History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 121

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 121

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"At a meeting held on the 22d of Nov., 1773, it was voted to receive the proposition of John Adams and others, relative to the building and finishing a meeting-house," and it was "voted that it should be 45 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 22 feet posts, and that it be builded as soon as convenient." One hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated to building.

A committee was appointed to carry on the work. The labor and the timber were to a considerable ex- tent furnished by the people of the town. A price was fixed by vote for the various pieces of timber, The house was so far finished by Feb., 1775, that the "pew-spots " (in which the purchasers were permitted to build their own pews) were then sold, and probably meetings were held in it from that time. The follow- ing are the names of the purchasers : James Fletcher. Micah Thayer, David Batcheller, William Dalrymple, Stephen Goldthwait, Ezekiel Goldthwait, John Adams, John Adams, Jr., Samuel Baldwin, Depen- dence Haywood, Joseph White, Henry Chase, Levi Walker, William Davenport, William Bacon and

Jonathan Bacon. The money arising from the sale was by vote "to be applied towerds Defraying the Charges of Building the meeting " (house).

But very soon the increasing oppression of England called them to consider matters of more than local interest. They were not slow to do their part. They were imbued with the same spirit, grounded in the same principles, and trained in the same habits of self-government as were the men of all our Massa- chusetts towns, who, with a wonderful unanimity, answered to the call to maintain the liberty of the people.

"The first votes of the town as to Revolutionary affairs were passed at a meeting held on the 25th of August, 1774. At this meeting Josiah Wood, Lemuel Powers and Samuel Baldwin were appointed a com- mittee "to correspond with other committees concern- ing public affairs as occasion shall call for." These committees were suggested by Samuel Adams in 1772, and were soon appointed all over the State and in other States. At this meeting it was also voted that "David Batcheller be chose to provide for a town stock of ammunition, viz., one Barrel of Powder, and lead and flints answerable to it." At the same time it was voted not to import or consume any English goods. The last town-meeting that was warned in the name of "His Majesty" was on the 10th of Janu- ary, 1775. From this tinie till 1781 most of the busi- ness transacted at the meetings had reference to the struggles in which the Colonies were engaged: as, June 25, 1776, it was voted "to support the Continental Congress with their Lives and fortunes if they should Declare the United American Colonies Independent of Great Britain," and well they kept their vow. We find records of votes for paying the men who had en- listed in the service, for aiding those who had hired men to take their place in the army, and for furnish- ing provisions and clothing for the soldiers from this town. It is evident there was a disposition to equalize, as far as possible, the burdens that were to be borne. Those who remained at home performed labor on the farms, and in other ways assisted the families of those who were absent. At one meeting it was voted "to allow Joseph White eleven shillings for laboring for Samuel Clemens when he was in the six months' ser- vice;" at another it was voted "to raise 40 pounds to pay for shirts, shoes and stockings furnished by the selectmen for soldiers in the Continental Service." At a meeting in May, 1777, it was voted "to allow Stephen Rice 1 pound, 15 shillings, 4 pence, Nathan Park 15 shillings, Jonathan Bacon 9 shillings, and William Park 12 shillings, for carrying provisions to Roxbury in the time of the Lexington Alarm." These provisions were for the men from Northbridge, who were in the service in the vicinity of Boston in 1775.

As to the actual service they personally rendered, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to learn the full facts.

There were three classes of soldiers called into the service during the war.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

1. The Militia .- These were the men who had been enlisted in the service of the Province, and trained in the towns from the beginning. They were liable to the call of the General Court, through their officers. They were already organized into regiments, the com- pany of Northbridge being in the Eight Worcester County Regiment, with those from Mendon, Upton, Uxbridge and Douglas. These doubtless had long felt they were liable to be called upon for serious work, and. they were prepared for it. It was the militia who sprang, as it were, from the ground, without any summons, save from their company officers, and their own loyal hearts, at Concord and Lexington, and dogged the steps of the British troops in their retreat to Boston, inflicting upon them a much greater loss than they themselves sustained. They soon, at the call of the General Court, girdled Boston, and held General Gage, and his thousands of regular troops, as in a vise. It was they who fought the battle of Bunker Hill, and did all the work of the first year. They were liable to be called out of the State, after the Union of the Colonies was formed, for United States' service, as was the company from Northbridge for eight months at Peekskill in 1778-79, and often in Rhode Island.

