The Pilgrim Republic; an historical review of the Colony of New Plymouth, with sketches of the rise of other New England Settlements, etc

Front matter

THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. " Three millions of people, the genuine descendants of a valiant and pious ancestry, driven to those deserts by the narrow maxims of superstitious tyranny, cannot be conquered. And is the spirit of tyrannous persecution never to be repealed I Are the brave sons of those brave forefathers to inherit their sufferings as they have inherited their virtues 2 " Earl Chatham : House of Lords, Jan. SO, 1775. " For my own part, I care little for the natural imperfections of such men. It is superfluous to defend the founders of New England. A vain and thankless task is his who attctnpts to underestimate their virtues, or to detract from the majestic pro portions of the gray fathers of the people. Their personal faults passed with them into the grave ; their just principles and noble, actions survived, and blossomed into a living harvest of sacred and immortal memory."

George Lunt : Three Eras of New England. THE " MAYFLOWER " AT PLYMOUTH THE Pilgrim Republic 3u historical iScuitui OF THE COLONY OF NEW PLYMOUTH WITH SKETCHES OF THE RISE OF OTHER NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS. THE HISTORY OF CONGREGATIONALISM, AND THE CREEDS OF THE PERIOD BY JOHN A. GOODWIN "A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants" Macaulay: History of England BOSTON TICKNOR AND COMPANY LONDON: TRUBNER AND CO. Copyright, 1879, By John A. Goodwin ; and 1888, by William B. Goodwin. All rights reserved. 5Hrttbersttg press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. Co tfje Jfflemorp OF BRADFORD, STANDISH, AND WINSLOW, THE WISE, THE BRAVE, THE ABLE, TRIUMVIRS OH THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC, THIS RECORD OF THEIR SUCCESSFUL WORK Es Jietjicatel). EDITOR'S

Preface

. SHORTLY after the completion of the manuscript of this book, its Author laid down his pen forever. Though not full of years, yet honored and esteemed by all who knew him, on the twenty first day of September, 1884, he found that which he had ever sought, — " More Light," — in the presence of the immortal Forefathers and their eternal Leader. Mr. Goodwin, though long an enthusiastic student and an acknowl edged authority on the subject of Pilgrim History, was better known to the generality of persons as a public speaker and official, a parlia mentarian, a journalist, and to some few also as the teacher, mariner, and traveller that he was in early life ; all of which varied experiences proved of rare value in later historical researches. Himself a descendant from many of the Pilgrim band, he came by birthright to the desire that a broader justice should be awarded those sufferers for conscience' sake, " without whose lives his had not been ; " and bringing to the task no mere scholastic zeal or, as is so common, an enthusiasm warped by partiality and egotism, he quietly wrought-out together this his magnum opus and the declining years of a goodly and gracious life.

Few historians have given a more loving zeal to a more worthy subject than this " beloved disciple " of the Fathers ; for after de cades of careful, conscientious study and recording, the final strength of his very life was expended in a last visit to that green Plymouth mount where sleep so many of his ancestors, and where associations dearest to his heart ever most thickly clustered. While he modestly terms this work " merely an historical review," it is in fact a very complete and inclusive outline-history in popular form of the Pilgrims in their English birthplace and early home, how they fared at their Dutch refuge, and their subsequent development X EDITOR'S

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. on our Massachusetts shores into a permanent, and, for those times, far-advanced community. The subsequent affairs of that Pilgrim Republic and Mother-Colony of New England are given with consid erable fulness down to its enforced merging with the Bay Colony in 1692. There is also a great amount of miscellaneous and concurrent information concerning other New England colonies and settlements, the Witchcraft excitement, Philip's War, and the ideas, manners, and theological divisions of those and later times, much of which is difficult or well-nigh impossible for the general student and reader to search out for himself, digest, and put into a coherent or lucid condensation even for private use. Mr. Goodwin was himself con versant with everything extant (valuable and otherwise) concerning this subject, and was thoroughly competent to sift and collate the varied mass.

