The Trials of Providence

By Lynn Alexandra

It is the early years of America’s Civil War and the casualty count is mounting, but not just on the battlefield. In one small town, as with so many others, sons, fathers, and husbands depart for an uncertain fate. During this period, unsung heroes emerge.
A daughter shares her father’s passion for humanitarian work, but the cost is great. Two slaves escape their bondage, one risking more than himself, to provide details crucial in overcoming significant disadvantages. The young, and the old, go beyond what is expected of themselves. While some come out better persons, others are left with voids that can never be filled.
Many come home, but some wounds are invisible. The country still moves forward, new memories replace mournful ones, and life goes on.
Be introduced to real-life men and women who sacrificed a part of themselves to serve a greater purpose despite the costs. Would you risk your own life for a stranger? Put your future in the hands of providence? What if your child wanted to be part of something bigger, what would you do?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781546229261

Lynn Alexandra

A native of New England, Lynn Alexandra became interested in genealogy after her family endured a medical scare. At the time, she knew little about her ancestors except for her paternal grandparents’ names and small tidbits regarding her father’s childhood. Deciding to delve deeper into the past, Lynn discovered the small, but no less important, role members in her family played in two civil wars. In her first book, The Trials of Providence, the author brings the reader back to a period when the United States, and families, were torn. Through her research, she learned of others who fulfilled crucial roles early on and were both tragic players and unsung heroes.

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© 2019 Lynn Alexandra. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/08/2019

ISBN: 978-1-5462-2928-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-2927-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-2926-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018903836

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

About the Author

PROLOGUE

Ten years after the Great Migration which brought forbearing Puritans to a new world already predominantly occupied by two tribes, the Abernaki and the Wampanoag, more and more ships from Britain arrived off the shores of Massachusetts. Among the thousands of new settlers two Protestant families, the Plaisteds and the Huckins, found the colony hostile. For this reason, they relocated farther north—a two-day journey from Boston—establishing Salmon Falls and Oyster River, respectively, with other emigrants like themselves.

Roger Plaisted’s namesake was two when his parents made the arduous decision to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1650. In the twenty-five years since, his wife, Olive, bore him more children, the couple welcomed grandchildren, and he established a garrison to protect the settlement. Recently, the farmers have had to become more vigilant as Chief Metacomet’s Wampanoag, in retaliation for the unjust hanging of tribal members and England’s ongoing encroachment, have attacked neighboring settlements with muskets supplied by the French Provincial Government in Quebec.

In September 1675, the Toziers live 880 yards above the garrison. On the twenty-fourth, while seventeen men from the town are thirty-four miles north, in Saco, a band led by Andrew and Hopehood, from the Saco and Kennebec Tribes, respectively, move covertly like bobcats stalking their prey. Coming upon two dwellings, they go for the easiest target, the one with an open door. Bare-chested and wearing tanned breechclouts and leggings made from deerskin, their moccasinash allow them to move mostly undetected.

Inside, three women and a dozen children are unaware of the approaching danger. Lydia, an eighteen-year old maidservant, standing by the door, notices figures inching their way toward the home. Slamming the door without a word, she garners the woman-of-the-house’s attention. Concerned, What is it? a woman voices.

A raid, misses, the girl answers as she feels the percussion of a hatchet strike against the other side. The mother and her elder daughter hastily gather the younger children and slip out the back. Meanwhile, penetrating the door, the blade impacts several blows into the teenager, forcing her to retreat. She does not get far, losing consciousness from the excruciating pain and slumping to the floor before the raiders break through. Leaving her for dead, the raiders go after the others.

Minutes later, alone, regaining consciousness, Lydia dazedly observes her surroundings. She feels the warm sensation of blood dripping down her right arm, staining the sleeve of her top. Unsure where the others are, or if the attackers are close by, she takes a chance and flees for the protection of the garrison. Unbeknownst to her, a few of the survivors have already made it to Captain Plaisted. Sprinting as fast as possible—slowed by her skirt—her bonnet flies off her head and the strings subtly choke against her throat.

Outside, Olive, the elder Roger’s wife, is picking small white flowers that grow in bunches when she notices a young woman exerting herself onward. Hannah! she hollers for her daughter-in-law as she runs towards the teenager. Fetch some water, quickly! Overwhelmed, Lydia collapses in her arms, You are safe in Providence’s hands, now.

