USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 40
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1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., pp. 192, 193.
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their overseers may see fit to distribute it among, and for that purpose to be remitted to said overseers as soon as it is collected.
Voted the Collection be assessed upon each Inhabitant in proportion to his last Province Tax with Liberty for any Person to refuse his pro- portion who may either find himself unable or feels himself unwilling to join in such a charity.
Voted that the town will stand by the result of the Congress even if it be to the stoping of all Trade.I
At an adjourned meeting held August 10, 1774, the follow- ing report was read, accepted and a copy ordered to be sent to the delegates in congress from the province of Massachu- setts :-
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Newbury Port in Town meeting assembled by adjournment from the 3d Day of this present Month, Au- gust :
Gentlemen : We your committee Chosen for the purpose of Express- ing the sentiments of the Town in the present distressed situation of public Affairs and also to draw some suitable Information respecting our Trade, to be presented, if necessary, at the Congress would report the following as the Opinion and Sentiments of the Town, and as proper to be communicated to the Deputies chosen by the Province to attend the Congress, viz :-
That this Town, confiding entirely in the Wisdom and firmness of the general Congress of Deputies from the several Colonies in America which is to meet in September next at Philadelphia, is determined and now resolves to abide by, and to the uttermost of their power fully com- ply with the final Determination of sd congress, Let the sacrifice be ever so great.
That although the Town, by their vote the aforesaid Day is willing to stop all Trade for the sake of obtaining more speedy and effectual Relief, it may notwithstanding seem more expedient to Congress that some Traders & Branches of Commerce be entirely stopped and others per- mitted, or that certain exceptions in Non-Importation Agreements may be made which all the Provinces should Equally or proportionally partake of, unless an immediate Prejudice to the Common Cause is the Conse- quence. This Town would desire the Favour of the Delegates chosen by this Province to attend the Congress that our Trade and Commerce may be preserved in the same State and with the same Indulgence as that of the other Provinces, and the Town would beg leave to acquaint them that the Chief Branches of its business are, Importations from Great Britain, a large trade with the French West India Islands, distil-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 195.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
leries which are numerous & Ship Building ; and if any Exceptions are made in the Importations into this province or any particular Towns thereof that this Town may have the same Indulgences.
Newbury Port Aug. 10, 1774.1
August 22, 1774, Jonathan Jackson, Jonathan Greenleaf, Tristram Dalton, Stephen Cross and John Bromfield were ap- pointed delegates to meet delegates from other towns in Es- sex county, at the suggestion of the selectmen of Marblehead, to discuss, " in this time of difficulty and danger," questions of great public interest and importance.
The delegates, assembled at Ipswich on the sixth and seventh days of September following, passed a series of reso- lutions denouncing the " Act for the better regulating the Government of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England," and declaring it to be the duty of the judges, justices and other civil officers in the county "to continue in the execution of their respective trusts as if the afore-mentioned act of Parliament had never been made."
At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of Newburyport on the twenty-third day of September, Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf, moderator, the following votes were passed :-
There having arisen some Doubts grounded on Rumors from other Towns whether the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Inferior Court of Common Pleas, will not be obstructed and whether they ought to sit in this Town in the next week and do Business as usual :
Voted that it is the opinion of this Town that the Determination of the Delegates of this county at their late meeting at Ipswich respecting the courts, ought to be adhered to, and the courts supported in the exercise of their constitutional authority : and that we will accordingly, as far as in our power, support them while they shall continue so to act : but if any officers of the courts shall hereafter presume to act under the new uncon- stitutional and oppressive regulations they must cease to expect support from us.
Voted that a committee of Safety be chosen to consult and advise with each other & if need be to communicate to the Town any measures that may appear to be conducive to the public Benefit, more especially to be watchful that no Encroachments are made on our Constitutional
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 197.
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Rights and Liberties, that we may enjoy the Blessings we have left, in Peace, and not be deprived of them from any Quarter but may devise & prosecute the most vigorous and reasonable measures, as far as lies in our sphere to retrieve our former Priveleges.I
The following-named persons were chosen members of the committee of safety September 23, 1774 :- 2
Benjamin Greenleaf, Esq.
Mr. John Bromfield
Capt. Patrick Tracy
Mr. John Stone
Dr. John Sprague
Major William Coffin
William Atkins, Esq.
