with heavy loss. One man played the coward, Benjamin Hassell, of Dunstable, who ran off, escaped in the confusion, and made with his best speed for the fort at Lake Ossipee.
The situation of the party was desperate, and nothing saved them from destruction but the prompt action of their surviving officers, only one of whom, Ensign Wyman, had escaped unhurt. It was probably under his direction that the men fell back steadily88 to the shore of the pond, which was only a few rods distant. Here the water protected their rear, so that they could not be surrounded; and now followed one of the most obstinate89 and deadly bush-fights in the annals of New England. It was about ten o'clock when the fight began, and it lasted till night. The Indians had the greater agility90 and skill in hiding and sheltering themselves, and the whites the greater steadiness and coolness in using their guns. They fought in the shade; for the forest was dense, and all alike covered themselves as they best could behind trees, bushes, or fallen trunks, where each man crouched91 with eyes and mind intent, firing whenever he saw, or thought he saw, the head, limbs, or body of an enemy exposed to sight for an instant. The Indians howled like wolves, yelled like enraged92 cougars93, and made the forest ring with their whoops94; while the whites replied with shouts and cheers. At one time the Indians ceased firing and drew back among the trees and undergrowth,[Pg 264] where, by the noise they made, they seemed to be holding a "pow-wow," or incantation to procure95 victory; but the keen and fearless Seth Wyman crept up among the bushes, shot the chief conjurer, and broke up the meeting. About the middle of the afternoon young Frye received a mortal wound. Unable to fight longer, he lay in his blood, praying from time to time for his comrades in a faint but audible voice.
Solomon Keyes, of Billerica, received two wounds, but fought on till a third shot struck him. He then crawled up to Wyman in the heat of the fight, and told him that he, Keyes, was a dead man, but that the Indians should not get his scalp if he could help it. Creeping along the sandy edge of the pond, he chanced to find a stranded96 canoe, pushed it afloat, rolled himself into it, and drifted away before the wind.
Soon after sunset the Indians drew off and left the field to their enemies, living and dead, not even stopping to scalp the fallen,—a remarkable proof of the completeness of their discomfiture97. Exhausted98 with fatigue99 and hunger,—for, having lost their packs in the morning, they had no food,—the surviving white men explored the scene of the fight. Jacob Farrar lay gasping100 his last by the edge of the water. Robert Usher101 and Lieutenant Robbins were unable to move. Of the thirty-four men, nine had escaped without serious injury, eleven were badly wounded, and the rest were dead or dying, except the coward who had run off.
About midnight, an hour or more before the set[Pg 265]ting of the moon, such as had strength to walk left the ground. Robbins, as he lay helpless, asked one of them to load his gun, saying, "The Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, and I'll kill another of 'em if I can." They loaded the gun and left him.
To make one's way even by daylight through the snares102 and pitfalls103 of a New England forest is often a difficult task; to do so in the darkness of night and overshadowing boughs104, among the fallen trees and the snarl105 of underbrush, was wellnigh impossible. Any but the most skilful106 woodsmen would have lost their way. The Indians, sick of fighting, did not molest107 the party. After struggling on for a mile or more, Farwell, Frye, and two other wounded men, Josiah Jones and Eleazer Davis, could go no farther, and, with their consent, the others left them, with a promise to send them help as soon as they should reach the fort. In the morning the men divided into several small bands, the better to elude108 pursuit. One of these parties was tracked for some time by the Indians, and Elias Barron, becoming separated from his companions, was never again heard of, though the case of his gun was afterwards found by the bank of the river Ossipee.
Eleven of the number at length reached the fort, and to their amazement109 found nobody there. The runaway110, Hassell, had arrived many hours before them, and to excuse his flight told so frightful a story of the fate of his comrades that his hearers were seized with a panic, shamefully111 abandoned their[Pg 266] post, and set out for the settlements, leaving a writing on a piece of birch-bark to the effect that all the rest were killed. They had left a supply of bread and pork, and while the famished112 eleven rested and refreshed themselves they were joined by Solomon Keyes, the man who, after being thrice wounded, had floated away in a canoe from the place of the fight. After drifting for a considerable distance, the wind blew him ashore113, when, spurred by necessity and feeling himself "wonderfully strengthened," he succeeded in gaining the fort.
