USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > History of Plymouth, New Hampshire; vol. I. Narrative--vol. II. Genealogies, Volume I > Part 8
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In the warrant for a meeting to elect a delegate to the fourth provincial congress there was an article "to choose a committee of safety and correspondence in order to keep up and preserve in this day of difficulty connection and the strictest harmony between this and the other towns in this province and the other colonies as well as consult the best method for our own immediate safety." Having chosen Abel Webster a delegate, the town proceeded to the choice of a committee of safety. The men chosen were Samuel Emerson, Thomas Lucas, James Harvel, Benjamin Goold, David Hobart, Jotham Cummings, David Webster, John Wil- loughby, and Elisha Bean. This meeting was held May 8, 1775.
In the proceedings of the fourth provincial congress, which convened May 17, 1775, and was dissolved Nov. 15, 1775, there are several votes which directed the men, controlled the events, and are an essential feature in the history of Plymouth. Abel Webster was an active and useful delegate, representing the towns of Plymouth, Campton, and Rumney. The congress was in recess from July 7 to August 22, and when it reassembled Moses Dow, also of Plymouth, appears as a delegate from Plymouth and Rumney. Abel Webster, however, retained his seat in the congress, attending eighteen days before the recess and fifty-nine
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTHI.
days during the entire session. Mr. Dow was in attendance eleven days.
In May the fourth congress voted to raise three regiments con- taining two thousand men. These are the regiments, commanded by Colonels Stark, Reed, and Poor, which participated in the siege of Boston and in which there were five men from Plymouth. The congress also determined to raise a company not exceeding sixty men for the defence of the northwestern part of the State. In July it was ordered that two companies be raised and equipped, to be commanded by Capt. John Parker and Capt. James Osgood. Other companies were ordered and sent to the field in the year 1775, but they contained no men from this town and do not demand mention in a history of Plymouth.
The proceedings of the fourth provincial congress is the most instructive and interesting chapter in the Revolutionary history of New Hampshire. The delegates adopted very many recom- mendations but issued few commands. It was not a law-making body, and it hesitated in assuming legislative functions. The delegates were fully employed as ministers of war, finding little leisure for the discussion of codes and constitutions. So far as they were not in conflict with the changed conditions, the existing laws of the province were accepted, and every statute which barred their free acts in a preparation for war were silently ignored. The organization of the fifteen geographical regiments, as they were constituted during the administration of Gov. John Went- worth, was accepted without thanks or comment. Attention was then directed to the field officers who were still holding commis- sions issued by Governor Wentworth.
The congress appointed Col. Stephen Evans and Col. Jonathan Chase to fill vacancies in the second and thirteenth regiments. Cols. Jonathan Moulton, Joseph Badger, and Matthew Thorn- ton, who were holding commissions issued by Governor Went- worth, were approved and continued in command. In the fifth regiment Col. Josiah Bartlett, who had recently been removed by Governor Wentworth, was restored to his former position, and
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
new appointments were made in the remaining regiments. In the course of these proceedings the eighth regiment, including Lon- donderry, and the sixth regiment, including Keene, were divided, increasing the number to seventeen. Two years later the eighteenth regiment was organized and John McClary appointed colonel.
While these proceedings were under consideration, and before the officers were appointed, Abel Webster, the delegate from Plymouth, in June, 1775, forwarded a letter from Exeter to Plymouth. The original, in the clear handwriting of the writer, is in the office of the town clerk.
To the Selectmen of the Town of Plymouth.
Gentlemen.
As your Representative in Provential Congress I am to Acquaint you that by order of Congress it is Recommended & Desired that your said Town of Plymouth Meet & choose a Sutable person or Agent to meet with the several Agents of the adjoyning Towns which meeting of said Agents I appoint to be held at the Court House in said Plymouth on Friday the 23d Instant one o'clock afternoon then and there when meet to appoint & choose sutable persons to Serve as Field officers in the Regiment of Militia Consisting of those Towns Thus Represented by an agent. Which said appointment of Officers if approved by said Congress to be by them Commissioned Accordingly
ABEL WEBSTER
Portsmouth June
17th A. D. 1775
This meeting in the newly erected courthouse, called by Abel Webster at the suggestion of the provincial congress, and attended by the sturdy pioneers of the settlements and of the Revolution, can be seen only in imagination, and the voices of the patriots on that occasion are lost in the fading echoes of the past.
