USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > The story of colonial Lancaster (Massachusetts) > Part 12
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When a quick decision was forced upon these conservatives in April of 1775, many, seeing that war was inevitable, joined the cause of the patriots. Others, highly intellectual and honorable men, too, went quickly over to the King's side. It is believed that if the first bloodshed had been quieted, many of these men would have come over to the patriot's cause. Englishmen ever since have been willing to acknowledge that the king blundered to his own loss and defeat, when, by any sort of justice he might have kept his colonies.
However, at this time any who did not come out and openly declare themselves patriots, had their names put upon a "black
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list" and by the town's order, were investigated and made to appear at town meeting for questioning.
Among the names of those written upon the "black list" was that of the beloved minister of the town, Rev. Timothy Harrington. For thirty years he had prayed "God bless our good King George," and it was not strange that sometimes his lips would frame the usual words: but there is a tradition that if he made this slip he would immediately add; "thou knowest, O Lord, we mean George Washington."
Joseph Willard, in his History of Lancaster, describes a dramatic scene in a Lancaster town meeting, when the venerable clergyman faced his accusers. He bared his breast before his people and exclaimed, "strike, strike here, with your daggers; I am a true friend to my country." Afterwards he retracted certain objection- able statements which he had made, and declared that they were made "before ye 19th of April, 1775." Mr. Harrington's name speedily was removed from the black list, and in the eighteen years of his ministry which followed, he was treated with increased consideration and honor, and his broad views of a national inde- pendence, based upon civil and religious liberty, finally won, over prejudice and intolerance.
At the head of those who were acknowledged loyalists, were the three great-grandsons of Maj. Simon Willard, the Puritan pioneer commander of a hundred years before. These three men were out- standing men in the town, and were connected by marriage with other important Royalist families.
The eldest, Col. Abijah Willard, had lived quietly at home after his part in the Conquest of Canada, and had spent his time in managing his large estates which were not confined to Lancaster. He had large land interests in Billerica and in Connecticut. He had just passed his fiftieth year. He was the richest man in town, a gentleman of stately manners and great dignity, a thoroughly trained soldier and an able manager of affairs. He lived in the house inherited from his father Col. Samuel Willard, which still stands west of the railroad crossing on the road to the Neck, where he entertained in great style for that time. He kept six horses, which in itself was a sign of great wealth.
All his efforts were against immediate war, but it is believed that had circumstances not found him away from home on the morning of April 19, 1775, he might have gone over to the patriot's cause.
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On that morning he was on his way on horse back, his saddlebags filled with seeds for planting his farm near Boston, when he was turned aside by the swarming of Minutemen on their way to Con- cord. He never saw Lancaster again. After reaching Boston he went over to the British, but refused to fight against his country- men, even when offered a Colonel's commission in the British army. However, he later joined the royal forces and acted as commissary, and in that capacity was a great help to the Crown. Late in the war, along with others known as "the fifty-five," he demanded from England large grants of land in Canada. He settled about ten miles northwest of Saint John, New Brunswick, where he established a village which he named Lancaster, in memory of his native town.
For several years he was an important member of the Provin- cial Council. He died there, though always turned with longing towards his native town. His family had joined him in New Bruns- wick, but after his death returned to Lancaster and recovered their old home, and thenceforth received a pension from the British Government. The son, Samuel, lived to the age of ninety-six years, and the widowed daughter, Mrs. Anna Goodhue, lived to be ninety- five. This family, widely known, were very refined, educated and most hospitable people. Years after they had all died, a heavy gold ring of beautiful workmanship was plowed up in a furrow of land which belonged to this estate, which without doubt, was presented to Col. Abijah Willard as a bearer at the funeral of the commander of the expedition which captured Louisburg in 1744. It bore the inscription "Sir William Pepperell Bart. OB. 6 July, 1759. AEt. 63." It was customary to present bearers of that day with a ring, a scarf and a pair of gloves.
There is no doubt that by his desertion from the patriots' cause Lancaster lost her outstanding soldier and officer. Had he been on the Patriot side, he would have brought great honor to his town. Lancaster people could hold themselves partly to blame. Today he would be considered a "conscientious objector" or a pacifist. At least he would not be exiled, this man who stood out so con- spicuously as a leader of men, who had fought so many hard fights for his country. But perhaps there is in the minds of many the thought that he, who in carrying out the orders of the king at Tatmagouchie, and thus violating every law of human justice in his treatment of the Acadians, could expect no justice for himself.
