History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 6

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896

USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II > Part 6

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* This convention was held at Albany, in July, 1734 (see History of Penn- sylvania, by Wm. H. Egle, page 79). The resolutions were adopted on the 4th of the month .- ED.

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that might he for the good of the country in this day of their distress." This has the ring of true patriotism, in spite of his imprisonments and persecutions. In 1667 the Baptists found themselves compelled to make a defense against the charge of " disobedience to the government." In that defense they say, " Both our persons and estates are always ready at command to be serviceable in the defense of the country,-yea, and have voluntarily offered on the high places of the field in the time of the country's greatest extremity ; among whom was Wil- liam Turner, whom they pleased to make captain, who had been one of the greatest sufferers among us for the profession of religion. He was a very worthy man for soldiery; and after that by him who was then commander-in-chief-an in- strument in the hands of the Lord-was the greatest blow struck to the Indians of any they had received; for after this they were broken and scattered, so that they were overcome and subdned with ease." His wife, in a petition to the coun- cil, says her husband voluntarily and freely offered himself, and was then in the service of the country with his son and servants. The council granted her £7. When the expedition started for the Falls, Capt. Turner commanded. He seems to have been a man of skill and courage, but, enfeebled by siek- ness, he had not bodily strength to act with energy. In the retreat he was shot by the Indians through the thigh and back as he was passing Green River (near Nash's mills). IIis body was afterward found not far away.

It is thought that Mrs. John Williams, the wife of the minister of Deerfield, who was taken captive with her family at the destruction of the town in 1704, was killed at the foot of the Leyden Hills, a mile or so north of the Ballou farm, in quite the north limit of the town. Siek and faint, she was unable to keep up with the party, and the Indians, to free themselves of the ineumbrance, killed her. Her body was recovered, and buried at Deerfield.

The year following the incorporation of the town,-i.c., 1754, -at a town-meeting it was voted that they picket three houses in this distriet forthwith. That Joshua Wells', James Corse's, and Shubael Atherton's be the houses that are to be picketed. James Corse's house stood where the Leavitt House now stands, next east of the Mansion House; Shubael Atherton's, at what is known as Stocking Fort, or Stoekaded Fort, opposite Snow's green-house ; and Joshua Wells', where G. D. Williams, Esq., had lived. The well-authenticated tradition is that a subterranean passage led from the cellar of this house to the brow of the hill north. These picketed houses were sur- rounded by a strong fence of timber, set in the ground quite close together, each one sharpened at the top, eight or nine feet high above the ground. No Indian could get through, nor over, these fences without aid. To these houses the peo- ple could fly in seasons of danger, and take refuge when they feared a midnight attack from a merciless foe. Around these houses, or in their immediate neighborhood, the inhabitants gathered. Their existence tells a pathetic tale of danger and anxiety on the part of the people.

In 1756 the people improved their land as far north as Country Farms, but lived in the village for safety. Five men -Benjamin Hastings, John Graves, Daniel Graves, Shubael Atherton, and Nathaniel Brooks-were at work on the farm where J. A. Picket now lives. They placed their guns against a stack of flax, and were husy in another part of the field. A party of Indians concealed near by slipped in between them and their guns, and fired upon them. Deprived of their weapons, they sought safety in flight, and proved themselves good runners at least.

Hastings and John Graves fled across the river, and brought up at the Arms farin, where Mr. John Thayer now lives. Ilastings said the ferns in the field over which he passed grew as high as his waist, but that he ran over the tops of them. A good story for the deacon to tell! We will at least give him credit for a good use of his legs.

John Graves, a young man then, who escaped with him, was grandfather of our respected fellow-citizen, Deacon J. J. Graves. Atherton concealed himself near the river in some brushwood, but was discovered and shot. Daniel Graves, the father of John, and Brooks were taken captive. Graves was old and infirm, and unable to travel ; he was killed soon after they left the spot, near the Glen Brook, just below the gorge. Brooks never returned, and nothing is known of his fate. Hle bears the same name that tradition assigns to the first settler of the town. From that time there is no record of any trouble with the Indians.

