USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 14
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This town, like others, had what was called a Committee of Cor- respondence, Inspection and Safety. These, of which the first was chosen in 1772, were as follows :
1772. Solomon Lombard, Esq., John Phinney, William Gorham, Esq., Bryant Morton, Nathan Whitney, Benjamin Skillings, Edmund Phinney, Josiah Davis and Caleb Chase.
1776. Solomon Lombard, Esq., Caleb Chase, Nathan Whitney, George Hanscom and James Gilkey. William Gorham, Esq. was
142
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
afterward added in place of Mr. Lombard, and Peletiah March as an extra member of the committee.
1777. Col. Edmund Phinney, Samuel Jenkins, Samuel Davis, Nathaniel Whitney and Caleb Chase.
1778. Col. Edmund Phinney, Samuel Jenkins and William Mc- Lellan.
1779. Col. Edmund Phinney, Austin Alden and George Hanscom.
1780. Austin Alden, Capt. Hart Williams and Dr. Stephen Swett.
1781. James Gilkey, Lieut. William McLellan and Lieut. Cary McLellan.
1782. Capt. Samuel Whitmore, Lieut. David Watts and Lieut. Silas Chadbourn.
1783. James Gilkey, Lieut. Enoch Frost and Lieut. Cary Mclellan.
It seems as if on account of the unsettled state of affairs, but few crops and but little grain were raised in 1774 in this neighborhood. On the 23d of April, 1775, Capt. William Harper arrived in Falmouth harbor, with a cargo of four thousand bushels of corn, and the fol- lowing day the town, at an informal meeting, chose a committee, consisting of Hugh Mclellan, Prince Davis, Joseph Gammon, Josiah Davis and Dr. Stephen Swett, to go to Falmouth and obtain corn and flour for the use of the town. The town afterwards voted to pay the cost of the same, together with the expense of transportation to Gorham, and ordered that the Selectmen with Cary Mclellan and Caleb Chase should be a committee to dispose of the said corn, and receive the pay for the same for the security of the town.
The paper currency issued by Congress kept constantly depreci- ating in value ; but as there was no other money in circulation, people were obliged, though with great reluctance, to receive it in payment for their commodities. When David Harding came to Gorham in 1780, he is said to have paid four hundred dollars for a cow, seventy dollars for seven yards of calico for a dress for his daughter, thirty dollars for leather with which to tap his boots, and five dollars a pound for coffee ; but was unable to purchase any land for continental money. This, while it was hard upon all, was particularly so in respect to the families of the soldiers who were with the army. Added to this was the usual desire, always inseparable from some mean natures, to make capital out of the necessities of those more unfortunate than themselves.
In order to try and alleviate this to some extent, in 1779 a Con- vention was held at Concord, in July of that year, and Col. Edmund Phinney was sent as a delegate to this meeting.
143
THE REVOLUTION.
The following letter was sent to the committee of Boston in answer to a printed communication in regard to the matter :
I "Gorham July 5th 1779
Gentlemen We received your printed address of the 21st of June last, with all that sincere gratitude and joy that can result from hearts that have a feeling sense of the misery and ruin of our country by the sudden rise of everything bought and sold among us, which melancholy prospect has given us more pain and distress of mind than all the threats and power of Britain by their formidable fleets and armies in their martial operations, with their mean and low diabolical plans of tomahawk and scalping knives with their other infernal devices to destroy an innocent people (unprovoked).
" Gentlemen our eyes and our hearts have been ever towards you as the first that made the noble stand against British tyranny, and that you stand forth again in this Critical Conjuncture to save a sinking Country from immediate ruin, gives us a new impression of joy and pleasure. Gorham never will be wanting in any thing that it can do in so great and glorious a cause: it never has departed from its first principles and resolves and we trust never will, but stands ready to put forth its most Zealous Exertions in the defence of the common rights of humanity, and do freely acquiesce in the County Committee's choice of Col. Phinney to joyn the Committees at Con- cord as proposed in your letter to us and we heartily concur with all the resolves passed by the members and inhabitants of the town of Boston as far as our situation & circumstances will admit of for the public good, and may the God of Wisdom and Truth give those Committees met in Convention all that knowledge and wisdom they may need to discern the Times and enable them to know what this Israel ought to do."
