USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 31
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockland > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 31
USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 31
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At another meeting, held on the 21st of the same month, the town " voted to purchase thirty stands of arms, 150 lbs. of powder, 100 lbs. of ball, and 500 flints," and that " the selectmen be a committee to purchase the same"; for which a tax of $610 was voted to be raised. At the same time, the following persons were chosen a Committee of Safety, viz .: Wm. M. Dawes, Dr. B. Webb, T. Rendell, O. Robbins, jr., J. B. Rider, J. D. Wheaton, B. Williams, J. Jameson, B. Packard, jr., Dr. Dodge, D. Crockett, C. Spofford, Job In- graham, and Jacob Ulmer.
In consequence of the prostration of business and general gloom which hung over the maritime portion of the country, party animosity rose to a higher pitch, and was manifested in new or unusual forms. Town and county conventions were held by one party to express their disapprobation of the war, and by the other to denounce such proceedings as treasonable and to sustain the government. In the county of Lincoln, in consequence of a circular issued by the selectmen of Bath, a convention was held, August 3d, at Wiscasset, and passed resolutions condemning the policy of the general government in the most pointed manner. Of this circular, Thomaston, as a corporation, seems to have taken no notice ; but Messrs. E. Thatcher and Oliver Fales attended the convention as del- egates from the federal portion of the inhabitants. In regard to the selection of a candidate to represent the district in Congress, however, the town did not hesitate to act in its cor- porate capacity. A town meeting was called, Sept. 22d, " to see what method the town will take to promote a general meeting of delegates from the republicans in the several
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towns in the 4th eastern congressional district, for the pur- pose of uniting in a candidate to represent said district in Congress, and to act upon any other matter of public inter- est that should be thought proper." At this meeting, W. M. Dawes and Dre. Webb and Lovejoy were elected delegates, and also a committee to notify the other towns to send simi- lar delegates to said convention. . This may Seem an extraor- dinary assumption of the functions of a partisan caucus by a civil corporation, and must be regarded as an evidence of the unusual intensity and bitterness of party spirit at the time.
A national fast was appointed, Aug. 20th, and observed in the usual manner, but with different feelings according to the different views of the people concerning the causes of our troubles.
Without any encouragement of additional pay from the town, many recruits had been already enlisted here for the regular army. Even before the war was declared, Jackson Durand, with a Lieutenant's commission, had enlisted a num- ber whose names are not recollected, - being chiefly transient persons who probably never returned to the place. This was certainly the case with Durand, who remained in the service, and was joined by his wife and family. Ebenezer Childs, who had been employed as clerk in the store of Col. J. Has- kell, also obtained a Lieutenant's commission, and enlisted a number of recruits in this place, as did also, at different times, Lieuts. Denny and Lyon. Among these, was John Bentley, an active citizen of intelligence and education, who was, most unfortunately, killed by a cannon ball at Burlington, Vt., on the 11th of Sept. of this year.
On the 6th 'of the same month, a fatal accident occurred here, by which another citizen of this town, Benjamin Black- ington, senior, one of the early settlers west of the Meadows, was suddenly killed. Whilst he was going to mill on horse- back, one of the bags became untied and the corn spilled upon the ground; by the noise of which, the horse was fright- ened, the rider thrown, and his neck broken.
1813. Near the close of 1812 and the beginning of 1813, a company of Coast Guards, to the number of sixty or sixty-five men from this town and Camden, were enlisted for one year; of which John Spear was captain; Isaac Russ of Camden, Ist lieut .; Leonard Smith, 2d lieut .; Thomas Tol- man, ensign; Jere. Berry, orderly sergeant, Asa Sartelle, Freeman Harden, and Richard Smith, sergeants; Jas. Spear, drummer; and the following from this town, so far as recol lected, were privates, viz .: Wm. Singer, John Butler (4th).
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.
