USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 12
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On its receipt the following action was taken:
"In Council March 6, 1777
"Read & thereupon Resolved-That the Secretary be and he hereby is directed to put upon Record the Declaration of Independence referred to in the foregoing Letter-that it may henceforth form a Part of the Archives of this State-
Sent down for Concurrence Jnº. Avery Dpy Sec' In the House of Represents. March 7 1777 Read and Concurred Sam1 Freeman Speak™ Pt
Consented to-Jer : Powell, A Ward, B Greenleaf, W Spooner, J Winthrop, T Cushing, S Holten, Jabez Fisher, Moses Gill, B White, John Whetcomb, W™. Phillips, Benj Austin, E Thayer j", D Hopkins"
The Declaration was recorded by Deputy Secretary Avery and filed on March 6 in the Secretary's office, where the original may be found today as "part of the Archives of this State."
PROPOSED STATE CONSTITUTION (1776- 1778)
On September 17, 1776, (pursuant to a resolve of the Con- tinental Congress of May 10) the House of Representatives requested permission of the towns to join in convention with the Council to frame a constitution which they would sub- mit to the towns for inspection and perusal before ratification.
116 MASSACHUSETTS AND INDEPENDENCY
Most of the towns that answered (a minority) were willing, on condition that it be ratified by the inhabitants.
The Committee, considering the towns' opinions, recom- mended a convention of delegates, chosen by the people, but the General Court persisted in its original plan and, obtaining the consent of a majority of the towns, resolved itself into a constitutional convention on June 17, 1777, delegated its powers to a committee, whose report, with amendments, etc., was accepted on February 28, 1778, and submitted it to the people, who defeated it by a vote of 9,972 to 2,083, princi- pally brought about by Theophilus Parsons and his Essex Result.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (1779 - 1780)
The General Court again took up the matter in the spring of 1779, but this time asked for permission to call a con- stitutional convention of delegates chosen by the people, and received the same by vote of 6,612 to 2,639.
This Convention (of 312 members) sat from September 1, 1779, until June 16, 1780, during the darkest period of the Revolution, when the State and Nation were on the verge of bankruptcy and depreciation in Massachusetts was 70 to 1. As usual the Convention delegated its powers to a com- mittee, who, in turn, delegated its powers to a sub-committee consisting of the Adamses and James Bowdoin, and as a result John Adams's draft of the Constitution (with a few additions) was ready for the Convention on October 28, 1779, and after considerable debate was submitted (in printed form) to the people on March 2, 1780, for ratification.
About 16,000 out of 363,000 inhabitants voted on the matter and the Convention canvassed the returns and declared that every article of the Constitution as printed had been ratified.
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS (1780)
Pursuant to said Constitution, an election was held, and on October 25, 1780, "the first day of General Election under the new Constitution," the "Committee of both Houses ap- pointed to examine the Returns from the several Towns within this State of their Choice of a Governour [reported]
C Commonwealth of Massachusetts In Senato Bd 25.180
In Conformityto the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Pirate and House of Remedio med the returns For the Loveal Kurs within said Commonwealth
respecting the Choice of a Governor and having fun
thanthe HonorableJohan Hoareach the kada Majon A ty of Valley of Governor we do now publickty declare His Excellency John Hancock Bag to be the Governor of this Common wealth and all Ofers Girl & Military are to late notice therest of
govern themselves accordingly -. God Save the Commonwealth.
Irdered that the aforegoing Declaration be fut. lilly announced from the Balcony of the State
House , by the Secretary a liteated by the Sheriff of the truth of Jafet Lenl & run for oneurrence bushing penitent
. In the House of Refondation Better "2780-)
From original in Massachusetts Archives
PROCLAMATION OF JOHN HANCOCK AS GOVERNOR The First use of "God Save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts"
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
that his Excellency John Hancock, Esq' is chosen Governour of the Commonwealth of Masstts by a Majority of all the Votes returned and that he is therefore hereby declared Gov' elect accordingly."
Hon. John Hancock, Esq., having accepted the office and being present in the Council Chamber, duly took the oaths and subscribed to them before Hon. Thomas Cushing, Esq., President of the Senate, after which the secretary and the sheriff of Suffolk proclaimed the same from the balcony of the State House, as follows :
"In Conformity with the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Senate and House of Representatives having Examined the returns from the Several Towns within said Commonwealth respecting the Choice of Governor and having found that the Honorable John Hancock Esq" had a Majority of Votes for Governor we do now publickly declare His Excellency John Hancock Esq" to be the Governor of this Commonwealth and all Officers Civil & Military are to take notice thereof & Govern themselves accordingly-
GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS-"
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ADAMS, JAMES TRUSLOW .- The Founding of New England (Boston, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922).
