USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Cape Cod, the right arm of Massachusetts : an historical narrative > Part 15
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time before his death. As a compeer of Samuel Adams, Quincy, Hancock and other illustrious patriots, he stood in the foremost ranks of the advocates and defenders of the popular cause.
Nearly simultaneous with the decease of Col. Otis, Nov. 2-3, 1778, the British war ship Somerset, Capt. Aurey, was wrecked on the back side of Provincetown, having, while in pursuit of the French fleet, struck on Peaked Hill bars, and, like many a good craft before and since, was unable to extricate herself. After unavailing efforts to lighten the vessel by throwing over guns and ammunition, a succession of great waves lifted her over the bar and landed her, a helpless wreck, a long way up the beach. There was a rush of people to the wreck to plunder whatever might come ashore; and considering the necessities of the times no one can greatly censure the needy populace for helping themselves to the spoil of the enemy so opportunely wafted to their doors. The militia of Truro and the adjacent country took charge of the crew, and Shearjashub Bourne, Esq. libelled the vessel, Col. Doane of Wellfleet in the meantime taking formal possession. Col. Enoch Hallet of Yarmouth, high sheriff of the county, marched the prisoners, 480 men, through the county to Barnstable and thence to Boston, and there was much exultation over the event. The Somerset had been for several years upon this coast, and had participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. Longfellow, in his poem of "Paul Revere's Ride," has the lines :
"Where swinging wide at her moorings, lay The Somerset, British man-of-war."
While in Provincetown Harbor she had been a familiar sight, and had, with her formidable armament, been viewed with some degree of awe by the inhabitants. Under the direction
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of the Board of War she was now stripped, her guns sent to various points on the coast, and her ammunition and small arms devoted to the use of the continental army. When abandoned by the authorities she was again pillaged by the local wreckers, and her frame left to the chances of time and the elements. The winds swept over her, and the drifting sands enveloped her in their embraces, until the changes of a century again disclosed her battered hulk to the observation of a new generation, to whom her history comes like a memory of auld lang syne .**
Another wreck, attended by more tragical consequences, occurred to an American armed vessel Dec. 26 and 27 of this year, in the awful storm, generally known as the " Magee storm." The government brig Gen. Arnold, Capt. James Magee, sailed from Nantasket Roads, Boston, Dec. 24, 1778, in company with the privateering sloop Revenge. In the bay they encountered a violent northeast storm, described as "unparalleled in the annals of New England." The sloop weathered the Cape, which the Gen. Arnold was unable to do, but in the afternoon anchored off Plymouth. The gale increased, and in the morning of Dec. 26,
*The remains of the Somerset came to light in the summer of 1886, and were examined by hundreds of people from all sections of the country. The following letter, received by a gentleman of Province- town, was in answer to a request for information made to the Secretary of Admiralty, Whitehall, London:
ADMIRALTY, S. W., 28th May, 1886.
SIR-In reply to your letter of the 12th instant, asking for informa- tion respecting the British man-of-war Somerset, which was wrecked off Cape Cod in 1778, I am commanded by my lords commissioners of the admiralty to inform you as follows: The Somerset, third rate, sixty-four guns, was laid down to build in Her Majesty's dockyard at Chatham on May 5, 1746, launched July 18, 1748, and fitted as a guard ship. She appears to have been employed as a guard ship and on home service until 1776, excepting during the time she was under repairs at Chatham, apparently between 1768 and 1770. She left England in October, 1774, for the North American station. She returned to England in 1776, and appears to have been fitted again as a guard ship. She left England in March, 1777, aud was lost off Cape Cod on the 2d or 3d of November, 1778.
I am, sir, your obedient servant, EVAN MACGREGOR.
