CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM THE BOOKS OF GEORGE MORGAN WELCH "03 COLONEL Judge Advocate General's Department Army of the United States R 154 .P27P26""""""*>' '■"•"'y Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402453751 cuAji^ i- ^ Ci. i,JjrttryJ" (i) ^q/'^/J^ ^<^07li (2) DR. USHER PARSONS. 41 Elliot, July 4, 1697. This was published in the New England Historical and Grenealogical Eegister, July, 1849. It was founded on materials drawn from old manuscripts obtained in Maine, especially the volumi- nous papers left by Frost's son in-law. Captain John Hill, who commanded Fort Mary at Saco, from 1693 to 1700. It contains, from the original in his posses- sion, the account of Major Frost's death, written to Captain Hill by Joseph Storer, who was another son- in-law of Major Frost Dr. Parsons afterward pre- pared a genealogy of the Frost family, and an account of "the descendants of Peter Hill, of York county, Maine, with some incidents relating to the French and Indian wars," founded on the same Hill papers. His most important literary undertaking, the "Life of Sir William Pepperrell," sprang originally out of his genealogical studies. He began to prepare for this task in the year 1846, but suspended it on learning that Pepperrell's life would be written by others. The principal exploit of Pepperrell, in heading the attack on the French fortified town of Louisburg, in 1745, and reducing it after a siege of forty-eight days, had been fully described by Belknap and other histo- rians. But no extended memoir of Pepperrell had been published. Eev. Dr. Charles Burroughs, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Hon. Lorenzo Sabine, of Framingham, Massachusetts, had both pre- pared sketches of his life. A connection of the family, Colonel George Sparhawk, of Kittery, where Pepper- rell's mansion still stood, had talked of writing his biography, and was known to have a great many of his papers, which had lain neglected in a shed or fish- 4* 42 MEMOIR OF house on the estate, till Colonel Sparhawk selected and arranged the more valuable documents. It was after correspondence with these gentlemen and many others, that Dr. Parsons determined to carry out the under- taking. He read the state and local histories bearing on his subject, examined the papers in the Massa- chusetts Historical Society and other public places of deposit, and procured documents from all available sources. The Sparhawk papers, after some negotiation, reached his hands in January, 1851, through the kind of&ces of Mr. John Blunt, of New York. For four years afber that, he gave much of his leisure to this work. Not satisfied with studying the details of Pepper- rell's career in its written and printed records, Dr. Parsons visited 'the harbor and ruins of Louisburg, in August, 1852, in company with his nephew, Edwin Parsons, Esq., now of New York. They took the English steamer from Boston to Halifax, and then a small steamboat to Sidney, driving thence to Louis- burg. An account of his observations there is given in the Life of Pepperrell, at page 332. At the beginning of the year 1855, his book was essentially completed, and had been submitted to the friendly criticism of several historical scholars, espe- cially Hon. Mr. Sabine before mentioned, and J. Win- gate Thornton, Esq., of Boston. It was published in May. It was very favorably received by students of colonial history, both in America and England, and was kindly noticed and somewhat copiously analyzed in the leading newspapers and magazines of this country," and in the London Athenffium. The subject. DK. USHER PARSONS. 43 being ante-revolutionary, was alike interesting in the mother country, where several descendants of Pepper- rell still exist, and in America. It was republished in London, in 1856. Most of the reviews of this book consist mainly of the analysis of its contents, and are hardly fitted to extract from. I will only reprint a few sentences from a discourse, hereafter to be mentioned, delivered before the Ehode Island Historical Society, by its President, Hon. Samuel Gr. Arnold, the author of the " History of Ehode Island " : — " This work is a very important contribution to our colonial history. The conqueror of Louisburg was one of the fore- most men that America has produced. A merchant of vast wealth, whose landed possessions alone extended thirty miles from the Fiscataqua to Saco, acquired by his own skill and industry; a soldier whose genius was attested by success in capturing the stronghold of Prance from its powerful defend- ers; a civilian whose talents were everywhere admitted to be of the highest order. Sir William Pepperrell was the only native of New England who was created a baronet during our colonial period. The eclat of the war of Independence, has dimmed the fame of the great names of ante-revolutionary days, and whoever aids to rescue from oblivion the achieve- ments and the characters of the mighty men of the past, con- fers a favor upon humanity, and adds an enduring page to the volume of history. This Dr. Parsons has done in the memoir of his illustrious ancestor. * » * To revive the memory of these school-days of the republic and to bring before us the men who led in that era of our national pupilage, and who formed the mind and trained the muscle of the growing state, is a pious duty which Dr. Parsons has well performed." He left in manuscript a history of his native town of Alfred. When a celebration of the hundredth 44 MEMOIR OF anniversary of the settlement of that town was con- templated, in 1860, he was asked to prepare a his- torical discourse, but declined on account of impaired health. For many years, he interested himself in studying the remains, language and customs of the aborigines of this part of our country. The first record I have of his meeting with Indians, is in the diary of his march from Albany to Buffalo, in 1812. He there writes, October 7, being on the route between Vernon and Whitestown : — "Passed by the Oneida tribe of Indians, consisting of about two thousand souls. The warriors have volunteered their services to assist in prosecuting the war against Canada. Their dress is a shirt which does not extend the length of the trunk, a cloth pinned around the waist, and extending over perhaps a fourth part of the lower extremities, a pair of broadcloth leggins, moccasons, and a blanket thrown over the body. Their huts are one room, in which are one bench, kettle, pail, dish and samp-mortar. The tribe have two schools attended by all the children, and a church. The conversation of the warriors I could understand, but not of the squaws. This difference may be imputed to the circumstance that the warriors have more intercourse with the white people." In his rides extending many miles around Provi- dence, he examined the Indian burying-grovmds, and gradually made a collection of bones and various utensils, such as hatchets, arrow-heads, pots of soap- stone, &c. He recorded the Indian names of localities, with the meanings that had b'een assigned them by tra- dition or by guess. In 1840, he furnished a barrel-full of skulls, from an aboriginal burying-place in Wash- DE. USHER PARSONS. 