USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 46
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Voted that the Representatives of this Town be & hereby are Directed to use their Influence at the General Court to procure an application to Congress that they would give positive orders and Instructions to their Commissioners for negotiating a peace to make the right of the United States to the Fisheries an indispensable article of treaty.2
The American colonies were not " acknowledged to be free, sovereign and independent " until the formal treaty of peace was signed at Versailles, September 3, 1783.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S GUARD.
March II, 1776, General Washington, in command of the Revolutionary army at Cambridge, issued a general order providing for the organization of a company of " sober, intelli- gent and reliable men " to protect the person and baggage of the commander-in-chief.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 360.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 368.
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Caleb Gibbs of Massachusetts was appointed "Captain Commandant," and George Lewis, a nephew of Washington, lieutenant. Men were detailed from the various regiments at Cambridge to serve in the ranks of the company. " It was considered a mark of peculiar distinction to belong to the Commander-in-chief's Guard."I
January 1, 1777, Lieutenant Lewis organized a troop of fifty men, and on the first day of May following some of these men were detached and assigned for duty, as mounted cavalry- men in the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, and Lieutenant Lew- is was appointed captain of the "Cavalry Guard."
The following-named persons, who enlisted in Newburyport early in 1775, were transferred from Massachusetts regiments to the company under the command of Capt. Caleb Gibbs, and afterwards to the cavalry under the command of Capt. George Lewis.2
Michael Caswell enlisted May 3, 1775, in Capt. Ezra Lunt's company, Seventeenth regiment, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; re-enlisted in Newtown, Pa., December 14, 1776, in Capt. George Lewis' troop, Third regiment, Continental Dra- goons, commanded by Col. George Baylor; assigned to the cavalry of the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, commanded by Capt. George Lewis, May 1, 1777 ; at the battle of German- town, Pa., October 4, 1777 ; at the battle of Monmouth, N. J., June 26, 1778 ; at the skirmish at Tappan, N. Y., September 28, 1778 ; discharged in Philadelphia December 13, 1779.
John Coffin enlisted August 3, 1775, in Capt. Benjamin Perkins' company, Seventeenth regiment, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; re-enlisted January 1, 1776, in Captain Per- kins' company, Twelfth regiment, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; transferred at Cambridge March 12, 1776, to the Commander-in-Chief's Guard ; at the battle of White Plains, New York, October 28, 1776 ; discharged December 14, 1776 ; re-enlisted for three years in Capt. George Lewis' troop, Third regiment, Continental Dragoons, commanded by Col. George Baylor ; assigned to the cavalry of the Commander-in-
1 Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, vol. II., p. 120 note.
2 See Commander-in-Chief's Guard, by Carlos E. Godfrey, published in 1904.
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Chief's Guard, commanded by Capt. George Lewis, May I, 1777 ; at the battle of Brandywine, Delaware, September II, 1777 ; at the battle of Germantown, Pa., October 4, 1777 ; at the battle of Monmouth, N. J., June 28, 1778 ; at the skirmish at Tappan, N. Y., September 28, 1778 ; discharged in Phila- delphia December 13, 1779.1
Lemuel Coffin enlisted May 9, 1775, in Capt. Benjamin Perkins' company, Seventeenth regiment, Continental Infantry, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; at the battle of Bunker hill June 17, 1775 ; re-enlisted January 1, 1776, in Capt. Benjamin Perkins' company, Twelfth regiment, Continental Infantry, commanded by Col. Moses Little; transferred at Cambridge March 12, 1776, to the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, commanded by Caleb Gibbs ; at the battle of White Plains, N. Y., October 28, 1776 ; discharged at Newtown, Pa., December 4, 1776; re-enlisted in Capt. George Lewis' troop, Third regiment, Continental Dragoons, commanded by Col. George Baylor ; assigned to the cavalry of the Command- er-in-Chief's Guard, commanded by Capt. George Lewis, May I, 1777 ; at the battle of Germantown, Pa., October 4, 1777 ; at the battle of Monmouth, N. J., June 28, 1778 ; at the skir- mish at Tappan, N. Y., September 28, 1778 ; discharged at Philadelphia December 13, 1779.2
Zebulon Titcomb and Michael Titcomb enlisted April 19, 1775, in Capt. Moses Nowell's company and marched to Cam- bridge when news of the battle at Lexington and Concord reached Newburyport. They re-enlisted for eight months in the Seventeenth regiment, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; re-enlisted January 1, 1776, for one year, in the Twelfth regi-
1 John Coffin, son of Joseph and Olive (Fowler) Coffin, was born in Newbury August 12, 1757. He married Mary Palmer November 18, 1781. Children : Henry, born February 23, 1783; John, born November 20, 1785 ; Jeremiah, born August 21, 1787.
