USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > The story of colonial Lancaster (Massachusetts) > Part 13
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The southern army was on an entirely different plane. The officers, usually gentlemen by birth and education, were used to deference. They were on no terms of equality with their men, and naturally felt nothing but scorn for the social equality of the North- ern army, whom they called "Yankees." The Northerners retali- ated by calling the Southern patriots "Buckskins" and "Maca- ronies."
Colonel Asa Whitcomb was described by one of his own men as "a serious, good man, but is more conversant with the economy of domestic life than the etiquette practiced in camp." For instance, each officer was entitled to the services of a private soldier, and a regimental commander, to two men. Colonel Whitcomb chose his own sons for this service, and when one of them wanted to earn a little extra money by working at his trade of shoemaking, the colonel allowed him to set up his cobbler's bench in the room used for regimental headquarters.
This enraged officers of other organizations, and was at the bottom of a disgraceful scene. A lieutenant-colonel in Wayne's
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regiment rushed in one night, half crazed with drink, and smashed the cobbler's bench, knocked Colonel Whitcomb down, and ended by calling out some of his own battalion to take part in the riot. Colonel Whitcomb was obliged to return home before the complaint which he entered against this Col. Cragie came to trial, but the Southern officer settled the matter in a most diplomatic fashion. He sent some soldiers into the woods to shoot a fat bear, with which he made a feast, and invited Col. Whitcomb and his officers to dine. The good natured Col. Whitcomb accepted the invitation being ready to overlook the insult.
Colonel Whitcomb had been one of the wealthiest farmers in the town of Lancaster, a deacon in the Second Precinct, and an ever popular man. He was an ardent patriot, and a brave and experienced soldier, but too good-hearted and gentle to make a good disciplinarian. When the time came to consolidate the Pro- vincial regiments, a number of officers were discharged, and Gen. Washington and Gen. Greene decided upon Colonel Whitcomb as one who could be spared. Whitcomb's men resented this, and refused to reenlist under another commander. Then Col. Whitcomb himself chided them for their lack of patriotism, and offered to enlist as a private with them. When Gen. Washington heard of this he was much touched, and in special orders, reinstated Col. Whitcomb and complimented him upon his unselfish devotion to the cause. Col. Whitcomb returned to his farm in Sterling in April, 1777. His military career was over. He had become much impoverished during the war, and sold his large farm and moved to Princeton. He repre- sented that town in the legislature, and in 1804, died there at the age of eighty-four years.
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CHAPTER XLI
Concerning Finances 1775
FOR A LONG TIME GENERAL WASHINGTON HAD BEEN CONVINCED that the system of short enlistments popular in New England, and at first favored through dread of a standing army, were not only an inconvenience but a serious menace. The martial spirit was weakening, and he saw that the patriot ranks must be filled per- manently and that a rigid discipline must be established. Every effort was put forward to get regular troops to enlist for three years, or during the war. Twenty dollars' bounty, a suit of clothes each year, and 100 acres of land were offered to each soldier as an inducement to volunteer. The army was reorganized into eighty- eight battalions of infantry, of 680 men each. One-sixth of the whole number to be raised was expected from Massachusetts. Enlistments were discouragingly slow towards raising one man in every seven for service, and special bounties were offered by the selectmen of the towns. Substitutes often were hired for a whole or part time duty in the Continental service. Occasionally a Negro's services were sold by his master to fight for the country.
The names of Lancaster soldiers and of those from all the nearby towns are found in the rolls of the army during all the most trying years of the war. An imperfect list gives the names of nearly 600 who served, and proves that nearly every male citizen must have served at some period, and that fully one-fourth of them were kept constantly in the army. The scant records give the names of thirty Lancaster soldiers who gave their lives between the battle of Bunker Hill and the close of 1779.
The wives and daughters bravely took up the work of the men in the fields, in addition to their accustomed duties, and coura- geously cared for the needy. They denied themselves all luxuries, and, with undaunted faith in the outcome, carried on in their homes.
Besides the calls upon the militia for troops to go into battle there was need for constant guard duty within the State. The prisoners of war from the English regiments of General Burgoyne
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were removed to Rutland from Cambridge, which was thought to be too easily accessible if the British should attempt a surprise attack from Newport, Rhode Island, for their release. Many of the guards thus employed were boys, old men, or those unfit for field service.