The Concord convention was for the purpose of considering and concluding upon such measures as might effectually lower the extrav- agant prices of every article of life, and also to raise the value of the paper currency, "which," as the selectmen of Gorham expressed it, "is now the grand object in view by all the true Sons of Liberty throughout this continent, and without which being done, we are a ruined people."
In August the town voted unanimously that the doings of the Con- cord convention were acceptable and satisfactory ; and a committee, consisting of Solomon Lombard, Esq., Col. Edmund Phinney, Samuel Jenkins and Austin Alden, was chosen to regulate the prices of the several articles of consumption, labor, etc. -- agreeable to the recom- mendation of the convention at Concord. Another convention was held at Concord, for the same purpose, on Oct. 6, 1779. This con- vention fixed prices as follows :
I From the original rough draft in my possession.
144
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Prices at the sea ports free of charge.
Indian corn
£4, 4$ per bushel, $14.
Wheat
£9,
£5, 14$ "
Wheat flour
£30,
hundred. . "
Rye flour
£16, IOS 458 £4, 48 60
bushel.
Oats
Barley and Barley malt
66
Rye malt
1 £5, 14s' " £9, £6,
66
Peas
White beans
Potatoes and other vegetables,
66 24/.
Beef, veal, mutton and lamb,
Pork, weight seven score and upwards,
Pork, well salted and seven score,
Geese and fowls,
Turkeys and tame ducks,
Butter,
Tryed tallow,
Hog's lard,
Tallow candles,
Salt beef, 240 lbs to the barrel,
Salt pork, II score " "
Cider, per barrel (without the barrel),
New Milk cheese,
Good English hay, 45/ per hundred.
Rowen, 36/
Salt hay, 22/6 “
in Boston, and other sea ports in proportion.
Good Eastern hemlock bark, 618 per cord in Boston, and other sea ports in proportion.
Train oil, £90 per bbl.
Blubber, £30
Refined iron, £35 " cwt.
Hollow iron ware, £15
Good merchantable white pine boards, £ 35
per M.
Others in proportion.
Merchantable shingles (shipping), £ 7,10/
Cedar and pine clapboards, £ 36 66 66
White oak sap barrels,
54/
pipe staves,
£120 66
£ 60
" bbl 66
£ 30 66
Red 66 hhd 66
£ 40 66
66 66
Molasses shooks,
The prices of lumber are at the sea ports, when delivered.
Jamaica fish £25 per cwt.
Scale
£20 “
Mackerel £30 " bbl.
66 5/ per lb. 7/ 6/ 6/
8/ 12/ 10/ 10/
16/ " " at retail.
£60 per bbl. £77
£6. 8%.
hhd
bbl
£ 20 £ 3 each.
$30. $19.
Rye meal
145
THE REVOLUTION.
The following articles are to be of the same price through the State.
Green hides
3/ per lb.
Sole leather
18/ "
Well dressed flax
12/ 6
Sheeps wool
24/ "
Other wool in proportion.
Bloomery iron at the forges £25 per cwt.
Nail rods 25% advance on the iron from which they are made.
Io d nails to weigh 13 lbs. to the thousand, £9 per thousand.
Wool cards
£3 per pair.
Teaming,
W. I. rum
Molasses
15/ " mile for every neat 20 cwt. £6, 6/ per Gallon. £4, 14/ "
N. E. rum
£5,
Coffee
18/ " 1b.
Brown sugar
10/6 to 13/ per lb.
Loaf
36/ by the loaf.
Chocolate
24/
Bohea Tea
£6 per lb.
