USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume I > Part 24
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Fourth-Brookfield, Hardwick, New Braintree, Oakham, and West- ern (Warren).
Fifth-Athol, Hutchinson (Barre), Hubbardston, Petersham, Prince- ton, Royalston, Rutland, Templeton, and Winchendon.
Sixth-Grafton, Northboro, Shrewsbury, Southboro, Westboro.
Seventh-Douglas, Mendon, Northbridge, Upton.
The vote creating the regiments carried with it recommendations that without delay one-third of the men in each town between the ages of sixteen and sixty be enlisted "to be ready to act at a minute's warning"; that the soldiers of each town elect their captains, lieutenants and ensigns ; and that these convene by regiments before October 10 to elect regimental officers.
The militia was an organization entirely separate from the Minute- men. The officers of the latter were summoned to Worcester on October 17 to proportion their own regiments and choose their field officers.
The towns were requested to provide and mount field pieces, obtain proper ammunition, and put themselves in a position of defence.
A strong protest was directed to Governor Gage, in which they wrote, in conclusion : "Bringing into the town a number of cannon from Castle William ; sending for a further reinforcement of troops, with other con- curring circumstances, strongly indicating some dangerous design, have justly excited in the minds of the people apprehensions of the most alarming nature, and the authors must be held accountable for all the blood and carnage made in consequence thereof. Therefore, this County, in duty to God, their country, themselves, and posterity, do remonstrate to, and earnestly desire your excellency, as you regard the service of the king, and the peace and welfare of the Province, to desist from any fur- ther hostile preparations, and give the people assurance thereof by level- ling the entrenchments and dismantling the fortifications, which will have a tendency to satisfy their doubts, and restore that confidence so essential to their quiet, and His Majesty's service."
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Captain Joseph Henshaw, Colonel Thomas Denny, and Captain Wil- lard were the committee assigned the duty of presenting the memorial. The Governor would not receive them at first, because the address to him was as general and not as Governor. They rectified the error, and received the unsatisfactory answer that "I have repeatedly given the strongest assurance that I intended nothing hostile against the town or country-My wish is to preserve peace and tranquility." No wish ever came farther from fulfillment.
A standing County Committee of Correspondence of the convention was formed, by the union of the committees of Worcester and Leicester, and was authorized to call meetings, communicate with towns in the county, and persons abroad, and present subjects for consideration.
Civil officers holding commissions were directed to continue in the discharge of their duties, excepting Timothy Ruggles, John Murray, and James Putnam.
It was voted that the sheriff "do adjourn the Superior Court and that he retain such as are or may be committed as criminals in his custody, until they have a trial."
It was further voted "that as the ordinary courts of justice will be stayed, in consequence of the late arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament, we would earnestly recommend to every inhabitant of this county, to pay his just debts as soon as possible, without dispute or litigation ; and if any disputes concerning debts or trespasses should arise, which cannot be settled by the parties, we recommend it to them, to submit all such causes to arbitration ; and if the parties, or either of them, shall refuse to do so, they ought to be considered as cooperating with the enemies of the country."
Sheriff Called to Account-Sheriff Chandler had presented an address to General Gage from the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas at the June session, congratulating him on his appointment as first magistrate of the province, lamenting the disturbed condition of the times, bearing testimony against all riots, combinations, and unwarrantable resolves ; denouncing the circulation of inflammatory papers by order of certain persons, calling themselves committees of correspondence for the towns of Worcester and Boston, which they represent, as stimulating the peo- ple to break off all connections with Great Britain, and having a tend- ency to alienate the affections of the people from the mother country, and to create discord and confusion. The address concluded with the assurance of the signers' exertions to discountenance such proceedings, to support the execution of the laws, and to render the administration successful and prosperous.
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The convention voted, "to take notice of Mr. Sheriff Chandler, for carrying an address to Gov. Gage," and appointed a committee to wait on him and require his attendance. That gentleman presented himself before this remarkable body, whose jurisdiction was supreme, and with some hesitation signed the following declaration :
"Whereas, the convention of committees have expressed their uneasi- ness to the sheriff of this county, now present before them, for present- ing, with others, an address to Gov. Gage, he frankly declares it was precipitately done by him : that he is sorry for it, and disclaims an inten- tion to do anything against the minds of the inhabitants of this county ; and had he known it would have given offence, he would not have pre- sented that address .- Gardner Chandler."