Capt. Thomas Thomas
Capt. James Hudson
Capt. Joseph Huse
Mr. Edmund Bartlet
Capt. Samuel Batchelder
Mr. Ralph Cross, Jr.
Mr. Moses Nowell
Tristram Dalton, Esq.
Mr. Jonathan Jackson
Mr. Edward Harris
Mr. Richard Titcomb
Mr. Enoch Titcomb, Jr.
Mr. Samuel Tufts
Capt. Jacob Boardman
Mr. John Herbert
Mr. William Teel
Capt. Moses Rogers
Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf
Mr. Moses Frazier
Dr. Micajah Sawyer
Mr. Jonathan Marsh
Mr. David Moody
Capt. Nicholas Tracy
Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf was chosen representative to the Great and General Court ordered to assemble in Salem Octo- ber 5, 1774, and a committee, consisting of Benjamin Green- leaf, John Lowell, Tristram Dalton, Jonathan Jackson and Stephen Cross, was appointed to prepare instructions to assist him in the performance of his legislative duties. The com- mittee reported on the third day of October as follows :-
The town of Newburyport have again chosen you for their representa- tive in the General assembly, and though they apprehend your oppor- tunity of acting in that capacity may be very short, they do however re- pose in you an important trust. Since the dissolution of the late General
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 203.
2 As early as December 16, 1773, a committee, consisting of Capt. James Hud- son, Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf, Capt. Charles Hodge, Mr. Jonathan Titcomb and Mr. Stephen Cross, was appointed to correspond with the committees of safety ap- pointed by the inhabitants of Boston and other towns in the province. June 15, 1774, Jonathan Jackson, Stephen Hooper, John Bromfield and Capt. Nicholas Tracy were added to the committee, and on the twenty-third day of Sep- tember following the committee, consisting of thirty members, whose names are printed above, was chosen May 26, 1775, the selectmen were added to this committee.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Assembly great and surprising innovations have been attempted to be made in the constitution of this province. The bills that have passed the British Parliament, for their better regulating, as they absurdly ex- press it, the civil government, and for the impartial administration of justice among us, are of such a nature as to alarm, not only the inhabi- tants of this Province but all the British American Colonies. We should come short of our duty if on this occassion we failed to express our utter abhorrence of the principles on which those bills have been con- structed, as well as the tenor of them, and the mode in which they are attempted to be carried into execution. If the Parliament of Great Britain have a rightful authority to make these statutes, it is evident that we hold our estates, our liberties, and even our lives at their arbitrary will and pleasure ; than which nothing can be more absurd and chimeri- cal. These bills, which are designed to annihilate our Constitutution es- tablished by charter, and to deprive us of those privileges which are founded on the still higher principles of natural right and justice have been passed without our having so much as a hearing on this occa- sion, by persons directly interested in the execution of them. As they are manifestly calculated to increase their power and authority and pro- portionably to lessen our weight and importance : and should they proceed on this plan, and we be so infatuated as to acquiesce, they will exalt themselves to absolute tyrants, and reduce us to a state of the most ig- nominious and abject slavery. The pernicious nature and tendency of these acts must be obvious to all, who consider the enormous powers they are designed to lodge in the hands of the governor: most of our civil officers are to be entirely dependent on his will, both for their ap- pointment and continuance in office. This circumstance, considering the manner in which our juries are to be appointed, leaves the subject no as- surance that he shall have a fair and impartial determination in every cause relating to life, liberty or property unless it happens to consist with the views and inclination of the governor : which is surely a most haz- ardous situation, especially as the governor now depends entirely on the crown for his appointment and support, and must therefore be ever ready to execute the purposes of the ministry. And in these unhappy circum- stances we may not, if these acts are of sufficient authority to prevent it, assemble together, even in the most quiet and orderly manner, to devise means to procure a redress of our grievances ; and, if we should, our so doing, it seems is to be deemed seditous and perhaps treasonable. The methods taken by the promoters of these bills to enforce them show that they were themselves so sensible of the odious nature of them, as that they were not trusted to their own authority or to a conviction of their being just and right, for the execution of them; but armed ships and armed men are the arguments to compel our obedience; and the more than implicit language that these utter, is that we must submit or die. But God grant that neither of these may be our unhappy fate. We de-'
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sign not madly to brave our own destruction, and we do not thirst for the blood of others ; but reason and religion demand of us that we guard our invaluable rights at the risque of both.