Doubtless meetings were attended then as they are now. Those who come the greater distance are the first to arrive. In the absence of a record of the meeting it is pleasing to assume that Thomas Crawford of New Chester and Matthew Thornton of Thornton, coming from opposite directions, were the earliest
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
arrivals. They came on horseback, and after noting that the door of the courthouse remained unopened, they repaired to the inn for better acquaintance and an interchange of hospitality. Perhaps from Cockermouth came Ebenezer Melvin. He had been a valiant soldier in the French War and, before he removed to the wilderness, he had been an officer in the militia. He was a dignified man, and people listened whenever he was talking and always saluted him as Captain Melvin. If all the towns send delegates as competent and patriotic as Crawford and Melvin, the selection of officers of the eleventh regiment will be happy and fortuitous.
The next arrival is Alexander Craig, tall, athletic, and viva- cious, a man of ability and peaceable with all men who entertained the same opinions. The stirrup cup he drank at the doorsill when leaving his home in Rumney gives an increasing expression of exhaustion. On military principles he procures reinforce- ment. On this occasion he should have come to Plymouth on a steed caparisoned with the trappings of war, for to-day he is to be nominated for a major of the regiment. Unconscious of the fortunes awaiting him, he came to the meeting mounted on a brood mare with a colt by her side. Honors sometimes approach men unawares.
Now come across the river good men from Holderness. Samuel Shepard, generally vivacious and courteous, to-day is so serious and thoughtful that we passed him without recognition. Some one has told him that possibly he may be nominated for the other major of the regiment, and he appreciates the dangers of the future. With him come William Cox and Nathaniel Thompson, his neighbors and friends, to make certain that the election does not. miscarry.
No one yet from Campton - Campton the near neighbor and the constant friend of Plymouth ? Where now are the fathers of the blushing boys from beyond Beech Hill who delight in their attentions to the growing and winsome damsels of Plymouth ? Ah, here they come. Not one alone, but three or four or five,
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riding like mad. Such a clatter of hoof and such clouds of dust, we fail to count them. As they draw near the courthouse they cheer for Hobart and for Webster, and the gratified men of Plymouth hold out the warm hands of recognition. Now all repair to the courthouse, and while the selected agents are nomi- nating Col. David Hobart, Lieut .- Col. David Webster, Maj. Alex- ander Craig, and Maj. Samuel Shepard the people outside are discussing the recent battle of Bunker Hill, and laughing because Col. John Stark used Fenton's hay for breastworks.
The meeting being over and Plymouth having returned to a normal habit, it would have been a gracious act if Deacon John Willoughby had waited upon his neighbor Colonel Hobart with a tender of congratulations. Perhaps he did so, and on the occasion said, " Did you notice, colonel, that in our meeting yes- terday, Alexandria, one of the towns in your regiment, was not represented ?" And possibly Colonel Hobart replied, " Well, well, deacon, until you mentioned it I had not thought of it."
The field officers of nearly all the regiments were appointed by the provincial congress Aug. 24, 1775, when David Hobart was commissioned colonel and David Webster lieutenant-colonel of the eleventh regiment, comprising the towns of Plymouth, Holderness, Campton, Thornton, Rumney, Cockermouth, Alex- andria, and New Chester. For some unknown reason the majors were not appointed until November 8, when Samuel Shepard of Holderness was selected first major and Alexander Craig of Rumney second major.
In a study of the war rolls and other papers of the Revolution we should discriminate between a colonel of a geographical regi- ment and a colonel commanding a regiment in active service. The colonels of the geographical regiments received and executed the orders for raising men and regulating the companies or militia in their respective regiments and performed many duties which in later times have devolved on provost marshals. At the same time they were colonels of organized regiments, and when several companies from the territory of a regiment were called at one
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
time into active service the colonel sometimes assumed command in the field. In 1778 William Whipple, under a superior com- mission, commanded a brigade in active service and remained a colonel of a geographical regiment, and David Hobart was the colonel of a geographical regiment until 1779, and also com- manded in 1777 a regiment in active service in the field.
On the first of September, 1775, the provincial congress ordered that four regiments of minutemen be enlisted out of the existing geographical regiments of militia. It was a proposed organiza- tion within an organization, by which a part of the militia was held in readiness for any emergency. The field officers were appointed, and Benjamin Goold of Plymouth was appointed a major of the third regiment, of which Timothy Walker of Concord was the colonel.
