History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 191

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 191

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" Went up to see Capt. Francessis men Thursday ; went to breakfast without butter or cheas ; had Capt. Batchelder to dine with us, we had biled vittels and rost veal . . . the sargents went to supper on New England grog, and then went to our logings in peace.

"Fryda-this day chool and clowdey ; gineral erders to be on the parade at 5 o'clock, and william Anderson to receive 29 stripes and one Russel 80, and one rid the wooden hors and then went down to Prospect hill to work on the intrenchments. A whooman was drumed of the hill for playing the roge with a drummer, and bob Picket was as focksey as the Divel.

"July the 3 Day, this morning cloudy. There was four cannon fired to Rocksbury and ene hous sot on fire. General Washington came to Cambridge about twelve o'clock and was atended with a great number of gentlemen from nahering towns ! Captain Low went to Beverly this morning; Ensign Henery Herrick went with him."

Leaves of absence to visit Beverly were frequently obtained, and in one of them Lieutenant Cleaves walked home on a Friday, stopping at Colonel' Her- ricks to " fix up," and " brought up " at Mister Chip- mans.

"The next day, 'Saturday,' in the morning went down to Mister Joshua Herricks ; in the afternoon to the Hamlet (Ifamilton), from there over to Topshield, to David Perkinses, from there to Beverly, down to the lower perrishi (parish). Sunday the 9, went to meaten in the forenoon, Mister Hichcock preached ; ihen sot of for Cambridge."

The camp-life seems not to have been entirely with- out its relaxations, as witness the following :

"Friday the 14 Day, Cap. - and Capt. Low went to Watertown after bords to finish our barracks ; had a very plesent time ; they fel in com- pany with a very butiful Lady and took her into the shay with them ; the recompense she gave them is not yet none (known) for carying of her. . . . Tusday the 18, this morning warm and clear. I went down to Chelsea with more ofisers and 130 men after a mast for a liberty- pole ; had a fine prospect of the enemy, saw 83 horses paraded and near 40 more in the paster. I went into a house, got sum biled sider, and kissed the old whomaes Daughter to pay for it, had a fine frolick ; at the tavern drove a dog out of the windo, and sum other things worthy of Dete. Coming back met the chief general aidecamp from Cambridge, who said that there was a great movement with the troops at Rockstery and had struck a number of tents, supposed to be going somewhere- Arrived a little after sunset very much fatigued, went to bed at ten o'clock, and was nnder arms by half-past two the next morning. Wens- day the 19, Captain Low and Lieut. Herrick went to Watertown for bagonets, and this afternoon I secured some powder and ball."

This excerpt gives a fair picture, probably, of the soldier's life at that period, before the hardships of war had begun. The brave fellow, whose diary we have been permitted to glance at, was lost at sea in 1780, so he must have resigned his commission in the army before the war was over.

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In the great work of preparation for inevitable war the women of Beverly ably assisted their husbands and brothers-weaving cloth, knitting stockings, making garments-and dividing with the soldiers their household supplies.

1775 .- April 22, "Col. Henry Herrick, Capt. Benjamin Lovett and Capt. Wm. Bartlett chosen to be a committee in behalf of this town to confer with the committees of the several seaport towns of this connty what steps shall be most expedient for them to take at this difficult time, and for to meet at the tavern near Beverly meeting-house on Monday, the 24th instant, at 9 o'clock in the morning."

"Also, Col. Henry Herrick, Capt. Ebenezer Francis, Capt. Edward Giles, Capt. Benj. Lovett, Jr., Capt. Nicolas Thorndike, Mr. Peter Pride, and Lieut. Elisha Dodge, were chosen a committee of safety for this town, for to act in that affair in the best manner they can for the Publick good."

May 19, A town-meeting was warned "to elect and depute as many members as to them shall seem neces- sary and expedient to represent them in a Provential Congress, to be held at the meeting-house in Water- town, on the 31st of May inst., . . . to consult, delib- erate and resolve upon such further measures as, under God, shall be effectual to save this people from impending ruin," etc.

