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- The Journal of Abner Clough, Collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society
Capt. Ladd came up to Rumford, Concord, and that was on the tenth day [of August], and, on the eleventh day, Lieut. Jonathan Bradley took six of Capt. Ladd’s men, and was in company with one Obadiah Peters, that belonged to Capt. Melvin’s company of the Massachusetts, and was going about two miles and a half from Rumford town to a garrison; and when they had gone about a mile and a half, they were shot upon by thirty of forty Indians, if not more, as it was supposed, and killed down dead Lieut. Jonathan Bradley, John Lufkin and John Bean and this Obadiah Peters. These five men were killed down dead on the spot, and the most of them were stripped stark naked, and were very much cut, and stabbed, and disfigured; and Sergeant Alexander Roberts and William Stickney were taken captive .., We went up to the men, and ranged the woods awhile, after these captives, and then brought the dead to town in a cart, and buried the dean men this day.
Note: Jonathan’s brother Samuel was also killed in this attack.
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Wayside Jottings; Or, Rambles Around the Old Town of Concord, N.H. and Its Suburbs
By Howard M. Cook
Published by E.C. Eastman, 1910
As is well known, on the morning of August 11, 1746 (old style), eight of the inhabitants of Rumford started out for a visit to Rumford Garrison, No. 4, near which the father of one of the number, Seaborn Peters, lived. Their names were Samuel Bradley, Jonathan Bradley, John Bean, John Lufkin, Alexander Roberts, William Stickney, Daniel Oilman and Obadiah Peters. They started from
the home of Samuel Bradley, where M. Hazen Bradley, a great-grands/o Samuel Bradley, now lives (since deceased), passed down to the highway now known as Franklin Street; thence along this road to the highway now known as High Street; thence along this road out to and on the “old Hopkinton Road," until they reached the vicinity of the Bradley monument, when they fell into an ambush of the St. Francis tribe of Indians, whose numbers were estimated from sixty to one hundred. The first five of this little company were killed and scalped ; Stickney and Roberts were taken prisoners and carried to Canada, and only Qilman escaped
to tell the tale. As Indians were seen prowling around a day or two previously, it has always seemed to the writer that these men were somewhat careless in going out to the Eastman Garrison in so small a force and in such a happy-go-lucky manner. But those who still believe in the old doctrine of foreordination can readily come to the conclusion that it was so to be, and no human foresight availed to change the course of events.
In "New Hampshire As It Is," written by Edwin
A. Charlton and published in 1855, it is stated that a granite monument was erected on the spot where Bradley and his associates fell, by Richard Bradley, a grands/o Samuel Bradley. This statement as to the exact location of the monument is probably
incorrect, for in the "History of Concord" it is stated that ' ' a granite shaft was, because of difficulty in obtaining the desired site, erected a few rods east of the scene of the massacre, and on the opposite side of the road." The exact "spot" is probably on what is now "Pleasant View" farm, owned by Mary Baker G. Eddy, near a brook that afore time ran through this tract of land, but which is now a covered drain.
That there was some desperate fighting on the fateful August morning is seen in the statement that Jonathan Bradley fought for dear life, and refused to give or take quarter, probably preferring to die than to be taken prisoner by any of the St. Francis tribe of Indians, whose tender mercies were cruel. The result of the fight was about even, so far as fatalities were concerned, as four Indians were killed and two mortally woiinded.
Upon the occasion of the dedication of this monument, August 22, 1837 (new style), interesting exercises were held, in which the governor of the state and other prominent men participated. Asa McFarland, then editor of the Statesman, gave an address, and a hymn was sung, written by Rev. John Pierpont of Boston, grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan. Mr. Pierpont was a poet of no mean repute, and could write poetry as well as his grandson can make money. The hymn read as follows:
?Not now, O God, beneath the trees ?That shade this vale at night's cold noon ?Do Indian war-cries load the breeze, ?Or wolves sit howling at the moon. ?The foes, the fears our fathers felt ?Have with our fathers passed away; ?And where in death's dark shade they knelt ?We come to praise Thee and to pray. ?We praise Thee that Thou plantedst here ?And mad'st Thy heavens drop down their dew, — ?We pray that shooting from their stem . ?We long may flourish where they grew. ?And, Father, leave us not alone; ?Thou hast been, and art still, our trust. ?Be Thou our fortress till our own. ?Shall mingle with our fathers' dust.
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Old Dead Relatives
1717 - 1746 (29 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
