History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 96

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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deeds they performed at their country's call for their country's good. We will never forget their names, nor the one great act of heroism,-their going forth to fight for their country. We will gratefully transmit their memory down the generations.

As Captain Baldwin was the first of Hillsborough's men to die,-killed while doing his duty on the field, -as well as the very first to enlist from the town and secure the enlistment of others, it is proper that he should precede his brethren-in-arms on the histor- ian's page. Captain Baldwin was born in Sudbury, Mass., in 1736, and was thirty-nine years of age when the War of the Revolution broke out. He married Eunice Jennison, of Natick, Mass., and, as has been already said, had come to Hillsborough in 1767, near the time of the beginning of the second settlement. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and when the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord came he was at work at his trade in Deering framing a barn.

Captain Baldwin was used to war, and had been, with Stark, of world-wide renown as a brave officer in the old French and Indian War, under the com- mand of Major Rogers. Baldwin was the hero of twenty battles-this may be Homeric-"in those old wars." No sooner had he heard the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord than he made up his mind to have a part in what was to come. He quitted his job, hastened home, collected a company of volunteers and, putting himself at their head, with their entire approbation, started towards the noise of the guns. On their way they spent the Sab- bath in Billerica, and attended church in a body. The pastor, Rev. Cummings, preached an appropriate sermon on the duty of patriotism.

They arrived at Medford June 17th, the day of the battle of Bunker Hill. The company over which Captain Baldwin was elected, on arrival at headquar- ters, was ordered to the field of battle, which they reached about twelve M., and immediately went into action. He was hit by a musket-ball in his breast, and fell mortally wounded about one o'clock in the afternoon. He was carried to the quarters for the wounded by two of his own townsmen belonging to his company,-Lieutenant John McNeil and James Gibson. He lived until about sunset. After his death Lieutenant Ammi Andrews extracted the bullet and sent it to the wife of Captain Baldwin as a mournful reminder of the manner in which her hus- band met his death.

Andrews is a heroic name in Hillsborough. Lieu- tenant Ammi Andrews, born in Ipswich, Mass., came to Hillsborough at an early period of the second settle- ment, and located at what is now the Upper village, and, it is said, was proprietor of its whole site and much adjacent territory. Lientenant Andrews served through the whole War of the Revolution, and was a sharer in the perils of the expedition to Quebec in 1775, under Colonel Arnold. He was taken prisoner

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there by the British, but soon exchanged. A story is related of him in connection with that expedition that is worth perpetuating. In the winter of 1775-76, as they lay in winter-quarters three miles from the city of Quebec, the commanding officer was anxious to gain some news of the enemy's strength and posi- tion, and for that purpose expressed the wish that a British sentinel might be captured and brought into camp. Lieutenant Andrews volunteered to make the attempt. Some one said that he ought to have the best gun in the army. "Look here," said the gallant lieutenant, "is it a dead or a living man that you want ? Because if it is a living man that you wish brought in, I do not wish to be bothered with a gun." He reached the city of Quebec, and, scaling its walls in the darkness of the night, at a favorable moment he sprang upon a sentinel as he was pacing his beat backwards and forwards with a musket. The lieu- tenant, who was a strong, vigorous man, a powerful athlete in agility, seized him by the throat, and told him he was a dead man if he made the least outcry. Taking him down the steep and dangerous mountain- side, leaping from one shelf of the precipice to another, he marched his prisoner three miles through the deep snows of Canada to the American camp. Lieutenant Andrews was distinguished as a business man in his day, and transmitted the same qualities to his descendants now living. He died in his bed March 30, 1833, aged ninety-seven years.

Captain Samuel Bradford also served through the war. He enlisted as an orderly-sergeant, and rose, for meritorious conduct, to the rank of ensign and also of lieutenant, performing adjutant's duty in Col- onel Stark's regiment for more than two years.

