USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 28
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Fourth company, 66 men. On the day of the battle, this company was commanded by Captain John Moore of Derryfield ; First Lieutenant, Thomas Mclaughlin of Bedford; Second Lieutenant, Nath iniel Boyd of Derryfield; First Sergeant, Wil- liam Hutchins of Weare. This company was enlisted from Derryfield, Bedford, and Brookline. Henry Glover was killed ; William Spalding of Raby, now Brookline, severely wounded ; John Cypher and Samuel Milliken, also wounded. Captain Moore was promoted to the rank of major of the regiment, upon the death of Major Andrew McClary.
Fifth company, 60 men. Captain, Gordon Hutchins of Con- cord ; First Lieutenant, Joseph Soper ; Second Lieutenant, Dan- iel Livermore of Concord. This company was composed largely from Concord, Henniker, and vicinity. Dr. Bouton gives 15 from Concord; Colonel Cogswell gives 20 from Henniker. George Shannon was killed, also James Reed of Henniker ; Alexander Patterson of Henniker, wounded.
Sixth company, 59 men. Captain, Henry Dearborn of Not- tingham ; First Lieutenant, Amos Morrill of Epsom ; Second Lieutenant, Michael McClary of Epsom. This company was from Nottingham, Deerfield, Epsom, Chichester, Exeter, and Barrington. William McCrillis of Epsom was killed ; Sergeant Andrew McGaffey of Sandwich, Sergeant Jonathan Gilman of
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Deerfield, and private Weymouth Wallace of Epsom, were wounded and received invalid pensions.
Seventh company, 55 men. Captain, Isaac Baldwin of Hills- borough killed ; First Lieutenant, John Hale, Hopkinton ; Second Lieutenant, Stephen Hoit, Hopkinton. Composed largely from the men of Hopkinton, Hillsborough, Warner, and Bradford. Captain Baldwin was a valuable man ; was a native of Sudbury, Mass. Had been with Stark in the French war; was one of the first settlers in Hillsborough ; was mor- tally wounded in the battle of the 17th by a shot through the body ; was carried from the field by John McNeil and Sergeant Andrews, his neighbors. Died about sunset of that day, aged thirty-nine years.
Moses Trussell of Hopkinton lost his left arm by a cannon ball in that engagement. He says he came off the hill safely. Hearing that his brave commander was left behind, and that he was wounded, with others he returned back to help bring him off. While crossing the Charlestown Neck, he received the shot which disabled him. His narrative is embraced in a petition for half pay from the State, which he received. He also was an invalid pensioner. He resided many years in New London.
Eighth company, 53 men. Captain, Samuel Aaron Kinsman of Concord; First Lieutenant, Ebenezer Eastman of Concord; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Dearborn. This company was made up from recruits from all parts of the State. John Man- ual of Boscawen, formerly of Bow, was killed ; Abraham Kim- ball of Hopkinton, or Henniker, was wounded.
Ninth company, 52 men. Captain, Samuel Richards of Goffstown ; First Lieutenant, Moses Little ; Second Lieuten- ant, Jesse Carr of Goffstown. This company was enlisted from Goffstown, New Boston, and Weare. Caleb Dalton was killed; Reuben Kemp of Goffstown was wounded and made prisoner, dying in Boston ; Andrew McMillan of New Boston was wounded in his right hand, he losing the use of it; Peter Robinson of Amherst was also wounded, losing his right hand by a cannon ball. Both received invalid pensions and half pay. We give Colonel Stark's certificate : -
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March 17, 1777.
This may certify that A. McMillan of New Boston, and Peter Robinson of Amherst, were both of my regiment, and were with me at Bunker Hill, and were both wounded, and I knew them to behave very courageous in that action. I beg the Hon. Court would consider of their loss, and make them some consideration.
JOHN STARK, Col.
