USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. I > Part 37
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. I > Part 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
The clash of arms at Lexington Awoke the martial fires That slumbered in the sturdy hearts Of our New England sires.
In twenty-four hours after the Middlesex farmers "fired the shot heard round the world" the town of York was in martial array.
A post-rider had arrived at nine o'clock in the evening of the day following the battle. No more prompt and effec- tive response to the requirements of the crisis can be credited to any other town so far removed from that historic scene of action. The far-off echoes of yeoman musketry carried by hurrying post-riders became the
403
HISTORY OF YORK
bugle call "to arms," and on the second morning after that battle the Green in front of the Meeting House was alive with men eager to enlist and rush to the front.
The names of these brave and patriotic men who answered this first call to the colors are here preserved as taken from the Muster Roll of their company, to their everlasting honor in the annals of this town.
Pay Roll of a Company Raised by the Town of York and under the Command of Capt. Johnson Moulton Esq., April 21, 1775, as Minute Men of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Captain JOHNSON MOULTON Samuel Derby, First Lieutenant James Donnell, Second Lieutenant
Sergeants
John Trevett Joshua Trafton Joseph Parsons, Drummer
Josiah Parsons Edward Low Benjamin Leigh, Fifer
Privates
Amos Main
Thomas Haynes
William Grow, Jr
Richard Dean
Josiah Moore
Henry Sayward
Ebenezer Moulton
Jotham Harris
Eliakim Hilton
Benjamin Cole
Thomas Talpey
Jotham Donnell
Storer Sewall
John Young Jr
Elisha Horn
Arthur Bridges
David Preble
Daniel Grant
Joseph Stanley
John Nowell Jr
Theodore Sayward
Elisha Boyce
Abraham Sawyer
Robert Bradeen
Amaziah Goodwin
Benjamin Rogers
Daniel Raynes
Ebenezer MacIntire Jr .
Joshua Grant
Joseph Garey Samuel Welch
Joshua McLucas
Arthur Bragdon
Joseph Harris
John Kingsbury Jr
Joseph Simpson
David Davis
James Dempsey
Samuel Garey
Norton Phillips
Thomas Welch
David Grant
Reuben Freeman
Daniel Lunt
Abram Moore
Joshua Bridges
Jotham Harris
Spencer Perkins
Cesar, (Negro)
(Mass. Arch. vol. xiii, 10)
Roger Plaisted
Shubael Nason
Jonathan Welch
404
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
CAPT. JOHNSON MOULTON
This leader of York's first contingent in the Revolu- tionary War was a veteran in the military service of the Province, and his exploits in the French and Indian wars have been already detailed. He was the son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Harmon) Moulton, and he brought with him the experience and magnetism of the trained soldier. Although his friends and admirers urged him for command of the new regiment then organizing in the county, it was given to James Scammon of Saco, and on May 29, 1775 Capt. Johnson Moulton was commissioned as its Lieu- tenant Colonel. He served with that regiment at Cam- bridge that year, and in 1776 he served in the same capacity in the seventh Continental Regiment under Col. William Prescott of Bunker Hill fame. He served through the Siege of Boston and later, joining Gen. John Nixon's Brigade in Gen. Nathaniel Greene's Division, he took part in the Long Island campaign. He died June 13, 1793.
On April 22, 1916 the Old York Chapter, D. A. R., was granted authority to place a tablet "to mark the spot from which the sixty-three Minute Men of York, the first to enlist from Maine, set forth to the War of the Revolu- tion." This tablet, mounted on a boulder, now stands in front of the old First Meeting House.
