USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Brimfield > Historical celebration of the town of Brimfield, Hampden County, Mass > Part 4
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
discharged by vote of the town. Persons were hired by others to take the office in their stead. One man refused to serve in his turn, and paid a fine of £5.
Assessors were chosen to apportion the several taxes, though for a series of years this duty was devolved upon the selectmen. With all our present clearer insight, it is very difficult to fix upon a system of valuation, that shall be fair and just to all parties.
The town treasurer, though not at first burdened with the care of much money, was continually perplexed by the overlapping of accounts. In 1792, he was required for the first time to give bonds.
It would not be known from the town records, that the province was engaged from 1744 to 1763 in a war that severely taxed the resources of the people. There is not a single entry, that I have discovered, that intimates any such condition of affairs. George I. succeeded Queen Ann, 1714, August 1. George II. began his reign 1727, June 10. The first fourteen years passed away with fewer events of importance than in any other period of the same length in English History. 1744, March 15, Louis XV. declared war against Great Britain. It is known in European history as the War of the Austrian Succession ; in New England annals as " the old French war." I have found only slight record of any connec- tion of the town with this war, famous in this country by the successful attack on Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, and its surrender, 1745, June 17. It was terminated by the peace of Aix la Chapelle, 1748, April 30.
1749, June 14, (Mass. Archives, ) Mary Hitchcock, of Brimfield, petitioned the General Court for relief. Her husband, Nathaniel Hitchcock, went from her " very well clad and with a good new gun." " He was in His Maj- esty's service in Fort Massachusetts when besett by and Delivered up to our French and indian Enemies." " He
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
lived in captivity from August to the 23d day of May, and then died." She was awarded £12 5s. for her hus- band's clothes and wages, and the Commissary General was directed to deliver the petitioner a good gun out of the province store. Fort Massachusetts was seized by a force of nine hundred French and Indians, 1747. In Mass. Archives ( Vol. 92: 49) is a list of sixteen officers and men impressed at. Brimfield, and " sent to the West- ern Frontiers for Defence in the Time of the Alarm in June, 1747."
1756. June 9, war was again declared against England by Louis XV. This Seven Years' War, so called in Euro- pean history, ended 1763, February 10, by the Treaty of Paris. The war on this continent commenced somewhat earlier, and is known as the French and Indian war. Governor Shirley's plan, adopted in concert with other royal governors, was to organize four attacks on the French, in Nova Scotia, Ohio, Niagara, Canada.
Year after year armies were raised in New England. Five companies from Brimfield were engaged in this French and Indian war. One under Capt. Ebenezer Moulton and Ensign David Wallis, (Mass. Archives, 94 : 113.) 1756. September 11 to December 25; another under Capt. Daniel Burt, (Mass. Archives, 76 : 149,) 1755. Sep- tember 19; another under Capt. Samuel Chandler and En- sign Davis, ( Mass. Archives, 94: 90.) 1755, March 30, to 1756. January 3; another under Capt. Tristram Davis, (Mass. Archives, 94: 145, 6 and 94 : 419, 420, 557); an- other under Capt. Davis and Lieut. Joseph Thomson, (Mass. Archives, 98: 10,) 1760, February 19; another under Capt. Jonathan Morgan. (Mass. Archives, 98 : 274,) 1760. February 14 to December 16. Still other compa- nies, in which Brimfield men served, are mentioned, (Mass. Archives, 94 : 153 and 98: 271.) It would appear
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
from various papers on file, (Mass. Archives. 75: 457; 76: 600, 660; 77: 11, 61, 218-220, 324,) that quite a number of the soldiers were sick and came home at their own expense, for which they asked to be reimbursed from the province treasury. John Davis of Brimfield, for in- stance, was left sick at Half Moon, and hired a man to bring him home from Albany, one hundred and thirty- seven miles, on horseback, for which he was allowed £4. It is said that Reuben Townsley was taken captive by the Indians, and compelled to run the gauntlet. He became a favorite among them, was adopted into the tribe, and lived with them for ten years. He then returned to Brimfield, but found it difficult to resume the ways of civilized life. After remaining a while, he returned to his forest home, and ended his days among the people who had adopted him.
