USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 13
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Nathaniel Bassett was born at Sandwich, January 27, 1757. At the age of 17 he joined a Volunteer Company of 50 in his native town, who hired some one from Bos- ton, at their own expense, to teach them military tactics. The troubles with England were then evidently coming
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to a crisis, and young Bassett ardently espoused his country's cause. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Sandwich, the company were soon on their way to Boston. They had not gone far before news came that the British had retreated, and the company returned. Their services were soon needed for the defence of the coast. Their duties were performed voluntarily, without compensation. In the course of the year, young Nathaniel Bassett entered the regular service under Captain Elisha Nye. He was stationed on Dorchester Heights, and was in the first boat-load under Major Sprout to take posses- sion of the fort abandoned by the British. He shipped on board the privateering brig " Cobbett," but to escape the British ship " Milford," the brig was run ashore on the coast of Nova Scotia. The shipwrecked crew suffered great hardships in making their escape, but Bassett finally reached home only to enlist at once in the army. He was stationed at Boston and Providence in '77, under Captain Palmer. In '80, the urgent necessity of his country once more called him to military duty. He had been up the Hudson and across the country to Berk- shire County, and here hired out to a blacksmith. Learn- ing of his knowledge of the military art, his employer offered to give him his time if he would enlist. He was ordered in the first place to Great Barrington, thence to Claverack, and finally to West Point. He was so much better acquainted with tactics than his captain was, that he acted as prompter as well as drill-master. In pursu- ance of Arnold's plan to scatter the troops and thus weaken the place, he was sent one of a company of sixty men under Lieutenants Walker and Tafts to Verplanck's Point. Here Mr. Bassett with a few comrades, dragged a cannon through the woods to the river's brink, and com- menced firing on the British ship " Vulture," which had brought Andre from New York to consult with Arnold.
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This caused the vessel to drop down the river, and so necessitated Andre's crossing the river and attempting to reach New York by land in disguise. His capture fol- lowed and Arnold's flight. Mr. Bassett saw Arnold as he passed in a boat to embark on the " Vulture." About 1780, Mr. Bassett became a resident of Lee, and in his death (1845) all felt that they had lost one devoted to the public good and interested in the highest welfare of the community and of individuals.
Lemuel Barlow, who came to town in the Spring of 1775, went in July as a soldier, but did not serve long enough to secure a pension. Captain Jesse Bradley was his captain. Captain Bradley's papers were burned after his death, and the record of many important facts was destroyed.
John Percival is remembered as another Revolutionary soldier ; Fenner Foote was one who shared the privations and perils of the disastrous expedition to Canada, in the Winter of 1776-7. A part of Colonel Patterson's com- mand at Dorchester Heights, volunteered for the expedi- tion to Quebec, under Arnold, up the Kennebec and through the wilderness. Fenner Foote used to say that he suffered more in this expedition than to have died twice.
" Cornelius Bassett was for a time engaged in privateer- ing. He succeeded in capturing a prize, which brought him £100, and so desirous was he to keep up the credit of the State, that he invested the whole of this sum in the depreciating Continental money. Afterwards he exchanged it for a watch, which he gave for the place now owned by Sheriff Pease."
" Captain Amos Porter was a resolute man. He was active in both the French and the Revolutionary wars. He expended a large share of his property in the support of his company ; and when peace was declared, he led his
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Company of sixty-four men up to Toucey's, and treated them each with a bowl of grog at $60 a bowl, making a bill of $3,840."
" Josiah Bradley (14 years of age), enlisted under Col- onel Brown, and was at the battle of Fort Stanwix. In the confusion of the defeat, an Indian chased him for several miles, until at length he turned and fired in the direction of the Indian. Not being troubled any more with his pursuer, Mr. Bradley, through life, looked back to the event with some compunctions of conscience, fearing that he might have killed a man."
When Asahel Foote left the Revolutionary Army, he was a young soldier 16 years old and of a daring spirit. When he came to the bridge over the Housatonic River on West Park Street, only the string-pieces of the bridge were in place, but not a plank on them. In the darkness of the night he rode his horse safely over one of the string-pieces unconscious of the danger.
Joseph Handy served on the quota of Pittsfield in Cap- tain Stoddard's Company, Colonel Vose's Regiment, three years from April 11, 1777. He enlisted on the quota of Lee, July 26, 1781, to serve three years. His widow was the first person supported by the town.
