Chapter III: Part 3

This condition of things could not always last: the support thus received could be but precarious at the best; and it happened favorably that, for a period, the spirits and courage of the small band of emigrants were sustained by the arrival of two ships from England, laden with supplies, and bringing a complement of men. They arrived indeed at different times, having been separated by stormy weather. In consequence of these arrivals, and one other before the end of the year 1608, the number of colonists amounted to nearly three hundred.

In 1609, a new charter was granted to the London company, with enlarged privileges, as well as more definite limits, and with the addition of five hundred adventurers. Sir Thomas West, Lord De la War, was now appointed governor for life; Sir Thomas Gates, his lieutenant; Sir George Somers, admiral; and other high officers were appointed for life. By the new charter, the right of absolute property was vested in the company; the crown to receive one-fifth of all ore of gold and silver found there for all manner of services. The governor, though unable himself immediately to leave England, lost no time in fitting out a fleet for Virginia. Of the nine ships constituting the expedition, eight arrived in season at Jamestown. The other, having Sir Thomas, the admiral, on board, was wrecked on the Bermudas; and it was not until they could fit up craft to convey them to Virginia, that they reached Jamestown, which was in the spring of the following year. This disaster and delay seemed to be highly providential in the end, as the colonists were rëunited with one hundred and fifty men, and a full supply of provisions, at a time when they had been reduced to the greatest extremities. Captain Smith, disabled by a severe accidental wound, had returned to England. In consequence of his departure, the settlement had been thrown into great confusion. Complaints, disputes, and insubordination ensued; the savages became hostile, and often imbrued their hands in the blood of the whites; and finally, starvation followed in the train of the other calamities. Roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, starch, the skins of horses, and even human flesh, were devoured in order to support life. In a few days more, had not relief been brought to them, the whole colony would probably have perished.

On the arrival of Sir Thomas, the affairs of the settlement seemed so desperate, that it was determined to return with the miserable remnant to England. In putting the plan into execution, and just as they were leaving the mouth of the river, the long-boat of Lord De la War was descried. As he had three ships well furnished with provisions, the colonists were persuaded to return, and renew their efforts to settle the country. This was on the 9th of June, 1610, and proved to be the crisis of the colony. It was now, in the providence of God, destined to live. Improvements began to be made--forts were erected--and the former idleness and misrule of the people in a great measure disappeared. In the spring of the succeeding year, however, the health of Lord De la War became seriously affected, and he consequently returned to England. The administration was then committed to Sir Thomas Dale for a short period. He acquitted himself well in it, though he had some difficulty with the colonists, who had not all been reduced to the requisite order and submission. The government passed into the hands of Sir Thomas Gates, upon his arrival at Jamestown, in August, 1611. He came over with a fleet of six ships, and three hundred men, bringing with him kine and other cattle, munitions of war, and a large supply of provisions.

Being thus strengthened, the English extended their domain from time to time. In the course of the present year, they built a town, which they called Henrico, in honor of Prince Henry, and in the subsequent year, they seized a place called Apamatuck, on account of some injury they had received from its inhabitants. Here they built a town, which they called the _New Bermudas_. About this period, a Captain Argal, sailing up the Patawomeakee, secured Pocahontas by stratagem; the consequence of which was, her acquaintance with an English gentleman, named John Rolfe, and her marriage to him, together with peace between the whites and Powhatan.

The plan of providing for the colony was now changed. Instead of feeding out of the common store, and laboring jointly together, the people were allowed to hold each a lot of his own, with a sufficient time to cultivate it. This change produced the most beneficial results, as it prevented the idleness and inefficiency which are apt to attend a common-stock social establishment, and multiplied, in a ten-fold degree, the amount of their provisions. The experiment having been so propitious, the original plan of a community of labor and supply was finally abandoned. The government of the colony at this time was again in the hands of Sir Thomas Dale; the former governor, Sir Thomas Gates, having returned to England in the spring of 1614. Governor Dale continued about two years, superintending satisfactorily the affairs of the colony, and, having chosen Captain George Yeardley to be deputy-governor, he returned to England, accompanied by Pocahontas and her husband. Pocahontas became a Christian and a mother; and it may be added, that her descendants, in a subsequent age, inherited her lands in Virginia, and that some of the first families of that state trace from her their lineage.

Yeardley applied himself to the cultivation of tobacco, and was highly successful in an attack on the savages, who refused to pay their annual tribute of corn. He continued in the colony about a year, when, by an appointment made in England, the government devolved on Captain Argal, before named. Argal found Jamestown in a bad condition; the dwellings, which were slight structures, had mostly disappeared, and the public works neglected or in decay, and "the colonie dispersed all about, planting _Tobacco_." A reformation to some extent was effected. At this period, 1617, more colonists arrived; but it would seem, from a remark in a narrative of that date, that the number of the higher classes of society exceeded their wants; "for, in Virginia, a plaine souldier, that can use a pickaxe and spade, is better than five knights, although they were knights that could break a lance; for men of great place, not inured to those encounters, when they finde things not suitable, grow many times so discontented, they forget themselves, and oft become so carelesse, that a discontented melancholy brings them to much sorrow, and to others, much miserie." When it was ascertained that great multitudes were preparing, in England, to be sent, the colonists, in a communication to the council, entreated that provisions might be forwarded as well as people, and gave the company to understand, "what they did suffer for want of skilful husbandmen and meanes to set their plough on worke, having as good land as any man can desire."

