COLLECTIONS

OF THE

VOL. IX.

PORTLAND :
PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY.

1887.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge :
Electrotyed and Printed by H. 0. tloughton & Co.

\(o

THE delay in the publication of this volume has
been due to various causes, the chief of which was
the lamented death of the Hon. Israel Washburn,
Jr., Chairman of the Committee of Publication,
and the issue, meantime, of the third volume of
the Documentary series containing the Trelawny
Papers.

On account of the large number of papers which
had accumulated, the Committee have thought it
inexpedient to begin with this volume the publi-
cation of the Proceedings of the Society, and they
have therefore made it the ninth volume of the
Collections instead of the first volume of a new
series. It is, of course, to be understood that the
writers of the papers are alone responsible for the
views which they advance.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX.

CONTENTS.

I _ Sir William Phips. By William Goold, of Windham, Me. 1

II Brigadier-General Samuel Waldo, 1696-1759. By Joseph

Williamson, of Belfast, Me 73

III Claude De La Tour. By John Edwards Godfrey, of Ban-

gor, Me 97

IV John Peirce, Cloth Worker of London, and the Plymouth

Patent of 1621. By John Johnston, of Middletown, Conn. 1 15

V The Sheepscot Farms. By Alexander Johnston, of Wiscas-

set, Me 127

VI William Hutchings, the last surviving Revolutionary Pen-
sioner in New England. By Joseph Williamson, of Belfast,
Me : . 157

VII General John Chandler, of Monmouth, Me., with Extracts from
his Autobiography. By George Foster Talbot, of Port-
land, Me 167

VIII The White Hills of New Hampshire. By Edward Henry

Elwell, of Deering, Me 207

IX The Territorial History of Bangor and Vicinity. By Albert

Ware Paine, of Bangor, Me 221

X Memoir of Nathan Clifford. By James Ware Bradbury, of

-Augusta, Me 235

XI Grammatical Sketch of the Ancient Abnaki, outlined in the
Dictionary of Fr. Sebastian Bale, S. J. Part I. The Ab-
naki Noun. By Rev. Michael Charles O'Brien, of Ban-
gor, Me 259

XII Edward Godfrey. His Life, Letters, and Public Services, 1584-

1664. By Charles Edward Bauks, M. D., of Portland, Me. 295

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of Sir William Phips Frontispiece

Bill of Credit, 1690 33

Funeral Ticket 57

Portrait of Brigadier-General Samuel Waldo 75

Congratulations of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to

General Waldo, on his Return from Louisburg 82

Arms of Godfrey 297

Autograph of Edward Godfrey 300

Ditto .335

ARTICLE I.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

BY WILLIAM GOOLD,

OP WINDHAM, MAINE.

BEAD BEFORE THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AT PORTLAND, MAY 15, 1879.

'

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

BY WILLIAM GOOLD.

[Read at a Meeting of the Maine Historical Society at Portland,
May 15, 1879.]

FOR those to whom historical research is no
task, being led to undertake it by natural inclina-
tion, it is a manifest duty to make an effort to re-
claim the history of the men of their own colony,
province, or state who were in their life conspic-
uous for their civil, military, or naval service, or
were in any way benefactors of their race. Every
generation that passes without this attempt leaves
the trail more obscure.

Our Society, in the half century and more of its
existence, has done much to retrieve the history
of the territory now forming our State, and the
people who first settled it, and yet there is much
left for us to do. A large part of it was disputed
territory, for the possession of which two powerful
nations of different religions contended. It was
impossible for the white inhabitants to enjoy long
intervals of peace ; they became soldiers and sailors
in spite of themselves. At some seasons they were
compelled, for safety, to eat, sleep, and worship

2 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

with their arms in their hands, or within reach in
a moment. They could lead a scout, or build and
sail a transport. If Canada or Acadia were to be
invaded, or the French and Indians driven back,
the home government looked to the Massachusetts
province of which Maine became a part, and
an important one, as it was the frontier to lead
off with men and money and armed transports.
Some of the men of Maine who served in these
expeditions have had their lives written; but in
historical investigations new facts are continually
coming to light, which lead to new conclusions.

The subject of this biographical paper, Sir Wil-
liam Phips, had a friend and contemporary well
qualified, and acknowledging it to be his duty to
record his acts. "Soon after the death of Governor
Phips, in 1695, that accomplished scholar and vo-
luminous writer, Kev. Cotton Mather, wrote his
friend's life. It is a brieL life for such a man :
but it is the only good authority to consult for a
knowledge of his parentage and early life. Some
have said that it is highly colored. Professor Bow-
en, who wrote of Sir William in Sparks's " Amer-
ican Biography," speaks of the improbability of
some of Cotton Mather's statements, I think with-
out reason. Mather was colleague pastor with
his father, Dr. Increase Mather, of the Old North
Church, in Boston, to whose communion Governor
Phips belonged. Drake, in his life of him, says,
" Literature owes a vast deal to Cotton Mather,
especially for his historical and biographical works.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 3

Were these alone to be struck out of existence,
it would make a void in these departments of lit-
erature, that would confound many who affect
to look upon them with contempt." The " New
England Weekly Journal," of the 19th of Feb-
ruary, 1728, after announcing the death of Dr.
Mather, says, " He was perhaps the principal orna-
ment of this country, the greatest scholar that
ever was bred in it." It would seem that a life of
Governor Phips, whose home was in the same city
with that of his biographer, might be relied upon
for prominent incidents of his career, even if the
details are somewhat highly colored. His admin-
istration of the government of the province is im-
partially treated by Hutchinson in his history of
Massachusetts.

Mather's " History of Sir William Phips " was
first published in London in 1697, with a certifi-
cate which commences thus : " The author of the
following narrative is a person of such well-known
integrity, prudence, and veracity, that there is not
any cause to question the truth of what he here
relates." This is signed by three well-known Eng-
lish divines. First by Nathaniel Mather, uncle of
the author, who probably superintended the pub-
lication. It is dedicated to the Earl of Bellomont,
who succeeded Phips, as Governor of Massachu-
setts, after his death in 1695, the Earl being then
in England. The other signers of the certificate
were John Howe and Matthew Mead, both London
ministers of high standing. The author's name

4 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

nowhere appears, but the work was republished in
Mather's "Magnalia" in 1702, the authorship be-
ing thus acknowledged. The work commences in
a somewhat grandiloquent style : " The Life of His
Excellency, Sir William Phips, Knight, Late Cap-
tain-General, and Governor-in-Chief of the Prov-
ince of Massachusetts Bay. Containing the mem-
orable changes undergone, and actions performed
by him. Written by one intimately acquainted
with him. ( From him learn virtue, and life's
truest work.' ' Now as mortality has done its part
on a considerable person, with whom I had the
honor to be well acquainted, and a person as mem-
orable for the wonderful changes which befell him,
as imitable for his virtues and actions under these
changes, I shall endeavor with the chymistry of an
impartial historian to raise my friend so far out of
his ashes, as to show him unto the world.' ' This
paragraph I take from the Introduction, which
covers two pages of the " Magnalia." Dr. Mather's
account of the birthplace and parentage of Gov-
ernor Phips, if it is not laudatory of the place, is
commendable for its brevity, and has been often
quoted. It commences in these words : " This our
Phips was born February 2, 1650, at a despicable
plantation on the river Kennebeck, and almost
the furthest village of the eastern settlement of
New England. And the father of that man, who
was as great a blessing as England had in the age,
was a gunsmith. James Phips, once of Bristol,
had the honor of being the father of him whom

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 6

we shall presently see made by the God of Heaven
as great a blessing to New England as that coun-
try could have had if they themselves had pleased.
His fruitful mother, yet living, had no less than
twenty-six children, whereof twenty-one were
sons, but equivalent to them all was William, one
of the youngest, whom his father, dying, left
young with his mother, and with her he lived,
1 keeping sheep in the wilderness,' until he was
eighteen years old."

Our associate, Mr. Sewall, who is the best au-
thority for the topography and traditions of that
region, gives this description of the birthplace of
William Phips, in his " Ancient Dominions of
Maine " : " Not far from Wiscasset, on the lower
margin of Monseag Bay, near the mouth of a riv-
ulet of the same name, a peninsula of arable land
strikes out from the southeast extreme of the
purchase of Bateman and Brown into a body of
water formed by the junction of the waters of the
bay above, in their passage to the sea, with those
flowing from Sheepscot Bay below, into the Ken-
nebeck opposite Bath. ... To this peninsula, as
the precise locality of the birthplace of William
Phips, tradition points the beholder, and calls it
Phips's Point. Phips's shipyard was not far from
his birthplace, and not at Sheepscot farms." The
author above quoted says, " Phips's wealth pro-
cured him knighthood." In this he is mistaken.
It was his energy, good judgment, and persever-
ance, shown in achieving wealth, and the exact

6 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

fulfilment of his promises to his partners and his
crew, when he had obtained his wealth, that pro-
cured him, not only knighthood from his sover-
eign, but the esteem and admiration of the court
and people of England, and the people of his na-
tive colony.

I shall again quote from Mather. He says of
young Phips :

" His friends earnestly solicited him to settle
among them, in a plantation of the east, but he
had an unaccountable impulse upon his mind, per-
suading him, as he would privately hint unto some
of them, that he was born to great matters. To
come at these great matters, his first contrivance
was to bind himself an apprentice unto a ship car-
penter for four years, in which time he became
master of the trade." Our young shipwright was
now twenty-two years old, when he went to Bos-
ton, where Dr. Mather says he first learned to read
and write, and followed his trade there about a
year; and by a laudable deportment, so recom-
mended himself, that he married a young gentle-
woman of good repute, who was the widow of Mr.
John Hull, a well-bred merchant, and the daughter
of one Captain Roger Spencer, a person of good
fashion. Roger Spencer was of Saco. The first
entry in the book of records of that ancient town,
under the date September 6, 1653, is that a per-
mit was granted to Roger Spencer, to set up a
saw-mill within the township, provided " that he
doth make her ready to do execution within one
year."

SIR WILLIAM PHI PS. 7

Another daughter of Roger Spencer married
Dr. David Bennett of Rowley, whose son, Spencer
Bennett, became the adopted son of his childless
aunt and her husband, William Phips, and assumed
their name. Of him more will appear. We find
that both Governor Phips and his wife were na-
tives of Maine.

Mather continues : " Within a little after his
marriage, Phips indented with several persons in
Boston to build them a ship at Sheepscot, two or
three leagues eastward of Kennebeck. He also
provided a lading of lumber to bring with him,
which would have been to the advantage of all
concerned. But just as the ship was hardly fin-
ished, the barbarous Indians on. the river broke
forth into a cruel war upon the English ; and the
miserable people, surprised by so sudden a storm
of blood, had no refuge from the infidels but the
ship now finishing in the harbor. Whereupon he
left his intended lading behind him, and instead
thereof, carried with him his old neighbors and
their families, free of charges, to Boston ; so that
the first action that he did after he was his own
man was to save his father's house, with the rest
of the neighborhood, from ruin ; but the disap-
pointment which befell him from the loss of his
other lading plunged his affairs into greater em-
barrassments with such as had employed him."

In the fourth volume of the Maine Historical
Society's Collections, Samuel Johnson wrote of this
locality, to which the editor, Mr. Willis, added

8 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

notes of his own. One of which says that Captain
Sylvanus Davis, who was a large land-holder in
that region, and was councillor for Sagadahock
under the charter of 1690, informed the govern-
ment in 1701, " that in 1675 there were no less
than 156 families settled at Sagadahock, of which
fifty were at Sheepscot." These fifty families
alone would, at the usual computation of five to a
family, have made a company of 250 persons, who
took refuge on board the ship. If all those fam-
ilies had been as numerous as the Phips family,
some must have fallen a prey to the savages, as
the company would have numbered 1,300. Could
the cellars which were uncovered at Sheepscot
Farms in the summer of 1877, on the occasion of
the Society's visit there, have belonged to those
people whom Phips rescued in 1675 about the
time, probably, when Davis numbered them? If
so, it was not the " despicable place " that Mather
described it. He did not write until Governor
Phips was dead, and probably he had no definite
idea of that region, having never visited it.

As we are entirely dependent on Dr. Mather for
our facts relating to Governor Phips's early life, I
may as well use his own language, where it will
best serve my purpose. He says of our subject:

" He was hitherto no more than beginning to
make scaffolds for further and higher actions. He
would frequently tell the gentlewoman, his wife,
that he should yet be captain of a king's ship;
that he should come to have the command of

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 9

better men than he now accounted himself, and
that he would be the owner of a fair brick house
in the Green Lane of North Boston, and that it
may be, this would not be all that the providence
of God would bring him to. She entertained
these passages with sufficient incredulity, but he
had so serious and positive an expectation of them
that it is not easy to say what was the original
thereof.

" He was of an enterprising genius, and natu-
rally disdained littleness. With little show of wit,
there was much wisdom. His talent lay not in
airs, that serve chiefly for the pleasant turns of
conversation, but he might say as Themis tocles,
i Though he could not play upon a fiddle, he knew
how to make a little city become a great one.'
He would prudently contrive a weighty undertak-
ing, and then patiently pursue it to the end.