Cotton wool
48/
German steel
33/ 66 66
Salt (good quality) £9 per single bushel, or larger quantity.
Good merchantable French and Spanish brandy £7, 12$ per gallon.
Copperas 10/
per lb.
Logwood
3/
Red wood
6/
English, French and Spanish steel 23/ single pound.
Rice £36 per hundred ; smaller quantities in proportion.
Alum
6/
But without "hard money" to back up and sustain the paper, these conventions could only retard for a very short space of time this widespread evil, which was only effectually checked by the sub- stantial aid of men and specie furnished to this country by France in 1781, when brighter days began to dawn upon the struggling country.
In 1779 the British determined to establish a military post near the mouth of the Penobscot River, in order to command the harbors and inlets frequented by the American cruisers and privateers. These vessels while preying upon the British and doing them considerable damage could easily escape from a superior force by their more per- fect knowledge of the coast, with the harbors and hiding places which it afforded. A fort in this locality would prevent this, as well as afford protection to their own ships, and lessen the chances of a suc- cessful expedition against Nova Scotia. Bagaduce (Biguyduce) Neck, now Castine, was the point selected, and a force of about nine hun-
146
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
dred men, commanded by Gen. McLane, sailed from Halifax, and landed there on the 12th of June, where they immediately began to make preparations for erecting fortifications upon the highest part of the Neck.
The General Court, alarmed at this invasion, proceeded to prepare an expedition to send against Gen. McLane before he should have time to complete his defences. A fleet of nineteen war vessels was fitted out and placed under the command of Commodore Saltonstall of New Haven, Conn. These vessels, accompanied by twenty-four transports, having on board about four hundred marines and soldiers, sailed from Massachusetts, expecting to take on board twelve hun- dred men of the militia of Cumberland and Lincoln Counties. But when the fleet arrived in Penobscot Bay on the 25th of June, it brought less than one thousand men. The land forces were under the command of Gen. Solomon Lovell of Weymouth. The second in command was Gen. Peleg Wadsworth.
On the 28th, four hundred marines and soldiers were landed under a sharp fire, and after a brisk and very brilliant engagement of twenty minutes, during which they lost one fourth of their number, succeeded in scaling the almost perpendicular cliff, which was about two hundred feet high, and drove back the enemy; after which a slight breast- work was thrown up within seven hundred yards of the fort. Lovell and Wadsworth wished to demand the surrender of the garrison, but Saltonstall was opposed to this. He was also opposed to a proposi- tion to storm the fort. It is said that if the demand for a surrender had been made, Gen. McLane was prepared to capitulate; but owing to the stubborn willfulness of Commodore Saltonstall, and the lack of agreement between him and Gen. Lovell, nothing decisive was accomplished, until on the 14th of August, a British squadron, under command of Sir George Collier, entered the harbor. There was a very brief engagement, which resulted in the rout and destruc- tion of the entire American fleet.
Cumberland County furnished for this expedition a regiment of militia, under command of Col. Jonathan Mitchell of North Yar- mouth. Enoch Frost of Gorham was the Sergeant Major of the regiment; and Gorham provided a full company of men for Col. Mitchell, under command of Capt. Alexander McLellan.
Austin Alden, at this time a member of the Committee of Corre- spondence and Safety of Gorham, furnished the company with a drum, as the following letter will show : -
147
THE REVOLUTION.
"To the Selectmen of Gorham :
Gentlemen : - I am obliged to carry off Austin Alden's Drum, or go without one. I desire you would pay him for it, as I think the Selectmen are obliged to find one for me; I think the Drum is well worth Ten pounds, ten shillings, old way, as things went seven years ago.
Yr Hub1 Servt Alex' Mclellan, Capt.
Falmouth, July 15th 1779."
This note, which is in my possession, has the following endorse- ment on the back :
"Gorham, May 14th, 1781. We have considered of the within & find that the Town were obliged to find a Drum for Capt. Mclellan & therefore think Mr. Alden ought to be paid the same by the Town. £1-8-0.
