USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts > Part 21
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Chelmsford May 20th 1775
Signed by order & in behalf of the Committee of Correspondence of Chelmsford Simeon Spaulding Chairman
of the Comet
[Original in the possession of Charles H. Dalton.]
No. 15
THE SAM DAVIS HOUSE
209
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
July 3, 1775, voted that 300 bushels of salt and 400 weight of sugar provided by the selectmen for the use of the Town should be paid for by the Town Treasurer. Thirty-five hogsheads of salt were carted from Salem for the Town's use. Sugar and salt were chiefly articles of import, and this was a precaution in case the war put an end to importation.
An item in the town records reads:
To Mr Crownshell [Crowinshield ?] of Salem
for a quantity of Salt & Shugar for the Town's use. £38: 1:0:0
Three years later it was voted to sell the Town's stock of salt and sugar and "convert the money to the yuse of paying the Continental soldiers * * The Salt was sold to the people of the Town for £3 per bushel. The sugar was sold at four shillings per pound. These articles were apportioned among the families of the Town according to the number in each family, and were sold on each Monday of July, 1778. For selling the salt and sugar the Committee received £168: 0:0.
The Town voted to Captain Oliver Barron for money delivered to Colonel Simeon Spaulding for this Town's part of the cost of the Delegates to the Continental Congress, £1: 17: 6: 0.
Thomas Byam loaned the Town £103: 11:6:3, which was repaid April 23, 1776. Joseph, Abel and Solomon Adams also loaned money to the Town, as did Jacob and Samuel Howard and Ephraim Parkhurst.
March 4, 1776, Colonel Simeon Spaulding, Captain Oliver Barron, Deacon Aaron Chamberlain, Mr. David Parker, Lieuten- ant Samuel Stevens, Captain Joseph Warren, Lieutenant John Minott, Mr. Benjamin Parker, Mr. Thomas Marshall, Lieutenant Zebulun Spaulding, Doctor Jonas Marshall, Mr. Josiah Hodgman, Ensign Benjamin Fletcher, Mr. Samuel Howard, Mr. William Peirce and Mr. Joseph Emerson were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety.
May 13, Oliver Barron, Simeon Spaulding, Samuel Perham and Zebulun Spaulding were consecutively chosen Representative, and each refused to serve. At an adjoining meeting, Col. Simeon Spaulding was chosen and accepted. It was voted that if it should be the pleasure of the Honorable Continental Congress to declare an Independent State with Great Britain that this Town will stand by them to the expense of life and fortunes. Voted to provide spades or iron shovels and pickaxes and narrow axes, agreeable to a late act of the Great and General Court, and that fifes and drums be provided also, agreeable to said act.
The town paid, June 13, to Mr. Joseph Emerson, for one drum for the use of the Town, £1: 16:0.
In the warrant for this meeting there was an article: "At the desire of Samuel Perham and others to enquire into and con- sider of some things which has been done of late by the Selectmen respecting the recommendation and approbation of Col. Sampson Stoddard and Sampson Stoddard Junr. Esq. for to be true and
210
HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
faithful men to the interest of their Country that we are now Contending for, as well as to sell liquors at their houses in said Chelmsford &c" Voted, Dissatisfied with the conduct of the selectmen in recommending and approbating Col. Sampson Stoddard and Sampson Stoddard, Junr., Esq.
The following contains the names of two prominent Chelmsford men-Col. Spaulding and Capt. Ford.
Delivered to Capt Zachariah Fitch of Groaton 1 Lt and 1 Ens. and 25 privats, and one privat to Capt Nathan Seargent of Malden all Inlisted mustered and paid by Simeon Spaulding and William Tompson Two of the Committee Appointed for that purpose
Capt Fitchs Company marched August 28: 1776.
In Obedience to an order of Council of the 21st. of august we Present the following acct.
(Indorsed) Return men in Middlesex when the Rolls are Deficient.
Towns Sam. Fay Woburn Jas Bancroft Reading Jno Ford Chelmsford Zac Fitch Groton Nath Sargent Malden July, 1776, & aug
Acc muster rolls by Simeon Spalding & Wm Thompson The inclos'd is evidence for Absent Rolls.
[Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 41, p. 103.]
Groton Septr. 14th 1776.
Sir,
In pursuance of ordors this Day received from General Warren, you are hereby required & ordored, to Cause the militia as well of the Alarm as the Training Band of your Regt. to be mustered without the least delay and that you cause to be Drafted there from when so mustered, every fifth man, able bodied & Effective, under fifty years of age, in manner as is directed, & subject to such Exceptions as are ordered and made by the Resolves of the General Assembly of this State, of the 12th instant.