His necessity of contraction, to cover so large a field in a small space, may at times oblige the extra-critical student to " read between the lines" for delicate distinctions and nonobvious points. In its present form many notes, current facts, and presumptions appear in this work (notably in Chapters X. and XL) which have been added in the course of preparation for printing ; but the clear and well-pondered deductions and explicit statements of the Author have not been interfered with : hence the time of the History's com pilation and completion, as well as that of the assemblage of those premises upon which its decisions are based, must be considered as briefly prior to the time of the Author's death. Our desire of fidelity to the original manuscript will account for the non-mention of a few excellent and worthy works of the last three years, and a lack of quotations from the same ; as well as an apparent neglect to correct, or at least to challenge, the erroneous statements of a far greater number whose historical unreliability is their most remarkable characteristic. Laj • l^/uxXjW^C^c^^^v^r- Lowell, Mass., January, 1888.

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. THIS book is not expected to meet the wants of the ex haustive historical student, who must labor long and patiently upon that fragmentary and widely dispersed literature which bears the stamp of original authority, and should rest content with no second-hand statements and conclusions. The volume is for the mere reader, — for him who lacks opportunity or disposition to collect and collate the disconnected facts and make therefrom his own deductions. For such a person, there is not in print any one volume which tells the story of the Pilgrim Fathers with a near approach to completeness and accuracy. Steele's "Life of Brewster" begins the work admirably; but its special subject soon restricts it, and brings it to an early close. Indeed, it is only within thirty years that any one since those who enjoyed personal intercourse with the Pilgrims or their children, could have written with much fulness or exact ness of the Pilgrims' life in England or Holland, or upon the troubles that beset the fitting-out of the " Mayflower."

Gov ernor Bradford laid down his pen in 1650. For nearly two hundred years, little or nothing material was added to the annals of his times ; his history was lost for almost a century, and his papers mostly destroyed. Such facts as continued extant were soon so interwoven with errors and absurd tra ditions that the Pilgrim Fathers of popular fame differed

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. XII widely from the men of the " Mayflower." The chief sources of information on this subject are now as follows : — ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES. Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606 to 1646 (published 1856). Mourt's Relation, Winslow's Relation, Winslow's Brief Narration, with other papers, and notes, in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 1606 to 1624 (published 1841). Mourt's Relation, verbatim, edited by Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D:, with notes (published 1865). Bradford's Letter-Book (Mass. Hist. Coll., first series, vol. iii.). Plymouth Records, and Plymouth Colony Laws. Founders of New Plymouth, by Rev. Joseph Hunter, London (published 1849). Many papers in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections, and in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. King Philip's War, by Colonel Church, edited by Dr. Dexter.

SECONDARY AUTHORITIES. New England's Memorial, by Nathaniel Morton (1669). Hubbard's History of New England (1684). Prince's Annals, by Rev. Thomas Prince, D.D. (1736). History of Massachusetts, by Governor Hutchinson, vol. ii. (1767). Historical Memoir of New Plymouth, by Hon. F. Baylies (1831). Life of William Brewster, by Rev. A. Steele (185 1). Track of the Hidden Church. Rev. Dr. Waddington, of London (Bost. ed., 1863). The English Colonization of America in the Seventeenth Century. Rev. E. D. Neill (London, 1871). History of New England, vol. i., by Hon. John G. Palfrey (1860). History of Massachusetts, by Rev. J. S. Barry (1855). History of Plymouth by Thacher (2d ed., 1835), Bridgewater by Mitchell, Duxbury by Winsor, Scituate by Deane, Hanover by Barry, and many other town-histories, especially those in Freeman's History of Cape Cod and in Baylies' Memoir. Lecture by Benjamin Scott, Chamberlain of the City of London, delivered at London, 1866.

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. XIII Russell's Guide to Plymouth (1846), and his Pilgrim Memorials, (i85x). The Pilgrim Fathers ; or, Founders of New England, by W. H. Bartlett, London, 1866. History of Congregationalism, by Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D., Boston, 1881. Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, Hon. Wm. T. Davis, Boston, 1883. Several works might be named in a list of tertiary authori ties, if such were desirable. It is a singular fact that we have no educational work on the subject, even for academies and colleges, that could claim mention in such a list. Neither is Mather's "Magnalia" worthy to rank as an authority,1 nor in Pilgrim history is Drake's " Book of the Indians," with its prejudices. Bancroft's United States has much valuable matter bearing on our subject, but it was written before the discoveries of the last thirty years, and therefore cannot have the admirable fulness and the great accuracy of Palfrey.

