Military History. 215 



these years, an interesting town record informs us that the follow- 

 ing vote was passed, " That from the date hereof thenceforth there 

 shall be no ti'ee or trees cut or felled upon the highway upon the 

 pain of twenty shillings to be levied for the use of the town 

 because all good trees are to be preserved for the shading of 

 cattle in the summer time and for the exercising of the military."' 

 The desirability of preserving the trees " for the exercising of the 

 military " arose from the benefit to be derived from training the 

 latter in the practical methods of Indian warfare, wherein every 

 savage placed the protecting trunk of a tree between himself and 

 the enemy ; a situation giving him a distinct advantage over 

 troops in regular order. It was ignorance or neglect of this fact 

 that led to the destruction of the brave Capt. Pierce of Scituate 

 and his company in 1676 and to the defeat of Braddock nearly 

 eighty years later. " Garrison houses," so-called, which for the 

 most part were probably private dwellings of unusual size and 

 adaptability for defence, were constructed, and stringent laws 

 passed for the enforcement of military discipline. The location 

 and appearance of such of the former as were then or after- 

 wards erected in Hingham, it is not possible to fully determine. 

 Among them, however, was what is now known as the Perez 

 Lincoln house standing on North, and a little east from Cot- 

 tage Street. It was erected by Joseph Andrews, probably in 

 1640. He was the first constable and first town clerk of Hing- 

 ham. From him it passed for a nominal consideration, in 1665, 

 to his son Capt. Thomas Andrews, and was then known as the 

 Andrews house. It is the best authenticated " garrison house " 

 that we have. Doubtless during many an alarm its massive tim- 

 bers and thick log walls gave a sense of security to the settlers 

 who, with their wives and children, had gathered within. A pecu- 

 liarity of this building, now perhaps the oldest in town, is that, 

 excepting its first transfer, it has never been conveyed by deed, 

 but has continuously passed by will or simple inheritance for some 

 two hundred and twenty-five years from one owner to another. 

 Although now clapboarded and plastered, it is still one of the 

 most interesting of the old landmarks, and its sound old ribs 

 as seen within seem capable of defying the inroads of another 

 century. Another of these primitive defences stood near what is 

 now the easterly corner of Hersey and South streets, and on the 

 site of the Cazneau house, — formerly belonging to Matthew 

 Lincoln. Another was the house of Capt. John Smith, on the 

 Lower Plain, about where the store of Mr. Fearing Burr now 

 is. John Tower's house near Tower's Bridge was also a orarri- 

 son house : and yet another, at South Hingham, was Capt. John 

 Jacob's house, situated in the pass between Massachusetts and 

 Plymouth. There were doubtless others, of which the record is 

 lost. 



In 1612 military officers were empowered to punish neglect 