And you are to make return of the men so Drafted from your Regt. to me, as soon as may be, that they may be formed into Companies and Regiments to be officered and accoutered agreeable to the sd. Resolves, and caused to march according to the directions and for the purposes therein Expressed, as soon as possible. You are in all things to conform yourself to the sd. Resolves, Coppies of which I herewith send you for the Government of your own Conduct & that of the officers and men in your Regiment.
I am yr. hb. Sert.
Oliver Prescott.
P. S. The Service requires the utmost Dispatch Colo. Spaulding.
[Original in the possession of Charles H. Dalton, Boston, January, 1895.]
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THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
A "letter written by Dr. Prescott, who at this time was a Brigadier General, is preserved among the Shattuck Manuscripts of the New England Historic, Genealogical Society. It gives some interesting facts concerning the Middlesex militia, and is as follows :-
Sir,
In persuance of your ordors Recd. the 14th. I have caused the militia of the County of middlesex to be mustered and have caused to be Drafted therefrom every fifth able bodied man under fifty years of age &c agreeable to the Resolves of the Genl. Assembly of this State of the 12th. instant, and formed the sd. men into Companies and appointed their Respective Officers in the following manner, viz.
No. 1. Cambridge 33 men Capt. John Walton of Cambridge
Charlestown 7 1st. Lt.
Malden 9 2d. Do.
Medford 13
-
62.
No. 2. Watertown 15 Capt. Edward Fuller of Newton
Newton
19 1st. Lt. Josiah Capen of Watertown
Waltham 13 2d. Do. Isaac Hager of Waltham
Weston 18
65.
No. 3. Woburn
20
Capt. Samuel Belnap of Woburn 1st. Lt.
Reading
26
Wilmington 13
2d. Do.
Stoneham 4
63.
No. 4. Concord
23 Capt. Simon Hunt of Acton
Lexington
16
1st. Lt. Samuel Heald of Concord 2d. Do. Ebenr. White of Lexington
Acton 15
Lincoln
12
- 66.
No. 5. Sudbury
Marlboro
Stow 16
35 Capt. Amasa Cranson of Marlboro 31 1st. Lt. Nathll. Sergeant of Stow 2d. Do. Nathll. Smith of Sudbury
82.
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
No. 6. Framingham 27 Sherburn 15
Capt. Aaron Gardner of Sherburn 1st Lt. Lawssen Buckminister of Framingham
Hopkinston 20
Holliston 15
2d. Do. Isaac Clark of Hopkinton
86.
No. 7. Groton
Pepperrell
Townshend
15
Ashby
8
-
69.
No. 8. Chelmsford 21 men Capt. Zach. Wright of Westford
Dunstable 12 Ist Lt Nathll. Holden of Dunstable
Dracutt
18
2d. Do. Robt. Spaulding of Chelms- ford
Westford 18
69.
No. 9. Billerica 22 Capt. Solomon Kidder of Billerica
Tukesbury 12 1st Lt. Daniel Kimball of Littleton
Bedford 10
2d. Do. Timo. Rogers of Tukesbury
Littleton
12
Shirley 9
65.
I have also formed the aforesd. Companies into one Regt. and appointed
Eleazer Brooks Esqr. of Lincoln to be the Colo.
Micah Stone Esqr. of Framingham Lt. Colo.
Ebenr. Bancroft Esqr. of Dunstable Major
Mr. Moses Adams of Framingham Chaplain
Mr. Joseph Hunt of Acton Surgeon Mate
Daniel Loring of Sudbury Adjut.
Samuel Hartwell of Lincoln
Quartermaster
I have directed the sd. Colo. Brooks to ordor the several Captains aforesd. to march their Respective Companies, as soon as possible, in the best & most proper Road, to Horse Neck [West Greenwich, Connecticut], according to the Resolves of the Genl. Assembly of this State, & agreeable to the Directions and for the
Natick 9
29 Capt. Thomas Warren of Townshend 17 1st Lt. James Lawrance of Pepperrell 2d. Do. Joseph Rockwood of Groton
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THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
purposes therein Expressed. Colo. Brooks informs me this day that he hath given marching ordors for Saturday next for the whole Regt.
I am, Sir, with the greatest Respect, your most obedient and very hbl Sert.
Oliver Prescott
Groton Septr. 26th. 1776.
N. B. Colo. Thatcher & Colo. Fox Engaged to fill up their Companies and Return the Names of the Lieuts. before the Time appointed to march.
