The Great Swamp Fight

King Philip's War {see separate entry} was an armed conflict between Native Americans of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. In little over a year, 12 of the region's towns were destroyed and many more damaged, its economy was all but ruined, and much of its population was killed, including one-tenth of all men available for military service.

After their somewhat disastrous campaign of the autumn of 1675 in the western parts of Massachusetts, the Commissioners of the United Colonies were determined to carry the war against the Narrangansetts whom they accused of sheltering the warring Wapanoags led by King Philip. The veteran troops were recalled and reorganized; small towns in various parts of the colonies were garrisoned; and an army of  1,000 men was equipped for a winter campaign. 

Gen. Josiah Winslow, Governor of Plymouth Colony, was appointed commander-in-chief of this army; Maj. Samuel Appleton to command the Massachusetts regiment, Maj. William Bradford that of  Plymouth, and Maj. Robert Treat that of Connecticut.  The full quota of Massachusetts was 527 soldiers, but there were  doubtless many others along as servants to the officers, scouts, camp-followers, etc.

Colonial soldiers at muster {Painting by Don Troiani}

To the soldiers, a proclamation was read, on the part of the Massachusetts Council, "that if they played the man, took the Fort, & Drove the Enemy out of the Narragansett Country, which was their great Seat, that they should have a gratuity in land besides their wages." The pay of soldiers, according to Mr. Judd, in his History of Hadley, was 6s. per week, and 5s. was paid for their "dyet." There is no way of determining the rate of pay, as all payments are "on acct" and do not specify time of service. Plymouth colony paid the private soldiers 2s{hillings}. per day, drummers 2s. b'd., Sergeant 3s., Ensign 4s., "Lieftenant " 5s., Captain 6s. A "chyrurgion" or doctor was attached to the expedition companies.

In the evening of Sunday, December 12th, the whole body advanced "from Mr. Carpenter's," crossed the Pautuxet River and marched a long way into "Pomham's Country," now Warwick, RI.  But from the unskillfulness of their Warwick scouts (who were probably Englishmen), their purpose of capturing Pomham and his people was defeated and, after a whole night spent in weary marching about, they arrived at {Richard} Smith's garrison-house at Wickford.

Richard Smith of Smith’s Castle, Cocumcossoc, was the Indian trader of the area whose fortress blockhouse trading post housed the United Colonies combined troops who came through to fight the battle.  Smith had bought the trading post and surrounding lands and had constructed a large house which was fortified, giving the house its nickname as a "castle."

The original Smith's Castle

Jeriah Bull’s blockhouse on Tower Hill to the east, where Quaker George Fox had preached, was burned to the ground a scant day or two before the battle.  Smith's son Richard Jr. inherited the plantation in 1666 and invited the militias from Massachusetts and Connecticut to use the property during King Philip's War. In retaliation for the Great Swamp Fight,  the house was burned in 1676. 

There, they were met with troops who had arrived by water and also by Capt. Samuel Mosely's company, which had captured 36 Indians that day, including the Native American called Peter, who proved afterwards to be an indispensable guide.

While the troops waited as other soldiers from nearby areas joined them, small raiding companies of Native Americans took turns sniping at, wounding or killing the soldiers.  A commander of one Boston regiment, Capt. James Oliver wrote, "I sent out 30 of my men to scout abroad, who killed two Indians and brought in 4 prisoners, one of which was beheaded. Our Army came home at night, killed 7 and brought in 9 more, young and old. Dec. 15th, came in John, a rogue, with pretence of peace, and was dismissed with this errand, that we might speak with Sachems. That evening, he not being gone a quarter of an hour, his company that lay hid behind a hill killed two Salem men within a mile of our quarters, and wounded a third that he is dead. And at a house three miles off where I had 10 men, they killed 2 of them."

The little army marched from the vicinity of Bull's Fort on Narragansett Bay. The English forces under command of Gen. Winslow of Plymouth had been gathered at Wickford. Capt. Oliver wrote: "Dec. 18th, we marched to Petaquamscot with all our forces, only a garrison left; that night was very stormy; we lay, one thousand, in the open field that long night. In the morning, Dec. 19th, Lord's day, at 5 o'clock we marched. Between 12 and 1, we came up with the enemy," after having marched some 20 miles through intense cold and a heavy snow-storm to the swamp. 

This Native American fort on the north side of Worden’s Pond was situated upon an island of some five or six acres in the midst of a cedar swamp, which was impassable except to the Indians by their accustomed paths. It is probable that the Indians depended chiefly upon the swamp to protect them, though their defenses were described as having been of considerable strength. A portion of the high ground had been enclosed, and from a careful comparison of the most reliable accounts, it seemed that the fortifications were well planned.

Map of the location of the Native American fort

"The Fort was raised upon a Kind of Island of five or six acres of rising Land in the midst of a swamp; the sides of it were made of Palisadoes set upright, the which was compassed about with a Hedg [sic] of almost a rod Thickness." A contemporary writer (whose account was published at the time in London, and was reprinted in Drake's publication called the "Old Indian Chronicle") says: "In the midst of the Swamp was a Piece of firm Land, of about three or four Acres, whereon the Indians had built a kind of Fort, being palisadoed round, and within that a clay 'Wall,' as also felled down abundance of Trees to lay quite round the said Fort, but they had not quite finished the said Work." It is evident from these, the only detailed accounts and from some casual references, that the works were rude and incomplete. At the corners and exposed portions, rude block-houses and flankers had been built, from which a raking fire could be poured upon any attacking force."