Tenth company, 65 men. Captain, Joshua Abbott, Concord ; Lieutenant, Samuel Atkinson, Boscawen ; Second Lieutenant, Abial Chandler, Concord. This company had 23 men in it from Concord. The balance were from Boscawen, Salisbury, and vicinity. William Mitchell of East Concord was killed ; Elias Rano of Salisbury was wounded in his leg; James Robin- son and Reuben Kemp were both prisoners in Boston, and were reported dead ; Daniel McGrath was reported dead in Boston. In the returns Charles Rice of Surry and James Winn of Rich- mond were reported as wounded, and attached to Stark's regi- ment. The same may be said of Jacob Elliott, Andrew Aiken, and William Smart ; they all were reported to have been wounded at Bunker Hill ; we are not able to assign them to any particu- lar company. We thus have been able to give more than three- fourths of the whole number of the killed and wounded in that engagement with considerable accuracy. Stark's regiment was unquestionably the largest in numbers that was engaged on the American side. Captain Dearborn said in his report of 1818 that our two New Hampshire regiments marched on to the hill with full numbers. We make the full number of Stark's regi- ment, including rank and file, 632. Doubtless there were some sick and others left on guard at Medford, and some on fur- lough, for which a deduction may be made. We allow a deduc- tion of 50 men. The numbers engaged in that battle on the British side must have exceeded 3000 men. The number of the Americans must have been nearly 2500, according to Frothing- ham. Mrs. Hannah Brown lost her husband in Bunker Hill bat- tle ; we cannot give the husband's name. There were eight Browns in Stark's regiment.
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We claim in behalf of New Hampshire that she furnished nearly half of the men that fought on the American side, though it may be admitted that those who fought in the in- trenchment suffered most.
Poor's regiment was not sent for until after the battle of the 17th. It arrived at Cambridge, June 25. In addition to the numbers already stated, the men of the town of Hollis were found in Colonel Prescott's regiment. They numbered 59, and were commanded by Captain Reuben Dow, who was wounded in his leg or ankle, and permanently lamed. Judge Worcester of Nashua has furnished a good, reliable record of his Revolu- tionary fathers and their achievements. . He gives the loss in Captain Dow's company as follows, viz. : 6 killed - Nathan Blood, Thomas Wheat, Isaac Hobart, Peter Poor, Jacob Boynton, Phineas Nevins ; 5 wounded - Captain Reuben Dow, Francis Powers, William Wood, Ephraim Blood, Thomas Pratt.
In Captain Joseph Mann's company, private R. Ebenezer Youngman, killed ; Thomas Colburn, killed ; 4 in this company from Hollis. In Captain Sawyer's company of Haverhill, Colo- nel Frye's regiment, 4 men from Plaistow, N. H. Of these, Simeon Pike was killed ; his brother, James Pike, was wounded.
In this battle, Stark's regiment was opposed to the British 23d regiment, well known as the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Prince Albert, in 1849, presented to this regiment a new stand of colors, and said : - '
" In the American war, the Fusiliers were engaged in the first unhappy collision, which took place at Lexington. It also fought at Bunker Hill and at Brandywine. At Bunker Hill its. loss was so great, that it was said only one officer remained to tell the story. In 1781 they fought at Guilford Court House. Prince Albert added, this was one of the hardest and best con- tested fields in the American war."
American historians support the above facts. The British troops landed on the Charlestown beach, and marched up the hill in three separate columns. The Fusiliers formed on the British right, in front of Stark's regiment, which was stationed on the extreme left of the American forces. The late Captain
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David Flanders, who was a private in Captain Joshua Abbott's company, stated that his " company was located down on the Mystic Beach, wholly unprotected by any defence in their front. That the column of the Fusiliers did not deploy until they passed Abbott's company, therefore they were outflanked by us, hence we had a good chance to pick off their officers. This. chance we improved, as we could distinguish the officers by ob- serving the swords in their hands, and that they had occasion to use them in urging their own men into the fight." 1
We recapitulate the whole number of the New Hampshire men engaged in Bunker Hill battle, and their loss, as follows, viz .: -
Colonel John Stark's regiment, rank and file, 632 men ; deduct for the sick and those on guard, etc., 50 men ; balance of men engaged, 582. Colonel James Reed's regiment, deducting sick, etc., as returned June 14, 488 men ; Captain Reuben Dow's company of Hollis men in Colonel Prescott's Mass. regiment, 59 ; Captain Mann's Hollis men, Prescott's regiment, 4; in Captain Sawyer's company, Frye's regiment, Plaistow men, 4; whole number in battle, 1137 ; whole number killed as returned by Stark, 15 ; wounded, 45 ; whole number killed as returned by Reed, 5; wounded, 27 ; whole number killed as returned by Captain Dow, 8 ; wounded, 5 ; whole number killed as returned by Plaistow men, I; wounded, I. Whole number of killed and wounded, 107.