45 ington county, to Dr. Samuel G. Morton, of Philadel- phia, author of "Crania Americana." After his principal historical work was published, and when he was about seventy years old, he began to collate and arrange his notes on Indian localities in Ehode Island. He made new researches on this sub- ject, and by examination of various maps, of historical works relating to Ehode Island, and old records, col- lected many new names, with supposed explanations of some. At length, in 1861, he published a pamphlet of thirty -two pages, entitled " Indian Names of Places in Ehode Island." It contains more than three hun- dred titles ; but some of the names are repeated in different applications ; thus, the name Pettaquamscot recurs as given to a river, a tract of land, and a rock. There are a few repetitions from inadvertence, some- times concealed by an unimportant variation in spell- ing. In a preface he says : — "No attempt is herein made, by the author, to examine Indian names of places as a philologist or grammarian, but merely to gather such as were in existence when civilization commenced within the State of Ehode Island, according to its present boundary; and, in a few instances, give the mean- ing or derivation of the word used. I was led to this enter- prise, partly for the amusement it might afford in my leisure hours, but more for the purpose of rescuing from oblivion names of places in use among the aborigines, and for the con- venience of those who may hereafter wish to apply them to their country villas, factories or institutions, as has often been done in this and other states." As early as the year 1841, he visited the Indian burying-ground and old fort in Charlestown, Ehode Island, and made some examination of Indian graves. 46 MEMOIR OF He went there several times in subsequent years, pro- cured various Indian relics, wrote out descriptions of the places, and took part in some attempts at disinter- ment. In 1860, and again in 1861, he made these entries in his diary : — " Saw the old Indian burying-ground and fort, and the arti- cles lately dug up from Indian graves, as coins, wampum- peag, kitchen utensils, chains, iron and silver.'' * * * " Six of us went to the place and worked with spade till near midnight. Took up a well preserved skeleton, eight feet deep." When some Indian graves were afterwards opened by another party, Dr. Parsons bought many of the bones and articles found with them, and retained some in his possession at his death. He prepared a paper on this subject, which he read, exhibiting many of the relics, before the historical societies of Ehode Island and New York. This paper was published in the Historical Magazine, February, 1863. It describes the customs of the Indians in regard to burial, sketches the history of the Narragansett tribes, and their inter- course with the Dutch, and particularly of Sachem Ninigret and his descendants, and gives a minute account of the discoveries made in the ancient Indian burying-ground, believed to have been the Sachem's cemetery. He states the reasons for supposing that the grave in which the most curious articles were found was that of Sachem Ninigret's daughter; and that the adjoining grave was that of the Sachem him- self, who was living when the country he inhabited was first settled by the English. DR. USHER PARSONS. 47 Dr. Parsons's various labors were recognized by his election to many literary and historical societies. He was a corresponding member of the historical societies of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Georgia and Wisconsin, the American Antiquarian Society,' the Academy of Natural Sciences, &c. He was an active member of the New England Historic Grenealogical Society, and was its Vice-President for Ehode Island from September 1864 till his death. He joined the Ehode Island Historical Society in 1825, and was a useful member of it, making many contri- butions to its collections and reading several papers at its meetings. It is well known that a controversy arose between Commodores Oliver H. Perry and Jesse D. Elliott, in relation to the conduct of the latter in the naval battle of September 10, 1813 ; and that long after Perry's early death, the credit of victory was claimed for Elliott by him-self and his friends. Dr. Parsons took cX^ ^ ijlJU. 48 MlOMOllf OF a warm and active interest in Uiis disjuilc Ilo was strongly attacliod to Pony and conviniHMl that Elliott's conduct was disgraooCul. In couvorsation, by uowa- papor nrtiolos, by contributions to wvitings |inblisliod by others, and lastly in a public hisl-orioal aildi'oss, ho vindicated the claims of Porr}' and tlio truth of his- tory as ho understood it, often in tonus rolloctiing severely on Elliott and his del'euders. In January, 1836, Ti'istani Burges read a diseonrso before the Ehode Island llistorieal Soeicty, in wdiieli he gave a vigorous account ol' the battle. In 1839, this was published with copious notes and diagraniH of the battle in dilferent positions. Some of those not^cs were furnished by J)v. Parsons. The "oxtrnet IVoni the log-book of the Lawrence," was taken I'roui his diary. lie contributed many notes t.o the "Lite ol' Coniniodoro Perry,'' published in l(Sl(), by Ah^xander Slidell Mackenzie. In l(Sf)2, having been invil,ed to deliver the staled annual discourse before the.Iihodo Island Historical Society, he chose for his subject, "the history ol' tlie battle ol' Lake I'h-ie. I have made this ehoicd," ho says, "first, because this battle is a ])art of lihode Island history, and thereforo appro|iria,ie to tJie occa- sion ; secondly, because i could speak oC it, from per- sonal knowledge; and thirdly, because a very inaeou- rate and i)erverted account of it has been wrilt^en a-ud imposed upon the public by tho late J. l^'eninioro Cooper, Esquire." He nari'ates the (^iroumstaucos which led to the forrnution of a 'fleet on ijako Erie, tlio difficulties under which it was created and got alloat, and the reasons why it is regarded as belonging to DE. USHER PAESONS. 