History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

444 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
night before. The nurse was soon after put in
prison for adultery, and tiiere died, " and so the
matter was not further enquired into."
In the formidable Indian outbreak of 1675-76,
known as Philip's War, wliich threatened the de-
struction of the New England colonies, thirteen
towns were destroyed and more than si.\ hundred
men, chieHy young men, the flower of the country,
perished in the field. Watertown escaped, but her
citizens were repeatedly called out to re])el the
onslaught of the savages upon neighboring towns.
Tiie following names of twenty " souldiers," im-
pressed from "Watertown in November, 1675, for
the defence of the colony, were returned by Cap-
tain Hugh Mason as " rationaly most fit to goe
upon the servis " : "Daniell Warrin, Sr., John
Bigulah, Sr., Nathaniel Hely, Joseph Tayntor, John
Whitney, Sr., George Harrington, William Hagar,
Jr., John Parkhurst, Michael Flagg, Jacob Bul-
lard, Isaac Learned, Joseph Waight, George Dill, was PJiilip's last success, and he was soon after-
William Pierce, Nathaniel Sanger, Moses Whitney, wards hunted down and killed. Captain ilason
Joliti Wiiidam, Joseph Smith, Nathaniel Barshani, was seventy-six years of age at this time. He was
John Barnard."
one of the original settlers of the town, and had
The brave Captain Beers, of Watertown, while been a representative and selectman for many years.
marching from Hadley to bring off the garrison at He was chosen captain in 1652. It is conjectured
Scjuakheag (Northfield), was, on the morning of that he was the brother of tiie distinguished Cap-
September 4, 1675, waylaid by the Indians and
slain, together with about twenty of his men. The
scene of the conflict is to this day called Beers'
Plain, and the eminence to which he withdrew his
men and where he fell is still known as Beers'
Mountain. Richard Beers came to Watertown in
16;50. He was a soldier in the Pecpiot War, par-
ticipating, as he himself says, "in two several de-
signs when the Lord delivered them into our
Jiands." ,S(i(in after, or, as he says, " Uppou his
return, such a weakness fell uppon his body that
for 8 years space he was much disiiiabled to labor
for his famyly, spending a great part of that little
he had upon piiesitions." Ilr was a sergeant in
16f2, when the court ordcivd him to superintend
"the breeding of saltpetre." Ilis homeslead,
where in 16.") ! he was lircnsrd to kc'i) an ordi-
nary, was on I
Til 1661. he p.
colony " whri'
seeing lie h;i
same and lull
r.sh
when, at the age of sixty, he went upon his last fatal
expedition.
Captain Hugh ilason, who at the head of forty
Watertown men marched to the relief of Groton,
was, March 15, 1676, appointed one of a committee
of four to provide for the defence of the frontier
towns of Middlesex County. April 20, his men
assisted the inhabitants of Sudbury to repulse the
attack of two hundred Indians, whom they drove
across the river. Next day they followed them
and renewed the attack in the hope of aflbrding
relief to Captain Wadsworth, but there being " too
many" of them, our men, who were almost sur-
rounded, retriafcd lo Captain Goodnow's garrison.
Some (if W ;i(ls\\uiiirs men who had taken refuge
in Noyes' Mill were rescued by Mason, who, join-
ing Captain Hunting's com])any, went over tiie
river, gathered the slain of Wadsworth's and
Brocklebank's companies, and buried them. This
tain John ilason of Connecticut.
Some of tlie Watertown men wlio fell in the wars
with the Indians were : William Flagg, at Lancaster,
August 22, 1675; John Chinery, at North-
field, September 4, 1675 ; John Ball, at Lancaster,
Septrmber 10, 1675; J„hn Sherman, Jr., son of
Captain Juliii, at llie .Xarragansett Fight; George
llarnngtdii oF Wadswonirs cimipaiiy, at Lancaster,
February, 1676; Liniicnaiit (niximm Flagg, at
Lamprey River, July d, Ki'.Hi, miil Niigeant Jacob
Fulham, at Lovewell's Pond, May 8, 1725.
Watertow-n's proportion of the tax for the carry-
ing on the war against Philip was £45. January
22, 1677, the government made allowance to the
jjeople distressed by the war, and allotted to the
selectmen of the several towns their projiortion
out of the "Irish Charity" in meal, oatmeal,
wheat, malt at IS.v., butter per ball (ir/., and
clicese 1^/. per pound. Nineteen Watevlowii fami-
lies, (•(insisting of seventy-six j)ersons, were thus
aided, lioston and Charles'town being alone entitled
K, a hirger measure of relief.
Ill 1727 tlie sdldiers who were in the Narragan-
sett e\]iedition ill 1675, or their lawful re|)resenta-
tivcs, ]ietitioiied the (ieneral Court for the land
promised them when they enlisted. Their petition