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His banishment and exile to New Brunswick, his yearning always to return to his Lancaster home is a sad picture; a sad and inglor- ious end to a life that in early manhood and in middle age had been so promising and so distinguished; a man who would have brought glory and honor to himself. Not fighting with them he refused to fight against them. For such a man it must have been a heart- breaking exile.
Levi Willard, three years younger than Col. Abijah, held the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Colonial army, was a Justice of the peace, and with his brother-in-law, Capt. Samuel Ward, owned the largest store in Worcester County. He was known to be a Loya- list at heart, but was in broken health and died before summer of the fateful 1775.
His son, Levi, Jr., graduated from Harvard College in June of that year, joined his uncle Abijah in Boston, then went to England, where he lived for ten years-finally returning to this country.
Captain Samuel Ward, whose policy was known to be against immediate war, cast his lot in with the Patriots, when war came.
The third brother, Abel Willard, was so brilliant and so popular that, in spite of his Loyalist opinions, he might have remained here unharmed. He was an intimate friend of the leading states- man of the Revolution, John Adams, who is said to have visited at the Willard home in Lancaster. But for some reason he sought refuge in Boston, and quick-following even made it impossible for him to return. Finally, with others, he was banished from the country. He went to live in London, where, under the stress of his trouble, his health gave way, and he died within three years.
The estates of the Willards were confiscated, along with those of other "Dangerous persons." Among these were Solomon Hough- ton, Joseph Moore, Joseph House, Samuel Stearns, Daniel Allen, Ezra Houghton and Moses Gerrish.
For years after the Revolution there was no greater disgrace for a family than to be branded as "Tories." There was no room in that day for difference of opinion, age, or circumstance. Time has changed all that, and public sympathy is on the side of these men, proscribed and banished from homes that had been fought and bled for, by themselves as well as their ancestors for no other reason than a difference of opinion as to how the desired independ- ence could be gained, and that without bloodshed. Historians of
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today are finding much more culpable conduct in the acts of many of the supposedly staunchest patriots.
In the surrounding towns those of Tory sympathies were careful to conciliate the Committee of Safety. In Harvard no citizen was classed as an active Tory, although it was suspected that some had dealings with certain officers in Gage's army, who by the fortunes of war were quartered there as prisoners.
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CHAPTER XXXIX
The Lexington Alarm 1775
THE BRITISH COMMANDER, GENERAL GAGE WAS IN BOSTON, watching and waiting while the Patriots were making all haste with their preparations for war. Munitions were collected and stored at various points for safety, and Lancaster was one of the towns selected for a depot.
The colonels of the two Lancaster regiments were the brothers, John and Asa Whitcomb, direct descendants of the original pro- prietor, John Whitcomb. They had been left orphans when very young, and when they grew to manhood the court had assigned to John the ancestral estate in the east side of Bolton, and to Asa lands upon Wickapekit brook in the second precinct, soon to become Sterling. Both, as we have seen, served as scouts in 1748. John held the rank of Colonel in the first Crown Point expedition, and served three years. Asa was captain of a company in 1755 and 1758, and had taken an active part in the acts of the state legis- lature. Both were deacons in their precincts, and both were able and respected men.
The colonel-elect of the Lancaster regiment of Minute Men was this John Whitcomb of Bolton. A regiment was composed of ten companies in the eight-months service of 1775. Each company consisted of fifty-nine privates, two musicians, four corporals, four sergeants, one ensign, a lieutenant and a captain. Later on a continental regiment was made up of eight companies of ninety men each.
The Lancaster regiment was among the first filled. The staff officers were drawn from the best soldiers in the surrounding towns, as well as Lancaster. In Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment were: Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Whitney of Harvard, Major Josiah Carter of Leominster, Major John Rand of Westminster, Adjutant Eliakim Atherton of Bolton, and Quartermaster Jeremiah Laugh- ton of Harvard.
