had experienced some ill consequences of the confidence which they had reposed in him. The resistance to the colonists, which he had encouraged, proved a losing game. The royal protection which he had promised, was not afforded. Hostile movements of the Narragansetts. 1645. July 28. In the spring after the truce which they had been persuaded to make, a force of Narragansetts, said to amount to a thousand men, and to have as many as thirty muskets, fell upon the Mohegans, who again defeated them, but not without considerable loss.2 An occasion was thought to have thus arisen for an extraordinary meeting of the Federal Commissioners, who accordingly came together at Boston. Thence they despatched messengers to the hostile sachems, requir ing their presence in person, or by ambassadors, "to declare and prove upon what occasions and grounds the war was broken out, and . . . . . to treat and conclude, as occasion should require,. to restore and confirm peace." In case of a refusal on the part of the Narragansetts, the messengers were to "acquaint them that the English were engaged to assist against these hostile invasions, and that they had sent of their men to defend Uncas." The messengers returned, bringing the defiance of the Narragansett chiefs; and "Mr. Williams, by the messengers, wrote to the Commissioners, assuring them that the country would suddenly be all on fire by war; and "that the Narragansetts had been with the plantations combined with Providence, and solemnly treated and settled a neutrality with them." " "The premises being weighed, it clearly appeared that God called the Colonies to a war." The call was promptly answered. It was determined to issue a "Declaration" of "the grounds and justice" of the measure; to keep 2 1 See above, p. 139. Winthrop, II. 245; comp. the letter of Thomas Peter to Winthrop. (Ibid., 464.) 3 The "Declaration" recites all the occasions of complaint against the Narragansetts since the time of the conquest of the Pequot country, and con a day of fasting in all the Colonies in the following week; and to send three hundred men into the field, Preparations nies for war. "whereof from the Massachusetts one hundred of the Coloand ninety, Plymouth forty, Connecticut forty, and New Haven thirty." The command-in-chief was given to Major Edward Gibbons, of Massachusetts,1 with cludes as follows: "It clearly appears that God calls the Colonies to a war. The Narrohigansetts and their confederates rest on their numbers, weapons, and opportunities to do mischief, as probably as of old Ashur, Amalek, and the Philistines did confederate against Israel. So Sathan may stir up and combine many of his instruments against the churches of Christ; but their Redeemer is the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One in battle; all the shields of the earth are in his hands; he can save by few and by weak means, as by many and great. In him they trust." (Records, &c., in Hazard, II. 45-51.) The history of Edward Gibbons was peculiar. He first appears as one of Thomas Morton's unsavory company at Merry-Mount. Probably he was a brother of Ambrose Gibbons, and had been previously with him at the mouth of the Piscataqua. (See Vol. I. 523, note 1.) He was present at the ordination of Mr. Higginson at Salem, and from that time his feelings took a different turn. (Scottow, Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusetts Colony, &c., in Mass. Hist. Coll., XXXIV. 289.) Before long he joined the church in Boston, where he became a freeman at the first Court of Election. (Mass. Rec., I. 366.) When he left MerryMount he had not left its habits (cœlum, non animum); for in the August after he became a citizen the Magistrates had occasion to fine him twenty shillings "for abusing himself disorderly with drinking too much strong drink." (Ibid., 90.) He however represented Charlestown as one of the" two of every plantation appointed [1632] to confer with the Court about raising of a public stock." (Ibid., 95.) His military turn was recognized in 1634 and 1637 by his being promoted to be successively Captain Underhill's ensign and lieutenant (Ibid., 129, 191), though in the mean time (March 3, 1636) he had been discharged from service at the Castle (Ibid., 165), perhaps from having incurred suspicion of being a partisan of Mrs. Hutchinson. (Ibid., 225.) In 1639, he was sent to "train the band at Weymouth" (Ibid., 279); and in 1641 he was" appointed to see to the laying of the ordnance in Boston." (Ibid., 339.) He was frequently a Deputy to the General Court (Ibid., 135, 173, 250, 271, 288, 336, II. 22, 33, 96, 145, 186), and was advanced to the magistracy in 1650. (Ibid., III. 182.) In 1645, at the time of the capture of the Bristol ship in Boston harbor (see above, p. 161), Gibbons, as "chief military