Bowenshire:Peter Bowen & the murder of Sabatis and Plausawa,two Indians. John Bowen of New Hampshire

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Contact I,Bowen

John Bowen of Boscawan New Hampshire

Peter Bowen & the murder in 1753 of the two indians,Sabatis and Plausawa.

Nottingham in Indian times

Related story : Captivity of Mrs.McCoy

 

John Bowen

One of the first settlers of Boscawan, N.H. Diligent research fails to discover whence this settler came. It is probable that he was related to Anthony and Henry Bowen, of Penacook, and probably a brother of Peter Bowen, who killed Sabbatis and Plansawa. He served as a ranger, and had a great antipathy to the Indians.

As found in "The History of Boscawen and Webster", compiled by Charles Carleton Coffin, Republican Press Association, Concord, N.H., 1878

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter Bowen

Canterbury, New Hampshire - Indian Bridge - 1753

Source: Gathered Sketches from the Early History of N.H. & VT - Adventures of Our Forefathers and the Incidents of Olden Time. by Francis Chase, M.A.,Claremont, N.H., Tracy, Kenney & Company, 1856

p. 71

From the Historical Collections of New Hampshire.

In the fall of the year 1753, Sabatis and Plausawa, two Indians, were at the place where Deacon Sawyer now lives (1856) in Canterbury, New Hampshire. There Joshua Noyes and Thomas Thorla from Newbury, who were looking after cattle which had been turned into the woods the spring before, met them. Plausawa had been several times at Newbury and knew Noyes and Thorla and they knew him. The Indians appeared not much pleased at seeing them and began to put their baggage into their canoe, and to prepare to go away. Sabatis appeared sullen, and disposed to do mischief, but was kept from it by Plausawa. Noyes and Thorla proposed to buy their furs. At first they refused to sell, saying they would not trade with the English but would go to Canada.

Afterwards they offered to sell furs for rum. Those men had brought rum on purpose to trade with the Indians; but seeing their temper, especially that of Sabatis, they refused to let them have any, and concluded to go away and leave them. As they were departing, Plausawa in a friendly manner advised them to go home and to avoid meeting with the Indians, lest they should be hurt.

When they had gone a little distance from the Indians, Sabatis called them and said, "No more you English come here; me heart bad -me kill you." Thorla replied, "No kill; English and Indians now all brothers."

They soon met Peter Bowen going towards the Indians, told him in what temper the Indians were, and advised him not to go to them, and by no means to let them have a drop of rum. He replied that he was not afraid of them; that he was acquainted with Indians and knew how to deal with them and asked the Indians to go to his house and stay that night and told them he would give them some rum.

It was then near night. They went with Bowen to his house, which was in Contoocook, at some distance below where they then were. He treated them freely with rum; but as they became more intoxicated they began to be troublesome. Bowen, who had every quality of an Indian, had lived much with them and knew perfectly well how they would conduct, fearing they do mischief, took the precaution to make his wife engage their attention while he drew the charges from their guns, which were left behind the door in the entry. After this was done, the night was spent in a drunken Indian frolic, for which Bowen had as good a relish as his guests.

The next morning they asked Bowen to go with his horse and carry their baggage to the place where their canoe was left the evening before.

He went, and carried their packs on his horse. As they went, Sabatis proposed to run a race with the horse. Bowen, suspecting mischief was intended, declined the race, but finally consented to run. He, however, took care to let the Indian outrun the horse.Sabatis laughed heartily at Bowen, because the horse could run no faster. They then proceeded. apparently in good humor.

After a while, Sabatis said to Bowen, "Bowen walk woods," meaning, "Go with me as a prisoner." Bowen said, "No walk woods; all one brothers." They went on together until they were near the canoe, when Sabatis proposed a second race, and that the horse should be unloaded of the baggage, and should start a little before him.

Bowen refused to start so, but consented to start together. They ran, and as soon as the horse had got a little before the Indian, Bowen heard a gun snap. Looking around, he saw the smoke of powder, and the gun aimed at him; he turned and struck his tomahawk in the Indian's head. He went back to meet Plausawa, who, seeing the fate of Sabatis, took aim with his gun at Bowen; the gun flashed.