When Paul Revere's ride ended at Concord, a mounted courier took a fresh horse and galloped through Bolton to Lancaster to
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spread the news that the "red-coats" were on the march from Boston. Here he obtained a fresh mount and was hardly out of sight carrying the dread but expected news to more western towns, before musket shots, drums and the "fourpounder" field pieces spread the alarm. Then, under six company leaders, two hundred fifty seven resolute men swarmed from farm and shop and marched down the Bay Road, anxious to meet the invaders. They marched to Cambridge, and, as it is recorded that "General Whitcomb was in this day's battle," it is possible that some part of his regiment of Minute Men arrived in time to take some part in the fight.
A mounted company was known as the "Lancaster Troop," which was under the command of Capt. Thomas Gates, of Lan- caster, as it had been a few years earlier commanded by his father, Captain Hezekiah Gates. Father and son kept a tavern known far and wide as Gates Tavern at the parting of the ways to Sterling in the Deershorn district, and which later came to be known as the Thurston homestead when, by inheritance, it came into the pos- session of Gates Thurston.
This mounted company kept up its organization and attended muster until 1825. Joseph Willard, writing his History of Lancaster, mentions by name six men then living who were in the troop. Five men from Harvard were in this troop, and four companies-164 men-are credited to Harvard in the Lexington Alarm rolls. Cap- tain Sawyer and most of his company were from the second pre- cinct, Sterling.
Three companies-ninety-nine men marched from Leominster, and their names show that many of them were lineal descendants of the Lancaster pioneers. Two of these companies under Capt. David Wilder, and Capt. John Joslin were Minute Men in Col. John Whitcomb's regiment. Three companies marched from Bol- ton, including the Berlin district ;- one hundred twenty-seven men.
The companies remained at Cambridge about two weeks, but many of the men returned to their homes some days sooner. About one in three then enlisted in the provincial service for the remaining months of 1775.
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CHAPTER XL
Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston 1775
THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS REASSEMBLED AT WATERTOWN, IN order to be near the camps, and quickly arranged for all the scanty military stores to be placed in and about Cambridge. This removed from Lancaster the store of supplies which had been consigned to the town. These were, besides infantry ammunition, one company of matrosses, two iron three-pounder cannon, with thirty-three rounds each of grape, canister and round shot; two medicine chests and 150 tents.
Massachusetts resolved to raise an army of 13000 men, and it was hoped that the other colonies would raise this number to 30000 men. Enlistments began at once, and Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment was soon in camp, with Lancaster's full quota-two com- panies of recruits.
Colonel John Whitcomb had received a deserved promotion and, on February 15, 1775, was made a General. Still greater honor came to him when, on June 15th, he was elected "first major- general of the Massachusetts army." The next day, Joseph Warren was chosen "second major-general." As the latter had previously taught school in Lancaster it is quite likely the two men were known to each other.
On the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Gen. Whitcomb was detained in Cambridge, being held in reserve at Lechmere Point, where the commander-in-chief had expected the first attack would be made. So Gen. Warren took charge in the famous battle, and was its chief martyr.
Thereupon Gen. Whitcomb was commissioned major-general of Massachusetts forces, by the President of Congress. He next was commissioned brigadier-general in the continental army; and Gen. Washington announced his intention of ordering Gen. Whitcomb to assume command of all forces in Massachusetts. John Whit- comb, however, returned the commission "desiring to be excused on account of age and a diffidence of not being able to answer the expectations of Congress." In appreciation of his military services
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and his ability, he was then chosen a member of the Council, and served with honor there for four years, and added to the respect and confidence in which he was held. An unpretentious stone in Bolton's oldest burial-ground marks his grave, but his epitaph gives no hint of his high military honors.
The Lancaster regiment was again among the first to complete the required ten companies of fifty-nine each, rank and file; and in the latter part of May, Col. Asa Whitcomb reported eleven companies encamped at Cambridge, 560 volunteers. The field and staff officers under Col. Whitcomb were, Lieutenant-Colonel, Josiah Whitney of Harvard; Major, Ephraim Sawyer of Lancaster; Adjutant, Jeremiah Gage of Westminster; Quartermaster, Jere- miah Laughton of Harvard; Surgeon, William Dunsmoor of Lan- caster; Surgeon's Mate, Moses Barnard of Harvard. Eliakim Atherton of Bolton, was appointed a deputy commissary of the Province. Under the several captains, Haskell's and Richardson's companies were mostly of Lancaster; Burt's and Davis' of Har- vard; Longley's of Bolton and Shirley; Hasting's of Bolton; Wilder's of Leominster and Ashburnham; Fuller's of Lunenburg; Bemis' of Westminster; Cranson's of Marlboro; and Well's of Greenfield.
