DEATH OF MRS. HUTCHINSON.

195

woman, with all her family except one child, fell victims to the ferocity of the savages.

The decided character of Mrs. Hutchinson, the extensive influence exerted by her over some of the most extraordinary men of the age, and the part which she took in the controversy, which was followed by such important results, will cause her name to be held in remembrance to the latest time.

HEN Lord Brooke and Lords Say and Seal proposed to emigrate to New England, they obtained from the Earl of Warwick, an assignment of a grant which he had received from the Plymouth council, for lands on the Connecticut river, and they had proceeded so far in their design as to send out

an agent to take possession of the territory and build a fort.

66

Happily for America, the sentiments and habits that rendered them unfit members of a society where complete civil liberty and perfect simplicity of manners were esteemed requisite to the general happiness, prevented these noblemen

SETTLEMENT OF HARTFORD.

197

from carrying their project into execution. They proposed to establish an order of nobility and hereditary magistracy in America; and consumed so much time in arguing this important point with the other settlers who were to be associated with them, that at length their ardour for emigration subsided, and nearer and more interesting projects opened to their view in England."*

In 1633, certain emigrants from the New Plymouth colony built a trading-house at Windsor, and others from Massachusetts were preparing to follow them; but they had all been preceded by the subjects of another European power.

The first settlements on the Connecticut river were effected by the Dutch; and the imputation of the English settlers that the former were intruders, seems to be quite unfounded in justice or truth. The patent obtained from their own government for all lands they should discover, included the lands on the Connecticut river, which was as yet unknown to the English. They traded with the Indians for several years, and purchased from them a tract of land, on which they erected a fort and trading-house at Hartford, before the English had taken possession of the country. Those who came from Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, and attempted to drive the Dutch from their settlements, were not possessed of the smallest title from the Plymouth Company. The prior claim of the Dutch will appear from the account of this transaction. given by Governor Bradford ;t in which he relates how they eluded the vigilance of the Dutch by craft and deceit, and on the pretence of trading with the natives, succeeded in passing their settlement, and sailed to about a mile above them, on the Connecticut, where they made a clearing, erected a house, and fortified the place by palisades. The writer continues: "The Dutch send word home to the Monhatos of what was done; and in process of time they send a band of about seventy men, in warlike manner, with colours displayed, to assault us; but seeing us strengthened, and that it would cost blood, they come to a parley, and return in peace. And Grahame. Chalmers. † North American Review, Vol. viii., p. 84, 85.

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EMIGRATION OF HOOKER.

this was our entrance there. We did the Dutch no wrong, for we took not a foot of any land they bought, but went to the place above them, and bought that tract of land which belonged to the Indians we carried with us, and our friends, with whom the Dutch had nothing to do."

In 1634, a number of the inhabitants of Cambridge, with the Rev. Mr. Hooker at their head, applied to the general court of Massachusetts for permission to remove to the banks of the Connecticut, on the plea that the number of emigrants did not allow them such a choice of lands as they desired. The court was divided on the subject, and its consideration was postponed for a time. Several of the most active of those engaged in the enterprise had proceeded so far in their preparations for removing, that they would not wait the court's consent; and, accordingly, five of them set out and proceeded to Pyquag, a beautiful spot on the Connecticut, a few miles below Hartford, where they built huts and passed the winter. The general court again assembled in May, 1636, and granted permission to Hooker and his company to remove to Connecticut, as they desired; stipulating, however, that they should remain under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Active preparations for removal were immediately commenced, and small parties were sent out in advance, not only from Cambridge, but also from Dorchester and Waterton.

:

While preparing for their departure from Massachusetts, the colonists were apprized that the lands they had intended to occupy, had been granted to a London company by royal charter and they hesitated whether they ought to proceed to settle them. They finally determined to go, having agreed with the Plymouth Company, that in case they were obliged to abandon the lands, the company should indemnify them, or provide another place of settlement. They commenced their journey about the middle of October, accompanied by their cattle, swine, and other property, and numbering about sixty persons, men, women, and children. They were occupied several weeks in the march, having numberless difficulties to

SEVERITY OF THE WINTER.

199

encounter in the fording of streams, crossing hills and swamps, and cutting pathways through dense forests. When near the place of their destination, the company divided; and different parties occupied the several towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield.

Unfortunately for the settlers, the winter began much earlier than usual; the weather was stormy and severe, and by the 15th of November, Connecticut river was frozen over, and the snow lay to a considerable depth. Many of the cattle driven from Massachusetts could not be brought across the river; and the vessels which were to convey most of their furniture and provisions were prevented by the rigour of the season from arriving. Several vessels were wrecked on the New England coast, and from one cast away in Manamet Bay, three men escaped to New Plymouth, famished and benumbed with wandering for ten days in deep snow. On account of the lateness of the season, it was impossible to erect buildings suitable to protect them from the severity of the weather; and from the delay of the vessels on the coast and in the rivers, a general scarcity of provisions ensued by the beginning of December. A party of thirteen set out for Boston, and on their way one of the number fell through the ice in crossing a stream, and the remainder must have perished but for the kindness of the Indians. Another party of sixty persons proceeded down the river, to meet their provisions; but being disappointed in this, they went on board the Rebecca, a vessel of sixty tons, which was shut up by the ice, twenty miles up the river. By the partial melting of the ice, she was enabled to return to open water, but running on a bar in the sound, she was obliged to unload, in order to get off. The cargo was replaced, and in five days they reached Boston. Those who remained on the Connecticut suffered intensely during the winter, and though they were kindly assisted by the Indians, yet they were forced to subsist on malt, grains, and

acorns.

Those who had left Connecticut in the winter, returned thither in the spring, accompanied by many others who had