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0181676
DATE MICROF CHED October 25 10 34
F.F .: JEST and
ZLIB 7-105 6046775. 3775
.
MISCELLANEOUS
REVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENTS
OF
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Including the Association Test, the Pension Rolls, and Other Important Papers
VOL. 30 STATE PAPERS SERIES
ALBERT STILLMAN BATCHELLOR, Litt. D. Editor of State Papers
us can 9/4.2 V. 30
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF UTAH 14568 Oct. 1931
MANCHESTER, N. H. PRINTED YOR THE STATE BY THE JOHN B. CLARKE CO.
1910
904.2
FAMILY HISTORY I IND.
35 NORTH WEST TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 8415
-
94111
JOINT RESOLUTION relating to the preservation and publication of portions of the early state and provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened :
That His Excellency the Governor be hereby authorized and empowered, with the advice and consent of the Council, to employ some suitable per- son-and fix his compensation, to be paid out of any money in the treas- ury not otherwise appropriated-to collect, arrange, transcribe, and super- intend the publication of such portions of the early state and provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire as the Governor may deem proper; and that eight hundred copies of each volume of the same be printed by the state printer, and distributed as follows: namely, one copy to each city and town in the state, one copy to such of the public libraries in the state as the Governor may designate, fifty copies to the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the remainder placed in the custody of the State Librarian, who is hereby authorized to exchange the same for similar publications by other states.
Approved August 4, 1881.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
To whom it may concern:
This writing witnesseth that I, John McLane, Governor, in accordance with the provisions of the Joint Resolution relating to the preservation and publication of portions of the early provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire, approved August 4, 1881, and by virtue of the authority thereof do hereby authorize Albert S. Batchellor, as Editor of State Papers, and on behalf of the state, to collect, arrange, transcribe, and superintend the publication of the original articles of agreement en- tered into and subscribed by citizens of New Hampshire in the several towns, by the signatures to which those who espoused the cause of inde- pendence, and those who refused to do so, are indicated and distinguished, these papers being known as the Association Test. The material above described shall all be included in a single volume, which shall be in con- struction and appearance, as nearly as may be, uniform with volume 29 of the State Papers series.
There shall be included in said work such explanatory notes, citations, tables of contents, indexes, introductory statements, and supplemental papers, to be made a part of the volume, as may be deemed useful and appropriate.
This I deem proper to be done, and these instructions are given in ac- cordance with the authority vested in me, as Governor, by the provisions of the joint resolution relating to the preservation and publication of portions of the state and provincial records and other state papers of New Hampshire, approved August 4, 1881.
Given under my hand, in triplicate, at Concord, this 21st day of December, 1906.
JOHN McLANE, Governor.
CONTENTS
Introduction .
Page vii
Association Test
1-168
New Hampshire Men on the Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls 169-198
New Hampshire Pension Roll, 1835 199-390
New Hampshire Pension Roll, 1840 ยท 391-434
Major John Brown's Detachment, Green Mountain Boys
435-447
Men of Colonel Bedel's Regiment Surrendered at The Cedars, 1776 448-452
Miscellaneous Rolls and Documents 453-539 .
Index
543
CORRECTIONS
On page 173 the item "Lieutenant-Colonel" should be omitted, and the totals corrected accordingly.
On page 177 the name of Aaron Cleveland of Canterbury, Lieutenant- Colonel, should be omitted, as he was probably of Canterbury, Conn.
On page 424 the name Sarah Bowen should be Sarah Bowers.
1
INTRODUCTION
The original documents which constitute the basis of treatises ou the relations of New Hampshire to the American Revolution have never been systematically and comprehensively assembled. It is not possible to set bounds to such a collection. It necessarily extends back into a comparatively remote antiquity, and collaterally into the archives of other states, of the Federal government, and of other nations, and into the accumulations of manuscripts and records in a large and con- stantly increasing number of private, municipal, and educational libra- ries. Much has been accomplished in recent years in the organization, cataloguing, and description of these collections. This state has pub- lished extensive installments of its archives and related documents, in which the facts that should be sought for a narrative of the part per- formed by its people in this important epoch are made apparent.