49 Rhode Island history. He relates the incidents of the battle quite fully, and then attacks Elliott and Cooper in a style of indignant sarcasm. In the words of Mr. Arnold : " He has done this in a style that leaves nothing to be said upon the points in dispute. His own testimony is direct and incontrovertible. His reply to the assaults of Cooper is comprehensive and complete. A certain irony pervades this portion of the address, which is the appropriate weapon where- with to treat mendacity of statement when brought to the support of cowardice of conduct and infamy of character." Dr. Parsons had always a fondness for written controversy, and could handle the caustic pen as well as the scalpel or saw. In his more advanced life, he became well known in the growing cities along the southern shore of Lake Erie. He often visited that region after his retirement from active practice. Those, cities appreciated more and more the importance of Perry's victory, and com- memorated its anniversary by yearly gatherings, and occasionally by special observances and various plans for the erection of monuments. Dr. Parsons was the only surviving ofS.cer of the battle who had cultivated historical tastes and the powers of writing and oratory. In 1858, the anniversary was celebrated at Put-in- Bay island, near Sandusky, where Perry's fleet had anchored the night before the battle. There was a very large assemblage, and a brilliant display of yachts and stearaers. Hon. Salmon P. Chase presided at the ceremonies on the island. Eloquent addresses were made; and three surviving of&cers appeared on the- platform; Captains Champlin and Brownell speaking, 6 60 MEMOIR OF briefly, while Dr. Parsons read an elaborate narrative discourse. This was received with a great deal of interest by the large audience, and was afterward printed in all the principal newspapers of Buffalo, Brie, Sandusky, Cleveland, &c. He afterward wrote- in his note-book, "this anniversary was among the most delightful of my life, as well as most interesting." Two years later the forty-seventh anniversary was celebrated at Cleveland. That city alone successfully carried out the plan of erecting a monument to Perry, which on that day was dedicated. It stands in the park at Cleveland,- and consists of a statue of Perry, and of other appropriate sculptures. The dedication, September 10, 1860, was very largely attended. The Governor of Ehode Island with many of her civil and military officers were present by special invitation. The two most important features of the literary exer- cises on that day, were the oration by Honorable George Bancroft, and a historical address by Dr. Parsons. These three discourses relating- to the battle of Lake Brie, all give the story in essentially the same way, and show some unavoidable repetition. The two de- livered at Put-in-Bay and Cleveland are not, however, controversial. In his later journeys along Lake Brie, Dr. Parsons was regarded as a guest of the public, and was passed and entertained as such on the steamboats and rail- roads. These various acknowledgments of his early services, and the kind reception of his historical dis- courses, after he had passed the age of seventy, gave him the keenest pleasure. DR. USHER PARSONS. 51 Some other published writings, less known than those before mentioned, attest his permanent interest in his naval reminiscences. In 1836, he contributed to the "Naval Lyceum," New York, an article on Quarantines. In 1840, he published in the Knicker- bocker Magazine, a story, " The Avenger of Blood," founded on an incident that occurred on board the Guerriere in 1818. In 1850, he helped to agitate the question of the abolition of flogging in the navy, and wrote a pungent article on the subject for a New York newspaper. In 1862, he contributed to the New Eng- land Historical and Genealogical Eegister, " Brief sketches of the officers who were in the battle of Lake Brie." A sketch of Dr. Parsons's career would be very incomplete, if it did not allude to the' tenacity with which he clung to early attachments, and the pleasure he took, during his mature and declining years, in re- visiting the scenes of his boyhood and youth. Almost every summer, after he had gained an established posi- tion in Providence, he went to his native place and the neighboring towns, where he had struggled with pov- erty and youthful ambition. No recreation gave him greater pleasure. He kept up intimate intercourse and correspondence with the relatives who still lived there. He also reverted with the deepest interest to the region about Lake Erie, where he had laid the founda- tions of success. He revisited this region several times, beside the occasions already referred to when he delivered historical discourses. In 1835, he made a tour to Lake Erie, in company with Captain Daniel Turner, who commanded the Caledonia in the battle 52 MEMOIR OP of September 10, 1813. They went from New York to Albany by steamboat, and tbence to Black Eock by canal. The journey by canal occupied three days. Dr. Parsons minutely describes, in his diary, the locali- ties at Black Eoek, and enumerates the houses that were standing there in 1812, most of which were de- stroyed by fire in December, 1813. He could not determine the exact location of the barracks where he had been lodged in 1812. He was joined at Buffalo by Captain Stephen Champlin, who commanded the Scor- pion in the battle of Lake Brie.* They Visited the Queen Charlotte, captured from the British in that battle, and afterward sunk in the lake. " A company of merchants lately bought the ships, and have raised the Queen and refitted her. The captain received us politely, and gave us some pieces of oak from her to make Walking canes. Captains Turner and Champlin and myself, made out an inscription to be put on a gilded cannon ball that is to be slung in her cabin. Said ball was taken out from among her timbers ; and, as we stated, was fired by the Tigris." In 1836, Dr. Parsons went to the west in behalf of the " Smithfield Emigrating Land Company." He thus writes, September 4, 1836 : " About three weeks since, I caught the western land-fever for speculation, which has ever since occupied my thoughts. Two weeks yesterday I attended a meeting at Scott's pond, and bought four shares. I was chosen member of the * Captain Daniel Turner, born at Staten Island, New York, August 8, 1792, died in Philadelphia, February i, 1850. Captain Stephen Champlin, born in South Kingstown, Ehode Island, November 17, 1789, a cousin of Commodore Perry, died at his residence in Buffalo, February 20, 1870. DR. USHER PARSONS. 