The name of Benjamin Pierce, an honored Gov- ernor of New Hampshire of the olden time, is fa- miliar to all readers of history. He was born in Chelmsford, Mass., December 25, 1757. His father's name was also Benjamin. At his father's death, when he was but six years of age, he went to live with an uncle (Robert Pierce, of Chelmsford), who brought him up to work on a farm. When the news of the first battle at Lexington (April 19, 1775) arrived he was plowing. He left the field, took his uncle's gun and equipments and started at once for the scene of danger. He was one of the "irregulars" who fol- lowed Pitcairn's wearied soldiers, retreating, by a forced march, towards Boston from Lexington-like others, loading and firing at his own order. He did not return to his uncle's, but enlisted in Captain Ford's company. He was then eighteen. He joined as a private, but in 1777 he was promoted to orderly- sergeant for securing the flag from falling into the hands of the enemy. He was again promoted to a lieu- tenancy, which commission he bore to the close of the war. He removed to Hillsborough after the return of peace, in the thirtieth year of his age. He was soon appointed brigade-major by the Governor. In 1789, in his thirty-third year, he was chosen to rep-

resent Hillsborough and Henniker in the Legisla- ture, and served in that capacity thirteen years suc- cessively. He had found himself poor at the close of the war, in which, enlisting as a private, he had risen step by step until, at its close, he had the command of a company, and was on the staff of Washington when the army was disbanded. in 1784.

Having been employed as agent to explore a part of Cheshire County (now called Stoddard), and hav- ing finished the work, he returned to Hillsborough on horseback, by way of the " Branch," and stopped for the night at a log hut in the woods. Here he bought a small farm of fifty acres, and returned to Massa- chusetts. The next spring he returned to Hillsbor- ough and commenced to clear his land. For a whole year he lived alone in his log cabin, cooked his own meals and slept upon a blanket, as he had learned to do in an eight years' experience on the tented field. He was married the next year, in 1787. In 1803, Gen- eral Pierce was chosen one of the Governor's Council, and continued in that capacity five years. At the end of that term Governor Langdon appointed him high sheriff of Hillsborough County. He was again councilor and again sheriff of the county. In 1827 he was elected Governor of the State; and again, in 1829. He was elector of President in 1832. From 1775 to 1830, a period of fifty-five years, he was constantly employed in some public office. He died April 1, 1839, aged eighty-one years. This tribute I find paid to his memory : " He was patriotic, brave, noble- minded and charitable ; a benefactor to his country and a blessing to his State and society ; and no one memory associated with the past history of Hills- borough brings up higher feelings of respect and veneration than that of General Benjamin Pierce." As an illustration of his nobility of character, an an- ecdote is related of him while a prisoner on parole, having fallen into the hands of the British on Long Island. Attending a horse-race, he offended an Eng- lish officer by an adverse opinion, which the English- man thought too freely expressed, who thereupon struck Lientenant Pierce with the flat of his sword. The blood flushed on the lieutenant's face; yet he quietly said : " Fettered by my parole, and unarmed, I cannot now resent this indignity, but the chances of war may yet bring us together." And so it proved. In an engagement between the armies of General Washington and Howe, contending for possession of the city of New York, in the summer of 1776, they met, crossed swords, and the Englishman fell pierced by the young AAmerican. He had a perfect contempt of a coward. Just before his death he invited his old Hillsborough co-patriots to a dinner, in honor of old times. One of the old veterans not being there, some one spoke of his absence. The Governor re- plied, "I invite no man to my table who is afraid of gunpowder."

An anecdote is related of him, when high sheriff of the county, that shows his generosity. He found im-

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prisoned in the jail at Amherst three Revolutionary soldier-, who had proved themselves good soldiers for their country. At the close of their service they were penniless, the pay which they received being nearly valueless, and after weary days of travel reached home, only to be arrested and imprisoned for debt which they were wholly unable to pay. The general, taking the keys, paid their indebtedness, unlocked the prison-doors, and leading them outside, pointing above, he said, " Go, breathe the free air." It is no wonder that Governor Pierce was the idol of the peo- ple, though lacking the polished manners of his son, Franklin, for the people saw that he was a true friend and a champion for their rights.

