USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. I > Part 2
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"The name of every gallant ancestor A bond upon his soul against disgrace."
North America became, within a century and a half after its discovery, the adopted home of those Europeans who were disposed to renounce their allegiance to the despot- ism of crowned heads, sustained by a feudal aristocracy, and to seek for freedom in a New World. Humble navigators had called from the deep a New Spain of greater wealth than the mother country ; a New Netherlands of greater commercial importance than the Old ; and a New England, which, united with the Virginias, was destined to perpetuate the Anglo-Saxon tongue among a people more numerous than the inhabitants of the fatherland. Pontiffs established boundaries and monarchs granted charters, but the genius of free adventure, crossing the ocean, laid the foundations of the great imperial Republic of the United States of America. New areas were opened to commerce, and new regions to adventure, while a fresh field was offered for experiments in government. The Puritans of Old and of New England established the free governments which the English-speaking race now enjoys and maintains. To use the words of Bishop War- burton : " The interests of liberty were conducted and supported by a set of the greatest geniuses for government that the world ever saw embarked together in a common cause."
The Plymouth Colony was settled in 1620, but the Colony of Massachusetts Bay was not fairly organized until there was a large immigration from England in 1630, headed by Governor John Winthrop. Seventeen ships, equipped at an expense of nearly one hundred thousand dollars, conveyed to the new settlement nearly fifteen hundred emi- grants. They brought, in their number, clergymen, physicians, magistrates, military officers, millers, mechanics, and others, possessed of horses, cattle, and other property. They founded a number of towns along the Atlantic coast, each being a miniature republic, with its religious, military, and civil officers.
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6
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1637-8
The principal settlement was called Boston, in memory of that place in Lincolnshire, whence Isaac Johnson and other prominent emigrants came.
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Those who seek political advancement by professing to have raised themselves from what they term " the lower ranks of life," have adopted the declaration of Green that the early settlers of Massachusetts were " poor men and artisans." This is an error, as has been proven by those who have thoroughly investigated the social position of the immi- grants. They may justly be considered the most remarkable party of colonists, in point of intelligence, firmness of purposes, and an exalted standard of conscience, which ever left their native shores to lead the way in the establishment of great civil institutions. " Poor men and artisans" have not usually the enterprise or means to engage in such undertakings, and to carry them forward to successful completion. Doubtless there were poor men among them, for some had been despoiled of their substance by ecclesiastical and State persecution. They would naturally seek the companionship of "artisans," to assist them in their exploration and settlement of a wilderness ; but the great majority of the immigrants were "well-to-do" in the world, and there were some of wealth and high social position.1
Governor Winthrop had no sooner landed than he took possession of the govern- ment, which Governor John Endicott had undertaken to make a pure theocracy. The settlement at Merry Mount, which had sought to transplant some of the festivities of "Merrie England" to Massachusetts, had been broken up; men of character and ability, like John and Samuel Brown, who would not conform to the strict code established, had been summarily banished, and the cross was cut from the King's colors at Salem, on the ground that it was an emblem of popery. On the arrival of Governor Winthrop, with higher powers, the superseded Endicott humbly recognized his authority, placing himself at the new governor's disposal, "both as to time and place." Governor Winthrop responded with dignified courtesy, but recognized no local authority in his predecessor, whom he addressed as "Mr. Endicott." He visited him at Salem, however, "where they supped on good venison pasty and good beer."
Military distinction and heraldry were the only appendages of monarchical govern- ment tolerated in the province of Massachusetts Bay, for the only allegiance recognized was to God and the Commonwealth. The clergy pointed out their narrow road to heaven, and the drill sergeants taught men of dauntless energy how to use weapons for the defence of themselves and their colony. The armorial bearings, emblazoned in water colors and neatly framed, which were the only ornaments in nearly every house, were justified by the declaration in the book of Numbers, that "every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house." It ministered largely to men's pride, without trenching on their purses ; it pandered to pomp without taxing prudence, and conferred honor without imposing danger. Tombs and gravestones not unfrequently bore the arms of those who were interred within or beneath, a few of which still remain as memorials of the earliest years of the colony.
