Windham County Democrat. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1836-1853, 1853-04-20
From Powers History of Coos.
The ARMY of Worms,

In the summer of 1910, the whole section of
country was visited by an extraordinary calamity
such an one as this country never experienced
before or since, beyond what shall here specify.
1t was an army of worms which extended from
Lancaster, n. H., to Mortified, Mass. They be-
gan the latter part of July, 1770, and continued
their ravages until September. The inhabitants
denominated them the Northern Army as they
seemed to advance from the north or northwest,
and to pass east and south, although / did not
learn that they ever passed the highland between
the Connecticut and the Merrmack rivers. They
were altogether innumerable for multitude. DR..
Burton of Thetford VT, told me he had seen pas
lures so covered that he could not put down his
finger in a single spot, without placing it upon
worm. He said he had seen more than ten bush
els in heap. They were unlike anything the
present generation had ever seen. There was a
stripe upon the back like velvet on either side a
yellow stripe from end to end and the rest of the
body was brown. They were sometimes seen not
larger than pin but in their maturity they were
sometimes seen as long as a mans finger, and pro-
portionately large in circumference.
They filled the houses of the inhabitants and
entered their kneedng troughs as did the frogs
of Egypt They would 60 up the sides of the
houses, and cover it in such a compact column
that nothing of the boards or shingles could be
seen. They did not take hold of the pumpkin
vines peas potatoes or flax; but wheat and corn
disappeared before them as by magic They
would climb the stalks of wheat, cut them off lust
below the head, and almost as soon as the head
had fallen to the ground, it was devoured To
prevent this the men would draw the rope, as
they termed it; that is, two men would take a
rope, one at each end and pulling from each other
until it was nearly Strengthened, they would then
pass through wheat fields, brush off the worms
from the stalks, and by perpetual action they re-
tarded the destruction of their wheat, but it was
doomed finally to extinction.
There were fields of corn on the meadows in
Haverhill and Newbury, VT, standing so thick,
large, and tall that in instances it was diff
cult to see a man standing more than one rod in
the field from the outermost row. But in ten
days from the first appearance of the Northern
Army nothing remained of this corn but the bare
stalks. Every expedient was resorted to by the
inhabitants to protect their fields of corn, but in
vain. They dug trenches foot and half deep,
hoping this might prove defence but the ditch
es were soon filed, and the millions that were in
the rear went over on the backs of their fellows
in the trench, and took possession of the nterdic-
ted food.
About the first of September the worms sud-
denly disappeared, and where they terminated
their earthly career is unknown, for not the car
cass Of worm could be SEEM In Just eleven
years afterwards, in 1881, the same kind of
worm made its appearance again, and the fears
of the people were much excited, but they were
comparatively few in number and none of the
kind have ever been seen since.
This visitation, which destroyed the principal
grains for that year, was felt severely by all the
settlements; for it not only cut off their bread
stuffs, but deprived them of the means of making
their pork to a great degree, and reduced the
quantity Of fodder for their cattle. The settle
ments at Haverhll and Newbury did not feel this
calamity quite so much as those infant settlements
in the towns north and south of them. They had
been longer in their settlements, had some old
stock of provisions, and had the means to procure
supplies from Charlestown, or by the way of
Charlestown. Jonathan Tyler, of Perpont re-
lated to me that the settlements in that town were
left without the means of subsistence from their
own farms.
His father drew hay on a hand-sled upon the
ice from the great ox-bow, in Newbury, TO sup
port his cow the following winter. And had it
not been for two sources open for their support,
they must have deserted the town. One was the
extraordinary crop of pumpkins in Haverhill and
Newbury. The corn being cut of and the pump
kns remaining untouched by the worms, they
grew astonishingly, andrseemed to cover the whole
ground where the corn had stood, and the yield
was the largest ever seen.
The people of Haverhill and Newbury gave
the settlers of Permont the privilege of carrying
off gratis as many pumpkins as they would. They
went up, made kind Of raft, and transported