USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > The story of colonial Lancaster (Massachusetts) > Part 11
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The teacher for the parish school from 1762 to 1764 was Joseph Willard, afterwards president of Harvard College; and at this time a Lancaster boy, struggling for an education which, ten years later was to fit him to be president of the same college, was Samuel Locke. His first position was in the two-term school in his own town, while studying under Rev. Mr. Harrington, who eked out his meager salary by teaching the classics.
As to transportation in the town at this time, nearest was the Concord stage coach which set out from Concord on Tuesday and Friday mornings at seven o'clock. Silent Wilde, or his partner, Isaac Church, started on horseback from Boston on Mondays and passed through Lancaster on his way to Rutland and Deerfield, carrying mail once a week. In these days, when we get news of what has already happened tomorrow in China, it seems hard to believe that it took five days to get news from Boston to New York; and the best of good news travelled no farther than fifty miles in twenty- four hours.
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The mail from Worcester, via Shrewsbury and Lancaster to Londonderry, New Hampshire, was carried by one Joshua Thomas, who advertised to take his pay for services in produce and paper- rags. Delivery of mail to all who lived away from these routes depended upon the courtesy of the neighbors. When a postal sys- tem independent of royal authority was first established in 1777 under Benjamin Franklin, and for twenty years after, the nearest post office to Lancaster was Cambridge, and later Worcester. In fact there were but twenty-eight post offices in the whole country in 1776.
Joshua Houghton, on horseback, served the town as express messenger, and continued through the war of the Revolution.
That interesting subject, the weather, was of even more import- ance to the farmers than at the present day, as there were less means of coping with it. But floods and droughts were forgotten when, in 1755, came the famous New England earthquake. The tremors were heaviest along the Nashua valley, and excitement ran high. Great consternation was felt, and the clergy found in it a rebuke from heaven which was pressed home in no uncertain terms to residents of the valley.
Then in the year following a terrible epidemic of dysentery fol- lowed, and the death rate was high, especially among children. It visited the village of Chocksett, now Sterling, where one in each twenty inhabitants died within eight weeks: there were hardly enough well people to care for the sick and dying. By many it was thought that the scourge had some occult connection with the earthquake, but only the clergy felt at liberty to proclaim the real cause, which, according to them, was "to call sinners to repentance."
The county road through Lancaster from Worcester to Groton was laid out in 1757. As far as possible it followed the river and was three rods wide. To the north it followed the old Lancaster and Groton highway, through Harvard.
An addition was made to the town's territory when, in 1768 a tract at its southwestern corner about three miles long by one and one half miles wide, was added. This tract was known as "Shrews- bury Leg." At the time it contained about twelve families but is now the site of the village of Oakdale, in the town of West Boylston.
This apparently was a season of calm and prosperity. Still, smoul- dering below the surface of the calm, was the memory of the insol- ence of the officers of the royal troops. The old soldiers had not
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forgotten the needless bloodshed and long delays caused by the inefficiency of the English generals set over them. The repeated withdrawings of charter rights on the part of the British ministry was driving the colonists to a point where their seven-year course in warfare, for the first time would be profitable.
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CHAPTER XXXVI
Town Meetings
THE STORY OF ALL THE LANCASTRIAN TOWNS, UNTIL WELL INTO the eighteenth century, is the story of Englishmen living in America. While they were hard at work establishing a system of self govern- ment which would meet their own requirements, they never forgot that they were subjects of the English king. Their loyalty was proved abundantly in all the wars for the king, from the expedition under Vernon to the Caribbean sea-from which no man returned -to the long drawn out war, which ended in the conquest of Canada.
They came to this new land of their own free will, and for years suffered poverty and depression without complaint. They never had drawn a single pound from the treasury of Great Britain. Their appeals for help to withstand the attacks from the Indians in those early years, had met supreme indifference on the part of the King's representatives in Boston. The jealousy felt in the mother country towards the colonies, and the evident intention of the Crown to keep them in complete subjection, was shown in every move.