Plausawa fell on his knees and begged for his life. He pleaded his innocense and former friendship for the English; but all in vain. Bowen knew there would be no safety for him while the companion and friend of Sabatis was living. To secure himself, he buried the same tomahawk in the skull of Plausawa.

This was done in the road on the bank of the Merrimac River, near the northerly line of Contoocook, now, Boscawen. Bowen hid the dead bodies under a small bridge in Salisbury. The next spring the bodies were discovered and buried. That bridge has ever since, to this day, been called Indian Bridge.

Footnote:

It is due to history, as well as to the credit of a race already too much maligned, to state that the killing of Plausawa and Sabatis was considered murder, both by the St. Francis tribe of Indians, to which they belonged, and by the authorities of New Hampshire, who seized upon Bowen and one other, and imprisoned them in the Portsmouth jail, whence, however, they were liberated by an armed mob, the people generally considering the killing of an Indian a meritorious act.

Bowen was aware that the half-intoxicated Indians were in a state of irritation against the whites; nevertheless he invited them to his house, and gave them every opportunity to vent their feelings. He had them completely in his power, though they did not know it. It would seem also that gratitude as well as mercy should have led him to spare their lives. A reference to the "Captivity of Mrs. McCoy" will show that Plausawa had before this saved the life of one of the settlers, when in a very critical situation.

Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nottingham in Indian times

From the History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire
and Representative Citizens
by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1915