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continued very severe. Despite of ample precautions, the vessel becoming encumbered in snow and ice, and the waves dashing furiously against her, the sufferings of the crew were intense. Many began to sink and die from exhaustion. Lieut. John Russell of Barnstable, commander of the marines, was among the first to succumb, but others soon followed. On Sunday, the 27th, the storm abated, but the extreme cold continued. The vessel was boarded from the shore; seventy bodies were found frozen on the deck or attached to the shrouds and spars ; thirty or more exhibited signs of life, but were unconscious. Of the 105 who sailed from Boston the Thursday preceding, only 33 were then living; of these 9 died a few days after, 6 were confirmed invalids, and only 16 entirely recovered. The people of Plymouth, with a tenderness and humanity which did them honor, took the sufferers to their homes, nursed and cared for them, and performed the last rites of Christian burial for the dead. The bodies of seventy-two of them, placed in coffins, were removed to the court house, where, after affecting services, they were committed to a common grave. The names of 11 of the deceased, who belonged in Barn- stable, were: Capt. John Russell, Barnabas Lothrop, Daniel Hall, Thos. Casley, Eben Bacon, Jesse Garrett, John Berry, Barnabas Howes, Stephen Bacon, Jonathan Lothrop, and Boston, a negro .* Barnabas Downs, Jr., was the only survivor of the twelve Barnstable men on board.
The great public event of 1779 was the French alliance, which cheered the drooping spirits of the patriots ; but at home, affairs were gloomy in the extreme. The town of Falmouth and the shores along the Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay being exposed to attack, troops for defence were concentrated there. April 2, a formidable fleet *See "Remarkable Narration," by Barnabas Downs; Otis's Sketches of Barnstable Families, etc.
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attempted the destruction of the town. At a late hour the night previous a marauding party from the fleet in Tarpaulin Cove landed from their boats, and under the direction of a refugee proceeded from Wood's Hole to the farms of Ephraim and Manasseh Swift. They drove some 12 head of cattle to the beach, knocked them in the head, and were in the act of taking the carcasses on board the vessels when they were surprised, and put off without their booty. Returning to the fleet they concluded to come back the following day, and burn the town. Information, which was communicated by a refugee, of this intention, soon reached the town, and great excitement prevailed. Expresses were despatched to neighboring towns, while the men at_hand hastened the work of the entrenchments. Major Dimmick was in command. Col. Freeman, with Capts. Fish and _ Swift of Sandwich, arrived by the next morning. The - expected fleet hove in sight early in the morning and came to anchor abreast of the town about 9 a. m. They were evidently surprised at the extent of the preparations to receive them. About 11} o'clock they formed their fleet, consisting of two schooners and eight sloops, into a line against the posts on the shore, and commenced a warm fire with cannon-ball, double-headed shot, grape and small arms, and manned their boats, ten in number, with about 220 men, having, to appearance, double that number on board, and made several attempts to land at various places, keeping up a continual fire until 5 o'clock. The troops on the shore at first reserved their fire, but becoming impatient, and after ineffectually challenging the invaders to the attack, they opened a brisk volley. The enemy was soon forced into the sound, where they remained until the next morning. A party attempted to land at Wood's Hole, but the troops posted there opened fire and they retired to their vessel.
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They went to the island of Nonnamessit, where they committed some depredations, killing a few cattle and swine, which they took away with them. The alarm was renewed by the appearance of the fleet on the 9th, but they finally retired in the direction of Chatham.
Subsequently the brigadier of the county was ordered to detach, for service in Falmouth, that part of his brigade in the towns west of Harwich.
Orders for the raising of 87 men in this county were issued in June, and requisitions for 513 each of shirts, shoes, stockings, for the army were made. Col. Nath'l Freeman was appointed superintendent for the county, and Col. Enoch Hallet, receiver for the goods. An embargo was placed by the legislature on vessels outward bound, excepting wood and oyster craft within Cape Cod and Cape Ann, such vessels to obtain permits. The lands of " conspirators" having been liable to confiscation, Joseph Nye of Sandwich was designated for agent, and a commis- sion, consisting of Solomon Freeman, Esq. of Harwich, Capt. John Howes of Yarmouth, and Major Joseph Dimmick of Falmouth, was constituted for this county. The difficulties attending the moving of men for the protection of Falmouth, having compelled the officer in command to impress horses for the more rapid movement of troops, and the owners threatening prosecution, an act was passed exempting the officer from legal proceedings, but expressly providing that it shall not be construed to justify such action in the future.