In 1841 there were six Revolutionary pensioners living in Lee whose names and ages were: Joseph Willis 82, Reuben Marsh 78, Nathaniel Bassett 84, Joel Hayden 78, Cornelius Bassett, 79, Levi Robinson, 78. All have now departed, but they still live in the example of courage and patriotism which they furnished posterity.
The Tories in Lee were few, and perhaps we ought to let their names rest in oblivion, but one incident so well illustrates the spirit of the times that we chronicle it. William Bradley, a brother of Captain Jesse Bradley, moved to Lanesboro. He was a Tory. When Captain Bradley went with his company to Bennington, he came
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to his brother William's about dinner time, and the Tory was compelled to furnish dinner for the company, with the threat of pulling down his fence if the dinner was not promptly served.
THE SHAYS REBELLION.
By the long-continued war and the constant drain upon the energies and resources of the country, the people had become impoverished. The laws then in force unduly favoring the creditor, not as now the debtor, were addi- tional causes of the general distress. The passage of the " Tender Act," 1782, July 3, only increased the evil it was designed to remedy, by making neat cattle and other articles 'a legal tender. In Lee, there was especial embar- rassment arising out of the complications in the methods adopted towards the close of the war, in raising men by classes, and paying the large bounties demanded. The people of Berkshire had been the first at the out- break of the Revolution to close the courts. There had been " no Probate Courts from 1774 to 1778, and during the last two of these years no deeds were recorded." Not till 1779, did Berkshire County people consent, and then only by a small majority of the convention, to have this legal machinery put in operation. When the Courts were re-opened and the severities of the law began to press heavily upon the people, a spirit of discontentment and revolt was easily fomented. Daniel Shays, who had been a Captain in the Continental Army at West Point, but involved in some questionable pecuniary transactions and dishonorably dismissed, put himself forward as a ring- leader in the disturbances. He has given his name, but no enviable fame to the series of acts of mob violence and misguided opposition to law, known in our history as the Shays Rebellion. Mr. Gale tells the story of the part taken during this period by some of the people of this
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town, not to the advantage of their reputation for moral sense or courage, but the great majority of the insurgents were doubtless honest men. The war had demoralized society in a measure, and poverty goaded them on to acts of violence on which, in other circumstances, they would have frowned.
In the Autumn of 1786, early in September, a party of the insurgents, 800 in number, assembled at Great Bar- rington, broke up the Court and opened the jail. Major Gen. Lincoln was put in command of a body of 3,000 militia ordered to rendezvous at Worcester. 1787, Janu- ary 19, 1,200 militia under Gen. Shepard, assembled at Springfield at the same time. Lincoln finding no occa- sion for delay at Worcester, pushed on to Springfield, dispersed the insurgents collected there under Shays, January 25, and scattered in flight from Petersham, Feb- ruary 4, the small remnants that rallied there. Then he pushed on to Berkshire County. Eli Parsons had 400 Berkshire malcontents under his command. February 15, he issued a circular calling upon his fellow-sufferers to resent unto relentless bloodshed, but the men who re- sented paying taxes or their honest debts, because they were so burdensome, were equally reluctant to part with any of their own blood in defence of their property. When the Lee men under Parsons saw the rabble that constituted the bulk of Shays' forces at Springfield, they were ashamed of their company, and immediately left for home. While Lincoln was on his march, 250 insurgents collected in the town of Lee to stop the Courts. "This company finally concentrated their forces on the Perry Place, on Cape street, now owned by Moses Culver. Gen. Patterson at the head of the Government forces came from Stockbridge, and took his position upon Mr. Ham- blin's hill, on the opposite (the north) side of the Green- water river. This hero had engaged Dr. Sargent, with a
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company of assistants as the surgeons of his army. They occupied Lyman Foote's house : and while the army was preparing for battle, the surgeons were tearing up sheets and other linen for bandages for the wounded, preparing tables, blocks, and other necessary things pertaining to their work. Gen. Patterson's men had cannon, but the Shays' men had none. To supply this deficiency, they put Mrs. Perry's yarn-beam upon a pair of wheels, and drew it up back of the house. The ramrod and other appendages for cannon in actual service, were exhibited to their opponents in the most impressive way. The ignited tar-rope was freely swung in the air, and the men were running in every direction to put everything in order for battle: and when Peter Wilcox, their leader, with a stentorian voice, heard by their enemies, gave the order to fire, the gallant Patterson with his men fled for life before Mrs. Perry's old yarn-beam." This tradition must be received with some discount. In Dr. Field's history it is said, that the Shays' men dispersed under assurance from Gen. Patterson, that those indicted should be tried in their own county. Tradition affirms that Dr. Lewis of Stockbridge, who was present to act as surgeon, went freely from one party to the other, and acted as the ambassador of peace. Gen. Patterson was a brave and judicious man, and managed the affair with the purpose and hope of preventing any bloodshed.
