resistance. For this service Captain Rous received a cap-
tain's conimission in the King's service." The Boston Nezvs-
Lelfer^ for October 1 0, states that Commodore Warren had
by that time received orders to buy the Shirley, and to issue
a captain's conimission in the Royal Navy to Captain Rous.
The Shn-ley was dri\'en ashore in a gale at Annapolis Ro\al
in 1 746, but was floated.
John Charnock, in his Biographla Navalis (London,
1 797, Volume V, page 412) gives the following account of
Captain John Rous:
"John Rous. This gentleman was by birth an American;
and having risen to the rank of lieutenant in the navy,
quitted for a time his majesty's service and took the com-
mand of a private ship of war fitted out from New England.
We have not been able to collect any subsequent informa-
tion concerning him, except that having distinguished him-
self in this occupation so highlv, as to attract the notice of
sir Peter Warren, who in 1745, was commodore of the
armament sent against Louisbourg; he was by hini pro-
176 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
moted to be a commander in the navy, and, on the 24th of
September, 1745, advanced to be captain of the Shirley
galley. This vessel was the same he had before commanded
as a privateer j it was afterwards hired into the service as an
armed ship on the sloop establishment j and lastly, put on
the higher footing of a postship or frigate.
"Immediately after peace had taken place we find a
gentleman of the same name appointed captain of the
Albany sloop. It is by no means improbable that he was the
same person, for many instances occur of a post captain hav-
ing in time of peace, accepted of such inferior commissions".
John Rous, the privateersman, is probably not identical
with the John Rous who was appointed captain of the
Albany, for John Rous, the privateersman, had retired from
naval service before the end of the war and in 1 747 was
captain of a flag of truce.
Charnock continues his account with the biography of a
Captain John Rous, perhaps the one who was captain of the
Albany. He served as captain of H. M. S. Success in 1755,
at Louisbourg in 1758, and died at Portsmouth, England,
on April 3, 1760. This man cannot be identical with our
John Rous, the privateersman of Newport, who was Jost at
sea in 1750.
Charnock, it will be noted, was also in error in stating
that Rous was an American by birth. As has been shown,
Rous was born in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, but
removed to America, and took up his residence at Newport,
Rhode Island.
{To be continue/I)
Roger Williams Press
t
E. A. Johnson Co.
PROVIDENCE
Rhode Island
Historical Society
Collections
Vol. XXV
JANUARY, 1932
No. 1
PART OF THE HII.T OF WASHINGTON S SWORD
It was treasured for years by the Carroll family of Virginia and in 1861,
was presented by members of that family to the First Rhode Island
Regiment.
In the Society'' s Miis e i m t . —..^
Issued Quarterly
68 Waterman Street, Providence, Rhode Island
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Hilt of Washington's Sword . . . Cover
Notes regarding Fort Ninigret
by William B. Goodwin .... 1
New Publications of Rhode Island Interest . . 16
Candlesticks used at ball held in honor of
George Washington . . . . . 17
Notes 18
Letter from Martha Washington . . . 19
Revolutionary Orders of 1780
from the library of Frederick S. Peck . . 20
Captain John Rous, R. N 23
The Snow Eliza ...... 29
Bowen Family Notes
by Charles Shepard . . . . . 30
RHODE
HISTORICAL
ISLAND
SOCIETY
COLLECTIONS
VOL. XXV
JANUARY, 1932
No. 1
Addison P. Munroe, President Gilbert A. Harrington, Treasurer
Howard W. Preston, Secretary Howard M. Chapin, Librarian
The Society assumes no responsibility for the statements or the opinions
of contributors.
Notes Rcrardinor the Oris^in of Fort Ninifrret
in the Narragansett Country
at Charlestown
By William B. Goodwin
In searching the historical archives of the settlement and
occupation by the Dutch West India Company, from 1623
to 1674, of that part of New England and New York,
originally known as the Dutch New Netherlands, the
writer came across two salient excerpts which led him to
believe that there must have been a somewhat earlier Dutch
trading station and/or fort in the Narragansett Country in
Rhode Island than has hitherto been generally accepted.
