USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 7
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 7
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"General Dearborn, having on his part neglected nothing to secure the advantage obtained over the ene- my-mortified and provoked at the dereliction of duty in any officer, and unwilling that a broken and discon- certed army should escape, sent for Commodore Chauncy and requested him to take part of the army on board his fleet, and proceed with them to the head of the lake, while the remainder would march by the lake road, and thus make certain the capture of the enemy. To this proposition the Commodore readily agreed. Orders were in consequence sent to General Lewis to return. On the following morning. Chauncy called on the Gen- eral, and informed him, that on reflection, it would be imprudent in him to delay his return to Sackett's Har- bor, as it was of the utmost importance that the new ship, Gen. Pike, should be got out on the lake with all possible despatch, while the weak state of that garrison
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would favor an attack from a much superior force at Kingston, ( which before his return actually took place ) and destroy his new ship, and thus give Sir James Yeo the command of the lake. To the correctness of these remarks, and having no command over Com. Chauncy, General Dearborn was obliged to yield. Thus frus- trated in his expectation of assistance from the fleet, he ordered General Chandler's and Winder's brigades to follow the enemy on the lake road, while ammuni- tion and provisions were transported in bateaux to the head of the lake. These brigades marched, and hav- ing arrived within a few miles of the enemy's camp late in the afternoon, it was thought most prudent to wait and make the attack on the following morning. But the enemy, from their inferiority in numbers, thought it most wise to do all they could ever do be- fore next morning. They attacked these brigades in the night and carried off Generals Chandler and Win- der prisoners. How this happened, has never been satisfactorily explained ;* but the captured generals have never been accused of too much circumspection on that occasion.
"The command now devolved on Col. Burns, who called a council of war. It was determined to send back to General Dearborn (forty miles distant), inform him of the event and await his orders. The express arrived at night, General Dearborn called General Lewis, Boyd and his subordinates and ordered them to set out immediately for the army and attack the enemy. The two latter generals were ready to start instantly;
*General Chandler's account and explanation of this event may be found in the chapter devoted to his career.
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but General Lewis observed that it rained and was dark, and did not get in readiness until the next day. The day after these officers departed to join the army. the British fleet hove in sight, approached to take the soundings opposite Fort Niagara, and appeared to be designating a place for landing troops. In consequence of this General Dearborn recalled the army from Stony Creek.
"Commodore Chauncy was confident. when he sailed from the Niagara he should be able to get the new ship out by the tenth of June, and that, in the meantime, the British would not dare to come out on the lake. They did appear. however, in a few days after the Commodore's departure, and thereby prevent- ed the operations against the enemy which were con- templated. The roads were such, that it was impossi- ble to transport provision and supplies for the army by land, while it would have been madness to attempt it in bateaux by water, while the British fleet was on the lake. Thus situated, General Dearborn determined to await the return of the commodore, repair to Fort George, and be in readiness to move as soon as the fleet arrived. An express arrived from Commodore Chauncy, advising he could not move before the thir- tieth of June."
General Dearborn's condition now became so critical that he was compelled to relinquish the immediate sight of the troops. Disaster after disaster followed. It seemed as though the officers in command were in- spired by cowardice or some kindred principle to effect the overthrow of the American army, and for all these events so contrary to what would have occurred had
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his orders been obeyed, General Dearborn was cen- sured most severely by press and people. Had that arch-traitor, General Lewis, been court-martialed, con- demned, and shot, as he certainly would have been under a less lenient and forgiving commander, not only would the campaign of the lakes, have been a series of brilliant victories, but the years that followed would have seen General Henry Dearborn at the head of our civil government. The correspondence which followed his removal would prove of great interest to the reader of this volune, and it is with regret that it is laid aside on account of want of space. General Dearborn re- peatedly solicited the President and Secretary of War to order a court-martial and prefer charges against him that he might have an opportunity to vindicate himself; but even this was denied him, nor would those mag- nates in answer to his many letters of inquiry, give any reason for his removal. He had the comforting as- surance that he was removed from his high position- nothing more. Immediately on receiving notice of the removal of their brave and respected leader, the field and staff officers of his command, twenty-five in num- ber, presented an address expressing in most laudatory terms their approbation of his course of action, and deep regret at the unexpected and inexplicable orders that demanded his separation from them. President Madison, who had been led into error through the treachery of Armstrong, on learning the facts of the case, addressed a letter to General Dearborn in which he said, "I am persuaded that you will not lose in any respect by the effect of time and truth." So great was the confidence which the President reposed in
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his integrity and ability that he afterward appointed him to the position he held in Jefferson's cabinet. that of Secretary of War. The Senate. less enlightened. failed to confirm this appointment. The President then addressed to General Dearborn the following letter.
