USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Holden > The history of Holden, Massachusetts, 1667-1841 > Part 6
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1 men 3 months to Dotchester, Sept 1778, 17
5 men 9 months to reinforce the continental army, July 1779, 187 10
men S months to Peekskill, Slay 29, 1779, 100
()
6 men 9 months to Rhodisland, March 1778, 50
0)
S men 6 weeks at Newport, to reinforce Gen. Sullivan, 1778, 24 0
15
3 men 6 weeks at Tiver Town, May 1779, 4
2 men 3 months at Rutland to Guard, July 1779, 10 4
2 men 3 months at Rutland, January 30, 1779, 3
5 men 9 months at West Point, July 5, 1776, 187
10
5 men 2 months at Rhodisland, Sept. 20, 1779, 10 10
8 men 3 months to Claverick, October 9, 1779, 58
16
19 men upon an alarm to Iladley, August 1777, 26 0
2 men at Rutland, April 1780, 16
0
0
0
0
0
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
[Note G .- See page 48.]
'The following persons are known to have served in the Revolutionary War from Holden.
Those names marked with a star served in the Con- tinental army.
*Jeremiah Fuller
Jabez Metcalf
*Peter Partridge
Johnathan Howe
*Ezra Rice
Joseph Ilowe
* David Potter
Solomon Parmenter
*Moses Wheeler
James Davis, jr
* Nathan Wheeler
Edmund Davis
* Thomas Heard
Jacob Black
+William Flagg
Nathaniel Shephard
* Increase Stearns
Francis Wilson
*Andrew Allard
Samuel Thompson
* Thomas Stevens
John Obens i
*John Gritlin
Samuel Hubbard
* David Brown
Isaac Chenery
*Thomas Kimball
Sparrow Crosby
*John Williams
Jonathan Moore
*Samuel Roe
*George Webb
*John Bayley
Bezaleel Turner
*Jonathan Bartlett
Jonathan Nichols
*Jonathan Flagg
Tilla Chaffin
"Simon Peter
Solomon Davis
*Barzilla Stickney
Daniel Grout
*William Ebet
*James Potter
*Daniel Perry
*Thomas Davis
*Philip Boston
*Samuel Grant
John Abbott
*Thomas Wheeler
John Potter
Aaron Wheeler
* Artemas Dryden
Daniel Hinds
*Increase Stearns, jr
Joshua Gale
William Heard
Simon Stickney
John Dodd
Zillas Stickney
N. B. This list is not supposed to be complete, as it was made from tradition.
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
[Note H .- Sec page 54.] NOTICE OF DANIEL SHAYS .*
"This individual acquired an unenviable notoriety which imparts some degree of interest to the incidents of his life. Ile was born in Hopkinton, in 1747; the son of parents not in affluent circumstances, he worked with Mr Brinley a respectable farmer of Framingham. The activity and energy of his youth promised at maturity more desirable elevation than he attained. That his cd- ucation was neglected, is apparent from his official let- ters, bidding defiance alike to government, to grammar, and good spelling. Just before the revolution, he re- moved to one of the towns beyond the Connecticut river, and afterwards resided in Pelham. When the war com- menced lie entered the army at the age of twenty-eight, with the rank of Ensign, in Capt Dickinson's company, in Col. Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge's regiment. His ambition, activity, and the plausible manners covering the want of acquirements, joined with personal intrepid- ity, obtained promotion, and in 1776, he was appointed lieutenant in Col. Varnum's regiment. At a time when the line peculiarly needed reenforcement, he was detached on the recruiting service, with the promise of some suit- able reward for the enlistment of twenty men. For this purpose he visited his native state, and his unwearied exertions were crowned with ample success. When the complement assigned to him was filled, a plan suggested itself for grasping honor and pay at once. Finding the pulse of patriotism beat high, and the young men of New England were ready to devote themselves for their coun- try, he continued his enlistments. Insinuating address and bold representations, produced impressions of his
* The contents of this note are taken entire, from Lincoln's history of Worcester, p. 369-371.
HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
ability and influence, easily turned to his own advantage, and by holding out expectations of indulgence to those who should serve under his command, a company was raised, on the condition that he should be their captain. With these men he returned to the camp, where they were mustered. When the inspector was about to dis- tribute them to different corps, Shays produced the en- listment papers; pointed to the condition which held them to serve under himself alone; and requested the appointment of Captain. The necessity of the time pre- vented the sacrifice of so many recruits, and after indig- hant remonstrances, it was deemed expedient to yield to his demands. The commission was promised, and is- sued after long delay, in Sept. 1779, to relate back to Jan. 1, 1777. Such is the account tradition gives of his mili- tary rank. The honors, ill won, were not long worn. He was discharged Oct. 11, 1780, at Newark, in New Jersey, from Col. Rufus Putnam's regiment.