Governor Pierce was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Andrews, Esq. The marriage was on May 24, 1787. She lived a little over one year, and gave birth to Elizabeth A., who was married to General John McNeil, the hero of Lundy Lane, She died August 13, 1788, in the twenty-first year of her age. He next married Anna, daughter of Benjamin Kendrick, of Amherst, in 1789. They lived in married life fifty-one years. She was the mother of eight children, among whom were Nancy, the wife of General Solomon McNeil, a brother of General John MeNeil; Hon. Franklin Pierce, who attained the highest honor in the gift of the nation, and Henry Dearborn Pierce, the father of Colonel Franklin H. and Kirk D. He was the last of the Governor's chil- dren to go.

There are pleasant memories associated with the name of Lieutenant Robert B. Wilkins, who was a Bunker Hill hero, and quartermaster of General Lafayette's brigade. He was wounded at Bunker Hill. While serving under Lafayette he rendered at one time such signal service in taking some cattle from the British at Poule's Hook, opposite New York City, that Lafayette presented him with a full suit of officer's uniform as a token for meritorious con- dnet. He was familiarly known in the army, es- pecially among the officers of his regiment, as " Bob Wilkes." At Lafayette's visit to America in 1825, more than forty years having elapsed, Wilkins was presented to his old general, but time had wrought such changes that he was not at first recognized. Al- lu-ion was made to some incident of the battle-field, which caused the Frenchman to look a little closer and Scrutinize the features of the man before him. The whole at once flashed upon the memory of Lafayette; he recognized in the changed face, bat- tored with the storm- of life, his old companion in arms, and (the tears falling freely from many eyes) he tell upon Wilkins' neck, and, tenderly embracing him, exclaimed, "O, Bob Wilkes, Bob Wilkes !" and they both wept like children. Heads were uncovered and shouts arose which showed Jone writer says, describing the server how " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." Wilkins died in Boston in Au- trust. 1-32. ated seventy-seven years.

The Revolutionary War came to an end, as all wars hitherto have done, and those who had fought for years in the field and had suffered many privations returned home to the avocations of peace. But they had many diffiulties to contend with. The paper currency, known as Continental money, continued to depreciate through the war until it was worth only one per cent. of its face value. Examples can be given. Daniel Killom paid for a farm ten thousand dollars in currency, which could have been bought for one hundred dollars in silver or gold ; rye brought seventy-five dollars a bushel in currency, which three- fourths of a dollar in silver would pay for; it is said that Rev. Mr. Barnes' salary for a year was only sufficient to purchase a pig. Samuel MI. Baker now owns that ten thousand dollar farm above referred to.

An inflated currency is a much-to-be-dreaded evil. It disarranges all the best-laid plans of the shrewdest business men. However, by degrees, men gained con- fidence again, and business was resumed on a healthy basis. Some manufacturing was done on a careful scale, farms were improved and things in general put on a thriving appearance. Public improvements were commenced and carried on little by little.

The Contoocook Bridge .- One noted improvement was building a bridge over the Contoocook River that should answer the purposes of general travel, which at this point seemed to be on the increase. The first bridge-made of wood-was erected where the present bridge now stands, in 1779, and was reconstructed seventeen years after, in 1796. The timbers, many of them, were beginning by that time to be tender and unsafe. There is an interesting note in Hammond's " Early Town Papers" in reference to this first bridge. It would appear that Colonel Hill, the proprietor of the township of Hillsborough, and who died in Bos- ton. 1776, had subscribed or provided in his will the gift of one hundred acres of land in town towards building a bridge across the Contoocook (at that time the settlers called the river the Connecticut). This subscription was made before the war ; but so many things lacking, the building of the bridge was put off, and in the mean time Colonel Hill died. This will explain a petition of the town for authority to tax non-residents, that would bring a tax upon the unsold lands in town belonging to Hill's heirs. The petition bears date 8th day of May, A.D. 1780.

Correcting the spelling of the petition, which Ham- mond has given verbatim et literatim, it is as follows:

"STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

" To the Hon. the Council and Assembly of said Stute in general court convened :

" May it please your honors, we, the subscribers, freeholders in the town of llillsboro', in said State, beg leave to petition, that whereas, the late John Hill, Esq., of Boston, who was sole proprietor in this town, did, before the commencement of the present war, promise to give One hnn- dred acres of land towards building a bridge over Connecticut river, so called, in this town, which bridge we should have built four or five years ago, had it not been for this unhappy war, but at last we have completed said bridge, and the 'shares' of the said John Hill have been solicited to make good their father's promises, but refuse. We,

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therefore, humbly petition that your honors would order a tax to be levied on the non-residents' land lying in town to defray the charges of building said bridge, as we labor under heavy burdens in town, and said bridge will be of great service, not only to the town, but also to the public, as said bridge cost us two thousand three hundred and three pounds, as money was last October, and if your honors shall in your wisdom see fit to grant this onr petition, we, as in duty bound, shall ever pray," etc.

