SOME OP THE DEVICES PRACTISED IIT THE | LATE WAR BY THOSE LIABLE TO MILITARY SERVICE, TO i AVOID GOING : by " Observer " in EN TO 'THE AEEY, Historical Mag. June , 1371. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA THE COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROLINIANA ENDOWED BY JOHN SPRUNT HILL CLASS OF 1889 _a Cp^7o,79 Sk3 This >K may be kept out TWO WEEKS CVt,y. subject • - ~f FIVE the v/V :l- 1871] HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. 399 brought with him letters written by his pupils and read them to the old Cherokees. _ The lat- ter were now convinced that he had discovered the method of talking on paper, and became his pupil?. This alphabet was afterward im- proved by Bondinot and others ; but Dick Guess was its real father. His home was in what is now Knox's Quarter, near Alpine, Georgia. — Doylestoicn Democrat.- — The history of the well-known " Bartlett " Pear "' is thus given by the Boston Traveller. Mr. Enoch Bartlett, who owned the Bartlett estate in Dorchester, now Boston Highlands, was Vice-president of the Massachusetts Hor- ticultural Society, for many years, and was an eminent horticulturist. Some forty years ago, he brought from this estate to one of the meet- ings, a choice pear, never before seen by the members. Mr. Bartlett and the members of the Society supposed it to be a seedling pair; and, out of regard to Mr. Bartlett, it was named the " Bartlett Pear." But, in point of fact, this was merely an old English pear, well known there as "William's Good Christian ;" and it had been imported by Mr. T. Brewer, who built the Bartlett house and laid out the grounds, some time about the year 1815. But the estate having been, after a few years, sold, and passing into other hands, the history of the tree was not known until Mr. Bartlett's in- troduction of it to the Massachusetts Horti- cultural Society made it famous. — Albany Art/us. early and powerful Sermons. Near it, several of his children, now famous, were born. The pulpit of the Church is in the possession of the Long Island Historical Society, in Brook- lyn. — N. T. Observer. VIII.— NOTES. Kid, Kidnapper. — The following definitions, from Bailey's Dictionary, have an historical in- terest as well as a philological one. They show some of the popular impressions that pre- vailed in England, at the beginning of the last century. " Kid, formerly, one trepanned " [i. e. en- trapped] " by kidnappers ; now, one who is " bound apprentice, here," [England,] "in or- " der to be transported to the English colonie„ " in America." "Kidnapper, a person who makes it his " business to decoy either Children or young " Persons, to send them to the 'English planta- " tions in America.'" S. A. G. Boston. — The old Presbyterian-church, at Easthamp- ton, Long Island, where Drs. Buel, and Lyman Beecher, and others delivered the Gospel, in years long gone by, has at last been levelled to the earth. "When the new house of worship was erected, nearly twenty years ago, the old one was sold ; and it has been decaying and unused ever since. At last, the frame has been taken down, and the place that knew it will know it no more, forever. It was erected in 1717. Its history would be the record of glorious displays of the pow- der of God, in the preaching of his Word, revi- vals of religion, conversions of multitudes, and - the growth of successive generations of intelli- Q gent Christians. It was in this church that Dr. if)Buel, when speaking of the aggravated guilt . of those who would perish under such privi- LT . leges as they there enjoyed, once said . " In the _. " last day, when the world is assembled before **<' its Judge, the cry will go up, ■ Make room ! "'make room! an Easthampton sinner has '" come to judgment !' " Old Point Monument. — In 1689, Sebastian Rasle, a man of good sense, sound learning, and address, belonging to a respectable family in France, was appointed a Jesuit Missionary to the Norridgewock Indians. He consented, to relinquish the pleasures of refined and polished society, and to live with the Indians, thirty- five years, in their rude huts and on their scan- ty fare. He was killed and scalped, and his Church, built by the Government of Massachusetts, of hewn timber, was burned, on the twenty-third of August, 1724. His body was buried by some of his converts, who escaped the general destruction of their tribe ; and a wooden cross erected over the grave, near the place of the altar. This cross was standing, in 1774, when this place was first settled by a small Colony from Massachusetts. The place was often visit- ed by travellers of distinction, such as Gover- nors, Judges, and men of distinguished reputa- tion. But, as all vestiges of the spot had nearly disappeared, the Honorable Edward Kavenau, a native of France ; a gentleman of talents; who had been educated a Catholic; who had come to this country, before Maine became a State, and become an adopted citi- zen ; and, when Maine became a State, whose services were appreciated by the people and he was repeatedly chosen Senator for the large County of Lincoln; and, at last, was chosen President of the