History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 185

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 185

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The scenes of the 19th of April, and indeed of the period which immediately followed, are graphically given by Governor Washburn in his history. Many of them were told him by the actors themselves, who have long been dead.

Early in the afternoon of the 19th of April an un- known horseman rode rapidly through the village, stopped long enough before the blacksmith's shop to say, "The war has begun ; the regulars are marching to Concord," and then hurried on to alarm the towns beyond. " I saw," wrote Col. Wm. Ilenshaw, " the ex- press that came from the town of Lexington, inform- ing that the enemy had killed several men in that town." The blacksmith, who was Captain Seth Wash- burn, dropped a ploughshare on which he was work- ing, rushed into the road and discharged his musket. The members of the companies were called together from all parts of the town. At four o'clock every minute-man was on the common. They were uni- formed, but they came with their Queen's arms, and with their powder-horns and shot-pouches. Members of their families and other friends were assembled to render assistance and to bid them God speed."

Dr. Honeywood, an Englishman-the physican of the place-had never till that hour had confidence in the ability of the province to resist the power of Great Britain, but when he saw that little company of reso- lute, determined men, who had come at a moment's warning, some of them leaving their plows in the fur- rows, he said : "Such men as these will figlit, and what is more they won't be beat."

The pastor of the church, Rev. Benjamin Conklin, himself a "high liberty man," was present, and before the company started, as the men leaned upon their muskets and all heads were, uncovered, committed them, in prayer, to the guidance and protection of the God of battles. "Pray for me and I will fight for you," said the captain to his venerable mother, and then gave the order, " Forward !"

Within three hours after meeting on the Common, the company marched. They halted in front of the house of Nathan Sargent, in Cherry Valley, and Mr. Sargent, to supply the need of the company, melted down the leaden weights of the family clock, and dis- tributed the bullets to the company.

There were forty-three men in the company. Cap- tain Thomas N. Newhall, with the standing company of the town, consisting of thirty-four men, marched a

little later. Companies from Spencer and other western towns followed. The march of the companies was rapid till they reached Marlborough, where they heard of the retreat of the British. Lights were burning in every window on the way through the night. Regimental officers in town were equally prompt in joining their commands.

A part of the company returned after a few weeks' service. Others enlisted under Captain Washburn for eight months. There were fifty-nine men in this company, most of them from Leicester. The embargo of Boston and its occupation by the regulars rendered it necessary to call upon the towns to contribute for the support of its poor. Thirty-six were apportioned to Leicester. In May Leicester was also required to furnish one barrel of powder and twelve muskets for the use of the province.

Colonel William Henshaw, who reached Cambridge on the forenoon of the 20th, was a member of the council of war, and, with Colonel Gridley and Rich- ard Devans, reconnoitred the heights of Cambridge and Charlestown. The report of the committee is signed by Colonel Henshaw, as chairman. It recom- mended the fortification of Bunker Hill and the construction of redoubts between Charlestown and Cambridge. Colonel Prescott was detailed to exe- cute this plan, but decided to fortify Breed's Hill, in- stead of Bunker Hill. On the 27th of June Colo- nel Henshaw was commissioned adjutant-general of the Provincial army, under General W. Ward. Upon the arrival of Washington, he was, on the 3d of July, superseded by General Gates, adjutant of the American army. He was, however, persuaded to re- main as assistant of General Gates. The Orderly Books, in four volumes, covering the period from April, 1775, to October, 1776, are in the possession of his granddaughter, Miss Harriet E. Henshaw, of Leicester, and are an invaluable treasure. The first volume was published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, as its centennial volume. It contains the roster of the regiments, the " Parole " and " Counter- sign " for each day, the " Officer of the day " and " Field-officer" and the general orders from April 20, 1775, to September 26th of the same year.

