USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Ashfield > Historical sketches of the times and men in Ashfield, Mass., during the Revolutionary War > Part 2
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the town of Ashfield voted "that Aaron Lyon, her grand-father, "is a suitable person" to procure evidence against the Tories in their town. Traits of character when introduced into a family are per- petuated to the third and fourth generation, or from generation to generation for thousands of years, and though Aaron Lyon might have had energy of mind before the town thus voted, we may well claim that vote greatly strengthened and developed it, and so in- spired him with greatness, both mental and moral.
THE GRAVE OF MOSES RAWSON.
In the North-west school district, in the cemetery lying at the foot of Pumpkin Hill, is the grave of an old Revolutionary soldier. When a small boy I recollect visiting my aunt. the wife of his son, Oliver Rawson, and while there I heard them talking about his plans to get a pension for his then aged father. But the man who had done almost five years' hard service for his country had been to industrious and saving, and had to much property to have a pen- sion in those years. Soon after his body was laid in the grave. though no monument marks the spot. Yet the traveler to our rural town may feel paid for going once to the place. When standing here let the dark hours of a night in 1779 be recalled, when sol- diers were silently marching towards Stony Point. Had it been light we should not have noticed Moses Rawson, for his shiny clothes, or sash, or epaulets ; for he only wore ragged pants and coat with a poor hat. Though had we been by his side, as he crossed the morass up to the walls of one of the strongest fort- resses the British held, and saw the prompt firmness with which he advanced under a severe fire of musketry and cannon, we should have thought he was a Massachusetts soldier, and had we reflected upon the place this brave veteran had assigned to him in one of the advancing columns, we should wish to be able to visit him, and learn about the hard fought battles in which he had stood. But as such a wish cannot now be gratified, the writer recently visited his daughter, living at West Hawley, for the purpose of obtaining his- torical information. When asked if she remembered anything her father had told about what he did in the army, she said : "I often heard him tell about being in Fort Stanwix, when it was surrounded by the British for fourteen days, and how he fired so fast and so long, his gun became so hot he could not hold it." She thought
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her father might have got a pension, had he taken an oath he was poor; before doing it giving his property to his son; but he would'not take a false oath. Authors are fond of writing about generals and kings; but it would be more profitable to readers, if they had the history of men and women, who have moved in private circles. For the courage of such often de- cide the destiny of nations. Perhaps I should say they always do. Who will tell how much depended upon the courage of Moses Rawson at Fort Stanwix? Washington and the main army were hard pressed by Howe and his veteran soldiers; what could he do to oppose the army of the north ? Indeed how was that army to be met and checked in its successful progress. The number of Tories in all our towns was rapidly increasing. The patriotic began to tremble and feel a weak- ness; but Moses Rawson stood firm, and fought and fired upon the soldiers selected to make a determined assault on Fort Stanwix; and after fourteen days of arduous labor under fire, had the satisfaction of knowing the enemy had retired. The Americans had been driven from Bunker Hill; from New York; from Ticonderoga, and from almost every other place where they had endeavored to make a stand; but now a per- sistent and vigorous assault upon them for more than two weeks and only left them standing firm. That this continued and unflinching firmness of private soldiers greatly discour- aged Burgoyne and his men, while it encouraged and strengthened the citizen soldiers to flock in crowds to re- inforce the army under Gates, we can easily understand. More than this it is reasonable to suppose the men who had given an example of firmness at Fort Stanwix, were promptly called to the front of Gates' army.
Burgoyne in his report to Parliament says: "I tried what virtue there was in the British bayonet, and sent three times eleven hundred men to charge the enemies' ranks." So it appears that he thought the unflinching firmness of the rank and file of the American army was the cause of his de- feat. May we not then pause and reflect long, upon what a private individual can accomplish, if he stands in his place and acts with unyielding courage? It is reasonable to suppose Burgoyne fully understood the importance of Fort Stanwix. and the assault upon it was vigorous and persistent, and the
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battle around and within its walls, bloody and terrible.
Mr. Headly writes of these eventful times: "The gallant defence of Fort Stanwix had frustrated Burgoyne's plans in that direction. From every valley and mountain slope the sturdy yeomanry went pouring in to Gates, their patriotism kindled into a brighter glow by the shouts of victory that came rolling in from Vermont and down the valley of the Mohawk; from Fort Stanwix and the bloody field of Oriskany. Finding himself cut off from the assistance of St. Leyer by way of the Mohawk and a dark storm cloud gathering in his rear, and seeing an army rising before him, he surveyed with a stern and gloomy eye, the prospect that surrounded him. The second crisis in the American Revolution had come."
