History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 63

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 63

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Andrew, but he was the defendant. While in com- mand at New Orleans, General Jackson set at nought the authority of a certain judge, who, upon the cessa- tion of hostilities, had the general brought before him on process, and fined him for contempt. The Con- gress afterwards voted the old hero the amount of the fine.

One of the military organizations which flourished in the eighteenth century, nearly up to the time of the Revolution, and many of whose members were Cam- bridge men, was a troop of horse. Like most mounted militia companies the character of its membership appears to have been above the average of that of foot companies, and, by special privilege, its officers had the. constructive rank of colonel, lieutenant-colonel and major, although in reality its captain, lieutenant and ensign. This privilege of holding constructive rank was possessed by the officers of the present First Corps of Cadets of Boston until 1874, and to them it was doubt- less given when that organization was contemporary with this troop of horse. The higher social standing of the members of these organizations was, no doubt, satisfied by this elevation in the rank of their officers, who were usually men upon whom the rank was worthily bestowed. Among the Cambridge com- manders of the troop of horse were, probably, Colonel John Vassall, the elder, and certainly Colonel Spen- cer Phips. Major John Vassall, son of Colonel Vas- sall, was also an officer in this corps. It was Colonel Vassall who built the historic mansion which, after it was abandoned by its rovalist owner, was occupied by Washington as headquarters, and in the present century became the home of the poet Longfellow.

Among the Cambridge militia officers who figured in the decades just prior to the War of the Revolu- tion was William Brattle. In what capacity he first did military service it is uncertain, but in 1729, when but twenty-two years of age, he held the rank of major, and in 1733 was the captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. . By the year 1739 he bad risen to the rank of colonel, held the position of adjutant-general in 1758, was a brigadier-general in 1760, and became major-general of all the Province militia in 1771. Although holding military rank during a period when the country was engaged in actual hostilities, his military activities were confined to the raising of troops and the administration of military affairs in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. But active he must have been, for he followed succes- sively the professions of medicine, theology and law, holding meanwhile, besides his military offices, the civil offices of justice of the peace ; selectman, alto- gether twenty-one years, from 1729 to 1772 ; repre- sentative ten years; councilor from 1755 to 1773, with the exception of 1769, and Attorney-General in 1736 and in 1747. In politics his advocacy of the popular canse, it is surmised, lost him his seat as a councilor in 1769, when he was negatived by the Royal Governor ; bnt be that as it may, he became an

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ardent royalist, was allowed the next year to resume his seat in the Council, and as a further reward, no doubt, received his commission as major-general.

To his political about-face, however, General Brat- tle owed the loss of his residence in Cambridge and in the country ; for the time was approaching when the dwellers upon "Tory Row" would no longer find congenial society on the Cambridge side of the Charles, outside of their own circle; when they must either esponse the popular side, or, bidding adicu to their delightful farms and gardens, leave them to be confiscated by their late fellow-townsmen, and seek protection for themselves from the British forces now landed in Boston. The latter course Brattle took, and when the British evacuated Boston, in the spring of 1776, he went with them to Halifax and there, in the fall of the year, he died.

Cambridge was soon to be an armed camp. But first her baptism of blood. The month of April, 1775, had come, and on Cambridge soil it was that the British troops who occupied Boston first set foot with a hostile purpose. Landing at Lechmere's Point (now East Cambridge) on the night of the 18th of April, they began their march towards Lexington and Con- cord. But Cambridge was prepared. The old Tory militia officers had given way to patriots. Captain Thomas Gardner, who succeeded General Brattle as the commander of the Cambridge militia company, had been elected colonel of the First Middlesex Reg- iment and his lieutenant, Samuel Thatcher, had succeeded him as captain. Although not apprised of the British movement until after the landing was ef- fected and the regulars had left the borders of the town, for Revere, who gave the alarm, passed out into the country on the other flank of the British, whose advance must have been undiscovered by the imme- diate neighborhood through which they marched until they were well within the limits of the present town of Arlington-Captain Thatcher assembled his company early on the morning of the 19th, when the alarm reached him, and led them to the conflict. During the day they marched twenty-eight miles, and, together with the Menotomy minute-men, a company formed in the northwest part of the town, under Cap- tain Benjamin Locke, were actively engaged with the enemy, whom they doubtless intercepted on their re- turn. The brigade under Lord Percy, sent by Gage after urgent calls to reinforce the column led by Colonel Smith, passed through Cambridge about the middle of the day, having come out of Boston by way of the Neck and having entered Cambridge by passing over the "Great Bridge," whose planks, in anticipation of Percy's approach, had been taken up, but, with a foresight that was hardly calculated to accomplish the immediate purpose of their removal, had been care- fully piled near by, so that they were readily replaced. Although the events of this day have been dignified by the name of a battle, in strictness they were hardly such. The march ont both by Smith and Percy was

