USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume I > Part 29
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Meanwhile, Burgoyne was plodding his weary march southward, impeded by obstructions thrown in his way by the American army sullenly retreating. Having reached Fort Edward, he sent out early in August a detachment of Hessians and Tories, with a party of Indians, all in command of Colonel Baum, on an errand of various mischief, to the eastward, through Vermont. But Stark's New Hampshire volunteers had been gathering in rendezvous beyond the Green Mountains, and with the militiamen of that neighborhood, .stood ready to confront the marauding foe. These, with a small force from western Massachusetts, and with Warner's "Green Moun- tain Boys," all under the skilful leadership of Stark, fought and won, on the 16th of Angust, 1777, the storied battle of Benning- ton.
1 Bouton's Concord, 274-5.
267
EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
On the extreme right of the enemy's entrenched line, in that bat- tle, was the Tory position, a heavy breastwork of logs, where the most desperate resistance was expected and realized. This strong- hold, Colonel Thomas Stickney, of the Eleventh regiment, which con- tained the Concord volunteers, was, with Colonel Hobart, of the Twelfth, ordered to attack. In face of a sharp fire, the two compa- nies advanced briskly upon the enemy's position through an inter- vening corn-field, from which, by Stark's order, the men stripped each a husk, and placed it beneath the hatband, "to prevent mistake," in "the close work " with foes " dressed like themselves " in every-day garb.1 The fortification was stormed and surrounded. The Tories fought obstinately, but finally succumbed to the resistless onslaught of " bayonet and clubbed musket."1 Some of the Concord men who were in the fight were Colonel Thomas Stickney, Lieutenant Richard Herbert, Elias, Jesse, and John Abbot, Philbrick Bradley, Ephraim Fisk, Sr., Ephraim Fisk, Jr., Abner Flanders, Timothy Johnson, Samuel Kinkson (or Kinsman), and John Peters. The names of thirty-three men known to have enlisted 2 have been preserved. It is probable that some of the thirty-three did not arrive at Bennington in season for the battle. This certainly happened in the case of the thirty volunteers raised by Colonel Gordon Hutchins, whose names are not recorded, and who, though making all due haste, reached the scene of action too late.3 There was, however, to be a chance for all within the next two months; for Bennington was the auspicious prophecy of Saratoga with its decisive battling at Bemus Heights. The men of New Hampshire and of Concord, in both the continental and the volunteer service, were to have a hand in the important operations of September and October, resulting in the surrender of Burgoyne. Some who volunteered for the Bennington expedition continued in the service; while Captain Joshua Abbot headed a com- pany in Lieutenant-Colonel Gerrish's command, detached from the Eleventh regiment, in special reinforcement of the northern army at Saratoga.4
When, after the successes of Bennington and Saratoga, those sure pointers to the star of final victory that should rise and stand over Yorktown, Washington withdrew to winter quarters at Valley Forge. Poor's brigade, containing Concord men, went with him. Among these was Captain Livermore.5 When, again, after a winter of gloomy suffering, the American army, in June, 1778, came up with the enemy marching northward from luxurious quarters in Philadel-
1 Adjutant-General's Report, Vol. II (1866), p. 320.
* See Bennington in note at close of chapter.
3 Bouton's Concord, 275.
' See Saratoga in note at close of chapter.
