USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume I > Part 6
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SAMUEL BEMIS.
del. This aggressive movement had been devised by Governor Shirley and sanctioned by the legislature of the colony of Massa- chusetts Bay. William Pepperell was chosen commander and sailed for Nova Scotia with a hundred vessels under his command, loaded with troops and munitions of war. A landing was effected April 30, and the town and fortress besieged until July 17, when
French Commander Surrenders
the French commander surrendered, but only after he had caused to be spiked the splendid cannon with which the fort was equipped, and which Lieutenant Edmund Bemis undertook to put in com- mission again and succeeded. His experience as a blacksmith led him to adopt a practical method. No record has yet been found showing the sum of money offered for the discovery or whether the amount was ever actually paid over to Lieutenant Bemis. It is not improbable, however, that a diligent search among our state archives will yet reveal these points.
Some years after Lieutenant Bemis returned from Louisburgh he was commissioned as a Captain and authorized to recruit a company to march in defence of Crown Point. This he did and the name bestowed on these recruits was Captain Edmund Bemis' Spencer Co., although but few men were from Spencer as will be seen by an inspection of the following muster roll.
A muster roll of the Company, in his Majesty's service un- der the command of Captain Edmund Bemis, follows :
Pay per Month. L. S. 8
d.
Edmund Bemis, Captain,
5
Spencer
Ephraim Howard, Lieutenant,
3
12
Western
Joseph Hamilton, Ensign,
2
8
Brookfield
Samuel Owen, Sergeant,
I
18
New Salem
Isaac Chadwick, Sergeant,
I
18
Western
Nat. Sargeant, Sergeant,
I
18
Leicester
Elias Bowker, Clerk,
I
18
I Leicester
John Chamberlain, Corporal,
I 13
6 Stockbridge
Eliphalet Hambelin, Corporal,
I
I3
6 Brookfield
Jonas Bemis, Corporal,
I
13
6 Spencer
Israel Richardson, Corporal
I
I3
6 Spencer
Thomas Weeks, Drummer,
I
13
Deliverance Carpenter, Private,
I
I2
Ebenezer Nutting,
I
I2
Robert Morgan,
I
I2
Joseph Rutland,
I
12
Brookfield
Benjamin Wood,
I
I2
John Adams,
I
I2
6 Brookfield Brimfield Brimfield Spencer
Town.
74
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Town.
Joice Flagg,
Private,
I I2
Brookfield.
Jacob Wood,
I
12
Ebenezer Davis,
I
12
Nathan Hamilton,
66
I
I2
Abraham Adams,
I
I2
Edward Ayers,
I
I2
Ware River
John Trask,
I
12
New Salem
Malaah Gardner,
I
12
Worcester
John Spencer,
I
I2
Spencer
John Bowker,
I
12
Spencer
Christopher Muggin,
I
12
Gore-Died
Thomas Wood,
I
12
Western (WARE
Roger Brissell,
66
I
I2
Western
[Deserted]
Joseph Worcester,
66
I
12
Spencer
[Died in Worcester]
James Graiton,
66
I
I2
Spencer
James Bacon,
I
I2
Leicester
Ruben Clark,
I
12
Brimfield
John Brightwell,
66
I
12
Western
Robert Brayford,
I
12
Hadley
John Brown,
I
12
Swanzey
Oliver Barrett,
I
I2
Sunderland
Stephen Corben,
I
I2
Sunderland
William Fisk,
66
I
12
Greenwich
John Gibbs,
I
12
Greenwich
Soloman Gibbs,
I-
I2
Greenwich
Samuel Lewis,
I
I2
Middlebury
John Slaker,
I
12
Middlebury
John Vickery,
I
I2
New Salem
William White,
I
12
Greenwich
William Trickery,
66
I
I2
Old York
.
I
12
Brimfield
Timothy Bowen,
I
12
66
Joseph Wood,
Pay per Month. L. S.
d.
Besides Capt. Edmund, Samuel Bemis was represented in the French and Indian Wars by his youngest son Jonas, whom it appears served the colonies in the same company as his brother Edmund, and had risen to the rank of a sergeant before the close of his service. He then came home, married and settled down to the life of a farmer, but when the news of the Concord fight reached him he promptly took his equipments and as Lieutenant marched with the Brookfield Rangers to the front.
75
SAMUEL BEMIS.
Effect of the Concord Fight in Spencer.