made without opposition, unless the conduct of the minute-men on Lexington Common can be so termed -conduct which our patriotism says was heroic, and the result of which contributed to intensify the hatred against King George, but which a profes- sional soldier would, under the circumstances, regard as akin to recklessness and of no avail as a military proceeding. The return, to be sure, was an entirely different affair, but in no sense a hattle. It was still a march, made certainly nnder the most harassing conditions, and indeed most perilous to the royal troops, but still the column moved on until its objec- tive-point was reached. Nowhere except on Lexing- ton Common and at Concord bridge did opposing forces face each other in anything like a battle order. In the first instance the groups of patriots melted away so quickly that the British have always been charged with wanton slaughter, and if Major Pitcairn, who insisted to the day of his death that the Ameri- cans fired first, was right, this was not a battle. In the second instance, it was but a detachment of the King's troops whom the men of Middlesex faced, and hardly more than one volley on either side was fired when the detachment was withdrawn. But bloodshed there was and plenty of it before the exhausted troops of the King dropped panting to the ground under cover of the guns of the vessels lying in the Charles. The whole country was aroused. Men marched on the alarm from towns thirty miles distant, but there was no concert of action on the part of the Americans. By reason of this fact, and of the admirable order of march adopted by Smith, his troops were able to reach, not without severe loss, the point ju-t east of Lexington village where he found Lord Percy with the reinforcements. When the . consolidated column took up its march, it was through one continuous ambuscade of individual foes. Considering the num- ber of men who claim to have opposed the march of the King's forces on that day, and that the number was large there can he no doubt, much credit ought to be given to the King's officers for the manner in which the troops were handled. The circumstances were to them of the mnost trying description. Ex- hausted, as many of them were, by loss of sleep, by their long march, by the heat of the day, through lack of provisions (a supply train had been captured by the old men of Menotomy), and ahove all by the con- stant fighting, the task of getting back to Charlestown Neck must have seemed to them well-nigh hopeless. The resolution of the officers must indeed have been high, and the discipline of the men that of the best, to have accomplished what they did. Private soldiers, in some instances committed deeds in their nature barbarous, but, driven to desperation by the terrible fire of their hidden foes, it cannot be said that the conduct of the regulars, under the circumstances, was unusually atrocious. But for the unfortunate affair in the morning on Lexington Common, where it is probable that there was a needless destruction of hu-

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man life, it can safely be said, in the light of history, tliat the behavior of her troops on that day detracted nothing from Britain's martial glory.

Hotter and hotter became the fire and more numer- ous the assailants as the bleeding columu entered the territory of Cambridge, whose was the melancholy satisfaction of having more men killed upon her soil thau did any other town. The loss of the Provincials in killed on that day is said to have been altogether forty-nine. Of the British fully seventy-three were killed.