53 -purchasing committee, to have my expenses paid." He was absent about seven weeks, went from Buffalo to Detroit, thence to Toledo, where he bought a horse for sixty dollars, a saddle, bridle and blanket for twelve. He then travelled horseback to Fort Wayne, Laporte, Chicago, Danville and Indianapolis. His expenses on this journey, as charged to the company, were three hundred and eleven dollars and twenty-five cents, including the purchase of horse and outfit, which were sold for forty-one dollars. He then and subse- quently bought land at different points in western states ; and some of these investments, after entailing a long continued burden of taxation and other expenses, became profitable many years later. In 1838, he revisited Brie, after an absence of nearly twenty-four years. lu his diary, he mentions Cayuga lake as almost the only place on his route to Buffalo, which he recognized as having seen it on his early march. He arrived in Erie late in the evening of July 5th. "Friday, 6th, visited the court house at seven o'clock. Here I received my wounded of the fleet about the 20th [24th] of September, 1813." He called on many persons with whom he had been very well acquainted for two years ; only one recognized him without aid, though many expressed great joy in meeting him. In the burying-ground he looked for the graves of Claxton, who died of a wound received in battle, and of other naval comrades. He writes : — " I called on Captain Dobbins, who was a sailing-master in the war, now commander of the revenue cutter. I went with him to the Peninsula, [Erie was formerly called Presqu' isle,] and trod once more the deck of the Lawrence, now a hulk 5* oi MEMOIR OF resting about east a quarter of a mile from the old block- house. Her deck is in a sound state; but the water comes neai'ly up to it, so that I could not see her hold. In this vessel I sailed in 1813, and was in battle. She was repaired the fol- lowing year, and I went in her to Mackinac with troops under Colonel Croghan. She was sunk and remained so till within the last two or three years, when she was raised and proved to be perfectly sound. Took some pieces from her to make canes of." The following day he visited James Miles, whose arm he had amputated the day after the battle on Lake Brie. " He did not recollect me ; but on learning who I was, shed tears of joy." His diary concludes thus : — " This visit to Erie gave me indescribable pleasure. The thousand associations of pleasure and of pain; the fresh recol- lections of events, as if they transpired but yesterday, which a thousand objects served to call up, and many of which would but for this visit never have been revived; the pleasure afforded in taking old friends by the hand, after a separation of twenty-four years ; the changes in looks; the changes in worldly condition for better and for worse; the grave-yard where lie the bodies of great numbers of early ft-iends; the changes and vast improvements about the city, — elegant houses and churches where there were then but a few humble dwellings, — aU, all tended to render my stay here one of the most intense interest, on many occasions so powerful as to take from me the power of speech. But what shall I say of the protecting mercy of Him who through dangers seen and unseen, perils by land and perils in the deep, has surrounded my path, and preserved me to the present moment ? May the remainder of my days be more devoted to His service." In 1854, after attending the meeting of the Ameri- can Medical Association at St. Louis, he journeyed to Chicago and St. Paul's, visited the falls of St. Anthony, DR. USHEE PAESONS. 55 and returned by the way of Buffalo, Montreal and Quebec. The next year, he went to Lake Superior, with his nephew Edwin. On his way, he rehearsed on the spot his adventure in the capture of Fort Erie in 1813. He stopped at Mackinac and Sault St Marie, and examined and described the copper mines at Lake Superior. For several years before his death, Dr. Parsons was almost wholly withdrawn from active practice, though he sometimes visited in consultation, and even per- formed some surgical operations. His last amputation was of the fore-arm, performed when he was seventy- four years old, in Eehoboth. His sturdy health of body and mind gradually failed, but with very little suffering, and with many circumstances fitted to make old age happy. An increasing forgetfulness in regard to business matters, and hesitancy in speech and un- certainty in locomotion, showed that his powerful brain was yielding to the natural changes in its text- ure; but he still enjoyed reading, frequented the Athenaeum, called at the houses of a few familiar friends, kept up a rather extensive correspondence, visited his near relatives in Maine and New York city, and interested himself in watching the progress of the Ehode Island Hospital. The exercises at the opening of this hospital took place October 1, 1868. He was conducted to a seat on the platform, and was kindly referred to in Professor Grammell's eloquent discourse. This compliment, the last he was ever to receive on any public occasion, gratified him very much. He wrote in his diary the next day, with a trembling hand, "I feel very happy for yesterday's doings." 56 MEMOIR OF He was present at the first important surgical operation performed there, October 10. On the evening of October 17, after exposure to cold, he had a severe acute attack, involving the brain, and followed by persistent nausea, headache and con- fusion of mind. He first left the house after this, November 3, when he voted at the presidential elec- tion. He continued to go out almost every day for a month more, but with feeble and uncertain steps, and a degree of mental disorder that gave his family great anxiety. From December 4, he was again confined to the house and mostly to his chamber, and died on the morning of December 19, 1868, aged eighty years and four months. He was very faithfully attended in his last sickness by his friend Dr. Stephen S. Keene. An autopsy showed chronic degeneration in the arteries and membranes of the brain, and acute inflammatory disease in the cerebellum. This last probably dated from the 17th of October, and was the immediate cause of death. His funeral was kindly attended by Eev. J. G. Vose, of the Beneficent Congregational church. He was buried in Swan Point cemetery. On the 1st of June, 1869, Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, President of the Ehode Island Historical Society, read before that body, in accordance with previous appoint- ment, a discourse " On the services of three distin- guished members of the society, who died during the year 1868," Albert Gorton Greene, William Eead Staples, and Usher Parsons. I have already extracted from this discourse. The portion of it referring to Dr. Parsons closes with the following sentences : — DR. USHER PARSONS. 