The name of two only appear, who volunteered for service in the privateers which did service on the coast. Their deaths were recorded by Reverend Timothy Harrington:
Joseph Wilder, Junr. of ye small pox at sea.
Joseph Phelps, died of his wounds in a sea fight.
The imperfect roster of soldiers is an honorable one. So close was the connection of families in the villages that had grown out of Lancaster, and so universal the use of the same family names, such as John, Jonathan, Jacob and Joseph, that it has been hard to distinguish the different branches of a family. The rolls very often failed to mention any place of residence. All the towns met the call and their men served honorably. The Marquis de Chastellux, traveling through New England in 1780, said, "Among the men I have met with above twenty years of age, of whatever condition, I have not found two who have not borne arms, heard the whistling of balls, and even received some wounds."
At the convention for forming the State constitution held at Cambridge in September 1779, Lancaster was represented by Dr. William Dunsmoor, Captain Ephraim Wilder and Captain William Putnam.
At various times during the war paroled prisoners were quartered in and about Lancaster, and sometimes they got into difficulties with the local authorities, especially when the prisoners were British officers. Two of those officers were quartered in Still River. Captain Edward Barron of the King's own Regiment had been so disabled that he could take exercise only on horseback. With him was Surgeon Walter Cullen of the 72d Foot, Royal Invincibles. All went well until the officers rode away beyond the Harvard limits, and were absent two or three nights. The committees of Safety and Correspondence in Harvard, Lancaster and Bolton quickly committed them to the over-crowded and unclean Wor- cester jail, where they soon begged to be returned to Still River. When released however, they were sent to Newburyport. The papers in the case do not tell where these British officers had spent
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their "leave" but perhaps it was in Lunenburg where five Highland officers were held, who often disturbed their rustic neighbors with their carousals, as they would "visit the public house and some- times stay very late at night." These were threatened with transfer to the jail at Taunton.
In a journal kept by James Stevens of Andover an account is written of the transfer of thirty-four prisoners, from Cambridge to Worcester. The prisoners were twenty-two British regulars taken in an attack upon Light House Island and twelve Tories. The first night of the march the prisoners were put in the jail in Concord, and their second night was passed in Lancaster, where "the town's people stood sentry over them." As they marched through the towns, the Tories carried their hats under their arms and when they reached Worcester, they were taken to the prison and the "Tories went into the dungeon."
At least fourteen colored men appear in the Revolutionary muster rolls as having served from Lancaster. Both the Continental and Provincial councils forbade the enlistment of this race, but when it was found that the royalists were employing them General Washington authorized the services of Negroes in the militia, and after that time they are found in both armies, both in the North and South.
Hardly less of a hardship than the war was the scarcity of money, and the ever diminishing value of what currency was in circulation. Massachusetts had been in a comfortable financial condition at the beginning of the Revolution, with sufficient gold and silver currency, coined abroad, to answer her needs. Coins were clipped to the point where traders must keep scales to find their value, and forty dollars of paper money were required in exchange for one of silver.
In the British camps counterfeit money was manufactured which so deceived the people that even honest and respectable merchants innocently received, and passed on, forged currency. Even the towns took in, through tax money, so much of the worthless script that an article appeared in the warrant for the town meeting in March, 1778, to see if the town would allow good money to replace the counterfeit in the town's treasury.
A new issue of bills was made in 1780, but by the following year that had become worthless. A system of barter was resorted to, as in pioneer days. Even in hiring soldiers, payment to be made
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upon discharge was made not in cash, but in calves or some other commodity. In Harvard in the call of 1781, sixteen "three year men" were promised pay for services partly in cash, and the rest in "eighteen head of three year old Horned Cattle."
Speculators soon raised the prices of even the most ordinary articles to such height that the towns were ordered by the General Court to choose a committee to act with the selectmen in fixing the prices, for all time, upon staple goods, and other charges. In the town records there is an interesting list of the prices fixed by the patriotic officials at the time, who unfortunately did not take in the well known consideration of supply and demand. Among the articles named in this very long list are a few, selected at random which seem ridiculous today, such as
lamb under six months old 2d per pound;
milk in the winter 2d per quart;
wood good & green delivered at the buyers door eight feet long six shillings per cord; dinner roast and boiled one shilling;
lodging one night 31/2 d;
To keeping and boarding, a man 7 days finding washing and lodging, six shillings.