WASHINGTON, MARCH 4th, 1851.
Dear Sir :- Being desirous for the Department of War service which I thought you could render with peculiar advantage. and hoping that for a time at least, you might consent to step into that Department. I took the liberty. without a previous communicatio . for which there was no time, to nominate you as successor to Mr. Monroe, who was called back to the Department of State. I had not a doubt from all the calculations I could make that the Senate would concur to my views ; and if a doubt had arisen, it would have been banished by the confidence of the best informed and best disposed with whom I conferred that the nomination would be welcomed when it was decided on ; contrary to these con- fident expectations, an opposition was declared in an extent which determined me to withdraw my nomination. But. before the mes- sage arrived, the Senate very unexpectedly had taken up the sub- ject and proceeded to a decision. They promptly, however, re- laxed so far as to erase the proceedings from their journal, and in that mode give effect to the withdrawal. I have thought this ex- planation due both to me and to yourself. I sincerely and deeply regret the occasion for it. But to whatever blame I may have sub- jected myself, I trust you will see in the course taken by me. a proof of the high value I place on your public, and of the esteem I feel for your personal, character. Permit me to add, that I have been not a little consoled for the occurrence to which I have be- come accessory, by the diffusive expressions to which it has led, of sentiments such as your best friends have heard with most pleasure. Accept the assurance of my great respect and sincere regard.
JAMES MADISON.
MAJOR GENERAL DEARBORN."
A number of the senators visited the President offi- cially soon after the nomination, when he stated his re-
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gard for General Dearborn, and the opinion he held concerning his ability as a military commander, and related to them the evidence he had secured that much abuse had been heaped upon an innocent person. The senators were greatly astonished at these disclos- ures, and declared that they would have confirmed his nomination as Secretary of War without hesitation. and with great pleasure, had these things been revealed to them previously. So great was the General's love for his country, that when the individual who had caused him such loss of reputation and merited posi- tion, ordered him to an inferior command, he, instead of resigning his commission, as an officer seeking self-glo- rification and less devoted to the interests on his na- tion would have done, gracefully assumed the duties of his position, and conducted himself so as to bring honor and esteem from that which was intended to be an overwhelming disgrace. After the declaration of peace, General Dearborn was called to assist the gov- ernment in reducing the army "to the peace establish- ment" and to advise in the retention of the most suita- ble officers. Soon after the close of the war, he was nominated by his party as candidate for Governor of Massachusetts. He was opposed and defeated by General Brooks. In 1822, President Monroe, with the unanimous acquiescence of the Senate, called him to the office of minister plenipotentiary to the court of Portugal. During the two years spent in this foreign field, he won the respect and favor of the king and all connected with the court of Lisbon.
He returned to his new home in Roxbury, Mass., in 1824, never to go before the public in an official capacity
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
again. On the sixth of June, 1829, in the seventy- ninth year of his age, he died, and was buried at Bos- ton Highlands.
Gen. Dearborn was married three times; first at the age of twenty-one to Mary Bartlett, of New Hamp- shire, by whom he had two daughters, of whom men- tion has already been made. His wife died in Octo- ber, 1778. Two years later he married Dorcas Mar- ble, a widow, of Andover. Mass., by whom he had two sons and a daughter. One of these sons was the illus- trious Gen. Henry Alexander Scammel Dearborn, who is known not only as a most efficient military commander, but as the projector of three of the great- est enterprises in which the citizens of Massachusetts take pride-Bunker Hill Monument, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. His second wife died in 1811. Her descendants by her first husband now live in the city of Gardiner.