Truly this was a very busy day for the Shire Town of York and we can readily believe Judge Sayward's com- ment in his diary under date of April 21 : "a Remarkable day the whole town in arms Listed and sent of 60 good men to assistance of the Country Round Boston with money drawn out of the County Treasurer £200 to the Care of their Capt. Johnson Moulton." Captain Moulton marched them fifteen miles well across the Piscataqua ferry. It is safe to say they were a lot of footsore patriots when they bivouacked that night. While this was going on the townspeople were in meeting assembled to provide legal authority for all this extraordinary activity against their sovereign. Provisions for the past and future situa- tions were voted in these terms:
Voted: that the several Constables, as have any of the public Moneys of this Province in their Hands, or have any to Gather, & have hitherto neglected to pay the same; That they forthwith Collect and pay the same to Henry Gardner Esqr agreeable to the proposal of the
405
HISTORY OF YORK
Provincial Congress; and that this Town will Indemnify them for so doing.
Voted: that if the Constables are Deficient in their Collections or any part thereof, such Deficiency shall be hired & sent up by the Selectmen as soon as possible, to the said Gardner. .
Voted: that Messrs John Swett, Edw'd Grow, Sam'l Harris, Joseph Grant & Jeremiah Weare be a Committee to Correspond with the several Towns in this Province.
Voted: that there be a Military Night Watch at the Harbour's Mouth, Constantly kept up: of four men each night: two on each side, and the Colo. of the Regiment of Militia be desired to regulate the same, and to include those of the Alarm List.
Voted: that the Selectmen at the Towns expence, procure a Sufficient quantity of Indian Corn, as they shall judge necessary for the Town Stock, & to be dealt out according to their discretion.
Voted: that the Committee of Inspection, with Jotham Moulton Esqr, Samuel Junkins & Matthew Richie, be a Committee to Waite on Jonathan Sayward Esqr for a View of such Letter or Letters, as he has received from the late Gov'r Hutchinson or others & make such Remarks upon the same as they think necessary & make report to this Meeting on the adjournment.
The committee charged with the embarrassing duty of putting Judge Sayward "on the carpet" promptly interviewed him, and as a result, as the town records state "he came into the Meeting & made a Speech: whereupon the Town Voted it was Satisfactory" "; and his explanations of his correspondence with the king's officials were accepted.
After the return of this company from their emergency march, a realignment of the men available for military service was immediately necessary. In view of his experi- ences in the past Capt. Johnson Moulton was too valuable to be hidden as the captain of a company and he was strongly supported as a candidate for the colonelcy of the regiment about to be organized in York County. Mean- while the town proceeded to meet the developing situation by forming a new company out of its first volunteer organ- ization in May following, viz .:
Captain SAMUEL DERBY
James Donnell, Lieutenant Joshua Trafton, Ensign
Joshua Grant John Kingsbury Benjamin Lee, Sergeants 406
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
Corporals
John Tinney Jotham Webber
John McCaslin
Jotham Donnell
Joseph Parsons, Drummer
William Conway, Fifer
Privates
Austin, James
Lunt, Daniel
Beale, John
MacLucas, Joshua
Matthias
Main, Amos
Bean, Daniel
Moore, Abraham Josiah
Stephen
Morris, Richard
Booker, Nehemiah
Nason, Shubael
Bridges, Arthur
Nowell, Paul
Edmond
Peter
Joshua
Parsons, Josiah
Davis, David John
Perkins, Spencer
Dean, Richard
Edward
Dempsey, James
Jedidiah
Donnell, Obadiah
Ramsdell, Nathaniel
Farnham, Jonathan
Sellars, James
Fitzgerald, James
Sergeant, William
Freeman, Reuben
Simpson, William
Grant, Daniel Jasper Hill, Cornelius
Sutton, John
Trafton, Eliphalet
Hilton, Eliakim
Webber, Daniel
Holt, Jeremiah
Welsh, Samuel
Horn, Thomas
Young, John
Lovejoy, Theodore
"Seasor, a Negro"
MAJOR SAMUEL DERBY
This gallant officer was born in Concord, Mass., in 1737, the son of Ebenezer and Eunice Derby of that town, and about 1767 he came to York, where he held the office of Culler of Hoops and Staves continuously until the open- ing of the Revolutionary War. He offered his services early and was commissioned Captain in the regiment of Col. James Scammon. They marched to Cambridge soon after the Battle of Lexington, 1775, serving until the end of that year in General Heath's Brigade. He commanded a company in Col. William Prescott's 7th Continental Regiment in 1776, and in Col. John Bailey's 2d Massa- chusetts Regiment in 1777. He was promoted to Major in 1778 and did service in the regiments of Colonels Brooks and Jackson.
