public service called him away. He sold some of his estates, but
retained others, on the Farms and in the town, to the time of his
death. He continued the superintendence of his country estate, which
seems to have been his family home, to the last. His military career
gave him early distinction, and closed only with his life. In 1634,
the General Court chose him "Ensign to Capt. Trask." He was concerned
with Endicott in cutting out the cross from the king's colors. The
following is from the record of a meeting of the court, Nov. 7, 1634:
"It is ordered that Ensign Davenport shall be sent for by warrant,
with command to bring his colors with him to the next court, as also
any other that hath defaced the said colors." Davenport did not seem
anxious to cover up his agency in this matter; for, when he offered
his next child to baptism, he signified to the assembly that he was
determined to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of the
transaction, by having her christened "True Cross." It was necessary
to make a show of punishing Endicott and Davenport on this occasion,
to prevent trouble from the home government. Soon after, we find the
General Court heaping honors upon Davenport, and finally, in 1639,
making him a grant of one hundred and fifty acres of land, specially
noticing his services in the Pequot War, which appear to have elicited
general applause. In some desperate encounters with the savages,
seventeen arrows were shot "into his coat of mail," and he was wounded
in unprotected parts of his person. He was twice deputy to the General
Court. In 1644, the General Court organized an elaborate system of
external defence, the whole based upon Castle Island, now Fort
Independence, in Boston Harbor. From that point, hostile invasion by a
naval force was to be repelled. Every vessel, on entering, was to
report to the castle, be examined and subject to the orders of the
commandant. It became the military headquarters of the colony, the
protection and oversight of whose commerce were intrusted to the