By the summary measures adopted the coast was in a degree protected, but on the water, upon the whole southern shore of the Cape, the enemy's cruisers were very destructive and annoying. About a league off Hyannis, in October, they captured a fish-laden vessel bound to Stonington, and
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drove another ashore on the eastward coast of Falmouth. A company of refugees with some 20 Vineyard pilot boats, ran into the Cape harbors and were enabled to take property, which was not duly protected. Gen. Otis applied in this emergency for a number of 8-pounders, swivels, etc., and engaged to procure "two small vessels and get them manned to scour the sound." He at the same time wrote that "Hyannis is much exposed; and to draw off the men to Falmouth causes much uneasiness."
The taking of the sch. Gen. Leslie, in Old Town [now Vineyard Haven] harbor, by a party under command of Col. Joseph Dimmick, from Falmouth, was an act of great gallantry and enterprise. The Leslie had on board 33 men and 10 4-pounders. The Falmouth vessel had 25 men, 2 3-pounders and 2 wooden guns. They went to Old Town harbor, where lay the Gen. Leslie and a sloop mounting 12 9-pounders, with three prizes anchored between them. They first made for the 12-gun sloop, intending to board and sweep the harbor ; but the wind and tide setting out, they fell about a biscuit toss astern, and could not fetch again. This was night work. The sloop being alarmed began a fire. They then immediately ran the Leslie aboard amidst the attack from the sloop, firing a volley of small arms into the Leslie, wounding one of her men, who afterwards died, and receiving a volley in return, which hurt nobody ; then, jumping on board, about 20 men drove the Leslie's men below, cut the cable, and carried the prize in triumph to Hyannis, with the vessel and her 33 prisoners, who were sent manacled to Boston.
Another of Col. Dimmick's brave and gallant acts may properly be narrated here, though referring to another period of the war. A schooner sent to the Connecticut river for corn-then extremely scarce in these parts, and
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selling for $3 per bushel - was intercepted as it was entering the sound, and captured. The captain escaped to the shore in his boat and hastened to Col. Dimmick, whom he reached at midnight, and to whom he communicated his tale. The colonel jumped from his bed, and directed the captain to go for his brother Lot. The two soon succeeded in mustering 20 resolute men, and started for Wood's Hole. They there procured three whaleboats and proceeded to Tarpaulin Cove, arriving just before daybreak. It was very cold, and the colonel allowed his men to land and kindle a fire in a hollow, where they would be unobserved, and wait until morning. At the first glimmering of day the privateer and the prize were discovered lying at anchor in the cove. Col. Dimmick and his men were, in another minute, in their boats pulling vigorously for the prize. They were fired on from both vessels, but returning the fire, boarded the prize, retook it, got immediately under way, and ran ashore at the west end of the Vineyard. The privateer followed, and was repulsed ; the tide rose, and in a few hours the schooner was safely moored in Wood's Hole harbor, to the great joy of the inhabitants.
Shortly after the capture of the Gen. Leslie, George Leonard, who was at the head of a company of refugees in the sound, sent a flag of truce to Gen. Otis, proposing an exchange of Barnabas Eldridge and Isaac Matthews of Yarmouth, held as prisoners, and Manasseh Swift and James Wing of Falmouth, held on parole, for certain persons captured on board the Leslie. Gen. Otis subsequently ascertained that Leonard, under date of "On board ship Resolution, Holmes' Hole, Oct. 1," had issued a proclamation inviting all who had taken up arms against the government to lay them down, promising "protection and every comfort" to such as should do so.
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Monetary necessities at the close of the year were pressing ; the currency was depreciated and of uncertain value. Committees had been chosen to regulate the prices of products, and everything possible had been done to prevent speculation and extortion.
An unpleasant episode of the times, though not necessarily a part of the record of the war, must be noticed in order to make the history of the year complete. The commanding general of the county became embroiled with the authoritics by reason of his appointing a brigade major who was, from his antecedents and abilities, distasteful to the officers of the county. The council in delicate terms hinted a disapproval of the choice, and no notice being taken of this, some pretty plain talk was indulged in by the presiding member, speaking as the mouthpiece of the body. Gen. Otis, who felt, probably, that the services of his family entitled him to immunity from interference, was finally obliged to yield, and his future position and influence were greatly lessened by this unfortunate cvent.