Either by chance or by the skill of Peter, their captured Indian guide, the English seemed to have come upon a point of the fort where the Indians did not expect them.  But the crude fort would have been almost impregnable to the troops had not the swamp been frozen by the extreme cold of the previous days.

Without waiting for any organized attack, the Massachusetts troops at the front of the march rushed forward across the ice in an impetuous charge and into the entrance of the Indian fort.  So the first colonists to enter were met with a terrible enfilading fire from front and flanks and were forced back for a time.  "But others coming on pressed into the breach, and, though suffering severe losses, at last stormed all the fortifications, drove the enemy from every line of entrenchments within the fort, and out into the woods and swamps beyond. They set fire to the wigwams and store-houses of the savages, in which were burned many of the aged, and women and children," states Bodge.

"We lost, that are now dead, about 68, and had 150 wounded, many of which are recovered. That long snowy cold night we had about 18 miles to {go to} our quarters, with about 210 dead and wounded. We left 8 dead in the fort. We had but 12 dead when we came from the swamp, besides the 8 we left. Many died by the way, and as soon as they were brought in, so that Dec. 20th we buried in a grave 34, next day 4, next day 2, and none since here. Eight died at Rhode Island, 1 at Petaquamscot, 2 lost in the woods and killed, Dec. 20, as we heard since ; some say two more died. By the best intelligence, we killed 300 fighting men ; prisoners we took, say 350, and above 300 women and children. We burnt above 500 houses, left but 9, burnt all their corn, that was in baskets, great store. One signal mercy that night, not to be forgotten, viz. that when we drew off, with so many dead and wounded, they did not pursue us...," wrote Capt. Oliver.

Of the officers, Capts. {Nathaniel} Davenport, {Isaac} Johnson and {Joseph} Gardiner were killed, and Lieutenants {Phineas} Upham, {Perez} Savage, {Jeremiah} Swain, and {Edward} Ting/Tyng were wounded. Of the Connecticut troops, 71 were killed and wounded; and according to the eminent historian of Connecticut, Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, only 70.

Maj. Treat, by tradition, is said to have been the last man to have left the fort, commanding the rear guard of the army; and of his captains, {John} Gallop, {Samuel} Marshall and {Nathaniel} Seely were killed and Capt. {John} Mason mortally wounded. By a contemporary account, Connecticut lost:

Of New Haven Company, 20

Of Capt. {Nathaniel} Siely [sic] his Company, 20

Of Capt. {Thomas} Watts his Company, 17

Of Capt. {Samuel} Marshal his Company, 14 — 71

Of the Plymouth forces, Maj. Bradford, the commander, and Capt. Benjamin Church of the General's staff were severely wounded and, of the soldiers, the killed and wounded in both companies were 20, by best accounts.

Ninigret, sachem of the English-allied Niantick tribe, sent to Gen. Winslow word that his people had buried the dead English who had been left at the fort and that the number was 24 and he asked for a charge of powder for each. This information was given in a letter from Maj. Bradford to Rev. Mr. Cotton of Plymouth.

The only vestiges of the Native American fortification found in latter days were here and there a grain of Indian corn burned black in the destruction.

The full loss of the army was 31 killed and 67 wounded.  Such, at least, was the "official" return at the time.

The only incident of an individual being hanged, drawn and quartered for treason on American soil took place at Smith's Castle in 1676. Joshua Tefft, an English colonist accused of having fought on the side of the Narragansett during the Great Swamp Fight, was executed by this method.

Architect Clifford A. Renshaw's drawing (2000) of how the c. 1678 house built by Richard Smith Jr. may have appeared. According to tradition, many timbers salvaged from the burned blockhouse were reused in the construction of the new house. Upper beams in the current house provide evidence of the two garret gables and stone rubble found in front of the current entrance may be the foundation of the projecting central "porch." Framing for a door, which can be seen today through the view-port to the right of the front door, suggests the main entry was to the right of the porch.  The May 1692 inventory of the estate of Richard Smith Jr. describes a kitchen, hall and dairy (first floor); a porch chamber, kitchen chamber, hall chamber and lean-to chamber (second floor); and a porch, kitchen and hall garrets (third floor). {Drawing from Smith's Castle website}

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Sources:

Bodge, George M., Soldiers in King Philip's war; being a critical account of that war, with a concise history of the Indian wars of New England from 1620-1677, official lists of the soldiers of Massachusetts colony serving in Philip's war, and sketches of the principal officers, copies of ancient documents and records relating to the war, also lists of the Narragansett grantees of the United colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut; with an appendix. (Leominster, Mass., Printed for the author, 1891)

Drake, Samuel G., History and Antiquities of Boston, the Capitol of Massachusetts and the Metropolis of New England, From Its Settlement in 1630, to the Year 1770. Also, An Introductory History to the  Discovery and Settlement of New England. (Boston: Luther Stevens, 1856)

Smith's Castle information taken from the website; accessed 22 Jan. 2012 at http://www.smithscastle.org/.