ADAMS, JAMES TRUSLOW .- Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776 (Bos- ton, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1928).
Andros Tracts (3 vols., Boston, Prince Society, 1868-1874)-Edited by W. H. Whitmore. A collection of pamphlets and official papers issued during the period between the overthrow of the Andros government and the adoption of the second charter of Massachusetts, 1689-1692.
Atlas Maritimus et Commercialis (London, 1728)-See pp. 330-331, "An Account of the Commerce of the English Colonies of America."
BARRINGTON, WILLIAM WILDMAN BARRINGTON, 2nd viscount, and BERNARD,
Sir FRANCIS .- The Barrington-Bernard Correspondence and Illustra- tive Matter, 1760-1770 (Harvard Historical Studies, Vol. XVII, Cam- bridge, 1912)-Edited by Edward Channing and A. C. Coolidge. Drawn from the "Papers of Sir Francis Bernard," Mss., Sparks Collection, Harvard College Library.
BURNET, EDWARD CODY, ed .- Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (3 vols., Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1921-1926).
BURNS, JOHN FRANCIS .- Controversies between Royal Governors and their Assemblies in the northern American Colonies (Privately printed, Boston, 1923).
118
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHANNING, EDWARD .- A history of the United States (6 vols., N. Y., Macmillan, 1905-1925).
COLEGROVE, KENNETH .- "New England Town Mandates; Instructions to the Deputies in Colonial Legislatures" (Colonial Society of Mass., Publications, Vol. XXI, pp. 411-449, Boston, 1920).
EDMONDS, JOHN HENRY .- "How Massachusetts Received the Declaration of Independence" (Am. Antiquarian Society, Proceedings, New Series, Vol. XXXV, pp. 227-252, Worcester, 1926).
HARLOW, RALPH VOLNEY .- "Economic Conditions in Massachusetts during the American Revolution" (Colonial Society of Mass., Publications, Vol. XX, pp. 163-190, Boston, 1920).
HART, ALBERT BUSHNELL, editor .- Commonwealth History of Massachus- etts (5 vols., N. Y. 1927-192?)-See Vol. 1, chapters v and VII.
HAZARD, EBENEZER, comp .- Historical collections, Consisting of State Papers, and other Authentic Documents (2 vols., privately printed, Phila., 1792-1794) .
HAZELTON, JOHN HAMPDEN .- The Declaration of Independence, its His- tory (N. Y., Dodd, Mead, 1906).
HOLMES, ABIEL .- The Annals of America, from the Discovery by Colum- bus in the Year 1492, to the Year 1826 (2 vols., Cambridge, Hilliard and Brown, 1829).
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, compiler .- A Collection of Original Papers Rela- tive to the History of the Colony of Massachusets-Bay (Boston, Thomas and John Fleet, 1769; reprinted by the Prince Society, 2 vols., Albany, 1865).
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- History of the Colony of Massachusets-Bay from 1628. Until 1691 (Boston, Thomas and John Fleet, 1764).
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- History of the Province of Massachusets-Bay from 1691. Until 1750 (Boston, Thomas and John Fleet, 1767).
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1749 to 1774 (London, John Murray, 1826)-Published post- humously.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) .- Acts and Resolves, Public and Pri- vate, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (21 vols., Boston, 1869-1922)-Commonly referred to as the "Province Laws."
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : ARCHIVES DIVISION .- An extensive collection of manuscripts in the State House, Boston. See Vols. CXLII, CXCV.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) .- Records of the Governor and Com- pany of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686 (5 vols. in 6, Boston, 1853-1854).
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : COUNCIL .- Executive Records, 1692- 1780 (Ms., 26 vols.)-At Archives Division, State House, Boston. See Vols. XIX-XXV for 1775-1780.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : GENERAL COURT, HOUSE OF REPRE- SENTATIVES .- Journal, 1715-1730 (9 vols., Boston, Mass. Historical Society, 1910-1918)-Edited by W. C. Ford.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : GENERAL COURT, HOUSE OF REPRE- SENTATIVES .- Journal, 1715-1779 (65 vols., Boston, 1715-1779)-The official contemporary publication, File 1730-1773 at Archives Division, State House, Boston; rest scattering.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : GENERAL COURT, HOUSE OF REPRE- SENTATIVES .- Journal (MS., 1780)-At Archives Division, State House, Boston.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : GENERAL COURT, SENATE .- Journal (Ms., 1780)-At Archives Division, State House, Boston.