2 The news of the Battle of Lexington reached Captain Stark the next morning. He was at work in his saw-mill. Without a moment's hesitation the mill-gate was closed, and he returned to his house, a mile distant, changed his dress, mounted his- horse, and proceeded towards Medford, encouraging all that he met to join him there, telling them that the time had arrived when a blow should be struck for liberty. He was followed by many of his old soldiers, and hundreds of citizens, who answered his appeal to their patriotism. And when the preliminary organization of the first New Hampshire regiment was made by election, it was so much a matter of course to choose Stark for 1 Judge Nesmith. 2 General George Stark.
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their colonel, that the vote, a hand one, was unanimous. This election was afterwards confirmed by a commission from the State authorities.
At the battle of Bunker Hill the steady and cool courage of John Stark was one of the important factors in that engage- ment. His men were brought into action without fatigue. Their deadly work at the rail-fence, on the Mystic river side of the hill, so nearly annihilated the veteran British regiment immediately opposed to them, that, believing they had won the day, they obeyed the orders to retire with unwillingness ; and the deliberate manner in which they covered and defended the final retreat held the enemy in check, and undoubtedly pre- vented a rout.
After the evacuation of Boston, Colonel Stark was ordered, with two regiments, the 5th and 25th, under his command, to proceed to New York and assist in arranging the defences of that city.
1 On the breaking out of the Revolution, General James Reed of Fitzwilliam was among the first to embrace the cause of his country and serve in its defence. Upon the tidings of the battle of Lexington he raised a company of volunteers and marched at their head to Medford. His ardor in the cause did not permit him to be idle. He continued to enlist volunteers, and soon had four companies enrolled under his standard. He afterwards repaired to Exeter, and was appointed colonel of a regiment by the New Hampshire Provincial Assembly on the Ist of June, 1775. On the following day he received verbal orders from General Folsom at Exeter to repair to the western part of the State and collect the men whom he had previously enlisted for the service, and in pursuance therewith he im- mediately set out to collect and organize his regiment. He was at Fitzwilliam on the 8th of June, as appears by his letters of that date to the Provincial Congress, recommending the appointment of Andrew Colburn of Marlborough major of the next regiment which should be raised. He soon after marched his command to Cambridge. By his communication to the
I A. J. Blake.
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Committee of Safety at Exeter we learn that he arrived there on the 12th of the month. He waited on General Ward, who ordered his command to Medford on account of the throng of soldiers at Cambridge On reaching Medford he was informed by Colonel Stark that no quarters could be there obtained. In this dilemma he again applied to General Ward, who issued the order "that Colonel Reed quarter his regiment in the houses near Charlestown Neck, and keep all necessary guards be- tween the barracks and ferry, and on Bunker Hill." On the 13th he marched his regiment to the Neck, where they obtained good quarters.
The next day he wrote a communication to the Committee of Safety at Exeter, giving a detailed account of his movements since he had left Exeter, and closed by stating the want of a chaplain, surgeon, and armorer for his regiment.
On the morning of the memorable 17th of June he was the first officer of his rank on the field, and his the only regiment from New Hampshire ready for action on the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill. He was stationed on the left wing, by the rail fence, where he was joined at two o'clock in the after- noon by Colonel Stark. This was, by all accounts, the hottest as well as the best fought portion of the field. The ready genius of Colonel Reed designed the parapet, which, con- structed by the brave soldiers of New Hampshire under fire of the enemy's batteries, so wonderfully preserved them from the disasters of the day. This parapet consisted of a breastwork of stones hastily thrown across the beach to Mystic River, and a rail fence extending up the hillside to the redoubt. It was in front of the breastwork that the British lines were three times hurled back under the deadly fire of Reed and Stark. Here the most efficient fighting was done; and here the greatest number of dead were lying when the battle had ceased.
He remained with the army after its command was assumed by General Washington, being posted upon Winter Hill, and upon the reorganization of the forces on the first of January, 1776, his regiment was ranked second in the Continental Army.
Colonel Reed accompanied the army on its movement to
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New York in the following April. On the 24th of April he was put into the third Brigade under General Sullivan, and was soon after ordered up the Hudson.
1 Authors in Modern Athens (of America) have exalted the deeds of Massachusetts' heroes to such a degree that most people, outside of New Hampshire, do not suppose our State had much to do at the battle of Bunker Hill, whereas New Hampshire men constituted nearly two-thirds of all the men and officers in that battle.