George III. began his reign, 1760, October 25. He was narrow-minded, self-willed, and jealous of his royal prerogative, envious of others' greatness, resenting all difference from his wishes on any public measure, as a personal offence against the king. 1764, March 10, Grenville proposed to pay some portion of the expenses of the war then closed, by taxation of the American colo- nies. Pitt opposed the measure as beyond the power of Parliament ; saying, " there is not a blade of grass grow- ing in the most obscure corner of this kingdom, which when taxed, was taxed without the consent of the owner." But the king would have his way. A census of the colonies was ordered in 1764, to ascertain their ability to pay. A part of this list of citizens of Brimfield and their property, is among the town papers.
1765, March 22, the Stamp Act was passed, imposing duties on all newspapers, every law paper, all ships' pa- pers, property transfers, college diplomas, and marriage
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OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
licenses. 1765, May 28, Patrick Henry made his cele- brated speech in the House of Burgesses, in Virginia, de- nouneing the ministry of George III., though interrupted by cries of " Treason !" The opposition of the colonies to the Stamp Aet was so open and decided, that the officers whose duty it was to enforce it, resigned rather than perform the odious service, or were intimidated by mob violence. 1766, March 18, the Stamp Act was re- pealed, though the right to tax the colonies was affirmed. The feeling of the English ministry was apparently the same as Doctor Johnson's, who said, "Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging."
1767. November 20, a tax was laid on glass, painters' colors, paper ; 3 cents a pound on tea. Thus in the lan- guage of Edmund Burke, was " a revenue superadded to a monopoly," which monopoly was enforced at the same time with additional strictness, and the execution put into military hands. The consequences were foreseen by sagacious minds. "In such a cause," said Pitt, "your success would be hazardous. America, if she fall, would fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitution with her." Franklin. as the agent of Pennsylvania, said, " the pay- ment of duties as regulations of commerce was never disputed. An internal tax is forced from the people without their consent. An external tax was a duty on commodities imported, and it enhanced their price ; but the people were not obliged to pay the duty ; they might refuse the article."
Resistance at first took the form of associations, all over the country, pledged not to use any imported articles, nor to trade with merchants who kept such articles on sale. The whole export trade of Great Britain in 1704, to all countries, was six millions and a half. In 1772. the ex-
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
.
ports to the colonies alone were six millions. The mer- chants of Great Britain interested themselves in securing the repeal of the Stamp Act, alleging that several mil- lions sterling due them, were withheld by the colonists, on the plea that the restrictions and taxes put upon them had made them unable to meet their engagements. Car- goes of nails and glass were returned, for none would purchase. 1770, March 5, the British Parliament re- pealed all the duties laid in 1767, excepting that on tea. New York merchants began to order various articles. The East India Company, in 1773, being in want of funds, with seventeen millions pounds of tea in their warehouses, were relieved of all duties payable in Eng- land, but the colonial tax of threepence a pound was to be paid in the American ports, discriminating thus against the colonies. 1773, November 28, the ship Dartmouth came into Boston harbor loaded with tea. The captain was ordered to return. He said he could not get a clear- ance till the cargo was discharged. December 16, forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, emptied the three hun- dred and forty chests into the water. The ministry re- solved on coercive measures. Colonel Barré had warned them in vain. "The language we hold is little short of calling the Americans rebels; the language they hold is little short of calling us tyrants." The measures enacted by Parliament, 1774, March 31, annulled, in important particulars, the privileges granted by the charter of 1692. The Boston Port Bill excluded commerce from that port, and removed the seat of government to Salem. Other enactments confined town meetings to the choice of offi- cers annually, any meetings for other business were to be approved by the governor. The selection of jurors was given to the sheriffs; troops were to be quartered on the people ; offenders transported to England. Can we wonder that our fathers were roused to the highest pitch
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REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
of indignation ? Does not Pitt's language find an echo in every lover of freedom ? " If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country. I never would lay down my arms, never, never." General Gage arrived in Boston, 1774, May 13. superseding Governor Hutchinson. He had command also of four regiments sent with him. The people of Boston in one of their town meetings invited the co-operation of the other colonies in suspending all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, till the Port Bill should be repealed. The Assembly of Virginia recommended a General Con- gress. Fifty-five delegates met in Philadelphia, 1774, September 4, adjourning October 26, and recommending a Second Congress, 1775, May 10. But before that time, occurred the battle of Lexington, 1775, April 19.