James Draper in his account of this call to arms says, speak- ing of the British, " After having a conflict with our troops at Concord they were repulsed and retreated back to Boston with considerable loss. An alarm was immediately spread through the country like an electric shock. The next day great was the com- motion among the people. Like the fiery cross of the ancient Scottish clans, a messenger on horseback, with the speed of the
HIRAM HOWE,
Great grandson of Samuel Bemis Sr., brother of the inventors, William and Tyler Howe and uncle of Elias Howe, Jr. He was a man well known in Spencer for seventy years and until laid by with rheumatismn was a tireless worker on his farm and about his saw, grist and cider mills. He was known among his towns- people as an absolutely honest man who worked incessantly and never found the longest days of June quite long enough in which to accomplish work equal to his ambition. Born January 1808 ; died September, 1901, aged 931/2 years.
wind, passed through the towns from the East shouting from the top of his voice, 'The war has begun, the regulars are marching to Concord.' All business and recreations were immediately sus- pended. The farmer left his plough in the furrow, the mechanic the tools upon the bench and there was an instantaneous gather- ing of the people, with stern wills, to do whatever should be nec- essary to be done to meet the emergency. The Company (Capt.
76
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Ebenezer Mason's) of minute men buckled on their knapsacks, shouldered their muskets and were immediately on the march. And although the time appointed for a town meeting to make provision for the exigency had not yet arrived, the good wives of the soldiers with the assistance of the selectmen of the town fur- nishing them with a hasty and imperfect supply of clothing and provisions, they marched quickly to Cambridge. Finding the enemy disposed to remain in his stronghold, the town of Boston,
SUMMER RESIDENCE OF DR. A. A. BEMIS, OVERLOOKING BROOKS POND.
forty of them enlisted for eight months to be stationed in the vi- cinity of Boston and the remainder returned home." Among the latter was Lieut. Jonas Bemis, after a service of eight days.
Record of Spencer for Patriotism Unexcelled.
But this battle at Concord where was fired "a shot heard round the world " was only the beginning of a long seven years' conflict with England for civil liberty and which called upon all lovers of freedom for the highest manifestations of patriotism. And nobly did Spencer respond-no requisition was made upon her for men, money, food or clothing, but the order was quickly
77
SAMUEL BEMIS.
filled, not grudgingly but willingly, and while the people occupied a humble walk in life compared with the body of men who signed the Declaration of Independence, they had a purpose equally as strong and were united with them, in upholding that compact which they solemnly agreed should be inviolable under the pledge of their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, and Spencer stood by the sentiment of that agreement without flinching until victory came.
Samuel Bemis Sends a Full Delegation to the War.
Samuel Bemis was not without representatives in that con- flict. There was a full delegation. He had, in the early days of the war, passed on to his reward and his six sons were past military service, but his stalwart grandsons were of the right age for the life of a soldier, and were ready to go to the front and fight when they got there, and they went. All of them that bore the Bemis name, everyone of them that was old enough to bear arms, fourteen of them all told, marched to the front determined to help drive the English army out of the land of their birth, and having that spirit of patriotism burning within them that demanded either victory or death. They reaped victory, but not until they had passed through the hardships of many campaigns, nor until three of their number had suffered the untold misery of a winter at Valley Forge. The names of these worthy representatives of the Bemis family and of the town of Spencer are as follows:
Muster Roll of grandsons of Samuel Bemis who served in the Continental Army :
Age in 1776 Benjamin 32 Samuel 27
Sons of Samuel Bemis Jr.
Reuben 24
John 27
Joseph 26
Sons of Edmund Bemis
Phineas 22
Eleazer 20
Jesse 25
Sons of William Bemis
David 2I
Barnard 19 Nathaniel 16 S
Sons of Nathaniel Bemis
Obadiah 192
Sons of Jonas Bemis
Jonas Jr. 16S
Amasa 19 } Son of Joshua Bemis
78
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
THE OLD BEMIS HOSTELRY.
79
SAMUEL BĖMIS.
Samuel Bemis' Grandsons at Valley Forge.
Those who were at Valley Forge were Lieutenant Eleazer Bemis, Sergeant Jonas Bemis Jr. and Obadiah Bemis.
Where shall we go to find a more patriotic family ? Surely this is a record that will be difficult to match and one worthy our highest admiration. In order to bring to our minds clearly the trials and suffering of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, the following extracts are taken from Lossings' Life of Washington:
" Valley Forge ! What thoughts and emotions are awakened at the mention of that name. Sympathy and admiration, pity and love, tears and smiles chase each other in rapid succession, as one in imagination goes over the history of that wintry encamp- ment. Never before was there such an exhibition of the triumph of patriotism over neglect and want; of principle over physical sufferings; of virtue over the pangs of starvation. Those tattered,
The Old Bemis Hostelry.