Generall [James] Warren
[Indorsed] Brigr Prescots return of every fifth man Drafted from his Brigade Sepr. 1776."
[Groton during the Revolution, p. 240, ff.]
Chelmsford, October 14, 1776.
This Town having been legally warned, met together in the meeting house, agreeable to the Recommendations of the present House of Representatives of this State of Massachusetts Bay in New England, and having chose Oliver Barron, Esq, Moderator, proceeded to the consideration of the subject matter of said recommendation and came into the following votes:
First that we give our consent that the present House of Representatives, together with the Council of said State in one body with the House by equal voice should constitute, and agree on and erect such Constitution and form of Government for this State, as the said House of Representatives and Council aforesaid, on the fullest and most mature deliberation, shall judge will most conduce to the safety, peace and happiness of this State in all after successions and generations.
Secondly, Voted that the Constitution of government of this State agreed upon by said House and said Council be made public for the inspection and perusal of the inhabitants of said State, before it be ratified by said House and Council.
Thirdly Voted, that when we have had opportunity to have considered and to have expressed our sentiments by vote on said Constitution of government so agreed on, we will cause our votes or resolution respecting the same to be certified into the office of the Secretary of this State.
There follows in the Record Book the Declaration of Inde- pendence of July 4, 1776, copied by David Spaulding, Town Clerk (who received 4 shillings for doing it), as ordered by the Council July 17, after having been read by every Minister in the state to his congregation on the afternoon of the 1st Sunday after receipt of same.
1777, March 3. At the Annual Town Meeting, the following men were chosen as a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety: Oliver Barron, Samuel Perham, Joseph Warren, David Parker, Zebulon Spaulding, John Minott, Josiah Hodgman, Jonathan Bigford and Benjamin Parker.
214
HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
March 19. Various matters relating to the War were acted on-the payment of inhabitants of the town for services rendered, procuring about thirty new men for the service, £20. bounty above that of the Continent and State to be given to each man enlisting for three years or during the war.
May 21. The Town considered the Resolve of the General Court relating to the formation of a new Constitution, and "Voted that the General Court act in that affair as they think proper, etc."
June 26 the Town chose Oliver Barron, Samuel Stevens, Aaron Chamberlin, Daniel Proctor, Joseph Emerson, Thomas Hutchins and William Peirce to see that the Acts of the General Court to prevent Monopoly and oppression be complied with. Voted to take the salt (80 bushels) provided by the General Court for the Town of Chelmsford.
Sept. 25. Guns, locks, lead, and flints to be kept as a Town Store.
Dec. 8. Voted that the State's money may not be called in in the manner the General Court prescribed, etc. Committees were appointed to petition the Court with reference to this and the manner of making the Province tax. Voted not to conform to the directions prescribed by the General Court in Taxing real and personal estate. Voted not to open the Town Store of salt [at present].
1778, Jan. 5. Action was taken to provide necessaries for the families of men in the Continental Service.
Jan. 28 the Town voted to leave the matter relating to the Confederation and Perpetual Union between the United States of America discretionary with the Representative to act as he may think will be most advantageous to this and the other States.
The Committee of Correspondence this year consisted of Oliver Barron, Samuel Stevens, Aaron Chamberlain, Josiah Hodgman and Joel Barrett. (The same men were chosen in 1779.)
The Town voted to give £20 bounty to all who engaged in the Continental service before the Town voted the bounty, to make them equal with those who engaged afterwards. This was over and above what the Government paid them. In 1781, in consequence of the depreciation of the currency, this bounty was commuted to "twenty head of horned cattle, middling cattle of their age, to each man." If the war lasted one year, they were to have their cattle at one year old, if it lasted two years, then at two years old, and so on. Captain Oliver Barron was to keep the public store of arms and ammunition.
July 10. Voted unanimously their disapprobation of the new proposed form of government which was sent to the Town by the General Court for their inspection and consideration.
1779, Jan. 18. Voted to receive the fire arms and steel, as a Town store, which the selectmen procured from the Board of War, paying them the first cost and expenses of transporting the
215
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
same into Town; that the fire arms and steel be sold at public vendue, the former at 22 dollars apiece and the latter at ten shillings per pound.
March 1, Among other items in the record of Town meeting are these: Voted to choose one Committeeman to make sale of one Continental soldier who was hired by Capt. John Ford.
Voted not to have a new Constitution or form of Government established the present year.
1780, March 6. Committee of Correspondence: Oliver Barron, John Minott, Isaac Warren, Samuel Perham, Daniel Proctor.
Two of the constables asked the Town to make them a consideration for a quantity of counterfeit money which they had collected of the inhabitants for taxes.
