USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 44
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NEWBURYPORT, December 12, 1776. ALBERT SALLERON.
In Council Dec. 17, 1776 Read and Ordered that the Prayer of the Petition be granted and that the Petitioner have and he hereby has, Lib- erty to proceed to Martinico with his said vessell and cargo the Embargo notwithstanding. JOHN AVERY, Dpt. Sec.1
To the honble the Council & Honble House of Representatives for the State of the Massachusetts Bay.
The Subscribers of Newburyport Merchants humbly beg leave to rep- resent to your Honours, that a Ship owned by them, called the Montgom- ery, commanded by Joseph Rowe, had, before the present Embargo took place, sailed from hence bound to Bourdeaux in France, with part of her Loading, (of which two Casks of Furs were ship'd by the honble Board of War upon the Acct of this State) & with all her Provisions in, but was to call into Sheepscut at the Eastward, there to compleat her Load- ing with Spars & other Lumber.
That their Design in this Voyage (in which they export only the Pro- duce of this County) is to bring in a Load of Salt, which the Country ap- pears to be very destitute of, also some Cannon, for a Twenty Gun Ship they are concerned here in the building of, & other warlike Stores if to be got, & their Cargo outwards will procure them-& if warlike Stores are not to be procurred, they have ordered coarse Linnens & Woollens-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXVI .; p. 90.
576
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Now, the present being judged by far the best Season, to supply this Country from abroad, with the many Articles it stands in need of & as your Petitioners have with much Trouble, & at extraordinary Expence provided a Master & Crew to sail their said Ship, & they have already proceeded part of the Way upon their Voyage, upon your Honour's Consideration of these Premises & the foregoing, they flatter themselves. that you will grant Permission, And they humbly beg of your Honours that you grant them a Permit (& duplicate of the same, to send both by Land & Water) for their said Ship Montgomery Joseph Rowe Master to de- part for France from Sheepscut or any port in the Eastern part of this State where said Ship may be; after having loaded or compleated her Loading with Masts Spars & other Lumber the present Embargo not- withstanding & your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.
JACKSON, TRACY & TRACY.
NEWBURYPORT 13th Decr 1776.
In the House of Represents Decem. 25, 1776 Read and Committed to the Comtee : on Similar petitions
Sent up for Concurrence
SAM FREEMAN, Speakr P. T. In Council Dec. 25, 1776.
Read & Concurr'd and the same Committee are joined on the part of the Board
JOHN AVERY, Dpy Secy
Decr 30, 1776. The Comtees of Both houses on ye foregoing petition Beg leave to Report as their opinion That ye prayer thereof be so far granted that ye ship mentioned in said petin be permitted to Sail on her intended voyage provided she Carry None of ye articles Enumerated in a resolve of the General Court passed the Ioth Instant Prohibiting the same & Return Laden with Cargo as mentioned in ye petition
JABEZ FISHER pr. order
In Council Dec. 31, 1776
Read & Accepted Sent down for Concurrence
JOHN AVERY, Dpy Secy
In the House of Represents Januy 1, 1777 Consented to-Read and Concurred
SAML FREEMAN, Speakr P T
To the honble the Councill & the honble House of Representatives in General Court assembled Decr. 1776
Humbly shews John Emery of Newburyport in the County of Essex Merchant, that under the Encouragement given by the honble Continent- al Congress he engaged in a foreign Voyage to France & Spain, & has lately imported to this State a considerable Quantity of Linnen & woolen
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXXI., pp. 375 and 376.
577
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
goods, which upon his Arrival he offered to the Committee of Cloathing for the Continent, who received to the Amount of near seven thousand Pounds ; that while in Spain your Petitioner being himself acquainted with the Resolves of the Continental Congress, respecting a free Trade, communicated the same to Messrs Gardoqui & Sons at Bilboa, & ob- tained a Credit from them for a large Sum upon his Contract to repay them in Rice ; that upon his Arrival at Newburyport he found the Em- bargo, which your Honours have thought best to lay upon all Vessells, prevented the Performance of his Agreement, without he can have Aid from this honble Court ; he would suggest to your Honours that besides the Great Inconvenience to your Petitioner, from this Restraint, the Credit of other Americans will doubtless be greatly affected, not only with that reputable House at Bilboa, but with the other Merchants in Spain, who are now disposed to serve the American Cause, if they find there can be no Faith put in their Contracts, he therefore prays your Honours would permit him to send two Vessells from Newburyport to Carolina, there to purchase Cargoes of Rice, & thence to proceed to Bil- boa, & that your Honours, if you should think best, would recommend to the Committees at Carolina to permit your Petitioner under these Circumstances to load from thence for the Purpose aforesd & as in Duty bound will pray. JNO. EMORY.