Their representative, Capt. Josiah Batchelder, Jr., was instructed to lay before Congress the exposed situation of the town and ask for soldiers to defend it, as many of their men had enlisted in the army.

October 12, It was voted that the committee of cor- respondence procure "six peases of cannon ;" two six and four four-pounders, mount them on carriages and place in position ; to have two breastworks thrown up, one at Woodbury's Point and the other at Paul's Head. It was later voted to place one nine-pounder and one four at Woodbury's Point, the other nine and one four-pounder at Paul's Head, and the two field- pieces wherever the committee should judge best for the public safety.

" After the collision, which extinguished the last lingering bope of reconciliation, the County of Essex, essentially maritime in her habits, launched her thunderbolts on the deep, and trailed the flag, that for a thousand years had braved the battle and the breeze, ignominiously ou many a conquered deck, whence went up the pine-tree flag of the rebels in token of victory. The first flag, under the Continental authority, that ever floated at an American must-head in defiance of British supremacy, was hoisted ou board the ' Hannah,' from Beverly ! The first comman- der who, under Washington's commission, threw down the gauntlet of maritime warfare, was Capt. Manly of Marblehead. . . . The har- bors of Salem, Marblehead and Beverly swarmed with prizes. Tho same hardy fishermen of the seuports of Essex, driven from the theatre of their adventurous industry by the breaking out of hostilities, trod the decks of these little wanderers of the sca, who afterwards manned the ' Constitution' in the second War of Independence, when St. George's Cross went down before the stars aod stripes " 1

A dramatic episode of the conflict was witnessed in Beverly harbor, this same autumn of 1775, which is graphically described in Stone's "History of Beverly."

One pleasant morning a privateer schooner sailed out of Beverly on a cruise. She had not been long out when she was discovered by a British sloop-of-war, the " Nautilus," of twenty guns, which immediately bore down upon her. The superior force of the enemy induced the captain of the privateer to put back ; but in the confusion of the chase he grounded on the flats. It being ebb tide, the "Nautilus " came to anchor outside the bar, from which position she opened fire on the town. The meeting-house being the most con- spicuous object, several shots were aimed at it, one of which penetrated the chaise-house of Thomas Steph- ens, destroying the chaise, and another struck the chimney of a house on the opposite side of the street.

The worthy man whose chaise was destroyed did not rest an idle spectator, but seizing his musket he hastened to the beach, returning the fire of the enemy in gallant style. Here he was joined by several other patriotic inhabitants of the town, conspicuous among them being Col. Henry Herrick, an active member of the committee of correspondence, in full military cos- tume. Their fire may not have been very effectual, but it at least showed their good intentions, and warned the commander of the sloop-of-war that he had stirred up a veritable hornet's nest of rebel musketeers. The receding tide soon left the "Nautilus" in an awk- ward position aground, so that she careened and could not use her guns. In this condition she lay till dark, the target for the cannon of Hospital Point, on Salem side, and of the small arms of the Beverly patriots. The tide rising, after dark, the baffled commander weighed anchor and stood for Boston, " carrying with him no very pleasant recollections of his introduction to the citizens of this town."

Between March and November, 1781, 52 vessels, carrying 746 guns, with crews of 3940 men, were fitted out and chiefly owned in Salem and Beverly.

Beverly has the honor of having sent out the first commissioned privateer of the Revolution. This vessel was the " Hannah," the papers for which were issued September 3, 1775, and signed by General Washington.

The first to commence operations against Great Britain's mercantile marine, Beverly maintained her privateers throughout the war. Our most noted and most successful privateersman was Captain Hugh Hill, who, as early as 1775, brought into port a valuable prize, the British schooner "Industry," the cargo of which was sold and the vessel turned over to the pub- lie service. Captain Hill (the first of his family in this town), commenced privateering in the "Pilgrim," of twenty guns, which was built under his superin- tendence in Newburyport. He captured numerous prizes, and nearly all were sent into Beverly, which was then, as one writer has expressed it, the head- quarters for our infant navy. More captured vessels (it is said), were bronght into this port than into any other in New England. The first navy agent was William Bartlett (after whom Bartlett Street was

2 Rantoul's Oration at Concord, 19th April, 1850.

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named), who had charge of the captured cargoes, which were of such material aid to the continental army in their time of sorest need.

