USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > History of Manchester, formerly Derryfield, in New-Hampshire : including that of ancient Amoskeag, or the middle Merrimack Valley, together with the address, poem, and other proceedings of the centennial celebration of the incorporation of Derryfield at Manchester, October 22, 1851 > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
431
GOV. JOHN WENTWORTH.
tion adjourning the Assembly to April, 1776. This was the last act of his administration, and thus ended the British pow- er in New Hampshire.
Governor Wentworth soon went to England, where he re- mained sometime without public employment. At length when peace was declared, and people returned to their usual business, he removed to Nova Scotia, and resumed his duties as surveyor of his majesty's woods. In 1792, he was appoint- ed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, and took the oath of office the 14th of May in that year.
In 1795, he was created a Baronet, a compliment not un- merited by his steadfast adherence to the interests of the Brit- ish Crown.
Sir John Wentworth continued at the head of the Govern- ment in Nova Scotia, until 1808, when he retired from office with a pension of £500 per annum from the government, and was succeeded by Sir George Provost.
He retired from office when the affairs between our govern- ment and that of England were in the worst possible condi- tion, save actual war, and it is more than suspected, that his uniform friendship for the people of his native country, mani- fested upon every fitting occasion, led to his withdrawal from the government of Nova Scotia. The British government wanted at that point, a man much less American in his sym- pathies, not to say less humane than Sir John Wentworth ; and no one can deny that by the appointment of Sir George Pro. vost its wishes were most fully gratified.
Soon after retiring from office, Sir John and Lady Went- worth went to England, where they tarried till 1810, when they returned and took up their residence in Nova Scotia. Here Sir John Wentworth died, April, 1820, aged eighty-three years.
Soon after arriving at Lexington, Stark finding the enemy had retired into Boston, marched to Cambridge with his volun- teers. Soon after his arrival, on the 26th of April, he was com- missioned as a Colonel by the Committee of Safety of Massa- chusetts with "beating orders," and enlisted eight hundred men within two hours from the "tap of the drum." Capt. James Reed of Fitzwilliam in the County of Cheshire, and Paul Dudley Sargent of Amherst, in this County, also received commissions as Colonels with, beating orders, at the same time. These com- missions were all given and accepted, with the condition, to. continue till "New Hampshire should act." Gen. Stark's repu- tation as a soldier was such, that his regiment was fully organ-
432
THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
ized forthwith, and consisted of fourteen companies, while Colonels Reed and Sargent, could enlist no more than four com- panies for some weeks.
Upon the organization of a military force by the Convention in New Hampshire, Reed, forthwith repaired to Exeter, his re- giment not being full, and was commissioned as Colonel under authority of the Convention, and was put in command of one of the three regiments composing the proposed Brigade, as before suggested. Colonel Stark being in command of the largest re- giment in the Massachusetts line, composed mainly of New Hampshire men, who had seen service in the French war, had no occasion to visit Exeter for a commission or troops. There was another reason, Gen. Folsom had been made a Brigadier from a Captain, and put in command of the New Hampshire troops, over him who had served through the whole French War, most of the time as a Captain of Rangers,-had been, and at the time of making the appointment, was in full commission as a Colonel of a regiment of troops which the Convention of New Hampshire had voted to adopt. In a word, Stark con- sidered himself superseded, and for the time determined to have nothing to do with the New Hampshire convention or its officers. Soon after, Gen. Folsom ordered him to make a re- port of his regiment, but Stark paid no attention to his order. Shortly after, on the 30th of May, Col. Stark received orders from the Convention to repair to Exeter, and to report to that body in person. Upon this he went to Exeter, and matters were arranged mainly to his satisfaction. His regiment was called and entitled the First New Hampshire Regiment, and was to consist of twelve companies, while the other two con- sisted of ten companies each, and he took a commission of Col- onel from the Convention.
The British were now completely surrounded in Boston. Thousands of the Provincial troops occupied the adjacent towns and held every avenue to the town. Recruits were pouring in from all quarters, and were being organized as fast as possible. The British General was chafing under the curb thus put upon him by an enemy he affected to despise. At length, the Ameri- cans determined to fortify one of the Charlestown hills that over looked the beleaguered town. On the night of the 16th of June Col. Prescott with a strong detachment was ordered to throw up a redoubt on Bunker,s hill. By mistake, he marched his force upon Breed's hill, the one nearest Boston, and executed
433
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
his orders with the greatest secresy and dispatch. So much so, that the British troops made no discovery of their operations, and the sight of the redoubt swarming with troops in the morning of the 17th of June, gave the first intimation to the British General of the proximity of the Provincial troops. He determined to attack them forthwith, and force them from their dangerous position.
Col. Stark, with Major McClary, visited the hill early on the morning of the 17th, and examined the redoubt, and while upon the hill, the British began their fire upon the American works from Cop's hill. Col. Stark had already detailed 200 of his men under Lt. Col. Wyman, by order of Gen. Ward, to reinforce the troops upon the hill; but he now saw that the whole regiment would be wanted and he hastened back to Medford where his regiment was quartered, to be in readiness for the emergency. His men were immediately paraded and as they were without cartridges, a gill cup of powder was dealt out to each man, with which to replenish his "powder horn ;" a " spare flint," and fifteen bullets, were also given to each man, and the regiment was ready for action. Orders were forthwith given for their march, and Stark at their head, cool and collected, with fight in his eye, led his men forthwith to the fearful encounter. As he marched his men, with measur- ed step, across Charlestown neck, upon Breed's hill, Capt. Dear- born, afterwards the noted Gen. Dearborn, who led one of the flank companies, young and impatient, suggested to Col. Stark, - the propriety of hastening the march. "Dearborn." replied the Colonel, "one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued ones." At this time, the Lively, a transport and three floating batteries were throwing their shot across the Neck.
Stark, with his Regiment, fresh and collected, took his post at the rail fence, between the redoubt and the Mystic river ; and it is no disparagement to the other troops to say, that at this point of the lines, was some of the most desperate fighting upon Bunker's Hill.
After arriving upon the ground, Stark's men threw up a sort of breast-work of stone across the beach to the water, and con- tinued the rail fence down the hill to the stone wall or breast- work. This wall served a most excellent purpose, as the sharp shooters from behind it could take the most deadly aim at the advancing enemy. Here was posted Capt. John Moor, and his company from Amoskeag. And it is a well established fact that the British troops in front of this wall were almost com- pletely annihilated.
434
THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
After the completion of this wall, and the British were ad- vancing, Col. Stark stepped in front of the line, thrust a stick into the ground at about eighty yards distant, and remarked to his command, "There, don't a man fire till the red coats come up to that stick, if he does, I'll knock him down." !
The killed and wounded in front of the New Hampshire line, were all betwixt the stick and the line, showing with what coolness Stark's troops obeyed his orders.
The New Hampshire troops were opposed by the Welch Fusileers, a veteran regiment of much service, and of the flow- er of the British army. They displayed in front of the rail fence and wall, with the precision and coolness of a dress pa- rade, and marched up to our lines with the confidence of men wearing the laurels of the field of Minden; but when within eighty yards, the New Hampshire hunters opened upon them a fire so rapid and severe, that they wavered, broke their ranks, and fled in dismay. Rallied and reinforced, they again formed and marched up to the attack. "Don't fire a gun, boys, till you see the white of their eyes and I say the word," cried Stark. "Fire low, aim at their waistbands !" rang the clear full voice of McClary. On came the serried ranks of the noble Fusileers, "Fire," shouted Stark, and that sharp, cracking peal, rose upon the air, from the New Hampshire sharp shooters, that alone arises from well charged musketry ; and when the smoke cleared away, the ground was strewed with the dead and dying, and the British line was again retreating in confu- sion. No troops could stand such deadly fire. The British officers became aware of this fact, and after rallying their forces for the third attack, gave orders to turn our left ; but in this at- tempt, the enemy were driven back with a slaughter more dread- ful than before, and could not again be rallied. In the excite- ment of the moment, the New Hampshire troops raised the shout of victory, and rushed over the fence in pursuit of the re- treating foe ; but Col. Stark restrained his men and perceiving the fate of the redoubt and that retreat was inevitable, his for- ces gave ground, and the last to leave the field, retreated with the order of veteran troops. The next day, the ground before the New Hampshire line was found literally covered with the dead ! An eye witness of the scene of the 18th, says, upon the beach, between the Mystic and the swarded part of the hill, where the British in their third attack attempted to turn the left of the New Hampshire troops, he counted ninety-six dead bodies of the British soldiers, the officers and wounded having been re- moved ! How terrible the slaughter ! It is not too much to
435
STARK AND HOBART.
assume, that if the rest of the American lines had been defend- ed with equal success, that the entire British force would have been driven from the hill or annihilated.
After the battle of the 17th of June, known as the 'Battle of Bunker's Hill," the American forces continued their position and strengthened their works, receiving continued reinforce- ments from the colonies.
The organization of the forces, and the regulation of the rank of the officers were sources of perplexity. Colonel Stark was still restive under the appointment of Gen. Folsom, and refused to report to him the proceedings of his regiment at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He made his report to the Committee of Safety of New Hampshire, and the affair passed off. However the cause of the discontent still remained,-but was allayed for a time by the appointment by Congress of John Sullivan as the Brigadier from New Hampshire, thus dropping General Folsom entirely.
In another affair, happening about the same time, Col. Stark was less prudent and less successfull. Major Samuel Ho- bart, Paymaster of the New Hampshire forces, went down to Medford to pay the troops. When he came to pay off Stark's men, he found that there were two more companies in the regi- ment than he had orders to pay, and he refused to pay them. The men were importunate for their pay and Hobart was steady in his refusal. Excitement ran high in both parties. At length Col Stark told some of his officers to go down to Major Hobart's at Medford and wait upon him up to his quarters as he wished to see him there. They were nothing loth to do such an errand and would do it in their own way. They took a de- tachment of men, marched to the Paymaster's quarters, formed in front of his door, made known their errand, and then march- ed Major Hobart up to the Colonel's quarters, the music playing the "Rogue's March." Arrived at the Colonel's quarters and Hobart still refusing to pay the troops, the meeting was char- acterized with no gentle specimens of language. Hobart re- turned to his quarters boiling with rage at the insult. The next day he reported the proceedings to the Commander, and Colonel Stark was arrested and a Court Martial ordered for his trial. After the excitement of the moment had passed, Col. Stark saw at once the imprudence of the whole proceedings and with a magnanimity known only to the truly courageous, he was ready to express his regret and sorrow at the whole affair, as one pro- ductive of ill consequences to the army. Accordingly when
436
THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
the day of trial came, he made the amende honorable to Ma- jor Hobart .*
This was considered as satisfactory and the Colonel was dis- charged from arrest.
The Brigade from New Hampshire, under Gen. Sullivan was posted on Winter Hill through the summer of 1775, and with but few active duties. Samuel Blodget of Amoskeag was sut- tler. To show somewhat the fare of the soldier of that period, we subjoin one of Mr. Blodget's bills.
"Dr. Province of New Hampshire to Sam'l. Blodget for Beer brewed and delivered to several Regiments in General Sullivan's Brigade at Winter Hill in June, 1775.
To 891-2 Barrels of Beer brewed for the use of Gen. Sullivan's Brigade at Winter Hill June 1775, at 5s per bar. £22-7-6
To cleansing 20 Barrels with hop water at 6d per bar. 10-0
To cash paid for one load of Spruce by desire of Mr. James. McGregory, one of the Comt. of supplies, but the Gen. forbid making use of any, and was lost, 19-0
£23-16-6"
Then again-
"Dr. Sam'l. Blodget, Esq. act. Jos. Trumbull Com'y. General.
1775 May, To 5 casks molasses, 5591-2 gal. 4d per gal. 37-6
1775 Jan. 10 to ballance due paid him in full this day, 65-2
£101-S
Cr.
1775, By Beer delivered for General Sullivan's · Brigade,
100-15
Sept. Say 403 bar. at 5s By cleansing 66 bar. at 6d
1-13
£102-8
* See Gen. Sullivan's papers in Portsmouth Atheneum.
437
RETURN FROM DERRYFIELD.
Cambridge Jan'y. 1776,
Errors Excepted for Joseph Trumbull Esq., Com'y General,
WM. HOSKINS."
But Mr. Blodget was not alone caterer for the common sol- diers ; for in a bill of particulars, he is credited under the date of 1776,
"April 1 By Bread to Brig. Maj. Scam-
mons. 435
General Sullivan's Table, 249
B'g Q. M. G. Frazier, 156
Gen'l Lee's Table 96"
It is probable, that upon the moving of General Sullivan's Brigade from Boston, that Judge Blodget returned to his farm in Goffstown, where we find him in mercantile pursuits in the summer of 1776.
In September 1775, there were sixteen men in the army from Derryfield. These were doubtless at Winter Hill. This fact appears from a return of the Selectmen of Derryfield. made in that month to the Committee of Safety for New Hampshire. As the return contains some interesting facts as to the popula- tion of the town, it is here subjoined.
"Males under 16 years of Age 68 ; Males from 16 years of age to 50, 41; All males Above 50 years of Age, 15 ; persons gone in the Army, 16; all females 142; Negroes and Slaves for Life 3. The toel Sum of the above Souls, male and fe- males amounts to 285.
The abave account is taken by us the Subscribers for the Town of Derryfield.
Joseph Gorge David Starret Selectmen.
Samuel Stark
Province of
New Hampshire. § Derryfield Sept. 4th, 1775, then the above Named Joseph Gorge, David Starret, and Samuel Stark, Re- spectively Made Solemn Oath to the truth of the Dispositions by them Respectively Signed.
Sworn Before John Hall Town Clark.
The Number of firelocks in Said Derryfield Amounts to 20, but Amonention there is None.
438
THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
N. B. There is twenty more in Said Town fit to Bare arms."
This return gives the number of men in town fit to bear arms at thirty six, there being 16 men in the army and "20 more in said town fit to Bare armes."
We have seen with what unanimity the people of the town and neighborhood, volunteered in the service of their country ; but there were exceptions to this patriotism. The Rev. John Houston of Bedford, was one most noted. He had from the beginning advocated the cause of the King ; and as the excite- ment increased, he became more imprudent, and interlarded his prayers and discourses with sentiments favoring the royal cause This was in opposition to the views of his entire congrega- tion ; yet professing to believe that he was "guided and direct- ed by the leadings and teachings of the unerring word and spirit of God" and "received the word at God's mouth," he persisted in his course. At length after repeated remonstrances on the part of the leading men of his society, and all of no avail, on the 16th of May, 1775,in town meeting, they voted, in the words of Judge Patten, "to shut the meeting-house against him."
"Voted, That he, (viz.) Rev'd John Houston, preach no more in Bedford, until the last day of March next, and that he have 36 Sabbath-days more to his own use and disposal, viz., from the 16th of May, last, to the last day of March next, more than the 9 Sabbath-days voted to his own use and dispo- sal at our last March meeting ; and that the town be freed from paying him anything for the said 36 Sabbath-days, agreeably to the vote of the town he settled with us on."
Mr. Houston sent a written communication which was read to the meeting, in which he excused his obnoxious course, in the same way that like traitors before and since his time, have attempted to justify their treasonable designs, by claimnig to be the mouth of the Deity, and to utter none but his teach- ings ! The close of his defence was thus ;
"Suffer ministers, then to go on praying earnestly for all men according to the will of God, and to blow the trumpet in Zion Shewing unto God's Israel their sins, the procuring curse of God's judgments, that we may all repent and turn from them unto God, as the only way we know his judgments can be averted. Surely our doing so here cannot intimidate the minds of our men going into the war, but rather we may help them thereby, in our earnest prayer to God for them. Suffer minis-
439
REV. MR. HOUSTON.
ters, also, to be guided and directed by the leadings and teach- ings of the unerring word and spirit of God, in all their pub- lic prayers, and to hear and receive the word at God's mouth, and warn his people from him, and not from the leadings or dictates of any person living. 'That we may all be directed in the way of God and duty in every respect, and kept in the same by the almighty power of God, through faith unto salva- tion, is the earnest desire of your careful pastor.
JOHN HOUSTON."
But the people of Bedford took little heed of the teachings of such an expositor of the word of God, and passed unani- mously the vote recorded above. Mr. Houston persisted in occupying the pulpit, and the doors and windows were fasten- ed against him. His conduct at length became so obnoxious, that the Committee of Safety for the town, made formal com- plaint against him, and on the 17th of July he was tried. Judge Patten thus speaks of this trial ;
"July, 17th, There was 4 of Goffstown committee, and 4 of Merrymac and 2 from Derryfield met in Bedford by the de- sire of Bedford committee, to judge of Mr. Houston,s being an Enemy to this country ; they judged him Guilty and confined him to the County without leave from the major part of the committees of the towns who judged him ; we broke up the next morning after day-break "
But Mr. Houston had become so obnoxious to the people of this region, and continuing his imprudent conduct, that the people were not satisfied with the punishment inflicted by the Committee of Safety, and determined to take the matter into their own hands. Divers of them accordingly met at Mr. Kel- ley's Tavern on the. Mast Road in Goffstown, and chose a Com- mittee to proceed to Bedford and bring Mr. Houston before them. The Committee performed their duty, and upon the Rev. Gentleman's appearing before them, he was charged with holding certain tory opinions, and was judged worthy of a ride upon a wooden horse. Four stout patriots then brought to the door the horse, in the shape of a rail. Mr. Houston was assisted to mount, the kitchen tongs were duly placed astride his neck, and in this plight he rode to Bedford, a distance of some half dozen miles! But this ride did not cure his tory- ism. And when in 1776, he was requested to sign the "Test," he refused, and was reported by the Selectmen as follows ;
"To the honorable, the Council and House of Representa-
440
THE HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
tives, for the Colony of New Hampshire, to be convened at Exeter, in said Colony, on Wednesday the 5th inst. :
"Pursuant to the within precept, we have taken pains to know the minds of the inhabitants of the town of Bedford, with respect to the within obligation, and find none unwilling to sign the same except the Rev. John Houston, who declines signing the said obligation for the following reasons ;
Firstly, Because he did not apprehend that the honorable Committee meant that Ministers should take up arms, as being inconsistent with their ministerial charge.
Secondly, Because he was already confined in the County of Hillsborough, therefore, he thinks he ought to be set at lib- erty before he should sign the said obligation.
Thirdly, Because there are three men belonging to his fami- ly already enlisted in the Continental Army,
JOHN MOOR,
JOHN ORR, S Select-
men.
Bedford, June 4th, 1776.
He still kept up his opposition to the patriot cause till Octo- ber 1778, when on the 24th of that month he was had before the Committee of Safety, for the State, in session at Exeter. Hon. Matthew Patten and Thomas Boies Esq., appeared against him, and produced the depositions of several of the people of Bedford as to his conduct. There was now no alternative for him but recantation, or the prison. He concluded to embrace the former, and drew up an acknowledgement of his errors, filed it with the Committee, and was ordered "to swear the oath of Fidelity, which he did" as says the Diary before quoted. After this, Mr. Houston continued to reside in Bedford, preach- ing in various parts of this State and Vermont as occasion re- quired, but was never settled again.
COL. WILLIAM STARK
was another exception. He had been a Captain in the Ran- gers in the Seven Years War, and had served with honor and distinction. After the close of that War, he resided at Dun- barton, then more generally known as Starkstown. Upon the commencement of hostilities at Lexington, he sided with the patriots, but did not offer his services immediately,-while his son John took open ground against the patriot cause.
This fact threw suspicion upon the father, perhaps un-
441
GOV. WENTWORTH IN DIFFICULTY.
justly. In the winter of 1776 he applied to the Committee of Safety for leave to raise a regiment with the rank of Colonel and had a strong letter from Gen. Sullivan, recommending him for that service, which fact shows that he favored the pat- riot cause at that time. Soon after however, circumstances transpired, that forced him to leave his country. He was char- ged with altering a Massachusetts bill of Credit, from sixteen shillings to forty shillings and passing the same to Job Dow of Goffstown. He was examined on this charge and bound over to a higher Court in the sum of £100. At the September Term of the Court at Amherst, he was indicted for the same offence, but made default and his recognizance was forfeited. He had retired within the British lines at New York, where he soon re- cieved a Commission as a Colonel in the British army. His son soon after was commissioned in the same service. Colonel Stark was thrown from his horse on Long Island and killed. He possessed a large landed estate which was confiscated. It lay principally in Fryeburg in the state of Maine. His real es- tate in New Hampshire was valued at £3345 as given in to the Commissioners in London in 1786. The defection of Col. Stark made but little difficulty, as he left under circumstan- ces neither honorable to himself or the cause which he was forced to espouse. Under other circumstances, the loss of such · a man would have been an incalculable evil to the patriot cause.
Toryism had become so rife in the colonies in the early part of 1776, that Congress took measures to disarm all persons who were "notoriously disaffected to the cause of America." Ac- cordingly in March 1776, they passed a resolution upon the subject. This was enclosed to all the colonies. In this State, the Committec of Safety had the resolution printed in a Cir- cular, and sent to every town in the State. The Circular was as follows;
"Colony of N. Hampshire, &c ..- Committee of Safety. "April 12, 1776.
To the Selectmen of Derryfield; In order to carry the un- derwritten resolve of the Honorable Continental Congress into execution, you are requested to desire all Males, above twenty- one years of age, (lunatics, idiots, and negroes excepted,) to sign the declaration on this paper, and when so done, to make return thereof together with the name or names of all who
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.