Having come through at last with a definite and satisfactory plan of self government, the colonists could see no reason why they should not provide for their own interests, or why they should be deprived of their rights as Englishmen.
Charter governments had been granted by the crown in different years, and under them the New England colonists exercised the powers of civil government. To them, these charters were sacred and solemn compacts between themselves and the king; and when he tried to recall the charters, a new defiance sprung up. The people, jealous of their liberty, were ready now to defend it.
The years of the eighteenth century tell the story of the prepara- tion for the stand they took, which enabled them to demand recog- nition as self-governing colonists. This caused the Revolution.
From those earliest days when the planters met to sign a cove- nant for "the ordering and disposing of the plantation at Nasha- way," the stage upon which was enacted all the scenes which finally
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led to the ordering and disposing of a township in a free and inde- pendent commonwealth, was town meeting. The town was the political unit, received its charter from the state Legislature, elected its own officers, and managed its local affairs in its own way. In New England, the county was a corporation which existed for judicial rather than political purposes.
The historian, Joseph Willard, who wrote his History of Lan- caster while many who took part in the Revolution were still living, said, "Possibly all are not aware how much was accom- plished by towns, as such; how many sacrifices were made in every way, to help on the cherished undertaking-and those minia- ture republics, the towns, so singular a feature of the body politic, gave to New England, weight and importance." He adds that at these meetings political discussion was preparing the way for national independence.
Town meetings in Lancaster were held alternately in the Center and in Chocksett,-five miles apart. Capt. Hezekiah Gates, who lived half way between the two precincts, usually acted as moder- ator. From an old town meeting record in the Chocksett district, although written after this precinct had obtained a majority and, by throwing out the town officers in the old parish, had incor- porated into a town by the name of Sterling, we take the following regulations of town meetings:
Art. I .- To take a seat and sit.
Art. 2 .- To proceed to business at the hour appointed in the warrant.
Art. 3 .- To rise and address the Moderator with hats off when we wish to speak and sit down when done speaking.
Art. 4 .- That we will not presume to speak when one is orderly speaking before us.
Art. 5 .- That we will not interrupt by attempting to converse, or transact private business when assembled for public. Art. 6 .- That the law respecting the Moderator's duty shall be read at the opening of every town-meeting, if requisited. Art. 7 .- That the Moderator shall exercise the powers vested in him by law, and that we will strictly obey.
Art. 8 .- That the above articles shall be copied in a large, legible hand and brought in by the Clerk at the opening of every town-meeting and hung up in open view of the town.
Mr. Willard states that the action of the second precinct was not well pleasing to the inhabitants of the old parish, because the
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"Second Precinct" was "unwilling to aid in the support of the French neutrals, the bridges, and poor, to which the whole town was liable." It is, however, a very good example of what could be accomplished in town meetings. He adds however, that after one year, the "Pharaohs" were willing "to let the people go" and that feelings of good will and kindness were "indulged towards each other," after 1781.
Years after the step from town meeting to Continental Congress had been taken, Daniel Webster, in the Massachusetts Conven- tion of 1820, paid the following tribute to town meetings:
The voice of Otis and of Adams in Faneuil Hall, found its full and true echo in the little councils of the interior towns: and, if within the Continental Congress patriotism shone more conspicu- ously, it did not there exist more truly, nor burn more fervently; it did not render the day more anxious, nor the night more sleep- less; it sent up no more ardent prayer to God for succor; and it put forth in no greater degree the fullness of its effort, and the energy of its whole soul and spirit, in the common cause, than it did in the small assemblies of the towns.
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CHAPTER XXXVII
Rumors of War-1765 Looking Forward to Independence
AN EFFORT HAD BEEN MADE IN THE YEAR BEFORE THE FRENCH WAR, to unite the colonies for common protection and safety, but proved far from satisfactory, and the representative from Lancaster was instructed at town meeting "to oppose all plans of a general or partial union, that shall anywise encroach upon the rights and liberties of the people."