Many anecdotes are related of our great privateer captain Hill, illustrating his sagacity, bravery and humanity.

On one cruise, while sailing with the English en- sign at mast-head, as a decoy, he was boarded by the captain, of a British man-of-war, who, unsuspicious of his host, remarked that he was in search of "that notorious Hugh Hill." Captain Hill, at that mo- ment unprepared for an engagement, answered that he was on the lookout for the same individual, and hoped soon to meet him. The officer departed, but in a few days they met again ; the American flag was run up, and an engagement followed, in which the Englishman was captured, and the prize sent into Beverly.

Captain Hill, who was own cousin to General An- drew Jackson, proved himself such a terror to British commerce, that his capture would have been looked upon as a great achievement.

Several other townsmen shared with Captain Hill the honor of successful commanders, among them Captain Eleazer Giles, Elias Smith, John Tittle and Benjamin Lovett. Captain Giles, in 1776, sailed from the port of Beverly in a ten-gun brig, with which he captured four merchantmen out of a large fleet, two of his prizes being ships of four hundred and three hundred tons, respectively, and the other two brigs of lesser tonnage. He was, however, captured on a later cruise by a British vessel of superior force, and sent prisoner to Halifax.

Captain Elias Smith, commander of the ship " Mo- hawk," of twenty guns, cruised mainly in the West Indies, where, in 1781, he captured a Guineaman (slaver) of sixteen guns, which was sent into Bev- erly.

Captain John Tittle, when sailing in a letter of marque, was attacked by two cruisers, being engaged with them for three hours. All his canvas above the lower yards was shot away, and his crew, looking upon their condition as hopeless, began to abandon their guns, when the gallant captain drew his sword and threatened to run the first man through who left his quarters. A fortunate shot soon taking effect upon one of the enemy and night coming on, he was en- abled to escape.

These meagre gleanings from the annals of our town indicate the spirit of this little community, which sent its citizens forth to battle for freedom, on land and sea.

1776 .- In January of this year the town voted to hire twenty-four men as night-watchers on the sea coast, at West's beach and near Benjamin Smith's house at Plum Cove, and one hundred pounds, to de- fray these expenses. A watch at the fort was main- tained by Colonel Glover, with the Fourteenth Regi- ment of the Continental army.

At a town-meeting June 13, 1776, three weeks be-

fore the Declaration of Independence, it was voted that, in event the Continental Congress declare the independence of the colonies, they would " solemnly pledge their lives and fortunes to support them in it." This pledge was fulfilled on almost every battle-field of the Revolution ; yet, in 1779, a fine of five thousand four hundred pounds was assessed on the town, by the General Court, for failing to furnish a prescribed number of men for the militia.

In a petition for its remission in 1780 the town ap- pealed to the records in evidence that (which was strictly true) they had "furnished more men, and been at greater expense to carry on the war, than al- inost any other town in proportion to their abilities."

1776 .- Town-meetings were held with increasing frequency, as the exigencies of the occasion de- manded the building of breastworks, the purchase of ammunition, instructions to their representatives and protection of the harbor and coast. It was put to vote (November 7th) if the town would stop up their har- bor, and it passed in the negative. Voted that "the selectmen be empowered to petition to General Washington, or any other department, for ammuni- tion and meu for the safety of this town whenever they shall think it necessary and expedient." They were also empowered to procure two hundredweight of powder, "in the best manner they can."

Interleaved in the volume of records for 1774-83, opposite the entry for July 2, 1776, is a copy of the original proclamation of independence (July 4, 1776,) in accordance with the order accompanying it, that a " copy be sent to the ministers of each parish of every denomination, who, after reading it to their congre- gations, were to deliver it to the clerks of their re- spective towns, who are hereby required to record it in their respective town or district books, there to remain, as a perpetual memorial thereof."

