USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1630, to the present time, 1855 > Part 18
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His daughter Elizabeth, who married the second Sir Wil- liam Pepperell, died on her passage to England, in 1775. Her husband died in London, in 1816, aged seventy.
Although Colonel Royal's property in Medford was con- fiscated in 1778, it was kept together, and well guarded by officers appointed by the Judge of Probate. By the act of 1777, the General Court empowered the Judge of Probate to nominate agents to take charge of the estates of absentees, with full power to keep and improve the same. Colonel Royal was an exception to the great body of royalists ; and, although the General Court dealt with his property as with that of a voluntary absentee, they nevertheless considered that it might be restored on his return to Medford. The laws which took effect on Colonel Royal were as follows : -
January, 1778 : " Resolved, To prevent any person from returning into this State, who left it as aforesaid, unless such return be by the leave of the General Court."
" April 30, 1778 : On petition of Simon Tufts. Resolved, That Simon Tufts, Esq., of Medford, be, and he hereby is, directed to deliver into the hands of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspec- tion, &c., of the town of said Medford, all the estate of Isaac Royal, Esq., that he, the said Tufts, has in his hands, which he, the said Royal, left in the said town of Medford. And the said Com- mittee of Medford are hereby directed to receive the same, and im- prove it in the best and most prudent manner they can agreeable to the resolves of this Court respecting absentees' estates.
" And it is also resolved, That the several Committees of Corre- spondence, Inspection, &c., of such towns and plantations within this State, are directed to take possession of any estate in each town or plantation respectively that belonged to the said Isaac Royal when he left this State. And all such persons holding possession of any such estate are hereby directed to deliver possession thereof to such Committees respectively. And said Committee are further
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
directed to observe the same rules relative thereto as they are ordered to do in managing the estates of other absentees."
October, 1778 : The General Court order agents of estates of absentees to lay before them an account of all the property of such persons ; and, furthermore, resolve that none of the real estate shall be sold to pay their debts.
Feb. 1, 1779 : The General Court resolved that all moneys received from rent or sale of the land of absentees be put into the treasury of the State.
May 1, 1779 : The Court resolved to direct all agents to warn out the present possessors, and give possession to the new lessees of the State.
May, 1779 : The General Court appointed a Committee to sell at auction the confiscated estates of certain absentees. Sir William Pepperell, the son-in-law of Colonel Royal, is named in the list ; but Colonel Royal is not.
October, 1782 : The General Court resolved that the estates of absentees ought to be held to pay the just debts of said persons ; and therefore they order that the moneys received from the sale of such estates shall go to pay the creditors, deducting three per cent to the State for expenses.
The mode of restoring the estate of Colonel Royal to his heirs, and their disposition of it, may be learned from the following documents.
Extract from the deed given by Henry Hutton and Eliza- beth Royal Hutton, of England, to Mr. Robert Fletcher, of London, dated London, Feb. 25, 1806. It refers to the powers granted by the Legislature : -
" And whereas, by an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, passed on or about the 31st January, 1805, it was enacted or resolved that the Hon. James Sullivan, Attorney-General of said Commonwealth, and the Hon. Christopher Gore, or the survivors of them, should be, and they were, thereby authorized to make and execute a deed of conveyance of the said lands, messuages, and tenements, formerly belonging to the said Isaac Royal, to the said Robert Fletcher, his heirs and assigns, in fee simple, in manner and form, as was provided by the act passed on the 8th of March, 1792, entitled 'An act for providing a more easy and simple method than was then in use for barring estates in tail in lands, and for making the same liable for the payment of the debts of tenants in tail ; and that such deed, executed and acknowledged by the said James Sullivan and Christopher Gore, Esqrs., or the survivors of them, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds, in the Counties of Middlesex and Norfolk respectively, should be as good and sufficient in law,
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MILITARY HISTORY.
and should have the same force and effect, as though the same were made, executed, and acknowledged by Charles Henry Hutton, the eldest son of the said Henry Hutton and Elizabeth Royal, his wife, when of full age and in possession of the said premises.
" And that, for and notwithstanding any act, matter, or thing done by them, or either of them, they have good right and lawful authori- ty to sell and convey the said houses, lands, tenements, pew, and hereditaments, with their appurtenances, unto and to the use of the said Robert Fletcher, his heirs and assigns."