King Philip's War

King Philip's War--sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War or Metacom's Rebellion--was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war continued in northern New England (primarily on the Maine frontier) after King Philip was killed until a treaty was signed at Casco Bay {ME} in April 1678.  The war was named after the main leader of the Native American side, Metacom or Metacomet, known to the English as King Philip.

Sketch of King Philip by Paul Revere in 1772

The war was the single greatest calamity to occur in 17th-century Puritan New England. In little over a year, 12 of the region's towns were destroyed and many more damaged, its economy was all but ruined, and much of its population was killed, including one-tenth of all men available for military service.  Proportionately, it was one of the bloodiest and costliest wars in the history of North America.  More than half of New England's towns were assaulted by Native American warriors.

Prior to King Philip's War, tensions fluctuated between different groups of Native Americans and the colonists, but relations were generally peaceful. As the colonists' small population of a few thousand grew larger over time and the number of their towns increased, the Wampanoag, Nipmuck, Narragansett, Mohegan, Pequot and other small tribes were each treated individually (many were traditional enemies of each other) by the English colonial officials of Rhode Island, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and the New Haven colony. As their population increased, the New Englanders continued to expand their settlements along the region's coastal plain and up the Connecticut River valley. By 1675, they had even established a few small towns in the interior between Boston and the Connecticut River settlements.

Colonists--always wanting for more land--expanded into the Native American tribes' territory.

Metacom became Sachem of the Pokanoket and Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Confederacy after the death in 1662 of his older brother, the Grand Sachem Wamsutta. Well known to the English before becoming the Wampanoags' paramount chief, Metacom distrusted the colonists. Wamsutta had been visiting the Marshfield home of Josiah Winslow, the then governor of Plymouth Colony, for peaceful negotiations when he suddenly collapsed and died just after leaving the town.

Metacom had begun negotiating with other Native American tribes against the interests of the Plymouth Colony soon after the deaths of his father Massasoit, the Plymouth colony's greatest ally, and his brother Wamsutta. For almost half a century after the colonists' arrival, Massasoit had maintained an uneasy alliance with the English as a source of desired trade goods and a counter-weight to traditional enemies. 

Massasoit's price was colonial incursion into Wampanoag territory as well as English political interference. Maintaining good relations with the English became increasingly difficult, as the English colonists continued pressuring the Indians for permission to buy land for new towns.

The death of John Sassamon--a Native American Christian convert (a so-called Praying Indian) and early Harvard graduate, translator and adviser to Metacom--contributed to the outbreak of the war.  Sassamon had spread a rumor to Plymouth Colony officials alleging King Philip's attempts to arrange Native American attacks on widely dispersed colonial settlements.

King Philip was brought before a public court to answer to the rumors but was released after the court admitted it had no proof.  However, the court warned him that any other rumors—baseless or otherwise—would be rewarded with further confiscations of Wampanoag land and guns. Not long after, Sassamon was murdered; his body was found in an ice-covered pond, allegedly killed by a few Wampanoag, angry at his betrayal.

On the testimony of a Native American witness, the Plymouth Colony officials arrested three Wampanoag, including one of Metacom's counselors. A jury, among whom were some Indian members, convicted the men of Sassamon's murder; they were hanged on 18 June 1675 at Plymouth. Some Wampanoag believed that both the trial and the court's sentence infringed on their sovereignty.

On 30 June 1675, a band of Pokanoket, possibly without Philip's approval, attacked several isolated homesteads in the small Plymouth colony settlement of Swansea. Laying siege to the town, they destroyed it five days later and killed several inhabitants and others coming to their aid. Officials from Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony responded quickly to the attacks on Swansea; they sent a punitive military expedition that destroyed the Wampanoag town at Mount Hope (modern Bristol, RI).  On 7 July 1675, there was a full eclipse of the moon in the New England area that various Native American tribes viewed as a good omen for attacking the colonists.

Indians attacking a Garrison

After that, the war quickly spread. During the summer of 1675, the Native Americans attacked at Middleborough and Dartmouth (8 July), Mendon (14 July), Brookfield (2 Aug.), and Lancaster (9 Aug.). In early September, they attacked Deerfield, Hadley and Northfield.

The New England Confederation--comprising the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, New Haven Colony and Connecticut Colony--declared war on the Native Americans on 9 Sept. 1675. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations tried to remain mostly neutral, but they were dragged inexorably into the conflict. The next colonial expedition was to recover crops from abandoned fields along the Connecticut River for the coming winter and included almost 100 farmers/militia plus teamsters to drive the wagons. They were ambushed, with about 50 colonists being killed, in the Battle of Bloody Brook (near Hadley) on 8 Sept. 1675.