According to official returns, the regiment lost five killed, eight wounded, and two missing in the battle of Bunker Hill. While there is no official report of the exact number of Lancaster men at the front in this battle there seems to be good authority for claim- ing at least a hundred men. There is said to be a tradition among old Lancaster families that one or more companies of soldiers were crossing the Neck towards the battle ground when the retreat began; and that others had gone early to reenforce Prescott's command. Later petitions for aid show that Capt. Burt's Harvard company and Capt. Hasting's Bolton company were in the fight, and Capt. Wilder's Leominster company also was engaged.
Capt. Andrew Haskell distinguished himself that day, and he would have been promoted except for certain private traits which kept him out of line. Judging from records of those who died, or were discharged after that day, it seems probable that Longley's, Davis' and Bemis' commands were also in action.
Upon the organization of the army for the siege of Boston, the Lancaster regiment-the largest of the twenty-six Massachusetts regiments engaged-was placed in a brigade with Rhode Island troops, under Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and formed a part of the
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Second division, under Gen. Charles Lee. The regiment joined the brigade on July 28, and was stationed on Prospect Hill. There were few tents, and each squad constructed a rude shelter of turf, stone, boards, bricks or turf. An officer of the command wrote that the whole army consisted of less than 15000 militia "without a shade of uniformity in its organization, pay, dress, arms or exercise, destitute of subordination or discipline, and fluctuating from day to day as the caprice of the men inclined them to absent themselves or to rejoin their colors." Gen. Greene is credited with having the neatest encampment and the best disciplined brigade in the patriot lines. This army of brave men held Boston in close siege for ten months, with less than twenty rounds of powder per man; and finally drove the British officer, Sir William Howe, to take refuge in the fleet, leaving Boston on St. Patrick's Day.
In the meantime some of the Lancaster soldiers were transferred to other branches of the service. Several soldiers went with Arnold and Montgomery, for the attack on Quebec. Two or three were wounded and captured in that disaster. Others were transferred to the "artillery train." Some soldiers of the Lancaster towns served under other regimental commanders, as the muster-rolls show.
General Washington entrusted an expedition to investigate the military condition and the attitude of the inhabitants of Nova Scotia to special commissioners, Aaron Willard of Lancaster, and Moses Child. It was thought that the Acadians were on the side of the American cause. Upon reaching the province, in November 1775, the commissioners learned that they were liable to arrest as spies. They lost courage and returned with the meager information, gathered from hearsay, that the defenses of the province were inade- quate, and that the people "would engage in the common cause of America, could they be protected." There was no military action taken.
Just a century before, in 1676, when all these Lancastrian towns were one, and savage tribes swept down from Wachusett to murder and plunder, the settlers sought shelter in the bay towns. Now, 5000 people from the Bay towns, suffering from insults, and conditions arising from siege, were seeking shelter and food, and Lancaster and the surrounding towns had opportunity to repay, in bountiful measure.
The Provincial Congress assigned 539 of the poor people of
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Boston to Worcester County; and of these Lancaster was to provide for 103. Bolton was allotted forty-eight, Harvard fifty, and Leo- minster thirty-eight. After the burning of Charlestown thirty more exiles were added to Lancaster's quota. No list of the exiles was kept, but it is known that the actual number of those who sought refuge here was far greater than the allotment. Few refer- ences to them are found, but some became attached to their place of exile and remained permanently.
Among those who remained in Lancaster was a lame boy of fifteen years, whose proudest possession was a letter of recom- mendation from his great-uncle, Benjamin Franklin, for whom he had been clerk and accountant. He was Josiah Flagg, destined to become a prominent citizen and for thirty-four years-1800 to 1836-town clerk of Lancaster. In his old age he often was called upon to tell the story of the hardships endured in boyhood in Revolutionary days.