The town records for 1776 show that the regular business of the town went on uninterruptedly, but their pages throughout indicate active preparation for warfare and defense, and seem to smell of gunpow- der and bristle with bayonets.

1777 .- Under date of February 17th is a list of men paid for watching at night, comprising twenty-six names. The chief bills of the town are for watching, militia service, bounties to soldiers, etc., as " to time spent in making Brestworks; procuring and hauling cannon ; to hauling 500 cwt. of powder from Ando- ver; to going to Danvers to procure intrenching tools ; " and finally, as war's bloody returns come in, " to choose a committee to supply the soldiers' fami- lies that are in the continental army ; " and, " or- dered the treasurer to pay the several persons, soldiers in the continental army, the sums annexed to each of their names, they being extremely poor, and unable to procure things of the committee of supply." .

1777. The town voted to give fourteen pounds to each non-commissioned officer and private who would enlist in the Continental army for three years, or dur-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ing the war, and four pounds additional to such as had been in the army and would re-enlist. Provision was made for barracks for the sea-coast men at Wood- bury's Point. Three hundred pounds was voted for the relief of families of soldiers, and the next year two hundred pounds additional.

In 1779 a "sum not exceeding twelve thousand pounds " was voted for procuring men for the army, and in succeeding years sums varying from five thousand to fifty thousand pounds were provided for the same purpose.

In 1780 the selectmen were authorized to procure five horses for the public service, and a bounty was offered to soldiers enlisting of 100 pounds sugar, 100 pounds coffee, 10 bushels corn, 100 pounds beef and 50 pounds cotton or £1370 in money, to which was later added 67 pounds coffee, and the money bounty in- creased to £1611. Price of labor on the highway was then fixed at £12 per day. Salt sold for £50 per bushel.

1777. A prominent man in military affairs at this time was Colonel Ebenezer Francis, born at Medford, in 1743, and removed to Beverly in 1764. He received a captain's commission in the Continental Army, July 1, 1775, the year following was colonel, and com- manded a regiment on Dorchester Heights. By com- mission of November 19, that year, he was authorized to raise a regiment in Massachusetts, and at the head of this regiment, the Eleventh Massachusetts, he marched, in January, 1777, for Ticonderoga. His death occurred July 7, 1777, at Hubbardston, N. Y., near Whitehall, where he was shot while leading his troops to battle.

Previous to setting out on this march his company was assembled in the first parish meeting-house, at religious service, and "associated with him on that perilous expedition into the wilderness, were many brave and noble spirits, and some of them highly ed- ucated."

His brother, John Francis, fought hy his side, an ad- jntant in his regiment when he fell, and was subse- quently in several battles, was wounded at the cap- ture of Burgoyne, and retired with honor. Later, in 1786, he raised a company in Beverly and Danvers, and marched to suppress Shay's rebellion ; after his re- turn was captain of the militia company of the second parish, and commanded the Beverly regiment, dying in 1822, aged sixty-nine years. Two other brothers of Colonel Francis, Aaron and Thomas, fought in the Revolution. As chaplain of Colonel Francis' regiment went the minister of the second parish, Rev. Enos Hitchcock, a graduate of Harvard in 1767, colleague of Rev. Mr. Chipman in 1771, whom he succeeded in 1775.

He had been preceded as chaplain in the regiment by the Rev. Mamasseh Cutler, the celebrated minister at Hamilton. Mr. Hitchcock was at Valley Forge, and wrote of the condition of the army in 1778: "Numbers of our brigade are destitute, even of a

shirt, and have nothing but the ragged remains of some loose garments as partial covering."

This brave chaplain survived the war; was dismiss- ed from the Second Parish in 1780, and becanie pas- tor of a church in Providence, in October, 1783. He is remembered as an eloquent preacher and as the author of a work of fiction and several published dis- courses.

In this regiment also was Henry Herrick, a gradu- ate of Harvard, and a successful teacher in Beverly after the war, and Moses Greenleaf, captain of a com- pany, whose private journal contained incidents of the expedition.