The deed was for "five hundred acres of land, on the west side of Mystic River, with the mansion-house ; " for all which Mr. Fletcher agreed to pay £16,000.
These legislative acts and public documents show that Colonel Royal's property in Medford was dealt with at last after the manner of other absentees ; that it came into legal possession of the State, and was put under the care of the Medford "Committee of Inspection," and all the rents and incomes paid into the treasury of the State. For twenty- seven years it continued in this situation, when a petition or claim of the heirs of Colonel Royal was preferred. The records of these details we have not been able to find ; but the final results are seen in the legislative grants of 1805.
We take leave of our townsman with the remark, that he was so generous a benefactor, so true a friend, so useful a citizen, and so good a Christian, that we forget he was a Tory, -if he was one. Happy would it be for the world, if at death every man could strike, as well as he did, the balance of this world's accounts.
CHAPTER V.
MILITARY HISTORY.
1630 : THE first tax levied on the inhabitants of Medford was the sum of £3, for the paying of two instructors in military tactics. The hostile Indians, and the more hostile wild animals, soon placed guns, swords, powder, and ball among the necessaries of life. To be "a good marksman " became one of the first accomplishments.
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
The legal equipment of a soldier was as follows : -
" A musket (firelock or matchlock), a pair of bandoleers, a pow- der-pouch, with bullets, a sword, a belt, a worm, a scourer, a rest, and a knapsack. His pay 18s. a month, and diet, and pillage; and his town to provide him with a month's provisions; viz., thirty pounds of biscuits, twelve of pork, twenty of beef, one half-bushel of pease or meal. The leader to receive 40s. per month. The towns to bear their share of the loss of arms. A list of the men and their arms to be handed in to the Court."
The men of Medford, Cambridge, and Charlestown formed one company. We can see exactly how one of our Medford soldiers looked in his military array in 1635. The bandoleer was a large leathern belt for supporting the gun. It passed over the right shoulder, and under the left arm. The two kinds of guns used by our fathers were called " firelock " and " matchlock." The first kind had a flint, which struck fire into the pan; the second was without a flint, and therefore required a match to be applied to the powder.
It will give us some idea of the habits and customs of the people in Medford when we read the following law, passed July 26, 1631 : -
" Ordered that, every first Friday in every month, there shall be a general training of them that inhabit Charlestown, Mistick, and the Newtown, at a convenient place about the Indian wigwams ; the training to begin at one of the clock in the afternoon."
" March 22, 1631 : General Court. Ordered that every town within this jurisdiction shall, before the 5th of April next, take especial care that every person within their town (except magis- trates and ministers), as well servants as others, be furnished with good and sufficient arms."
Aug. 7, 1632: It is ordered that the captains shall be main- tained (on parade-days) by their several companies."
" March 4, 1635 : It is ordered that, from this day forward, the captains shall receive maintenance out of the treasury, and not from their companies."
" Nov. 20, 1637 : It was ordered that training should be kept eight times in a year, at the discretion of the chief officers. Ma- gistrates and teaching elders are allowed each of them a man free from trainings ; and the deacons of the several churches are freed in like manner."
The first rule was this : " Their meetings shall begin with prayer."
1
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MILITARY HISTORY.
At this early period, none were allowed to vote for military officers except freemen, and they " who have taken the oath of residents." Freemen had a right to vote in these elec- tions, although they were not enrolled as members of the trainband. Officers must be freemen, since none others were eligible to offices in the State.
The captain was required to take oath. The fines gathered were to be expended in buying drum-heads for the company, and arms for .poor men. Ship-carpenters, fishermen, and millers were excused from training. Millers were excused, because, in tending tide-mills, they were often obliged to be at work through the night.
Certain persons were appointed in Medford as watchers of the Indians and wild beasts. March 9, 1637 : -
" All watchers shall come to the public assemblies with their muskets fit for service."
Same date : -
" No person shall travel above one mile from his dwelling-house without some arms, upon pain of 12d. for every default."
In 1637, two hundred men, as warriors, were to be raised in Massachusetts. The following towns furnished numbers in proportion to their population : Boston, 26; Salem, 18 ; Saugus, 16; Ipswich, 17; Newbury, 8; Roxbury, 10; Hingham, 6; Meadford, 3.
May 14: " Ordered that there shall be a watch of two a night kept in every plantation till the next General Court."
