Shadrach Walton (1658 3 October 1741) was a British colonial administrator and soldier in the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was na ...

Military and administrative career

Walton commanded

Fort William and Mary Fort William and Mary was a colonial fortification in Britain's worldwide system of defenses, defended by soldiers of the Province of New Hampshire who reported directly to the royal governor. The fort, originally known as "The Castle," was situ ...

before 1684, and again from 1697 to 1708. He was appointed

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diff ...

in 1690, when New Hampshire and Massachusetts were reunited. He was a selectman of Portsmouth town from 1688 to 1692. He served as a judge of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

from 1695-1698, and again 1716-1733. He commanded the New Hampshire provincial troops during the siege of Port Royal 1710, and commanded a combined regiment of New Hampshire and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

troops during the Quebec Expedition 1711. He was appointed by

mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fr ...

a member of the provincial council in 1716, on which he served until 1733.

Biography

In 1682 Walton's property and his father's

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

were the victims of a "stone-throwing devil" that harassed them in a series of

poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional desc ...

-like events. ''

Lithobolia ''Lithobolia: or, the Stone-Throwing Devil'' is a 7,000-word narrative folk tale by Richard Chamberlayne first printed in London in 1698. It is considered an early example of esoteric literature and supernatural horror writing, and has been compa ...

'', a narrative of the case, was published 1698 in London. In 1685 Walton's father

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferrin ...

ed him two houses, a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to anima ...

, and 200

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s of land. During

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Alli ...

, Walton led an expedition in 1690 to relieve

Fort Loyal Fort Loyal was a British settler refuge and colonial outpost built in 1678 at Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine) in Casco Bay. It was destroyed in 1690 by Abenaki and French forces at the Battle of Fort Loyal. The fort was rebuilt in 1742 and ...

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

under siege from a French and Wabanaki force, but arrived too late to save the inhabitants from the massacre of Falmouth. In 1697, Walton appeared before the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where he claimed that since Massachusetts was not able to defend New Hampshire, and New Hampshire men were better forest fighters, there was no advantage for New Hampshire to be joined with Massachusetts. After the fall of Port Royal in 1710, Walton led a force from New Hampshire on a search and destroy mission against hostiles along the coast of Maine, and managed to kill a small number of Native Americans. In 1711 he led two companies in a similar operation against the

Western Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

of today's

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

, but failed to make contact with them. During

Dummer's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

Walton commanded a two hundred men force, sent to the frontier in Maine. He then participated in the 1726 peace negotiations with the

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

and their allies."The Conference with the Eastern Indians, at the ratification of the peace, held at Falmouth in Casco-Bay, in July and August, 1726." ''Evans Early American Imprint Collection.''
Retrieved 2017-02-19.

References

Citations

Cited literature

* Anonymous (1905), "Portsmouth Town Officers." ''The New Hampshire Genaological Record,'' 2(3): 97-104. * Baker, Emerson W. (2007). ''The Devil of Great Island.'' New York: Palgrave, Macmillan. * Belknap, Jeremy & Farmer, John (1831). ''The History of New Hampshire.'' Dover: S.C. Stevens and Ela & Wadleigh. * Calloway, Colin G. (1990). ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. * Drake, Samuel Adam (1897). The Border Wars of New England. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. * Eames, Steven C. (2011). ''Rustic Warriors.'' New York University Press. * Lyons, James Adams (2010). ''The 1711 Expedition to Quebec.'' ''Dissertation.'' University of Birmingham. * M'Crie, Thomas (ed.) (1825). ''Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch and George Brysson.'' Edinburgh: William Blackwood. * Potter, C. E. (1866). ''Military History of New Hampshire.'' Concord: McFarland & Jenks. * Whiton, John M. (1834). ''Sketches of the history of New Hampshire.'' Concord: Marsh, Capen and Lyon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Shadrach 1658 births 1741 deaths People from New Castle, New Hampshire People of colonial New Hampshire Members of the New Hampshire General Court Soldiers of New Hampshire Military history of New England King William's War People of Queen Anne's War