USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Deerfield > History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled, vol 2 > Part 3
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691
WEDDING FESTIVITIES.
mention anything of a Second Lover, as that made her very uneasy, * * * When the compa'y broke up we came out, I tarried & supped, then we went to Capt Dwights with Pliny & Field, slept yr in compo wth Dyreno Dwight, who was at ye Wedding.
29th. After Breakfast at Capt Dwights, walked up to ye Grooms, from yr to Doct How's, chatted some time with Mrs. How, shaved, then went back to Dwights, dressed myself for Dinner, & about two walked down to Capt Dwights, Dined, after which returned & went to Dancing. Had a large collection yr ye second day. About 5 Pliny & Chariss, Poy & I took a walk, returned about sunset & again to Dancing, Danced till nine, (Poy treated me with a great deal of indifference) when Poy & I went over to Doct Hows to see Heph, who was very unwell, the house being fastened could not see her. We returned & sat together & chatted about an hour. The compa- ny broke up about eleven. After they were gone, supper being over, I took Poy and went into ye kitchen & sat up till two-a very fine evening we had. Pliny sat up with Charissa. I slept with Dr. Caldwell at Dwights.
30th. Spent ye Morning till ten gadding about & getting ready to come home. When we set out for home a No rode out with us. We stopt at Graves, then rode on; ye company came out about 11/2 miles from Graves, then turned about, except Pliny & Smith, who came along with us; Field & Heph went by Hatfield, ye rest by Am- herst; C. Dwight came with us to Fields, where we dined. Poy & I were very Dull all ye way to Fields; we tarried there till three, when we came away; parted with the Belcher company & C. Dwight.
They "drank cherry" at Billings and were home at six. At least two of the young men who attended this wedding were married within two months, when similar ceremonies were repeated.
October Ioth, 1774, Elihu Field and Hephzibah Diekinson set out on horseback for Boston, probably upon an ante-nup- tial wedding tour, as they were "published " the next Sun- day.
November 24th, Elijah Arms of Mill River for a second wife married Esther Lyman of Northampton. Her friends escorted them in due form to their home, where a lot of Deerfield people were ready to meet them. At four o'clock a "good supper" was served. The evening was spent in dancing, and the whole of the next day was occupied in the festivities of the occasion. November 27th, Thomas W. Dickinson and Thankful Field, and Jonathan Arms and his second wife Eunice Lyman, were cried in meeting. The young town clerk pro tem " was almost terrified to death " by this official duty. December 2d, a party took a " supper of oys- ters" at the house of Joel Munn. Joel had been a sailor and
692
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
had married a Marblehead girl. This may account for this maritime entertainment so unusual in the valley.
The convention at Northampton, for which delegates were chosen here September 20th, was called to concert measures to be adopted under the late attack by Parliament upon our constitutional rights under the charter. Two days were spent in deliberation, and resolutions were passed concern- ing the rights and duties of the people. They assert that Gage is not their constitutional governor and that his writs for the General Court to meet at Salem are not valid. They recommend a Provincial Congress to meet at Concord, Octo- ber 2d; that town meetings be called "in accordance with ancient usage." They recommend a strict observance of the non-importation agreement, and that traders who refused to sign such an agreement be boycotted; that no money be paid to "H. Gray Treasurer," but be kept subject to town or- der; that the people make themselves acquainted with the military art under men of their own choosing. In accordance with the recommendation of the County Convention our next town meeting was called by a warrant issued " Agreeable to the Charter of King William and Queen Mary," but the Tory town clerk did not recognize this change in the record, nor did he make any record at all of the September 2d and Octo- ber 7th meetings.
Gov. Gage had issued a call for the election of a new Gen- eral Court to meet at Salem, October 5th, but on account of the action at the County Conventions he made proclamation, September 28th, forbidding the session. All the same, how- ever, the representatives met at the time appointed and, the governor not appearing, resolved themselves into a Provin- cial Congress, and adjourned to meet at Concord, October 11th, as before related. The news flew like wild fire. Deer- field had not sent a representative at the summons of Gage, but now a town meeting was warned over night to meet Oc- tober 7th, and Samuel Barnard was chosen to represent the town in this new departure for liberty. Other patriots in this body were Daniel Nash, of Greenfield; John Taylor, Shel- burne; Thomas French, Conway ; Israel Hubbard, of Sunder. land; Moses Gunn, of Montague ; Samuel Williams, Warwick ; Hugh Maxwell, Charlemont; Phineas Wright, Northfield ; Thomas MeGee, Colrain ; and William Page, of New Salem.
