USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902 > Part 47
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Benj Brown
Nathan Merrill
Joshua Little
John Mugridge
Moses Coffin
Joseph Mirick
Moses Hoit
Joshua Merrill
John Atkinson
Jacob Merrill
Matthias Atkinson
. Lem' Coffin
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xiii., p. 43.
i
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR
$ 7
Edmund Chase
Joshua Pillsbury
Jonathan Chase
David Whittemore
Moses Rollins
Josiah Little
Daniel Goodridge
Lemuel Fowler
Joseph Carr.
Jacob Coffin
Benj. Carr.
Matthias P. Sawyer
James Merrill.
Enoch Merrill
Peter Ordway.
[Sixty miles of travel and five days service.] *
A Muster-roll of Capt. Jacob Gerrish's company that marched to Cambridge in the Alarm, April 19, 1775.
Jacob Gerrish Captain
Silas Adams, Lieut. Jedediah Stickney Sergeant
Benjamin Stickney, .6 Joseph Danforth 66
Paul Moody, Sergeant
John Noyes 2d
PRIVATES
Nathaniel Adams
William Searl
John Currier
Nathan Adams
Jedediah Currier
Jacob Hale
John Cheney
Jacob Low,
Joseph Choat
Enoch Adams
William Flood
John Turner
Oliver Goodridge
David Chute
John Lunt
James Chute
Jacob Low, Jr.
Timothy Dorman
Richard Martin
Daniel Hale
Benj. Poor.
Abner Woodman
Amos Poor.
Enoch Boynton
Eliphalet Poor
Thomas Smith
Stephen Smith
Enoch Adams, Jr.
John Sawyer
Amos Stickney
Abram Thorla
Stephen Lunt
Nathaniel Pearson
Stephen Gerrish
[Eighty miles of travel and six days service. ] t
A Muster roll of the Company or party of men under the Command of Gideon Woodwell, Capt, who marched from Newbury on ye alarm on ye 19th of April 1775 to Cambridge & continued till ye 23d of ye same & set off for Newbury with leave.
Gideon Woodwell, Capt Pall Gerrish, Sergt Henry Somerby, Sergt John Dole, Corp!
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xii., p. 169. t Ibid., p. 104.
58 ;
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
PRIVATES
Daniel Knight
James Safford
Andrew Stickney
Parker Knight
Joseph Allen
Peter Stanwood
David Stickney
John Smith
John Bly
William Hale
[Eighty-six miles of travel and six days service.] *
A Minute roll of Capt. William Rogers 3d Company under command of Col. Samuel Gerrish of Newbury.
William Rogers, · Capt Samuel Pillsbury CorpI
Samuel Carr, Lieut Ezekiel Merrill
Wadleigh Noyes,
Sergt Nathan Emery 66
Joseph Newell,
Moses Moody
64
Nathaniel Hills,
Daniel Pillsbury
Drummer
Joshua Brown, 66
Ephraim Emery
Fifer
PRIVATES
Joseph Noyes
Benj Pettingell
Joshua Chase
Moody Smith
John Chase
Jonathan Thurston
John Eliot
William White
Thomas Follansbee
Francis Dean
Nehemiah Follansbee
Moses Chase
Aaron Noyes
Mark Woodman
John Flanders
Samuel Sawyer
Joseph Goodridge
John Merril
Obadiah Hill
Parker Smith
Samuel Hills
Asa Bayley
Thomas Hills
John Smith
Samuel Jaquish
Zebulon Engersol
Jacob Merrick
John Emery
Parker Noyes
Abel Woodman
[Forty miles of travel and from three to nine days service from April 19, 1775.]t
A muster roll of the several persons that marched from Newbury to Head Quarters at Cambridge belonging to the Troop on the twen- tieth day of April A.D. 1775 on ye alarm under the command of John Brickett, Lieut.
John Brickett, Lieutenant
Parker Jaques Corporal Abram Adams. Trumpeter.
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xiii., p. 196. t Ibid., p. 73.
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589
PRIVATES
Benjamin Adams
Stephen Coffin
Enoch Little
Thomas Thurlow
Joshua Hills
William Greenleaf
Moses March
Moses S. Moody.
[The above named persons are credited with eighty miles travel and four days service.]
Elipha Hill
Joseph Knight
Caleb Kimball
Thomas Davis
Samuel Dole
Enoch Huse
Thomas Williams
Abel Merrill
[The eight men last mentioned in this roll were detained as post riders and received their pay as such.]