On the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, Captain Washburn's company, which formed a part of the regiment of General Artemas Ward, in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ward, marched from Cambridge, by way of Lechmere Point, and took posi- tion at the rail-fence, "gallantly covering the retreat.'' It was to them a thrilling hour. They saw the hur- ried movement of the troops, they heard the beat of drums, the roar of British artillery and " the cracking of musketry over in Charlestown." Just before marching, Captain Washburn addressed his company in words of counsel and encouragement and com- mitted them to God in a fervent prayer. "Some of them often spoke," says Washburn in his history, "in their old age, of the unfaltering confidence with

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which, after this, they went through the experiences of the day." On their way to Charlestown Neck, hey were met by a man on horseback, supposed to e Dr. Benjamin Church, afterward proved to be a raitor, who inquired of Lieutenant-Colonel Ward to what point he was marching. He answered, "To the ill." "Have you not had counter-orders ?" " I have not." "You will have soon," he said, and com- nanded the regiment to halt. Most of the regiment herefore remained behind ; but Captain Washburn tepped forward and said, "Those are Tory orders ; I ha'n't obey them. Who will follow me ?" The en- ire company followed the captain, and two other companies with them left the regiment and moved on oward the scene of action, exposed to the shot of the British fleet ; the captain gave any who might be fraid the privilege of going back. Not a man of hat brave company left the ranks. "Then we'll all go together," said the captain; and the whole com- any started on "double quick" and ascendedl the ill. Charlestown was on fire and the enemy were advancing on the redoubt. A ball lodged in the car- ouch-box of the captain. The company for a time ought at the rail-fence, but were soon obliged to re- reat. Several of the company were wounded and borne rom the field under fire. One of the two strands f Daniel Hubbard's cue was cut off close to his head y a ball. Abner Livermore's canteen was shot away ind rolled toward the enemy. His brother Isaac ran ind secured it, saying, " I'll be darned if the regulars hall have that rum." Samuel Sargent lost the con- ents of his canteen, but saved the ball that pierced t. Four balls passed through the captain's coat and ne through his wig. Israel Green, a native of Lei- ester, had three sons in the battle, one of whom was tilled, the second died of wounds received, and a hird was killed in the battle of Monmouth.

Among the soldiers in this battle was Peter Salem, negro, and formerly a slave. He was a native of Framingham, and in Colonel Nixon's regiment. It vas the shot from his musket which killed Major Pitcairn, just as he mounted the redoubt and shouted, ' The day is ours." After the war he came to Leices- er, where he remained until, in his old age and poverty, he was taken to the poor-house in Framing- am, where he died.

In July of this year the inhabitants of Leicester, having chosen Hezekiah Ward Representative to the Provincial Congress, instructed him with reference to his duties. "To this important now," they say, ' posterity will look back with joy and admiration, ecure in the enjoyment of their incstimable liber- ies, or with keenest sensations of grief, while they drag the galling chain of servitude." He was di- 'ected to comply with the orders of the Continental Cougress, to oppose the accession to power of those who ad proved inimical to their country, or had failed to give it their support, "waiting the tide of events;" o watch "with jealous yet candid eye the disposition

and motions of the American army, always remem- bering the importance of preserving the superiority of the civil power over the military ;" to urge the execution of the laws against immorality and vice ; and to act for the interest of the cause in relation to other specific matters.

In May, 1776, instructions were given to Seth Washburn, as Representative to the General Court, urging the utmost deliberation and caution in the measures of the court for protection and organization. At the same meeting it was " Voted by the inhabit- ants then present, unanimously, That in case the Honorable the Continental Congress should declare these Colonies independent of Great Britain, they would support said Congress in effectuatiog such a measure at the risk of their lives and fortunes."

With this declaration this remarkable series of in- structions and resolutions ends. They cover a period of nearly eleven years previous to the Declaration of Independence. There is hardly a question involved in the controversy with the mother country. or the policy of the colonies, which they do not discuss. In clearness and breadth of view, in forethought and wisdom, in felicity and eloquence of expression, and in fervent, self-sacrificing, courageous, invincible pa- triotism, they are hardly surpassed, even in the his- toric productions of that period. Bancroft, in his his- tory, quotes from them, as illustrative of the spirit of the time.

But the time for manifestoes had now passed ; the time for action had come. Henceforth the work of the town, as its records also show, was enlisting sol- diers, raising bounties, hiring soldiers, providing for the purchase of ammunition and entreuching tools, and the pay for carting provisions, buying beef and clothing for the army, aiding companies that had done more than their share of service, authorizing the selectmen "to supply the necessities of life to sol- diers," abating the poll-taxes of soldiers, caring for soldiers' wives, providing for families of officers and soldiers and fixing the prices of commodities. There was no authorized government and all difficulties were settled by arbitration.

