History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 69

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 69

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" September 22d, 1755.

" A list of the men's names that Goine In the expedition against Crowne poynt which belongs to the northeasterly Part of ye Ridgement whereof Eleazer Tynge, Esqr., is Col, which were Presented by me, ye subscribers' muster-master, by ye subscribers, Capt, of ye several Com- panys to which ye men belong : Tewksbury men,-Jonathan French, Peter Farmer, Samuel Frost, Jr., Nathan Kittredge, Jr., David Kitt- redge, Benjamin Hoegg, Samuel Danforth, Ebenezer Jaquith.

" (Signed), Thos. Kidder, William Brown, Daniel Stickney, Ralph Hill, Joseph Fitch, Captne."

This expedition against Crown Point was part of the disastrous movement, under General Braddock,

against Canada, although his particular part of it was successful. The following extract appears to pertain to the same general movement :

" A Return of men enlisted for his Majesty's Service for the total Re- duction of Canada : Aaron Beard, Jun., age 18 years ; Stephen Osgood, Jun., age 19 years ; Daniel Mace, ege 24 years."

About this period, under the list of officers com- missioned for "ye Second Regiment of Militia in ye County of Middlesex," are found the following names from Tewksbury :

"Joseph Kidder, Capt. of Company in Tewksbury, Wm. Hunt, Lt. Jona. Shed, 2 Lt., Wm. Brown, Jr., eosign."

But by far the most interesting documents of this period are two lists of men "drawn out of Captain William Brown's company," as is declared in one of them. The second list, a largely duplicate of the other, is given entire, as far as concerns Tewksbury men :

" A muster-roll for the pay of a Company of Militia that were raised by Cel. Eleazer Tyng and marched for the relief of Fort William Henry, under command of Thomas Flint, Capt., in Aug. 1757 : Abrahami Stick- ney (ensign), Samuel Mears, Jacob Shedd (corporal), Samuel Hazeltine, Samuel Frizel, Edmond Frost, Jr., Benjamin French, Peter Clark, Peter Farmer, James Champalt, Amos Foster, Oliver IIall, Oliver Stearns, Thomas Cogin, Oliver Whiten, Samuel Putnam, Isaac Mace, Joseph Frost, Timothy Dutton, Ephm. Fisk.

"The above under the care of ensign Abraham Stickney, of Tewks- bury Alarm, 1757."

Most of these men rode, and were paid for riding, sixty miles, at the rate of 28. 8d. per day, and were out five days. The men named in the following list belonged to the same expedition :

"A muster-roll for Pay and Subsistence of a troop of Horse that were ordered by Col. Eleazer Tyng and marched for the relief of Fort Wol. Henry, under the command of Daniel Stickney, Aug. 1757 : Jonathan Kittredge, Tewksbury, Thomae Kittredge, David Trull, Zebulum Bout- man, William Kittredge, Jr."

This Fort William Heury was formerly Fort Lake George, and at this time the troops were under the command of "his Excellency, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Esq., General and Commander-in-Chief of his Majes- ty's Forces in North America for the Invasion of Canada."

The record of those who never returued, as kept by the pastor, Reverend Sampson Spaulding, is this :

"In ye service at Fort Wm. Henry, 1756: Seth Jewett, Dyd Octr. 20, 1756, Stephen Merrill Dyd., Joshua Kittredge Dyd., Daniel Griffin, Junr. Dyd, Corporal Joseph Brown, Dyd. July 14, 1757, Fort Edward ; Timothy Kittredge, Dyd. Sept, 15, 1758, at Hospital, Albany ; Thos, l'eacock, Dyd. Sept. 4, 1758, below Oswego Falls ; Sammuel Putnam, Dyd. Sept. 19, 1738, at Lake George, fever ; Benja, French, Dyd. Au. Dom. 1760, lu ye Ser- vice at Lake George."

From these deaths it is evident that still others than those yet found in the State archives await the unearthing of the patient investigator of that im- mense treasure-house.

