https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/william-bradford

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TheAuthor to Her Book

By Anne Bradstreet

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,

Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,

Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

At thy return my blushing was not small,

My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

I cast thee by as one unfit for light,

Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;

Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:

I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,

And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,

Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.

In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;

And take thy way where yet thou art not known,

If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:

And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,

Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

Before the Birth of One of Her Children

By Anne Bradstreet

All things within this fading world hath end,

Adversity doth still our joyes attend;

No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,

But with death’s parting blow is sure to meet.

The sentence past is most irrevocable,

A common thing, yet oh inevitable.

How soon, my Dear, death may my steps attend,

How soon’t may be thy Lot to lose thy friend,

We are both ignorant, yet love bids me

These farewell lines to recommend to thee,

That when that knot’s untied that made us one,

I may seem thine, who in effect am none.

And if I see not half my dayes that’s due,

What nature would, God grant to yours and you;

The many faults that well you know I have

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https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/anne-bradstreet

Let be interr’d in my oblivious grave;

If any worth or virtue were in me,

Let that live freshly in thy memory

And when thou feel’st no grief, as I no harms,

Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms.

And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains

Look to my little babes, my dear remains.

And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me,

These o protect from step Dames injury.

And if chance to thine eyes shall bring this verse,

With some sad sighs honour my absent Herse;

And kiss this paper for thy loves dear sake,

Who with salt tears this last Farewel did take.

By Night when Others Soundly Slept

By Anne Bradstreet

1

By night when others soundly slept

And hath at once both ease and Rest,

My waking eyes were open kept

And so to lie I found it best.

2

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,

With tears I sought him earnestly.

He bow’d his ear down from Above.

In vain I did not seek or cry.

3

My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;

He in his Bottle put my tears,

My smarting wounds washt in his blood,

And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.

4

What to my Saviour shall I give

Who freely hath done this for me?

I’ll serve him here whilst I shall live

And Loue him to Eternity.

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In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659

By Anne Bradstreet

I had eight birds hatcht in one nest,

Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest.

I nurst them up with pain and care,

No cost nor labour did I spare

Till at the last they felt their wing,

Mounted the Trees and learned to sing.

Chief of the Brood then took his flight

To Regions far and left me quite.

My mournful chirps I after send

Till he return, or I do end.

Leave not thy nest, thy Dame and Sire,

Fly back and sing amidst this Quire.

My second bird did take her flight

And with her mate flew out of sight.

Southward they both their course did bend,

And Seasons twain they there did spend,

Till after blown by Southern gales

They Norward steer’d with filled sails.

A prettier bird was no where seen,

Along the Beach, among the treen.

I have a third of colour white

On whom I plac’d no small delight,

Coupled with mate loving and true,

Hath also bid her Dame adieu.

And where Aurora first appears,

She now hath percht to spend her years.

One to the Academy flew

To chat among that learned crew.

Ambition moves still in his breast

That he might chant above the rest,

Striving for more than to do well,

That nightingales he might excell.

My fifth, whose down is yet scarce gone,

Is ‘mongst the shrubs and bushes flown

And as his wings increase in strength

On higher boughs he’ll perch at length.

My other three still with me nest

Until they’re grown, then as the rest,

Or here or there, they’ll take their flight,

As is ordain’d, so shall they light.

If birds could weep, then would my tears

Let others know what are my fears

Lest this my brood some harm should catch

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And be surpris’d for want of watch

Whilst pecking corn and void of care

They fall un’wares in Fowler’s snare;

Or whilst on trees they sit and sing

Some untoward boy at them do fling,

Or whilst allur’d with bell and glass

The net be spread and caught, alas;

Or lest by Lime-twigs they be foil’d;

Or by some greedy hawks be spoil’d.

O would, my young, ye saw my breast

And knew what thoughts there sadly rest.

Great was my pain when I you bred,

Great was my care when I you fed.

Long did I keep you soft and warm

And with my wings kept off all harm.

My cares are more, and fears, than ever,

My throbs such now as ‘fore were never.

Alas, my birds, you wisdom want

Of perils you are ignorant.

Oft times in grass, on trees, in flight,

Sore accidents on you may light.

O to your safety have an eye,

So happy may you live and die.

Mean while, my days in tunes I’ll spend

Till my weak lays with me shall end.

In shady woods I’ll sit and sing

And things that past, to mind I’ll bring.

Once young and pleasant, as are you,

But former toys (no joys) adieu!

My age I will not once lament

But sing, my time so near is spent,

And from the top bough take my flight

Into a country beyond sight

Where old ones instantly grow young

And there with seraphims set song.

No seasons cold, nor storms they see

But spring lasts to eternity.

When each of you shall in your nest

Among your young ones take your rest,

In chirping languages oft them tell

You had a Dame that lov’d you well,

That did what could be done for young

And nurst you up till you were strong

And ‘fore she once would let you fly

She shew’d you joy and misery,

Taught what was good, and what was ill,

What would save life, and what would kill.

Thus gone, amongst you I may live,

And dead, yet speak and counsel give.

Farewell, my birds, farewell, adieu,

I happy am, if well with you.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

By Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Thy love is such I can no way repay;

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666

By Anne Bradstreet

Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning

of Our house, July 10th. 1666. Copied Out of

a Loose Paper.

In silent night when rest I took,

For sorrow near I did not look,

I wakened was with thund’ring noise

And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.

That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”

Let no man know is my Desire.

I, starting up, the light did spy,

And to my God my heart did cry

To straighten me in my Distress

And not to leave me succourless.

Then, coming out, behold a space

The flame consume my dwelling place.

And when I could no longer look,

I blest His name that gave and took,

That laid my goods now in the dust.

Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just.

It was his own, it was not mine,

Far be it that I should repine;

He might of all justly bereft

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But yet sufficient for us left.

When by the ruins oft I past

My sorrowing eyes aside did cast

And here and there the places spy

Where oft I sate and long did lie.

Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,

There lay that store I counted best.

My pleasant things in ashes lie

And them behold no more shall I.

Under thy roof no guest shall sit,

Nor at thy Table eat a bit.

No pleasant talk shall ‘ere be told

Nor things recounted done of old.

No Candle e’er shall shine in Thee,

Nor bridegroom‘s voice e’er heard shall be.

In silence ever shalt thou lie,

Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.

Then straight I ‘gin my heart to chide,

And did thy wealth on earth abide?

Didst fix thy hope on mould’ring dust?

The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?

Raise up thy thoughts above the sky

That dunghill mists away may fly.

Thou hast a house on high erect

Frameed by that mighty Architect,

With glory richly furnished,

Stands permanent though this be fled.

It‘s purchased and paid for too

By Him who hath enough to do.

A price so vast as is unknown,

Yet by His gift is made thine own;

There‘s wealth enough, I need no more,

Farewell, my pelf, farewell, my store.

The world no longer let me love,

My hope and treasure lies above.