Meanwhile Frye, Farwell, and their two wounded companions, Davis and Jones, after waiting vainly for the expected help, found strength to struggle forward again, till the chaplain stopped and lay down, begging the others to keep on their way, and saying to Davis, "Tell my father that I expect in a few hours to be in eternity114, and am not afraid to die." They left him, and, says the old narrative115, "he has not been heard of since." He had kept the journal of the expedition, which was lost with him.
Farwell died of exhaustion116. The remaining two lost their way and became separated. After wandering eleven days, Davis reached the fort at Lake Ossipee, and, finding food there, came into Berwick on the twenty-seventh. Jones, after fourteen days in the woods, arrived, half dead, at the village of Biddeford.
Some of the eleven who had first made their way to the fort, together with Keyes, who joined them[Pg 267] there, came into Dunstable during the night of the thirteenth, and the rest followed one or two days later. Ensign Wyman, who was now the only commissioned officer left alive, and who had borne himself throughout with the utmost intrepidity117, decision, and good sense, reached the same place along with three other men on the fifteenth.
The runaway, Hassell, and the guard at the fort, whom he had infected with his terror, had lost no time in making their way back to Dunstable, which they seem to have reached on the evening of the eleventh. Horsemen were sent in haste to carry the doleful news to Boston, on which the governor gave orders to Colonel Tyng of the militia118, who was then at Dunstable, to gather men in the border towns, march with all speed to the place of the fight, succor119 the wounded if any were still alive, and attack the Indians, if he could find them. Tyng called upon Hassell to go with him as a guide; but he was ill, or pretended to be so, on which one of the men who had been in the fight and had just returned offered to go in his place.
When the party reached the scene of the battle, they saw the trees plentifully120 scarred with bullets, and presently found and buried the bodies of Lovewell, Robbins, and ten others. The Indians, after their usual custom, had carried off or hidden their own dead; but Tyng's men discovered three of them buried together, and one of these was recognized as the war-chief Paugus, killed by Wyman, or, accord[Pg 268]ing to a more than doubtful tradition, by John Chamberlain.[276] Not a living Indian was to be seen.
The Pequawkets were cowed by the rough handling they had met when they plainly expected a victory. Some of them joined their Abenaki kinsmen121 in Canada and remained there, while others returned after the peace to their old haunts by the Saco; but they never again raised the hatchet against the English.
Lovewell's Pond, with its sandy beach, its two green islands, and its environment of lonely forests, reverted122 for a while to its original owners,—the wolf, bear, lynx, and moose. In our day all is changed. Farms and dwellings124 possess those peaceful shores, and hard by, where, at the bend of the Saco, once stood, in picturesque125 squalor, the wigwams of the vanished Pequawkets, the village of Fryeburg preserves the name of the brave young[Pg 269] chaplain, whose memory is still cherished, in spite of his uncanonical turn for scalping.[277] He had engaged himself to a young girl of a neighboring village, Susanna Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, minister of Boxford. It has been said that Frye's parents thought her beneath him in education and position; but this is not likely, for her father belonged to what has been called the "Brahmin caste" of New England, and, like others of his family, had had, at Harvard, the best education that the country could supply. The girl herself, though only fourteen years old, could make verses, such as they were; and she wrote an elegy126 on the death of her lover which, bating some grammatical lapses127, deserves the modest praise of being no worse than many New England rhymes of that day.
The courage of Frye and his sturdy comrades contributed greatly to the pacification128 which in the next year relieved the borders from the scourge129 of Indian war.[278]
FOOTNOTES:
[267] Dummer to Vaudreuil, 15 September, 1724.
[268] Vaudreuil à Dummer, 29 Octobre, 1724.
[269] Dummer to Vaudreuil, 19 January, 1725. This, with many other papers relating to these matters, is in the Massachusetts Archives.
[270] Dépêche de Vaudreuil, 7 Ao?t, 1725. "Comme j'ai toujours été persuadé que rien n'est plus opposé à nos intérêts que la paix des Abenakis avec les Anglais (la sureté de cette colonie du c?té de l'est ayant été l'unique objet de cette guerre), je songeai à pressentir ces sauvages avant qu'ils parlassant aux Anglais et à leur insinuer tout130 ce que j'avais à leur dire87."—Vaudreuil au Ministre, 22 Mai, 1725.