Battle of Bloody Brook

The next attack was organized 5 Oct. 1675 on the Connecticut River's largest settlement at the time, Springfield, MA. During the attack, nearly all of Springfield's buildings were burned to the ground, including the town's grist mill. Most of the Springfielders who escaped unharmed took cover at Capt. Miles Morgan's house, a resident who had constructed one of Springfield's only fortified blockhouses. An Indian servant who worked for Morgan managed to escape and later alerted the Massachusetts Bay troops under the command of Maj. Samuel Appleton, who broke through to Springfield and drove off the attackers. Morgan's sons were famous Indian fighters in the territory, but the Indians had killed his son Peletiah in a battle during that same year.

On 2 Nov. 1675, Plymouth Colony Gov. Josiah Winslow led a combined force of colonial militia against the Narragansett tribe. While the Narragansett had not been directly involved in the war, they had sheltered many of the Wampanoag women and children. Several of their warriors were reported in several Indian raiding parties. The colonists distrusted the tribe and did not understand the various alliances. As the colonial forces went through Rhode Island, they found and burned several Indian towns which had been abandoned by the Narragansett, who had retreated to a massive fort in a frozen swamp.

The cold weather in December had frozen the swamp so it was relatively easy to traverse. Led by an Indian guide, on a very cold Sunday, 19 Dec. 1675, the colonial force found the Narragansett fort near present-day South Kingston, RI. A combined force of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Connecticut militia numbering about 1,000 men--including about 150 Pequots and Mohegan Indian allies--attacked the Indian fort. The fierce battle that followed is known as the Great Swamp Fight. It is believed that the militia killed about 300 Narragansett (exact figures are unavailable). The militia then burned the fort (which occupied over five acres of land), destroying most of the tribe's winter stores.

Great Swamp Fight, December 1675

Most of the Narragansett warriors and their families escaped into the frozen swamp. Facing a winter with little food and shelter, the entire surviving Narragansett tribe was forced out of quasi-neutrality and joined the fight. The colonists lost many of their officers in this assault: about 70 of their men were killed and nearly 150 more wounded. Lacking supplies for an extended campaign, the rest of the colonial assembled forces returned to their homes. The nearby towns in Rhode Island provided care for the wounded until they could return to their homes.

Throughout the winter of 1675–76, Native Americans attacked and destroyed more frontier settlements in their effort to expel the English colonists. Attacks were made at Andover, Bridgewater, Chelmsford, Groton, Lancaster, Marlborough, Medfield, Medford, Millis, Portland, Providence, Rehoboth, Scituate, Seekonk, Simsbury, Sudbury, Suffield, Warwick, Weymouth and Wrentham, including what is modern-day Plainville.

 The spring of 1676 marked the high point for the combined tribes when, on March 12, they attacked Plymouth Plantation. Though the town withstood the assault, the natives had demonstrated their ability to penetrate deep into colonial territory. The natives burned the abandoned capital of Providence to the ground on 29 March. At the same time, a small band of Native Americans infiltrated and burned part of Springfield while the militia was away.

Reprisals followed swiftly after Native Americans attacked Massachusetts towns.

However, the tide of war slowly began to turn in the colonists' favor later in the spring of 1676, as it became a war of attrition; both sides were determined to eliminate the other. The Native Americans had succeeded in driving the colonists back into their larger towns, but the Indians' supplies, particularly in powder and lead, nearly always sufficient for only a season or so, were running out. On the other hand, the New England colonists used their own or adjacent towns' supplies and were re-supplied by sea from wherever they could buy additional supplies. The Indians had no such resources. 

By April 1676, the Narragansett were defeated and their chief Canonchet was killed. On 18 May 1676, Capt. William Turner of the Massachusetts Militia and a group of about 150 militia volunteers (mostly minimally trained farmers) attacked a large fishing camp of Native Americans at Peskeompscut on the Connecticut River (now called Turners Falls, MA). The colonists claimed they killed 100–200 Native Americans in retaliation for earlier Indian attacks against Deerfield and other settlements and the colonial losses in the Battle of Bloody Brook. Turner and nearly 40 of the militia were killed during the return from the falls.

 The actual battle site of Turners Falls is submerged today under an impoundment lake.

With the help of their long-time allies the Mohegans, the colonists defeated an attack at Hadley on 12 June 1676 and scattered most of the Indian survivors into New Hampshire and points farther north. Later that month, a force of 250 Native Americans was routed near Marlborough, MA. Other forces, often a combined force of colonial volunteers and their Indian allies, continued to attack, kill, capture or disperse various Native American  bands as they tried to plant crops or return to their traditional locations. The colonists granted amnesty to Native Americans from the tribes who surrendered or were captured and showed they had not participated in the conflict. The captured Indian participants whom they knew had participated in attacks on the many settlements were either hanged or shipped off to slavery in Bermuda.

Called the Father of American Rangers, Capt. Benjamin Church pioneered techniques learned from the Indians to hunt the Indians.

Philip's allies began to desert him. By early July, over 400 had surrendered to the colonists and Philip himself took refuge in the Assowamset Swamp, close to where the war had started.   Often a combined force of colonial volunteers and their Indian allies, the settlers formed raiding parties. They were allowed to keep the possessions of warring Indians and received a bounty on all captives.