When settlements were first begun here, as in other places i the people gathered together in villages for the purpose of mutual protection from the Indians. Here the first settle- ments were on or near Main Street. Here were the picketed houses. It is an interesting question when families ventured out of the village to live on the outlying farms. Iean find no record of any house built beyond the region of the village before 1760, which may be regarded as closing the long and terrible tragedy of the French-and-Indian war. For a period of one hundred and twenty-four years, says Dr. Holland, from the first settlement at Springfield, in 1636, the inhabitants of old Hampshire County had been exposed to the dangers, fears, toils, and trials of Indian wars and border depredations. Children had been born, had grown up to manhood and de- scended to old age, knowing little or nothing of peace and tranquillity. Hundreds had been killed, and large numbers carried into captivity.

Men, women, and children had been butchered hy seores. There is hardly a square aere-certainly not a square mile-in the Connecticut Valley that has not been tracked by the flying feet of fear, resounded with the groans of the dying, or served as the scene of toils made doubly toilsome by an ap- prehension of danger which never slept. Among such seenes and trials the settlements of Western Massachusetts were planted.

The end of these dangers came when peace was proclaimed, in 1763 .* Did any of the people of Greenfield move away from their defenses before 1763 ? Who knows ? If they were all concentrated in the village, it may seem strange that the committee, in 1753, should have fixed the place for ereeting a meeting-house at "Trap Plain," a mile north of the village and away from all roads, and strange that in 1760 the people should have ratified that choice and laid out roads east and west to the spot. The present road north from the village, called Federal Street, was not opened till 1788. Before that time people reached the church by going up the Gill road to the burying-ground, or the Country Farms road to Nash's mills.

The road known as Silver Street was laid out in 1760, the very year the town voted to build the meeting-house. The explanation of locating the church so far away from the settlement is found in the fact that it was the custom to put the meeting-house as near as possible in the territorial centre of the town. "Trap Plain" met the requirement in this particular, seeing that the territory of Gill had to be con- sidered. On account of the swamp, it could not have been placed farther north. When it was decided to build, the neces- sary roads were opened to it.

ROADS.

The earliest road in this town of which we have any knowl- edge was one from Deerfield, passing just east of " Pine Hill," and crossing the Deerfield River by a ford near the north end of Pine Hill, and on the east side of Green River to the place where the grist-mill now stands. Of course the early roads were but bridle-paths, cleared of trees and brush, and but little worked. Reference is made in the proprietors' records to the

* Treaty of peace signed Feb. 10, 1763.

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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

road to Northfield in 1723. Something in the way of a road must have existed in this village at the time the first grants were made, in 1687. But Main Street, in its present shape, was laid out in 1749.

The proprietors voted to lay out a road from the west end of Main Street to Country Farms in 1736. But an original plan of this road is before me, bearing the date of 1763. Which date is correct ? Probably both. In 1760 the town voted to lay out a road from the meeting-house spot to the best place to meet the proprietors' road. It is what we know as Silver Street. The Country Farms road was laid out in 1736 as the Proprietors' road. In 1763 it was laid out as a town road. So both dates are correct. Up to 1760 the only roads in town were the one from Deerfield to Main Street ; one from the east end of Main Street to Northfield ; a bridle- path ; one from the west end of Main Street to Country Farms ; and one from the same point to Coleraine. When the church was built at Trap Plain, the road was built from the burying- ground on the Gill road, west, to intersect with the Coleraine road, so that people from the east and the west end of the village could reach the church.

In 1763 the road from the meeting-house north to the Bernardston line was laid out, and in the same year, as I have said, the Proprietors' road to Country Farms was ac- cepted by the town, and ten days' work laid out on it.

In 1769 the road from Mrs. Thomas Nims' house to the Ballou place was laid out. And in 1775 a road to Shelburne was laid out, leaving the Coleraine road near the burying- ground, past where Mr. John Thayer now lives, in a north- westerly direction over the mountain, crossing the present Shelburne road just east of Col. David Wells' house. After this date the laying out of roads was of very frequent occur- rence, and occupied a large share of attention in town-meet- ings. Federal Street was laid out in 1788, and was a great undertaking.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