2. Besides these were the " Minute-men" volunteers, men not enlisted, but who organized themselves, and stood ready to go at a " Minute's" notice to do brief service in an emergency. They were called out at the alarm that arose from the Lexington fight, and frequently afterwards. On May 9th, fearing a sally of the British from Boston, one-half of the militia and minute-men of the ten towns nearest Roxbury were called there to strengthen the army.

We do not find traces of the " Minute-men " after the first year of the war.

3. But it soon became manifest that an army more permanent than either of these could make must be obtained. And the Continental Army, under the com- mand of the Continental Congress, through their officers, with General Washington at their head, was organized. Here were a third class of soldiers whose term of service was trom three months to three years, or the war. A quota was assigned to each town, one- seventh of all the males above sixteen, and this quota must be kept full. The quota of Northbridge was eleven. This is in addition to the keeping up the militia, which was often called into service for terms of a few days to eight months.

When the war began there was an organized militia company, under the command of Capt. Josiah Wood, of Northbridge. It belonged to Colonel Joseph Read's regiment, the Twentieth. It was composed of men from Northbridge and Upton.

This company was often called into service. It marched April 19, 1775, at the "Lexington Alarm " to Roxbury with thirty-one men from Northbridge. After a few days fifteen of these men, with seven more from the town, enlisted for eight months' service,

under Captain David Batcheller, who went out as lieutenant. Thirty-four men from Upton enlisted in the same company for the same servicc. This was known as "Captain Batcheller's Company " for several years. It served one and one-half months at Providence as part of the "Third Regiment of the Militia, which marched to this place on the alarm of the 8th day of December, 1776;" then for nine, though called out only for eight months, on the North River, at Peekskill, in 1778 and '79; then for sixteen days in Rhode Island in 1780.

In the State archives are found the terms of service of the men in the militia, and also those who were in the Continental service, with many of the pay-rolls. There is evidence that men from the town served in other companies beside that of Captain Batcheller, in the various calls made upon them. These calls were very many. We are told " there was scarcely a week in the fall of 1776 when the militia were not called to march to headquarters now removed to New York, or to Lake Champlain, or to Rhode Island." A large British force also remained in Newport through the spring and summer of 1778, and their fleet commanded the waters in the neighborhood. As a consequence, "the people of Massachusetts, especi- ally near to Rhode Island, were kept in a state of contiunal alarm. There were but few Continental troops on the station, and the General Court were obliged to keep the militia in service in great num- bers, the whole of this as the preceding year." There were many alarms of raids by the British, as at Tiver- ton, in May, 1779, when the men of Northbridge were called out and helped drive them back. And there is evidence in the town records of many more calls of the militia. There was a difficulty in adjusting the pay for the different "turns" of service, and Sep- tember 6, 1777, William Park, Captain Josiah Wood and Thomas Read were chosen a committee " to say what past turns in the army shall be put att, accord- ing to the year and time of the year, and length of time, and the place where service was done, and the committee make report to the town for their accept- ance, and for the town to act thereon as they think proper." The committee reported in October of the next year, 1778. In this report twenty-one "turns ', of service are specified and the pay fixed for each of them, one at Dorchester, varying from two months to one year; five in New York, from three to eight months; seven at Providence, from fifteen days to two months, and eight others not specified. These, of course, were not all consecutive terms of service, nor by the same bodies of men, for there was not time for so many different consecutive terms hefore this re- port was made. We must suppose the militiamen were called out after this, though not so frequently as before, as the theatre of the war was transferred in such a measure to the South.

It is more difficult to learn how many went into the Continental Army, as there was no organization

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of Continentals belonging here. The men from Northbridge were absorbed in the various regiments from the Colony. Of the one hundred and eighteen men credited to the town in the State archives, eleven are recorded as having enlisted in the Conti- nental Army, and the town was expected to keep this number good as its quota, so that we must believe there were many more. During the latter years of the war committees were appointed each year to pro- cure men for the Continental Army. And men were hired by individuals for the army. Bounties were paid to some. Some were drafted. Doubtless some of those hired and credited to the town were not citizens here, as is manifest from the warrant for the town-meeting for April 1, 1782, which speaks of men in Northbridge and hired men going into the army."