Philip was ultimately killed by one of these teams when he was tracked down by colony-allied Native Americans. Led by Capt. Benjamin Church--considered to be the father of the American Rangers--and Capt. Josiah Standish of the Plymouth Colony militia at Mt. Hope, RI, they found the war leader.   Philip was shot and killed by an Indian named John Alderman on 12 Aug. 1676. Philip was beheaded, then drawn and quartered (a traditional treatment of criminals in this era). His head was displayed in Plymouth for 20 years.

Death of Metacomet, King Philip

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Sources:

America’s Guardian Myths, op-ed by Susan Faludi, 7 Sept. 2007. New York Times. Accessed 7 Sept. 2007.
"Battle of Bloody Brook", Connecticut River Homepage, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1997
Gould, Philip, "Reinventing Benjamin Church: Virtue, Citizenship and the History of King Philip's War in Early National America." Journal of the Early Republic, No. 16, Winter 1996. p. 647.
Leach, Douglas Edward, Flintlock and Tomahawk, (East Orleans, MA: Parnassus Imprints; 1954) p. 46.
Moon Eclipse calculation. Accessed 22 Dec. 2011
Norton, Mary Beth, In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 (New York: Vintage Books, 2003)
Osgood, Herbert L. Herbert L., The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century (1904) 1: 543
Phelps, Noah Amherst (1845). History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton; from 1642 To 1845. (Hartford: Press of Case, Tiffany and Burnham.)
Schultz, Eric B.; Michael J. Touglas, King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict. (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2000) p. 5. 
The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut – 1675 King Philip's War

Some Early Connecticut Marriages

The following list is taken from Early Connecticut Marriages: Third Book, recorded at Lyme, CT, of marriages at the New Haven Second Church.

[p. 132]

(By Mr. G. Beckwith)

Jasper Peck & Sarah Clark, Nov. 25, 1731

William Clark & Hannah Peck, Nov. 30, 1731

Rev. Jonathan Parsons & Phebe Griswold, Dec. 14, 1731

(By Rev. George Griswold)

Abithai Bingham of Windham & Mary Tubbs, Dec. 28, 1731

Philip Beckwith & Abigail Harvey, Feb. 17, 1732

Soloman Gee & Deborah Huntley, March 29, 1732

Reynold Beckwith & Martha Marvin, April 4, 1732

Matthew Marvin & Mary Beckwith, April 20, 1732

Benjamin Huntly & Lydia Beckwith, April 28, 1732

[p.133] 

Joseph Alger & Mary Huntly, April 28, 1732

John Robbins & Ruth Alger, Nov. 2, 1732

John Noyes & Mary Hudson, Dec. 14, 1732

Elisha Wright of New London & Elizabeth Lester, April 3, 1733

Richard Waite & Elizabeth Marvin, Nov. 8, 1733

Jonathan Reid & Elizabeth Smith, March 14, 1734

John Sears & Elizabeth Watrous, Jane 13, 1734

Samuel Court & Abigail Marven, Nov. 7, 1734

Joseph Harvard of Branford & Elizabeth Pinnuck, Dec. 10, 1734

Isaac Dunham of Hebron & Elizabeth Watrous, Feb. 9, 1735

Joseph Lay & Mercy Deming, Feb. 6, 1735

Thomas Baker & widow Hannah Huntley, March 6, 1735

Jonathan Beebe of New London & Hannah Lewis, March 18, 1735

John Petty & Martha Cogsel, April 24, 1735

Robert Ames of New London & Deborah Brockway, May 15, 1735

Samuel Lord & Catharine Ransom, June 26, 1735

Nathaniel Clark, Jr., & Lydia Peck, July 10, 1735

Joseph Tubbs & Luce Robbins, Jan. 14, 1736

Timothy Mather & Sarah Lay, Feb. 12, 1736

William Ely & widow Mary Noyes, Feb. 19, 1736

John Peck & Catharine Lay, March 4, 1736

Robert Miller Martha April 29, 1736

Rev. George Griswold & Elizabeth Lee, July 20, 1736

Simon Tubbs & Sarah Wait, Dec. 7, 1736

John Lay, 3d, & Hannah Lee, Jan. 27, 1737

John Hazen & Deborah Peck, March 10, 1737

James Marvin & Ruth Mather, May 25, 1737

Thomas Taylor of Maryland & Esther Robbins, Oct. 6, 1737

Uriah Roland & Lydia Lee, Oct. 14, 1737

Jesse Minor of New London & Jane Watrous, Nov. 3, 1737

Nathaniel Beckwith & Jane Brockway, Oct. 26, 1738

Nathan Grisbie of Branford & Elizabeth Wade, Dec. 12, 1738

John Adget & Abigail Graves, Jan. 18, 1739

Robert Lay & Lydia Tinker, Feb. 1, 1739

Samuel Beckwith of Norwich & Miriam Marvin, Feb. 1, 1739

Elisha Marvin & Catharine Mather, May 17, 1739

[p.134] 

