Townships." They were made in fulfilment of an express public promise
to that effect. It is stated in an official document, that
"proclamation was made to them, when mustered on Dedham Plain" on the
9th of December, just as they took up their march, "that, if they
played the man, took the fort, and drove the enemy out of the
Narragansett country, which was their great seat, they should have a
gratuity in land, besides their wages." The same document, which is in
the form of a message from the House of Representatives to the Council
of the Province of Massachusetts, dated Jan. 10, 1732, goes on to say,
"And as the condition has been performed, certainly the promise, in
all equity and justice, ought to be fulfilled. And if we consider the
difficulties these brave men went through in storming the fort in the
depth of winter, and the pinching wants they afterwards underwent in
pursuing the Indians that escaped, through a hideous wilderness, known
throughout New England to this day by the name of the _hungry march_;
and if we further consider, that, until this brave though small army
thus played the man, the whole country was filled with distress and
fear, and we trembled in this capital, Boston itself; and that to the
goodness of God to this army we owe our fathers' and our own safety
and estates,"--therefore they urge the full discharge of the
obligations of public justice and gratitude. They did not urge in
vain. The grants were made on a scale, that finally was liberal and
honorable to the government.

I have dwelt at this great length on the Narragansett campaign and
fight, partly because the details have not been kept as familiar to
the memory of the people as they deserve, but chiefly because they
demonstrate the military genius of the community with whose character
our subject requires us to be fully acquainted. The enthusiasm of the
troops, when Winslow gave the order for the assault, was so great,