USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 26
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In accordance with a long-established custom prevailing in many towns in New Hampshire, all the young men of the town who were married within the year next preceding the annual
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March election were entitled to the compliment of an election to the very honorable and responsible office of hog-reeve.
The forests of New Hampshire, at the time of its first settle- ment, and for many years after, abounded with deer. Both the skin and flesh of these animals being of great value to the set- tlers, laws were passed to prevent the killing of them at such seasons of the year as would tend to diminish their natural in- crease. By a Province Law enacted in 1741, it was made a crime to kill deer between the last day of December and the first day of August. An offender against this law was liable, on conviction, to a fine of ten pounds. If not able to pay the fine he might be sentenced to work forty days for the govern- ment for the first offence, and fifty days if he should offend a second time. It was made the duty of the town, at their annual March meeting, to choose two officers, known as deer- reeves or dcer keepers, to see that this law was observed and to aid in the prosecution for its violation, coupled with the au- thority to enter and search all places where they had cause to suspect that the skins or flesh of deer, unlawfully killed, had been concealed.
A Colony Law passed in 1719 provided for the erection an d regulation of houses of correction for the Province, designed for the keeping, correcting and setting to work "of rogues, vagabonds, common beggars, and lewd and idle persons." Such persons, on conviction before a justice of the peace or the court of sessions, were to be sent to the house of correction and set to work under the master or overseer of that institution. Upon his admission, the unlucky culprit was to be put in shackles, or to be whipped, not to exceed ten stripes, unless the warrant for his commitment otherwise directed. (Colonial Lares of 1718-1719.) Such was the New Hampshire tramp law one hundred and seventy years ago. By an Act of the Gen- eral Court in 1766, this Act for the maintenance of houses of correction was extended to towns, with the like powers and duties in respect to them, and coupled with the duty and au- thority to choose masters or overseers of them at the annual election.
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ROYAL PROVINCE.
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Prior to the war of the Revolution, the qualifications for voting at the town meetings varied with the object of such meetings. To be qualified to vote for town officers, the person offering his vote, as we have seen, was required to be a free- holder in the town, or if not a freeholder to have other taxable property of the value of twenty pounds. (Colonial Laws of 1719.) In the choice and settlement of a minister for the town and the fixing the amount of his salary, the right to vote, as we have also seen, was limited to the owners of real estate in the town. But notwithstanding this restriction, the taxes for the support of the minister were required to be assessed by the selectmen on the personal estate and polls in the town as well as on the real estate, in the same manner as taxes for all other town charges. (Colonial Laws, 1714.) In order to be competent to vote for a delegate to the General Court, the elector was re- quired to have property to the value of fifty pounds, and the candidate to be eligible to that office to be possessed of real estate to the value of three hundred pounds. (Colonial Laws, 1699.)
NOTCH OF WHITE MOUNTAINS.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVOLUTION, 1775-1783.
LEXINGTON - PORTSMOUTHI FORTIFIED - BUNKER HILL - GENERAL STARK - GENERAL REED - NOTTINGIIAM - MESHECH WEARE - HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - GOV. JOHN WENTWORTH - GEN. JOHN SULLIVAN - SIEGE OF BOSTON - EXETER IN 1776 - COMMITTEE OF SAFETY - BEN- NINGTON - STILLWATER -SARATOGA - FIRST SCHOOLMASTERS- KEENE RAID - FREEWILL BAPTISTS - SAMUEL LIVERMORE AND FAMILY - SLAV- ERY - NORTHFIELD - SHAKERS - CANTERBURY - GENERAL STARK.
T HE history of the Revolution, and the causes which led to that event, are properly treated in a more general history than this purports to be. The attention of the reader is called to the part taken by the people of the Province and State of New Hampshire in that struggle.
1 A convention was holden at Exeter, on the 25th of January, 1775, for the purpose of choosing delegates to the General Con- gress, which was to meet at Philadelphia the Ioth of May.
The British troops commenced hostilities by firing on the people collected at Lexington, in Massachusetts, the 19th of April. The news of this attack spread rapidly through the country.