The deficiency of honorable sentiment in his mental constitution, may be inferred from a characteristic inci- dent. Lafayette had presented, in 1780, to each of the American officers under his immediate command, an ole- gant sword. Such pledge of regard from the patriot chief, a soldier with a spark of generous feeling, would have cherished as his dearest possession, and transmitted to his posterity as an heirloom of inestimable value. Shays sold the gift of his commander for a few dollars.
After being disbanded, he retired to Pelham, and lived in obscurity. Bankrupt in fortune and in fame, Shays was ready to embark on the flood, of any desperate ad- venture. Without the energetic decision or enlarged conceptions, the strong spirit or the bold daring, which befit a leader, by some accident, he was elevated to the command of the insurgents. Of capacity too humble to.
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
direct the movements of an army in those moments when the force of talent makes itself felt by triumphant results, and turns even obstructions into encouragements, he was weak, vacillating, and irresolute. It was providential that the physical power of the arm of rebellion had so feeble a head to direct its blow.
With the first shade of adversity, he made indirect overtures to the agents of government, to abandon his comrades to their fate, on assurance of personal safety : and when his base propositions were rejected, and prom- ises of indemnity and pardon were offered to his follow- ers, his persuasions induced them to reject the proffered mercy and retain the arms of hopeless controversy, to purchase by their sacrifice security for himself.
When the insurrection was crushed, he retired to Ver- mont. After the lapse of a few years, the general of the rebellion, passed through the streets of Worcester, which he once entered at the head of an army, and received as- sistance from those whose homes he had threatened with desolation.
At length he removed to Sparta, in New York. As a pensioner of the United States, he derived his daily bread from the government, whose forces he had encountered in arms. Declarations filed in the department of war by himself, show that his family consisted of an aged wife, and that he lived in extreme poverty. IIc died Sept. 29, 1825, aged 78 .*
However much the honor and integrity of Daniel Shays
* Ile married Nancy Haven, a widow. The schedule of his property in IS20, filed in the pension office, exhibits a condition of almost utter destitu- tion. It is as follows:
1 mare, $25 : 1 old saddle, $2 50: bridle, 50: 1 old cutter, $5: 1 old axe, 62 1-2 cents: 1 hoe, 62 1-2 cents: 1 table, $3: 3 chairs $1 12 1-2: I old scythe and snath, 1 12 1-2: 1 old pail, 12 1-2 cents: 1 large bible, $1: amounting to $40 62.
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
were questioned, his courage was never disputed. He was in the battle of Bunker's Hill, at the capture of Bur . goyne, and at the storming of Stoney Point; was under Lafayette, and did good service in many bloody encoun- ters. A severe wound, received during the revolution, was honorary testimonial of intrepidity. When Shep- ard and himself met at Springfield, the former addressed him by the title of general : Shays instantly demanded an explanation, declaring he claimed no rank but that of captain, and added laying his hand on his sword, that if different designation was given, he should consider it insult, and would exact immediate satisfaction on the spot.
An aged inhabitant of Hopkinton, who was school- mate of the rebel captain, states that he was born on the farm in that town, still called the 'Shays place,' situ- ated on Saddle Hill, about two miles west of the meet- ing house ; that he made his home there principally, un- til he removed with his father, to a place beyond Con- necticut river, which, as is supposed, was Great Barring- ton. The estate where his early youth was passed, has long been deserted as a human habitation, and the forest which has overgrown the forsaken orchard is intersper- sed at regular intervals, with aged apple trees.
An estimable and respected clergyman relates, that soon after he began to preach as a candidate, he was em- ployed at Pelham; on the first Sunday of his visit there, lie observed a very well dressed gentleman, with a mili- tary air, enter the meeting-house : immediately every pew door from the bottom to the top of the aisle was thrown open, and he was received with the most respect- ful salutations : this distinguished person was Daniel Shays who had just returned to that town, with the par-
SO
HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
don of the government, and lived upon the west side of the east hill. The next day, Shays called on the cler- gyman, and held long discourse about his labors and suf- ferings. He said he had been entirely deceived in res- pect to the feelings of the people : that he had received assurances that if he would collect an hundred men, and march in any direction, multitudes would flock to his standard. Relying on these representations, he began his march with a small force, but found he produced little sensation and that few joined him : at night, he thought it necessary to preserve the appearance of military or- ganization and to mount guard, and ordered a man to stand seutry ; 'no I won't,' was the reply to the com- mander, 'Ict that man, he is not so sick a's I be ; the second man refused, desiring him to take another who was stronger, and the chief of the insurrection found himself without authority at the head of a tumultuary army.