2 Lemuel Coffin, brother of John Coffin, was born in Newbury, now Newbury- port, November 20, 1755. He married Catherine Cressol April 2, 1780, in Fred- erick, Md., and probably lived there until November 16, 1785, when he removed to Newburyport. He occupied for thirty-five or forty years a dwelling house near the corner of Warren and Merrimack streets. His son Abel, born October 21, 1792, was master of the ship Sachem when she brought the Siamese twins from Siam to Boston in 1829. (See chapter III., p. 158.) Lemuel Coffin died in New- buryport June 29, 1837.
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ment, commanded by Col. Moses Little ; transferred at Cam- bridge March 12, 1776, to the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, commanded by Capt. Caleb Gibbs; at the battle of White Plains, N. Y., October 28, 1776; discharged at Newtown, Pa., De- cember 14, 1776; re-enlisted for three years in Capt. George Lewis' troop, Third regiment, Continental Dragoons, com- manded by Col. George Baylor; assigned to the cavalry of the Commanders-in-Chief's Guard, commanded by Capt. George Lewis, May 1, 1777 ; at the battle of Brandywine, Del., September II, 1777 ; at the battle of Germantown, Pa., October 4, 1777 ; at the battle of Monmouth, N. J., June 28, 1778 ; rejoined the regiment September 26, 1778; at the skirmish of Tappan, N. Y., September 28, 1778 ; discharged at Philadelphia, Pa., December 13, 1779.1
A formal treaty of peace between England and the Ameri- can colonies was signed in Paris September 3, 1783, and the ยท Commander-in-Chief's Guard was disbanded on the third day of November following.
NAVAL SERVICE.
In August, 1775, the ship Alfred, 440 tons register, and five smaller vessels were purchased by a committee chosen for that purpose by the continental congress, and Esek Hopkins of Rhode Island was appointed commodore of the fleet.
' Michael Titcomb, son of Parker and Sarah Titcomb, was born October 15, 1750 (?). He married Lydia Hart. Michael and Lydia (Hart) Titcomb had two sons and three daughters as follows: Betsey, born in 1775, married Matthew Vincent ; Anna Hart, born in 1777, married Asa Webster Chickering; Michael, born October 20, 1720; married, for his first wife, Hannah C. Knapp in 1807, for his second wife, Jemima Giles in 1834; he died in July, 1869; Sarah Little, born February 17, 1784, died unmarried; Thomas, born in 1786, died March 7, 1836.
Michael Titcomb, born in 1750, who served for three years in the Command- er-in-Chief's Guard, died in Newburyport January 21, 1821. The following obituary notice was published in the Newburyport Herald on Tuesday, the twen- ty-third day of January :-
" In this town on Sunday last Captain Michael Titcomb aged 65 (?) years. At the time of our revolutionary struggle he entered the service of his country and was selected as one of General Washington's body guard, in which service he had several narrow escapes. In 1798 he was appointed first Lieutenant on board the United States ship Merrimack built in this town. Since he left the United States service he has been in the merchant service from this port to the full acceptance of his employers. Funeral from his late dwelling house in Ship street this after- noon at half past two o'clock."
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
David Saltonstall was captain, John Paul Jones, first lieuten- ant, and Henry Lunt of Newburyport, one of the crew, of the ship Alfred.
The fleet sailed from Philadelphia February 17, 1776, and subsequently made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Fort Nassau on one of the Bahama islands. After a running fight with the British sloop-of-war Glasgow off the east end of Long Island the fleet came to anchor in the harbor of New London on the eighth day of April.
An investigation followed. Commodore Hopkins was dis- missed from the service and Captain Saltonstall was relieved from active duty for one year. John Paul Jones, a subordinate officer, escaped censure and was ordered to take command of the sloop-of-war Providence at Newport, R. I. He accepted, with alacrity, the position to which he had been assigned, and taking with him nine men from the ship Alfred, including Henry Lunt of Newburyport,' he sailed in the Providence . from Newport to New York, where he shipped a crew of able- bodied seamen, and sailed again, on the fourteenth day of June, on a cruise that resulted in the capture of sixteen vessels, eight of which were destroyed at sea and eight sent into port.