[271] N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 949.
[272] Penhallow gives the Boston treaty. For the ratifications131, see Collections of the Maine Hist. Soc., iii. 377, 407.
[273] See the inventory, in Kidder, The Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, 93, 94.
[274] Other accounts say that eight of the ten were killed. The headstone of one of the number, Thomas Lund, has these words: "This man, with seven more that lies in this grave, was slew132 All in A day by the Indiens."
[275] Penhallow puts their number at seventy, Hutchinson at eighty, Williamson at sixty-three, and Belknap at forty-one. In such cases the smallest number is generally nearest the truth.
[276] The tradition is that Chamberlain and Paugus went down to the small brook, now called Fight Brook, to clean their guns, hot and foul133 with frequent firing; that they saw each other at the same instant, and that the Indian said to the white man, in his broken English, "Me kill you quick!" at the same time hastily loading his piece; to which Chamberlain coolly replied, "Maybe not." His firelock had a large touch-hole, so that the powder could be shaken out into the pan, and the gun made to prime itself. Thus he was ready for action an instant sooner than his enemy, whom he shot dead just as Paugus pulled trigger, and sent a bullet whistling over his head. The story has no good foundation, while the popular ballad134, written at the time, and very faithful to the facts, says that, the other officers being killed, the English made Wyman their captain,—
Then set his men in order and brought off the retreat."
[277] The town, however, was not named for the chaplain, but for his father's cousin, General Joseph Frye, the original grantee of the land.
[278] Rev123. Thomas Symmes, minister of Bradford, preached a sermon on the fate of Lovewell and his men immediately after the return of the survivors, and printed it, with a much more valuable introduction, giving a careful account of the affair, on the evidence of "the Valorous Captain Wyman and some others of good Credit that were in the Engagement." Wyman had just been made a captain, in recognition of his conduct. The narrative is followed by an attestation136 of its truth signed by him and two others of Lovewell's band.
A considerable number of letters relating to the expedition are preserved in the Massachusetts Archives, from Benjamin Hassell, Colonel Tyng, Governor Dummer of Massachusetts, and Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire. They give the various reports received from those in the fight, and show the action taken in consequence. The Archives also contain petitions from the survivors and the families of the slain; and the legislative137 Journals show that the petitioners received large grants of land. Lovewell's debts contracted in raising men for his expeditions were also paid.
The papers mentioned above, with other authentic138 records concerning the affair, have been printed by Kidder in his Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, a monograph139 of thorough research. The names of all Lovewell's party, and biographical notices of some of them, are also given by Mr. Kidder. Compare Penhallow, Hutchinson, Fox, History of Dunstable, and Bouton, Lovewell's Great Fight. For various suggestions touching140 Lovewell's Expedition, I am indebted to Mr. C. W. Lewis, who has made it the subject of minute and careful study.
A ballad which was written when the event was fresh, and was long popular in New England, deserves mention, if only for its general fidelity141 to the facts. The following is a sample of its eighteen stanzas:—
"'T was ten o'clock in the morning when first the fight begun,
And fiercely did continue till the setting of the sun,
Excepting that the Indians, some hours before 't was night,
Drew off into the bushes, and ceased awhile to fight;
"But soon again returnèd in fierce and furious mood,
Shouting as in the morning, but yet not half so loud;
For, as we are informèd, so thick and fast they fell,
Scarce twenty of their number at night did get home well.
They killed Lieutenant Robbins, and wounded good young Frye,
Who was our English chaplain; he many Indians slew,
And some of them he scalped when bullets round him flew."
Frye, as mentioned in the text, had engaged himself to Susanna Rogers, a young girl of the village of Boxford, who, after his death, wrote some untutored verses to commemorate143 his fate. They are entitled, A Mournful Elegy on Mr. Jonathan Frye, and begin thus:
Not from mine eyes alone, but all
That hears the sad and doleful fall
Of that young student, Mr. Frye,
Who in his blooming youth did die.
Fighting for his dear country's good,
He lost his life and precious blood.
His father's only son was he;
His mother loved him tenderly;
And all that knew him loved him well;
For in bright parts he did excel
Most of his age; for he was young,—
Just entering on twenty-one;
This I affirm, for him I knew."