The cut on opposite page shows the "Old Bemis Hostelry " as it appeared up to about 1845. The main buildings at the left were built by Amasa Bemis in 1807, and annexed to an ell connecting with the old house erected by Samuel Bemis about 1726. The date "1807" on the new part, was painted in large letters above the front door and on the frieze just under the eaves. The picture was produced from the memories of the late Edwin Bemis, Lorenzo Bemis and Ruel Jones of Spencer and Horace Bemis of New York, who dictated the plan of the buildings to Mrs. Nellie Thayer Bemis in 1886, they being desirous of pos-essing a picture of the old place as it looked when they were boys. The landscape was sketched directly from nature at the time.
half-clad, and bare-foot soldiers, wan with want, taking up their slow march for the wintry forest, leaving their bloody testimonials on every foot of the frozen ground they traversed, furnish one of the sublimest scenes in history. A cloud, black as sackcloth, seems to hang over their fortunes, but through it shoots rays of dazzling brightness. A murmur, like the first cadences of a death-song, heralds their march, but there is an undertone of strange meaning and sublime power, for no outward darkness can quench the light of a great soul, no moans of suffering drown the language of a lofty purpose.
Washington Chooses the Site of the Encampment.
" The encampment at Valley Forge was chosen after much deliberation, and frequent consultations among the officers. Various propositions were made, but to each and all there were many and grave objections. Of course, the first and natural wish was to keep the army in the field; but with such naked troops this would be impossible, and every feeling of humanity in Washing-
80
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
ton revolted from making the attempt. But how and where to quarter them seemed equally difficult. It was proposed to retire to the towns in the interior of the state; but to this there was the two-fold objection-that of inflicting the same destitution and suffering on the inhabitants, and of leaving a large extent of country unprotected, with forage and stores in possession of the enemy. To distribute the troops in different sections would render them liable to be cut off in detail. Washington, therefore, determined to take to the woods, near his enemy, and there hut, so that he could both protect the country and his stores, and also be in striking distance in case of need.
"The army commenced its march on the 11th of December, but did not reach the place selected for the encampment till the 19th. In his order of the day, dated December 17th, Washing- ton informed the troops of his decision, and the reasons which urged him to it. He also praised their good conduct during the tedious campaign now closed, declared that it furnished evidence that their cause would finally triumph, even if the colonies were left alone in the struggle, but added that there was every reason to believe that France would soon ally herself openly against Eng- land. He promised to share in the hardships, and partake of every inconvenience. The next day had been appointed by Congress as a day of Thanksgiving and praise. The army, there- fore, remained quiet in their quarters, and divine service was held in the several corps and brigades, by the chaplains, and hymns of praise and the voice of prayer arose there on the confines of the bleak forest, from men who, to all human appearance, had little to be thankful for except nakedness, famine and frost. The next day the work of hutting commenced. Each regiment was divided
The Army Builds Log Cabins.
into parties of twelve, each party to make its own hut, which was to be of logs, fourteen by sixteen feet on the ground, and six feet and a half high. The sides were to be made tight with clay, and the roof with split slabs, or such material as could be obtained. To stimulate the parties to greater exertion, Washington offered a reward of one dollar to each man of that party which finished its hut in the shortest time and most workmenlike manner. Fearing that there would not be slabs or boards sufficient for roof- ing, he offered a reward, also, of a hundred dollars to any one who should substitute some other covering, that might be more cheaply and quickly made. In a short time their arms were all stacked, and with their axes and other tools in their hands, this army of eleven thousand men, with the exception of about three thou- sand who were unfit for duty, was scattered through the woods. The scene they presented was strange and picturesque. There was
8 I
SAMUEL BEMIS.
not a murmur or complaint, and with laugh and song, and loud hallo, they went about their allotted toil. The forest soon rung with the strokes of the axe, and the rapid and incessant crash of falling trees resounded along the shores of the Schuylkill. Little clearings were rapidly made, the foundations of huts laid, and a vast settlement began to spring up along the valleys and slopes of the hills. But here and there were scattered groups of fifty and hundreds, sitting around huge fires, some of them with scarcely a rag to cover their nakedness, crouching closely to the crackling
WILLIAM HOWE,
Son of Elijah Howe Jr., uncle of Flias Howe Jr., and great grand- son of Samuel Bemis Sr., born in Spencer May 12, 1903. I11- ventor of the celebrated Howe Truss Bridge.
logs to escape the piercing December blast; others sick and emaci- ated, gazing listlessly on the flames, their sunken and sallow visages clearly foretelling what would be their fate before the winter now setting in was over. In another direction were seen
Men Harnessed Together Draw Logs.
men harnessed together like beasts of burden, and drawing logs to the place of destination .. Washington's tent was pitched on the brow of a hill overlooking this strange spectacle. One after 6.