A soldier of the rebellion, who had fled from Spring- field to Pelham without stopping and hid his gun under the barn floor, asked Shays why he did not stand his ground ? the reply was you know, if I had, I must have stood alone.'
The clergyman describes Shays as an agreeable and intelligent person, and the day he spent with him as one of the most interesting of his life.
These particulars have been obligingly communicated by Samuel B. Walcott, Esq. of Hopkinton."
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
[Note I .- Sce Page 55.]
DOCUMENTS FROM THIE WORCESTER MAGAZINE.
Mr. EDITOR,- You are desired, by a number of the In- habitants of the Town of Holden, to give the following authentick Papers a place in your next Magazine.
A true and exact Copy, attested by the Town Clerk, of a LETTER from RUGGLES SPOONER, to the In- habitants of the Town of HOLDEN, viz.
To the Inhabitence of the Town of Holden Gentlemen
The Request of a Committee of the Body on the Ground is as Follows (vis) that this body Right to each town in This County To Petition to the Governor and Counsell to Liberate Capt., Shattuck and all the men Taken by Government on account of the Late Rising of the People Called Regulaters and Confined in any of the Goals in this Common Welth and that the Governor Isuc his Proclamation forthwith that no Person shall bee In- jured or Molisted in Person or Property, or Here after be taken Molisted or Injured in Consequence of the Late Rising of the People in stoping Courts in this Common- welth the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peas May be suspended untill a new Choice of the General Court Takes Place according to the Constitution in Consequence of Which all those that are in opposition to the Present modes of Goverment and the administra- tion of the Same Promis to Remain Peasable and Quiet in Expectation of having at the Next General Court a new Election Every Immaganary Grievance Displayed by the Light of truth of having Every Real Redress Furthermore that if the Governer Cannot Consistantly Grant the Prayr of the above Petition that his Excelen-
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
ey Caul the Generall Court to Geather Immediatly For the above Purpose Worcester 7th 1786
Decr Ruggles Spooner S modarat We desire that the town may be calld to Geather Imme- diately to Conseder of the above Letter and make Re- turn to head Quarters Which is at Rutland or on their Way to Westown
The above is a true Copy. DAVID FISK, Town-Clerk. Attest,
In consequence of the foregoing Letter, the Selectmen of Holden granted a Warrant for calling a meeting of the Town ; the town met accordingly, and adopted the following PETITION, viz.
To his Excellency JAMES BOWDOIN, Esq, Governour and Commander in Chief of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and to the Hon. the Council, now sitting at Boston.
The Petition of the town of Holden, regularly assembled this 18th day of December, 1786, in order to consult upon the publick good in this distressing day, and to luke into consideration a certain request coming from a Body of People under the command of Capt. Shays and Capt. Wheeler,
HUMBLY SHEWETHI,
That whereas a number of the people in the County of Worcester, with a number in other counties, have lately arisen, in order to prevent the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, by force of arms, which method of proceed- ing we view with grief and disapprobation, when other means more regular and constitutional might have been taken for a redress of grievances, which we apprehend
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
was their view in rising as abovesaid, and not from a view to destroy government ; though we confess that such hostilities, if persisted in, has a direct tendency thereto ; but now, from a more mature and deliberate consideration of the matter, we would hope they are sensible of their errour in being so hasty in their pro- ceedings, and we trust now would be glad, if they could have an opportunity therefor, to consult the good of this Commonwealth and the majority of the people, and for the future proceed in a more legal and constitutional way ; Therefore your Petitioners, from a sense of loyal- ty, peace and good order, Humbly Pray, that the follow- ing request may be granted, viz. That all those men that have been taken by government, in consequence of the late risings of the people, and committed to goal, may be liberated, and that a Proclamation be immediately issued, that no man shall be molested in person or property in consequence of the late rising of the people as aforesaid, so long as they shall remain peaccable and quiet ; and likewise that the Courts of Connon Pleas and the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, in the counties of Worcester, Berkshire, and Hampshire, may be suspended until June next, and in order for this we humbly desire that your Excellency and your Honours would call the General Court together immediately. Hoping all pub- liek matters may be over-ruled for the weal and pros- perity of this Commonwealth, your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.