The people were also careful to guard themselves against treachery. Too many of the leaders of the Revolutionary movements were here to render the toleration of spies safe, and the people were too much in earnest to bear patiently the opposition of men "inimical " to the cause. In 1774 the selectmen, through Colonel Henshaw, had informed at least one suspected man that his " residedence " would be " pe- culiarly disgustful to the Inhabitants." " And as well- wishers of the peace and order of the town, we think it advisable that you move from hence as soon as may be; as the people, roused with the insults they have already sustained, will, in all probability, pay you a visit less respectful than the Intimation you now receive." Three years later Colonel Henshaw was instructed, by vote of the town, to "procure what

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evidence he may be able of the inimical Disposition of any inhabitent of this town toward the United States of America, which inhabitent may be so voted to be, in the opinion of the town." One such man was at that time voted, in the opinion of the town, "inimically disposed." In July of the next year it was "Voted that the selectmen be directed to prefer a petition to General Court, that William Manning and family may be removed from this town."

When the Declaration of Independence had been adopted it was, in accordance with the direction of the Council, copied on the town records.

These minutes are full of interest and instruction. They show the true character of the people and the power of their deliberation and united action. Lord Germaine did not speak without provocation when he said, "This is what comes of their wretched old town-meetings."

According to a report made to the town in 1784, the town paid in bounties, from 1775 to that time, £9268 6s. (probably equivalent to about $11,000 in coin) to 244 soldiers. It is estimated that the town raised for the expenses of the war over $18,000, in addition to State taxes. There were twenty-eight requisitions upon the town for soldiers. These were filled by more than 254 men. Beside these were the men who marched on the 19th of April and at least thirty who enlisted for three years in 1777 and 1778. Some of these soldiers were veterans of the French wars; others were boys of sixteen years.

It is to be remembered that the population of the town in 1776 was only 1078, and that it decreased during the war. There were in Leicester in 1777 only 212 men over sixteen years of age, and the names on the muster-roll were less than half the number of enlistments and re- enlistments in the quotas of the town. The valuation of the town seven years after the close of the war was only $140,000.

In 1781 the town was divided into ten classes, which were each to furnish their proportion of soldiers upon requisition of the government. So ex- haustive was the demand that it was necessary to hire substitutes from other places to meet it. The town was repeatedly under the necessity of electing new selectmen and assessors, on account of the ab- sence of the regular incumbents in the army. Women worked in the fields, because all the male members of their families were in the war, and farmers sold their cattle to raise money for the pay- ment of taxes.

The number of commissioned officers from Lei- cester was large, in proportion to the size of the town. Col. William Henshaw, to whom we have already referred, was in command of a regiment in the battle of Long Island. He was with a picket-guard which was cut off from the main body by a superior force of Hessians, and cut its way through with great gal- lantry and little loss of life.

Col. Seth Washburn was fifty-two years old when the war began. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and afterward, though not in the army, was muster- master for Worcester County and served the cause on several important committees.

Col. Samuel Denny marched as lieutenant-colonel with the minute-men, on the 19th of April, and served as colonel during the early part of the war.

Dr. John Honeywood was surgeon and died in the service at Fort Ticonderoga.

Dr. Israel Green was at Saratoga when Burgoyne was taken.

Dr. Austin Flint enlisted, at the age of seventeen, as a soldier and was present at the taking of Bur- goyne. He was afterward surgeon.

Lieut .- Col. Joseph Henshaw marched with the minute-men. He afterward served on important committees, conferring with other States.

Capt. David Henshaw was in the service three years.

Capt. John Southgate, Capt. William Todd and Lieut. William Crossman were also in the service.

Lieut. Nathan Craig was at the battles of Bunker Hill and Saratoga.