Roger Williams, Major Gookin, Colonel Church, and others, have contributed some few items to Plymouth history ; but 1 The historical medley of Cotton Mather ... is beneath criticism. Hubbard deserves little credit. — Palfrey, yi Mass. Hist. Coll., ix. 173. Mather never cultivated precision . . . and his word must seldom be taken as exact truth. — Savage's Bio. Die, i. 463. Savage terms the "Magnalia" poor authority, showing Mather's " voracious appetite and ill-digestion of learning." Appleton's Encyclopædia calls the "Magnalia" "a chaotic collection of materials." Until it was printed, it was held in high estimation. — Young, Chron. Mass., on Hubbard's Hist. It is too certain that his (Hubbard's) unsupported statements are not always to be taken without allowance. — Palfrey's N. E., iii. 153.

Hubbard's " History of New England," till 1649, when Winthrop's narrative closes, is little else than a copy of that work, and for later years is good for nothing. — Ibid. Pastor Cotton of Plymouth, in 1677, said of Hubbard's then new "Narrative of the Indian Wars," " it might have been filled with marginal notes of erratas. . . . Our governor and magistrates had some cursory perusal of the book ; the mis takes are judged to be many more than the truths in it. Hubbard complained of this criticism, but Cotton re-affirmed it." Pastor Shove of Taunton, the same year, said of the book, "things are strangely falsified." — 4th Mass. Hist. Coll. viii. 232-9. Hubbard, after 1650, has few facts. — Gov. Hutchinson.

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. there is nothing of appreciable value from them that is not embodied in some of the authorities above cited. This latter remark might be made of Thacher's " History of Plymouth," and of most others mentioned as secondary authorities. Governor Bradford is the supreme authority. His History extends from 1606 to 1646, and under the date of 1650 it has a notice of each of the hundred and two passengers in the " Mayflower." His manuscript was used by Morton, Hubbard, Mather, Prince, and Hutchinson. It was finally deposited in the New England Library, which was kept in the tower of the Old South Meeting-house at Boston. About the time of the occupation of this edifice by the British troops on the opening of the Revolution this document disappeared, and with it were lost Bradford's Letter-Book and several small volumes written by him, together with a Pencil-Book kept by his son, the deputy-governor.

The loss of these manuscripts was long deplored by historical writers, and intense regret felt that no better use had been made of them by the compilers above named. Near the close of the last century, however, James Clark, of Boston, found the remains of the Letter-Book in a baker's shop at Halifax, N. S., where three hundred and thirty-eight of its leaves had been used as wrapping-paper. The rescued portion is printed in the first series, vol. iii. of the Massachu setts Historical Society's Collections (1794). The smaller books have never been found. In 1855 J. W. Thornton lent to Mr. Barry a small his torical volume by the Lord Bishop of Oxford (Wilberforce), which contained various extracts known to be from Bradford, but credited to a " MS. History of the Plantation of Plymouth . . . in the Fulham Library."

Various other quotations from the same source were made, but they were not recognized as any portion of the Governor's known works. Dr. Drake and other antiquaries inferring that this manuscript must be

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. XV Bradford's long-lost History, Charles Deane, the enthusiastic secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, at once communicated with Rev. Joseph Hunter, of London, and soon obtained and caused to be printed a verbatim copy of this invaluable work. One Anderson, of England, in his " History of the Church of England in the Colonies," had, seven years before, mentioned and abused Bradford's manuscript ; it is a fact not very complimentary to Mr. Anderson that his work, in the main candid and learned, attracted so little attention that this portion of it caught the eye of no historical student. While Bradford's History is invaluable, it covers much less than half the lifetime of the Colony, and makes many serious omissions of details, and even of topics. It is quite necessary that in connection with it should be read : — (i) Mourt's Relation, and Winslow's writings.