Resource: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/anne-

bradstreet#about

Excerpts From William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation

William Bradford was among the first Pilgrims to arrive in Plymouth on the Mayflower. He helped write and
also signed the Mayflower Compact when the ship arrived in Cape Cod. Bradford was the designated governor

of Plymouth from 1621 to 1656, except for five years as the Govenor’s Assistant. He wrote many texts about

Plymouth Plantation, including part of Mourt’s Relation, A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth (written in

1622 with Edward Winslow) and a series called Dialogues about church government, which was later

published in the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Publications. The following excerpts are from his text Of
Plymouth Plantation, which recounts the history of the colony from 1620-1647.

Religious Beliefs

The one side [the Reformers] laboured to have ye right worship of God & discipline of Christ established in ye

church, according to ye simplicitie of ye gospell, without the mixture of mens inventions, and to have & to be

ruled by ye laws of Gods word, dispensed in those offices, & by those officers of Pastors, Teachers, & Elders,

&c. according to ye Scripturs.

The other partie [the Church of England], though under many colours & pretences, endevored to have ye

episcopall dignitie (affter ye popish maner) with their large power & jurisdiction still retained; with all those

courts, cannons, & ceremonies, togeather with all such livings, revenues, & subordinate officers, with other

such means as formerly upheld their antichristian greatnes, and enabled them with lordly & tyranous power to

persecute ye poore servants of God.

Moving to the City of Leiden, Holland (1609)

For these & some other reasons they removed to Leyden, a fair & bewtifull citie, and of a sweete situation, but

made more famous by ye universitie wherwith it is adorned, in which of late had been so many learned man.

But wanting that traffike by sea which Amerstdam injoyes, it was not so beneficiall for their outward means of

living & estats. But being now hear pitchet they fell to such trads & imployments as they best could; valewing

peace & their spirituall comforte above any other riches whatsoever. And at lenght they came to raise a

competente & comforteable living, but with hard and continuall labor.

Being thus settled (after many difficulties) they continued many years in a comfortable condition, injoying

much sweete & delightefull societies & spirituall comforte togeather in ye wayes of God, under ye able

ministrie, and prudente governmente of Mr. John Robinson, & Mr. William Brewster, who was an assistante

unto him in ye place of an Elder, unto which he was now called & chosen by the church.

So as they grew in knowledge & other gifts & graces of ye spirite of God, & lived togeather in peace, & love,

and holiness; and many came unto them from diverse parts of England, so as they grew a great congregation.

And if at any time any differences arose, or offences broak out (as it cannot be, but some time ther will, even

amongst ye best of men) they were ever so mete with, and nipt in ye head betims, or otherwise so well

composed, as still love, peace, and communion was continued; or else ye church purged ot those that were

incurable & incorrigible, when, after much patience used, no other means would serve, which seldom came to

pass.

Deciding to Emigrate to America

All great & honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and

overcome with answerable courages. It was granted ye dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties

were many, but not invincible. For though there were many of them likely, yet they were not cartaine; it might
be sundrie of ye things feared might never befale; others by providente care & ye use of good means, might in

a great measure be prevented; and all of them, through ye help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either

be borne, or overcome.

True it was, that such atempts were not to be made and undertaken without good ground & reason; not rashly

or lightly as many have done for curiositie or hope of gaine, &c. But their condition was not ordinarie; their

ends were good & honourable; their calling lawfull, & urgente; and therfore they might expecte ye blessing of

god in their proceding. Yea, though they should loose their lives in this action, yet might they have comforte in

the same, and their endeavors would be honourable. They lived hear but as men in exile, & in a poore

condition; and as great miseries might possibly befale them in this place, for ye 12. years of truce [the truce

between Holland and Spain] were now out, & ther was nothing but beating of drumes, and preparing for warr,

the events wherof are allway uncertaine.

Arriving Safely at Cape Cod

Being thus arived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees & blessed ye God of

heaven, who had brought them over ye vast & furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles & miseries

therof, againe to set their feete on ye firme and stable earth, their proper elemente. And no marvell if they were

thus joyefull, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on ye coast of his owne Italy; as he

affirmed, that he had rather remaine twentie years on his way by land, then pass by sea to any place in a short

time; so tedious & dreadfull was ye same unto him.

But hear I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amased at this poore peoples presente condition;

and so I thinke will the reader too, when he well considered ye same. Being thus passed ye vast ocean, and a

sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembred by yt which wente before), they had now no

friends to wellcome them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less

townes to repaire too, to seeke for succoure.

Let it also be considred what weake hopes of supply & succoure they left behinde them, yt might bear up their

minds in this sade condition and trialls they were under; and they could not but be very smale. It is true,

indeed, ye affections & love of their brethren at Leyden was cordiall & entire towards them, but they had litle

power to help them, or them selves; and how ye case stode betweene them & ye marchants at their coming

away, hath already been declared. What could not sustaine them but ye spirite of God & his grace? May not &

ought not the children of these fathers rightly say : Our faithers were Englishmen which came over this great
ocean, and were ready to perish in this willdernes; but they cried unto ye Lord, and he heard their voyce, and

looked on their adversitie…

The Pilgrims’ Exploring Party Lands at Plymouth

From hence they departed, & co[a]sted all along, but discerned no place likely for harbor; & therfore hasted to

a place that their pillote, (one Mr. Coppin who had bine in ye cuntrie before) did assure them was a good

harbor, which he had been in, and they might fetch it before night; of which they were glad, for it begane to be

foule weather.

After some houres sailing, it begane to snow & raine, & about ye midle of ye afternoone, ye wind increased, &

ye sea became very rough, and they broake their ruder, & it was as much as 2 men could doe to steere her with

a cupple of oares. But their pillott bad them be of good cheere, for he saw ye harbor; but ye storme increasing,

& night drawing on, they bore what saile they could to gett in, while they could see. But herwith they broake

their mast in 3 peeces, & their saill fell over bord, in a very grown sea, so as they had like to have been cast

away; yet by Gods mercie they recovered them selves, & having ye floud with them, struck into ye harbore.

But when it came too, ye pillott was deceived in ye place, and said, ye Lord be mercifull unto them, for his eys

never saw yt place before; & he & the mr. mate would have rune her ashore, in a cove full of breakers, before

ye winde. But a lusty seaman which steered, bad those which rowed, if they were men, about with her, or ells

they were all cast away; the which they did with speed. So he bid them be of good cheere & row lustly, for ther

was a faire sound before them, & he doubted not but they should find one place or other wher they might ride

in saftie. And though it was very darke, and rained sore, yet in ye end they gott under ye lee of a smale iland,

and remained ther all yt night in saftie. But they knew not this to be an iland till morning, but were devided in

their minds; some would keepe ye boate for fear they might be amongst ye Indians; others were so weake and

cold, they could not endure, but got a shore, & with much adoe got fire, (all things being so wett,) and ye rest

were glad to come to them; for after midnight ye wind shifted to the north-west, & it frose hard.

But though this had been a day & night of much trouble & danger unto them, yet God gave them a morning of

comforte & refreshing (as usually he doth to his children), for ye next day was a faire sunshinig day, and they

found them sellvs to be on an iland secure from ye Indeans, wher they might drie their stufe, fixe their peeces,

& rest them selves, and gave God thanks for his mercies, in their manifould deliverances. And this being the

last day of ye weeke, they prepared there to keepe ye Sabath.