Now how easy is it to see that if an over-ruling Providence had not moved individuals to an unbending firmness to stand in the day of battle, when that crisis came, it would have been the dark hour of ruin to the cause of freedom. For Mr. Headly's assertion "from every valley and mountain slope the sturdy yeomanry went pouring in to Gates" is only the sen- tence of an imaginative writer. who pens a story that will please a certain class of readers, rather than state the facts of history. For if we take our glasses and look over the hills and vallies of western Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, we shall notice only a few hill-sides and vallies . that were settled as early as 1777. Therefore only a few far- mers could go from them. It was not then great numbers but the courage of the few, that stopped the progress of the army of the north. And here in this hill-side grave-yard, was laid the remains of one of those brave few, who fought and fired at Fort Stanwix; who stood firm at Saratoga to resist the repeated charges of the British infantry; who went on in the front ranks of one of the columns that captured Stony Point, and who for almost five years endured the privations, hardships and severe destitution of the camp, and not a cent has been expended to erect a monument to his memory or pension hin or his children.
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ELISHA BASSETT.
"FRANCIS BERNARD, Esq., Captain-General and Gover- nor-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England and Vice-Admiral of the same.
To ELISHA BASSETT, GENT, -GREETING.
By virtue of the power and authority in and by His Majes- ty's Royal Commission to me granted &c., over this, His Majes- ty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, I do by these presents (reposing special trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage and good conduct) constitute and appoint you, the said Elisha Bassett, to be Captain of the Second Military Com- pany of foot of Yarmouth and in the Regiment of militia, in the County of Barnstable, whereof Silas Baum is Colonel.
You are therefore carefully and dilligently to discharge the duty of a Captain in leading, ordering and exercising said Company-in arms, both inferior officers and soldiers and keep them in good order and discipline, and they are hereby com- manded to obey you as their Captain- and you are yourself to observe and follow orders and instructions, as you shall from time to time receive from your Colonel or other superior officers, according to military rules and discipline, pursuant to the trust reposed in you.
Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Boston, the eler- enth day of June,-in the fifth year of the Reign of His Majes- ty. King George the Third. Anno Domini, 1765.
By His
Excellency's Command, JOHN COTTEN. Secretary. 1
Province of the Massachusetts Bay Barnstable."
Eleven years after "in 1774, an assembly was ordered by Gov. Gage to convene Oct. 5th, but before that time arrived, he countermanded the writs of convocation by a proclamation. The assembly, however, to the number of ninety, met at Salem; the Governor not attending, they adjourned to Concord and afterwards to Cambridge; drew up a plan for the immediate defence of the Province, by enlisting men and appointing gen- eral officers." One of these ninety men was Elisha Bassett, of Yarmouth. I have often heard his grand-daughter, my mother, speak of this patriotic act of his, as a manifestation
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of great courage and decision of character. For his house stood on the north side of Cape Cod in what is now Dennis Close by the sea-shore. A war-ship might easily send men to arrest and hang him and destroy his house and family. Then the pecuniary sacrifice of going a representative was severely felt by them. My mother has repeatedly told how her grand- mother, whose name was Ruhamah Jennings, before her mar- riage, was constantly saying, "we could always get a piece of silver out of the chest before grand father went representative." Men now aspire to represent the people at the General Court, with a view of improving their finances, but he must go most- ly, if not wholly at his own expense.
BARNABAS HOWES 1.
In a history of England we find the paragraph: "During these transactions the Americans began to make some exer- tions by sea, as well as by land; the system of non-importation, which had proceeded the war had caused a great scarcity of manuactured goods, which was severely felt, especially in procuring arms, ammunition and clothing for the troops. The Americans, however, by fitting out numerous privateers and other small vessels, found means to remedy in a consider- able degree, by the multitude of their captures, this inconven- ience, which had pressed so heavily on all classes of people, most of all on the army. The prizes made in a single year is said by some English writers. to have been estimated at a mil- lion sterling." Among the men who helped to do this highly important service for our nation, was Barnabas Howes 1, of Dennis, and though he never moved to Ashfield, his sons and daughters did; Kimball 1776, and his daughters Phobe and Betsy soon after; and his and their descendants are numerous here and at the West. Dec. 25th. 1778, the privateer Arnold sailed from Boston harbor: a terribly severe storm soon com- mencing, the ship was driven against the rocks near Plymonth. and from the wreck the body of our hardy and strong ances- tor, with those of seventy-seven others of sailors and soldiers. was taken; they having all been frozen to death by intense and almost unparalleled cold. The Jewish historian says David was a very fit man to be a king, for he went first of all into all danger. Of Barnabas Howes 1, it may be said. he was
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a fit man to be a leader of one of the most dangerous expedi- tions in the Revolutionary war. For from what we can learn about him, he was an athletic and experienced seaman. From his youth his great strength and cool judgment gained him the reputation of being a sailor of the first class, and though not the captain of the privateer, I infer he was the best and strongest sailor on it. I also infer he had before this voyage been out on privateers. Two important historical thoughts may arise in the mind of the careful reader. One is that the starting out of the privateer, at that inclement season of the year, was owing to the anticipated approach of several trans- ports with valuable stores for the British army. The other is that the sad death of seventy-eight men accomplished much towards discouraging the British government. For had the privateer captured a prize, that government would have known nothing about, what "exertions" could be made "on the sea" by "the Americans." But the news of the dreadful death of all these men, we must believe soon became known to the king's ministers, and they could not but understand how the Americans were exerting themselves "on the sea," and so be- came discouraged and weakened.
