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COLONEL SETH POMEROY.

PART SECOND.

THE great act of New England, during the first half of the seventeenth century, was the subjugation of Louisburg. The ability of her yeomanry, the success of her merchants, the enterprise of her mariners, the flourishing condition of her schools, and the learning and piety of her clergy, had given to New England a name and a praise throughout Europe, long before this. But the power that she was able to wield by the combined energy of her people and government, when directed towards a single purpose, had never before been known. The capture of Louisburg came like the sudden report of masked artillery, upon the mother country. The attention of her people had been directed towards the great captains, who were marshalling their forces on the battlefields of the continent. They had neither feared defeat nor expected glory to the British arms, from the feeble colonies of New England. But when the news came that the hitherto impregnable fortress of Louisburg had surrendered to the courage and skill of the colonial militia, grudgingly aided by a few ships from the national fleet, and it became manifest that the prowess of the daughter had already begun to shed new lustre upon the escutcheon of the mother, it may well be doubted whether the ministry did not even then foresee in the future a strength and purpose, with which England must grapple in life-earnest, in order to subdue it to her authority. While the newspapers chronicled, in glowing narrative, the heroism and bravery of the colonial forces, and the joy of the populace was expressed in brilliant illuminations, the government took no notice of the event, or such notice only as would suffice to screen its members from popular indignation. The ministerial measures of the thirty years which followed that victory-measurs involving oppressive 37

VOL. I. NO. VI. NEW SERIES.

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taxation, retrenched rights, violated charters, unjust imprisonments, and iniquitous laws against the persons and property of the colonists-fully reveal the ever-growing jealousy of Great Britain from that moment, towards her possessions on this side of the great waters.

To the colonists, on the other hand, the reduction of Louisburg was a great stride towards political freedom. They had never wanted the courage to assert, they began to feel now that they had the power to defend, their civil liberties. From the outset, the love of liberty was a plant of religious growth on the soil of New England. To the old Puritan, every event was under the superintending Providence of an all-seeing God, and while he strove manfully to gain all that a heavenly Parent had bestowed upon his children, he was not backward to acknowledge the spiritual power which had nerved his arm for the conflict. Nothing to him was the result of chance, and scarcely anything the effect of natural causes. His religion was of a character which admitted neither of despair under reverses, nor doubt of ultimate success. Obstacles in his pathway he counted as trials of his faith, and bravely surmounted them; hindrances to his plans were the wise ordainments of One who knew a better way to accomplish them; tempests upon the ocean, famine upon the land, destruction to human life, were each the rods of discipline, which a heavenly Father used in love for his ultimate good. Neither difficulties, nor hardships, nor dangers, nor reverses, nor failures, were of avail to drive him from his purpose. In everything he recognized the aid of the Spirit; in every emergency he sought for light in prayer; in the hour of darkness he "Saw God in clouds, and heard him in the wind," and was humbled.

Instead of bonfires and illuminations, the firing of cannon and ringing of bells, the clergy of the principal towns, upon the first news from Louisburg, called their people to the house of God, to render due returns for his goodness; and the Governor proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer for mercies vouchsafed. Even the commanders of the expedition acknowledged a spiritual panoply, as the great

cause of their wondrous success. In the following letter, commenced just before the capitulation of the city, and finished a few days after that event, the young Major, full of love and manful heroism, still falls back upon Providence, as the hope and trust of the expedition :

"At the Camp, Cape Breton,}

MY DEAR WIFE, BUT LONESOME MATE: The great distance of place and length of time cannot, as long as in the flesh, in the least take off the edge of my love. All the conversation that we can have while separated, is by letters, and that is no small satisfaction to me, since Providence hath so ordered that we must be apart. My dear, paper is scarce with me. What I brought is gone, and there is none that I know of in the camp to be sold. But I have good friends, and as long as they supply me, if alive, able, and opportunities serve, I shall write you frequently. This is my sixth.

"My dear, by the great and distinguishing goodness of God to me, beyond many in our camp, I am in health. We still lay close siege to the city, battering of them with our artillery. Since we have been here, of those who have been killed or wounded, there is not one whom you know, I believe, except Tom Clary, who used to live at Brookfield with Col. Dwight. He died yesterday by a terrible burn he got some time since, by the blowing up of a barrel of gunpowder. My company are still all alive, and none I hope are dangerously sick. My dear, avoid all hard and tiresome work, and let not my long absence trouble you. When anxious and uneasy thoughts come into your mind, cast them off. Remember to submit to an overruling hand in Providence, which orders all events. Teach, instruct, and, as they are able, learn those pleasant children to labor, so that they may be helpful to their dear mother.

