USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Somerville, past and present : an illustrated historical souvenir commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the city government of Somerville, Massachusetts > Part 4
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The battle of Lexington was fought by men from Eastern Massachu- setts, but immediately thereafter troops from other sections and States began to arrive, notably from New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connec- ticut, and later on from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In May fatigue parties were sent out and intrenchments were com- menced in Cambridge and Somerville. On the 27th and 28th the battle of Hog Island occurred, brought on by a detachment sent from this camp to capture live stock on Hog and Noddle's islands (the latter now East Boston) ; while doing this they were attacked by the King's troops and ships, but escaped to the main land during the night; re-inforced by infantry and artillery, they resumed the conflict the next day, and succeeded in blowing up one of the British schooners and disabling a sloop ; the trophies of this engagement were twelve cannon, more than three hundred head of horses,
WILLIAM E. WELD.
FRANCIS M. HOWES.
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cows and sheep, and a large quantity of hay ; with the re-inforcements came Generals Putnam and Warren, the latter serving as volunteer ; our loss was light in this engagement, but the enemy's was said to be heavy.
On June 6 the first exchange of prisoners took place ; through Somer- ville the procession passed, Generals Putnam and Warren riding in a phaeton, accompanied by three captive English officers in a chaise, and by wounded prisoners in carts, all under military escort. At the ferry they met Gage's officers, with whom came the American captives. The exchange was soon over, the whole affair being " conducted with the utmost decency and good humor."
TUFTS' HOUSE, HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL LEE.
On June 12 Gage issued his notorious proclamation of amnesty to all except Hancock and Adams, which offer the Americans answered five days later at Breed's Hill.
This engagement was the one great battle of the noted siege, and the only one where the two armies met in force. For nine months thereafter it was one continuous artillery duel, accompanied with sharpshooting and skirmishing.
A curious rumor was circulated after this battle, that the British pur- suit had been continued to Winter Hill, where the Americans had again repulsed the British with great slaughter. It was only a rumor, however.
After falling back to Winter and Prospect Hills, on June 17, the pro- vincial troops immediately commenced fortifying those eminences ; the
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works on Prospect Hill were built under the direction of that wolf-renowned hero, Putnam. On this hill the men were subjected to a heavy artillery fire from the British, who thus attempted to dislodge them; with no result, however, except to inure the provincials to the howling of shot and shell.
Meanwhile the New Hampshire men under General Folsom were forti- fying Winter Hill.
During the month of June smallpox broke out and became epidemic, causing great distress to the besiegers, and the people of the towns where they were quartered.
On July 2, there arrived in camp General Washington, recently ap- pointed Commander-in-Chief, accompanied by General Charles Lee, second in command, and Horatio Gates, Adjutant General of the Army. Both Gates and Lee had been officers in the British service, but had now espoused the cause of the Americans.
Lee was an eccentric military genius ; he was looked upon by many of the wisest patriots as scarcely inferior to Washington in loyalty or capacity ; he had a great reputation as a soldier, having been in service since boy- hood. He was an officer at the age of eleven, and had served in the British, Portuguese, and Polish armies, in the latter acting as aid-de-camp to the king ; and now he had placed his sword at the service of America, and for a long time seemed its most devoted champion, but later his inordinate ambition brought disagreement with Washington ; and, after several un- pleasant episodes, he was court-martialed and suspended for one year. Within a few years, documents have come to light tending to show that Lee, toward the last of his service, played a double part ; but while here, he was a "tower of strength " to the army, and, as commander of the most of that portion of it in Somerville, his career has more than usual interest to us.
All the State organizations on July 4 were taken into the service and pay of the United Colonies, and re-organized, and on July 22 were formed into three divisions, viz : --
The left wing was composed of two brigades, one at Winter Hill under General Sullivan, the other at Prospect Hill under General Greene. The center, two brigades, one commanded by Heath, the other by its senior of- ficer ; and the right also two, one under Thomas, the other under Spencer.