Fleeing from their pursuers the raiders fire muskets across the river, shouting, Cowards, you English Dogs! in an effort to provoke their enemy into chasing them.

***

Three weeks of harmony go by without any clash between the settlers and their neighbors. Then, in a field on a mild autumn day in October, Richard Tozier and his young son are absorbed in the task of harvesting crops of corn and squash before the season’s first frost. Although near, the elder’s flintlock is leaning up against a rock wall and not instantly retrievable. Neither father nor son hear the movement of a dozen warriors edging themselves into the clearing. A shot reverberates and the settler crumples to the ground.

Father!

Meanwhile, at the mill, the sound of the sash saw ceasing its up and down motion plays a significant role in Joseph, another of Roger’s sons, hearing echoes. What do you think that was? he poses to his brother as the two haul a log into the mill permeating with dust on the floor.

Passing the patriarch at the entrance, noticing him staring in the direction of Mr. Tozier’s cabin, Father? the younger Roger mentions.

Lieutenant, form a scouting party.

Yes, Captain.

What about me, sir?

I need you here.

From the hill, Olive stands by her husband as he keeps a seasoned eye on the nine-man party led by their son. The farther they venture, the smaller and less distinct they become. He better come back, she exchanges a glare before going inside.

Reaching the field, the basis for the noise is evident. While the farmer lies motionless, his son is nowhere in view. There is no time to respond to what occurs next. Concealed, multiple explosions drop three of the men, one after the other. Back to the garrison! Running backwards, they are only able to return fire once while an indeterminate number of warriors continue sending a volley in their direction.

Cradling their infant daughter, Hannah anxiously paces, waiting for her husband’s return. Spotting him first, Hannah, her mother-in-law blissfully announces.

Report, Captain Plaisted instructs.

Catching his breath, Mr. Tozier is deceased.

And the boy?

Looking on, Hannah hears him reply, I expect the child is as well. She tightens her grip on the baby. To try to ease his wife’s distraught expression, Though … he adds, There was no immediate sign of the boy.

Locate your brother.

You cannot be serious! Olive interrupts. He barely came back, and now you are sending both our sons out to face those demons again after what they did to Mr. Tozier and his son.

I have an obligation to retrieve our men from a fate worse than death.

But why you must risk the sons I bore for you?

Every man in my garrison is either a son or a father. If I am unwilling to send my own blood, how can I ask other mothers and wives to do the same. I need a dispatcher, he exits the conversation.

Your messenger is here, Olive enters the mill where her husband rolls up a piece of parchment. What is that?

To Richard Walden and Lieut.Coffin

This is to inform you that the Indians are engaging us with at least a hundred and have already slain four of our men.

Sirs, if ever you have any love for us, show yourselves with men to help us, or else we are in great danger of being slain, unless our God wonderfully appears for our deliverance. They that cannot fight, let them pray.

Roger Plaisted

Ignoring his wife, Get this to the Dover Garrison as quickly as God wills it. All lives depend upon it, he hands the plea off to the runner.

Captain Plaisted, his sons, and eighteen other self-trained soldiers gather up arms from the barracks, loading up on lead balls and hastely filling flasks with gunpowder. Be careful. We cannot afford to waste any, he references to some of the powder trickling onto the floor.

Guiding an ox pulling a cart, they reach the farm. Sensing trouble, the stubborn animal refuses to go any farther. Leave her, Lieutenant Plaisted tells his brother. Stay alert, he relays to all. They could be anywhere.

Maneuvering through the field, Mr. Tozier is loaded into the cart first. As another of the decedents is carried off, fifty warriors—led by Andrew and Hopehood—pounce out of the bushes and over the wall, yelling, Death to the Englishmen!

The ensuing volley from both sides frightens the oxen, causing her to scatter and tipping over the cart, dumping out the farmer’s body. A musket ball wounds Joseph in the shoulder. Get him out of here, his father conveys as he, the lieutenant, and another man engage the warriors, diverting their attention as his other son is dragged off to safety. Go with your brother!

I am not leaving your side, the younger Roger answers.

"I gave you an order, Lieutenant."

Not without you!

I will be right behind, the captain replies. It is then, as the younger one attempts to reload, a hatchet slashes across his face.

Capt— a shot pierces the lieutenant’s torso before he has a chance to finish.

Watching for his brothers’ and father’s return, sixteen-year-old John, shouts to his mother, They are coming back.