Senate. He became the act- It was in this church that Dr. Lyman Beecher preached some of his ' ing Governor of the State, after the death of 400 HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. [June. Governor Lincoln, and discharged the duties of his various offices with ability and fidelity, to the satisfaction of all parties. In January, 1833, being a member of Con- gress, he projected a splendid monument to be erected over the grave of Rasle, at Old Point, near the Northwest corner of Norridge- wock ; procured an artist to make a drawing of it ; and sent a copy to the Selectmen of this town. It was to be eight feet square at the base ; with a marble slab inserted, on the front side, to receive the inscription ; and to be seven- ty feet high. He sent a copy likewise to Bishop Fenwick, of Boston. The Bishop approved of having a less costly monument erected; but was opposed to that projected by Mr. Kavenau, on account of the violent prejudices that then existed against the Catholics. A mob in Bos- ton, which could not be restrained by the police, had, not long before, demolished and burnt their Church in that city. That, if a costly structure were erected over the grave of Rasle, it might excite the existing prejudice so as to cause its destruction, even if erected by Mr. Kavenau. That, if it were practicable, he would have a stone from the quarry with no mark of a hammer on it — the more Indian-like the better — but, as that could not be done, he "would assume the whole cost of the purchase of a lot, to contain an acre, on which Rasle was buried, and erect a monument, to be four feet square, at the base, covered with a granite slab, six inches thick, four feet and six inches square, with a granite shaft, four feet square at the base, and eleven feet high, tapered to a round point, with an iron cross inserted in the top ; the whole to be seventeen feet high ; the front stone, in the upper part of the base- ment, to be hewn smooth to receive an inscrip- tion. All which was done, and Bishop Fen- wick paid the bill; and the monument was erected on the twenty-third of August, 1S33, in presence of a large concourse of people, in- cluding a large delegation of Indians, from Penobscot. A company from Bostcn went to see it, two years afterwards, and one, in a boisterous man- ner, said that it would not be permitted to stand a week, in that vicinity. This excited the prejudice of some who heard it; and, after a Jew days, it was thrown down. But it was soon after replaced by Samuel Searle, Esq., and one or two others, at their expense, being in- dignant that the reputation of the town should thus be invaded. All prejudice gradually sub- sided, except with some one who defaced the Latin inscription and deposited filth about it. In the fall of 1848, a rum-seller in a neigh- boring town, being prosecuted for selling rum in this town, to revenge himself, threw clown the monument, a second time, and stole the iron cross, as we have good reason to believe. . In 1861, a party from Skowhegan and Nor" ridgewock had a pic-nic at Old Point; raised a contribution; and had it erected a third time; and it still remains, a harmless memento of the place where the Indian Church once stood. The inscription being unintelligible, a copy in English is as follows : "Rev. Sebastian Rasle, a native of France, " a Missionary of the Society of Jesuits, at "first preaching, for a few years, to the Illinois " and Hurons, afterwards, for thirty-four years, "to the Abnaqies, in faith and charity ; a true " Apostle of Christ. Undaunted by the danger " of arms ; often testifying that he was prepar- " ed to die for his flock ; at length, this best " of Pastors fell amidst arms, at the destruction " of the Village of Norridgewock and the ruins " of his own Church, in this very place, on the " twenty-third day of August, A. D. 1724. " Bishop Fenwick, Bishop of Boston, has " erected this monument and dedicated it to " him and his deceased children, on the twenty- "third of August, A. D. 1833, and to the " greater glory of God." William Allen. NoRIUDGEWOCK, Me. Some or the Devices phactised in the late "war, by those liable to military Service, to avoid going into the Army. — According to the custom of the ancients, in similar cases, some mutilated some of the fin- gers of their right hands ; some scalded their shins, to produce bad sores ; and some bound copper cents to their feet, until they produced that result. One woman endeavored to screen her son by bringing the record of his birth in her Bible, to show that he was under age ; but she happened to have a copy, according to its date, printed later than the entry with the pen. In some cases, the date of the book had been altered by the hand. One man made himself a place of concealment, by digging into the side of a bank of earth, where he amused him- self by playing on the violin, by the sound of which he was detected. Some others found a small stream running between some hills, and crossing a public road. From this, to avoid leav- ing any track, they waded up the stream and dug into the bank, on the side of a hill, in an upward direction, carefully concealing the dirt. At the farther end of their den, they made an opening to the surface. Over this, in its natu- ral position, they placed a large hollow tree, for a chimney. Under this, they could have a fire,, at night, when, mostly, they frequented their burrow. During the day, they lurked among some pine bushes, on the opposite hill. One man put a partition across his house, not far from the wall of one end, in which was no- 1871] HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. 