[Officers and men rode to Cambridge on horses furnished by them- selves.] *
Muster-roll of the several Persons who marched from Newbury to Headquarters at Cambridge on the Twentieth day of April, 1775, under the command of Thomas Noyes, 3d
Thomas Noyes 3d Capt. Lieut. Moses Brickett
Abner Bayley Ensign
Enoch Long
PRIVATES.
Joseph Ames
Joseph Goodridge
Joseph Brown, Jr.
William Hills
Thomas Chase
Benj Hills, Jr.
Abel Chase
Thomas Huse
Joseph Chase, Jr.
Enoch Long, Jr.
John Chase
John March
Parker Chase
Moody Morse
Daniel Cheney
Peter Rogers
Winthrop Colby
· Thomas Rogers Silas Rogers
Nathan Chase Enoch Davis
John Rowling, Jr.
Robert Davis
Barns Short
Nathaniel Emery
Joshua Sawyer
Wm Foster
Daniel Thurston
[Eighty miles of travel and four days service.] t
On Friday afternoon, April twenty-first, the second day after the Lexington fight, the people of Newburyport held an informal meeting at
* Massachusetts Archives, vol. xi., p. 195; see also " Newbury in the Lexington Fight," by Miss Emily A. Getchell, in Putnam's Historical Magazine, January, 1895, pp. 6-15.
t Massachusetts Archives, vol. xiii., p. 19.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
the town house, and just as the reverend Thomas Cary was about open- ing the meeting with prayer a Messenger rushed up stairs, in breathless haste, crying out, " For God's sake, turn out ! turn out ! or you will all be killed ! The regulars are marching this way, and will soon be here. They are now at Ipswich, cutting and slashing all before them !" The messenger proved to be Mr. Ebenezer Todd *, who stated that he had been sent from Rowley, to warn the people of their impending destruc- tion.
The news spread like wildfire, and being generally credited, the con- sternation became almost universal, and as a large part of the militia had marched to the scene of action, early the next morning after the fight at Lexington, the terror and alarm, among the women and children, was proportionably increased, especially as from all quarters was heard the cry, " The regulars are coming! They are down to Oldtown bridge. cutting and slashing, and killing all before them! They'll soon be here!" It is remarkable that the same story, in substance, was simul- taneously told from Ipswich to Coos. In every place the report was that the regulars were but a few miles behind them. In Newbury, new- town, it was said they had advanced as far as Artichoke river, at New- buryport they were at Old-town bridge; there they were said to be at Ipswich, while at the latter place the alarm was the same. Mr. Eliphalet Hale, of Exeter, was at the latter place, and waited to ascertain the correctness of the report. Learning that it was without foundation he made haste to undeceive the people by riding from Ipswich to Newbury in fifty minutes. In the meantime all sorts of ludicrous things were done by men and women to escape impending destruction. All sorts of vehicles, filled with all sorts of people, together with hundreds on foot, were to be seen moving with all possible speed further north, somewhere, to escape the terrible regulars. Their speed was accelerated by persons who rode at full speed, through the streets, crying " Flee for your lives ! flee for your lives ! the regulars are coming !"
Some crossed the river for safety. Some, in Salisbury, went to Hampton and spent the night in houses vacated by their owners, who had gone on the same errand farther north. The houses at Turkey Hill were filled with women and children who spent the night in great trepi- dation. One man yoked up his oxen and taking his own family, and some of his neighbor's children, in his cart, drove off to escape the reg- ulars. Another having concealed all his valuable papers, under a great stone, in his field, fastened his doors and windows and, having loaded. his musket, resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible. One woman having concealed all her pewter and silver ware in the well, filled a bag
* Mr. Ebenezer Todd was evidently requested by some one in authority to carry the news to Newbury ; and, although misinformed in regard to the true condition of affairs at Ipswich, he was, nevertheless, like Paul Revere, a messenger sent to warn and save. He was held in high esteem by his relatives and friends in Rowley. To one of his kinsmen, Mr. William C. Todd, the city of Newburyport is indebted for liberal gifts in aid of the public library, reading-room, and hos- pital.
