USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > History of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
The meeting was evidently held, and evidently was not conciliatory, for the Massachusetts Gazette of March 10, 1774, states:
Monday Evening the Tea that arrived in Captain Gor- ham from London, belonging to some private Persons, was thrown into the Sea, in the same Manner with that of the East India Company's in December last.
The same paper carried an extensive alibi in the form of a communication from the owners of the vessel, explaining that they had issued orders that East India Company's tea was not to be accepted as cargo on any account, and supposed that in doing so they had taken all necessary precautions. But the Bostonians held similar tea parties as often as any importation was attempted, and their disorderly habit in this respect be- came somewhat discouraging to shipowners and merchants in the tea trade.
There is no denying that the colonials were behaving very badly. The conservative voices among them were for concili-
141
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
ation on a basis of letting well enough alone. And the noisier patriots might well have failed to carry general sentiment the other way, but for the excessive harshness of Parliament in meting out exemplary punishment. Even at this stage, the impending storm of revolution might have been averted.
But early in 1774 came the Regulating Act, to destroy the original charter and the town meeting as well; another provid- ing for removal to England of the trials of British officials charged with capital crimes in the administration of their duties; the Quartering Act, which obliged inhabitants of the town to shelter British soldiers then being sent over; a fourth act, which blocked westward expansion, provided government by an appointive legislative council, and gave special rights to Roman Catholics; and, climax of all, the Boston Port Bill. This removed the customs house from Boston to Salem and made it the new capital, while Marblehead was designated to replace Boston as the principal port.
Deluded British statesmanship supposed that town rivalry would bring the rest of the province into league against Bos- ton, and in support of this bill. In fact, it was regarded as the crowning act of a program of coercive legislation which called forth every bit of patriotic loyalty in Massachusetts. If a fight was to be necessary, Massachusetts men would fight shoulder to shoulder.
Accordingly, Brookline, with other towns of the province, began to take account of the state of local defense.
THE SPIRIT OF DEFENSE
The town meeting of July 29, 1774, 'Voted That this Town will unite with the other Towns in this Province in every rational and Justifiable measure to recover and maintain our invaided rights and will come into Such Commercial Agree- ment, as may be Recommended by the General Congress.'
On the first of September a committee comprising John Goddard, Captain Benjamin White, Major William Thompson, Isaac Child, and Captain Elisha Gardner, was appointed 'to Examine into the state of Said Town as to There Milatary preparations for War, in case of a Suden attack from our En- emies, and make Report ... ' This same meeting decided also
142
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
to indemnify any town officers who might be penalized in con- sequence of their refusal to comply with the 'New Acts & Reg- ulations intended to be obtruded on this Province ... '
Another meeting, four weeks later, selected Captain Ben- jamin White as representative to the General Assembly, and appointed a committee to draw up instructions for his guid- ance. These warned him to give no recognition to the man- damus councilors nor any acknowledgment of
the validity of the late oppressive Acts of Parliament - and as we expect A faithful Adherence to the Charter & Consti- tution of the Province will soon procure the Dissolution of the House of Representatives we hereby impower you to meet the Deligates from the other Towns in the Province at a provincial Congress to be held at Concord or else where on Tuesday ye 11th of October and in behalf of this Town to act & unite with them in all such measures as shall appeare to you to have a tendency to promote the welfare of this Province and to recover & secure the Just Rights and liberties of America.
Major William Thompson and John Goddard were also chosen as additional delegates to the Provincial Congress.
The fear that Governor Gage would attempt to dissolve the General Court summoned to meet at Salem had reasonable foundation. But Gage was a little disturbed at the temper of the country, and issued an equivocal proclamation excusing the representatives from assembling, and explaining that he would not be present. Having thus missed the opportunity of rendering the assembly clearly unconstitutional, Gage left the situation open for its meeting.
The delegates came together at Salem on October 5, waited a day for the Governor to appear, and then resolved them- selves into the Provincial Congress, which adjourned to meet three days later at Concord. There more than twice as many delegates assembled as had been at Salem, and an adjourn- ment to Cambridge was as well attended.