The account of this period may fittingly close with a receipt copied from the town records:

" April the 234, 1756, Mr. Harrison Gray, Province Treas", Esqr. Be Pleased Sir to Pay to Stephen Osgood the half wages Due to me for my last year's service in the Crown Point Expedition, in a redgement under Colneal Richard Gudley in a company of Foot under the command of Capt. Jonathan Butterfield, as Witness my Hand,

"BENJE. HOAGG."

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" Tewksbury, June the ad, 1777. Rec! of Mr. Isaac Gray, Thirteen Pounds ten shilllags and six pence latwfoll money, in full of the wages dur to Beijn. Hlvagg for the Town, while he was in the Country's Ser- vice in the expedition Formed against Crown Point in the year 1756. It wad in t'apt. Butterfield's company.

"yo we, " THos. MARSHALL, " ABRAHAME STICKNEY, " JOHN NEEDHAM,

Selectnien of Tewksbury."

THE REVOLUTION .- Tewksbury manifested a spirit of patriotism and sacrifice not less than her sister towns in the great struggle for independence.

February 8, 1773, the first note of the coming strife sounds in the town records. Then Tewksbury voted to choose a Committee of Correspondence with the town of Boston, and Mr. Ezra Kindall, Aaron Beard, John Needham, Nathaniel Heyward and David Trull were chosen ; and then it was voted to adjourn to March to hear their draft, which was accepted. The warrant of September, 1774, contains an article " to see if the town will appoint one or more delegates to attend a Provincial meeting at Concord; " and another article " to see if the town will provide some fire armes and more ammunition and choose a com- mittee to provide for the same." September 21, 1774, seven months before the battle of Lexington, they voted to buy more powder for a town stock, and to buy two more barrels of powder in addition to the town stock, and to "leave it with ye committee to provide bullets and flints as they shall think proper." Six days after they met according to adjournment, and chose Mr. Jonathan Brown as " Delegate for the Provincial meeting to be holden at ('oncord on ye second Tuesday of October next." In November was considered the article in the warrant " whether the constables be directed by a vote of the town to pay the money that they shall have or shall collect of the Province tax to Henry Gardiner, Esq., of Stow, ac- cording to the directions of the Provincial Congress." March, 1775, they voted to indemnify the assessors for not making returns to Harrison Gray, Esq. They then " voted to raise minute-men,"-it was high time after passing such votes,-and to give their minute- men live shillings apiece " for every half-day in the week that they train till further notice."

March 9, 1775, voted to choose a committee to sup- press disorders in town. A large committee of their best men was chosen, It was none too soon, for in a little over six weeks their minute-men must march to face the veterans of Great Britain at Concord, and it would never do to leave Tory sympathizers in the town to aid the enemy. That there were Tories then in Tewksbury is clear, for afterward, March, 1779, they chose Mr. Ezra Kindall as agent to care for the Tory farms in town. This meeting, at which men and money were voted, was held March 9th. April 19th the embattled farmers at Concord and Lexington, na Emerson says, " fired the shot heard round the workl."

Tewksbury was roused that famous night, or rather

morning, by one of the men started by Paul Revere on his famous ride through the Middlesex farms. The messenger passed through this village and roused its sleeping inhabitants. Then riding on, he stopped on that spring morning on Stickney Hill, at the house of Captain John Trull, near the training-ground often used by the captain for drilling the men, and enlist- ing them in their country's service. Hearing the cry, " The British are marching on Concord !" Captain Trull sprang from bed, and after firing his gun as the signal previously agreed upon to arouse General Var- num across the Merrimac in Dracut, threw himself upon his horse and rode rapidly to the village. Here he found the minute-men drawn up, ready at the word to march. Placing himself at their head, they were soon on their way by the Billerica road to Con- cord, and joined at Merriam's Corner with those from Billerica and other towns in hot pursuit of the retreat- ing British. There, all accounts agree that the sharp conflict changed the retreat into a rout.

One of the Tewksbury men was Eliphalet Manniug. One of Captain Trull's grandsons, Mr. Herbert Trull, often related that when a boy, on his way to Salem, he used to pass Manning's door. Eliphalet would call out: " I fought with your grandfather from Concord to Charlestown. He would cry out to us as we sheltered ourselves behind the trees: 'Stand trim, men ; or the rascals will shoot your elbows off."

