USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Leyden > History of Leyden, Massachusetts, 1676-1959 > Part 6
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The four known British men-o-war which belched smoke and noise and cannon balls toward the American redoubt were his Majesty's ships: Somerset, 68 guns; Lively, 20 guns; Glasgow, 20 guns; Falcon, 16 guns, or a total of 124 cannon which, accord-
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ing to official British naval records could explode 824 pounds of powder. Add to this, the explosive poundage of the British shore and floating batteries, and some idea of the huge noise- making potential of the British guns may be gleaned.
The Yankees, under Prescott, Putnam and Stark, were limit- ed to six light field pieces and their muskets, so the American noise-making potential on Bunker Hill day was negligible com- pared with the thunderous British uproar which historians tell us was, happily, more noisy than effective.
The next step in the research was to find out what the weather was on that memorable June day. If gun sounds are to be heard far from their source, conditions must be right, par- ticularly wind direction. With this in mind, the Harvard Blue Hills observatory was contacted. "Fair and hot" was their re- port for Bunker Hill day. But this did not furnish the vital clue - wind direction.
After consulting the 1775 diary of Professor John Winthrop, however, and with the added valuable help of a 20th Century meteorologist, it appeared virtually certain that Bunker Hill day dawned fair and windless; that a light sea breeze sprang up from the northeast about 10 A.M. and shifted to east by noon (the time the heavy cannonading began); that the wind turned to the southeast by 3:30 P. M. In other words, winds from noon to 4 P. M., the period of greatest noise intensity, were ideal for carry- ing the battle sounds far inland. The fact that the majority of Bunker Hill gun legends come from towns in line with east or southeast winds, confirms this theory.
Summing up the findings: On several occasions, the sounds of 105 mm. howitzers, firing 52 miles from Leyden, were heard on an easterly wind. The powder charge of these guns was 10 pounds maximum, with one gun firing at a time. Sounds from large fireworks displays, set off at a known distance from the Leyden observer, and with known explosive charges, check- ed with Fort Devens observations.
From conservative estimates, it is believed the maximum noise-producing power of the British guns at "Bunker Hill" was equal to about 200 powder pounds exploded at one time, or twenty times the Devens' gun poundage.
Experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology furnish figures which indicate that the boomings at Bunker Hill could have traveled 4.4 times as far as the sounds from Fort Devens to Leyden, or 228 miles.
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Verified records reveal that the guns of Gettysburg carried inland 150 miles, to Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Large explosive charges, heard in Paris, are known to have carried 230 miles.
In the Chase History of Hanover and Dartmouth College, the author comments on the Bunker Hill gun noises reported from many points in New England: "The sounds were universally attributed to the Battle of Bunker Hill," he writes, "and were certainly contemporaneous with it. They could indeed have come from no other source. Strange as the facts appear, they are too well authenticated to be doubted."
On the 1775 Leyden home front, the older settlers carried on the necessary production of crops, extended roads and in- creased their herds of livestock. Samuel Cunnabell, having laid down his musket for the time-being, is recorded as "branding" his cattle and sheep with "a hole in ye right ear and a cross off ye left ear."
A new road was laid from Frizzell Hill down into Beaver Meadow and "from Daniel Newcomb's to Alpheus Barstow's on to ye County Road westward." A road through Ezra Shattuck's lot on East Hill brought 12 shillings "damages." Indicating that a new mill had been erected on Keet's (Shattuck's) Brook, the following article was recorded November 17, 1775: "To see if the town will lay a road from Sam Cunnabell's grist mill to the County Road between Deerfield and Guilford to accomodate the inhabitants living in the north part of town." A short time before this, mention was made of a proposed road from "Beaver Meadow to Cunnabell's Corn Mill on the Northwest Branch of Fall River." This road joined the Keet mill site (see map) with the Beaver Meadow Road. In the old days the Shattuck Brook was called "Northwest Branch."
The above notes, perhaps a bit trivial in themselves, show that with the outbreak of war, the Colonists were determined to forge ahead in the building of their town; to "go it on their own" if need be. Roads, bridges, mills and new homsteads were in the making. With George Washington in command of the Con- tinental Army near Boston, the Colonists were confident all would go well.