Wm. Walsh, Wm. Walsh 2nd., Asa Brewster, Asa and Thomas Crockett, Rufus and Isaac Spear, Moses Heard, Geo. Wooster, Job Tower, Geo. W. Stevens, - Harding, Joseph Hasty, James Shibles, Simeon Blood, and Jas. Wat- son On the 29d January the company was quartered at the Fort in St. George; was publicly addressed there, Feb. 22d, by Elder Baker; and on March 13th took its departure for Castine, where it was joined by the Montville company, and then sailed to Machias ; which they reached by keeping close in shore, thus eluding the Rattler, a British 20-gun ship, lying in wait for them. After a stay there of about one month, these troops sailed in the night time for Eastport and Rob- binston. Here they remained, mostly employed in detecting and suppressing contraband trade, finding good quarters in houses deserted from fear of the enemy, until about Christ- mas; when they were discharged, without a farthing of pay to carry them home. Singer, and some five or six others, chopped wood in Robbinston for Mr. C. Stetson, to gain money for the purpose, and then set off for home on foot. At Steu- ben, however, about half-way home, they met some gentlemen on horseback ; who proved to be government agents, and, the next morning, paid them off. John Butler, one of the above, at the time of his enlisting had just returned from sea, and, not being included in the militia roll, was at liberty to take any one's chance of being drafted for future service. This he did five times in succession at one dollar apiece, and, not being drawn, took by agreement the place of George Lindsey, at $5, with the usual pay of $12 a month ; did duty thirty days at Camden, and afterwards received the government bounty .*
Other companies, or parts of companies, were enlisted here during this war. Among them Jabez Morse, as orderly ser- geant, enlisted Robert and Samuel Creighton, James and Henry Tings, Isaac (?) Robbins, Finley Kelloch, Henry M. Wight, Pompey Brown, and probably others not recollected. During the service, Morse was promoted to be Sergeant Ma- jor of the regiment. Wight was taken sick with the measles, and died at Burlington. In the course of the war, many other recruits were furnished by this town, who either died in the service or settled elsewhere and never returned. Among these may be mentioned Caleb Young, a non-commissioned officer, since a resident of Camden; Ebenezer Smith ; Ward
* Hon. William Singer, Messrs. Leonard Smith, and J. Butler (4th), Prince's Diary, &c.
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Russell; and Benjamin Hastings, the last of whom died in the army at Sackett's Harbor. R. K. Shibles also enlisted and received his bounty; but being lame with rheumatism and of somewhat intemperate habits, his children were afraid to risk his life in the camp, and his daughter, Mrs. Hy ler, sedulously saving his bounty, took it together with testimonials of his physical inability to the proper officer at Bath, and obtained his release; - making the journey alone in a one- horse sleigh before the days of buffalo robes and furs.
In the mean time, the British were not idle; and the coast was soon so beset by their ships of war and privateers, as to make it dangerous for any of our vessels of value to put to sea. Even old wood-coasters were often overhauled, and robbed of anything valuable that happened to be on board. Fishermen and even landsmen were occasionally captured, and held, temporarily, for the purpose of gaining information about matters on shore and along the coast. John Paul, who had settled at Ash Point, being taken prisoner by a British armed vessel while engaged in taking fish for his family use in the Muscle Ridge channel, was interrogated in relation to a certain swivel kept at Owl's Head for defensive purposes in care of Capt. Nath. Merriman, then become a resident there. Paul replied, " it may be in Merriman's barn, -it may be be- hind his barn, -or it may be in the guard house, - or it may be in the bushes, - and I don't know where the d-l it isn't; and if I did, I wouldn't tell ye." Among other places of rendezvous for the enemy, was Mark or Fisherman's Island, small and uninhabited, lying south of Sheep Island.
In June, 1813, Capt. Wm. Spear, a skilful pilot, projected a trip to Boston in the sch. Oliver-a first class vessel for that time, of about ninety tons burthen. After waiting a num- ber of days for wind and weather suitable to elude the vigilance of the enemy, he set sail from the harbor of what is now Rock- land. The wind was blowing fresh at the time from the north- east, with thick weather and a drizzling rain. After rounding Owl's Head, with every prospect before him of a favorable passage, he was most unceremoniously brought to and cap- tured by the British sch. Fly. This privateer had taken a position in that celebrated roadstead, with American colors flying at her mast-head to decoy the unsuspecting coasters. - of which five or six besides the Oliver were there entrapped, and lying at anchor as prizes. During the afternoon of the same day, the privateer made signal to her prizes to get under weigh and follow-she standing on the wind, endeavoring to beat out of the north-east entrance of the harbor. In obeying
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this order, some two or three of the prizes managed to have their sails fill on the wrong tack, and, by so doing, plumped themselves purposely ashore on the beach. Capt. Spear was endeavoring to execute the same manœuvre, when the priva- teer opened her battery and peremptorily ordered him to desisi and follow, or "he would blow him out of water; " and, with great reluctance, Capt. S. was compelled to obey the command. Disappointment, perhaps, or a malicious feeling towards those who, by their shrewdness, had eluded his grasp, provoked the captain of the privateer to give vent to his feelings by firing a parting broadside. A spent round shot lodging against the sill of the house of Dr. Benjamin Webb, - whose wife and children had retreated to the cellar for safety, - and another, bespattering with dirt the garments of the doctor himself, who was out looking on, down near his store on the Point, were the only visible effects of this act of civility. Spear, disappointed and dejected, was set on shore, and allowed to take what personal effects he had on board. One of his hands, Barnabas Webb, being called to assist, laid hold of whatever came to hand without much regard to ownership, and, although once or twice forbidden, still continued to hand kettles and other articles over the stern into the boat; then, returning into the cabin, his eye fell upon the captain's watch, forgotten in the confusion, which he, though a prisoner, seized and kept for the downcast owner.