The battle created great excitement in the province of New Hampshire. From the central and southern towns about four- teen hundred men, in independent companies and unorganized detachments, immediately marched to Cambridge. Runners were sent, by the provincial " Committee to call a Congress," to the several towns in the Province, to send delegates to a conven- tion to be holden at Exeter on the 21st of April, to consult for the general safety.
I Annals of Portsmouth.
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THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, APRIL 19, 1775.
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At this convention, Col. Nathaniel Folsom of Exeter was chosen brigadier-general, to command the troops that had gone or might go "from this government to assist our suffering brethren in the province of Massachusetts."
Meanwhile, formal notices had been given the towns to choose delegates to a convention, to be holden on the 17th of May at Exeter, and in this convention, on the 20th, it was voted to raise three regiments of troops, including those already in the field, to be commanded by Colonels John Stark, Enoch Poor, and James Reed. The term of service of the troops was to expire in December, 1775.
For the regiment commanded by Colonel Poor, afterwards designated as the IIth Continental Foot, Portsmouth con- tributed nearly a full company.
Colonel Poor's regiment was stationed on the seacoast from Ordiorne's Point to the Merrimack river until after the battle of Bunker Hill, when it was ordered to join the army besieging Boston.
The two forts constructed by the citizens of Portsmouth at the "Narrows" were earthworks, and armed with the heavy ordnance taken from Fort William and Mary, and were named in honor of Generals Washington and Sullivan.
As an additional security to the main harbor, a boom of masts and chains was thrown across the "Narrows," which was several times broken by the force of the current, until, finding it was impossible to obstruct the passage by this means, an old ship was sunk in the northern or main channel of the river.
Portsmouth met on the 20th of April to consider "what measures 'are most expedient to be taken at this alarming crisis." They recommended every man to furnish himself with a good firelock, bayonet, powder, and balls, and every other requisite for defence; "that they form themselves into com- panies, and obtain what instruction they can in the military art : that one hundred be enlisted, and properly equipped to march at a minute's warning ; that they divide themselves into two companies of fifty men each, choose their own officers, and enter into such agreements as that the strictest subordination
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and discipline be preserved among them." They then chose a committee " to consult with the provincial committee and adopt such measures as they shall judge necessary." They voted to use their utmost endeavors to keep up good order and peace in the town, to support all civil officers, and "pay ready obedience to the law, to avoid the horror and confusion which a contrary conduct may produce." And as groundless reports and false rumors had prevailed, that the person or property of his Ex- cellency John Wentworth was in danger, it was unanimously voted, " that we, the inhabitants of this town, will use our utmost endeavors to prevent any insult being offered to his person or dignity, and that we will take every method in our power to assist and support him in the due and legal exercise of his authority." A committee was chosen to wait upon the governor with the above vote.
Governor Wentworth still retained the hope that all difficul- ties between the two countries might be adjusted ; and in his speech to the Assembly on the 4th of May he desired them to adopt " such measures as might tend to secure their peace and safety, and effectually lead to a restoration of the public tran- quillity and an affectionate reconciliation with the mother country." He laid before them Lord North's conciliatory pro- position. The House requested a short adjournment, to give them an opportunity to consult their constituents, to which the governor consented, and adjourned them to the 12th of June.
The Scarborough, ship of war, commanded by Captain Bar- clay, lay in Portsmouth harbor, and had dismantled the fort. She seized two vessels laden with provisions, which were com- ing into the harbor. The inhabitants remonstrated against this proceeding, and the governor solicited Captain Barclay to release them ; but he refused, and sent them to Boston under convoy of the Canseau, for the use of the King's forces there. A body of armed men, irritated by these proceedings, brought off from the battery at Jerry's Point, on Great Island, twenty- eight cannon of twenty-four and thirty-two pounders, which they safely landed in Portsmouth.
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1 The battle of Bunker Hill opened wide the breach between Great Britain and the Colonies, and rendered American Inde. pendence inevitable.
The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston.