Daniel Ayre & Esther Champion, April 17, 1740

Benjamin Hyde & Abigail Lee, May 1, 1740

Benoni Hillard & Martha Lord, July 6, 1740

Ezra Lee & Rebekah Southworth, Oct. 9, 1740

Benaiah Bushhal of Norwich & Hannah Griswold, Nov. 5, 1740

Ensign Isaac Watrous & widow Mary Lee, Dec. 23, 1740

Samuel Waller & Elizabeth Brockway, Nov. 5, 1740

John Anderson & Elizabeth Minor, Feb. 12, 1741

Eleazar Clarke of Lyme & Sarah Clarke of Nantucket, Oct. 10, 1741

Eleazar Mather & Ann Watrous, Nov. 5, 1741

Jonathan Smith & Jane Lewis, Nov. 10, 1741

Gershom Gardner & Susannah Smith, Dec. 10, 1741

Amos Tinker & Hannah Minor, June 6, 1742

George Dorr & Sarah Marvin, March 16, 1742

John Scovill & Sarah Alger, Nov. 3, 1742

Benjamin Marvin & Deborah Mather, Nov. 11, 1742

David Huntley & Mary Tinker, Dec. 2, 1742

Stephen Beckwith & Jerusha Watrous, Dec. 16, 1742

David Peck & Abigail Southworth, June 16, 1743

Benjamin Niles & Lure Sill, June 30, 1743

Stephen Champion & Abigail Broos (?), July 11, 1743

Joseph Waite & Margaret Beckwith, Aug. 10, 1743

Nathaniel Peck & Lure Mather, May 24, 1744

Andrew Sill & Phebe Mather, June 29, 1744

Stephen Lee, Jr, & Mehetable Marvin, Sept. 25, 1744

Elijah Lothrop of Norwich & Susannah Lord, Jan. 23, 1745

Simon & -----, Jan. 31, 1745

John Mather & Mercy Higgins, June 13, 1745

Hackensack Reformed Dutch Church Marriage Records: A

The dates given are the dates of the first proclamation of banns, unless otherwise specified.

Hackensack Reformed Dutch Church Marriage Records: Preface

Hackensack Village Green

From: Nelson, William, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Vol. XXII, Marriage Records 1665-1800 (Paterson, NJ: The Press and Pub. Co.) 1900, pp. 467-469.

Tulipmania!

Tulipmania (or its Dutch equivalent tulpenmanie or tulpomanie and several other terms) was the term for the speculative stock market scandal created by the astronomical prices commanded by tulip bulbs in Holland in the early 1600s, just a few decades after the first tulip bulb arrived there.

At the peak of tulipmania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 20 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble. The term tulipmania has often been used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble.

As a cautionary tale, here's a brief re-telling of the original story, circa 1637.  In 17th century Holland, fortunes were doubled overnight as speculators bargained on promise without hard collateral.  Poor men became rich and rich men became filthy rich--all without doing a day's work.  In the wildly speculative marketplace of the late 1630s, even the ultimate threat of government crackdowns couldn't halt the spiraling prices of the hottest commodity in the Dutch Golden Age--tulip bulbs.

Semper Augustus owed its brilliant stripes to a tulip virus.

In a more human sense, tulipmania recalls a time and tale of coveting beauty and then status that soon became a roller-coaster ride of greed, corruption and hysterical actions.  Documents from the time show collateral bartered (or lost) in the frenzy of trading that included whatever people had on hand: houses and meadows, furnishings, dowries, farm animals, paintings, barrels of beer, cheese--even marriage bedsteads!

The tulip had been introduced to Europe in the mid-16th century from the Ottoman Empire and became very popular in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands). Originally a wild flower tamed by the Turks, cultivated tulips came to Holland by way of Carolus Clusius (French: Charles de l'Écluse), director of the Royal Medicinal Garden in Vienna, who successfully raised the first European tulips during the 16th century.

In 1593, Clusius became director of the botanical garden at the University of Leyden [now Leiden], bringing his tulip bulbs with him. There, he planted his collection of tulip bulbs sent to him from Turkey by the ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor (Ferdinand I) to the Sultan.  These bulbs were able to tolerate the harsher conditions of the Low Countries and it was shortly thereafter they began to grow in popularity. Both thrived in the Dutch climate and an industry was born.

The recent loss of the Southern Netherlands to Spain--particularly the large trading centers of Antwerp and Bruges--as a result of the war caused the rich Calvinist merchants of these cities to flee to the north. Many migrated to Amsterdam, which was at the time a tiny port but which was quickly transformed into one of the most important ports in the world in the 17th century. The exodus can be described as 'creating a new Antwerp.' 

By the early 1600s, which coincided with the first interest in the idea of gardening for decoration rather than solely for food production, the flower rapidly became a coveted luxury item and a status symbol. It also corresponded with a lull in the Thirty Years' War. Several other factors also contributed to the flowering of trade, industry, the arts and the sciences during this period.

Some have pointed out that tulips were useless. The flower had no scent, no medicinal purpose, tastes disgusting (as many Dutch discovered during the "Hungerwinter" of 1944-45) and was apparently no aphrodisiac. Most varieties bloom only a week or two a year.  But the new Dutch gardeners and collectors appreciated plants for their beauty, not their utility. These merchants and craftsmen grew tulips much as they collected paintings.