Worriedly, she saunters up to him. Are your brothers and father with them? Noticing Joseph, he glances at her.

Running south, staying close to the river and avoiding any clearing, the dispatcher eventually reaches Dover an hour after his departure. Exhausted, An urgent message from Salmon Falls, he passes the scroll to George Ricker. The twenty-four-year-old unfurls the message, he reads the urgent plea, and looks at the dispatcher ready to fall to his knees. There is no dispute about going.

***

Encounters like the one that occurred at Salmon Falls continue to affect the lives of the Plaisteds up until the end of the French-Indian War. Thirty-seven years after his grandfather and uncles were killed, a young Elisha Plaisted is enjoying his wedding on the family’s property with his new bride—the granddaughter to a dissenter of Puritan theocracy—when the festivities are interrupted. Exasperated by the continuing confiscation of land, warriors assail the farm, fleeing with a bargaining chip … the groom. Unwilling to lose his son, John secures his release by relinquishing a high volume of goods.

Many settlements, including the one the Huckins helped establish, go on to be prosperous but at the expense of the Wampanoag Tribe’s livelihood. By the time of the American Revolutionary War, these two families, the Plaisteds and the Huckins, become joined in matrimony.

Older than his brother Samuel, William Plaisted weds Hannah Huckins while the younger sibling marries Hannah’s niece, Margery. As for the small role George Ricker played in Samuel’s ancestral past, his children, John and Mary, eventually marry into two separate families and become great-great-grandfather and-mother to Cyrus and Eliza—maiden name Rowe—Plaisted, respectively.

***

In the nearly two hundred years since the incident at Salmon Falls another clash involving members of the same family and close relatives is on the horizon, but that is months from now. In the meantime, a young Protestant woman is preparing to become a wife. The only dread on this day is whether the twenty-two-year-old is ready.

Outside, attendees gather in their Sunday-best amid mid-spring blossoming red trilliums and budded leaves on elm and white birch trees. They come from a multitude of family relations. There are her close-quarter siblings; neighboring uncles, aunts, and a cousin; cousins on her father’s side; and a family friend and local cobbler and his son. Of course, no wedding is complete without the father of the bride nor the groom. In rural Holderness, New Hampshire, close to mountains and surrounded by woods, all are farmers in some capacity.

Three years older than herself, her choice is an unlikely one but not a surprise. Before he even knew Mary, Loui’ Moussette already had three strikes against him. Being Canadian, and Catholic, and unemployed. However, following in his father’s footsteps, Cyrus did not forbid him from courting his daughter.

After all, the bride’s aunt and Cyrus’s older sister married a Canadian Catholic who she met when their father hired Joseph Lambert to work the farm where he, his wife, and two daughters lived adjacent to his only son’s property. The only difference between the two practicing Catholics is when Lambert came looking for work, he was a young widower with a young son, Cyril. Loui’, at the time, was a vagabond, a lifestyle he had more in common with Patrick Crowney, his bride’s Irish uncle who, oddly enough for this Protestant family, was Catholic. Unlike the groom, the Irishman was escaping starvation.

As her mother, Eliza, pulls the brush down the length of her hair, the bride looks out the window and onto the glistening field from the morning dew, reminiscing about how she met the groom. May I help you?

Plucking an apple from a tree in the orchard, Is this yours? a younger Loui’ asks.

Do you always take food that doesn’t belong to you?

Hold still, her mother tells her, returning her to the present.

Although she cannot hear a word gazing out from the window of her old bedroom, Mary observes multiple conversations apparently taking place, such as one between her brother and husband-to-be. You don’t have to be so nervous, Samuel exposes Loui’s mood.

What if your sister has a change of heart?

Look, I’m just glad she’ll have someone else to boss around.

Fluttering a rolled-up copy of the local newspaper, The Sentinel, in front of Cyrus, How can their actions not disturb you in any way? Oliver rebukes his indifference to a matter much more important in the cobbler’s eyes. On April 12 an artillery unit from the recently established Confederate States of America fired upon Fort Sumter.

I will not discuss this matter on the day of my daughter’s wedding.

When will you, then? You need to prepare your boys for what’s coming.

Prepare them for what?

When is your sister coming out? George Craig, the cobbler’s son, mentions to Clark, the third child of Cyrus and Eliza.

Why? Do you have someplace to be?