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with pies and other edibles, and set off with it and her family for a safer place but having travelled some distance and deposited her bag to make some enquiry she found on her return that there had been "cutting and slashing " not, indeed, by the regulars among the people, but by the irregulars among her provisions. Another woman, as I am informed, having run four or five miles, in great trepidation, stopped on the steps of reverend Mr. Noble's meeting house to nurse her child and found, to her great horror, that she had brought off the cat and left her child at home. In another instance, Mr. [ ] having placed his family on board of a boat, to go to Ram island for safety, was so annoyed with the crying of one of his children that he exclaimed, in a great fright, " Do throw that squalling brat overboard or we shall all be discovered." Mr. J -- L --- seeing Mr. C- H-, a very corpulent man, standing at his door with his musket loaded inquired of him if he was not going. "Going ? no," said he. " I am going to stop and shoot the devils !" Propositions were made by some persons to destroy Thorla's and the river Parker bridges, while many acted a more rational part and resolutely refused to move a step or credit the whole of the flying stories without more evidence. How, or by whom, or with what motives, the report was first started no one can tell. It lasted in Newbury and Newburyport but one night .*
Joseph Gerrish, esq., represented Newbury in the Provin- cial Congress held at Cambridge two months before the battle at Concord and Lexington. He was subsequently elected representative to the third Provincial Congress held at Watertown May 31, 1775. Early in the month of June following, the committee on military affairs recommended " that Capt Moses Little of Newbury be appointed a Colonel in the Massachusetts Army, he having five hundred and nine men, in eight Companies, ready for immediate service, all of them armed with good effective fire locks, and three hundred and eighty two with good bayonets fitted to their fire locks. Seven companies in camp at Cambridge and one company at Cape Ann." t
*'Coffin's History of Newbury, pp. 245-247. In a pamphlet published in 1814, now in the possession of Mr. Eugene Noyes, of Amesbury, entitled " The Life of Col. Jonathan Burnham, now living in Salisbury, Mass.," the author, referring to the " Ipswich fright," says, "The British landed at Marshfield to steal cattle and left the woods afire and the Newbury people heard that Ipswich was burnt and that I and my men were all killed, and that the British were coming to burn Newbury ; and the people were afraid and got boats to get over the river to run into the woods, and that news went to Exeter that night, and very soon to Concord, that I and my officers were all killed."
There is some doubt in regard to the accuracy of this statement ; but it is certain that Jona- than Burnham had command of a company that marched from Hampton Falls to Ipswich April 20, 1775. (See Brown's History of Hampton Falls, pp. 217-221.)
t Records Third Provincial Congress, P. 338.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
To this recommendation the representatives assembled at Watertown unanimously agreed, and Colonel Little received his commission in season to render efficient service, with a portion of his regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill. One of the companies under his command was from Newbury, Jacob Gerrish, captain, and two from Newburyport, Ezra Lunt and Benjamin Perkins, captains. The other companies composing the regiment were from neighboring towns in Essex county.
June 26, 1775, the inhabitants of Newbury voted " to unite with Newburyport, Salisbury, Amesbury, Bradford and Haverhill in placing obstructions in the Merrimack river to prevent ships of war from entering the harbor and destroying the town." *
Two days later, the Provincial Congress voted to raise ten companies, consisting of fifty men each, including officers, for service on the seacoast in the towns of Lynn, Gloucester, Marblehead, Salem, Ipswich, Newbury, Newburyport, and Salisbury.
After the General Court was dissolved by General Gage, June 17, 1774, it did not meet again until July 19, 1775. On that day, representatives from nearly every town in the province assembled in the meeting-house at Watertown, and after consultation elected twenty-eight councillors, who were authorized to approve or reject all laws enacted by the General Court, and also to exercise executive power in the absence of the governor and deputy governor.
Col. Joseph Gerrish was chosen by the inhabitants of New- bury to represent them at the General Court at Watertown ; } but for some reason he was unable to attend, and August 8, 1775, Major Samuel Moody was elected in his place.
On the twenty-first day of August, the councillors and rep- resentatives, by a concurrent vote, ratified and confirmed the transactions and resolves of the several Provincial congresses, and provided for the election of representatives.
... the towns of Newbury and Newburyport shall have the full power and right of Chusing and Sending as many persons to represent * Town of Newbury Records. t Ibid., July 4, 1775.