In the year 1619, the settlements of Virginia were favored with the establishment of a provincial legislature, which was constituted of delegates chosen by themselves, as they were divided into eleven corporations. The first meeting of the legislature was on the 19th of June, having been convoked by the governor-general of the colony. This was a great and desirable change from the sort of vassalage in which they had previously lived. This general assembly debated and decided all matters that were deemed essential to the welfare of the colony. A great addition was made to the number of the colonists the two following years, among whom were one hundred and fifty young women, of good character, designed as the future wives of the colonists. During the summer of 1620, a Dutch armed ship arrived at the colony, and sold them twenty negroes, at which period the system of slave holding, with its attendant crimes and evils, commenced in this country.

The year 1621 was rendered memorable by the arrival of Sir Francis Wyatt, who brought with him, from the London company, a more perfect constitution and form of government, than the colony had previously enjoyed, although the general representative character of its government had been established in 1619. The following year was rendered still more memorable by the massacre of a large number of whites, through the treachery of the Indians. The instigator and executor of this tragedy was the successor of Powhatan, named Opecancanough. He had enlisted the savages in all the vicinity in the infernal plot. The colonists, in the security of friendship and good understanding, which had existed between them and that people, were wholly off their guard, and unprepared for the blow. It was inflicted simultaneously, at a time agreed upon, and three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children, were at once butchered, in several and separate places. It had been universal, but for the providence of God. A converted Indian, coming to the knowledge of the plot the night before its execution, disclosed it to the whites in season to save the greater number of settlements. The Indians, in their turn, now suffered the vengeance of the colonists, who felt authorized to procure the means of future security against similar acts of treachery. The emigrations had been so numerous, through the few preceding years, that the colonists, at this time, amounted to several thousands. Thus the people, with various fortune, and after incredible hardships, had placed their colony on a firm basis, having learned many useful lessons from their own errors, imprudence, or sufferings. And such was the beginning of the American republic in its southern portion, nearly two hundred and fifty years ago.

FOOTNOTE:

[5] Smith's History of Virginia.

II. NEW ENGLAND, OR NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS.

PLYMOUTH--Massachusetts--Connecticut--New Haven--New
Hampshire--Rhode Island--Maine--Vermont--Character of the
Early Settlers.

The settlement of _New England_ commenced at Plymouth in 1620. This part of the continent between Penobscot and Cape Cod, had been carefully explored in 1614, by Captain Smith. He says, respecting it: "Of all the foure parts of the world I have yet seen not inhabited, could I have but means to transport a colony, I would rather live here than any where; and if it did not maintaine itselfe, were we but once indifferently well fitted, let us starve." Such was the opinion early formed of the desirableness of this region for colonization. Charles, Prince of Wales, was pleased to call it New England, on account of the favorable impression he received respecting it, from Smith's chart and description. This country was settled by a class of people very different, in many respects, from that which emigrated to the southern colony. The latter, for the most part, as has been seen, were mere adventurers, having in view the improvement of their secular interests, or the _eclat_ of successful enterprise. The colonists of New England sought chiefly the boon of religious freedom for themselves and their descendants, and through it the advancement of the Christian church in the world--a boon of which they had been deprived in their native land. The ground of this disfranchisement, was their non-conformity to the established English church, or separation from it. Having, while members of that church, devised and sought a greater purity in its worship without success, they at length separated themselves from it, and formed a distinct worshiping community. For thus professing to follow the _pure_ word of God, in opposition to traditions and human devices, they were in derision termed _Puritans_. In the progress of their religious views, and of the persecuting spirit of the government, they passed from mere puritanism, or efforts at greater purity in worship and in manners, to non-conformity, and from non-conformity to dissent. From difficulties in regard to the ritual of the church, they proceeded to doctrines. The Puritans and the universities denied a portion of the Apostles' Creed, so called: "advocated the sanctity of the Sabbath and the opinions of Calvin; his institutions being read in their schools, while the Episcopal party took the opposite side, and espoused the system of Arminius." Both under Elizabeth and James, conformity was insisted on. The latter declared, "I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion, in substance and ceremony. I will make them conform, or I will hurry them out of the land, or else worse." And he did hurry out of the land many of those who had become obnoxious to him; while the others were more cruelly hindered from leaving the country, to suffer from contempt, poverty, or a lingering death in imprisonment. Their attempts to escape were frequently frustrated, and it was not without great vexation and loss, that portions of this persecuted people exiled themselves from their native country. Their first place of refuge was Holland, where religious toleration had been established by law. The leader of the emigrants, on this occasion, was the able and pious Mr. John Robinson, who has since been considered as the father of that portion of the Puritans who were the founders of New England. They successively left England, as many as found it in their power, in the year 1606, and the two following years. Their first place of residence was Amsterdam; but in 1609 they removed to Leyden, with a view to avoid some difficulties that were felt or foreseen in the former place. Here they were received with kindness, and continued several years in a flourishing condition, under the faithful labors of their pastor. In the mean while, notwithstanding their general prospects, there were causes in operation which rendered a change of location, in their case, extremely desirable. These were the unhealthiness of the low countries where they lived; the hard labors to which they were subjected; the dissipated manners of the Hollanders, especially their lax observance of the Lord's day; the apprehension of war at the conclusion of the truce between Spain and Holland, which was then near at hand; the fear lest their young men would enter into the military and naval service; the tendency of their little community to become absorbed and lost in a foreign nation; the natural and pious desire of perpetuating a church, which they believed to be constituted after the simple and pure model of the primitive church of Christ, and a commendable zeal to propagate the Gospel in the regions of the new world.[6]