On Munday they sounded ye harbor, and founde it fitt for shipping; and marched into ye land [Plymouth], &

found diverse cornfeilds, & litle runing brooks, a place (as they supposed) fitt for situation; at least it was ye

best they could find, and ye season, & their presente necessitie, made them glad to accepte of it. So they

returned to their shipp againe with this news to ye rest of their people, which did much comforte their harts.

Meeting Squanto, the Native American Who Spoke English

All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show themselves aloof off, but

when any approached near them, they would run away; and once they stole away their tools where they had

been at work and were gone to dinner.

But about the 16th of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English,

which they could well understand but marveled at it. At length they understood by discourse with him, that he

was not of these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts where some English ships came to fish, with whom he

was acquainted and could name sundry of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his language. He

became profitable to them in acquainting them with many things concerning the state of the country in the east

parts where he lived, which was afterwards profitable unto them; as also of the people here, of their names,

number and strength, of their situation and distance from this place, and who was chief amongst

them.

His

name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name was Sguanto, a native of this place, who

had been in England and could speak better English than himself.

Being after some time of entertainment and gifts dismissed, a while after he came again, and five more with

him, and they brought again all the tools that were stolen away before, and made way for the coming of their

great Sachem, called Massasoit. Who, about four or five days after, came with the chief of his friends and other

attendance, with the aforesaid Squanto. With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts given him,

they made a peace with him (which hath now continued this 24 years) in these terms:

1. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people.

2. That if any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they

might punish him.

3. That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be

restored; and they should do the like to his.

4. If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war against them,

he should aid them.

5. He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this, that they might

not wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.

6. That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind

them.

After these things he returned to his place called Sowams, some 40 miles from this place, but Squanto

continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond

their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities,

and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died.

He was a native of this place, and scarce any left alive besides himself. He we carried away with divers others

by one Hunt, a master of a ship, who thought to sell them for slaves in Spain. But he got away for England and

was entertained by a merchant in London, and employed to Newfoundland and other parts, and lastly brought

hither into these parts by one Mr. Dermer, a gentleman employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others for

discovery and other designs in these parts.

The Winter of 1621

In these hard & difficulte beginings they found some discontents & murmurings arise amongst some, and

mutinous speeches & carriags in other; but they were soone quelled & overcome by ye wisdome, patience, and

just & equall carrage of things by ye Govr and better part, wch clave faithfully togeather in ye maine. But that

which was most sadd & lamentable was, that in 2. or 3. moneths time halfe of their company dyed, espetialy in

Jan: & February, being ye depth of winter, and wanting houses & other comforts; being infected with ye

scurvie & other diseases, which this long vioage & their inacomodate condition had brought upon them; so as

ther dyed some times 2. or 3. of a day, in ye foresaid time; that of 100. & odd persons, scarce 50. remained.

And of these in ye time of most distres, ther was but 6. or 7. sound persons, who, to their great comendations

be it spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toyle and hazard of their owne health,

fetched them woode, made them fires, drest them meat, made their beads, washed their lothsome cloaths,

cloathed & uncloathed them; in a word, did all ye homly & necessarie offices for them wch dainty & quesie

stomacks cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly & cherfully, without any grudging in ye least,

shewing herein their true love unto their friends & bretheren. A rare example & worthy to be remembred. Two

of these 7. were Mr. William Brewster, ther reverend Elder, & Myles Standish, ther Captein & military

comander, unto whom my selfe, & many others, were much beholden in our low & sicke condition.

The First Thanksgiving Feast

They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against

winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; fFor as some were thus

imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey

tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was no want. And now begane to

come in store of foule, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but

afterward decreased by degrees). And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they

tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids, they had about a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since

harvest, Indean corn to yt proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their

freinds in England, which were not fained, but true reports.

Resource: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/excerpts-william-bradfords-

plymouth-plantation-text-dependent-questions/

1

Salem Witchcraft: The Events and Causes of the Salem Witch Trials

By Tim Sutter © 2000-2003

What caused the Salem witch trials of 1692? This question has been asked for over 300 years. Although

it is a simple question, it does not have an easy answer. The answer is difficult because there are

numerous factors and events that helped create and influence the trials. The main factors that started

and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of

the people. The following essay on these causes and the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of

1692 is divided into four sections: 1) Salem Politics 2) Cold Winter Days 3) Salem Witchcraft 4)

Aftermath.

Salem Politics

Salem Village had a very colorful history before the famous witch trials. It was not exactly known as a

bastion of tranquillity in New England. The main reason was its 600 plus residents were divided into two

main parts: those who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who did not. The residents who

wanted to separate from Salem Town were farming families located in the western part of Salem

Village. Those who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town were typically located on the eastern side of

Salem Village–closest to Salem Town. The residents who wished to remain a part of Salem Town were

economically tied to its thriving, rich harbors.

Many of the Salem Village farming families believed that Salem Town’s thriving economy made it too

individualistic. This individualism was in opposition to the communal nature that Puritanism mandated.

Thus, they were out of touch with the rest of Salem Village. One particularly large farming family who

felt that Salem Town was out of touch with the rest of Salem Village was the Putnams.

The Putnams were the leaders of the separatist group primarily because they owned the most farmland

in Salem Village. They hoped to solidify a separation from Salem Town by establishing a congregation

unique from it. So in 1689, a congregation was formed under the Rev. Samuel Parris and began

worshipping in the Salem Village Meetinghouse. However, the congregation only represented a select

group since over half of its members were Putnams. If this action did not further strain already

weakened relations between the two factions, the events concerning Parris’ contract did.

Contracts for ministers during this period often provided them with a modest salary, use of a house, and

free firewood. Parris received this and much more. He not only got a modest salary and free firewood,

but the title and deed to the parsonage and its surrounding land. Needless to say, this was a very

uncommon perk to be included in a minister’s contract during this time. This perk especially angered the

residents who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town. The Salem Town supporters showed their

opposition by refusing to worship at the Meetinghouse and withholding their local taxes. This latter

action was of important consequence because the local taxes helped pay the minister’s salary and

provided his firewood.

2

In October of 1691 a new Salem Village Committee was elected that was comprised mostly of Parris’

opponents. This new committee refused to assess local taxes that would pay Parris’ salary, and also

challenged the legality of his ownership of the ministry-house and property. These actions by the new

committee caused Parris and his family to rely solely on voluntary contributions for sustenance. The

Putnams were now worried of losing Parris and the soughted independence from Salem Town the

congregation would help bring, and Parris was concerned about his job and providing for his family.

Cold Winter Days

The Rev. Samuel Parris had a relatively small family. He was married and had a nine year old daughter,

Betty, and a twelve year old niece, Abigail Williams, who was an orphan. Abigail was expected to earn

her keep by doing most of the household chores, and also care for her invalid aunt. Betty’s poor health

prevented her from helping with the household chores, so much of the work feel on Abigail’s young

shoulders.