There were three companies of men which marched from Tewksbury to answer the Lexington alarm April 19, 1775-one, the minute-men, under Capt. John Trull, two the companies of militia. The following are their muster and pay-rolls as copied from the orig- inals preserved in the State-House :

" First .- A Muster Roll of the Minute Company nader the Command of Capt. John Trull, in Colo. Ebenezer Bridges' Regiment, April 19th and after, 1775:

" John Trull, Luke Swett, Abraham Bayley, Sampson Spaulding, Jo- seph Phelps, Jon" Frost, Phineas Annas, Isaac Manoing, Jonathan Brard, Eliakim Walker, Joseph Frost, Peter Hunt, Wm. Hardy, Benja Dillaway (Andover), John Dandley, Jacob Frost, Amos Foster, Jonathan Gould, Jonathan Gray, Paul Hunt, John Haywood, David Merrill, Eli- phalet Manning, Prescot Batchelor, Moses Gray, Samnel Muuning, Isaac French, Timothy Rogers, Benjamin Burt, Jacob Burt, Ephraim Frost, Jeremiah Kidder, John Flint.

JOHN TRULL, Capt." " £24 6 71/2.

These men served from nine to ten days and tray- eled fifty-nine miles.

" Second .- The 'South East Company,' under Capt. Jonathan Brown. " LEXINGTON ALARM. Tewksbury Southeast Company in Col. David Grerti's Regiment, Co. of Mid., sworn Mar. 11, 1776, Indexed as Lex- ington alarm, vol. ii. p. 198 : Jonathan Brown, Lt. Abraham Stickney, Joshua Baldwin, Amos Foster, Benj. Burt, Elear Stickney, Thomas Manning, Saml. Fronch, Jacob Coney, Benja Clark, Sam, Longguns, Auron French, Ephm Kindall, Joel Freoch, David Merrill, Wol. Kit- tridge, Reuben French, Jon Foster, Neh. French, Thomas Kittridge, Jr., Jon& Shead, Eben. Whittemore, Joel Marshall, Thomas Sterns, Aaron Beard, Saml, Ober, Even. Twiss, Jr., Win. Kittridge (3d), Isaac Kittridge, Jr., Jerem, Kilder, Steph. Osgood, Jude Richardson, Joseph Frost, Jr., Josh" Clark, Ezru Kindall, Win. Marshall, Benj. Frost, Jong Spaulding.

" £19-0-6-3 was the total sum paid to the company."

" Third .- The Militin Company under the Command of Lt. Thomas Clark.

295

TEWKSBURY.

" Muster Roll of the Militia Company of the T. of Tewksbury under the Command of Lt. Thomas Clark in Colo Green's Regt., specifying the No. of miles and days of their march, April 19th, 1775 :

"Lt., Thomas Clark; Sergt., Newman Scarlett ; Corpl. Jacob Shed ; Corpl., Davis Chapman; Priv., Roger Mears, Wm. Leveston, Nath1 IInnt, Paul Thorndike, Benja Mace, Nebb Ilardy, Saml. Marshall, Benja Danforth, Edwd Butsman, Robt. Nicolas, Jacob Sanders, Ebenr Kitt- redge, Danl. Leveston, Saml. Frost, Nath! Kittredge, John Needham, Timo Kogers, Thomas Mears, Thomas Taylor, Stearns Needham, Joel Wright, David Bayley, Timo Dutton, Asa Leveston, Elijah Hazelton, Saml. Bayley, James Hazelton, Timo Hunt, John Hall, Hezb Thorn- dike.

" £14-12-6 was the money paid to the entire company."

From these three lists it appears how general was the response to the Lexington Alarm and the pres- ence among them of almost every family name in town.