In this situation, they turned their attention towards America. Here they hoped to engage in their original occupation of agriculture, and not merely to enjoy toleration, but to form a society founded on their favorite plan of ecclesiastical order. With this object in view, they first applied to the Virginia company for a patent, who zealously espoused their cause, but who were unable to obtain from the king a toleration, under his seal, in religious liberty, though he promised to wink at their heresy, provided they should conduct themselves peaceably. The company granted them permission to make a settlement near the mouth of the Hudson river. They had previously, in the want of adequate capital of their own for the founding of a plantation, been enabled to interest several London merchants in their scheme. These agreed to advance the necessary sums, to be rëpaid out of the avails of their industry. In this way, the emigrants were enabled to purchase the Speedwell, a ship of sixty tons, and to hire in England the Mayflower, a ship of one hundred and eighty tons, for the intended expedition. The Mayflower alone came, as the smaller vessel proved to be in a leaky condition, and, after two several trials, she was dismissed, as unfit for the service. The Mayflower took her departure on the 6th of September, and, after a boisterous passage, they discovered the land of Cape Cod on the 9th of November, at the break of day. The number of pilgrims, who had embarked, was one hundred and one, not all who had proposed to come; for the disasters that attended their setting out, had "winowed their number of the cowardly and the lukewarm." Their pastor, Mr. Robinson, did not leave Leyden, according to an original agreement, that only a part of their company should go to America to make provision for the rest.

The pilgrim voyagers found themselves on a bleak and inhospitable coast, and much farther to the northward than they intended to go. In agreement with their wishes, an attempt was made, by the master of the ship, to proceed to the Hudson. But either finding, or affecting to believe the passage to be dangerous, he readily seized on the fears which had been excited, probably by himself, to return to the cape, with a view to make a landing there. It afterwards appeared that he had been bribed by the Dutch, who intended to keep possession of the Hudson river, to carry the adventurers quite to the northward of their place of destination. They arrived in Cape Cod harbor on the 11th of November, "and, being brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees, and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from many perils and miseries." At this time, "it was thought meet for their more orderly carrying on their affairs, and accordingly by mutual consent they entered into a solemn combination, as a body politic, to submit to such government and governors, laws and ordinances, as should by general consent from time to time be made choice of and assented unto."[7] Forty-one persons signed this compact. It contained the essential principles of a free government, such as have since been embodied in the institutions of republican America. John Carver was immediately chosen their governor, "a man godly and well-approved among them."

Severe were the trials which awaited this small and lone band of pilgrims. The necessity of selecting a more commodious place for living was obvious, and, in the efforts which were made for this purpose, several of them well nigh perished. The excursions of an adventurous band of men, on several occasions, were extremely hazardous; and, though generally at the places where they landed, no Indians were found, yet, in one instance, they came in contact with the latter, and a hostile collision took place between them. By the kind providence of God, however, they were preserved. During one of their excursions into the country, they found a quantity of corn, which they took, with the intention of remunerating the owners, which intention they were afterwards happily enabled to fulfil. This was a providential discovery, which supplied their present wants, and served as seed for a future harvest. An entire month was occupied with these explorations. At last, they found a tract where they concluded to consummate their enterprise. Having sounded the harbor in front, they ascertained it to be fit for shipping. Going on shore, they explored the adjacent land, where they saw various corn-fields and brooks. They then returned to the ship, with the agreeable intelligence that they had found a place convenient for settlement. This was on Monday, the 11th of December, answering to the 22nd day, new style, the day now celebrated in commemoration of the landing of the pilgrims at _Plymouth_. The company had kept the Christian Sabbath, the day before, on an island in the harbor. The ship arrived at the newly-discovered port on the 16th. Several days were spent in disembarking, and it was not until the 25th that they began to build the first house. This was a structure for common use, to receive them and their goods. The undertaking, however, was preceded by united prayer for Divine guidance. The building having been completed, they began to erect "some cottages for habitation, as time would admit, and also consulted of laws and order, both for their civil and military government, as the necessity of their present condition did require. But that which was sad and lamentable, in two or three months half their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, wanting houses and other comforts, being infected with the scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and their incommodate condition brought upon them."[8] Their reduction, by sickness, would have rendered them an easy prey to the Indians; but the providence of God had so ordered it, that but few of this fierce people existed, at that period, in the neighborhood of the settlers, and those few were kept back from inflicting any injury, by the dread which had almost supernaturally, so to speak, been inspired in their hearts. The paucity of the Indians has been accounted for, from a wasting sickness, of an extraordinary character, which had visited the region some few years before.