Writers of Rhode Island history, with one exception, have
indicated that the fort on the point of land on Charlestown
Pond, which from time immemorial has been called Nini-
Z RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
gret's Fort, was built by that Eastern Niantic chieftain,
Ninigret, hiinself. The one exception was the writer, who
stated that this fort had been originally built by the Dutch
traders, assigning, however, no date. Morever, the Point,
itself, has become known by years of tradition as Dutch
Point.
The following references to a fort, owned by the Dutch
in the Narragansett Country prior to their purchase in
1635-'37 of what is now known as Dutch Island and which
the Dutch called, "Quetenis," from its Indian name, are
the basis which led to our asking permission of the Metro-
politan Park Commission, under whose control this small
park is held, to permit us to excavate in a preliminary
manner for any possible evidence that this fort was not an
Indian fort but a fort built by the Dutch prior to the time
they acquired Dutch Island as a trading post.
The first interesting information concerning the Dutch
fort, prior to the purchase of Quetenis Island and the loca-
tion of a trading station at Sowams, the capital town of the
Wampanoag Indians, is contained in a letter dated 1631,
written in a tone of protest by the ambassador from the
States General to the Court of King James in reply to the
British Ambassador at the Court of The Hague. The
British Ambassador had made a broad statement that the
Dutch had no right, either by settlement or occupation,
to the country of the New Netherlands. In his reply, the
Dutch Ambassador said, "Before 1630, we had a fort and
colony in the Narragansett Country which has been con-
tinuously occupied."
The next statement is from the Assembly of the XIX. to
the States General, November, 1627, Documentary His-
tory of Nezv York, Vol. 1 , page 38 :
"The last letters from New Netherland bring
word, that the English of New Plymouth threaten to
drive away those there, or disturb them in their settle-
ment and little colony, notwithstanding our's hereto-
NOTKS RFX.ARDIXr, THK ORTGIX OF FORT NIXIGRKT 6
fore had tendered to them every good correspondence
and friendship. They therefore request the aid of
forty Soldiers for their defence. We would rather
see it secured by friendly alliance."
The third statement is from Wassenaer's Historical
Account: October, 1628, Narratives of New Netherland:
"On the north side are the English Brownists who
maintain themselves very well and are much resorted
to, supporting their reputation bravely with the
natives, whom they do not fear, having acted strictly
with these from the first, and so continuing.
"In the beginning of this year, war broke out be-
tween the Maikans near Fort Orange and the Maku-
aes, but these beat and captured the Maikans and
drove oif the remainder who have settled towards the
north by the Fresh River, so called j where they begin
again to cultivate the soilj and thus the war has come
to an end."
The fourth statement is found in the Docuuientary His-
tory of Nezv York, Vol. 1, page 542:
"The limits of New Netherland, as clainied then,
would be from Cape Hindlopen, on the south, to Cape
Cod, on the east, including therein Long Island, situ-
ate right in front of New Netherland, whence it is
separated by an arm of the sea, called the East river,
which begins at Coney Island, in the North bay of the
North river, and runs again into the sea at the east-
ward, near Fisher's Island, opposite the Pequatoos
ri\-er, together with all other bays, rivers and islands
situate westward of Cape Cod, and especially the
island named Quetenis, lying in Sloop bay, which was
purchased, paid for and taken possession of in the
year 1637, on the Company's account."
4 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Fifth, we have the statement found in the Masachusetts
Historical Society Collections y Series 1, Vol. 1 (1811),
page 271:
"The lands of the aforesaid river named Conecticott
or Sicagothe were bought and possessed anno 1633 by
the servants of the high and mighty of the comaunder
of the Sickenamais named Nepaquate as Conquerer
and Subduer of the foremencioned land and that by
special Intreaty and Consent of the Right subdued
owners of the nation present by and consent of Cap-
taine Awayas of our Comaunder or Sachem of Schal-
ope bay which with large articles as by Credable Testi-
mony Witnessing the deed may appear: and that long-
before the English had ben upon the River."
The sixth statement is from the Narratives of New
Netherlands 1647:
"About the same time (June, 1637) the Indian title
to the Island of 'Quotenis,' near the 'Roode Island,'
in Narragansett Bay, was secured for the West India
Company, and a trading post was established there,
under the superintendence of Abraham Pieterson.