693
CIVIL AND MILITARY REORGANIZATION.
The Congress adjourned to Concord and to Cambridge the 17th. This Congress took upon itself the direction of affairs in the colony, chose a treasurer and executive board with John Hancock at its head, which was called the "Committee of Safety;" and the machinery of an independent govern- ment was set in motion.
Its most important work was the election of delegates to the Continental Congress, and the action whereby the towns elected members to a new Congress, to meet Feb. Ist, 1775. The Tories were in a flurry. A party gathered at Green- field Oct. roth, but the not very agreeable spectacle was pre- sented of a company of minute men exercising under Capt. Timothy Childs, a recent emigrant from Deerfield. October 17th, a new military company, to be under the orders of the new Congress, was organized here. Thomas Dickinson was chosen captain, John Bardwell, ensign, and David Dickinson, clerk. The selectmen gave Samuel Barnard an order on the treasury for £4 4s to pay his expenses to Concord. A Com- mittee of Correspondence and Safety was chosen here. But, as there was no record of this made, the names of the com- mittee are not known.
The fast appointed for Nov. 3d was observed by religious services here. Mr. Lyman of Hatfield preached in the morn- ing, and Rufus Wells of Whately, a Deerfield man, in the afternoon. Parson Ashley would have nothing to do with the affair. As he firmly believed the Lord was on the side of the King, it would only be labor thrown away. Nov. 11th, the " sham officers," as the Tories dubbed them, of the new mil- itary companies met at Northampton to choose regimental field officers. David Field was chosen colonel, and David Dickinson, major, both of Deerfield.
When the crisis came upon the country, the militia officers of course held their commissions under authority of the King. If these officers were Whigs their commissions were thrown up. A paper in Memorial Hall, signed by Jesse Bel- ding and twenty-nine others, shows how the matter was ar- ranged in Hatfield before authority was assumed by the Pro- vincial Congress, or minute companies organized :-
We the subscribers apprehending the military exercise is specially Requisite at this Day, and altho Capt. Allis, Lieut. Partridge and Ens. Dickinson have publicly declared that they will not act as mil-
694
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
itary officers under the acts of Parliament in the support of the same . But we desire that they should call us together and exercise us by themselves or such others as they shall judge likely to teach and in- struct us in the military art.
Oct. 4, 1774.
The Tories were not idle; there was much riding up and down the valley and many anxious confabs, but none of them doubted the final issue would be favorable to the king.
November 15th, Maj. Dwight, Capt. Stoddard of North- ampton and Mr. Holbroke of Boston arrived here about dark. They spent the evening in consultation with Parson Ashley, Judge Williams and others, and went off the next morning.
December 5th, a town meeting was called under the char- ter of William and Mary. The selectmen were directed to . procure a stock of powder and lead, and a committee was chosen to raise money by selling the wood on the town land.
December 11th, Parson Ashley refused to read the procla- mation issued by the Congress for a thanksgiving day, but at the request of the people it was read by his son, Esq. Jon- athan Ashley. There is a story current concerning this sturdy, uncompromising loyalist which is good enough to be true, but nothing is found to corroborate it. It is to the effect that when Parson Ashley finished reading from the pulpit the first proclamation ending with the customary "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," that he rose to his full hight and with stentorian tones added. " And the King, too, I say, or we are an undone people."
Another story is, that in a sermon soon after the battle of Bunker Hill he declared that the souls of the rebels who fell there went straight to the bad. When he went back for the afternoon service he found the pulpit door nailed up. Ile called upon his deacon, Jona. Arms, the blacksmith who lived over the way, to get some instrument and open the door. The deacon replied that he did not use his tools on the Sab- bath.
There are at least two improbabilities about this story. One is that Jonathan Arms was a Tory and would have been glad to do the bidding; the other, that he was not chosen deacon until six years after Ashley's death.
I think the following may be relied upon as true. Ashley preached the Bunker Hill sermon in Greenfield one Sunday
695
HINSDALE REBUKES AN ELDER.
morning; when he returned for the afternoon service he found an indignant crowd blocking the doorway ; he was el- bowed back whenever he essayed to enter and was made to understand the reason. When told they should " not rebuke an Elder," stout Samuel Hinsdale exclaimed, " An Elder ! An Elder! If you had not said you was an Elder, I should have thought you was a pison shoemake!" There was no service that afternoon.
