Books › The New England gazetteer : containing descriptions of the states, counties, cities and towns in New England ; also, descriptions of the principal mountains, rivers, lakes, capes, bays, harbors, islands, fashionable resorts, etc. …, 1857 › scan 181
Scan 181
The New England gazetteer : containing descriptions of the states, counties, cities and towns in New England ; also, descriptions of the principal mountains, rivers, lakes, capes, bays, harbors, islands, fashionable resorts, etc. …, 1857
12 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 138. See the scan on archive.org.
1with boats. The course of the ledge is from north-east to south-west, and its rise above 45° from a plane of the horizon, and its height about 350 feet. It presents a surface of massive primitive granite, of more than 4,500 square rods. The rift of this stone is very perfect, smooth and regular; splits are easily made to the depth of from twelve to twenty feet, and of almost any required length. And, unlike much of the building-stone now in the market, it has been ascertained by eminent chemists and geologists, that the stone from this quarry is perfectly free from those oxides, or other mineral substances, which, on exposure to the atmosphere, mar the beauty of much of the New England granite.
3The scenery around this town is delightful, particularly from the high grounds on the east side of the river. Here the beautiful villages are spread before you, seated on the margin of fertile and extensive meadows, decked with groves; while the Merrimack winds between them on its passage to the ocean, and distant mountains skirt the horizon.
5Concord suffered much from incursions of the savages. Several of the inhabitants were killed, and others taken into captivity, between the years 1740 and 1750. The scene which took place in this town on the morning of August 11, 1746, O. S., and the horrors of Indian warfare, cannot better be described than by adopting the language of the venerable REUBEN ABBOT, an eye-witness, as it was related by him, and taken down in writing, five years before his death. Mr. Abbot retained his memory in a remarkable degree, and died in 1822, in the 100th year of his age.
7"I with Abiel Chandler was at work in the Fan, near Sugar Ball, making hay, on Monday morning, Aug. 11, 1746, then in my twenty-fourth year. We heard three guns fired at Parson Walker's fort, which were the appointed signal of alarm at the approach or apprehension of the Indians. On hearing the alarm-guns we ran up to the garrison, and found the soldiers who were stationed there, and such men as could be spared, had gone to where the men were killed. We followed on, and took the foot-path [by Capt. Emery's, near the prison], and arrived at the spot where the bodies lay, as soon as those did who went round on the main road. When we arrived near the brook that runs through the farm formerly owned by a Mr. Mitchell, on the east side of the brook we found Samuel Bradley, stripped naked, scalped, and lying on his face in the road, within half a rod of the bridge over that brook. He was shot through the body, and supposed through his lungs; the ball struck and spoiled his powder-horn, which the Indians left. He was not otherwise wounded, by the Indians, than shot and scalped. Jonathan Bradley lay about ten feet out of the road, on the south side, and about two rods east of the brook. He was lieutenant in Capt. Ladd's company, from Exeter, and a number of years older than Samuel. He was not wounded by the Indians in their fire, and immediately after the Indians had first fired, he ordered his men to fight them. As but few of the Indians fired the first time, Jonathan supposed that he and his six men could manage them, and they fired at the few who had risen up from their ambush. Immediately the whole body of the Indians, about 100 in number, rose up and fired. Jonathan, seeing their number, and receiving their fire, ordered his men to run and take care of themselves. But, by this time, Obadiah Peters, John Bean, John Lufkin, and Samuel Bradley, were killed. The Indians then rushed upon Jonathan Bradley, William Stickney, and Alexander Roberts, took Stickney and Roberts prisoners, and offered Jonathan Bradley good quarter. But he refused to receive quarter, and fought with his gun against that cloud of Indians, until they struck him on the face repeatedly with their tomahawks, cut a number of gashes in his face, one large gash running obliquely across his forehead and nose down between his eyes; another on the side of his head, and one on the back part of his head, which entered his skull and brought him to the ground. The Indians then despatched him, took off his scalp, and stripped him nearly naked. Obadiah Peters we found shot through the head. Bean and Lufkin were shot, and ran from the brook towards the main road about six rods, and fell within a rod of each other, on the N. side of the road as now travelled. Four of the Indians were killed and two wounded, who were carried away on biers.
9"The soldiers from the garrisons were too late to save the lives of these brave men. Upon their approach the Indians fled like cowards, leaving many of their packs and various things, which the soldiers took.
11"A mournful duty was now to be performed—a duty which each one shrunk
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