With her three prizes, the privateer stood out of the harbor and stretched across the bay towards the southern extremity of the South Fox Islands, where, in one of the most roman- tic harbors on our coast, they all came to anchor. The sun had now set; and a brisk north-east wind, which had been sweeping all day over the water, had died away, leaving a long ground swell heaving in upon this rock-bound and appa- rently uninhabited island. In this secluded spot, in anticipa- tion of uninterrupted security, (a small whale-boat only being seen to enter the harbor), the privateer commenced putting on board the Oliver the goods taken from the other two prizes. But, by means of that boat, it afterwards appeared, the inhabitants, notwithstanding the ominous silence that pre- vailed, had been warned of their close proximity to a British privateer ; and, as soon as the dusk of evening had begun to gather, men collected from every nook and corner with mus- ket, fusce, and fowling-piece, ready to give her battle at early morn. At its coming, the men of the privateer were busily engaged in finishing the transfer of the goods, while the fishermen from their well selected positions were watch
VOL. I. 25
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ing unconcernedly these operations. " What schooner is that?" cried at length a voice from the shore. "The Shear- Water of Baltimore ! won't you come on board?" replied the captain of the privateer. "No; but we invite you to come ashorc." " I'll see you d-d first," replied the officer. This abrupt answer caused a simultaneous fire from the land, in all directions. The captain of the privateer fell at the first discharge, having two balls shot through his body. Tak- en so completely were the officers and crew by surprise, that they sought safety below; while their boat was ordered ashore and captured. There they were, seventy-five in num- ber, driven from the deck; and not a solitary being could show his head without being shot. But the inventive genius of man, always greatest when put to the severest test, was called into requisition ; and one man, stimulated by the dying injunction of the captain "not to be taken," volunteered his services to cut the cable. He accordingly ventured on deck, and, by creeping along under the hammock nettings, succeed- ed in accomplishing his object. But while in the act of pass- ing below the halliards of the jib and main-sail, he dearly paid for his temerity ; for the bullet of some correct-sighted fisherman shattered his under jaw -he fell, but succeeded in creeping below.
Changeable as fortune had thus far been to this luckless vessel, a ray of hope yet lingered among her crew, and an attempt at escape was resolved on. To keep in check in some measure the continual pelting which they were receiv- ing, it was proposed to open a fire from the main hatch ; but, in the first attempt to do this, a well-directed bullet grazed the beard and lip of the venturesome Englishman and lodged in the combings of the hatch. The plan was then abandoned, as futile in the extreme But a gentle breeze and favorable current came to their assistance ; and, by hoisting the jib and mainsail and managing to steer the vessel by means of a bay- onet and musket thrust through the sky-light, they at length got out of harm's way, and finally made their escape ; - leav- ing the brave and hardy fishermen of Fox Islands the suc- cessful captors of their boat's crew and the three prize-ves- seis.