1775. The western part of the county was all astir. The patriots were largely in the ascendency, and were disposed to carry things with a high hand. They did not relish the law and order resolutions of the valley towns. January 2d, the wife of Capt. Reed, his daughter-in-law and her baby, were killed at " No. 5 " by a falling tree. The whole country round gathered at their funeral on the 4th. After the services were over, the people collected in groups, discussing the great questions of the hour. There was hot talk of going again to mob Col. Israel Williams at Hatfield, who was con- sidered the head and shoulders of the Tory party in Western Massachusetts. They were anxious to "humble him." It was said that Col. Easton of Pittsfield had sent him a threat- ening letter. Capt. Cadey declared he. "was glad of it and hoped it would give the old dog a start and drive him off to Boston ;" said he "ought to be shut up in gaol, for he was as subtle as the devil, and could lay schemes as deep as hell."
Col. Eager of Worthington was disposed to pour oil on the troubled waters and said that Col. Pomroy and Maj. Hawley, the prominent Whig leaders, had advised against their going down. Joseph Lyman of Northampton was reported as say- ing that "Northampton people were blind, and would not do anything until their throats were cut, and he wished the peo- ple would come down and Humble the Old Dog, for he de- served it, and that his conduct was not sufferable, and that he had enlisted a number of men in Hatfield" for service under Gage. Nathaniel Dickinson of Deerfield, Asa White and John Partridge of Hatfield, and Maj Stoddard of North- ampton, of the Tory party, went up to see about the affair, also Ensign Clark and Zebediah Marsh of the Whigs.
January 5th, Capt. Bowen from Boston (?) was at Deerfield in consultation with Parson Ashley. He advised the Tories to go to Boston. He said "the standard would be set up in
696
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
March and they who did not come in and lay down their arms might meet with bad luck." Soon after, John Ruggles from Hardwick, who had often visited Deerfield, where he had intimate friends, came here on some Tory errand, but he was mobbed by the Whigs and driven out of town. He was a son of Gen. Timothy Ruggles, one of the prescribed members of Gage's Council, and probably came here to ob- tain signers to the famous " Association" of the Tories, or- ganized by his father a few weeks before. Father and son were both banished to Nova Scotia, where the brigadier kept tavern after the Revolution. A letter written from here January 17th, says :-
It is a very besy time with us, mobbing and dismissing ministers -in vain to tell you the business of the day. As for the windows and doors I shall keep them shut against the A-t and not take up with tin mending-but, sir, things run high with us and how they will end I know not. The Asso- is the first tuesday in feberary. Miss is better than yousal for the winter.
Mr. Solomon Williams kept Sabath with us last Sabath, and Miss Betsey, and Cresha, and Samme. We had a fine evening of it. All the Miss Williams were here, Jack Williams and Lieut. Catlin.
January 23d, a town meeting was held. It was not the practice at this time, or for many years after, to record the warrants for town meetings, and the records of the proceed- ings often fail to give a correct idea of the business before the meeting. The warrant for this meeting has been found.
ARTICLE 6 is to choose one or more suitable persons as Delegates to meet a Provincial Congress, to be holden at Cambridge, on ye first day of Feb. next, or sooner if need be, there to Resolve on any matter or thing yt may be Thought proper to Prevent ye Ruin & Destruction of North America in General & this Province in par- ticular & to continue and set by adjournment until ye 25th of May next. [Col. David Field and Maj. David Wells were chosen Dele- gates to attend one at a time. ]
ART. 7. To choose a Committee of Inspection in order to see yt ye Resolves of ye Continental Congress be strictly adhered to in this town. [Col. Field, Capt. Thomas Dickinson, Lieut. John Russell, David Saxton and Maj. Salah Barnard were chosen. |
ART. 9 was to see if the town would direct their tax gatherers to pay the proceeds to Henry Gardner of Stowe.
Gardner was the new Province Treasurer, and doubtless the town voted to do so ; but there is no record of any vote. This was an excited meeting, and there was high talk on both sides. The meeting was adjourned to January 17th. A let- ter writen at that date from Hatfield says :-
697
THE COMMITTEE GET CHRISTIAN SATISFACTION.
John Williams said something at the last meeting which displeased them [the Whigs | and he is threatened with a mob. They were ex- pected this day, but whether they visited him or not, I have not heard. O! tempore, O mores!