407
Baker, Samuel
Preble, David
Stanley, Joseph
HISTORY OF YORK
In connection with the record of the patriotic Derby, and as a tribute to his judgment in practical matters, it may be mentioned here that there is a letter extant, written by General Washington to General Heath, then at West Point, desiring him to get the opinion of Major Derby as to flat-bottomed boats most convenient for transportation on carriages. The letter was addressed: "Major Darby under whose care the boats were at Pas- saic." At that time the Major's name was written and pronounced "Darby," as it is in England today.
The Major, while in the military service, took with him as a body servant his negro "Prince," whose widow Dinah in her later years received a pension from the government. Her memory survived for many years in the name of Dinah's Hill, given to the locality where she lived. On his return to York in 1784, he resumed, like Cincinnatus, his job as Culler of Staves and Hoops, which he retained for a dozen years, and as became him as an original member of the Order of the Cincinnati. In 1800 he was on a committee of the town to celebrate Inde- pendence Day, and in 1801 was chosen to represent York in the General Court at Boston. The last public office which the Major filled was Collector of Customs for this port, succeeding Joseph Tucker. He died in office in 1807 and his son Reuben, formerly a merchant in Bel- fast, was appointed administrator of his estate and filled the office of Collector until his own demise a few years later. His last surviving descendant was Miss Mary Ann Soper Derby, who died at Alfred, Maine about forty years since aged ninety-one years.
In 1767, just before he came to York, Samuel Derby married Mary Soper of Concord. Their children were Reuben, Consider Soper, a daughter Mary and a son Samuel; the last two died in early youth. His residence and estate near Clark's Lane, later owned by Mr. Andrew Leach (1864), was purchased in 1770 of Jonathan Say- ward. The previous owner was Nathaniel Preble, who bought it of Abraham Nowell, probably the original owner of the house.
CAPT. JAMES DONNELL
This officer was early associated with Major Derby as his First Lieutenant, when Derby's company was attached
408
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
to Col. Scammon's regiment. Donnell later joined the company of Capt. Tobias Fernald January 1, 1776, with the same rank in the regiment of Col. Edmund Phinney, and on November 13, 1776 he was promoted to Cap- tain. On January 1, 1777 he enlisted as a Captain in Col. Samuel Brewer's 12th Massachusetts Regiment, in which he continued for four years, resigning in 1781. He was at the Siege of Boston and later at Fort Ticon- deroga. His company was in the fleet at Lake George in June 1777, and was in the retreat from Ticonderoga, finally arriving at Saratoga August I, 1777, where he participated in the battle of Stillwater and the decisive battle of Saratoga, witnessing Burgoyne's surrender. His company then joined Washington's Army near Phila- delphia, spending that winter at Valley Forge. On June 28, 1778 they fought the battle of Monmouth and later crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry. In August he marched his company to Danbury, Connecticut, to do guard duty there over the military stores. His later services were at West Point and at Peekskill, where he resigned as stated. This record covers the whole period of activity of the Northern Army during the war, and his company was at the front in every emergency. He was the son of James and Mary (Sayward) Donnell, born January 2, 1735-6, and married his cousin Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Preble) Donnell, in 1768, by whom he had four children. He died July 31, 1784.
SEA COAST DEFENCE
Among the first enlistments for the military establish- ment in the defensive measures of the colony was the sea-coast defence troops, forming in all the New England colonies. The company recuited here in this town was under the command of Edward Grow, and the roster was as follows:
Edward Grow, Captain Thomas Bragdon, First Lieutenant Josiah Chadbourne, Second Lieutenant
Sergeants Nehemiah Bean
Corporals
William Babb
Lewis Bean
John Bennett
Ebenezer Grant
Joseph Beal
James Gray
Samuel Furbish
Thomas Bickford, Drummer
Samuel Trevett, Fifer
409
HISTORY OF YORK
Privates
John Walker, Jr. Benjamin Libbey Maturin Baker John Holmes Robert Brown, Jr. Josiah Spencer Paul Ford
William Moulton
John Grover
William Grow, Jr.