We would, therefore, now direct and instruct you to do nothing that shall in the least degree imply a submission to these acts ; that you do in no way whatever acknowledge the authority of those persons who are cruelly and perfidiously assisting to destroy their country, by assuming the character of counsellors of this province, not being appointed there- to but in an arbitrary and unconstitutional manner.
We doubt not your brethren will conduct [themselves] with regard to this and every other matter, with all becoming resolution and integrity ; and we have as little doubt, that this will procure the dissolution of the House ; and if it should, we hereby authorize you to represent this town in a convention to be formed of the members thereof, or any Congress of deputies appointed by the several towns in this Province ; therein to de- liberate and devise such measures as may conduce to relieve us under our present difficulties and embarrassments and to secure and establish our just rights and privileges on the most solid and permanent founda- tion.1
General Gage, the military governor of the province, real- izing the gravity of the situation considered it advisible to countermand the order for the meeting of the General Court at Salem. Ninety representatives, however, assembled there October fifth, and two days later organized a provincial con- gress, that adjourned to meet at Concord on the eleventh and in Cambridge on the seventeenth, where spirited resolutions were passed and vigorous measures adopted for the protection of the rights and liberties of the people.
Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf, Stephen Cross and Tristram Dalton, Esq., represented Newburyport in the second provin- cial congress held at Cambridge in February, 1775 ; and Capt. Jonathan Greenleaf and Stephen Cross were representatives to the third provincial congress, which assembled at Water- town May 31, 1775.
The excitement that followed the meeting of the first pro- vincial congress in Concord and Cambridge led to scenes of violence and disorder in the streets of Newburyport.
[October 24, 1774] Voted that the Committee of Safety together with the several officers of the Town (viz:) the Selectmen, Constables, War-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., pp. 206-209.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
dens &c. be desired to use their endeavors to prevent any Tumult or Disorder taking place at any time in the Evening or Night and that no Effigies be carried about or exhibited on the fifth of November, or other time, only in the Day time, and the Town also recommend it to Parents and Masters and others to prevent the wasting of Gunpowder in the firing of crackers, serpents &c on any occasion.I
The law regulating the importation and sale of tea was fre- quently violated and the attempt to punish the offenders was sometimes successful.
We hear from Newbury, that fome time laft Week it was difcovered that three or four Chefts of Tea had lately been fmuggled into that place and fold to different Perfons, but as foon as it was known to the Commit- tee they applied to the Perfon who difpofed of it (it being impoffible to come at the Tea) and obliged him to give up the Profits arifing from the Sale thereof, amounting to about 501 L. M. for the benefit of the Poor.2
Early in 1775, there was considerable commotion over the seizure and destruction of several chests of tea placed in the powder-house for safety. The following report printed in the History of Essex County, edited by D. Hamilton Hurd, vol- ume II., page 1742, appears to be authentic; but no trace of it has been found among the papers and manuscripts on file in the office of the city clerk.
To the inhabitants of Newburyport in Town Meeting assembled :
GENTLEMEN :- Your Committee of Safety, who are also appointed a Committee of Inspection to see that the Resolves of the Continental Congress are carried into execution have with constancy and cheerfulness, attended on the duties of their appointment, being sensible of the impor- tance of the Trust reposed in them, and they hope the Town in general have approved of their conduct. They have met with only one obstruc- tion in their proceedings which they think needful to lay before you, as their future influence and determination depend upon the sentiments of the Town thereon. Some time ago a small quantity of tea was brought in here in violation of the Continental Association, which the Committee took into their custody and had deposited in the Powder House in order that it might be kept secure until the Town or the Committee should de- termine something further respecting it, but before there was an oppor- tunity, therefor, some of our inhabitants, in a very sudden and hasty man- ner, laid hands on it and destroyed it. Now your committee apprehend
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 212.
2 Essex Gazette, January 17-24, 1775 (Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.).
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that it will be very unsafe for them to take into their care any kind of goods that may in future be introduced in the like disorderly manner, provided they must be exposed to the same fate, wherefore they desire the opinion of the Town upon the matter.
By order of the committee, EDW. HARRIS, Clerk.