A time Copy.
Attest, DAVID FISK, Town-Clerk.
This Petition to be presented by Mr. Aaron Broad, ac- cording to the vote of the town.
Allest, DAVID FISK, Town-Clerk.
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
As a Vote was obtained for adopting the foregoing Pe- tition, the following PROTEST was made, viz.
We the subscribers are fully sensible of the folly and impropriety of joining in a Petition to the Governour and Council, agrecably to the request of a number of per- sons, styling themselves a Committee on the Ground, and dated at Worcester, 7th December, 1786, signed Ruggles Spooner, Moderator, for the purpose of praying for an act of pardon for those people who have appeared in arms since the act of indemnity, and also praying for the releasment of those persons confined in prison for treasonable acts against the government of the Common- wealth :- Because that we apprehend that the Gover- nour and Council have no right, without the legislative body, to make any act of indemnity for any treason done and committed against the government :- And we are not willing, as being citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to ask for what we know the Governour and Council cannot grant by that Constitution of Gov- erment which has been established by the general con- sent of the people. As for the releasement of those per- sons who have been treasonably guilty of rising in arms, and are now imprisoned for their overt acts, we cannot conceive that we ought to interfere or petition for their releasement, as they have acted with their eyes open, after the government had pardoned their first offence : Therefore we protest against any doings of this town in the matter, or paying any regard to the request of the aforesaid Committee. And as to that part which requests the town to petition the Governour to call the Assembly together, we cannot assent to it, believing him to be the most competent judge of the necessity of convening the General Court.
John Child,
John Abbott,
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
Richard Flagg,
Reuben Paddock,
Samuel Heywood,
Noah Haren,
Amos Heywood,
Samuel Chickering,
Paul Goodale, James Davis.
Isaiah Brown,
December 28, 1786.
i truc Copy. Attest, DAVID FISK, Town-Clerk.
We whose names are under written, inhabitants of the town of Holden, impressed with a sense of our duty, as imembers of society, and aware that in a crisis of dan- ger, no nerve should be left unexerted to promote and secure the public weal, and being deeply affected with those violent measures, with which this State has been agitated, feel ourselves called upon, explicitly to declare our sentiments, and bear our honest and faithful test- mony against those violent and unwarrantable insurrec- tions against government, which have thrown the whole State into confusion, and threatens even the miseries and horrors of a civil war :- We now therefore declare our utter and hearty disapprobation of the conduct of those who have appeared in arms of late, to obstruet, by force, the sitting of the Courts of justice in this State, and that it may be evident that we bear this testimony, not with- out great and sufficient cause, we give the following reasons, that those insurrections were unnecessary and unreasonable, without any real or supposed object to jus- tify them, tending in their nature to subvert all order and peace in the community, and to rob it of that which is its beauty, strength, and glory-to cut the sinews of government, to sap the foundation of our liberty, and to increase those burdens already complained of by some as intolerable, and to plunge the insurgents themselves, in a labyrinth of woe .- We shall now endeavour to sup-
S
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
port what is here advanced, and then shall be able to make our appeal to the world, as to the justice of our present testimony. That the late insurrections were un- necessary, is sufficiently evident from this-whenever any object can be obtained without recourse to arms, then the rising with arms is unnecessary, and if, for in- stance, it was the evident declared sense of the major part of the people, that there should be an alteration, or an abolition, of any court of justice, it might be effected in a constitutional way ; the same may be said of any thing that is regarded as an evil, and which is in the power of the general assembly to remove-therefore it is unnecessary to rise in arms to accomplish any thing the people at large wish to effect, and which is consistent with the constitution they have freely established : The annual election of the various branches of the legislative body, by the people, is a sufficient proof of this. The unreasonableness of the late attack on government, is conclusively argued thus-what has been established by the general consent of the people, for the regular distri- bution of justice, it is reasonable should be supported and defended, until the people, taught by experience it is capable of being altered for the better, have made the necessary reform ; and it is impossible in the nature of things, that it should be reasonable to pull down by force, what ought in reason to be defended; for reason never contradicts, or is opposed to itself .- We further observe, that to justify a body of people for rising in arms, the evil to be removed ought to be very great -- and for the removal of which, all other methods of re- dress, are upon trial, found ineffectual ;- and this can never with truth be asserted by the insurgents, as to the evils they pretend to oppose-and that the late illegal attack on government, is subversive of order and peace
1
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