After Parliament attempted to collect internal taxes through the Stamp Act of 1765, open revolt was seen on every hand. The Sons of Liberty organized for resistance. A liberty pole was raised in every village; liberty songs were sung on the street. Patriotic remonstrances and petitions were sent to the British ministry, only to be met with contempt. Although the Stamp Act was repeal- ed in the following year, it did not calm the citizens of Lancaster and the surrounding towns: and when, two years later, ships of war were sent to Boston harbor, to intimidate the people, "patrio- tic frenzy inspired the people to open revolt."
Town meetings seethed with passionate appeals to patriotic citizens. Organized rebellion could be restrained no longer.
All historians of Lancaster applaud the resolutions passed in a town meeting of January, 1773, which express the noble senti- ments phrased in the Declaration of Independence three and one- half years later. They were:
I .- Resolved, That this and every other Town in this Province have an undoubted Right to meet together and consult upon all matters interesting to them when and so often as they shall judge fit; and it is more especially their Duty so to do when any infringe- ment is made upon their Civil or Religious Liberties.
2 .- Resolved, That the raising of a Revenue in the Colonies, without their Consent, either by themselves or their Represen- tatives, is an Infringement of that Right which every Freeman has to dispose of his own Property.
3 .- Resolved, That the granting a Salary to his Excellency the Governor of this Province out of the Revenue unconstitutionally raised from us is an Innovation of a very alarming tendency.
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4 .- Resolved, That it is of the highest Importance to the secur- ity of Liberty, Life and Property that the public Administration of Justice should be pure and impartial, and that the Judge should be free from every Bias, either in Favour of the Crown or the Subject.
5 .- Resolved, That the absolute Dependency of the Judges of the Superior Court of this Province upon the Crown for their support, would if it should ever take Place have the strongest Tendancy to bias the Minds of the Judges and would weaken our Confidence in them.
6 .- Resolved, That the Extension of the Power of the Court of Vice-Admiralty to its present enormous Degree is a great Grievance and deprives the Subject in many instances of that noble Privelege of Englishmen, Trials by Juries.
7 .- Resolved, That the Proceedings of this Town be transmitted to the Town of Boston.
Dr. William Dunsmoor,
John Prescott,
Josiah Kendall,
Committee for
Ebenezer Allen,
Grievances.
Nathaniel Wyman,
Joseph White,
Aaron Sawyer,
Daniel Robbins, Town Clerk.
Dr. Dunsmoor, Prescott and Sawyer were descendants of John Prescott, the founder of Lancaster, and proved themselves worthy of their inheritance.
These resolves were published in the Boston Gazette for May 17, I773.
The town of Harvard expressed similar views at a town meeting held in February, of the same year, 1773, and the report of a com- mittee of seven was read at the annual meeting in March which set forth at some length the towns' regret that the steps were made necessary, but the avowal that they were not to be intimidated into "a compliance with measures repugnant to the Liberties" they had a right to claim. Descendants of John Prescott, whose families had taken up land in the section "east of the rivers" framed this document.
When the Port of Boston was blocked in 1774, a Committee of Correspondence for the county was formed with seven members from Lancaster, all representative men, who acted with the men appointed in the other towns in the county, to keep the public informed and to act quickly in any emergency. At two town
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meetings in September of 1774, it was voted to raise volunteers, to buy guns and ammunition, and to send Dr. William Dunsmoor to a proposed Provincial Congress to be held at Concord.
Lancaster was represented at this first Provincial Congress by Captain Asa Whitcomb and Dr. Dunsmoor; Leominster, by Thomas Legate and Israel Nichols; Bolton, by Captain Samuel Baker and Ephraim Baker; Harvard, by Reverend Joseph Wheeler. The latter read a letter to the convention in which he said that while they were attempting to save themselves from slavery, they should "also take into consideration the state and circumstances of the Negro Slaves in this Province." While they were not called "slaves" here at the time, there were several Negroes "belonging to" certain families in Lancaster, Harvard and Bolton.
