An Early Patriot
John Bailey Dies Returning
From Canada Battle
[The following report appears in The History of Rowley by Thomas Gage, published in 1840. A copy of the book is preserved in the Congregational Library in Boston.]
In 1688, an Indian war broke out in New England. The first blood was shed at North Yarmouth in September. Soon after its commencement, Rowley was called upon to furnish men for a guard at Haverhill.
In the spring of 1689, the Penecock Indians joined those of Saco, and made great slaughter among the English, in the frontier settlements in the counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln in Maine. This year Rowley furnished a number of men for the defense of Cocheco (Dover).
July 22. Captain Moses Bradstreet and Lieutenant John Trumble petitioned the Governor and Council for leave to withdraw some of the Rowley men from the guard at Haverhill, one in a week or two in a fortnight, supplying their places with other men. This they ask for on account of the busy season of the year…. They represent Rowley as being more hardly dealt with than Newbury or Ipswich, as their men have all been permitted to return home before haying.
August 16. The Court orders six hundred men to be impressed for the war; the two regiments in Essex County were to furnish two hundred and two men. Captain Thomas Noyes, of Newbury, commanded the company to which the Rowley men belonged. The number of Rowley men impressed is not known; but it is supposed their proportion would be from ten to twelve…. In November the troops were dismissed….
In the spring of 1690, the French and Indians came down upon the inhabitants about Salmon Falls, burnt many houses, killed about thirty of the English, and took about fifty prisoners. Among them was one Robert Rogers, who, on the way to Canada, endeavoured to escape but, being overtaken, he was stripped, beaten, tied to a tree, and burnt alive.
French Instigators. As the French were considered the instigators of the Indians in their bloody attacks, it was thought important for the peace of New England that they should be attacked within their own territory. Therefore exertions were made for an expedition against Canada. The first object was to subdue Nova Scotia.
Sir William Phips, having received the command, sailed from New England (April 28, 1690) with a force of about seven hundred men, and arrived in about fourteen days at Fort Royal. The fort surrendered …. Returning, much elated by his success, he sailed again in August, with a fleet of thirty two ships and other vessels, with about two thousand men, and four months provision, ammunition, &c. Having no pilot, they were a long time ascending the river, and did not arrive before Quebec till the 5th of October.
They landed about twelve hundred men, and six field-pieces, weighing about eight hundred pounds each. These were landed about two miles below the town, upon a beach, near which was a swamp overgrown with wood, where lay about six hundred French, who opposed the landing of the troops. A skirmish ensued; the French were routed; five of the New England troops were killed, and about twenty wounded. Owing to the marshy state of the ground, the field-pieces were of little use. One of them finally fell into the enemy’s hands, and the others were again put aboard ship. The men that were landed endured great hardships, it being very cold weather, and they having nothing but the ground for their lodging, without any covering.
Firing "Against the Rocks." Sir William spent almost all his ammunition in firing against the town, or as some said, against the rocks of Quebec, and then slipped his cable and fell down, and the other vessels followed, taking on board the troops which had been landed, and were by stress of weather forced out of the river to sea and dispersed; and some of the vessels, by reason of the sickness of the crews, were very much disabled; and those that arrived lost, some half, and others more, of their men, by small-pox and fever. In their return, one of their ships was burnt by accident and twelve men lost; two others cast away, the men saved. Some were driven off to Barbadoes, and some were never heard of.
After the return of those vessels to Boston, which survived the dangers of the sea, many of the men died of the small pox and the fever. It was estimated that about 1,000 of the men engaged in this expedition died in one way and another. A general gloom spread over the country….
The number of men who went from Rowley in the expedition against Port Royal is not known. In the expedition against Quebec, Rowley furnished one captain, one lieutenant, and thirty non-commissioned officers and privates. All their names cannot now be given.
John Bailey died November 19, and Moses Wood, November 25, 1690, on their way from Canada. What others died, we know not.