Peletiah Simpson
Ebenezer Cole
Enoch Hutchins, Jr.
David Cane
John Carlile, Jr. Charles (?) Perkins Peletiah Perkins Richard King
Samuel Donnell, Jr.
Benjamin Trafton Andrew Rankin
Daniel Moulton
Daniel Hill
Josiah Card
Benjamin Simpson
William Smith
Peter Wittam
Ebenezer Welch
Abraham Bean
Elisha Matthews
Jeremiah Weare, Jr.
Josiah Beal
John Banks
William Emerson
Nathaniel Perkins
Abraham Boston (Mass. Arch. xxxvi, 77)
Not all the soldiers from this town served under officers who raised companies in York. Early in the war Jere- miah Grover enlisted as Fifer and Daniel Preble as Private in the company of Capt. Thomas Fernald of Kittery in 1775.
On May 24, Daniel Bragdon was again chosen as Representative to the Provincial Congress to be held in Watertown on the thirty-first (1775), and "so on to the expiration of six months." David Sewall, Esq. and Ed- ward Emerson were added to the Committee of Corre- spondence; and the next year, to conform to the general plan, the town revised the name to Committee of Safety, Inspection and Correspondence, and chose David Sewall, Esq. and Messrs Richard Trevett, Samuel Harris, Dr. John Swett, Edward Emerson, Jeremiah Weare and Joseph Grant as its members.
On May 16, 1776, the Selectmen were authorized and empowered to sell one of the cannon belonging to the town, for the use and purposes declared in the Militia Act of the Provincial Congress.
Joseph Simpson, Esq. was elected at this time as Representative to the General Court to be holden at Watertown, May 29 following. Town meetings were now coming fast on the heels of preceding ones. Three weeks later, on June 5, the "freeholders," as they called them- selves, unanimously voiced the following fateful decision
410
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
for the information of Mr. Simpson at the Watertown Congress, which deserves emphasis in larger type as a memorial of their splendid courage.
VOTED THAT THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THIS TOWN, NOW AT THE GENERAL COURT BE ADVISED: THAT IF THE HON'BLE CONGRESS SHOULD FOR THE SAFETY OF THE COLONIES DECLARE THEM INDEPENDENT OF THE KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN THEY THE SD INHABI- TANTS WILL SOLEMNLY ENGAGE WITH THEIR LIVES AND FORTUNES TO SUPPORT THEM IN THE MEASURE. VOTED THAT THE TOWN CLERK TRANSMIT A COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THIS MEETING TO THE REPRE- SENTATIVE OF THIS TOWN NOW AT THE GENERAL COURT AS SOON AS MAY BE.
Fine as this was in sentiment and purpose, greatly helping to crystallize opinion, it was not a "declaration of independence," only an offer to support one when declared. That it invited such an end was enough. On June 17, the famous Battle of Bunker's Hill was staged after the Provincials had thrown up breastworks on Breed's Hill and challenged the king's troops to come over and take this hastily erected menace to the safety of Boston. The challenge was accepted and the resulting battle profoundly affected the political and military authorities of England. Three times the British Grena- diers charged up the slopes to meet the devastating musketry of the untrained farmers and fell back in dismay. Every canon of English military history had been shat- tered. For the first time the provincial militia had with- stood a charge of professional soldiers, and shocked at the fearful toll of death the stolid minds of the British War Office slowly learned that they had a real foe to conquer or to salute as victors. Bunker Hill put the fear of God in the hearts of the Ministry and caution in the plans of their General here.