On Flag Day, June 14, 1902, Mr. Scales delivered the following address.
It was prepared more especially for the children who were present from
every section of the town:
"The regent of Elsa Cilley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion requested me to appear before you and tell you something about the
Indians who used to live in Nottingham or visit here when they were carrying
on war and hunting for white men's scalps. Your school books have a good
deal to say about Indians in general, but do not say much about them in
Nottingham.
"Of course some of you, probably not all, have seen a real live Indian;
certainly you did if you visited Buffalo Bill's Wild West show when it visited
the cities in New Hampshire a year or two ago, when a large number of
them from the Indian reservations were permitted by the United States
Government to come East. They were ferocious looking fellows, and as
they rode their horses bareback with the speed of a race course, it made the
spectators feel frightened just a least bit, lest their horses run over the spec-
tators. Well, Wild West fellows were just like the Indians who used to live
in Nottingham or came here in war time, except the fellows 160 years ago
did not ride such fine horses, but traveled on foot generally, in paths where
they could not ride a horse ; they marched 'Indian file,' that is one behind
another, and when they were on the 'war path' they kept their movements
concealed as much as possible by the bushes and trees.
"The Indians were in Nottingham a long time before any white men came
here, and built houses, and cleared farms, and probably they would not have
made war on the English settlers if England and France, thousands of miles
from here had not been almost continuously at war for 100 years before the
Revolution. The Indians took sides with the French in Canada; the French
in Canada made war upon the English in New England, whenever the French
in France made war with the English in Old England. The great mistakes
the New Englanders made was in allowing the French to win to their side
the Indian warriors; the Indians never made war on the French, while they
were continually fighting the English settlers from 1675 to 1763, a period
of more than eighty years. For fifty years, from 1675 to 1725, Dover, Dur-
ham, Exeter, Hampton and Haverhill were the points of attack; it is a story
of cruelty and bloodshed from beginning to end. The last person killed in
Dover by the Indians was in 1725; after that the settlers in the new towns,
Nottingham, Barrington, Rochester and others, had to stand the attacks
from the wily red men and his French backers.
"Old Nottingham, you know, included Deerfield and Northwood, so
when I say Nottingham I mean all of these towns, for the Indian wars were
over before Deerfield was cut off from Nottingham in 1766; .Northwood was
set off still later, in 1773.
"There was only one tribe of Indians living in Nottingham when Capt.
Joseph Cilley and his wife, Elsa Rollins, came up here from Salisbury and
commenced their settlement at Rattle Snake Hill on the southeast side of the
Square. That tribe lived near the north part of what is now called North
River Pond, near the line which now divides Nottingham from Northwood.
The name of the chief who ruled over this tribe was Swausen. He was
generally disposed to be friendly with the white men for ten or fifteen years
after Captain Cilley built his log cabin on the ledge farm, after that he did
not restrain them so much, and entertained other Indians who came here from
distant tribes and from Canada.
"A block house, or garrison, was built on the Square about the time
Captain Cilley came here; some say it stood in the field south of Mr. Butler's
and on the east side of Fish Street. Others say it stood north of the Bartlett
burying ground, near the site of the residence of the Neally family. The
probability is that it was near Mr. Butler's as there was an ancient burying
ground in the field between Mr. Butler's barn and Fish Street, and it was
there that the victims of the Indians were buried, in 1747, 155 years ago.
There were old Indian graves in the same vicinity .The next garrison house
was built by Capt. Jonathan Longfellow, on the farm now owned by the
Misses Marston, not far from Deerfield Parade. The Longfellow garrison
was in possession of the Marston family from 1765 till it was torn down
a half century ago. When it was built, about 1740, there was no other
house between it and Canada; it was on the border line of Indian attack.
Captain Long fellow had to keep guard and watch all the time when the wars
were raging between England and France, and the Provincial Government
frequently sent soldiers there to assist him.
"In 1747 the selectmen of Nottingham, one of whom was Israel Bartlett,
grandfather of your worthy regent's grandfather, and the first Bartlett who
settled in this town, petitioned Gov. Benning Wentworth and his council for
help and protection against the Indians who had already driven off many
of the farmers and their families. In this petition he says:
" 'Our settlements are remote one from another in a mountainous and
broken country; our fields are generally encompassed about with trees and
bushes, which continually exposes to the danger of being surprised by the
enemy while about our daily labor; our common roads and highways are
no less dangerous to pass. We lie open to a wide wilderness which sur-
rounds us on all sides, by which means the enemy may come, undiscovered,
very near our garrisons, which we have hardly men enough to defend, our
number being now very small, many having already removed out of the town,
and others are so much discouraged that we fear our numbers will be much
less in the ensuing summer than they are at present.'
