USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Greenwich > Ye historie of ye town of Greenwich, county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, with genealogical notes on the Adams. > Part 9
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Company drills were held at irregular periods and at such times and places as the commanding officer might desig- nate, and should not be confused with training days, or muster days, which were held in the fields and at the times prescribed by the General Court, or Legislature. In Massa- chusetts, the minute-men, which were picked men from the train bands, during the latter part of 1774 and the early part of 1775, were "disciplined three times a week and oftener as opportunity might offer."
Training days, of which there were from two to six during the year, were, in a military sense, the graduating exercises of a finished course of instruction in company drills. Assembly was sounded in some of the colonies at eight o'clock in the forenoon, and in others at one o'clock in the afternoon, when the companies were formed, roll called, and the militia exer- cised in the manual of arms and marching in close order. This was followed by a review and inspection by the colonial officers, then target practice and firing by squads. After this the forces were divided and manœuvred in extended order and finally ended the day by participating in a sham battle. The various state military camps now take the place of the colonial training days.
On muster days every freeman in the colony between the ages prescribed for military duty, except those exempted, was compelled to be present and be inspected, or examined, as to his fitness for military duty, and if he passed the necessary qualifications was mustered into the militia in his respective district and required to attend company drill and training days.
From these different train bands there were principally recruited the quota of soldiers which the several colonies were called upon from time to time to furnish in the various wars in which the home government was engaged during the colonial period. The last and most important colonial war, so far as the colonies were concerned, was the French and
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Indian War, 1754 to 1764, during which the Virginia militia was commanded by George Washington. It might be well to state here that out of twenty-three American major- generals of the Revolutionary War, the majority of them (twelve) had served with distinction as commissioned officers in the French and Indian War, and several of the others as Indian fighters.
Washington's letters' during his service in the first Continental Congress held at Philadelphia in September, 1774, show that he was under no delusion as to the outcome of the taxation struggle, and that he expected war, and after its adjournment he was actively engaged in perfecting the militia of Virginia.
The first session of the Massachusetts Provincial Con- gress2 was held at Salem on the seventh day of October, 1774, and after being temporarily organized adjourned to the eleventh day of October, 1774, to meet at the court-house at Concord, and as the improvement of the militia was an ob- ject of importance, arrangements were made for increasing the quantity of warlike stores and the organization of an army, and at the session held on the tenth day of December, 1774, the several towns and districts in the province were advised to "see that each of the minute-men not already provided therewith should be immediately equipped with an effective firearm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack and thirty rounds of cartridge and balls."
The records of the Committee of Safety and Supplies show that in accordance with the resolution of October, 1774, authorizing the collection of military stores, that various stores, arms, and ammunition were being collected and stored at Concord. To seize those stores Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, with a detail of British regulars, consisting of about eight hundred men, embarked from the Boston Common at ten o'clock Tuesday night on the eighteenth day of April, 1775, crossed the Charles River, and began the march, which was to bring on the Revolutionary War. He
* Encyclopedia Britannica.
2 Barry's History of Massachusetts.
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Organization of the Continental Army
met and dispersed the forewarned minute-men at Lexington at five o'clock on the morning of the nineteenth day of April, 1775, marched on to Concord, destroyed the stores, and commenced his return.
"You know the rest, in books you have read, How the British regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard wall; Chasing the red coats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to merge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load."
At length, about sunset, almost on a run the British reached Charlestown Common, where they were sheltered by the guns from the ships. The pursuit stopped and the colonial officers held a consultation. A guard was formed, sentinels posted, and detachments, were sent out to watch the enemy. The remaining provincial forces consisting of minute-men and train bands encamped around Boston.
Soon after this the men encamped around Boston were asked by the Committee of Safety, which was the Executive Committee of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,I to enlist until the end of the year, or for a shorter period; also a vigorous circular letter, dated the twentieth day of April, 1775, was sent to the neighboring towns urging the organi- zation of an army, and on the twenty-third day of April, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts decided that an army of 30,000 men be immediately raised and that 13,000 be raised from Massachusetts. Committees were sent to the Congress of New Hampshire at Exeter and to the govern- ments of Rhode Island and Connecticut to inform them of those resolutions and urge the furnishing of men in the same proportions.