1 " By computation, the passage of the persons that peopled New England cost at least ninety-five thousand pound: the transportation of their first small stock of cattle, great and small, cost no less than twelve thousand pound besides the price of the cattle themselves; the provisions laid in for sub- sistence, till tillage might produce more, cost forty- five thousand pounds; the materials for their first cottages cost eighteen thousand pounds; their arms,
ammunition and great artillery cost twenty-two thousand pounds; besides which hundred and ninety-two thousand pounds the adventurers laid out in England what was not inconsiderable. About an hundred and ninety-eight ships were employed in passing the perils of the seas, in the accomplish- ment of this renowned settlement; whereof, by the way, but one miscarried in those perils." - Mather's Magnalia, Hartford Ed., Vol. I., p. 69.
7
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1637-8]
The colonists lost no time in organizing train-bands, which were supplied with the weapons and equipments sent out from England and were drilled by veteran officers, who were paid for their services. At a Court of Assistants, held at Boston, July 26, 1631, it was " Ordered, that evy first Thursday in evy month there shal be a genall traineing of Capt Vndrhill's company att Boston and Rocksbury, and evy first Friday in evy month there shal be a genall traineing of the remaindr of them who inhabitt att Charlton, Misticke and the New Towne, att a convenient place aboute the Indian wigwams, the traineing to begin at one of the clocke in the afternoon."
Among the distinguished immigrants who came to Boston in 1635, was Sir Henry Vane, a noble-hearted young man, of good education and exemplary character, described by John Milton in a sonnet, beginning, -
" Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel, old."
The Liberals, soon after his arrival, elected him governor, and it was soon apparent that the orthodox portion of the colonists were losing their ascendancy. Mrs. Hutchinson, a woman of rare ability, seconded by her brother, the Rev. John Wheelwright, were the champions of the tolerant views advanced by Governor Vane, and the more zealous Puritans saw that unless they could crush out such liberal ideas, they would be obliged to relinquish their assumed power. Fortunately for the Liberals, among whom were nearly all the military men of the colony, it became evident that the Pequot Indians were negotiating a hostile alliance with the Narragansetts for the extermination of the British settlers along the coast. This threatened war made the Puritans more tolerant than they would otherwise have been, but by a great effort they re-elected Mr. Winthrop as governor, and Sir Henry Vane returned to England, where he subsequently partici- pated in the rebellion, and was beheaded after the restoration of Charles II. Mrs. Hutchinson was tried, convicted of heresy, and banished.
In the Colony Records, Vol. I., pp 207-8, are given the names of those persons who were " seduced and led into dangerous errors " by " the opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson." The " whereas " provides, "that all those whose names are underwritten shall before the 30th day of this month of November, deliver in at Mr. Cane's [Robert Keayne's] house at Boston all such guns, pistols, swords, powder, shot, and match, as they shall bee owners of, or have in their custody, upon paine of tenn pounds for every default to bee made thereof," etc.
Fifty-eight are names of persons living in Boston ; five in Roxbury ; two in Charles- town, and several in Salem, Newbury, and Ipswich. Of the fifty-eight in Boston, the following were or became members of the Artillery Company, viz. : Captain John Under- hill (1637), William Aspinwall (1643), Samuel Cole (1637), John Button (1643), Richard Cooke (1643), Richard Fairbanks (1654), Thomas Marshall (1640), John Oliver (1637), John Biggs (1641), Richard Gridley (1658), Zacheus Bosworth (1650), James Johnson (1638), Thomas Savage (1637), John Odlin (1638), Edward Hutchin- son (1638), Robert Harding (1637), Richard Waite (1638), Edward Bendall (1638), Mr. Clarke (1638), and Hugh Gunnison (1646), or one third of the entire number. One in Roxbury, Richard Morris (1637) ; one in Charlestown, James Brown (1638).