The former is a daily Journal by Governor Bradford, extending from the discovery of land by the " Mayflower," Nov. 20, 1620, to the re-election of Carver, April 2, 162 1 ; also of four narratives by Governor Winslow, detailing the chief subsequent operations down to the return of the "Fortune," Dec. 21, 1621. That ship carried home this Relation, which was printed in London in 1622. Its preface is signed " G. Mourt," supposed to be a printer's error for G. Mourton (Morton). As it did not bear its authors' names, not having been intended for pub lication, it took the name of " Mourt's Relation." In 1624 John Smith quoted largely from it, and in 1625 Purchas inserted about half of it, with many errors, in his " Pilgrims." In 1802 the Massachusetts Historical Society reprinted this half in vol. viii.

(first series) of their Collections, and in 1822 in vol. xix. they reprinted an inaccurate copy of the remaining parts. In 1841, in "Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers," Dr. Young gave the first complete reprint of the work that ever appeared. In 1849 Dr. G. B. Cheever published an edition of it, but lessened the value of his book by not b

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. XVI properly separating his own concurrent matter from the original. In 1865 Dr. Dexter edited the first verbatim reprint, which was as nearly facsimile as might be, and added many very valuable notes. (2) " Chronicles of the Pilgrims " also contains Winslow's Relation, or " Good News from New England," which brings the narrative from the end of Mourt down to the return of the "Anne" on Sept. 20, 1623. This latter work, printed at London in 1624, was mutilated by Purchas like its prede cessor, and was reprinted in imperfect halves in the Historical Collections at the same time with the fragments of Mourt. Dr. Young has given as above the only full reprint of this book. He also adds Winslow's " Brief Narration," never before republished. This was printed in London in 1646, and was full of reminiscences of Leyden, including Robinson's farewell address to the Pilgrims.

Dr. Young adds Cushman's Discourse, Bradford's Dialogue, and various lesser matters, all of which are elucidated by rich and copious notes by himself and Dr. Freeman. Recent discoveries have left these notes in much need of a general revision ; but Dr. Young's loving labors are entitled to grateful recollection, and his Chronicles to rank as a vade-mecum with every student of New England history. The Plymouth Records and the Plymouth Laws have been reprinted in admirable form by the State of Massachusetts, and are widely distributed in first-class libraries. " The Founders of New Plymouth," by Rev. Joseph Hunter, Deputy-Keeper of the Rolls in the Tower of London, was the first book to make known the fact that Scrooby was the original seat of the Pilgrim Church, and that Elder Brewster resided at that place as a Government officer. ' Morton's Memorial was written under the auspices of the Colonial authorities. Morton came to Plymouth in 1623 at about the age of eleven, and grew to manhood in the family

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. XVII of his uncle, Governor Bradford; in 1645 he became the secretary of the Colony, and so served for forty years. Besides his own resources, he had in 1669 the full use of his uncle's papers and the most free communication with John Howland and wife, John Alden and wife, Mrs. Susanna Winslow, George Soule, Mrs. Mary (Allerton) Cushman, Mrs. Mary (Chilton) Winslow, and others of the " Mayflower's " company. A history of the greatest value was therefore to be expected from his industrious and faithful pen. It is truly astonishing that the meagre result should have satisfied either his patrons or himself. His book is made up of a short series of unskilful abridgments from Bradford, with some trifling additions, interspersed with fearful accounts of comets foretelling great disasters, of lightning-strokes as punishment for particular sins, and of the blasting of the wheat crop to punish the owners for wearing too good clothes and drinking too freely.

In the absence of Bradford's History, the Memo rial enjoyed a high reputation, on account of what Morton honestly professed to borrow from the former ; but now it has little value except to show the very worthy secretary's inadequacy to his undertaking. Hubbard's History was also highly considered by the last generation, but it was shown by the printing of Winthrop's Journal that the author had pilfered from that work nearly all the reliable portion of his book, save some little from Bradford.1 Dr. Prince's Annals are made up of admirable but brief selections, duly credited; but they substantially leave Plymouth matters at 1629. Hutchinson treats the subject candidly and clearly, so far as he may, in the appendix to his second volume. Dr. Palfrey, whose work is one of the best historical pro ductions extant, in the narrow space which such a treatise can give to a single subject, contains as good an account of 1 See note, page