In its sessions, the Congress drafted an address to Gage, objecting to fortifications which they believed showed his dis- position to war, despite his assurance that they were for de- fense. A committee estimated the ordnance and military
OLD GODDARD BARN FROM WHICH MILITARY STORES WERE TRANSPORTED TO CONCORD BY JOHN GODDARD, APRIL IO, 1775
143
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
stores needed by the province, which it was thought would cost over twenty thousand pounds. And to raise funds, a receiver-general for the province was appointed, and tax col- lectors and sheriffs were advised to pay over to him whatever public funds they held. Thus highly rebellious effect was given to the highly rebellious Suffolk Resolves.
And on November 17, 1774, at a Brookline town meeting, it was 'Voted To see wheither the Town Approve of the Meas- ures that are come into by the Continental Congress and will abide by the same, and it past in the Affermative Unani- mously.'
The movement toward organized resistance was under way and gaining momentum, and the spirit of co-operation among the towns of Massachusetts was growing. 'Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Brooklyn Legally Assembled,' on January 1, 1775, 'Voted To afforde Relief to the Town of Boston & Charlestown by Subscription.' They also 'Voted to have a Volenteer Company they to Choose their Officers and each Soldier that will Inlist shall be in titled to four pence as Expence Money each Evening.'
On second thought it was 'Voted to Reconsider the Vote as to Minute men & their pay & it past in the Negative not to heve any.' This, of course, did not mean that the town was persuaded that a volunteer company was not a very desirable thing; probably considerations of discretion entered, and pos- sibly some thought of the 'Expence Money.'
But Brookline people were thoroughly in sympathy with the work of the first Provincial Congress, and the town meeting of May 29, 1775, chose Captain Benjamin White as a delegate to the Provincial Congress 'Appointed to be held at Watertown on wednesday ye 31th of this Inst. may & so from time to time for & During ye term of six Months.'
Their co-operation, however, was by no means wholly de- liberative. The assembly of supplies, in accordance with the recommendations of the first Provincial Congress, had been going on. For the sake of security it was thought best to gather the stores at an inland point, and as early as March 8, 1775, John Goddard of Brookline began carrying beef and flints, rice, lead and linen, potatoes, flour, and pork to Concord.
144
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
These were the supplies which the British authorities thought must be seized if rebellion were to be thwarted, and it was the endeavor to seize them which brought about the first open conflict.
'THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN '75'I
On the night of April 18, 1775, eight hundred British grenadiers embarked in boats from the foot of the Common at Charles street. They landed on Phip's farm, now East Cambridge, and marched through Cambridge to Lexington and Concord. Before daylight of the nineteenth, General Gage had received messages from Col. Smith commanding the expedition that the country was aroused and that rein- forcements were urgently needed. [While Revere rode to Lexington and Concord, Dawes went to Roxbury and Brookline, and thence by the present Harvard street to Cambridge.]
A detachment was immediately ordered out under com- mand of Lord Percy, consisting of three regiments of in- fantry, two divisions of marines, and two pieces of field artillery. These troops rendezvoused near King's Chapel, in that part of the present Tremont street which was then called 'Long Acre.' The infantry was promptly on hand but orders were confused and the marines were not ready to march until about nine o'clock.
Harrison Gray Otis, then a schoolboy of Boston, has described the scene in these words:
'On the 19th April 1775 I went to school for the last time. In the morning, about seven o'clock, Percy's brigade was drawn up, extending from Scollay's buildings, through Tremont street, and nearly to the bottom of the Mall, pre- paring to take up their march to Lexington. A corporal came up to me as I was going to school and turned me off to pass down Court street, which I did and came up School street to the school-house. It may well be imagined what great agitation prevailed, - the British line being drawn up a few yards from the school-house door.'
The reinforcements marched south through what is now Washington street to Roxbury, up the hill by the Roxbury
I The ensuing paragraphs, until otherwise indicated, are taken from the manu- script of a talk before The Brookline Historical Society on 'Old Harvard Street,' by Edward Wild Baker.
145
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
Meeting House to the right, where the Paul Dudley parting stone was then and is now. ยท-
Here the northerly face of the stone directed to Cam- bridge and Watertown by way of the highway across Stony Brook and over the hill (now Parker Hill) into and through Punch Bowl Village, - then a part of Roxbury and now the approach to the village section of Brookline.
The old Punch Bowl Tavern which gave the name to the locality stood on the right-hand side of the street where the Village Square transfer station in Brookline now is. In front stood the sign post with the swinging sign showing a punch bowl and lemon tree. Large trees shaded its hospit- able entrance and just below was the tavern pump, while, where the railroad bridge now is, the road crossed the brook where the horses and cattle could get their refreshment, while their owners were enjoying theirs in the tavern tap room. Leaving Brookline the troops took the 'Road to Cambridge' as it is designated on all the old maps. It was not named Harvard street in Brookline until 1841 when the name was given to 'the road from the Baptist Meeting House towards Cambridge.' There were no cross streets in that day and the column kept on its straightaway march to the causeway and 'great bridge' across the Charles River at the place where Soldiers' Field now welcomes the multitudes of spectators to the mimic battles of the gridironed stadium.
Can any of you picture to yourselves 1 that scarlet-coated army marching along that road, - a road winding along through the meadows and uplands and shaded by beautiful overhanging trees, - the houses of farmers at widely scat- tered intervals, and yet a road much travelled between Boston, the surrounding towns, and the Colleges at Cam- bridge? Can you see on that old road the usual traveller on horseback, alone or with company, - perhaps with his wife or some member of his family on the pillion behind, with an occasional chaise or an infrequent coach or chariot with some colonial or ecclesiastical dignitary?
Can you imagine the scene, - can you appreciate what must have been the feelings of families along the road as they watched the infantry marching by, the marines, the artillery, - a scarlet coated army of 1200 soldiers, with flags
I It is necessary for the reader to remember that Mr. Baker was speaking to an audience, not writing in apostrophic form for publication.
146
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
flying, music playing, - with baggage train and supplies, - the officers no doubt laughing and joking among them- selves, and the men in the ranks acting as if they were all out on a practice parade? Indeed, it seems as if the com- manding officers could not have realized the seriousness of the occasion, - otherwise the boats would have been brought back from Cambridge to the Common and the long march would have been avoided, to say nothing of the saving of most valuable time.
Leaving behind the Gardner house the troops followed the road towards the Colleges until they came to the cause- way across the meadows and the river spanned by the 'Great Bridge.' The Selectmen of Cambridge had thought to make the 'Great Bridge' impassable. Those who carried out the orders were inexperienced in war and although they re- moved the floor boards they did not destroy or carefully conceal them, but piled them not far away on the Cam- bridge side. Percy's soldiers crossed on the stringers of the bridge, and relaid the flooring sufficiently for the troops and artillery to cross without serious delay. The baggage train, however, was so much delayed that it became sep- arated from the main body and was cut off and captured in Menotomy (now Arlington).
General Heath of Roxbury was one of the generals who were authorized to take command of the Minute Men when they should be ordered out. On his way to the scene of action after receiving the alarm, he ordered the planks to be again removed from the bridge, barricades to be erected and the retreat of the British to be prevented should they return by the same route.I
BROOKLINE'S PARTICIPATION
Meanwhile the men of Brookline had responded to the alarm, and three companies had assembled in front of the church on the Sherburne road. Two were organized then and there, one of which was commanded by Colonel Thomas Aspinwall and the other by Isaac Gardner, who held no military title. The third was a regularly organized and drilled company of ninety- four men, led by Captain Thomas White.2 They remained
I This concludes the instant quotation from Edward Wild Baker's 'Old Harvard Street.'
2 Of this company, Caleb Craft was First Lieutenant; Daniel White, Second
WALNUT AND WARREN STREETS, THE CENTER OF OLD BROOKLINE The green with the monument is the site of the first school, and from here the Brookline Minute Men marched to Lexington
147
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
under arms for more than three weeks after the day of Lex- ington and Concord.
Adhering to the maxim that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, the militiamen set out across country in the direction of Lexington, but did not encounter the British at North Cambridge until the King's troops had commenced to move toward Boston. Then they took part in that harassing fire from the shelter of trees, buildings, and stone walls, that gave the English soldiers their first experience of what we now call sniping.
