USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Windham > Windham, Maine in the war of the revolution, 1775-1783 > Part 2
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half. In November, Windham sent six more men into the Continental army for three years. The town's people must have felt that they were doing God's work for their posterity. or they could not have kept on with such burdens.
Jan. 16, 1781, William Knight, Thom- as Trott and Edward Anderson were appointed a committee to agree with the men who will go into the army for three years as soldiers, about bounty and wages, and the town "voted $2 .- 280 dollars, silver money, for the sol- diers that is to go into the army for three years," also that. "the soldiers shall be paid ten dollars, in silver money, by the town per month and twenty dollars, in silver money, as a bounty," and "to pay them once in three months." The paper money had become so worthless they were obliged to return to silver values to obtain soldiers.
Feb. 8, the town voted $20,044.00, pa- per money, towards the quota of beef affixed to the town by the resolve of the General Court.
In March, clothing was sent to the
soldiers in the army as per the follow- ing statement of Jonathan Lovett, selectman:
9 shirts. 40 pounds 360 pounds
9 pairs shoes, 40 pounds 360 pounds
9 pairs stockings,24 pounds 216 pounds
12 miles travel, 06 pounds
3 days time. 63 pounds
Total, 1035 pounds
The Committee of Safety for 1781.
were:
Abraham Osgood, Richard Mayberry,
Thomas Trott.
The price of labor.was fixed at $50.00 per day and oxen the same. For the use of a plow $25.00 per day.
July 14, 1781, it was voted that the town will abide by the agreement the committee shall make for 3 men to go into the Continental army, and 60 pounds was appropriated for beef and Paul Little, Ezra Brown and Richard Mayberry were appointed to purchase it "as cheap as possible." The state tax for 1781 was 949 pounds, 6 shillings, and Abraham Osgood was the town treasurer. Aug. 27, 1781, 20 pounds was voted to provide clothing for the sol- diers; 4 shillings 8 pence was to be the price per yard for all wool cloth, after it was fulled for blanketing and made into blankets, 12 shillings for a cotton or linen shirt containing 316 yards, 12 shillings for a pair of shoes made well. of good leather, and 6 shillings for a pair of good stockings. At least four blankets were sent to the army this year.
With all these troubles on hand they appointed Capt. Richard Mayberry agent to meet the agents of the neigh- boring towns about fishways in the Presumpscot river dams.
Jan. 28, 1782. William Elder was ap- pointed the agent of the town to pro- cure one
Continental soldier to fill their quota. March 1. three soldiers were sent into the Continental army for three years and May 31. 173 pounds was voted to pay the soldiers.
At the March town meeting the prices for work on highways was re- duced to hard money and 4 shillings was set for a day's work for men or oxen. 2 shillings for a plow. At this meeting 40 shillings was offered for wolves' heads. They
also voted t) sell the old fort at public vendue; the old block house where they had gath- ered together in alarms and had lived many a year: their place of refuge and strength in times of trouble. They
's though:
IO
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
grown its protection. At the same meeting more money was appropriated for the soldiers. Paul Little was the
town treasurer for the year 1782 and 1783.
The old fort was located nearly in the centre of the ten acre lots, on No. 34, It being the highest elevation and is Anderson land now. The building was 50 feet square. two stories high, with
walls one foot thick. built of hewn
hemlock timber with a tier of port holes. The upper story projected over the lower about a foot. It had a flattish roof and there were two flank- ers or watch boxes at diagonal cor-
ners, twelve feet square, the same
height as the main building and in each was mounted a swivel gun. About thirty feet from the fort was a stock- ade, made of twelve inch logs. sixteen feet long, set in the ground and bound together at the middle and top with oak timbers. Through this there was one gate or door and here stood a nine pound gun to defend the only entrance. The fort was built in 1744 with the one hundred pounds appropriated by the General Court for the defence of the frontier towns when the war was de- clared between France and England. Then a French war meant also an In- dlan war.
How soldiers were raised in the towns for the Continental army, in 1782, is of considerable interest in the history of the war. The modus oper- andi was for the government of the Commonwealth to assign each town their quota, under a call for troops, and the Treasurer General would send that demand to the selectman and with it the following order:
"Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
The Honorable Henry Gardner, Esq .: Treasurer and Receiver General of said Commonwealth.