57 " Probably no man now living has so complete a knowledge of Indian traditions and history, or is so competent to inter- pret their meaning, as was Dr. Parsons. In his later years he retired from practice and devoted his time to these favorite pursuits; often making long journeys, even beyond the Mis- sissippi river, always returning with some new discovery in Indian lore, and some vivid impressions of the growing great- ness of our country. He was a man in whom the love of country was strongly marked, and whose fidelity to the flag never faltered in the darkest hour. His was a genial tem- perament and a kindly heart, with much of the jovial spirit of the seas in his hours of relaxation. We miss his familiar form in these seats at our stated meetings, and we miss his cordial greeting and his honest smile in the daily intercourse of life ; for there are few families in this city where he was not a welcome guest, and where, during his long residence of nearly half a century among us, his name had not become as a household word. Loved in life and honored in death, his memory will be revered by all who value those high qualities of manhood which were united in his character." APPENDIX. I. [This sketch of Dr. Parsons's early Instructor in classical studies was prepared hy him, and is printed from a manuscript found among his papers.] The Rev. Moses Sweat, A. M., was a native of Kingston, New Hampshire. In his youth he was occupied in the labours of a farmer, and occasionally taught a school. Being very fond of boots and particularly interested in the study of the dead languages, he made great progress in them, under the instruction of Parson Moody, then preceptor of Dummer Academy, who encouraged him to expect a tutorship in some college. But Mr. Moody soon died, and his favorite pupil then devoted his time to the study of theology, under the direction of Elihu Thayer, D. D., of Kingston, New Hamp- shire. About the year 1788, the Congregational society in Sanford, which then included Alfred, invited Mr. Sweat to become their pastor, offering him a salary of three hundred dollars with a parsonage lot for a settlement, which he accepted, and from this salary he soon, by rigid economy, saved enough to purchase the large Polyglot Bible of ten volumes folio. He then engaged ardently in the study of many of the oriental languages. Greek and Hebrew he could read fluently, and he made some progress in the study of Syriac, Arabic and Chaldaic. 60 APPENDIX, H6 published two discourses in 1805, entitled " A Critical Investigation of the Mode of Baptism as performed by the primitive churches," about one hundred pages, in which he traced out the words Bapto and Baptizo in all the oriental languages. The work was so highly appreciated by the learned, that the late Judge Sewall of the United States Court, subscribed for many copies for circulation. The only other publication was a discourse preached at Alfred, on the occasion of its separation from Sanford. It was regarded as ingenious and highly creditable to the author's literary taste and skill. Dr. Hemmenway and other clergymen in York county, duly estimating his character and attainments, presented his name to the authorities of Harvard College, with a petition to award him the degree of A. B,, and, in 1790, he received the degree of A. M. About ten years after his settlement his health failed and obliged him to suspend his ministerial labours for the term of a year. About the same time the Baptist society made in- roads upon his flock, and detached a large number, which made it necessary for those who remained to ask for a reduc- tion of his salary, to which he acceded, and for nearly thirty years he continued his ministerial labours on a salary of one hundred dollars per annum. His large stock of sermons on hand made it unnecessary for him to write many new ones, and he consequently passed most of his time in agricultural pursuits. After his decease the writer of this sketch received from the children of Mr. Sweat a present of some forty or fifty sermons. Though written in haste, they are faultless in style in every particular, even to punctuation. His composition was made from the purest English. He devoted about ten hours to writing a sermon. There was nothing impassioned in his discourses, but simply appeals to reason and common sense, and they were always practical in their nature and ten- dency. He affiliated with Arminians as well as with Ortho- dox brethren, and with those of intermediate shades of opin- ion. He held to the trinity and believed in the atonement, APPENDIX. 61 but he rarely if ever preached strong doctrinal discourses. Though his voice was feeble he was a rapid speaker, and he made no display of oratorical flourish in his manner. In conversation he was fluent, very instructive and agreeable — in manners mild, meek, afiable and gentle. The writer of this, who passed a year in his family in the study of Latin and Greek, can truly say that in all the graces of a christian gentleman and model pastor he never saw his equal. Mr. Sweat died at Sanford, Aug. 30, 1822. He had three sons and two daughters, all of whom have deceased since his death. The Polyglot Bible is to be found in the library of Bowdoin College. II. [The following was Dr. Parsons's first medical publication. It was written for the Buffalo Gazette, and appeared in that paper.] BTrFFALO, Tuesday, January 19, 1813. Messes. Editors : — The last number of your paper contains a request that the physicians in this vicinity will make known to the public their opinion as to the most successful mode of treating the pre- vailing disease ; and observing a letter in your paper of the 5th inst., containing the sentiments of one of the faculty, which in certain essential points may be deemed incorrect, I send you this reply. Dk. John Eoss:— "While pleased with the judicious introductory remarks of your communication on the disease which prevails in this section of the country, I am led to disagree with you in the propriety of laying aside blood-letting. Previous to showing the utility of this remedy, I must inform you that your failure of success, of which you speak, while practising it, proceeded from your attending too much to the general state of the sys- tem, without sufficiently regarding the local affection. A con- 6 62 APPENDIX vincing proof of this is, you altogether mistook the seat of the disease in considering it to be in the right hypochrondium, when it is in the thorax, and is nothing more nor less than pneumonia or pleurisy. In confirmation of this, I will venture to say a more ac- curate