Old Nottingham comprised a tract of land supposed to be ten miles square, and which is now Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood. Settlements commenced in it, soon after its incor- poration, at the "Square," a beautiful ridge of land about 450 feet above the sea-level. At the beginning of the Revolution, Nottingham had 999 inhabitants, Deerfield 929, and Northwood 313. The records show that the people were making prepara- tions for the coming conflict, and had sent generous assistance to the "Industrious Poor sufferers of the town of Boston" during the siege. During the winter of 1774-5, Dr. Henry Dearborn had a company of men which met at the Square to drill from time to time. In November, 1774, a town meeting was held, and a committee appointed to "Inspect into any Person " suspected of being a Tory.
On the 20th of April, 1775, news reached the Square that a battle had been fought the day before, and in the evening a large number of citizens assembled at the store of Thomas Bartlett. On the 21st, at four o'clock, a company of nearly one hundred men commenced their march for Boston, being armed and equipped as best they could at such short notice.
Some say that Joseph Cilley was the leader of this band of heroes, but others say Dr. Henry Dearborn was captain, and probably he was, as he had been drill-master all winter, and was captain of the company after they arrived in Cambridge. They marched on foot all night, and arrived in Medford at eight o'clock on the morning of the 22d, some of the company having travelled on foot more than eighty miles since the previous
1 John Scales.
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noon, and over roads which were far from being in the best condition for rapid travelling.
Of this company was Thomas Bartlett, one of the Committee of Safety which managed the colonial affairs of New Hampshire during part of the Revolution, captain in 1775 at Winter Hill, lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Gilman's regiment in 1776, in Colonel Whipple's regiment at Rhode Island in 1778, under General Stark at the capture of Burgoyne, colonel of a regi- ment at West Point in 1780, when Arnold betrayed that fort. After the war he was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and major-general in the militia .
Henry Butler was a captain before the close of the war, and major-general of militia afterwards. His uncle, Zephaniah Butler, was grandfather of General Benjamin F. Butler; Cut- ting Cilley ; John Simpson, who fired the first gun at Bunker Hill, and was afterwards a major in the Continental army ; (his brother, Robert Simpson, a soldier of the Revolution, was General Ulysses Simpson Grant's great-grandfather) ; Daniel Moore, and Andrew McClary.
Henry Dearborn was born in Hampton, Feb. 23, 1751. He studied medicine and settled at Nottingham Square as a physi- cian in 1772. He was always fond of military affairs, and is said to have been a skillful drillmaster, and well posted in the tactics in use previous to the Revolution. He fought with his company at the battle of Bunker Hill. In the September fol- lowing he joined Arnold's expedition to Quebec. They marched up the Kenebec river, through the wilds of Maine and Canada. In the assault upon that city, Captain Dearborn was taken prisoner. Peter Livius, the Tory councillor at Quebec, influ- enced the authorities to parole and send him home, on condition that Dearborn should forward his wife and children to him from Portsmouth to Quebec, which was done as agreed. In April, 1777, Captain Dearborn was appointed major in Scammel's regiment. He was in the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, and fought with such bravery, having command of a distinct corps, as to win the special commendation of General Gates. In 1778 he was in the battle of Monmouth, with Colonel Cilley, acting as
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lieutenant-colonel, and helped retrieve Lee's disgraceful retreat. He was with General Sullivan in his expedition against the Indians in 1779, and was at Yorktown at the surrender of Corn- wallis in 1781. Upon the death of Scammel, the gallant colonel of the 3rd New Hampshire regiment, at the hands of a bar- barous foe, Dearborn was made colonel, and held that position to the end of the war. After the war, he settled in Maine, where he was marshal by appointment of Washington. He was two terms a member of Congress ; secretary of war under Jefferson, from 1801 to 1809; collector of the port of Boston between 1809-12; senior major-general in United States Army, 1812-13, and captured York in Canada and Fort George at the mouth of Niagara. He was recalled by the President, July 6, 1813, and put in command of the military district of New York city, which recall was, no doubt, a great mistake. In 1822 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Portugal ; recalled in 1824 at his own request ; died at Roxbury, Mass., June 6, 1829. General Dearborn was a man of large size, gentlemanly deport- ment, and one of the bravest and most gallant men of his time.