To the Selectmen or Assessors of the Town of Windham. Greeting, &c .:
In obedience to a Resolution of
the Commonwealth aforesaid, of the Eighth of March, 1782, these are in the Name of said Commonwealth to will and require you forthwith to assess the Sum of One Hundred and Forty Eight Pounds, 3 shillings, 4 pence on the deficient Class or Classes in your Town or Plantations, being the average Price of the Cost of rais- ing the slen to supply the Deficiency of the Massachusetts Line of the Ar- my, agreeable to a Notification of his Excellency the Governor and Council of sald Commonwealth, transmitted to the Treasurer of said Commonwealth,
bearing date of March, 1782, in Pur- suance of the Resolve aforesaid, to- gether with twenty per cent added thereto; You are likewise required to levy on each Class deficient as afor ?- said, Two per Cent on said Line, as a Fee for the Constable or Collector to defrey the Expense of collecting the same; Which List or Lists, when com- pleted according to Law, you are to de- liver to the Collector or Collectors. Constable or Constables of your Town or Plantation: and make Return to me of the Name or Names of the said Con- stable or Constables, Collector or Col- lectors, together with the Sum or Sums to them respectively committed to col- lect, within Five Days from the Date hereof.
Hereof you are not to fail, as you will answer your Neglect at the Peril of the Law.
Given under my Hand and Seal at Boston, the- -Day of March, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty two, in the Seventh Year of American Inde- pendence.
H. Gardner."
On receipt of the above, the assess- ors divided the tax payers into the same number of classes as the number of soldiers were called for that had
not been furnished
and made up a
tax list for the amount necessary for one soldier, then appointed a head for the class to whom the tax list was committed for collection. One of those lists came into my possession some years since of which the follow- ing is a copy:
"Cumberland ss. To Josiah Chute of
Windham in said County, you are hereby appointed head of a class in said Windham aforesaid for procur- ing Soldiers for the Continental army for three years or during the war of which the Following is A copy and you are required forthwith to notify the Persons nam'd in your Class who are residents in said Windham to a3- semble for Hireing A man which if you Neglect four days after Receiving this you will be subject to all the rost & Charge that may fall on said class in consequence of their not procuring a man as aforesaid in case your class after being duly notified by you shall refuse or neglect to hire a man as afors'd & deliver him to the muster
master until the Tenth day of April Instant they will be subject to a fine abril to the avrides prin that th ...
II
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
Man Cost with Twenty P Cet. added theirto you all so to make return to us of the names of the persons in Class who shall be deficient in paying his proportion for Hiring & Mustering sd man agreeable to the rule herewith given you in order that he may be as- ses'd for said deficiency with Ten
P Cet added thereto given under our
hands at Windham this 5 Day April 1782.
Abram Osgood, -David Barker,
Assessors of Windham."
Each Man's proportion 155-5-2
according to the late Tax Bill.
Head Class.
Chute, Josiah
1
1
5
3
Anderson, John
1
3
3
4
Barker, David
c]
5
3
6
0
Bodge, Benjamin
1
3
3
3
Bolton, William
3
10
17
9
Graffam, Caleb
1
7
13
10
Graffam, Caleb Jr.
1
1
17
10
Graffam, Enoch
1
1
12
10
Hall Estate,
5
12
7
t Hunnewell, Rich'd
1
2
11
1
Hutchinson, Sam'l
1
1
18
1
Hawks, Ebenezer
1
4
13
5
Hawks, Amos
Jones, Elamual
1
1
18
9
Kennard, Elijah
1
2
10
1
Legro, Ellias
1,
2
14
3
Lowell, Joshua
2
3
5
11
Knights, Will'm
3
10
12
7
Lord, Charles
1
2
17
10
Muckford, Robt. Jr.
1
1
11
S
Meabary, John
2
6
17
Meaberry, Will'm
C
5
18
2
Manchester, Stephn
1
2
3
5
Winship, Gersham
1
2
15
4
Mitchell, Robert
1
1
17
0
Robinson, John
1
9
1
10
Stephens, Jonathan
2
7
13
Blaney, Joseph Esqr.