In 1779 delegates were sent to the Convention in Concord, (July 14) to adopt measures "to recover credit of our money, &c., and the Town voted (November 11) to conform to the Resolves passed by the Convention. In August a committee was chosen "to inspect into the conduct of the Inhabitants of this Town relative to the resolves of the Convention held at Concord, regulat- ing prices, &c.
1780. Cost of making a plan of the Town, including Surveyor chairmen, &c., three items totaling £147. 5.0. 0
May 29. The Town voted, 92 to 8, to accept the new Constitution, substituting the word "Protestant" for the word "Christian" in the qualification of the Governor.
1780 Sept. 4. The Inhabitants, being legally warned and regularly assembled gave their votes for Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Honorable John Hancock, Esq., of Boston-The number of votes. 102 For Lieut. Governor, the Honorable Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury-The number of votes 65 For Councillor, the Honorable Abraham Fuller of Newtown- The number of votes 38 For Second Councillor, Josiah Stone, Esq., of Framingham- The number of votes 38 For Third Councillor, Nathaniel Gorham, Esq., of Charles- town-The number of votes 38
For Fourth Councillor, Eleazer Brooks, Esq., of Lincoln- The number of votes 30 For Fifth Councillor, Loammi Baldwin, Esq., of Woburn- The number of votes 40
In 1781 John Hancock received 60 votes for Governor, and Thomas Cushing 53 for Lieut. Governor.
In 1782 ) John Hancock received 44 votes for Governor James Bowdoin 7
Artemas Ward 6
216
HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
THE CONCORD FIGHT.
In the early days of Massachusetts people lived on the alert. Both men and boys were skilled in the use of firearms; and this of necessity. Much of their food roamed wild in the forest. The wolf, the bear and the Indian were wily enemies. The Indian wars were schools of military training. In 1645, the General Court ordered that all youths between the ages of ten and sixteen years should be instructed by competent soldiers in the exercise of arms, such as small guns, half-pikes, and bows and arrows, provided their parents were willing. And thirty men out of every hundred of the militia were to be ready for any service "at halfe an howers warning." The French and Indian war prepared many of the officers of the Revolution for their arduous work.
At Cambridge, on October 26, 1774, the first Provincial Congress provided for the appointment of a Committee of Safety, with Dr. Joseph Warren at its head; who, when they judged occasion to require, should have power to alarm, muster, and cause to be assembled with the utmost expedition, such and so many of the militia as they might deem necessary.
The Field Officers of the regiments were directed to endeavor "to enlist one quarter at ye least of the Number of the respective Companies" to be ready on the shortest notice to march to the place of rendezvous. These were called "Minute-men," and were organized under the resolve of the Provincial Congress above mentioned, which "accounts for the promptness with which they assembled in response to the alarm of the 19th of April, 1775." The actual number of those who turned out was 19,860. This is the number of names on the list compiled from the Archives, and published by the State. These men, a small part of whom really took part in the events at Lexington and Concord, formed good material for the first army organized. The authorities were embarrassed by their numbers, and immediately reorganized the military under regular enlistments.
On April 23, the Provincial Congress then sitting at Water- town resolved that an army of 30,000 men must be immediately raised, and "That 13,000 Men be raised immediately by this Province." All minute-men were required by the Committee of Safety to enlist in the army, and orders were sent to the neighboring towns, requiring that one-half the militia be sent immediately to Roxbury and Cambridge, and that the remainder hold themselves in readiness to march at a minute's warning.
217
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
The following oath was to be administered to the officers and private soldiers of the army: "I, A. B., swear, I will truly & faith- fully serve in the Massachusetts army, to which I belong, for the defence and security of the estates, lives and liberties of the good people of this and the sister Colonies in America, in opposition to ministerial tyranny by which they are or may be oppressed, and to all other enemies & opposers whatsoever;" &c., &c. On May 20, 1775, General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, was sworn and received his commission as Commander-in-Chief. A large part of the officers and men had been continuously in service from their arrival in camp in response to the alarm sent out the 19th of April, and are so credited on the rolls in the State Archives.
The Congress had provided that cannon, small arms, ammuni- tion and ordnance stores to cost £20,837, be purchased and deposited in such places as the Committee of Safety should direct. Concord was named as one place of storage.
"The people of Massachusetts proceeded to organize a provincial government of their own with the intention of repudi- ating the sovereignty of Great Britain. The legislature, which had been dissolved by the governor, assembled at Salem upon its own authority and organized itself into a Provincial Congress under the presidency of John Hancock."