Indeed, many tulip traders were also art collectors, dealers or painters. They sometimes traded art for bulbs, though paintings never approached the prices paid for flowers. The best analogy for tulipmania may therefore not be the dot-com boom but today’s art market, in which a work by a young artist can cost as much as a London flat. Buyers of tulips chased beauty and status as much as profit.

The development and profusion of more tulip varieties quickly followed. They were classified in groups: colored tulips of red, yellow, or white were known as Couleren, but it was the multi-colored Rosen (red or pink on white background), Violetten (purple or lilac on white background),and, to a lesser extent, the Bizarden (red, brown or purple on yellow background) that were the most popular. These spectacular and highly sought-after tulip bulbs would grow flowers with vivid colors, lines, and flames on the petals, as a result, it is now understood, of being infected with a tulip-specific virus known as the "Tulip breaking virus," a type of mosaic virus.

Examples of Bizarden bulbs

Growers named their new varieties with exalted titles. Many early forms were prefixed Admirael, "admiral," often combined with the growers' names: "Admirael van der Eijck" was perhaps the most highly regarded of about 50 so named. Generael, "general," was another prefix which found its way into the names of around 30 varieties. Later came varieties with even more superlative names, derived from Alexander the Great or Scipio, or even "Admiral of Admirals" and "General of Generals." However, naming could be haphazard and varieties were highly variable in quality.  Most of these varieties have now died out, though similar "broken" tulips continue in the trade.

Admirael van der Eijck

Tulips grow from bulbs and can be propagated through both seeds and buds. Seeds from a tulip will form a flowering bulb after 7-12 years. When a bulb grows into the flower, the original bulb will disappear, but a clone bulb forms in its place, as do several buds. Properly cultivated, these buds will become bulbs of their own. The mosaic virus spreads only through buds, not seeds, and so cultivating the most appealing varieties takes years. Propagation is greatly slowed down by the virus. Tulips bloom in April and May for only about a week and the secondary buds appear shortly thereafter. Bulbs can be uprooted and moved about from June to September and thus actual purchases (in the spot market) occurred during these months.

During the rest of the year, traders signed contracts before a notary to purchase tulips at the end of the season (effectively futures contracts).  Thus the Dutch, who developed many of the techniques of modern finance, created a market for durable tulip bulbs. As the flowers grew in popularity, professional growers paid higher and higher prices for bulbs with the virus.

By 1634, in part as a result of demand from the French, speculators began to enter the market. In 1636, the Dutch created a type of formal futures markets where contracts to buy bulbs at the end of the season were bought and sold. Traders met in "colleges" at taverns and buyers were required to pay a 2.5% "wine money" fee, up to a maximum of three florins, per trade.

This trade was centered in Haarlem during the height of a bubonic plague epidemic, which may have contributed to a culture of fatalistic risk taking. The contract price of rare bulbs continued to rise throughout 1636. That November, the contract price of common bulbs without the valuable mosaic virus also began to rise in value. The Dutch derogatorily described tulip contract trading as windhandel (literally, wind trade) because no bulbs were actually changing hands.

In the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published in 1841, the Scottish journalist Charles Mackay proposed that crowds of people often behave irrationally and tulipmania was one of his primary examples. His account was largely sourced to a 1797 work by Johann Beckmann titled A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins. In fact, Beckmann's account, and thus Mackay's by association, was primarily sourced to three anonymous pamphlets published in 1637.  Recent studies of the book have led to its being discounted by many modern economists.

The lack of consistently recorded price data from the 1630s makes the extent of the tulipmania difficult to estimate. The bulk of available data came from anti-speculative pamphlets by "Gaergoedt and Warmondt" (GW) written just after the bubble. Economist Peter Garber collected data on the sales of 161 bulbs of 39 varieties between 1633 and 1637, with 53 being recorded by GW. Ninety-eight sales were recorded for the last date of the bubble, 5 Feb. 1637, at wildly varying prices.

According to Mackay, the growing popularity of tulips in the early 1600s caught the attention of the entire nation; "the population, even to its lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade." By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins (also known as Dutch guilders) was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins, a skilled laborer might earn 150 florins a year and "eight fat swine" cost 240 florins.

These Dutch florins were minted between 1601-1603.

By 1636, tulips were traded on the exchanges of numerous Dutch towns and cities. This encouraged trading in tulips by all members of society; Mackay recounted people selling or trading their other possessions in order to speculate in the tulip market, such as an offer of an acre of land for one of two existing Semper Augustus bulbs, or a single bulb of the Viceroy which was purchased for a basket of goods (shown below) worth 2,500 florins. A single Viceroy tulip bulb would sell for 2500 florins, a value roughly equivalent to $1,250 in current American dollars, while a rarer Semper Augustus bulb could easily go for twice that.

