USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 32
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ing us assumed by the Parliment of Great Brittan ought therefore to be Resolutely & Strenously Opposed by the People of this Province and by every free American Colonistis with respect to the Treatment of the Peo- ple of Boston by the Blocking up of their Harbour and Sorounding them with an armed force, Resolved That by the Late Act of Parliment for blocking up the Harbour of the Capital of this Province and by the verey Rigourous and unjustifiable Execution thereof the People of that Town are Treated in a verey Oppresive and Cruel manner to the great hurt & Detriment not only of this whole Province but of the Other Ameri- can Collonies also by Obstructing their Trade & Commerce: and that the People of that Distressed Town Ought to be Considerd by all the Friends of civil Liberty as Sufferers in a Cause Common to all Such : and as therefore Justly Intituled to all the Support & relief they are able to afford them: and as to the Late Proceedings with regard to Canada Resolved That the Extending the Limits of that Province and the Estab- lishment of Arbitary Goverment as well as Popery therein Seems to Threaten the Other British Collonies on this Continent with a Like Sub- jection to the Despotism of A Frence mode of Goverment and that all the People of these Colonies ought therefore readily & Cheerfully to concur with the measures Adopted by their Delegates at the Late Grand American Congress in Order to bring in the Canadians to Unite with the Other British Colonists in Asserting their common Right and Tittle to all the Privilidges & Immunities of Free brittish Subjects
There are also beside those which we have taken Particular Notice off Divers other verey Injurious and Oppressive Measures with regard to these Collonies: Of Late Adopted and carrying on by the Brittish Ministry concerning which wee hope it will Suffice for us to Declare as wee are so happy as to agree in Sentiment with the Grand American Congress; with respect to these as well as other matters of Publick Grev- iance So we are Determined to conform our Conduct to the resolutions which they have Published
With A Special aim at Serving our Constituents the People of the very Small and Poor (tho' Antient) County of Dukes County in their Remote and Obscure Situation; wee who are of the Committees of the Several Towns in that county have passed the before goeing Resolves, but wee have yet also herein Humbly Aimed at Contributing to the Ser- vice of Brittish Americans in General in their Contests for their Just Rights and Priviledges to whose Obtaining what they Claim wee Apre- hend that their appearing by their Publick Exploit Declarations to agree in their Claims and to be alike Resolved and Persisting in them will be greatly conducive, and wee with the utmoste Sincerity declare that it is with hearty Loyalty to Our Sovereign Lord the King with an high Sence of the Power and dignity of the Brittish Parliment and Ministry and of the Reverence wee Owe them account hereof with Sincear affection and good will to the People of Great Brittan - with great grief and concern on account of the Present unhappy Variance and Strife between that Countery and her American Collonies an Earnest desire of the relation of that happy union Love and harmony formerly Subsisted between them; by A Relation of those Liberties Privilidges Imunities to these Colonies and to this Province in Particular which they Enjoyed till about the year 1763 and from a Sence of Our Duty to God, Our country and our Selves
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and to future Generations of British Americans as well as the present: Wee have so freely Expressed Our Sentiments with respect to matters of so high Importance and of so Delicate a Nature as the Rights of the Brittish Collonists in America and the Conduct of those Towards them who are in highest Power in the Mother Countery
And that Great Brittain and her Colonies may be blessed with an happy Union and harmony between them and may respectively enjoy all their Just Rights and Priveledges and every Publick blessing to the end of time and that King George the third our most Rightfull Sov- ereign may Long and hapily boath for himself and his Subjects reign over the People of his widely Extended Empire: And that his Succes- sors on the Brittish Throne to the Latest Posterity may be Protestants of his Illusterous Race And great good and happy Monarchs by & under whose wise mild and Righteous Goverment their Subjects Shall enjoy great Peace and hapiness is Our most Earnest Prayer to the Supreme ruler of the Universe to which we wish every Britton and Every Brittish American would Sincearly & Devoutly Say A Men 1
These resolves were "unanimously" adopted by the towns, in meeting assembled, and Tisbury voted to spread them on its records, by which act they have been preserved to posterity as a memorial of the patriotism of the sires.2 The die was now cast, and the result was in the hands of a higher power.