"The result of this petition was that the governor sent a company of
rangers to aid Captain Longfellow. They staid at his garrison and their
duty was to march and watch and keep guard on a line of forests from
Chester to Rochester, fifteen or twenty miles; as they had to range back and
forth through the woods they were called rangers. They had no horses
to ride, or roads to march in; they had to cut bushes and spot the trees
along the route in order to know where to go, lest they get lost; and as they
marched they watched lest an Indian might surprise them and shoot from
bushes, or from behind a tree.
"This all may seem very strange to you children, but is was a stern reality
to your grandfather's grandfathers and grandmothers, most of whom were
but boys and girls then like you here today. I do not imagine the soldiers
found much fun in it. The farmers were frequently alarmed when at labor
in their fields; they did not dare go out to work without their guns, and often-
times one man kept watch while the others worked. After the farmers had
grown their crops they sometimes lost them by the Indians breaking down
the fences and letting in the cattle. Sometimes the Indians would wilfully
destroy the crops themselves. Their cattle and horses were sometimes killed
by the enemy, who cut the flesh from the bones and took out the tongues which
they preserved úor food by drying in smoke. When your great, great grand-
mothers went out to milk the cows they had a man stand guard with a
gun in his hands, ready to shoot if Indian appeared.
"Notwithstanding Captain Longfellow and his rangers kept close watch
the enemy got through their line and came down here and murdered three
persons, Robert Beard, John Folsum and Elizabeth Simpson, who lived on
Fish Street near the Square. By the way, you know the origin of the name
of that street was because the settlers went that road when they started for
Amoskeag Falls, now Manchester, to get their supply of salmon and shad,
in the season when the Merrimack River was full of those fish. Now you
know our salmon comes from Oregon and Alaska, in cans. Your ancestors
caught their supply themselves and brought home cart loads of it salted, or
cured so it could be kept for future use. I suppose Captain Cilley used to
go a-fishing with the boys, and his wife Elsa used to cure and cook the
fish after they got home. The fact is they had lots of good things to eat
150 years ago. Another by thought, in this connection is, the great difference
between the people then and the people now. Then they did not think it any
hardship to ride long distances over rough roads, or no roads, and up steep
hills; now, most people think they are terribly burdened and fatigued, if they
ride anywhere four or five miles, unless they have an electric road with fine
cars, or an automobile. But I am away off; I was going to tell you the story
about the Indians murdering those people on Fish Street 150 years ago.
"Andrew Simpson was one of the first settlers on Fish Street down at
the foot of the hill, and I think his descendants still own the place, not far
from the Colonel Cilley residence. Mr. Simpson married Elizabeth Patton of
Canada. At the time of her death she was a large, fleshy woman and quite
lame. It was the custom of the people at night to go to the block house,
already mentioned, and by day go out to their farm houses and attend to
their work. On the day of her death Mrs. Simpson went down the hill to her
home to churn and bake, intending to return before night to the garrison.
While she was thus engaged two Indians sneaked into the house and mur-
dered her with their tomahawks. Soon after, on the same day they surprised
Beard and Folsom while at work in a field and killed them with their guns.
The Indians then made their escape undiscovered. As soon as the murder
was discovered the remains of the unfortunate people were removed to the
garrison and later were buried in the old burying ground already spoken of.
"Tradition has it that these Indians when at Boscawen in 1753 at a place
known as Indian Bridge, they stopped with Peter Bowen
and got very drunk
on rum; while in that condition boasted they had killed three persons, two
men and a woman in Nottingham. They said the woman was 'big' and
when they were killing her she 'blatted like a calf.' They spent the night
with one Peter Bowen; while they were asleep Bowen drew the bullets from
their guns, fearing they might attempt to shoot him. In the morning they
wanted him to carry their packs on his horse and not daring to refuse he
complied with their request. The names of these Indians were Sabatis and
Plausawa. Sabatis proposed that he and Bowen have race and Bowen
consented, but allowed Sabatis to outrun the horse. As they went along and
came near the river, Sabatis proposed another race with the horse; this time
Bowen got a little ahead of Sabatis, when he heard a gun snap behind him
and turning saw the smoke of Sabatis' gun aimed at his head.- Leaping from
his horse he plunged his tomahawk into Sabatis' head and killed him. Plau-
sowa aimed and fired at Bowen, but did no damage as the bullet had been
removed by Bowen the night before. Bowen then attacked Plausowa and
killed him. This was down in the road near the Merrimack River.
"Bowen was afterwards indicted by the grand jury at Portsmouth for
having killed the Indians without proper cause to justify him, but a crowd
assembled about the jail the night before the trial and broke it open and
released Bowen. It is said that Nottingham men had a hand in the work
of breaking open the jail; everybody seemed to be satisfied that justice had
been done in releasing him, as the people believed the Indians had been pun-
ished as they deserved.