But with all they did, they did not always meet the full demand of the General Court for men. They were taxed for a deficiency of two men in the Conti- nental Army in 1781, and they voted July 28, 1783, that Jonathan Adams carry a petition to have the tax "taken off." At the same meeting they were called upon to act on "one deficiency in the three months' service in 1781, a Quaker man." At the same meet- ing it was voted to collect a Quaker's tax of about fifteen pounds and pay it to the treasurer. Thus would they have the Quakers pay for the deficiency which came from their not serving personally. It is claimed by the Quakers that this tax was never paid by them, and there is nothing in the town records to show that the town succeeded in carrying its vote into effect. We can hardly understand, even with our recent experience of war, how great the strain was upon our fathers towards the last of the war, with all the loss of life in the service, and the de- rangements of business so long continued. And no colony bore more than Massachusetts. With less than one-eighth of the population, she furnished more than one-fourth of the years of service in the Continental Army, besides what she did by her militia and minute-men, and of the pecuniary bur- den she bore about the same proportion. What wonder then that Northbridge, the lowest on the list of towns in valuation, and almost, if not quite, the lowest in population, having but four hundred and eighty iu 1776, had difficulty in coming up to the full quota demanded of her, especially as part of her population, the Quakers, contributed no men for the service; she did nobly, and of her record may every citizen feel proud, especially those who trace their families back to those times.

Of course, with these many calls for service, we should expect to find the same man many times in the field. James Sturdevant is found nine times ; William Foster, eight times. Nor was the service confined to any one class of the citizens. Of those chosen for the first town officers, we find many in active service. Samuel Baldwin, the town clerk,

served four times; Jonathan Bacon, the moderator of the first eleven town-meetings, the first Repre- sentative to the General Court, and after chosen to that office, served six times, beginning as pri- vate; David Batcheller, one of the first selectmen, saw five terms of service, beginning as lieutenant, and soon made captain and remaining such during the war; Josiah Wood, the treasurer, served three times, as private or captain ; James Fletcher served six times, beginning as a private. Indeed, there could not have been many men in the town, save the Quakers, who did not see some active service.

But personal service in the army was not all that was laid upon them. They, in commou with other parts of the country, suffered from a depreciated cur- rency. In 1780 the town voted to raise eighteen thou- sand pounds to defray town charges, twenty-two hundred pounds for the support of the Gospel, two thousand pounds for the schools and to "allow 100 dollars a day to each man that went to the late alarm at Tiverton." The town afterwards voted not to assess the tax of twenty-two hundred pounds to pay the minister, and that he be paid forty-five pounds silver money, which was probably a full equivalent for the twenty-two hundred pounds Continental money. The same year a vote was passed on ac- count of the scarcity of money, to allow the people to pay their taxes " in good merchantable grain, to be delivered to the Treasurer." This very difficulty from a depreciated currency, which went down to one-fortieth of its nominal value, made their honor more manifest; for having promised their soldiers a real compensation, their families were provided with food, clothing and fuel by the selectmen of the towns and clothing was furnished to the sol- diers. There is ample evidence of this in our town. Being driven to reckoning in silver money as the only possible fixed standard, in 1780 they vote one hundred and sixty-four pounds silver money to purchase beef for the army. They make allowance for the depreciation in settling with Thomas Straight for what he had done in the war. They voted seventy-five pounds silver money to pay men who went to serve in Rhode Island for five months and in New York for three months. They make their contributions to the colony in articles to be used, as beef at a price fixed in silver. There is a sturdy honesty in this, which is very good. They did live in rude houses and worship God in unfinished meeting-houses, but they paid their honest dues.