Court Severely Disciplined-On September 6, there occurred a repe- tition of the disciplinary measures which had proved so successful in the case of Councillor Paine and other Tories. On August 31, the County Congress of Town Committees issued a call to the militia of the county to report under arms at Worcester on September 6 to prevent the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas and the General Sessions of the Peace under the new laws. On the morning of that day six thousand men were assembled in the town, filling the Common and its immediate vicinity. They were expecting trouble, perhaps a fight with the British regulars, and they were ready for it. Judge Thomas Steele of Leicester and Judge Joseph Wilder of Lancaster had come with the intention of sitting at the opening of the court, braving the anger of the people over the justices' letter to General Gage. Justice Timothy Ruggles was conspicuously absent. Charles Martyn's Life of Artemas Ward, 1921, has an excellent account of what happened next, based upon studies chiefly of the Arte- mas Ward Papers, as follows :
"The County convention gathered in Timothy Bigelow's house (opposite the Courthouse on Main Street), adjourning later to the 'green beyond Mr. Salisbury's.' Its initial resolution was that 'the court should not sit on any terms! It next requested the people to come together on the Common and choose one man from each company 'as a committee to wait on the judges to inform them of a resolution to stop the court's sitting, if the people concur therein.'
"There followed a considerable delay, selecting the company repre- sentatives and then hunting up the justices to inform them officially of what they had already learned beyond any manner of doubt !- that they would not be permitted to hold court. The judges were also told that they, together with the court officers, must show their submission to the
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will of the people by walking through the militia ranks to the court- house, there to affix their signatures to a promise to stay all judicial pro- ceedings.
"Next for attention were the local subscribers to a Tory protest of June 20. (That same Worcester Protest and a repetition of punishment.) Most of them had signed a recantation and begged to be taken back into the good will of the community, but this was not considered sufficient. The convention instructed them that they must follow after the judges and publicly read their disavowals. Then, 'notice was taken' of the justices who had signed the Tory letter to Gage.
"The actors having been coached, the assembled militiamen massed in deep ranks on both sides of Main Street, extending from the Old South Church to the court-house. A great sight for patriot eyes-but it bred misgivings among the timid of the people, whether Patriot or Tory. What would come of this show of force, this military array, this massing of the County militiamen against the edict of the King and in defiance of the English governor and commander-in-chief? Many apprehensive thoughts turned toward the Boston Road, along which the redcoats might even now be approaching. Any moment might hear the galloping of horses, bearing the alarm.
"Then came the play-designed by its producers to impress upon all men the resolution of the people of Worcester County to maintain their supremacy ; that higher than the law's officials were the people them- selves, who would brook no laws other than of their own making. The word was given and the procession started. First through the 'ranges' of the people came the judges of the Court of Common Pleas-two of the three (It would have been three of the four if Ruggles had ventured from Boston) to be pointed at as men who had taken sides with the English Parliament and against their own people. Artemas Ward was the one exception.
"After the judges, the officers of the court. Next followed the justices of the peace-many of these also to be pointed at as having signed the Tory letter. A humiliating experience for men who had hitherto held themselves proudly among their fellows! Last came the townsmen who had subscribed to the local Tory Protest. Every minute or two the pro- cession stopped while the 'leaders,' or chief men, among the local pro- testers humbly read their recantations. Arrived at the court house, the 'protesters' were dismissed, but the justices and their attendants con- tinued into the building and signed the following declaration :
"'Gentlemen : You having desired, and even insisted upon it, all judi- cial proceedings be stayed by the justices of the courts appointed this
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day, by law, to be held in Worcester, on account of the unconstitutional act of the British parliament, respecting the administration of justice, in this province, which, if effected, will reduce the inhabitants thereof to mere arbitrary power, we do assure you, that we will stay all judicial proceedings of said courts, and will not endeavor to put said act into execution.'"
Resolutions adopted at an earlier session of the County Convention were copied into the London newspapers, as evidence of the feelings of the people. The editor added the significant inquiries, "Doth this look like submission? Doth it carry the face of acquiescence?"