 HISTORY OF EPSOM

By John H. Dolbeer

"INCURSIONS OF THE INDIANS.In the early days of the town the inhabitants were kept in a state of almost continual alarm by the incursions of the Indians. For a considerable time after this settlement was commenced only the men ventured to remain in the place during the summer season, and then they must keep their arms by them while they labored on their lands. During the winter there was much less danger from the Indians. Even long after the men had removed their families into the place, so feeble was their defense against the attacks of their savage neighbors, that, whenever any immediate danger was apprehended, they either sent their families away or fled withthem to the garrison at Nottingham. At length a house was erected by Captain Andrew McClary within the limits of the town, and near the present residence of Mr. Joseph Lawrence, which was made proof against the assaults of the Indians, being surrounded by a high, wooden wall, entered by a heavy, well-secured gate. Thither the inhabitants fled at night, whenever danger was apprehended.

"CAPTIVITY OF MRS. MCCOY.The Indians were first attracted to the new settlements in the town by discovering McCoy at Suncook (now Pembroke). This as nearly as can be ascertained, was in the year 1747. Reports were spread of the depredations of the Indians in various places, and McCoy had heard that they had been seen lurking about the woods at Penacook, (now Concord). He went as far as Pembroke: ascertained that they were in the vicinity; was somewhere discovered by them and followed home. They told his wife, whom they afterwards made prisoner, that they looked through cracks around the house and saw what they had for supper that night. They, however, did not discover themselves till the second day after. They probably wished to take a little time to learn the strength and preparation of the inhabitants. The next day Mrs. McCoy, attended by their two dogs, went down to see if any of the other families had returned from the garrison. She found no one. On her return, as she was passing the block-house, which stood near the present site of the meeting-house, the dogs, which had passed around it, came running back growling and very much excited. Their appearance induced her to make the best of her way home. The Indians afterwards told her that they then lay concealed there and saw the dogs when they came round.

"McCoy, being now strongly suspicious that the Indians were actually in town, determined to set off the next day with his family for the garrision at Nottingham. His family now consisted of himself, his wife and son John. The younger children were still at the garrison. They accordingly secured their house as well as they could and set off next morning McCoy and his son with their guns, though without ammunition, having fired away what they brought with them in hunting.

"As they were traveling a little distance east of the place where the meeting-house now stands, Mrs. McCoy fell a little in the rear of the others. This circumstance gave the Indians a favorable opportunity for separating her from her husband and son. The Indians three men and a boy lay in ambush near the foot of Marden's hill, not far from the junction of the mountain road with the main road. Here they suffered McCoy and his son to pass, but as his wife was passing them they reached from the bushes and took hold of her, charging her to make no noise, and covering her mouth with their hands, as she cried to her husband for assistance. Her husband, hearing her cries, turned, and was about coming to her relief, but he no sooner began to advance than the Indians, expecting probably that he would fire upon them, began to raise their pieces, which she pushed one side and motioned to her friends to make their escape, knowing that their guns were not loaded, and that they would doubtless be killed if they approached. They accordingly ran into the woods and made their escape to the garrison. This took place August 21, 1747.

"The Indians then collected together what booty they could obtain, which consisted of an iron trammel, from Mr. George Wallace's, the apples of the only tree which bore in town, which was in the orchard now owned by Mr. David Griffin, and some other trifling articles, and prepared to set off with their prisoner for Canada.

"Before they took their departure they conveyed Mrs. McCoy to a place near the little Suncook River, where they left her in the care of the young Indian, while the three men, whose names were afterwards ascertained to be Plausawa,1 Sabatis, and Christi, went away, and were from some time absent. During heir absence Mrs. McCoy thought of attempting to make her escape. She saw opportunities when she thought she might dispatch the young Indian with the trammel, which, with other things, was left with them, and thus perhaps avoid some strange and barbarous death or long and distressing captivity. But, on the other hand, she knew not at what distance the others were. If she attempted to kill her young keeper she might fail. If she effected her purpose in this she might be pursued and overtaken by a cruel and revengeful foe, and then some dreadful death would be her certain portion. On the whole, she thought best to endeavor to prepare her mind to bear what might be no more than a period of savage captivity. Soon, however, the Indians returned and put an end, for the present, to all thoughts of escape. From the direction in which they went and returned, and from their smutty appearance, she suspected what their business had been. She told them `she guessed they had been burning her house.' Plausawa, who could speak some broken English, informed her they had.

"They now commenced their long and tedious journey to Canada, in which the poor captive might well expect that great and complicated suffering would be her lot. She did, indeed, find the journey fatiguing, and her fare scant and precarious. But, in her treatment from the Indians, she experienced a very agreeable disappointment. The kindness she received from them was far greater than she had expected from those who were so often distinguished from their cruelties. The apples they had gathered they saved for her, giving her one every day. In this way they lasted her as far on the way as Lake Champlain. They gave her the last as they were crossing that lake in their canoes. This circumstance gave to the tree on which the apples grew the name of `Isabella's tree,' her name being Isabella. In many ways did they appear desirous of mitigating the distresses of their prisoner while on their tedious journey.