Addressing his letter to the two delegates in the convention resident of Plymouth, Benjamin Goold wrote the following letter declining the appointment, whereupon Joseph Spencer, probably of Charlestown, was appointed. The letter is preserved in the State archives : -
Messrs. Webster & Dow.
This may certify, that whereas you have informed me that I was appointed by Congress a Major in Coll. Walker's Regi- ment of militia men I am much obliged to Congress for their notice of me in this Respect. But for weighty Reasons I must decline serving my Country in that office, tho, I am always ready, on all occasions, cheerfully to exert my utmost abilities in the service of my Country, & to defend our Liberties & privileges. Therefore you may proceed to a new nomination.
I am Genm your friend &. Servant BENJN GOOLD
To Messrs Abel Webster & Moses Dow.
Plymouth October 27, 1775.
The first residents of Plymouth to enlist in the Revolution were Nahum Powers and William Nevins. In their memory and to their honor the fact is here recorded. Both enlisted April 19, 1775, and served in the Hollis company in the Lexington alarm.
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
They continued with the Hollis company in Colonel Prescott's regiment in the Massachusetts forces until the close of the year, participating in the siege of Boston and sharing the dangers and the honors of Bunker Hill. Many of the articles belonging to the soldiers were laid aside during that memorable battle. Wil- liam Nevins was subsequently paid one pound and seven shillings for the loss of a knapsack, a tumpline, and a jacket. Nahum Powers was paid nineteen shillings and six pence for the loss of a knapsack, a tumpline, a hat, a jacket, and a bayonet.
Worcester's History of Hollis, a work of unusual accuracy and merit, claims Powers and Nevins as Hollis men. Nahum Powers 1 was born in Hollis. He was one of the grantees of Plymouth, and he removed to this town with the first settlers. He was annually taxed here until and including 1776. Three children were born and his wife died in this town. William Nevins removed from Hollis to Plymouth before 1770, and here lived until he died in the service in 1776. His widow and children were in Plymouth while he was in the army, and after his death continued to live here.
It is probably true that both were temporarily in Hollis when the Lexington alarm was circulated and that they enlisted in that town, but they were acknowledged residents and good citizens of Plymouth. When they were discharged at the close of the year both returned to their homes in Plymouth, and their subsequent enlistments from this town will be recorded in the story of the following years.
Thomas McClure, Joseph Smith, and Joseph Davis served in Colonel Stark's regiment in 1775. McClure enlisted in April
1 This is to certify the Treasury of the Colony of New Hampshire, That Nahum Powers of Plymouth in the County of Grafton in said Colony did In- list himself a Soldier in the Continental Army last year [1775] and has Reen- listed again this year, his Pool Tax to the Colony being two shillings and eight pence is by a Resolve of the Congress or General Court of this Colony Released to him
Plymouth 29th May 1776
EBENEZER, BLODGET ¿ Select Men JAMES HARVELL
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
and Davis and Smith in May. Their names are not found on the company rolls of the regiment dated Aug. 1, 1775, but they were volunteers from that regiment to serve in Captain Dear- born's company in the famous Arnold expedition to Canada. Thomas McClure came from Merrimack or vicinity to Plymouth, 1768, and died in this town, 1794. Joseph Davis was taxed in Plymouth 1773 only, and Joseph Smith 1773 and 1774, but on the roll of the company of Captain Dearborn they are credited to the town of Plymouth.
On account of the exposure of the locality, the people of Graf- ton County, during the Revolution, performed a double duty. They were loyal to the State, promptly responding to every call for men and means to prosecute the war. At the same time they were charged with the defence of the northern frontiers. This duty was constant and exacting. It was an added burden to the general sacrifices for American independence.
The provincial congresses were not unmindful of the peril of the frontiers. They were in continued correspondence with John Hurd of Haverhill, Jacob Bayley of Newbury, Vt., and Jeremiah Eames of Northumberland, and sitting in their midst were dele- gates from the frontiers whose wisdom they recognized and whose advice they respected. Long live the memory of Abel Webster and Moses Dow of Plymouth, John McMurphy of Alexandria, Samuel Hazelton of Cockermouth, Israel Morey and Nathaniel Rogers of Orford, John Wheelock of Hanover, Nehemiah Esta- brook of Lebanon, Ephraim Wesson of Haverhill, Richard Young of Piermont, Nathaniel Hovey of Landaff, delegates from the frontiers! They joined with their associates in raising an army for their country first and for their homes, if men were left to defend them. Zealous for the cause of independence, loyal to New Hampshire, and anxious for the security of their homes, their attitude arose to the dignity of statesmanship crowned with sacrifice and heroism.