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them, respectively, in the great and general Court or [assembly of] this colony, as each of the said towns would have had a right to have chosen [and sent] to the said general Court by virtue of the act or law entitled " An Act for ascertaining the number and regulating the house of rep- resentatives " in case there had not been any restrictions upon the said towns, touching their rights and privileges of chusing and sending persons to represent them, respectively, in the great or general court or assembly, contained or expressed in the said act for the constituting and making that [part of the] former town of Newbury now called New- buryport, a distinct town .*
September 15 and 16, 1775, nearly one thousand soldiers under the command of Col. Benedict Arnold, on their way from Boston to Quebec, arrived in Newbury. Three com- panies of riflemen encamped on the high land, on the easterly side of "Trayneing Green," at the corner of Rolfe's lane, now Ocean avenue, and the country road, now High street ; and the rest of the troops were lodged in the town house and in two unoccupied rope walks in Newburyport. On the nineteenth of September, the whole force embarked on board ten trans- ports, and sailed for the mouth of the Kennebec river.t
October 27, 1775, a committee, consisting of Deacon Silas Pearson, Capt. Stephen Kent, Dudley Colman, William Ger- rish, and Capt. Joseph Stanwood, was chosen to erect a battery at Plum Island Point, "and also to procure one or more Car- riage Guns & some ammunition to defend the same." #
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Newbury held April 23, Mr. Richard Adams, jr., was elected a delegate to the county convention to be held at the house of Mr. Treadwell, innholder, in Ipswich, April 25, 1776, for the discussion of questions relating to the administration of public affairs. At that convention, the system of town representation, established by the charter of the province, was severely criticised, and the election of representatives to the General Court according to population was earnestly advocated. A memorial, signed by members of the convention, was presented to the councillors and representatives assembled at Watertown, asking for a re-
* Province Laws, vol. v., pp. 419, 420.
t A bronze tablet, designed by Mr. George P. Tilton of Newburyport, marks the place where the troops encamped. It bears a suitable inscription reproduced in the half-tone print on the next page.
# Town of Newbury Records.
.
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HISTORY OF A BY
vision of the election laws, and the adoption of a more equi- table system of representation. On the second day of May, the petitioners were granted a hearing ; and John Lowell, esq., of Newburyport, appeared in their behalf on the floor of the House of Representatives, and earnestly advocated the plan of
OPPOSITE
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representation recommended in the memorial. Two days later, the General Court passed an act providing for the elec- tion of three representatives from towns having two hundred and twenty freeholders, four representatives from towns hav- ing three hundred and twenty freeholders, and one additional representative for every one hundred additional freeholders, "said act to take effect at the begining of the next ses- sion." *
* Province Laws, vol. v., pp. 302 and 542.
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On the twenty-third day of May, Mr. Richard Adams, jr., Col. Samuel Gerrish, Samuel Greenleaf, esq., Mr. Stephen Little, and Capt. Daniel Chute were elected by the inhabi- tants of Newbury " to attend the Great and General Assembly to be held at Watertown May 29, 1776." * They were sub- sequently chosen to represent the town at the session held in Watertown on the twenty-eighth day of August following.
On the evening of July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Inde- pendence was adopted and subsequently signed by the mem- bers of the Continental Congress. A copy of this patriotic proclamation was sent to Edmund Sawyer, clerk of the town of Newbury, and was by him recorded with the following order issued by the executive council of the province of Massa- chusetts Bay : -
In Council July 17, 1776. Ordered, that the Declaration of Inde- pendence be Printed, and a copy sent to the Ministers of each Parish of every denomination within this State; and that they severally be re- quired to read the same to their respective congregations as soon as divine service is ended, in the afternoon, on the first Lord's Day after they shall have received it ; and after such Publication thereof, to de- liver the said Declaration to the Clerks of their several Towns, or Dis- tricts, who are hereby required to record the same in their respective Town, or District, Books there to remain as a Perpetual Memorial thereof, In the name and by order of the Council R. DERBY, Junr President
a true copy attest
JOHN AVERY, Dep. Secretary *
December 9, 1776, the inhabitants of Newbury voted to give a bounty of ten pounds to every person, residing within the limits of the town, enlisting in the Continental army under the call of the last General Court, and also voted to raise by taxation " such an amount of money as may be needed to meet the expenses incurred on account of the war." Doubt hav- ing arisen in regard to the legality of this action, a petition, dated December 23, 1776, signed by Edmund Bayley and John Adams, a committee for the town of Newbury, was pre- sented to the General Court'; and subsequently an act was passed " enabling towns to raise money for carrying on the
* Town of Newbury Records.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
present war," and providing for the collection of taxes tha have been " or may hereafter be assessed for that purpose."