Not long afterwards, Pieterson obtained for the com-
pany the possession of another island, lying near the
Pequod, or Thames River, which for many years after
the settlement of Connecticut by the English, con-
tinued to be known as 'the Dutchman's Island.' "
The above evidence led me to examine the remains of
this little fort at Charlestown with the keenest interest. It
measures practically two hundred feet square. There are
three bastions, the five-sided shape of which is very unusual.
We can find no such shaped bastions in any of the books
on fortifications which we have been able to locate. That the
walls and bastions were built at one and the same time is
apparent when the wall itself ends at three of the corners
NOTES RKGARDIXG THE ORIGIN OF FORT NINIGRET 5
to allow of an entry into the bastion. The fourth side,
which is nearest towards the embankment of Charlestown
Pond, did not need a bastion, and on digging, we found no
evidence of one ever having been there.
From the oldest living inhabitant of that vicinity, a Mr.
Church, we found that the present lines of the fort were
pretty much as he had known them from boyhood up to
anci long before the marking of the site by the State Com-
mission in the year 1881. Mr. Church told us that the
entrance to the fort was on the south side near the south-
east corner. On digging through the wall, which was evi-
dently a restoration by the Commission, we found that the
original wall had never been built across an apparent gate-
way. From this gateway, there led a diagonal path, south-
west, to an ever-living spring which still furnishes the
water for an adjoining dwelling. This spring is just above
the high water mark.
Along this path, which is outside the walls of the fort,
we found some of our most interesting relics, both Indian
and Dutch, among which were a pair of knitting needles
and a very much rusted Jews' harp, which, as everyone
knows, is one of the trinkets the Dutch used in trading with
the Indians. One piece of pottery was found along this trail,
which compared with several of the more interesting pieces
found more nearly in the center of the fort on the inside.
Now in order to find the construction of the fort, we ran
transverse ditches on its eastern side. This we did from the
bottom of the ditch, which surrounded the fort on all four
sides, through to the inside level of the ditch, and here we
obtained a very interesting picture of what the fort origi-
nally looked like. The builders first laid two parallel walls
of glacial field stone about two feet apart. To the back of
the inside walls of stone were then driven posts of unknown
height, which could hardly be called palisadoes, the re-
mains of which we found insitu in the earth. Of these
decayed posts, which were circular, we found clear evidence
that the grain of the wood ran in the perpendicular, prov-
O RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ing them to be upright. Back of that, however, on the
inside was the evidence of planks laid transversely, whether
to hold these posts together or to form a platform on the
inside, it is hard to say.
The next step in regard to the construction of the wall
was to excavate a ditch with sufficient width so that the earth
would be thrown over the whole. The most amazing dis-
covery at this point was that the wall, itself, as far as the
earth was concerned, had been raised between two feet, six
inches and three feet at some later date. We should say in
both instances the grass mould was of the same age. So if
the fort goes back to the date we assign to it, 1627, there
would be nearly as much decayed roots forming clay as on
the original. Whether that means that the walls of the fort
were raised halfway between 1627 and 1927, or the present
date, is, of course, problematical, or whether a Dutch fort
had been erected upon a previous fort. The nearest answer
to this problem is that the walls had eroded at some time
since the fort was first built and had been restored.
Mr. Church told us that there was a line of stones on top
of the fort which were taken away by the Commission.
Unfortunately, Mr. Church is the only living man to give
us any testimony as to what the fort looked like before the
Commission took it over, but following his statements, we
found him apparently truthful in every way. As for a man
eighty-eight years old, his mind is quite clear and his recol-
lections were in more or less detail. For instance, we were
looking for a block-house in the center of this fort, if it was
built in 1 627, for in 1616 we have the record of the dimen-
sions of the original Dutch Fort Nassau on Castle Island
in the Hudson River opposite the present Albany, New
York. These notes, translated froin the Dutch, are as
follows:
"Fort Nassau was fifty-eight feet wide between the
walls and built as a square. The moat is eighteen feet
wide."