5 J. B. Walker's Address, Proceedings N. H. Hist. Soc., Vol. III, 691.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
phia, and fought at Monmouth, Concord men were there. When, still again, the same year, it was planned that a land force should, in co-operation with a French fleet, wrest Rhode Island from British grasp, and New Hampshire furnished troops to aid the undertaking, Concord supplied its quota of volunteers.1 In 1779, Concord men in Poor's brigade did service in Sullivan's expedition against the Tories and Six Nations, and helped to avenge the bloody outrages of Cherry Valley and Wyoming, and to prevent their repetition. In special levies,2 as well as in the regular line, the men of Concord stood on guard at West Point, in 1780; and, the next year, they took part in that decisive Virginia campaign which resulted in the victory of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. Even after this triumph, the virtual close of the struggle for American independence, some men of Concord remained on military duty for yet two years, until the formal declaration of peace in 1783.3
The records of the parish during the long years of revolutionary struggle contain, of course, much legislation adapted to the existing state of war. In 1777, while thirty pounds were raised for highways, and sixty pounds to defray " other necessary charges," the hundred pounds paid by Oliver Hoyt for the " eighty-acre lot belonging to the school right " were appropriated "for a town stock of ammuni- tion "; 4 and four hundred and sixty pounds lawful money were ordered to " be raised upon the ratable polls and estates in Concord for paying the continental soldiers raised by the parish."4 In 1778 it was voted that an average be made in hiring continental soldiers, and a committee was appointed " to examine into what every man" had "done in the war." 5 In 1779, Colonel Thomas Stickney, Cap- tain Aaron Kinsman, and Timothy Walker, Esq., were chosen "a committee to procure eight soldiers,"-" the proportion that the par- ish " had "to raise in order to fill up the continental army."6 In 1780, provision was made "to give the soldiers that " had " lately engaged to serve six months in the continental army, ten bushels of Indian corn, or money equal thereto."7 Early in 1781, a committee was appointed, " with discretionary powers," to raise " sixteen more soldiers " for the continental service. Of these some were hired from other places and credited to Concord. "One thousand Spanish milled dollars " were raised " to enable the parish to procure the sol- diers " 8 under this call, which seems to have been the last made upon it for troops in the Revolution.
While Concord had its men at the front fighting for independence,
1 See Rhode Island Expedition in note at close of chapter.
2 See list in note at close of chapter.
3 See names of Rangers in note at close of chapter.
4 Town Records, 153.
õ Ibid, 157-8.
" Ibid, 173.
7 Ibid, 184.
8 Ibid, 187-8.
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EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
it was little inclined to brook covert hostility, at home, to the coun- try's sacred cause, or even lukewarmness therein. Its committees of safety kept a sharp lookout for symptoms of Toryism, especially dur- ing the first four years of the war. Though the Association Test had been signed in Concord without dissent, yet by the year 1777 cer- tain individuals had become suspected of disaffection to the Ameri- can side. Consequently, after the business of the annual meeting, on the 4th of March, in that year, was finished, votes to the following effect were passed : " That this parish will break off all dealings with Peter Green, Esqr, Mr. John Stevens, Mr. Nathl Green, and Dr. Philip Caragain, until they give satisfaction to the parish for their past conduct ; that they be advertised in the public prints as enemies to the United States of America, unless " they " give said satisfaction within thirty days from this date ; that " they "be disarmed by the committee of safety until they give satisfaction to the public ; and that " whoever shall, before such satisfaction rendered, "have any dealings with " them, shall " be looked upon as enemies to their coun- try by this parish."1 The popular feeling seems to have been espe- cially intense against Peter Green, for it was recommended " to apply to the courts of judicature to dismiss " him "from all business hence- forth and forever." 1 Besides, it is related that, on one occasion, his house was threatened with destruction by zealous West Concord patriots, and that the threat failed of execution only through the shrewd and timely intervention of Timothy Walker, Jr., and John Bradley,2 no less patriotic, but more discreet, than those who had planned violence.
The severe votes passed by the parish not producing the desired effect, Green, the lawyer, and Stevens, the merchant, were arrested by the committee of safety and taken to Exeter, where they were lodged in jail.3 Green, upon taking the oath of allegiance, was early released, and subsequently enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citi- zeus, whom he served in important official positions. Stevens, on the contrary, never would take the required oath, but he swore that he was "as good a friend of his country as any one who had caused his arrest."+ He, however, finally received his release by order of the legislature, and with it a commission as justice of the peace, in token of restored confidence. Later, the parish rescinded its vote 5 " to break off all dealings" with him, but no amends could cure the merchant's bitter resentment, which he carried with him to his grave.6
1 Town Records, 154.
2 Bouton's Concord, 272-3.
3 See note at close of chapter.
4 Bouton's Concord, 273, 561.
5 Town Records, 211.
6 See Merchant Stevens, in note at close of chapter.
270
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
The protraction of the war, with its expenditures to be met only by paper money irredeemable in gold or silver, began, by 1777, to unsettle values, carrying up prices, and working other mischief. The legislature of New Hampshire, acting under advice of the continental congress, passed an act for " preventing monopoly and oppression " by regulating the prices of sundry articles of necessary or common use, and the compensation for various kinds of labor. In May, of that year, the parish of Concord appointed "Captain Reuben Kim- ball, Mr. Amos Abbot, Mr. John Kimball, Lieutenant Robert Davis, and Mr. David Hall " a committee "to carry into execution " the state enactment.1 By July, the committee had performed the task of affixing, in accordance with the law, maximum prices to a multi- tude of " articles," but they could not thereby " carry into execution " an impracticable statute. Their report, however, has historic value, picturing, as it does in suggestive outline, the industries and produc- tions, and the means and modes of life, existent in the parish at that time.