At the close of the war of 1812, Gen. Dearborn retired to private life, as poor as he was the day he commenced the practice of medicine at Nottingham Square. In 1813 he married Sarah Bowdoin, widow of Hon. James Bowdoin, son of the governor of Massachusetts, but better known as the munificent patron of the col- lege which bears his name, and as one of the chief members of the Plymouth proprietary. Bowdoin died childless, leaving his vast estates to his wife. She was a lady of noble character, almost prodigal in her charities and donations. Her extreme wealth and ac- complishment gained for her admittance to the highest society. Gen. Dearborn, after his marriage, left his home in Maine and resided with her, first at the cele-
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GEN. HENRY DEARBORN.
brated Bowdoin Mansion, in Boston, afterwards at Roxbury.
In closing this epitome of the career of our greatest townsman, it is well to impress again on the mind the magnificence of his character. This may be done by relating the following incident:
When the American troops were stationed on the borders of the lakes, they were greatly annoyed by severe thunder storms. In these storms it was difficult to find a man brave enough to stand guard over the powder magazine. Men who were never known to falter in the face of the enemy would desert their post when the lightnings were playing around the powder house, in spite of the severe penalties of a court mar- tial. When intelligence of this came to the ears of the commander-in-chief, he, instead of forcing obedience at the point of the bayonet, waited for an opportunity to test the power of example. It soon came. Just at dusk one night, a terrific thunder-storm rolled over the camp. In the very height of the tempest, Dearborn was seen to leave his quarters and walk with measured tread towards the dreaded magazine. When he reached it, he climbed to the top, wrapped his army blanket about him, and lay there until morning, the sole guard- ian of the most dangerous post in the picket line. Af- ter that, the point was never left unguarded through the cowardice of the sentry.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EPPING EXODUS.
-
Never in the history of our country has such a change taken place as that which followed the close of the American Revolution. Liberty, absolute and untram- meled, liberty, such as no nation ever knew before, had been secured, but it seemed as if this glorious acquisition had brought absolute ruin as a traveling companion ; and in the midst of their rejoicing, the people were dejected and miserable. Everything had been sacrificed to maintain the struggle against the crown. Noble men had closed their shops, and left their farms to the care of their wives and children, to give their time to their country.
The women at home had spent their time in spinning and weaving blankets, frocks, and small clothes for the men at the front, and had stinted themselves that they might send a large portion of the farm products they succeeded in raising to their starving fathers and brothers.
Men who had money, sacrificed it in the purchase of
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THE EPPING EXODUS.
muskets and ammunition; and those who did not go to the front in person, went by proxy in the boots and hats and saddles that they remained at home to mani- facture.
When the fathers and brothers returned, they came empty-handed. They returned to farms that had been scraped bare, and to wives and mothers and sisters who had given up everything for their sakes, and brought nothing in return. Nothing but liberty! And O, how the word mocked them! Liberty to starve, liberty to perish, liberty to die! The country was ruined. Every dollar had been thrown into the hopper and ground into liberty.