Of these numbers twenty-six Americans and nearly twice as many British soldiers fell within the town lines of Cambridge, so that of those who met their death more than half on each side were here slain. Among them were six Cambridge men-William Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, Jason Russell, Jabez Wyman and Jason Winship. A remarkable experience on that day was that of Captain Samuel Whittemore, another inhabitant of Cambridge in that part called Menotomy. It may be gathered from his obituary published in the Columbian Sentinel: " Died at Menotomy the 2d instant (February, 1793), Capt. Samuel Whittemore, Aet. 99. The manly and moral virtues in all the varied rela- tions of brother, husband, father and friend, were in- variably exhibited in this gentleman. He was not more remarkable for his longevity and his numerous descendants (his progeny being 185, one of which is the fifth generation) than for his patriotism. When the British troops marched to Lexington he was 81 years of age, and one of the first on the parade; he was armed with a gun and horse-pistol. After an animated exhortation to the collected militia to the exercise of bravery and courage, he exclaimed,-' If I can only be the instrument of killing one of my coun- try's foes, I shall die in peace.' The prayer of this venerable old man was heard, for on the return of the troops he lay behind a stone wall, and, discharg- ing his gun, a soldier immediately fell ; he then dis- charged his pistol and killed another, at which in- stant a bullet struck his face and shot away part of his cheek-bone, on which a number of the soldiers ran up to the wall and gorged their malice on his wounded head. They were heard to exclaim,-' We have killed the old rebel.' About four hours after he was found in a mangled situation ; his head was covered with blood from the wounds of the bayonets -which were six or eight-but providentially none penetrated so far as to destroy him. His hat and clothes were shot through in many places ; yet he survived to see the complete overthrow of his ene- mies, and his country enjoy all the blessings of peace and independence. His funeral will be to-morrow at 4 o'clock P.M., from his house at Menotomy, which his relations and friends are requested to attend." A pretty good record for a militia captain ! A memo- rial stone by the wayside in Arlington tells briefly the story of his heroism and of his marvelous escape from death. Seth Russell and Samuel Frost, of Menotomy,

were taken prisoners on that day, and were held until June 6th, when an exchange was effected.

By as much as the British troops fought their way pluckily and even savagely down the old Cambridge road to Charlestown, by so much the more did the spirit and valor of the men of Cambridge and their fellow-countrymen shine forth. Undisturbed as had been their outward march through Cambridge town, it was left by the British on their retreat, for such had the movement now become, after suffering their heavi- est loss and with their ranks practically disorgan- ized. The red-coats had not much further to go, and fortunate for them it was. Bloody ground was Cambridge on that day of fighting-a solitary day in her 260 years of existence. Hospitals were es- tablished, and their number was increased two months later after the carnage on Bunker Hill. Excitement and alarm filled the town into whichi there soon poured companies of minute men and individual soldiers in response to the circulars which were sent out by the Massachusetts Commit- tee of Safety, one addressed to the towns, and dated April 20th, urging them "to hasten and encourage, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form an army," and another, dated April 26th, addressed to the other New England Colonies, asking for as many troops as they could spare for the assistance of Massachusetts. Many of the inhabitants left their homes, and by April 22d the volunteers from out of town had become so numerous and apparently so free with what they could lay hands upon, that it became necessary to issue a general order threaten- ing punishment to any soldier who should injure property. On the 26th of April the regiments at Waltham and Watertown were ordered to march to Cambridge, where General Israel Putnam-"Old Put" -had command.

The Provincial Congress, which was sitting at Con- cord, had resolved that it was necessary to raise an army of 30,000 men, and that Massachusetts should raise, of this number, 16,500 men. In the plan for its organization, fifty-nine men were to form a company, and ten companies a regiment. Artemas Ward was appointed commander-in-chief, and at once estab- lished his headquarters at Cambridge, in a house be- longing to one Jonathan Hastings, afterwards better known as the Holmes House, which stood, until a few years ago, near the site of the present Hemenway Gymnasium of Harvard University. Many of the soldiers were quartered in the buildings of the Col- lege, whose library, apparatus and other valuables it was resolved should be moved to Andover, from which place a part was afterwards removed to Con- cord, where instruction was given. Other troops were quartered in private houses. The Committee of Safety occupied the Borland House, now known as the Plympton House, between Harvard and Mount Auburn Streets, near Plympton.