Some time in March of 1621, an agreeable and unexpected occurrence took place at the rendezvous of the whites. It was a visit of an Indian sagamore, named Samoset, with professions of friendship for them, and satisfaction at their arrival in the country. His kind greeting to them was, "Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, Englishmen!" He spoke in broken English, which he had learned from English fishermen on the eastern coast. This was an event of great consequence to the settlers, as they learned from him many things in respect to the region around, and the Indians that inhabited it. He came to the English settlement again, with some other natives, and advised the emigrants of the coming of the great sachem, named Massasoit. In a short time this chief made his appearance, in company with his principal associates, particularly an Indian named Squanto, who proved to be of signal service to the whites. He had learned the English language, in consequence of having been carried to England by an English adventurer. Mutual fear and distrust took place between the parties, as Massasoit came in sight on the hill which overlooked the place. After they each had taken proper precautions against surprise, through the agency of Squanto they came together, and the result of the interview was a league of peace, which was kept inviolate more than fifty years.

The visit was not much prolonged. "Samoset and Squanto stayed all night with us, and the king and all his men lay all night in the wood, not above half an English mile from us, and all their wives and women with them. They said that within eight or nine days they would come and set corn on the other side of the brook, and dwell there all summer, which is hard by us. That night we kept good watch, but there was no appearance of danger."[9] The plantation at Plymouth enjoyed the benefit of Squanto's presence with them, after the departure of the others. He was a native or resident of the place, and almost the only one that was left; and being acquainted with every part of it, his information was made highly useful to the colonists. They learned from him the method of cultivating corn, and where to take their fish, and procure their commodities. He continued among them until the day of his death. In the spring of 1621, Mr. Carver was confirmed as governor for the succeeding year, but his death occurred soon afterwards. Mr. William Bradford was chosen his successor, and Mr. Israel Allerton his assistant. The intercourse of the colonists with the Indians continued to be of a friendly character, the former having, during the summer, made several excursions into the country around, particularly one to Shawmut (Boston), where they had an interview with Obbatinnua, one of the parties to the submission signed a short time before at Plymouth. He renewed his submission, receiving, at the same time, a promise of defence against his enemies.

The small number of the colonists was increased before the end of the year by an accession of thirty-five persons, among whom was a very active and pious agent, Mr. Robert Cushman. He became eminently useful to the plantation. Upon the departure of the ship conveying this latter company, the colony received a threatening token from the Narraganset tribe of Indians--a circumstance which induced them to fortify their little settlement as well as they were able, and to keep a constant guard by day and by night. Happily, no attempts at that time were made to disturb their peace. This event occurred in the year 1622. In the following year, a vigorous and successful attempt, under the brave Captain Miles Standish, was made to defeat a conspiracy formed by the Massachusetts tribe, with several others, against a recent English settlement at Wessagusset (Weymouth). This settlement had been formed under Mr. Thos. Weston on his own account, and consisted of sixty men. The slaughter of several of the conspirators so terrified the Indian tribes concerned in the conspiracy, that they fled from their homes into swamps and desert places, where many of them perished. This generous service, on the part of the Plymouth colony, towards a neighboring plantation, redounded greatly to their credit, especially as the latter were merely a company of adventurers, and had been guilty of injustice towards the Indians.

The present year proved to be a year of suffering, in consequence of the scarcity of food. The following affecting account is given by Bradford: "But by the time our corn is planted, our victuals are spent, not knowing at night where to have a bit in the morning; we have neither bread nor corn for three or four months together, yet bear our wants with cheerfulness, and rest on Providence. Having but one boat left, we divide the men into several companies, six or seven in each, who take their turns to go out with a net, and fish, and return not till they get some, though they be five or six days out; knowing there is nothing at home, and to return empty would be a great discouragement. When they stay long, or get but little, the rest go a digging shellfish, and thus we live the summer; only sending one or two to range the woods for deer, they get now and then one, which we divide among the company; and in the winter are helped with fowl and ground-nuts."[10] It is recorded that, after a drought of six weeks, the government set apart a solemn day of humiliation and prayer, which was almost immediately followed by a copious supply of rain. In the language of the chronicles of the times, it is thus spoken of: "Though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear, and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet (our exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered together on all sides, and, in the morning, distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days, and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say, whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God." Soon after, in grateful acknowledgment of the blessing, a day of public thanksgiving was observed. This, by a judicious historian, (Thomas Robbins, D. D.) is believed to be the origin of the annual thanksgiving of New England.