 

When night came on, and they halted to repose themselves in the dark wilderness, Plausawa, the head man, would make a little couch in the leaves a little way from their, cover her up with his own blanket, and there she was suffered to sleep undisturbed till morning. When they came to a river which must be forded one of them would carry her over on his back. Nothing like insult or indecency did they ever offer her during the whole time she was with them. They carried her to Canada and sold her as a servant to a French family, whence, at the close of that war, she returned home. But so comfortable was her condition there, and her husband being a man of rather a rough and violent temper, she declared she never should have thought of attempting the journey home were it not for the sake of her children.

"After capture of Mrs. McCoy the Indians frequently visited the town, but never committed any very great depredations. The greatest damage they ever did to the property of the inhabitants was the spoiling of all the ox-teams in town. At the time referred to there were but four yoke of oxen in the place, viz.: McCoy's, Captain McClary's, George Wallace's and Lieutenant Blake's. It was a time of apprehension from the Indians, and the inhabitants had therefore all fled to the garrison at Nottingham. They left their oxen to graze about the woods, with a bell upon one of them. The Indians found them, shot one out of each yoke, took out their tongues, made a prize of the bell and left them.

"The ferocity and cruelty of the savages were doubtless very much averted by a friendly, conciliatory course of conduct in the inhabitants towards them. This was particularly the case in the course pursued by Sergeant Blake. Being himself a curious marksman and an expert hunter _ traits of character, in their view, of the highest order _ he soon secured their respect; and, by a course of kind treatment, he secured their friendship to such a degree that, though they had opportunities, they would not injure him even in time of war.

"The first he ever saw of them was a company of them making towards his house through the opening from the top of Sanborn's Hill. He fled to the woods and there lay concealed till they had made a thorough search about his house and inclosures and had gone off. The next time his visitors came he was constrained to become more acquainted with them and to treat them with more attention. As he was busily engaged towards the close of the day in completing a yard for his cow, the declining sun suddenly threw several long, enormous shadows on the ground before him. He had no sooner turned to see the cause than he found himself in the company of a number of stately Indians. Seeing his perturbation, they patted him on the head and told him `not to be afraid, for they would not hurt him.' They then went with him into his house, and their first business was to search all his bottles to see if he had any `occapee' _ rum. They then told him they were very hungry, and wanted something to eat. He happened to have a quarter of a bear, which he gave them. They took it and threw it whole upon the fire, and very soon began to cut and eat from it half raw. While they were eating he employed himself in cutting pieces from it and broiling upon a stick from them, which pleased them very much. After their repast they wished for the privilege of lying by his fire through the night, which he granted. The next morning they proposed trying skill with him in firing at a mark. To this he acceded. But in this, finding themselves outdone, they were very much astonished and chagrined; nevertheless they highly commended him for his skill, patting him on the head and telling him, _ `if he would go off with them they would make him their big captain.' They used often to call upon him, and his kindness to them they never forgot, even in time of war.

"Plausawa had a peculiar manner of doubling his lip and producing a very shrill, piercing whistle, which might be heard at a great distance. At a time when considerable danger was apprehended from the Indians Blake went off into the woods alone, though considered hazardous, to look for his cow that was missing. As he was passing along by Sinclair's Brook, an unfrequented place, northerly from McCoy's Mountain, a very loud, sharp whistle, which he knew to be Plausawa's suddenly passed through his head like the report of a pistol. The sudden alarm almost raised him from the ground, and, with a very light step, he soon reached home without his cow. In more peaceable times Plausawa asked him if he did not remember the time, and laughed very much to think how he ran at the fright, and told him the reason for his whistling. `Young Indian,' said he, `put up gun to shoot Englishman; me knock it down and whistle to start you off,' _ so lasting is their friendship when treated well. At the close of the wars the Indians built several wigwams near the confluence of Wallace's Brook with the Great Suncook. On a little island in this river, near the place called `Short Falls,' one of them lived for a considerable time. Plausawa and Sabatis were finally both killed in time of peace by one of the whites, after a drunken quarrel, and buried near a certain brook in Boscawen.

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