description of the disease now prevailing cannot be given than tlie one by Dr. CuUen, in his ti'catise on pleurisy. Besides, of more than seventy cases that have fallen under my care, but little variation in the symptoms has been ob- servable, except in violence and duration. And, that the seat and nature of the disease might be thoroughly under- stood, the bodies of six patients, which were nearly all that died, and these where the disease first made its appearance, were carefully examined. The following wei'e the appear- ances in the thorax ; the lungs highly inflamed, adhered firm- ly to the pleura, in some places were so sphacelated that no vestige of organic structure remained, and in no place exhib- ited a healthy appearance. The pleura had a livid appear- ance. The diaphragm and pericardium had the same, and were much thickened. In no case were the contents of the right hypochrondium in any degree diseased except that the superior surface of the liver was slightly inflamed, which might be ascribed to its contiguity to the diaphragm. This state of the thoracic viscera precisely corresponds with that which medical authors tell us appears in bodies where death is produced by pleurisy. Therefore your aversion. Sir, to blood-letting, singular as it is, can as easily be accounted for, as your opinion that the prevailing epidemic (pleurisy) " is new to the physicians in this part of the world." In attempting the cure of the pleurisy, "the remedy chiefly to be relied upon is that of bleeding at the arm." With this I have commenced the treatment of every case that has come under my care, and have invariably found it relieve the most distressing complaints. In some patients, the pulse after the first bleeding being very low detei-red me from repeating the operation, although the pain and diflicult respiration returned. These cases terminated fatally ; and in reflecting upon them, I am pained with the belief that, had the use of the lancet APPENDIX. 63 been repeated as often as the distressing symptoms returned, the life of every patient might have been saved. " Sometimes the second bleeding may be larger than the first. There are persons who by their constitution are ready to faint, even upon a small bleeding ; and in such persons this may prevent the drawing so much blood at first as a pneumonic inflammation might require ; but as the same persons are frequently found to bear allter-bleedings better than the first, this allows the second and subsequent bleedings to be larger. It is according to the state of the symptoms, that bleedings are to be repeat- ed ; and they will be more efiectual, when practised in the course of the three first days than afterwards ; but they are not to be omitted though four days of the disease may have elapsed." Early in the disease I have derived evident advantage from the application of blisters directly over the pained part. Translating a part of the morbid action of the lungs to the glandular system, by such medicines as will induce salivation, has invariably produced a salutary termination of the disor- der. For this purpose I have exhibited calomel and opium combined in small doses, and applied mercurial unction ex- ternally. Small doses of nitre and tartar-emetic, given several times in the course of a day, not only act as a gentle laxative, but tend to promote perspiration and exijectoration, two symptoms denoting a favorable crisis. This mode of practice, both theory and experience teach me to be the most rational and successful ; and it has the sanction of perhaps every writer on medicine. Ton will not receive these remarks. Sir, as an attack on your professional character, nor as expressive of a wish to commence newspa- per controversy. I am actuated principally by a desire to re- move from the minds of my patients .any undue prejudice against the use of the lancet, which the publication of your sentiments may occasion. Yery respectfully, Tour obedient servant. 64 APPENDIX. III. ACCOTJNT OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE EEIE, EXTRACTED FEOM DE. PAESONS'S DIAEY. PxTT-iN-BAT, Friday, September 10. At five o'clock, a. m., discovered the enemy's squadron bearing Noi^tli West, wind South West. At seven could see all the vessels, viz : — two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. At ten called all hands to quarters. At quarter before meridian the enemy commenced the action at one mile distance. In half an hour we came within musket shot of the enemy's new ship Detroit. At this time they opened a most destructive Are on the Lawrence from their whole squadron. At half past one, so entirely disabled we could work the brig no longer. At two P. M., most of the guns were dismounted, breechings gone or carriages knocked to pieces. At half past two, when not another gun could be worked or flred from the Lawrence, Captain Perry hauled down the fighting flag, which bore this motto, DonH give up tJie ship, repaired on board the Niagara, and there raised it again. In ten minutes after, we struck to the enemy. Captain Perry made all sail with the Niagara, which hitherto had kept out of the action, and in fifteen minutes passed in among the British squadron, having the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost on the starboard side, and the Hunter on the larboard side, and silenced them all, and ten minutes before three they hauled down their colors. Two small vessels attempted to escape, but being overhauled struck a few minutes after three. Killed on board the Lawrence, Lieutenant John Brooks, Midshipman Henry Laub, James W. Allen, Joseph Ken- nady, John C. Kelly, John Smith, William Cranson, Andrew Michael, John HoflTman, Charles Pohig, Nelson Peters, James Jones, John Bose, James Carty, Thomas Butler, Wil- son May, Christian Mayo, Charles Johnes, Eatheldras Sykes, and three others; sixty-three wounded. Slept but little, and dressed about one-third, and secured with tourniquets such as bled copiously. During the action I cut oif six legs in the cockpit, which were nearly divided by cannon balls. APPENDIX. 