401 window. He had a trap-door, under a bed, in the main apartment, and another through the floor of his closet. His ingress and egress were through these; and, here, he kept goods for sale, to those of like sentiments with him- self and who could keep his secret. When his hiding-place was discovered and the officers threatened to shoot through his partition, he surrendered. In one instance, a man had a large bin for grain, with a double bottom and with a sufficient space between the two for him to occupy, through the day. An opening was made for him to enter, in the backside, which could be pushed up to the wall. His wife be- trayed his secret, by always seeming to keep near the box, when the recruiting officer was present. One man burrowed under the manger of his stables. The outer opening of his hole was under a pile of manure, in the yard. In unfrequented places and remote from pub- lic roads, men assumed the garb of women and, in Summer, worked in the fields. Some had hiding-places under stacks of hay or straw ; some between the weather-boarding and ceiling of their log houses; and some over the piazzas, with openings through the walls, to enter. In one instance, a man found a very large hollow tree, broken off some distance from the ground. He made a light ladder that would reach near the top ; threw down a quantity of dry leaves, inside ; took up the ladder and let it down on the inside; and descended to the bottom. By making a small hole in the rind of the tree, he admitted light enough to work at the trade of a shoe-maker. He took up and let down his ladder, each way, as he went in and out of his place of confinement. A great variety of diseases was feigned — some of them very strange ones, and such as cannot well be spoken of in print. One person told the Surgeons he had " a confliction of dis- '• eases as great as any man ever had." One said he had a very dirty disease — he did not like to name it ; and it was with difficulty he could be brought to do it; when it proved to be something like the piles. Others, acquired the ability to assume the appearance of these, at pleasure. One soldier, with a very dark skin and very much resembling a negro, though not of that origin, with great concern, consult- ed with a friend as to what he should do to avoid conscription to the Army. The friend advised him to put in the plea of colored blood — he did so, and escaped. Some men affected to have kidney-diseases, which they were never known to have before. Some al- leged impotence; some, being affected periodi- cally, like the female sex. Thus, there was almost no end to the strata- gems, devices, and pleas, to avoid entering the Army , in addition to tbe multiplied Govern- ment contracts, for numberless articles of use in the tented-field. Observer. North Carolina. IX.— QUERY. Can any one tell me the name of the author of the following extract, and where it may be found i ' S. A. D. " Literature is a ray of that wisdom which " pervades the universe. Like the sun, it en- " lightens, rejoices, and warms. By the aid of ■' books, we collect around us all things, all "places, men, and times. By them, we are re- ' called to the duties of human life. By the " sacred example of greatness, our passions are " directed and we are aroused to virtue. Liter- " ature is the daughter of heaven, who has " descended upon earth to soften the evils of " life. Have recourse, then, to books." X.— REPLIES. Tiie Bell of St. Regis, (K M. II. vii. 407). — The story of the Bell of St. Regis first ap- peared, I think, in one of the Annuals, which it was formerly the custom to publish. It was a very nice story, but it is hardly history. There are a few difficulties in regard to it, which, at the time it was written, were not so glaring as the mere general knowledge of Canadian matters make them now. First. In 1704, there was no individual known as St. Regis. This name is a short form for St. John Francis Regis. He was not canonized till 1737; and the name "Saint" was not affixed to his name till then. Second. The Iroquois village of St. Regis was not begun by Father Gordon, till about 1700; and the French were a little too busy, just then, as well as too poor, to send to France for a bell for Father Gordon's log Chapel, erected for the hard cases whom he took to the new village, to get them away from the cabarets (liquor-stores) of Montreal. Third. The attack on Deerfield, in 1704, was made by Lieutenant Hertel de Rouville, with Abenaqui Indians, chiefly — the New Eng- enders having first attacked the Abenaquis. The Rev. Mr. Williams was taken, at the time ; and his Redeemed Captive shows an entire ab- sence of any allusion to the bell, its capture, or transportation, overland. The story, then, is certainly out of the way, in making any " St. Regis," in 1704 ; in making one in Canada, in 1704, and in making a bell, carried to any such place, from Deerfield, in 1704. J. G. 8, Elizabeth, N. J. 402 HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. June, North Carolina. — \H. M., II., ix., 122.]