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT .- A History of the Constitution of Massachu- setts (Boston, Wright & Potter, 1917)-Reprinted from the Manual of the Constitutional Convention of 1917.
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT .- "Remarks on Economic Conditions in Massa- chusetts, 1775-1783" (Colonial Society of Mass., Publications, Vol. XX, pp. 191-192, Boston, 1920).
RANDOLPH, EDWARD .- Edward Randolph: including his Letters and Official Papers, with other Documents Relating chiefly to the Vacating of the Royal Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. 1676-1703 (7 vols., Prince Society. Publications, Vols. XXIV-XXVIII. XXX-XXXI, Boston, 1898-1909)-Edited by R. N. Toppan and A. T. Goodrick.
UNITED STATES : CONTINENTAL CONGRESS .- Journals, 1774-1789 (27 vols., Washington, 1904-1922)-Edited by W. C. Ford.
VAN TYNE, CLAUDE HALSTEAD .- The Causes of the War of Independence (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1922).
WINSOR, JUSTIN, editor .- Memorial History of Boston (4 vols., Boston, Osgood, 1880, 1881).
WINSOR, JUSTIN, editor .- Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1884-1889).
WINTHROP, JOHN .- The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 (2 vols., Boston, Little, Brown, 1853)-Edited by James Savage, with notes.
WINTHROP, JOHN .- Winthrop's Journal, "History of New England," 1630- 1649 (N. Y., Scribner's, 1908)-Edited by J. K. Hosmer. Same text as preceding item.
CHAPTER V MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CONTINENTAL FORCES (1776- 1783)
BY LOUIS C. HATCH Formerly State Historian of Maine
PROTECTION OF BOSTON (1775 - 1776)
When the British abandoned Boston, on March 17, 1776, Massachusetts rightly felt that a great victory had been won; but what was to prevent the enemy's return in force? On April 4, 1776, Washington, having sent most of the Con- tinental Army before him, set out for New York, where it was believed that the enemy would soon appear. He left for the defense of Boston four weak Massachusetts regi- ments; Phinney's, Whitcomb's, Sergeant's and Hutchinson's. A fifth, Glover's, was stationed at Beverley to protect ships which might take refuge in the harbor. The command in Massachusetts was entrusted to General Ward, who soon found himself a general without an army, for in July Wash- ington, acting under special authority from Congress, ordered all five regiments to New York.
Meanwhile Massachusetts had made some efforts to pro- tect herself, but at first progress was slow. The evacuation of Boston had thrown the people of the neighborhood into a sort of happy daze; sectional feeling also delayed action. Washington wrote expressing anxiety about the slow prog- ress of the fortifications; Ward ordered officers and men to turn out and his orders were cheerfully obeyed. The citizens also put their shoulders to the wheel. On May 9, Mrs. Adams wrote: "Fort Hill, the Castle, Dorchester Points, Noddle's Island are almost completed. ... Six hundred inhabitants of the town, meet every morning in the town house, from whence they march with fife and drum, with Mr. Gordon, Mr. Skilman and Mr. Lothrop [prominent
120
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THE BRITISH AT RHODE ISLAND
clergymen] at their head, to the Long Wharf, where they embark for the island; and it comes to the subscribers turn to work for two days in a week." By June 8, so much had been accomplished that Ward gave his men a Sunday off from physical labor ; but as befitted a "church warden," as Charles Lee called him, he directed their officers to lead them with- out arms or music to places of worship.
STATE TROOPS (1775)
The legislature provided not only forts but a permanent garrison. Before the departure of the Continental troops it ordered the raising of a little State army of two regiments of infantry and a regiment of artillery and artificers called the "train." When their periods of about a year's service had nearly expired, orders were issued for the continuance of the regiments for three years. On February 26, 1779, the train, which then contained an excessive proportion of officers, was reduced from seven to three companies and pnt under the command of its lieutenant-colonel, Paul Revere. In April, 1780, the battalion was reduced to a single company.
In July, 1777, two more State infantry regiments were ordered raised for service in Rhode Island or any other New England state. Many companies of coast guards were also enlisted for the defense of the Massachusetts seashore. As the State had no governor until 1780, the legislature acted as commander in chief, though its powers were delegated at different times : to the Council when the legislature was not in session; to a board of war; to a Massachusetts major- general of militia, Benjamin Lincoln of Hingham; and to General Ward.