At a meeting held March 9, 1775, the inhabitants of New- buryport voted to assist and support the committee of safety and inspection in their efforts to protect property and preserve peace ; " they think the manner in which the Tea was taken out of their Hands by no means justifiable & hope nothing of the like kind will take place in time to come."1
On the twenty-seventh day of March following, every able- bodied man was ordered to join one of the militia companies in town and hold himself in readiness for active service in case of need.
Rumors of the battle at Lexington and Concord reached Newburyport at mid-day, April nineteenth, but no definite or reliable information was received until several hours later, when the following letter was written and sent by a special messenger to Portsmouth, N. H. :-
NEWBURYPORT, April 19, 1775.
To the Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence in Portsmouth, N. H.
SIR : This Town has been in a continual alarm since mid-day with reports of the Troops having marched out of Boston to make some attack in the country. The reports in general concur, in part, in having been at Lexington. And it is very generally said they have been at Concord. We sent off an express this afternoon who went as far as Simon's at Danvers before he could get information that he thought might be de- pended upon. He there met two or three gentlemen who affirmed the regular Troops and our men had been engaged chief of the morning, and it is supposed we had twenty-five thousand men engaged against four
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 226.
Tradition asserts that Eleazer Johnson, who succeeded his father as a ship- builder at the foot of Ship street, said to his workmen one day: "If any of you are ready to assist in an enterprise that requires courage and discretion, knock your adzes from their handles, shoulder the handles and follow me." In answer to this call, it is said, the ship-carpenters marched to the powder-house, near Frog pond, demolished the door and removed several hundred chests of tea to the va- cant land near the meeting house (then standing in what is now Market square), where they were broken open and with their contents destroyed by fire.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
thousand Regulars ; that the Regulars had begun a retreat. Our men here are setting off immediately. And as the sword is now drawn, and first drawn on the side of the Troops, we scruple not you will give the readiest and fullest assistance in your power. And send this information further on.
In behalf of the Committee for this Town your humble servant,
JAMES HUDSON, Chairman.I
A list of men who marched with Capt. Moses Nowell from Newbury- port, April 19, 1775, against the British troops.2
Moses Nowell, Captain
Moses Pike, Corporal
Benj. Perkins,
First Lieut.
Nathaniel Tilton, Corporal
Elias Davis,
Second Lieut. Nathaniel Montgomery, Corporal
Stephen Jenkins, Third Lieut.
Samuel Foster, Corporal
Paul Lunt, Sergeant
Benj. Pearson,
Drum & Fife
Timothy Ford,
Sergeant
Richard Hale, Drum & Fife
Wm Ames,
Sergeant
Caleb Haskell, Drum & Fife
Samuel Clark,
Sergeant
Joseph Cross, Drum & Fife
PRIVATES.
John Somerby
David Rogers Benj. Eaton
John Wyatt
Moses Newman
Silas Parker
Wm Shackford
Edward Toppan
John Cook
Edmund Pettingill
Benj. Backley, Jr.
Amos Pearson
Timothy Palmer
John Adams
Wm Stickney
Michael Toppan
Edmund Morse
Stephen Morse
Moses Kimball
Nicholas Titcomb
John Sleeper
Thomas Haynes
Samuel Wyatt
Thomas Hammond
Moses Pidgeon
Wm Halliday
Thomas Merrill
John Brett
Hezekiah Goodhue
Jonathan Dole
John Chase
Moses Greenleaf
Wm Demm
John Bickford
John Little
Jesse Amory
Wm Mc'Clintock
Nathaniel Mitchell
Josiah Teel
Wm Hazeltine
John Perry Henry W. Tenger
Thomas Gould
Thomas Boardman
Thomas Frothingham
Joseph Somerby
John C. Roberts
Samuel Nowell
Samuel Harris
Joseph Somerby, Jr.