2
13
5
8
Hunawell, Zerubable
1
9
16
11
Hanson, Jonathan
1
t -
14
9
Elder, Will'm Jr.
1
10
0
Young, John
1
2
8
1
Polls,
43
155
2
"Each Man's proportion of what the Soldier Cost Proportioned same man- ner."
The Committee of Correspondence and Safety for 1783 were:
Zerubbabel Hunnewell, ) David Barker,
Thomas Barker.
Thomas Barker was elected to the General Court and he promised to ask no wages of the town except what they would be pleased to give him.
The war was now over. Cornwalll;
had surrendered at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781, which ended hostilities. The preliminary treaty of peace was pro- claimed April 19, 1783, and the treaty was signed the next September. The news that must have given the groit- est satisfaction was that Great Brit- ain had acknowledged our inde- pendence, Nov. 30, 1782. Then there were happy days in Windham; the re- turn of the soldiers and their own un- disturbed days to develope their farms. Then they had the satisfaction of feel- ing that the town had done its full duty, through those long eight years of anxiety, although it had come out with an empty treasury and had many outstanding obligations to be met.
Windham had no men at Lexington, Concord or Bunker Hill, but her sons served at Falmouth Neck and through the Seige of Boston under Gen. Wash- ington. They marched to reinforce the Northern army in 1776 and garrisoned Dorchester Heights that year. They were in the retreat from Fort Ticon- deroga in 1777 and fought in the battles of Hubbardton, Stillwater and Sarato- ga and witnessed the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne's army. They guarded the Burgoyne prisoners at Cambridge in 1778, marched to Rhode Island in the alarms, were at Quaker Hill and rein- forced the army on the Hudson river at Peekskill. They spent the winter of 1777-8 at Valley Forge where there were no greater heroes than they, and fought in the desperate battle of Mon- mouth on that terrible hot day of June 28, 1778. They were in the Bagaduce ex- pedition, in 1779, and the next year. served, under Gen. Peleg Wadsworth. guarding the Maine coast. Some sons of the town may have served in
the south during the last of
the war and been at Yorktown at the end, but no name has yet come under my notice. The town had soldiers in the service When the army was disbanded in 1783. There is much that has not been told but enough is known to show that Windham has an enviable record in the Revolutionary war.
The following is a list of soldiers, during the war, who called Windham their home. The time of service is that that has been found on the pay rolls to their credit. There may be more and no doubt is more service lue them, in many cases. We do not cou- sider this list complete as we think that . there may be others who were proud to sign the rolls as of the town. Nasty all aro Windham names of that
10
Bodge, John
1
6
0
12
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
time.
Lieut. Edward Anderson, 12 mos., 17 days service.
John Anderson, 11 mos .. 6 days service. Lieut. David Barker, 17 days service.
Ebenezer Barton, 42 mos. service.
Benjamin Bodge, 6 days service.
Thomas Bodge, 3 mos., 17 days service. Thomas Bolton. 2 mos., 10 days service. William Bolton, 5 days service.
Amos Brown, 3 years man, killed at Hubbardton.
Amos Brown, Jr., 24 mos. service.
William Campbell. 26 days service. r Eleazer Chase, 36 mos. service.
Nathaniel Chase, 9 mos., 10 days ser- vice.
Joseph Chesley, 5 days service.
James Chute, 7 mos., 22 days service.
Josiah Chute, 46 mos., 5 days service.
Thomas Chute, 11 mos., 17 days ser- vice.
Thomas Crague, 13 days service.
Daniel Crockett, about S mos. service.
George Crockett, 11 days service.
Philip Davis, three years man.
Ensign Richard Dole, 3 years service
as private and corporal.
Isaac Elder, 2 mos., 15 days service.
John Elder, 4 mos., 24 days service.
Joseph Elder, 11 mos. service.
William Eider, 4 mos., 10 days service.
Chase Elkins, 4 mos. service. William Elkins, 5 days service Jacob Eliott, 7 mos., 29 days service.