The invasion of Canada by the American army in 1775 held the enemy on the defensive at their several posts, and the antici-
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
pated incursions by detachments of the English army augmented by Indians and Tories were temporarily averted.
In May of this year the provincial congress ordered " that a company not exceeding sixty men in the northwesterly parts of the colony be forthwith enlisted to be ready to act as occasion may require." Eight days later orders were made for raising a second company for the defence of the frontiers. It is clearly expressed in the records that these companies were originally proposed for scouting and detached service on the northern frontiers. But in conformity with an enlargement of the policy of the administra- tion, they were joined to Colonel Bedel's regiment and partici- pated in an invasion of Canada. It was understood from the beginning that the first company raised for this service should be enlisted from towns in Grafton County. In this connection the following communication, addressed to the provincial congress, is spirited and self explanatory : -
Gentlemen -
Whereas it hath been Represented to us by M' Abel Webster member of the Colony Congress for the Town of Plymouth in the County of Grafton, That your Honours propos'd & ordered one Company of Foot to be Raised in the County of Grafton, for the Defence of the Country one half of said Company to be raised in the Towns Scituate on Con- ecticut River & the other half on the Towns Scituate on Pemegiwasitte River, and that the Orders for Raising said Company was delivered to Israel Morey Esq' of Orford to be by him communicated to said Webster & by them to be proportioned upon each River, Yet Nevertheless as we Understand the said Israel Morey Esq' keeps the said orders to himself or from this part of the County in order to raise the whole of said Com- pany on Connecticutt River as he has had no connection or advice with said Webster or any other person in this part of the County concerning the same We therefore the agents of the several Towns hereafter Mentioned beg Leave to remonstrate to your Honours against the proceeding of said Esq' Morey, conceiving that by his thus proceeding he has not only thwarted the order and advice of Congress or said Committee of Safty but also put this part of the County under a very Uneaquel footing with the other part in bearing the publick charge in not having the Previledge in raising our proportion of Men, We therefore desire that Your Honours would Interpose in said affair by pointing out to
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTHI.
the said Esq' Morey the Path of Justice & Generosity by ordering hin to Give up the orders to this part of the County to raise half of said Company or otherwise as your Honors think proper
Plymouth 23 June 1775
For Plymouth Sam1 Emerson Rumney Jonathan hall For N. Holderness Sam' Sheperd For N. Chest' Carr Huse Thornton Ezekiel Eliot Cockersmouth Ebenezar Kendall
For Alexandrae Jonath" Cauley's Campton Gershom Burbanks
Confident of obtaining satisfaction in the premises, and that in response to the ponderous document of the committees for the towns the congress would reveal " to the said Esq. Morey the path of justice," on the same day three of the field officers of the eleventh regiment petitioned for the appointment of a recruiting officer.
To the Committee of Safety appointed by the Colony of new Hamp- shire or the Congress of said Colony - Gentlemen, whereas we are Informed the Honourable Congress appointed that there should be a Com- pany of men Raised in this County for the Safety of the Frontier Towns and that part of said Company is to be Raised out of this Regiment, we would recommend Cap' Matthew Thornton as a Man Shutable, we Think, to Inlist said Company and a man that we Can Depend upon in the graitest Troble or Destress which if your Honours Thought proper to give him orders for so Dowing we Think that he Could Raise a Company in a Short Time and it would give Sattysfaction to the new Towns heare, and oblidge your Humble Serts.
Plymouth June 23 1775
DAVID HOBART DAVID WEBSTER SAML SHEPERD.