At their town meeting held to hear and act on these re- solves, the voters of Edgartown took the following additional action to carry out the recommendations of the Continental Congress: -
Voted there be a committee of seven men in order to observe a strict conformity to the non-importation non-exportation & non-consumption association recommended by the late Grand American Congress.
Voted Mr. Nathan Smith, Benjamin Smith, William Jernegan, John Worth Esq., Mr. Elijah Butler, Mr. Thomas Cooke, Mr. Ebenezer Smith serve as the Committee for the purpose aforesaid.3
COMMITTEES OF SAFETY FORMED.
Thus the year ended, and the fateful one of 1775 opened. Tisbury began the new year by voting to send her taxes to the treasurer designated by the Provincial Congress, and elected Deacon Ransford Smith as her representative to that body
1Tisbury Records, 206-21I.
2The acceptances were given on December 6, by Edgartown and Tisbury, but the Chilmark records have no further references to the subject, after the choice of the committee to attend the Congress. (Edgartown Records, 304; Tisbury Records, 206.)
3Edgartown Records, I, 304.
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which was called to meet at Concord in March.1 On March 7, Tisbury chose Hezekiah Luce, Timothy Lumbert, Isaiah Gray, Peter West, and Samuel Daggett "for a committee of Inspec- tion to See that the Continental & Provincial Congress be adheard to." Similar action was taken by Chilmark on May 25, when it was voted "that there be A Comity of Cores- pondence Consistin of three Persons," and Uriah Tilton, Deacon James Allen, and Nathaniel Bassett were chosen for these duties, thus completing the quotas of the three towns in these local committees for the carrying on of the affairs of government in absence of the constituted authorities. These bodies of men in each community, variously called Committees of Safety, Correspondence, Observation, Intelligence, and Secrecy, were composed of the leading men in sympathy with the patriotic movement, and exercised powers locally similar to the same committees for the province at large. The func- tions of these committees were practically specified by their titles, but the committee of safety was the name generally used. An historical writer, after a special study of this feature of the Revolutionary movement, thus explains their creation and duties: The Provincial Congress answered the purpose of a deliberative and legislative body, but its size and conse- quent lack of harmony prevented it from successfully perform- ing executive duties. The Congresses, moreover, did not sit continually, and there was need of some arrangement by which the government could be carried on at these times without interruption. It was to meet these needs that Committees of Safety - small bands of men chosen by the Provincial Con- gress from its own members - were created. Massachusetts organized her committee as early as Oct. 26, 1774, the first of its kind, and its duties were specifically defined, subject to the direction of the Provincial Congress. He continues thus: -
In forming these committees the colonists felt they were doing nothing unusual or experimental. Under the royal government they had been accustomed to the administrative activity of the small body of men known as the Governor's Council, which advised and assisted the Governor, and acted as his substitute when for any reason his seat became vacant. But the dependence of the Committees of Safety on the legislature was an element foreign to the idea of the Governor's Council, and had its origin in the experience of the people with the committee system of the early part of the Revolution. Since the first days of the struggle had brought into existence the local and provincial Committees of Correspondence,
1It is not known whether the other towns sent a delegate to this Congress. It adjourned on April 15, a few days before the battle of Concord and Lexington.
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the colonies had become accustomed to intrust to small committees of various designations the task of communicating with each other, of watch- ing the movements of the royalists, of enforcing the non-exportation and non-importation acts and of carrying out particular resolves of the Continental and Provincial Congresses. Such were the Committees of Secrecy, of Intelligence, of Observation. They were temporary bodies, dependent upon the assembly that chose them, whether this were the town meeting or the General Court. They were appointed for certain specified duties, and their acts, to be valid, required the sanction of the body that commissioned them, while they might at any time be disbanded when their services were no longer needed.1
A Committee of Safety for Dukes County was appointed by the Provincial Congress on April 12, with Joseph Mayhew of Chilmark as chairman.