82
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
another the rude structures went up, till a log city, containing be- tween one and two thousand dwellings, stood in the clearings that had been made. Over the ground floor straw was scattered, and into these the 'Sons of Liberty,' as Colonel Barre had christened them, in the English Parliament, crept to starve and die. The officers' huts were ranged in lines in the rear of those of the soldiers, one being allowed to each of all of those who bore com- missions, the whole being surrounded with intrenchments. But scarcely had the troops got into these comfortless houses, when there began to be a want of food in the camp. Congress, with that infallible certainty of doing the wrong thing, had recently, against Washington's advice, made a change in the quartermaster's and commissary's department, by which in this critical juncture, the army was left without provisions. In the meantime, news came that a large party of the enemy was advancing in the country to forage. Washington immediately ordered the troops to be in readiness to march, when, to his surprise, he found that they were wholly unable to stir, for want of food, and that a dangerous mu- tiny had broken out. The soldiers were willing to suffer or die,
Army Without Food.
if necessary, but they would not submit to the neglect and in- difference of Congress, which they knew could easily relieve their wants. The statements made by the different officers were of the most alarming kind. General Huntingdon wrote a note to Wash- ington saying that his brigade was out of provisions, but he held it in readiness to march, as 'fighting was far preferable to starving.' General Varnum wrote, also, saying that his division had been two days without meat, and three days without bread, and that the men must be supplied, or they could not be commanded; still they were ready to march, as any change was better than slow starvation. On inquiry there was found only one purchasing commissary in camp, and he made the frightful report of not a 'single hoof of any kind to slaughter, and not more than twenty- five barrels of flour' to the whole army. Only small detachments, therefore, could be sent out. These hovered about the enemy, now bursting on a small party from some forest, and again sur- rounding the dwelling where they were reposing. The weather came on intensely cold. and the soldiers could hardly handle their muskets with their stiffened fingers. They rarely entered a house, and dared not kindle a fire at night, lest it should reveal their position to the enemy.
Great Suffering in the Camp.
"Thus for a week, they kept marching and skirmishing, till the enemy withdrew to Philadelphia, when they returned to camp, having collected but little forage. Here suffering and want were
83
SAMUEL BEMIS.
fast bringing things to a crisis. The soldiers were at first satisfied with the excuse given for the delay of provisions, viz: that the rains had made the roads almost impassable. But day after day passing without relief, they began to complain, and soon their murmurs swelled to loud clamors and threats. First the different regiments began to assemble, and the excitement increasing, whole brigades and divisions gathered together without order, and against the commands of their officers. The latter did not attempt to enforce obedience, but spoke kindly to them, saying that Wash-
MONUMENT TO ELIAS HOWE JR. AND GROUNDS IN PUBLIC PARK AT BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
ington was aware of their suffering condition, that it grieved him to the heart, and he was straining every nerve to obtain relief. Washington himself exhorted them to be obedient, saying that provisions would soon be in camp, and insubordination could result only in evil. The soldiers, in return, were calm and re- spectful. They told him they knew that their conduct was muti- nous, but their condition justified it. They were actually starv- ing, and relief must be had. They then respectfully communicated to him their fixed determination, which was to march in an orderly manner into the country, seize provisions wherever they could lay hands on them, giving in return certificates as to the amount and
84
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
value of the articles taken, and then return to camp, and to their duty. Never before was there a mutiny so devoid of crime, and which, in fact, partook of the moral sublime. Their language was: ' We are starving here, and shall soon be of no service to you or our country. We love you and the cause in which we are embarked. We will stand by you at all hazards, and defend with our last drop of blood our common country, but food we must and
Washington Overcome by the Suffering of the Soldiers.