Jedidiah Eliott was a pensioner.
Nathan Gamman, 2 mos. service.
Caleb Graffam, Jr., S mos., 2 days ser- vice. Enoch Graffam, 50 mos., 13 days ser- vice.
Enoch Hall, 3 years man.
Job Hall, 4 years, 712 mos. service.
Lieut. Ichabod Hanson, 7 mos .. 24 days service.
Isaac Hardy, 5 days service.
Stephen Harris, 3 mos., 11 days service. Eli Herbert, 3 years man.
Moses How, 4 mos., 21 days service.
Elijah Hunnerwell, 11 days service.
Richard Hunnerwell, 2 mos., 10 days service.
Richard Hutchinson, 5 days service.
Samuel Hutchinson, 4 mos., 4 days ser- vice.
Nicholas Hughes, 3 years man.
James Jordan, 3 years man.
George Knight, 9 mos., 17 days service.
Samuel Knight, 24 mos., 14 days ser- vice.
Capt. William Knight, 16 days service. He was also a major of militia.
Charles Legro, 5 days service. Elias Legro, 3 years man. Theoph Legro, 3 years man.
Charles Lord, about 51% mos. service. Samuel Lord, 15 mos., 16 days service. John Loring, S mos. service. Stephen Lowell. 10 mos. service. Gershon Manchester, 26 days service. Stephen Manchester, 49 mos. service. Stephen Manchester, Jr., sent from
Valley Forge to the hospital at Read- ing where he died Jan. 5, 1778. David P. Mayberry, 16 mos., 5 days service.
James Mayberry, 2 mos., 17 days ser- vice.
John Mayberry, 7 mos. service.
Capt. Richard Mayberry,. 39 mos., 12 days servive.
Richard Mayberry, Jr., 39 mos. ~ orvice. Richard Mayberry, 2d., 5 days service. Thomas Mayberry, about 20 mos. ser- vice.
William Mayberry, son of Capt. Rich- ard, 3 years man.
William Mayberry, son of John, 26 days service.
Robert Martin. a pensioner.
John Mathews. 4 days service.
Robert Millions. 3 years man.
John Mugford, 2 mos., 17 days service.
James Pray, 5 days service.
Richard Preston, 20 mos. service.
Joseph Roberts. 19 mos., 17 days service.
James Rines, 3 years man. Taken prisoner at Hubbardton July 7, 1777. Lonon Rhode, " a free negro," 3 years man, and died in the army Dec. 9,
1777.
Joseph Swett, 5 days service.
John Swett, about 316 years service. Peter Smith, (a negro) 43 mos. George Teshary, served, probably. 13 mos., 7 days.
Joseph Thompson. 3 years man.
Samuel Toben. 9 mos., 17 days service.
Mathew Toben, 7 mos. service.
Stephen Tripp. about 41 mos. service.
Benjamin Trott, 9 mos., 17 days ser- vice.
Capt. Thomas Trott of the town com- pany.
Edward Webb. 3 years man.
Eli Webb. 5 days service.
John Winship, 7 mos., 26 days service. Caleb Young, 4 mos., 12 days service.
A total of 91 soldiers. In addition to the above were the following:
John Knight "of Windham" enlisted at Gorham.
It is not known who he was. Smith says that the colored men. Flanders and Romeo served three years in the army but we cannot veri- fy the statement. He also gives the names of Richard Thurrell, Hczeklah TI .! I.
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
13
Small, Samuel Chandler, Stephen
Hutchinson and William Hardy as three years' men, whom we cannot now say were Windham men. He also gives Joseph Hutchinson, John Young. and Abraham Anderson as serving less than three years, which should be ver- ified. In Capt. Wentworth Stuart's
Co., in Col. Edmund Phinney's Regt.
of 1775, appears the name of John Young of Pearsontown. now Standish. which is doubtless the above. He was in the 18th Continental Regt. the next year.
There were three Quaker soldiers who came to Windham, after the war. as follows: Noah Reed came from Attleboro, Mass. He served in five dif- ferent companies 10 mos .. 7 days.