On board of the privateer, confined below, were five Amer- ican prisoners, -Capt. B. Webb of Thomaston (the narrator of this adventure, lately passed from earth, to the deep re- gret of the writer,) together with Capt. Bunker of Mt. Desert, Luther Snow and John Snow of this place, and one other whose name has escaped recollection. Their apartment was
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adjacent to the cabin - so near that they could easily hear the groans of the dying captain and wounded seaman. These sounds with the pattering of bullets, like hail, against the wooden sides of their prison, caused them mingled emotions of sorrow and rejoicing. The wind being now S. W. the privateer shaped her course for the Wooden Ball, an unin- habited island in Penobscot Bay. While pursuing their way thither, the prisoners were allowed by the Lieutenant to come one at a time on deck, and, while taking his turn, Webb, perceiving a small boat at some distance, requested him to hail it and give them their liberty. This request was granted ; but, before going, he also expressed a desire to see the corpse of the captain. The humane feeling of course could not but meet with the approbation of the Lieutenant, who escorted him to the cabin. Pistols, sabres, pikes, boarding axes, and all the minor implements of marine warfare, were arrayed about the cabin, giving it an appearance of wild embellish- ment ; while at the same time each was convenient to the hand. Around the mast was placed a stand of muskets. The cabin seemed a citadel of itself. In a berth lay the corpse of the captain. There was a latent expression of sat- isfaction, modified by a sympathy not altogether affected, as the Yankee stood in presence of the Lieutenant and his late commander. This sympathy, though in the breast of an en- emy, was not without its softening effect. The unfortunate result of the late encounter was freely discussed, and the dis- astrous effects of the fishermen's fire pointed out by the sad- faced Lieutenant. "There you can see the murderous design of your countrymen !" said he, pointing to some charts which hung in beckets on the sides of the trunk-cabin. Taking them from their place of security, two leaden bullets rolled at his feet; "Oh, my God!" ejaculated he, "what a miracle that we have thus escaped with the loss of no more lives." " I should think there must also be some visible effects on the vessel's deck, if I were to judge from my place of con- finement by the rattling of bullets and buck-shot against the sides of the privateer." said Webb. "Yes; truly, there," said the Lieutenant, " is eridence sufficient to satisfy the most skeptical; for sixty-two balls are lodged in our masts, and sixty-four can be counted as having passed through our main- sail below the two reef-gearings!" "You," rejoined Webb, " have lost your captain and received other damage, which you charge upon my countrymen. I might retort by saying you have taken from my captain his vessel, his only means of support to a large family. But, sir, it is the fortune of war,
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and we must submit to the good or ill which befalls us." Perceiving now was the time to effect his purpose, he respect- fully asked the Lieutenant if he would restore the papers of the captured vessels, now re-taken at Fox Islands : as they might relieve the distresses of many a poor family; not for- getting at the same time to express his heart-felt sorrow for the bereaved family of the deceased captain. This request was granted, and the papers restored. In the mean time the boat, which was too small to carry more than one at a time, had transported the other prisoners to their landing place on Matinicus Rock, and was now in waiting. Webb ascend- ing the deck, stepped into it with inward feelings of satisfac- tion; the hat was raised, a cordial salutation given ; - and thus parted the rival sailors of the two belligerant nations .*
The sch. Oliver seems, however, to have had the misfor- tune to be again captured, the year following ; as, on the 29th Sept. 1814, a permit was granted by Maj. A. G. Coombs as commander of the militia here, to Capt. Spear, his son Wil- liam, and Samuel Hix, to go to Castine with a flag of truce for the purpose of ransoming the sch. Oliver. This was accomplished, and they returned with the vessel, Oct. 17th.
Previous to this occurrence, Capt. Isaac Snow, in command of a coasting vessel bound to Eastport with supplies for the American soldiers stationed there, was made a prize of by this same privateer " Fly." A prize master and one man were put on board, together with Capt. Snow, and ordered to St Johns; whilst the crew, Luther Snow, son of the captain, and John Snow a kinsman, were confined as prisoners on board the " Fly." Capt. Snow, hobbling about the deck with his wooden leg, (having formerly suffered amputation in consequence of an injury on board his vessel) was not re- garded as in any way dangerous, and was allowed to be at liberty, sometimes lending a hand in steering. When off Ma- chias, with a fair wind, coming up on deck in the morning, he asked the prize master then at the helm if he had had his bitters. Receiving a negative answer, Snow offered to take the helm whilst he should go below for them. Going accor- dingly, he was met at the gangway on his return by Capt. Snow, who levelled him to the floor with a handspike, locked the door to confine him and the only other man on board, and steered the vessel up under the fort at Machias. There the
* Capt B. Webb : whose account of the adventure was also taken down by Mesars. J. W. Dodge and I. P Coombs, written out in a popular style and published in the Thomaston Recorder, of May 26, 1816, - copied also in Locke's Hist. Camden.