During all this cost and suffering of the war they did not forget to maintain religious ordinances. The church was organized in 1782, June 6th, with eight members. June 17th they called Mr. John Crane to be their pastor. The town, July 2d, voted to concur with the church in the call. "It was voted," for encouragement, "to give him 200 pounds personage, by giving him the improvement of a farm to that

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

value, or the interest of the same in money, giving him his choice." "It was also voted to give him 45 pounds annually." In his reply he says, " I accept your proposals, though some things respecting some part of the encouragement have labored in my mind, and the difficulties are not yet removed." Previous to his ordination a vote was passed " to give him 75 pounds as a settlement and the use of 125 pounds as a Personage, instead of the 200 pounds offered by the previous vote." He was ordained June 25, 1783, and ministered to this people for nearly fifty years, quite within the memory of some now living. He resigned his pastorate January 6, 1832. He preached his last sermon the first Sabbath in May, 1835. He died August 31, 1836. He was a man of great influ- ence, not only in the town, but in all the region. For thirty years he instructed young men in prepara- tion for college or teaching, more than one hundred in all; among them Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York ; Dr. Calvin Park, Professor in Brown University ; Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, of the Choctaw Mission ; Rev. Dr. Joel Hawes, of Hartford, and Prof. Alexander M. Fisher, of Yale College.

The people of Northbridge were called upon to act on another important matter during the war-the formation of the State Constitution. They rejected at once the Constitution prepared by the committee appointed by the General Conrt in 1778. To the convention of delegates from the towns, called at Cambridge, September 1, 1779, they sent Jonathan Bacon as their representative. When the work of the convention was presented in 1780, they did not mean to act hastily in its adoption. At the first meeting, when this was brought before them for action, they adjourned the matter, appointing a committee, con- sisting of William Park, Samuel Aldrich, Beujamin Benson, Ezekiel Goldthwait and Lieutenant James Fletcher, "to assist the town in examing the proposed constitution, and in making remarks thereon." At the adjourned meeting they listened to the remarks of these gentlemen, and then they voted on it part by part, amending it where they felt it needed to be amended. The third article of the Bill of Rights they changed to read, "so that those of one religious persuasion shall not impose any tax on those of another." They had Quakers, Baptists and Univer- salists among them, and they would deal fairly with them, so well had they learned the lesson of religious liberty. And yet not quite to the standard of our day, for they amended the thirteenth article, " so that no one should be eligible to be an officer in either of the foregoing departments unless he shall be of the Christian Protestant religion."

CHAPTER LXIV.

NORTHBRIDGE-(Continued.)

THE LATER HISTORY.

THE town came out of the war, as did all the other towns of the State, poor and stripped, but redeemed and free, ready for the use of their energies, and of the resources God had placed within their reach, in building the State, the foundations of which they had laid at such cost of treasure and suffering. They experienced the difficulties from the depreciated currency, and it is evident from the records that they shared in the discontent that led to "Shays' Rebel- lion." But when called upon to maintain the authority of the government, they made loyal answer, for re- bellion was not the way of redress. They knew that prosperity could come, not by discontent, but by industry and thrift, and they gave themselves to these, and soon they began to repair their fortunes. We learn the following facts of the town from Rev. Peter Whitney's " History of Worcester County," published 1793 :- " It is not large, having at the time of the late enumeration (1790) eighty-three houses and five hun- dred and seventy inhabitants (a gain of eighty-nine since 1776). Besides the Congregationalist Church there is a Society of Baptists, consisting of about ten families, at present destitute of any settled teacher. There are also within the town twelve families of Quakers, and two or three of Universalists. There are two corn-mills, one saw-mill and one forge, where much work is performed. The growth of wood on the highlands is very valuable, consisting of walnut, oak and chestnut. That on the lowlands is less valuable. The people here subsist chiefly by farming, and they have the character of an industrious and flourishing people; and it is said there is hardly an idle person or tavern-hannter in the place." This is surely a good record. But they did not lose their interest in the national welfare, in absorption in their private and local concerns. May 2, 1786, they are called to meet the next day, "To shoe there minds in regard to the trity now depending between Great Briton and the United States." They met and " voted to sign a memorial and send to the House of Representatives, in Congress assembled, praying them to accept and ratify the trity, and about seventy of the inhabitants signed it."