The left held the line from Mystic River to Prospect Hill ; the center. from Prospect Hill to Charles River ; the right, from Charles River to Roxbury Neck. The entire left wing, and perhaps half of the center, were within Somerville limits, and her hills were crowned with the strongest and most elaborate works of the whole line : the redoubt on Ten Hills Farm ; the "Winter Hill Fort "; the "French Redoubt," on Central Hill; the "Citadel," on Prospect Hill ; the strong intrenchments on Ploughed Hill, which commanded the Neck, and defied the British on Bunker Hill; "Fort Number Three," near Union Square; and " Putnam's Impregnable For- tress," on Cobble Hill ; each must have reminded Gage of the similar work he had captured at so great a sacrifice, on June 17, and brought to his mind
HENRY M. MOORE.
CALEB L. SANBORN.
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the question asked in England, viz, " If it cost a thousand men to take Bunker Hill, how many will it cost to capture all the hills in America ? "
On July 6, 1775, the Continental Congress issued a declaration setting forth the grievances of the Provinces, and reasons for taking arms ; on the 15th this was read at Cambridge, and on the 18th, to the army on Prospect Hill, and was received with patriotic enthusiasm. A prayer was offered by the Reverend Mr. Langdon, cannon were fired, and the Connecticut flag, recently received by Putnam, unfurled. On one side it bore the motto, " An Appeal to Heaven," and on the other, " Qui transtulet sustinet."
HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL GREENE.
The American riflemen seriously annoyed the English, and cost them many lives. Most of these were sharpshooters from Virginia and Pennsyl- vania, and, having been accustomed to the rifle from childhood, were all skillful marksmen. The American soldiers were aggressive, and made fre- quent and often successful attempts to surprise the enemy's pickets, burn their buildings, or capture their stores, and the British in their turn occa- sionally ventured outside their lines on similar errands, but usually with less success.
Some of the diarists of that time have left us interesting pictures of camp and conflict ; one, the Reverend William Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo, who was chaplain in the army, says : " My quarters are at the foot of the famous Prospect Hill, where such great preparations are made for the
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reception of the enemy. It is very diverting to walk among the camps " ; " some are made of boards, and some of sail-cloth, some partly of one and partly of the other. Again, others are made of stone and turf, brick or brush," "others curiously wrought with doors and windows, done with wreaths and withes, in the manner of a basket."
Another, in September, speaks of the success, so far, of the British. " Britain, at the expense of three millions, has killed one hundred and fifty Yankees in this campaign, which is twenty thousand pounds a head ; and on Bunker Hill she gained a mile of ground, half of which she has since lost by not having post on Ploughed Hill"; and adds that, "as meanwhile sixty thousand children have been born in America," one can " easily calcu- late the time and expense requisite to kill us all, and conquer our whole territory."
In August, there were under Washington's command about forty regi- ments, or something less than twenty thousand men, poorly supplied, and with so little ammunition that the firing from our lines from necessity nearly ceased. This scarcity of powder caused great alarm among the Amer- ican officers, as the English appeared to be preparing for an attack. Re- garding it, Colonel Reed wrote, " The word 'powder ' sets us all on tiptoe ; we are in a terrible situation, occasioned by a mistake in a return. We reckoned upon three hundred quarter casks, and had but thirty-two barrels."
Early in the month of September about eight hundred men were de- tached from the army to join General Arnold's unfortunate Quebec expedi- tion, a large part being from Prospect Hill, mostly riflemen.
In October, Gage having returned to England, General Howe assumed command, and soon issued a proclamation prohibiting anyone from leaving Boston unless by his permission, on pain of execution as a traitor. They were also forbidden to carry out more than five pounds in specie, the penalty be- ing forfeiture, fine and imprisonment. These measures compelled Wash- ington to issue orders of retaliation upon the Tories.
At this time, and afterwards, the people and troops in Boston are said to have suffered severely from want, increased greatly by the loss of ships laden with provisions and stores, captured by our privateers. They were " almost in a state of starvation, for the want of food and fuel," and " being totally destitute of vegetables, flour and fresh provisions, had actually been obliged to feed on horse flesh." On the 9th of November, a force of four hundred British crossed in boats to Lechmere Point, intending to capture the stock there, but, the alarm being given, the Americans waded across to meet them, a skirmish ensued in which the English ships took part, but which resulted, as usual, in the retirement of his majesty's troops.