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prize master was found to have been instantly killed ; con- trary to the intention of Snow, who meant to have given a stunning but not a fatal blow. Having now recovered his vessel, he proceeded to his destination, and resumed his bu- siness. On his first trip, however, when returning from Bos- ton off the Isle of Shoals, he was met and again captured by the same privateer, which had been to St. John and there re- fitted under a new captain in place of the one killed at Fox Islands. There were enough on board, however, who re- membered his former capture, and now threatened him with drowning, shooting, and various other punishments ; from all which he was finally delivered, with the loss only of his ves- sel, the steering of which he was not a second time intrusted with .*
About this time Charles Holmes, then an apprentice to C. Spofford, and 19 years of age, shipped on board the priva- teer Dart of Portland, and made a six weeks cruise. Soon after his return, the American privateer Wasp, coming into the Shore harbor in want of hands, he, with six others of that place, was engaged and sailed for the Bay of Fundy. In about three weeks they were captured by a British ship of war, thrust into the St. John's jail, and, after six weeks, sent to Liverpool. There, by a stratagem, he escaped, and en- deavored to find his way to France; but was pressed, and, to escape the British service, delivered himself up a prisoner of war. Thrust into the lower hold of a sloop-of-war, in utter darkness during the twelve days' voyage around to Plymouth, he, after two days confinement in a prison-ship lying in that harbor, was, with sixty other Americans, marched to Dart- moor; - a prison covering 20 acres, and of such famous and cruel memory, there as here, that the farmers call it the Devil's land, and do not dare to pass it at night. Here, among 10,000 French and 1000 American prisoners, the poor lad found himself, with only his hammock, his chest, and $6 concealed in his boots. The first was immediately stolen from the stanchion where he had hung and left it a few mo- ments, to buy some coffee and lunch at a stand; and the second night his boots were taken. He succeeded, however, after sharing and borrowing a time, in obtaining a good cot bed and blanket from the officers; but took a cold and fever, and was removed to the hospital, where he was taken care of by a kind hearted surgeon, and kept six weeks. Finding the prison allowance of one pound of barley and peas bread, one-
* Capt. B. Webb, and others.
25 *
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third pound of beef, and a pint of soup, too scanty for his returning appetite, he purchased goods of a trading French prisoner, and, retailing them at a small profit, managed to supply his wants. Having been joined by 7000 other Amer- irans, who, after the release of the French prisoners, were col- lected from Halifax and the prison-ships, he found among them his brother Elijah and his old ship mates, and remained to witness the memorable massacre of sixty fellow-prisoners by Capt. Shortland, April 6, 1815, from which Holmes es- caped by diving among the legs of the crowd into the prison out of the yard, as did Paul Thorndike of Camden, by jump- ing into one of the cook-room windows. Being released April 26th, and sent home from Plymouth in a Dutch ship bound to Norfolk, Va., he, with his fellow-prisoners, mostly from the north, chose a shorter cut, took charge of the ship, and brought her into New York after a passage of 45 days. Finding his way to Boston, he there exposed for sale a ship about one foot in length, made of bones, rigged with human hair, and mounting 136 guns, the work of a French prisoner, which he had bought in Dartmoor, and now, with some dif- ficulty, sold for $53. Remaining there three weeks, he took passage in a coaster, landed at Owl's Head, and reached on foot his welcome home at Mr. Spofford's, -after an absence of two years and two months, of which one year and a half was spent in Dartmoor Prison .*
Human foes were not, it seems, the only objects of hostility at this time, as the town, May 10, 1813, voted to give a bounty of $2 for every wild-cat killed within its limits. The dependence of the people upon home-made cloth, rendered, at this time, the protection and improvement of sheep an ob- ject of great interest. Mr. Paine, this year, imported a French Merino or two, the half-breeds of which sold readily at $50 apiece, greatly improving the wool in this vicinity. He subsequently imported largely of other improved breeds, and was considered in this respect a great public benefactor.
On the 24th of July, a meeting was called " to see if the Town will agree to settle with Otis Robbins, Jr., as Collector for 1809, 1810, 1811, and 1812, and choose some person to receive the bills and complete the collection in his stead." But the town voted not to do so. This gentleman, having filled several town offices, was now seeking reputation in a different field. Devoting himself to the defence of the coun- try, he joined the regular army, and, July 11, 1814, was ap-
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