So thorough had the work of organization been accom- plished in the colonies during the years 1773, 1774, and the
I Barry's History of Massachusetts.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
early part of 1775, that an appeal for men when the Siege of Boston commenced was immediately successful and a force of from 20,000 to 40,000 men, consisting of minute-men and train bands was soon raised. "Throughout the colonies a network of local committees controlling militia companies and post-riders, formed in each colony at the suggestion of the Virginia House of Burgesses in March, 1773, watched the approaching storm, tested the loyalty of those who professed to welcome it and guided the popular indignation, and when the Battle of Lexington came, the colonies were as well prepared for war as the poor dependencies of a powerful nation could be."
The forces besieging Boston were temporarily under the command of General Artemas Ward, who received his com- mission from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts as commander-in-chief on the nineteenth day of May, 1775. A short time prior to this, however, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts sent a communication to the Continental Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, offering the direction of the forces to that body and suggesting, as had been proposed by General Ward, the organization of an army on the following basis:
I. A General-in-Chief.
2. Troops to be enlisted for the war.
Provisions to be made for the support of the families 3. of soldiers.
That a loan should be negotiated for the equipment
4. and support of the body, which should be called "The American Continental Army."
5. That the volunteers then in the field before Boston were, as far as practicable, to be re-enlisted, and a special light infantry corps, consisting of six companies of "expert riflemen" from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, were also to be enlisted.
On the fourteenth day of June, 1775, a system of rules and articles of war were prescribed by the Continental
I The Private Soldier under Washington.
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Organization of the Continental Army
Congress, which also resolved that six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Mary- land, and two in Virginia, to re-enforce the army near Boston. On the following day, June 15, 1775, the Continental Congress announced the selection of George Washington as general and commander-in-chief of the united colonies and of all the forces now raised or to be raised by them.
The term, "Continental Army," first officially appears upon the printed records of the Continental Congress in the summary of the proceedings for the fourteenth day of June, 1775, where the form of enlistment to be subscribed by com- panies of riflemen is given. It was to be an enlistment into the "American Continental Army." On the same day a committee of five was appointed to prepare rules and regu- lations for the government of this prospective army, which were reported and adopted on the thirtieth day of June, 1775.
For the year 1775 no Continental Army was in the first instance organized as such by the Continental Congress, and as the colonies were mustering their train bands and minute- men around Boston and Ticonderoga after the Lexington alarm, and as they were already in the field as good material for the nucleus of such an army, the Continental Congress adopted them as the Continental Army, but troops joining later were generaly recruited on the Continental basis. After the year 1775, and for the succeeding years of the war, the Continental Congress took the initiative and raised troops for the common army under its own regulations respecting pay, subsistence, and term of enlistment. The army, however, as will appear, was organized and reorganized several times during the Revolutionary War, and for various terms. These Continentals were the "regulars" of the Revolution. They formed the main army in the field and were the chief dependence of the revolutionary cause. All other troops raised during the war were either state troops or militia, and were to act as reinforcements of this army, or to relieve it by serving in alarms at different points.
I Record of Connecticut men in the Revolution.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
General Washington arrived in camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the third day of July, 1775, and the pro- vincial forces having accepted his leadership and the regula- tion of the Continental Congress, the entire force consisting of about 14,500 men were placed upon a Continental es- tablishment. This new relation was officially announced by the commander-in-chief in general orders, dated Head- quarters, Cambridge, July 4, 1775, as follows:
"The Continental Congress having now taken all the Troops of the several Colonies, which have been raised, or which may be hereafter raised, for the support and defence of the Liberties of America into their Pay and Service, they are now the Troops of the United Provinces of North America; and it is to be hoped that all Distinction of Colonies will be laid aside so that the one and the same spirit may animate the whole, and the only contest be, who will render on this great and trying occasion the most essential Service to the great and common cause in which we are engaged."