It was now April, and the first blow was struck on the 19th at Lexington Common and Concord Bridge. The "em- battled farmers" from the surrounding towns had precipitated the conflict and the war had begun. News of it spread like wild-fire, and every patriot girded himself for the trying times to follow. It was now give and take between the opposing sides. The trained troops of the king, supported by the many armed vessels of his navy, which were patrolling the coast, running into harbors and overhauling merchantmen for con- traband of war, were now actively engaged against an un- organized enemy. The provincials were formidable on land, but on the sea the men-of-war flying the royal ensign were practically unopposed. It was their duty to harass the com- merce of the colonists, and they did it with impunity, unless some daring leader, with an improvised sloop, and volunteer crew, gave them a taste of Yankee seamanship.
The Vineyard Sound was a favorite rendezvous for these naval operations on the part of the king's forces. Then, as now, it was a great highway for the coasting trade between New England and the South, and under the favoring lea of Homes or Tarpaulin Coves his majesty's armed vessels of war would wait like hawks to pounce upon their prey. In the early part of 1775 the armed sloop Falcon, Capt. John Linzee, commander, hovered around these sheltering inlets and did a profitable business in this line. A copy of her log, obtained from the Lords of the Admiralty, shows for the period between the roth and 30th of May of that year, how she fired
1Hunt, Bulletin of Western Reserve University, 1904, p. 22. The earliest sugges- tion for Committees of Correspondence between the colonies is found in a letter from the great pulpit orator, Jonathan Mayhew, to James Otis in 1766.
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at and brought to anchor thirteen (13) vessels, and held such of them as prizes as were of value.1 This is assumed to be only a sample of what was being enacted all the time by the vessels of the royal navy, and is mentioned to show how closely the island was to these constant evidences of war.
THE VINEYARD PREPARES FOR THE STRUGGLE.
The Third Provincial Congress was immediately called after the Lexington and Concord affair, and was set for the 3Ist of May at Watertown, and Edgartown sent Beriah Norton and Tisbury elected James Athearn as members of this body. Chilmark was not represented. At this session it was resolved that "thirteen thousand coats be provided for each officer and soldier in the Massachusetts forces, agreeably to the resolve of Congress on the 23rd day of April last; to be proportioned according to payment of the last Provincial tax." Under this schedule Martha's Vineyard received 112 coats as follows: Edgartown, 36; Tisbury, 32; Chilmark, 44; and we may reasonably infer that the men of the seacoast-defence estab- lishment were uniformed with these coats. While this Pro- vincial Congress was in session, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on the 17th of June, and the last hope of reconciliation was dashed. Young Joseph Thaxter, destined later to be our distinguished pastor at Edgartown, was in Prescott's regiment at that fight, and Joseph Huxford of Edgartown and Malachi Baxter, later of Tisbury, fought there also; but it is not known whether any one else from the Vineyard participated. The arrival of the news of this famous battle reached here immediately, and active measures were instituted to get troops in training. A contemporary writer tells us what was done :-
About 20th June 1775, a General notis was made to all the inhaba- tance of the Vineyard to turn out and assemble to Tisbury on the 25 June, which is nearly the Center of our Island to see what measures they would advise in our Expos'd situation. their was a veery large majority in favour of appling to General Court at Boston for soldiers: at the s'd meeting at Tisbury all our arms was particularly inspected & now the minds of many were sounded amongst the young men to see who would
1Public Record Office, Admiralty Logs, No. 7250. On Wednesday, May 31, 1775, the Falcon was at anchor in Homes Hole, and the log shows the following ac- tion: "Sent our boats on Bd two sloops and prest 2 men at 6 fir'd four six pounders shotted with Round and Grape to bring too a Boat." This shows that Yankee sea- men were being impressed into the king's service.
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join the Volinteer corps of Edgartown. we soon found the number of active young men say 12. Some had call afterward to leave and go sea but their number was soon Replaced.
During this time Tisbury appeared to be the most active in all matters connected with the increasing struggle. It seemed to be the center of military preparations, as it was the central town of the three. A town meeting was holden on June 29, at which Stephen Luce, Abijah Athearn, and Samuel Look were appointed a committee "to Joyn with the Com- mittee or Committees that are chosen or may be chosen in the Other Towns in the County, In Order to Consider of & Carrey into Execution Such Methods as they Shall think proper to be done under our present Situation Respecting our Publick Affairs," and passed some "resolves," the terms of which do not appear upon the report of the meeting. But all were busy, if the records do not tell us about it. The general condition of affairs at this date, as reported to the authorities at Cam- bridge by our local committee of safety, gives us these par- ticulars in a letter: -
July 5th, 1775.