In the struggle for independence, as in the preliminary movements, Brimfield bore an honorable part. In 1768, September 26, Mr. Timothy Danielson, who was the rep- resentative to the General Court that year, was chosen to attend a convention to be held in Boston, "in order that such measures may be consulted and advised, as his Majesty's service and the peace and safety of his subjects may require." 1773, January 14, a Committee of Cor- respondence was appointed, to act in connection with the Boston Committee. At an adjourned meeting, January 21, they presented, and the town adopted, a series of resolu- tions, claiming the right to meet and consult upon public affairs, and specifying certain acts of the ministry and of Parliament, as endangering the rights and liberties of the people of the colonies. 1774. April 15, the town appro- priated £1 14s., the proportion of £500 assessed by the House of Representatives, to defray Massachusetts' por- tion of the expense of the first Congress.
A covenant was presented to all the voters, and with- out an exception signed by them individually. This
6
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Continental Association. as it was called, pledged the signers to a suspension of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, especially by refraining from the purchase of all imported goods. The use of tea was especially ob- noxious, and for it was substituted Labrador tea, or " lib- erty tea," made with dried leaves of the four-leaved loose- strip. A Congress of Committees, in Hampden County, was held at Northampton, 1774, September 22, " to con- sult upon measures to be taken in this time of general distress in the province, occasioned by the late attacks of the British Parliament upon the Constitution of said province." Timothy Danielson, of Brimfield, was chair- man of the convention After a long and animated de- bate, a committee of nine reported a series of resolutions similar to those adopted by other county conventions, and they were passed with great unanimity. These were re- ported to the town and approved by vote. 1774, Octo- ber 5, Timothy Danielson, Esq., was appointed a delegate to attend the Provincial Congress, convened at Concord, October 11. He took an active part in the proceedings and served on several committees. By a vote of the town, all the male inhabitants were divided into two military companies. October 7, officers were chosen of each com- pany. Of the East, Capt. James Sherman, Ist-Lieut. Jonathan Charles, 2d-Lieut. Phineas Sherman, Ensign Daniel Burt. Of the West, Capt. Samuel Nicholl, Ist- Lieut. Jonathan Brown, 2d-Lieut. Nathan Hoar, Ensign Abner Stebbins. Minute-men were urged to enroll them- selves, and ample pay guaranteed in case they should be called out. Though this vote was afterwards, 1774, Oc- tober 27, reconsidered, yet the object was accomplished.
1774, October 5, the town voted " to co-operate with the Joint-Committees of Boston and the Neighboring Towns, not to supply the Troops with Joists, etc., Mate- rials to fortify with." October 7, the several committees
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REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
of the town were enjoined to see that the Inhabitants comply with the Continental Association and observe it inviolate, and that they be united in the resolves of the Provincial and Continental Congresses." December 23, a committee of five was appointed to act as a Committee of Inspection, " for the purposes mentioned in the 10th and 11th Articles of the Continental Congress, and by a Re- solve of the Provincial Congress passed December 5, 1774." This committee was instructed specially "to in- speet Tea Drinkers, and if they shall know or find out any Person who shall still continue to Use, Sell, or Con- sume in their families any East India Tea, to post up their names in some public place, that they may be known and Despised." The several constables were di- rected not to pay the province tax, when collected, to the province treasurer, Harrison Gray, but to Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow, as recommended by the Provincial Con- gress.