Signed by Samuel Bradford, Jr., and thirty-five others, among which are the names of Andrews, Tag- gart, Wilkins, Dutton and Booth.

The cost of that first bridge, "as money was last Oc- tober," -viz., October, 1779,-in the words of the pe- tition, in currency was the same-according to a de- cision by arbitration fixing the value of English money-as $11,118.9716. The granting of the peti- tion would be getting probably a full equivalent for Colonel Hill's subscription out of the parties who re- fused to make it good. Daniel MeNeil was employed by the town to rebuild the bridge in 1809. These fre- quent repairs were a great bill of expense. Squire F. Clement, in 1824, built substantial abutments of solid stone-work at the ends and connected them over a space of forty feet with wood, as before. This lasted fifteen years, when, in 1839, the whole work was ele- vated five feet and the wood gave place to a splendid stone arch, which has stood without essential repairs forty-six years, to the present time. It is this splendid and substantial bridge that gives the distinctive name to the growing village to which it is an essential ap- pendage, connecting the two sides of the river as really as if not separated by its waters. The scenery at this bridge is beautiful, and in time of high water grand in the extreme. The falls are an epitome of Niagara. The writer of this article, from a position in the parlor of his house, while living at the Bridge, had a most enchanting view. The water falling over the dam could be seen under the arch, and by imagin- ing the scene to be carried back to some distance, it afforded a prospect not to be surpassed in beauty. The house referred to belongs to E. H. Bartlett, and is located just west of the bakery.

It may be asked how the people on their farms lived in those early days? How in the villages? Where all were comparatively in moderate circumstances, none very rich,-at least, such as would be accounted rich to-day,-did aristocratic feelings prevail as among the present generation, the children and grandehil- dren of the Revolutionary fathers ? The answer will be "yes," but based more upon character tested by trial than now, oftentimes upon the mere accident of wealth, oftenest wealth gained by the toil and pru- dence of ancestors. They prided themselves-those old patriots-upon actual service rendered to the country,-a service of toil, danger, deprivation, but yet of love. A coward or a traitor was despised, no mat- ter how rich.

going community. They all appeared on the hill. The roads were dotted with travelers-very many on foot-to the place of worship. Then each man owned a share in the house of God by virtue of his residence in town and paying taxes. The minister was sup- ported at the town's expense, and the gospel was liter- ally free to the poor as well as to the rich. No man who was brave and true was looked down upon because he was poor, and no man wanting these characteristics of bravery and truth was looked up to, though he might be rich. These things changed, however, little by little, for the worse.

In those early days they were not wanting in healthy amusements, changing with the season of the year. One of these was the hunting-match. The whole community-except the very young, the very old, the doctor and the minister, with now and then one who had seruples in the matter-engaged in the affair. A leader for each side was chosen by com- mon consent. These chose sides, and for several days the crack of the musket might be heard in all direc- tions. The more obnoxious the animal, the more he would count in the game. The heads of some, the tails of others, were brought as trophies of success to the place of count, and the umpire decided which side had won the game. A supper, frequently paid for by the losing side, closed the affair.

There were amusements of which the young women had charge, others of which the men were the leading characters, to both of which both were admitted, and both considered necessary for the highest enjoyment. One of these was the quilting-party, the other the husking-bee. Apple-paring bees were also common. It may be said that such parties were too rude to be elevating, but the ancestors of the present generation of refined ladies and gentlemen in society were sound and true in heart and very rarely stepped over the bounds of propriety. Possibly the laugh was louder, but the laugh was the whole of it and left no lurking evil concealed. They were days remarkably free from suspicions,-days of mutual trust in families and among friends.

