Major-General Humphrey Atherton (c. 1607 – September 16, 1661),[1] an early settler of Dorchester, Massachusetts, held the highest military rank in colonial New England.

He was chosen assistant governor,[2] a member of the lower house of the General Court who also served as magistrate in the judiciary of colonial government,[4] in 1654, and remained as such until his death.

[8] He was active in the governance of the colony, taking part in the acquisition of Native American lands,[3] the persecution of Quakers,[9] and the apprehension and convictions of heretics.

[8] Atherton had a very active public life having power and taking part in the law making, enforcing and interpreting affairs of the colony.

Subsequent to his acceptance as a freeman, in 1638, he was frequently selectman[17] or treasurer,[3] and for several years a member of the Court of Assistants which gave him a say in the appointment of governors as well as judicial power in criminal and civil matters.

'A large concourse of persons assembled with several ministers to witness the passage of the troops, and the prisoners were stationed apart and volleys of musketry fired over their heads in token of victory.

'[10]Harlow Elliot Woodword, in Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Dorchester, said that Atherton had believed in witches and "felt it to be a duty which he owed to God and to his Country to mete out to the poor creatures, against whom accusations were brought, the punishment, which, in his opinion, they so richly merited.

Quaker writer George Bishop wrote, "Yea, Wenlock Christison, though they did not put him to death, yet they sentenced him to die, so that their cruel purposes were nevertheless.

I cannot forbear to mention what he spoke, being so prophetical, not only as to the judgment of God coming on Major-general Adderton, but as to their putting any more Quakers to death after they had passed sentence on him.

"[11] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recreated the Christison trial in his play John Endicott which included the damnation of Atherton by the accused.

[24][25] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recreated the Christison trial in his play[26][1] John Endicott which included the damnation of Atherton by the accused.

[24] Ebenezer Clapp, in The History of Dorchester said of Atherton, "He had great experience and skill in the treatment of the Indians, with whom his public duties brought him in frequent contact.

Ebenezer Clapp, in The History of Dorchester also said "In 1645, the New England Colonies met by representatives to consult upon the Indian problem, and appointed a Council of War; Capt.

"After obtaining him as a captive, they could find no excuse for putting him to death; and, to avoid the responsibility, they referred his case for decision to a convention of ministers in Boston; [sic] Winthrop states, 'Miantinomo was killed near Hartford by a blow on the back of his head with a hatchet.'

'"[27] Miantinomo's successor, Pessicus, declared war against Uncas and the colonies fined him 2000 fathoms of wampum for causing the hostilities, which he was unable to pay.

i., p. 199), 'Atherton forced his way, pistol in hand, into the wigwam, and, seizing the Sachem by the hair, dragged him out, threatening instant death if any resistance was offered.'

"Though a terror to warlike Indians, yet he was the trusted friend of all who were well disposed, helping on their education and Christianizing, and guarding their rights, so that he had immense personal influence with them, and was a successful treaty-maker".

"[34] In 1659, he and some friends, including Connecticut Governor, John Winthrop, Jr., made some purchases of land from Native Americans on the western side of Narragansett Bay for which Rhode Island had claimed.

The group, referred to as the Atherton Trading Company, circumvented Rhode Island's law by acquiring the land when the Natives defaulted on a loan.

[33] In 1660, commissioners of the Four Colonies, of whom John Winthrop, Jr. was one, transferred ownership of the mortgage of Pessicus's land to the Atherton Trading Company for 735 fathoms of wampum.

The company, which changed its name to "Proprietors of the Narragansett Country," eventually did sell 5,000 acres (20 km2) of the land to Huguenot immigrants who began a colony there called Frenchtown.

[2][3][15] Woodward, aforementioned author of Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Dorchester, said that because of Atherton's persecution of the Quakers, "they believed his horrible death to be God's visitation of wrath.

"[8] Woodword credits Joseph Besse, a Quaker author, with the following account of Atherton's death: Humfray Adderton, who at the trial of Wenlock Christison, did, as it were, bid defiance to Heaven, by saying to Wenlock, 'You pronounce Woes and Judgements, and those that are gone before you pronounced Woes and Judgements; but the Judgements of the Lord God are not upon us yet,' was suddenly surprised: having been, on a certain day, exercising his men with much pomp and ostentation, he was returning home in the evening, near the place where they usually loosed the Quakers from the cart, after they had whipped them, his horse, suddenly affrighted, threw him with such violence, that he instantly died; his eyes being dashed out of his head, and his brains coming out of his nose, his tongue hanging out at his mouth, and the blood running out at his ears: Being taken up and brought into the Courthouse, the place where he had been active in sentencing the innocent to death, his blood ran through the floor, exhibiting to the spectators a shocking instance of the Divine vengeance against a daring and hardened persecutor; that made a fearful example of that divine judgment, which, when forewarned of, he had openly despised, and treated with disdain.

Engraved upon his tombstone are the following words: Here lies our Captain & Major of Suffolk was withall; A godly magistrate was he, and Major General; Two troop horse with him here comes, such worth his love did crave Two companies of foot also mourning march to his grave, Let all that read be sure to keep the faith as he has done With Christ he lives now crowned, his name was Humphrey Atherton.

Thirty years later and Thomas Maule was arrested on charges of slanderous publication about the manner of his untimely death, and was imprisoned for twelve months and his pamphlets were ordered to be burnt.