" Being thus of the true temper, he betakes
himself to the sea, the right scene for such things ;
and upon the advice of a Spanish wreck about the
Bahamas, he took a voyage thither, but with lit-
tle more success than what just served him a little,
to furnish him for a voyage to England, whither
he went in a vessel not much unlike that which
the Dutchmen stamped on their first coin, with
these words about it, 'None can tell where fate
will bear me.' "

It is more than probable that Phips owned this
ancient looking vessel, being unable to pay for a
better one. We may conclude from Dr. Mather's

10 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

language that he succeeded in finding this wreck
about the Bahamas, from which he obtained some-
thing to assist in his longer voyage to England,
and which he could show to the king and the
commissioners of the navy, to induce them to give
him the command of a ship in which to pursue his
search for sunken treasure. It was an age of ad-
venture. On the surrender of an enemy's city,
plunder was the rule. The ocean was infested by
pirates, and several well-known naval commanders
sailed on lawful expeditions that ended in piracy.
Captain Kidd gradually became a buccaneer.

It is probable that Captain Phips had some prac-
tical knowledge of sailing small vessels, while he
lived on the Sheepscot waters. All young men
like him, havin'g sufficient energy, at some time in
their early life made fishing trips to the Banks, or
coasting voyages to Boston, and to the southern
colonies. The common highways were the sea and
rivers, so that all had some knowledge of water
conveyance. Young Phips could not have had
any scientific knowledge of navigation until years
after he went to Boston, for Mather asserts that it
was there that he first learned to read and write.

His biographer continues. " Having first in-
formed himself that there was another Spanish
wreck, wherein was lost a mighty treasure, hith-
erto undiscovered, he had a strong impression on
his mind that he should be the discoverer, and he
made such representations at White Hall, that by
the year 1683 he became the ' captain of a king's

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. H

ship/ and arrived in New England commander of
the Algier Rose, a frigate of eighteen guns, and
ninety-five men." Charles II. was then the reign-
ing monarch of England, and his brother, the Duke
of York, and two years later King James II., was
High Admiral, and at the head of the navy board.
He had commanded the fleet in a successful en-
gagement with the Dutch, and was a brave officer.
Samuel Pepys was one of the commissioners of the
navy under him. His Diary was first published
a few years ago, which lets in much light on the
public and private life of Charles II., and his
brother, the Duke of York. It was undoubtedly
the Duke who, becoming sufficiently interested in
Captain Phips and his proposed adventure, in-
duced the king to give him the command of a
small frigate for his purpose.

Thus far we have been obliged to trust to one
writer for the history of this remarkable man,
Captain Phips. But now he has become a captain
in the royal navy, his acts are a matter of record,
both in England and in the archives of the Massa-
chusetts Colony, by which we can verify some of
the statements of his biographer. Of the next
five years of the life of Captain Phips, Dr. Mather
gives the most readily accessible account ; it is no
doubt authentic.

He says : " To relate all the dangers through
which he passed, both by sea and land, and all the
tiresome trials of his patience as well as his cour-
age, while year after year the most vexing acci-

12 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

dents imaginable delayed the success of his de-
sign, would tire the patience of the reader, where-
fore I shall supersede all journal of his voyages
to and fro, with reciting one instance of his con-
duct that showed him to be a person of no mean
capacity.

" While he was captain of the Algier Rose, his
men, growing weary of their unsuccessful enter-
prise, made a mutiny, wherein they approached
him on the quarter-deck with drawn swords in
their hands, and required him to join with them
in running away with the ship, to drive a trade
of piracy on the South Seas. Captain Phips,
though he had not so much of a weapon as an
ox-goad, or a jawbone, in his hands, yet, like an-
other Shamgar'or Sampson, with most undaunted
fortitude, rushed upon them, and with the blows
of his bare hands felled them, and quelled all the
rest."

Another and more extensive conspiracy was en-
tered upon by the crew, while the ship was ca-
reening at a small uninhabited island. A bridge
had been laid to the bold shore, to which the ship
was moored, and all the, crew but eight or ten of
the best men, were on shore in the woods on leave.
Some of the crew, no doubt, had been pirates before
and wished to be again. The whole party con-
spired to seize the ship that evening, and after put-
ting the captain and his friends on shore, to sail
for the South Seas on a piratical expedition. They
wanted the carpenter to join them, but he asked

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 13

time to decide, and found a way to inform Captain
Phips of the plot.

With his few men the captain took up the
bridge and loaded and trained his guns to bear
upon the mutineers, on their return in the even-
ing. On their approach the captain hailed them
with orders to stand off, and said that he should
leave them on the island to starve. This brought
them to their knees to beg forgiveness, saying that
they had no ill-will to the captain, but wanted
the ship. He finally admitted them on board, but
kept an eye on them until he arrived at Jamaica,
where they were discharged.

With a few new men to take the place of the
mutineers, Captain Phips sailed for the island of
Hispaniola, or St. Domingo, where he fell in with
an old Spaniard, who gave him some information
of the wreck of a treasure-ship many years be-
fore, at the north of Port de la Plata on that isl-
and, so named from the landing of a boat with
plate from the wreck. With renewed courage
Captain Phips commenced the search for sunken
treasure in this new place, without success. The
Algier Rose had been in the West India waters
for perhaps two years, and needed repairs, the
completion of which at the island the mutiny had
prevented. Besides, if his search should be suc-
cessful, Captain Phips felt that he could not trust
his present crew. With these discouragements he
sailed for England, but with no abatement of con-
fidence that he should yet find the wreck.

14 SIR WILLIAM PH1PS.

The Duke of York, who had been Admiral of
England under his brother, Charles II., and who
had the direction of naval affairs, had now come
to be the reigning sovereign, as James II. The
unpopularity of his measures caused loud com-
plaint, and William, Prince of Orange, was solic-
ited to come to England and claim the throne in
the right of his wife, who was the eldest daughter
of James.

To repel this threatened invasion, James needed
all of his frigates, and however high Captain
Phips might have stood in his estimation, he had
no ship to spare for treasure hunting. Captain
Phips was not to be thwarted in his designs on ac-
count of the strait in which the king was placed.
He soon found powerful friends, probably with the
assistance or introduction of the king. Captain
Phips interested the Duke of Albemarle in his en-
terprise. He was a nobleman of great wealth,
whose father, the celebrated General Monk, had es-
poused the cause of the Stuarts, and was the prin-
cipal instrument in restoring Charles II. to his
throne, for which he and his brother James never
ceased to be grateful. Others besides the Duke
became interested in Captain Phips's scheme. It
is good evidence that Captain Phips retained the
friendship and confidence of the king, that he
granted a charter to the Duke of Albemarle and
his associates, for ownership and possession of all
the wrecks that might be discovered for a term of
years.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 15

A ship and a small vessel for a tender were ob-
tained and fitted out. Mather says that Captain
Phips i( invented many of the instruments neces-
sary to the prosecution of his intended fishery."
I cannot improve Dr. Mather's account of the
search for, and recovery of, the treasure ; so I give
it in his own language :

" Captain Phips, arriving with his ship and
tender at Port de la Plata, made a stout canoe of
a stately cotton-tree, so large as to carry eight or
ten oars, for the making of which periaga (as they
call it) he did, with the same industry that he did
everything else, employ his own hands and adze,
and endured no little hardship, lying abroad in
the woods many nights together. This periaga,
with the tender, being anchored at a place con-
venient, the boat kept busking to and again, but
could only discover a reef of rising shoals, there-
about called " The Boilers," which, rising within
two or three feet of the surface, were yet so steep
that a ship striking on them would immediately
sink. One of the men, looking over the side of
the periaga into the calm water, spied a sea
feather growing as he judged out of a rock, where-
upon they had one of their Indians to dive down
and fetch this feather. The diver, bringing up the
feather, brought therewithal a surprising story;
that he perceived a number of great guns where
he had found the feather, which astonished the
whole company.

" Upon further diving the Indian fetched up a

16 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

sow, as they called it, or a lump of silver, worth
perhaps two or three hundred pounds. Upon this
they prudently buoyed the place, that they might
readily find it again, and they went back unto
their captain, whom for some while they distressed
with bad news as formerly. Nevertheless, they
so slipped the sow of silver under the table where
they were now sitting with the captain, and hear-
ing him express his resolution to wait still pa-
tiently the providence of God. At last he saw the
silver, then said he, ' Thanks be to God, we are
made.'

" Most happily, they first fell upon the room in
the wreck where the bullion had been stored up.
They so prospered in this new fishery that in a
little while they brought up thirty-two tons of sil-
ver. One Adderly of Providence (one of the Ba-
hamas), who had formerly been very helpful to
Captain Phips in his search for this wreck, did
upon former agreement meet him now with a little
vessel here, and he with his few hands took up
about six tons of silver, whereof he made little
use, as in a year or two he died distracted at Ber-
mudas. Thus did once again come into the light
of the sun a treasure which had been half a hun-
dred years groaning under the waters. In this
time there was grown upon the plate a crust, like
limestone, to the thickness of several inches, which
being broken open by iron, they knocked out
whole bushels of rusty pieces of eight (Spanish
dollars), which had grown thereinto. Besides that

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 17

incredible treasure of plate in various forms, thus
fetched from seven or eight fathoms under water,
there were vast riches of gold and pearls and jew-
els which they also lit upon.

" Thus did they continue fishing until their pro-
visions failing them 't was time to be gone. But
before they went Captain Phips caused Adderly
and his folk to swear that none of them would dis-
cover the place of the wreck, or come any more
until the next year, when he expected to be there
himself. It was remarkable that though the sows
still came so fast that on the very last day of their
being there they took up twenty, yet it was af-
terward found that they had in a manner cleared
the room where these things were stowed."

Dr. Mather continues : " But there was one ex-
traordinary distress which Captain Phips found
himself plunged into. His men had come out on
seamen's wages, at so much per month ; and when
they saw such vast litters of silver sows and pigs,
as they called them, come on board them at the
captain's call, they knew not how to bear it that
they should not all share all among themselves,
and be gone to lead a short life and a merry one,
where those that had hired them should not reach
them. In this terrible distress Captain Phips made
his vows unto Almighty God, that if the Lord would
carry him safe home to England with what He
had now given him, he would forever devote him-
self unto the interest of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his people, especially in the country which he did

18 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

himself originally belong unto." We find that the
humble shipwright of Sagadahock did not, in his
prosperity nor in his distress, forget that " despic-
able place," as Dr. Mather called it, " the hole of
the pit from which he was digged."

Captain Phips assured his men that besides
their wages they should have extra pay, if he was
obliged to take it from his own share, with which
promise they were satisfied, and he sailed for Eng-
land direct; but soon after some Bermudans took
Adderly's boy for a pilot and sailed for the place
of the wreck, and gleaned the remains of the
treasure.

Captain Phips arrived safely in London in 1687,
with his cargo of silver, gold, and jewels, to the
value of 300,00t) pounds sterling. After satisfy-
ing his crew according to promise, he had left to
himself less than 16,000 pounds. The Duke of
Albemarle was so well satisfied with Captain
Phips's honesty that he made his wife, whom he
had never seen, a present of a golden cup of the
value of nearly one thousand pounds sterling.
Some officious people urged the king, who was
entitled to one tenth of the treasure, to seize the
whole, on the ground of deception ; but he replied
that he had been rightly informed by the captain
of the whole matter.

In consideration of his success and honesty in
bringing into the kingdom so large a treasure, the
king conferred upon Captain Phips the honor of
knighthood, with a gold medal. Le Neve's Cata-

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 19

logue of Knights says that William Phips was
knighted at Windsor Castle, June 28, 1687.

At this time James II. needed just such men as
Sir William in his navy, the king's favorite arm of
defence, to repel the threatened Dutch invasion,
and prevent the landing of William, Prince of
Orange, which took place the next year. Our
" Knight of the Golden Fleece " was urged to re-
main in England and accept a command, but he
had won distinction and wealth at the wreck, and
there was more there when he left, and he refused
a command offered by the commissioners of the
navy.

An English nobleman, Sir John Narsborough,
had made voyages of discovery to the South Sea
with success, an account of which had attracted
much attention. He was a man after Sir Wil-
liam's own heart, and he took him with him on his
next voyage to the wreck ; but the Bermudans,
with Adderly's boy for a pilot, had nearly cleared
the wreck of everything of value. To Sir John
Narsborough, and this last voyage to the wreck,
Dr. Mather devotes less than two lines, probably
because it was a failure, not mentioning the date
of it.

Within a year the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety has published the first volume of the " Sew-
all Papers," including the Diary of Judge Samuel
Sewall, kept in Boston, except when absent a few
months in England, whither he went in November,
1688. This Diary covers the years from 1674 to

20 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

1700, and is of much value in tracing the acts
of Sir William Phips and his contemporaries dur-
ing those years which include the administration
of Sir William as Governor of the Massachusetts
province, under the new charter. It is this jour-
nal kept by a Councillor of the province that in-
duces me to retrace the life of Governor Phips,
and perhaps explain some matters which in later
years have been injuriously commented upon.
Dr. Cotton Mather has been accused of favoring
Sir William Phips and excusing his faults. Drake,
in his memoir, says, " Dr. Douglass seems to have
been the author of the fashion, or practice, so
much in vogue of late years, of reviling Cotton
Mather. It has-been carried to such an extreme
in some quarters, that whoever presumes to men-
tion his name does it at the peril of coming in for
a share of the obloquy and abuse himself." Dr.
Mather said, when writing the " Magnalia," that
" he had no question but there would be some with
hearts full of serpent venom," who would "scourge
him with scorpions for the pains he had taken."
I have said that Professor Bowen wrote the life of
Sir William Phips which is contained in Sparks's
"American Biography." He speaks doubtingly
of some of Mather's statements. He says of Dr.
Mather, " He was intimately acquainted with the
subject of his memoir, and the account would be
entitled to full credit, did not his own credulity,
and the partiality which he everywhere shows,
throw some doubts on the more remarkable state-

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 21

ments." Yet Mr. Bowen has been unable to dis-
credit them. Because he thinks Mather has been
partial, he seems to consider it his duty to doubt
his veracity, and in his own memoir to lean to
the opposite extreme. We have now arrived at a
period in the life of Sir William Phips when we
can verify Mather's statements by collateral au-
thority.

We will resume the thread of our narrative.
By the Diary of Judge Sewall we are enabled to
fix the date of Sir William's visit to the wreck in
company with Sir John Narsborough. Under
date February 11, 1687, Sewall says : " Gary ar-
rives from Jamaica, five weeks' passage, brings
word that the Duke of Albemarle was there and
Sir William on the wreck." This would make it
the last of December, five months after the date
of his knighthood. It must be recollected that
then February was the last full month in the year.

Mather says : " Nothing would content Sir Wil-
liam but a return to New England. And, whereas
the charters of New England had been taken away,
there was a governor imposed upon the territories
with as arbitrary and as treasonable a commission
perhaps as was ever heard of, a commission by
which the governor, with three or four more, none
of whom were chosen by the people, had power
to make what laws they would, and levy taxes ac-
cording to their own humors upon the people."
This Governor was, as all know, Sir Edmund An-
dros, and the lost charter was that brought out by

22 SIR WILLIAM PH1PS.

Governor Winthrop in 1630, which Charles II.
succeeded in causing to be abrogated in 1684.

The old charter provided for the election of the
governor by the people, which was very distaste-
ful to the king, and to a large party in the colo-
nies, who coveted that office or some preferment
under it, which, belonging to the royal party,
they could not obtain. Sir William's sympathies
were with the Puritans, at the head of whom was
Dr. Increase Mather, who held at the same time
the office of President of Harvard College and pas-
tor of the North Church of Boston. His son, Cot-
ton Mather, was his assistant.

In his memoir, Cotton Mather continues : " In-
deed, when King James offered, as he did, unto
Sir William Phips an opportunity to ask what he
pleased of him, Sir William generously replied
that he prayed for nothing but this, ( that New
England might have its lost privileges restored.' .
The king then replied : ' Anything but that.' He
next petitioned the king to be appointed high
sheriff of that country, hoping by his deputies in
that office to supply the country with conscientious
juries. This office he obtained, and with his com-
mission he returned to Boston, in the summer of
1688, after an absence of five years."

Sir William's arrival is thus noticed by Sewall.
" Friday, June 1, 1688. Went to Watertown lec-
ture. Mr. Russel Graves and many more were
there, Lady Phips for one, who was ready to faint
as word was brought in by the coachman of Sir

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 23

William's being spoken at sea. By that time we
got home, we heard that Sir William came in his
pinnace from Portsmouth this day. Many of the
town gone to compliment him." The next Friday
Sewall mentions the presence of Sir William at the
Charlestown lecture, and on Tuesday following
Judge Sewall waited on kirn at his residence. 1

From the Sewall Diary we learn that Sir Wil-
liam had a frigate to visit his home, and first ar-
rived at Portsmouth, N. H., probably on account
of the weather. He had been appointed high
sheriff of New England, which accounts for the
frigate. June 22d, Sewall says : " Went to bid Sir
William welcome to town, who landed an hour or
so before, being come with his frigate from Ports-

1 From an entry in the journal, I conclude that there was a fear
that, after so much time spent in England with Church people, Sir
William had become attached to the Church of England. The next
Sunday after his arrival was Whitsunday. Sewall thus records
his whereabouts : " Sir William not abroad in the forenoon, in the
afternoon he hears Mr. Mather ; so the Whitsuntiders have not his
company." These Whitsuntiders were Governor Andros and his
officials, with the other Episcopalians of the town, who were holding
services in the South Church after the morning meeting of that so-
ciety was dismissed. The governor's chaplain, Rev. Mr. Ratcliff,
officiated. There was then no English Church in Boston. Sewall
gives a long account of the controversy through which the use of the
South Meeting-house was obtained. He was one of the proprietors.
On March 28th previous, Sewall has this entry: "Captain Davis
spoke to me for land to set a church on. I told him I could not,
would not put Mr. Cotton's land to such a purpose." In reply to an
application from the minister, Ratcliff, for land for the same purpose,
Sewall said, according to his own account : " I told him I could not,
first because I would not set up that which the people of New Eng-
land came over to avoid."

24 SIR WILLIAM PH1PS.

mouth." If he had been simply a passenger, he
would not have returned to Portsmouth to bring
up his ship. He was the commander. Sir Wil-
liam could not have been very bigoted in his re-
ligion, as Sewall says his chaplain preached to the
Governor on Sunday, July 1st, which he could have
prevented, and of course* the chaplain of the ship
was an Episcopalian. Sir William was sworn as
high sheriff on July 6th, but Mather says : " The
infamous government, then rampant, found a way
wholly to put by the execution of his patent.
Yea, he was like to have had his person assassi-
nated before his own door, which, with some fur-
ther designs then in his mind, caused him within
a few weeks to take another voyage into Eng-
land." While Sir William was in Boston, Sewall
often recorded his whereabouts. " July 4th, Com-
mencement, Mr. Hubbard compared Sir William
in his oration to Jason fetching the golden fleece."
" Monday, July 16, 1688, Sir William's frigate and
the Swan set sail." He had remained at home only
six weeks. During this time he commenced the
" fair brick house in Green Lane," now Salem
Street, on a lot which had been purchased by his
lady in October, 1687. On the 21st, Sewall says:
" I went to offer my Lady Phips my house by
Moody 's, and to congratulate her preferment. As
to the former, she had bought Sam. Wakefield's
house and ground last night, for 350. I gave
her a Gazette that related her husband's knight-
hood, which she had not seen before, and wished

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 25

this success might not hinder her passage to greater
estate. Gave me a cup of good beer, and thanked
me for my visit." August 3d, Sewall says,
" Placed a stone in the column of Sir William's
house next to Mr. Nowell's." 1

This stone was probably the base or capital of
an architrave projecting from the brick wall, not
properly a column ; or it may have been the same
part of a column of the portico, as some persons,
yet living, who recollect the house, say that its
front had such an ornament Whatever stone it
was, it probably was cut in England, as nearly all
monumental and ornamental stone-work was at
that time. There would hardly have been time
to have had it prepared in the Province with its
limited facilities. It was no uncommon thing for
vessels coming from England to bring a part of
their lading of bricks. This stone was put into the
column only two months after Sir William's arrival
from London, and it is probable that he brought
much of the ornamental material for his house in
the frigate.

After the abrogation of the charter in 1684,
there was continual dissatisfaction with the admin-
istration of public affairs. After Governor An-
dros's arrival in 1686, many landed proprietors

1 The custom of requesting a magistrate to assist with his own
hands in building a house or a ship was very common then. Re-
peated instances of it are mentioned in Judge Sewall's Diary. In
1692 he says, " I drove a trenail in the governor's brigantine ; " and
at another time he mentions the driving of a nail in Somerby's
house at Newbury.

26 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

were compelled to take new titles, for which they
were severely taxed for fees. This with other
abuses created a renewed desire in the colony to
have their charter restored, and increased the dis-
satisfaction, until on the 4th of April news of the
landing of the Prince of Orange in England was
received in Boston. On this encouragement, the
inhabitants of that vicinity seized the Governor
and imprisoned him at the castle. After the over-
throw of Andros, the General Court sent over two
of its members, viz. Elisha Cook and Thomas Oaks,
to act as agents of the colony, with Sir Henry
Ashurst. Plymouth Colony sent at the same time
as their agent, Rev. Ichabod Wiswall. In April,

1688, Dr. Increase Mather was also sent to assist
7

the others in obtaining a charter. He sailed three
months before Sir William. Cook, Oaks, and Wis-
wall were strenuous for the old charter, and acted
together. Dr. Mather and Sir William Phips de-
cided that it was impossible to obtain that, and in
the spring of 1689, Sir William was dispatched to
Boston, probably to obtain instructions from the
Mather party. Before he left, King James, who
had retired to France, offered him a commission as
Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, which he
would not accept without a charter. On his arri-
val at Boston, he found that, after a ten years'
peace, an Indian war had broken out. Schenec-
tady, N. Y., had been attacked, and the whole
eastern frontier was threatened. Sir William for-
got the charter, but he did not forget the people

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 27

of his native district, nor the vows he made to God
on shipboard to serve and protect them, if he
should be permitted to land his treasure. Salmon
Falls and Wells had also been attacked, and Casco
was threatened. Thirty canoes full of Indians had
been seen to cross Casco Bay.

Previously to Sir William's offering his services
to the Council to command an expedition to Nova
Scotia, as narrated hereafter, he offered himself for
admission to the communion of the North Church
of Boston, of which the Mathers, father and son,
were the pastors. He presented a well-written
confession of faith, which Mather copies in full.
It covers a page of the " Magnalia." It closes with
these lines : "I have had great offers made me in
England, but the churches of New England were
those my heart was most set upon. I knew that
if God had a people anywhere it was here, and I
resolved to rise or fall with them. . . . My being
born in a part of the country, where I had not in
my infancy enjoyed the first sacrament of the New
Testament, has been a great stumbling-block to me.
But though I have had proffers of baptism else-
where made to me, I resolved rather to defer it,
until I could enjoy it in the communion of these
churches." Accordingly, on the 23d of March,
1690, one month before he sailed on the Nova
Scotia expedition, Sir William was baptized by
Cotton Mather, and received into the fellowship
of the North Church.

In commenting upon Sir William's lack of edu-

28 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

cation, Professor Bowen mentions this confession
of faith, and says : " Some suspicion would rest
upon the authenticity of this piece did not Cotton
Mather declare that the original was in Sir Wil-
liam's own handwriting, and that he had not al-
tered a word in copying it. It is the only authen-
tic production of his own pen which I have been
able to find." The Professor continues : " I find
some documents of a later period bearing his sig-
nature, with the awkward strokes of a school-boy
just learning to write."

If Professor Bowen could find no other produc-
tion of Sir William's pen, why should he doubt the
authenticity of this ? Is it because the author of
it had been educated ankle deep in chips, and had
graduated from a ship-yard instead of a college ?
I had no difficulty in finding, in the archives of
Massachusetts, well-written and well-composed pro-
ductions of Sir William's pen, with his signature
in a clear, open hand.

It had been decided to send a naval force along
the eastern coast, which was infested by French
privateers and piratical vessels. In the Massachu-
setts archives are the instructions given him by

O *f

Governor Bradstreet, to cruise for an enemy's
ship, the Sea-Rover, a pirate which had seized
several fishing vessels belonging to his majesty's
subjects. Phips was then captain of the ship, Six
Friends, of forty guns, " now equipped as a ship
of war." This was afterwards his flag-ship in the
Quebec expedition.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 29

Sewall makes this entry in his journal, betray-
ing haste and excitement. " Saturday, March 22,
1690. Sir William Phips offers himself to go in
person. The Governor (Bradstreet) sends for me
and tells me of it ; I tell the Court ; they send for
Sir William, who accepts to go, and is appointed
to command the forces. He had been sent for at
first, but some feared he would not go ; others
thought his lady would not consent. Court makes
Sir William free, and swears him Major General."
The day before, the Court had appointed Sir Wil-
liam and six others with the Governor as a " board
of war." This " Court " was the Board of Com-
missioners of the United Colonies : consisting of
Thomas Danforth and Elisha Cook, from Massa-
chusetts ; Thomas Hinkley and John Walley, of
Plymouth Colony ; and Samuel Mason and William
Pitkin, of Connecticut.

Sir William sailed April 28, 1690, with seven
hundred men, in eight small vessels, for Port
Royal, N. S., now Annapolis. Sewall records on
the 22d of May : " We hear of the taking of Port
Royal by Sir William Phips, which abates our sor-
row for the loss of Casco, if the sad news prove
true." Fort Loyal at Falmouth, Casco Bay, sur-
rendered on the 20th, after being besieged four
days by a force of four or five hundred French
and Indians.

On the receipt in Boston of the news of the de-
struction of Falmouth, a vessel was dispatched to
intercept Phips's fleet, with orders to go into Casco

30 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

Bay, and try to secure prisoners and fugitives ;
but the fleet arrived at Boston on the 30th of
May, without seeing the dispatch vessel. 1 While
Sir William was gone on the expedition, he was
elected to the Council Board and took his seat on
his return.

In his absence an expedition against Quebec had
been decided upon by the Council of the United
Colonies. A land force was to go by Albany and
the lakes. There was not sufficient ammunition in
the colonies for this expedition, and a vessel was
sent to England to obtain a supply. Sir William
Phips was unanimously chosen commander-in-chief
of the forces. The ammunition vessel not arriving
in time, it was decided to sail with what could be
procured in the colonies. The preparations for sail-
ing are mentioned by Sewall. He says, " August 8,
1690. Went to Nantasket to see the Lieutenant
General muster his soldiers on George's Island."
The Lieutenant General was John Walley of Barn-
stable, commander of the land forces. " August 9th.
Go and dine at Hull, with Sir William Phips and
his lady. About six, wind veered, and the fleet
came to sail, four ships of war and twenty-eight
others." This fleet carried two thousand men,
and from adverse winds and other detentions was

1 The Sewall journal mentions, June 16, "Notice is given by beat
of drum, of the sale of the soldiers' part of plunder taken at Port
Royal." The French Governor of Port Royal was brought to Bos-
ton, who complained to the Governor about Sir William, whom he
said retained his private property, which he was ordered to restore.
A writ was issued against him which the Council ordered to be null.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 31

until October on the passage to Quebec. On the
6th of that month Count Frontenac, the Governor,
was summoned to surrender the city. He made
a brave reply, calling the Prince of Orange a
usurper, and said that no other answer would be
returned than that from the mouth of his cannon.