1777. The women of Beverly " took a hand " in af- fairs this year, a company of them gathering and leading a raid upon the storehouse of one of the merchants who had a stock of sugar on hand which he refused to sell, on account of the depreciation of the paper money. With the assistance of some of the men one cold November morning, about sixty of them marched down Main (Cabot) and Bartlett Streets to the wharves, where they broke open the warehouse and loaded up two ox-carts with sugar. The foreman of the establishment offering resistance, he was promptly charged upon by the ladies, one of whom seized him by the hair, at which he fled, leaving his wig in her grasp

The sugar was carted to the shop of the leader, who retailed it at a fair price to customers, and rendered her account faithfully to its owners.

1778. Out of a list of ten abatements for taxes, op- posite five of the names is entered "on account of being in captivity ;" two others were "long absent abroad," and one "dead and left nothing."

Out of seven such abatements in 1779, two were for persons who had been "long in captivity ;" one, An- drew Oher, "long missing if alive; " and another, Joseph Ober, second, " died in captivity."

1779. At the March town-meeting it was voted to hire five hundred pounds, for the use of the commit- tee for supplying the familes of soldiers.

Forty men were lost at sea this year, and in conse- quence the town petitioned to be released from sup- plying its quota.

As late as 1783, in a list of abatements of taxes, fourteen were on account of the persons taxed then being or having been in captivity.

The following names of soldiers have been mostly copied from the original muster rolls in the State House at Boston :

Captain Caleb Dodge's Muster-Roll of Minute Men.

Captain-Caleb Dodge. First Lieutenant-Jona. Batchelder. Second Lieutenant-Nathan Smith. Ensign-Benj. Shaw. Sergeants-Jno. Batchelder, Saml. Woodbury, Peter Woodbury, Benj. Jones, Jona. Perkins. Privates-Jacob Dodge, Beuj. Cressy, Jr., Nathl Cressy, Wm. Cammel, Jos. Raymond, Elisha Woodbury, Steph. Felton, Dea. Wm. Dodge, Wm. Woodbury 3d, Ebenr. Trask, Mark Dodge, Chas. Dodge, Joshua Dodge, Sanıl. Conant, Israel Greene, Barth. Trask, John Cressy, Nathan Cressy, Aaron Salley (?), Robert Dodge, Joshna Cleaves, Jona. Dodge, Nathan Wyman.

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BEVERLY.

" These may certify that this list above is a true list of the commission officers, non-commission officers and Privates in ye alarm list under my command in ye second Parish in Beverly, wh went to nssist at yo alarm at Lexington & Concord, on ye 19th & 20th of April last.

"Beverly, Decr. ye 16th, 1775.

" CALEA DODGE, Capt."

Captain Dodge's company arrived in season to overtake the British at Lexington, and materially re- tarded their retreat.

A copy of the " Muster Roll of the First Foot Company of Beverly, at the alarm of the Concord fight, on the 19th of April last."

Captain-Larkin Thorndike. First Lieutenant-Joseph Wood. Second Lieutenant-Joha Dyson. Ensign-Theophilus Herrick. Sergeants- Moses Brown, Henry Herrick, Benj. Leech, John Low. Corporal- Sewal Tock. Privates-Robert Roundy, Benj. Lovett, Jr., Sol. Loafkin, Benj. Corning, Jos. Larkin, Henry (?) Standley, Wm. Herrick, Benj. Parsons, Andrew Smith, Elisha Woodbury, Josiah Ober, Jos. Lovett 2d, Jos. Herrick, Josiah Woodbury, Steph. Cahot, Wm. Taylor, Joseph Baker, Nath1. Lamson, Ezra F. Foster, Jos. Goodridge, Robert Stone, Jas. Smith, Timothy Leech, John Pickett, Benj. Briant, Henry Thorn- dike, John Low 2d, Sanıl. Dane, Ricbard Ober, John Morgan, Beuj. Beckford, Benj. Adams, Wm. Trask, Henery Herrick 3d, Jos. Wyer, Benj. B. Lovett, Hozadiah Smith, George Stephens.