Goods allegedly exchanged for a single bulb of the Viceroy

Two lasts of wheat            448Æ’
Four lasts of rye              558Æ
Four fat oxen                  480Æ’
Eight fat swine                240Æ’
Twelve fat sheep             120Æ’
Two hogsheads of wine    70Æ’
Four tuns of beer              32Æ’
Two tons of butter            192Æ’
1,000 lb. of cheese            120Æ’
A complete bed                 100Æ’
A suit of clothes                 80Æ’
A silver drinking cup           60Æ’
   Total                           2500Æ’

 
"Many individuals grew suddenly rich. A golden bait hung temptingly out before the people, and, one after the other, they rushed to the tulip marts, like flies around a honey-pot. Every one imagined that the passion for tulips would last for ever, and that the wealthy from every part of the world would send to Holland, and pay whatever prices were asked for them. The riches of Europe would be concentrated on the shores of the Zuyder Zee, and poverty banished from the favoured clime of Holland. Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, seamen, footmen, maidservants, even chimney-sweeps and old clotheswomen, dabbled in tulips." [Mackay]

The increasing mania contributed several amusing, but unlikely, anecdotes that Mackay recounted, such as a sailor who mistook the valuable tulip bulb of a merchant for an onion and grabbed it to eat. The merchant and his family chased the sailor to find him "eating a breakfast whose cost might have regaled a whole ship's crew for a twelvemonth." The sailor was jailed for eating the bulb.

People were purchasing bulbs at higher and higher prices, intending to re-sell them for a profit. However, such a scheme could not last unless someone was ultimately willing to pay such high prices and take possession of the bulbs. In February 1637, tulip traders could no longer find new buyers willing to pay increasingly inflated prices for their bulbs. As this realization set in, the demand for tulips collapsed and prices plummeted--the speculative bubble had burst. Some were left holding contracts to purchase tulips at prices now ten times greater than those on the open market, while others found themselves in possession of bulbs now worth a fraction of the price they had paid. Mackay claims the Dutch devolved into distressed accusations and recriminations against others in the trade.

The panicked tulip speculators sought help from the government of the Netherlands, which responded by declaring that anyone who had bought contracts to purchase bulbs in the future could void their contract by payment of a 10-percent fee. Attempts were made to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of all parties, but these were unsuccessful. The mania finally ended, Mackay says, with individuals stuck with the bulbs they held at the end of the crash.  No court would enforce payment of a contract, since judges regarded the debts as contracted through gambling, and thus not enforceable by law. Before this parliamentary decree, the purchaser of a tulip contract--known in modern finance as a futures contract--was legally obliged to buy the bulbs.

In her 2007 scholarly analysis Tulipmania, Anne Goldgar argues that the phenomenon was limited to "a fairly small group" and that most accounts from the period "are based on one or two contemporary pieces of propaganda and a prodigious amount of plagiarism." Peter Garber states that the bubble "was no more than a meaningless winter drinking game, played by a plague-ridden population that made use of the vibrant tulip market."

Stilleven met bloemen (Still Life with Blooms) by Hans Bollongier

Other economists believe that these elements cannot completely explain the dramatic rise and fall in prices.  Garber's theory has also been challenged for failing to explain a similar dramatic rise and fall in prices for regular tulip bulb contracts. Some economists also point to other factors associated with speculative bubbles, such as a loosening of monetary policy (an increase in the supply of money), as demonstrated by factors such as a surge in deposits at the Bank of Amsterdam during the tulipmania period.

Goldgar argues that although tulipmania may not have constituted an economic or speculative bubble, it was nonetheless traumatic to the Dutch for other reasons. "Even though the financial crisis affected very few, the shock of tulipmania was considerable. A whole network of values was thrown into doubt." In the 17th century, it was unimaginable to most people that something as common as a flower could be worth so much more money than most people earned in a year. The idea that the prices of flowers that grow only in the summer could fluctuate so wildly in the winter threw into chaos the very understanding of "value."

The volatility of the tulip market is also a major plot event in Gregory Maguire's novel, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.  But more recently, tulipmania could be applied to the phenomena of the Cabbage Patch dolls, Beanie Babies frenzy, the Tickle Me Elmo panic or even the X-Box 360 craze.

Tulipmania once again became a popular reference as journalists have compared it to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It was even used in a recent movie, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", where a once-disgraced financier uses the illustration of tulipmania in a presentation, and there is even an Internet game called "Tulipmania 1637."

Sources:

Dash, Mike, Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused (London: Gollancz) 1999.

Garber, Peter M., "Tulipmania", Journal of Political Economy 97 (3): 59-60. (1989).

Goldgar, Anne, Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) 2007.

Phillips, S., "Tulip breaking potyvirus", in Brunt, A.A., Crabtree, K., Dallwitz, M.J., Gibbs, A.J., Watson, L. and Zurcher, E.J. (eds.) (1996 onwards). Plant Viruses Online: Descriptions and Lists from the VIDE Database. Version: 20 Aug. 1996. Retrieved on 15 Aug. 2008.

Thompson, Earl, "The tulipmania: Fact or artifact?" pdf. (Public Choice 130 (1-2): 2007) 99-114. Retrieved on 15 Aug. 2008.

Ten Eyck Family Bible Records, Part 1

From: New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society) 1870; Vol. 1, Bk. 4, p. 31.