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. Plymouth Colony as could well be put in the same number of lines. Barry, with equal advantages, might have done as well ; but his account of the Pilgrims, with many excellencies, is inexcusably careless and inaccurate. Judge Baylies' Historical Memoir, in two volumes, exhibits much research, and it was of great repute until the recent developments of the subject. The want of Mourt and Wins low in a perfect condition, and of Bradford and Hunter, made it impracticable for him to write with great accuracy, and the desire to appear impartial seems to have led him to make some harsh criticisms without sufficient grounds. But while the earlier part of his work is marked by omissions and mis conceptions, his summary of Plymouth legislation and the acts of the Confederacy, his various town histories and his account of Philip's War, with other events of the last years of the Colony, render his work of much value for reference.

It is a pity that he could not have lived to rewrite his " Memoir " in the light of recent discoveries, and to construct it according to the present ideas of book-making; his volumes contain nearly one thousand octavo pages, arranged in four parts, each paged independently of the others, and accompanied by no explanatory titles and no index. Dr. Drake has recently added a supplementary book and an index; but the difficulties of reference are still great. Freeman's " History of Cape Cod," in its early Pilgrim matters is deficient, erroneous, and prejudiced ; but his biogra phies and town-histories are worthy of much praise. The other works named are of widely different degrees of merit ; the student can neither spare them, nor unquestionably rely upon them. But to all adverse criticism is an exception to be taken in behalf of the too scanty and all too modest contribu tions of Dr. Dexter.

It is most earnestly hoped that he may yet be able to cover this entire ground in the formal History which he is so pre-eminently fitted to give to the world.

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. XIX It is evident that there is no one of these many books that will give the general reader even a moderately full and accu rate account of the origin, development, and close of the Pilgrim Republic. The present author has felt that this want should be supplied, and for years has waited for some abler pen than his to perform the work. He has made a careful study and comparison of all accessible authorities, endeavoring to verify or refute every statement made at second hand, and has diffidently combined the results. He claims to be only a compiler, not a discoverer; for though he has for many years traversed the Old Colony, by land and by sea, he has found nothing hitherto unknown. Doubtless, in neglected places are still resting Pilgrim letters, records, legal papers, and account-books, which would connect into a chain various detached links of history ; but none of them have rewarded the author's search.

How well he has brought together his scattered materials, and how wisely he has culled from them, students alone can judge. Having so freely expressed his opinion on many authors still quite popular, he must expect some ungentleness of criticism upon himself, and will cheerfully submit to the reproof of those who have studied the subject as carefully as he himself has. The original writers of high and equal authority have sometimes made contradictory statements, which the author has endeavored to settle by the circumstantial evidence in the case ; in each instance he has satisfied himself, at least, before adopting either version. Those familiar with only one of the authorities may be at first prompt to differ with him, but by comparison of the originals will be led to take the same view. The dates given have been raised to New Style, — which fact may lead some readers to think them wrong.

There seems no good reason for continuing the old misreckoning, but many strong ones for correcting it. For instance, the hard ships of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod are better appreciated if

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. XX the date of their arrival is given as November 2ist instead of the nth. So, too, Carver's reputed sunstroke seems less improbable if assigned to April 16th than to the 6th. Robin son and the others who remained at Leyden used the new style in their correspondence, thus adopting the custom of Holland ; and the same system was of course followed by the Dutch traders at New York in their intercourse with Plymouth. Most writers have been led into a mixture of the two styles ; it has therefore been thought desirable that the correct dating should be adopted throughout. Many good writers, while perplexing their readers with an obsolete and erroneous reckoning, have themselves become so confused as to put the English dates of the seventeenth century eleven days behind the new style, whereas ten days is the proper allowance.