She then describes her lover's brave deeds, and sad but heroic death, alone in a howling wilderness; condoles149 with the bereaved150 parents, exhorts151 them to resignation, and touches modestly on her own sorrow.
In more recent times the fate of Lovewell and his companions has inspired several poetical152 attempts, which need not be dwelt upon. Lovewell's Fight, as Dr. Palfrey observes, was long as famous in New England as Chevy Chase on the Scottish Border.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
survivors
|
|
| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
instigated
|
|
| v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
outrageous
|
|
| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
mediator
|
|
| n.调解人，中介人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
slain
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
envoy
|
|
| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
envoys
|
|
| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
exorbitant
|
|
| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ransomed
|
|
| 付赎金救人，赎金( ransom的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
insinuate
|
|
| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
demolition
|
|
| n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
despatch
|
|
| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
foment
|
|
| v.煽动，助长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
retards
|
|
| 使减速( retard的第三人称单数 )； 妨碍； 阻止； 推迟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
redeemed
|
|
| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
obnoxious
|
|
| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
abode
|
|
| n.住处，住所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
commissioners
|
|
| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
affixed
|
|
| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
submission
|
|
| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
defender
|
|
| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
hostility
|
|
| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
discord
|
|
| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
likeness
|
|
| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
beaver
|
|
| n.海狸，河狸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
scrawl
|
|
| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prodigious
|
|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
circumlocution
|
|
| n. 绕圈子的话，迂回累赘的陈述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
ratified
|
|
| v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
merged
|
|
| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
reigned
|
|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
cascades
|
|
| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
brawling
|
|
| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
defile
|
|
| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
notch
|
|
| n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
northward
|
|
| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
devious
|
|
| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
eastward
|
|
| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
erratic
|
|
| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tenants
|
|
| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
otter
|
|
| n.水獭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
mink
|
|
| n.貂，貂皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
inventory
|
|
| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
mare
|
|
| n.母马，母驴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
mattress
|
|
| n.床垫，床褥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
adventurous
|
|
| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
ambush
|
|
| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
petitioners
|
|
| n.请求人，请愿人( petitioner的名词复数 )；离婚案原告 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
hardy
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
inmates
|
|
| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
lieutenants
|
|
| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
hatchet
|
|
| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
kinsman
|
|
| n.男亲属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
dire
|
|
| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
obstinate
|
|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
agility
|
|
| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
enraged
|
|
| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
cougars
|
|
| n.美洲狮( cougar的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
whoops
|
|
| int.呼喊声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
procure
|
|
| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
stranded
|
|
| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
discomfiture
|
|
| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
fatigue
|
|
| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
gasping
|
|
| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
usher
|
|
| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
snares
|
|
| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
pitfalls
|
|
| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
boughs
|
|
| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
snarl
|
|
| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
skilful
|
|
| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
molest
|
|
| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
elude
|
|
| v.躲避，困惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
runaway
|
|
| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
shamefully
|
|
| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
famished
|
|
| adj.饥饿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
exhaustion
|
|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
intrepidity
|
|
| n.大胆，刚勇；大胆的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
militia
|
|
| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
succor
|
|
| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
plentifully
|
|
| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
kinsmen
|
|
| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
reverted
|
|
| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
rev
|
|
| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
dwellings
|
|
| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
elegy
|
|
| n.哀歌，挽歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
lapses
|
|
| n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
pacification
|
|
| n. 讲和，绥靖，平定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
scourge
|
|
| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
tout
|
|
| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
ratifications
|
|
| n.正式批准，认可( ratification的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
slew
|
|
| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
foul
|
|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
ballad
|
|
| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
attestation
|
|
| n.证词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
legislative
|
|
| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
authentic
|
|
| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
monograph
|
|
| n.专题文章，专题著作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
fidelity
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
commemorate
|
|
| vt.纪念，庆祝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
muses
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
quill
|
|
| n.羽毛管；v.给（织物或衣服）作皱褶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
distil
|
|
| vt.蒸馏；提取…的精华，精选出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
comely
|
|
| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
pious
|
|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
condoles
|
|
| v.表示同情，吊唁( condole的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
150
bereaved
|
|
| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
exhorts
|
|
| n.劝勉者，告诫者，提倡者( exhort的名词复数 )v.劝告，劝说( exhort的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
poetical
|
|
| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |