AY, 1922

MEMOIR 54

CORNELL UNIVERSITY
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION

HORSE RAISING IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND

DEANE PHILLIPS

ITHACA, NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY

jngsSctoolofVeterina,y Medicine a^

estboro Road
^'•''ftnn. MA 01536

TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

3 9090 013 402 1

CONTENTS

PAGE

Source and early development of New England horses 890

Usefulness of horses to the colonists 891

Early importations 892

Sources of New England horses 893

Free range and its effects 895

Increase in number of horses 897

The beginning in the export trade in horses 899

Rise of the sugar industry in the British West Indies 901

Early exportation of New England horses 902

Horse stealing 906

Increasing demand for New England horses from 1700 to 1775 908

Growth of the sugar trade and expansion of the market for

horses 909

Contraband trade during the French and Indian War 912

Changes in the production of sugar 913

Development of commercial horse raising from 1700 to 1775 915

Exportations from Rhode Island ports 916

Exportations from Connecticut ports 917

Sources of supply for the export trade 919

The Narragansett planters and their horses 920

Decline in horse raising after the Revolution 926

Citations 930

Sources of information 936

885

^ HORSE RAISING IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND

k

HORSE RAISING IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND
Deane Phillips

With the rapid rise of the sugar industry in the West Indies during
the latter half of the seventeenth century, the continental Britisli
colonies in America were called upon to serve as the main source of
supplies for the sugar plantations. An important trade grew up,
especially with the New England region, in which the islands received
lumber, fish, foodstuffs of various sorts, cattle, and horses. In return
the northern colonies obtained sugar, molasses, rum, dyestuffs, and —
of especial importance to New England — specie in various forms which
could be used for purchasing manufactured articles and other needed
supplies from England.

Horses were used on the sugar plantations to turn the rollers of the
cane-crushing mills, to haul the cane from the fields, and to transport
sugar and supplies. They were in demand for saddle purposes also.
As far as New England was concerned, there is ample evidence that
the exportation of horses to supply this need of the sugar islands formed
a very important part of the commerce which was carried on between
the two groups of British colonies in the New World, and that it was
equally important in the trade which grow up between New England
and the French West Indies when these islands also began the cultiva-
tion of sugar. The observations of contemporary writers, the reports
of the various colonial governors to the Board of Trade in London,
port records and various commercial statistics of the period which have
been made available by modern research, and many other scattered
sources of information, indicate that this was the case.

It is apparent that the development of such an export trade in horses
must have stimulated a corresponding development of horse raising
on a commercial scale. In this memoir an attempt has been made to
gather together such widely scattered data as are available concerning
this early agricultural enterprise of New England, and to trace its
development and extent during the colonial period. Since, from its
nature, this raising of horses was intimately bound up with the sugar

889

890 Deane Phillips

trade of the West Indies, it has seemed advisable to give some attention
also to the growth and development of the latter industry.

SOURCE AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ENGLAND HORSES
It is not at all certain that to the early colonists New England
appeared as stern and inhospitable a shore as we are sometimes led to
believe. Hardships there were in plenty, and much real privation
and want, but, on the other Hand, the country gave to them bountifully
in many ways of its own. Not the least of its advantages in the eyes
of the first settlers was the comparative abundance of pasture and
grasses suitable for hay, which assured an easy support for livestock
in numbers sufficient for the colonists' needs.

This feature of the country is frequently mentioned in letters written
to friends in England by the early settlers and in the accounts of
travelers. Thus the Reverend Mr. Higginson (1),^ writing in 1629,
describes the abundance of grass ^' which groweth everywhere, both
verie thicke, verie longe, and verie high in divers places ' ' ; and in
regard to livestock he records further, "it do prosper and like well
this countrie." Another writer (2), possibly too ardent in his admira-
tion for the new land, compares the abundance of pasturage to " Hun-
garia." Josselyn (3), in his visits to New England, also seems to
have been impressed with its possibilities along this line, and writes in
1675 of the " broad vallies supplied with ample forage as well as that
to be found in clearings in the forests."

The native grasses which furnished this forage were mainly of two
sorts — foul-meadow grass and herd-grass, or timothy (4). English
grasses were introduced at an early date and were found to grow well
in the new land (5). Both the native grasses made good hay, and this
fact rendered it possible to keep livestock with little difficulty in spite
of the rigors of the New England winters. The colonists were thus
enabled to increase freely the number of their cattle and horses in
proportion as they found them useful. As is shown later, they did not
fail to avail themselves of this opportunity, and the increase that took
place was a rapid one.

* Numbers in parenthesis refer to tlie list of citations beginning on page 930. Tlie
sources cited are given ui full in the list beginning on page 930.

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 891

usefulness of horses to the colonists

Cattle and horses were of service to the colonists in many ways. The
neat Cattle furnished them food, hides for leather, and oxen for draft
purposes. Sheep were valued chiefly for wool. Horses served to some
extent for draft, but for ploughing and other heavy work they were
found less serviceable than oxen. Their most important use was to
furnish means of rapid transportation from place to place. In the
earliest days of the settlements most of this travel was on foot or in
small boats (6), but by 1652 a New England writer (7) could boast
of the " wild and uncouth woods filled with frequented ways and
rivers overlaid with bridges passable for both horse and foot." This
indicates in a general way the transition that soon took place, so that
horses became of steadily increasing importance as the settlement of
the country proceeded and the towns became more numerous and widely
separated.

In the difficulties with the Indians, horses were of especial advantage
to the colonists. Not only was this true in the case of offensive operations
against the savages, but in the frontier troubles which were always
imminent the possession of horses enabled the settlers to bring aid
quickly to one another when attacked and thus saved many an isolated
settlement from extinction. That the colonists realized this advantage
is apparent from the pains which they took to prevent any horses
from coming into the hands of the natives. In Plymouth (8), in
Massachusetts Bay (9), and in Connecticut (10), laws were passed to
prevent the selling of any horses to the natives, and even as late as 1665
it was only after considerable debate that the Plymouth court allowed
one such sale to be made to a friendly Indian for purposes of
" husbandry " (11).

Lastly, it is interesting to note that horse racing was not unknown
even in the early days of the Puritan settlement in the Massachusetts
Bay colony, where the court vents its dire condemnation on " certain
euill and disordered persons " who engaged in such a breach of public
decorum (12). At a later date, however, such racing came to be a
recognized sport in Boston (13), and especially in Rhode Island, where
races ivere very common and often for high stakes (14). These prac-
tices were not frequent in the early days, however, and came to be

892 Deane Phillips

tolerated only after the country was well settled and customs had
changed considerably.

EARLY IMPORTATIONS

The first colonists who settled at Plymouth in 1620 brought neither
iiorses nor cattle with them to the new land, and it was not until four
years later that the first neat was brought over (15). In the same
year the correspondence of Governor Bradford indicates that '' a bull
and 3 or 4 jades " were to be shipped to him from London to be sold
in the colony (16). The first record of the actual presence of a horse
in Plymouth seems to be in 1632. Governor John Winthrop, of the
Massachusetts Bay colony, describes in his diary a journey made to
Plymouth in that year, partly by boat and partly on foot, and States
that on his return he was sent a part of the way on " the Governor's
mare " as a mark of special respect (17).

However, from some source — probably England, but possibly Hol-
laiid, with whose ships the colonists had traded (18) — the Plymouth
settlers had by 1632 obtained a considerable supply of cattle, for it
is stated by Governor Bradford that by this date many persons had
been enriched by selling corn and cattle at high prices to newcomers
in both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay and had '' spread out on
f amies " for the purpose of raising more (19). As to the number
of horses in Plymouth at that time, however, no information can be
gleaned from Bradford's narrative, for he, in common with other
writers of the period, uses the term cattle more or less indiscriminately
to cover any sort of livestock, including horses.

The richer Massachusetts Bay colony seems to have been better sup-
plied than the colony at Plymouth. The fleet that arrived with its
numerous settlers in the year 1629 brought over also a considerable
number of horses and cattle, one hundred and fifteen head in all (20),
among which were thirteen horses (21). In the following year the ships
that brought over Governor Winthrop and the second group of colonists
had on board two hundred and forty cows and about sixty horses, as
is learned from Winthrop 's letters (22). Some of these animals died
while en route and it is not certain just how many were added to the
stock of the colony, but among the horses that survived there were
both mares and stallions (23).

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 893

After the arrival of these early settlers, the succeeding decade saw
the landing of a steady stream of new colonists about the bay. It is
reasonable to suppose that they also brought many horses, but specific
references to such importations are not frequent. Sir Ferdinand Gorges
in 1632 wrote from England to Captain John Mason in Massachusetts
promising to send over several at the first opportunity (24), but no
mention is made of their arrival. Winthrop also records a few importa-
tions, but in a casual and incidental fashion which implies that his
register makes no attempt at completeness in this respect. Of those
noted by Winthrop, the first is in 1633, when he mentions the arrival of
the ship Bi7'd with four mares on board (25), and in the same year
the Bonaveniure with two, four having been lost in transit (26). In
1635 Winthrop speaks also of the arrival of a Dutch vessel with " 27

Flanders mares and 3 horses " (27). This last-named ship

had cleared at the Texel five weeks previously, and had thus made an
unusually quick voyage and one notable for the fact that none of her
cargo of livestock had been lost en route.

During these early years, also, both Winthrop and Bradford record
in their journals the frequent arrival in the bay of ships having cattle
on board, and it is probable, for reasons already given, that these
** cattle " often included some horses. The number of such arrivals
was certainly large. Winthrop, for example, notes that in 1634, '' dur-
ing the week the court was in session there came in six ships with store
of passengers and cattle " (28). In the same year there were fourteen
ships in one month which cast anchor either in Salem or in Boston (29).
Many more arrivals probably went entirely unrecorded, and therefore
the scantiness of the record does not necessarily mean that horses were
not being brought into the country in considerable quantities. That
they were being imported in large numbers is, in fact, the only possible
conclusion to be drawn in view of their great abundance a few years
later — to confirm which there is plenty of evidence, as will be shown
presently.

SOURCES OF NEW ENGLAND HORSES

Since the early importations undoubtedly furnished the basic stock
from which two noted American breeds^ — the Narragansett pacers and
the still more famous Morgans — were later developed, it is worth while

894 Deane Phillips

to consider briefly the sources and the general characteristics of t-hese
first imported horses.

In view of the lack of any direct evidence to the contrary, it is fair
to assume that the first shipments were mainly from England and of
the small nondescript type which at that time made up the bulk of
the English horses (30). There was, however, some admixture of other
blood. In the primary importation into the Massachusetts Bay colony
in 1629, three at least are mentioned specifically as " having come out
of Leicestershire " (31), which at that time was the source of a more
or less distinct type of horse of a sort better than the average (32).
The importation of Flemish mares also has been noted. AVallace con-
tends that these latter were not Flemish but were rather of a Dutch
type (33), but his conclusion is based merely on the fact that the vessel
cleared from a Dutch port — which does not seem a very valid reason
for controverting Winthrop's specific statement as to their Flemish
origin, especially since Flemish horses were well known at that period
as a distinct type.

There is one other possible source of some of the New England horses
which deserves consideration, especially because it may tend to explain
in some measure the persistently small size of these horses, even when
carefully bred — as later they were in Rhode Island and Connecticut —
and, further, the constant occurrence among them of individuals pos-
sessed of a natural pacing gait. This possible progenitor is to be found
in the Irish hobbies, a race of small, hardy, wild ponies existing in
Ireland during the first part of the seventeenth century. These horses
were in great demand in England for saddle purposes, and were
exported thence in such quantities that they are said to have become
practically extinct in Ireland before the year 1634 (34). They were
well known in England, and their natural pacing gait made them
especially desirable in any place where travel was of necessity on horse-
back (35) ; it is not at all improbable, therefore, that some of them found
their way to New England, where they would have been especially
serviceable. There seems to be no direct evidence to this effect, but any
comparison of such fragmentary descriptions of the two as are available
discloses a rather striking similarity between these Irish hobbies and

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 895

the famous Narragansett pacers which were later developed in Rhode
Island.^

FREE RANGE AND ITS EFFECTS

From the very earliest period of New England history it was cus-
tomary to allow both horses and cattle to run at large on the public
commons. At times some provision for a herdsman was made, but as
the herds increased in numbers and the settlements became more scattered
the animals began to roam more or less at w411 about the settled areas
and often strayed away for considerable distances into the forest or
were lost completely. Winthrop records a happening of this sort in a
letter written to Governor Endicott on behalf of a widow whose horse
had been impressed for military service. Pleading her need for the one
that had been taken from her, he says, ' ' She hath another horse but
has not seen him for several months " (36). Strays of this sort were
numerous and this often led to many difficulties of ownership, which in
time compelled definite legislative provisions to be made.

Where horse raising developed, as it did later, on the islands of Long
Island Sound and on the water-guarded points and necks of Rhode
Island, this free range was not a serious problem. But where the
horses and cattle were running loose about the towns in a semi-wild
state and in ever-increasing numbers, many difficulties were bound to
arise. The chief trouble came from damage done to gardens and crops
by herds of these equine and bovine marauders. At first '' all greate
cattle " were herded by day by a public herdsman, and the owners
were held responsible for any harm inflicted by their animals after night-
fall (37). But soon the "burden was put on the other side, and in
Massachusetts Bay, for example, in 1642 the court repealed the former
act and provided that '' every man must now secure his own corn and
meadow against damage " (38). It was provided further that only in
case animals running at laro:e had broken through an admittedly strong
fence could the person suffering the damage have any redress. Com-
plaints for damages of this sort appear continually in the court records
of all the colonies, and it was apparently a cause of endless litigation,
Avhich persisted until a late date.

2 A more detailecl discussion of ttie origin of the Narragansett pacers is given on
page 922.

896 * ■ Deane Phillips

Another difficulty met with as a result of open-range conditions was
that of deterioration of the breed. AVhatever may have been the source
of the New England horses, it is clear that the promiscuous breeding of
the semi-wild animals on the commons could not be conducive to the
perpetuation of their best characteristics, although it may have resulted
in a certain hardiness by weeding out the ones unable to stand the rigors
of this wild life. At any rate, efforts were made before long to prevent
the breeding of the obviously unfit. In 1668 the court in Massachusetts
Bay declared : ' ' Whereas, the breed of horses is utterly spoyled whereby

that useful creature will become a burden be it enacted that no

stone horse above two years old be allowed on the commons or at liberty
unless he be of comely proportions and fourteen hands in stature " (39).
The owner of a horse found in violation of this statute was to be fined,
and later the amount of the fine was raised. Plymouth (40) and Con-
necticut (41) passed similar limitations, the minimum stature in the
latter case being set at thirteen hands. These restrictions seem to have
been fairly well enforced but could obviously result in little improve-
ment of the breed as long as complete open-range conditions prevailed.

One of the perplexities in all these cases of damages, after horses and
cattle had become numerous, was for the person whose premises had been
invaded to recognize whose animal it was that had done the damage.
The same difficulty was met Avith in fixing the fines for undersized
stallions found running at large. Often these horses and cattle were
even strays from a neighboring town, which made the problem still
more complicated. This led to the passage of acts compelling the brand-
ing of all animals with both the mark of the private owner and that of
the town of his residence. The general court in Massachusetts Bay
passed such an act in 1647, and in its records are enumerated the marks
of thirty-three different towns under its jurisdiction at the time (42).
In 1656 the New Haven colony compelled horses to be branded (43),
and the other Connecticut towns did the same in 1665 (44). Rhode
Island had a similar provision (45). In the latter plantation in 1686,
thirty wild and unmarked horses were ordered caught and sold and
the proceeds employed to build a prison and stocks (46). This was
the usual fate of unbranded animals or persistent strays. In 1661 the
court at Plymouth, " on complaint of some that certain horses or horse-

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 897 '

kind belonging" to Rhode Island are found <i'oeing within our libertys. . . .
to the great annoyance of Indians and English," ordered that such
animals should be treated as common strays and sold (47).

increase in number of horses

In the two or three decades following the first importations there was
a rapid increase in the number of horses in New England, and they
became abundant not only in the region about Massachusetts Bay but
also in the newer settlements in Connecticut and Rhode Island. As the
colonists pushed into these latter areas they took horses and cattle with
them from the earlier settlements, and, finding the new regions in some
places especially suitable for the raising of livestock, they began to
engage in it on a considerable scale, so that by 1650 or soon afterward
there. had come about an abundance of both horses and cattle throiigh
the whole New England territory.

The increase which thus took place is brought out clearly by the course
of prices during the period. In the years of the great immigration that
followed the first settlements on Massachusetts Bay, these prices were
rather high. Winthrop, in 1633, rates mares as being worth £35, and
cow^s from £20 to £26 (48). Two years later the Flanders mares, the
importation of which has already been noted, sold for £34, and heifers
brought in by the same ship sold for £12 each (49). During the next
few years the great number of settlers arriving caused prices to rise
even higher, and, as Bradford records, " ye anciente planters whicl";
had any stock begane to grow in their estats and spread out on farmes
to raise more " (50).

By 1640, however, the supply had apparently overtaken the demand
and prices began to fall (51). By 1645 this decrease had gone so far
that Winthrop speaks of a horse the price of which he gives as £10 as
a '^ costlie horse " (52). In 1653, however, horses were still rated by
the Massachusetts Bay court at £16 (53), but thirteen years later, in
Connecticut, they had fallen to half that amount (54), and in 1668 the
Massachusetts Bay court reduced the rate from £10 to £5 (55). Finally,
in 1677, the rate was still further reduced in Massachusetts Bay, and
horses were ordered to be received at a rate of £3 for each horse or
mare above three years old and 40 shillings for two-year-olds (56). In

898 Deane Phillips

the last-named case the court stated specifically as its reason for the
' reduction that horses had for some time been worth much less than the
amount previously fixed by law. During this period of falling prices,
the number of persons in the country had steadily increased, roads were
being established, and new agricultural lands had been opened up — all
of which would result in an increased demand for horses. It appears,
therefore, that the increase in their numbers must have more than kept
pace with the development of the country, and that the decrease in
prices was due to the abundance of the supply rather than to any
decreased need for their services.

There is much other evidence to indicate that by the middle of the
seventeenth century horses had become very abundant. In 1647 those
running wild in Massachusetts Bay were so numerous and were doing
so much damage as to call for legislative interference (57), while
Maverick, writing a little more than ten years later, says, 'Mt is a

wonder to see the great herds of cattle and the great number

of horses besides the many sent to Barbadoes and the other Carribee
islands " (58). The same condition is attested by John Winthrop the
younger, writing from Connecticut in 1660 (59), and by the report of
the Commissioners to New England presented to' the Board of Trade
in London in 1665 (60). By 1675, according to AVilliam Harris, who
had been sent out by the Board of Trade, the country had so many
horses '^ that men know not what to do with them " (61).

A still further indication of the plentiful supply of horses in New
England is the fact that by this time these colonies had begun as a
source of supply for other colonies. In 1642 Massachusetts Bay was
being called upon to furnish a shipment of horses to Lord Baltimore's
colony in Maryland (62), and in the report to the Board of Trade in
1665, already mentioned, horses are named as one of the exports of
Massachusetts to Barbados and Virginia. A letter written in 1650 by
Secretary von Tienhoven, of the Dutch West India Company, indicates
that at that date horses were being obtained from New England by
the Dutch on the Hudson River (63). The letter in question advises pro-
spective settlers in the New Netherlands to take no horses with them
to the new land, because " they can be got at reasonable expense from
the English who have plenty of them." There is appended also a

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 899

table of prices in " New England " for horses, cows, and hogs; so there
can be no doubt as to which of the English settlements Von Tienhoven
had in mind.

It is thus apparent that by about the middle of the century or a
little later, New England had come to have an abundance of horses
more than sufficient for its own needs. Natural increase under free-
range conditions would account for such large numbers only if it were
assumed that the importations during the early years of settlement
were far more numerous than have been recorded, or else that such
importations continued throughout the whole period — which does not
seem very probable. During the latter part of the years described,
however, the exportation of horses, which was just beginning, had as a
result the stimulation of horse breeding for this purpose in a more
careful manner, and probably accelerated to some extent the rate of
increase.

With the development of this export trade begins the second phase
of horse raising in New England, resulting in many changes throughout
the area and in the establishment of horse breeding as an important
and extensive industry in certain favorably located sections.

THE BEGIXXING OF THE EXPORT TRADE IX HORSES

As has alreadj^ been indicated, some horses were exported from New
England to the other continental colonies at an early date. Such ship-
ments, however, never came to be of any great importance, and are
worth}^ of mention chiefly to show the relative abundance of horses in
New England as compared with their numbers in the neighboring
colonies. The main demand that resulted in the exportation of New
England horses came from the sugar plantations in the West Indies,
where both horses and cattle were needed for draft purposes, to haul
the cane from the fields, to transport sugar and supplies, and to turn
the heavy cylinders in the cane-crushing mills. ^ Horses were used for

3 Oldmixon {The British Empire in America, vol. 2, p. 147) gives the following descrip-
tion of the operation of thes" eanc-crnshing mills : • They Liriiid the canes thus in the
cattle mills ; The Horses and Cattle being put to the tackle, go about, and turn by
sweeps the middle Roller ; which being cogged to turn others at the upper end, turn
them about. They all three turn upon the same centers which are of Brass and Steel,
going so easily of themselves, that a Man, taking hold of one of the Sweeps with his
Hand, may turn all the rollers about ; but when the canes are put between the rollers
it is a good Draught for five Oxen or Horses."

900 Deane Phillips

saddle purposes also by the sugar planters, who were willing to pay
high prices for superior animals of this type.

That the New England colonies, rather than any of the other con-
tinental settlements, should have become the accepted source of supply
for this demand from the sugar islands, resulted chiefly from the fact
that they were the only ones which possessed a surplus of horses at the
time when the demand first began to make itself felt, about the middle
of the seventeenth century. In most of the other colonies there was an
actual scarcity of horses, as in Virginia (64). The Dutch in New
Netherlands, it is true, did actually export some horses during the year
1650, but an act was soon passed which forbade such shipments (65).
It thus came about that in the early days of the sugar industry in
the West Indies, New England had no real competitor among the con-
tinental colonies in supplying the growing demand for horses for the
sugar plantations. Virginia furnished many cattle (Q6) , and after
1700 the colony on the Hudson River, by that time in English hands,-
again began the shipment of horses; but New England's leadership
in the trade was never seriously threatened during the colonial period.

The continental American colonies proved to be a convenient source
of supply to the sugar islands of the West Indies, not only for horses
and cattle but for many other commodities as well. The trade in
horses, in short, was an integral part of the much more extensive com-
merce which grew up between the West Indies and the northern British
colonies whereby the islands were supplied with timber, boards, staves,
fish, and provisions of all sorts, in return for sugar, molasses, rum, dye-
stuffs, and, most desirable of all, Spanish dollars and bills of exchange
on London. The extent of the export trade in horses at any particular
period, therefore, was infiuenced by the condition of this commerce as
a whole and by the changes that took place in the sugar industry itself.
Wars, acts of Parliament, competition between the Islands — in short,
all factors that aided, hindered, or changed the direction of this larger
trade — had their effect on the exportation of horses. Certain changes
in the manufacture of sugar which took place during the first part of
the eighteenth century also tended to decrease the demand for horses.
Since, therefore, the horse raising that developed in New England
during the later part of the colonial period was essentially dependent on

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 901

this export trade, it is necessary in any further treatment of the subject
to consider in some detail the rise and development of the sugar industry
itself.

RISE OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Europe was being sup-
plied with sugar mainly by the Portu<-»-uese, from Madeira and, more
especially, from their settlements on the mainland of South America,
in Brazil. The English also had probably produced some sugar in
South America, from Surinam, before ceding that colonj^ to the Dutch
by the treaty of Breda (67), but it was not until they had established
a settlement in Barbados, one of the Windward Islands, that they began
to be serious competitors of the Portuguese.

The colony in Barbados had'^een settled for some time before 1630,
but for a considerable period it had produced only indigo, ginger, cot-
ton, and " bad tobacco," which brought in but moderate returns.
Sugar culture was introduced in or about the year 1642, and by 1650
the planters had grown proficient in its production and were shipping
it to England in considerable quantities (68). The new industry met
with remarkable success and within a few years the island had become
very prosperous; lands had increased greatly in value, and the planters
had amassed great wealth and were found living on a scale of surprising
pomp and luxury. In 1661 King Charles II created thirteen baronets
from among these planters, none of Avhom are said to have had an annual
income of less than £1000 and some of whom had more than £10,000
a year. In the same year the trade of the island is estimated to have
supported more than four hundred ships and the value of the exports
is placed as high as £300,000 (69).

The great success of Barbados stimulated the growing of sugar on the
other islands of the British West Indies. St. Christopher (which the
English share:! with the French), Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, and
lastly, after its capture from the Spanish in 1655, Jamaica, all came
into the market with sugars and the trade grew at a rapid rate. The
Navigation Acts, confining this commerce to British bottoms, soon made
London the chief sugar mart of the world, whence the product was
re-exported by British merchants. English sugars undersold those of

902 Deane Phillips

the Portuguese, and by 1670 the latter had been forced out of practically
all the markets north of Cape Finisterre (70).

EARLY EXPORTATION OF NEW ENGLAND HORSES

The rapid development of the British sugar islands called for great
quantities of supplies to carry on the work of the plantations, and,
since the islands had few resources of their own, importations were
necessary. Provisions from Ireland, slaves from Africa, shoes and
other manufactured goods from Europe, as well as the products of the
continental British colonies — the nature of which has already been
indicated — all were brought into the islands, and of these supplies
horses were a not unimportant item.

In the earliest days of the sugar industry, trade was still free and
the Dutch and the Portuguese seem to have furnished the British islands
with as many horses as were needed (71). With the stoppage of this
trade by laAV and the increasing development of the plantations, how-
ever, recourse was had to England and to New England to supply the
demand. During the period between 1649 and 1658 the importations of
English -horses were especially numerous. In those years there are
recorded in the British Colonial Papers forty-eight different, permits for
such shipments, for a total of more than nineteen hundred horses (72).
England continued to send horses until as late as 1667 (73), but the
levying in 1654 of an export duty of 20 shillings a head (74) cut down
the numbers considerably and hastened the shift in the trade by which
New England at length became almost the sole source of supply for the
islands. In that region there was no export duty except in Massa-
chusetts Bay, where it was only sixpence, and the cost of transporta-
tion was much less because of the shorter distance, which resulted also
in much smaller losses in transit.

The trade of Massachusetts Bay with the West Indies had already
been established before the production of sugar in the British islands
had come to be of importance, and so it is only natural that with the
rise of the latter industry and the demand for horses the growing
surplus of New England animals should receive the advantage of the
outlet thus opened. As a result, horses Avere being shipped from
Massachusetts ports fully as early as from those of England, and, for

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 903

the reasons given, the numbers exported soon exceeded those from the
Eng'lish ports. Concerning the beginning of this trade AVinthrop writes
in 1647: '' It pleased the Lord to open to ns a trade with Barbados
and the other islands . . . which as it proved gainful, so the
commodities which we had in exchange for our cattle and provisions,
as sugar, cotton, tobacco, and indico were a good help to discharge our
engagements with England " (75).

As to whether there were aiiy horses among these " cattle " which
Winthrop states were being sent to the West Indies, there is no evi-
dence. The record of such exports is, in fact, much like that of the
early imports into the country, and specific mention of such ship-
ments is not frequent, even though more general statements, such as
those to be found in the reports to the Board of Trade in London,
indicate that they were taking place. In 1648 Winthrop notes in his
journal the presence of a ship " lying before Charlestown with eighty
horses on board bound for Barbadoes " (76), and this is probably the
first recorded exportation of horses from New England to the West
Indies. Wallace states (77) that there was a shipment of eighty head
in 1640, but he does not give the source of his information and it is
more than probable that it is this exportation of 1648 to which he refers,
inasmuch as the demand for horses had hardly begun in Barbados as
early as 1640.

The exportation of horses from New England in 1648 or before was
evidently not limited to this one cargo, however, for a writer who styles
himself Beauchamp Plantagenet, describing a visit to Barbados in that
year, states that '' New England sendeth horses and Virginia oxen *'
to turn the sugar mills in the island (78). In 1649 the Massachusetts
Bay court passed an act forbidding the exportation of mares and plac-
ing a tax of sixpence on every gelding sent out of the country (79).
This was obviously an effort in the main to protect the breeding stock
of the area, and Massachusetts Bay urged that similar prohibitions be
adopted by all the United Colonies of New England. The colony at
New Haven was. the only one to act on the recommendation (80), and
in Plymouth and Rhode Island there continued to be no restriction on
such shipments. That such a law was found desirable in Massachusetts
was due partly to military considerations, but the fact serves also as

904 Deane Phillips

an interesting side light on the extent of the demand for horses, for
it is clear that at that time there was no great scarcity of them in the
region.

The trade between Massachusetts Bay and Barbados was more or
less interrupted during the period of the Commonwealth in England, as
a result of the refusal of Barbados to submit to the new authority ; but,
in general, the exportation of horses from the colony continued on a
considerable scale, and there is much evidence of the growing dependence
of the islands on the New England region as a source of supply. The
report of the Commissioners for New England to the Board of Trade
in London in 1665 states that Massachusetts exported fish, pork, beef,
horses, and corn to Virginia and Barbados (81). Inasmuch as horses
are not mentioned as a product of any of the other colonies, in the
report, it may be inferred that the region about Massachusetts Bay was
still the chief source of supply among the continental colonies. In 1673
Captain Gorges was instructed by the Assembly of Barbados to insist
to the English Parliament on the dependence of the island on New
England for " boards, timber, pipe staves, and horses," to the end that
no acts might be passed which would interfere with the trade (82). And
in 1675 a certain *' Mr. Harris of New England " gave an account of
the trade of the country, in which he says that ^' to Barbadoes in
exchange for horses, beef, pork, butter, cheese, flour, peas, biscuit, we
have sugar and indigo " (83).

In 1700 Massachusetts Bay was still sending large numbers of horses
to Barbados, and also to the Leeward Islands and to Jamaica. Toward
the end of the century, however, many of the horses shipped were
animals that had been raised farther inland and had been driven con-
siderable distances to be sent out from the ports on Massachusetts
Bay (84). This is shown, for example, by the correspondence of Waite
Winthrop with his brother Fitz-John, of Connecticut, by which it
appears that the latter was sending horses overland to Boston from his
plantation on Fisher's Island, in Long Island Sound (85). There was
'thus taking place a shift in the raising of horses in New England, by
which other regions than that about Massachusetts Bay were coming
to be of increasing importance, especially as regarded the export trade.

As the settlement of New England proceeded, it was very soon dis-

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 905

covered that there were certain areas in Rhode Island and in Con-
necticut which were much better adapted to the raising of livestock of
all kinds than the region first settled (86). These more favored areas
were found mainly in the upper valley of the Connecticut River,
along the shore of Long Island Sound, and about Narragansett Bay in
Rhode Island. Here plenty of level, well-watered pasture lands were
found, swamp grasses which made good hay were abundant, and in many
places the grazing areas were intersected with salt-water ponds and
lagoons which served to separate pasture land from cornfields far more
effectively than any fence could have done. The damages and end-
less difficulties resulting from free range in other less favored sections
made this last-named feature one of no mean advantage in the raising
of livestock and in the improvement of the breed. The few cattle, sheep,
and horses which the first settlers in these regions brought with them
were soon augmented by others, and before long the obvious agri-
cultural advantages of the new areas were being used to their full
extent.

With the coming of the demand for shipment to the West Indies,
horses and cattle were soon being raised for export in these more favored
districts. Some horses were apparently being shipped from Newport
as early as 1656, but there is some question as to whether this particular
shipment did not consist of horses stolen from Massachusetts instead
of animals raised on Narragansett Bay (87). In 1677, however. Cap-
tain John Hull wrote to one of his partners in the Pettiquamscut Pur-
chase in Rhode Island, proposing to build a stone wall across Point
Judith Neck, " so that no mongrel breed might come among them,*'
and to raise a breed of '' large and fair horses and mares " for ship-
ment to the West Indies (88). This plan appears to have been put
in operation, for not long afterward Hull wrote to a resident of the
district, a certain William Hefferman, accusing him of stealing horses
and rather tartly offering to give him some horses that he might have
no further need to indulge in such practices (89). By 1680 horses were
being shipped from Rhode Island in sufficient quantities to be men-
tioned by Governor Sanford in his reply to the inquiries sent out by
the Lords of Trade and Plantations, in which he states that " the princi-

906 Deane Phillips

pal matters which are exported among us is horses and pro-
visions " (90).

In Connecticut, also, horses soon came to be a recognized commodity
of trade. From the towns on the upper Connecticut River, as late as
1680 many horses were being driven overland to Boston to be sold,
presumably for the export trade (91). The coast region of Connecti-
cut had before this time begun a direct trade with the West Indies,
In 1667 it is recorded that a vessel had bcQu sent out from New London
bound for the island of Nevis, from which twenty-six horses were lost
overboard in a storm (92). Such other evidence as is available indicates
that this was not an isolated shipment from New London. This port
was, in fact, so situated as to draw not only on a fairly well-adapted
livestock area in Connecticut, but also on the most important part of
the Rhode Island area, and with the development that continued to
take place it in time became the chief center for the exportation of
horses from New England. In the period before 1700, however, New
London had but made a beginning in this trade, and this was also the
condition of Newport, Providence, and the river towns of Connecticut.

HORSE STEALING

One further development took place during the period just described,
which casts an interesting side light on the extent of the export trade
in horses and its effect on the New England region. This was th5 grow-
ing prevalence of horse stealing throughout all the colonies. One of
the objects of the branding of horses and cattle, already described,
was to prevent this practice. The brander in most of the towns was a
dignitary of no small importance, and as a rule was required not only
1o brand each animal but also to keep a record of the operation in an
official book together with a description of all the natural and artificial
marks on the animal and the name and residence of the owner. In
Rhode Island (93) and in Connecticut (94) there were fixed severe
penalties for any person who took or attempted to take out of the town
any horses or cattle without first informing the official brander and
receiving his permission.

Branding alone, however, did not provide a very effective check on
the stealing of horses and cattle. As the exportations grew in volume
and more and more ports were engaged in the trade, it became increas-

IToRSE Katrtng in Colonial New England 907

ingly easy to conceal such thefts and the practice became surprisingly
prevalent. Miss Caulkins, in her History of New London (95), has
described as follows the conditions during this period:

As the West India trade increased from year to year the raising of horses became
very profitable and many farmers entered into it largely. Lands being uninclosed
it was easy to riin sucli horses off to a port where the mark of the owner was
not known, or the mark itself could be altered. A bold rover in the woods might
entrap half a dozen horses with ease and, shooting them off through Indian paths
by night, reach some port in a neighboring colony; and before the owner could get
track of them they were far off upon the ocean, out of reach of proof. Many
persons otherwise respectable entered into this jiractice or connived at it. Men
who would scorn to pocket sixpence that belonged to another seemed to think it
no crime to throw a noose over the head of a horse running loose and to nullify
tlie signet of the owner or engraft on it the mark that designated their own
property.

Professional buyers, called " horse coursers " in the parlance of the
time, went about the country gathering up horses into pounds for sale
or driving them to ports whence they were shipped, and very few of
these persons escaped the suspicion of having at one time or another
enlarged a drove by gathering into it some to which they had no legal
claim. Persons of considerable prominence also were implicated, as
Miss Caulkins indicates; William Coddington, at one time governor of
Rhode Island, seems to have been one of these (96).

Such delinquency increased greatly in the latter half of the century
and the disclosures become more and more frequent. In 1668. as a
preventive measure, the Massachusetts Bay general court ordered a
toll book to be kept in every town, in which was to be entered a descrip-
tion of each horse, and a voucher was to be given to the owner to prove
his property (97). It was necessary to present this voucher in case
of any subsequent sale. As has been noted, both Rhode Island and
Connecticut had passed laws forbidding the taking of horses beyond
their jurisdiction unless first recorded by the town recorder. In 1684
court was held at Stonington for the trial of horse coursers. Two
persons were convicted and sentenced to pay fines of £10 and to receive
fifteen lashes (98). The court calls the offense '' a crjdng evil " au'ainst
which all well-disposed persons were bound to give aid. In 1700 a
special court was held at New London for the sole purpose of tryiiig
horse thieves, and the penalties for such thieving were made more
severe (99). Finally, in 1701 a toll book was ordered to be kept in

908 Deane Phillips

every seaport town in Massachusetts, in which were to be entered the
number, description, destination, and vessel on w^hich it was shipped,
of every horse sent out of the colon}^, as well as the name of the owner
of the horse and his place of residence. For any violations a fine of
£10 was to be inflicted for each horse sent out (100).

The incentive for most of this stealing was, of course, the export
trade to the West Indies, which made the thieving both possible and
profitable. The prevalence and widespread extent of this practice is
but one more indication of the importance and magnitude of the export
trade itself during this period. It is therefore probably no exaggera-
tion to say that by the year 1700, horses were being raised for shipment
to the West Indies throughout the whole New England area — to such
an extent had the trade developed in the space of fifty years. It is
apparent, how^ever, that by this time a shift was taking place in the
center of the trade, from its early location in the ports of Massachusetts
Bay to those of Rhode Island and, especially, Connecticut.

These shipments of horses were carried on the decks of the vessels
engaged in the West Indies trade, so that nearly every ship could
transport a few animals on the southward voyage. Since the ships
engaged in the trade were numerous and since they usually made two
trips a year (101), the possible shipments of horses were large. By the
end of the period, also, a beginning had been made in the building of
vessels with more ample deck space to provide room for the livestock
shipments, and these " horse jockeys," as such vessels were called
(102), played an important part in the West Indies trade during the
century that followed.

INCREASING DEMAND FOR NEW ENGLAND HORSES FROM 1700 TO 1775
The exportation of horses, which by 1700 had become a well-estab-
lished part of the trade of New England with the British sugar colonies,
continued on an increasing scale during the century that followed.
About 1700, however, the demand for supplies for the islands began
to be greatly augmented by the entrance into the market of the Dutch
and French West Indies, which were beginning in their turn to develop
the raising of sugar on an extensive scale. A steady increase in New
England exports was a reflection of these changes that were taking

Horse Raising in Colonial New ICngland 909

place in the sugar industry, and horses continued to be an important
item in the exchanges. In the various ups and downs of the sugar
trade, therefore, is to be found the explanation for corresponding
changes in the raising of horses which took place in New England dur-
ing the first half of the eighteenth century.

GROWTH OF THE SUGAR TRADE AND EXPANSION OF THE MARKET FOR HORSES

In 1698 a decree of the Roj^al Council of France allowed sugar from
the French islands, which were at that time producing only small
quantities, to be sent directly to any port in Europe. This proved a
great stimulus to the development of the French colonies, and after
the Peace of Utrecht the growth of these was rapid (103). Martinique,
Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Santo Domingo — the French colony on
the island of Hispaniola, or Haiti — all came into the market with
sugars. Prices fell off sharply as a result of the increased production
(104), and the British islands — partly, at least, because of the law
compelling them to send their sugar first to England, from whence it
was re-exported^ — found it difficult to compete with the French, who
were soon in a fair way to oust the British from their leadership in the
trade (105).

The continental British colonies were not slow in taking advantage
of the new outlet for their products which was thus opened up, especially
as the trade with the French proved to be very profitable. The French
home market was closed to the importation of rum — which, distilled
from molasses, was an important by-product of the manufacture of
sugar — and as a result the French planters were willing to sell their
molasses much more cheaply than were the British. This molasses was
eagerly taken by the New England traders in exchange for the usual
plantation supplies, and was brought back to New England, distilled
into rum, and used to advantage in exchanging for furs and in the
African slave trade.

Most of the trade with the French islands was carried on by direct
voyages to their ports, and some supplies were furnished in this way

■* According to Ashley (The British Colonies in America, vol. 1, app. 1. p. 75) the
rp-pxports from Englnnd during thp period tinder discussion were as follows : 1713—
1715. 18.000 hogsheads a year ; 1715-1719. 17.000 hogsheads a year; 1733-1736, 2300
hogsheads a year ; 1737-1739, not more than 450 hogsheads a jear.

910 Deane Phillips

to the Dutch, who were increasing their sugar production in Surinam.
There grew up in addition a very considerable indirect trade by way
of the barren Dutch island of Curagao, where the Dutch had established
a free port. This port soon became a great entrepot for all the West
Indies. Here were landed the supplies brought by the New England
vessels, which returned home laden with sugar, molasses, and the other
products of the islands, while the lumber, horses, provisions, and other
supplies brought by them were either transferred directly to island
vessels or put ashore and peddled out among the islands by the Dutch
at their leisure (106).

During this time New England horses continued to be sent, as
formerly, to the British islands along with the other customary sup-
plies, but there is much evidence that they were equally important in
the trade with the Dutch and the French. At Curacao they were
received in considerable quantities and many were put ashore on the
neighboring islands of Boneiray (or Bonaire) and Aruba (107). Here
they were kept until there was a call for them in the trade carried on
at Curacao. At Surinam no vessel was allowed to trade unless it brought
in horses as part of its cargo (108), and the various reports to the
Lords of Trade made by the governors of the continental British
colonies indicate that this Dutch colony was a. frequent destination for
the horses sent out from their ports (109). Another and more con-
fidential report made to the Lords of Trade in 1721 " On the State
of the British Plantations in America " states that '' the trade of
Massachusetts Bay consists chiefly in the exj^ort of horses to Surinam
and to Martinico and other French islands, which is a great discourage-
ment to the planters in the British islands for without these horses
French and Dutch could not carry on their sugar trade " (110). In
1743, Ashley, writing on the condition of the British colonies, also
notes horses as one of the important items with which the French and
the Dutch are supplied by the continental colonies (111), and his
statement is confirmed by that of other contemporary writers and,
especially, by reports of the various British governors to the Board of
Trade in London.

There are maiiy other indications that this trade in horses between
New England and the Dutch and French islands was extensive. Gov-

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 911

ernoi' Robert Lowtlicr, of Barbados, writing to the Board of Trade as
early as 1715, states: '^ It would be of great advantage to this place^
and to all his Majesty's Sugar Colonies, if there was made a law in
England to Restrain His Subjects in North America from exporting
Horses into any country not under his Majesty's Dominion, for the
French at Martinique and Guadelupe and the Dutch at Soronam begin
to rival us in the sugar trade and this is owing to the great Supplies
of Horses thej^ receive from New England " (112). Other British
governors and numerous sugar planters continued to write to the Board
of Trade in a similar vein, protesting especially against the trade
between the northern colonies and the French, which they claimed was
in violation of the treaty of neutrality made in 1686 between Great
Britain and France.

The matter came to a climax in 1731, when the British planters
presented a petition to Parliament with a draft of a bill which would
specifically forbid the continental colonies to sell '' horses, lumber, and
provisions " to any but British subjects (113). Hearings were held
on this bill and much evidence was brought out to indicate that the
trade in horses was a very important part of this commerce. The
testimony of a certain William Eraser is a fair sample of the large
amount of evidence in this connection. In 1729 he claimed to have
seen about thirty New England vessels at Martinique and St. Lucia
trading horses for molasses, and he stated further that the New Eng-
landers told him that if they brought in sixty horses alive they paid
nothing for their permission to trade.

The .continental colonies vigorously defended their right to trade
with the French and the Dutch, and the bill finally failed to pass.^ A
long and acrimonious discussion ensued, finally resulting in the passage
of the so-called "Molasses Act, "*^ which, by putting a prohibitive duty
on the importation of foreign sugar, molasses, and sirups, aimed to put
an end to the questioned trade. This act, however, because of the lack
of adequate machinery for its enforcement, could not at that time be

5 An incorrect statement to ithe effect that such sales of horses to foreign sugar islands
were prohibited in 1731 appears in the volume on Rhode Island Commerce, Massachusetts
Historical Society, Collections. 7th ser., vol. 9, no. 69, p. 14, note 2,

« 6th George II, Chapter 13. This act provided for a duty of sixpence a gallon on
molasses and sirups, and five shillings a hundred pounds on sugar imported from any
foreign American plantation into any British colony. Importations from Spanish and
Portuguese sources were exempted, thus maliing the act in effect a hindrance only to
trade with the French and the Dutch.

912 Deane Phillips

made effective — especially since it would have been fatal to a trade
which had now become a vital necessity to the continental colonies. It
was not until a considerably later time, when the restrictions were
revived under Grenville's ministry, that the act really was enforced
(114). The trade during the period in question therefore continued
practically unchecked, and New England still succeeded in furnish-
ing all the West Indies with horses as well as other supplies.

There is little doubt that during this time horses were a very impor-
tant source of income to the New England colonies. They are invariably
mentioned first among the products of Ehocle Island in the reports
made by the various governors to the Lords of Trade in London (115).
The extent of the shipments is noted also by most of the contemporary
writers of the period — ^' vast quantities of lumber and horses sent
out by the New Englanders " (116), as one writer has described it.
Some' idea of the importance of the trade may be gained also from
the complaints of the British planters, already mentioned, because of
the supply furnished to their competitors, the French (117). The
reports of the governors of New York during this period indicate that
this colony also was exporting some horses at this time (118), but not
in sufficient quantities to threaten the leadership of New England in
the trade.

CONTRABAND TRADE DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

During the years from 1755 to 1763, the period of the struggle between
France and Great Britain for supremacy in America, the trade of all
the islands of the "West Indies suffered more or less. The French
sugar planters especially, because of British dominance on the sea, were
often in serious difficulties. Nevertheless, plantation supplies con-
tinued to be sent out from the continental colonies to both British and
French islands. The trade with the French islands was of course con-
traband, but through various devices it continued to be conducted on
a very considerable scale, and by this means French sugar and molasses
still found aji outlet and the needed supplies were obtained.

Some of this trade with the enemy on the part of the continental
colonies was carried on directly under the protection of flags of truce
granted by the colonial governors for the ostensible purpose of exchang-

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 913

ing prisoners, and in other ways. A very considerable part of the
contraband trading, however, was of a more roundabout sort and was
effected through the neutral Dutch and Spanish ports. At first the
Dutch islands of Curayao and St. Eustatius were the centers of this
trade, but, being broken up in these places by the British fleet, the
trade transferred itself to the Spanish port of Monte Christi adjacent
to the French settlements on the island of Haiti. Here resorted New
England vessels laden with the customary plantation supplies, which
they exchanged at very profitable rates for French sugar and molasses
in addition to bringing in European goods and taking back part pay-
ments in coin (119).

Thus, in spite of difficulties, it w^as still possible to find an outlet
for New England horses, and these continued to be supplied to both
French and British planters. This is indicated, for example, by the
complaint of Governor Hardy to the Lords of Trade in 1757 to the
effect that the New England colonies still continued to send supplies
to the enemy. Governor Hardy mentions a privateer ^' lately come
into port which reports having spoke several vessels off Block Island
bound for the Indies with horses notwithstanding the general embargo
agreed on bj^ the several governors " (120). In 1762 also the British
fleet in the Bahamas seized a similar vessel bound for Cayenne with
lumber, provisions, and horses (121).

After the conclusion of peace between France and Great Britain
in 1763, the commerce between the northern colonies and the British
islands went on as before. Between that date and the beginning of
the American Revolution, horses were again a considerable item
of exchange. In the years 1771 and 1774, according to the record of
the Secretary of Customs in London, there were imported into the
British islands from " North America " a total of 3647 oxen and
7130 horses (122). The trade with the French islands, however, fell
off considerably ])ecause of the resurrection of the Molasses Act and
the establishment of means for its adequate enforcement, as well as
other trade acts that were passed (123).

changes in the production of sugar
In addition to the effect of the continued growth of both British and
French sugar plantations throughout this period, with the various inter-

914 Deane Phillips

ruptions in the trade resulting from wars, acts of Parliament, and
other causes, there remained still another factor that affected the demand
for horses. This was a change in the methods of manufacture of sugar,
which took place in connection with a shift in the center of production
from the small islands, such as Barbados, Antigua, and Guadeloupe,
to the larger ones such as Jamaica and Haiti.

The advantages of the larger islands for the production of sugar
were numerous, and they early became apparent to both the British and
the French. In both Jamaica and Santo Domingo there were extensive
savannas where pasturage was abundant, and the planters thus were
able to produce in some measure the livestock needed for draft pur-
poses on the plantations as well as some to be used for food; in addition,
both islands were well stocked with wild horses and cattle left from
the former Spanish occupation; (124) and, further, there was plenty
of timber to be found, of a sort which could be used in constructing
sugar mills."^ In Jamaica, at least, sugar could be cured more quickly
than in the islands of the Windward group (125). Another factor,
probably of more importance than any of the others, was the presence
of numerous streams capable of furnishing water power for turning
the heavy cylinders of the cane-crushing mills (126). All of these
conditions tended to facilitate the production of sugar, and as a result
Jamaica and Santo Domingo were enabled to increase their output at
a more rapid rate than the small islands could do.

The use of water power for driving the cane mills naturally removed
the need for horses and cattle for this task. A similar displacement
took place to some extent even in the colonies not possessed of adequate
water power. In such colonies resort Avas had to wind-driven mills,
and in Barbados, for example, according to Oldmixon, there were by
1741 forty mills of this type to one of the earlier sort (127). On the
whole, however, there pi'obably remained in operation a very considerable
number of the older horse and cattle mills, and this, together with the
fact that they were still needed to haul supplies and to bring the canes
from the field, continued to make horses an important item in the

^ .Tamaica was taken by the English from Spain in 1655, and was found to be so
well stocked with horses and cattle that it was at once proposed to supply Barbados
and the other British colonies from there. This plan was given up, however, because
of the difficulty of sailing from Jamaica to the Windward Islands due to the prevailing
winds. ' i ' ■

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 915

needed supplies for the sugar plantations. Also, in Jamaica and in
Santo Domingo, in spite of their own abundance of livestock, numerous
instances are recorded of their continued importation throughout the
period (128). Lasth^, the demand for saddle horses was a continuous
and important one in all the sugar colonies and, further, was a demand
which grew with the general increase in the wealth of the planters.
In short, it would seem that whatever decrease in the demand for
horses may have resulted from the shift in the center of sugar produc-
tion and changes in the method of manufacture, such decrease was
fully balanced by the mere aggregate of the demand from the steadily
increasing number of the plantations and the extensiveness of their
operations.

Throughout the whole period from 1700 to 1775, therefore, there
existed in the West Indies a ready market for horses which was taken
full advantage of by the New England colonies, following the begin-
ning already made in this sort of trade before 1700. During the later
period, however, the trade was not confined to the British islands, as
formerly, but had extended to those belonging to the Dutch and the
French as well; it was better organized and on a much more extensive
scale; and, though interrupted in various ways from time to time, it
had come to be an important part of the commerce of New England and
remained so until the War of the Revolution.

DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL HORSE RALSING FROM 1700 TO 1775
The steadily widening market for horses which was opened up dur-
ing the period from 1700 to 1775 has just been described. It is apparent
also, from the evidence given, that New England took full advantage
of the opportunity for exporting horses which was thus presented.
There noAV remains to be considered the resulting development which
took place in New England itself during this same period, whereby
the raising of horses on a commercial scale became an important
industrj^

For the beginning of this development no exact date can be set, but
early efforts along this line before 1700 have already been indicated —
as, for example, the plans of John Hull and his associates in the Pet-
tiquamscut Purchase in Rhode Island. Most of the early shipments of
horses to Barbados and the other British colonies prior to 1700, how-

916 Deane Phillips

ever, were in the nature of a disposal of an already existing surplus of
horses. But with the settlement of Rhode Island and Connecticut these
regions soon adopted the raising of horses for export as a regular source
of income, and their ports at length came to displace those on Massa-
chusetts Bay as leaders in the trade.

Some of the reasons for the development of the industry in the newer
regions have already been indicated. The broader and more level low-
lands, extensive salt marshes to furnish hay, lagoons and ponds to serve
as natural boundaries for the pastures, all combined to give these regions
an advantage. To this should be added the fact that much of this
abundant marsh and other forage was easily accessible for boats, which
could make their way into the numberless small streams and inlets and
there be loaded with little difficultj^^ This was a matter of no small
gain when it is remembered how difficult it would have been to trans-
port such a bulky commodity as hay over the rough frontier roads of
the period. Forage of some sort was a very necessary part of the cargo
of the vessels carrying horses to the Indies, for the horses must be
fed in transit, and the hay, even though it was commonly pressed into
rough bales ( 129 ) , was an unwieldly article to handle ; while the horses
themselves, if necessary, could be driven long distances to the point
of embarkation.

The development of horse raising as an industry in Rhode Island and
Connecticut went hand in hand with the development of the commerce
of these colonies with the sugar islands. Its extent, however, must
mainly be inferred from mention of it in the reports of the various
governors to the Lords of Trade in London and from such fragmentary
records of actual shipments as are available.

EXPORTATIONS FROM RHODE ISLAND PORTS

The Rhode Island ports were the first in the new region to embark in
the export trade, and even as early as 1681 horses are mentioned by
Governor Sanford as one of the " principall matters of export " (130).
In the next twenty years the shipping had increased '' sixfold " and
horses were being sent to Jamaica, Barbados, Nevis, Antigua, St.

* As early as 1749, hay was being shipped from the region by boat to other places
in New England which were less well supplied. (Elliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry,
2d, p. 21.)

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 917

Christopher, Montserrat, and Surinam (131). In 1731 Governor Jenks
places them first in importance among the exports of the colony, and
states that at that time there were ten or twelve vessels engaged in
the West Indies trade (132). Ten years later the number of vessels
had grown to one hundred and twenty (133). Douglass also confirms
the importance to the Rhode Islanders of horses as an article of com-
merce (134), while the Reverend James MacSparran, for a long time
resident in the colony, tells of the " fine horses which are exported to
all parts of English America " (135).

Newport and Providence were the main ports of embarkation, but
many horses were shipped on small vessels directly from the farms
in the Narragansett country (136), where was found the greatest center
of the livestock production. In 1745 Moses Brown, one of the more
prominent of the Providence merchants, had eight vessels under his
management, ^' some to Surinam with horses " (137) ; while the cor-
respondence of one Newport firm indicates that during the years from
1731 to 1773 this firm was shipping horses as a regular part of its
cargoes to all the British islands and to Curagao (138).

EXPORTATIONS from CONNECTICUT PORTS

At the outset the horses sent out from Rhode Island came into com-
petition with those that continued to be sent from the Massachusetts
Bay region, but before long it was Connecticut that had come to be
the chief rival in the trade.® The renewed enforcement of the Molasses
Act after the close of the war with France in 1763 dealt a hard blow
to the commerce of Rhode Island, which had been the chief center for
the distillation of rum from the molasses received from the French
islands,^° and with the considerable decline in its trade which followed
went a lessening of the exportation of horses from its ports and a partial
diversion of the trade to the easily accessible outlet at New London
in Connecticut, where such shipments had for some time been well
established.

® One Newport captain in 1731. quaintly complains to his owners that he has been
unable to dispose of his cargo of horses at Antigua because " there was 3 New London
men arrived before I landed. They sold there horses for tow pistoles a head which is
true." (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 7th ser.. vol. 9, no. 69, p. 16.)

1° The former prohibitive duty of sixpence a gallon was reduced in 1764 to threepence ;
and the act was finally repealed in 1766 and a tax of only one penny a gallon was
imposed instead. But between the war and these duties, Rhode Island commerce suffered
heavily.

918 Deane Phillips

In addition to those shipped from New London, many Connecticut
horses were put directly aboard ship at the towns on the Connecticut
river, especially at Windsor, which had a considerable trade with the
West Indies (139) ; and after the middle of the centur3^ considerable
numbers were sent out from New Haven. New London, however, was
the chief point of embarkation, and many horses, as well as other live-
stock, were driven in from other colonies to be sent from there to the
southern market (140). All the Connecticut vessels were supposed to
clear at this port (141), and some of the river vessels undoubtedly
took on board their cargoes of horses there (142), although, according
to Caulkins, many such vessels " slipped over the bar uncounted " and
sailed directly to the Indies (143).

This commerce of the Connecticut coast towns was well known.
James Fenimore Cooper, in one of his tales of frontier life written at
a date (1832) near enough to the heyday of this trade to have enabled
him to get direct testimony as to its extent, puts the following in the
mouth of one of his characters: " I have been down at the mouth of
both Havens, that . . . named after the capital of Old England,
and that Avhich is called Haven with the addition of the word ' New,'
and have seen the snows and brigantines collecting their droves like
the ark, being outward bound . . . for barter and traffic in four
footed animals " (144).

The Connecticut vessels were mainly sloops and schooners, single-
decked and without topmasts; and, unlike those of the other colonies,
they were engaged almost entirely in the West Indies trade, making
two trips a year. In New London, however, there were built some
larger square-rigged ships, with more ample deck space designed to
facilitate the transportation of large cargoes of livestock. These " horse
jockeys," as the}' were called, have already been mentioned; one of
them sailed from New London in 1716 bound for Barbados with forty-
five horses on board, and later others were built which could carry even
greater numbers (145). In 1724 six of these ships left port together,
all freighted with similar cargoes (146), and in 1731 three arrived in
Antigua with so many horses as to completely swamp the market (147).

Taken as a whole, the commerce of Connecticut increased very rapidlj"
during this period and continued to increase until the beginning of

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 919

the Revolutionary War/^ and from all the evidence available it is clear
that the export trade in horses played no inconsiderable part in this
growth. Horses continued to be sent out from Rhode Island and
Massachusetts ports, but it was in Connecticut, and especially in New
London, that the trade finally came to be mainly centered in the period
just before the Revolution.

SOURCES OF SUPPLY FOR THE EXPORT TRADE

Such an extensive exportation of horses from the Connecticut and
Rhode Island ports as has just been described indicates the raising of
them for this purpose in large numbers and over a very considerable
area. Details concerning such horse breeding, however, are very meager.
Horses were probably raised to some extent by all the farmers in the
region in response to the steady demand that existed.^- The various
cases of horse stealing found in the court records, as already described,
as well as the presence of the so-called " horse coursers " who went
about the country buying up animals and driving them in herds to the
points of shipment, would indicate that this was the case (148).

Here and there throughout the area, however, were certain favorably
situated districts w^here the breeding of horses and of other animals for
export was much more specialized. This was the case, for example, on
Fisher's Island, just off the mouth of the Thames, which was given
over almost entirely to animal husbandry (149). Also, in the Con-
necticut River Valley the region round about Windsor seems to have
been another such center (150). But by far the most extensive and
important of these specialized areas was to be found in the Narragansett
district of Rhode Island — a region so famed in the annals of the time
for its great flocks of sheep, its dairies and cattle, and above all its fine
horses, as to have been noted by most of the contemporary writers of
the period.

" Between the years 1762 and 1774 the number of Connecticut vessels increased from
seventy-six, with a total burden of 6790 tons, to one hundred and eighty, with a total
tonnage of 10,317. (Connecticut Archives. Cp"sns. p. 5. Cited by Weeden, Economic and
Social History of New England, vol. 2, p. 758.)

12 The inventory of John Walworth, of New London, in 1748 shows the arrangement
of a well-to-do farmer's estate of thnt period. He ])ossessed 4 negro servants. 77 ounces
of silver plate, 50 head of cattle, 812 sheep, and 32 horses, mare.s, and colts (Caulkins,
History of Netv London, p. 345).

920 Deane Phillips

the narragansett planters and their horses
Strictly speaking, the Narragansett country embraced all the lands
occupied by the Narraganset Indians at the coming of the English;
but in the parlance of the time the term came to be applied to a part of
this territory consisting of a strip of land about twenty miles long and
from two to four miles wide. This extended along the western shore
of Narragansett Bay, from Wiekford on the north to Point Judith on
the south, and thence westward along the coast to include the Champlain
tract in Charlestown. It was on this fertile, well-watered plain that
there was developed a region of large and pretentious estates — the
homes of the Narragansett planters, so called — and here was found a
type of agriculture and a social order unlike anything to be found else-
where in New England.

Channing, who has had access to the local town records of the area
and to various manuscripts and family papers, describes these Nar-
ragansett planters as follows (151) :

Unlike the other New England aristocrats of their time these people derived
their wealth from the soil and not from success in mercantile adventures. They
formed a landed aristocracy whicli had all the peculiarities of a landed aristocracy
to as great an extent as did that of the southern colonies. Nevertheless these
Narragansett magnates were not planters in the usual and commonly accepted
meaning of the word. It is true enough that they lived on large isolated farms
surrounded by all the pomp and apparent prosperity that a horde of slaves could
supply. But if one looks beneath the surface, he will find that the routine of
their daily lives was entirely unlike that of the Virginia planters. The Narragan-
sett's wealth was derived not so much from the cultivation of any great staple
like cotton or tobacco, as from the product of their dairies, their tlocks of sheep,
and their droves of splendid horses, the once famous Narragansett pacers. In fine
they were large • — large for the place and epoch — stock farmers and dairymen.

This region was from the outset one of large-scale agricultural opera-
tions. Roger Williams had penetrated the area some time before 1650,
and in 1641 Richard Smith had bought a tract of 30,000 acres from
the Narraganset sachems and had erected a house (152) ; but the real
settlement of the area did not proceed at a rapid rate until after the
Pettiquamscut Purchase (153), made in 1657 by John Hull (of pine-
tree shilling fame) and a number of associates, and the Atherton Pur-
chase (154), made two years later by a company headed by Sir
Humphrey Atherton and John Winthrop, of Connecticut. Both these
groups of owners bent their efforts to obtaining settlers for their hold-
ings. Evidently, because of the many natural advantages of the sec-

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 921

tioii, they had little difficulty in achieving this result, for in 1670 a
letter from Major Mason to the Commissioners of the Colony of Con-
necticut stated that the land was at that time mainly taken up with
farms, some of Avhich were five, six, and even ten miles square (155).
John Hull's plan in 1677 for horse breeding on a large scale to get
" large and fair horses and mares " for the AVest Indies trade is noted
elsewhere and is another evidence of these large-scale operations. Hull's
scheme was a rather ambitious one. He planned to build a stone wall
across Point Judith Neck, which would have inclosed a peninsula
approximately five miles long and having an average width of about a
mile. The object of the wall was to keep out mongrels and strays so
that the planters would thus be able to breed up a stock of horses of
superior characteristics for shipment to the Indies. Hull goes even
further and suggests to his partners, ' ' We might have a vessel made for
that service, accommodated on purpose to carry off horses to
advantage " (156).

The wealth of the district increased steadily up to the time of the
Revolution, and full use was made of the opportunities for animal hus-
bandry of an extensive sort. In 1755 Douglass notes that for New Eng-
land, " the most considerable farms are in the Narragansett country,"
and that the largest of these '' milks 110 cows, cuts about 200 load of
hay, makes about 13,000 weight of cheese besides butter, and sells off
considerably of calves, fatted bullocks, and horses" (157). In 1747
South Kingston, the center of the Narragansett region, was assessed
for the public colony rate a sum only a little less than that for Provi-
dence and about half that for Newport (158) ; in 1780 it had become
by far the richest town in Rhode Island, paying double the sum
assigned to Newport and two-thirds more than Providence (159). Most
of this wealth was apparently derived from agricultural operations.

Their cattle and the output of their dairies were an important source
of revenue to the Narragansett planters. But by far the most noted
product of the region — at least toward the middle of the eighteenth
century — was a breed of saddle horses which they developed. ^^ These

" The preference for pacers appeared at an early date and obviously is the cause
of the development of the Narrag-ansetts themselves through selection and breeding.
Thus Waite Winthrop writes from Boston in 1684 concerning some horses consigned to
him for sale : " I am offered £30 but if the two paced well they would bring nearer
£50, for such is difference from ordinary jades if they do but pace well." (Winthrop
Papers; Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 5th ser., vol. 3, p. 446.)

922 Deane Phillips

were the famous Narragansett pacers, whose praises were sung by all
the contemporary writers of the period and tales of whose remarkable
performances still linger as part of our American horse lore.

The best description of these unusual pacing horses is given in an
article on American agriculture in the first American edition of the
Edinburgh Encyclopedia (160), written about 1830 by Robert Living-
ston. The description reads as follows :

They have handsome foreheads, the head clean, the neck long, the arms and legs
thin and taper; the hindquarters are narrow and the hocks a little crooked, which
is here called sickle hocked, which turns the hind feet out a little: their color is
generally, though not always, bright sorrel ; they are very spirited and carry both
head and tail high. But what is most remarkable is that they amble with more
speed than most horses trot, so that it is difficult to put some of them upon a
gallop. Notwithstanding this facility of ambling, where the ground requires it,
as when the roads are rough and stony, they have a fine easy single footed trot.
These circumstances, together with their being very sure footed, render them the
finest saddle horses in the world; they neither fatigue themselves nor their rider.
It is generally to be lamented that this invaluable breed of horses is now almost
lost by being mixed with those imported from England and from other parts of
the United States.

The sturdy qualities of the Narragansett pacers have been perpetuated
also by James Fenimore Cooper in his tales of the American wilder-
ness. The horses were evidently still obtainable in Cooper's day (161)
and he must have been an admirer of the breed, for he brings them
into his stories frequently. The}^ are described by Cooper as being small,
sorrel in color, and distinguished by their easy pacing gait and great
endurance.

As to the origin of these pacers — the first distinctly American breed
of horses — there have been many stories current at one time or another,
most of which tales are obviously fanciful. One of the most plausible
accounts is a tradition handed down in the Hazard family, of Rhode
Island, the early members of which were among the more important
breeders of the animals. According to this story the progenitor of the
breed was imported from Andalusia, in Spain, by Deputy Governor
Robinson (162), whose estate the Hazards inherited.

Wallace (163), a modern writer who has given some attention to
the various stories regarding the origin of the Narragansetts, contends
that they resulted solely from careful selection and breeding of the
common New England stock. He refuses to give credence to the story

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 923

of an admixture of Spanish blood, first, '' because there were no pacers
in Andalusia or any other part of Spain," and secondly, because " the
Narraoransetts were a leading article of export from Rhode Island in
1680, thirteen years before Governor Robinson was born." Both these
objections made by Wallace are of doubtful validity, however. There
is available no such complete information regarding the horses in Spain
during the period in question as to justify any such sweeping assertion
as' to the entire absence of pacers. And, although it is true that horses
were reported by Governor Sanford to the Lords of Trade in London in
1680 as an important article of export from Rhode Island, there is
nothing to indicate that these horses were of the Narragansett breed. The
presumption is that they were not, for the Narragansett district proper
was not really settled until about that date. Furthermore, Captain
John Hull in 1677 looked on his plan (noted on page 905 for breed-
ing a race of '' large and fair horses and mares " as a new venture for
the region. In short, the horses mentioned by Governor Sanford were
in all probability raised in the northern and eastern parts of Rhode
Island, where the country was already in farms before the Narragansett
district was settled.

It would seem, therefore, that the tradition concerning the importa-
tion of Spanish stock by Deputy Governor Robinson deserves some
credence. Whether or not there were any pacers in Spain at the time
is immaterial, for it is shown by the correspondence of Governor Win-
throp and other writers that pacers were not uncommon in New Eng-
land as early, at least, as 1684 (164), and the pacing gait of the Nar-
ragansetts may very easily be accounted for on the basis of selection
and breeding of this native stock. Such selection may have gone on
for a greater or less period before the importation of a stallion from
Spain to still further improve the breed. Such importation, in fact, is
just what might have been expected to happen as attention was increas-
ingly directed to developing an improved strain.

The pacing gait was one of the most characteristic points of the
Narragansetts. It is said that the pure-bloods could not trot at all.
The gait itself is described as being peculiar in that the backbone of
the horse moved through the air in a straight line, thus differing from

924 Deane Phillips

that of the common " racker," or pacer of the present day, and from
horses having an acquired pacing gait (165). A breed in which the
pacing habit was so firmly established must have had back of it an
ancestry in which such movement had long been the usual gait. As
already indicated (page 894), such a breed is to be found in the Irish
hobbies, which were so greatly sought after as saddle horses in England
during the early part of the seventeenth century mainly because their
pacing gait was easier than that of any other horses of the period.
Such fragmentary descriptions of these hobbies as are available (166)
disclose a striking similarity in appearance to the Narragansett pacers.
These Irish ponies were small, spirited, possessed of unusual endurance,
and commonly sorrel in color — all of which characteristics are simi-
larly to be found in the Narragansetts. Although no direct proof can
be adduced in support of such a view,- it would seem to be at least a
plausible theory that the Narragansett pacers resulted from the selec-
tion and breeding of some of these Irish hobbies which had been brought
to New England at an early date. Later, as indicated by the tradition
in the Hazard family, these may have been crossed with some imported
Spanish stock to build up the breed still further.

As to the speed and stamina of the Narragansetts and the unusual
ease of their gait for saddle purposes, there is much evidence. Pacing
races were often held at Little-Neck Beach at South Kingston, and
some of the silver tankards won at these races are said by LTpdike, writ-
ing in 1847, to haA'e been still in the possession of some of the old Nar-
ragansett famxilies at that time (167). The Eeverend James Mac-
Sparran, sent out to Rhode Island in 1721. by the Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and for many years a resident
in the colony, records that he has seen some of these horses pace a
mile '' in a little more than two minutes and a good deal less than
three," and adds further that he has often ridden them '^ fifty; nay,
sixty miles in a day even here in New England where roads are rough,
stony and uneven " (168). Another contemporary writer describes
' ' the natural pacers of horses which at a cow run — a gait which they
acquire by pasturing when colts Avith the cows [truly a surprising
theory ! ] — Avill pace three miles in seven minutes. ' '

Further evidence of the unusual ease of the saddle gait of the

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 925

Narragansetts is g-iven in a letter written about 1847 and quoted by
Updike (169) in his History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett.
This describes how in 1791 an aged lady then living in Narragansett
rode one of these pacers on a lady's side-saddle to Plainfield, a dis-
tance of thirty miles, rode the next day to Hartford, forty miles, staid
in Hartford for two days, then rode forty miles to New Haven, then
forty miles to New London, and then home to Narragansett, forty
miles more. The lady claimed to have experienced no sensible fatigue.

Because of the export trade with the West Indies, horses of any
sort would have been a valuable source of revenue to the Narragansett
planters,^^ and it is probable that many of the ordinary New England
stock were bred for this purpose in the region. But the cream of the
demand from the sugar planters was for saddle horses for personal
use, and for these they were willing and able to pay extravagant prices.
To this demand was added that of persons of means throughout all New
England and the other continental British colonies as well.^^ Thus,
in these unusual pacers, whose gait and general characteristics suited
them so admirably to such use, it is clear that the Narragansett dis-
trict had a very important source of revenue and one which probably
contributed in no small measure to its prosperity.