Lemuel Horton came from Milton. Mass., to Portland and then to Wind- ham. He served in nine different
companies 23 mos., 20 days. Rufus Horton, his brother, served 24 mos .. 10 days, in ten different companies, com- mencing when he was but sixteen. He was wounded in the wrist and re- tired from the service with the rank of sergeant major.
Other Revolutionary soldiers who went to Windham after the war were: Jonah Austin enlisted at Falmouth
and served 3 1-2 years in the army. He lived near the Ireland school dis- trict.
Jonathan Knight enlisted at Fal- mouth and was a 3 years' man. He moved to the town of Otisfield.
John Farrow, Jr., moved away from Windham sometime before the be- ginning of the war to the town of Bristol, Me., where his four boys, Windham born and raised, went into the army.
Peter Graffam, another Windham boy, went into the army from New Gloucester, because he was then living there.
Josiah Starling, born in Windhamn. went into the army from Bristol, Maine. Thomas Manchester, the first child born in the township, moved in- to New Hampshire and joined a regi- ment there. John Manchester, a half brother of Stephen. moved from Wind- ham about 1762, was in the capture of the Margaretta at Machias, in 1775. and he afterwards served in the army. There are, no doubt, other sons of Windham who did gallant service in the war, but we do not claim them as the town's soldiers, only those who are known as residents then. It is not necessary.
The above list of Revolutionary sol-
diers, who went from Windham, is re- markabie from the fact that it num- bers about the same as the males ef
the town Who were liable for a poll tax. Not the number of enlistments. but the number of different soldiers. These men all claimed Windham for their home. Many men were but noys then. Here is a sample. An cnlist- ment roll says "Thomas Chute, age, 16 years, statue. 5 feet 4 ins., dark com- plexion." Few towns can furnish a better record than this in the people's struggle for their independence. Smith says: "The number enrolled at any one time in the town's company did not amount to fifty-five, of whom more than thirty were known to be out in the Continental service and the service of the state, at one time, and er- during the war seventy-one formed service in the Continental ariny and drafted militia, being sixteen more than the number enrolled at any
time, forty of whom served three years in the army." This is additional to those who served in the militia in answering alarms, not drafted.
In the possession of the Maine His- torical society are two original pay rolls of Capt. Richard Mayberry's company for December. 1778. This
was the next winter after that spent at Valley Forge. The pay of the men was as follows:
Captain. 12 pounds per month.
Lieutenant, 8 pounds per month. Ensign, 6 pounds per month.
Sergeants, 3 pounds per month.
Corporals, 2 pounds, + sh. per month. Drum and Fife, 2 pounds, 4 sh. per month.
Privates, 2 pounds per month.
Opposite Capt. Mayberry's name is written, "On furlough, Sept. 11th, by his Excellency Genl. Washington without limit." Washington evidently had much confidence in the Windham captain. The regiment was then at West Point. Nicholas Hughes is re- ported sick at Valley Forge.
James Jordan, it says, is "on com- mand at the Lines."
Robert Millions was "on furlough by Gen. Patterson, Nov. 19th, for 90 days." John Swett was" on command at the Line."
Peter Smith was "sick in ye Hospit- al at Hartford."
Corp. Ebenezer Barton was "on fur- lough for 90 days by Gen. Patterson." He and Millions probably came home to Windham and. po doubt. walked nearly all the way.
.
14
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
Joseph Thompson is reported 'On Duty.'
Thomas Chute was there all right,
a nine months' man. Other men of
Windham, for the same time, were
David Mayberry and Benjamin Trott. These nine months' men went into the service in June 1778.
Josiah Chute was a sergeant and
had enlisted in the 11th Mass. Reg't. Jan. 1, 1777, for 3 years. He was struck in the shoulder by a musket ball, in the battle of Hubbardton, July 7, 1777, and was taken prisoner by the British. from whom he escaped, and after wan- dering two weeks in the woods got into our lines. He was in command of the company, when the rolls were
made, and brought them home with him. His discharge from the army is written on back of one, which is as follows:
"Head Qurs. Robinson House.
Pickskills Dec 12th 1779.