The British General Gage had fortified Boston Neck to defend the only approach to the city. On April 15, he learned that Samuel Adams and John Hancock, the two chief arch-conspirators, were in Lexington, and eight hundred troops were sent to arrest these patriot leaders, and then proceed to Concord and seize the military supplies collected there by the "rebels." The signal lanterns having been displayed in the belfry of old Christ Church, Paul Revere, on his famous ride, informed the citizens of the approach of the regulars.
Early on April 19, Major Pitcairn, with several companies of infantry, met the doughty minute-men at Lexington, seven of whom were killed and ten wounded; and proceeded to Concord, (whence the stores had been removed to a place of safety). Here, at the bridge, took place the renowned engagement with the "embattled farmers," who harassed the British on their retreat all the way to Boston. It has been said that Concord supplied the scene of action on that memorable day, but that Chelmsford, Acton and other towns furnished the men who did the work. They came from all the neighboring towns. On the approach
218
HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
of the King's troops, about one hundred and fifty Concord, Acton and Lincoln men retired from Concord over the North Bridge about a mile to Punkatasset hill. Here the reinforcements met them, being directed to the rendezvous by men stationed along the roads for that purpose. They came by the roads or through the woods and across the fields.
"To the hill there came from Bedford,
And Littleton, and Carlisle,
And Lincoln, Chelmsford, Westford,
More men through each defile."-Raymond.
The following quotations give the facts.
"They thereupon proceeded over the North Bridge, and marched, not yet over one hundred and fifty in all, to Punkatasset hill, about a mile north of the meeting-house. Men were stationed on the several roads leading to Concord, to direct the reinforce- ments to the rendezvous, volunteers hastened forward. Minute- men and Militia * arrived from Bedford. Numbers * came in from Chelmsford, Carlisle, Littleton, Westford, Billerica, Stow and elsewhere. Some came by the woods and some across the fields. Thus strengthened, this devoted band marched down from Punkatasset * [The Story of Concord as told by Concord Writers. Edited by Swayne, p. 55.]
"The British troops had been in Concord about two hours. During this time the minute-men from the neighboring towns had been constantly arriving on the high grounds, a short distance from the North Bridge, until they numbered about four hundred and fifty .* They were formed in line by Joseph Hosmer, who acted as adjutant. It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain certainly what companies were present thus early in the day. They came from Carlisle, from Chelmsford, from Westford, from Littleton and from Acton
"It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning when the provincials, about three hundred in numbert arrived near the river," on their way to dislodge the British guard at the North Bridge. [Frothingham, "Siege of Boston," p. 67.]
Ellis, in his "History of the Battle of Bunker Hill," well describes these men:
"The yeomen of town and village had not come together at the command of a commander-in-chief through adjutant, herald * Ripley's History. + Depositions of 1775.
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THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
or advertisement. They came unbidden, at an alarm from the bell on their meeting-house, or from a post-rider, or from the telegrams transmitted by tongue and ear. And they came for what they were, and as they were, with their light summer clothing, with what was left from their last meals in their pantries packed with a few "notions" in sack or pillow-case; and with the ducking guns, fowling-pieces, or shaky muskets used in old times against the vermin and game in the woods and the Indian skulking in the thicket. And for the most part they were as free to go away as they had been to come. They were enlisted after a fashion, some prime conditions of which were their own convenience or pleasure." [Quoted in "Groton during the Revolution," p. 6.]
But let us come back to Chelmsford and see what was doing here.
It was towards eight o'clock on the morning of April 19th, a day unusually warm for the time of year, when the good people of Chelmsford, twenty-three miles northwest of Boston and about nine north of Concord, were roused by the alarm of the British advance. A mounted messenger from Billerica dashed into the village proclaiming the news that the redcoats were marching from Boston towards Concord. Alarm bells, drum beats, and signal guns warned the people, as prearranged messengers spread the news.
"Now Concord's bell, resounding many a mile, Is heard by Lincoln, Lincoln's by Carlisle,
Carlisle's by Chelmsford, and from Chelmsford's swell
Peals the loud clangor of the alarum bell,
Till it o'er Bedford, Acton, Westford spreads,
Startling the morning dreamers from their beds."
So run the lines by Pierpont.
The reference to "morning dreamers" must be regarded as poetic license, for practically all able-bodied people were up and at work when the word reached Chelmsford.
The men composing the Chelmsford companies were scattered throughout the town, from Concord on the south to the Merrimack river and Dunstable on the north.
It is stated by C. C. Chase (Vol. IV, Old Residents' Con- tributions) that when the messenger reached Chelmsford, the minute-men were already on their way to Concord. Those who
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