Sir: - The Committee of the County of Dukes County appointed by the late provincial Congress on the 12th of April last beg leave to report: That said Committee according to the first order of the Congress met on the first Wednesday of May last but not having then had an opportunity to receive a state of the conduct of their several Towns made no Report: and as the order of the Congress postponing the first meeting of the Com- mittees of the several Counties in this Colony to the fourth Wednesday of May was not received by him to whom it was directed till the evening immediately preceding said fourth Wednesday the Committee for said County did not then meet. But being now on this first Wednesday of July 1775, met according to the order of the Congress, we have received no State of the conduct either of the Town of Edgartown nor Chilmark, the former of which Towns having as we perceive no Committee of Cor- respondence: But as to the only other Town in this County, viz: Tisbury the Committee of Correspondence of that Town have reported that said Town was endeavouring that their outstanding provincial taxes be speedily paid, according to the Directions of the Congress - but they were under great Difficulty with respect to raising Money for that purpose: as they have great occasion for Money to procure a necessary supply of Bread, Corn, and Money was very scarce amongst them thro' the failing of their whale-voyages last year, and thro' their having no Market for the Oyl they have since obtained. (But since the Date of the above Report we have had certain information that the said Town of Tisbury have sent a considerable of their Province dues to the Receiver appointed by the Congress) And the said Committee of Correspondence for Tisbury do also report that their Town are nearly tho not fully (according to law)
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furnished with arms and ammunition and are endeavouring in this and all other respects to conform to the recommendations of the Continental and Provincial Congresses.
And with respect to those two towns first mentioned of whose con- duct we have had no information in the way pointed out by the Congress, we beg leave to report in brief from information which we have other ways had: That with regard to paying their outstanding provincial taxes and their furnishing themselves with arms and ammunition they are en- deavouring to conform as soon as possible to the recommendations of the Congresses and in other respects conduct themselves agreeably thereto.
In the name and by order of the Committee
JOSEPH MAYHEW Chair'm 1
The next meeting of the General Court for the Province of the Massachusetts Bay was held at Watertown on July 19, and the Vineyard had a full representation at the session, Colonel Beriah Norton for Edgartown, Mr. James Allen, Jr., for Chilmark, and Captain Nathan Smith for Tisbury. The business of providing for the fast increasing army occupied the larger part of its time. Requests to the towns were sent out for their share of the various supplies needed, and the Vineyard was included in the list - Tisbury was asked for coats, and at a meeting held on July 31, the selectmen were authorized to "be a committee to Procure the coats for the Provincial Soldiers." It is not known what requests were made of the other towns.2 By this time it became a serious question of military defence of the island, as the armed vessels of the king were continually making depredations, and alarm- ing the people. In addition to these regular naval vessels, there were a large number of small craft belonging to Tories in the large seaports, who, under the protection of the guns of the fleet, raided isolated coast towns, cut out craft lying at anchor, and doing damage to the property of the patriots. These little privateers, belonging to the Tories, were called "Picaroons," and some of them did work about the Vineyard. A contemporary writer speaks of such experiences. "The next August (1775)," he says, "the Pickaroones or small ves- sells they had taken from us and armed with swivels; and sometimes a War Brig would accompany them." On the 2Ist of August the freeholders of Tisbury held a town meeting and voted "to Send a Petition to the General Assembly at Watertown To see if they will grant us a Number of Men to
1Mass. Archives, CXCIV, 24.
2Tisbury Records, 214.