The Year 1776: Early in the year, the inland Minute Man towns began to check on their ammunition supplies. On Feb- ruary 12th a vote was passed "to see what the Town will do in
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Reference to that Powder the Soldiers drawed out of the Town Stock at the time of the Lexington alarm." On March 4th: "Voted that all men who took powder out of the Town Stock last Spring in the Alarm and returned home soon from Cambridge are to be accounted to for same." And later in the year we find the record: "To see if the town agrees to get an additional stock of powder."
Of the older Leyden citizens, Daniel Newcomb was one of the most active officials during the early days of the Revolution. He was constable and collector in '75 and '76. Later he joined the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety in the work of detecting those citizens who might be disloyal to the cause of American independence.
And at the mid-year, following the British evacuation of Boston, independence was a word on every patriot's lips. On the 4th of July, as all know, John Hancock, seconded by Samuel Adams (later to sign important Leyden papers) affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
On the home front, too, special political activity is noted when on September 30th, the following article appears in the town records: "To see if the people will agree & Consent that the Representation of this State of Massachusetts Bay in New England, together with the Council . . . shall consult, Agree on and enact such a Constitution & Form of Government for this State as the sd House of Representatives and Counselors . . shall judge most fitting to the Safety, Peace and Happiness of this State ... and to see if they would direct the same be made publick for the inspection & perusal of the Inhabitants . . This follow-up to the Declaration of Independence marks the first Fall Town record bearing on a state constitution.
While Washington battled it out with the British on the Hudson and along the Delaware, barely maintaining the ex- istence of the American Army, those on the home fronts marked time by increasing their stock and building up their farmsteads as best they could. In Leyden, the surnames of Wells, Chapin and Clark appeared on the citizen list while the Shattuck, Frizzell and Hunt families substantially increased their holdings.
The Year 1777: This, the first full year of American indepen- dence, is marked by increased activity on all "fronts." It opened in Fall Town, on Feb. 17th with a special meeting "to see if the people will abate any of these men their taxes that were in the Service of this State or the United States last year, or before."
While General Washington battled Howe around Philadel-
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phia, and Burgoyne poised to strike in the Hudson Valley, those at home were cooperating in all ways possible to bolster the fighting men. In Fall Town, a new Committee of Safety was elected with Captain John Burk, Major Stephen Webster, Joel Chapin and Elisha Burnham at the head. War material, in the form of raw iron ore had been discovered in the hills just east of Leyden. Ore from this magnetite vein helped furnish fighting materials for men at the front; a limestone bed next the iron was ground up to neutralize acid farm lands in the area.
The Yorker Controversies: Meanwhile, history-making events were transpiring near Leyden's northern borders. Until this time, the territory north of the Leyden line had been claimed by both New Hampshire and New York. But in 1777, the Republic of Vermont (first named "New Connecticut") rose, free and independent, of both New Hampshire and New York. However, a large number of die-hard "Yorkers" in the new Republic, still clung to what they believed their rights under New York rule. It was these "Yorkers" or a large number of them, whom Ethan Allen chased into Leyden from Guilford via the County Road. This was in 1778. The road has been known as "Ethan Allen Highway" since that time.
Despite Allen's efforts, however, Yorker troubles persisted for some time. In a letter to his father, as late as 1784, John Burke, Jr. wrote:
"The New State men and Yorkers keep quareling. One Spic- er of this Town sot out to goo to Gilford with a yorker and the New State men way Lade the road and Shot Spicer through so that he Died in a few ouers .
Hall's History of Eastern Vermont records that Daniel Spicer (a resident of Leyden) was a young man of good repute. He set out to accompany David Goodenough, a Yorker, to Guilford, but they were stopped by Soldiers (probably near Packer's Cor- ners) and Spicer was killed.
A letter signed by Timothy Church, William White, Samuel Bixby and Nathaniel Carpenter, four Guilford "refugees" who had fled into Leyden, was sent to Governor Clinton of New York. The letter, dated March 10, 1784, gave an account of the Spicer murder and was published in the Massachusetts Spy of April 8, the same year.
The above story is not only a definite record of the long-sus- tained "Yorker" border war between Leyden and Guilford, but
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also explains why many "Yorker" residents in Guilford fled into Leyden over the Ethan Allen Highway.
*
Getting back to the mid-summer of 1777, we find that David Paige, a Leyden settler of this period, responded to the call for volunteers at the time of the Bennington alarm. Paige was "out" four days in mid-August and helped General Stark and the Green Mountain Boys route the Hessians - British mercenary troops hired to fight the "Yankees" because many Englishmen rebelled against battling their own kith and kin.