June 2, 1641: "Ordered that all the out-towns shall each of them have a barrel of gunpowder."
Sept. 15, 1641: On this day began a "muster," which lasted two days: twelve hundred soldiers. And though there was " plenty of wine and strong beer," yet "no man drunk, no oath sworn, no quarrel, no hurt done." Can so much be said now ?
Sept. 7, 1643 : The General Court thus say : -
"It is agreed. that the military commanders shall take order that the companies be trained, and some man, to be appointed by them, in each town, to exercise them."
" Arms must be kept in every family." These warlike preparations would lead us to infer that our Medford ances-
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
tors belonged not only to the church militant, but also to the state militant. To show the extremest care of our first set- tlers on this very point, we need quote only the following order : -
" May 14, 1645: Ordered that all children within this jurisdic- tion, from ten to sixteen years of age, shall be instructed by some one of the officers of the band, or some other experienced soldier whom the chief officer shall appoint upon the usual training-days, in the exercise of arms, as small guns, half-pikes, bows and arrows, according to the discretion of said officer."
1647: " Persons unable to provide arms and equipments for militia duty, on account of poverty, if he be single, and under thirty years of age, shall be put to service, and earn them. Mus- queteers, among their articles of equipment, are to have two fathoms of match.
" Whoever refuses to do duty, when commanded, shall be fined five shillings."
May 2, 1649 : The General Court issue the following : -
"It is ordered that the Selectmen of every town within this jurisdiction shall, before the 24th of June, which shall be in the year 1650, provide for every fifty soldiers in each town a barrel of good powder, one hundred and fifty pounds of musket bullets, and one-quarter of a hundred of match."
May 26, 1658 : The General Court say : -
"In answer to the request of the inhabitants of Meadford, the Court judgeth it meet to grant their desire ; i. e., liberty to list them- selves in the trainband of Cambridge, and be no longer compelled to travel unto Charlestown."
As several of Mr. Cradock's men were fined at different times for absence from training, we infer that the military exercises required by law were very strictly observed in Medford; and how it could have been otherwise, after so many special laws and regulations, we do not see. It seemed a first necessity of their forest-life to protect themselves from the wily Indian and the hungry bear. These military pre- parations were not suspended for a century. As late as Aug. 4, 1718, the inhabitants of Medford voted £10 to buy powder for their defence against the Indians.
" Every person enlisting in the troop is required to have a good horse, and be well fitted with saddle, &c .; and, having listed
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MILITARY HISTORY.
his horse, he shall not put him off without the consent of his captain."
The powder and balls belonging to the town were not de- posited always in the same place; and, March 3, 1746, " Voted that Captain Samuel Brooks shall have the keeping of the town's stock of ammunition."
1668: This year the Court took a step which was not popular. They resolved to exercise the power which they thought they possessed ; viz., of nominating all the military officers. The taking away of " so considerable a part of their so long-enjoyed liberty " met with decided opposition ; and, when our Medford company was organized, the town did not allow the Court to nominate the officers.
Up to this time, we hear little of " musters ; " and we pre- sume that large assemblies of soldiers at one place were not common. The military organization must necessarily have been very simple and limited at first ; and the idea of " divi- sions," " battalions," "regiments," as with us, must have been of a much later period.
One fact, however, is clear ; and that is, that these habitual preparations for defence and war gradually educated the colo- nists to that personal courage and military skill which rendered them so powerful in their war with Philip, and thus prepared them for achieving the victories of the Revolution. In 1675, they beat King Philip; in 1775, they beat King George; and, in 1875, they may beat all the kings of the earth.
This deep interest in military affairs made our forefathers wakefully anxious on the subject of the election of officers in the trainbands. It was an event in which every person in town, male and female, felt that his or her safety might be deeply concerned. The law carefully guarded the rights of the people in this act; and, therefore, did not leave so im- portant a trust to be conferred by the members of the com- pany alone, but made it the duty of the whole town to choose the three commanding officers. On the first occasion, when this power was to be exercised by the whole town, the Select- men issued a warrant for a meeting of all the inhabitants who had a right to vote. The warrant was dated May 18, 1781,' and was issued " in the name of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, for the purpose of choosing militia officers, as set forth in the Militia Act." This was the sole business of the meeting. The result was as follows : -
24
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Caleb Brooks chosen
Captain.
Stephen Hall, 4th
1st Lieutenant.