Lieutenant Joseph Washburn was at the battles of Saratoga and Monmouth, and also at Valley Forge. Captain Thomas Newhall was in command of the standing company on the 19th of April, and was muster-master for Worcester County. Captain John Holden served through the war, and was present at the storming of Stony Point. Captain John Brown com- manded a company in the French War, and was in the battle of Bunker Hill as a sergeant. Rev. Benja- min Conklin was probably a chaplain.

Joseph Bass, of the " water service," who resided in Leicester after the war, was one of the heroes of what Irving, in his "Life of Washington," calls the " gallant little exploit " on the Hudson, the at- tempted "destruction of the ships which had so long been domineering over its waters," by means of fire- ships. Washburn, in his history, gives an extended narrative of the affair. Bass had charge of one of the sloops, the " Polly," which was supplied with inflam- mahle materials, and which, under heavy fire of ar- tillery, he fastened to the tender of one of the frig- ates, setting it on fire and destroying it with most of the men on board. Bass, with all his men, leaped into the life-boat, and rowed away without injury. The frigates escaped, but were prudently withdrawn from so dangerous a locality.

Solomon Parsons was severely wounded in the bat- tle of Monmouth. He was shot, his thigh was broken, and afterwards, as he lay upon the ground, he was robbed, stabbed and roughly dragged about by the enemy, and narrowly escaped being run over by cavalry and artillery. He lay all the afternoon of that terribly hot day, in the sun, until he was rescued by Lieutenant Joseph Washburn.

These facts and figures give but a faint idea of the

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burdens and sufferings of the people in the gloomy period of the Revolution, and the strain upon their resources and fortitude. They did not flinch when the time came to test the sincerity and value of their resolutions. They well redeemed the pledge to main- tain the canse of independence at "the risk of their lives and fortunes."

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

LEICESTER-(Continued.)

State Constitution : Objections, Adoption-Jealousy of Rights-Shays' In- surrection : Causes, Convention, High Feeling, Dispersion of the In- surgents, Cuptuin Day, Outh of Allegiance-Fine for Non-Representa- tion in the General Court-Slavery in Leicester-" Instructions "- Jews : Aaron Lopez-Rivera Letter to Colonel Henshaw.

Soon after the Declaration of Independence measures were taken for the organization of a Con- stitutional State Government. These movements were, however, regarded premature and ill-advised. In October, 1776, the town voted that the House of Representatives of this State ought not to institute any new form of government at present, and chose a committee "to show the court why the town objects to settling a new constitution." Some of these ob- jections stated were that there was no provision for amendment, that the town was not fully represented, that they were not allowed a Representative, and " that a number of the first principal inhabitants" were " in the service." The Constitution first formed was rejected by the people.

In 1779 the town voted unanimously to send two men-Seth Washburn and William Henshaw-" to frame a Constitution of Massachusetts." These gen- tlemen were prominent in the convention. The Con- stitution was the next year approved by the town, article by article, by a large majority.

Struggling against the oppression of the mother country, the people were equally jealous of any en- croachments upon their rights by the government they were seeking to organize and establish. In their various resolutions and other acts in the later years of the last century there is evidence of their determi- nation to secure a government " of the people, by the people and for the people." They protested against " monopolies." In 1777 they earnestly condemned the act of the General Court, calling in bills of credit and sinking them in a loan, as "ernel and oppressive" and "grinding the faces of the poor." In January of the next year they raised twelve hundred pounds and loaned to the State. In 1787 they instructed their representative, Samuel Denny, to oppose the excessive tax on farmers and on polls ; also to oppose high sal- aries, as in present circumstances it was not well to "support courtly dignity." They expressed them- selves as opposed to the "support of commerce," so "as

to prevent their giving dne encouragement to our own manufactures." The location of the Legislature ap- pears to have been a subject much agitated, and at the same time the town declared "the setting of the General Government in the town of Boston is a Mat- ter which the Citizens of this Commonwealth are not generally satisfied with," and advised that its re- moval to some other place be tried by " experience."