Wm. Gorham S. Longfellow, Jnr.
Committee."
The roll of this company is as follows :
Alexander McLellan, Capt.
Ebenezer Murch,
Ist Lieut.
Joseph Knight, 2d Lieut.
Thomas Irish, Sergt.
George Strout,
Stephen Whitney,
66
Daniel Whitney,
Corp.
Jeremiah Hodsdon,
66
Samuel Files,
Joseph McDonald, Josiah Lakeman,
Drummer.
Privates.
Edmund Phinney, Jr.
Samuel Murch.
Peter White.
Benjamin Haskell.
Seth Harding.
John Meserve.
Moses Hanscom.
Gershom Davis.
William Murch.
John Phinney.
James Stubbs.
Edward Wilson.
Nathaniel Bacon.
John Davis.
Zachariah Weston.
William McLellan.
Daniel Whitmore.
John Akers.
Lazarus Rand.
Moses Jordain.
Ebenezer Whitney.
Richard Lombard.
John Elwell.
Benjamin Roberts.
Prince Hamblen.
William Irish.
John Harmon. James Huntress.
John Parker.
William Files.
Samuel Whitney. Isaac Chase.
Charles McDonald. Joseph Irish.
Joseph Brackett.
John Watson.
William Meserve.
William Wood.
Stephen Sawyer.
Uriel Whitney.
Abel Whitney.
John Smith.
Joseph Jones.
Stephen Powell.
John Gammon. Joseph Gammon.
John Blanchard.
Asa Thurlo.
Signed. Gorham, Nov. 27, 1779. Ebenezer Murch, Lieut.
Of the foregoing roll, William Meserve was of Scarborough, and Samuel Rounds and John Smith, both of Buxton.
Abner Jordain.
Benjamin Stevens.
James Murch.
Samuel Rounds.
Josiah Swett.
Joshua Davis.
John Emery,
148
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
The soldiers, after the destruction of the fleet, made their way through the woods to the Kennebec River, a distance of about thirty leagues, suffering great hardships and privations. Not having taken sufficient food with them, they had to depend on such game as they could kill, and it is said that some who were in poor health and weak, actually perished in the forest on their way home. Capt. Mclellan died soon after reaching home, of a fever, contracted through anxiety and by the hardships of the journey.
During the war, Congress occasionally made requisitions upon the various towns for men to serve in its armies - each town being obliged to furnish a certain quota. The different towns were arranged in groups, called "Classes," which furnished the soldiers, and charged the same to each town's quota. On the 13th of May 1782, Class No. 5, for Gorham, furnished Nathaniel Wing, a soldier for three years, for the Continental Army. The Class that furnished the soldier paid Wing a bounty of twenty dollars in silver, and six cows, " the cows to be equal to cows in general." This agreement is signed by Ebenezer Murch, William Mclellan and Prince Davis.
On the Ist of November, 1782, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a resolve, directing the treasurer, in response to a petition of Thomas Porter and Stephen Longfellow, to discharge the town of Gorham from the deficiency of one man, and directing Thomas Porter of Topsfield to procure a man in lieu thereof.
After the long weary struggle was over, and England had relin- quished her grip upon the Colonies, news of peace reaching Gorham, the town had a grand celebration, burning the public stock of pow- der in their joy.
On May 12, 1783, the town passed a vote, presenting to the militia officers in Gorham, the powder that was burned here during the day of public rejoicing.
In the State of Pennsylvania there were many and exciting trials on the confiscation of the property of those persons called Refugees, or Tories, and in relation to their civil rights as citizens. After the close of the war of the Revolution all the ability and power of the bar were put in requisition on both sides, and their attorneys and coun- sellors had the strong prejudices of the public to contend with, as well as, in some cases, the statute law. Great power and ability was displayed in their defence. In many cases it was contended and argued with success, that at the commencement of a civil war, a man had the right to elect the side he would take, and that his elect- ing to remain by the then constituted authorities was his natural
149
THE REVOLUTION.
right. If he chose to leave his residence for the time being, and not · be found in arms against the Revolutionary party, and they should finally succeed, his said election should be no bar to his returning and reoccupying his property, and claiming his rights.