On the night of the 22d, General Putnam took possession of Cobble Hill, and commenced fortifying. The work was skillfully planned and very strong, and contrary to expectation, completed without molestation from the enemy.
In December, Lechmere Point was also fortified, but the work on this hill was thrown up under a continuous fire of shot and grape from the
CHARLES WILLIAMS, JR.
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ARTHUR E. MERRILL, M. D.
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British, which lasted several days. In this action the fort on Cobble Hill took part with good effect, forcing an English ship to retire from the fight.
On December 28, an endeavor was made by a detachment from Winter Hill to capture the enemy's pickets near the Neck. They attempted to cross on the ice just south of Cobble Hill ; but one of the men, slipping, fell and discharged his musket, thereby alarming the British, and the expedition was abandoned.
The new year brought much uneasiness to the patriot army ; veteran troops, whose time had expired, were returning home "by thousands," and new ones replacing them. This change was a difficult and dangerous one to make in presence of an enemy, but Washington accomplished it without mo- lestation ; and says of it that "it is not in the pages of history, perhaps, to furnish a case " like it.
From Prospect Hill, on January 1, 1776, the new flag of the United Colonies was unfurled to the breeze, and for the first time bid defiance to the foe; it had thirteen stripes, alternate red and white ; but the field con- tained, instead of stars, as now, the crosses of Saint George and Saint Andrew. A year and a half later, stars took the place of crosses. A tablet has been erected on the hill in memory of this flag-raising.
In February Colonel Knox arrived with the captured Ticonderoga can- non and stores, some fifty pieces of artillery in all. These increased im- mensely the offensive strength of the Americans, and a little later enabled them to carry into execution that daring feat, the seizing and fortifying of Dorchester Heights. This successful movement so seriously threatened the British army and shipping, that after various threatening manœuvres, on Sunday, March 17, they embarked and left Boston forever. In their hasty departure they left the Americans over one hundred cannon, and an im- mense quantity of military stores.
The roar of cannon and mortars and the bursting of shells had shaken Boston and the surrounding towns, resounding through the valleys, and re- verberating among the hills, for nine weary months; and now the people hailed with rejoicing its cessation, and the departure of the British army of occupation. Thus ended the siege, which in its inception, execution and triumph was to the Americans one of the most successful achievements of the war. But the news in England that her famed legions, supported by her renowned navy, could be shut up for eleven months in a beleaguered city, and finally driven to sea by a "rabble " they despised, but feared to meet, was a cause of national mortification.
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CHAPTER VI.
DESIGNED ISOLATION OF NEW ENGLAND. - SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE. - HESSIAN PRISONERS QUARTERED IN SOMERVILLE. - BALL, AND SUPPER GIVEN BY GENERAL RIEDESEL'S WIFE. - POOR BARRACKS FOR THE PRISONERS. -- SCARCITY OF FUEL. - REMOVAL OF THE PRISONERS.
THE obstinate resistance of the people of Boston and of New England, and the disastrous results of every attempt at their subjugation, caused the English ministry to look upon that section as the center of insurrection, and early in 1777 they planned a campaign designed to sever New England from the rest of the colonies.
The lines of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain were to be oc- cupied by armies from Canada, under Burgoyne, and from New York, under Howe.
These lines were to be strongly fortified, and with the co-operation of the fleet, it was believed this would effectually hem in the refractory section and enable the King's forces to operate elsewhere with greater ease.
The conception was brilliant, but its execution was a failure, and thus fresh laurels were added to the American arms.
After a series of successes and failures, Burgoyne surrendered to Gen- eral Gates at Saratoga, on the 17th of October, 1777. Over nine hundred officers and forty-eight hundred soldiers fell into the hands of the Ameri- cans, together with thirty-five cannon and about five thousand stand of arms.
Burgoyne's army consisted of British, Hessians, Canadians, Tories and Indians.