At a meeting of the "Freeholders and other Inhabitants" of Lancaster late in 1774, Dr. William Dunsmoor, Capt. Hezekiah Gates and Capt. Asa Whitcomb were chosen to draw up an asso- ciation for "nonconsumption of goods." For a long time patriotic citizens had been denying themselves luxuries which were heavily taxed, but perhaps hardest of all the calls for self-denial was to do without tea. All sorts of substitutes were tried to replace "the baneful herb," as it was called. A drink called "hyperion" was made from the dried leaves of the raspberry. The flowers of sassafras, garden herbs and mints were dried, and used to satisfy the craving for tea. To possess real tea soon became a crime against the country. As the days of open warfare drew near, imported sweets and spices became so costly that housewives were kept busy making substi- tutes. Cornstalks were ground and boiled down, and the juice then pressed out made a substitute for molasses, and there was still maple sugar and honey. Cinnamon, nutmegs, and ginger were no longer to be had, but sassafras bark, caraway and coriander seed were used to supply this want. Salt often became scarce, but for that there was no substitute. Coffee was more easily substituted by parched grains, but in no way made up for the imported teas which had become a passion with many. A considerable quantity of real tea was secretly smuggled in. The diaries of the time, espec- ially of ladies like Abigail Adams, show how hard it was for them to get along without tea.
The temper of the times is shown in the action of the Provincial Assembly in Worcester, in August, 1774, when the committees of correspondence, and delegates from several Worcester County
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towns assembled at the house of Mrs. Mary Sternes. Lancaster was represented by Dr. Dunsmoor, Deacon David Wilder, Capt. Samuel Ward, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, Capt. Hezekiah Gates, Aaron Sawyer, John Prescott and Ephraim Sawyer. Harvard was repre- sented by Reverend Joseph Wheeler; Bolton by Capt. Samuel Baker and Lieut. Jonathan Holman. Leominster had no delegate present. Capt. Ward and Lieut. Holman were on a committee of ten who presented patriotic resolves, which were passed.
They upheld the action of a panel of fifteen jurymen, who the April before, had answered a summons of the superior court by refusing to serve should Chief Justice Peter Oliver take his seat in court. He had refused to give up his salary received from the royal treasury, and now General Gage had threatened to send British troops to protect the royalist officials.
In answer to this threat, 6000 armed men, under their military leaders gathered on Worcester green, ready to meet the British troops. Capt. Asa Whitcomb of Lancaster, was one of a committee of three who waited upon the justices to get their signatures to a declaration already agreed to by the judges. These justices, along with forty-three royalists of Worcester, were marched between two lines of the armed men there gathered, while the recantation which they had signed was read. Of these justices, Joseph Wilder, Abel Willard and Ezra Houghton were from Lancaster. The services of such officials of the court as had not made themselves too much hated were retained, and with the help of Capt. Ward, chairman of a committee of nine, these arranged ways to prevent any delay in court proceedings.
The organization of militia was the work of the convention in September, 1774. Seven Worcester County regiments were made up. The third, or Lancaster, regiment included companies from Lancaster, Bolton, Harvard, Leominster, Lunenburg, Fitchburg, Ashburnham and Westminster. All commissions then held were resigned and there was a new election of line officers. The company officers then elected the field officers. These New England regi- ments were voluntary associations of equals who enlisted for patriotic duty for a few months. From the colonel down, all officers were elected by the votes of their neighbors, and popularity with the mass of the people was necessary to gain a captaincy. Naturally under such circumstances, discipline was lax, and the greatest familiarity existed between soldiers and officers.
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The first attempt at any sort of uniform for Massachusetts soldiers was in 1755, when, in addition to their monthly pay it was resolved to add "a coat for a uniform be given to each of the non- commissioned officers and privates, as soon as the state of the province will permit it." Later on, 13000 such coats were ordered for the army, each town being required to furnish its share. Lan- caster had to pay for 116 coats.
It was ordered that a certificate be sewn on the inside of each coat, giving the name of the town that furnished it, the names of the weaver of the cloth, and the maker of the garment; but nothing was said about the name of the wearer-a much more important piece of information for the purpose of identification.