From a standpoint of 1775 Capt. Matthew Thornton was entitled to the commendation expressed in this letter, and there is no sinister meaning in the spelling of " suitable." At this time he was a delegate from Thornton and well known to the gentle-
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
men to whom the letter was addressed. Captain Thornton was appointed to recruit the company and, as predicted in the letter, forty-three men were soon enrolled. In the meantime James Osgood, who had been selected for a captain of the company, had enlisted twenty men, and early in July the company was organ- ized and mustered into the service. The officers were James Osgood of Conway, captain, Matthew Thornton of Thornton, first lieutenant, and Jotham Cummings of Plymouth, second lieu- tenant. The men from Plymouth in this company were William Greenough, drummer, Silas Brown, Samuel Drew, Hugh Ram- say, Zebadiah Richardson, Samuel Wallace, and James Whiting. In his return of the men enlisted, Matthew Thornton records Zebadiah Richardson a resident of New Chester. Beginning 1773, Zebadiah Richardson lived in Plymouth many years. In the same return Samuel Wallace and James Whiting are recorded of Plymouth. They were never taxed in this town, and their names are included solely on the authority of Thornton's return. Joining the regiment commanded by Colonel Bedel, they marched to Haverhill, across Vermont to Lake Champlain, and thence to St. Johns. The company participated in the investment and capitulation of St. Johns and, after a service of unusual severity, the men were discharged late in December. For an account of this campaign the reader is referred to an excellent article by Edgar Aldrich in Volume III, Proceedings of the New Hampshire Historical Society.
Connected with the invasion of Canada in 1775, and an officer in Colonel Bedel's regiment, was Noah Phillips of Plymouth. His name is not found on any existing roll. He died near the close of the campaign. He was one of the brave men of the Revo- lution, drawn from mortal sight into the devouring maelstrom of war, leaving no tidings of his fate, and committing to later gen- erations the story of his service and the record of his death.
The following testimony of his service is found in the Bedel papers in the custody of the New Hampshire Historical Society. It is dated during the siege of St. Johns.
-
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
ST. JOHNS October 12th 1775
Recd of Colo Timothy Bedel Two Hundred Pounds One Shilling and Nine Pence Lawful Money for the use of the Men under my Command which I Promise to be accountable for as witness my hand £200-1-9
NOAH PHILLIPS
In December, 1775, the army at Winter Hill, near Boston, was reinforced by thirty-one companies of six weeks' men from New Hampshire. In the company of Capt. Noah Worcester of Hollis was Samuel Ambrose, who came from Hollis to Plymouth in 1773, and was continuously taxed in this town, 1774-82. Subsequently he was a Baptist preacher, residing in Sutton.
The fourth provincial congress directed that " an exact account of all the inhabitants of the colony be taken," and instructed the selectmen of towns to return the census. The enumeration for Plymouth was made in October as follows: -
Males under sixteen years of age 93
Males from sixteen years of age to fifty not in the army 83
All males above fifty years of age 15
Persons gone in the army
8
All females 178
Negroes and Slaves for Life
5
382
The increase over the census of 1773 was thirty-seven. The eight men in the army without doubt were the eight men who enlisted at Plymouth and were outfitted by the town. The other residents of Plymouth in the army enlisted from other places and are not included in the return.
In a search for the fifteen venerable fathers of Plymouth over fifty years of age are found Gershom Fletcher, 73, Benjamin Dearborn, 62, Gershom Hobart, 58, Stephen Webster, 57, Amos Phillips, 56, Josiah Brown, 55, Ebenezer Blodgett, 55, Jonas Ward, 55, Onesipherus Marsh, 55, Rev. Nathan Ward, 54, Francis Worcester, 54, David Hobart, 53, Joseph Wheeler, George Hull, and Ebenezer Hartshorn. The age of the last three
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
is not known, but each was more than fifty. Dr. John Brown had removed from Plymouth a few months before the census was taken.
On the first day of November, 1775, it was ordered by the provincial congress that precepts be forwarded to the towns call- ing for the election of delegates for the term of one year, to con- stitute the fifth provincial congress to be convened at Exeter Dec. 21, 1775. As a part of this proceeding a new plan of repre- sentation was adopted, by which Grafton County was allowed to elect six of the eighty-nine delegates to be chosen. The towns of Plymouth, Cockermouth, New Chester, and Alexandria were classed and permitted to send one delegate. The election of a delegate representing the four towns was consummated at the courthouse in Plymouth on the twelfth day of December. In the absence of the records of Plymouth, the date of the election is found in the following remonstrance. The signers are Plymouth men.
PLYMOUTH 13th Decr 1775.
To the Honorable Congress of the Colony of New Hampshire - May it please your Honors -
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