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��TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
��this circle during a period of forty years exceeded 700." This tells the story of the losses of one generation of men, taken from a few towns in a sparsely settled dis- trict. In 1718, the Indians of Maine, un- der the influence of a Jesuit named Rasle, began to make depredations upon the settlements of that Province. Mas- sachusetts and New Hampshire were both involved in this war, which contin- ued till 1725. During this period the Captains Baker and Lovewell distin- guished themselves in Indian lights. Ba- ker's River testifies to the success of the one, and Lovewell's Pond to the death of the other. Massachusetts and New Hampshire bore the entire expense of this war,besides the loss of many of their bravest and best men. Neither of these States committed any wrongs against the Eastern Indians to provoke an invasion of their territories; and the injuries of the people of Maine, according to Gover- nor Bradford, were chiefly imaginary. The New England colonies were involved in all the wars waged by England against France. In 1744, began King George's war. This lasted four years, being closed by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748. During this period, besides the decima- tion of the citizens of New Hampshire for foreign service, all the horrors of former Indian wars were renewed. There was no safety for private houses. Every occupied house was turned into a garri- son. No labor in the fields could be per- formed with safety, harvests were de- stroyed, houses burned, cattle killed and the inhabitants cruelly murdered or driven into slavery. No man walked abroad unarmed. The lurking foe seemed omnipresent. It is hardly possible to conceive, much less describe, such a state of society. It is marvellous that any- body escaped the ferocity of the foe. The desolation spread more widely than in previous Indian wars. In this war, in August, 1746, occurred the massacre of five citizens of Concord, to whose memory a granite column is erected on the road from Concord to Hopkinton. In March, 1747, Capt. Phineas Stevens made his memorable defence of the stockade fort at Charlestown. Few heroes deserve immortality more than he. In August,
��1754, the Indians invaded New Hamp- shire again, and killed and captured many citizens in the frontier towns. From No. 4, Charlestown, eight persons were car- ried to Canada, among them the family of Mr. Johnson. He and his wife suffered beyond description in consequence of their captivity. England soon declared war against France, which lasted till 1763, and was the most memorable of all the long and bloody conflicts between those two countries. New Hampshire was compelled again to furnish soldiers for England and to defend her own towns from Indian invasion. It then thundered all round the heavens. Then such heroes as Stark and Rogers were reared. They were both conspicuous in the battles, marches and sieges of the old French war. Rogers and his famous Rangers did more to arrest Indian depredations than all the other soldiers of New Eng- land. It is impossible in a brief article like this to enumerate the battles fought or the towns destroyed. Suffice it to say that all the cruelties of preceding wars were repeated, and for seven long years a cloud of gloom settled over every home in the Granite State, and the wolf of poverty growled at every door. But Pitt the elder, the greatest premier Eng- land ever had, honorably redeemed his pledge to pay the colonies for their ex- penses in the war; and, by the distribu- tion of English money among the sol- diers, the immediate wants of the people were relieved. The brief narrative of Indian wars here given shows very clear- ly that the people of New Hampshire never provoked them. In a majority of cases the Indians came from Canada as allies of the French. They were the ag- gressors. They ravaged and murdered like demons ; and when the French made peace they withdrew to await another declaration of war. Our government has not yet learned to deal successfully with the Indians. The New York Tri- bune, speaking of the Christian policy adopted by President Grant, says :
" Under this policy we had each year an Indian war. It cost some money to carry it on, and valuable lives were sac- rificed every summer, but each Indian war was followed by an Indian peace, with the exhibition of several Indian
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