This measure, wherever tried, proved an ineffectual palliative for the evils produced by a financial system fundamentally wrong. The country was flooded with continental " promises to pay," swelled by state issues of the same sort, though New Hampshire issued none after 1777. This irredeemable paper currency, misnamed " money," was fast sinking to absolute worthlessness with the consequence of financial confusion, distress, and ruin. In 1779 another attempt was made, in New Hampshire and other states, to "appreciate the cur- rency by regulating the prices." To this end a state convention was held in Concord on the 22d of September, in which Major Jonathan Hale and Colonel Timothy Walker represented the parish.2 Certain recommendations were agreed upon. In Concord, a committee was appointed to regulate prices as recommended by the convention. What further action, if any, was ever taken in the matter is not recorded.
Within the next two years the figures of parish expenditures rose, as the value of paper currency fell. Thus, in the spring of 1780, the sum of "nine thousand pounds "3 was voted to defray parish expenses for the year, including minister's salary in arrearage for two years. Six months later " thirty thousand pounds " 4 additional were raised for the same purpose. An appropriation of "two thousand four hundred pounds " 5 was also made for highways. In March, 1781, "fifty thousand pounds "6 were appropriated " for the neces- sary charges of the parish," exclusive of those for highways, and for
1 Town Records, 155-8; see also specific report in note at close of chapter. + Ibid, 184.
2 Town Records, 177-8.
3 Ibid, 182.
5 Ibid, 182.
G Ibid, 190.
271
EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
these the same allowance was made as the year before. In October the item of current expenses received the addition of " one hundred eighty pounds hard money."1 But in 1782, when the bubble of inflated paper currency had burst, and wiser financial counsels were beginning to prevail, the parish appropriations, estimated in "hard money," resumed their wonted figures. Then " four hundred and eighty pounds lawful silver money " 2 were voted to defray the annual parish expenses, and " sixty pounds lawful silver money to repair the highways "; while labor upon the roads was fixed at "two shil- lings 2 per day," instead of " six pounds," 3 the compensation of the two previous years.
In 1778, amid the preoccupations and difficulties of war, an attempt was made to substitute, for the imperfect and temporary form of gov- ernment established in 1776, a new constitution. On the 26th of January, " the inhabitants of Concord," in parish meeting, instructed their representative, Colonel Thomas Stickney, " to use his influence at the next session of the General Assembly, that a full and free representation of the people of this State be called as soon as conven- iently may be, for the sole purpose of laying a permanent plan, or system, for the future government of this State."4 In accordance with such expression of the popular will throughout the state, the legislature appointed a constitutional convention to be held at Con- cord on the first Tuesday of June. Thus was first officially rec- ognized by legislative authority the fitness of Concord, from its centrality and other advantages, as a place for state assembling. The recognition foretold that Concord would, sometime, be the cap- ital of New Hampshire. On the 10th of June, the convention, com- posed of seventy-three delegates-one being Timothy Walker, Jr., of Concord-assembled in the meeting-house, which, by order of the par- ish,5 had been somewhat repaired for its new use. Some of the most distinguished men of the state-among whom were John Langdon and the three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, and Matthew Thornton-served in this first New Hampshire constitutional convention, but their labors went for naught. The constitution which was finally agreed upon a year later contained no provision for a distinct executive, and was other- wise defective, if not positively objectionable, so that, when it was sent out to the people, it was "totally rejected."6 When the ques- tion of accepting the "plan of government " was put to vote in par- ish meeting in Concord, " there appeared," says the record, " twenty- six for receiving the said plan, and twenty-five rejected the same." "
1 Town Records, 196.
2 Ibid, 202.
3 Ibid, 182, 190.
+ Ibid, 162.
Ibid, 166-7.
" Bouton's Concord, 277.