Towards the close of the summer, two ships arrived at Plymouth, bringing sixty emigrants, some of them the wives and children of such as were already in the colony. Those who came in the first three ships--the Mayflower, the Fortune, and the Ann--are distinctively called the old comers, or the _forefathers_. In 1624, Plymouth contained thirty-two dwellings and about one hundred and eighty inhabitants. Bradford was rëelected governor, and four assistants to him were also chosen. To each person and his family an acre of land was given in perpetuity. The first neat cattle in New England were brought over this year by Edward Winslow. The colonists had at that time no small trouble with several of the new comers, particularly with one John Lyford, a minister, and another by the name of Oldham, who were disposed to act in opposition to the laws and order of the colony. The persons above mentioned, however, soon perished, Oldham having first become apparently a penitent.

The congregation of the Puritans at Leyden was broken up on the death of their pastor, Mr. Robinson, in 1627. They desired to remove to New England, but only a part of them were enabled to come. The others settled in Amsterdam. Mr. Robinson had hoped to emigrate, but the expense of the undertaking could not well be met, and his death now preventing, only his wife and children came with the portion of the congregation that crossed the water. His place in the colony was supplied by Mr. William Brewster, a ruling elder in the church, and a man every way qualified as a spiritual guide of the people.

The foundation of the colony of MASSACHUSETTS was laid in the year 1628. It was styled the _Colony of Massachusetts bay_, the territory of which had been purchased by the Plymouth company--by Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young, and several others. The patent included all that part of New England lying between three miles to the northward of Merrimack river, and three miles to the southward of Charles river, extending in length from the Atlantic ocean to the South sea. The leader of the expedition was Mr. John Endicot, whose character may be summed up by saying, that he was a fit person to found that noble commonwealth. He came with one hundred emigrants, and was appointed governor of the colony. Mr. White, an eminent minister, was one of the company. Three years previously, a small company of adventurers had emigrated to a place in the Massachusetts bay, afterwards called Mount Wollaston, after the name of their leader; but, having no religious object in view, they fell into shameful irregularities. Upon the arrival of Endicot, however, a check was put on these proceedings, and their leader, Morton, was finally sent to England. These pious non-conformists under Endicot, like the Plymouth colonists, sought a refuge from oppression in their religious concerns, and desired to build up a community on the true principles of Christianity. They located themselves at Numkeag, (Salem,) where the first permanent town in Massachusetts was constituted. In the following year, they were joined by about two hundred others from England, making in the whole three hundred; of which number one hundred removed the same year, and settled themselves, with the consent of Governor Endicot, at Mishawam, now Charlestown. At this period, on the petition of the Massachusetts company, King Charles by charter confirmed the patent of the Massachusetts colony. By this instrument, they were empowered to elect a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assistants, out of the freemen of said company, by the greater part of the company. The first governor, under this renewed charter, was Matthew Cradock. The company being desirous of establishing their plantation in the order of the Gospel, engaged two eminent divines, Mr. Higginson and Mr. Skelton, to go out for the spiritual service of the colony. Soon after their arrival at Salem, they were placed over the church there with all due solemnity, the one as teacher, the other as pastor. These excellent men, however, lived but a short period, sharing largely, as they did, in the sickness and suffering that diminished the strength and shortened the lives of a large number of their people.

Among the many persons of distinction who left England the ensuing year, on account of the stringent measures of the government in regard to affairs both of church and state, are found the names of Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Sir Richard Saltonstall. These gentlemen, by their persuasions, were the means of having the charter and government of the company transferred to New England. They left with fifteen hundred other persons, in a fleet of seventeen sail, Winthrop having been chosen governor under the new order of things. They arrived in safety, eleven ships at one time, and six at another; and before the conclusion of the season, commenced settlements in several places; which, at present, constitute some of the fairest towns of New England. Governor Winthrop, and a portion of the company, laid the foundation of Boston. Several most highly esteemed ministers accompanied the expedition just spoken of; Mr. Wilson, Mr. Warham, and others. These were placed over the several churches that soon began to be formed in this vicinity. The first general court of Massachusetts, was held in Boston this year, on the 19th of October, at which time many of the planters attended, and were made freemen of the colony. The winters of 1630 and 1631, were very fatal to the Massachusetts colony. Frost and sickness carried off a number, and famine at length threatened the suffering survivors. They were, however, providentially relieved by the arrival of a ship from England with provisions, the day previously to a public fast, which had been appointed on account of the alarming state of things. This circumstance turned the intended fast into a general thanksgiving. The colony continued to increase by fresh accessions of emigrants till the year 1640, up to which time, it is computed that four thousand families had arrived in New England. From this small beginning have arisen the population, power, wealth, piety, and freedom of the New England states.