After chores were done, there was little entertainment for Betty and Abigail. Salem Town was eight

miles away, and Boston was a twenty mile journey over unforgiving roads. Thus, Samuel Parris only

visited these places when business required it. He also opposed the girls playing hide-and-seek, tag and

other childhood games because he believed playing was a sign of idleness, and idleness allowed the

Devil to work his mischief.

Reading was a popular pastime during the winter months. There was an interest in books about

prophecy and fortune telling throughout New England during the winter of 1691-92. These books were

especially popular among young girls and adolescents. In Essex County girls formed small, informal

circles to practice the divinations and fortune telling they learned from their reading to help pass the

cold months.

Betty Parris, her cousin Abigail Williams, and two other friends formed such a circle. Tituba, Rev. Parris’

slave whom he bought while on a trip to Barbados, would often participate in the circle. She would

entertain the others with stories of witchcraft, demons, and mystic animals. Other girls soon joined their

circle in the evenings to listen to Tituba’s tales and participate in fortune telling experiments. They

would tell their fortunes by dropping an egg white into a glass of water and then interpret the picture it

formed. However, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams began to become upset and frightened with the

results of their fortunes. This, coupled with the family financial and social difficulties, likely caused the

two girls to express their stress in unusual physical expressions. Samuel Parris believed this unnatural

behavior to be an illness and asked Salem Village’s physician, William Griggs, to examine the girls. He did

not find any physical cause for their strange behavior and concluded the girls were bewitched.

3

Salem Witchcraft

Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others. They defined witchcraft as entering into a

compact with the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. Thus, witchcraft was considered a sin

because it denied God’s superiority, and a crime because the witch could call up the Devil in his/her

shape to perform cruel acts against others. Therefore, in any case when witchcraft was suspected, it was

important that it was investigated thoroughly and the tormentor(s) identified and judged. Unknown to

Samuel Parris, Mary Sibley ordered Tituba and her husband, John Indian, to bake a “witch cake” in order

to help the girls name their tormentors. A witch cake is composed of rye meal mixed with urine from the

afflicted. It is then feed to a dog. The person(s) are considered bewitched if the dog displays similar

symptoms as the afflicted. The girls were at first hesitant to speak, but Betty eventually spoke and

named Tituba. The other girls soon spoke and named Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good.

All three women were prime candidates for the accusations of witchcraft. Sarah Osborne was an elderly

lady who had not gone to church in over a year, and poor church attendance was a Puritan sin. Sarah

Good was a homeless woman who begged door to door. If people failed to give her alms, she would

utter unknown words and leave. Residents would often attribute her visits to death of livestock. They

believed the mumbled words she spoke under her breath were curses against them for not showing her

charity. Since Tituba was Parris’ slave and well known to Betty and Abigail, it is no surprise then that her

name was the first to be called out by Betty. The negative reputations and low social standing shared by

these three women clearly made them believable suspects for

witchcraft.

Now that three Salem Village residents stood accused of witchcraft, an investigation of the charges was

in order. Two magistrates from Salem Town, John Hathorne, the great-grandfather of famed writer

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Nathaniel added a “w” to his name to help disassociate himself from this great-

grandfather) and Jonathan Corwin, traveled to Salem Village to investigate the cases of witchcraft. Their

investigation of Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Tituba was conducted in the Salem Village

Meetinghouse. During the questioning of the three accused, Betty, Abigail, and six other girls would

often scream and tumble on the floor of the meetinghouse. Even with the harsh questioning by the two

magistrates and the unusual actions of the afflicted girls, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne maintained

their innocence. Tituba, however, confessed for three days.

During Tituba’s confession, she talked of red rats, talking cats, and a tall man dressed in black. She

stated that the man clothed in black made her sign in a book, and that Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and

others, whose names she could not read, had also signed this book. It is not exactly clear why she

confessed to witchcraft. She might have thought that she was guilty since she practiced fortune telling,

which was considered a form of “white magic,” or perhaps thought that the judges would be lenient if

she confessed. Whatever her reason, a confession was not likely obtained from her by torture. Although

physical torture was employed in Europe to elicit confessions from accused witches, there are no

confirmed cases of it being used in Colonial America for the same purposes as New England law did not

sanction it. When Tituba finished her lengthy confession, she, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne were

taken to a Boston jail. Sarah Osborne would later become the first victim of the Salem witch trials when

she died two months later of natural causes while still in jail.

4

The accusations of witchcraft continued despite the jailing of three accused witches. Why the

accusations continued is still debated to this day. A recent small pox outbreak, the revocation of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony charter by Charles II and the constant fear of Indian attacks helped in creating

anxiety among the early Puritans that God was punishing them. This fear of punishment established a

fertile atmosphere in which a case of possible witchcraft, let alone three, could easily be interpreted by

the Puritans as the cause of God’s wrath. Due to this belief and fear, they would want to make sure that

every last witch be discovered and punished in order to end His anger. However, some historians and

scientists argue that the girls continued with their accusations because they suffered from hysteria.

Hysteria is known to cause strange physical symptoms in a person of good health. Whether it was fear of

God’s wrath or hysteria, the accusations did not relent.

In the middle of March, Ann Putnam accused Martha Corey of afflicting her. Even though Martha Corey

attended church regularly, she was not very popular in the community. She was outspoken, opinionated

and also mothered an illegitimate mulatto that still lived with her and her second husband, Giles.

Despite her excellent church attendance, her character made her a prime candidate for the charge of

witchcraft.

Rebecca Nurse was the next person to be accused of witchcraft. However, the 71-year-old woman did

not make for a likely witch. She was a kind and generous lady that was well liked by the community. Ann

Putnam and the other girls testified that her specter would float into their rooms at night, pinching and

torturing them. When Rebecca was notified of these charges, she responded, “What sin has God found

in me unrepented of that He should lay such an affliction upon me in my old age?” Probably the only

flaws that could be found with the prudent woman were that she one time disputed with the Rev. James

Allen over the boundary of their neighboring properties, and often did not respond when spoken to

because of poor hearing.

As the accusations of witchcraft continued to increase, some started to doubt the truthfulness of the

afflicted girls. One such person was a 60-year-old farmer and tavern owner from Salem Town by the

name of John Proctor. When his maidservant, Mary Warren, began to display the same uncanny

behavior as the afflicted girls, he threatened to beat her. This threat temporarily cured her afflictions.

He believed the afflicted girls would, “make devils of us all,” and that their behavior could easily be

corrected with harsh discipline. With such opinions, it was not long before he and his wife, Elizabeth–

whose grandmother, Ann B. Lynn, was once suspected of witchcraft–were jailed in Boston under

charges of witchcraft.

A shocking accusation came when Ann Putnam accused the former Salem Village minister, George

Burroughs, as being the master of all witches in Massachusetts. He was also identified by the afflicted

girls as the “Black Minister” and leader of the Salem Coven. Despite being a minister, he did not hav e a

character of an angel. He left Salem Village after serving as its minister from 1680-82 due to a dispute

over his salary. He also was widowed three times, and rumored to have mistreated his wives.