The Committee of both houses beg leave to report that the within pe- tition be granted, provided the petr carrys none of the articles Enumer- ated in a resolve passed by this Court 10 Decer 1776.
JOHN TAYLOR Pr order.
In Council Jay 3d. 1777
Read & Concurrd Consented to
JOHN AVERY, Dpy Secy
In the House of Representatives March II, 1777.
Resolved that Stephen Hooper, Tristram Dalton & John Coffin Jones, be & they hereby are permitted for the purpose of discharging a debt of eight thousand pounds & no more by them contracted in Europe the Effects of which have been sold to the contractors for purchasing cloth- ing for the Continental Army, to Export out of this State in such Ves- sells as may be sufficient, such articles as are not expressly enumerated & prohibited, to any part of Europe not under the Dominion of the King of Great Britain, or to any of the United States, with such articles as are allowed to be carried to those States & from thence to proceed to any part of Europe as aforesaid for the purposes aforesaid, any act for lay- ing an Embargo within this State notwithstanding provided said Hooper, Dalton & Jones clear out their cargo or cargoes at the Navall office in Newburyport or procure from the Navall officer of said Port a certificate
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXXI., pp. 423-425.
578
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
to any other Navall officer signifying to what amount may be cleared out by them Respectively,
Sent up for Concurrence
SAML FREEMAN, Speaker.
In Council March II, 1777. Read and concurred
JOHN AVERY, Dep y Secy
November 28, 1776, the selectmen were authorized to pay a bounty to every able-bodied man enlisting in the Continental Army from Newburyport.2 In December, Col. Jonathan Tit- comb received six hundred and seventy pounds, "bounty for soldiers under his command," and the following bills were ap- proved and settled by the selectmen during the next two or three months :-
For milk supplied by Daniel Watrous(?) to Capt. Lunt's company at Prospect Hill.
Elias Davis for mileage to Danbury of 67 men 252 miles at 2d per mile £140.14.
Nathaniel Goodwin for 37 Canteens £3. 7.0
Samuel Lunt for II camp Kettles 6.12.0
Amos Pearson for one gun 1.16.0
Joseph Cutler
I.IO.O
Enoch Titcomb, jr. for one gun & sundries 5. 7.0
Moses Bradstreet for one gun and powder horn 3. 3.0
Ralph Cross for three guns .
5. 4.0
Joseph Frothingham, Jr. for four guns 7. 6.0
Joseph Leathers for one gun . I.IO.O
Other bills, similar to those described above, were paid by the selectmen at a later date and charged to the appropriation made for the purchase of military supplies.
At a convention held in Ipswich April 22, 1777, delegates, representing nearly every town in Essex county, assembled and after a brief discussion, voted to favor the enforcement of an act passed by the General Court, regulating the sale of goods and merchandise, entitled " An Act to Prevent Monop- oly and Oppression."3
April twenty-eighth, the legal voters of Newburyport ordered
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXXII., p. 169.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 272.
8 Province Laws, vol. V., ch. 14, p. 583.
579
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
the selectmen of the town, with the advice and assistance of the committee of safety, to fix and establish the price of beef, pork, mutton, poultry, flour, meal, peas, beans, butter, eggs, sugar, molasses, etc.
The order was promptly executed, and the prices agreed upon were carefully recorded by the town clerk.
West India Rum
6/8 per gallon by the hogshead
66
66
6/10 " ditto barrell
66 66
7/8 " single gallon
66 66
2/- " quart
New England Rum
3/10 per gallon by the hogshead or barrell
66 66 4/6 per single gallon if distilled in this town
Carpenters wages
5/4 per day
Joiners do
4/8 do
Caulkers do
6/- do
Masons wages
6/- do
Day Laborers
4/- do
English hay
4/6 per cwt. (best quality)
Oats
2/- per bushel
Barber's fee for shaving /3
Milk
/ 3d per quart
Potatoes commonly called Spanish Potatoes of the best quality 1/2 a bushel in the Fall of the year & no more than 1/8 a bushel in any other season.
Dinners at taverns, for travellers, of boiled or roast meat, with other articles equivalent, exclusive of wine, 1/6. Supper and Breakfast I/- each. Lodging /4.