The land forces, which went by the way of Al-
bany, and which were expected to have drawn off
the governor's troops for the defence of Montreal,
returned after reaching the lake, by reason of not
finding boats to transport them across, as expected.
If they had remained at the lake, the whole French
force could not have been recalled for the defence
of Quebec, as was done. It was admitted that
had the fleet arrived a few days earlier at Quebec,
the attack would have been successful. This was
made on the 7th. So cold was it that ice formed
in one night of sufficient thickness to bear a man.
The small-pox broke out in the fleet, by which
many were disabled. The land forces were com-
pelled to disembark in ice and water knee deep.
They fought well, but Walley proved an inefficient
commander. A bark commanded by Captain Sav-
age got aground within pistol shot of the shore,
but Sir William went bravely to her assistance in
his flag-ship, and succeeded in bringing her off, al-
though his own ship was much damaged by the
enemy's shot. Many of the soldiers had their
hands and feet frozen while on shore.

A council of officers decided that another attack
would not be prudent. An exchange of prisoners

32 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

was made, and besides his own men, Sir William
recovered several of those taken at Falmouth on
the surrender of Fort Loyal in May. Among these
was Captain Sylvanus Davis, the commander of the
fort. In his account of the siege of the fort and
his captivity, he says he was well treated by the
French. Sir William made haste to get out of the
river, for fear of being caught in the ice. Storms
separated the fleet ; one vessel was wrecked on the
Island of Anticosti, and many of her crew were
drowned. Those that survived built huts on shore,
where they nearly starved to death from their
short allowance. 1

Several of the party died of scurvy, and those
remaining lengthened their long-boat, and in it
five of the crew made the passage to Boston, sail-
ing on the 25th of March, and arrived there on the
9th of May. A vessel was sent to Anticosti which
brought away the survivors. Sewall says, " June
29, 1691. Yesterday Rainsford arrived with sev-
enteen men that remained alive on Anticosti ; four
dead of small-pox since the long-boat's coming."

Sir William with most of his fleet arrived at

1 Mather gives this amusing description of an occurrence at the
camp on the island. " There was a wicked Irishman among them,
who had such a voracious devil in him that after divers burglaries
upon the store-house, committed by him, at last he stole and ate
with such pamphagous fury as to cram himself with no less than
eighteen biscuits at one stolen meal, and he was fain to have his
belly stroked and bathed before the fire, lest he should otherwise
have burst." The narrator strongly hints that this was made an
excuse for shooting him, to have his body to prevent their starva-
tion.

iHlO InjieutecL Bull of T
$K Jjjun. avr due Trom. the
Go Lcmy to tKe-ToUelTor Uiall t e-i
ual to money 8zilkaLLLe
tke, Jre^LiFrer

him mallluMick p ayrri ; 5

eq

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fet nxxr tae tinr cU Xoa

OrdLer of

omitcc

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 33

Boston on the 19th of November. One, at least,
of the transports was never heard from, and some
were blown off and arrived at the West Indies.
The loss of men in this expedition was about three
hundred, mostly by sickness. Mather says that
the expense of this expedition was about " forty
thousand pounds, more or less, and not a penny
in the treasury to pay it withal." A part of this
sum was raised by tax levy, by the Assembly, and
a committee was chosen to issue bills of credit
from copper plates, as Mather says, " So flourished,
indented, and contrived, as to make it impossible
to counterfeit them." These bills were signed by
three of the committee, and were for the sums of
from two shillings to ten pounds, and certified
that the Massachusetts Colony was indebted to the
holder for the sum named in the note. This was
the origin of continental money. These notes
were made receivable for public dues at five per
cent, more than the value expressed in them.

To establish the credit of these bills, Sir Wil-
liam Phips exchanged a large amount of gold and
silver for them. But they soon depreciated to
fourteen shillings in the pound. The accompany-
ing cut, a fac-simile of these bills, is from Los-
sing's " Field Book of the Revolution," by pur-
chased permission from the publishers.

Sir William remained but a few weeks at home,
and then sailed for England in the depth of winter,
in a small vessel bound to Bristol. He hurried
to London, and tried to interest William and Mary,

34 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

who were now on the throne, in another effort for
the reduction of Canada. 1

During the summer of 1691 the Province agents,
with the assistance of Sir William, were urging the
king and council to restore the old charter without
success, but the king finally concluded that under
a new charter the agents might nominate the first
governor. Cook, Oaks, and Wiswall were strenu-
ous for the old charter, and Mather, Ashurst, and
Phips thought the new one, with the provisions
it contained, worth their acceptance. Sir William
was nominated for governor by Sir Henry Ash-
urst and Dr. Mather. The new charter contained
the names of the first council, three of whom were
to be from Maine. These were Job Alcot, Samuel
Heyman, and Sarmiel Donnell. And for Sagada-
hock, Sylvanus Davis, who then lived at Arrowsic.
The charter is dated on the 7th of October, 1691,

1 Another expedition against Quebec and Canada was organized
in 1711. It sailed from Boston on the 30th of July. It consisted of
a large number of naval ships from England, with transports taken
into the service in New England. Including two New England regi-
ments, the troops numbered seven thousand, under the command of
Brigadier General John Hill, of the British army. The fleet was
under the command of Admiral Walker, and arrived in the St. Law-
rence with incompetent pilots. Several vessels, with eight hundred
men, were lost in a storm. On the 16th of September a council of
war was held, which decided to retreat. Soon after arriving at Ports-
mouth, England, the admiral's ship, the Edgar, was blown up ; and
although he was saved by being on shore, he lost, as he says, " his
books, journals, and charts, and the original journal of Sir Wm.
Phips's Expedition," which he had probably taken to aid him in
passing up the St. Lawrence. For his failure the admiral was
dropped from the navy-lists.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. '35

and went into operation on the 14th of May,
1692.

The new Governor (Phips) arrived with the
charter May 14th, the same day that it became
operative. It included Massachusetts and Plym-
outh Colonies, the Province of Maine, Acadia, and
Nova Scotia. Sewall records the arrival of Gov-
ernor Phips in these words : " Sir William arrives
in the Nonesuch frigate. Candles were lighted
before he gets into the town-house. Eight com-
panies wait upon him to his house, and then upon
Mr. Increase Mather to his. Made no volleys
because it was Saturday night." " Monday, May
16th. Eight companies and two from Charlestown
guard Sir William and his councillors to the town-
house, where the commissions were read and oaths
taken."

In his memoir, Cotton Mather says : " Sir Wil-
liam Phips, who might, in a calm of the common-
wealth, have administered all things with as gen-
eral acceptance as any who had gone before him,
had the disadvantage of being set at the helm in
a time as full of storm as ever that province had
seen ; the people having their spirits put into a
tumult by the discomposing and distempering va-
riety of disasters which had long been rendering
the time calamitous, it was natural for them, as for
all men, to be complaining. And you may be sure
the rulers must in such cases be complained of, and
the chief complaints must be heaped upon those
who are commanders-in-chief."

36 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

The state of public affairs is also described by
Hutchinson, in his " History of Massachusetts."
He says : " The distress of the people at the time
of the arrival of the charter is said to have been
peculiarly great. The sea - coast was infested by
privateers, so that few vessels could escape them.
The interior frontiers, east and west, were contin-
ually harassed by French and Indian enemies. A
late expedition against Canada had exposed the
province to the resentment of France. The same
expedition brought so heavy a debt upon the gov-
ernment, that it required all the skill of the ad-
ministration to support the public credit, and to
procure further supplies for carrying on the war.
A strong party .in the government had opposed
every other means except the adhering to the old
charter, and was now dissatisfied with the accep-
tance of the new. The greatest misfortune was an
apprehension that the devil was let loose upon
them."

This was the belief in witchcraft, and the arrest
of many accused of dealing with Satan. At the
time of the arrival of Governor Phips, the jails
were full of the accused, and most of his friends,
including Cotton Mather, were firm believers in
the justice of their seizure. The public mind was
greatly excited, and demanded severe measures.
The foremost of the accusers sought to show the
new Governor their zeal, and to pacify these the
Governor and Council ordered the accused to be

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 37

all ironed, but secretly permitted the irons to be
removed. 1

There is no evidence that Governor Phips fa-
vored the prosecutions for witchcraft, but on the
contrary he discouraged them. He consulted the
leading ministers in the matter, fearing perhaps
to raise a storm about his ears by hasty action.

Mather says : " When Sir William Phips had
canvassed a cause, which perhaps might have puz-
zled the wisest men on earth to have managed
without an error, he thought if it be any error at
all, it certainly would be safest for him to put a
stop unto all future prosecutions, as far as it lay
in him to do it." He did so, and had the printed
acknowledgments of the New Englanders, who
publicly thanked him. The Queen sent him an
autograph letter, commending his course. A court
of Oyer and Terminer had been selected from the
Councillors to try the witches. Our journalist,
Sewall, was a member. They had held two or
three sessions before the arrival of the charter,
and condemned many. The question coming up
in the Council about its sitting again, Sewall rep-
resents Governor Phips as saying, " It must fall,"
and that was the last of it. Governor Phips finally
pardoned all those in the prisons accused of witch-
craft. Calef of Roxbury, a merchant, ridiculed

1 In commenting on witchcraft, Cotton Mather says : " Hasty peo-
ple may burlesque these things, but when hundreds of the most sober
people in a country where they have as much mother-wit certainly
as the rest of mankind know them to be true, nothing but the ab-
surd and f reward spirit of Sadducism can question them."

38 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

the whole proceedings against the witches. He
had a long controversy with Cotton Mather on the
subject. He published a book in reply to Mather's
" Wonders of the Invisible World," which he called
" More Wonders of the Invisible World." On the
arrival of Calef's book from England, where it
was published, a copy came into the hands of Dr.
Increase Matner, who was president of the college,
and he caused it to be publicly burned in the col-
lege yard. Calef intimates that Lady Phips was
suspected of witchcraft. This may have arisen
from her known aversion to the prosecutions. As
she was a Maine woman, it gives one the more
pleasure to know that, in her husband's absence,
she signed a warrant for the release of a prisoner,
which the jail-keeper obeyed, and lost his place
therefor. Hutchinson, in his history, gives this as
a fact well authenticated.

Judge Sewall felt condemned for his course as a
member of the witch court, and on the day of the
public fast on account of the witchcraft, he wrote
a confession to be read publicly in the South
Church of Boston, of which he was a member. He
inserts a copy of this paper in his Diary. He heads
it, " Copy of a bill I put up on the Fast day ; giv-
ing it to Mr. Willard (the minister) as he passed
by, and standing up at the reading of it, and bow-
ing when finished."

This Fast day was on the 14th of January, 1697.
The chief judge, Lieutenant Governor Stoughton,
when informed what Sewall had done, said he had

SIR WILLIAM PHTPS. 39

no such confession to make, as he " had acted ac-
cording to the best light which God had given
him."

After the witchcraft mania had begun to sub-
side, Governor Phips turned his attention to the
next greatest trouble under which he found the
people suffering. That was the French and Indian
war. We must again consult his original biogra-
pher, Dr. Mather, who says : " Now he was come
to the government, his mind was vehemently set
upon recovering those parts from the miseries
which a new and long war of the Indians had
brought upon them. His birth and youth in the
east had rendered him well known to the Indians
there ; he had hunted and fished many a weary
day in his childhood with them ; and when these
rude salvages had got the story that he had found
a ship full of money, and was now become all one
a king, they were mightily astonished at it ; but
when they further understood that he was become
the Governor of New England, it added a further
degree of consternation to their astonishment. He
was likewise better acquainted with the situation
of these regions than most other men.

" Wherefore Governor Phips took the first oppor-
tunity to raise an army, and with which he trav-
elled in person unto the east country to find and
cut off the barbarous enemy, which had continued
for four years together, making horrible havoc on
the plantations that lay all along the northern
frontiers of New England ; and having followed

40 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

these Scythian wolves till they could be no longer
followed, he did with very laudable skill and un-
usual speed erect a strong fort at Pemaquid."

It was at Pemaquid that Sir William's father
first settled, in about 1638, and being near the
harbor of Sheepscot, Governor Phips must have
been well acquainted with its topography; and
probably was a good pilot to the harbor of Pema-
quid. Governor Phips was now fulfilling his vows
which he made on shipboard when he feared a
mutiny.

Mather says : " The same generosity also caused
him to take many a tedious voyage, accompanied
by his faithful adviser and very dear friend, kins-
man, and neighbor, Col. John Phillips, between
Boston and Pemaquid, and this in the bitter weeks
which is almost a Russian winter." l The " strong
fort," mentioned by Dr. Mather, was built in 1692.

1 Judge Sewall has this entry in his Diary under date January 17,
1694 : " The Governor and Major Phillips return, come to town by
land from Salem, having been gone near a month." For these sea-
voyages, Sir William kept his own yacht, a brigantine. Sewall men-
tions in November, 1692 : "I drive a trenail in the governor's brig-
antine." Any act of this kind by a magistrate in the building of a
vessel or a house was supposed to impart a peculiar charm. The
same journalist, describing the sailing of Sir William for London in
1694, mentions his going " on board of his yacht," which was to
take him to the frigate. The yacht must have been a craft of good
size and appointments. The inventory of his personal estate men-
tions that she sold for eighteen hundred pounds sterling after his
death ; and that she was armed we know from the same Diary. In
1693 the Council went down to the castle to decide upon some re-
pairs. Sewall says : " As came up, Captain Clark saluted us with
three huzzas, and guns from his briganteen."