officer of the train-band of the town of Boston," was " by the Court required and authorized to see the peace to be kept, both in the said town and harbor, from all hostile and mutinous attempts or insurrections" (Ibid., 38), and was instructed, with Sedgwick, of Charlestown, "not to permit any ships to fight in the harbor without license from authority." (Winthrop, II. 247.) He was undoubtedly a man of abilities and activity. Edward Johnson had a high opinion of his military capacity. "Over the regiment a council of war, consisting of the commanders of the several colonial contingents; namely, Captain John Leverett and Lieutenant Humphrey Atherton, of Massachusetts, Captain Miles Standish, of Plymouth, Captain John Mason, of Connecticut, and Lieutenant Robert Seeley, "or such other as should have chief command of Suffolk was Major Edward Gibbons, who hath now the office of a MajorGeneral also. He is a man of a resolute spirit, bold as a lion, being wholly tutored up in New-England discipline, very generous, and forward to promote all military matters. His forts are well contrived, and batteries strong, and in good repair; his great artillery well mounted, and cleanly kept." (Wonder-Working Providence, &c., 191.) In his private capacity, Gibbons was a merchant, and, it is to be feared, not a prudent, perhaps not a scrupulous one. He got involved with La Tour; and by that ill-luck, according to Winthrop (see above, p. 200, note 2) "was quite undone." But he was not so undone, but that the next year he was sending "a new ship of about one hundred tons to Virginia" for tobacco. (Winthrop, II. 305.) There is an extraordinary little passage in Gibbons's life, which asks elucidation. In June, 1637, Winthrop (I. 226, 227, &c.) writes: "About this time came home a small pinnace of thirty tons, which had been forth eight months, and was given for lost. She went to the Bermuda, but by continual tempests was kept from thence, and forced to bear up for the West Indies, and, being in great distress, arrived at Hispaniola, and not daring to go into any inhabited place there, but to go ashore in obscure places, and lived of turtles and hogs, etc. At last they were forced into a harbor, where lay a French man-of war with his prize, and had surely made prize of them also, but that the providence of God so disposed, as the captain, one Petfree, had lived at Piscataquack, and knew the merchant of our bark, one Mr. Gibbons. Whereupon he used them courteously, and, for such commodities as she carried, freighted her with tallow, hides, etc., and sent home with her his prize, which he sold for a small price to be paid in New England. He brought home an aligarto, which he gave the Governor." Such was the story told to Winthrop on the pinnace's return to Boston, though he does not say from whom he had it. The commander of the craft had not dared "to go to any inhabited place," and was in danger of being captured by a French man-of-war; — though England was at peace with all the world. He went "ashore in obscure places, and lived of turtles and hogs, etc.; possibly he went to Tortugas (the Turtle island), at the west end of Hispaniola, a customary haunt of Buccaneers. “The captain” of the French man-of-war, "one Petfree, had lived at Piscataquack ; " -a fact undiscoverable from the local records. He had there known Mr. Gibbons, and for old acquaintance' sake, as well as "for such commodities as she [Gibbons's vessel] carried, freighted her with tallow, hides, etc.; " — the Buccaneers are said to have derived their name from their business of killing the multitudinous herds of black cattle on the islands for their hides and To guard of the forces coming from New Haven." against any sudden surprise of Uncas, it was "agreed to have forty soldiers sent" from Massachusetts "with all expedition for his defence;" and they were actually "sent forth within three days armed and victualled," while the other troops were promptly mustered, and some vessels tallow. The Frenchman had a prize, "which he sold for a small price to be paid in New England." If the story told to Winthrop looks as if it was framed to cover up a transaction between a Massachusetts official and a West-Indian Buccaneer, I cannot help it. At the date of the story, Gibbons had not been very long a reformed In 1637, the morals of the seas, especially of the West-India seas, were lax; the maxims and usages of Drake and Hawkins and their compeers were not yet obsolete. man. Some of the crew had prodigious experiences to relate, which were appropriate grist for Cotton Mather's mill. He relates (Magnalia, Book VI. Chap. I. § 3) that Gibbons's crew having been reduced by hunger to decide by lot who should die for the preservation of the rest, they prayed before doing execution on their doomed comrade, and "there leaped a mighty fish into the boat." The same process had to be gone through a second time; they once again fall to their importunate prayers, and behold, a second answer from above, a great bird lights, and fixes itself upon the mast." Still the sufferings recurred, the third lot was drawn, and the devotions were repeated, when a vessel appeared, which "proved a French pirate." "The commander was one who had formerly received considerable kindnesses of Major Gibbons at Boston, and now replied cheerfully, Major Gibbons, not a hair of you or your company shall perish, if it lies in my power to preserve you.' Accordingly he supplied their necessities, and they made a comfortable end of their voyage." According to the account published in London, in 1708, of the voyage made to the Northwest Coast by "Admiral Bartholomew de Fonte, then Admiral of New Spain and Peru, and now Prince of Chili," a vessel was on that coast in July, 1640, having on board her owner, Edward Gibbons, "a fine gentleman, and Major-General of the largest colony in New England, called the Maltechusetts." (Burney, Chronological History, &c., III. 189.) The genuineness of the tract has been disputed. Sufficient proof of its spuriousness is afforded by the documents of Massachusetts and of Boston, which abundantly show anachronisms in the story, and the alibi of Edward Gibbons, the "fine gentleman and Major-General." (See North American Review, XLVIII. 129-132, 558-563.) The forgery was not an unskilful one, and the writer had some local knowledge. He gives to the commander of Gibbons's ship the name of Shapley. Shapleigh was a Piscataqua name, and Conihasset, which he places near Nootka Sound, strikes on the ear with an echo of Boston Bay. Winthrop (II. 264, 274) affords us a glimpse of another of these sea-rovers, named Cromwell, who, in 1646, exhibited his magnificence and his despotic command, and found work for the gossips, at Plymouth and at Boston. Comp. Bradford, 441, 442. were collected to go round Cape Cod, and attend them with provisions.1 At an earlier period of the dispute, the Narragansetts had sent "a present, expressing their desire to keep peace with the English, but desiring to make war with Uncas for their sachem's death. Mr. Winthrop, then Governor, would not receive it upon any such terms," but consented to their urgency so far as to retain it" till they had further advised with their sachem." By the advice of the Commissioners, it was now carried back, to show the savages"the resolution of all the Colonies for war." The bearers of it were instructed to renew the proposal for 66 1 Records, &c., in Hazard, II. 30, 33, 36. Atherton was already on his march" with forty men, when the General Court of Massachusetts came to gether for a special session (Aug. 12). The last year's jealousy of the Deputies was revived (see above, p. 168). "They sent three or four of themselves to the Magistrates with a bill to this effect; viz., that in regard the forty soldiers were gone forth without commission from the General Court, that a commission might be sent after them." The Magistrates consulted with the Commissioners, and "returned the bill without consenting to it. The Deputies, not satisfied with this, desired a conference, in which the case was debated. The Deputies alleged that, seeing the Court was now assembled before the forty men were gone out of the jurisdiction, they ought to have commission from the Court; otherwise, if any blood should be shed, the actors might be called to an account for it. . . . . . After much agitation and long time spent herein, it was at last agreed that the Court would allow the proceedings of the Commissioners in this case, for the matter thereof; but they would reserve the manner of proceedings as to their Commissioners [Winthrop and Own Gorton says (Simplicitie's Defence, &c., 93) that at this time Standish, in the name of his Colony, summoned Providence to renounce its neutrality. Winslow (Hypocrisie Unmasked, &c., 85) submits to the reader the question, "whether necessity put him not upon this course, or no." He says he heard Standish "relate that, being at the place of rendezvous, before the Massachusetts forces came, observing that some of the inhabitants of Providence received the Indians into their houses familiarly, who had put themselves into a posture of arms, and the place within a mile of Seekonk, or Rehoboth, where Captain Standish lay, he sent to Providence, and required them to lay aside their neutrality, and either declare themselves on the one side or other; for, the war being once begun, he would not bear with their carriage in entertaining, furnishing, and relieving the common enemy, but would disarm them, &c." For this engagement of the Providence people to be neutral, see above, 192. |