After the campaign of 1775, the army was reorganized for 1776. It was not, however, until the reorganization of the Continental Army for 1777, that Congress realized that the contest could not be successfully carried on with troops en- listed for short terms. The need of a permanent disciplined army to cope with the British "regulars" was recognized as urgent. Congress, accordingly, by resolutions of the six- teenth and twentieth days of September, and the eighth day of October, 1776, provided for such a body. The army was proportioned among the States according to their population, as follows:
Massachusetts
15 regiments.
Virginia . 15
Pennsylvania I2 66
New York 4
66
Maryland 8 66
Connecticut. 8 66
and the rest in like ratio.
III
Washington Continental Guard
As a body they formed the Continental Army, and the regiments of each State formed a subdivision by themselves. Each State quota thus became a "Line Regiment" in itself, which was designated by the State's name, as the "New York Line," "Connecticut Line," etc., each being a distinct body commanded by the officers from its own State and cared for by its own state as well as by Congress. Inspired by a common cause and welded into a homogeneous body under the leadership of General Washington, it was these State "Lines," facing the enemy as a single "Continental Army" that were to bear the burden of the war for the next six years and bring it to a successful close.
The Washington Continental Guard, I also known as the "Washington Life Guard," "Captain Gibbs' Guard," and the "Commander-in-Chief's Guard," was organized on the twelfth day of March, 1776, a few days before the termination of the siege of Boston, pursuant to the following order:
Headquarters, Cambridge, 2. March II, 1776.
The General is desirous of selecting a particular number of men as a guard for himself and baggage. The colonel, or commanding officer, of each of the established regiments, the artillery and riflemen excepted, will furnish him four, that the number wanted may be chosen out of them. His Excellency depends upon the colonels for good men, such as can be recommended for their sobriety, honesty and good behavior. He wishes them to be from five feet eight inches to five feet ten inches, handsomely and well made, and as there is nothing, in his eyes, more desirable than cleanliness in a soldier, he desires that particular attention may be made in the choice of such men as are clean and spruce. They are to be at headquarters tomorrow precisely at twelve o'clock noon, when the number wanted will be fixed upon. The General neither wants them with uniforms, nor arms, nor does he desire any man to be sent to him that is not perfectly willing, or desirous of being of this Guard. They should be drilled men.
I A paper read before the New York Historical Society by Dr. Benson J. Lossing and published in the Historical Magazine, May, 1858.
2 The Commander-in-Chief's Guard.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
On the following day, March 12, 1776, Caleb Gibbs of Massachusetts was commissioned Captain of the Guard, which consisted of a major's command of one hundred and eighty men, to whom was entrusted the details of the organization.
The Guard, like the Continental Army, was organized and reorganized several times during the Revolutionary War, and on the twenty-second day of April, 1777, the commander-in-chief sent the following letter to Captain Gibbs:
Morristown, April 22, 1777.
Captain GIBBS. Dear Sir:
I forgot before you left this place to desire you to pro- vide clothing for the men that are to compose my Guard.
Provide for four sergeants, four corporals, a drum and fife and fifty rank and file. If blue and buff can be had, I should prefer that uniform, as it is the one I wear myself. I shall get men from five feet nine inches to five feet ten inches for the Guard; for such sized men, therefore, make your clothing. You may get a small round hat, or a cocked hat, as you please. .
I am, dear sir, your most obedient, GEORGE WASHINGTON.
It was the duty of the infantry portion of the Guard to guard the headquarters and insure the safekeeping of the papers and effects of the commander-in-chief, as well as the safety of his person. The mounted portion accompanied the commander-in-chief on his marches and in reconnoitring, and were employed as patrols, videttes, and bearers of the commander-in-chief's orders to various military posts.
