TH

PART I.

HE writer contributed to the MayJune issue of THE GRANITE MONTHLY for the year 1917 a very brief account of Major Ezekiel Worthen of Kensington,-chiefly with a view to clearing away certain errors which had gathered about the name of that sterling New Hampshire patriot. The object of this article is to present somewhat in detail the facts of his life and to give an outline of the principal events in which he participated.

Ezekiel, son of Ezekiel and Abigail (Carter) Worthen was born at Amesbury, Mass., on Mar. 18, 1710. He married about the year 1732 Hannah, daughter of William and Rachel (Sargent) Currier, who was born at Amesbury on June 26, 1711. A few years after his marriage he removed to Kensington. He became a leading citizen of Rockingham County, and had the exceptional privilege of serving his country well in three important wars. played a creditable part in some of the most stirring scenes of our early history.

He

In 1744 the conflict in Europe called the War of the Austrian Succession,1 plunged Great Britain's North American colonies into one of those periodical struggles in which their frontiers were ravaged by the French and their border settlements became a prey to the murderous scalping knife of the savage.. As a measure of retaliation Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts adopted the bold plan of striking with a force of farmers and fishermen, unaided by regular troops, at Louisburg on Cape Breton Island, the strongest French fortress in America. It had been twenty years in building and had cost $6,000,000. It was surrounded by walls of solid masonry from twenty

to thirty feet high and was regarded by the French as impregnable.

On the first of May, 1745, this stronghold was besieged by Gen. William Pepperell, a merchant of Kittery, Maine,2 with 3,000 New England militia,3 including a regiment of about 350 New Hampshire men, besides 150 others from that Colony in the pay of Massachusetts. The New Hampshire troops were conspicuous in the operations. At the outset they spent fourteen nights in dragging cannon over a deep morass between the landing place and the camp, under the guns of the enemy. This is described as "a labor beyond the power of oxen" and without which the expedition would have been a failure. They took part in all the important movements, including the erection of the "Lighthouse battery" which aided materially in the reduction of the fortress. The commandant, Duchambon, was compelled to surrender on June 17, 1745.

Ezekiel Worthen served in this expedition as ensign and lieutenant in a company commanded by Capt. Jonathan Prescott of Kensington, and is generally believed to have taken a prominent part in the siege. The Rev. George Osgood states in his history of the town of Kensington that he was present at the siege and "is said to have done good service as an engineer, building works against the enemy, probably the battery on Lighthouse Cliff."4 However, it appears from the records that Capt. Prescott's company

was recruited in New Hampshire as a reinforcement, and that Ezekiel Worthen was not enrolled until the very day of the surrenNo favorable news had reached England, and these volunteers

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doubtless believed they were embarking upon a venture which involved much hard fighting, as well as great danger. They proceeded at once to the scene of action, and did garrison duty at Louisburg for about a year before they were relieved by the British regulars.

During this time the little garrison was in a most perilous position. Far from their base of supplies, in the midst of a hostile country, exposed to attack by land and sea, their leaders were under constant apprehension of a combined assault by a French fleet and an army of Canadians and Indians. The fortifications had been wrecked by the bombardment, and were hastily repaired and rebuilt. Perhaps the tradition concerning Ezekiel's engineering feats at Louisburg is based upon the part taken by him in these defensive works.

After the surrender sickness prevailed to an alarming extent, and Pepperell's force was at one time reduced to less than 1,000 effective men. As winter approached serious apprehensions were felt, and Capt. Prescott and Capt. Waldron were sent to New Hampshire to appeal to the Governor and Legislature for relief.

On Sept. 24th Prescott and Waldron presented a petition of the officers of the New Hampshire Regiment at Louisburg together with a long supplementary memorial drawn up and signed by themselves, and on Oct. 5th the House voted:

"That there be paid out of ye Treasury, of ye money for ye Expedition, to ye officers & soldiers or their order that last went on ye Expedition to Louisbourg as a Reinforcement provided they have been so long in ye Service, two months wages. And that Capt. Jonathan Prescott who is from Louisbourg to provide necessary stores for his company now at Louisbourg have Liberty to draw out of ye Treasury for each of his officers

two months wages as above, to provide private stores, &c. for his men.”