Daniel Tufts .
2d Lieutenant.
Here appears the great democratic principle of popular election of military leaders, wherein the majority of voters decide the whole case.
It was customary for the newly elected officer, not only to " treat the company," but to treat everybody else who repaired to his house at the appointed time. These were deemed the occasions in which freedom was liberally interpreted. Meat and bread were provided for food; but punch and flip were furnished in such overflowing abundance, that some visitors took many more steps in going home than in coming. It was expected, moreover, that the captain would treat his soldiers on parade-days. This item, added to other necessary expenses, made quite a draft on the chief officer's purse, as well as time. There are some conventional usages whose antiquity can be very safely assumed; and this of " treating the soldiers " is emphatically one. So late as our day it has continued ; and the temperance reformation has hardly yet arrested it.
Although we have recorded the organization of a military corps in 1781, whose officers were chosen by the town, ac- cording to the laws then existing, there were soldiers in Medford from 1630 to that time. What the exact rules and regulations respecting enlistment were in the middle of the seventeenth century, we cannot discover. There were com- position companies ; and the associations were often accidental, according to contiguity of place. They in Medford, who were " watchers," were soldiers ; and the annual provision of town powder shows that the ammunition was used. There was a company of militia in Medford before the Revolution ; and, when troublesome times came, they were ready for duty. It was the eighth company in the first regiment of the first brigade of the third division. Seth Bullard was Captain ; William Burbeck, 1st Lieutenant ; and Ezekiel Plympton, 2d Lieutenant. It belonged to Colonel Thomas Gardner's regi- ment. In 1775, it was commanded by Captain Isaac Hall. " This company came out," says the Adjutant-General, " on the 19th of April, 1775, and were in service five days, and were undoubtedly in the battles of Lexington and Concord." The names of the men composing the company on that memorable occasion are all recorded on the muster-roll ; and they were all Medford men, as follows : -
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MILITARY HISTORY.
Isaac Hall, Captain ; Caleb Brooks, Lieutenant; Stephen Hall, Ensign; Thomas Pritchard, Isaac Tufts, and Moses Hall, Ser- geants ; John Tufts, Gersham Teel, and Jonathan Greenleaf, Corpo- rals ; Timothy Hall, Drummer; William Farning, Fifer. Privates as follows : David Vinton, John Bucknam, Isaac Watson, Jonathan Lawrence, Jonathan Davis, Abel Richardson, James Tufts, jun., Samuel Tufts, 3d, Andrew Floyd, Benjamin Floyd, Andrew Blan- chard, Samuel Tufts, John Francis, jun., Paul Dexter, John Smith, Abel Butterfield, Josiah Cutter, John Kemp, Eleazer Putnam, James Bucknam, jun., Aaron Crowell, Jonathan Tufts, Benjamin Peirce, Thomas Wakefield, Jonathan Teel, Aaron Blanchard, Rich- ard Cole, William Binford, Thomas Bradshaw, Daniel Tufts, Peter Tufts, jun., Ebenezer Tufts, Isaac Cooch, Daniel Conery, Richard Paine, William Polly, Peter Conery, David Hadley, Jacob Bedin, Joseph Clefton, Samuel Hadley, jun., Moses Hadley, John Callen- der. Jolin Clarke, Andrew Bradshaw, Thomas Savels, Francis Hall, and Benjamin Savils.
Here are fifty-nine Medford men in actual service ; and the State paid them for their services £28. 16s. 5d.
Each man received pay for five days' service, except William Polly, who was killed in battle.
Captain Isaac Hall made a report of his company to the heads of the department, Oct. 6, 1775, then stationed on Prospect Hill. He resigned, before the end of the year, for the purpose of taking command of another company ; and Lieutenant Caleb Brooks was chosen captain in his stead, and, as such, made a report, January 3, 1776.
The corps which Captain Isaac Hall commanded " was made up of men from Medford, Charlestown, Woburn, Mal- den, Cambridge, and Stoneham, and were called the eight months' men." They enlisted for that time ; and, in addition to their pay, each one was to have a coat at the expiration of his enlistment. Eight of this company belonged to Medford ; and they were the following : Isaac Hall, Captain ; Caleb Brooks, Lieutenant. The privates were : Benjamin Floyd, James Wyman, Jonah Cutler, John Smith, William Buck- nam, and Joseph Bond. The last named was discharged June 7, 1775 ; the rest served out the eight months, and were on the " coat roll," so called, - which fact secured a pension from the United States. Some took money instead of a coat. Some time afterwards, Captain Hall testified that Samuel In- galls, one of his company, " has bin imprizoned in Cannedy, and hain't receeved no coat." This company was ordered by General Washington, in March, 1776, to be "marched from
188
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Medford to the Heights in Dorchester." They were in service there only four days.