in the community, may sufficiently appear on a mo- ment's reflection ; for if one, two, or three hundred men, in one part of the State, may fly to arms, to destroy what is not agreeable to their minds, the same number in another part may plead the same reason, and the force of example in others, to justify them in rising against what they dislike, and so by this means, the State be kept in a perpetual alarm, and peace and order be anni- hilated among them. We now further remark, that mu- tual benevolence, harmonizing in measures for the pub- lick good, and mutual confidence, is the ornament and strength of society ; but the late violences against gov- ernment, have produced the most wretched disaffection between neighbor and neighbor, and in some instances, no doubt, between the nearest relations and connexions in life-have confounded every thing like harmony for the publick good-given a pernicious stab to reciprocal confidence in one another, and that these violences tend to cut the nerves of government is no less evident ; they are in fact declaring those in authority, to be enemies to the publick good ; if not, why in arms against them ? So far therefore as it has its natural impression on the minds of the people, it instils and rivets the most wretch- ed prejudices against them-every thing that is said against them is believed -- every thing almost that they do, is excepted against, without the ceremony of enquir- ing into the reasons of it ; opposition to them, is estimated rather as a virtue than a vice, and exertions to support government are deemed the strides of tyranny-we may instance here, the exertions of our worthy Governour to suppress the opposition to the regular course of justice : this has produced prejudices against him in many, and bitter invectives from some ; though he was bound by solemn oath to defend the courts of justice, and would
1
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
have betrayed the trust reposed in him as chief magis- trate, if he had taken no measures to this end : It is not to the purpose here, to assert that the courts ought to be abolished ; for the Governour, as such, has no right to withhold his support to the laws of the State, though he Himself or many others apprehend they may be altered for the better, until the alteration is actually made by legal authority ; for if he may cease to defend one branch of the government, because of the disaffection of some, he may by the same rule cease to defend another part, for the clamours of others, and so government must sink immediately ; it is clear therefore that what we testify against, tends to destroy the very sinews of government -nor is it difficult to discern its tendency to sap the foundations of our present liberties .- There is no com- munity under Heaven, where the liberty of the people at large is more fully in their own hands. If a govern- ment so popular should be destroyed by usurpation, or in other words, by the insurgents, this must naturally issue in a more tyrannical mode of government-more- over it would be wisdom to remember, that if men of ability and property in the State, should be worn down by ineffectual exertions to support the present mode of government, by reason of such insurrections, it will not he strange, if in a future day they should turn and bend all their exertions to bring about a government less free an l popular .- 'The next thing to be supported, will per- haps, particularly apply to our feelings in general, that the hostile measures of the insurgents, tend to increase the burdens already complained of .- These measures discharge no debts, pay no taxes, they produce cost on the part of government for its support, and on the part of the opposition there is loss of time and treasure :- If they do not overthrow the present government, their
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HISTORY OF HOLDEN.
burdens will be increased, and if they do, their burdens will be more augmented still, by the time another is established-so let things turn as they may, they are to expect an increase of burdens. If it should be replied, that in this way it is expected to remove some things that are impoverishing, to this it is answered, that no- thing in this way can be removed that is an evil, which could not be without this accumulation of cost. We now add as to the insurgents plunging themselves in a labyrinth of woe-that if they persevere until the sword decides the controversy, and should they triumph by the , dint of arms, they will have the piercing reflection, that many of their friends as well as others are sacrificed to save a comparatively small expence-their property wasted, lost to a great degree, and will experience the most insuperable difficulties, in establishing a govern- ment that will preserve them from internal distraction, or foreign invasion ; but when we mention their triumph in arms, we esteem an expectation of it as merely vision- ary, and such an event as is contrary to all human pro- bability. If called into the field of war, where are their resources ? Money sufficient to carry on a war they have not ; no nation on earth, or individuals of property would lend them this, in the present unorganized state, as there would be almost a moral certainty that they would loose it. If they made paper money, in their present state, they could give it no credit by any thing but the point of the bayonet, and this is no credit at all. 'They have no system of government to give directions and force to their movements-are greatly deficient in their apparatus for war ;- a most formidable force from this, and if need be from the other States, far better pre- pared than themselves, they would have to combat ; the scorn and contempt of foreigners they might expect for
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