1775, January 11, the town voted to join with Monson and South Brimfield in sending a delegate to the Provin- cial Congress. January 18, Mr. Timothy Danielson was chosen. In response to a memorial presented by Mr. Dan- ielson, the town voted " to provide for fifty minute-men a cartridge box, knapsack, and thirty rounds of cartridge and ball, the charge thereof to be paid out of the town treasury. When the said minute-men shall have finished their service, the above said Articles shall be returned to the Town Stores." . (In the annual meeting, March 13, a " Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety," was chosen, as ordered by the General Court. For three subsequent annual meetings such a committee was regu- larly chosen on the list of town officers. ) Capt. Joseph Thompson was " desired to raise a minute company of fifty men, to be paid one shilling every half day they shall train, and to train one-half day each week." Such a
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
company was raised, and trained regularly, for the town order-books contain accounts of the money paid in ac- cordance with this vote. But no record has been found of the departure of this company for Boston, when news came of the battle of Lexington. It appears from the State Archives, that two companies did go. At Cam- bridge these minute-men were re-organized, enlisting for eight months. Timothy Danielson was commissioned colonel, May 26. May 25, the towns of Brimfield, South Brimfield and Monson, chose him delegate to the Provin- cial Congress of 1775. 04 10s. was allowed him by the town for Brimfield's proportion of his expenses. It was voted that the committees of the town be "enjoined strictly to observe the directions of the Congress, with respect to persons who may be charged with being inimi- cal to the Country; and the Town will discountenance and Endeavor to prevent all disorderly meetings." It was also voted that " the Town will aid and assist the Constables in Distraining the Effects of such persons as refuse or unreasonably neglect to pay their Rates."
The Provincial Congress, 1775, June 15, passed a requisition for ten hundred and sixty-five muskets, each town to furnish a specified number. Brimfield was called on for thirteen. July 5, for forty-eight " coats made in common plain way, short, with small folds, and without lappels." There were no manufacturing establishments in those days. 1776, January 4, the legislature passed an order for four thousand blankets. Brimfield was to fur- nish ten. Clothing was entirely of domestic manufacture. If the towns could not hire coats or blankets made, the collecting officers took them at a price, from families that were called upon to give up any such articles in their possession, not in use. Among the State Archives are to be found many receipts for guns and clothing furnished by the town.
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PATRIOTISM OF THE CITIZENS.
1776, May 10, the legislature " Resolved, As the opin- ion of this House, that the Inhabitants of each Town in this Colony, ought to advise the Person or Persons who shall be chosen to represent them in the next General Court, whether, that if the honorable Congress should, for the safety of the said Colonies, declare them Inde- pendent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said Inhabitants would solemnly Engage with their Lives and Fortunes to support the Congress in this measure." May 24, in response to this action of the legislature, the town, in choosing Mr. Danielson to be their representative, voted unanimously " that if the Hon. Congress should for the safety of the said Colonies, declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, we, the said Inhabitants, will solemnly engage with our Lives and Fortunes to sup- port them in the Measure." North Carolina was the first of the colonies to declare in favor of independence. Mas- sachusetts, with her usual wise deliberation, sought an expression from the people, through the town meetings, and such was the sentiment in favor of the measure, that John Adams could assure his colleagues, as a matter of positive certainty, that the people of Massachusetts were overwhelmingly in favor of the Declaration of Independ- ence.
It is evident that separation from Great Britain was not at first the desire or design of the American patriots. But the blood shed at Lexington proved, as Pitt in 1774, January 27, declared, the first drop of bloodshed would be " the opening of an incurable wound." Thomas Paine, by his pamphlet entitled Common Sense, published in the winter of 1775-6, had great influence in rousing the public mind to look upon independence as the only pos- sible effectual safeguard against governmental tyranny. The hiring and embarkation of Hessian troops for Amer- ica, was regarded as an additional degradation, rather
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
than as an additional danger. The country demanded the Declaration of Independence, and rejoiced over it tumultuously, as the news of the action of Congress, July 4, reached each isolated village or populous town.
1776, May 18, the General Court ordered that one- fourth of the militia should be enrolled as minute-men. June 25, the General Court ordered five thousand men to be raised. Those going from Hampshire County were destined for the expedition against Canada, under Mont- gomery and Arnold, and soldiers were offered £7 bounty. Brimfield's quota was seventeen. This order was fol- lowed, July 10, by an order for the enlistment of every twenty-fifth man in the State. The total population was 349,094.
October 16, the legislature ordered that fifteen battal- ions should be raised, to serve in the Continental army till the end of the war. In the warrant for the annual town meeting, under the article, " To see if the town will come into any method further to encourage the enlist- ment of our quota of the Continental army," it is added, " and the town will give their attendance by said time proposed, as this article may be the first acted upon." Mr. Nathaniel Danielson was appointed muster master, with authority to collect and pay out bounty money. A committee was appointed to report how much money should be raised, and how much each inhabitant was to be credited for service already rendered.
1777, January 26, the legislature ordered a requisition for every seventh man, of sixteen years old and upwards, to serve three years, or during the war, to fill up the fif- teen battalions called for by the Continental Congress.