FRAGMENTS OF A BLUE AND WHITE PLATE ORNAMENTED
WITH LETTER "r"
Unearthed at Fort Siuigrct
8 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It is further noted that the house in the fort was thirty-
eight feet long and twenty-six feet wide. However, on
digging all around the marker boulder, erected by the State
Commission when the fort was taken over as a park by the
State of Rhode Island, we found no direct evidence of a
building which might have had a chimney, and Mr. Church
assured us that in his lifetime there never had been such a
central building. On the other hand, just outside to the
north of the artificial mound in the center, containing the
boulder marker of the site, we found the circular depression
which we took to possibly be a well. We hired an experi-
enced man, Mr. Babcock, an Indian, who had for forty
years been digging wells in the various house sites in the
vicinity of the fort on Charlestown Pond.
When we started to dig about this circular depression,
we at first immediately thought we had discovered a well.
There were laid in a circular form, about four feet in diam-
eter, three layers of field stone. Beneath this, however,
these circular layers of stone ceased, although we dug to a
matter of twelve feet, and would have expected, if we
found the bottom of the well, to have gone to at least
twenty-five feet. We found no further positive evidence
that this circular wall of stones continued on down. How-
ever, at nine and a half feet, we became sure that there had
been some excavation here and that it had been filled up
with boulders and glacial sand and gravel, of which the
whole Point is composed. At the nine and a half feet level,
we found several stones which showed signs of fire and to
one side of which stones adhered a layer of clay. Inasmuch as
there was no clay anywhere in the pit dug down to twelve
or more feet, we came to the conclusion that these stones
were out of some chimney which at one time or another had
been erected on the place and that the well, if it had been a
well, had been partly covered and filled in as far as the rocks
which had formerly been a chimney are concerned. Beyond
this, there was no evidence that there had ever been a block-
NOTES RF.GARDIXG THK ORIGIN OF FORT NINIGRKT y
house and no woodwork except the back side of the rampart,
all of which was in an entirely decayed conciition.
The live-sided bastions w^ere not macie like the main
walls. They were made of stone, much of it flat stone laid
one above another anci thoroughly covered with earth. The
corners of the bastions are clearly niarked. The interior of
the bastions w^re shallow indentures in which men could lie
for defense of all the four sides of the fort, shooting paral-
lel to the main wall. The same under surface was found
in these bastions as in the inside of the fort, itself. As we
had nothing further to guide us — the pits that were dug
were of various shapes and sizes — we had to trust more
or less to luck to And anything that would give us evidence
of the age of the structure itself.
We thought for some time there had been a pathway on
the east side down to the oyster beds at the foot of the steep
bluff on which the fort stands in the harbor itself. Digging
into this slight depression, we found that this w^as merely
a drainage erosion. From the main path, digging all along
the rectangle of stones, upon which the marker stone in the
center of the fort stands, we found some of our most inter-
esting relics. Besides bits of pottery, we found iron imple-
ments of various sorts, including a badly eroded shovel,
axes, and curious w^edges, which must have been a very early
form of toniahawk.
The writer made a personal visit a short time ago to the
great museum at Fort Ticonderoga, the site of so many of
the early French and American wars. As Ticonderoga was
not built before 1 756, it was not surprising to And that none
of the iron implenients were of the same form as those
found at Fort Ninigret. Pieces of very old iron which
looked like knives or daggers were found, as were the frag-
ments of pottery at an average depth of three and a half
feet underground. Very little of any kind was found above
three feet. One of the best authorities in Connecticut, Mr.
Bull, passed on these findings and stated that no such iron
had been found in the early shell heaps along the shores of
10 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the Sound between the Pawcatuck River and the river
towns of Connecticut. In these same excavations, he had
found Jews' harps and other Dutch trading relics.
Now we were fortunate to find a great number of broken
clay pipes. On a number of these pipes were the initials of
the maker. I think we can say we have from six to eight
separate specimens. We are expecting to send these to Hol-
land because we understand that the early pipe manufac-
turers of Holland put their initials on their pipes. These
pipes are of at least five different shapes and sizes. We
found a number of specimens of trading copper, made of an
alloy, known to have been used by the Dutch in trading
with the Indians. We also found soapstone Indian pipes
with native copper bands. We found specimens of linen
and of what we believe to be trading cloth. It will take
chemical tests to ascertain the proportion of woolen or
linen in any of these fragments.