Furthermore, when his temper was tested, he sometimes would brag about having occult powers. Even

though he was a minister, his actions at times did not reflect it.

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By the end of May 1692, around 200 people were jailed under the charges of witchcraft. Almost all of

them as a result of spectral evidence. Cotton Mather, son of famed minister and Harvard President,

Increase Mather, spoke out against spectral evidence. He felt it was unreliable because the Devil could

take the form of an innocent person to do his evil deeds. His warning against the use of spectral

evidence was followed by Royal Governor William Phips establishing a Court of Oyer and Terminer to

investigate the allegations of witchcraft at Salem Village.

The first to be tried under the newly formed court was Bridget Bishop on June 2, 1692. This was not the

first time she faced the charge of witchcraft. In 1680 she was tried for witchcraft, but was not convicted.

Despite not receiving a conviction, she still was suspected of practicing the black arts. When work was

being done on her cellar, “poppets” were found in the walls by the workers. It was testified that the

poppets were stuck with pins, and some had missing heads. This discovery and testimony helped

confirm the suspicions that she was indeed a practicing witch because it was believed that a witch could

harm someone by sticking pins and other objects into a poppet that represented the victim. She was

found guilty of witchcraft and hanged June 10, 1692, on Gallows Hill.

The cases of Sarah Good, Sarah Wilds, Elizabeth How, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse were heard

next by the court on June 29, 1692. Unlike Bridget Bishop’s trial, spectral evidence was a key in the

conviction of four of the five accused. The one accused who escaped a guilty verdict was Rebecca Nurse.

However, when the jurors announced a not guilty verdict in her case, the afflicted girls howled, thrashed

about, and rolled around on the floor. With the courtroom in an uproar, the judges asked the jury to

reconsider its decision. When they did, a guilty verdict was returned. Rebecca Nurse, along with the

other four convicted women, were hanged July 19, 1692, on Gallows Hill. At the hangings, the Rev.

Nicholas Noyes asked Sarah Good to confess. “I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you

take away my life God will give you blood to drink.” was her reply to him. Twenty-five years later, the

Rev. Nicholas Noyes died of a hemorrhage, choking on his own blood.

The hangings of six convicted witches did little in abating the spread of witchcraft in Massachusetts

during the summer months of 1692. More people began displaying signs of affliction. As a result,

accusations and arrests for witchcraft continued to grow in number. Those from all walks of life, rich and

poor, farmer and merchant, were now being accused. No one was exempt from being cried out as a

witch.

As the jails continued to swell with accused witches, the court reconvened to try the Rev. George

Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor, George Jacobs, Sr., John Willard and Martha Carrier on August 5,

1692. Spectral evidence again played a significant factor in the trials of these individuals. In George

Burroughs case, his lying and failure to have one of his children baptized did not help his cause to be

found innocent. All six were found guilty of witchcraft by the court. Elizabeth Proctor escaped the

sentence of death because she was pregnant, but the rest were hanged on Gallows Hill on August 19,

1692. At the hangings, George Burroughs recited the Lord’s Prayer flawlessly. This achievement was

important because it was believed that a wizard could not recite this prayer without making a mistake.

Even with such an act of innocence, it was not enough to save his life.

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George Burroughs’ flawless recitation did little in impeding the witch trials. The trials continued with

Giles Corey’s scheduled for mid-September of 1692. However, he refused to answer the questions asked

by the court. Due to his refusal, the court exercised its legal right and ordered the sheriff to pile rocks

upon him until he co-operated. He was taken to a field near the Salem Meetinghouse, his hands and legs

were bound, and heavy rocks were piled upon his chest. Even with the increasing weight, he refused to

answer the court’s questions. “More weight.” would be his response to the court’s inquiries. On

September 19, 1692, after two days of induring the increasing weight, Giles Corey was crushed to death.

Why Giles Corey refused to answer the court’s questions and suffer this slow death instead is not clear.

Some historians feel that he wanted to protect his property for heirs. Since witchcraft was a capital

offense, his property could be sequestered to the government if he was found guilty. Unfortunately, this

does not explain why John Proctor and he both made wills before their deaths; neither would have any

property to leave because it could be secured by the government. Due to this action by the two men,

other historians argue that Giles Corey was not acting on behalf of his heirs by refusing to stand trial.

Rather, he chose this fate to serve as a protest against the witch trials and the methods of the court.

Whatever his reason, Giles Corey chose death over standing trial for witchcraft.

Giles Corey’s refusal to stand trial did not slow the court’s conviction of accused witches. Martha Corey,

Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, Margaret Scott, Wilmott Reed, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary

Parker were hanged on Gallows Hill September 22, 1692. Before the hangings, Mary Easty, a sister of

Rebecca Nurse, wrote the magistrates and the Essex County ministers. In her petition, she stated:

…I know I must die, and my appointed time is set. But the Lord He knows it is, if it be possible, that no

more innocent blood be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go in. I

question not but your honors do to the utmost of your powers in the discovery and detecting of

witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty of innocent blood for the world. But by my own

innocency I know you are in the wrong way. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct you in this great work, if

it be His blessed will, that innocent blood be not shed…

George Burroughs’ prayer, Giles Corey’s refusal to stand trial and Mary Easty’s letter began to lessen the

public support and faith that the witch trials once had. Many people felt the accusations and trials were

getting out of control. By October, ministers, judges and numerous others believed that the trials

claimed innocent lives. “It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent

person should be condemned.” was the sentiment Increase Mather imparted to the Boston clergy. It

was not long after Increase Mather made this statement that on October 12, 1692, Governor Phips

issued orders to protect the current prisoners accused of witchcraft from harm, and suspended the

arrest of suspected witches–unless the arrests were absolutely necessary. He soon followed these

orders with dissolving the Court of Oyer and Terminer on October 29, 1692.

Governor Phips’ orders, Increase Mather’s statement to the Boston clergy and waning support of the

trials soon left the cries of the afflicted to fall on deaf ears. People began to ignore the accusations of

the afflicted. The fury of the witch trials subsided, and the last witch trial was held in January 1693.

Governor Phips ended the witch trials when he pardoned the remaining accused in May 1693. With this

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pardon, the Salem witch trials, which resulted in nineteen hangings and a death by crushing rocks, was

finally concluded.

Aftermath

The aftermath of the Salem witch trials was severe. Even with the witch trials over, many were still in jail

because they could not pay for their release. The law stipulated that prisoners had to pay for their food

and board before being released. Unless the prisoners or someone else could pay for these expenses,

they could not be freed. Additionally, those who were convicted of witchcraft had their property

confiscated by the government. This left their families without money and, in some cases, a home.

The trials took a toll on the surrounding land and structures as well. Houses and fields were left

untended, and the planting season was interrupted. The fields that were planted were not cultivated or

harvested. Also, the Salem Meetinghouse was left dilapidated due to the distraction of the trials.

Crop failures and epidemics continued to bother Salem for years after the trials ended. The Puritans felt

that these events were happening because God was punishing them for the hangings of innocent

people. Therefore, a day of fasting and prayer for forgiveness was ordered for January 13, 1697.