In this connection an outline of what has been published is not inappropriate.
The journals of the five Revolutionary conventions, in the con- temporary records described as "Congresses," appear in volume ? of the State Papers series. Early in 1776 the fifth Provincial Congress reported and adopted a state constitution, the first promulgated by any American colony in the Revolutionary period, and on that as a basis caused a government to be organized and established. 8 N. H. State Papers, 2; Journal of the Continental Congress, 1775, p. 319. It was the expectation that this government would be temporary. Such was the result, although an attempt to adopt a more permanent form of constitution in 1778 was a conspicuous failure. Manual of the Con- stitution of New Hampshire, p. 71. The constitution of 1776 served its purpose until that of 1784 was adopted and put into operation. In this important period were preserved the journals of the Council, which corresponded to the present Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Committee of Safety, which exercised extensive legislative and exec-
vii
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INTRODUCTION
utive powers when the legislature was not in session. The journals of the Council and the House of Representatives from 1774 to 1784 appear in the printed volume in the form of abstracts which show a diminishing degree of fulness in transcription to the end of the period named.
It is due to the department which had in charge this work to state that this system of abstracts in place of a complete presentation of the records, according to the original purpose of the editor, was the result of the compulsory application of false ideas of economy in the prose- cution of this work. It is estimated that six volumes of ordinary size would have presented the journals in full, and would have thus ren- dered all that is now buried in manuscript volumes imperfectly indexed conveniently accessible for general investigation. This estimate in- cludes, of course, the journal of the Committee of Safety as an essential feature. This record has been printed in volume 7 of the Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society, but it is believed that eventu- ally it will find place in the State Papers series, which will continue the publication in full of the journals from 1754 to 1784, heretofore printed in abstract only.
The controversy over the right of jurisdiction, which involved Ver- mont as the principal, and New Hampshire and New York as interested parties, was to New Hampshire a constant source of danger and distrac- tion from the duty of performing a full part in the contest with Great Britain. A part of the population in the counties bordering on the Connecticut river held aloof from the New Hampshire Revolutionary government, and refused to recognize it as lawful, from the time of the adoption of the constitution of 1776 to the determination of the con- troversy by the intervention of Washington in January, 1782. 10 N. H. State Papers, 462. At times the movement was towards an inde- pendent state, which was to include territory on both sides of the river. At other times it tended towards a union of a part of Vermont with New Hampshire, or the annexation of a considerable part of this state io Vermont. The issue was a troublesome one in Congress, where Vermont was at a considerable disadvantage in having no representa- tion. This condition of affairs was the occasion for the celebrated Haldimand correspondence, from which it is a reasonable inference that certain popular leaders in Vermont had by astute diplomacy made it
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INTRODUCTION
appear to Governor Haldimand that it might not be for the futuro interests of Great Britain for him to allow destructive British warfare in the territory of Vermont. 2 Coll. Vt. Hist. Soc. The documents relating to the conflicting claims of jurisdiction over the region formerly known as the New Hampshire Grants are somewhat voluminous, and constitute part of the English and Canadian archives, as well as those of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The first New Hampshire collection of the documents relating to this subject which could be regarded as comprehensive was edited by Dr. Bouton, and published in volume 10 of this series. In volume 26 the charters of townships and grants of lands to individuals by Governor Benning Wentworth, west of the Connecticut river, were printed in full, with appropriate notes. Four hundred copies were purchased and distributed by the state of Vermont. The late Hon. Hiram A. Huse, State Libra- rian of Vermont, cooperated with the editor of the volume in the preparation of the material. The controversies which had their origin in the events outlined in the editor's preface to volume 26 culminated in the period of the American Revolution, and projected upon that struggle a perplexing and dangerous complication. Its historical im- portance has been made more apparent by the modern presentation o' the documents relating to it in a systematic and accessible form. State publications, however, have failed to reach what might constitute a very extensive supplement to the printed archives relating to the Ver- mont controversy.