The actual Declaration of Independence was made by competent authority a month after York had spoken. The Continental Congress, on a day now known the world over, July 4, 1776, sent forth the clarion challenge to the powerful Kingdom of England to fight or withdraw
4II
HISTORY OF YORK
its flag from the North American continent.1 The war was now on. Additional men from this town found opportunity to serve their country this year in the com- pany of Capt. Samuel Leighton of Kittery. Josiah Bragdon was his First Lieutenant; Joseph Wolsley was Corporal and Edward Raynes, Fifer. The following were Privates: Aaron Booker, Jedediah Blaisdell, Edward Came, Daniel Clark, Peter Grant, James Holt, Francis Lewis, Joshua Moore, Jonathan Sayward, William Smith, and Daniel Weare (Me. Genealogical Recorder, v, 170). Lieutenant Bragdon later succeeded to the command of this company and had Abraham Preble, Nathaniel Fol- som, John Sayward and James Hill of this town with him (Ibid. vi, 431).
The picturesque and bold attempt of Generals Mont- gomery and Arnold, in the late fall of 1775, to invade Lower Canada, and their heroic attempt to capture Que- bec in midwinter, to secure the adhesion of the inhabitants to the American cause, was brought before the town at a meeting held August 5, 1776, when the following action was voted in support of the campaign to detach that Province from English control:
At a legal Town Meeting holden in York August 5, 1776. John Bradbury Esqr chosen Moderator.
Voted, that the non Commission'd Officers and soldiers who shall voluntarily Inlist themselves in the Service of the Expedition to' Canada, agreeable to the present requisition, shall be paid out of the Town Stock, Twelve Dollars each; provided they proceed in that Expidition.
And to such as Inlist to Serve only this Colony, on the present requisition 8/ p month each, over and above their Provincial Allow- ance of Wages. And that a sum sufficient for the purposes aforesaid be rais'd on the Polls & Estates of the Inhabitants of this Town, and be paid out by the Select Men accordingly.
Dan'l Moulton Town Cler.
After this the town settled itself down to see the long struggle through to a finish, and the records of its meetings show that the freeholders were attending to its normal "business as usual," while its soldiers were in the field of battle, fighting for independence. As the theatre of war never reached the territorial limits of this town there are
1 The town records contain this immortal document copied verbatim as required by the Continental Congress. It was read "as soon as Divine Service ended in the afternoon of the first Lord's Day" after the printed copy arrived in town, which was on Sunday, July 17, in both parishes.
4.12
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
no scenes of military glory to be depicted in the course of this narrative of events, but men from this town were tasting its sufferings in the terrible experiences of the winter of 1777 and 1778 at Valley Forge. Capt. Samuel Derby was on duty there with his company attached to the regiment of Col. John Bailey, and the following soldiers from York were under his command and shared with him the privations of that campaign:
Eliakim Hilton, Ensign; Daniel Webber, Sergeant; John Young and Stephen Young, Corporals; with these Privates: James McDonald, Edward Moore, Joseph Parsons, Spencer Perkins, John Perkins, Daniel Preble, Abraham Preble, Henry Sayward, Paul Webber and Na- thaniel Young. William Preble of this company was killed in an engagement. (Mass. Archives x, 81.)
The town appointed a committee to assist in the en- forcement of the new provincial law to regulate prices of staple commodities and essential services, enacted to prevent monopoly and oppression. This matter claimed the attention of the town for a year or more. On March 20, 1778, Colonel Grow, Joseph Grant and Nicholas Sewall were chosen as the Committee of Correspondence, Safety and Inspection, and "the same gentlemen to be a committee to supply the Families of Soldiers of this Town in the Continental Service."
On May II following, a bounty of sixty pounds was voted to the sixteen soldiers who should enlist for nine months service to reinforce the Continental Army "and actually serve therein." The same amount was offered to four more "to be raised in the two companies of the Second Parish for eight months to make up their defi- ciency." In September an additional requisition for twelve hundred troops was made by the Provincial Con- gress, of which eight were charged as this town's share and the voters approved it in the usual way. Shoes, stockings, shirts and fighting equipment for the troops were ordered purchased of the Board of War at Boston.