will have.' Washington was overcome by the condition and conduct of these men. So self-sustained in their sufferings-so constant to him in their destitution-so firm for their country, though abandoned by Congress, their language and attitude moved him deeply. There was something inexpressibly touching in the noble regret they manifested for appearing to be disobe- dient, and the high, manly grounds on which they defended their conduct. Washington, in reply, told them that he was well aware of the sufferings of his faithful soldiers. He had long admired their patience and resignation, and devotion to their country, un- der the most trying circumstances, and if the provisions did not arrive by a specified hour, he would place himself at their head, and march into the country till they were found. To this they consented, but the promised supplies arriving before the time fixed had expired, quietness and subordination were restored, and a movement, the results of which could not be forseen, prevented. "This supply, however, was soon exhausted, and then the same scenes of suffering were repeated. Nearly all the inhabi- tants in the vicinity of Valley Forge were Tories, and hence with- held the food they could have furnished. Finding that neither offers of pay nor threats could wring it from them, Washington, acting under a resolution of Congress, issued a proclamation in which he ordered all the farmers within seventy miles of Valley Forge, to thresh out half their grain by the first of February, and the other half by the first of March, under penalty of having the whole seized as straw. The Tories refused to comply, and many of them defended their barns and stacks with firearms. Some, unable to do this, set fire to their grain, to prevent its falling into the hands of the Americans. The soldiers turned themselves into
Soldiers Make Pack-horses of Themselves.
pack-horses, yoked themselves to wagons and shrunk from no la- bor required to bring in provisions. But all the efforts and inge- nuity of Washington could not prevent the gaunt figure of famine from stalking through his camp. Horses died for want of forage,
85
SAMUEL BEMIS.
and the men became so reduced that scarcely enough could be found fit 'to discharge the military camp duties from day to day ; ' and even these few were compelled to borrow clothes to cover their nakedness while performing them.
"A week passed without a pound of flesh being brought into camp, and at last the bread gave out, and for several days the
ALPHONZO HOWE, Son of Elijah Howe, Jr., uncle of Elias Howe Jr., and great grand- son of Samuel Bemis Sr., born in Spencer July 3, 1805. Died at Brookfield. Father of John M. Howe and Mrs. Frank A. Smith.
starving soldiers had not a morsel to eat. Heavy snowstorms, followed by excessive frosts, swelled the sufferings that before had seemed unbearable. So few blankets had been supplied that
86
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
the benumbed soldiers were compelled to sleep sitting around their fires, to prevent freezing. Many were so naked that they could not show themselves outside of their huts, but hid shivering away in the scanty straw. Others would flit from hut to hut, with only a blanket to cover their otherwise naked forms. These huts, half closed up with snow, and the men wading around in their rags to beat paths, presented a singular spectacle of a bright wintry morning. In the midst of this accumulation of woes, the small-
Small Pox Breaks Out.
pox broke out, and Washington was compelled to resort to inocu- lation to prevent the severe ravages of the disease. The sick, in consequence, were everywhere, and without blankets or provisions and hospital stores, and stretched on the earth wet and frosty, by turns, presented a scene of woe and wretchedness that beggars description. Starvation and despair will in the end demoralize the noblest army that ever defended a holy cause, and they at length began to tell on this band of patriots. A foreign officer, in walking through the encampment one day with Washington, heard through the crevices of the huts as he passed, men half naked muttering, "No pay, no clothes, no rum." Then he said he despaired of American liberty. Had Howe been made aware of this deplorable state of the army, he could have with a single blow crushed it to atoms. Amid this woe and suffering, Wash- ington moved with a calm mien but a breaking heart. The pite- ous looks and haggard appearance of his poor soldiers-the con- sciousness that his army was powerless to resent any attack of the enemy, nay, on the point of dissolution, never probably to be reunited, all combined to press him so heavily with care, that even he must have sunk under it had he not put his trust in a higher power than man. One day a Quaker, by the name of Potts, was strolling up a creek, when he heard, in a secluded spot, the voice
Washington Offers Prayer.
of some one apparently engaged in prayer. Stealing quietly for- ward, he saw Washington's horse tied to a sapling, and a little further on, in a thicket, the chief himself, on his knees, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, beseeching Heaven for his coun- try and his army. Before God alone, that strong heart gave way, and poured forth the full tide of its griefs and anxieties. Though the heavens grew dark around him, and disaster after disaster wrecked his brightest hopes, and despair settled down on officers and men, he showed the same unalterable presence-moved, the same tower of strength. But to his God he could safely go with his troubles, and on that arm securely lean. How sublime does
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