The hastily constructed earthworks on Breed's Hill forewarned . the assailants that every ridge might serve as a fortress, and every sand-hill become a cover, for a persistent and earnest foe.
The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earth- works. These were wholly defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and not, at first, as cover for a regular siege approach against the island post. They soon became a direct agency to force the garrison to look to the sea alone for supplies or retreat.
Open war against Great Britain began with this environment of Boston. The partially organized militia responded promptly to call.
The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord and Lexington had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body of patriots, that they demanded offensive action and grew impa- tient for results. Having dropped fear of British troops, as such, they held a strong purpose to achieve that complete de- liverance which their earnest resistance foreshadowed.
Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring which made the occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The fancied invincibility of British dis- cipline went down before the rifles of farmers ; but the quicken- ing sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those historic ex- pressions of human will and faith which, under deep sense of wrong incurred and rights imperilled, overmasters discipline, and has the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing passion became overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under similar conditions, could have. resisted the movement.
I General H. B. Carrington in the Granite Monthly.
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The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations of the parties in interest.
The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the colonies .. The actual policy, and its physical demonstrations, repelled and did not conciliate.
Threats and blows towards those not deemed capable of re- sistance were freely expended. Operations of war, as against an organized and skilful enemy, were ignored. But the lega- cies of English law and the inheritance of English liberty had vested in the colonies. Their eradication and their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time had passed for compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation toward Eng- land was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be asserted by force. This the Americans understood when they environed Boston. This the British did not understand until after the battle of Bunker Hill. The British worked as against a mob of rebels. The Americans made common cause, " liberty or death," against usurpation and tyranny.
At the time of the American occupation of Charlestown Heights, the value of that position was to be tested. The Americans had previously burned the lighthouses of the harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of conflict ; and every effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby secure the needed supplies of beef, flour, or fuel, only developed a counter system of boat operations, which neutralized the former and gradually limited the garrison to the range of its guns. This close grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persis- tently maintained, stimulated the Americans to catch a tighter hold, and force the garrison to escape by sea. Expulsion was the purpose of the rallying people.
General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774. It was also the intention / i General Gage to fortify Dorchester Heights. Early in April, a British council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and Percy took part, unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both indispensable to the protection of the shipping, and as assurance of access to the country for indispensable supplies.
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General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage in his expedition to Concord, but still cherished such hope of an accommodation of the issue with the colonies that he postponed action until a peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights became impossible, and the growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded Boston Neck.
General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown Heights, as both necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. He went so far as to announce that, in case of overt acts of hostility to such occupation, by the citizens of Charlestown, he would burn the town.
It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both Dorchester and Charlestown Heights at the first attempt of the Americans to invest the city.
As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as well as the council, had resolved "to occupy Bun. ker Hill as soon as artillery and powder could be adequately furnished for the purpose," and a committee was appointed to examine and report respecting the merits of Dorchester Heights as a strategic restraint upon the garrison of Boston.
On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable information that the British had definitely resolved to seize both heights, and had designated the eighteenth of June for the occupation of Charles- town, the same Committee of Safety voted "to take immediate possession of Bunker Hill."
Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit preparation could be made." Under the existing conditions, it was indeed a desperate daring, expressive of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy of the cause in peril, and only limited in its immediate and assured triumph by the simple lack of powder.
General Ward fully realized that the he tation of the British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was an index of the security of the American defences, and, therefore, depre- ยท cated the contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder could be secured.
The British garrison, which had been reinforced to a nominal
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strength of ten thousand men, had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, especially of fresh meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men were well officered and well disciplined.
Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on either side, having, in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as commanding a full view of Boston and the surrounding country. Morton's Hill, at Moulton's Point, where the British landed, was but thirty-five feet above sea-level, while Breed's Pasture (as then known) and Bunker Hill were, respectively, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet high. The Charles and Mystic rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were navigable, and were under the control of the British ships of war.
To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a suc- cessful British landing, required the use of the nearest available position that would make the light artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker Hill, alone, would leave to the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under which to gain effective fire and a good base for approach, as well as Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to themselves.