Not much was done at first towards the organiza-

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tion of the army. Acting independently, although with a common purpose, the Colonies found it diffi- cult to establish subordination, and, until after Wash- ington took command, the troops that occupied Cam- bridge were governed largely by their respective Co- lonial authorities, although, by courtesy, observing the orders of General Ward.

There were soon in Cambridge fifteen Massachu- setts regiments of foot and a battalion of artillery, but partially organized, under Colonel Gridley. Of the Connecticut troops, General Putnam's regiment was quartered along the present Inman Street, where the general had his headquarters. Little's regiment was at West Cambridge. Other troops were at a breast- work which had been thrown up near the base of Prospect Hill, and a strong detachment was stationed at Lechmere's Point. The Common was used as a drill-ground by the troops who were quartered in the College buildings and near by.

The American leaders were not unanimous as to the plan of action, and particularly as to the advisa- bility of occupying advanced positions which com- manded the town of Boston, where the British had remained since the 19th of April. Finally, however, it was determined to take possession of Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights, but not until the army should be better organized and equipped. Soon after this determination was reached, however, it was learned that Gage intended to occupy Dorchester Heights on June 19th with British troops. Accord- ingly, to divert his attention and to thwart his pur- pose, if possible, it was determined to occupy Bunker Hill at once.

"On Friday, the sixteenth of June," says Frothing- ham, "the commanders of the army, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee of Safety, took measures to fortify Bunker Hill. Orders were issued for Prescott's, Frye's and Bridge's regiments and a fatigue party of 200 Connecticut troops to pa- rade at six o'clock in the evening, with all the in trenching tools, in the Cambridge camp. They were also ordered to supply themselves with packs and blan- kets and with provisions for twenty-four hours. Also Captain Samuel Gridley's company of artillery, of forty-nine men and two field-pieces, was ordered to parade. The Connecticut men, drafted from several companies, were put under the gallant Thomas Knowl- ton, a captain in General Putnam's regiment. The detachment was placed under the command of Col- onel William Prescott, of Pepperell, who had orders in writing from General Ward to proceed that even- ing to Bunker Hill, build fortifications to be planned by Col. Richard Gridley, the chief engineer, and de- fend them until he should be relieved, the order not to be communicated until the detachment had passed Charlestown Neck. The regiments and fatigue party ordered to parade would have constituted a force of at least fourteen hundred ; hut only three hundred of I'rescott's regiment, a part of Bridge's and a part of

Frye's, under Lieutenant-Colonel Brickett, the artil- lery and the two hundred Connecticut troops were ordered to march. Hence the number may be fairly estimated at twelve hundred. It was understood that reinforcements and refreshments should be sent to Colonel Prescott on the following morning. This detachment paraded on Cambridge Common at the time appointed, and, after a fervent and impressive prayer by President Langdon, of Harvard College, it commenced, about nine o'clock, its memorable march for Charlestown." Proceeding to Charlestown, the fortifying party constructed the redoubt and breast- work which provoked the battle of the following day.

Awakened early in the morning by the British cannon firing upon the newly-made fortifications, which had been discovered at daybreak, Cambridge passed another day of confusion and alarm. Before night came, the lack of machinery with which to manœuvre the large force of men which had been assembled became painfully apparent to General Ward. Although aware that the detachment on Bunker Hill would be attacked, and, in view of their labors and situation, that they needed both refresh- ments and reinforcements, he was unable to supply adequately either. Ill supplied with staff officers, and because of the unorganized condition of the patriot troops, he could neither keep himself informed as to the exact state of affairs, nor could he with certainty make provision for such needs as were made known to him. So Prescott's men suffered, and finally lost the day, through lack of ammunition at the critical moment. But the lesson was a wholesome one, and no doubt Washington's labors were made less difficult when he set about the organization of the army in July.