As we turn from this sketch, I wish to notice the exceeding- ly defective histories, which have been written in the United States of the Revolutionary war. I have never seen-though an extensive and careful reader of history-anything about "the exertions made on the sea." All our history books being written by men afraid to offend the Southern slave-holders; and who had therefore no interest in inquiring after what the common people of Massachusetts did.
ASHFIELD MOUNTAIN.
Few are aware how delightful and extensive a prospect is afforded by Peter's Hill, the highest point on Ashfield Moun- tain. We have seen it stated, that the beauties of a noted town in New Hampshire were not appreciated until they were carefully noticed by certain artists. We claim there are rare and valuable beauties lying comparatively unnoticed among the Green Mountains. We believe we are correct, when we say the prospect from Peter's Hill may be ranked first in fur-
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nishing these. We should ascend the hill on the west side, for so the whole view breaks abruptly upon us, and a multitude of fine prospects crowd themselves on our eager attention. We feel the propriety of the name "Green Mountains." We are pleased with the beauty of the prospect, until its greatness delights us with the thought that we have before us. both the beautiful and sublime, and any one of a refined taste, will feel that a view where these are combined must have the prefer - ence. We have many beautiful prospects, but it is difficult to find one that is extensive and great, without being reminded of rugged rocks and a barren country; but Peter's Hill is not a barren mountain, for its top is a fine specimen of the excellent pasture, which the western part of our state affords, while on every side as far as the eye can reach, green pastures, green meadows and forests present themselves to our sight.
What adds to the interest of a visit to our mountain by the patriot and christian, is the historical story told by the name of the hill. Old Peter, who owned a lot of land on its top and side, was taken by slave-traders; some say as he was picking shells on the sea shore, other say he hid in the hut, when others were taken, but was betrayed by a dog, and at the age of six or eight years, brought to New England, and held a slave until the royal government ended. When our fathers ob- tained their liberty, they consistently gave him his. He be- came a land owner and lived to an old age, and died in peace in our free state. I have been told an aged woman, asked Dr. Bartlett, the son of his master, why he always called Old Peter "brother"? He replied, "he seems like a brother." Now is there not a moral beauty and greatness in his reply. which contrast with the conduct of many, who look upon the col- ored people as an inferior race? Then tradition informs us, our fathers in Massachusetts promised Heaven, if they were delivered from British armies, they would give liberty to their slaves; and when prosperity came and they were saved from their great danger, this hill is witness, they were true to their promise. Peter's Hill is therefore a monument to both the truthfulness and consistency of our fathers; a monument to the early emancipation of African slaves. Every inhabitant of Massachusetts, who is a friend of universal emancipation. and every one friendly to the freedom of the African race,
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will feel an interest in visiting and contemplating a state, that was true in its prosperity to promises made in years of trial and distress.
Mr. Griswold in his history of Buckland, asserts that Miss Hannah White wrote the criticism upon Mary Lyon's methods of dress which we find in her Memoirs, but they were written by Mrs. Cowles, and it is so stated by President Hitchcock, who edited "the Memoir." He also asserts with great positiveness, that the Rev. William Ferry first courted Mary Lyon, and that a Mrs. White thought her daughter Amanda, would make him a better wife, and influenced him to marry her. It is a suffic- ient reply to say I have reliable information that Mr. Ferry was engaged to be married to Amanda White before he heard there was a Mary Lyon.
Jonathan Beals served in the Revolutionary war more than three years. For a part of the time he was emyloyed in the manufacture of cannon. In 1794, he and Joseph Clarke and their families, with all lands lying north of a strait line, com- mencing at what is now the south-west corner of Ashfield. thence "west 17 degrees, south 195 rods," was annexed to the district of Plainfield.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
TIMES AND MEN
ASHFIELD, MASS ..
DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
BARNABAS HOWES.
Who will send upon the Tedcipt of Twenty
MILF. W. B WALDEN. FREIK ANTE JOD PRINTER.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883. by BARNABAS HOWES.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
ORIC
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HISTO
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1845
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Purchased
FROM THE BEQUEST OF
JOHN HARVEY TREAT, A. M.
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