When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it was done with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the retired summit, and the course adopted was the best to prevent an effective British lodgment. The previous reluctance of the garrison to make any effective dem- onstration against the thin lines of environment strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold upon Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the grasp upon the city itself.
As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them as rashly against Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they gained, at last, only through failure of the ammunition of its defenders; but, in view of the few hours at disposal of the Americans to prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is certain that the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an immediate issue before the British could increase their own force.
It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appre-
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ciate the fact that, with the control of the Mystic and Charles rivers, they could, within twenty-four hours, so isolate Charles- town as to secure the same results as by storming the American position, and without appreciable loss. This was the advice of General Clinton, but he was overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements, but suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two-thirds of the Americans retired safely to the main land.
The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected was bad tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic, and turned the American left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command came upon the field. The British dined as leisurely as if they had only to move any time and seize the threatening position, and thereby lost their chief opportunity.
One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk to themselves was the opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as faced the American lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city, or endanger their own lives by sending reinforcements to Charlestown.
Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, Massachusetts, Colo- nel James Frye, of Andover, and Colonel Ebenezer Bridge, of Billerica, whose regiments formed most of the original detail, were members of the council of war which had been organized on the 20th of April, when General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of Putnam's regi- ment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. Colonel Richard Gridley, chief engineer, with a company of artillery, was also assigned to the moving columns.
To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order cov- ered nearly fourteen hundred, and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual force as organized, with artificers and drivers of carts, was not less than twelve hundred men.
Cambridge Common was the place of rendezvous, where, at early twilight of June 16, the Rev. Samuel Langdon, presi- dent of Harvard College, invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon the solemn undertaking.
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This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck, and halted for a clear definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel Dodge's regiment, joined here, as well as a company of artillery. Captain Nutting, with a detachment of Connecticut men, was promptly sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at the summit of Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was next detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on board the British men-of-war.
The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty- eight, Captain Edward Le Cross ; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads ; Glasgow, thirty-four, Captain William Maltby ; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas B. Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee; and the Symmetry, transport, with eighteen guns.
While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located under counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the dull thud of the pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the sentries' " All's well !" from Copp's Hill and from the warships relieved anxiety and stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real ; and at daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was nearly complete.
Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill and the guns of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the col- onists had taken the offensive.
General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured the detail of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment to reinforce the first detail which had already occupied the hill.
At nine o'clock a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John Brooks was sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of the Committee of Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By eleven o'clock the whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their march,
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and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to begin.
The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the urgent call for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment of Essex men ; Brewer's, of Worcester and Middlesex, with their Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster ; Nixon's, led by Nixon himself ; Moore's, from Worcester ; Whitcomb's, of Lancaster, and others, promptly accepted the opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the British garrison to a contest-at-arms, and well they bore their part in the struggle.
The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for additional defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was carried to the left, and then to the rear, in order to connect with a stone fence which was accepted as a part of the line, since the fence ran perpendicularly to the Mystic ; and the intention was to throw some protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and some spongy ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the value of every moment ; and every exertion was made for the protection of the immediate front. The stone fence, like those still common in New England, was two or three feet high, with set posts and two rails ; in all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for a rifle. A zigzag " stake and rider fence " was put in front, the meadow division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay filled the interval between the fences. This line was nearly two hundred yards in rear of the face of the redoubt, and near the foot of Bunker Hill. Captain Knowlton, with two pieces of artillery and Connecticut troops, was assigned, by Colonel Prescott, to the right of this position, adjoining the open gap already mentioned. Between the fence and the river, more conspicuous at low tide, was a long gap, which was promptly filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far as possible, to anticipate the very flanking movement which the British afterward attempted.
Putnam was everywhere active, and, after the fences were as well secured as time would allow, he ordered the tools taken to
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Bunker Hill for the establishment of a second line on higher ground, in case the first could not be maintained. His impor- tunity with General Ward had secured the detail of the whole of Reed's, as well as the balance of Stark's, regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New Hampshire troops. With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only stone enough for partial cover, while they lay down, or kneeled, .o fire.
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