March 11, 1776-7, a bounty of twenty pounds was voteu to every private soldier enlisting for three years or more "to help make up the quota called for from the town of Newbury "; and June 30, 1777, Mr. Samuel Noyes was chosen and in- structed to collect evidence against any person or persons suspected of disloyalty or unfriendliness to the cause of American independence.t
December 15, 1777, a committee was appointed "to take care of and supply the Familys of non commissioned officers & Private Soldiers Ingaged in the Continental Army for three years, or during the present war with Great Britain, according to a late act of the General Court" ; f and February 12, 1777-8, the inhabitants of Newbury voted to instruct their representa- tives " to acquiesce in and Comply with the articles of con- federation as we have received them from the honorable continental congress." }
After the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Octo- ber 17, 1777, the men and officers under his command were transferred to Massachusetts, and held as prisoners of war in the neighborhood of Boston for nearly twelve months. Sev- eral militia companies from Newbury assisted in guarding these prisoners at Winter Hill from November, 1777, to April, 1778.1
An article was inserted in the warrant for a town meeting in Newbury February 9, 1778, "To see if the town will vote a consideration for the militia for the town of Newbury that now are or may be guarding the Prisoners taken by Major General Gates." +
After some discussion, the town " voted not to do more for the militia now Guarding the Prisoners taken by Maj' General Gates than the General Court has added to their wages." }
On the twenty-fourth day of March following, a meeting was held "To see if the Town will give a Bounty to the militia of this Town that are called to Relieve the Guards that are now doing Duty at Winter Hill." +
* Province Laws, vol. v., p. 719.
t Town of Newbury Records.
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The selectmen were authorized, with the advice and consent of the committee of correspondence, to pay from the town treasury the amount necessary to secure the services of the men needed to relieve the guards ; and it was also " voted that the wages of the militia of this Town that have been Guarding the Prisoners Taken by Major General Gates, as Private sol- diers or non-commissioned officers, from November last to the third day of April ensuing, be made up at six shillings a Day with what they Receive other ways." *
The depreciated condition of the currency and the active demand for food, clothing, and household supplies increased the cost of living to such an extent that the General Court passed " An Act to prevent monopoly and oppression," Jan- uary 25, 1776-7. This act was repealed October 13, 1777; but a similar one, prohibiting the purchase, in large quantities, of grain, live cattle, provisions, or other merchandise, for the purpose of forestalling the market or realizing a profit on the sale of the same, was passed February 8, 1778-9, and con- tinued in force for several years.
During the summer of 1779, a convention was held at Con- cord to consider the condition of public affairs, and to devise ways and means for preventing the sale or purchase of any commodities necessary for the support of life at unreasonable or exorbitant prices.
August 4, 1779, the town of Newbury voted unanimously to follow the recommendations and approve the resolutions made and adopted at Concord, July fourteenth, relating to the sale of manufactured goods and agricultural products, and the same day elected Deacon Silas Pearson and Capt. Edmund Sawyer delegates to a second convention to be held in the same place in the month of October following .*
August sixteenth, a committee was appointed to meet dele- gates from Salem, Marblehead, and other towns in Essex county, at Ipswich, for consultation in regard to the prices to be fixed for labor, and for the purpose of securing unanimity of action in restricting the excessive charges of innholders for food and lodging .*
* Town of Newbury Records.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
October sixth, the second convention assembled at Concord. It continued in session seven days. The price current estab- lished by the convention in July was revised, and a spirited address to the people was adopted and published in the news- papers of the day.
November 11, 1779, the inhabitants of Newbury voted unanimously " that they approve of and accept the proceed- ings of the late Convention held at Concord in October regu- lating the prices of Merchandise and Country produce." *
The laws of trade, however, were more potent and effective than legislation or spirited resolutions. With a currency con- stantly depreciating in value, it was found impossible to regu- late prices ; and the attempt was ultimately abandoned as impracticable.
October 10, 1780, the town of Newbury voted to raise the sum of forty thousand pounds, in Continental currency, to purchase twenty-nine thousand three hundred pounds of beef for the use of the army, in compliance with a demand or requisition made. upon the selectmen by order of the General Court .*
In the month of November following, active efforts were made to increase the army. The requisite number of men, however, could not be obtained by voluntary enlistments ; and the selectmen of Newbury were compelled to resort to a draft. On the nineteenth day of December, at a meeting called for that purpose, the inhabitants of the town appointed a committee to hire men to serve as soldiers in the Conti- nental army, and voted to delay the enforcement of the draft for one week in order to give the committee time to secure the men needed.
Six months later, Newbury was again called upon to con- tribute to the support of the army, and voted July 5, 1781, " that the sum of six hundred pounds, hard money, be raised for the purchase of 23,259 lbs weight of Beef for the use of the army and that a Committee be chosen to purchase said Beef in the best manner it can be obtained." *
Although hostilities practically ceased with the surrender * Town of Newbury Records.
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of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, the preliminary articles of the treaty of peace between England and the American colonies were not agreed upon, at Paris, until November 30, 1782, and the United States were not "ac- knowledged to be free, sovereign and independent," until the formal treaty was signed at Versailles, September 3, 1783. Congress, then in session, issued a proclamation, on the thir- teenth day of October, disbanding the army.
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