The land and structures were not the only things to change as a result of the trials. Salem Village politics

also changed. The Essex County Court declared that the Salem Village committee was derelict in its

duties, and ordered for a new election on January 15, 1693. An anti-Parris committee was elected as a

result.

The Rev. Samuel Parris was now in jeopardy of losing his job because of the outcome of the new

election. Whether he was worried about losing his job, or simply had a guilty conscience, Parris gave his

“Meditation for Peace” sermon on November 26, 1693. In the sermon, he admitted to giving too much

weight to spectral evidence. However, his sermon and confession seemed not to have repaired the

damaged relations between him and the community, for Parris agreed to move from Salem Village in

April 1696.

Before Parris and his family moved, the legal manner of the parsonage needed to be resolved. In July

1697, it was finally settled when arbitrators decided that Salem Village should pay Parris 79 pounds, 9

shillings and 6 pence in back salary. In return, Parris agreed to relinquish the deed to the parsonage.

Parris and his family then left for Stowe, Massachusetts.

Little information has survived as to what happened to Samuel Parris and his family after they left Salem

Village. Tituba was sold to pay for her jail costs. It is believed that Abigail Williams never recovered from

her “affliction” and died young. Betty Parris latter married Benjamin Barron in 1710. She had five

children and lived in Concord, Massachusetts. She died March 21, 1760, at the age of 78. Parris’ son,

Noyes, died insane.

Joseph Green replaced Samuel Parris as minister. To help heal the scars that the witch trials left on the

community, he seated the accusers with the accused. This action appeared to help heal the wounds

because the family of Rebecca Nurse–John Tarbell, Samuel Nurse, and Thomas Wilkins–asked to rejoin

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the congregation in November 1698. Their request to join was granted. With the Nurse family welcomed

back into the congregation, Green asked the congregation to revoke the excommunication of Martha

Corey in 1703. The motion was finally adopted in 1707. Rebecca and Giles Corey also had their

excommunications revoked on March 6, 1712.

Not all families wished to rejoin the congregation after the trials. Peter Cloyce and his wife, Sarah–who

was accused of witchcraft–left Salem Village and moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts. Philip English,

who was accused of witchcraft along with his wife, never forgave his persecutors for the loss of his

property and reputation. He asked for a large settlement for his losses, but only received a small one. So

in order to sever ties with Puritanism, he helped found the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

What happened to the afflicted girls is not widely known. Surviving information regarding them has

provided only small details as to what happened to them after the Salem witch trials. Ann Putnam, Jr.

raised her brothers and sisters when her parents died two weeks apart from each other. In August 1706,

she asked the congregation of her church for forgiveness. The pastor read her prepared statement to

the congregation.

I desire to be humbled before God. It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time. I

did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill will…I desire to lie in the dust and earnestly beg forgiveness of

all those I have given just cause of sorrow and offense, and whose relations were taken away and

accused.

She later died unmarried and was buried with her parents in an unmarked grave. Whatever the future

held for the afflicted girls, they undoubtedly never forgot their involvement with the witch trials.

No one died as a convicted witch in America again after the Salem witch trials. It was also the last of the

religious witch hunts. Salem Village separated from Salem Town in 1752 and became the town of

Danvers. However, this separation did not wipe away the history of the witch trials from its past. For

over 300 years, historians, sociologists, psychologists and others continue to research and write about

them to this day, and they continue to serve as a reminder of how politics, family squabbles, religion,

economics and the imaginations and fears of people can yield tragic consequences.

TheWitchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary
by Douglas Linder

O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could

die

When all about thee Owned the hideous

lie!

The world, redeemed from superstition’s

sway,

Is breathing freer for thy sake today.
–Words written by John Greenleaf Whittier

and inscribed on a monument marking the

grave of Rebecca Nurse, one of the

condemned “witches” of Salem.

From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having
been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem

Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under

heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of

others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months without

trials. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, the hysteria that swept through

Puritan Massachusetts ended.

Why did this travesty of justice occur? Why did it occur in Salem? Nothing about

this tragedy was inevitable. Only an unfortunate combination of an ongoing frontier

war, economic conditions, congregational strife, teenage boredom, and personal

jealousies can account for the spiraling accusations, trials, and executions that

occurred in the spring and summer of 1692.

In 1688, John Putnam, one of the most influential elders of Salem Village,

invited Samuel Parris, formerly a marginally successful planter and merchant in

Barbados, to preach in the Village church. A year later, after negotiations over

salary, inflation adjustments, and free firewood, Parris accepted the job as Village

minister. He moved to Salem Village with his wife Elizabeth, his six-year-old

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daughter Betty, niece Abagail Williams, and his Indian slave Tituba, acquired by

Parris in Barbados.

The Salem that became the new home of Parris was in the midst of change: a

mercantile elite was beginning to develop, prominent people were becoming less

willing to assume positions as town leaders, two clans (the Putnams and the

Porters) were competing for control of the village and its pulpit, and a debate was

raging over how independent Salem Village, tied more to the interior agricultural

regions, should be from Salem, a center of sea trade.

Sometime during February of the exceptionally cold winter of 1692, young Betty

Parris became strangely ill. She dashed about, dove under furniture, contorted in

pain, and complained of fever. The cause of her symptoms may have been some

combination of stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional

psychosis. The symptoms also could have been caused, as Linda Caporael argued in

a 1976 article in Science magazine, by a disease called “convulsive ergotism”

brought on by injesting rye–eaten as a cereal and as a common ingredient of bread–

infected with ergot. (Ergot is caused by a fungus which invades developing kernels

of rye grain, especially under warm and damp conditions such as existed at the time

of the previous rye harvest in Salem. Convulsive ergotism causes violent fits, a

crawling sensation on the skin, vomiting, choking, and–most interestingly–

hallucinations. The hallucinogenic drug LSD is a dervivative of ergot.) Many of the

symptoms or convulsive ergotism seem to match those attributed to Betty Parris,

but there is no way of knowing with any certainty if she in fact suffered from the

disease–and the theory would not explain the afflictions suffered by others in Salem

later in the year.

At the time, however, there was another theory to explain the girls’ symptoms.

Cotton Mather had recently published a popular book, “Memorable Providences,”

describing the suspected witchcraft of an Irish washerwoman in Boston, and Betty’s

behavior in some ways mirrored that of the afflicted person described in Mather’s

widely read and discussed book. It was easy to believe in 1692 in Salem, with an

Indian war raging less than seventy miles away (and many refugees from the war

in the area) that the devil was close at hand. Sudden and violent death occupied

minds.

Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty, including eleven-

year-old Ann Putnam, seventeen-year-old Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to

exhibit similar unusual behavior. When his own nostrums failed to effect a cure,

William Griggs, a doctor called to examine the girls, suggested that the girls’

problems might have a supernatural origin. The widespread belief that witches

targeted children made the doctor’s diagnosis seem increasing likely.

A neighbor, Mary Sibley, proposed a form of counter magic. She told Tituba to

bake a rye cake with the urine of the afflicted victim and feed the cake to a dog.