CHAPTER XXI.
Opening Guns of Revolution
Where the townships of Holden and Worcester come together is a lofty and expansive ridge which owes its name of Stone House Hill to the panicky flight of a band of Worcester Tories in 1774. The Patriot element had lost patience with those who had espoused the cause of the King, and the assem- bling of militia at the county seat and the disciplinary punishment meted out to offenders, even to royal councillors and judges of the courts, raised the fear in Tory hearts that presently resentment would take sterner form. So a few score of Royalists, in the dark of an early autumn night, stole out to a hiding place in the wilderness, four miles west of the Common, where, if discovered and attacked, they would be at an advantage in defending them- selves. They must have had previous knowledge of the chosen spot, a sharply overhanging cliff high up on the southerly slope of the hill. Stra- tegically it was well adapted to their purpose. Otherwise it was an inhos- pitable region, notorious for its rattlesnakes, exposed to the elements, and difficult of approach by the friends upon whom they must depend for food supplies.
The Tory Fort is much the same today as it was in '74, for it is on a private estate, and, moreover, was never known to many people. The cliff, some twenty feet high, overhangs the ground beneath it to form the roof of a room perhaps twenty feet deep, and thirty feet or more long on the face of the precipice. The garrison could not be attacked from above or from either flank. At the front the approach presented a perfect "field of fire," to use a modern military phrase. Close by was a spring of good water.
The fugitives first erected a breastwork of rock fragments of which the supply was inexhaustible, and gradually increased its height with stone and wood, and closed in the ends, until they had a more or less snug house. They built a fireplace, which may still be seen. Provisions came to them from time to time. They stayed in armed retirement for several weeks, constantly on
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guard against surprise attack. They imagined companies of militia and Min- utemen organizing to storm their citadel. But the nights grew cold, and an occasional storm set icy wind whistling through crack and cranny of their wall. Their lot was not a happy one.
All this time the Patriots knew exactly where they were hiding, and were content to let them abide there. There was no thought of attacking them, nor of maltreating them should they return from self-imposed exile. Finally, kind-hearted Sons of Liberty took pity on them, and a party of them went out to the Stone House, or Stone Fort, or Tory Fort, as it has been variously called. Presumedly under a flag of truce, to guard against a shot or two. they informed their old neighbors that they might as well go home and behave themselves. With the thought before their minds of winter days and nights on the dreary hillside, the words of the visitors must have sounded sweet to Tory ears. They returned to town, after an experience which was a mighty leavener of love for King George.
The "Powder Alarm"-About the first of September, 1774, a detach- ment of the King's troops went up the Mystic River one night and carried off a quantity of gunpowder which was stored in the arsenal in Charlestown. News of the raid went over the province with incredible speed, and grew as it went. By the time it got into Worcester County the report had it that the soldiers had slain inhabitants of Boston Neck, and that worships were bombarding Boston.
The effect was electric. "The bells rang out from the spires, beacon fires flamed from the hills, alarm guns echoed through the villages." The Patriots rose almost to a man. The little newspapers of the day stated that before night six thousand men from the county of Worcester were marching to fight to the death, if need were. Dr. Stiles of Worcester set down in his diary that the next morning's sun would have shone on an army of thirty thousand men, concentrated at the point of supposed danger, had not their movement been stopped by word that the war-like rumor was a canard.
The alarm began to reach the county towns in the afternoon following the taking of the powder. The Committees of Correspondence acted instantly, and the alarm was sounded and messengers sent out to summon the soldiery. Pewter platters and leaden window frames went into the crucibles to be melted for the bullet moulds. No one doubted that a battle was to be fought. The militia companies did not march alone. Boys and men, even the aged turned out regardless of everything but a burning desire to avenge their supposedly slaughtered fellow-countrymen. Lincoln wrote:
"The highways, thronged with citizens bearing such weapons as the enthusiasm of the hour supplied, are described as presenting scenes the
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counterparts to the display of the military establishment of the Dutch dynasty of New York, as related by Washington Irving: 'There came men without officers and officers without men, long fowling pieces and short blunder- busses, muskets of all sorts and sizes, some without locks, others without stocks, and many without lock, stock, or barrel; cartridge boxes, shot belts, powder horns, swords, hatchets, snickersees, crow bars, and broom sticks, all mingled together.' Such was the spirit animating the community, that men who had never seen the tents of the enemy, left plough in the furrow and the sickle in the harvest, and went out, without discipline, equipments, or muni- tions, to encounter the trained veterans of foreign lands. Ample evidence was afforded of stern determination to meet even the terrible appeal to war, and a pledge was given of the support every town might hope from its neigh- bors, in extremity."