Two months after the Battle of Bennington, General Bur- goyne was routed and his army captured at Saratoga. Among the captives was one William Dorril, later to become Leyden's notorious "spiritual" leader. Among the American officers at Saratoga was Captain Agrippa Wells, soon to become a leading citizen in Leyden's administrative affairs.
Though Philadelphia was in the hands of the enemy, the Saratoga victory gave France sufficient courage to back the American cause. This encouraging news soon reached the hills of New England and gave impetus to growth and expansion. Such stalwart Rhode Islanders as Oliver Babcock and Enoch Briggs took heart, and with faith in their new country, braved the western slopes of Leyden to set up cabins in the wilderness. Roads which had been mere pathways till now were widened. A town vote at this period recommended that "the roads in the western part of town be repaired . . . so as to be passable for carriages. This is the first reference to vehicles on Leyden roads.
Indicating there was a tendency for the eastern and western sections of Fall Town to draw apart, the following is noted in the town records of '77: "To see if those in the eastern part of town will vote to make the western part (Leyden) a district by itself." The first line for Leyden's "Declaration of Independence" had been written.
The Year 1778: Reflecting the historic events of this period, articles in the Fall Town records reveal further growing inde- pendent trends as the Revolutionary War progressed favorably for the Colonists.
On January 17, this resolution appears in the Fall Town books: "Voted to give Captain Elisha Burnham, our Representa- tive, some instruction Respecting the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of the American States." On January 18,
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came this injunction: "Voted Lt. Ezekiel Foster, Samuel Guild and Elijah Kingsley be a Committee to draw up Instructions for Capt. Burnham."
Articles dealing with men and supplies for the fighting fronts were: "Feb. 14 - To see if the townsmen will agree about meth- ods to get this Town's part of the Continental Soldiers which are yet wanting, and what encouragement they will give to any man or men willing to engage in service of the Continental Army." March 2: "Voted to give 50 pounds to each man who enlists into the Continental Army for 8 months to compleat this Town's quota of the 15 Battalions that are to be raised in the State of Massachusetts Bay." May 14th: "Voted to raise a sum of money sufficient to pay Rations for 8 months for men raised by this Town to serve as Continental Soldiers." Nov. 21: "Voted . . . to raise money to pay for the clothing of the Continental Soldiers raised in this Town ... " On July 8th, it was voted that "the West part of Town (Leyden) shall make Joshua Wells a reasonable satisfaction for serving as a Militia Soldier for 8 months." Also, "that the West part of town shall find men as Militia Soldiers to go to Albany as its proportion of the two Draughts last Spring."
While problems of men and supplies for the war fronts were being settled, new settlers were streaming into the Leyden hills, particularly into the newly opened Gore, the official records of which had recently been retrieved from Deerfield Tories.
It was in '78 that Enoch Briggs of Little Compton, R. I., set- tled on the Coolidge place and built the house now owned by Thomas E. List near the Old County Road. Briggs had married Judith Wilbor in 1756. Their son, Owen, was to play a colorful role in the war for independence. Enlisted for 8 to 12 months' ser- vice at the age of 19, he was held as a reserve militiaman until May 19, 1780 when, on the unauspicious "Dark Day," he set out to join the Continental Army. Fortune favored him, however. Later, he distinguished himself as part of the guard which help- ed bring about the exposure and downfall of Benedict Arnold.
Another outstanding settler at this time was Elder Joseph Green, the first pastor to brave the wilds of Leyden. He settled north of Enoch Briggs on the County Road close to the birth- place of Leyden's great sculptor, Henry Kirke Brown. Shortly af- ter his arrival, he encouraged his son, Paul, to move into Leyden from Rhode Island. The story goes that Paul, heeding his fath- er's dictums, started out with his family late in the Fall, making
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his way on foot and driving his stock (1 cow, 1 sheep and 1 hog) ahead of him. When he arrived at Old Deerfield, it was Sunday and the law of the land was such that anyone traveling on Sun- day would be arrested. The Deerfield River was in front of them. It was covered with ice scarcely thick enough to insure safety.
