CAMP STEVENS AT GROTON. 131 



Mr. Farnsworth's point appears to be well taken, and par- 

 ticularly in the light of the fact that there was in very early 

 times an Indian by the name of James, who had some busi- 

 ness relations with John Tinker, one of the petitioners for 

 Groton and an original settler of the town. Certain papers 

 bearing on these transactions, which covered a period of sev- 

 eral years following February 13, 1656, are printed in " Groton 

 during the Indian Wars" (pp. 179-181). Like all Indians 

 James was a famous sportsman, for he agreed to furnish 

 within a given time a large number of beaver skins. He was 

 friendly to the whites, and probably a noted character in his day. 



In the Indian Roll, — the earliest book of town-records, — 

 there are only twelve references to James's Brook, which all 

 appear to relate to the lower half of the stream, — to the part 

 below Matthias Farnsworth's house. Perhaps the name was 

 first given to the lower part of the brook, and then by gen- 

 eral consent worked upward to the source of the stream. 



On page 57 of the printed Records, under the date of June 

 8, 1680, there is an allusion to "the Brook by the Captains," 

 which evidently means this brook. If the name had been 

 taken originally from Captain James Parker, in use as early 

 as November, 1664, and applied to its whole length, it seems 

 as if it would have been called James's Brook at the time of 

 this entry in June, 1680. 



CAMP STEVENS AT GROTON. 



During the War of the Rebellion, in the autumn of 1862 

 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established a military 

 camp at Groton, on the triangular piece of land situated in 

 the southwesterly part of the town, and bounded by the 

 Peterborough and Shirley Railroad, the Nashua River and 

 the road to Shirley Village. It contained eighteen or twenty 

 acres, more or less, and at that time belonged to Joseph Cutts ; 

 the entrance was near the angle made by the railroad and the 

 highway. The Fifty-third Regiment of Infantry, Massachu- 