A true copy of these prices, signed by eleven town fathers, was examined and entered into the town records by William Green- leaf, town clerk.
Of course this attempt to fix prices, based upon no financial security, met the usual fate; and it often became necessary to convene both in towns and county conventions to attempt a read- justment. By 1779 the continental currency had reached so low a point in value that the commissaries no longer could purchase sufficient food for the army. Congress then required each State to supply its proportionate share. Warrants were sent out for town meetings to see what could be done to meet this demand. The account of moneys assessed on the town of Lancaster in 1780 included a town rate of £165,000 "old emission." But the committee chosen proceeded to raise the necessary funds and bought their full quota of 36,494 pounds of beef, as ordered by the General Court.
Massachusetts from the first had required each town to furnish the clothing required by the soldiers according to its financial
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status, and the assessment for clothing in 1780 for the army was as follows:
Lancaster 40 pairs of shoes, 41 shirts, 26 pairs of hose, 17 blankets.
Bolton 18 do. 15 do. 20 do. O do.
Harvard 28 do. IO do. 27 do. o. do.
Leominster22 do. 22 do. 22 do. II do.
The next year Lancaster was required to supply sixty of each of the same articles of clothing. Not always had the town waited to be assessed for clothing for, in February 1778, when news finally reached them that the snows of Valley Forge were stained with the blood of the feet of half-clad soldiers, town meeting had not waited to have an ordered requisition but immediately voted that the selectmen and a committee collect the necessary clothing and had paid men to transport it to the soldiers.
Those who suffered most from the depreciation of the currency were the clergy, teachers, and others who depended upon salaries, and an account of Lancaster's first donation party was given in the WORCESTER SPY for July 15, 1779:
A respectable number of ladies in the first parish in Lancaster assembled at the pastor's and presented him with 208 skeins of linen yarn and other valuable donations; and in the evening a worthy number of gentlemen assembled also and in wool and cash presented to the amount of 239 dollars; all which were gratefully accepted by the said pastor.
One of the traits most openly "jeered" by the southern soldiers was the stinginess of the "Yankees," but when it came to doing their part in such crises, the "Yankees" were neither slow to act, nor stingy, though perhaps some private hoarding had been done before the need came.
In every war the women of Lancaster and its group of towns have met the call and worked industriously to do their part, and although the spinning wheel no longer is in use, the knitting needles clicked as busily in the World War as in the days of the Revolution, and generous donations to the cause have been the rule and not the exception.
The following list of the graves of Revolutionary soldiers in Lancaster burial grounds was prepared by the late John C. L. Clark of Lancaster, who wrote that the list "is, and always must remain incomplete. It is certain that there are many unmarked
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resting places of men who fought in the War for Independence, and these there is now no way to locate."
OLD CEMETERY
Cyrus Fairbank, died Feb. 28, 1801, aged 63.
Jonathan Phillips, died July 20, 1780, aged 44.
Ephraim Wyman, died Feb. 17, 1780, in his 30th year.
OLD COMMON CEMETERY
(Capt.) Timothy Whiting, died Jan. 12, 1826, aged 67. Jonathan Wilder, died Jan. 13, 1836, aged 80.
Levi Wilder, died Jan. 5, 1793, aged 42.
MIDDLE CEMETERY
Jonathan Barnard, died March 5, 1824, aged 60.
Joseph Beaman, died April 7, 1813, aged 72. (Served through
much of the war. Another Joseph Beaman of Lancaster responded to the Lexington alarm.)
Josiah Bowers, died Nov. 30, 1836, aged 84.
Elias Emerson, died June 16, 1835, aged 76.
Joshua Fletcher, died Nov. 14, 1814, aged 90.
Capt. Thomas Gates, died Dec. 27, 1814, aged 79.
(Commanded the "Lancaster Troop.")
Eber Goddard, died May 26, 1835.
James Goodwin, died Sept. 8, 1831, aged 90.
Capt. Daniel Goss (Sen.), died Dec. 10, 1809, aged 69.