Serjant Josiah Chute of the Ele,- enth Massachusetts Regt. having Bon Represented as a faithful Soldier ho has Ben wounded in Battle and by ren- dered unfit for Duty has Leave of 1'>- sence from Camp until the first Day of January next in the year 1780 a3 Majr Knap has reported that the Time for which said Chute Engaged to Serve in the Army will Expire on the 1st of January next. He is not required again to Join his Regiment but to re- ceive this as discharge from the army of the United States of America as fully s if it was given After his Time of service had Expired.
By Command of Majr Genl Heath
The Cartwright Ade De Camp."
When Governor John A. Andrew,
the town's most famous son, visited Windham in 1862. he re- ferred to three of the Revo- lutionary soldiers, in his speech, there. He said-"Noah Reed whose heart and hat were big enough to cover the whole town," and then "But I must mention two more men, who should never be omitted-these two old soldiers of the Revolution, Josiah Chute and John Swett, venerable when first I knew them yet Intelligent and active. How many more were here, I cannot now rcol- lect. Many times and oft, on a pleas- ant morning like this, have I rode with my mother and listened to the stories of events in which they took a part." How much they influenced that boy, in his own patriotism, will never he known.
Capt. Mayberry and Corporal Ebe-
nezer Barton, of his company, both went through the battles and exposure of army life and returned to their
homes at Windham and both were
killed, afterwards, by falling trees.
Capt. Mayberry's
grave is on Leach
Hill, Casco, and his son William's is on Mayberry Hill in the same town. both of which were visited by me sev- eral years since.
Barton's two great grandsons, Ste- pren T., and Frank C. Morton, both killed in battle and both giving their
lives for the same old flag, to restore
the same Union their ancestor had helped to establish, is a lesson in Wind- ham patriotism. Their bodies were brought back to the old town and ten- derly laid near their Revolutionary an- cestor's grave, where they will prob- ably never be forgotten. Scripture says: "Greater love hath no man than this. that a man lay down his life for his friends.'
Jonah Austin was buried on his farm, but which of the little cluster of graves was his, is uncertain. John Swett and Josiah Chute lie near each other in the Chute grave yard, their graves being well marked. Chute has a handsome marble monument. Lieut. Edward Anderson was buried at Wind- ham Hill and has a durable slate stone at his grave. Lieut. Ichabod Hanson's grave is in the Hanson yard and has a suitable stone. Stephen Manchester was buried in the Knight grave yard, near Dutton Hill, and although he did a great service for the settlers, his grave has no stone to tell its occupant. It should not he so. In the Smith Grave Yard, at South Windham, were buried John Elder, James Mayberry John Mayberry and Capt. Thomas Trott. In this enclosure is also the grave of Capt. Caleb Graffam one of the heroic men of Windham, both in the Indian wars and the Revolution. He died in 1784, aged 3 years. His
epitaph is "Depart dear friends, dry up your tears, my dust lies here till
Christ appears." There were many others of our Revolutionary sires bur- ied in the town, some of their graves known but many forgotten. These notes may rot be of particular interest to every one, but each soldier's record is dear to those who are now their pos - terity. Time ripens such facts. It has been written-"He that is not proud
of his ancestors, either has no ances- tors to be proud of, or else he's a de- generate son."
The Quakers were a considerable element in Windham during the war
1568158
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
15
of the Revolution. They believed in
peace and would not bear arms, but
they, no doubt, aided in relieving the
sufferings of the soldiers and their
families, and, in the bottom of their hearts, hoped for thesuccess of theirown people's cause. My great grandfather. Benjamin Goold, may serve as an ex- ample, because I know the facts in his case. He joined the society long be- fore the war, when he lived in Eliot. Me. His brothers, Daniel and Alexan- der were brave soldiers of the Revolu- tion and his wife, Phebe Noble.had two brothers, Reuben and Nathan Jr .. in the army from Gray. Her father. Na- than Noble, was a veteran of three wars and was killed during the battie of Saratoga, in the 11th Mass. Regt. in his fifty-fifth year. My grandfather was born the next spring after his
death and his mother named him for his grandfather. When he grew up he was a soldier and commanded the Windham company through the 1$12 war. He had a grandson in the Rebel- lion and a great grandson in the late Spanish war. It needs no words of mine to tell where Benjamin Goold's heart was during the Revolutionary war, Quaker or no Quaker.