65 EXTEACT FROM A LETTER TO HIS FATHER. "Near the head of Lake Brie, l On board the U. S. Sloop La-wrenoe, r September 22, 1813. ) " Before the arrival of this an account of our victorious en- gagement with the British squadron on this Lake will reach you. I can only add a few particulars. Most of the action was supported by this vessel, as you will suppose when in- formed that out of one hundred and fifty men (our ship's crew) , thirty-one of whom were sick previous to the action, we had rising eighty killed and wounded, among whom were nearly all our officers save the intrepid Commodore. On board all the others were about thirty killed and wounded. This vessel was engaged with the enemy's two ships on one side and a brig astern raking us for two hours, all within musket-shot, during which we rendered the ships unmanageable, and when this vessel could not discharge another gun the Commander repaired on .board the Niagara; and within fifteen minutes af- ter he arrived within close action with them, the enemy's three vessels struck. Unfortunately for the wounded, the two surgeons had been confined for several days with fever, and could render them but little assistance. It has however operated in my favor, as I have had aU the amputations to perform ; and it afibrds me the greatest pleasure to reflect that in no case have I failed of the best success. This has inclined the Commodore's opinion so much in my favor that I have no doubt he will render me assistance towards obtaining a better situation. He is the first warm friend I have met with in the service capable of assist- ing me. I am now on my way in the Lawrence for Erie, hav- ing all the sick and wounded of the squadron on board, and shall continue in the hospital with them till they in a measure recover, and will then direct my course toward Cape Home. General Harrison was on board the Lawrence this morn- ing, and his army was on an island within half a mile of the vessel. It is supposed to consist of at least eight hundred reg- ulars, militia and Indians. To-morrow they cross to Maiden, a distance of about eighteen miles. Since the capture of the 6* 66 APPENDIX. British squadron, the Indians have evacuated Detroit, after burning the place, and (as is reported) massacring the inhabit- ants. The enemy's squadron mounted more guns than ours, and carried more men by at least one-fourth. I had some narroTV escapes for my life during the action. Five cannon balls passed through the room in which I was attending to the wounded. Two of the men I had dressed and laid aside in the commencement of the action were killed, before it closed, by other shots. I have had very poor health all the cruise, am reduced to a skeleton, but am recovering. Never will I cruise again on this lake or any other. The action was fought within about ten miles of Maiden. The enemy came out over night for the purpose of attacking us, and in the morning were within about fourteen miles of us, the wind in their favor. We made sail to meet them, and the wind changed in our favor, which gave us an advantage over them. They had more killed and wounded than we." IV. FEOM THE DIAEY OF HIS JOITENET TO LOUISBTJEG, AUGUST 1862. " On our arrival in Sidney we found a boat just down from Upper or South Sidney some miles up the river; some pleas- ant people on board, three ladies. Dined at a private board- ing house, and took an open buggy with two horses and dri- ver. Left at quarter before three for Louisburg, twenty-six miles distant. Rode twelve miles to Miray Eiver, over a very good road. We passed not more than ten or twelve houses and very poor. Very small portion of the land is cleared; covered chiefly with fur, spruce, hemlock, hackmatack. In some places there is birch, beech, maple, and abundance of alder bushes; no oak nor pine. There is very little granite, but a sort of coarse sandstone. The surface and covering of the earth resembles the lower part of Maine, and is very APPENDIX, 67 rocky most of the way. Crossed several bridges. The set- tlers are mostly Irish and highland Scotch; very few New Englanders. The cleared land presents stumps of small size and three to four feet high, the trees being cut in winter when snow is three feet deep on a level, and lasts four or five months. Oats, and barley, and some wheat, and many pota- to-patches, are along the road. Land is said to be poor, ex- cepting on the river shores where it is very good. There is no good timber-land. The houses are very poor, and mostly log-cabins. " Beyond Miray, the land is very poor, rocky and thinly settled. Two or three Scotch families appear to be thrifty, and have some good cattle. The road is little better than a cow-path, hilly and stony. The Kiver Miray runs up some forty or fifty miles, and is one half to three quarters of a mile wide. The bays make in from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, viz: Miray and the Main-a-dieu (?), to near the road we are tra- velling. " We arrived in Louisburg at eight o'clock, approaching it from the "West, and descending to the harbor near the royal battery, then skirted along the shore southerly, and then crossing a bridge went into the old fortifications in a southerly direction, following near to the shore from the grand battery to the west gate which is at the water's edge. " "We had a letter from Judge Dodd to Mr. Kennedy, an Irishman seventy years old, whose one-story neat looking house outside is near the water, and between the west gate and the Governor's house, the ruins of which remain. It stands on a small indentation of the shore, and was inclosed by a chain boom that stretched across from near the west gate to a point of land projecting out. " August 23. Bose early and looked out upon the harbor. An Irish fisherman living a few rods east pointed out the place of the grand battery in front of us, about four-fifths of a mile distant and a little on our left. On our right stood the light-house point, an elevated headland, and on our right the island-battery and the Green battery farther out. Eight in front of us was the N. E. harbor, running two miles, inclining at the head to the right. About fifteen or twenty dwellings 68 APPENDIX. I of small size skirted the bank that rose from the water back- ward, so that the whole harbor or basin seems like the arena of an immense amphitheatre, the land rising up backward and mostly cleared for half to three-quarters of a mile back, and dotted irregularly with huts, and a small catholic church stands halfway up the ascent in a north direction. " On the tongue of land that projects off into the sea as far as island-battery, the end of which ranges nearly in a line with the island-battery and light-house, was the site of the ancient fortress. The line of wall stretched from the west gate in a south-east direction across the land to the ocean, and a plan of it is laid down in maps. Near the south-east termination of this ancient wall, and outside of it, was an immense iron- stone rock forming a sort of cliff on the ocean. Prom this, much of the stone was taken to build the fortification, and a hundred cartloads, that had been got out by drilling, lie in piles near it. The drill-holes still remain visible; the stone is dark and resembles basalt. It seems to be as