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 41

In compliance with instructions given him in
England, Governor Phips raised a force of four
hundred and fifty men, and in company with Major
Benjamin Church, of the Plymouth Colony, sailed
along the Eastern coast to succor those who were
in need, and to keep the Indians in check. They
called at Falmouth and buried the bones of the
men slain at the siege and surrender of Fort Loyal
two years before, and carried away the guns. On
arrival at Pemaquid a site was selected, and a large
gang was set at work in the construction of a for-
tress strong enough to withstand any force that
the French and Indians could bring against it.
While the fort was in process of construction,
Major Church, with a sufficient force, was sent
farther east, and on his return he ascended the
Kennebec and destroyed an Indian village at Ta-
connet, now Waterville.

The fort at Pemaquid, which Governor Phips
built by the direction of the home government,
was a more formidable and imposing fortress than
had then been erected in the New England Prov-
inces. It was quadrangular in form, each side be-
ing of about two hundred feet in extent. It had
round towers at the angles ; and the barbacan, or
great flanker, at the northwest angle was twenty-
nine feet high, and inclosed a large rock, under the
side of which was the principal magazine for am-
munition, the remains of which are yet to be seen.

Fronting the inner harbor the wall was eighteen
feet high, and eight feet thick at the bottom, and

42 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

six feet at the ports or embrasures. Eight feet be-
low the surface of the ground, within the round
towers, were bomb-proof vaults for magazines and
for stores. There were eighteen embrasures sup-
plied with cannon, six of which were eighteen
pounders. The wall on the south, fronting the
sea, was twenty-two feet in height. The entire
work was built of stone laid in lime. It was
named Fort William Henry, and had a garrison of
ninety men.

This imposing castle overawed the Indians, and
on the llth day of August of the next year the
Indian sagamores, from the Merrimack to the Pe-
nobscot, met Governor Phips and three of the
Council at ForJ William Henry, and entered into a
solemn treaty, in which they swore allegiance to
William and Mary, promised to deliver up all cap-
tives, and to abandon the French. Governor Phips
knew the treachery of the Indians when they came
under the influence of the French, and required
them to leave three of their principal men as hos-
tages that they would observe the treaty. 1

Fort William Henry, and Sir William Phips as

1 Sewall notices the departure of the Governor and Councillors for
Pemaquid : " Friday, August 4, 1693. The governor sets sail for
Pemaquid. Goes off at Scarlet's Wharf about eight o'clock in the
evening, with Major General (Winthrop), Mr. Addington, Mr. Fos-
ter." Their return is also noticed in the same journal. " Saturday,
August 19th. Governor returns from Pemaquid, and Councillors, all
in good health. Concluded a peace with the Indians on Friday,
August llth. They were very desirous of a peace, and professed
themselves ready to do what the Governor desired ; have sent three
hostages."

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 43

Governor of the Province, were effective barriers
against French and Indian aggression. Frontenac,
then in command at Quebec, and Saint Castin at
Bagaduce, whose wife was the daughter of an In-
dian sagamore, were restive under these checks.
When the death of Sir William was announced,
the destruction of the fort and village at Pema-
quid was determined upon. A French naval force,
having two mortars, took shelter under cover of
Beaver Island, from whence, at a range of half a
mile, they were enabled to throw shells from the
mortars into the fort, and were themselves pro-
tected by the island from its guns. At the same
time Castin with six hundred Indians landed near
the east side, and joined the French in the siege,
which was pressed with vigor. The fort had a
garrison of ninety-six men, but their captain,
Chubb, of Andover, was timid, and surrendered
the fort, which was demolished. Sewall records,
" August 4, 1696. Pemaquid fort is summoned by
the French, the two ships which took the Newport
galley, and said galley, besides many hundred by
land."

" August 5, summoned them again, and for fear
of their guns, bombs, and numbers, Captain Chubb
surrendered, and then they blew up the fort. This
news came to town August 10th. Captain Paxton
brought it." By the cowardice of one officer the
eastern coast was deprived of its only defensive
fortress. 1

1 A fort of timber was erected at Pemaquid in 1624, destroyed

44 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

We must resume the thread of our history of
the year 1693. There had been two parties in the
colony previous to the time when Dr. Increase
Mather went to England seeking charter rights.
His name had been forged to a letter on which a
suit was commenced for defamation, and an effort
was made to arrest him, to prevent his taking pas-
sage for England ; and while he was there the sev-
eral agents of the colonies of Massachusetts and
Plymouth, as has been noticed, differed as to the
expediency of accepting any charter but the old
one. These differences were continued with bit-
terness after the charter went into operation. A
faction sought to embarrass the Governor. On as-
suming the government, Sir William voluntarily
allowed the Council to appoint officers without the
intervention of his nomination, a right given him
by the charter. He seems to have discovered his
mistake and assumed his prerogative.

Some historians have called Sir William Phips a
weak governor, but I think an impartial review of
the history of his administration during the year
1693 will not bear them out in this assertion.
Judge Sewall's Diary, so often quoted, gives the
following note dated November 21st :

" Governor bids the Deputies go choose a new

in " Philip's war," 1676 ; another built in 1677, and destroyed in
1689 ; rebuilt of stone by Governor Phips in 1692, and destroyed in
1696. Again erected in 1729 it was dismantled at the beginning of
the Revolutionary War, lest it should be occupied by the English.
The same great rock served to protect the magazine in the fort of
1729 that served Sir William Phips for that purpose in 1692.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 45

Speaker, which they pray excuse for. Governor
alleges as a reason, Speaker's adjourning their
house from Friday to this day, without acquaint-
ing him, contrary to the charter. By mediation
the matter is composed, and Wednesday morning
the Governor sends to them by the Secretary, to
desire them to go on with the business of the
Court. Mr. Secretary is directed to enter their
acknowledgment of their error and asking par-
don, and that they would not practise in like man-
ner for time to come."

Before this time it had been the custom for
towns in all parts of the Province to choose lead-
ing men of Boston and the vicinity, who might
perhaps have been land proprietors in those towns,
to represent them in the House of Deputies, pos-
sibly to save the expense of sending one of their
own citizens, for each town then paid their own
members. There was this advantage about this
method, that it gave the towns a larger number
of able and experienced men from which to choose
representatives. But under this arrangement cor-
rupt partisans could retain their places in the
House year after year, and the Governor found his
measures for the good of the Province frustrated
by his opposers in the House. He boldly, through
his friends, offered a bill in the House, that all
representatives should be freeholders, and reside
in the towns for which they were chosen. This bill
passed the House and went to the Council, of
which our journalist, Sewall, was a member. With

46 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

it came a protest signed by twenty-one Deputies,
among whom I perceive the names of those men
who had before, and did subsequently, give the
Governor much trouble. Judge Sewall says, No-
vember 28, 1693 : " The clause and the dissent
were read two or three times in the Council by
the Secretary, and put to vote, the Governor not
being there." It was passed by one majority.
The names of the Councillors are given under the
heads of " content " and " not content." Among
the latter are the names Samuel Donnell and
Charles Frost, councillors from Maine.

No weak or unpopular governor could have
broken down this established prerogative of the
wealthy and influential men of the large towns.
This wholesome law stands to-day on the statute
books of all the New England States. For its in-
ception we are indebted to our own citizen, Wil-
liam Phips.

Among those protesters in the House of Depu-
ties against the bill, which, if it became a law,
would oust them from seats in that body, was Jah-
leel Brenton, son of William Brenton, who had
been Governor of Rhode Island. He held a royal
commission as collector of customs, which had
become obsolete by the new charter which was
granted a year after date of the commission.
There never had been an act of Parliament estab-
lishing a custom-house in New England. Brenton
was a member of the Tory party, and naturally op-
posed to Governor Phips and the Mathers. He had

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 47

been in England seeking employment, and only
seven months after the Prince of Orange had been
proclaimed king, Brenton arrived in Boston with
his commission, a year before the charter was
granted, which was considered the commencement
of a new regime. In the charter itself no change
was made in the manner of the collection of the
customs, which had always been made by a " naval
officer."

Brenton's commission was probably given to get
rid of him. There might have been an intention
of establishing a custom-house in Boston, but with
the civil war, which changed the sovereigns, and
the long continued French war, the customs com-
missioners and the Parliament had more important
matters claiming their attention. Judge Sewall
records the arrival of Brenton in Boston in the
same ship with Dudley, another of the Governor's
enemies, of whom more hereafter. In the Sewall
Diary is the following note under date January
26, 1690 : " Mr. Brenton exhibits his commission
under the broad seal for exercising the office of
collector, surveyor, and searcher."

A few weeks before the passage of the bill dis-
qualifying non-residents as representatives, Bren-
ton, whose commission had laid dormant nearly
three years from its issue, attempted to set up a
custom-house in Boston, and to compel merchants
or masters to enter and clear their vessels . at his
office. In writing of what transpired between
Brenton and the Governor, Professor Bowen does

48 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

not seem to have taken these dates into consider-
ation, but considers Brenton as an established col-
lector of customs, and Hutchinson, who wrote long
after the occurrences, overlooks the same palliating
circumstances.

Brenton and Dudley were of that " little party "
of men of whom Dr. Mather speaks, who " thought
they could not sleep until they had caused the
downfall of the Governor." These two were among
those who complained of the cost of the Pemaquid
fort and of many of the acts of the Governor.

The attempt to revive his commission as col-
lector of customs, and the establishment of an
office for the entry and clearance of vessels, was
not probably a^ project of Brenton's alone, but a
concerted scheme of that little party, by which
they hoped to provoke Governor Phips, with his
irascible temper, to commit some hasty act, which
would give cause to complain of him to the home
government. If this was the case, Brenton un-
questionably used provoking language at the in-
terview of which I am about to speak. I have
been the more particular in describing the circum-
stances preceding this interview and collision, as
it is referred to as the great indiscretion of Sir
William's life, and was undoubtedly the cause of
his being called to England, and the remote cause
of his early death.

The Governor was legally the naval officer and
acted by his deputy. He had appointed Benjamin
Jackson as deputy, who was in charge of the of-

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 49

fice, where it had always been the custom to en-
ter and clear vessels. Brenton's attempt to inter-
fere with this custom, and demand increased fees,
caused much ill feeling among the merchants.
Colonel Foster, a Boston merchant, a member of
the Council, and a fast friend to the Governor,
complained that Brenton had seized a cargo of
fustic and indigo from the island of Providence, on
board the sloop Good Luck. A cargo of tobacco
on board the brig Mary, from Jamaica, was also
seized, and a part of the cargo, to the value of
one thousand pounds, had been put into Brenton's
store-house. The owners of the goods waited upon
the Governor and asked his protection. He went
to the wharf and forbade Brenton's interference,
and of course warm words were exchanged. The
Governor told the owners to take their goods.
What afterwards transpired is told by Brenton in
his petition to the Commissioners of the Customs,
a copy of which is in the Massachusetts archives.
He whiningly complains of the Governor's beating
him with his fist, and says that he suffered the
Governor to have the goods. Accompanying the
petition is the report of the action of the Privy
Council thereon in these words :

" At the Court of White Hall, the 30th of No-
vember, 1693. Present the King's most Excellent
Majesty in council. After the petition being read,
it is this day ordered by his Majesty in council,
that it be and is hereby referred to the Right Hon-
orable, the Lords of the Committee of Trade and

4

50 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

Plantations, to examine and consider the matter,
and to report to this board what their Lordships
conceive fit for his Majesty to do therein."

Councillor Sewall's Diary shows that the Gover-
nor had not lost the respect of the principal officers
of the province. The Diary has this entry : " No-
vember 15. Is a council at the Governor's house
about taking Mr. Jackson's affidavits (he was the
naval officer). Governor did not go to lecture.
After lecture was much debate at the town-house,
and at last Mr. Jackson's affidavits were all read
over, and his oath given him by the Lieutenant
Governor and Council." This oath was probably
to qualify him to perform the duties of principal
naval officer in the Governor's absence. Two days
later is this note: "November 17, 1694. Just
about sunset or a little after, the Governor goes
from his house to the Salutation stairs, and there
goes on board his yacht, Lieutenant Governor,
many of the Council, Mr. Cotton Mather, captains
of frigates, justices, and many other gentlemen
accompanying him. 'Twas six o'clock by that
time I got home, and I only staid to see them
come to sail. Guns at the castle were fired about
seven. Governor had his flag at the maintop. 1
'Twas of a seventh day in the even, when the
Governor came to town, and so 't is at his going
off, both in darkness and uncomfortable because
of the Sabbath." At that time the legal Sabbath
began on Saturday at sunset.

1 This flag at the maintop was one which Sir William was enti-
tled to carry as a captain in the British navy.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 51

Upon this order, Governor Phips was summoned
to appear before the honorable body to whom the
petition was referred by the king. Dr. Mather
does not mention the difficulty with Brenton, but
alludes to the Governor's summons to Whitehall
in these words : " They so vigorously prosecuted
certain articles before the council-board at White-
hall against him, that they imagined they had
gained an order of his Majesty in council to sus-
pend him immediately from his government, and
appoint a committee of persons nominated by his
enemies to hear all depositions against him, and
so a report to be made unto the king and council.
But his Majesty was too well informed of Sir Wil-
liam's integrity to permit such a sort of procedure,
and therefore he signified unto his most honorable
council that nothing should be done against Sir
William until he had an opportunity to clear him-
self ; and thereupon he sent his royal commands
to him to come over.

" Wherefore in obedience unto the king's com-
mands, he took his leave of Boston on the 17th of
November, 1694, attended with all proper testimo-
nies of respect and honor, and with addresses unto
their majesties and the ministers of state from the
General Assembly, humbly imploring that they
might not be deprived of the pleasure of such a
head."