The Medford militia, whose trainings we of latter days have witnessed, is mentioned for the first time in the " First Roster," in 1787; but, in the earlier and more confused records, there is recognition of a Medford company in 1781. The names of the officers are erased ! A vacuum then occurs. After this, the commanders of the company were as fol- lows : -
Moses Hall.
chosen Captain Jan.
12, 1787.
Samuel Teel
March 29, 1788.
Abijah Usher
May 26, 1795.
Gardner Greenleaf
Oct. 23, 1798.
Samuel Newell
April 17, 1801.
Nathan Adams
April 26, 1802.
Samuel Thompson
.
April 3, 1804.
Until this time, this company had belonged to the first regiment of the first brigade of the third division ; but now a new regiment, the fifth, was formed, and Medford, Charles- town, and Malden composed it. The next captain of the Medford company was Rufus Frost, chosen May 12, 1806. He resigned, and was discharged March 10, 1810. He was re-elected April 3, 1810, but he "refused to qualify." The next captains were : -
Henry Reed chosen
July 2, 1810.
Daniel Copeland ,
Feb. 27, 1812.
Henry Todd
April 2,1816.
Galen James
March 16, 1818.
Moses Merrill .
April 14, 1820.
John T. White
May 4, 1824.
John Sparrell .
Aug. 6,1827.
L. O. Chase
May 3, 1836.
It was disbanded under a general order, April 24, 1840.
Whatever confusion may seem to belong to one or two of these records, could doubtless be rendered clear if it had been the custom to make prompt and accurate returns, and also to keep the rolls as methodically as they are at present. " Mi- nute-men " were frequently organized, and no official registry made of them. Members of one company would join another for a single campaign of actual service, and, at their return, take their former places in the rank and file.
In 1828, when the Medford Light Infantry had resigned
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MILITARY HISTORY.
its charter, Captain John Sparrell was ordered to enroll its members in his company. He did so ; and, in that autumn, he appeared at a muster in Malden with one hundred and ninety-six men, rank and file.
Let us now return to our history near the close of the eighteenth century.
In 1797, a " general muster " took place in Concord, Mid- dlesex County ; and it engaged the attention of the whole community. The war of the Revolution had made the management of regiments and divisions an easy thing ; and the soldier-feeling of '75 and '83 had not much abated. A gathering of several regiments, therefore, was a most joyous event in this community. Medford made it a town matter, and voted to pay each soldier two dollars, and to give each a half-pound of powder. These musters became the occa- sions of great dissipation. They seemed to be a mustering of all the evils of a community. "Egg-pop " was the favor- ite drink ; and "wrestling," the " ring," "pawpaw," " hust- ling," and "wheel of fortune," the prevalent amusements. Intemperance, gambling, fisticuffs, ribaldry, theft, and noise were in the ascendant ; and the injury to youthful spectators was inconceivable great.
MEDFORD LIGHT INFANTRY.
The members of this company petitioned the Governor and Council to be organized, as an independent corps, under the law of Nov. 29, 1785. As that law was very peculiar, and gave rights seemingly at variance to general military usage, it may be worth while to extract the two sections which contain the extraordinary provisions. They are as follows : -
" Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That when any Major-General, commander of a division of militia in this Com- monwealth, shall certify to the Governor, that, in his opinion, it will be expedient, and for the good of the Commonwealth, that one or more companies of cadets, or other corps, should be raised, in his division, the Governor, with advice and consent of the Council, be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered (if he judge expe- dient) to raise such cadet company, companies, or corps ; and, when any such company or corps shall be raised, they shall elect their offi- cers in the same manner, and in the same proportion, as is provided for the election of officers of other companies and corps of militia in
-
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
this Commonweath; and the officers so elected shall be commis- sioned by the Governor. Provided, always, that no such cadet company or corps shall be raised in any of said divisions, when, by means thereof, any of the standing companies within the same would be reduced to a less number than sixty privates.
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