" Peter Wilcox and Nathaniel Austin were arrested for treason, and cast into our County prison, where they lay for several months. Their wives were allowed to visit them occasionally, and carry to them articles of food. On one occasion, these women carried to their husbands a loaf of bread in which was concealed the saw used in amputating the frozen feet of John Winegar. Early the next morn- ing, Wilcox and Austin having sawed off the irons upon their feet, passed out of prison, dressed in their wives'
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clothes. When the jailor carried in breakfast to his prisoners, the men were gone, and in their place were the wives, in their husband's clothes. The women were soon after this released. Peter Wilcox repaired to a cave on Henry Bowen's farm, in the rear of the Academy, where his friends fed him till the civil authorities with- drew the prosecution. The cave to this day is known as " Peter's Cave."
Still another ludicrous affair has been commemorated in local tradition, and is told at length in Gale's History : "The house now occupied by T. L. Foote, was the head- quarters of the Shays party for sometime after "Mother Perry's victory." Most of the Lee people sympathized with that party. The court party was strong in Stock- bridge, and scouting parties from Stockbridge frequented the farm of Mr. Foote for the purpose of arresting those who had driven them from Hamblin's Hill. This became intolerable to the Shays' party, and they were determined to stop it. Lovisa Foote and Sarah Ellis, two young ladies of Lee, put on gentlemen's coats and hats, and with guns in hand, sallied forth in the first of the evening, when they saw two gentlemen riding upon horseback. On their arrival these girls ordered them to dismount : they refused at first, but on the presentation of the unloaded guns in the ladies' hands, with the assurance that if they did not obey, they should receive the contents of their guns, the gallant fellows dismounted. They were or- dered to enter the house, and there it was ascertained that they were Ebenezer Jenkins, Jr., and Crocker Tay- lor, two young bucks of Lee, and intimate acquaintances of their captors. The Shays men were molested but lit- tle after this."
February 26, a numerous company of insurgents under Capt. Perez Hamblin, entered Berkshire County from New York, and the next day reached Stockbridge. There
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they indulged in indiscriminate pillage. A portion be- came too drunk to proceed farther. The remainder began their march for Great Barrington with the pris- oners they had taken. The debtors in the jail were all released. But the militia company of Sheffield had col- lected under Lt. Goodrich, and joined by the Great Bar- rington company, pushed on towards Egremont in pursuit, as they supposed, of the insurgent force. It turned out, however, that they themselves were the pursued, not the pursuers. When the fact was ascertained, a halt was ordered, and an attempt made to form in order of battle. But the insurgent forces came up in the temporary con- fusion, and opened fire. After a brief engagement, the insurgents turned and fled. Thirty of them were wounded ; two killed outright. One of them was probably Ozias Wilcox, a son of Peter Wilcox of Lee, and a soldier of the Revolution, worthy of a better fate. He is said in the town records to have been killed at Sheffield, March 26, 1787.
This was the last display of force ; in fact, the only actual fight during the Rebellion. The adjoining States took prompt measures for the suppression of any at- tempted mob violence, and for the apprehension of fugi- tives from Massachusetts. The Legislature of this State passed a law excluding from the jury box any guilty of favoring the Rebellion. Three Commissioners were ap- pointed to grant indemnity to all concerned on their sub- scribing the oath of allegiance, excepting only those par- ticipants who had fired upon or killed any citizens. The Supreme Judicial Court, for the County of Berkshire, found six persons guilty of high treason and condemned them to death. One of these was Peter Wilcox, Jr., of Lee. None suffered the execution of the sentence. Four were pardoned. The punishment of the others was postponed, and finally remitted. An act of general
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indemnity passed, 1788, June 13, is the final record of the extirpation of all rebellious sentiment. The names of several are recorded on the town books as having taken the oath of allegiance. It is said that when John Ellis, who lived at the Ingram place, was cited before Judge Walker, he turned the whole thing into a farce, repeat- ing after the judge's administration of the oath, "You will say," etc, "You will say," "I solemnly swear," etc., " Solemn affair."