In the year 1633, the Plymouth colony suffered from a pestilential disease, which not only thinned their number, but, extending to the neighboring territory, swept off many of the Indians. In the same year, arrived those lights of the New England church, Mr. John Cotton, Mr. Thomas Hooker, and Mr. Samuel Stone, and that model of a magistrate, Mr. William Collier, whose services, to the Plymouth colony, were so considerable. Generally, the emigrants of this period were actuated by the same spirit of opposition to tyranny in church and state, and of love to the institutions of Christianity, which had characterized their predecessors. The men placed at the head of the new colonies were, universally, men of sterling worth of character.

The first settlers of CONNECTICUT came from the eastern shore of Massachusetts. They were a portion of the emigrants who constituted the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts bay. The emigration from England continuing to be large, and likely to increase from year to year, more room was wanted, and especially locations where the soil was rich and could be easily cultivated, became an object of desire. This consideration, and, probably, others pertaining to their tranquillity and increase as churches, had influence on the resolution to seat themselves again in the wilderness. It had happened, as early as the year 1631, that their attention was directed to the beautiful and rich tract of land, on the Connecticut river, by Wahcuimacut, a sachem living upon the river. He made a journey to Plymouth and Boston, with a view to enlist the governors of those colonies in the project of making settlements in his country. The proposition was not formally accepted, but the governor of Plymouth was sufficiently interested in it to make a voyage to the coast, in which excursion he discovered the river and the adjacent territory; thus precluding the title of the Dutch to any part of it, as they had neither "trading-house, nor any pretence to a foot of land there."[11] The subject of settling Connecticut was not lost sight of during one or two subsequent years; but, occasionally, vessels were sent from Plymouth to the river, for the purposes of trade, and, in one instance, several men, from Dorchester, traveled through the wilderness thither for the same object, as also to view the country.

In 1633, when the Plymouth colony had determined to commence the work of settlement, they commissioned William Holmes, and a chosen company with him, to proceed to Connecticut. They took with them the frame of a house, which they set up in Windsor. They achieved their object, notwithstanding the threatened opposition of the Dutch at Hartford, where the latter, after learning that the Plymouth people intended to settle on the river, had erected a slight fort. The Plymouth people, also, were successful in defending their trading-house subsequently, both against the Dutch and the Indians. The Dutch erected a trading-house at Hartford the same year, the house at Windsor having preceded it, perhaps, by a few months. The actual settlement of the region, however, was deferred for a time, from the fact of divided opinions on the subject in the Massachusetts court. No vote could be obtained in favor of the project. In the mean time, individuals were determined to prosecute the enterprise, and a number of the people of Watertown came, in 1634, to Connecticut. They erected a few huts at Pyquag (Wethersfield), in which they contrived to pass the winter. In the spring of 1635, the general court of Massachusetts bay assented to the plan of emigration to Connecticut, and, accordingly, preparations were made in several places. The Watertown people gradually removed, and added to their settlement at Wethersfield. Mr. Warham, one of the ministers of Dorchester, accompanied by a great part of the church, settled at Mattaneang (Windsor). A company from Newtown began a plantation, between those two settlements, at Suchiang (Hartford). In the course of the year, a large body of settlers, sixty in number, came together--men, women, and children, with their horses, cattle, and swine. It being somewhat late in the season, and their journey proving to be long and difficult, winter came upon them before they were prepared. They were but indifferently sheltered, and their food was scanty--a large portion of their furniture and provisions, having been put on board of several small vessels, never reached them. The vessels were lost, and some lives with them. A part of their domestic animals they were obliged to leave on the other side of the river. Famine and its fearful effects were now to be encountered. It was impossible for all to stay where they were. Some, attempted to return to the east through the wilderness; others, went down to the mouth of the river, in order to meet their provisions, and, being disappointed, were obliged, finally, to embark on board of a vessel for Boston. In both instances they suffered greatly, but were providentially preserved to arrive at their former home. The portion of the settlers who remained were subjected to much distress. The resources of hunting and food from the Indians being exhausted, they had recourse to acorns, malt, and grains for subsistence. Large numbers of their cattle perished. Their condition was indeed most trying and perilous, in their solitude and separation from others, at the mercy alike of the elements of nature, and the power of savage foes. But their God, in whom they trusted, carried them through in safety.

The Connecticut planters held courts of their own, though they were settled under the general government of the Massachusetts. These courts consisted of two principal men from each town, joined sometimes by committees of three additional persons, as occasion might require. The first court was held at Hartford, April 26th, 1636. At this season of the year, both those who had left Connecticut in the winter and many others proceeded to take up their residence on the river. At length, about the beginning of June, a company of an hundred men, women, and children, under Messrs. Hooker and Stone, took their departure from Cambridge, and traveled to Hartford through the pathless wilderness that lay between the two places. Over mountains, through ravines, swamps, thickets, and rivers, they made their way, submitting to incredible fatigue and many privations. These trials, to a portion of the new comers, must have been peculiarly severe, as they were a class of society who, having enjoyed all the comforts and elegancies of life, knew little of hardship and danger.