The fact that the House of Representatives had taken the action they desired three days before, in giving efficacy to Jay's treaty, does not make their action less significant. The town records have only the following entries concerning the War of 1812-14 with England. In the warrant for the meeting of July 30, 1814, the second article is "To see if the town will give anything, how much, to the men who are detaich'd from this town to do duty in the defence of their country." At the meeting, it was "voted to

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make up the wages of Lyman Thompson and Clark Adams, detach'd men from the town of Northbridge, sixteen-16-dollars per month, including what they git from the State." From this we infer that the town had but small share in this war. But when we come to the war to put down the Rebellion of the Southern States against the Union, we find it (the town) thoroughly aroused and doing its full share. Northbridge furnished three hundred and eleven men for the army and navy, which was seventeen more than all demands. The names of two hundred and fifty-seven, serving in forty-three different organiza- tions, have been preserved. Of these, ninety-three were in the Fifteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry ; twenty-one in the Twenty-fifth ; eight were commissioned officers; the rest were non-commis- sioned officers and privates.

The following are the names of those who lost their lives during the war :

ROLL OF HONOR.

James Allen, 15th Regiment ; killed at Ball's Bluff October 21, 1861.

Andrew Addison, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 17, 1862.

Heery W. Ainsworth, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 17,1862.

Arthur J. Andrus, 15th Regimeat; killed at Antietam September 17, 1862.

Dexter Brown, 15th Regiment ; died in hospital at Baltimore Decem- ber 16, 1862.

Edwin R. Brown, 15th Regiment ; wounded at Cold Harbor ; died in hospital, New York City, June 22, 1864.

Alfred A. Batebelor, 15th Regiment ; wounded at Gettysburg ; died ie hospital, Baltimore, July 10, 1863.

Elbridge Bodwell, not a citizen, but one of the town's quota, 12th Battery ; died, Boston, January 20, 1865.

William H. Cole, 16th Regiment ; died at Andersonville September 7, 1864.

Edward H. Chapie, 15th Regiment ; wounded at Gettysburg ; died ie hospital at Baltimiere August 1, 1863.

James F. Dunn, 15th Regiment ; died in hospital February 7, 1863.

George F. Fletcher, 15th Regimeat ; killed at Gettysburg July 3, 1863.

James B. Fletcher, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 17, 1862.

Jeremiah Callahan, 57th Regiment; died at Andersonville Angust 29, 1864.

Elbridge G. Fogg, 25th Regiment ; died at Newbern December 11, 1864.

Lewis Hair, 5th Regimeat ; wounded at Ball's Bluff ; died at Pooles- ville, Md., November 5, 1861.

Timothy Keanedy, 15th Regiment; died of consumption ou way home November 4, 1862.

Eugene Keith, 15th Regimeet ; hedy found ie Potomac River after battle of Ball's Bluff.

Isaac E. Marshall, 15th Regimeat ; killed at Antietam September 17, 1862.

George W. Kincey, 4th Cavalry ; died at Hilton Head, S. C., Septeni- ber 14, 1864.

Themas Magoveny, 15th Regiment ; died at Hyattstown, Md., Octo- ber 4, 1862.

David J. Messenger, 15th Regiment ; wouaded at Ball's Bluff ; died a prisoner in hospital, Leesburg, Va., December 13, 1861.

Charles A. Mason, luth Battery ; killed at Ream's Station August 24, 1864.

Charles A. Morgan, 3d Rhode Island Regiment ; killed at Fort Pulaski. Robert McNally, 28th Regitnent; died, from wenads received at An- tietam, September 22, 1862.

Nathaniel Putnam, 15th Regiment ; died at Alexandria, Va., October 10, 1862.

George H. Pierce, 10th Mass. Battery ; died of disease at Brandy Sta- tion, Va., March 3, 1864.

Lyman J. Prentice, 25th Regiment ; wounded at Pert Walthall ; died in Chesapeake Hospital May 17, 1864.

George L. Sherman, 28th Regiment; died, from wennde received, May 12, 1864.

George N. Smith, 15th Regiment ; died, from wounds received at An- tietam, September 17, 1862.

George F. Seaver, 15th Regiment ; killed at Ball's Bluff October 21, 1861.

Franklin Waterman, 15th Regimeat; died of disease near Chicka- hominy River June 15, 1862.

Christopher G. Young, 15th Regiment ; killed at Aatietam Septem- ber 17, 1863.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 121

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576