On the 7th of October, 1636, there were ten train-bands in Massachusetts, which were officered as follows : Boston, Captain John Underhill (1637), Lieutenant Edward Gibbons (1637), and Ensign Robert Hardinge (1637) ; Charlestown, Captain Robert Sedgwick (1637) and Lieutenant Norton (1643) ; Dorchester, Captain Humphrey
8
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1637-8
Atherton (1638), Lieutenant Ezekiel Stoughton, and Ensign Nathaniel Duncan (1638) ; Watertown, Captain William Jennison (1637), Lieutenant George Woodman, and Ensign Richard Kent; Braintree, Captain William Tyng (1638) ; Cambridge, Cap- tain George Cooke (1638) and Lieutenant William Spencer (1637) ; Saugus, Lieutenant Daniel Howe (1637) and Ensign Richard Walker (1638) ; Ipswich, Captain Daniel Denison (1660), Lieutenant Richard Davenport (1639), and Ensign Thomas Whitting- ham; Lynn, Captain Nathaniel Turner (1637), Lieutenant Daniel Howe (1637), and Ensign Robert Walker ; Newbury, Captain John Spencer, Lieutenant Edward Woodman, and Ensign Richard Kent.
Many of these officers had belonged in England either to the Honourable Artillery Company, which had control of the Artillery Garden, or to another military association in London which met at the Military Garden. These two grounds for drill and martial exercises are described in a work entitled "The Artillery and the Military Gardens of London," by Lieutenant-Colonel Elton, who says in his introductory remarks : " The great delight in handling of arms in Military Exercises makes the City of London and the suburbs thereof famous throughout the world, by reason, as I conceive, of those two great Nurseries or Academies of Military Discipline, the Artillery and the Military Gardens, from whence, as out of pure fountains, all other private meetings are derived." There was also the "Martial Yard," at Horseldown, where the train-bands of Southwork used to exercise, and an " Artillery Ground," where the Middlesex and Westminster train- bands were drilled. Other military societies, similar to the Artillery Company, were formed during the reign of Charles I. On the 22d of October, 1625, the captains and trained men of Bristol humbly begged to be allowed to establish " an Artillerie Yarde "; North Yarmouth next applied, on the 10th of January, in the following year, and William Dutton, gentleman, of Chester, asked to be permitted to establish an artillery yard in that city, at his own expense, and to be appointed captain of it. Ipswich applied for a like permission on the 29th of September, 1629, and Nottingham did likewise on the 31st of December in the same year ; all of whom. were authorized to establish artillery yards, according to their requests.
Recollections of these organizations doubtless prompted twenty-four of the Massa- chusetts officers, in 1637-8, to form an artillery company in New England, which would serve as a military school, in which the officers of the scattered town companies could acquire uniformity of tactics and drill.
The following list has been prepared from a comparison of the rolls of the Hon- ourable Artillery of London and of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. It is based on the similarity of names and of the dates of becoming members. It is not intended to assert that all of the following were members of both companies, but, so far as names and dates are concerned, they might have been : -
Names.
Joined the London Co.
Came to America.
Foined A. & H. A. Co.
1 Adams, Thomas
March 10, 1639
1643
1644
2 Baker, Richard .
Jan. 15, 1638
1639
1658
3 Bourne, Nehemiah 1
March 2, 1639
1638
1638
4 Buckley, Thomas
Dec. 25, 1680
-
1685
5 Clarke, Hon. Thomas
Sept. 13, 1631
1636
1638
1 Joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company first.
1637-8]
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
9
Names.
Joined the London Co.
Came to America.
Foined A. & HI. A. Co.
6 Clarke, Thomas, Jr.
May
14, 1633
1641
1644
7
Clarke, William .
June
23, 1629
1636
1646
8 Clements, William .
May
22, 1657
1662
9 Collicott, Richard
1612
1630
1637
IO
Davie, Humphrey
Aug.
16, 1659
1662
1665
II
Davis, John
March 14, 1627
1635
1643
12
Davis, William
July
6, 1641
1643
I3
Evans, Josias .