When the faithful soldiers were discharged, they were remunerated for the time they had spent in the service. Each one received a number of slips of thin paper on which was printed, in rude type, the promise of the Continental Congress to pay the full face value of the slips at the expiration of a certain period, in silver coin. But who was to furnish the coin? Some of the sol- diers, enraged at their disappointment and the distressing forecast, tore their money into shreds and ground it beneath their heels. No one believed that the govern- ment would be able to redeem any of this trash, and its value rapidly depreciated. First it dropped to three dollars for one, then six for one. In a short time it fell to one hundred for one, and in another year to five hun- dredforone. When its value depreciated to suchan extent that five hundred dollars in this currency would pur- chase only the value of one dollar in silver, Continental money was pratically out of circulation ; and in another year it passed entirely out of use. The effect on
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
business and commerce may be imagined. There was no money in the country, except here and there a small pile of silver dollars in the possession of some old miser, who carefully hoarded it. thinking if he let it go he would never again see anything like it. and the Continental money which no one would accept at any value. The farmer who wished to sharpen his appetite with a quid of tobacco while he was putting in his spring crops must go the trader with a promise to pay in farm produce of some kind when the crops were gathered; and the trader must purchase his goods of the wholesale house with notes payable in wool, corn. wheat, rye, flax, and other farm products. Such a stagnation had never been known before. There re- mained but one way to support life, and that was to raise all the necessaries from the soil. Every man must raise his own wheat, beans, rye, and potatoes. grow flax and wool for his wife to manufacture into clothing, make his sugar and molasses from the sap of the maple tree, make his hats and boots from materials raised on the farm, and, in short, live a life entirely separated from the rest of the world. With no expec- tation of any future improvement of this condition. those who lived in well-settled communities began to cast about for homes in the less populous districts east of them, where lands, which they might hope would vield them a bare living, could be secured at small cost.
With this hasty glance at the conditions that then existed, we can easily understand why the forests of central Maine, which had echoed only to the howl of native denizens, were filled with sounds of ringing steel
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THE EPPING EXODUS.
and flecked with rolling clouds of smoke from hundreds of stone chimneys so soon after the close of the Revo- lution ; and why so many young men and women left good homes in thickly-settled towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the uninviting desolation of the wilderness.
When General Dearborn returned to his old home in Epping, New Hampshire, after his first visit to Maine, he succeeded in enthusing quite a number of his ac- quaintances, among whom were two of his brothers, to the idea of emigrating with him to the Kennebec Val- ley. Those who came first to make homes in the wilderness were Simon and Benjamin Dearborn, Caleb Fogg, James Norris, Josiah Brown, Daniel Gilman. Gilman Moody, and John Chandler.
It was not far from the year 1782, that the settle- ment, was augmented by the appearance of this party. At about the same time. Daniel Allen, Peter Lyon, Josiah Whittredge, Gorden Freas, Nathaniel Smith, and Nathaniel Brainerd also appeared, coming from various points. The Dearborns settled on land given them by the General. Simon Dearborn found John Fish, the tavern keeper, squatting on his claim. Fish had no title to the land, but Dearborn, ever just in his dealings with others, offered him twenty-five dollars for the improvements he had made, which, we may rest assured were very few. Fish refused to sell or leave the place; accordingly, Dearborn, after every other course to effect his removal, sued him for dam- ages and attacked his cattle. On this, the irate vender of ardent spirits watched his opportunity, and when it came, drove the cattle through the woods to Mr. Lane's
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
in Littleboro' (Leeds) and converted them into "moose meat." This exploit raised the wrath of the other settlers and he was promptly expelled from the planta- tion. He found a home somewhere in the eastern part of the state.
Benjamin Dearborn settled at "Dearborn's Corner" below the Center. He was a shoemaker, as was his neighbor, Josiah Brown, who settled a few rods south of him on the Wales road, where the ruins of the chim- ney he built may still be seen. Mr. Brown was a young man not far from twenty-two years of age. He prepared a log cabin, like those his neighbors had erected, cleared a portion of his farm, and returned to New Hampshire for the maiden who had promised to share his fate. He found that two or three years separ- ation had not changed her mind. She had been true to her troth, and did not hesitate to mount the horse behind her lover, and ride through the wilderness to the little cabin in the woods, to be united with him in mar- riage. It required some courage on the part of a girl of twenty summers to separate herself from society for such an isolated home, although her family, the Blakes. soon made a home near her. Brown was industrious. and, in this respect. as well as others, his wife found a good mate, Their extra hours of labor did not always prove truly economical, however, as an incident will demonstrate. One night Brown worked on his bench until the "wee sma' hours" his wife sitting by his side to encourage him. Finally they retired and fell into the arms of Morpheus. And such a hugging as the old god of slumber gave them! When they awoke everything seemed turned. end for end. The sun was just rising
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THE EPPING EXODUS.
on the wrong side of the house : and-strange phenom- «non !- he ducked his head and went back into his nest behind the hills. Could it be possible? They rubbed their eyes in amazement. Astounding truth! They had slept through the entire day without waking, and now the shadows of another evening were rapidly ap- proaching. They arose and prepared a meal-was it breakfast or supper?