The state of New Hampshire, in volumes 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the State Papers series, presented the rolls of the soldiers of the Revoki- tion in a form which was governed as nearly as possible by the rule of exact reproduction. It was wisely decided that the peculiarities of the original record should not be disregarded. The collection, arrange- ment and editorial labor required for the publication of these docu- ments was committed to the late Hon. Isaac W. Hammond, Editor of State Papers and Deputy Secretary of State. What he accomplished in this undertaking has met in a most satisfactory degree the exacting tests of time and use. Moreover, it will be observed that Mr. Ham- mond's collection was very nearly exhaustive of the available docu- mentary material. In 1791 a committee of the legislature, of which Jeremiah Smith was chairman, presented a report on the organizations
.
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INTRODUCTION
that were engaged in the military service for New Hampshire in the period of the war for independence. 9 N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., 415. A file of original New Hampshire Revolutionary rolls exists in the pension department at Washington, in an excellent state of preservation, except that two volumes are missing. No systematic investigation has yet been made to discover the personnel of New Hampshire service in the Continental Army. A notable deficiency exists in the absence of rolls of the thirty-one companies that were sent from New Hampshire in 1775 for the reinforcement of Washington's army at the siege of Bos- ton on the occasion of the inopportune withdrawal of the Connecticut contingent. A list of the officers of these companies has been preserved, and this indicates approximately the places from which they were drawn. A few rolls, mainly of Continental service, have come to light since the publication of Mr. Hammond's volumes, and are included in this collection.
It has been said that at the time of the Royalton raid of 1780 there were more New Hampshire men under arms than at any other period of the war. The rolls of companies, and almost all the other evidence of service of the organizations responding to this alarm, have disappeared. New Hampshire men were engaged in Gen. Jacob Bailey's Vermont brigade in 1777, and they were in the Massachusetts service in great numbers. Many of the latter are unquestionably identified. Research actuated and stimulated in recent years by various patriotic hereditary societies has doubtless added largely to the sum of exact knowledge of the men of the Revolution as members of family groups. The material that will be finally available for the history of New Hamp- shire in that period, a work yet to be written, is constantly, though slowly, coming into view, and is given appropriate place in the pub- lished archives of the state. Stevens's Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 1773-1783, are an invaluable contribution to the documentary literature which is becoming accessible in this country. It is to be regretted that New Hampshire historians of the time of the Revolution failed to appreciate the importance of their own view of the events of that great conflict, and of satisfactory character sketches of the principal actors. Dr. Belknap, whose history of New Hampshire will always rightly hold the highest place in litera- ture of its class, condenses his narrative of events leading to actual
xi
INTRODUCTION
hostilites into two chapters, thirty-two pages, while his story of the conflict itself occupies a single chapter of twenty pages. The next contribution to the documentary history of this period will necessitate a comprehensive examination of the archives of England, France, Ger- many, and the Canadian provinces. It is not to be expected that such an enterprise will ever be prosecuted by private effort and expenditure. In its importance, its character, and its scope it is manifestly govern- mental.