The gloomy aspect with which the year 1780 opened was increased by the curse of an irredeemable paper currency, a calamity little less than that of war itself. The money and credit of the states being at a low ebb, the only alter- native was to make requisitions upon the several states so as to include provisions and forage. Blankets, shoes, shirts, stockings, were called for in quick succession. 453 of each article were discounted as the proportion of this county. This was more satisfactory than calling for money which had limited purchasing power, as is illustrated by the fact that the general court in June of this year voted to Rev. Samuel Parker, minister at Provincetown, £3000 in addition to the regular annual grant of £45!
Another requisition for the re-enforcement of the army
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was made June 2, and in order that a sufficient number of effective men might be retained on shore to supply the call, an embargo was laid on the departure of vessels throughout the State. From this county 187 men were asked for, and June 22, 223 more. Nath'l Freeman, Esq., was appointed superintendent for the county, and Mr. Freeman, with Barnabas Freeman, Esq., and Capt. Edmund Howes were appointed "to receive moneys in and of the public treasury." The sale of confiscated estates was urged forward for the benefit of the treasury, by the commissioners, Nathaniel Freeman, Daniel Davis and Joseph Otis. An additional call for 156 men was made Dec. 1. Besides this, a requisition was received Sept. 25, for 71,280 lbs. beef, and Dec. 4, for 136,875 lbs., for Barnstable county. These repeated calls completely drained the towns of men and of munitions, and the time came when the requisitions were not met, because there was no way of supplying them. The people were at the end of their resources. Harwich, Chatham, Eastham and Yarmouth were obliged to memorial- ize the general court, severally setting forth "the many difficulties and distresses the inhabitants of said towns labor under by reason of the extraordinary diminution of inhabitants and many other inconveniences of the present war"-praying that they may "be abated the taxes and requisitions for beef and other articles." A committee being sent by the general court to the Cape, the members were satisfied that no amount of effort and no degree of patriotism could furnish beef where it was not to be found, and that the requisition for the same amount of this provision that it required of the rich agricultural region of the interior, was a most preposterous exaction. A resolve consequently passed in Jan., 1781, "to stay executions issued against said towns until further orders," also to remit
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a fine of £600 to the town of Barnstable, assessed for a failure to provide the whole number of soldiers that had been required the previous year, the members being satisfied of the inability of the town to meet the requisition.
The new constitution of the state being adopted took effect Oct. 25, 1780, and the first election by the people followed. John Hancock was chosen Governor, and Thomas Cushing lieutenant-governor. The first senator from Barnstable county was Solomon Freeman of Harwich, who served in that office for 17-though not successive-terms.
The experience of 1781 was nearly a repetition of that of the preceding year. The people in general were greatly impoverished, but there still remained some citizens of means and resources. Loans of money were solicited by the state government for war purposes, and Joseph Nye, Esq. of Sandwich, and Elisha Doane, Esq. of Wellfleet, were made a committee to procure subscriptions. The county was again called upon for beef, 56,489 lbs. being its proportion. Men were called for to defend Rhode Island, the brigadier general being ordered to detach from his brigade "one Ist lieut. and 56 non-commissioned officers and privates, provided with good firelock, bayonet, cartridge- box, haversack and blanket."
Some of the towns, especially those in the lower portion of the county, feeling that it was utterly impossible to comply with the government requisition for beef for the army, met by delegates at Barnstable, and appointed Dr. John Davis to represent their case before the general court. In an address adopted "the inequality of the burdens laid upon the people" was intelligently discussed. Especially was the impossibility of furnishing beef enlarged upon ; that they had been disproportionately taxed was rendered so evident to the authorities that £2224 of the tax of this year
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was abated. Upon the representation of Brig .- Gen. Freeman, under date of Oct. 20, it was ordered that a guard for the town of Falmouth "be detached from the 1st regiment in the company and placed under the command of Lt .- Col. Dimmick."
Negotiations for peace had been progressing, and it shows the interest and importance attached to the fisheries, that the towns in many instances gave instruction to their representatives, to "ask of the legislature to see that the commissioners be instructed to preserve and restore that interest." Accordingly a resolve was passed Oct. 27, instructing the delegates in Congress "to present to that body the importance to the United States in general and to this state in particular, of the fisheries, that the rights heretofore enjoyed by the United States may, in any settlement of peace, be acknowledged and secured."