From this lately published Diary we learn that
one or more frigates were sent for Sir William.
The captains of these ships are mentioned as be-

52 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

ing of the party who accompanied him from his
house at the embarkation. Judge Sewall says :
" He came as governor and went in darkness." It
was indeed a time of ill-omen. He never returned
to his native province.

Sir William was no stranger at Whitehall. At
that court he had been received twelve years be-
fore by King James II., and although he had no
friend there, his intelligence, energy, and personal
bearing obtained from that monarch, who had
been an admiral himself, the command of a frig-
ate of the royal navy. After years of persever-
ing effort, he had entered the Thames with a ship-
load of gold and silver, one tenth of which belonged
to the king. He pleaded the cause of his native
colony for a renewal of its charter before two
kings, and left England with a favorable charter
which consolidated three colonies into one prov-
ince, and with a royal commission as its first gov-
ernor. One of these colonies he had, without as-
sistance from England, wrested from a powerful
enemy in time of war. Unaided at court, he had
convinced King William of the necessity of send-
ing another expedition for the reduction of Can-
ada, and nothing but an epidemic in Sir Francis
Wheeler's fleet prevented Sir William from annex-
ing it to the kingdom fifty years earlier than it
was accomplished.

An officer of the crown, with such a record,
would hardly have his commission revoked for
chastising an insolent inferior officer, even if that
officer was in a legal act of duty.

STR WILLIAM PHIPS. 53

Besides the difficulty with Brenton, Sir William
had chastised Captain Short, of the Nonsuch frig-
ate. Hutchinson, in his " History of Massachu-
setts," gives the circumstances. This was the frig-
ate which brought the Governor from England
with the charter. On the passage a prize was
taken, and Captain Short complained that the
Governor had deprived him of his full share of the
prize-money, which caused ill feeling. The cap-
tains of men-of-war stationed in the colonies were
required to follow the instructions of the Gov-
ernor, and Governor Phips required Captain Short
to order a part of his men upon some service out
of the ship, which the captain refused to do. On
meeting Short in the street, the Governor called
him to account for his disobedience of orders.
Warm words ensued, and the Governor struck the
captain with his cane for insolent language, put
him under arrest, and sent him to the castle, with
the intention to send him home to be court-mar-
tialed, but he subsequently changed his mind and
had him released. This occurrence was seized
upon by the Governor's enemies, and exaggerated
accounts were sent to England, but Captain Short
was put in command of another ship, and entered
no complaint against the Governor.

Brenton's chief adviser and Sir William's most
bitter enemy was Joseph Dudley, who had been a
Councillor of the colony and had held other offices.
He coveted Governor Phips's place, and was the
leader of the party mentioned by Dr. Mather who

54 SIR WILLIAM PH1PS.

sought his downfall, and had been long in England
seeking to accomplish their purpose. Brenton
had hurried away to assist his friend in England.
Upon the arrival of Governor Phips in London, he
was arrested upon suits commenced by Brenton
and Dudley for damages in the sum of twenty
thousand pounds. The writer caused an examina-
tion to be made of the court records in London,
and find the Governor was charged with corrup-
tion in the collection of customs. These men un-
doubtedly supposed that Sir William would be
unable to give bail in so large a sum, and would
be compelled to go to prison. Sir Henry Ashurst,
the resident agent for the province, who had been
associated with Dr. Increase Mather and Sir Wil-
liam in obtaining the charter, readily signed the
required boi\d, thus defeating Dudley's and Bren-
ton's purpose.

Governor Hutchinson says : " Sir William urged
in his defence against Brenton, that there was no
custom-house established in the plantation by act
of Parliament, and that Brenton had no authority
to compel masters to enter and clear with him,
the naval officer then known and established
by act of Parliament being the only proper officer
for that purpose." " Sir William's friends in New
England supposed his affairs in England would
have been all accommodated, and that he would
have returned to his government if death had not
prevented." Of the result of the investigation and
of the Governor's sickness, Dr. Cotton Mather thus

STR WILLIAM PHIPS. 55

writes: "About the middle of February, 1694
(three months after leaving Boston), Sir William
found himself indisposed with a cold which obliged
him to keep his chamber, but under this indisposi-
tion he received a visit from a very eminent person
at Whitehall, who, upon sufficient assurance, bade
him 'get well as fast as he could, for in one
month's time he should again be dispatched away
to his government of New England/" 1 To Sir
William's last days of sickness, his death, and bur-
ial, his biographer devotes only five lines in these
words : " His distemper proved a sort of malig-
nant fever, whereof many about this time died in

1 This assertion of Dr. Mather that Governor Phips was about to
be returned to his government is ungenerously doubted by Professor
Bowen. His words are : " Cotton Mather asserts that Sir William's
answer to the charges brought against him was triumphant, and that
he received assurance of being restored to his government, but this
is hardly probable. Though no proceedings strictly illegal may have
been proved against him, the king would hardly desire to restore to
an important station a man who had so far forgotten the dignity of
his office as to cane a commissioned officer." For the benefit of Pro-
fessor Bowen I will cite a premeditated attack by a commissioned
officer of the customs in Boston upon a prominent citizen, for which
he was not called to account, although the parallel is not perfect. In
1761, John Robinson, a commissioner of the customs, enticed James
Otis, the early apostle of freedom and a leading lawyer of Boston,
into the British Coffee-House in that town, where other officers were
gathered, and made an attack on him, leaving a deep cut on his
head from which he never fully recovered, and it finally ended in in-
sanity. Robinson never was recalled nor any notice taken of the
outrage by the government at home, although a jury assessed the
damage at two thousand pounds, which Otis generously relinquished
upon proper acknowledgments from the offender. A positive asser-
tion of such a man as Cotton Mather should not be doubted, at least
when he had no personal interest in the matter. Governor Hutch-
inson confirms Dr. Mather's statement.

56 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

the city, and it suddenly put an end to his days
and thoughts on the 18th of February, to the ex-
treme surprise of his friends, who honorably buried
him in the church of St. Mary's, Woolnoth, and
with him how much of New England's happiness."

By the favor of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop I
have a fac-simile of the printed invitations given
out for the funeral, as it was then the custom.
The original is now in his possession. Major Gen-
eral Fitz John Winthrop, of the distinguished New
England family, was at the time in London ; to
him it is directed. 1

Judge Sewall thus records the announcement of
Sir William's death in Boston :

" May 5, 1695. About three hours, news comes

. ....

to town of the death of Sir William Phips, Febru-
ary 18th, at which people are generally sad. Lay
sick about a week of the new fever, as 't is called.
The talk is that Mr. Dudley will be Governor.
May 6th. The mourning guns are fired at the
castle and town for the death of our Governor.

1 The hour appointed for the funeral of Sir William seems odd to
us ; but it was the custom at that time to hold funeral service and
inter the body by torch-light. In 1688 Lady Andros, wife of Sir
Edmund Andros, Governor of Massachusetts, was buried from the
South Meeting- House in Boston in the evening.

The Diary of Judge Sewall, so often quoted, has this entry:
" Feb. 10, 1688. Between 4 and 5 I went to the funeral of Lady
Andros. Between 7 and 8 (links illuminating the cloudy air) the
corpse was carried into the hearse, drawn by six horses. The sol-
diers making a guard from the Governor's house to the South Meet-
ing-Hpuse. There taken out and carried in and set before the pul-
pit, with six mourning women by it. House made light with torches
and candles. ... I went home, when about nine o'clock I heard
the bells toll again for the funeral."

REMEMBER'

TO DTE

YOCl are defired to Accompany the Corps
of Sir William Pbtypf, Knighr> from
Salters-Hjlhin Switbint-Laney to' the PariCh-
Church of St. Mary Woolnoib, in Lnmlard-
ftrear; On Thojfday the 21 ft. ^of February^
i5oj'/ At Rve of ihe.Clock.in the ; After-
noon preciicly : And bring ihii Ticket with
you.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 57

"May 8th. I visit my Lady (Phips), who takes
on heavily for the death of Sir William. Thinks
the lieutenant and the council were not so kind to
him as they should have been. Was buried out
of Salter'sHall." 1

I was surprised to learn, as I did by a letter from
the curate of the parish, that there is now no mon-
ument to Governor Phips in the church.

By investigation I ascertained that the edifice

1 The New Vieio of London, 1708, has the following, vol. iv.
p. 290: "At the east end of the church of St. Mary's, Woolnoth,
near the northeast angle, is a pretty white marble monument, adorned
with an urn between two cupids, the figure of a ship, and also a boat
at sea with persons in the water ; these beheld by a winged eye, all
done in basso relievo ; also seven medals, as that of King William
and Queen Mary ; some with Spanish impressions, as the castle cross-
potent etc., and likewise the figures of a sea-quadrant, cross-staff,
etc., and this inscription :

" ' Near this place is interred the body of Sir William Phips,
Knight, who, in the year 1687, by his great industry discovered
among the rocks near the banks of Bahama, on the north side of
Hispaniola, a Spanish plate-ship, which had been under water forty-
four years, out of which he took in gold and silver to the value of
300,000 sterling ; and with a fidelity equal to his conduct, brought
it all to London, where it was divided between himself and the rest
of the adventurers. For which great service he was knighted by his
then majesty, King James the 2nd ; and afterward by the command
of his present majesty, and at the request of the principal inhabitants
of New England, he accepted the government of the Massachusetts,
in which he continued to the time of his death, and discharged his
trust with that zeal for the interest of his country, and with so little
regard to his own private advantage, that he gained the good esteem
and affections of the greatest and best part of the inhabitants of the
colony. He died on the 18th of February, 1694. And his lady, to
perpetuate his memory, hath caused this monument to be erected.'

" His arms were, sable, a trefoil slipt, within an orle of eight Mullets,
argent."

58 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

had been rebuilt during the three years including
1716 to 1719, when of course the monuments were
removed. To replace them would involve expense
which there was no one in London willing to pay.
If any monument was left out, of course it would
be a foreigner's. The " Pictorial Handbook of Lon-
don," 1854, says : " St. Mary's, Woolnoth, Lombard
Street, 1716, is the masterpiece of Hawkesmoor,
the pupil of Wren, and by far the most original
work erected since his time. It is a work of great
merit externally and internally, and contains much
handsome wood-carving. It was finished in 1719,
and is built of stone." The curate of the parish
sends me a copy from the parish register which
reads as follows : t " February, 1694. The 18th of
this month, dyed Sir William Phips, and was in-
tered in the vault under the organ gallery, the
21st of the same." Of course .the vaults contain-
ing the dead were not disturbed by the rebuilding,
and probably the coffin, which was at that time
usually covered with lead, might yet be identified
and reclaimed. I make these extracts from Cot-
ton Mather's lengthy summary of Governor Phips's
character and appearance :

" Reader, 't is time for us to view a little more
to the life the picture of the person, the actions of
whose life we have hitherto been looking upon.
Know then that for his exterior he was tall, be-
yond the common set of men, and thick as well as
tall, and strong as well as thick. He was in all
respects exceedingly robust, and able to conquer

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 59

such difficulties of diet and of travel as would have
killed most men alive. Nor did the fat, wherein to
he grew very much in his later years, take away
the vigor of his motions. He was well set, and he
was therewithal of a very comely though a very
manly countenance, a countenance where any
true skill in physiognomy would have read the
characters of a generous mind. Wherefore pass-
ing to his interior, the very first thing that there
offered itself was a most incomparable generosity.
There was one instance for which I must freely
say I never saw three men that equaled him ;
that was his wonderfully forgiving spirit. I never
did unto this hour hear that he did ever once de-
liberately revenge an injury.

" Upon certain affronts he has made sudden re-
turns that have showed choler enough, and he has
by blow as well as by word chastised incivilities.
When base men surprising him at some disadvan-
tages, he has, without the wicked madness of a
formal duel, made them understand that he knew
how to correct fools. Nevertheless, he ever de-
clined a deliberate revenge of a wrong done unto
him. Few men ever did him a mischief but those
men afterwards had occasion for him to do them a
kindness, and he did the kindness with as forget-
ful a bravery as if the mischief had never been
done at all.

" While the generosity of Sir William caused him
to desire a liberty of conscience, his piety would
not allow a liberty of profaneness, either to him-

60 SIR WILLIAM PH1PS.

self or others. He did not affect any mighty show
of devotion, yet he conscientiously attended upon
the exercises of devotion in the seasons thereof,
as well on lectures as on Lord's days, and in the
daily morning and evening service in his own fam-
ily, yea, and at the private meetings of the devout
people in the neighborhood. When Sir William
was asked by some who observed his valiant con-
tempt of death, what it was that made him so lit-
tle afraid of dying, his answer was : i I do humbly
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ shed his pre-
cious blood for me, by his death procuring my
peace with God, and what should I be afraid of
dying for ? ' This leads me to mention the humble
and modest carriage in him towards other men,
which accompanied this piety. There were cer-
tain pomps belonging to the several places of
honor through which he passed, pomps that are
very taking to men of little souls; but although he
rose from so little, yet he discovered a marvellous
contempt of these airy things.