Judge McKeen, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, was a strong and inflexible Republican, but firm and uncompromising in his decisions, and a sound lawyer. His decision in the case of Mr. Chapman, a person of this character, evinced the correctness of his judgment, and the contempt he felt for the popular clamor.
In May, 1782, the town voted " That no tories shall abide in Gor- ham, and that any person belonging to the town of Gorham, who may vote for, or encourage, the return of any tory to this State, shall be looked upon as an enemy to these U. S., and never be suffered to hold any office in the town of Gorham forever after." It will be seen that the former vote of the town in relation to tories is in some degree in keeping with the above. The town, although fully in earnest in passing this vote, never fully enforced it.
Although poorly paid, while in the service, those of the soldiers who lived until after the Government passed the Pension Acts, spent their last days in comparative comfort through this means of support.
The following citizens of Gorham are among those that received their reward from a grateful country, in the shape of pensions :
Officers.
Capt. Oliver Hunt.
Capt. Josiah Jenkins.
Lieut. William McLellan.
Lieut. Ebenezer Storer.
Capt. Joshua Swett.
Lieut. Timothy Bacon.
Lieut. Silas Chadbourn.
Adjt. Isaiah Thomas. Privates.
David Morton.
Isaac Whitney.
John Darling.
Stephen Whitney.
Allison Libby.
Jonathan Stone.
Zebulon Whitney.
Edward Webb.
John Watson.
George Waterhouse.
Thomas Irish.
Matthias Murch.
Daniel Whitney.
Edward Libby. Moses Fogg.
William Files.
Prince Hamblen. Philip Horr.
John Phinney.
Samuel Files.
Ebenezer Files.
James Morton.
Thomas Morton.
John Blake.
Joseph Blake.
Isaac Irish. William Burton.
Charles Thomes.
Prince Mclellan, (negro). Nathaniel Blake.
Isaac Wescott.
. .
CHAPTER VIII.
POLITICS. - THE WAR OF 1812. - THE SEPARATION OF MAINE AND MASSACHUSETTS.
In May, 1777, the General Court of Massachusetts directed the different towns in the State to " Instruct their next representatives, in conjunction with the Council, to form such constitution of govern- ment as they should judge most conducive to the public happiness." The constitution was then to be submitted to the people at their various town meetings, to be ratified or rejected by them. Gorham in July chose Capt. Bryant Morton as its representative to the General Court, and it was voted "that he join with the House of Representatives, in conjunction with the Council, in forming a new constitution, agreeable to a resolve of the General Court for that purpose."
When the draft of this constitution was reported at the March town meeting, the town chose Solomon Lombard, Esq., Col. Edmund Phinney, Caleb Chase, Nathan Whitney, Hugh McLellan, Bryant Morton, Barnabas Bangs, Samuel Jenkins, George Hanscom, Andrew Crockett, William McLellan, Prince Davis, Benjamin Skillings, Nathaniel Whitney and Samuel Harding as a committee to take into consideration the form of government proposed by the General Court, and to report their judgment of the same. This committee, after due deliberation, in May reported against this constitution, and this report was unanimously accepted by the town.
Another attempt was made to form a State constitution in 1779, when Solomon Lombard, Esq. was chosen to represent the town of Gorham at the State convention, held at Cambridge on the first day of September, when three hundred and twenty-two delegates were present. These organized by choosing James Bowdoin, president, and Samuel Barrett, secretary; and a committee was chosen to prepare and report a draft. This draft as reported, contained a declaration of rights (the failure to have which was one of the reasons why the adoption of the former constitution failed,) drawn up by Hon. John Adams. After several months of debate and revision a form was printed and distributed to the towns for adoption. At a town meeting held in Gorham April 25, 1780, it was " voted that the
151
POLITICS.