Joshua Pettingill
Thomas Morrill (2days) Enoch Moody
Jacob Knapp
Tristram Plumer
Thomas Leigh Moses Cross
Benj. Greenleaf
Isaac Currier
Joseph Davis
John Brown
Roland Stockman
Moses Moers
John Cheever
Samuel Hall
Francis Rogers
Nicholas Moody
Wm Farnham
Daniel Somerby
1 American Archives, fourth series, vol. II.,, p. 359.
2 Massachusetts Archives (Muster Rolls); vol. XIII., p. 17.
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54I
Thomas Weskon
John Kettle
James Brown
Joseph. McHard
Robert Fowler
Caleb James
Wm Connor
Stephen Giddings
James Forth
Joseph Herbert
John Stickney
Amos French
Jacob True
Joshua Mitchell
Roger Lord
Joseph Smith John Hammond
Enoch Plumer
Mayo Greenleaf
Nathaniel Warner
John Little
David Pearson
Isaac Frothingham
Nathaniel Haskell
Samuel Swazy
Zebulon Titcomb
Joseph Pearson
Asa Dickson Jonathan Carter
Moses Fessenden
Joseph Stickney
John Wood Brown
Isaac Marble
Philip Johnson
Jonathan Plumer
Samuel Huse
John Goodhue
Josiah Plumer
Paul Noyes
Amos Follansbee
Michael Titcomb
Luke Webster
Nathaniel Smith
Lewis Gay
John Halliday
Lemuel Coffin
(Seventy-five miles of travel and four days service.)
Two days after Captain Nowell's company left Newbury- port, the committee of correspondence sent the following letter to the commander-in-chief at Cambridge :___ 1
NEWBURYPORT, 2Ist April 1775.
SIR : We have sent forward the Bearer to have your orders with all possible dispatch by his Return, whether the Forces that are coming from the Province of New Hampshire & from the Eastern parts of our Province (who by Expresses we find are hastening along) should be sent back, especially those that live near the Seashore. We are well informed numbers passed our River yesterday at the upper Ferrys, besides four Companies thro this Town on their way to you. We shall follow your Directions & if ordered take care to send Expresses as far Eastwd as necessary. We have a party of men from this Town upwards of one hundred upon their March to you ; if they are not wanted & you think proper you can order our Express to turn them back. We sent off last evening two Field pieces to you, if not wanted they may be of some use here. We would be glad of your Directions, by our next Express, or by any safe opporty (as far as you can attend) how we shall act in case any cutters should come in here, more especially if they bring land Forces with them. If provisions of any sort are wanted give us an account what sort & we will forward what we are able with all Dispatch. If in giving
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCIII., pp. 55, 56 ; and American Archives, fourth series, vol. II., p. 373.
An order for two pounds and seventeen shillings was paid William Teel, April 22, 1775, by the town treasurer " for one Barrel of Poark Suplied the minnit com- pany on their march," and April twenty-seventh Samuel Ober was paid one pound and four shillings " for his expenses on the road to Cambridge with a Load of Bread for the Army."
Newburyport 25 april 175 We have fast forward the Beaver to
have your Orders with all possible derpatch by his Re- turn whether the Forces that are coming from the Province of New hampshire & from the masters parts of our Province ( who by Sfrrefers we find are hastunning along ) should be sent back - especially those that live near the seashore_
J . Your most humb fews * *
"How Arternus Harch be for Greenleary other commanding Officer . 7
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answers to these Enquiries it be necessary for you to give any private Information, please to direct to Benja Greenleaf, Esq. sealed & inclose it in another letter (with your Information that may be communicated) sealed to the chairman of the Committee for this Town, by whose order & in whose behalf I am Your most humbe servt
B. GREENLEAF.
To Hon. Artemas Ward Esq. or other commanding officer att Cam- bridge.
The arrival and departure of troops and the forwarding of provisions and military supplies created considerable excite- ment in Newburyport, and the inhabitants were greatly alarmed by the report that several regiments of British soldiers were on the way from Ipswich " cutting and slashing all before them."
On Friday afternoon, April twenty-first, the second day after the Lex- ington fight, the people of Newburyport held an informal meeting at the town house, and just as the reverend Thomas Cary was about opening 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 destruction.I
The news spread like wild fire, and being generally credited, the consternation 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 proportionally increased, especially, as from all quarters was heard the cry, " The regulars are coming ! They are down to Old town bridge, cut- ting and slashing, and killing all before them ! They'll soon be here ! " It is remarkable that the same story, in substance, was simultaneously told from Ipswich to Coos. In every place the report was that the reg- ulars were but a few miles behind them. In Newbury, New town, it was said they had advanced as far as Artichoke river, at Newburyport 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 New-
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