"A church meeting was being held nearby," says Chester W. Severance in his Leyden Centennial address. "The Greens realized their situation and trembled as to the consequences. Paul said: "We will take the cow across first, then the sheep and last the hog because the hog might squeal and attract at- tention." The cow was driven upon the ice and down she went, but they seized her by the horns and drew that end toward the opposite shore as far as practicable, then they took her by the tail, making a like advancement, till finally, by alternating their efforts from head to tail, they succeeded in getting her across the stream without rousing the Deerfield citizenry. Then came the sheep and the hog - both ferried across without incident - and the Greens breathed more freely as they wended their way northward."
"The first meal of victuals they ate after arriving in Leyden," said Severance, "was bean porridge, the anniversary of which was celebrated in like manner for seventy years." Paul moved in with his father, Elder Joseph, and shortly after that built his own house, known now as the Weaver place.
Other settlers in Leyden in 1778 include Richard Eson who trudged over the hills from Taunton with his wife and three child- ren to settle in the Budington Valley; Samuel Guild and Ezekiel Foster, who built homes in Beaver Meadow; Ner Wells and Ben- jamin Grinnel, homesteaders in the Frizzell Hill area. In the "far west" of Leyden, the name of Peleg Babcock first appears on the records at this time.
During the year, the question of partition again came up. As in many New England towns, communication between remote sections was most difficult. Citizens in West Leyden did not think they received an adequate return for their tax money. Roads were inadequate, schools primitive and the church over ten miles away. Hence, on June Ist it was voted "to see if the inhabitants of the East and West parts of Town will agree to Divide the town . " On the 4th of June, Major John Burke, James Couch, Aaron Field for the East part, and Capt James Walsworth, Captain Elisha Burnham and Lieutenant Daniel New- comb for the west part, were elected a Committee to agree as to
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the dividing lines between East and West.
The Year 1779: Legislation on the home front was divided in- to three categories at this time. (1) Legislation covering Fall Town's obligations in supporting the Revolution then being fought in the Southern States. (2) Legislation covering the adopt- ion of a State constitution. (3) Legislation covering the partition of the Township.
On August 16, the following war legislation was laid before the people: "Proposed that Capt. E. Burnham, Lt. John Severance and Lt. Robert Riddle be a Committee to present a Petition to the Great and General Court of this State asking that this Town may be relieved of the great burden laid upon them above other towns in this State respecting the charge of the War."
This article contained far more dynamite than first met the eye. It was the initial suggestion of the growing unrest among the over-taxed, war-burdened people. It was a forerunner of the unrest which terminated in Shays' Rebellion.
This article also brought to light for the first time in Leyden's records the name of Riddle, or Riddell as it was later spelled. Robert Riddle, on the above-named committee, was the grand- father of Leyden's leading scientist, Dr. John L. Riddell, later to become a pioneer in theoretical space travel.
On the state constitutional slate, the question was raised as early as April 19 as to just how the town would vote in respect to a new State government. The result was 68 for and only 2 against. It was further voted to "impower our Rep. to vote for a State Convention for the sole purpose of forming a new Con- stitution . .. providing the Constitution when formed, shall be sent back to the people and if 2/3 of the people are for it, it shall be Established, but if more than one third are against it, it shall be null and void." On July 29th, it was voted to "chose some person to represent the township in a Convention of Delegates to convene at Cambridge on Sept. Ist for the purpose of forming a new Constitution of Govt."
Such caution on the part of the people to pass on or accept new constitutional legislation, reflected their hesitancy to ap- prove any laws which might limit or infringe on their hard-won independent rights.
During 1779, two important changes occurred within the township's boundaries. On April 12th it was voted "to set off to Colrain the lands belonging to Fall Town, West of Green River." This constituted virtually 2,500 acres of the one-time Bos-
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ton Township # 2. On Patriot's Day, April 19, further division of the township took place when it was voted to divide the Fall Town lands east of Green River into two districts, with the boundary at the south line of the town located "1 mile West of Zebulon Allen's dwelling, from thence running north one half mile West of Joseph Edwards' house and thence northward to the north line of the town." The map in the front of the book shows the location of this dividing line.
Even at this time, a few Leyden faithfuls braved the muddy and snow-packed roads, and made their way to church in the east part of the Town. Evidence that efforts were being made to make more attractive the church meeting-house is shown in the following record dated March Ist: "Voted to nail on the boards that are come off the Meeting House; also to nail up the windows to make it more comfortable: Ye windows in ye lower part to be made so as to slip up." This "modern improvement" was doubtless a reference to the introduction of guillotine win- dows in the church.