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(Dogs were believed to be used by witches as agents to carry out their devilish

commands.) By this time, suspicion had already begun to focus on Tituba, who had

been known to tell the girls tales of omens, voodoo, and witchcraft from her native

folklore. Her participation in the urine cake episode made her an even more

obvious scapegoat for the inexplicable.

Meanwhile, the number of girls afflicted continued to grow, rising to seven with

the addition of Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary

Warren. According to historian Peter Hoffer, the girls “turned themselves from a

circle of friends into a gang of juvenile delinquents.” ( Many people of the period

complained that young people lacked the piety and sense of purpose of the founders’

generation.) The girls contorted into grotesque poses, fell down into frozen postures,

and complained of biting and pinching sensations. In a village where everyone

believed that the devil was real, close at hand, and acted in the real world, the

suspected affliction of the girls became an obsession.

Sometime after February 25, when Tituba baked the witch cake, and February

29, when arrest warrants were issued against Tituba and two other women, Betty

Parris and Abigail Williams named their afflictors and the witchhunt began. The

consistency of the two girls’ accusations suggests strongly that the girls worked out

their stories together. Soon Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis were also reporting

seeing “witches flying through the winter mist.” The prominent Putnam family

supported the girls’ accusations, putting considerable impetus behind the

prosecutions.

The first three to be accused of witchcraft were Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah

Osborn. Tituba was an obvious choice. Good was a beggar and social misfit who

lived wherever someone would house her, and Osborn was old, quarrelsome, and

had not attended church for over a year. The Putnams brought their complaint

against the three women to county magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John

Hathorne, who scheduled examinations for the suspected witches for March 1, 1692

in Ingersoll’s tavern. When hundreds showed up, the examinations were moved to

the meeting house. At the examinations, the girls described attacks by the specters

of the three women, and fell into their by then perfected pattern of contortions when

in the presence of one of the suspects. Other villagers came forward to offer stories

of cheese and butter mysteriously gone bad or animals born with deformities after

visits by one of the suspects. The magistrates, in the common practice of the time,

asked the same questions of each suspect over and over: Were they witches? Had

they seen Satan? How, if they were not witches, did they explain the contortions

seemingly caused by their presence? The style and form of the questions indicates

that the magistrates thought the women guilty.

The matter might have ended with admonishments were it not for Tituba. After

first adamantly denying any guilt, afraid perhaps of being made a scapegoat, Tituba

claimed that she was approached by a tall man from Boston–obviously Satan–who

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sometimes appeared as a dog or a hog and who asked her to sign in his book and to

do his work. Yes, Tituba declared, she was a witch, and moreover she and four other

witches, including Good and Osborn, had flown through the air on their poles. She

had tried to run to Reverend Parris for counsel, she said, but the devil had blocked

her path. Tituba’s confession succeeded in transforming her from a possible

scapegoat to a central figure in the expanding prosecutions. Her confession also

served to silence most skeptics, and Parris and other local ministers began witch

hunting with zeal.

Soon, according to their own reports, the spectral forms of other women began

attacking the afflicted girls. Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Cloyce, and Mary

Easty were accused of witchcraft. During a March 20 church service, Ann Putnam

suddenly shouted, “Look where Goodwife Cloyce sits on the beam suckling her

yellow bird between her fingers!” Soon Ann’s mother, Ann Putnam, Sr., would join

the accusers. Dorcas Good, four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good, became the first

child to be accused of witchcraft when three of the girls complained that they were

bitten by the specter of Dorcas. (The four-year-old was arrested, kept in jail for eight

months, watched her mother get carried off to the gallows, and would “cry her heart

out, and go insane.”) The girls accusations and their ever more polished

performances, including the new act of being struck dumb, played to large and

believing audiences.

Stuck in jail with the damning testimony of the afflicted girls widely accepted,

suspects began to see confession as a way to avoid the gallows. Deliverance Hobbs

became the second witch to confess, admitting to pinching three of the girls at the

Devil’s command and flying on a pole to attend a witches’ Sabbath in an open field.

Jails approached capacity and the colony “teetered on the brink of chaos” when

Governor Phips returned from England. Fast action, he decided, was required.

Phips created a new court, the “court of oyer and terminer,” to hear the

witchcraft cases. Five judges, including three close friends of Cotton Mather, were

appointed to the court. Chief Justice, and most influential member of the court,

was a gung-ho witch hunter named William Stoughton. Mather urged Stoughton

and the other judges to credit confessions and admit “spectral evidence” (testimony

by afflicted persons that they had been visited by a suspect’s specter). Ministers

were looked to for guidance by the judges, who were generally without legal

training, on matters pertaining to witchcraft. Mather’s advice was heeded. The

judges also decided to allow the so-called “touching test” (defendants were asked to

touch afflicted persons to see if their touch, as was generally assumed of the touch

of witches, would stop their contortions) and examination of the bodies of accused

for evidence of “witches’ marks” (moles or the like upon which a witch’s familiar

might suck). Evidence that would be excluded from modern courtrooms– hearsay,

gossip, stories, unsupported assertions, surmises– was also generally admitted.

Many protections that modern defendants take for granted were lacking in Salem:

accused witches had no legal counsel, could not have witnesses testify under oath on

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their behalf, and had no formal avenues of appeal. Defendants could, however,

speak for themselves, produce evidence, and cross-examine their accusers. The

degree to which defendants in Salem were able to take advantage of their modest

protections varied considerably, depending on their own acuteness and their

influence in the community.

The first accused witch to be brought to trial was Bridget Bishop. Almost sixty

years old, owner of a tavern where patrons could drink cider ale and play

shuffleboard (even on the Sabbath), critical of her neighbors, and reluctant to pay

her her bills, Bishop was a likely candidate for an accusation of witchcraft. The fact

that Thomas Newton, special prosecutor, selected Bishop for his first prosecution

suggests that he believed the stronger case could be made against her than any of

the other suspect witches. At Bishop’s trial on June 2, 1692, a field hand testified

that he saw Bishop’s image stealing eggs and then saw her transform herself into a

cat. Deliverance Hobbs, by then probably insane, and Mary Warren, both confessed

witches, testified that Bishop was one of them. A villager named Samuel Grey told

the court that Bishop visited his bed at night and tormented him. A jury of matrons

assigned to examine Bishop’s body reported that they found an “excrescence of

flesh.” Several of the afflicted girls testified that Bishop’s specter afflicted them.

Numerous other villagers described why they thought Bishop was responsible for

various bits of bad luck that had befallen them. There was even testimony that

while being transported under guard past the Salem meeting house, she looked at

the building and caused a part of it to fall to the ground. Bishop’s jury returned a

verdict of guilty . One of the judges, Nathaniel Saltonstall, aghast at the conduct of

the trial, resigned from the court. Chief Justice Stoughton signed Bishop’s death

warrant, and on June 10, 1692, Bishop was carted to Gallows Hill and hanged.