Interesting as showing that they had no large fac- tory from which arms could be ordered is this "order to Joseph Phelps for making Eleven Bayonets Scab- bards." March 6, 1775, it was voted "to Indemnify the Assessors from all or any Charges in not making a return of the Constables' names and sums in their Lists the year past to the Honle Harrison Gray, Esq'. ; " also voted "to Indemnify the Constables from Charges in not paying their province monies to the Honle Harrison Gardner, of Stow." They ad- journed to Thursday, three days after, and then voted " To Chuse a Committee to Inspect disorders in the Town," and chose for this purpose :

" Deacon Isaac Kittredge, Dea. Jacob Shed, Nathl. Heywood, Aaron Beard, Eldad Worcester, Ezra Kendall, John Needham, David Bailey, Moses Worcester, Jonathan Brown, Thomas Marshall, Eben" Whitte- inore."

May 23, 1775, they voted "to Chuse a member to Represent the Town in the Provincial Congress at Watertown on the 31st day of May Instant." Mr. Ezra Kendall was chosen. The following May they made Deacon Isaac Kittredge, Nathaniel Heywood, John Needham, David Bailey and Thomas Clark the Committee of Correspondence.

How vividly is the clothing of the army brought out in a vote like this "that the selectmen shall make a return of what coats the Town doth make- for the men in province servis." At the 4th of March meet- ing, 1776, the Committees of Correspondence, Inspec- tiou and Safety were combined in the persons of Nathl. Clark, Jr., Nathl. IIeywood, Dea. Jacob Shed and Wm. Brown; but at the May meeting following some evidently thought the number too small, and they added to it Lient. John Flint, John French, Jr., and Benjamin Burtt.

For the remaining years of the war the various fortunes of the cause may be traced on the records in the efforts of committees to raise men and supplies. Payments were made to men for going to Cambridge, Roxbury, "Boston and the Lines," Dorchester, Rhode Island, Ticonderoga, New York, Fishkill, the Jeffreys, "at the westward taking Burgoyne." As these places pass before us the course of the strug- gle passes too. Many are the kinds of supplies for- warded from this little town to the army fighting for

liberty and home. Coats, shirts, shoes, stockings salt pork, Indian corn, horses and beef, for Continen- tal soldiers, are taken from the town directly to the various camps or depots. Nothing brings home to one so vividly how the war was carried on, what it cost in treasure, sacrifice and blood. As those event- ful years go by the difficulties in obtaining men to fill the town's quota increase. More effort and more bounty money are required. Special collec- tors and methods had to be employed to collect the war rates of money or coin. Familiarity with such details increases admiration for those who carried, the struggle through to its glorions issue. While the husbands and fathers were in the field their depend- ent families were well cared for by the town. Fre- quent are the votes directing the selectmen "to provide for those families that the men are in the Continental army." Touching also are entries like these " April 12, 1778, to the widow Rebecca French £3 5s. 10d. 2;" " to the widow Rebecca Gray 78. 9d." The severity of the struggle appears as the history of the town goes on m the town records. Many are the votes like this : "Sept. 8, 1777, to raise £200 for the in- couragement to raise men for the Continental army," to which they added £200 more three weeks later, and voted "to choose collectors to raise these rates." The difficulty to find men to serve as collectors reveals the hardness of the duty. The scarcity of salt felt by the Colonies at this period is thus made historical : " Oct. 21, 1777, voted that the salt be delt, to the poor sort of the people, not to the whole of the town at 15s. pr bushell they paying the money down for it." A committee was raised " to deal the salt ont," and instructed thus : " that the committee deal out the salt discressionally as they shall think proper." Guns, powder, gun- locks, lead, flints and other necessaries for war appear often as paid for or ordered.