David Hosley, died July 5, 1802, aged 59.
Samuel Joslyn, died Feb. 15, 1826, aged 88. John Maynard, died Jan. 21, 1823, aged 70.
Joel Osgood, died Nov. 7, 1821, aged 75.
Aaron Rugg, died July 6, 1810, aged 50 yrs., II mo.
Elisha Rugg, died Jan. 7, 1805, aged 49.
John Sargeant, died April 1, 1822, aged 73.
Seth Sargeant, died Nov. 28, 1830, aged 77.
John Thurston, died Dec. 7, 1838, aged 84.
Peter Thurston, died Dec. 22, 1812, aged 73.
Joseph White, died July 1, 1806, aged 55.
John Whiting, died Sept. 3, 1810, aged 50.
(A memorial stone only) Col. Whiting is buried at Washing- ton, D. C. Jonathan Whitney, died Nov. 20, 1802, aged 66. William Wilder, died March 20, 1816, aged 61.
NORTH CEMETERY
Leonard Farwell, died Oct. 19, 1822, aged 62. Aaron Johnson, died Feb. 6, 1820, aged 79.
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CHAPTER XLII
Surrender at Yorktown Shays' Rebellion 1781-1787
STILL THE TERRIBLE MILL OF WAR GROUND ON. WORD CAME OF one disaster after another on the battlefields, which had now been removed to the southern states. The army was greatly reduced in numbers; was half-clad, half-fed and despondent. Congress had lost its credit, and the paper currency in circulation was valueless. Only disappointment had come from the alliance with France, and everywhere the dejected people were suffering privation and distress. The military authorities, grim and determined, went on with their recruiting and drafting, however slowly, and every means-even lottery-was resorted to, in order to fill the quota for the Continental army.
Nearly all the regiments in which the soldiers of this district were fighting took part in battles that resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne; and for the rest of their term were generally stationed along the Hudson River. We know but little of the story of these men who offered their lives for their country's freedom. Few fell in battle and no record of wounds was kept upon the rolls. But we know that they did their duty and with honor throughout the duration of the war.
As if the New England people were not already suffering about all that was humanly possible, Nature took a hand at their trial and the "hard winter" of 1779-1780 descended upon them. Snow lay deep over the country and the cold was intense. Walls and fences were completely buried, and for weeks no roads were broken out in the villages. No traveling except upon snow-shoes was possible; and only in this way were they able to draw hand sleds to carry the grain to and from the mills to be ground for bread.
At last, when spring came, consternation was spread throughout the state by the "dark day," of May 19, 1780. A little before noon daylight faded out, candles had to be lighted, fowls went to roost, bats came out, and the chill of despair settled down upon these
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Puritans who believed it to be a visitation of an offended Prov- idence.
Finally the surrender of General Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Virginia in October, 1781, brought the long struggle to a close. The priceless heritage, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" for which they had fought for nearly seven years, was theirs. The glad tidings which set the bells ringing in all the towns, as fast as news then traveled reached Lancaster in about a week, coming by vessel to Newport, Rhode Island.
A month after the surrender, the victory was celebrated here on November 19, with a day of great feasting and rejoicing. A pro- cession marched through the principal streets of the town, pre- ceded by an advance guard, field piece, and band of music with American colors flying, then went to the Sun Tavern, where an "elegant dinner" was provided for them, after which thirteen toasts were drunk, each being followed by a discharge of the field piece and three cheers.
This celebration was the first of many to follow, but when the date of annual commemoration became the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, local celebration of the surrender of Yorktown took the form of a yearly sham battle in which men from the neighboring towns took part, and with an unlimited supply of gingerbread and spruce beer, amused them- selves in great style. These "Cornwallis" celebrations were carried on up to 1855, when the "time-worn farce" was re-enacted on Burditt Hill in Clinton. At that time, uniformed companies of militia were present from Berlin, Clinton, Groton, Leominster, Lancaster, Marlboro, Oakdale, Sterling, West Boylston and West- minster. The uniformed companies included a tribe of Indians from Berlin.
Modern historians lay the long delay of success on the part of the patriots, to treachery of certain American representatives at the Court of England, or to dilly-dallying by those who were conducting negotiations with France. In spite of all difficulties the American republic was destined to become one of the great powers of the world. It seems the more wonderful when we remem- ber that at the beginning of the war, the colonies were not even united except in the common cause of liberty and for a govern- ment of the people and by the people.