The eight years' struggle of the Revolution had hardly ended when the State was threatened with a formidable civil war. It was the natural reaction from the long-continued strain upon the endurance of the people. They had been taxed to their ntmost limit ; all interests had suffered ; the people were im- poverished ; the currency had depreciated and finally became valueless ; the State had no credit; the con- dition of the Government and of the community was one of bankruptcy; and thousands of suits were brought before the courts, and forced sales were nu- merous. Some of the acts of the Legislature were regarded as oppressive. General conventions were held in the county to confer with reference to these complaints. Two of these were in Leicester. The presence of wise and loyal men like David Henshaw and Col. Thomas Denny was a check upon raslı action. When at length the dissatisfaction developed into insurrection, under the leadership of Daniel Shays, the town withdrew its delegates. The excite- ment was intense and the sentiments of the people were divided, some sympathizing with the insurgents and joining their ranks. As in the War of the Roses the parties had their distinctive badges, the insurgents a green sprig and the supporters of the Government a white fillet of paper. The Rev. Benjamin Conklin, loyal to the nation and the commonwealth as in the days of the Revolution, was repeatedly forced to leave his home and hide himself to escape seizure by the insurgents in the night.

The same loyal leadership and the same patient devotion to the government which were conspicuous in the Revolution, held the town to a wise and patri- otic course. Every man in town over twenty years of age was by vote required to take an oath of allegi- ance to the State, and the list of those who thus com- plied was to be reported at town-meeting.

The excitement and peril of the rebellion culmi- nated in Worcester, in December, 1786, in an attempt of the insurgent army to prevent the opening of the court. The house of Mr. Joseph Allen, then residing in Worcester, was guarded by a sentinel, who opposed him with a fixed bayonet to prevent him from going to court. Seth Washburn seized the guard and wrested his musket from him. Lincoln, in his "History of Worcester," states that Justice Seth Washburn him - self was also met by the guard, and that two friends who " seized the gun presented to his breast" were arrested and detained in custody.

On the memorable 8th of December, the day in which Shays and his army retreated from Worcester

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in a snow storm of such severity and cold so intense that many of his men were overcome and some were frozen to death, Luke Day, one of the insurgent captains, reached Leicester with one hundred and fifty men, but was prevented by the storm from join- ing the main body at Worcester. Scant courtesy did the rebels receive from the sturdy patriots of that day. When this same Day, on his way from Worcester to Springfield on a cold winter day, entered the house of Nathan Sargent and made free to warm himself by the fire and ostentatiously announced himself as Capt. Day, he soon found himself, with hat and sword pre- ceding him, floundering in the snow-drift outside. Several Leicester men participated in the march through drifting snow and were present on the 3d of February when the insurgents, upon the approach of the State forces to their rendezvous at Petersham, fled without the firing of a gun, so completely discomfited that, as Lincoln in his "History of Worcester" expresses it, "had an army dropped from the clouds upon the hill the consternation could not have been greater." Dr. Austin Flint was one of the number, having, as he said, volunteered " to help drive the Mobites out."

During all the later years of the century persons who engaged in trade or kept public-houses were re- quired to take a stringent oath of allegiance to the republic.

For many years the salaries of representatives to the "Great and General Court" were paid by the several towns. The town in 1789 was fined for not sending a representative; and in a memorial, an ancient copy of which is before the writer, the town petitioned to have the fine remitted. The memorial bears date of May 10, 1790, and is strikingly illustra- tive of the straits into which the people had heen placed. They were still in debt for money borrowed to be loaned "to the Commonwealth " and for the payment of " soldiers," and for the erection of a " House of Public Worship," and they were "at a greater expense than most towns for repairing their roads owing to their hills being wet and rocky."

Slavery has never existed under the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts. There were slaves in the Province till the time of the Revolution, but the Con- stitution adopted in 1780 declared the right of "all men to enjoy and defend their lives and liberties." The number of slaves in Leicester was small; still they were here; Titus and Cain, and Caesar, and Quashi, and Prymus, and Pompey, and Will, and Pegg, and Jenny, and Dinah, and Prince, and Jethro. the last person buried in the burying-yard hy the church ; but they were treated as wards rather than as slaves. They lived, and worked, and ate with the families, in some cases were paid wages, and in re- peated instances were set free. Mr. Ralph Earle not only freed his slave Sharp, but also gave him in 1756 a farm of thirty acres. But slavery, even in its mild- est form, was discordant with the spirit of a freedom- loving people. In 1773 the town gave expression to

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 185

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