The Providence arrived in Newport in October, 1776, after a four months' cruise, and Henry Lunt probably returned to Newburyport previous to the first day of November. He sailed November fifteenth, with his kinsman Cutting Lunt, in the brig Dalton from Newburyport, and was captured on the twenty-fourth day of December by the Reasonable, an Eng- lish frigate carrying sixty-four guns. He was subsequently confined, with the rest of the crew of the brig Dalton, in the Mill prison at Plymouth, England, for more than two years.2 He was released in March, 1779, with more than one hundred other prisoners, and taken in a cartel-ship employed for that purpose to Nantes in France.
In the meanwhile, congress had provided for the construc- tion of six large frigates for the protection of American com-
1 Paul Jones, Founder of the American Navy (Buell), vol. I., p. 51.
2 A Relic of the Revolution, containing the diary of Charles Herbert of New- buryport who was in the brig Dalton when she was captured.
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merce. One of these frigates, built by William and John Hackett at Salisbury point, and fitted for sea in Newburyport, was named the Alliance. She arrived at L'Orient, in France, early in the year 1779, and sailed on the fourteenth day of August, with the Bon Homme Richard and other vessels, under the command of John Paul Jones, "from the Isle de Groaix," for a cruise on the British coast.
William Shackford, Joseph Poor, Richard Lunt, Ebenezer Brown, Paul Noyes, Joseph Plummer, John Smith, Charles Herbert, Joseph Choate, Thomas Bayley, Benjamin Carr and Ebenezer Edwards, all of Newburyport, captured in the brig Dalton, and released from Mill prison in March, 1779, shipped on board the Alliance before she sailed on this memorable cruise.I
Joseph Brewster, Jacob True and Nathaniel Bayley were probably seamen on the Bon Homme Richard.' On the nine- teenth day of May, Commodore Jones ordered Henry Lunt, master's mate of that ship, to proceed to Dinan and enlist some American seamen "recently arrived there in the cartel from England," Soon after that date, he was appointed second lieutenant.
Cutting Lunt, kinsman of Henry Lunt, was third lieutenant. July twenty-eighth, he was sent from L'Orient to Nantes to enlist seamen, "able and willing to serve America and enrich themselves." On the twenty-third day of August, while the Bon Homme Richard was becalmed off the English coast, a boat's crew, sent out to keep the ship from drifting on to a reef of rocks, suddenly surprised and over-powered the officer in charge, cut the tow-line and pulled for the shore. Cutting Lunt, in another boat with six seamen and four marines, gave chase, but the deserters escaped. The pursuers, following them closely, ventured too near the shore and were captured and again confined in an English prison.
Early in the evening, September twenty-third, the Bon Homme Richard fell in with the Serapis, an English man-of- war, carrying forty-four guns, and after a terrible conflict com- pelled her captain to haul down her flag and surrender. Be-
1 See Appendix to A Relic of the Revolution, pp. 249 and 250.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
fore the desperate struggle began Henry Lunt had been sent out, with fourteen sailors in a small pilot boat, to capture a collier in the offing. The wind was light and baffling and he was unable to return to his ship until " the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis had locked teeth in their murderous rough and tumble fight." As it was, however, he boarded the Serapis on the off side from the Richard within five or six minutes after the firing ceased. When the battle was over Commodore Jones found that his ship was sinking. The wounded as well as the uninjured officers and men were re- moved to the Serapis. Only the dead remained on the ship when she rolled heavily, settled slowly by the head and sank in about forty fathoms of water.I
The crippled and disabled Serapis, under the command of Commodore Jones, arrived at the Texel in Holland on the third day of October and landed her prisoners and wounded seamen. The Alliance, under the command of Pierre Landais, had arrived there the day before. A violent quarrel ensued. For his failure to assist the Bon Homme Richard in her strug- gle with the Serapis, Captain Landais was suspended from the command of the Alliance.2.
December 26, 1779, Commodore Jones, having transferred his flag from the Serapis to the Alliance, sailed on a cruise through the straits of Dover and down the English Channel as far south as Corunna in Spain. Henry Lunt accompanied him as first lieutenant of the Alliance and afterwards came with him in the Ariel, "a French ship-of-war in the United States service," to Philadelphia, arriving there February 18, 1781, with a cargo of small arms and ammunition for the Con- tinental Army. In the month of May following, Commodore Jones retired from active service and soon after that date was sent to Portsmouth, N. H., to superintend the building of a seventy-four gun ship on Langdon's island.
Henry Lunt returned to Newburyport after an absence of
1 Paul Jones, Founder of the American Navy (Buell), vol. I., pp. 195 and 196.
2 He was subsequently declared to be insane, and was dismissed from the service. He died on Long Island, in the state of New York, in July, 1818, aged eighty- seven.