Bill of Rights, and a form of government agreed upon by the State Convention be read in this meeting, which was accordingly done." A committee was then chosen, consisting of Solomon Lombard, Esq., Capt. Bryant Morton, William Gorham, Esq., Dr. Stephen Swett, James Gilkey, Nathan Whitney, Cary Mclellan, Austin Alden and William Cotton," to examine the several articles contained in the new constitution, or form of government proposed by the convention chosen for that purpose," and report to the town at the next meeting. This committee made its report in May in favor of the constitution, which report was accepted by the town by a vote of forty-seven to six. This constitution was accepted by the towns throughout the State, and went into effect on the 25th of October, 1780.
The Hon. John Hancock, Esq., who was the first Governor of Massachusetts and was elected on Sept. 4th, received in Gorham fifty-five votes as against two for James Bowdoin, Esq. For Lieut .- Governor, Gorham cast forty ballots for Hon. James Warren of Plymouth, and two for Hon. John Hancock, Esq. It seems that there was no choice made by the people for a Lieut .- Governor, so the General Court, when it convened, was obliged to choose one, and it elected Thomas Cushing.
In 1787 a convention of delegates from the several states was held at Philadelphia for the purpose of forming a Federal constitution. This constitution was submitted to Massachusetts by the Governor at the November session of the General Court for its adoption. At a town meeting held in Gorham it was "voted to send but one dele- gate to the convention who are to meet at Boston in January next; " and it was also voted that Mr. Stephen Longfellow, Jr. should be this delegate. This convention met at Boston, and on Feb. 9, 1788, voted by a vote of one hundred and eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty-eight, in favor of the adoption by Massachusetts of the consti- tution agreed upon at Philadelphia. Mr. Longfellow being one of those who voted against it.
The whole country now became divided into two great political parties : those in favor of the constitution were called Federalists, and those opposed, Anti-federalists. The purpose of both these par- ties was equally pure; both were equal advocates of a union that could not be dissolved nor destroyed: but the former advocated a Confederate Government, possessing all the powers and attributes of a National Sovereignty as set forth in the Constitution, while the latter based their objections to the Constitution on the ground that it gave such power to the National Government as to swallow up the State Sovereignties.
152
HISTORY OF GORHAM.
The nation, under the first administration of President Washington, enjoyed a season of public contentment. The Federal party was pleased and satisfied with the peace and prosperity of the country under the workings of the Constitution, and those who had at first opposed it (the Constitution) claimed that it was due to them that ten most important amendments had been effected, especially the Ninth, which added to the dignity of the individual States.
But now France began to have a disturbing influence among our people. The French Revolution, which had begun in 1789, had now in 1794 reached a point where the people had beheaded their king, Louis XVI, and his queen, Marie Antoinette, and established a " Free Republic " by means of the blood and massacre of thousands. At the same time France was at war with Great Britain, and the sym- pathies of America were divided; the one party being filled with horror at the cruelties, and, as they considered it, the crime of the French people; the other, full of gratitude towards a country which had so essentially aided us in our struggle for liberty, wished them success in their attempt to achieve the same end. Both of these parties wished to take sides, the one with, the other against France, but President Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality, and through John Jay, our minister to Great Britain, in November, 1794, negotiated a treaty of amity, commerce and navigation with Great Britain, which was ratified by the American Government. The Fed- eralists believed in this treaty, while the Republican, Democratic, or French party, as the Anti-federalists were variously called, condemned it as a measure that the French, who had aided us in our time of trouble, might justly resent.
The town of Gorham seems to have been strongly Federal in spirit. Nearly all the inhabitants were in favor of Jay's treaty. At the November election, in 1796, to vote for President, the three electors chosen from this district were all of this party, Stephen Longfellow, Nathaniel Wells and Thomas Rice.
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