The horses and other livestock of the Narragansett district designed
for exportation to the West Indies found an outlet through the various
ports on Narragansett Bay, or were driven to New London or Stonington
over the old Pequot trail, which had become the post road between
Boston and New York and Avhich passed through the center of the
region. Apparently many animals were shipped also directly from the
Narragansett country itself; Robert Hazard, for example, is said to

" P>om the account book kept by Thomas Hazard, one of the wealthiest and most
prominent of the Narragansett planters, may be gleaned some idea of the prices received.
In 175S he sold a three-year-old at £150, and the next year a thirteen-year-old bay
" with a white nose " brought £70 ; while in 1755 a " black troting mare " brought
only £55. In 1763 a black mare sold for £244, but by that time the Rhode Island
currency had greatly depreciated in value and Mr. Hazard noted alongside that £7=1
Spanish Milled Dollar." In 1766. however, one " dark colored natural pacing horse Avith
some white on his face " brought the high price ' of fifty-five Spanish milled dollars.
(Hazard. TJiomas Hazard. S!nn of Roht., caU'd Cnllrrfc Tom,, p. fi."^.)

^^ Watson (Annals of PhUadclphia and Pennsylvania, p. 209) gives an account of
one such shipment in 1711, as recorded in a letter written by a certain Rip van Dam
who had engineered the transaction on behalf of Jonathan Dickinson, of Philadelphia.
The horse was shipped from Rhode Island in a sloop, from which he jumped overboard
and swam ashore to his former home. Recaptured, he finally arrived in New York,
" after fourteen days passage much reduced in flesh and spirit." He cost £30 plus
50 shillings for freight, and was evidently an animal of spirit; he " would not stand
still but plays about all the time ; " he would " drink a glass of wine or beer or cider,"
and Rip van Dam further opines that " he would drink a dram on a good cold morning,"

926 Deane Phillips

have raised about two hundred horses annually and to have loaded two
vessels a year with them and other produce of his farm. These vessels
sailed '^ from the South Ferry directly to the Indies where the horses
were in great demand" (170). It was the Hazard f amily ^^ which
seemed to have been mainly concerned in the early development of
the Narrag'ensett pacers, and it is probable that many of the horses thus
shipped were of the famous breed.

To recapitulate, then, it may be said that during this period from
1700 to 1775, in response to the demand from the West Indies sugar
plantations for draft animals and from the same source and from all
the continental colonies for saddle purposes, the breeding of horses
finally became, in the period just preceding the Revolution, a wide-
spread industry throughout all Rhode Island and Connecticut — and
probably in the other New England colonies as well — and that in
some particularly favored spots it was carried on in a highly special-
ized and extensive fashion. The '' horse jockeys " with their large
cargoes, the numberless small vessels carrying only a few animals on
their scanty decks, the famous pacers driven overland to neighboring
continental colonies, all must have contributed a very considerable item
of revenue to the New England region and aided the colonists in that
search for '^ a good return " on which they were always bent.

DECLINE IN HORiSE RAISING AFTER THE REVOLUTION

The exportation of horses, which was interrupted during the Revolu-
tion as was the other commerce of the colonies, was revived at the close
of the war. Now, however, the New England vessels were denied
entrance to the British sugar islands by the decree restricting trade
to British bottoms, so that a considerable proportion of the former
outlet for horses no longer existed. Such shipments as were made
went mainly to the French islands and to Cuba, which b}^ that time
had been throAvn open to trade by the Spaniards and was developing
rapidly as a producer of sugar.

This revival of the horse trade seems to have had its main focus in
New London. The " horse jockeys " were once more embarked on their
former service; one brig took out forty-nine horses, and many sloops

^« The Robert Hazard mentioned above was born in 1G89 and died in 17G2.

Horse Raising in Colonial New England

927

carried as many as thirty-five in a single cargo. The Enterprise, bound
for Demerara, carried provisions, brick, lumber, twenty horses, seventeen
neat cattle, and seventeen mules, besides swine, geese, and turkeys (171).
The general extent of these shipments is shown in a marine list kept by
Thomas Alden in the New London Gazette. According to this record
there was sent out from Ncav London during the year 1785 a total of 8094
horses and cattle ; and in the years following, the numbers were, suc-
cessively, 6671, 6366, and 6678 — the record ceasing with the year
1788 (172).

This revival of horse exporting apparently was not especially suc-
cessful and did not continue long,^' for the New London vessel owners
were soon casting about for some better occupation for their ships. On
the return of two of these ships from an expedition to the Gulf of St.
Lawrence with profitable cargoes of whale oil, the New London Gazette
exhorts, in rather mixed metaphor, '' Now my horse jockeys, beat your
horses and cattle into spears, lances, harpoons and whaling gear, and
let us strike out " (173).

The reopening of the British West Indies ports to New England
vessels in 1789 (174) apparently failed to halt the decline that had
begun in the New England horse trade, if one is to judge by the infre-
quency with which this trade is now mentioned. It is probable that
in the general interruption of the trade during the Revolution, the
sugar islands, thrown on their own resources, had learned to furnish
their own supply (175). As already indicated, the larger islands of
Jamaica and Haiti were plentifully supplied with pasturage and wild
horses, by means of which this could be accomplished. Nor was Cuba
as promising a market as might have been expected, for it possessed
similar advantages. In addition, the substitution of water power for
the mills probably continued to take place in all the islands where it
was possible. Lastly, there are indications that the pasturage avail-
able in New England itself was not so ample as formerly and was being

" An Indication of the general decline in the exportation of horses which occurred
after the Revolution is found in the following table reproduced from Pitkin (A Statistical
Virir of tJie Coinmrrce of fit" ('nitcd States of Amrrlca, p. 62—63). These figures include

shipments from other p

)rts besi

des those in New

Knglan

d.

Year

1791

1792

1793

1794

1795

1796

1797

1798

Number of horses exported
from the United States. .

6,975

5,656

3,728

3,495

2,626

4,':83

1,177

2,132

928 Deane Phillips

gradually infringed on by the cultivation of new land; in fact, accord-
ing to Elliot (176) this scarcity of pasture land and meadows, with the
resultant high price of hay, had begun to be felt even before the Revolu-
tion. All these things combined to make difficult the resumption of
the trade in horses on its former scale.

Just what became of the large number of animals which had for so
long furnished a steady article of commerce is not very clear. The
very considerable shipments to the French islands, already noted, which
immediately followed the close of the Revolution, probably accounted
for such surplus of the ordinary stock as had accumulated; while the
demand for saddle horses on the part of the increasingly prosperous
Spanish planters of Cuba probably took many of the Narragansett
pacers (177). Then, too, the mere cessation of breeding new colts, as
the demand for export purposes lessened, would have had an immediate
effect on the numbers. But most important of all, doubtless, was the
breaking up of former pastures for the purpose of cultivating field crops
to supply the demand of Europe for provisions during the war between
France and England which began in 1793 and which soon forced prices
for such supplies to a high level. The effect of such a change in agri-
culture would be, on the one hand, to cut down the number of horses
that could be cheaply raised, and, on the other, to give ample oppor-
tunity for the employment in the new operations of the horses already
available. Finally, as the people from New England pushed westward
to the settlement of newer lands in New York and elsewhere, they also
probably drew off considerable numbers from the existing supply.

Another event indicating the changed conditions in horse raising as
a New England industry during this period following the Revolution,
was the disappearance of the Narragansett pacers. This breed, so care-
fully developed and so noted in the annals of the time, at length became
extinct and is known at present onl}^ as a sort of legendary strain
whose connection with other American breeds, if any connection exists,
is mainly a matter of conjecture.

The demand for the Narragansetts from the wealthy planters of Cuba,
when that island at length began to cultivate sugar extensively, has
been assigned by one writer (I. P. Hazard) as the chief cause for the
disappearance of the breed. He says in part: '* The planters became
suddenlj^ rich and wanted pacing horses ... to ride, faster than

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 929

we could supply them, and sent an agent to this country to purchase
them on such terms as he could . . . He commenced buying and
shipping till all the good ones were sent off " (178).

It is easy to understand that such a large and unexpected demand
from Cuba, without restriction as to price, might deplete
the breed very seriously. But if the Narragansett planters did thus
actually kill the goose that laid the golden eggs by shipping off all
their breeding stock, it must be that there were other factors at work
which made them willing to sell. It might indicate, for example, that
their experience in attempting to sell in their former markets after
the war, had convinced them that the end of the earlier export trade was
in sight.

There are, however, other obvious reasons which probably contributed
to the dispersal of the sturdy little pacers which had so long been a
profitable commodity. They were not beautiful at best ; they were small,
scarcely more than fourteen hands high, and their gait, while desirable
for saddle purposes, did not fit them for driving to advantage in team
or harness (179). All these things undoubtedly worked against the
Narragansetts as the roads in the colonies became better, wheeled
vehicles came into use, and there was need for larger and heavier animals
for harness and draft. The pacers were, in short, of most value under
frontier conditions, and as the region along the coast became more
settled there is evidence that they were actually dispersed to remoter
regions, especially to Canada, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is in these
places that the pacing blood seems to have been preserved in the midst
of the influx of Englih^h' thoroughbred stock beginning about 1750
(180).

Thus closed the final chapter in New England's leadership in the
exportation of at least one product of an agricultural nature — a leader-
ship w^hich had been held undisputed for more than a century ; which in
Ihe lean years of her early commerce had eked out to good purpose
the exchanges of New England with the West Indies and by which she
was enabled in turn to purchase English goods; which had aided in
the opening and settlement of her lands remote from the coasts and
harbors; and which finally had a part in the development in the Narra-
gansett district of a social and economic organization based on agri-
culture, which was comparable to any other found in continental
America during the colonial period.

930 Deane Phillips

CITATIONS
( The sources of information cited briefly below are given in full on pages 936 to 941 )

1. Higginson, New England's Plantation (Force, Tracts, vol. 1, no. 2,

p. 6).

2. Graves, Letter from New England (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Col-

lections, 1st ser., vol. 1, p. 124).

3. Josselyn, Voyages to New England (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Col-

lections, 3d ser., vol. 3, p. 240-241).

4. Elliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry, 3d, p. 57.

5. Douglass, Summary, vol. 2, p. 209.

6. An account of the difficulties of one such journey, made in 1632,

is given by Winthrop, History of New England, vol. 1, p. 91-93.

7. Johnson, Wonder-working Providence, book 3, ch. 1 (Jameson,

Original Narratives, p. 234).

8. Plymouth Col. Records, vol. 10, p. 158.

9. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 3, p. 398.

10. Connecticut Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 284.

11. Plymouth Col. Records, vol. 4, p. 93.

12. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 195.

13. Pynchon, Diary, p. 126.

14. Updike, The Narragansett Church, p. 514.

15. Josselyn, Voyages to New England (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Col-

lections, 3d ser., vol. 3, p. 338).

16. Bradford, Letter Book (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 1st

ser., vol, 3, p. 35).

17. Winthrop, New England, vol. 1, p. 91-92.

18. Smith, New Englands Trials (Force, Tracts, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 17).

19. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 302.

20. Oldmixon, British Empire in America, vol. 1, p. 58.

21. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 36, 54, 403. Wallace {The

Horse of America, p. 128) states that twenty of this first importa-
tion were mares and stallions, but he does not give the source of
his information.

22. Winthrop, New England, vol. 1, appendix, p. 368.

23. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 29.

24. Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1574-1660, p. 141.

25. Winthrop, New England, vol. 1, p. 111.

26. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 104.

27. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 161.

28. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 133.

29. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 134.

30. Prothero, English Farming, p. 183.

31. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 403.

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 931

32. Prothero, English Farming, p. 36, 183.

33. Wallace, The Horse of America, p. 128.

34. Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1633-1647, p. 38.