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four years and three months in the service of his country, bringing with him the following certificate or letter of recom- mendation :-
The bearer hereof, Mr. Henry Lunt, has served under my command on board the Continental ship Bon Homme Richard. He was first em- ployed by me as a midshipman at L'Orient, in the summer of 1779. He had been released from an English prison by a cartel. I soon promoted him to the station of a second lieutenant, and he continued with me in that ship as such, and was afterwards with me in the ship Alliance from the Texel to France, and also from thence with me in the ship Ariel to this port as second lieutenant. Mr. Lunt has been with me in many trying circumstances, and has always behaved like a good officer, for which he has my best wishes. He had not the good fortune to be on board at the time of the engagement with the Serapis till the close of the action. He is included in the vote of thanks which I have been honored with by the Congress since my return to this country.
Given under my hand at Philadelphia, May, 1781.
CHEVALIER PAUL JONES.I
Henry Lunt, second lieutenant of the Bon Homme Richard, was a lineal descendant of Henry Lunt who settled in New- bury in 1635.
Matthew Lunt, son of Daniel, grandson of Henry Lunt, Jr., and great-grandson of Henry Lunt, senior, who settled in Newbury in 1635, married Jane Moody of Newbury. His intention of marriage was published February 6, 1742. Chil- dren of Matthew and Jane (Moody) Lunt :-
Ezra, born April 10, 1743. Captain in the Revolutionary Army.2 Daniel, born March 14, 1745. Captured in the privateer brig Dalton. Escaped from Mill prison previous to 1779.
Anne, born February 28, 1750.
Henry, born in 1754. Second lieutenant of the Bon Homme Richard. Jane, born February 26, 1756.
Mary, born February 25, 1759. Elizabeth, born March 2, 1761.
Cutting Lunt, son of Joseph, grandson of Daniel, and great- grandson of Henry Lunt, who settled in Newbury in 1635,
' History of Newburyport (Mrs. E. Vale Smith), p. 365.
2 See chapter XV., pp. 546-549.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
married Deborah Jaques of Newbury December 10, 1735. Children of Cutting and Deborah (Jaques) Lunt :-
Sarah, born in October, 1736; died January 13, 1738. Paul, born March 18, 1739 ; died February 8, 1746.
Richard, born April 17, 1742. Captured in the brig Dalton. Con- fined in Mill prison. Seaman on board the frigate Alliance.
Silas, born August 21, 1744 ; died April 13, 1752.
Paul, born March 30, 1747. Lieutenant in Capt. Ezra Lunt's company at the battle of Bunker hill. Author of a diary published in 1872.
Cutting, born January 1, 1749. Captured in the brig Dalton. Con- fined in Mill prison. Third lieutenant of the Bon Homme Richard. .
REVOLUTIONARY WAR CLAIMS.
Several attempts were made to recover from the common- wealth of Massachusetts the cost of building a fort on Plum island and sinking piers in the Merrimack river for the protec- tion of the town and harbor of Newburyport.
January 10, 1776, some of the bills for labor and material used in the construction of the piers were referred to the com- mittee of safety and correspondence,' and on the fourteenth day of March the committee was instructed to prepare a pe- tition, stating the facts and praying the General Court for assistance in the work began but not then completed, as fol- lows :-
Voted that the Committee of Correspondence for this Town be desired to prefer a Petition to the Hon'ble General Assembly praying their as- sistance in defending & securing this Harbour & in the expenses that have already accrued for that purpose & for relief in our Colonial Taxes as the ability of the town is lessened by the failure of their commerce & to pray for payment of sundry small expenses incurred in the confused times of last spring & summer & that the Town Clerk attest the Petition to be preferred.2
In answer to this petition, the General Court adopted the following resolution :--
In the House of Representatives April 17, 1776. Resolved that the committee appointed to Fortify the Town & Har-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 246.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 251.
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR. CLAIMS
bour of Boston be and they hereby are directed to deliver into the Hands of Jonathan Jackson of Newbury Port, Six Pieces of Cannon from Nine to Twelve pounders, said Cannon to be improved for the defence of said Newbury Port until the further Order of this Court provided said Cannon can be spared & are not wanted for the defence of the Town & Harbour of Boston.
In Council read & Concurred. Consented to by 15 of the Council.1
The General Court adjourned on the tenth day of May. At the next session, held on the twenty-ninth day of May, thef ol- lowing petition was presented :-
To the honble the Council & the honble House of Representatives for the Colony of Massachusetts bay in Genl Court assembled May 1776.