For the second time in '79, the name of Lt. Robert Riddle ap- pears on town records as a special committee member - this time to "pass on Town Accounts." John Adams, a new Leyden resident, also is listed on this Committee.
In the Leyden birth records at this time, we find "a child born to David and Ruth Potter, on Ethan Allen Highway, April 17." Children were born also to Ezekiel and Chloe Foster in Bea- ver Meadow.
In the west part of town, Phineas Crumb, Nathan Culver and Joseph Elliot added their names to the Leyden roster. And in the southeast, Eudy and Millis, Hessians from Burgoyne's hard-press- ed army, appeared as citizens of the community.
The Year 1780: The treachery of Benedict Arnold and his ar- rest was particularly significant to Leyden people not only be- cause Arnold had burned the New London property of one of Leyden's settlers, but also because Owen Briggs played an im- portant role in the downfall of this unprecidented turncoat.
Early in the year routine legislation was carried out on the home front in regard to bounties to be paid. Ten shillings per month in silver money was offered to "those men who shall ser- ve." In lieu of cash, the bonus could be paid, at the soldier's option, in "wheat, rye, Indian corn, wool, flax, meat, cattle or sheep."
The town also voted to "raise 116 pounds (about $580) to
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purchase 3360 pounds of Beef (including hides and tallow) for the use of the Army agreeable to an Act of the Gen. Court of this State bearing date, Sept. ye 25, 1780." Hezekiah Newcomb, later to figure prominently in Leyden affairs, was one of a com- mittee to purchase the beef and see it delivered to the proper authorities.
A new note of excitement was introduced into the Town this year. Counterfeit bills, probably manufactured on "Counter- feit Island" in the Deerfield River, found their way into the town treasury. On Nov. 17, this article appears on the town re- cords: "To see if the people will make up to Lieut. John Sever- ance the loss he has sustained by Counterfeit Money as Collec- tor." On Dec. 4th the subject was further discussed. It was voted that "if Lt. John Severance, who has been collector of taxes, has received any Counterfeit money for sd. taxes and can make it evident to a Committee that shall be chosen to pass the town ac- cts. that the very Bills he shall produce are ye very identical Bills which he used for Taxes, he shall be allowed a sum equal to the sum of the Counterfeit bills, allowing for depreciation."
Indicative that the improvement of roads was much in the public mind, the question of laying out roads agreeable to the Petition of Phineas Crumb and others in the Western part of the town was introduced on August 20th. A road from Beaver Mea- dow to the Guilford line established the general location of the homesteads of Elisha Burnham, David Davis, Selah Chapin, John Fuller and John Hunt. Burnham lived at the foot of Hunt Hill on the old Hescox place; John Hunt was on the Baker place, with Davis, Chapin and Fuller between in south to north order.
Late in the year, the town voted that "Chapin, Couch and Loomis be a Comm. to take care that no person or persons cut or carry off any wood or timber from the Ministry or School lands." Apparently timber poaching by the over-burdened poor had grown to sizable proportions.
New names to appear in the town include: Uriah Wilbur who came from Rhode Island. His daughter, Phoebe, was born June 10th in what is now Leyden Center. Benjamin Baker, on the River Road, is recorded as having a son born October 26th 1780. And William Clark of West Leyden is credited with setting out the first apple orchard on the never-to-be forgotten Dark Day of this year.
The Victory Period - 1781: This was the year that General Nathaniel Greene of Rhode Island, rated second as an offensive
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leader in the Revolution, hammered away at the British in the South, while Generals Washington and Lafeyette hemmed in Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Evidence of Fall Town's active part in these campaigns is reflected in the following records: "Jan. 8, Voted to double the quota of beef (6454 lbs) for the Army." Voted, "to raise the sum of Sixty pounds Silver money or paper money, Equivalent per man, as a bounty for each soldier that Enlists to serve in the Con- tinental Army for a term of 3 years or for the duration, 20 pounds of said money to be paid at the beginning of each year." July 26: "Voted, to give each of the Militia men 10 dollars (two pounds) as a Bounty for serving the term of 3 years." Sept. 5: "To see what measures the people will take to pay the men for the hor- ses found last year for the Army." Dec. 3: "Voted, to give Ens. John Cunnabell six pound for the horses purchased of him for the Army." It also was voted to raise "three pound twelve sh. for mileage money paid the solds."
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