Caleb Fogg settled on the farm now owned by B. M. Prescott. He was a practical joker of the keen- est edge, and was at the same time the terror and pet of the community. His subsequent conversion and standing as a Christian minister held in check his ex- uberant spirits, and but for an occasional outburst of wit and tell-tale twinkle of the eye, no one would have guessed what he was when he first came to this town. "Old Howe," a trapper and hunter living in the edge of Winthrop, suffered much from his irrepressible out- bursts, and it must have been with intense satisfaction that the poor old hermit heard of his conversion. Rid- ing up to the door of Howe's cabin late one dark night. he banged it until the shingles rattled.
"Who's thar?" shouted the old man from within.
"I want to see you at once. Don't wait a minute for your life."
The old man drew the bolt and exposed his shiver- ing limbs to the night air. Fogg leaned over in the saddle until his lips nearly. touched the trapper's ear, and whispering, "Do your geese lay?" darted off like a meteor.
Again he was passing a cabin in the middle of the night when the spirit came over him. Riding up to
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH.
the door he loudly and urgently requested the aroused inmates to come out.
"Have you lost a meal bag?" he inquired, as a shag- gy, unkempt head appeared in the doorway.
"No. Why, have you found one?"
"No I haven't found one yet, but expect every min- ute that I shall," and putting spurs to his brisk nag, he disappeared in the darkness.
Mr. Fogg built the house now occupied by B. M. Prescott, Esq., on High Street. In 1795 he was con- verted. He was then thirty-four years old. Three years later he was licensed to exhort, and in 1800 re- ceived a preacher's license. In 1806 he was received on trial by the New England Conference, and for twenty four years continued in the active and arduous service of a Methodist circuit rider. His was a work of love. The long and dangerous journeys through the woods on horseback, in all kinds of weather, to carry the gospel to the new and sparsely inhabited settlements, bore no charm to draw him from a comfortable home. Nor was his salary a considerable inducement. The first year he received from all sources the sum total of forty dollars. The second year, two dollars less; the third year it took a tremendous leap and struck the sky-rak- ing maximum of forty-eight dollars and fifty cents; then it fell from the dizzy height to thirty-five, and so on.
After an active and effective service of twenty-four years, he located, and preached only occasionally in adjoining towns, as his undermined health would per- mit. He died Sept. 6. 1839.
Fogg was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He
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'THE EPPING EXODUS.
said he never did much mischief there with the excep- tion of once stealing a goose.
"Mr. Fogg," says Dr. Allen, in his History of Meth- odism, "was no common man. He was remarkably original. He copied no man either in or out of the pulpit. Shrewdness and wit were prominent charac- teristics. He was a careful student of the Bible, clear and decided in his convictions, plain and forcible in his preaching, and severe in his assaults upon what he believed to be error. Hle entertained a special abhor- rence for the harsh points of Calvinistic doctrine cur- rent in his time, and he would usually in his preaching take occasion to give some hard thrusts at this, to him. odious system of theology, In his last sickness, a Christian brother called to see him, and, in the course of conversation, asked the following question :
" 'Brother Fogg, in reviewing your life are you con- scious of having neglected any particular duty?' .I am not sure,' said the dying man, `that in my preach- ing I have been quite severe enough on Calvinism." His closing days were peaceful. I have peace with God; all is well' were his last words to his brethren in the ministry."
Gilman Moody made a clearing at the head of Coch- newagan pond which he exchanged in a short time with Timothy Wight for the farm now owned by Mr. Bishop at North Monmouth. He erected the house Mr. Bishop now occupies not far from 1790. Mr. Moody seems to have had a mania for making new clearings. In addition to these two farms, he partially cleared the places owned by George L. King at the Center, and Phineas Nichols at East Monmouth. on
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