By the terms of surrender the Canadians were allowed to return home, and the English and Hessians were to have free passage to England, on condition of not serving again in this contest, Boston to be their point of embarkation. With this understanding they started on their weary jour- ney over the Green Mountains, and arrived at Somerville on November 7. The English, about twenty-three hundred, under General Philips, were marched to Prospect Hill and vicinity, and the Hessians, about nineteen hundred, under General Riedesel, to Winter Hill.
A letter, describing the arrival of the prisoners, says : -
" Last Thursday, which was a very stormy day, a large number of British troops came softly through the town, via Watertown to Prospect Hill. On Friday we heard the Hessians were to make a procession in the same route."
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They are described as being poor, dirty and emaciated; with them came "great numbers of women, who seemed to be the beasts of burden, having bushel baskets on their backs, by which they were bent double; the contents seemed to be pots and kettles, various sorts of furniture, children peeping through gridirons and other utensils."
General Riedesel's family accompanied the expedition, and in her de- scription of this journey, Madame Riedesel says : -
" As it was already very late in the season, and the weather raw, I had my calash covered with coarse linen, which, in turn, was varnished over with oil ; and in this manner we set out on our journey to Boston, which was very tedious, besides being attended with considerable hardship. I know not whether it was my carriage that attracted the curiosity of the peo- ple to it - for certainly it had the appearance of a wagon in which they carry around rare animals -but often I was obliged to halt, because the people insisted upon seeing the wife of the German general with her children. For fear that they would tear off the linen covering from the wagon in their eagerness to see me, I very often alighted, and by this means got away more quietly. However, I must say that the people were very friendly, and were particularly delighted at my being able to speak English, which was the language of their country."
" At last we arrived at Boston ; and our troops were quartered in bar- racks not far from Winter Hill. We were billeted at the house of a coun- tryman, where we had only one room under the roof.
"My women servants slept on the floor, and our men servants in the entry. Some straw, which I placed under our beds, served us for a long time, as I had with me nothing more than my own field bed."
In a short time the quarters of General Riedesel were changed from near Winter Hill, where his family had been very unpleasantly situated, to more pretentious ones at Cambridge, where most of the captive officers were, and where they lived comfortably, if not sumptuously.
Mrs. Riedesel thus describes one of the entertainments given here :
"On the 3d of June, 1778, I gave a ball and supper in celebration of the birthday of my husband. I had invited to it all the generals and officers." "We danced considerably, and our cook prepared us a magnifi- cent supper of more than eight covers. Moreover, our courtyard and garden were illuminated. As the birthday of the King of England came upon the following day, which was the fourth, it was resolved that we would not separate until his health had been drank; which was done with the most hearty attachment to his person and his interests. Never, I believe, has ' God save the King ' been sung with more enthusiasm or more genuine good will." "As soon as the company separated, we perceived that the whole house was surrounded by Americans, who, having seen so many people go into the house, and having noticed, also, the illumination, suspected that we were planning a mutiny, and if the slightest disturbance had arisen, it would have cost us dear."
General Heath, whom we remember at Lexington, was placed in com- mand of the prisoners, and of the Americans guarding them.
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Meanwhile Congress decided to ignore the articles of surrender grant- ing free passage to England, and, as a result, Burgoyne and his troops were held as ordinary prisoners of war. This caused intense indignation among the captives, English and Hessians, as well as in England ; and with a man of less judgment than Heath in command, might have resulted seriously.
As it was, the troops during their entire captivity were in a state bor- dering on revolt.
Disputes and trouble between them and the Americans were of daily occurrence, and in several instances resulted in bloodshed. On one oc- casion a Hessian prisoner received a serious bayonet wound from a conti- nental soldier, and on another a British soldier a sword thrust from an American officer.
The most serious event was the shooting of an English officer who was riding in a chaise with two ladies along the foot of Prospect Hill, but who failed to answer the challenge of the sentry.
The act was, stigmatized as murder by Burgoyne, and the prisoners were wild with exasperation. The sentry was tried by court-martial and acquitted.
The officer was buried from Christ Church, old Cambridge.
