40

CHANGES IN THE COUNTRY.

[1636.

CHAPTER IV. 1636-7.

The Colonists hesitate about removing to Connecticut.-They at length Depart.-Difficulties experienced by them on the way. -Settlements made by them at Springfield, Hartford, and Wethersfield.-Early Winter.-Scarcity of Provisions.-Loss of Vessels.-Some of the Settlers return.-Courts formed in the Spring. Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, with their Congregation, travel on foot to Hartford.-Labours of the Colonists, and the Dangers to which they were exposed.-Apprehensions from the Indians.-The Pequods hostile.

THE Colonists, who were preparing to leave Massachusetts for Connecticut when Mr. Winthrop arrived at Boston, were for a while in doubt whether they ought to proceed, as the territory they had intended to occupy was embraced in the grant to the London Company. They finally, however, determined to go, after making an agreement that the company should indemnify them in case they should be obliged to leave the lands they might occupy, or provide them another place of settlement. With this understanding they commenced their journey: but great were the difficulties they encountered. Crowded with an industrious, wealthy, and thriving population, the country now presents to our eyes, on every side, marks of civili. zation and improvement. We behold a surface intersected by innumerable roads, occupied by comfortable dwellings, seldom so remote as to appear solitary, and towns and villages occurring at short distances in every direction. But the

routes now so carefully kept in repair, and where the traveller is seen passing along with so much ease and rapidity, were then overgrown with an unbroken wilderness; and the streams, now crossed by so many dams and bridges, could at that time be passed only by fording.

Although the emigrants had been previously apprized of these difficulties, they took with them their wives and children, their horses and cattle, and such provisions as they supposed would be necessary on the way, having provided for the transportation of their principal supplies and their household furniture by water. The journey, which is now performed with ease in ten hours, occupied this company several weeks: for the passage of the streams, and the crossing of hills and swamps occasioned frequent and serious delays, encumbered as they were in different ways.

On approaching their respective destinations, the party divided. The families from Dorchester stopped at Windsor; those from Newtown occupied Hartford, and those from Watertown, Wethersfield; giving to these several places the names of the towns which they had left in Massachusetts. The new settlements retained those names for sev eral years, when they took those by which they are now known.

Unfortunately, the winter came on much earlier that year than usual. On the 15th of November the snow had fallen to a great depth, and the river being frozen over, a considerable number of the cattle driven from Boston could not be got across. But, worst of all, the vessels in which their provisions and furniture had been sent did not arrive:

42

SUFFERINGS FROM FAMINE.

[1636. some of these had been wrecked,* and others did not enter the river until the ice made it impossible for them to reach the new settlements. Houses suitable to protect them against the inclemency of the weather, and proper shelters for their cattle could not be built, on account of the lateness of the season; and they soon began to suffer both from scarcity of provisions and from cold. Under these circumstances, some of them set off to return to Massachusetts. A party of thirteen lost one of their number through the ice in crossing a stream; and the sufferings of the rest were so great, that they would probably have all perished but for the kindness of the Indians whom they met on the way. They were ten days in crossing the wilderness. Another company of seventy proceeded down the river, with the hope of finding some of the expect. ed vessels. In this they were disappointed, until, arriving within about twenty miles of Saybrook, they met with the Rebecca, a vessel of about sixty tons, which had been fast enclosed in the ice, but, a thaw coming on, she was enabled to return to the open water. In attempting, however, to pass into the Sound, the vessel unfortunately grounded on the bar at the mouth of the river, and could not be got off without being unloaded. The cargo was again put on board, and, after a voyage of five days, they arrived safely at Boston.

The departure of so great a number of the set

* A vessel, with six men, which left Boston early in November for Connecticut, was cast away about the middle of that month in Manamet Bay, near Plymouth. The crew wandered ten days in the snow. Two other vessels, which were shallops or large boats, were driven ashore on Brown's Island, near Gurnet's Nose, off Plymouth, and totally lost, with all on board.

tlers afforded a temporary relief to those who remained but such was the scarcity of provisions, that they were compelled to eat malt and grains, and even acorns. They could procure but little game, either by hunting themselves or from the Indians, owing, probably, to the severity of the season. Many of the cattle died, especially at Windsor, where the families from Dorchester had settled, and whose loss from this alone amounted to two hundred pounds. It is not a little remarkable, however, that many of the cattle which had been left on the other side of the river were found alive in the spring, having obtained food in the forest, and escaped being destroyed by wild beasts.

But, great as were their disappointments and sufferings, the colonists were not disheartened. Relying on God, to whose service they had devoted themselves, they struggled against every difficulty, and nobly persevered in their undertaking. Those, therefore, who now enjoy the benefits of their labours and privations, should always hold in grateful remembrance the providence of the Almighty, which enabled their forefathers, in the midst of so many dangers and difficulties, to lay the foundations of a noble state and its invaluable institutions. How different was their situation from ours-in the midst of a wilderness inhabited only by savages; without proper shelter, destitute of food, and separated by a wide waste from the friends they had left behind. Cheerless and deso. late indeed must have been this first winter passed by the pilgrims on the banks of the Connecticut.

The arrival of spring at length relieved them from most of their trials; and one of their first

44

MR. HOOKER'S COLONY.

[1636.

acts was to hold a court. According to the system of government which they had adopted, this court consisted of two of the principal men from each town. They had also determined that, on extraordinary occasions, these should be joined by a committee of three, increasing the number of representatives to five from each town. The court, as constituted in the first instance, was authorized to transact all ordinary business; but to conclude treaties with the Indians, to declare war, or to make peace, they were required to summon the attendance of the committees. The first court assembled at Hartford on the 26th of April, 1636, and consisted of Roger Ludlow, Esq. (who had been a magistrate in Massachusetts in 1630, and had been chosen lieutenant-governor of that colony in 1631), Mr. John Steele, Mr. William Swain, Mr. William Phelps, Mr. William Westwood, and Mr. Andrew Ward.

It appears from the Records of Connecticut, that this court passed a variety of laws for the safety and extension of the settlements, one of which prohibited the sale of arms and ammunition to the Indians.

As soon as the season would permit, the men who had gone in the vessel from Saybrook to Boston set out to return. A short time after, as soon as the grass began to appear, and the cattle could browse in the forests, and the Connecticut had become navigable, several large companies set out from Massachusetts to join their friends in the new settlements.

Among these, a party which left Cambridge to settle at Newtown (Hartford) was of a character