The Continental Congress on the eighth day of Oc- tober, 1776, resolved "that for the further encouragement of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who shall engage in the service during the war, a suit of clothes be annually given to each of said officers and soldiers, to consist for the present year of two linen hunting shirts, two pair of overalls,
I Uniforms of the United States Army from 1774 to 1889.
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Uniforms of the Continental Army
a leathern or woolen waistcoat with sleeves, one pair of breeches, a hat or leather cap, two shirts, two pair of hose and two pair of shoes." On the twenty-fifth day of November, 1779, Congress further resolved, that the following articles be delivered as a suit of clothes for the current and every succeeding year of their service to the officers of the line and staff, entitled by any resolution of Congress to receive the same, viz .: "one hat, one watch coat, one body coat, four vests, one for winter and three for summer; four pair of breeches, two for winter and two for summer; four shirts, six pair of stockings, three pair thereof worsted and three of thread, and four pair of shoes."
On the twenty-third day of March, 1779, Congress by resolution "authorized and directed the commander-in- chief, according to the circumstances of supplies of clothing, to fix and prescribe the uniform, as well as with regard to color and facing, as also as to cut and fashion of the clothes to be worn by the troops of the respective states and regiments-woolen overalls for winter and linen for summer."
In accordance with the above resolution, the following general order, dated Headquarters, Moore House, October 2, 1779, was issued by General Washington. "The following are the uniforms that have been determined for the troops of these states respectively, so soon as the state of the public supplies will permit of their being furnished accordingly; and, in the meantime, it is recommended to the officers to en- deavor to accommodate their uniforms to the standard, that when the men come to be supplied, there may be a proper uniformity."
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Con- necticut :
Blue faced with white, Buttons and linings white.
New York and New Jersey : Blue faced with buff,
Buttons and linings white.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia:
Blue faced with red,
Buttons and linings white.
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia:
Blue faced with blue,
Buttonholes edged with narrow white lace or tape, Buttons and linings white.
Artillery and Artillery Artificers:
Blue faced with scarlet,
Scarlet linings,
Yellow buttons,
Yellow bound hats,
Coats edged with narrow lace or tape and button- holes bound with same.
Light Dragoons: The whole blue, Faced with white, White buttons and linings.
Headquarters, Short Hills, June 18, 1780.
The colonels, lieutenant-colonels and majors, the uni- forms of their regiments and two epaulettes.
The captains, the uniforms of their regiments and an epaulette on the left shoulder.
All officers as will warrant, as commissioned, to wear a cockade and side arms, a sword or a genteel bayonet.
Headquarters, Newburgh, May 14, 1782.
The clothier is, if practicable, to obtain worsted shoul- der knots for the non-commissioned officers; the sergeants are to be distinguished by one on each shoulder, and the cor- porals by one on the right shoulder, and in the meantime it is proposed that a piece of white cloth should be substituted by way of distinction.
CHAPTER X.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR: EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES OF TOWN MEETINGS-SOLDIERS IN THE REVOLUTION-IN- CIDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION-TORIES-EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTION-RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION- THE NEW YORK AND BOSTON STAGE LINE-TURNPIKE ROADS-TOLL GATE-CONNECTICUT TURNPIKE COMPANY.
THE first reference to the Revolutionary War on the town records is to be found in the minutes of a special town meeting held on the eleventh day of October, 1774, to take action on a letter received from the Honorable Eliphalet Dyer and Roger Sherman, Esq., from ye Continental Congress at Philadelphia. At this meeting a committee, consisting of Dr. Amos Mead, John Mackay, and Jesse Parsons, was ap- pointed to draw a set of resolutions and an answer to the letter from Congress, and lay the same before the next meeting of the town for its approbation. The meeting ad- journed to meet on the seventeenth day of October, 1774, and at the adjourned meeting the following resolutions were adopted :
This meeting taking into their serious consideration the alarming State of American Liberty, do unanimously ap- prove of and adopt as the sentiments of the Inhabitants of this Town the Resolves of the Honorable House of Repre- sentatives of this Colony passed in their session at Hartford in May last.