The British and Hessian soldiers, while in Somerville, were quartered in the old barracks left by the Americans after the siege of Boston, the pre- vious year, at which the prisoners made bitter and frequent complaints. A writer, speaking of them says : " These barracks had been erected for . .. use during the siege of Boston, and were of the lightest description. The wind whistled through the thin walls, the rain came through the roofs, the snow lay in drifts on the floor."
General Riedesel says of them: " Indeed the greater number of the soldiers are so miserably lodged that they are unable to shelter themselves from cold and rain in this severe season of the year; and in spite of the handsome promises and the fact that they are here fourteen days, and not- withstanding, also, my offer that the men would make the repairs themselves if the necessary materials were furnished, nothing has been provided for them yet. The soldiers, of whom twenty to twenty-four occupy the same barrack, are without light at night. Three of them sleep in the same bed. They receive, also, so little fuel that they can scarcely cook our rations, to say nothing of warming the cold rooms. In fact, they have not even con- sidered it worth while to establish a rule by which the officers and privates, according to their rank, may receive fuel."
The scarcity of fuel during this winter of 1777-8 was so great that the guards as well as the prisoners suffered severely, and in their straits spared neither tree nor fence, which, however, furnished meagre warmth for so great a number, miserably sheltered.
The prisoners remained here from November, 1777, until November, 1778, when it was thought prudent to move them inland, and they were marched first to Rutland, Massachusetts, and then to Virginia.
Thus ended the Revolutionary drama here.
Residence of WILLIAM Y. WADLEIGH, 135 Highland Avenue.
Residence of J. F. BERRY, 2 Westwood Road.
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CHAPTER VII.
REVIVAL OF INDUSTRIES AFTER THE REVOLUTION. - BRICK-MAKING IN SOMERVILLE. - CELEBRATED FARMS. - THE BLEACHERY. - THE MIDDLESEX CANAL. - COMPLETION OF BRIDGES TO BOSTON .- THE FIRST RAILROAD THROUGH SOMERVILLE .- ESTABLISH- MENT OF THE MCLEAN ASYLUM. - ROBBERY OF MAJOR BRAY. - THE URSULINE CONVENT AND ITS DESTRUCTION. - TOWN IMPROVEMENTS. - ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS .- BEGINNING OF A FIRE DEPARTMENT. - SEPARATION OF SOMERVILLE FROM CHARLESTOWN.
THE Revolution over, industries and public improvements absorbed the energies which for eight years had known little else than war, and from this time until its separation from Charlestown, Somerville's material progress was continuous, though perhaps slow. Many were the industries of her people during this period. Among the most notable were brick-making,' farming and milk-raising.
The brick-making business "held high carnival " here for years before and since the town was set off. The time, conditions and location, near a great city just beginning to change from wooden to brick constructions, were more than favorable. The town abounded not only with a superior quality of clay, but the best of sand, which were generally near one another. Wood had to be brought by team or canal.
These clays bordered and underlay the marshes and scattered generously around the town, from the present Wyatt Park to the northerly slope of Winter Hill. The burning kilns, for years, smoked the days and illumined the nights. In one way or another a majority, perhaps, of the townspeople were interested in this prosperous business. The sand industry was also great, and its excavations covered a considerable territory, which before was at a much higher elevation than now.
Farming, and milk and stock raising were carried on extensively. The old road from Charlestown Neck through Union Square, Bow Street and Somerville Avenue into Elm Street, from the dairy farms bordering it, was called, until recently " Milk Row." Ten Hills, while Derby and Jaques were its proprietors, was noted as a stock farm. The best breed of horses, cattle and sheep, some being choice importations, gave it a world-wide repu- tation. Colonel Jaques was not only a horseman and huntsman, and a lover and raiser of fine stock, but the raising of choice poultry was among his pursuits. Some of the finest varieties in the country were imported by him. Another estate in the town was also noted : the farm of Joseph Bar- rell, afterward the site of the McLean Asylum. Barrell was a man of leisure and fine tastes. He made horticulture a study, and his gardens contained the choicest varieties of fruits and flowers.
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