It is a fact too significant to be overlooked that in the Revolutionary movement in New Hampshire the espousal of a common cause was an individual affair, and the citizen, in his own person, constantly appears in the records as the declarant of his sentiments and intentions; and those who exercised the functions of leadership were thus enabled to stand upon a foundation of unmistakable support and cooperation on the part of the people. It did not appear to be admissible, from either the standpoint of the leaders or that of their followers, that there should be any possibility of misunderstanding as to the attitude, not only of the state and the town, but of each citizen in his individual capacity. Hence, if retaliation on the mother country was contemplated by refusal to purchase her exportations to America, the assent of the men of every town and parish was obtained over their individual signa- tures. New Hampshire's Five Provincial Congresses, by Joseph B. Walker, pp. 9, 10; The New Hampshire Covenant of 1774, by Joseph B. Walker. The actual identification of the people of the state as individuals and as a body politic was a subject of vital interest, and pre- saged consequences which could not be forescen or predicted. Again the men upon whom devolved the solemn duty of making effectual their declared political purposes were asked to announce their attitude, to espouse the cause of independence by subscribing to an instrument called the Association Test. One of these documents was provided for each town, and every male inhabitant of lawful age, except lunatics, idiots, and negroes, was given an opportunity to join in the compact. It was ordered that those who refused to sign were to be reported to the Assembly by name. A remarkable approach to unanimity marked the signing of this pledge throughout the state. The business of pro- curing signatures, and of reporting the names of those who refused to sign, was committed to the selectmen of each town. Either these
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INTRODUCTION
papers were not circulated in all the towns, or, what is more probable, many of them were not duly forwarded to the Assembly and were after- wards lost, as not all the towns are represented in the returns now pre- served in the archives. The total number of signers aggregates 8,567, and 781 refused to sign for various reasons. These papers are of ex- traordinary importance and value from every point of view. They are reprinted in this volume with scrupulous accuracy and completeness, and are carefully indexed.
The archives of this state relating to the period of the Revolution, as in other states, are susceptible of two divisions, though they are not absolutely separable and distinct. One of these divisions would include legislative proceedings, petitions, complaints, and explanations sub- mitted to the General Court, court proceedings and files relating to that part of the population now described as Royalists. A few of these documents necessarily appear in the general publications relating to the Revolution. The great mass of this class of records has been disre- garded, and they have thus become a particular section of the archives. Only one side is fully and fairly presented in print. The papers in the state's custody which relate exclusively to the Royalists are a counter- part of what appears in liberal measure in the publications of this de- partment, and which may be regarded as anti-Tory literature. No index to the Royalist documents has been provided. The records are, of course, largely personal and have never been comprehensively treated for publication. The Revolutionary archives of the state and of the courts contain the data for an exposition of the charges against those who were apprehended and prosecuted as Tories, the statements of individual offenses, and the answers and explanations of the parties.
The British government provided for the relief of those Royalists who had suffered loss of property or other injury supposed to be worthy of compensation. A commission was empowered to investigate the gen- eral subject, and to ascertain and report as to those deserving of relief. Persons represented to be members of this class, and entitled to the benefits of parliamentary legislation, were permitted to file their claims and proofs in form and method somewhat similar to that now in use in the Bureau of Pensions of the United States.
Two of the commissioners, Col. Thomas Dundas and Mr. Jeremy Pemberton, were sent to America to conduct hearings and to receive
xiii
INTRODUCTION
and consider evidence. These commissioners sat in Halifax, St. John, Quebec, and Montreal, and their work extended-over a period of four years, from 1785 to 1789. Their original rough notes, in thirty-five vol- umes, are now in the Library of Congress, and have been published in the report of the Ontario Bureau of Archives for 1904. Copies of all the completed records, reports, and documents of the entire commission, in- cluding both English and American hearings, were obtained some years ago by the New York Public Library, and are now accessible in that institution. These copies fill more than sixty folio volumes.
The New Hampshire State Library has secured from the English archives copies of all these papers that relate to the claimants from New Hampshire and Vermont. The documents that are now assembled in the archives and library of this state relating to those citizens who were suspected or accused of Royalist tendencies will afford sufficient material for a printed volume of the average size of those already published in the State Papers series. An impartial judgment of history may be ren- dered, although the evidence of one side is not presented, but this is a hazardous method of determining justice.
Otis G. Hammond, M. A., of the State Library, recently read a mono- graph on the Royalists of New Hampshire before the Social Science Club of Dartmouth College. This paper was exhaustive in research, and in all respects an admirable presentation of the subject. It is still unpublished, but will prove a singularly helpful and instructive treat- ment of an element in the early history of the state that has been too long neglected.