Keeping a horse for one night, or for twenty-four hours, with English hay 2/ -. I
The prisoners, taken by armed privateers, and sent into New- buryport during the summer of 1776, were not confined in the jail on King, now Federal, street, but were allowed to visit places of interest within the limits of the town. A memorial from the committee of correspondence in Newburyport pre- sented October 25, 1776, to the General Court states the following facts :-
There are now in this town a number of the Subjects of the King of Great Britain who were taken & sent into this port in vessels either
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., pp. 272-275.
580
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
employ'd in his immediate service or by the Inhabitants of his Domin- ions. As at present they have no authority to restrain these people, they have been down to our Fort; viewed the Entrance & every other part of our Harbor, and daily visit our Wharves, Frigates & Armed Vessels now lying there. By indulging them in these Liberties the comtee conceive they will be able when they return to England to give the Enemy some interesting Intelligence. That by their taking Lodgings in different parts of the Town they have contracted an acquaintance with many of the Inhabitants to whom they Represent our situation in the darkest Colors and the Enemy as Invincible.
The Committee therefore pray the Court to order that those who are not Willing to Enter on board the Continental Frigates or Privateers may be removed to some Inland Town till they are Exchanged or other- wise released.I
In answer to this and similar petitions from other towns in the colony, March 27, 1777, the General Court passed " An act for securing and making provision for the support of Pris- oners who may be taken by any American Armed Vessel and brought or sent into any Port in this State." This act provid- ed for the removal of prisoners from Newburyport to Boston.2
Although some of the inhabitants of Newburyport were sus- pected of violating the law in regard to the importation of tea, and others were accused of advocating submission to the de- mands of parliament, only two were ordered to appear and answer to the charge of disloyalty.
[June 30, 1777] Voted that Daniel Bayley and John Anderson be presented to be tried, at a special session, on an act for securing this & the other United States against the Danger to which they are exposed by the internal Enemies thereof.3
On the ninth day of August, the selectmen of Newburyport were ordered by the General Court to raise and equip for ser- vice in the army one-sixth of the able-bodied men residing in the town.
1 Massachusetts Archives (Court Records), vol. XXXVI., p. 76.
2 Province Laws, vol. V., p. 702.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 288.
Whether Daniel Bayley and John Anderson were innocent or guilty of the charge brought against them is uncertain. No record of the trial at the court of general sessions has been discovered.
58I
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
[August II, 1777] Voted to assist in raising the sixth Part of the able bodied men in this Town, in compliance with a Resolve of the Gen- eral Court, to join the Continental Army immediately & serve till the last Day of November next.
Voted to give those who shall inlist for the aforesaid Term a Bounty of Seven Pounds ten shillings pr month in addition to the State and Continental wages.
Voted to advance fifty dollars to each man who shall enlist for the aforesaid term, on his passing muster.I
On the fifteenth day of August, the town voted to pay a bounty of three pounds in addition to the four pounds ten shillings voted August eleventh, and the same day the select- men gave Capt. Richard Titcomb an order on the town treas- urer for five hundred and sixty pounds " to purchase fire arms & gun locks ordered by the General Court."2
August eighteenth, Col. Jonathan Titcomb was paid seven hundred and fifty pounds " For those men who may enlist to reinforce the American army as per vote of this town," and four days later he was paid seventy-five pounds," For Capt. Stephen Jenkins mileage money.2 Subsequently, Stephen Kent received fifty pounds "For the use of horses & waggon to go to Manchester for the company commanded by Capt. Stephen Jenkins " and for transporting baggage, etc., to Bennington.
In November, the men who enlisted "as a guard to the troops lately commanded by General Burgoyne " were paid at the rate of nine pounds a month "including State and Conti- nental wages."3
Col. Edward Wigglesworth, 4 having served, from July to De-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 290.
2 Newburyport (Selectmen's) Records.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 293.
4 Edward, son of Rev. Samuel and Martha Wigglesworth, was born in Ipswich January 3, 1741-2. He graduated at Harvard college in 1761, and married Bridget Cogswell January 18, 1770. He removed to Newburyport, and was em- ployed for several years as shipmaster by Jonathan Jackson, Nathaniel Tracy and John Tracy, merchants and ship owners. In June, 1776, he was appointed cap- tain of a company of matrosses stationed at Plum island, and on the eleventh day of July he was chosen colonel of a battalion to be raised in Essex, York and Cum- berland counties in the province of Massachusetts Bay for the Continental service. (Massachusetts Archives, vol. XI., p. 49; and Massachusetts Archives (Court Records), vol. XXXV., p. 169.)