Neither have I heard, unless a traditionary anecdote refers to this case. The story runs, that when a mob had gathered about Williams's house, they found it garrisoned by well- armed friends ; that as they were advancing to break in the front door, a window over it was opened and Seth Catlin ap- peared, musket in hand, threatening to blow a lane through them if they advanced another step. The crowd knew him too well to doubt his meaning, and a parley was called. A committee of the mob was admitted, and for an hour the questions at issue were debated. Meanwhile the committee were well plied with hot, strong flip. The committee de- clared themselves well satisfied, went out and reported to their constituents that Mr. Williams was a good patriot and had given Christian satisfaction. This report, and the argu- ment presented by Lieut. Catlin, settled the affair, and the mob dispersed.
Nathaniel Dickinson, who lived out at Mill River, on or near the farm lately occupied by Dea. Stowell, was under the influence of Col. Israel Williams, and a "High Tory." Prob- ably as agent for Col. Williams, he made the trip to Berkshire county in January. He was earnest, out-spoken, took no pains to conceal his sentiments, and became obnoxious to the Whigs. Soon after his return from Berkshire he set out for Boston. He "was mobbed three times and sent back." Thursday, Jan. 26th, he was back at Hatfield, where a mob drove him out of town. Monday night he lodged at Sunder- land, "where a mob collected, but could not find him." His trouble arose from the fact that he had been found to be a messenger for Col. Williams, bearing letters from him to parties in Boston. The ire of the Whigs was roused against the colonel, as well as Dickinson, and Moses How of Belcher- town, and one Harmon rode night and day through the coun- try as far as Pittsfield, stirring up the people to go to Hat- field and capture him. He was charged with enlisting men for, and corresponding with, Gen. Gage, but the exact con- tents of his letters do not appear. How was successful. John Brown took the field and led the Berkshire forces to the valley.
693
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
Thursday, Feb. 2d, the mob which How had raised ap- peared at Hatfield, 150 strong. They seized Col. Williams and his son Israel, and took them over to Hadley. At night they were confined in a room under a guard of seventeen men with loaded muskets. Late in the evening there was an alarm, and cry of "Indians! Indians!" "The guard swore that if anybody appeared to rescue them that they would blow his and his son's brains out on the spot, which terrified him much."
During the night some outside party stopped up the chim- ney, and the guard were driven out by the smoke, but the prisoners were forced to endure it as best they could. The next morning the colonel and his son were called out for an examination, " before the people to make answer to the charges brought against them." The colonel said, "they could prove nothing against him." But they were made to sign an obligation that they would not do anything to oppose Congress, would not correspond with Gage, and would op- pose certain specified acts of Parliament, and then were dis- missed. Capt. Stoddard of Northampton was brought over to Hadley Friday, and on Saturday he also signed the paper and was released. "There was a mob at Sunderland which began Thursday morning and lasted till Saturday night." The victims, or objects, do not appear. Perhaps Nat. Dickin- son had been found and hauled over the coals. Colonel Wil- liams, when in the hands of a previous mob in Berkshire county, had signed a similar paper, but had declared that he did not feel bound under such circumstances. But if the mob had not " smoked old Williams to a Whig," they had at least "humbled the old Dog," and they dispersed satisfied. These outrages must have been sustained by public opinion, for the law and order element made no effort to stop the proceed- ings. The times were critical. Williams was a man of great influence. Whether or not he was engaged in raising men for Gage, he was certainly in correspondence with him. Feb- ruary 8th was another fast, appointed by the ministers ; Rev. Mr. Hubbard of Northfield and Mr. Hooker of -? officiated at a service here.
May ist, Maj. Stoddard of Pittsfield was taken to North- ampton by the Whigs for writing to Maj. Hawley that his "neck would go for it." "As the major is in a melancholy
699
CHEERING NEWS.
way, they attributed it to Stoddard's letter." But time proved that that staunch patriot, the compeer of Sam Adams, was not made of such namby-pamby stuff as this charge would indi- cate. Berkshire was a hot-bed of sedition, and March ist the valley Tories sent up a messenger to find out what would "be done to them in case of an engagement." No reply has been found.