Perhaps some good Patriot bore the strange and threatening weapon invented by Colonel Ephraim Doolittle of Petersham, commander of a regi- ment of Minutemen. A shortage of muskets and other firearms made it necessary to provide substitute arms, and the Colonel produced a weapon which might indeed bring fear to the British heart. It consisted of a long and stout wooden shaft having an iron head to which were attached five razor- edged blades eight inches long. The shaft was to be leveled at the enemy, in which position two blades projected forward like the prongs of a pitchfork; one was set at a right angle to them on either side, and the fifth pointed to the ground, to puncture the enemy's skull by a downward slash. For several feet back of the head the shaft was encased in sharpened iron plates, intended to resist a saber cut, or to lacerate the hand of the foeman who would seize it. At the butt end was a metal point, so that the weapon, which resembled some monstrous, complicated surgical instrument rather than a military arm, could be imbedded in a rampart, to confront a storming party, and discourage its advance. Colonel Doolittle's invention never had a fair trial, for before the day when it would have been needed a sufficient number of muskets had been secured.
Blacksmiths Boycott Tories-Patriotic enthusiasm took other forms than action in town meetings and other assemblies of citizens. Meetings of artisans and craftsmen as distinct bodies were held and spirited resolutions adopted. One of these was the convention of the blacksmiths of the county, held at Worcester, with Ross Wyman of Shrewsbury presiding and Timothy Bigelow as clerk. Their action, signed by forty-three smiths, and widely dis- tributed as a handbill, was an agreement that from December 1, 1774, "we will not perform any blacksmith's work of any kind whatever, for any person whom we esteem an enemy to this country, commonly known by the name of
ROLLSTONE ROCK
Which formerly stood on the Fitchburg hill which bears its name. The colossal boulder was reduced to fragments, carted to the upper end of Fitchburg Common and put together again, that it might escape its threatened demolition
LEOMINSTER HOSPITAL
Photo by Chase Studio
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Tories, viz. all counsellors in this province appointed by mandamus, who have not publicly resigned said office, also every person who addressed Governor Hutchinson at his departure from this Province, who has not pub- licly recanted ; also every officer exercising authority by virtue of any com- mission they hold tending to carry any of the late oppressive acts of parlia- ment into execution in America ; and in particular, we will not do any work for Tim. Ruggles of Hardwick, John Murray of Rutland, and James Putnam of Worcester, Esq'rs; nor for any person or persons cultivating, tilling, improving, dressing, hiring or occupying any of their lands or tenements."