In 1779 John Swett, Esq., John Stone and Nicholas Sewall were chosen the Committee of Correspondence, Safety and Inspection to provide for soldiers' families. A bounty raised to one hundred twenty pounds was offered "to each Continental Soldier who should enlist in the service and serve for nine months."
413
HISTORY OF YORK
The unfortunate Bagaduce (Castine) Expedition was one of the year's principal military events and being near home surroundings had its direct effect on this town. Lincoln County had become a rendezvous of the Tories of Massachusetts who had gone there to be near British sympathizers residing in the region around the mouth of the Penobscot. It was becoming a focus of infection and conspiracy against the colonies. It was easily and quickly of access to the king's armed vessels using Halifax as their base. The British Army and Navy sent from there had captured Castine and entrenched themselves in the sum- mer of that year and something had to be done to protect that flank. It was determined by the Board of War to send a counter expedition thither by sea and land. Gen. Solomon Lovell of Weymouth was placed at the head of the Army with Adjt. Gen. Peleg Wadsworth second in com- mand. Lieut. Col. Paul Revere was senior officer in charge of the Artillery Corps. The naval demonstration was en- trusted to Commodore Richard Saltonstall of Connecticut who had nineteen armed vessels of various rigs mounting over three hundred guns. Several hundred men of the York County militia were detailed under General Frost. In the meantime the British troops, profiting by the usual delays of such a formidable force in reaching Bagaduce, had strengthened their defences. General Lovell and Commodore Saltonstall aided this condition by disagree- ments over the methods of joint attack and each one undertook the task in his own way. When begun it was effective enough and General McLane, the British com- mander, was prepared to surrender had the demand been made. As it was, the attack successfully inaugurated, ended in an unexpected development resulting in a com- plete debacle. Sir George Collier, R. N., ten days from Sandy Hook with seven vessels mounting two hundred four guns, suddenly appeared at the scene of attack. Heavy broadsides from his trained gunners threw our fleet into confusion and precipitated a disorderly retreat. With no plan for an orderly retreat the unofficial orders were "Sauve qui peut." Collier landing large detachments from his fifteen hundred men, equal to the entire strength of the American militia, completed the rout of the attack- ing forces under Lovell. Fleeing brigs and sloops were beached, burned or blown up to prevent their falling into
414
YORK IN THE REVOLUTION
the enemy's possession. "A prodigious wreck of property" wrote the first historian of Maine, "a dire eclipse of repu- tations and universal chagrin were the fruits of this expe- dition, in the promotion of which there had been such an exalted display of public spirit both by the Government and individuals." (Williamson ii, 476.) Court martial followed, Saltonstall was principally blamed for his obstinacy in failing to support Lovell in a combined attack, and he was declared to be "incompetent ever after to hold a commission in the service of the State." Lovell and Wadsworth were acquitted.
At least a part of one company of recruits for the Penobscot Expedition was obtained in this town and in- cluded the following names:
Samuel Young, Lieutenant
Joshua Moulton, Sergeant Jonathan Moulton, Corporal Alexander Carlisle, Fifer
John Junkins, Jr., Drummer
Privates .
Richard Banks Peletiah Banks Timothy Donnell
James Grant
Daniel Green
Theodore Weare
Benaiah Young (Mass. Arch. xxxvii, 88)
In Major Littlefield's Detachment of Yorkshire Troops was John Banks of York. (Ibid. 87.)
Meanwhile York troops were giving a better account of themselves in other fields of action. They had been meeting the enemy at Ticonderoga, Monmouth and Sara- toga with success. Another company under command of Capt. James Donnell of York was in active service at this time, and with him were the following rank and file of his townsmen: Henry Sewall, Lieutenant; John Gibson, Sergeant Major; Jonathan Donnell and Zachariah Get- chell, Sergeants; Benjamin Trafton, Corporal; and Mat- thias Beal, Drummer. Six of his privates were also from this town: Daniel Bragdon, William Couch, Joshua McLucas, Daniel Preble, Daniel Sargent and James Williamson.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.