THE BRITISH AT RHODE ISLAND (1776- 1777)
The State regiments filled slowly even when danger came near to Massachusetts. Early in December, 1776, a British fleet and army appeared off Newport and occupied the city, and the island of Rhode Island. There was great alarm in Massachusetts. In January, 1777, James Warren wrote to Elbridge Gerry that it was the general belief that there would be an invasion of Massachusetts in the spring. Such in fact had been Howe's first plan. A British garrison remained
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IN THE CONTINENTAL FORCES
in Newport for four years and an American historian has declared that they were no more helpful to the royal cause than if they had occupied the moon. This is an exaggeration. The British fleet and troops at Newport constituted a force in being which compelled Massachusetts to keep a consider- able body of militia on duty and caused an anxiety which sometimes rose to panic. When in August, 1777, there was a rumor that the fleet at Newport had sailed to attack Boston, Mrs. John Adams wrote to her husband that there had not been such terror since the recapture of Boston by the Ameri- can army.
Various plans for capturing or expelling the British at Newport were discussed, and in 1777 a long-projected "secret expedition" (whose object everybody knew) was at last got under way. Militia from Massachusetts and Connecticut joined militia of Rhode Island on the shores of Narragansett Bay; and did nothing. In May, 1778, the British made two raids on the Fall River district and burned some houses and vessels but did no serious harm.
EXPEDITION AGAINST RHODE ISLAND (1778)
In the summer came good hope of destroying what John Adams called the "nest of hornets on Rhode Island." France made alliance with the United States and sent over a power- ful fleet under Count D'Estaing who proceeded to Rhode Island with his whole fleet which was capable, if necessary, of landing a strong force for land operations. Washington contributed Glover's brigade with its amphibious Marble- headers, a detachment of light infantry commanded by Colonel Henry Jackson of Massachusetts and a Connecticut brigade under General Varnum. Washington also sent two capable generals, Greene and Lafayette, to command the wings of the army. The general-in-chief was General Sullivan of New Hampshire, the Continental commander in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts forces were combined. Massachusetts furnished three thousand militia. Volunteer companies from Boston, Salem, Beverly, Gloucester, Newburyport, and some Maine towns, joined the army, as also the Boston Independents, a company composed of some of the most fashionable youth of Boston. The disciples of
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OPERATIONS IN RHODE ISLAND
Themis exchanged the gown for the sword. James Sullivan, a justice of the highest Massachusetts Court, served as aide to his brother, the general. Young Rufus King, later United States senator and a leader of the Federalist party, entered the military family of General Glover. The Honorable John Hancock, Esq., senior major general of the Massachusetts militia, was appointed, it is said at his own request and by a divided Council, commander of the state forces at Rhode Island.
Alongside undoubted zeal, manifestations were not want- ing of the New England legalism and homesickness. Gov- ernor Greene of Rhode Island complained that the State of Massachusetts had not furnished its share of troops. Presi- dent Ward for the Council replied that "this State has ever been ready, and ever will be, to do everything in its power, Consistent with reason, for the benefit of the United States or any sister State, but for any State to expect that this State must bare the whole burden or at least the greater part of it and when they have Exerted Every Nerve to be thus stigmatized with neglect of Duty is hard and in our opinion what it does not become any State to Charge us with."
OPERATIONS IN RHODE ISLAND (1777 - 1778)
In spite of delays and difficulties the combined expedition came near to success. The British abandoned a fortified position at Butts Hill on the north of the island; the Ameri- cans followed and began a siege. The French fleet took position on each side of the island and D'Estaing landed four thousand men. Then an English fleet under Lord Howe appeared. When the French admiral went out to meet him, a storm separated them and damaged both fleets. D'Estaing returned to Providence, but in accordance with his instructions and the opinion of a council of war took his fleet to Boston to refit, in spite of the earnest remonstrance of the American generals. This greatly discouraged the army and many of the volunteers and militia left for home. An attack on Gen- eral Glover's brigade was repulsed.
A little later the main battle began, in the west of the island. The enemy attacked with great fury but the Americans met them with equal courage and after a hard
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IN THE CONTINENTAL FORCES
contest they were repulsed. Lovell's brigade of Massachusetts militia executed an attack on the British right which gained them much honor and won for General Lovell the Greek gift of the command of the army in the Penobscot expedi- tion of the following year.
THE FRENCH IN BOSTON (1778 - 1780)
The battle was fought without the counsel and inspira- tion of Major-General Hancock. It may have been as well. Hancock's qualifications as a general were slight, but as a delightful and magnificent host few could equal him. His elaborate dinners to D'Estaing and his officers did much to improve the relations between the French and the Americans, which had been severely strained by the count's withdrawal from Rhode Island.