"Then Capt. Larkin Thorndike, aforesaid, personally appeared before me and made solemn oath that the foregoing muster-roll is true and just. Before me,

" BENJ. JONES, J. P."

In Captain John Low's Company, August, 1775; in Colonel Hutchinson's Regiment.

Captain-John Low. Lieutenant-Nathl. Cleaves. Ensign-Jos. Herrick. Sergeants-Luke Roundy, Geo. Steavens, John Low, Henery Herrick. Corporals-Gid. Batchelder, Arch. Dale, John Morgan, An- drew Wood. Drummer-Samuel Cole. Fifer-Hale Hilton. Privatrs- Benj. Adams, Saml. Arbuckell, Danl. Bunker, Benj. Bootman, Thos. Butman, Jas. Brazill, Jas. Buchman, John Cleaves, Thos. H. Cole, Alex. Carico, Thos. Carry, Sol. Cole, Mat. Furnesse, Jos. Foster, Edw. Foster, Jona. Foster, Wm. Goodridge, Saml. Giles, Geo. Gross, Geo. Gallop, Wm. Hales, Thos. Hogans, John Herrick, Jona. Knowlton, Jos. Lovett, Wm. Lovett, Mark Morse (last survivor), Wm. Lewis (?), Ashael Moore, An- drew Ober, - Pickett, - - - -,- Raymond, Robert Stone, -- Standley, - Symmes, - Sharley, Jona. Setchel, Eph. Smith, Israel Nash, Moses Trask, Wm. Tuck, Wm. Woddel, Benj. Woodman, Caleb Wallis, Benj. Woodbury, Corn. Woodbury, Jona. Young.

Captain Peter Shaw's Company ; sworn to before Henry Herrick, J. P., January 16, 1776.

Captain-Peter Shaw. Lieutenant-Caleb Balch. Clerk-Jona. Co- Dant. Sergeant-Saml. Dodge. Privates-Joshua Corning, Simeon Dodge, Joseph Poland, Israel Woodhnry, James Dodge, John Cressy, Abner Smith, Phineas Hovey, Benj. Woodbury, John Conant, Gideon Rea, Jona. Leach, Saml. Conant, Jr., Ebenr. Waldron, Nathl. Raymond Barnabas Trask, Jona. Raymond, Roht. Baker, Rohert Camhel, Aaron Putnam, Ebenz. Trask, Jr., Lot Conant, Wm. Trask 2d, Prise (?) Dodge, Cornelius Dodge, Andrew Eliot, Israel Perkins, Ebenr. Raymond, Benj. Raymond, Wm. Syms, Joseph Serls, Timothy Batchelder, Saml. Nurse, Nehemiah Dodge, Benj. Shaw, Jr., Edward Dodge, Joseph Foster, William Pearce.

Muster-Roll of the Company under Captain Ebenezer Francis, in Colonel Mansfield's Regiment, August, 1776.

Captain-Ebear. Francis. Sergeants-Nathl. Ober (Wenham) and Benj. Shaw. Privates -Aaron Francis Juha Smith, Nathaniel Hyat (?), Jos. Raymond, Timothy Batchelder, Jno. Bowles, Wm. Cox, Wm. Cressy, Joh Creasy, Edward, Nehemiah, Nathaniel, Richard (?) and Cornelius Dodge, Robert Edwards, Josiah Foster, Israel Greene, Joseph Larkin, Stephen Masnry, Joseph Marhle, Saml. Nurse, Wm. Parice, Jos. Picket, Jos. Potter, Benj. Raymond, Benj. Shaw, Daniel Twist, William Wood- bnry, Gideon Woodhnry.

From the Mileage- Roll of Captain John Gay's Company, in Colonel Francis' Regiment.

Lieutenant-Ilen. Herrick. Sergeants-Edward Dodge, Cornelius Dodge, Jos. Serle (?), Peter Trask, Jas. Thistlo, John Austin, Joseph Standley.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 191

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538