Those townsmen who served as se-
lectmen during the war deserve our warmest praise. They were the hus- iness men of the town and managed 'he affairs as only patriots can. Any Jis- tory of Windham during the war
would be incomplete witho' t their names. They were as follows:
Edward Anderson,
1781.
David Barker,
1775, 1776.
Ezra Brown,
1783.
Caleb Graffam. 1779, 1780.
Ichabod Hanson, 1775, 1776.
William Knight, 1777, 1782.
Paul Little, 1779, 1781.
Jonathan Loveitt, 1780, 1781.
Abraham Osgood. 1777, 1778, 1782.
Daniel Pettingall,
1777, 1782. 1783.
Timothy Pike, 1778, 1779.
Gershom Rogers, 1783.
Thomas Trott, 1775, 1776, 1778, 1780.
The town clerks were:
Richard Dole, 1775, 1776 and 1783.
Edward Anderson, 1777, 1782.
The women of the town, during the war, we must not pass by, for they had stout hearts and were constant allies in the struggle for their country's lih- erty. They, in the darkest hours, ut-
tered words of encouragement. furnished examples of devotion and spun, wove and sewed for the comfort of the soldiers, as only those can whose hearts are in their work. They sollt
their husbands and sons into the army would have been difficult had it been otherwise. There was no division of interest with the sons of the town and there is none in the glory of their achievements.
Windham emerged from the long ex- hausting war of the Revolution impov- erished beyond what can now he re- alized. They had built the foundation for our success and the liberty we en- joy and were themselves satisfied with the work. They were heavily in debt. but although. at first, they were some- what uneasy as to the prospects of ever paying the cost, they met their responsibilities like men. After the war the town grew and the settlement of the whole township was consumated. as far as is seen now.
When the war of 1812. came on. the sons of the Revolutionary patriots of Windham shirked no responsibility. although it was not a war of their choosing. In 1814. when the militia was called out for the defense of Portland. Capt. Nathan Goold's company re- ceived their orders at nine o'clock at night and the next morning, at nine. they were on Munjoy Hill. in Portland. armed and equipped ready for anv service they might be called upon to perform. In the Rebellion, the grand- sons and great grandsons felt the blood of their fathers quicken in their veins and the town met the demands upon it with spirit. to battle for the same old flag. A glance over the rolls show that the men had inherited the patriotism of their ancestors, for we find among the Windham men the names .- Mavberry, Manchester. Swett. Graffam. Knight. 'nilerson. Dole, Tripp. Legrow. Ellin't Elder, Bodge. Jordan. Little. Hall. Austin. Hanson. Pettingill. Lowell, and Brown. The Mayberrys, Man-
chesters, Littles, Lowells. Bodges. Knights and Legrows have their ren- resentatives among the honored dead from Windham in that Civil war.
This is a grand record for this. then border town of Windham, whose people had not themselves felt
the effects of any of the British
oppression. They were small in
numbers anđ poor in this world's
goods but they showed themselves people of principle. patriots in example and they illuminated their town's his- tory as long as the country shall exist.
A lesson of the Revolution is the so- licitude of our brave ancestors for the approval of their posterity in the work they were then undertaking. They ware cotting the engrandine annars. tions an example which they wisned
16
WINDHAM IN THE REVOLUTION.
them to follow, if they were called upon
and supported their families staking everything on the result. The end to do so. seems rather pitiful, to
us now, to think of the interest those
homespun men took in the generations. then unborn, that they might have more opportunities than they them- selves had ever enjoyed. Those patriots builded better than they knew and their memories deserve well of us who
are reaping the benefit of the results
of their lives. This calls to our minds the cost of this government of ours. More than a million lives have been already sacrificed and billions of mon- ey spent, beside the human suffering incident from wars. to make our coun- try what it is today. Is it a wonder, when itsexistence is threatened. that the patriotic people rise up to defend it to the end? The spirit of their fathers is in them.
1
1922
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