The Revolutionary rolls of Massachusetts have been treated on a different plan from that employed in New Hampshire. An alphabetical system was adopted, by which each soldier is given a separate paragraph, and all the essential items relating to his service follow his name. This results in an extensive biographical dictionary, and renders all the data concerning an individual immediately available, although the geo- graphical clues afforded by the names as grouped in the original rolls are lost. This publication occupies seventeen quarto volumes. New Hampshire men in large numbers served in Massachusetts organizations, and many of them are identified by residence. A list has been com- piled, and included in this volume, which contains the names of those who appear on the Massachusetts rolls as residents of the state of New
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INTRODUCTION
Hampshire beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt. There is no question that other men of New Hampshire were engaged in the Massachusetts service, whose identity as such is not made ap- parent by a statement of residence, or who are, on the rolls, assigned to Massachusetts towns. In other instances the record is ambiguous by reason of the existence of towns of the same name in both states. The list in this volume is not extended to include such problematical cases. In default of a clear statement of residence in a New Hampshire town, the identification of New Hampshire men must be left to local historians, genealogists, and other special investigators.
The United States published in 1835, in three volumes, a list of all pensioners who were then, or had previously been on the rolls of that department, and in 1841 another list of pensioners then living. A copy of these rolls, so far as they relate to New Hampshire, is included in this volume. These tables not only serve as a useful supplement to, and verification of the original rolls, especially on points of location and identification of men for whom service is claimed, but they indicate the extent to which those who participated in the war for independence continued to be an element in the population of the state. The volumes in which these pension rolls were originally published by the govern- ment have become very scarce, and, when found, their usefulness is greatly impaired by the lack of indexes.
In the early years of the war operations proceeding in two directions made it incumbent upon this state to raise a large number of troops, one part going to participate in the invasion of Canada, and another part to join General Washington's army, engaged in the siege of Bos- ton. There were, also, other, but less important calls to which the state responded. The regiment commanded by Colonel Bedel in 1775 was a part of the army then operating in Canada. The. next year the second regiment of which Colonel Bedel had command also became a part of the Continental Army in Canada. The surrender at The Cedars May 21, 1776, where a contingent was in command of Major Isaac But- terfield, in the absence of Colonel Bedel and Lieutenant-Colonel Waite, involved only a part of the regiment. The list of men included in the surrender, and named as members of various companies in this regiment, is taken from Force's American Archives, Fifth Series, volume 1, p. 167. This short list indicates that a large part of the regiment was
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INTRODUCTION
engaged elsewhere at the time of the surrender. Rolls of the regiment as enlisted and organized are printed in 14 N. H. State Papers, 285 et seq. A comparison of the surrender rolls with the enlistment rolls, to indicate those presumably engaged in other duty, affords a basis upon which another feature of the history of the regiment may be traced. Affair of the Cedars, and the Services of Col. Timothy Bedel in the War of the Revolution, by Edgar Aldrich, 3 Proc. N. H. Hist. Soc., 194.
The discovery of the rolls of a battalion commanded by Major John Brown, and recruited largely from this regiment, was recently made by Hon. Ezra S. Stearns, formerly Secretary of State. These documents are in the archives of New York, and prove an additional contribution by this state to the service of 1776. They are printed in full in this volume for the first time.
The archives of the province and state of New Hampshire in the past three hundred years have been subjected to many vicissitudes. In the earlier part of the province period they were transported from place to place with the recurring changes of political jurisdiction; they were scattered and mutilated; the residence of the custodian was burned; the capital was migratory before its final establishment at Concord. At the time of the reconstruction of the capitol in 1864 the archives were deposited for months in the unprotected galleries of the old building. Ancient documents, bearing rare autographs, were at the merey of preda- tory collectors and other vandals. It is possible that a partial explana- tion is here found for the occasional appearance of records and papers in private possession, which originally had place in the official custody of the state. By the labors of a lifetime the late Peter Force assembled a great collection of historical manuscripts, many of which were pub- lished in his American Archives. His accumulations were finally pur- chased by the Federal government. Many documents of his collection. published and unpublished, might advantageously be included hereafter . in the volumes to be issued by this department. The value of these papers may be indicated by the one published herewith.
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