I’m just wondering how long before your father punches my father in the face.

What’s his problem?

He can get very passionate sometimes, especially when it has to do with state affairs.

Why? He’s not a delegate.

Can I let you in on a secret?

One conversation out of view of everyone transpires between two sixteen-year-olds. Leaning up against the backside of an outbuilding, Ai bickers, You cannot be seriously thinking of going through with it?

Facing his cousin, Ai, don’t you see, this is our chance to show our fathers we’re no longer children. To begin treating us the way we deserve to be treated, Cyril contends.

I doubt the militia is looking for a couple of teenagers. Besides, we’d need to get the permission of our fathers to join. How do you expect we convince them?

I overheard Mr. Craig tell one of his customers states all over are already starting to recruit young men like ourselves.

"That still doesn’t answer the question, how do you intend to get your father’s permission?"

Contemplating, I don’t know … yet, Cyril replies.

Meandering up the steps of the farmhouse, Mary, are you up here? Abigail Huckins calls out. Seven years younger than her brother, James, the young woman has recently become a surrogate to Edwin and Harriet, her nephew and niece, ever since their mother died less than a year ago.

As her mother pushes an heirloom comb into her hair in an updo style, In here. Ouch, Mary responds to the teeth catching the strains.

Well, if you stood still, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?

How’s it going out there?

Entering the room, Abigail remarks, I think your father and Mr. Craig are about to get into a brawl.

What are they arguing about this time?

There, finally finished, Eliza states to the younger version of herself.

How do you feel? her cousin poses.

How am I supposed to be feeling? I’m getting married. Outside, the bride watches as two small children, James and Ida, playfully run around just like their older siblings, Mary and Samuel, used to when they were their ages.

Twirling her daughter around, ensuring nothing is out of place and the gown—a bluish-gray dress with embroidered red petals—is flawless, her mother asks, Ready? Given a nod, Abigail, do you mind telling our guests we’ll be out in a moment?

A light breeze transmits the aroma of a fresh bouquet Margaret, Mary’s thirteen-year-old sister, clutches directly outside the doorway. With small white flowers encircling three red trilliums, it does not take attention away from the bride.

This nation is being split into two. You have an—

"The only obligation I have today, Oliver, is to be a witness at my daughter’s wedding," Cyrus cuts the cobbler off.

Noticing his niece, Patrick Crowney, a Catholic, begins to sing the words to a popular ballad from Ireland, William Mulchinock’s Rose of Tralee.

59866.png "’The pale moon was rising above the green mountains,

The sun was declining beneath the blue sea,

When I strayed with my love by the pure crystal fountain,

That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee …’"

The song is about a wealthy Protestant’s love for his family’s Catholic maid. Although the scenario is reversed, it does not take away from the confliction between love and religious differences.

59869.png "’She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer,

Yet ’twas not her beauty alone that won me.

Oh no, ’twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning,

That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee …’"

Whispering to his son, Clark, Have you seen your brother and cousin? Cyrus raises as Ai and Cyril dash into view, slowing their pace to a brisk walk as they are noticed. You’re late.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Cautiously promenading pass relatives, friends, and acquaintances, Mary murmurs, Walk meticulously. Look straight ahead. Don’t trip, to herself.

Pointedly, Patrick adds:

59871.png "’In the far fields of India ‘mid war’s bloody thunders,

Her voice was solace and comfort to me,

But the cool hand of death has now torn us asunder,

I’m lonely tonight for my Rose of Tralee.’"

At the conclusion of the ceremony, as attendees enjoy simple refreshments such as cake and cider, I’m glad you could come, Cyrus connects with James, his younger cousin by twenty years.

Well, it’s not easy with two toddlers, he glances around. So, what was your cobbler friend babbling about earlier.

I’ve begun to ignore whatever comes out of his mouth since—

"I know, I’ve read the papers. Do you think there’ll be a war?"

If there is, no son of mine is going to be a willing participant, if I can help it.

To relieve boredom, the two younger siblings chase each other, veering between guests and the table, carefree. James! Ida! their mother hollers.

What are you smiling about? a straight-faced Loui’ inquires.

The days that have gone by.

Later in the evening, retired to bed, Mary and Loui’ can hear four ears pressed to the door on the opposite side. Why are you all standing around her sister’s door? Eliza catches them. Off to bed, all of you.

In his Canadian accent, "Do you think