CONSTITUTION MAKING AND MENDING.
The State Constitution recommended by the Legisla- ture of 1778-9, was rejected by the people. 1779, March 9, the town " voted that we hold ourselves bound to sup- port the Civil Authority of this State for the sum of one year and Bound to obey the laws of this State." Sep- tember 1, 1779, a Convention of Delegates elected by the people to make a Constitution and Frame of Govern- ment, met at Cambridge, and completed their labors 1780, March 2. The people ratified their work, and adopted the Constitution which has from that time been the organic law of the State.
At the Convention in Boston, 1788, January 9 to Feb- ruary 7, the United States Constitution, as adopted by the Convention which met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, was discussed and ratified. Capt. Jesse Bradley was the delegate from Lee.
In 1820, upon the separation of Maine from Massachu- setts, a second State Constitutional Convention met at the State House in Boston, November 15, to make such a revision as was then rendered necessary. Of the four- teen amendments proposed, nine were ratified by popular vote. The town voted against the Convention, 8 to 57. The Convention proposed by the Legislature of 1851, was negatived by the popular vote, of 63,000 Yeas, and 21
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66,000 Nays. The Convention which met May 4, 1853, proposed various amendments, all of which were rejected by the popular vote. At this Convention, Lee was ably represented by Hon. Samuel A. Hulbert. Under the provision of the Constitution, as revised in 1820, the Legislature has from time to time proposed various specific amendments which have been ratified by the people.
The union of the several States in the prosecution of the war for Independence had been authoritatively effected by the Articles of Confederation, adopted by a Congress of Delegates, 1777, November 15, though not ratified by all the States till 1781, March 1. The evils incident to so imperfect a bond of union became intoler- able, and a Constitutional Convention was called to per- fect a better national organization. After a session of four months, its work was completed, 1787, September 17. Massachusetts adopted the Constitution after care- ful deliberation, by a Convention of Delegates at Worces- ter, 1788, February 6. Rhode Island, last of all, voted in favor of its adoption, 1790, May 29. By its terms it went into operation in 1789, April 30, when General Washington was inaugurated the first President. Those who favored the centralizing spirit of the Constitution became known as Federalists. Those preferring a fuller recognition of State Sovereignty were called Republicans. The Federalists at first took office ; but in 1800, Jefferson, the Republican candidate, was chosen President. He and his party favored the French, as the Federalists did the English. These two parties continued till 1820, when Monroe, the candidate of the Republican party, received every electoral vote but one. During these years Lee was one of the strongholds of Federalism.
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THE WAR OF 1812.
The growing importance and success of the mercantile and commercial enterprises of our people, after the adop- tion of the Constitution, brought them into collision with the English domineering spirit and English commercial interests. The right of impressment was claimed by English naval officers wherever English subjects were to be found, and with a view, perhaps, to checking Irish em- igration and to provoke a contest which the English min- istry arrogantly presumed would speedily end in the re-subjugation of the revolted colonies. Vessels were continually searched, and men carried off, with all the petty wanton indignity a British naval officer was dis- posed to inflict. In 1806 and 1807, the Milan decrees of Napoleon, and the orders in council of the English Government, mere paper blockades, made the commerce of the United States subject to seizure and confiscation. Added to these difficulties, the embargo laid by Congress upon American ships in port and the consequent total destruction of our commerce, caused great losses and distress.
Party feeling ran very high, especially in the years preceding the war of 1812, and during that war. 'Squire Ingersoll (William) in 1812, then 89 years old, was car- ried to the meeting-house to vote. Seated in an arm- chair, he was put upon an ox-sled and brought to the meeting-house, and deposited his ballot while seated in his chair. At the presidential election in 1812, the vote of Lee stood 180 for the Federal candidates to 14 for the Democratic.