June
16, 1642
1642
14
Fletcher, Edward
May
1, 1627
1639-40
1643
15
Fogg, Ralph
Oct.
15, 1622
1633
1644
16
Glover, Thomas
Aug.
20, 1622
1630
1642
17
Harrison, John
May
5, 1629
18
Hasey, William
May
30, 1643
-
1652
19
Hawkins, Thomas
April
4, 1620
1635
1638
20
Hawkins, Thomas
Feb.
26, 1639
1642
1649
2I
Hill, John .
July
28, 1635
1641
1643
22
Hunt, Thomas
Sept.
14, 1668
1674
1685
23
Keayne, Robert .
May
6, 1623
1635
1637
24
Kent, William
Sept.
22, 1657
1662
1667
25
Milan, John
May
24, 1614
1635-6
1641
26 Morris, Richard .
Nov.
15, 1614
1630
1637
27
Parker, Richard .
Nov.
1, 1614
1635-6
1638
29
Phillips, Henry
Sept.
30, 1623
1637
1640
30
Price, Richard
May
2, 1643
-
1658
31
Robinson, William
July
3, 1621
1636
1643
32
Shaw, John
March 21, 1619
1646
33
Smith, John
Aug.
22, 1637
1631
1637
35
Stanley, Thomas .
June
8, 1619
1635
1640
36
Stowe, Thomas
June
18, 1620
1634
1638
37
Underhill, John
Sept.
27, 1614
1630
163"
38 Walker, Richard
May
28, 1622
1630
1638
39
Webb, John
June
9, 1631
1635
1643
40
Williams, Robert
Aug.
21, 1635
1637
1644
41
Wright, Robert
Jan.
22, 1621
1643
28 Perkins, William
Oct.
10, 1614
1632
1638
1644
34
Spencer, William
16II
1638
The veterans accordingly formed a military company in 1637, and petitioned Gov- ernor Winthrop for a charter of incorporation, but at first without success. Governor Winthrop says of the original application : "Mo. 12 [1637] Divers gentlemen and others, being joined in a military company, desired to be made a corporation, but the Council considering (from the example of the Prætorian band among the Romans, and the Templars in Europe,) how dangerous it might be to erect a standing authority of military men, which might easily in time overthrow the civil power, thought fit to stop it
IO
IIISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1637-8
betimes ; yet they were allowed to be a company, but subordinate to all authority." I Another writer, using nearly the same words, adds : "Thus were the chief rulers of the country not only ready to espy, but timely prevent any inconvenience that might in after times arise." It has also been intimated that the Governor and his Council, who had so recently been kept out of power for a year by the adherents of Sir Henry Vane and Mrs. Hutchinson, were unwilling to incorporate a body chiefly composed of those who had supported this revolutionary movement. The reason for this rejection of the petition may appear by the following quotation from Governor Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. I., p. 257 : "At this Court [I mo., 1638] divers of our chief military officers, who had declared themselves favorers of the familistical persons and opinions, were sent for, and being told, that the court having some jealousy of them for the same, and therefore did desire some good satisfaction from them, they did ingenuously acknowledge, how they had been deceived and misled by the pretence, which had been held forth, of advancing Christ, and debasing the creature, etc., which since they have found to be otherwise, and that their opinions and practices tended to disturbance and delusions ; and so blessed God, that they had so timely discovered their error and danger to them."
The cause of the Court's jealousy having been removed by the acknowledgments of the chief military officers, the charter of the Military Company of the Massachusetts was soon after granted.
The newly formed Company, however, was permitted to organize and to present the names " of two or three to the Council, to choose a Captain out of them." Robert Keayne was probably selected, as a subsequent order of the Council provides that " Captain Keayne and the Military Company have power to exercise where they please and to make use of so many of the common arms as they need, and a warrant from any of the Council is sufficient for the delivery of them to Captain Keayne or to such as he shall appoint."