Another refugee was John Newman, a maker of clocks and watches, who set up a shop near the store of Capt. Ward in South Lancaster. There two generations of his descendants carried on his trade and made steel tools, also they did excellent repair work for all the country around.
Not all the refugees were poor, or of the working class. One bought a farm upon the east side of the Neck, a part of the con- fiscated property of Col. Abijah Willard. This was Daniel Waldo, whose daughter Martha became the bride of the future Gov. Levi Lincoln, of Worcester.
Another Boston merchant, Edmund Quincy, came here to reside with his daughter, the wife of Sheriff William Greenleaf. Another daughter was the wife of Governor John Hancock. Many of Quincy's letters to Governor Hancock, and other noted patriots, are in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, but they contain little of local interest.
Still another Boston merchant, who had a hat shop on Washing- ton street in Boston, was Nathaniel Balch. His name is prominent in the war committees of Lancaster in 1776. He became the insep- arable companion of Governor Hancock, and his original wit won him more than local renown.
Towards the close of the siege of Boston, on March 9, 1776, Dr. Enoch Dole of Lancaster was killed by a cannon ball on Dorchester Heights.
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The needy families of those in the service, and those who had been made widows and orphans by the fortunes of war, were regularly cared for by the town fathers, and the State refunded the money thus spent. Each town in Massachusetts was assessed for its proportionate share of the clothing needed by the soldiers. Shoes, shirts, stockings, etc., were apportioned by number to each community.
Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment was transferred to Roxbury, where it occupied the mansion known as Governor Shirley's residence. The regiment was present at Dorchester Heights and helped to relieve the 5000 men who, in one night, had thrown up two redoubts. Upon these the British troops turned all their avail- able artillery, but to no purpose; and then waited reenforcement from Gen. Howe. During the day, the patriots enlarged and streng- thened their fort, and, according to the records of the surgeon's mate, James Thatcher, each man was anxious for the approach of the enemy; each man knew his place, and was "resolute to execute his duty." Thatcher also wrote, "His Excellency General Washing- ton is present, animating and encouraging the soldiers."
Again a storm at sea brought help to the New England men, as it had done when the colonists had awaited in dread suspense an attack from the French in 1746. Now, a fierce easterly gale lashed the waters of Boston Harbor, and made an attack by General Gage's heavily laden boats impossible. Again the God of Battles was on the side of the colonists, and the end of the long siege was at hand.
Colonel Whitcomb's regiment was one of three detailed to gar- rison Boston, lest the enemy return for an unexpected attack; and on March 20, it was greeted by a joyful welcome when it entered the town. Comfortable quarters were assigned to the soldiers in unoccupied houses. Small-pox was raging, and the army surgeons were kept busy inoculating the men. Death took a heavy toll from this disease and from camp fevers.
An expedition under Col. Whitcomb embarked from Long Wharf on the night of June 13, and planted a battery on Long Island, in Boston harbor, during the night. In the early morning the battery opened fire on the vessels of the surprised Commodore Banks, and drove him to a hasty retreat.
The chief acts of the Revolutionary war, after the first year were outside of New England; but men of the Lancaster regiment
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are found in the lists of those left in the defense of Boston and Rhode Island, and among the guards over prisoners of war at Cambridge and at Rutland.
The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed formally from the State House balcony in Boston on July 18, 1776 and thirteen companies of soldiers, partly from Colonel Asa Whitcomb's com- mand, paraded on King Street in Boston, with a section of artillery which fired a salute of thirteen guns. With colors flying, and fife and drum inspiring the soldiers, the regiment marched off on August 7, for Ticonderoga, New York. There it passed the winter, strengthening the fort and awaiting a British attack.
There, the Northern soldiers were thrown with the Southern patriots and they instinctively disliked each other almost as intensely as they both hated the "lobsters" as they called the British regulars. The Northern officers, from colonel down, were men in the same walk in life, and were elected by the votes of their neighbors. A man, to gain a captaincy, had to be popular with the mass of the people, and social standing counted for nothing. The New England regiment was an association of equals, who vol- unteered for patriotic duty for a short period at a time. Although they were brave, intelligent, and patriotic, their discipline was of the loosest.
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