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"My kind service to Mr. Sweatland. My duty to mother Hunt. My love to all the brothers and sisters. My unbounded love to my dear wife and the sweet children.

"SETH POMEROY. "P. S.-The business at home I can order nothing about, not knowing the circumstances of it, and I desire that you would not tease and trouble yourself about it, for I do not doubt but

in the good Providence of God, it will be ordered all right and for the best."

"June 15th.-MY DEAR WIFE :-Not having writ, I now add something more to it. Myself an opportunity to send this letter when it was and my soldiers are all alive and well. None of them have yet been wounded, though more exposed than any part of the army. Commodore Warren has now in his fleet ten ships, five of 60 guns, and five of 50 and 40 guns. He has been on shore this day, and our army were mustered in regimental order. The Commodore, with the General and other officers, marched through our ranks to view them. He made a fine speech to us, and very much encouraged the soldiers to go on and storm the city by escalading the walls, while he would go in with all his ships and engage them to the utmost of his power. This is to be done the first fair wind that blows. The Lord of hosts and God of armies, I hope and pray, will remarkably make himself known, and fight with us, and give us complete success over them which are His and our enemies.

"My dear wife, if God should so order it in His righteous Providence that I should not return, I humbly pray that He would regard the lonesome state of his handmaid, and be her husband and a father to her children. My dear wife, I am your loving husband,

"SETH POMEROY.

"P. S.-Last Saturday we agreed to storm the city the first fair wind. The next day it must have been done, had not Providence remarkably prevented, for the wind was right for the ships to enter the harbor; but just before sunset of Saturday, the French sent out a flag of truce, and the next day, which was the Sabbath, the royal city of Louisburg was delivered into our hands, and all the inhabitants resigned themselves prisoners of war. Verily, we must The say, the Lord of hosts hath done it. strength of the city I have often endeavored to describe to you in my letters, but the one half I have not told. Commodore Warren saith, that if the King of England had known its strength, he would not have sent less than twenty ships of the line, and ten thousand regular forces. To the Lord of armies let New England give the praise."

Detained at Boston upon public service, after his arrival from Cape Breton, the Major writes as follows:

"Boston, August 1st, 1747. "MY DEAR AND BELOVED WIFE:-I would inform you that I am in good health, but as to my coming home I can set no time, days being short and a great deal of business to do. No longer than I have business shall I stay, for it is no delightsome place. I have bought an English girl's time for five years, which I hope will prove well, for gave price enough for her.

"If you have an opportunity to send me a horse and bridle, I should be glad to have it done. A saddle I can have here. If you cannot do so, I design to buy a horse to bring the girl up, for I am determined, if it is in my power, that you shall have help by a maid, to ease you of some of your hard labor. I have been about buying a negro man, a smith, and have offered £400 for him, but it will not fetch him. I am loth to go any higher. £500 is his price.

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"Please to send your inclinations in the affair, if an opportunity presents, and also thing you may have forgotten, which is wanted. My love to you and the children, and am, my dear, your true and faithful husband,

"SETH POMEROY."

It may be a matter of interest to know the value of a negro slave in New England one hundred years ago. The £500 spoken of in the preceding letter as the price of the man, were in the new tenor currency, issued by the General Court in 1740; the bills issued in 1737 being designated middle tenor, and all the old bills, (which were depreciated to one quarter their original value, so that traders took £4 for £1,) old tenor. Of the new tenor currency 9s 8d were worth or convertible in value to one ounce of silver, while at the same time 5s 2d sterling were equal in value to one ounce of silver. The new tenor currency then was worth about three-fifths of the same denominations, sterling money, so that £500 new tenor were equal to £300 sterling, somewhat above $1300 in Federal money. Notwithstanding all that has been said, slaves were then of no small bona fide value in New England, up to the very time when the decision of the Courts abolished it.

We cannot close the account of this part of Pomeroy's life, without subjoining the reflections he appended to his Louisburg Journal, upon the remarkable providences which attended the expedition. The special interposition of the Deity in all human affairs, was at that day no matter of doubtful faith. The reader may smile at what seems to him a fanciful superstition, but he should never forget that what is now, in our practically infidel age, but an article of a religious creed, was then an essential element of Christian character. It was the impress of Puritanism stamped upon the life. Its image stood out clear and bright upon the great souls of Eng

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land's Commonwealth, making their principles of civil liberty the currency of age to the end of time; and the strength of New England in the eighteenth century,. firm, obdurate and unwavering as it was, derived its lustre from the same broad impression. Without Puritanism, burning its deep features upon the character, the population of New England might have been at this day like the operatives of the mother country, or the canaille of the French provinces, or the serfs of Muscovy, or the lazzaroni of the Italian cities, or the mixed hordes of the Mexican table lands; they might have been like any and every oppressed and degraded people upon earth, but they would not have been New England men. Be it superstitious fancy or vital piety, wild fanaticism or God's eternal truth, certain it is, that without this stern religious creed rooting itself deep into the foundations of her government, and rising with her growth through every extending branch of her body politic, New England would not have been.