According to family tradition, Squire Gardner had taken leave of his wife and daughter that day in a manner that seemed fraught with premonition. With some men of his company, he took shelter behind some empty casks at what was known as Watson's Corner, and was so intent on the approach of the main body of the British down the road that he failed to notice the appearance of their flank guard behind him. In the en- counter which followed, he was killed, the only Harvard grad- uate among the patriots to die that day. Near him at the time was his eldest son, later General Isaac S. Gardner, who was then a lad of seventeen, serving as fifer with Captain White's com- pany. When the remains, pierced by a dozen wounds of bullet and bayonet, were brought back to Brookline the second night after, this son was the only member of the family to view them before their secret burial. Secrecy was observed, lest Brook- line patriots be inspired to unwise demonstrations against the British because of their great love for the squire, and because of the general grief and resentment which his death had occa- sioned.
A significant controversy arose over Isaac Gardner, and flourished for some time. Unable to believe that one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace could have participated in open revolt under arms, an English newspaper correspondent stated:
This unfortunate Gentleman was not in arms, but return- ing to his family from a long journey, and lodged at Lexing-
Lieutenant; Moses White, Sergeant; Abijah Child, Sergeant; Timothy Corey, Ser- geant; Samuel Griggs, Sergeant; Caleb Gardner, Corporal; John Harris, Jr., Corporal; Daniel Dana, Jr., Corporal; Isaac Gardner, Fifer; Benjamin Larnard, Drummer.
148
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
ton the night preceding the action; early in the morning of which fatal day he set out for home, and on the road, being unarmed, he was barbarously shot in cold blood, by a Scotch grenadier of the King's own regiment, though he begged for mercy and declared solemnly he had taken no part in that days disturbance. He has left a widow and large fam- ily of young children, who, it is hoped his most gracious Majesty will provide for.
This account, however, did not go uncontroverted, for a reply to it appeared in the Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser of July 4, 1775, in these terms:
Isaac Gardner, one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, was not killed as he was peaceably riding along, but was killed in the very act of attacking the King's troops.
The rebels in their own accounts, confess this, and con- fute Mr. Potatoe Head's falsehoods. Their account, dated the 24th of April, says that Isaac Gardner took 9 prisoners, that 12 soldiers deserted to him, and that his ambush proved fatal to Lord Percy and another general officer, who were killed the first fire. This is a clear refutation of Mr. Potatoe Head's lying paragraph.
Two other incidents of the day relate to Dr. Aspinwall, brother of the colonel, and to Dr. Downer. The former was notably alert and energetic against the enemy. When he ob- served a body of men under Captain Gridley awaiting the British at a point where he felt certain they would not pass, he sought to persuade that officer to move down toward the road to Charlestown, but without success. Then the doctor saw the British take the turn, shouted his discovery to the militiamen, leaped over a wall and off in pursuit, nearly half of the com- pany with him.
Dr. Aspinwall was blind in one eye, and aimed from his left shoulder, but with commendable precision. It is related of him that he considered the marksmanship on both sides so faulty that he preferred to reload his gun while he stood on the side of a tree exposed to the enemy, rather than risk being shot by some member of his own party. He and the men who followed him harassed the retreating British until dusk over- took them near Charlestown.
149
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
Dr. Downer, called by General Heath an 'active, enterpris- ing man,' engaged in more than one hand-to-hand conflict during the day. His closest escape from death came when he offered medical aid to a wounded British soldier who rolled over, gun in hand, and threatened, 'Damn yer, I'll dress yer wound for yer!' Providentially a companion of the doctor shot the other as he was taking aim.
THE BRITISH RETREAT
When, at the close of day, the enemy had been pursued into Charlestown, the patriots who had fought that day, more as individuals than as soldiery under orders, made their way home, each in his own fashion. The British had been shown that there was a limit beyond which Massachusetts men would not permit what they regarded as infringement of their rights.