The Company did not relax its exertions to obtain the desired charter. It was finally successful, as appears from the following extract from the original Records of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, under the date of " the 13th of the First Month, @ 1638," i. e., March 13, 1638.
" Orders for the Military Company, made by the Governor and Council and con- firmed by the General Court.
" Whereas divers Gentlemen and others, out of their care of the publick weal and safety, by the advancement of the military art and exercise of arms, have desired license of the Court to join themselves in one Company, and to have the liberty to exercise themselves, as their occasions will best permit; and that such liberties and privileges might be granted them, as the Court should think meet, for their better encouragement and furtherance in so useful an employment ; which request of theirs being referred unto us of the Standing Council, we have thought fit, upon serious consideration, and confer- ence with divers of the principal of them, to set down and order herein as followeth :
"Imprimis. We do order, that Robert Keayne, Nathaniel Duncan, Robert Sedg- wick, William Spencer, Gentlemen, and such others as are already joined with them, and such as they shall from time to time take into their Company, shall be called the Military Company of the Massachusetts.
"2dly. They or the greater number of them, shall have liberty to choose their
1 Winthrop's Hist. of New Eng., Vol. I., p. 253.
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PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CHARTER.
II
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1637-8]
Captain, Lieutenant, and all other officers. Their Captain and Lieutenant to be always such as the Court or Council shall allow of ; and no officer be put upon them, but of their own choice.
" 3dly. The first Monday in every month is appointed for their meeting and exer- cise ; and to the end that they may not be hindered from coming together, we do hereby order, that no other training in the particular towns, nor other ordinary town meetings, shall be appointed on that day ; and if that day prove unseasonable for the exercise of their arms, then the sixth of the same week is appointed for supply. This not to extend to Salem, or the towns beyond, nor to Hingham, Weymouth, Dedham or Concord.
" 4thly. They have liberty and power to make orders amongst themselves, for the better managing their military affairs ; which orders are to be of force, when they shall be allowed by the Court or Council ; and they may appoint an officer to levy any fines or forfeitures, which they shall impose upon any of their own company, for the breach of any such order, so as the same exceed not twenty shillings for any one offence.
" 5thly. The said Military Company are to have one thousand acres of land, ( in some place as may not be prejudicial to any plantation,) to be granted by the Court to some of the said Company, for the use of the present Company, and such as shall suc- ceed in the same ; to be improved by them within a time convenient, for providing necessaries for their military exercises, and defraying of other charges, which may arise by occasion thereof.
"6thly. The said Company shall have liberty, at the time before appointed, to assemble themselves for their military exercises, in any town within this jurisdiction, at their own pleasure ; provided always, that this order or grant, or anything therein con- tained, shall not extend to free the said Company, or any of them, their persons or estates, from the civil Government and jurisdiction here established.
" JOHN WINTHROP, Governor,
" THOMAS DUDLEY, Dep. Governor."
Mr. Whitman (1810) states, in the second edition of his History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, that " in the early records of the Company, and transcript made in pursuance of Daniel Henchman [1675], the commander's orders, under date of 1702, is incorporated another article numbered '3d' and inserted between 3dly and 4thly of the Charter as here printed, viz. : 'None of the said Military Company, (except such as shall be officers of any other train-band in any particular town,) shall be bound to give attendance upon their ordinary trainings.' Snow, in his History of Boston, inserts this as an original part of the charter ; but he took it from the charter as printed then, for the use of the members, or from their records, rather than looking at the records of the colony. The first By-Laws adopted, 1657, seem to be founded on such an article, but it is presumed none such ever existed. It was a custom adopted rather at the commencement of the Company and so handed down, until, by tradition and use, it became merged or interpolated in the charter. It is, however, an important privilege of the Company, going to exempt all citizens, otherwise liable to duty, from doing such duty in companies, within whose bounds they may reside; and, as such, has always received such construction."
The charter says : -
" Imprimis. We do order, that Robert Keayne, Nathaniel Duncan, Robert Sedg- wick, William Spencer, Gentlemen, and such others as are already joined with them," etc.
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