This resolution was approved by the Governor and Council, and the Captain returned with the much needed supplies. Soon afterwards he was taken ill with typhus fever, of which he died at Louisburg on Jan. 19, 1746. On October 1st, 1745, Ensign Ezekiel Worthen was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.8 Owing to the absence of Capt. Prescott and his subsequent illness and death, Lieut. Worthen was in active command of the company for a considerable portion of the term of its service. He returned home and was discharged on June 20, 1746.

In 1754 the French and English colonists began their final tremendous struggle for supremacy, in which as usual the most efficient weapon employed by the French was the tomahawk of the savage aborigines. With their hordes of painted warriors, evoked from the dark forests of the interior, the distant western prairies and the bleak woodlands of the North, they fell upon the thin line of British settlements fringing the Atlantic, in a whirlwind of ferocity which for a time theatened to sweep them into the sea. The conflict raged with especial fury along the Northern border, and none bore the brunt of it more bravely than the hardy woodsmen of New Hampshire.

In this momentous struggle Ezekiel Worthen of Kensington took an active part. For the "Crown Point Expedition" of 1756 the Province of New Hampshire raised a regiment of 700 men under Col. Nathaniel Meserve of Portsmouth. It consisted of twelve companies, the 8th of which was commanded by Capt. Ezekiel Worthen. The original muster-roll of his company and the receipt for its first month's pay, dated May 25, 1756, and written out in the Captain's bold, clear handwriting,

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a mob of savages rushed upon the New Hampshire men at the rear of the

column."

Then ensued the most dreadful scenes of slaughter. The English were without ammunition and totally defenseless. The Indians stripped them to the skin and ruthlessly plied the tomahawk and scalping knife.

In the midst of this fiendish orgy of blood and terror Capt. Worthen did not lose his presence of mind. A number of savages rushed upon him, but while they were quarreling over the possession of his red waistcoat he made a bold dash for freedom. Seizing one of their guns he ran down a steep hill through the woods at top speed and when out of sight flung himself at full length on the ground beside a fallen tree. He pressed his body close up under the edge of the log and covered himself with pieces of bark. So cleverly was he concealed that the Indians following in hot pursuit leaped over the log and passed on without discovering his hiding place. At nightfall he resumed his flight under the cover of darkness and after incredible perils and hardships reached a place of safety-probably Fort Edward. He was completely exhausted and so nearly famished that it was deemed prudent to give him nothing but parched corn and water until his gradually returning strength enabled him with safety to take more substantial nourishment.

The Massacre of Fort William Henry aroused horror and hatred throughout the English speaking world and contributed materially to the speedy downfall of the French power in America. Its tales of terror were long repeated at New England firesides, and the memory of Ezekiel's miraculous escape is still preserved among many scattered branches of his posterity.

A musket of French manufacture brought home by Capt. Ezekiel from the

Wars long remained in the possession of his descendants. It was known as "The Indian gun" and was no doubt the same one carried away by him as above described from the massacre of Fort William Henry. It probably passed to his youngest son, Enoch, who remained on the home place. At all events it was subsequently in the possession of Enoch's daughter, Sarah (Worthen) Perkins, who died at Kensington in 1863 aged 92 years. Not long before her death she gave it to Ezekiel Worthen James of Boston, a great grandson of Hannah (Worthen) James, one of the daughters of Capt. Ezekiel Worthen, requesting him to transmit it to his son as an heirloom. Unfortunately, however, the son died in youth and Mr. James wishing to preserve the historic relic for the benefit of future generations, presented it to the Bunker Hill Monument Association.13

Though known chiefly to later generations as a military man, Ezekiel Worthen was not inactive in civil matters or in the affairs of the church. He settled in Kensington about the year 1738 soon after it had been incorporated as a parish. From the first he seems to have been considered a leading citizen, for he was called "Gentleman" in a deed dated as early as July 20, 1740. He was generally so designated in all the public records, but was occasionally described as "joyner" or "house carpenter." The town books14 show that he was elected a selectman in 1748 not long after his return from Louisburg. Thereafter his name appears from time to time as surveyor of highways, constable, selectman and moderator at town meetings. He was a man of substance and had attained an honorable position in the region where he lived when disputes with the mother country culminated in armed conflict.

To be continued