Congress renewed his commission November 6, 1776. The field and staff
582
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
cember, 1776, in the army under Major-General Horatio Gates, in the vicinity of lakes Champlain and George, returned to Newburyport, and during the following winter raised a reg- iment of soldiers and applied to the executive officers of the state for fire arms and other equipments as follows :-
To the Hone Council of the State of Massachusetts Bay.
May it please your Honrs I am now under marching orders. A num- ber of my regiment are destitute of arms. I pray your Honrs therefore to give me an order on the Commissary General of this State for four hun- dred arms with the accoutrements and knapsacks.
EDWD WIGGLESWORTH, Col.
In Council April 9, 1777, ordered that the Commissary General be directed to deliver 400 Fire Arms & 400 Knapsacks to Col. Wiggles- worth agreeable to the minutes of the Council.
JNO AVERY, Dy Secy 1
The regiment under the command of Colonel Wigglesworth was ordered to join the Continental Army in New York, and was stationed for several months at Peekskill, on the Hudson river, as stated in the following communication :-
PEEKSKILL, 6th June 1777.
To the Honble House of Representatives of Massachusetts State.
Gentlemen :- Upon my arrival in Camp I found Major Cranston very
officers of his regiment on the twenty-eighth day of January, 1777, were as follows :--
Lieut Colonel, James Roberts of Berwick
Major, William Rogers of Newbury
Chaplain, Enos Hitchcock of Beverly
Adjutant, Thomas Smart of Danvers
Quarter Master,
Job Winchell of Berwick
Surgeon, John Wingate of Haverhill.
In the pay roll made up to that date Colonel Wigglesworth was allowed £7 for two hundred and forty miles of travel from Albany to Newburyport. (Massa- chusetts Archives (Muster Rolls), vol. XI., p. 36. )
In the month of July following, Dudley Colman of Newbury was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. ( Massachusetts Archives, vol. CCXIV., p. 407.) Colonel Wigglesworth remained in active service until March 19, 1779. He was one of the selectmen of Newburyport in 1783 and 1784. In 1785, he was elected representative to the General Court. He held the office of collector in the custom house at Newburyport from 1792 to 1795. He died December 8, 1826. Funeral services were held in the Prospect Street meeting house on the twelfth day of Decem- ber following. The pall bearers were Capt. Benjamin Gould, Lieut. Amos Pearson, Lieut. Jonathan Woodman, Lemuel Coffin, Philip Bagley, John Cook and Timothy Gordon, " survivors of the battle of Bunker hill." The Newburyport Artillery company and the Washington Light Infantry escorted the funeral procession from the meeting house to the burying ground. (Newburyport Herald, December 15, 1826.)
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXIII., p. 133,
583
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
ill of a fever ; he lived but two days after & as Col. Fuller is absent 'tis highly requisite there should be another appointed. I therefore beg your Honours would take it into their consideration & appoint one, or order the Committee for filling up vacancies, if such an one subsists, to appoint one & as I never was consulted in the arrangement of the Regt I shall beg leave to recommend Brigade Major Dudley Colman who I mentioned to the former Committee (in case Lieut Col. Fuller should not come for- ward) as an officer highly recommended by Gen1 Green in the last Cam- paign & a Person who will do honor to any Regt or Corps he shall be ordered to serve in. If the Honble Court can think my Recommenda- tion worth noticing & appoint him to authority in the Battallion under my command it will be esteemed an honor done to, Gentlemen
Your most Obedient humble Sert
EDWD WIGGLESWORTH, Colo. I
Tek Shell 6th June 199
Pour most Chovient! thumblatest_
July 5, 1777, Dudley Colman of Newbury was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regiment under the command of Col- onel Wigglesworth.2 During the summer, the regiment was in active service in the vicinity of Hudson river, and in the winter following was with the army under Washington at Valley Forge.
December 10, 1777, the General Court of Massachusetts adopted the following resolution providing winter clothing for the officers of the regiment :-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCVII., p. 148.
2 History of Newbury (Currier ), p. 608.
584
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Resolved that the Board of War be and they are hereby directed to sell to Thomas Smart, for a reasonable price, for the use of the commis- sioned officers of Colonel Wigglesworth's Battallion so much cloathing as will be sufficient for each of said officers,-one suit if they have so much, if not, as much as they may judge can be spared consistent with the necessities of the army.I
In answer to a request for information in regard to the number of men in the regiment under his command, and the towns to which they should be credited, Colonel Wiggles- worth replied in a letter to Major-General Heath as follows :-
CAMP AT VALLEY FORGE, 14th Feb. 1778
SIR,
In compliance with an order of Council shown us by the adjutant Gen1 I have sent Returns of the Several Companies in my Regt ; but I fear they will be found inadequate to the purpose as the greater part of my Captains were absent they would not be made with that accuracy the affair demanded ; as I imagine 'twas to determine what Towns were de- ficient in their Quota's. I think 'twould come more correct from the several Muster Masters provided they have kept accts of the Towns the men were enlisted for, which should suppose they ought to have done.