It is to be regretted that the records of the part Greenfield took in the war of the Revolution are so scanty. Enough are preserved to show that our town responded to the frequent calls of the provincial Congress for men and means to prose- cute the war with the mother-country. We cannot say unanimously responded, for many prominent men here, as elsewhere, did not heartily approve of the war. A few were open in their opposition. They looked forward to the time when the colonies would be free from the control of the king, but felt that the time had not yet come to enter upon a strug- gle to force a separation. They distrusted the ability of the colonies-weak, poor, and scattered as they were-to cope with the mother-country,-a powerful and united military nation. As we look back upon the actual condition of things at that time, we cannot but have a degree of sympathy with the Tories. It was a rash undertaking in which our fathers engaged. They hardly counted the cost. Had they foreseen -as fortunately they did not-the eight years of struggle that were before them, with all the attendant losses and hardships of war, possibly more of them would have hesitated before they embarked upon the perilous enterprise. But the battle at Concord aroused a spirit of patriotism which left no alter- native but war.

At a town-meeting in September, 1774, a committee were chosen ; some one or more of them to meet with the provincial Congress. In October of that year it was voted that Daniel Nash be a delegate to represent us at the provincial Congress to be held at Concord upon the 11th. That Congress met at Salem on the 7th of October, and adjourned to meet at Con- cord on the 11th. Finding the court-house too small for their purpose, they adjourned to the meeting-house, chose John Hancock president, and Benjamin Lincoln clerk. It was a time of great excitement. The eyes of the whole country were turned upon Boston, which was the fountain-head of the Rev-

olutionary struggle. The cause in which it suffered was re- garded as the common cause of the country. A hostile fleet lay in its harbor, hostile troops paraded its streets. The tents of an army dotted its Common. Cannon were planted in com- manding positions. Its fort was closed, its wharves deserted, its commerce paralyzed, and many were reduced from afflu- ence to poverty.

No one had more at stake than John Hancock, for he was the richest man in the colony. The Congress over which he presided was memorable in our annals. The constables and collectors throughout the province having public moneys in their hands were advised not to pay them to the authorities of the Crown, but to retain them, subject to the advice of the constitutional assembly.

Arrangements were made for increasing the quantity of warlike stores. In compliance with this advice, the town of Greenfield voted that the selectmen purchase for the town one hundred-weight of powder and one hundred-weight of lead over and above what is in the town stock, and that the sum of £12 be assessed to purchase this ammunition.

In the April following the war opened in the memorable battle at Concord, where " was fired the shot heard round the world." The news of that battle was borne by express to all parts of the province. The white horse bearing the messen- ger, bloody with spurring and dripping with sweat, reached Worcester and fell exhausted by the church. The bells were rung in all the towns, and the people were called together. Willard, in his history, has given us a graphic description of the reception of the news in Greenfield.

According to his account, " Thomas Loveland, a drummer, took his station on the horse-block under an elm at the south end of the common, and beat the long roll for volunteers, and with the desired result,-very many enlisted on the spot. Of the military company then existing, of which Ebenezer Wells was captain, Allen lieutenant, and Severance ensign, most were ready to hurry into the service of the colony; but the officers stood aloof, dissuading from the movement as savoring of treason and rebellion. Lieutenant-or, as he then was, Sergeant-Benjamin Hastings, the son of the Benjamin Hastings who had been prominent in the history of the town, and who had died the year before, was the first to enlist, and, as the old officers refused to serve, Hastings was chosen cap- tain by acclamation. Captain Wells said, 'Sergt. Hastings, you will have your neck stretched for this.' We should be glad to know his reply. He declined the office of captain in favor of Timothy Childs, who had been captain in a militia company, and who resided on the farm now occupied by T. M. Stoughton. Hastings became lieutenant, and Aaron Denio ensign, or, as we should say, second lieutenant. At daybreak on the following morning they were on their march to join the army at Cambridge."

This is a very pretty story, and I am sorry to spoil it, but I am afraid there is very little truth in it. It is a home-made story which authentic documents do not support. Let us hold on to Loveland's long roll under the tree opposite the post- office. We won't stop to inquire if that tree is more than one hundred years old. The story of Lieut. Hastings and Capt. Childs must go overboard.