Our greatest find, in our humble estimation, was three
fragments of a fairly large platter which we at first thought
were parts of a Delft Dutch tile, but which on examination,
and being finally able to fit the three fragments together,
we found the whole outline of a plate, on the top side in a
circle of blue and white was the letter "R," a little over an
inch and a quarter in diameter. In addition, we found
another fragment of pottery in blue and white where the
blue lines were parallel in a waving pattern. We found
other small fragments of blue and white pottery, none of
which were large enough to give us a true line on them. We
found old glass in large amounts, one piece of which was
evidently a part of a tumbler as it was ornamented in yellow
and red bands, burnt into the glass.
At our request the United States Government sent Col-
onel F. M. Morgan from Fort Adams in Newport harbor
to assist us in attempting to find the age of the fort from the
soil. Over the entire inside of the fort for a depth of from
NOTES RKCARniXC THE ORK.IN OF FORT NIMGRKT 11
six inches to two feet and more was a heavy black mould
w^hich we haci presumeci was leaf mould. Colonel Morgan,
after an examination of all of our pits, told us it was grass
mould rather than leaf mould. The old writers, describing
the Narragansett Country in this vicinity, all state it was
more or less park like and we note that the Indians kept it
burned over. We found no evidence down to three or four
feet in our excavation which would lead us to believe that
trees of any size ever stood on this Point.
One of the striking results of our excavation was that,
while we found a great number of objects, all of which
tended to be Dutch in character, or at least foreign imple-
ments, w^e found only less than half a dozen arrowheads.
This is interesting from the point of view that in the level,
surrounding country of the original Narragansett-Niantic
Reservation, one can find arrowheads everywhere.
As you may know, we have the very pertinent declaration
by Captain John Mason that he came from Saybrook Fort
in the summer of 1637, and making no mention of a Dutch
trading post or fort on Dutch Island, he lancied opposite the
Narragansetts' main village, eighteen or twenty-six miles
away. There he spent the night endeavoring to obtain the
aid of the Narragansett chieftain to assist him in his attack
on the Pequot Fort at Mystic. From there he marched his
little army of ninety men and followers over land to a place
where he said a chief, named Ninigret, lived in a fort. This
fort he surrounded, warning none of the Indians to come
out until he was joined the next morning by the Narragan-
sett warriors who w^ere to go with him and who persuaded
Ninigret to go w^ith them. With him, of course, he had
Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, and Wequashcook, a Pequot
chieftain and brother of Ninigret from the Niantic country
in Connecticut. This completed his Indian following. I^'roni
there he marched twelve miles to the Pawcatuck Rixer and
so on to take the Mystic fort by a surreptitious route from
the north. Historv tells us that Miantonomo, Uncas,
12 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Ninigret, and Wequashcook were all leaders of this Indian
following.
We also made some attempt to excavate under a house
from about a half to three-quarters of a mile to the west of
the fort. Eight or nine years ago in digging for the founda-
tion of the house, there was found a cannon^ and a sword of
European manufacture lying about a foot and a half on top
of six or eight Indian graves. We found the man, who
made the excavation for this cellar, and he has drawn a plan
for us. He told us that there were still other Indian graves
unexcavated because the owner, Mr. Arnold, only wished
to disturb the ground in a section of a part of the cellar
under this house, owned at the present time by his niece
and nephew.
Through the courtesy of your librarian, we had excellent
photographs made of the cannon and sword from all points
of view. We took these photographs with us to New York
and had the two best experts on armor, living to-day, give
us an opinion of their age. One of them showed us a stand
of sixty like swords, none of which were exactly like the
sword found under the Arnold house. This gentleman
dated the sword as at least back of 1600. However, at the
Metropolitan Museum, the Curator of Annor, Mr,
Grancsay, gave us as his unquestioned opinion that the
sword could well date back to 1 550. In each instance, both
gentlemen declared the cannon to be of a very early
breechblock type. In fact, the cannon could go back to the
fifteenth century. Now we are convinced from walking all
over the ground in the vicinity of Dutch Point, Fort Nini-
gret, and the old Indian Reservation, that the cannon and
sword came from the original Narragansett burying
ground. Until, however, we find something of like fashion
within Fort Ninigret itself, we are hardly ready to say that
the cannon and sword came from Fort Ninigret, but we are
keeping in mind the possibility that there were two forts on