March 21st, the Tories arrested for firing upon the Liberty men of Westminster, Vt., arrived here under an armed guard of forty men, and spent the night at Catlin's tavern. They were on their way to the prison at Northampton. Several Deerfield Tories visited the prisoners. It was galling to them to see these judges, the high sheriff, and other leading men in the hands of the Whig patriots of Vermont, and there was some trouble in getting out of the prisoners' room. " No- body might go out without leave of John Wood, commander." "Having a poor opinion of the man," they "could not stom- ach to ask his liberty." So they tried to force their way out. One of them "got into a jaw with Wood, and gave him his character in full tail." When Wood returned, March 25th, there was another "jaw, when Catlin gave it to him up hill and down." Judge Sabin and his fellow prisoners were de- livered to the authorities of New York shortly after their in- carceration at Northampton.
Notwithstanding the Provincial Congress declared all tea drinkers enemies of the country, and directed the Commit- tees of Safety to deal with them as such when discovered, the use of the fragrant herb was not unusual among the Tories. It was smuggled from one town to another in various ways. May 26th, Col. Williams sent from Great Barrington to Dr. Thomas Williams here, a package of " Monongahela Balsam, which turned out to be fine green tea," and a good joke on the bearer.
April 5th, the Tories had the cheering news, received at Marblehead, April Ist, that " 14 regiments of foot, 2 of artil- lery and 17 sail of the Line were on the way to Boston." April loth, Seth Catlin had word from John Williams that vessels had left Boston to pilot the British troops in. A party of Tories had the news with their coffee, and says one of the party, "We had a very agreeable evening." The next day Col. Israel Williams gave his friends a dinner party. They
·
700
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
were served with a " fine Indian pudding, and after that a piece of roast beef and also a dish of alamode beef." The feasting Tories thought their troubles were fast drawing to a close.
April 20th, a town meeting was held. After providing for transferring the papers of the clerk and treasurer to the new Whig incumbents, they,-
Voted that ye Minute Company, so called in this Town (as an En- couragement to their perfecting themselves in the Military Art) be allowed by the Town ye following sums, viz. : to ye Capt & two Lieuts each two shillings, to ye clerk one shilling & six pence, and to the non-commissioned Officers & Privates one shilling each for one-half day in a week, until ordered otherwise by ye Selectmen, who are hereby appointed a Committee to determine how long ye said Company shall Draw ye above mentioned wages.
It was then provided that the company should receive back pay for time spent in exercising, at one half the above rates. The meeting then adjourned to the 26th. It is evident from the record of this meeting that the report of the "shot heard round the world," fired the day before, had not yet reached Deerfield. Our fathers were faithfully providing for a contin- geney which had already occurred. At the very moment these wise precautions were being taken, the resounding hoof-beats of the galloping horse, and the hoarse call "To arms!" of the excited rider, were rapidly moving westward. The people could hardly have left the schoolhouse on the com- mon, where they met, before the foaming steed with bloody flanks, bearing the dusty courier, was in their midst. "Gage has fired upon the people! Minute men to the rescue! Now is the time, Cambridge the place!" and the twain are off again like a meteor. Then there was hurrying to and fro, and arming in hot haste, and before the hours of the day were numbered fifty minute men were on their way to the scene of bloodshed, to join the band of patriots already encir- cling Gage in its toils. In their haste they were badly sup- plied for the service. One of them writes, "after I had got from home I found myself destitute of so necessary an article as a blanket."
The following is taken from a muster roll of this company found in the manuscript archives of the State. The pay roll includes April 20th. I have arranged the privates alphabeti- cally, with time of service under this organization. This
701
DEERFIELD ROLL OF HONOR.
company was soon broken up. Capt. Locke was employed in the commissary department, Lieut. Stebbins was made captain, April 27th. Some enlisted under him, some under Capt. Hugh Maxwell, others came home and many are lost sight of by enlisting in other companies :-
Days.
Days.
Capt. Jonas Locke,
33
Corp. Ebenezer Kenney, 25
Lt. Thomas Bardwell,
18
Corp. Isaac Smith,
33
Lt. Joseph Stebbins,
8
Corp. Abner Sheldon,
9
Sergt. Abel Parker,
33
Corp. Isaac Parker,
33
Sergt. Joel Munn,
9
Drummer James Warren, 9
Sergt. Ariel Nims,
9
Fifer Justin Hitchcock.
33
Privates.
Privates.
Allen, IIenry
9
Newton, Jeremiah 14
Allis, Eber
14
Newton, John
1.4
Childs, Reuben
9
Nıms. Elisha
I
Corless, Jesse, (killed at Bunker Hill)
C
Parker, Nathaniel
9
Dickinson, Cæsar
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