1777, February 5, a convention of the Committees of Safety of the several towns in the county, was held at Northampton, at which Brimfield was represented. This convention recommended that supplies be forwarded at
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PATRIOTISM OF THE CITIZENS.
once to the Northern army, suffering from small-pox as well as from the hardships of camp-life amid the rigors of a Canadian winter. March 10, the town voted that twenty pounds be added to the bounty given by Con- gress to such men as shall enlist into the service for " three years, or during the war." ¿600 was voted to be raised immediately. A special committee was ap- pointed to make the assessment. If any should refuse to pay their assessments, their names were to be " re- ported to the Selectmen and the Committee of Corre- spondence, who were empowered to make immediate collection. in such manner as they think proper. Any person refusing shall be considered as having incurred the highest displeasure of the town." The treasurer was cautioned "not to pay the twenty pounds to any but able bodied men, such as shall pass the county muster master." May 19, an additional £100 was voted.
1778, March 9, the town voted to sink the rates, (i. e., not collect the taxes,) of Capt. Thomas Bliss, "he being a prisoner of war." April 20, the legislature called for two thousand men for nine months' service, to fill up fif- teen Continental battalions. One thousand three hundred men to go up the Hudson river; two hundred to Rhode Island. June 23, one thousand men were ordered out to guard the prisoners from Burgoyne's army. Philemon Warren, at that time a boy in Weston, was ordered out on this service. May 13, the selectmen were instructed to take care of and provide for the families of the non- commissioned soldiers. A bounty of £210 was voted to those who would join the Continental army. A commit- tee was chosen to carry to the men at Fishkill, the clothing provided by the town, the General Court having passed an order for collecting shirts, shoes, and stockings, equal in number. each, to one-seventh the male inhabitants.
1779, March 10, {200 were voted to purchase a town
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
stock of ammunition. June S, two thousand men were called for to fill up the Continental batteries, eight hundred men to serve in Rhode Island, both for nine months' service. Brimfield's quota of three received £105 for mileage to Providence. June 21, after voting that the town would " come into some method to fill up the Waists of the Conti- mental Army," a committee was appointed to hire the men. June 28, it was " voted to raise £1800 to hire six men to join the Continental Army." They went to Fishkill. N. Y. The money was to be borrowed at once, payable in six months. August 16, Lieut. Aaron Mighell was cho- sen a Receiver of Loans, and patriotic citizens who had money to spare, were offered an opportunity to help the town meet its fast increasing obligations. A committee, appointed for this purpose, reported a list of one hundred and forty-eight names, and £1,768.Ss. due for such service. A tax of £1,857.16s., was voted to equalize this. A dele- gate had been appointed to attend a convention at Con- cord, September, to devise remedies for the depreciation of the currency, by fixing prices of merchandise and county produce. The town committee were instructed to proceed against all persons who shall violate the regu- lations adopted, suggested in the address of the conven- tion, dated October 12, 1779. October 9, two thousand men were called for to co-operate with the French army, each soldier receiving a bounty of £30 from the town, and €16 per month in addition to the Continental pay. Oeto- ber 19 the town voted to raise ten men to join the Con- tinental army. £540 was raised for this purpose. They went to Claverack, N. Y., and thence to Yorktown, Va.
1780, June 19, after appointing the captains of the militia companies, a committee to secure the quota of thirteen men to reinforce the Continental army, it was " voted to Give Each man as a Hire who shall enlist as a soldier and serve six months the Sum of One Thousand
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PATRIOTISM OF THE CITIZENS.
Pounds, or the Benefit of the Everedge [Average], or else the Sum of thirteen hundred Pounds." The Treas- urer was authorized to give said men his note for all the money they shall leave in his hands, and " said money to be as good as it now is." £20,000 was the amount ap- propriated. July 3, it was voted to hire the militia to serve three months, each man enlisting to receive £650. For this object, £11,300 was appropriated. October 11, .€4,912.12s. was voted to pay for seven horses, bought at various prices from £300 to $1, 193, and sent to Spring- field in response to a requisition on the town. October 23. €13,000 was voted to pay for 7,530 pounds of beef on a requisition for that amount. December 21, it was voted to pay every month the thirteen men enlisted.
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