"Conclusion of my Louisburg Journal. I' would now make some remarks upon the remarkable Providence, in favor of the great design that we were upon. Consider in the outset the scheme that was laid, which was to hasten away as fast as possible, with four or five vessels of force, and they but small, having but faint hopes of Com. Warren's aid, to land at Canso, wait until the transports all arrived and no longer, take the first fair wind and sail to Charborough Bay, land our whole army in the evening, and then with our ladders, axes, crows, grapplings, attack and take possession of the city in one night. This we now know to have been impracticable, and a wise Providence hindered our carrying it out.

"First. Although there were nearly eighty sail of vessels, yet they all arrived safely at Canso. Not a ship lost, not a man in the whole army sick. We lay at Canso about three weeks.

"Second. We thought our lying there to be in this time our cruisers took eight sail from against us, but do now see to the contrary, for the French. Com. Warren arrived with four' ships for our help, and the Connecticut fleet came in all well. During all this time, the weather was cold and wet, and though we several times set sail, we were providentially The weather and prevented from going on. early in the morning, expecting to land that wind being right on the 29th April, we sailed night, and to march with all our utensils of war to attack the city.

"Third. Although we had a good wind in the morning, yet it died away, so we were prevented from getting to our destination that day. The next morning being pleasant and a clear air, our fleet was discovered by the French, and large numbers came out to prevent our landing.

"Fourth. This at first looked dark for us, but it was ordered in mercy, for several of them were killed and taken, and those that got back into the city gave the inhabitants a great fright, and we appearing the next day in sight, scared them out of the grand battery, of which we took possession.

"Fifth. On the 9th it was agreed in grand council to make a bold attempt with our whole army to escalade the walls, but it was mercifully prevented.

Sixth. Another very remarkable thing, the many thousands of bombs and cannon, with an innumerable number of small arms, fired at us,

and only about seventeen persons killed by

them at all our batteries.

"Seventh. Another. The weather during forty-seven days that we were on the island not one bad storm, and but very little rain or fog. The French themselves take notice of it, and say that God fights for the English.

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Eighth. Another thing. The Commodore being on shore Saturday, he, with the advice of his council, agreed, that the first fair wind he would sail into the harbor, our forces making a bold push by land, while he bombarded the city. Just after this, before the Commodore had got on board, the French sent out a flag of truce, and terms were agreed upon for them to deliver up the city. The next day must have been the time for attacking the town, for the wind did well suit for it, and if we had done so, in all human probability it must have proved fatal for our army, and destroyed a great part of them. This must be looked upon as a remarkable providence, that God should incline them to give up the city at that very time. It is evident and plain, that God rules the hearts of men, and that He ruled their hearts, at that time, to give up the city, for they might have kept us out and destroyed us, if we had gone in the way we had just before concluded upon.

Ninth. Another remarkable thing was, that the very next day after we had taken possession of the city, there was rain, with foggy and dark weather. for eight or nine days together. There had not been so much rain by half in the forty-seven days we were outside of the city, as now in four days. This would doubtless have scattered our fleet and army, and given opportunity for the French vessels to get into the harbor, and would have sickened and discouraged, if not wholly broken up our designs. These things, considered together with many others that might be mentioned, doth plainly show, that God hath gone out of his common providence in a remarkable and

almost miraculous manner. It is plain to anybody, that will consider and think of these things, that the Lord of hosts and God of armies hath both begun, carried on, and finished this great design, and delivered this strong city into our hands. My hearty desire and prayer is, that as long as I have a being, I may give the great name of God the praise of it, that he has written salvation for New England.”

Col. Williams, who fell ten years after this in the battle near Lake George, was a friend and associate of Pomeroy for many years. In a letter written from the camp a few days after he fell, dated Sept. 12th, 1755, Pomeroy says of him, that "he was deservedly more in the confidence of the commander-in-chief, than any field officer in the army." It is no argument against his military sagacity, that he was surrounded and defeated by the French army. Dieskau had obtained notice, from his Indian runners, that a detachment had been ordered out to meet him. Forming his regulars across the road, in a position where they could not be discovered by the advancing forces until within gun-shot, and posting his Indian allies in advance on each side, where, protected by thick woods, they could form two sides of a hollow square, Dieskau awaited the approach of the American forces. Williams, unsuspecting, advanced into the snare, and at the first fire fell with numbers of his brave New Englanders.