The year preceding, a fort was erected at the mouth of the river, called Saybrook fort, in honor of Lords Say and Brooks, to whom, with several others, a commission had been given to begin a plantation at Connecticut. This was effected under the auspices of John Winthrop, a son of the governor of Massachusetts. Winthrop's commission interfered with the settlement commenced by the Massachusetts colonists, but the latter were left in the quiet enjoyment of their possessions. The number of persons in the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, was about eight hundred at the close of the year 1636.

The succeeding year was signalized for the critical condition of the settlement. There was a great want of provisions and of the implements of husbandry, and every article bore a high price. The year was also filled with the incidents of warfare. In the feebleness of its infancy, the little colony was called to contend with one of the most warlike tribes of Indians that ever inhabited New England. And never were heroism and fortitude displayed in a more marked degree, or animated by a loftier spirit of patriotism and piety. The particulars need not be here rehearsed. Suffice it to say, they completely triumphed over their savage foe, the Pequots, under their brave leader, Captain John Mason. They went forth to battle, under the sanction and rites of religion, to save themselves, their wives, and children, and the Church of Christ in the wilderness, from utter extinction. The holy ardor of Hooker, in his incomparable address to the soldiers, filled their minds with an unwavering confidence in God. Seventy-seven brave men saved Connecticut, and destroyed the most terrible Indian nation in New England.

This necessity of warfare they would gladly have avoided, for the condition of the settlement required all their energies and efforts at home. They could neither hunt, fish, nor cultivate their fields, nor travel the shortest distance, while an insidious and cruel foe was hovering around them. They felt that he must be crippled or destroyed, or that their entire settlement would be cut off by piecemeal. The natives embraced every opportunity of committing depredations on the lives and property of the whites. A picture of the kind of life which was passed in those times of savage treachery and English daring, is given in the following detail of incidents, which occurred on the water immediately previous to the Pequot war:

"John Oldham, who had been fairly trading at Connecticut, was murdered near Block island. He had with him only two boys and two Narraganset Indians. These were taken and carried off. One John Gallop, as he was going from Connecticut to Boston, discovered Mr. Oldham's vessel full of Indians, and he saw a canoe full of Indians on board, go from her laden with goods. Suspecting that they had murdered Mr. Oldham, he hailed them, but received no answer. Gallop was a bold man, and though he had with him but one man and two boys, he immediately bore down upon them, and fired duck-shot so thick among them, that he soon cleared the deck. The Indians all got under the hatches. He then stood off; and, running down upon her quarter with a brisk gale, nearly overset them, and so frighted the Indians, that six of them leaped into the sea, and were drowned. He then steered off again; and, running down upon her a second time, bored her with his anchor, and raked her fore and aft with his shot. But the Indians kept themselves so close, he got loose from her; and, running down a third time upon the vessel, he gave her such a shock, that five more leaped overboard, and perished, as the former had done. He then boarded the vessel, and took two of the Indians, and bound them. Two or three others, armed with swords, in a little room below, could not be driven from their retreat. Mr. Oldham's corse was found on board, the head split and the body mangled in a barbarous manner. He was a Dorchester man, one of Mr. Warham's congregation. In these circumstances, Gallop, fearing that the Indians whom he had taken might get loose, especially if they were kept together, and having no place where he could keep them apart, threw one of them overboard. Gallop and his company then, as decently as circumstances would permit, put the corse into the sea. They stripped the vessel, and took the rigging and the goods which had not been carried off on board their own. She was taken in tow, with a view to carry her in; but the night coming on and the wind rising, Gallop was obliged to let her go adrift, and she was lost."

At the termination of the Pequot war, there was a great scarcity of provisions in Connecticut, and fearful apprehensions were felt on the part of the settlers. With all their efforts, they had not been able to raise a sufficiency of provisions, and these became at length very costly. Corn rose to the extraordinary price of twelve shillings by the bushel. The debt contracted by the war was paid with difficulty. Nothing saved the colony from a famine but a providential supply of corn, which they were enabled to purchase from the natives, at an Indian settlement called Pocomptock (Deerfield).

The first constitution of Connecticut was adopted January 15, 1639, by the free planters of the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, who convened at Hartford for the purpose. It was an admirably contrived instrument, providing for the freedom and liberties of themselves and their posterity. Some fifty years ago, Doctor Trumbull remarked, respecting it, that it was "one of the most free and happy institutions of civil government which has ever been formed. The formation of it at so early a period, when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the earth, and the rights of men so little understood in others, does great honor to their ability, integrity, and love to mankind. To posterity, indeed, it exhibited a most benevolent regard. It has continued with little alteration to the present time."