As the summer of 1692 warmed, the pace of trials picked up. Not all defendants

were as disreputable as Bridget Bishop. Rebecca Nurse was a pious, respected

woman whose specter, according to Ann Putnam, Jr. and Abagail Williams,

attacked them in mid March of 1692. Ann Putnam, Sr. added her complaint that

Nurse demanded that she sign the Devil’s book, then pinched her. Nurse was one of

three Towne sisters , all identified as witches, who were members of a Topsfield

family that had a long-standing quarrel with the Putnam family. Apart from the

evidence of Putnam family members, the major piece of evidence against Nurse

appeared to be testimony indicating that soon after Nurse lectured Benjamin

Houlton for allowing his pig to root in her garden, Houlton died. The Nurse jury

returned a verdict of not guilty, much to the displeasure of Chief Justice Stoughton,

who told the jury to go back and consider again a statement of Nurse’s that might

be considered an admission of guilt (but more likely an indication of confusion about

the question, as Nurse was old and nearly deaf). The jury reconvened, this time

coming back with a verdict of guilty. On July 19, 1692, Nurse rode with four other

convicted witches to Gallows Hill.

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Persons who scoffed at accusations of witchcraft risked becoming targets of

accusations themselves. One man who was openly critical of the trials paid for his

skepticism with his life. John Proctor, a central figure in Arthur Miller’s

fictionalized account of the Salem witchhunt, The Crucible, was an opinionated

tavern owner who openly denounced the witchhunt. Testifying against Proctor

were Ann Putnam, Abagail Williams, Indian John (a slave of Samuel Parris who

worked in a competing tavern), and eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Booth, who testified

that ghosts had come to her and accused Proctor of serial murder. Proctor fought

back, accusing confessed witches of lying, complaining of torture, and demanding

that his trial be moved to Boston. The efforts proved futile. Proctor was hanged.

His wife Elizabeth, who was also convicted of witchcraft, was spared execution

because of her pregnancy (reprieved “for the belly”).

No execution caused more unease in Salem than that of the village’s ex-minister,

George Burroughs. Burroughs, who was living in Maine in 1692, was identified by

several of his accusers as the ringleader of the witches. Ann Putnam claimed that

Burroughs bewitched soldiers during a failed military campaign against Wabanakis

in 1688-89, the first of a string of military disasters that could be blamed on an

Indian-Devil alliance. In her interesting book, In the Devil’s Snare, historian Mary

Beth Norton argues that the large number of accusations against Burroughs, and

his linkage to the frontier war, is the key to understanding the Salem trials. Norton

contends that the enthusiasm of the Salem court in prosecuting the witchcraft cases

owed in no small measure to the judges’ desire to shift the “blame for their own

inadequate defense of the frontier.” Many of the judges, Norton points out, played

lead roles in a war effort that had been markedly unsuccessful.

Among the thirty accusers of Burroughs was nineteen-year-old Mercy Lewis, a

refugee of the frontier wars. Lewis, the most imaginative and forceful of the young

accusers, offered unusually vivid testimony against Burroughs. Lewis told the court

that Burroughs flew her to the top of a mountain and, pointing toward the

surrounding land, promised her all the kingdoms if only she would sign in his book

(a story very similar to that found in Matthew 4:8). Lewis said, “I would not writ if

he had throwed me down on one hundred pitchforks.” At an execution, a defendant

in the Puritan colonies was expected to confess, and thus to save his soul. When

Burroughs on Gallows Hill continued to insist on his innocence and then recited the

Lord’s Prayer perfectly (something witches were thought incapable of doing), the

crowd reportedly was “greatly moved.” The agitation of the crowd caused Cotton

Mather to intervene and remind the crowd that Burroughs had had his day in court

and lost.

One victim of the Salem witchhunt was not hanged, but rather pressed under

heavy stones until his death. Such was the fate of octogenarian Giles Corey who,

after spending five months in chains in a Salem jail with his also accused wife, had

nothing but contempt for the proceedings. Seeing the futility of a trial and hoping

that by avoiding a conviction his farm, that would otherwise go the state, might go

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to his two sons-in-law, Corey refused to stand for trial. The penalty for such a

refusal was peine et fort, or pressing. Three days after Corey’s death, on September

22, 1692, eight more convicted witches, including Giles’ wife Martha, were hanged.

They were the last victims of the witchhunt.

By early autumn of 1692, Salem’s lust for blood was ebbing. Doubts were

developing as to how so many respectable people could be guilty. Reverend John

Hale said, ” It cannot be imagined that in a place of so much knowledge, so many in

so small compass of land should abominably leap into the Devil’s lap at once.” The

educated elite of the colony began efforts to end the witch-hunting hysteria that had

enveloped Salem. Increase Mather, the father of Cotton, published what has been

called “America’s first tract on evidence,” a work entitled Cases of Conscience, which

argued that it “were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one

innocent person should be condemned.” Increase Mather urged the court to exclude

spectral evidence. Samuel Willard, a highly regarded Boston minister, circulated

Some Miscellany Observations, which suggested that the Devil might create the

specter of an innocent person. Mather’s and Willard’s works were given to Governor

Phips. The writings most likely influenced the decision of Phips to order the court to

exclude spectral evidence and touching tests and to require proof of guilt by clear

and convincing evidence. With spectral evidence not admitted, twenty-eight of the

last thirty-three witchcraft trials ended in acquittals. The three convicted witches

were later pardoned. In May of 1693, Phips released from prison all remaining

accused or convicted witches.

By the time the witchhunt ended, nineteen convicted witches were executed, at

least four accused witches had died in prison, and one man, Giles Corey, had been

pressed to death. About one to two hundred other persons were arrested and

imprisoned on witchcraft charges. Two dogs were executed as suspected accomplices

of witches.

Scholars have noted potentially telling differences between the accused and the

accusers in Salem. Most of the accused lived to the south of, and were generally

better off financially, than most of the accusers. In a number of cases, accusing

families stood to gain property from the convictions of accused witches. Also, the

accused and the accusers generally took opposite sides in a congregational schism

that had split the Salem community before the outbreak of hysteria. While many of

the accused witches supported former minister George Burroughs, the families that

included the accusers had–for the most part–played leading roles in forcing

Burroughs to leave Salem. The conclusion that many scholars draw from these

patterns is that property disputes and congregational feuds played a major role in

determining who lived, and who died, in 1692.

A period of atonement began in the colony following the release of the surviving

accused witches. Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, issued a public confession of

guilt and an apology. Several jurors came forward to say that they were “sadly

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deluded and mistaken” in their judgments. Reverend Samuel Parris conceded errors

of judgment, but mostly shifted blame to others. Parris was replaced as minister of

Salem village by Thomas Green, who devoted his career to putting his torn

congregation back together. Governor Phips blamed the entire affair on William

Stoughton. Stoughton, clearly more to blame than anyone for the tragic episode,

refused to apologize or explain himself. He criticized Phips for interfering just when

he was about to “clear the land” of witches. Stoughton became the next governor of

Massachusetts.

The witches disappeared, but witchhunting in America did not. Each generation

must learn the lessons of history or risk repeating its mistakes. Salem should warn

us to think hard about how to best safeguard and improve our system of justice.