Then came the aftermath such as follows all wars. Upon the
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heels of the revolution came that counting of the cost. Massa- chusetts found herself weighed down with a debt of nearly 15,000 dollars. It was decided to raise revenue by direct taxation; but the people already had suffered too much to take lightly any increased burden, which, as always, fell heaviest upon the farmers and the men in small trades. There had been much hoarding of gold, by those in high places.
The farmers filled their barns but found it difficult to barter their crops for even the commonest articles of clothing. In contrast, the wives and daughters of the lawyers and merchants were wearing foreign silks and laces. Unemployment, discontent, and disappoint- ment that the war had not fulfilled the promise to make all men free and equal, was trying men's souls. The chief grievances com- plained of, were that the governor's salary was too high; that the senate was too aristocratic; that the lawyers were extortionate; that taxes were too high.
These grievances drove the people to action. County conventions were held, but failed to satisfy or pacify the demands of the com- mon people; and an insurrection was staged in the western part of the State, known as "Shays' Rebellion." This was the outcome of many smaller demonstrations of defiance of authority, which had been going on for five years. During that time nothing had availed to quiet the unrest. A weak legislature had failed to meet the situation. The government had dealt as lightly as possible with the malcontents, realizing that many of their hardships were real, and many of their actions were due to misunderstanding and ignorance.
When, in 1787, James Bowdoin became governor, his prudent policy was to put forth the strong arm of the commonwealth and stop all riotings with military action if necessary.
The adage that "where there is smoke there must be some fire" comes to mind in reading the tales of the encounters between those high in authority and the common people. An example is shown in the following incident-Colonel William Greenleaf of Lancaster was sheriff of the county. He had read the riot act from the court- house steps in Worcester on November 22, 1786, and had addressed an armed mob, assembled to prevent the sitting of the Court of General Sessions. A voice from the mob cried that one of their grievances was the Colonel himself and his exorbitant fees. Colonel Greenleaf's answer was: "If you deem my fees for execution oppres-
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sive, gentlemen, you need not wait longer for redress; I will hang you all for nothing, with the greatest pleasure." Hardly a concilia- tory attitude! Probably there were many such actions which drove the insurgents on.
Daniel Shays had been a patriot soldier. He was an ensign at the battle of Bunker Hill, and had been made a captain in the Con- tinental army. He had been willing to fight through the long years of the war but was now anxious to see that freedom and equality, for which they had fought, carried out in the State's policy. As free citizens of a democracy they were unwilling to bear the hard- ships not endured by the upper classes. Shays undertook to "regu- late" affairs and placed himself at the head of 1000 insurgents and attempted to prevent the session of the Supreme Court at Springfield; but was driven off by the militia.
In the meantime, the towns had decided to put down such insur- rections once for all, and volunteers were called to suppress, by force of arms if necessary, such unlawful proceedings. Lancaster was the rendezvous for the troops from the eastern part of the state and on January 24, 1787, five hundred men, forming a regi- ment and commanded by Colonel Ephraim Stearns, marched to Worcester and joined the other State troops assembled there under General Benjamin Lincoln. Among these volunteers were fifty or sixty men who had borne commissions, even to commanding a regiment, in the Continental army-now enlisted as privates, to restore law and order.
The next day the regiment marched to Springfield where Shays had attempted to capture the arsenal with a company now swelled to 2000. Upon the approach of the militia, Shays retreated to Pel- ham, and then to Petersham, when he found that Gen. Lincoln had led his forces to Hadley.
With Colonel Stearns' regiment in advance, Gen. Lincoln started in pursuit, at eight o'clock, in the evening of February 13, 1786. It was thirty miles from Hadley to Petersham over a very hilly country. From the record of one who suffered on that never-to-be- forgotten march we take the following vivid description:
We left immediately, late as it was. The weather was comfort- ably warm, but by eleven o'clock in the night the wind changed to the northwest, blew furiously, accompanied by a violent wind and snow-squall and became intolerably cold. The snow was deep, though a fine sleigh path would have made it good traveling, had it not been that our artillery was in front with wheels so much
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