Even the officers rarely wore a distinguishing uniform by which they could be known, until later on, when General Washington required them to wear cockades in their hats. Then, field officers wore red cockades, captains wore yellow, and subalterns, green. Sergeants wore a red stripe on the shoulder and corporals, a green stripe.
As for pay, each soldier was allowed a penny a mile for actual marching, going and returning. Captains received thirty shillings a week; first lieutenants, twenty shillings; an ensign or a second lieutenant, seventeen shillings six pence; corporals, eleven shillings and privates, ten shillings, this last being $2.50 a week.
Their rations were meager: either a pound of salt fish, beef, or three quarters of a pound of pork. For drink they had one pint of milk, and a choice of either a quart of spruce beer or cider per day. A week's rations of other foods was three pints of peas or beans, a half pint of rice, or one pint of Indian meal and a pint of molasses. Money not used as specified was called "sauce money" in settling their accounts.
Every soldier was required to carry a gun, a bayonet, a blanket and knapsack, a cutting sword or hatchet, a jacknife, six flints, forty bullets, one hundred buckshot, a powder horn and powder, some tow for wadding and a wooden canteen holding a quart. All these articles were to be furnished at their own expense, unless a man was too poor to pay for them; in that case the town must do it.
Both powder and lead were scarce, and many a patriotic house- wife melted down her pewter platters. Even the leaded sashes in windows were taken out to be turned into bullets.
Going to war in "ordinary" clothes in that day meant going in
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what today would seem "extraordinary" clothes, according to descriptions of men advertised as deserters. One "James Bridge" of Bolton was described as "having a large head of hair almost black and very long which is commonly cued with a black ribband, and wearing an old blue surtout, cloth-colored coat and jacket, and a pair of cotton breeches, and two shirts, tow and linen." Other combinations described were, "a blue coat, red waistcoat, blue breeches: a sad red coat, pale blue vest and dark brown thick- set breeches"; "a blue coat, faced with red and bound with yel- low"; "a lightish colored cloth great coat and short sailor's jacket, leather breeches and white yarn stockings." Ordinarily, plain, homespun clothes were worn.
The militia companies were called "training bands" and included all the male population of the towns between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five. Of these about one third, selected because of their skill in the use of arms, were called "minute men," and were sup- posed to be ready for active service at the shortest notice. Other- wise they did not differ from ordinary troops, for all were now equipped and ready to fight. There was a tacit understanding, however, that the British must make the first move.
Their faces were set towards the goal of IMMEDIATE INDEPEND- ENCE, and their sentiments were expressed in the following terms:
Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accord- ingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient suffrance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Govern- ment.
Such were the sentiments that prompted the towns instructions "that there be one hundred men raised as volunteers, to be ready at a minute's warning to turn out in any emergency." These "minute men," and all the other soldiers were now ready to fight to the last drop of blood to defend their rights.
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AN ENGLISHMAN'S IDEA OF KING PHILIP
From Drake's History of the North American Indian, published in 1832.
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CHAPTER XXXVIII
Lancaster Loyalists
THE PATRIOTIC FRENZY WHICH WAS DRIVING THE COLONISTS INTO what has been called by historians "the most premature and rash of all the great rebellions in history" left no chance of escape for those men whose principles and honest convictions were against war. Such were branded at once as Tories, a word which, for gen- erations, meant traitors.
Wise old men who had spent their lives in the service of God and the King of England were loth now to turn against the king and their mother country. They knew the colonies were being treated unjustly and resented it as much as the rest, but they knew too, that men high in authority in England were fighting for the cause of the colonies. They believed the wrongs could be righted without war. They believed also that revolt would be downright suicide and that all would be lost in war with the powerful mother country.
These men were neither cowards nor weaklings, but battle- scarred men who had given the best of their lives to the service of the king, also to the building up of their own communities. This counted nothing in their favor. They had no private right to an opinion or a course of action, among their "liberty-loving" neigh- bors.
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