In rummaging among the musty archives in the State-House I find these documents, which throw much light on the occur- rences of that day. The first is as follows :

Capt. Agrippa Wells' muster-roll in Col. Sam Williams' regiment of Minnte- Men who marched from Greenfield on the alarm April 19, 1775. First on the roll is Capt. Agrippa Wells, enlisted April 20th,-the very day, you observe, after the Concord fight ; term of service ten days; i.e., to May 1. Then follow the names of Ezekiel Foster, of Bernardston, lientenant ; Oliver Atherton, Elijah Kingsley, Dan Corse, sergeants; Asaph Allen, John Wells, Eben Scott, corpo- rals; Samuel Turner, Samuel Shattuck, John Connabel, Timothy Bascom, Eze- kiel Foster, Jr., John Coats, Ezra Rennell, Simeon Nash, Oliver Hastings, Nehe- miah Andrews, Frederic Denio, John Burt, Reuben Shattuck, Daniel Chapin, Thomas Hunt, David Davis, Eliphaz Child, Samuel Nichols, Samuel Deane, John Dewey, Joseph Slate, Joel Chapin, Ariel Hinsdell, Caleb Chapin, William Kings:

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land, Samuel Hastings, Elijah Mitchell, Hezekiah Chapin, Jonathan Atherton, Amos Smead, Tubal Nash, Daniel Picket, Hophni Rider, Daniel Wells, Firman Woud, Michael Frizzle, John Severence, Moses Arms. Jan. 2, 1776, muuudle oath that the above list was true.

This company of Minute-Men was called into the field under the impulse of a sudden alarm. At the end of ten days-i.e., May Ist-we lind a portion of the same company enrolled in the Continental army.

In the archives at the State-House is the muster-roll of the company under the command of Capt. Agrippa Wells, in Col. Asa Whitcomb's Regiment. The first name on the roll is Capt. A. Wells; time of enlistment, May 1, 1775. Traveled one hundred and five miles, mileage a penny a mile. Term of service three months and eight days.

Jacob Pole, of Shelburne, first lieutenant; Ezekiel Foster, of Bernardston, second lieutenant; Oliver Atherton, of Green- field, sergeant; Samuel Nichols, of Greenfield, drummer ; and a long list of privates from Greenfield, Shelburne, and Bernardston, containing such familiar names as John Wells, Frederie Denio, Timothy Bascom, Oliver Hastings, Tubal Nash, James Corse.

The term of service of this company expired Aug. 8, 1775. A large proportion of the officers and men re-enlisted for eight months' service,-the autumn and winter of the siege of Boston. The heroes of Mr. Willard's narrative do not ap- pear on the rolls at the State-House as men in service at this period.

In April of 1776 we find that Massachusetts is taking de- cided ground in favor of national independence. The Gen- eral Court passed a resolve in April to alter the style of writs and other legal processes, substituting " the people and gov- ernment of Massachusetts" for George III., and in May passed an order by which the people in the several towns were advised to give instructions to their representatives on the sub- ject of independence. In Greenfield it was "voted to adopt the measures and instructions to our representative as is set forth in the newspapers to Boston representatives."

On the 26th of September, 1776, it was voted " that the present House of Representatives, with the council, jointly acting by equal vote, be directed to proceed to form a constitution and form of government for this State, and that said court be di- reeted to publish said form of government for the inspection and perusal of the public before its ratification." When the General Court convened a committee was appointed to draft a constitution, consisting of four members of the council and eight members of the lFouse. But little is known of the pro- ceedings of this committee. But as the result of their delib- erations a constitution was drafted, debated at length, and ap- proved by the Legislature, submitted to the people, and by them rejected. In Greenfield, in April, 1778, five voted for the constitution, and eighty against it.

The year 1777 opened very darkly for the patriotic cause. The town was required to furnish shirts, stockings, and other clothing for the army, in the proportion of one set for every seven males in town over sixteen years of age. The town hired men to serve for six months.

In the State-llouse is preserved the pay-roll of Capt. Agrippa Wells' company in Col. Samuel Bower's regiment, which served at Ticonderoga for three months in 1776. There are 72 names on the list.

One of the great difficulties grew out of the depreciation of the Continental money. This trouble was increased by the ease with which this money was counterfeited. The committee of safety and correspondence had intimations that counterfeit- ing was carried on at a little hut in the woods at the right of the Gill road, on the hill just beyond the bridge at Factory village. The remains of that hut are now distinctly seen.