On this day the heroic Colouel Gardner, of Cam- bridge, received his death-wound and gained immor- tal fame. Early in the day his regiment, together with General Ward's own and Patterson's, was held in reserve, being statioued iu the road leading to Lechmere's Point, but later was ordered forward. Upon reaching Bunker Hill, by the orders of Gen. Putnam the regiment was divided, part of it to work upon the defences which had been commenced at this place, one company to proceed to the rail fence, and the remainder, under command of its colonel, to rein- force the redoubt, which was now about to receive the third assault of the British. When descending the hill towards the redoubt a musket-ball struck Colonel Gardner in the groin and inflicted a mortal wound. As he was carried off the field he was met hy his son, a youth of nineteen, serving as a lieutenant in Cap- tain Trevett's company, who on beholding the ago- nizing sight, was anxious to assist in caring for his father. He was restrained, however, by the colonel, who, after a · heartrending interview, bade him go forward to his duty. A few days after the battle, it is related that Colonel Gardner was asked if he was well enough to see his son. "Yes," answered the

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hero, " if he has done liis duty." The son had distin- guished himself in the action and worthily upheld the reputation of his father.

Colonel Gardner lingered in great agony until July 3d, when death came. The orders of Washington, who, on the same day, took command of the army, relating to the loss of this officer were as follows :- " July 4, 1775. . Colonel Gardner is to be buried to-morrow at three o'clock P.M., with the mil- itary honors due to so brave and gallant an officer, who fought, bled and died in the cause of his country and mankind. His own regiment, except the com- pany at Malden, to attend on this mournful occasion. The places of these companies on the lines on Pros- pect Hill to be supplied by Colonel Glover's Regi- ment till the funeral is over." Colonel Gardner had been one of the foremost citizens of Cambridge; was Selectman from 1769 until his death ; a Representative from 1769 until the General Court was superseded by the First Provincial Congress, of which, and also of the Second Congress, he was a member ; was a member of the Committee of.Correspondence, elected by the town in 1772, and by the House of Representa- tives in 1773, and of the Committee of Safety, elected by Congress, April 14, 1775.

After the battle, Colonel Prescott reported to headquarters in Cambridge the result and received the thanks of General Ward, whom he found, how- ever, in great apprehension lest the enemy should advance on Cambridge. Prescott assured him that such a thing was not likely to be done by the British, who had suffered great loss in killed and wounded, and even offered to re-take the hill that night or perish in the attempt, if three regiments of fifteen hundred men, well equipped with ammunition and bayonets, were put under his command. But General Ward decided that the condition of the army would not justify so hold a measure. " Prescott had not yet done enough to satisfy himself, though he had done enough to satisfy his country. He had not, indeed, secured final victory, but he had secured a glorious immortality."

But now to Cambridge had come the leader who was to secure both victory and immortality, whose service was to overshadow that of all others, no mat- ter how distinguished-a man whose character was to become an object of veneration, not alone to America and to Europe, but to all mankind. Under the elm by him made famous, " the great Virginian drew his blade " on July 3d, and looked for the first time upon the faces of the New Englanders assembled ou Cam- bridge Common. Of majestic presence, Washington appears to have made upon the army, at the begin- ning of his service as commander-in-chief, the favor- able impression which he ever afterwards uniformly sustained.

Upon Washington's arrival, the works which were begun by the Americans immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill, were still further extended, and the

army was organized into three divisions, that at Cam- bridge, under Major-General Israel Putnam, consisting of his own brigade and that of Brigadier-General Heath, forming the centre. The earthworks which were thrown up in Cambridge made a chain extending across the town, on a line northeast and southwest from the work at the base of Prospect Hill, just out- side of Cambridge, near Union Square, Somerville, to the Charles River. On Dana Hill, then called But- ler's, a line of fortifications were thrown up which extended from Broadway northerly. Another work was built at what is now the corner of Putnam Avenue and Franklin Street, and ten years ago traces of this were distinctly visible. This work commanded the river as far down as where now stands the River- side Press. Here another fort covered the interval to Captain's Island, where still another work was thrown up. Farther down, still substantially pre- served, through the public spirit of the Dana family and at the joint expense of the city, the Common- wealth and the National Government, which contrib- uted three cannon, stood a three-gun battery, now known as Fort Washington. Subsequently a strong work was constructed at Lechmere's Point.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 63

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034