Meanwhile the British fleet was heavily reinforced. But D'Estaing on reaching Boston had immediately landed men, thrown up additional works and mounted on them cannon from the fleet; and Lord Howe wisely permitted him to repair his crippled ships in peace. The only attack was an- other British raid from Rhode Island northward into Massa- chusetts, when the enemy burned a part of the villages of Bedford and Fairhaven. For the two following years both parties in New England remained quiet. Then, late in 1780, Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander at New York, with- drew the troops from Newport.
Massachusetts attempted to induce Congress to make Boston harbor an impregnable refuge for French fleets and American merchantmen, but the Congress had no money for purposes so far removed from the great object of de- feating the British in the middle states.
NAVAL WARFARE IN MAINE (1775)
Massachusetts was obliged not only to protect her coast and interior but to defend the "Eastern district" or "Eastern counties" now forming the state of Maine. Two of the chief events of the war in this section, the capture of the Margaretta and the attack on the British at Majabigwaduce (Castine), are described in the chapters dealing with naval warfare. When the war broke out in 1775, a British sloop,
125
NAVAL WARFARE IN MAINE
the Canceaux, commanded by Captain Mowatt, was lying at Falmouth, now Portland. A body of armed men from neigh- boring towns seized Mowatt. He was released over night on parole, which he broke. A boat belonging to the Canccaux had been seized. Mowatt in vain demanded its return and the expulsion of the "cowardly mob from the country."
On October 16, 1775, Mowatt again appeared, with a small squadron and sent a letter on shore stating that he was ordered to inflict a just punishment on Falmouth for ingratitude and rebellion, and allowing the inhabitants two hours to remove the "human specie" from the town. The people refused to surrender their arms; and next day Mowatt bombarded Fal- mouth for nine hours and sent marines ashore to use the torch. About two-thirds of the town including most of the best buildings was destroyed. The severity of the British greatly shocked both Washington and Franklin, a feeling shared by the friends of America in England.
Maine was not only an outpost to be defended, but a base for attack on British territory. In 1775 Benedict Arnold made his famous march through the wilderness of Maine to Point Levis opposite Quebec. The little army was chiefly or wholly made up of volunteers, probably about a third of the soldiers were Massachusetts men.
The second attack on the British by the way of Maine was an ill-judged and disastrous invasion of Nova Scotia by a handful of men led by a refugee, Colonel Eddy. Some settlers from New England living in the province joined them, but troops from Halifax broke up their camp and destroyed a great part of their stores. Eddy was compelled to abandon Nova Scotia entirely. Many of those who joined him were obliged to flee from their country, leaving their families in great distress.
A second attempt under another refugee, Colonel John Allen, also failed. The British sent an expedition against Machias, which was repulsed, thanks to the courage of the inhabitants and of a number of friendly Indians. The whole country east of the Penobscot was subjected to harassing visits by British vessels of war, particularly after the British occupation of the Castine peninsula in 1779. Communication with Boston was almost cut off, and an illicit trade with Nova
126
IN THE CONTINENTAL FORCES
Scotia sprang up. Many were ready to accept neutrality or even to submit to the enemy.
The British also made repeated efforts to win over the St. John and Passamaquoddy Indians, but Colonel Allen, though greatly hampered by lack of troops, of money and of supplies, and by the misconduct of traders, succeeded in keeping them faithful to the Americans.
MASSACHUSETTS IN LONG ISLAND (1776)
The operations described above were of comparatively small importance. The fate of the nation ultimately depended on success against the main British armies. The first struggle of the main armies was for the possession of New York. As the city was on an island and the enemy possessed a power- ful fleet, Washington was obliged dangerously to divide his forces in order to defend the various positions liable to sudden attack. Most of the Massachusetts troops in his army were stationed on Manhattan Island, but Prescott's and Nixon's regiments held Nut Island, now Governor's Island. The regi- ment of Colonel Moses Little of Newburyport garrisoned Fort Greene, the largest of a chain of forts on Brooklyn Heights. Colonel Little was a man of mature years, of courage and of good judgment in battle.
Late in June a British expedition arrived off New York and soon occupied Staten Island. There it remained some time. On August 22, having received large reinforcements, the British landed on Long Island. Washington on his part sent over more regiments from New York. General Sullivan's division, containing a Massachusetts regiment under Lieu- tenant-Colonel Henshaw, was thrown forward with orders to prevent the enemy from reaching the fortified lines. But it was attacked by superior numbers, outflanked and routed. Colonel Jonathan Ward's Massachusetts regiment, which probably did scout work near Stirling's position, was (probably unjustly) accused of burning a bridge and thereby prevent- ing the escape of part of the brigade.
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