The NEW HAVEN colony was settled in the spirit that influenced the comers to the other parts of New England, and eminently so. The establishment of the Church of God on its true basis, and the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, was the object of the emigrants; and they proceeded to secure the fair inheritance by the wisest counsels and the most efficient action. The company who first constituted the settlement, was a rare assemblage of choice spirits. Among them were John Davenport, a distinguished minister in London, and Theophilus Eaton and Edward Hopkins, wealthy merchants of the same city, and eminent for their abilities and integrity. They with their associates arrived at Boston in the summer of 1637, and would have been gladly retained in the Massachusetts colony, had they consented. Strong inducements were held out to them to fix their residence there, but they wanted more room than they could find in the vicinity of Boston for themselves and the large number of friends whom they expected to follow them. Their principal reason, however, for migrating elsewhere, as suggested by the historian of Connecticut, was probably "the desire of being at the head of a new government, modeled, both in civil and religious matters, agreeably to their own apprehensions. It had been an observation of Mr. Davenport, that whenever a reformation had been effected in the church, in any part of the world, it had rested where it had been left by the reformers: it could not be advanced another step. He was embarked in a design of forming a civil and religious constitution, as near as possible to scripture precept and example." Their strict views, it seems, could not be fully met elsewhere.

Mr. Davenport and his company, on the 30th of March, 1638, sailed from Boston to Quinnipiac (New Haven), and arrived at the desired spot at about the middle of April. A portion of their company, with Eaton at their head, had made a journey to Connecticut during the preceding autumn, to explore the lands and harbors on the sea-coast; and having fixed upon Quinnipiac as the best place for a settlement, erected a hut there, in which a few men passed the winter. The first Sabbath which Mr. Davenport spent in the wilderness, was on the 18th of April, 1638, when he preached a discourse on the _Temptations of the Wilderness_. In a short time, at the close of a day of fasting and prayer, they entered into what they called a plantation covenant, in which they solemnly engaged, in their civil ordinances as well as religion, they would be governed by the rules of scripture. At different times, and in separate contracts, they purchased their lands of the Indians, by the payment of such articles as were satisfactory to the latter. As the New Haven adventurers were the most opulent company which came into New England, they were disposed and able to lay the foundation of a first-rate colony--the proofs of which are visible, in part, in the elegant city which became its capital. The foundations of the civil and religious polity of the colony were laid on the 4th of June, 1639, with every due solemnity. The act was not consummated until the 25th of October of the same year, as a term of trial was required for the seven men who were to constitute the seven pillars of the church. The number of subscribers to the compact, on the 4th of June, was sixty-three; to which there were soon after added about fifty other names. This colony enjoyed great comparative order and tranquillity, as well from the extreme care with which it was constituted at the beginning, the superior wealth and character of its founders, and their wise and prudent intercourse with their neighbors, the Indians.

The New Haven colony was distinguished among the sister-colonies for its zeal in behalf of education, for its great strictness in the administration of the laws, for its scrupulous justice towards the Indians, and for the absence of a frivolous or extravagant legislation, which in some instances had been thought to characterize the other colonies.[12] The colony, however, was not exempt from occasional providential calamities, particularly in its commercial pursuits. For a period, the colonists did not succeed in their principal secular object. Their plans may not have been the most judicious; but their greatest misfortune in this concern was the loss of a large ship, which contained a valuable cargo of about five thousand pounds. The ship, with its precious burden, and more precious navigators, was never heard of more after it left the harbor. Several other settlements in the vicinity were nearly coëval with that of New Haven. Milford and Guilford were settled in 1639, as also Stratford and Fairfield the same year; Stamford in 1641, and soon after the town of Brandford.

A settlement, at an early period, was made in NEW HAMPSHIRE, but it did not, until some time afterwards, constitute a distinct colony. In the spring of the year 1623, two members of the council of Plymouth (Gorges and Mason) having obtained a grant of a tract of country, sent over a few persons for the purpose of establishing a colony and fishing at the river Piscataqua. This was the beginning of the town of Portsmouth; but, for several years, together with the town of Dover, which had a fish-house erected about the same time, it was a small and scarcely permanent settlement. In 1629, some of the settlers about the Massachusetts bay, purchased a tract of country of the Indians, with a view to unite with the settlement at Piscataqua. After this purchase, the latter settlement was favored with a small increase; but no other settlements were made till the year 1638, when the towns of Exeter and Hampton commenced. Exeter was settled by people chiefly from Boston, who had been regularly dismissed from their church relations, and were constituted at once into a church in their new locality. Like the settlers of the other New England colonies, those of New Hampshire were desirous of enjoying the ministrations and ordinances of the Gospel, and were able to obtain excellent ministers.

These several plantations continued, for many years, to live on good terms with the natives, and were generally well supplied with provisions, in consequence of their advantages for fishery. They constituted distinct civil communities, after the most perfect model of freedom, but were unable to preserve their peculiar organization, on account of the intrusion of disaffected individuals, from the colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth, and the constant influx of other emigrants. They were too weak thus to stand alone, and, after suitable negociations on the subject, they came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, in 1641, on the condition of enjoying equal privileges with the people of that colony, and having a court of justice maintained among themselves. This union continued nearly forty years, and was followed by the greater increase and security of the colony.[13]