Joseph Cilley, son of Captain Joseph Cilley of Nottingham, was born in 1734; died 1799. He was engaged in the attack upon Fort William and Mary in 1774; appointed major in Colonel Poor's regiment by the Assembly of New Hampshire in 1775 ; he was not present in the battle of Bunker Hill, as his regiment was engaged in home defence. He was made lieuten- ant-colonel in 1776, and April 2, 1777, was appointed colonel of the Ist New Hampshire regiment of three years' men, in place of Colonel Stark, resigned. He fought his regiment bravely at Bemis's Heights, near Saratoga; and two weeks later was among the bravest of the brave when Burgoyne made his final attack before surrendering his entire army of six thousand men. So fierce was the battle that a single cannon was taken and retaken five times ; finally, Colonel Cilley leaped upon it, waved his sword, and "dedicating the gun to the American cause," opened it upon the enemy with their own ammunition. He was with Washington's army at Valley Forge, 1777-8; was at the storming of Stony Point; at Monmouth he was one of the
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heroes in retrieving General Lee's retreat ; was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and in other hard-fought battles of the Revolution. After the war he was major-general of the Ist Division New Hampshire militia, and as such headed the troops which quelled the insurrection at Exeter in 1786, and with his own hand arrested the leader in the midst of his armed fol- lowers. General Cilley was a man of great energy and industry, of stormy passions, yet generous and humanc. He was re- peatedly elected representative, senator, and councillor.
1 In May, 1775, a convention assembled at Exeter, to serve for a period of six months. Meshech Weare was a member of this body, and clerk of the same, the oath for the faithful discharge of his office being administered by the speaker, Hon. Matthew Thornton. The most important act of this body was the ap- pointment of a Committee of Safety, wherein rested the chief executive power of the Colony. Agreeably to the recommen- dation of Congress, a new convention was called, which met on the 21st of December. There was a more general representa- tion of the people at this time, and the new body proceeded to form a temporary government. Having assumed the name of House of Representatives, they chose twelve persons to be a distinct branch, called the Council, with power to elect their own president. Colonel Weare was the first councillor chosen. The councillors retired immediately, and chose Colonel Weare their president.
The Weares have a great name in New Hampshire history. Back in the early times of the colony lived Nathaniel Weare, who was a man of great influence and marked ability. He acted as agent for the colony in an important crisis, and spent considerable time in England to prosecute the complaints of the colonists against the royal governor, Edward Cranfield, in 1684. His son, the second Nathaniel Weare, was much en- gaged in public business, and was a trusty and capable servant, alike of the crown and the people. He lived within the present limits of Seabrook, and the old house still stands a mile beyond the Falls, near Seabrook Village, sheltered by a noble elm, the
I Fred Myron Colby.
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largest in that part of the State, being somewhat over twenty feet in circumference. Nathaniel was the father of two sons, Jonathan and Meshech. Jonathan Weare was one of the grantces of Seabrook, when it was set apart from Hampton, in 1768, and was the ancestor of Colonel John M. Weare.
Meshech Weare was born in that old house under the elm, June 16th, 1713. He received the common school education of his time in his native town. His father being a man of means, the young patrician was sent to Harvard College, where he graduated in 1735. Weare chose the practice of law for his profession, and marrying Miss Elizabeth Swain, a beautiful young lady of Hampton Falls, settled in that place. In 1745 his excellent wife died at the early age of twenty-four. A year afterwards he married for his second wife Miss Mehitable Shaw, the daughter and heiress of Richard Shaw, a prosperous farmer of Hampton. He now moved into the Shaw house, his wife's home, where he ever afterwards continued to reside.
Meshech Weare began about this time to be a man of author- ity. The prestige of his high birth, his powerful connections, and his own strong character and great abilities made him the leading citizen of Hampton Falls. Many offices in the gift of the people were thrust upon him. He was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives in 1752, and in 1754 was one of the delegates to the great congress at Albany, when a treaty was made with the Five Nations, and a campaign was deter- mined upon against the French in America. He was made colonel of a New Hampshire regiment in 1759, part of which, under the command of Captain Jeremiah Marston, ancestor of Hon. Gilman Marston, participated in the capture of Ticon- deroga and Montreal. Colonel Weare remained at the head of the 3rd New Hampshire regiment of militia until the break- ing out of the Revolution. During those latter years he was one of the judges of the Superior Court.
When the storm of the Revolution commenced, Meshech Weare was an old man of sixty-two, but he was not past the ability to labor. There was not a more earnest patriot than he, and his services throughout that contest were unprecedented.
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