THE township of Haverhill, even as late as the close of the
seventeenth century, was a frontier settlement, occupying an advanced
position in the great wilderness, which, unbroken by the clearing of a
white man, extended from the Merrimac River to the French villages on
the St. Francois. A tract of twelve miles on the river and three or four
northwardly was occupied by scattered settlers, while in the centre of the
town a compact village had grown up. In the immediate vicinity there
were but few Indians, and these generally peaceful and inoffensive. On
the breaking out of the Narragansett War,(1) the inhabitants had erected
fortifications, and taken other measures for defence; but, with the possible
exception of one man who was found slain in the woods in 1676, none of
the inhabitants were molested; and it was not until about the year 1689
that the safety of the settlement was seriously threatened. Three persons
were killed in that year. In 1690 six garrisons were established in
different parts of the town, with a small company of soldiers attached to
each. Two of these houses are still standing. They were built of brick,
two stories high, with a single outside door, so small and narrow that but
one person could enter at a time; the windows few, and only about two and
a half feet long by eighteen inches wide, with thick diamond glass secured
with lead, and crossed inside with bars of iron. The basement had but
two rooms, and the chamber was entered by a ladder instead of stairs; so
that the inmates, if driven thither, could cut off communication with the
rooms below. Many private houses were strengthened and fortified.
We remember one familiar to our boyhood,--a venerable old building of
wood, with brick between the weather-boards and ceiling, with a massive
balustrade over the door, constructed of oak timber and plank, with holes
through the latter for firing upon assailants. The door opened upon a
stone- paved hall, or entry, leading into the huge single room of the
basement, which was lighted by two small windows, the ceiling black with
the smoke of a century and a half; a huge fireplace, calculated for eightfeet
wood, occupying one entire side; while, overhead, suspended from the
timbers, or on shelves fastened to them, were household stores, farming
utensils, fishing-rods, guns, bunches of herbs gathered perhaps a century
ago, strings of dried apples and pumpkins, links of mottled sausages,