The committee found there all the implements necessary for counterfeiting, and arrested the proprietor, one Harrington by name. They took him to Northampton, but the judge told

them that he could not be imprisoned in the jail; that it was so full of Tories it would hold no more.

Ile directed them to take their man to the woods, this side of the village of Northampton, and administer as many blows as they thought best. Report says that Childs, Hastings, and Denio, members of the committee, gave light blows, while Nash put on heavily and brought blood at every stroke. They then made him promise to leave this part of the country and let him go.

In this year the town passed this significant vote: "Voted that the town will support the constable in collecting the rates."

The summer and autumn of 1777 were as important and interesting as any in the history of the war. Burgoyne started from Canada with his splendid army with the avowed purpose of sweeping through New York and separating New England from the rest of the colonies. Washington addressed circulars to the brigadier-generals of militia in Western Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut, informing them of the danger from Burgoyne, and adds : "To the militia we must look for support in this hour of trial. I trust you will immediately march with the militia under your command and rendezvous at Saratoga." This call was heartily responded to, and a large army was speedily gathered, made up largely of raw recruits, chietly farmers, enlisted for two and three months, and com- manded by Gen. Gates .* Bancroft says they were well armed, except that but three soldiers in ten had bayonets, but con- scious of superior strength. Eager for action, they kindled with anger and scorn at the barbarities Burgoyne threatened ; above all, were enthusiasts for the freedom of their country, now to be secured by their deeds.

The success of that campaign against Burgoyne was secured by the bravery and heroism of particular regiments, and almost in spite of the weakness and inefficiency of the gen- erals in command.

During all that year this region was kept in a constant state of aların, and the militia were frequently called out. I have before me the pay-roll of Capt. Timothy Childs' company in Col. David Leonard's regiment, raised Feb. 4, 1777, to serve one month and seventeen days: Timothy Childs, Captain ; Ezekiel Foster, Bernardston, Lieutenant; Isaac Newton, Sim- eon Nash, John Newton, Hull Nimms, Benjamin Hastings, Aaron Denio, Ariel Hinsdale, James Lowe, and others.

Another roll of Capt. Timothy Childs' men in Col. David Wieks' regiment, raised May 10, 1777, for Ticonderoga, dis- charged July 8, 1777 ; time allowed to go home, making two months and eight days. The commander of this regiment, Col. David Wicks, of Shelburne, was the grandfather of the present bearer of the same name and title. The names of the 42 men on this roll are not names that are familiar as Green- field names. The fortieth name is that of Preserved Smith, then a young man, who afterward became the minister at Rowe, and married the daughter of his commanding officer.

Another pay-roll of the militia of Greenfield, when the alarm was at Bennington, August, 1777, under the command of Capt. Timothy Childs, in the regiment of which Col. David Field was commander: Timothy Childs, Captain; Samuel Allen, First Lieutenant ; David Allen, Second Lieutenant, and 55 men. The time of the service was four days, the pay of the privates 58. 4d. each. The fact is they started for Bennington, but were too late, and were recalled.

In 1779 it was voted to go into some other method to raise our quota of men now to be raised. Up to this time volun- teers had come forward; now they must be hired. It was voted to raise the money to hire the men by a tax on polls and estates. I have before me an order to Samuel Wells, treas- urer, to pay certain persons the sums affixed to their names for hiring the six and nine months' men.

* Schuyler was in command until the 19th of August.

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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

In 1780 the town voted that the committee who hired the nine months' men act discretionally about paying them ; and a committee was chosen to hire men for six months, and to pay for clothing and blankets when called for ; and at another meeting, held in July, it was voted to give the men that serve in the Continental army 20s. a month in addition to their wages, and $1000 in paper money, they having paid these sums for hiring the men. The list is a long one, and begins with Samuel Wells, £272 15s. 4d. and amounting in all to £1288 18. 4d. A large sum for those days, but paid in a de- preciated paper currency. Signed by us, committee, Timothy Childs, Ebenezer Graves, Benj. Hastings, Samuel Stoughton, David Risley, Samuel Wells. On the back of this agreement are the receipts for the rye .*

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 6

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 896

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896