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be Raised for the Defence of Said Town," and a committee was appointed to draw up "Some Suitable Instructions for Our Present Representative when at Said court to consider and represent our Circumstances, That wee cannot Supply Said Men with Arms nor Amunition and if they Cannot be Ob- taind without them then not have them come, for wee have but A Small Supply for Our Selves and Cannot git any more at Present."1
Committees from the other two towns took similar action, but the particulars are not on record. While the committees were engaged in this service, an incident occurred which shows the tactics pursued by the captains of the British vessels which put into Homes Hole and Edgartown Harbors with demands for water and supplies. In the latter part of August his majesty's ship Nautilus, Captain John Collins com- manding, dropped anchor in Homes Hole. He sent ashore a demand for some supplies, accompanied by a threat in case of refusal to comply. It was the usual custom, although some commanders never forgot their courteous breeding. In this case the men of Tisbury, two of them were then selectmen, returned the following response on September I: -
SIR: we are sorry the unhappy disputes between Great Britain and these Colonys should be carried to such a height as to put it out of our power to supply you with any kind of Provision whatever, as to your filling water for the Necessary Supplys of your ship you may with freedom send your boat on shore and fill without molestation provided your people come in the day time and unarm'd and offer no abuse to the Inhabi- tants, as to your threatening you will fire on our homes it will not force the least complyance to that which in itself is not agreeable to the advice of that power which we look upon as being drove by nicessity to obey.
We ar Sir your most h'ble Serv'ts the Selectsmen,
JOSEPH ALLEN, STEPHEN LUCE, EBEN'ER SMITH.
To this the commander of the Nautilus sent the sub- joined reply the same day: -
Nautilus, Sept. 1, 1775.
Gent'm: I am equally sorry for the situation of the times, but when matters are carried so far as to deny a little Milk or a Cabbage to a Single ship, a thing of so small moment it rather tends to Kindle that unhappy difference which as men and Christians we should exert ourselves to allay. every contrary exertion on my part wou'd be a matter of Necessity, as I
'Tisbury Records, 214.
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shou'd be sorry to Injure any mans property, and nothing of that kind will be thought of but hope we shall part not worse friends than at this Present and am Gentlemen your most h'ble Serv't,
JNO. COLLINS.
To the Selectmen of Dukes County, Messrs Joseph Allen, Stephen Luce, Eben'er Smith.
ORGANIZATION OF THE SEACOAST-DEFENCE TROOPS.
The towns of Tisbury, Chilmark, and Edgartown pre- sented petitions to the General Court, Sept. 28, 1775, praying for protection against the common enemy, and asking authority to enlist men in the cause of liberty. The petition from Edgartown recites: -
The people in said town are generally poor and yet very fond of preserving their liberties, and to protect their stock of sheep and cattle have been often under arms and marched from their respective places of abode eight and ten miles when alarmed, to prevent the enemy landing.
They asked power to enlist sixty men. The petition from Chilmark says :-
Your said petitioners think it ought to be our duty and are willing and resolved not only from a regard to our private interest, but also to the general interest of this continent to do all that is or shall be in our power to hinder the common enemy of the land from being strengthened in carry- ing on their hostile designs against us, by making a prey of our property and that of our neighbors, but we are sorry that we are obliged as we think we are to say that a considerable number of the inhabitants of this town are (through the influence of certain powerful men here who are against openly opposing those who are endeavouring to enslave us) averse to such exertions in our defense as we think will be highly proper and necessary by which means a vote of the majority of the inhabitants of this town qualified by law to vote in town affairs could not be obtained at a meet- ing here lately held to petition your honours for such help as we perceive you have granted to other places.
The petition from Tisbury recites their desire for joining in the defence of their liberties and asks for "such a number of men either by sea or land or both as you in your wisdom shall think meet for our defence."
The House of Representatives passed the following re- solves in response to these petitions: -
That there be raised in the Island of Marthas Vineyard two compa- nies of fifty men each, including their officers, and companies to be sta- tioned upon the sea-coast of that island according to the direction of the
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field officers of the Regiment of Militia of said Island or the major part of them; the said two companies to be under the same establishment; the forces raised in this colony for the defence of the sea coast are to pay subsistance and ammunition and every soldier in the said two companies shall furnish himself with a good and sufficient fire-lock and bayonet and no man shall be mustered as a soldier who is not so furnished; said two companies to continue in service till the first day of December next unless before that time Dismissed by the order of this Court; and the Field Officers of the Regiment of Militia of said Island be and they are hereby impowered to issue beating orders for the raising of said com- panies to such persons as they can recommend to be commissioned, and muster those companies when raised.
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