Along with the war went hand in hand the forma- tion of a government and the framing of a constitu- tion. May 25, 1778, voted to choose a committee to examine the constitution or form of government. This committee was Ezra Kindall, Dr. Eldad Wor- cester, Ens. William Brown, John Needham and Nathl. Clark. This year 1778 was full of business, a meeting often occurring each week. In June, the 8th inst., they decided " not to accept the constitu- tion as it now stands." Almost a year later, May 21, 1779, they " voted to have a new constitution or form of government made" hy a vote of 20 against 2. This year two new drafts of men were called for and means taken to supply them. The emergency is shown by the military character of the committee elected to hire these men-Capt. Joshua Baldwin, Capt. John Trull, Maj. Jonathan Brown-and also by the decision that the committee should "give those men that should engage in the Continental service fifty pounds per man per month, or ten bushels of Indian corn per month." By a vote of 37 to 13, at a town- meeting they decided "to accept of ye proceedings

2010

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the convention that met at ('oncord to regulate prices," and a committee was chosen "to regulate prices in town." At the same meeting Mr. William Brown was elected " a delegate to go to Cambridge the first day of September next to meet in conven- tion in order to frame a new constitution."

From this record, January 19, 1780, it comes out that with all their efforts, they failed, either throngh inability or miscalculation, to fill their quota by one man. " Warrant of January 19, 1780-To see whether the Town will have the fine made into a rate that is Come in the Tax Bill upon the town for one man, which the town wanted for the nine months in the Continental army." In 1780 the stress of war appears in the increasing bounties offered for men and the dif- ficulties in obtaining them. llow characteristic of the time is the offer of June 21st " To give those men 22 bushels of Indian Cor. pr man pr month, or sole leather, or stock or Continental money equivalent thereto, and allowing them pay for twenty miles pr day for out and in, and the men to give the town an order for the whole of their wages." That year the town rate voted was £12,000, in part to pay the sol- diers. In June they are still working to get the necessary troops, and an article in the warrant is "for the Town to Proceed in any way or meatherd the Town shall Think Proper to raise the men that are called for to Joine the Continental army," and also "to hear the Request of the Great and General Court for money to carry on the war." The bounty was raised almost threefold at the following meeting. The following August they are hearing the request of the General Court for " Clothing and Blankets," and in October for beef, to furnish which great activ; ities follow. Their committee was finally instructed to hire money to provide the beef, or pay in lieu of it, or " to aet in any other way they shall think is for the Benefit and Advantage of the Town Respecting Pro- curing the Beef." The proceedings are of a similar character in response to the call in December for fur- ther men and beef. Affairs had reached the state that any practical way to comply with these calls was approved. The chief records of the town become taken up with raising of men and all kinds of supplies to keep them in the field, and pay for them both. Vor were disputes between towns wanting concerning the crediting of men. June 11, 1781, "An order to Col. Jon ithan Brown the sum of £9, it being for two ·lays going to Boston to git John Danforth held a Continental soldier for Tewksbury, and £13 148. for three days going to Boston about a dispute between Tewksbury. Draentt, Chelmsford and Wilmington, concerning Continental soldiers, and £21 p'd Thomas Taylor, Jacob Sanders and Benjamin Danforth, for going to Dracutt to be sworn, and £10 10s. for two days going to Boston to Git two Continental men returned, and £17 &#, for expenses the above two days, and £12 paid Esq' Varnum for draw- ing affidavits and swearing the witnesses, and £15

for one day going to Dracutt, and other time spent in the above affairs, £136 108." At this time it took seventy-five Continental dollars to pay for one in silver. In March, 1781, the selectmen and com- manding officers are directed " to class the town to git men to re-inforce the army." In 1781, then, the townsmen are found, as in other places, combined into classes, which hired a soldier for the army at an expense of some £27. The receipts and mustering-in papers of several of these men from Tewksbury can be seen on file at the State-House. In 1782 an execu- tion was sent upon the town for the three-years' men, and Wm. Brown received 188. for its cost ; and a suit is noticed a little later which cost the town 12s.

March, 1781, they voted instructions to their com- mittee, to engage men for three years or during the war : "to men that shall engage, 100 silver dollars per man per year, or the current exchange," and also " to fall into line with other towns in their offers." In June Nathaniel Clark was added to " the militia offi- cers, to git the remainder of the men to engage in the army for three years or during the war," and 400 sil- ver dollars are offered each of the four men that will so do. Next month, July, they voted to raise £100 hard money, to provide beef for the army, and in Sep- tember to collect only in hard money. Corn had be- come to a large extent a medium of exchange, as is seen from the vote in October, to see how much the corn shall be a bushel to pay the corn notes. They set it at 4s. per bushel, and chose a committee to " set- tle with the soldiers that have corn notes against the town." In December a vote shows the condition of affairs : " Voted, that the assessors give the constables orders to strain upon the inhabitants and others for the money that Don't pay in the corn in 20 days from the time the constables receive the lists ;" and "that there be places appointed to carry the corn to." Peter Hunt, Aaron Beard and Joel Marshall were appointed to receive the corn.