I am sir your most obedt & very humble servant
EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH.2
On the seventeenth day of March, Colonel Wigglesworth was appointed by General Washington a member of a court of inquiry to investigate certain reports relating to the surrender of forts Montgomery and Clinton on the Hudson. The court was held at Peekskill in April. Colonel Wigglesworth was chosen president, and served in that capacity until the questions in dispute were thoroughly investigated and the court dissolved.
On the twenty-eighth day of June, he was with his regiment at Monmouth when Gen. Charles Lee was upbraided by Wash- ington for his strange orders and cowardly conduct on the battle field.
Colonel Wigglesworth remained with the army until March 19, 1776, when his resignation was accepted by the command- er-in-chief.3
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLVII., p. 100.
2 Massachusetts Archives (Muster Rolls), vol. II., p. 45.
3 For further details relating to Colonel Wigglesworth's service in the Continent- al Army see History of Newburyport (Mrs. E, Vale Smith), pp. 356-361."
585
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
In the month of April following, the selectmen approved and the town treasurer paid to
Richard Smith £72. 0.0 for forty pairs of shoes for the army
Edmund Bartlet 43. 4.0
twenty-four pair ditto
Abraham Noyes 36. 0.0 twenty pair ditto
Nehemiah Flanders 36. 0.0 twenty pair ditto
Amos Collins 36. 0.0
twenty pair ditto
Mark Fitz
55.17.3
shirts and stockings ditto
David Hemphill 20. 0.0
" " bounty for his negro Cuff a soldier in the Continental army."
When the expedition to Rhode Island, under the command of General Sullivan, was decided upon, the following letter was sent to the captain of the Newburyport Artillery company :--
COUNCIL CHAMBER, BOSTON, July 26, 1778.
GENTLEMEN :- General Sullivan has signified to this Board his design of making a sudden attack on Rhode Island by General Washington's express command, and has called upon this state to aid his design with three thousand of her militia, and to communicate his request to the several Independent Companies and Gentlemen volunteers. in this state to co-operate with the French fleet in the reduction of that Island. In compliance with this earnest request of the General and from the idea of the glory of such a conquest, we invite you and the worthy gentlemen under your command to march immediately to Providence to share largely in the honor of banishing forever, from the New England States and from America, the remnant of a British Army, too long suffered to deal in blood and rapine in these sovereign Independent states. The gloom dissipates and we have reason to expect, from every appearance, that our exertion once more will close the scene of blood and fix you and your offspring free and independent of a tyrant, and place you at the greatest remove from connection with that field of blood, the British Isle.
Gentlemen you will signify to us as soon as may be your determination on this important enterprise, that General Sullivan may be immediately made acquainted with the force designed him from this state.
Gentleman, we are your most obedient very humble servant JERE POWELL, President,
Commanding Officer of the Independent Company Newburyport.I
In order to stimulate and encourage enlistments for this expedition the following votes were passed at a meeting of the
1 Address by Hon. Eben F. Stone, published in Newburyport Herald May 17, 1877.
586
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
inhabitants of Newburyport held on the twenty-ninth day of July :-
Voted to give one hundred dollars per month to each man who shall enlist before to-morrow 4 o'clock P. M.
Voted that fifty dollars per man be paid at Inlistment.
Voted that a wagon be provided at the expense of the town to trans- port the Baggage of the Soldiers to Tivertown.I
On the twenty-seventh day of July, Jonathan Titcomb of Newburyport2 and Solomon Lovell of Weymouth were ap- pointed brigadiers, by the president and council of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, for service in Rhode Island under General Sullivan,3 and a few days later the following letter was received from the captain of the Newburyport Artillery company :-
NEWBURYPORT, 31 July, 1778.
Your much esteemed favors of the 26th and 27th of July this moment came to hand ; am happy to have it in my power to inform the Honora- ble Board that the Independent Company under my command do, with the utmost cheerfulness accept of their invitation, and will be ready to march by Tuesday morning next, at farthest and flatter themselves they will be joined by numbers of the good people of this town, as we are now beating around for volunteers.
I am, sir, with due regards your most obedient, humble servant. THOMAS THOMAS.
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