" After his return to his country, in his great-
ness, he made a splendid feast for the ship carpen-
ters of Boston, among whom he was willing, at
his own table, to commemorate the mercy of God
unto him who had once been a ship carpenter him-
self. Upon frequent occasions of uneasiness in his
government, he would thus express himself : ' Gen-
tlemen, were it not that I am to do service for the
public, I should be much easier in returning to my
broad-axe again.' He would, particularly when

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 61

sailing in sight of Kennebec with armies under
his command, call the young soldiers and sailors
upon deck and speak to them after this fashion :
' Young gentlemen, it was upon that hill that I
kept sheep a few years ago, and since, you see that
Almighty God has brought me to something ; do
you learn to fear God, and be honest, and mind
your business, and follow no bad courses, and you
don't know what you may come to.' "

I will close these extracts from Cotton Mather
with his assertion : " I do most solemnly profess
that I have most conscientiously endeavored the
utmost sincerity and veracity of a Christian, as well
as a historian, in the history I have now given of
Sir William Phips."

The Reverend Doctor Increase Mather, the pres-
ident of Harvard College, was selected to deliver a
sermon on Governor Phips, which he did from the
57th chapter of Isaiah, first verse : " Merciful men
are taken away, none considering that the right-
eous are taken away from the evil to come." He
had been long in England with Sir William en-
deavoring to procure a charter. From this sermon
I have copied a paragraph of his testimony of the
Governor's character :

" This province is beheaded, and lies bleeding.
A governor is taken away who was a merciful
man ; some think too merciful, and if so, 't is best
erring on that hand. . . . He was a zealous lover
of his country, if any man in the world were so.
. . . He did not seek to have the government

62 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

cast upon him. No, but to my knowledge he did
several times petition the king that the people
might enjoy the great privilege of choosing their
own governor. He is now dead, and not capable
of being flattered ; but this I must testify concern-
ing him, that though, by the providence of God, I
have been with him at home and abroad, near at
home and far off, by land and by sea, I never saw
him do an evil action, or heard him speak any-
thing unbecoming a Christian."

Sir William kept a chaplain in his own house.
In the inventory of his personal property is men-
tioned furniture " in the chaplain's chamber."
John White, who officiated in that capacity, died
in 1721. 1

9

1 ' On the llth instant, in the morning, died John White, Esq., of
the small-pox, in the fifty-third year of his age, after a very exem-
plary and useful life ; and as he was universally and highly esteemed
while he lived, so in death greatly lamented. He was born in Rox-
bury, and at twelve years old admitted into Harvard College, where
he took his degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. His first pub-
lic appearance was as chaplain to Sir William Phips, when Governor
of this province, to whom and all persons of figure in the town he
then endeared himself, by a shining integrity, wisdom, humanity,
and piety, the crown of all. After Sir William's death, he was for
three years successively chosen one of the representatives of the town
of Boston, and twenty years together, annually chosen Clerk of the
Honorable House of Representatives, which trust he discharged with
great reputation, and it has made him known and honored through
the land for his powers, and great .integrity, and zeal for his country.
In the year 1714, after the death of Thomas Brattle, Esq., he was
made treasurer of the College, in which trust he has been ever since.
. . . His funeral was attended with great honor and respect. Was
buried the 13th, was laid in Mr. Belcher's tomb, the uppermost of
the wall, in the south burying place, gloves and rings." From
the Boston News Letter of December 18, 1721.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 63

In the Probate Office of Boston is the will of
Sir William Phips, of which this is a copy :

" In the name of God, Amen. Be it known unto all
Christian people that I, Sir William Phips, Knight, of
Boston, in Massachusetts Bay, N. E., being at present
time in good health, memory, understanding, and reason,
having considered the certainty of death, and the uncer-
tainty of the time and hour thereof, have thought fit to
make and declare this my last will and testament.

" Imprimis. I do recommend my immortal soul unto
the hands of Almighty God, my Maker, hoping for sal-
vation in and through the meritorious death and passion
of my blessed Lord and dear Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
And my body to be decently interred and buried accord-
ing to the discretion of my executrix hereafter named, in
hope of a glorious resurrection in the last day ; and what
worldly estate it has pleased God to bestow upon me to
be disposed of as follows :

" Item. To my brother James, or his heirs, the sum
of five shillings sterling money of England, in full of all
demands or claims, legacies, and inheritances of and from
me, he being heretofore through my means sufficiently
provided for.

" Item. To my dear and entirely ever-beloved con-
sort, Mary Phips, I give all my real and personal estates,
lands, etc., in any country, under any kings, princes, etc.
If my wife die without a will, it shall descend to my
adopted son, Spencer Phips, alias Bennett, and his heirs.
If he die without a will, it shall be divided, one half
to my sister, Mary Margaret, and heirs of my sister Ann,
deceased. And the other half to my wife, reserving out
of my estate one hundred pounds, which my heirs shall
pay to John Phips, son of my brother, John Phips, de-
ceased. If my wife die before my adopted son be of age

64 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

or married, I appoint my friends, Captain John Foster,
Esq., and Captain Andrew Belcher, of Boston, merchants,
to be trustees.

" I appoint my beloved consort to be sole executrix of
my will.

" Signed in the presence of John Philips, John White,
John Hiskett, Isaiah Stone, and John Grenough."

The will was executed on the 18th of December,
1693. It was proved on the 13th of June, 1695.

Sir William's widow died in 1704, leaving to
her adopted son, Spencer Phips, the bulk of her
property. She was then the wife of Peter Sar-
gent, of Boston.

It is surprising that Sir William's mother's name
does not appear, in the will, as Cotton Mather as-
serted that she was living when he wrote his life
of Governor Phips.

In 1739, John Phips, of Wrentham, petitioned
the General Court for a " Canada grant " (land
for the soldiers who were in the Canada expedi-
tion) in the right of his uncle, Sir William Phips,
and another in the right of his brother James.
This John was probably son of John, who are
both mentioned in Sir William's will.

Judge Sewall mentions the purchase by Lady
Phips in 1687, of a house and lot on what is
now Charter Street, Boston ; subsequently several
small lots were purchased, bounded by Charter and
Salem Streets, the whole forming a large corner
lot in an elevated situation. In the centre of this
lot Sir William's new house was built in 1688.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 65

Judge Sewall says he put a stone in a column of
it in August of that year. The house was of brick,
and of two stories, with a portico and columns.
So the Maine shipwright's prediction, that he
should yet own " a fair brick house in the Green
Lane of North Boston," was verified to the letter.
That was the name of Salem Street up to 1708.
After Governor Phips's death and Cotton Mather's
memoir had appeared, Calef, of Roxbury, in his
controversy with Mather, wrote that " Phips's
prediction and its fulfilment would have been
counted in Salem pregnant proof of witchcraft,
and much better than what were against several
that suffered there."

There are persons remaining who can recollect
the fair brick house. It stood back from both
streets, fronting on Charter Street, so named by
Sir William in honor of the new charter. A paved
walk led from the portico to the elaborate gate-
way, which was arched. The coach-house and sta-
bles were on Charter Street. Southwest on Salem
Street were the lawn and gardens. On the walk,
on both streets, was a row of stately buttonwoods.
This description I received from a lady who was
born and spent her childhood in the vicinity. The
appraiser's inventory of the personal estate, in the
Suffolk Probate Office, gives the furnishings of
each room of the house. 1

1 A true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods and
chattels, rights and credits, of the Honorable Sir William Phips,
Knight, late of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, in New England,
5

66 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

He left no children. His wife afterwards mar-
ried Peter Sargent, a councillor of the Province,

deceased, taken and appraised by us whose names are hereunto sub-
scribed, at Boston aforesaid, the 9th of September, Anno Domini 1696.

Imprimis. His purse, apparel, and books. 400.

In the Hall. Two tables, and one carpet, twelve cane chairs,
and one couch, one large looking-glass, two pairs brass andirons.

In the Dining-Room. One clock, three tables, fourteen chairs, one
couch, one squab, one looking-glass, one pair andirons and candle-
stick, fire-shovel and tongs.

In the Closet. One case of christal bottles, five brass musque-
toons, one case of pistols, two swords, and one cutlash.

In my Lady's Room. Item, one repeating clock, one bed, furni-
ture, silk quilt, and silk curtains, one chest of draws, dressing-box,
table and stands, one looking-glass, and six chairs.

In the Hall Chamber. Item, one bed, furniture, silk quilt, and
silk curtains, and dozen and half cushions, scriptore and stand, table,
dressing-box and stands, one looking-glass, and twelve cane chairs,
and squabbs, china ware to the chimney-piece, pair of brass an-
dirons, fire-shovel and tongs.

In the White Chamber. One bed, furniture, quilt, and curtains,
one table, one chest of draws, six Turkey worked chairs, one looking-
glass, and two trunks, six dozen of diaper napkins, four dozen of
plain, six pairs of Holland sheets, twelve pairs of coarse sheets, six
diaper table-cloths, twenty other cloths of other sorts, two dozen
diaper napkins, one dozen and half pillow-beers, six bolster-cases,
three dozen towels.

In the Closet. One small bed and furniture.

In the Maid's Chamber. Item, one bed, furniture, and curtains,
table and small looking-glass.

In the Chaplain's Chamber. Item, one bed, furniture, and cur-
tains, one table and six leather chairs, one gun, one barber's case,
hone, and two razors, and two pairs of scissors.

In the Little Chamber. One negro woman's bed, furniture, and
curtains.

In the Garretts. Item, saddle, holsters, and housing, one piece of
sheet Holland, one piece of canvass, one remnant of narrow grey
cloth, twenty-two yards of duffills, eight brass kettles, and one rem-
nant of Oznabriggs, three servants' beds and furniture.

In the Kitchen. Item, one large kettle, four smaller, two iron

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 67

whose princely residence was in 1716 purchased
by the Province for a residence for the royal gov-
ernors, and was called the Province House. Its
walls, covered with mastic, are yet standing. After
the third marriage of Lady Phips her house was
occupied as a town residence by her adopted son
and heir, Spencer Phips. He was the son of her
sister, Rebecca Spencer, of Saco, and her husband,
Dr. David Bennett, of Rowley. He was born in
that town in 1685, and early adopted by Sir Wil-
liam and his lady, and took the name of Phips,
which was confirmed to him by the court in 1716.
He graduated at Harvard College in 1703, was
a colonel and representative in 1721, councillor
from 1721 to 1732, lieutenant governor from 1732

pots, one jack and three spits, one pair of andirons, fire-shovel and
tongs, one gridiron, one iron fender, one skillet cased with silver,
two bell-metal skillets, two hundred and thirty-seven Ibs. weight of
pewter (ware), six candlesticks, one warming-pan, one dripping-pan,
one chopping-dish, two lanthorns, one frying-pan, sundry small nec-
essaries such as box-heaters, two cases of knives, skimmers.

Item, one thousand two hundred and forty-four ounces of silver
plate at 6s. 8d. per ounce, earthen ware, wooden ware, and glass
bottles.

Item, coach and horses, one saddle horse.

Item, one negro man, boy, and negro woman.

Item, the yacht sold at eighteen hundred pounds, one sixteenth of
the ship Friendship, one cart and geers, one lead cistern in the back
yard. Total Value, 3,377 19s.

This is a true and perfect inventory, exhibited by me.

MARY PHIPS.

JOHN PHILLIPS.
ANDREW BELCHER.
Jurat, WILLIAM STOUGHTON.

ISAAC ADDINGTON, Register.
The original inventory transmitted for England by order.

68 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

to 1757, when he died at his elegant homestead
and farm in Cambridge, aged seventy-two. In
1719 he was appointed guardian to his minor chil-
dren, William Phips aged nine, Sarah aged five,
and Elizabeth aged two years ; and was author-
ized to receive all the estate which was left to
them by their grandfather, Hon. Eliakim Hutch-
inson, of Boston. After the last, there must have
been a son born whose name was David. He is
mentioned as graduating at Harvard College in
1741. He inherited the homestead in Cambridge,
and resided there until the Revolution. He was
sheriff of Middlesex, and adhered to the king.
He went with his family to England, and died at
Bath, in 1811, aged eighty-seven. The estate at
Cambridge was confiscated.

Sir William Phips' s mansion was occupied by the
Rev. Dr. William Walter, Rector of Christ's Church,
from 1792 to 1800, whose remains rest in a vault
under this neighboring historic edifice, on whose
tower the signal lanterns were displayed on the
night preceding the march of the British troops
to Lexington and Concord, in 1775. The Phips
house was the pride of the North End. Soon after
the death of Dr. Walter, it had a third story added,
and its quaint roof with dormer windows was re-
placed by a common pitched roof, and was occu-
pied by the institution now known as the Farm
School, and had this inscription over the arched
gateway, " Asylum for Indigent Boys." While
the house was thus occupied, a block of brick

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 69

buildings was erected on the lot on Salem Street.
Previous to this it had an unobstructed view of
the harbor. The asylum was removed, and the
time-honored building was taken down about 1834.
So massive were the walls that a gentleman who
witnessed the falling of the front says that "it
shook the whole of Copp's Hill." Governor Phips's
name is perpetuated by " Phips Place," which
marks the northwest boundary of the homestead
of the first royal governor of the Massachusetts
Province ; and now every " twig, turf, and splin-
ter" of his fair residence in the Green Lane of
North Boston has passed away.