7 Town Records, 176.
272
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
This close vote in Concord was more favorable to the proposed con- stitution than was that of most other places.
Two years later, in obedience to a joint resolve of the legislature, a second constitutional convention was ealled to be held in Coneord. To this, Colonel Timothy Walker was chosen a delegate. The eon- vention first met on the 5th of June, 1781, in the hiall over the store of " Merchant " Stevens, where were held most, if not all, of its seven sessions during an existence of nearly two years and a half. Tlie last was held on the 31st of October, 1783, when, after the submis- sion of two drafts of a constitution to the people, and their rejection, the third was found to have been accepted, and was accordingly deelared to be the fundamental law of the state.
Upon the first "plan of government," as devised by the convenl- tion, and sent to the people in September, 1781, the vote in Concord stood " forty-eight against, and none for it."1 This rejection, how- ever, was accompanied by the suggestion of the following amend- ments : That there be " town representation ; " that there be " a gov- ernor at the head of the legislative body ; that the governor shall not have a privy council ; and that the people at large shall appoint their militia officers."1 When the second form of the constitution was submitted to the people by the convention, on the third Wednes- day of August, 1782, the voters of Concord, wishing to act with due deliberation upon the question of aeeeptanee, selected a committee of seven, consisting of Colonel Timothy Walker, Colonel Thomas Stick- ney, Captain Benjamin Emery, Captain Reuben Kimball, Lieutenant John Bradley, Dr. Peter Green, and Mr. Henry Martin, to eonsider the subject, and make report at an adjourned meeting.2 When the matter came up for final decision, on the 16th of December, the plan of government, as it then stood, was rejected by all the fifty-two voters present; but with the amendments proposed by the eommit- tee, "it was received by thirty." The amendments were: "That the governor and privy council be left out, and that there be a pres- ident, a legislative council, and a house of representatives ; and that the powers which are vested in a governor and council be vested in the council and house of representatives." 3 Finally, at the third and successful attempt of the convention to present a constitution acceptable to the people, Coneord, in September, 1783, contributed to the general popular approval, a vote of two to one-or twenty · for to ten against.4
In view of the difficulties experienced in constitution-making, provision had been made, on recommendation of the legislature, that the constitution of 1776, which, by its terms, could be operative only
1 Town Records, 199.
2 Ibid, 208.
3 Ibid, 208. 4 Ibid, 212.
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EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
during the war, should be continued in force till June 10, 1784, even if peace should come before a new plan of government could be provided.1 This proved a wise precaution ; for peace was proclaimed on the 19th of April, 1783,-the eighth anniversary of Lexington,- and a little more than six months before the new form of govern- ment, as accepted by the people, was proclaimed by the convention to be the "Civil Constitution for the State of New Hampshire," and to go into full effect " on the first Wednesday of June, 1784." 2
Meanwhile, the legislature had begun to hold sessions in Concord. The question of adjourning the general court from Exeter to Con- cord having come up at the January session, 1782, it was decided in the affirmative by the house, but was non-concurred in by the council. Thereupon, however, the house adhered to its vote, by twenty-seven yeas to twenty nays, and the legislature stood adjourned till Wednesday, the 13th of March, " then to meet at the meeting- house in Concord." 3 It was largely through the address and influ- ence of Judge + Walker, that the dissatisfaction of certain members of the legislature with the accommodations at Exeter was thus turned to the advantage of Concord, which that gentleman represented, and whose interests he always vigilantly watched. On the 13th of March, "sundry members of the House "-as runs the official record 5-" met, according to adjournment, at the meeting-house in Concord, and, as it was inconvenient to hold the Court there, owing to the inclemency of the season, agreed to adjourn, and meet again forthwith in a building prepared for their reception." The place thus "prepared " was a room in Judge Walker's store,6 where the house was accommodated ; while the council held its sessions in the south parlor of the minister's dwelling, a short distance north. Concord was also the seat of the next two successive sessions ; held, the one, in June, the other, in September. As to the place, in the first of the two adjournments, decision was made by a vote of forty- five yeas to twenty nays; in the second, without opposition.7 Thenceforward, Concord was a frequent, though, for more than twenty years, not the permanent, place of legislative meeting. The citizens of the parish duly appreciated the actual and potential advantage of even the earliest legislative recognition of Concord as a desirable seat of the state government; and discerned in that recognition the ultimate fulfilment of a "manifest destiny." They
1 N. H. State Papers, Vol. VIII, 968-69-70.
2 N. H. State Papers, Vol. IX, 918-19.
3 N. H. State Papers, Vol. VIII, 931-2.
' Timothy Walker, Jr., had been for some time upon the bench of the court of common pleas.