Col. Williams was only forty-two years of age at his death. Disciplined by the adversities of early life, accomplished by foreign travel, distinguished by his military sagacity, which had oftentimes done good service to the State; a gentleman of high breeding, of varied information, and of abundant wealth, there was no man in western Massachusetts who stood higher in the respect and affection of the people. In his person he was large and full, easy in his address, and pleasing and conciliatory in his manners. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, a large grant of land was made to him, upon which he afterwards resided, having charge of the northwestern line of forts, then the chief safety of the whole western frontier of the State.

Upon taking charge of his regiment at Albany for the Crown Point expedition, a presentiment of his fate seems to have rested upon his mind. During the delay

there of a few days, he made and signed his will, in which, after several bequests to his relatives and friends, he directs, that "the remainder of his land should be sold at the discretion of his executors, within five years after a settled peace; and that the interest of the monies arising from the sale, and also the interest of his notes and bonds, should be applied to the support of a free school, in a township west of Fort Massachusetts, forever." Thirty-eight years after the date of this will, in compliance with its provisions, Williams College was founded.

The place where Col. Williams fell is still pointed out, though there seems to be some uncertainty about its being the correct locality. His bones, with those of many a brave Berkshire boy, lie unhonored upon the rocky shores of Lake George. He did not live to realize his hopes of "settled peace" and true liberty for his countrymen, but his last private act laid the foundations of that intelligence and religion for them, without which he had no expectation, under any form of government, of their happiness and prosperity.

In the year 1775, there stood on the corner of the two principal streets which intersect the township of Pittsfield in western Massachusetts, a respectable and well known tavern, kept by Col. Easton. It was a frame house, of good size for that day, with its spare parlor and spacious chambers for the summer traveller, and its snug bar-room for the lovers (not few) of a mug of flip at evening. Towards the south and east, some mechanics' shops, two or three stores for the sale of dry goods and groceries, and the frequent dwellings of the inhabitants, had already begun to assume the appearance of a village. The lawn, not then inclosed, across the street; the meeting-house beyond it, on the other side, standing almost beneath the great forest elm, then, as now, the glory of Pittsfield, though beginning to answer the tree described by Spenser,

the green fields and gardens stretching to the skirts of the forest which covered mountain and valley wherever the eye was directed, gave to the little hamlet a rural loveliness, remarkable even at that early day. Situated upon a broad and level elevation formed by two mill streams, which, uniting within a mile towards the south, make the main branch of the Housatonic, and nearly midway between the two ranges of mountains which inclose the Berkshire valley, then and now the garden of Massachusetts, the locality had been noticed, before the settlement of that section of the State, as one of rare facilities for a new colony. The Indians called the place Pontoosuc-the run for deer. It had always been their favorite ground for hunting and fishing. Leaving their wigwam villages on the Stockbridge meadows, and encamping on the high bluffs which overlook the two beautiful lakes on the north and west, they would pass weeks of autumn in paddling their canoes from one fishing spot to another, or in pursuing the moose and deer far up among the fastnesses of the Hoosacs and Weylock. A sorry day was it for old Konkepot and his twenty men, when, in 1724, he deeded his fair hunting grounds to the avaricious white man for the paltry consideration of £460, thirty quarts of rum, and three barrels of cider; but a far sorrier day was it for them all, when the saw-mill began to run upon the banks of the trout-stream, and the woodman's axe to fell the glorious forests of his hunting ground. On the shores of Lake Winnebago, and far off on the western bank of the turbid Missouri, there are those who yet relate traditions of their old home toward the sun-rising, and who tell of the fertile valleys and hills of Unahtukook, and the rich fisheries of Unka munk, in the days of glory to their tribe.

Upon the breaking out of hostilities between the colonies and the mother country, Pittsfield had been settled some five and twenty or thirty years. The men who had made actual settlements there, were a firm, resolute and hardy race, coming thither for purposes of thrift, and bringing with them the intelligence and refinement of the older parts of the country. Among them were men of education, of talents, and of competence, some of whom had the school-houses, the burial-ground, and risen to distinction in other portions of the

"Still clad with relics of its trophies oid, Lifting to heav'n its aged hoary head, Whose foot on earth hath got but feeble hold;"

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