The condition of the army under Gen. Washington, early in 1782, which was most deplorable, was hardly worse than that of the people in many sections of the country. Nowhere was the state of affairs more apparent than in many parts of the Cape, as it is fully disclosed by the proceedings of the legislature. On the petition of Edward Knowles and others, in behalf of the towns of this county, that body, Jan. 30, appointed a committee to repair to the towns of Yarmouth, Harwich, Eastham and Chatham, and view the circumstances, hear all parties, and report ; also to go into other towns in the county for the purpose mentioned, and until further orders, all executions for any deficiency in procuring beef or men, were ordered to be stayed. This committee was subsequently superseded by another, which after some delay reported that they were satisfied that the towns had complied to the utmost of their ability with the requisitions made on them, and that they were incapable of
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complying therewith any further. And the committee having also reported that in their opinion all deficiencies of beef or men due from any of the towns in the county of Barnstable should be abated and all fines due from them be remitted, a resolve to that effect was passed by the general court. The last requisition for recruits for the army, of which there is record, was made March 7, 1782, which was a call for 1500 men, 36 for Barnstable county, to make up for the deficiency of the quota of Massachusetts line, caused by mortality and other casualties. Still other evidence appears of the total exhaustion of the resources of the several towns. March 12, upon the petition of the inhabitants of Eastham, Harwich and Yarmouth, and June 23, upon a similar petition of Barnstable, Sandwich and Falmouth, setting forth their extreme poverty and utter inability to pay their taxes at present, the state treasurer was directed to recall the executions issued and to stay in future, until further ordered, demands for two-thirds of the taxes.
One of the last acts of the general court relative to the war in connection with this county was passed Oct. 9, by which officers were directed "to cause the shores of their respective towns and the vessels in the harbors to be examined, that if any cattle or sheep are found which, from their local situation or other apparent circumstances, are likely to fall into the hands of the enemy, they may be driven to places of safety." Our coast was thoroughly beleaguered. The hostile movements on the south shore, in Tarpaulin Cove as the base of operations of the British fleet, were supplemented by a similar condition of affairs at the other extreme of the county, Provincetown being the place of rendezvous. The operations extended from Cape Cod harbor, all along the coast, to Plymouth. The
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small crafts, which sometimes ventured to skirt the coast, bringing supplies from Boston, or to search the fishing grounds, sometimes succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the enemy's ships, and were treated with as much leniency as could be expected in a time of war. Lieutenant, after- wards the famous Admiral, Nelson, was this year in Cape Cod bay in command of his majesty's ship Albemarle, and gave up to its owner a vessel from Plymouth which he had captured .*
From the fact that the fleet in Provincetown harbor was controlled by English officers, instead of refugee American loyalists, the relations between them and the inhabitants was of a far more amicable character than those which subsisted between the parties at Falmouth and vicinity. The officers of the English ships often visited the people and cultivated their acquaintance. They sometimes attended church, and the chaplains not unfrequently preached. Dr. Wm. Thayer, a surgeon of an English man-of-war, married a young lady of Truro, left the service, and practised medicine, and reared a family there. ¡ But there were not enough of such instances to greatly mitigate the existing condition of hardship and hostility. They were simply the "touches of nature " which are said to make "the whole world kin," and which sprang from the origin of both as members of the same great English-speaking race.
The endurance and constancy of the people, as exemplified by these years of suffering and privation, was at length to
*Hon. Wm. T. Davis of Plymouth has in his possession the original document of which the following is a copy:
These are to certify that I took the schooner Harmony, Nathaniel Carver, master, belonging to Plymouth, but on account of his good services, have given him up his vessel again.
Dated on board His Majesty's ship Albemarle, 17th August, 1782, in Boston Bay.
tRich's Truro.
HORATIO NELSON.
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be crowned by success. Early in 1783, the negotiations which had been pending for more than a year were concluded, and to the inexpressible joy of the people, the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed by Gen. Washington, on the 19th day of April, just eight years from the day when Lord Percy started out on his ill-starred visit to Concord and Lexington. The definitive treaty was signed Sept. 3, following.
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