6 N. H. State Papers, Vol. VIII. 936.
6 Ibid (note); see, also, note at close of chapter,
7 N. H. State Papers, Vol. VIII, 938, 947.
61
274
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
sought to provide suitable accommodations-among others, a becom- ing temporary state house. For ten years the question of finishing the meeting-house, so as the better to meet ordinary parish uses, had been frequently agitated ; 1 but, from various causes, especially the preoccupying demands of the Revolutionary struggle, the work had not been done.2 Now, however, the new political exigency hastened the fulfilment of the delayed purpose. The right in the building, with its acre and a half of ground, held, since 1751, by individuals, under the style of " Proprietors of the Meeting House,"-as men- tioned in the previous chapter,-was, in 1782, relinquished to the parish ; 3 and, erelong, the former structure was put in process of renovation 4-a work which had made good progress in 1783, but was not completed till 1784,5 when the pews were or- dered to be sold at vendue.6
First Frame Meeting-house, with Subsequent Additions.
"The meeting- house was fin- ished," writes Dr. Bouton,7 "in what was considered a superior style. The entrances were at a door in the middle, on the south side, and at two porches, one at the east with a steeple, and the other at the west. The pulpit was about twelve feet
high, with a window back of it, and over head a large sounding- board. On the lower floor, aisles extended from the south door to the pulpit, and from one porch to the other, and side aisles separated the wall-pews from those in the body of the house. At the base . of the pulpit, on a platform about two feet high, was a seat for aged men ; and in front of that, less elevated, was the deacons' seat. Sus-
1 Town Records, 128-9. 4 Town Records, 204.
2 Ibid, 166, 202-3.
5 Ibid, 216-17.
3 Bouton's Concord, 285.
6 Ibid; also, see Recorded Assignment of Pews in note at close of chapter.
7 History of Concord, 286-7.
275
EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
pended from the front of the deacons' seat by hinges was a circular board, which served for a table on sacramental occasions. The pulpit stairs were on the west side, and underneath the pulpit on the east was a closet. The wall and body pews were square, with seats hung on hinges, to be raised when the congregation stood in prayer. Near the middle of the house were five slips or ' seats' on each side, re- served for persons who did not own 'pews'-tlie men sitting on the west side, and women on the east. The gallery was also fitted up with pews, considerably elevated, around the wall. A large, square pew opposite the pulpit was built for the singers, with a circular table on which to lay their books. Two large pews were finished, contiguous to the singers' seat-one on the east and the other on the west side. The other space in the gallery was laid off into slips for common use ; reserving-according to the custom of the times-one slip for negroes, near the east door of the gallery."
But on the first day of September, 1782, the pulpit of the church, about to be renovated, missed its wonted preacher. On the morning of that Sabbath day, the Reverend Timothy Walker suddenly died " in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and the fifty-second of his ministry."1 The congregation, gathering for accustomed worship, heard not the gospel from revered lips, but with sorrowful surprise, the tidings that those lips were scaled in death.2 In due time came the funeral, conducted by a committee of the parish, when the people came together in a body to mourn for their lost pastor, as for a father ; and when with fit solemnities, and with his ministerial brethren of the country round to bear the pall,3 the first minister of Concord was carried to his burial.4
The life, the close of which is here recorded, was so closely and prominently identified with the life of Concord, that the history of the latter has necessarily included largely that of the former. For more than fifty years, to this citizen and minister of the gospel, the well-being of the community in which he dwelt and for which he wrought, was precious even "as the apple of his eye." A round- about common sense was an eminent characteristic of his; and a keen . sagacity was wont to discern the end from the beginning. Conse- quently, his counsel was safe ; and his methodical action tended to success, whether in ministerial effort, or in the cultivation of his farm, or in the prosecution of Rumford's case before the courts of Great Britain. His superiority of mental training was an advantage which he used to promote the interests of his fellow-citizens and parishioners ; and while it exalted his ideals, it did not lift him above
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