imperishable. Near the end of the tongue of land was the ancient burying-ground, and some remains of the graves are yet visible. But near the water was a large battery that terminated the land, and with- in it a glacis and trench. " We landed from the island battery near this old mound, and after bathing walked toward the ancient city by the street that passed the south side of the hospital. Passed another battery parallel with the first; and over grass ground, to the old ruins of the hospital, chapel and nunnery, the stones of which are down almost to a level with the grass land. "We then passed the site of the Governor's house, and last the Secretary's, in front of which were the public civil offices. The Governor's house stood within four rods of the water. Arches that supported it are remaining. The facing stone of the public building was a white tufa or seeming sand-stone. Many cargoes of the bricks are carried to Halifax and Sidney, and also of the facing-stone above mentioned; and many car- goes still remain. On one of the white facing-stones I noticed the name, " I. Gridley, 1745," neatly carved or engraved. Isaac Gridley was chief engineer under Pepperrell in 1745. APPENDIX. 69 " Many barrels of old iron, as hinges, spikes, horse-shoes, bolts, kettles &c., have been discovered here, and a barrel full is now in Mr. Kennedy's store, and he has sold many. He has broken up and sold a dozen cannon as old iron, and half a dozen are lying about the cliff. The arches in the casemates were three stories high, — the arch itself making one. The timbers supporting the floors were a foot square, and the ends of them are still visible. V. LIST OF PTIBLICATIONS OF DE. PAESONS, FROM MEMO- RANDA ISr HIS HANDWEITISTG. 1809. Pettifogger's Soliloquy, in verse ; Freeman's Friend, Saco. 18U. Book of Chronicles, 2 chapters; Boston Scourge. 1813. On pleuro-pneumonia, addressed to Dr. John Eoss ; Buffalo Gazette. 1818. Gunshot wounds through the Thorax; New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. 1818. Surgical account of the Naval Battle on Lake Erie; Wew England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. 1819. Letter to Hon. John Holmes, from Isle of Wight; Eastern Argus. 1820. Sailor's Physician, 1 vol. 8 vo.; Cambridge. 1824. Physician for Ships, a 2d edition of the above, with additions, (2000 copies.) 1824. Poison of Rattle-snake cured by whiskey; Philadelphia Medical Recorder. 1826. Epilepsy cured by galvanism; New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery. 1826. Introductory Lecture on Anatomy and Physiology; Brown University. 1827. Boylston Prize Dissertation on Periostitis. 70 APPENDIX, 1827. On Introduction of medicines into the veins; Phila- delphia Medical Becorder. 1829. Eeview of Allen's Mechanics; American Journal of Science. 1829. Boylston Prize Dissertation on Eneuresis Irritata; Boston Medical and Surgical Jou/rnal. 1829. Case of poisoning by tartar-emetic; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 1830. Boylston IPrize Dissertation on Cutaneous Diseases, &c.; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,, 1830. On Animal and Yegetable Decomposition as a cause of fever. lb. 1830. Discussion on the above, with Dr. James Jackson of Boston, lb. 1831. Address on Temperance, Providence. 1831. Art of making Anatomical Preparations; 1 vol. 8 vo., Philadelphia. 1832. Eeview of Allen's "Practical Tourist;" American Journal of Science. 1833. Eemarks on Phrenology; Literary Jou/rnal, Providence. 1834. Biography of Dr. Solomon Drowne; Literary Journal, Providence. 1835. Boylston Prize Dissertation on Cancer of the Breast; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 1836. On Quarantines; United States N'aval Lyceum. 1838. Genealogy of the family of Joseph Parsons. 1839. Boylston Prize Dissertations, 1 vol. 8vo., with a history of the fund and a notice of its founder. 1840. Brief account of Early Physicians and Medical Society of Ehode Island; American Quarterly Register. 1840. Lecture on connection and reciprocal influence be- tween Brain and Stomach, before American Insti- tute of Instruction, Providence. 1840. The Avenger of Blood; Knickerbocker Magazine. 1842. Notice of Dr. Jeremiah Williams; Boston Medical and Surgical Jou/rnal. 1842. Fiske Fund Prize Dissertation on Spinal Diseases. 1842. Physician for Ships; 3d edition, with new notes, &c. APPENDIX. 71 1843. Notice of Dr. Niles Manchester; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 1848. Statistics of large Surgical operations; American Jour- nal of Medical Sciences. ♦ 1849. Memoir of Charles !Prost; JVew England Historical and Genealogical Begister. 1849. Eeport of Committee on Adulteration of Drugs ; Trans- actions of American Medical Association. 1850. Eeport of Committee on Medical Sciences; Transac- tions of American Medical Association. 1850. Article on prohibition of flogging in the Navy; Sun- day Dispatch. 1851. Physician for Ships: 4th edition. 1851. Report of case of removal of uterus, by ligature; Bos- ton Medical and Surgical Journal. 1852. Discourse on the Battle of Lake Erie, delivered be- fore the Ehode Island Historical Society. 1853. Genealogy of the Trost family, of York county, Maine. 1854. Address before American Medical Association, at St. Louis. 1855. Life of Sir "William Pepperrell, Bart., the only native of New England who was created a Baronet during its connection with the mother country; Boston; (London, 1856.) 1858. Address on the Battle of Lake Erie; delivered at Put- in-Bay Island. 1858. Notice of Descendants of Peter Hill of York county, Maine; J^ew England Historical and Genealogical Register. 1859. Sketches of Ehode Island Physicians deceased prior to 1850, &c.; Transactions of Bhode Island Medical Society. 1860. Notices of Dr. "Walter V. "Wheaton and Judge Hali- burton; Providence Journal. 1860. Address on Battle of Lake Erie; delivered at Cleve- land, Ohio. 1860. On the importance of culture of Flax; Transactions of Bhode Island Society for Encouragement of DomesUc Industry. 72 APPENDIX. 1861. Indian Names ol Places in Eliode Island. 1861. Letter on some points of Military Surgery; Transac- tions of Bhode Island Medical Society. 1862. Brief Sketches of the oflScers who were in the Battle of Lake Erie ; H'ew Enyland Historical and Genealog- ical Megister. 1863. Lecture on Indian Relics; Historical Magazine. 1863. Letter to Mr. George Livermore, on services rendered by negroes in the war of 1812 ; Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society. 1867. Physician for Ships; 5th edition. [This list includes all his known puWislied writings, except some newspaper articles and trief contributions to medical journals.]