The records are filled with the ways and means to raise men and supplies. The military condition ap- pears from the choice of constables this year who were Captain Joshua Baldwin 2d and Captain John Trull. In 1782 as high as £66 or £67 was paid by a class for a soldier. The town appears to have ulti- mately paid back what the different classes expended for hiring men for the Continental Army. Thus, Feb- ruary 27, 1784, " an order to Jacob Frost (and sixteen others), it being what they paid as a class to hire a soldier for the Continental Army for three years, £65 98. 9d 2q."

This list, arranged alphabetically, probably con- tains the names of all the men from Tewksbury who took part in the Revolutionary struggle at any time :

Annis, Phineas

Bayley, Daniel

Ames, Isaac

Bayley, James

Annia, James

Burt, John

Bayley, Noah

Bayley, David

Bayley, John

Heard, Jonathan

Brown, William

Bayley, Samuel

297

TEWKSBURY.

Whitney, Moses

Thorndike, James

Whiting, Oliver

Worcester, Eldad

Wood, Asa Walker, Eliakim

Whiting, Moses Walker, Supply, of Peqwankitt Wood, Thomas Worster, William Wood, Amos.

Unfortunately there is no town record of those who fell on the field, but a few notes may be added, chiefly culled from the pastor's book of Church Records. In the muster roll of Captain Benjamin Walker's com- pany of Col. Bridges' regiment of Twenty-seventh Foot is found the name Philip Fowler, of Tewksbury, de- ceased 17th June, enlisted April 19, 1775. In the pay roll which follows, Fowler is reported missing. The captain was reported dead, and the company was in charge of Lieutenant John Flint, of Tewksbury. The Rev. Mr. Spaulding records among the deaths " Philip Fowler's son, died June 17th, 1775, perhaps, Silver Cord Broke. Sud"." The boy fell for his country in the fight, and his hody never having been recovered, as was not unlikely, something of a shadow remained upon his end.

In addition to the ancient pastor's record, the follow - ing certificates are copied from the file preserved at the State House :

"TEWKSBURY, April 23, 1776. " This may Certify that phillip Fowler served in the Late Capt. Beu- jamin Walkers Company, in 27 Regiment, Commanded by Col. Ebenezer Bridge, aud the said phillip was taken or killed in the fite at Bunker- hill, and has not Red. the Coat that was Dew to him as stipulated by the Congress.

"JOHN FLINT, Leut."

" ANDOVER, April 2, 1776. "To the honerl. Committee at Watertown, pleas to Deliver the Coat or the price of one, to the Bearer, that was Dew to (philip Fower), my husband, and the bearer's Receipt shall be your Discharge. hir

" ESTER X FOWLER." mark

" This may Certifi that the above phillip Fowller, Dcd., Did not leave Boy Estate worth Administering upon.

" Tewksbury, 18th, 1776.

" EZAA KENDEL, "one of the Select men of Tewksbury."

It would seem that these various testimonies to Fowler's death ought to place his name upon the tablets erected on Bunker Hill as among the killed in that memorable fight.1

Another note by the pastor is "Lenises (?) Green (Winchendon), Dyª in Tewksbury, November 13, 1775, Wiounded at Bunker Hill."

From Mr. Whitmore's "Report to the Boston City Council, on the Bunker Hill Tablets, Appendix B, Taken Prisoners"-is taken : "Jacob Frost, Tewks- bury, 'was taken in Bunker Hill fight,' Captain Benja- min Walker, Chelmsford, Col. Ebenezer Bridge, alive September 14, 1775, and in prison."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 69

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278