— Hon. D. L. Swain was appointed Historical Agent of the State of North Carolina, by authority of a Resolution of the Legislature, in 1854-5. He reported to the Governor, on the twentieth of November, 1855, and on the first of December, 1856. In 1857, a Resolution was adopted, continuing the agency and authoriz- ing the Agent to examine the public archives and other sources of information of sister States, as well as the mother country. Under this Commission,' he visited Charleston and Columbia. S. C, but did not cross the ocean. Governor Swain was active in making histor- ical collections to the end of his life ; but most oi them remain in private hands, with the ex- ception of a MS. copy of Governor Tryon's Letter-book, obtained from Harvard University, and deposited in the Executive Office, in Raleigh. The Colonial historical documents which were ordered to be printed by the Legislature, in 1861, were the MS. records in the archives at Raleigh. The Resolution was rescinded by the Convention, which met that Spring; and the volume has never been printed. F. P. B. .Chai>el Hill, N. C. XL— BOOKS. A PEITA TEL Y PRINTED BOORS. [Publishers find others sending Books or Pamphlets for the Editor of The Histohioal Magazine, are respectfully re- quested to forward the same, either direct to '■ Henby B. Dawson, Moekisania, N. Y,," or to Mrssss. Chatei.es Soeebneb & Co., Booksellers, 654 Broadway, Ntw York City, as shall be most convenient for them.l 1. — Captain John Cleves Symmes. Sine loco, [.Cincin- nati?} sine anno. [1871?J Octavo, pp. £8. In a recent issue of the Magazine, we called tin attent i. of our readers to the recent pub- " : ':tion, 'iv IWessrs. Robert Clarke & Co., of 'Cincinnati, of two elegant volumes of Pioneer Biographies, written by the late venerable .James McBride of Hamilton, Ohio ; and, in the elegant tract before us, we find c:ie of that series of biographies — that of Captain John 'Cleves Symmes — separately printed, evidently for private circulation. There was enough in the character and ^career of Captain Symmes to entitle him to this ■distinction ; and the venerable biographer's very carefully prepared and very useful memoir will assume, in this separate form, its jiroper glace on .the Catalogues of Libraries, as an im- portant addition to the local historical, the military, and the scientific literature of the country. It is very beautifully printed and will or- nament any library table. B PUBLICATIONS BY SOCIETIES. 2.— Catalogue of the Museum and Gallery of Art of the New lork Historical Society. 1871- New York: Printed for the Society. 1871. Octavo, pp. iv., 72, 68. A new edition oi the Society's Catalogue, with the proper references to the various addi- tions which have been made to its Museum and Galleries, during the past few months. There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the work ; but collectors and others of our readers will be interested in the knowledge of its appearance. 3. — Ancient Earth Forts of the Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio, by Col. Chas. Whittlesey, President of the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society. Published for the Society by a Gentleman of Cleveland. Cleveland: 1871. Octavo, pp. 40. We have already noticed, in the Magazine, the commendable beginning which Colonel Whittlesey has made to bring his floating con- tributions to American history and American science — which have been common plunder, year after year, for every one who has been disposed to steal from others instead of pro- ducing for himself— into such shapes as shall secure for him as their author, the credit, to which he is justly entitled: and we suppose the tract before us is one of that series of pro- ductions. It contains, First, a sketch of the History of the Surreys ; Second, a brief essay on the An- cient Inhabitants of the MississippiYalley and the Lake Regions ; Fourth, a Comparison of the Pre-historic Races, in Europe and America; Fifth, careful descriptions of the various earth-forts of the Cuyahoga-valley, in Ohio, illustrated with well-executed plates and maps ; Sixth, similar descriptions of the ancient Pits, or Caches, and the Rock inscriptions, also illustrated, and of other relics of the by- gone races who have inhabited the western country. No more interesting and important service could be done for American Archaeology and History than this, which Colonel Whittlesey has done in this tract ; and the completeness and evident accuracy of his descriptions, so amply and judiciously illustrated, induce us to hope that other works, of like character, will soon be forthcoming. The tract, in all its parts, is very neatly executed. UNIVERSITY OF N.C. 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