In 1875, our late associate, Hon. George T. Da-
vis, called the attention of the Society to a pencil
sketch of an ancient portrait in oil, in the posses-
sion of two sisters named Blackstone, of Boston,
formerly of Falmouth, Maine. They represent
that their great grandfather was Danforth Phips,
of Massachusetts, and that the portrait has always
been in the family, and known as a likeness of
Sir William Phips. There is no doubt but they
are sincere in this belief. A gentleman of Port-
land, now over eighty years old, recollects that
the portrait hung in the Blackstone house at Fal-
mouth fifty years ago, and was shown as the por-
trait of Governor Phips. Mr. Davis also called the
attention of the Massachusetts Historical Society
to the picture, and they appointed a competent
committee to investigate as to its authenticity.
They did so, and reported that it was probably a

70 SIR WILLIAM PHI PS.

portrait of some member of the Danforth Phips
family, but that there was not sufficient evidence
that it represented Sir William Phips. I have
seen the picture, and heard the statements of its
owners and the gentlemen of the committee con-
cerning its origin. My own opinion is that it was
painted previous to the time of Governor Phips,
as the figure is represented in armor, with a
plumed helmet at his side. Armor went out of
use, except perhaps a simple breastplate, soon af-
ter the invention of fire-arms, and we have seen
that the ship from which Sir William obtained his
treasure had great guns, which had then been
under water forty-five years. Cannon were in use
in England as early as 1489. In the next century
the armor makers petitioned the House of Com-
mons to compel its use, as their trade would be
ruined. Sir William Phips might have borrowed
a suit of armor in which to sit for his picture, but
it is improbable.

What led to the inquiry for a portrait of Gov-
ernor Phips was a letter received by Hon. John
A. Poor from Samuel J. Bridge in 1870, saying
that if a reliable portrait could be found, a friend
of his, a wealthy Californian, would cause it to be
copied and presented to the State, for the rotunda
of the state capital. Mr. Bridge had already pre-
sented to the State the portraits of Governor
Pownall and Sir William Pepperrell.

Francis B. Hayes, 72 Mount Vernon Street,
Boston, has what he considers an undoubted orig-

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 71

inal half - length portrait of Sir William Phips.
He obtained it in Washington city, and traced
it to the very valuable collection of the late
Thomas Thompson, a wealthy picture fancier of
Boston, who was known to have spent six hun-
dred thousand dollars in paintings, and had paid
large sums for the rent of buildings to hang them
in. Mr. Thompson died about 1867, and his
widow sent a large number of the paintings, in-
cluding the Phips portrait, to George P. Rowell,
40 Park Row, New York city, who sold them
by printed catalogue. William Minot, a cele-
brated lawyer of Boston, was an intimate friend
of Thompson, and assisted me in my investigation
of the matter of the portrait. He has no doubt
about the authenticity of the portrait. He thinks
that it remained in Boston from the time of Sir
William until it came into the possession of Mr.
Thompson, whom he represents as good authority,
and as looking sharply to the genuineness of pic-
tures before purchasing.

Mr. Hayes, the present owner of the portrait,
is a lawyer of wealth and high standing, and is
a connoisseur in art matters. He is a native of
Maine, the son of the late William A. Hayes, of
South Berwick, who was one of the original mem-
bers of our Society. Mr. F. B. Hayes will be
pleased to show the portrait, and his very valua-
ble collection of paintings, to any member of our
Society. It is very desirable that Maine should
possess a reliable portrait of so distinguished a

72 SIR WILLIAM PHIPS.

son ; and when Maine's next contribution for the
National Hall of Statuary at Washington is pre-
pared, I think it should be a statue of Sir William
Phips, modelled from this portrait, an engraving
of which forms the frontispiece of this volume.

ARTICLE IL

BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.
1696-1759.

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON,

OF BELFAST, MAINE.
BEAD BETOBK THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AT PORTLAND, MARCH 30, 1876.

GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON.
[Read at Portland, March 30, 1876.]

AMONG the objects contemplated by our Society
is the preservation of biographical sketches of men
remarkable in their public career, or who have
been distinguished for their enterprise or influence
in the early days of our settlement. To further
this object I invite your attention to a brief ac-
count of the life and services of General Samuel
Waldo, who, although not a native of Maine, was
closely identified with its interests, and whose en-
lightened wisdom and personal efforts were largely
instrumental in reclaiming from the wilderness
what is now one of the most flourishing portions
of our State.

General Waldo was born in England, in 1696,
and came to this country when four years old.
His father, Jonathan Waldo, an eminent merchant,
settled in Boston, where he died in 1731, "leav-
ing," in the language of a contemporary, " large
donations to public uses." His mother was of Ger-
man descent. Their wealth, connections, arid high
character, gave the family an enviable and de-
served distinction. During the first part of the
eighteenth century Boston had attained to more

76 GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.

refinement and elegance than any town on the
continent. " A London citizen would almost think
himself at home there," wrote a historian in 1740,
" when he observes the number of people, their
residences and style of living, their resources and
conversation." Successful commerce and the con-
stant visits of distinguished foreigners imparted
to its society a degree of dignity and intelligence
remarkable in so new a country. In the midst
of such influences, the greater portion of the life
of Waldo was passed. But few particulars of his
youth have been preserved. At the hands of his
father and in the Latin school he received some
practical instruction, which, in the various public
stations he afterwards filled, enabled him to write
forcibly, to speak effectively, and to judge dis-
creetly. At the age of eighteen, he assisted his
father as clerk, and a few years afterwards we
find him associated in trade with his brother Cor-
nelius, having their store at first on King, now
State Street, and afterwards in Merchants' Row,
near the Swing Bridge. They dealt in fish, naval
stores, provisions, and lumber, obtaining cargoes
of the latter from the eastern part of the Province,
which they exported to the West Indies and to
Europe. Mercantile transactions gave them an
early and extensive acquaintance in Maine, where
their acquisitions of real estate, purchased at a
low price, increased in value, and were means of
an influence which, in a new country, extensive
landholders seldom fail to possess. In Falmouth,
now Portland, they were large proprietors.

GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO. 77

Soon after entering active business, he became
connected with a landed interest of great magni-
tude.

During the brief time which the Plymouth
Council held the " Great Charter for New Eng-
land," they made several grants of land within the
District of Maine, which, through all subsequent
revolutions of government, have been generally
respected and upheld. One of these subordinate
grants was the " Muscongus," or " Lincolnshire
Patent," to Beauchamp and Leverett, in 1629.
This patent embraced land between the Muscon-
gus and Penobscot rivers, and contained, by esti-
mation, nearly a thousand square miles. Its area
exceeded that of several of the principalities of
Europe. It included the whole of the present
counties of Enox and Waldo, except the terri-
tory of a few towns. Subsequent surveys added
a portion of Penobscot County. For this immense
tract of land no consideration was demanded or
paid. A fifth part of all the gold and silver ore
found on the premises was reserved to the king,
and rights of government were also retained. In
other respects, the powers of the patentees were
complete. No subjects could have received an es-
tate of a higher nature, or be clothed with more
exclusive privileges. The lands and islands, the
rivers and harbors, the mines and the fisheries,
were all under their absolute control. Without
license, no one could shoot a bird, fell a tree,
or build a hut. The patent was a commercial

78 GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.

monopoly, " open, notorious, exclusive, and ad-
verse."

To the suggestive question, what induced the
Plymouth proprietors, without money and without
price, to surrender this large territory, an answer
may be given by referring to recent bestowals of
our national domain in aid of public improvements.
It was expected that the settlement of one section
would enhance the value of another intermediate
or more remote, and such ultimately proved to be
the case.

The fisheries were early and vigorously prose-
cuted by the Plymouth colonists, who had stations
at Monhegan and in other localities along the
coast of Maine, ^heir success hastened the occu-
pation of the Muscongus grant. In 1630, Ashley
and Peirce, agents of the patentees, came with
laborers and mechanics, and established a trading-
house on the Georges River, in what is now Thom-
aston. Although this settlement was temporary,
it may be regarded as the first one on any part of
the patent. It was broken up by King Philip's,
or the first Indian war, which terminated in 1678.
After this the whole territory lay desolate for
nearly forty years.

On the death of Beauchamp, one of the paten-
tees, Leverett, in the right of survivorship, suc-
ceeded to the whole grant, and during several
years assumed its management. He died in 1650.
Through him the patent descended to his son,
Governor Leverett, of Massachusetts, and in 1714,

GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO. 79

to President John Leverett, of Harvard College,
the great-grandson of the original grantee. Pre-
viously, in 1694, Madockawando, Sagamore of the
Penobscot tribe, had sold to Governor Phips at
Pemaquid a large tract of land included in the
grant. Although the Indians denied the author-
ity of their chief to make this conveyance, yet,
probably to avoid any controversy, President Lev-
erett purchased whatever right accrued of Spen-
cer Phips, an heir of the governor.

In 1719, peace with the eastern tribes was
apparently restored, and Leverett entered upon
measures for resettling the patent. Finding the
enterprise of too great magnitude for a single in-
dividual, he parcelled the land into ten shares, in
common, and conveyed them to certain persons
thenceforth called the " Ten Proprietors." These
owners admitted twenty other partners, termed
the " Twenty Associates." Among the latter were
the father and brother of Samuel Waldo.

Under the auspices of the new proprietors two
plantations, which subsequently became the thriv-
ing towns of Thomaston and Warren, were com-
menced. In the former, two block-houses con-
stituted the means of protection. The progress
of the settlement was soon interrupted by an In-
dian war of three years' duration, during which
all the houses and mills that had been erected
were destroyed. The block-houses, however, be-
ing well defended, withstood several formidable
attacks, the last of which was a siege of thirty

80 GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.

days. Peace having at last been concluded, in
1*726, the efforts of the Associates were renewed,
when an unexpected difficulty arose in the aggres-
sions of one David Dunbar, who had obtained an
appointment styling him, " Surveyor General of
the King's Woods." Clothed with this royal au-
thority, Dunbar seems to have reversed the Scrip-
tural language, and regarded every man mfamous,
" according as he had lifted up axes against the
thick trees." Disregarding the vested rights of
the patentees, he claimed a reservation of all pine-
trees in Maine having a diameter of over two
feet, as masts for the British navy. Attended by
an armed force, he drove the lumbermen from
their homes, seized their timber, and burned their
saw -mills. His extortions became so disastrous
to the interests of the proprietors that they de-
termined to send an agent to England for relief.
Samuel Waldo was selected for the purpose. Af-
ter great exertions and a long stay abroad, he
succeeded in procuring a revocation of Dunbar's
authority. So valuable were his services that the
thirty persons conveyed to him one half of the
whole patent as a remuneration for the money
and efforts which he had expended in obtaining
a recovery and future guaranty of their rights.

The accession of Waldo to so large an interest
in the patent gave new vitality to the means un-
dertaken for its development. By computation
three hundred thousand acres still belonged to the
old proprietors. In 1734 he contracted with the

GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO. 81

Twenty Associates to purchase a portion of their
shares, and the indenture, which is still preserved,
exhibits the signatures of the original grantees
or their representatives. This left the Associates
one hundred thousand acres, which he agreed to
set off in any portion they might designate, the
tract to be five and one quarter miles on Penobscot
Bay, and extending thirty miles into the interior.
The arrangement remained incomplete until 1768,
when a survey demonstrated that at about twenty
miles from the shore the line encroached upon
the Plymouth Patent. To complete the requisite
quantity, Montville and a portion of Liberty were
added, which, with Camden, Hope, and Appleton,
are designated upon the early maps of Maine as
" Land of the Twenty Associates."

But while engaged in the cultivation and im-
provement of the patent, Waldo maintained his
influential and prominent position at home. For
several years he was chosen a member of the Pro-
vincial Council, and as the confidential associate
of Governors Belcher, Shirley, and Pownall, his
advice secured an interest in the affairs of Maine
which otherwise would have been without atten-
tion. We find him occupying various other local
public stations. In 1742 his name appears among
a committee selected to thank Peter Faneuil for
his gift of Faneuil Hall. At about this time, the
militia system of Massachusetts having been re-
organized, he was appointed colonel of the east-
ern regiment, which was nearly thirteen hundred

6

82 GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO.

strong, and embraced the territory in Maine east
of the Saco River.

In 1745, the celebrated expedition against Louis-
burg was undertaken. Colonel William Pepperrell
was selected as commander-in-chief over the land
forces, and Waldo as third in rank, with the title
of Brigadier General. " The two," says Eaton,
" were chosen for their popular manners, ener-
getic character, and great moral worth, rather
than any skill in military affairs, in which neither
had any experience beyond that of Indian skir-
mishes." But the event proved that indomitable
resolution and enthusiastic confidence can some-
times effect what the most consummate skill would
shrink from in despair. Under the auspices of
these determined men, enlistments were made
with vigor, and a sufficient force was soon raised
for the expedition. Many of the settlers on the
patent entered the service. By a succession of
events favorable to the English, and equally ad-
verse to their foes, Louisburg, the Gibraltar of
America, surrendered, as is well known, after a
brief siege, to the great joy of the colonists, and
the astonishment of Europe. The conspicuous
part which General Waldo took in the operations
will always be remembered with appreciation and
praise. After the capture General Waldo returned
to his ordinary vocations. But he did not pur-
sue them without interruption. In the winter
of 1746-47 Massachusetts raised fifteen hundred
men to march in midwinter against Crown Point.

GENERAL SAMUEL WALDO. 83

The command was given to him, but the troops
were attacked by small-pox, which frustrated the
enterprise. In 1749, Waldo embarked for Eng-
land with his two sons, Frank and Ralph, the for-
mer to be educated in Paris, and the latter to
remain in London, where the general expected to
be detained some time in settling private claims,
and probably in soliciting royal favor. His old
companion in arms, Pepperrell, now Sir William
Pepperrell, had preceded him. Both were soon
presented at Court, where King George II. gave
them a cordial reception and bestowed high enco-
miums on their military services. A close intimacy
had existed for years between the two generals.
They were connected by marriage, and as the bi-
ographer of Sir William observes, several coinci-
dences marked their lives. Both were extensive
landholders in Maine ; the two commanded the
two regiments of the eastern counties ; they were
many years associated in the Governor's Council ;
they were at Louisburg together; their children
were betrothed ; they passed a year together in
England ; they were born in the same year, and
died within a few days of each ot