Witches .- Hillsborough, not to be outdone by sur- rounding towns, had its genuine with-story. Aunt Jenny Robinson had the reputation of being a veri- table witch, and could, I presume, as well as any other witch, ride through the air on a broom-stick. She had the reputation of being able to stop loaded teams until the drivers should go into her husband's tavern and get a drink. In this respect the spell which she used is not greater than is often cast over teamsters and those who are carried by teams. I will refer the reader to the story so pathetically told by the Hills- borough annalist, Mr. Smith, on page twenty-nine of his published lecture. There are so many witches in "curls and bangs" in these days that I may be ex- cused from giving more particulars.

They were devout, even though sometimes, when their anger was roused at some act unjust or mean that had been committed, they were considered rough : Legends of Beasts of Prey .- The carly history of and severe. They were in those early days a church- a town cannot be considered complete, especially to

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the young folks, without its bear-story any more than without its witch-story. Both seem to be called for, and Mr. Smith, the annalist, did his duty faithfully. I cannot improve on his version of it, and will therefore give it in his language,-" Bears were frequently seen in town long after the wolves had been exterminated. Mr. James Carr, residing in the north part of the town, was a bear-trapper. On going to his trap one morning he found it gone." [I cannot explain how that could be,-how he could go to his trap if it was not there when he went, nor how he could be -aid to find it if it was gone.] "He armed himself with his rifle, and after following the track about a mile he espied a bear. He laid aside his gun, and commenced an attack with a club. The moment he struck at the bear it grappled him with its paw and seized his left arm in its jaws. Carr, disliking so close an embrace, with considerable effort drew from his pocket a knife and compelled Bruin to relinquish his hold. The bear, having in the struggle forced himself from the trap, retreated to a ledge of rocks near by. Thither Carr pursued him, though somewhat hurt by the encounter, and discharged his rifle at him several times before he killed him." Exit the bear, dragged away by the trapper. As late as the beginning of the present century, and before that from time imme- morial, salmon abounded in the Contoocook River. Civilization, by damming the rivers and other streams, while it adds to artificial wealth, cuts off some of the resources of nature.

The wolf was once a troublesome animal in Hills- borough. Major Isaac Andrews has the reputation of killing the last wolf that was killed in town. He baited a fox-trap; nothing disturbed it for two days, but on the third day, on visiting the place, it was desti- tute of a trap. It was in the winter and the snow was deep ; so, taking his gun, he followed on snow-shoes and killed it at the second firing.

Wild Game .- Moose and deer were sometimes killed in Hillsborough and vicinity. Aged people woukl sometimes almost scare children out of their wits by telling them frightful stories of wolves, bears and catamounts, so that when out in the dark they would imagine that they could often hear the tread of some wild animal. The generation that fought success- fully the battles of the Revolution, and secured inde- pendence for themselves and their posterity, one by one came to the closing period of life, and the places that had known them knew them no more forever. One by one they had yielded in the race of life to younger competitors, and were contented to live again in their children and children's children. Yet old age is sometimes talkative, and the veterans of the Revolution awakened in young minds dreams of glory gained on the field of battle. The eye of the old man would sparkle with a new delight as he talked of camping in the open air and sleeping on the bare ground under the open sky ; as he talked of evolutions in the field, marching and counter-marching in

echelon of file and echelon of section, of the impetu- ous charge and the successful repulse.

CHAPTER III.

HILLSBOROUGH-(Continued).

War of 1812-The McNeils-Men in the Ranks-War of the Rebellion- Industries of Hillsborough-Desertion of Hill Farms-Forestry-Pine Timber-Contoocook Mills-The New Mill-Hillsborough or Valley Academy.

War of 1812 .- At length the time came for this new generation of Americans, and of Britons as well, to show their hand in war. As of old, there is with every generation of men the time when "kings go forth to battle," when some cause arises that calls men to the tented field. Another war arose between Great Britain and the United States, which were once her dependent colonies. It was called with us the War of 1812, as that was the year in which it was declared. It was a contest vigorously fought by brave men on both sides. It is difficult to state in precise language the real causes that led to that war, as in the final settlement made at Ghent nothing was de- cided except that each, by hard blows given as well as received, had vindicated most fully its honor before the world.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 96

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168