I No one can tell what the result might have been had Lord Percy attempted to return by way of the Great Bridge barricaded as it was, and defended by men from the towns to the south of the Charles River. Suppose he had attempted to lead those tired soldiers, many of whom had already marched thirty miles, for another eight or nine miles, his column hampered by the wounded in carts or any kind of a vehicle which he had seized for their transportation, then that causeway across the meadows, that narrow bridge across the Charles, would have witnessed a struggle as fierce as any of those about which history tells us.
I wish it were possible today to show on the moving pic- ture screen, first the view of the Anderson Bridge filled with thousands and thousands on their way to or from a holiday event at the Stadium, and follow it with a reproduction of how it must have looked on that warm spring morning in 1775, a narrow street and a narrower bridge filled with that long drawn out line of soldiers and baggage train, the whole covering the road, causeway, and bridge, probably from what is now Cambridge street, Allston, to Harvard Square [in Cambridge.]2
I Quotation of Mr. Baker's material is resumed.
2 The quotation from Mr. Baker is temporarily broken at this point.
150
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
DEFENSIVE MEASURES
The day of Lexington and Concord made it plain that a stand had been taken from which there could be no retreat. To hold the position might be difficult. There would almost certainly be moves by the British toward retaliation and pun- ishment, against which steps must be taken.
Accordingly, an order of April 21, 1775, directed 'that the two hogsheads of powder in the possession of Mr. Pigion be lodged with John Goddard, at Brookline, for the use of the American troops,' and a few days later a mortar and ordnance stores were delivered into Mr. Goddard's care.
The fort on Sewall's Point, sometimes called the Brookline Fort, stood near the present Cottage Farm station. It mounted six guns and had quarters for a strong garrison (two com- panies were stationed there on June 16, 1775) who, with the soldiers of Fort Washington on the Cambridge side of the river, shared the task of excluding British ships from the upstream reaches.
This fortification was erected under the direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam, and soon after Lexington was assigned to Gen- eral Thomas's division of the Revolutionary Army at Roxbury. The Brookline Fort was under fire only once during the war, when an attack was made which General Heath records in his Memoirs under date of July 31, 1775: 'A little before one o'clock, A.M., a British floating-battery came up the river within 300 yards of Sewall's Point and fired a number of shot at the Ameri- can works, on both sides of the river.'
Colonel Gerrish, in command at the time, was severely crit- icized for his failure to reply to the British attack. His behavior at Bunker Hill was also questioned, and in his account of that battle Richard Frothingham quotes Swett as saying:
He was stationed at Sewall's Point, which was fortified; in a few weeks a floating-battery made an attack on the place, which he did not attempt to repel, observing, 'The rascals can do us no harm, and it would be a mere waste of powder to fire at them with our four pounders.' It was evening, the lights were extinguished, and all the British balls flew wide of the fort. For his conduct on this occasion, and at Bunker Hill, he was arrested immediately, tried, found guilty of
151
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
'conduct unworthy an officer,' and cashiered. This was August 19, 1775. It was thought by the judge-advocate of the court that he was treated far too severely.
A battery, with three embrasures, stood on the shore of Muddy River, at the present St. Mary's Street. It does not appear to have played a part of any importance.
SOLDIERS' QUARTERS
As Washington established his line of siege around Boston, it became necessary to find shelter for his troops in many of the outlying communities, and in numerous instances homes were appropriated for that purpose. So far as possible, such use seems to have been temporary.
Thus Connecticut soldiers destined to occupy barracks on Parker Hill, were quartered for a time in the Davis house, near the southeast corner of Davis Avenue and Washington Street. The story is told that they disturbed the housekeeper by cut- ting up their rations of pork on the front stairs.
The Hyslop family moved to Medfield for safety during the siege, and their home was used as a barracks. Other soldiers moved in to share the home of the Ackers family on the corner of the present Chestnut Hill Avenue and Boylston Street.
Barracks were erected in a grove behind the fort on Sewall's Point to accommodate Colonel Gerrish's regiment and some Connecticut troops. Here also Colonel Prescott made his head- quarters for some time. Later the barracks were used as hos- pitals for the particular purpose of inoculating the Conti- nental soldiers with smallpox, a matter which greatly disturbed the citizens of Brookline.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.