Worcester County in First Provincial Congress-In the early autumn of 1774, the towns of the county elected each its delegates to the first Pro- vincial Congress, which met at Salem, and quickly adjourned to Concord. Here are the names of the brave men who spurned the commands of King George, the Parliament and the Royal Governor, and gathered to direct the affairs of the Massachusetts Province :
Ashburnham, Jonathan Parker; Athol, William Bigelow; Barre, then Rutland District, John Mason; Boston, Captain Samuel Baker, Ephraim Fairbanks ; Brookfield, Jedediah Foster, Captain Jeduthan Baldwin, Captain Phineas Upham; Charlton, Captain Jonathan Tucker; Douglas, Samuel Jen- nison; Dudley, Thomas Cheney; Grafton, Captain John Goulding; Hard- wick, Captain Paul Mandell, Stephen Rice; Harvard, Joseph Wheeler ; Holden, John Child; Hubbardston, John Clark; Lancaster, Captain Asa Whitcomb, Dr. William Dunsmore; Leicester, Spencer and Paxton, Colonel Thomas Denny, and afterward, because of the serious sickness of Colonel Denny, Captain Joseph Henshaw ; Leominster, Thomas Legate, Israel Nich- ols; Lunenburg and Fitchburg, Captain George Kimball, Captain Abijah Stearns, Captain David Goodridge; Mendon, Joseph Dorr, Edward Rawson; New Braintree, Captain James Wood; Northboro, Levi Brigham; North- bridge, Samuel Baldwin; Oakham, Jonathan Bullard; Oxford, Captain Ebenezer Learned, Dr. Alexander Campbell; Petersham, Captain Ephraim Doolittle; Princeton, Moses Gill, Captain Benjamin Holden; Royalston, Henry Bond; Rutland, Daniel Clap; Shrewsbury, Colonel Artemas Ward, Phineas Hayward; Southboro, Captain Jonathan Ward ; Sturbridge, Captain Timothy Parker ; Sutton, Captain Henry King, Edward Putnam; Templeton, Jonathan Baldwin; Upton, Abiel Sadler; Uxbridge, Captain Joseph Reed ; Warren (the Western), Gershom Makepeace; Westboro, Captain Stephen Maynard, Dr. Joseph Hawse; Westminster, Nathan Wood, Abner Holden; Winchendon, Moses Hale; Worcester, Joshua Bigelow, Captain Timothy Bigelow.
Wor .- 15
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In the proceedings of this first Congress we find our county men taking prominent parts, under John Hancock, the presiding officer. Colonel Ward of Shrewsbury, Colonel Doolittle of Petersham and Captain Upham of Brookfield were members of the committee which delivered the protest of the Congress against the war-like occupation of Boston to Governor Gage in person, and brought back his irritating and unsatisfying answer. Colonel Ward was the county's member on the committee of thirteen "to consider what is necessary to be now done for the defense and safety of the Province." Moses Gill of Princeton was one of the committee of three "to report a non- consumption agreement relative to British and India goods," and Colonel Doolittle one of a committee of five "to report a resolve recommending the total disuse of India teas."
Mr. Gill was elected one of five commissaries, which proved to be a par- ticularly important post, and which led to his membership in the Provincial Committee of Safety and Supply. Colonel Jedediah Foster of Brookfield was the representative of the shire on a committee consisting of "one gentle- man from each county, and one from each maritime town of this Colony, to prepare from the best authentic evidence which can be procured, true state of the number of the inhabitants and of the quantities of exports and imports of goods, ware, and merchandise, and of the manufactures of all kinds within the Colony, to be used by our delegates at the Continental Congress to be held in Philadelphia."
Ruggles Again, but Not in Person-The Committee of Correspond- ence of the town of Hardwick submitted a communication which caused indignant action. It set forth the form of an association intended for the signatures of Royalists, prepared and sent by Timothy Ruggles to the Tories of Hardwick. The "form" set forth that "apprehending it to be our indis- pensible duty to use all lawful means in our power for the defence of our persons and property against all riotous and lawless violence, and to recover and secure the advantages we are entitled to have, from the good and whole- some laws of the government, we do hereby associate and mutually covenant, and engage, to and with each other.
"That we will on all occasions, with our lives, and fortunes, stand by and assist each other in the defence of life, liberty and property, whenever the same shall be attacked or endangered by any bodies of men, riotously assem- bled, upon any pretence or under any authority not warranted by the laws of the land.
"That we will, upon all occasions, mutually support each other in the free exercise and enjoyment of our undoubted right to liberty, in eating, drinking,
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buying, selling, communing and acting, what, with whom, and as we please, consistent with the laws of God, and of the King.
"That we will not acknowledge, or submit to the pretended authority of any Congresses, Committees of Correspondence, or other unconstitutional assemblies of men; but will, at the risk of our lives, if need be, oppose the forcible exercise of all such authority."
This was not all of it. Other resolves were along the same line. The answer of the Provincial Congress was to promise any who should be enticed into signing the agreement "that their names would be published to the world, their persons treated to that neglect, and their memories transmitted to pos- terity with that ignominy which such unnatural conduct must deserve." Gen- eral Ruggles did not return to Hardwick to put his "form" of association to the test "at the risk of our lives, if need be."
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