35. Prothero, English Farmino-, p. 137. Calendar of State Papers,

Ireland, 1625-1632, p. 536.

36. Winthrop, Letters (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 4th ser.,

vol. 6, p. 149).

37. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 221.

38. Same reference, vol. 2, p. 14.

39. Same reference, vol. 4, part 2, p. 367, 552.

40. Plymouth Col. Records, vol. 11, p. 225.

41. Connecticut Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 244.

42. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 225.

43. New Haven Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 590.

44. Connecticut Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 28.

45. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 150.

46. Arnold, History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 486.

47. Plymouth Col. Records, vol. 3, p. 222.

48. Winthrop, New England, vol. 1, p. 116.

49. Same reference, vol. 1, p. 161.

50. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 366.

51. Winthrop, New England, vol. 2, p. 18, 21.

52. AVinthrop, Letters (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 4th ser.,

vol. 6, p. 149).

53. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 3, p. 298.

54. Connecticut Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 61.

55. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 4, part 2, p. 367.

56. Same reference, vol. 5, p. 138.

57. Same reference, vol. 2, p. 190.

58. Maverick, Discription of New England (Massachusetts Hist. Soc,

Proc, 2d ser., vol. 1, p. 247).

59. Winthrop, Papers (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 5th ser.,

vol. 8, p. 65).

60. Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1669-1674, p. 232.

61. Same reference, 1675-1676, addenda, p. 213.

62. Winthrop, New England, vol. 2, p. 72.

63. New York Does. Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 1, p. 362.

64. Description of Virginia (Force, Tracts, vol. 3, no. 8, p. 1). Bruce,

Economic History of Virginia, vol. 1, p. 298.

65. New York Docs. Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 1, p. 385, 455, 503.

66. Plantagenet, Description of New Albion (Force, Tracts, vol. 2,

no. 7, p. 5).

67. Campbell, Considerations on Sugar Trade, p. 6. Anderson, Origin

of Commerce, vol. 2, p. 28, 331.

932 Deane Phillips

68. Oldmixon, British Empire in America, vol. 2, p. 2-4. Anderson,

Origin of Commerce, vol. 2, p. 28, 72, 331. Campbell, Considera-
tions on Sugar Trade, p. 6-8.

69. Savary Desbrulons, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, vol. 2,

p. 766-767.

70. Anderson, Origin of Commerce, vol. 2, p. 72, 146.

71. Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1574-1660, p. 451.

72. Same reference, p. 329, 379, 382, 385, 390, 392, 393, 395, 401, 402,

404, 409, 411, 417, 420-426, 428, 431, 432, 436, 438, 451, 452, 461.

73. Same reference, 1661-1668, p. 441, par. 1382.

74. Same reference, 1574-1660, p. 414.

75. Winthrop, New England, vol. 2, p. 312.

76. Same reference, vol. 2, p. 327.

77. Wallace, The Horse of America, p. 130.

78. Plantagenet, Description of New Albion (Force, Tracts, vol. 2,

no. 7, p. 5).

79. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 3, p. 168.

80. New Haven Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 3.

81. Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1661-1668, p. 346.

82. Same reference, 1669-1674, p. 475, par. 1059.

83. Same reference, 1675-1676, p. 221.

84. Same reference, 1677-1680, p. 577.

85. Winthrop Papers (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 5th ser.,

vol. 8, p. 386, 432, 445, 495, 532).

86. Some contemporary opinions regarding the special advantages

of these regions are to be found in the following references:
Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1661-1668, p. 343; same
reference, 1675-1676, p. 221; Description of Rhode Island by
Daniel Neal (cited by Field, State of Rhode Island at the End
of the Centurv, p. 565).

87. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 337.

88. Hull, Diaries (Amer. Antiquarian Soc, Collections, vol. 3, p. 127).

89. Same reference.

90. Quoted from original in British State Papers Office, N. Eng.

Papers, B. T., vol. 3, no. 121, by Arnold, History of Rhode Island,
vol. 1, p. 488. (The copy given in Calendar of State Papers,
Col. Ser., 1677-1680, p. 524, is apparentlv incomplete.)

91. Calendar of State Papers, Col. Ser., 1677-1680, p. 577.

92. Caulkins, New London, p. 236.

93. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 150.

94. Connecticut Col. Records, vol. 2, p. 28.

95. Caulkins, New London, p. 254-255.

96. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 1, p. 337.

97. Massachusetts Col. Records, vol. 4, part 2, p. 394.

98. Caulkins, New London, p. 253.

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 933

99. Same reference.

100. Massachusetts Acts and Resolves, vol. 1, p. 444.

101. Edwards, History of the British Colonies in the West Indies,

vol. 3, p. 259.

102. Caulkins, New London, p. 236.

103. Savary Desbrulons, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, vol. 1,

p. 853. Campbell, Considerations on Sugar Trade, p. 6.

104. Oldmixon, British Empire in America, vol. 2, p. 163. Ashley,

British Colonies in America, vol. 2, p. 6.

105. Anderson, Orio^in of Commerce, vol. 2, p. 72, 386-387. Oldmixon,

British Empire in America, vol. 2, p. 160.

106. Hall, Importance of British Plantations in America, p. 44.

107. Same reference, p. 45, 50.

108. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 6, p. 60. New York Docs. Relative

to Col. Hist., vol. 5, p. 556, and vol. 6, p. 127, 393.

109. Bennett, Letters and Calculations on Sugar Colonies and Trade,

no. 1, p. 63.

110. New York Docs. Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 5, p. 597.

111. Ashley, British Colonies in America, vol. 2, p. 70.

112. Letter from Governor Robert Lowther to the Board of Trade,

October 25, 1715. Colonial Office Papers 28 : 15 — T 101 (quoted
by Pitman, Development of British West Indies, p. 202).

113. Anderson, Origin of Commerce, vol. 2, p. 335-338.

114. This part of the memoir follows the general account of the effects

and enforcement of the Molasses Act as given by Beer, British
Colonial Policy, chapter 3, and chapter 9, p. 230-231.

115. New England Papers, B. T., vol. 3, p. 121, in British State Papers

Office (quoted by Arnold, History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p.
488). Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 4, p. 60. Report of Gover-
nor Jenks to the Lords of Trade in 1731 (cited by Arnold, His-
tory of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 106).

116. The general importance of the export trade of New England in

horses is emphasized by the following writers : Hall, Importance
of the British Plantations in America, p. 104; Bennett, Letters
and Calculations on the Sugar Colonies and Trade, letter 4, p. 5 ;
Little, State of Trade in the Northern Colonies, p. 35; Savary
Desbrulons, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, vol. 1, p. 344,
367; Ashley, British Colonies in America, vol. 2, p. 99.

117. A summary of this controversy is given in Anderson, Origin of

Commerce, vol. 2, p. 335-338.

118. New York Docs. Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 5, p. 556, and vol. 6,

p. 127, 393.

119. An account of this contraband trade and the measures adopted

to check it is given in Beer, British Colonial Policy, chapters 6
and 7.

934 Deane Phillips

120. New York Docs. Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 6, p. 226, and vol. 7,

p. 164.

121. Wm. Popple to the Lords of Admiralty (Adm. Sec. In Letters,

3819, Eng. Pub. Rec. Office), quoted by Beer, British Colonial
Policy, p. 111.

122. Edwards, History of the British Colonies in the West Indies,

vol. 3, p. 258.

123. Beer, British Colonial Policy, chapter 13.

124. Calendar of- State Papers, Col. Ser., 1661-1668, p. 144. Same

reference, 1675-1676, . p. 314. Savary Desbrulons, Dictionary of
Trade and Commerce, vol. 1, p. 826.

125. Oldmixon, British Empire in America, vol. 2, p. 396.

126. Same reference.

127. Same reference, vol. 2, p. 147.

128. Rhode Island Commerce (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 7th

ser., vol. 9, no. 69, p. 183, 271, 319, 390). New York Docs.
Relative to Col. Hist., vol. 5, p. 556, and vol. 6, p. 127, 393.

129. Elliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry, 3d, p. 57.

130. Governor Sanford to the Lords of Trade, British State Papers

Office, New England Papers, B. T., vol. 3, p. 121 (cited by
Arnold, Historv of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 488).

131. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 4, p. 59, 60.

132. Governor Jenks to the Lords of Trade (cited by Arnold, History

of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 106).

133. Rhode Island Col. Records, vol. 5, p. 13.

134. Douglass, Summary, vol. 2, p. 99.

135. MacSparran, America Dissected (Updike, History of the Narra-

gansett Church, p. 514).

136. Same reference, p. 515.

137. Moses Brown, ms. letter on commerce (cited by Weeden, Economic

and Social History of New England, vol. 2, p. 658).

138. Rhode Island Commerce (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections,

7th ser., vol. 9, no. 69, p. 14, 16, 183, 271, 319, 390).

139. Stiles, History of Windsor, p. 481-489.

140. Caulkins, New London, p. 245, note.

141. Douglass, Summary, vol. 2, p. 162.

142. MS. Journal in Hartford Courant, April 25, 1881 (cited by

Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, vol. 2,
p. 757).

143. Caulkins, New London, p. 578.

144. Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, p. 9.

145. Caulkins, New London, p. 241.

146. Same reference.

Horse Raising in Colonial New England 935'

147. Rhode Island Commerce (Massachusetts Hist. Soc., Collections,

7th ser., vol. 9, no. 69, p. 16).

148. Caulkins, New London, p. 254-255.

149. Winthrop Papers (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 5th ser.,

vol.. 8, p. 386, 432, 445, 495, 532).

150. Stiles, History of Windsor, p. 481-484.

151. Channing', The Narragansett Planters, p. 5.

152. Potter, History of Narragansett (Rhode Island Hist. Soc, Col-

lections, vol. 3, p. 16).

153. Same reference, p. 275.

154. Same reference, p. 58.

155. Douglass, Summary, vol. 2, p. 101.

156. Hull, Diaries (Amer. Antiquarian Soc, Collections, vol. 3, p. 127).

157. Douglass, Summary, vol. 2, p. 101.

158. Same reference, p. 107.

159. Johnston, Slavery in Rhode Island (Rhode Island Hist. Soc, Pub-

lications, n. s., vol. 2, no. 2, p. 165).

160. Livingston, Edinburgh Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 336.

161. Cooper, Last of the Mohicans, p. 14, footnote.

162. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. 515.

163. Wallace, The Horse of America, p. 174.

164. Winthrop Papers (Massachusetts Hist. Soc, Collections, 5th ser.,

vol. 8, p. 446).

165. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. 514.

166. Savary Desbrulons, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, p. 348.

Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1625-1632, p. 536.

167. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. 514.

168. MacSparran, America Dissected (Updike, History of the Narra-

gansett Church, p. 490).

169. Same reference. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, p. 209.

170. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. 515.

171. Caulkins, History of Norwich, p. 478-479.

172. Caulkins, New London, p. 578.

173. Same reference, p. 640.

174. Edwards, History of the British Colonies in the West Indies,

vol. 3, p. 273.

175. Same reference.

176. Elliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry, 2d, p. 21.

177. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. 515.

178. Same reference (letter of I. P. Hazard).

179. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, vol. 1, p. 210. Wallace, The

Horse of America, p. 182.

180. Wallace, The Horse of America, p. 95, 144, 183. Craig, Pacing

Horse, Standardbred (Cyclopedia of Agriculture, vol. 3, p. 476).

936 Deane Phillips

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Horse Raising in Colonial New England 941

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Memoir 50, The Relative Growth-Promoting Value of the Protein of .Coconut Oil Meal,
and of ComMnations of It with Protein from Various Other Feeding Stuffs, the fourth
preceding number in this series of publications, was mailed on March 9, 1922.

Memoir 51, The Hog Louse, Haematopinus suis Linne: Its Biology, Anatomy, and His-
tology, was mailed on March 9, 1922.

Memoir 52, Studies in Pollen, with Special Reference to Longevity, was mailed on
March 9, 1922.

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