Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 107
towns would have been destroyed and met the fate of Dartmouth,
Middleboro' and Swanzey. At this time three hundred
men could not be raised to march for the defence of
Eehobeth. All the towns, excepting Sandwich and Scituate,
raised their quotas ; but many of the soldiers that went
forth, returned to their homes without marching to the defence
of their frontier towns.
In 1675, Gov. Hinckley enumerated the Christianized
Indians embraced in the region of country which had been
under the superintendence of Mr. Bourne. The number had
increased from four hundred and ninety-seven in 1674, to
ten hundred and fourteen in 1685. Showing that in a
period of eleven years the number had more than doubled.
In 1676, no enumeration of the Indians was made ; but it
is within the bounds of probability to assume that in the
district of country under the supervision and care of Mr.
Bourne there were at least six hundred Indian warriors.
Had these at this particular conjuncture turned rebels, the
whites could not have defended their towns and villages
against the savages, and Plymouth Colony would have become
extinct.
It ma}' be urged that Mr. Bourne could not have done
this unaided and alone ; or, if he had not, God in his providence
would have raised up some other instruments to have
effected this great purpose. The fact is Richard Bourne by
his unremitted labors for seventeen years made friends of a
sufficient number of Indians, naturally hostile to the English,
to turn the scale in Plymouth Colony and give the preponderence
to the whites. He did this, and it is to him who
does, that we are to award honor. Bourne did more by the
moral power which he exerted to defend the Old Colony
than Bradford did at the head of the army. Laurel wreaths
shade the brows of military heroes—their names are enshrined
in a bright halo of glory—while the man who has
done as good service for his country by moral means, sinks
into comparative insignificance, and is too often forgotten.
The Apostle Eliot, Mr. Mayhew, and other missionaries,
performed like meritorious services. The people of
Massachusetts were more suspicious of the good faith of the
converted Indians, than the residents in the Plymouth
Colony. These Indians were treated unkindly by the English,
yet a company from Natick proved faithful, and did
good service in the war.