1812, June 18, a Proclamation of War against Great Britain, was passed by a large majority in Congress. Though the war was not a popular measure, and the peo- ple were not prepared for it, it was carried on with spirit, for it was felt that Great Britain's arbitrariness and
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aggressions could no longer be endured. Some Lee fam- ilies had emigrated to Ohio, and it is well remembered yet by some, how eagerly they waited news of Perry's defeat or victory on Lake Erie. Goods were all ready to be carted away, and houses abandoned, if his bravery had not made him triumphant in the famous naval battle of September 10, 1813. President Madison, in 1814, July 4, called for 93,500 militia; 10,000 from Massachu- setts. Governor Strong refused to send them out of the State. Great fears were entertained for the safety of Boston, when it was supposed that a British fleet could do to that city what was done at Baltimore and at Wash- ington. ;
Fourteen men were drafted from the two militia com- panies of the town as its quota, 1814, September 10. They were mostly from the North Company ; they joined with others to form a Company, of which John Nye was chosen captain .* There was great alarm felt for the safety of those compelled to enter a service which was regarded by many in New England as an unjustifiable and odious mismanagement of the nation's resources. But the six weeks spent in Boston harbor, in monotonous drill, were quite as devoid of interest as of danger. Ma-
jor General Joseph Whiton, of South Lee, was the com- manding officer. He maintained good discipline. On one occasion, having gone to Boston, it was late at night when he returned. A guard had been stationed on the Neck and would not let him pass without the countersign. Colonel Dwight went two miles to get it. The soldier was from Williamstown, and General Whiton commended him for his fidelity.
*The others names were Thomas E. M. Bradley, John Olmsby, Samuel D. Stur- gis, J. M. Remeley, Silas Garfield, John Norcort, Eben C. Bradley, Horace Treat, John Woolly, John Howk 3d, Benjamin G. Osborn, John Allen, Arthur Perry and - Keith.
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THE OLD MILITIA AND TRAINING DAYS.
The laws of the State required the organization of the citizens capable of doing military duty, for the purpose of enrollment and training. It was distinct from the po- litical or municipal organization, and few allusions to the militia appear on the town records. A vote was passed 1784, March 8, not to divide the militia company, but as no one can tell what a town-meeting will do, it is not sur- prising that the next year, 1785, May 18, the Selectmen and militia officers were instructed to divide the town into two companies. The old line of the Hoplands, as far as Mr. Howk's, was taken as the dividing line of the town, and from thence the middle of the road east to Becket. So exact was this geographical division of the population, that there were 112 men in the North Company, 113 in the South Company. Capt. David Porter was the captain of the North Company at this time. Capt. Thomas Crocker commanded the South Company. These two companies continued thus to divide the town, and a gen- erous rivalry was the natural result.
In 1810, it was found necessary to re-organize the mi- litia system of the State. But about this time, also, ap- pear physician's certificates, at $2 each, which released the holder from the duty of training. The war of 1814 revived, in a measure, the military spirit in the commu- nity, but 10 years brought about such social changes that the Selectmen were ordered to sell all the powder on hand, secure the other military stores in casks, and deposit them for safe keeping under the stairs in the meeting- house.
Twice a year, the active militia were warned out to gen- eral training. It was a day of excitement to the boys, who gathered from far and near to see the "doings." If any boy had a penny to spend, it was as much as he ex- pected, and a sixpence was enough in his opinion to
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make him feel as rich as Crœsus. The parade ground was the then open field north of the church, Barnabas Adams' ten-acre lot. There was not often "a general muster " at Lee. There was company drill in the morn- ing, dinner at twelve, dress parade and battalion drill in the afternoon. During the arduous duties of the day the men were refreshed with pailsful of liquor furnished at the expense of the officers ; and at the close of the train- ing, a few words of compliment were expected from the captain. Election to military office was sought in those days as a means of political preferment ; but gradually the system became not only inefficacious in drilling soldiers, but odious from the abuses which crept in. Training day was a day of drunkenness and confusion. It was difficult to find any who would consent to take office. Vote after vote would be taken, but no one would accept. Jep- thah Kellogg's speech, when he was elected, has been handed down as an example of the prevailing feeling : " I don't thank you, and I won't serve you."
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