The Memorial of the Subscribers Representatives of the town of New- buryport Sheweth
That a Petition was presented to the last Gen1 Assembly of this Col- ony by the Town they represent, praying Aid towards the Fortification of their Harbour. A Committee appointed to consider this Petition report. ed a Sum for that purpose, & that they shou'd be furnished with some Cannon, the honble Court gave them an Order for the Cannon, if they cou'd be procured from Boston, but they have not yet been able to pro- cure them-and they rejected the Report for an Allowance without further Enquiry, owing as we suppose to their great Engagements at that time. We apprehend that if a due Enquiry is made, it will be found that the Fortifications then erected at Newburyport, & others now erecting there, are of importance, & necessary to a valuable part of the Colony, & if so, that it ought to be a Colonial Concern, they earnestly pray the Con- sideration of the Court on the Premises, & if it shall appear that the Ex- pence about these Fortifications has been necessary, that the same may be repaid, & that they may be supplied with Cannon & Shot, & guarded by such a Number of Men, as may render these Fortifications usefull. To induce your Honours to an Attention to their Case, they beg leave to suggest, that it is almost the only Harbour where a considerable Trade may be driven in these times of Danger with so great Safety, if a small additional Security to what Nature has done for them, was added. That the Opinion which has prevailed that they were already safe, they think entirely a Mistake, & doubt not any Person on the Spot would be con- vinced of the same, as it will be apparent, that with a small Fleet of flat bottomed Vessels armed, enough of which the enemy have taken from us, & can easily prepare, with these, & a frigate or two to support them outside the Bar, they might easily find their way into the Harbour & ef- fect their Design. The Inhabitants of the Towns bordering upon the
1 Massachusetts Archives (Court Records), vol. XXXIV., p. 767.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
River are all convinced of this Truth, & the Town of Newburyport itself has made great Exertions on this Principle, & we cannot but think that much Regret will take place, should the Navigation of that River be prevented & that Town destroyed merely for the want of Attention.
JONa JACKSON TRISTRAM DALTON MOSES LITTLE J. LOWELL EDWD WIGGLESWORTH I
In answer to this petition the General Court, on the twen- ty-eighth day of June, passed the resolutions printed in this chapter, page 566, directing the commissary-general to send three large cannon to Newburyport in place of the six smaller ones previously voted, and also provided for the organization of two military companies for the protection of the sea coast.
May 13, 1785, a committee, consisting of Hon. Benjamin Greenleaf, Dr. Micajah Sawyer and Theophilus Bradbury, Esq., was appointed to prepare a petition to be signed by the selectmen and presented to the General Court. At the same meeting the following vote was passed :-
Whereas the Town is about to apply to the General Court for an al- lowance of the expenses incurred by fortifying the harbour &c at the be- ginning of the late war, in case the supplys made by the other towns on Merrimack river should furnish objections to a grant for said expenses our representatives are hereby authorized, if they judge proper, to en- gage in behalf of this town that all bills of such supplies as may appear reasonable shall be discharged by this town upon our obtaining a grant as aforesaid.2
In the petition prepared by the above-named committee and signed by David Coats, Michael Hodge, William Bartlet and William Coombs, selectmen of Newburyport, the cost of building piers, forts and a floating battery for the protection of the harbor is stated as follows :-
That in the years 1775 and 1776 the said Town in order to guard & defend themselves and the neighboring Towns from the apprehended in- vasions & attacks of the Enemy then infesting the sea coasts and mak-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXXI., pp. I and 2.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., p. 445.
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR CLAIMS
ing depredations on the Maratime Towns of the State prepared and sank a number of piers in the Channel of the Merrimack river, near the mouth thereof, they have also built a fort on Salisbury side of said river & an- other fort on Plum island near the entrance of the harbour, they construc- ted a floating battery, built a barge and made a number of Gun Carriages, the whole expense whereof amounted to the sum of Two thousand four hundred and thirty-three pounds, eight shillings, two and one half pence as by the accounts, supported by proper vouchers and ready to be here- with exhibited, will appear.1
This petition was read in the house of representatives on the tenth day of June and referred to a special committee, but no farther action was taken during that session of the General Court.2 In 1786 and 1789, similar petitions were presented with substantially the same result.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Newburyport held May 16, 1792, the following petition was read, approved and ordered to be presented at the next session of the General Court :-
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Masssachusetts in General Court assembled.
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