And Whereas certain acts of the British Parliament have appeared since the above resolves were entered into; Partic- ularly an act for altering ye Government of Massachusetts
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Bay, and another for Establishing the Roman Catholic religion in Canada, etc.
Resolved by this meeting, that these acts are repugnant to the free principles of the English Constitution, and in a High Degree Dangerous to the Civil and Religious Liberty of both British and American Protestant subjects, and that notwithstanding the Torrent of False and malicious asper- sions poured forth by designing men, We believe and declare the contrivers and devisors of these and all such unconsti- tutional acts, their dupes and emissaries, to be the only enemies to our Gracious Sovereign and the Illustrious House of Hanover, that we know of in his Majesty's dominions.
Resolved, that this meeting hereby approve of the Honorable Congress of Delegates from the several American Colonies and will acquiesce and abide by their final deter- mination.
Resolved, that as the Province of Massachusetts Bay, especially the Town of Boston, is now suffering under the Iron Hand of Despotic Power and ministerial influences, it is the indispensable duty of this town in imitation of ye noble examples set up by most of the Colony to contribute to the relief of the oppressed and suffering poor in said Town of Boston, and that Messrs.
David Bush, James Ferris, Joseph Hobby, Jr.,
John Mackay, Nathaniel Mead, Jr., Daniel Merritt,
Benjamin Mead, Jr.,
be a committee to receive and keep an exact account of all donations that shall be given by the inhabitants of this town, and transmit the same to the selectmen of the Town of Boston, to be by them appropriated for the purpose aforesaid.
Ordered by this meeting that: Dr. Amos Mead, John Mackay and Jesse Parsons, be desired to write to the Hon- orable members of Congress for this Colony an answer to theirs of the 19th ultimo, inclosing a copy of the present doings of this meeting, and transmit another copy thereof to the printer at New Haven in order to be published.
The letter to the honorable members of Congress was as follows :
GENTLEMEN :
We acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 19th ult., inclosing the Resolutions of the Honorable Congress,
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Revolutionary War
and with the highest gratitude receive the assurance of the earliest intelligence of the proceedings of your Honorable Board, as soon as they shall be made public. We have called a meeting and communicated to them your letter and those proceedings, and do now inclose their resolutions thereon.
We are, Gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servants. AMOS MEAD, JOHN MACKAY, JESSE PARSONS.
P. S. Upon enquiry into the present state of the magazine of this Town, the inhabitants are much surprised to find that the price of that most necessary article for our defence, viz., gunpowder, is now doubled, which we are desired to men- tion as worthy the notice of your Honorable Board.
The Honorable:
ELIPHALET DYER AND ROGER SHERMAN, EsQs.
At the same meeting it was further voted that:
As the town stock of ammunition wants a supply, there be a committee appointed to examine the state of the Town stock of powder, lead, etc., and the selectmen are appointed a committee for that purpose and to take care to supply what is wanting at the expense of the town.
At the annual town meeting held on the third Monday of December, 1774, "The town per vote ordered that a com- mittee be chosen according to the IIth Article of the As- sociation of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia and approved by the Honorable House of Representatives of this Colony and adopted by this town, and appointed Amos Mead, Nehemiah Mead, Titus Mead and John Mackay to be a committee for this town to see, so far as in them lye, that the articles of said Association be observed."
On the eighth day of February, 1775, it was resolved to send delegates to attend a County Congress at Fairfield on the fourteenth day of February instant, pursuant to a letter from the Fairfield Committee agreeable to the Association of the Continental Congress entered into and adopted by the Honorable House of Representatives of this Colony, and said committee to attend on their own expense, and that: Dr.
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Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich
Amos Mead and John Mackay, be delegates for the pur- pose aforesaid. The following Committee of Safety and Inspection were also appointed: Benjamin Mead, Jr., Bezaleel Brown, and Jeremiah Lockwood.
At the annual town meeting held on the third Monday of December, 1775, the following persons were appointed a Committee of Safety and Inspection :
Colonel John Mead,
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