Every one, until within the present generation, set the landing of the Pilgrims on December 22d, N. S., in stead of December 21st; nor is the error yet understood by all those who annually commemorate the event.1 1 Old Style and New Style. — As to the error of dating " Forefathers' Day" December 22d, N. s., instead of the 21st, the explanation is simple. In A. D. 325 the calendar was set right (?). The world then went on allowing 365J days to each year, which was an over-allowance of 11 minutes io£ seconds. This small error became so large by constant growth that in 725 the calendar was between three and four days behind the true reckoning as shown by the sun. At the Norman invasion the difference had increased to six days ; at the discovery of America by Columbus it was nine days. In 1582 the Pope, finding all fixed ecclesiastical observances falling ten days behind their seasons, called upon his philosophers for a remedy.

By their advice ten days were added to the calendar, and future errors guarded against by this rule : " Years ending with two ciphers are not to be leap years, except when the number is an exact mul tiple of 400." The new system was soon adopted by the nations of Continental Europe, save Russia and Turkey. It has, however, been found that even by this method the calendar would be a day behind at about the year 5500; and that imminent disaster has been relegated to an exceedingly remote future by this addition to the above rule : " When a year is an exact multiple of 4000, it is not to be a leap-year." The English are reputed formerly to have been a people strongly inclined to their own ways, — a trait which may account for their retaining their erroneous calendar in preference to countenancing an innovation.

Hence, when the Pil grim explorers first landed on Plymouth Rock, their English reckoning made the day Dec. 11, 1620; but the sun then reaching his winter solstice, showed it

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. XXI It has not been thought desirable to make such frequent reference to authorities as would be expected in a work which should claim to be a formal history. It may be here stated that every portion of Bradford's and of Winslow's writings has been laid under contribution, as also have the Plymouth Records. In fact, Mourt's Relation and Winslow's Relation have been transferred to these pages almost bodily, though the constant addition of matter from other sources prevents extensive quotations. Through the first half of the volume an effort has been made to keep all matters in their chronological order; in the latter portion it has been thought better to proceed accord ing to detached subjects rather than succession of dates. The first half may be thought by some to be too much filled with occurrences that in ordinary lives would be considered trivial ; but nothing can be trivial which relates to the to really be the 2lst.

By making a leap-year of 1700, this national miscount was increased to eleven days. At length, in 1752, by order of Parliament, the new calendar was adopted for Great Britain and her Colonies, by calling the day next after September 2d the 14th. At the same time the beginning of the year was changed from March 25th to January 1st, — a change which had been partially anticipated for a long time, by giving dates from January 1st to March 24th inclusive, as follows : Jan. 8, 1704-5, or Jan. 8, 170$. Matters of that sort were then rarely studied, even by educated men. It is altogether probable that in 1769 not a person in the Old Colony knew much more of the case than that the old style had been turned into the European new style by the addition of eleven days. So they most easily fell into the error of supposing this allowance of eleven days to be what mathematicians call a " con stant quantity," which would bring all old dates to the new reckoning prescribed by law.

Is it impertinent to ask if the educated men of to-day have a much clearer idea of the subject? The day which according to the old calendars would appear as December nth is by correct reckoning as follows for the successive centuries : — A. D. 325 Dec. nth 420 " 12th 520 " 13th 620 " 14th 720 " >5'h 820 " is<h 920 ..... 16th 1020 " 17th j 120 " 18th a. d. 1220 Dec. 18th 1320 " 19th 1420 " 20th 1520 " 2ISt 162O " 2ISt I72O " 22d I820 "23d I92O " 24th 2020 *' 24th

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. voyage of the " Mayflower " or the first four years' experience of the Colony. There is importance in every event which in any degree affected the question whether the settlement should be maintained or abandoned ; for reading between the lines of that question there is seen within it another, as to whether posterity should behold an Anglo- Saxon state on the American continent. Had Plymouth been deserted by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621-22, Massachu setts Bay would have remained desolate, and even Virginia would doubtless have been abandoned. Then, before new colonization could be organized, France would have made good her claim by pushing down our Atlantic coast until she met Spain ascending from the south, — unless, indeed, Holland had retained her hold at the centre. Without her neglected children in New England, Britain would not have become mistress of Canada, nor would that Protestantism which she encouraged, nor that which she persecuted, have found a home in the New World; neither would she have felt the reflex influence which has had no small share in imbuing her government with the spirit of liberty, humanity, and con tinued progress, — an influence widely felt on both continents.