USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Keene > History of the town of Keene, from 1732, when the township was granted by Massachusetts, to 1874, when it became a city > Part 21
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While their soldiers had taken part in decisive opera- tions at the front, important matters had come up for action on the part of the people at home. On the 3d of October the state committee of safety "Appointed Major Philbrick to go to Keen, and provide Stores for the Sol- diers passing there from this place (Exeter), and Deal it out," thus establishing a small depot of supplies at this point.
The citizens of Keene, and particularly the members of the church, were tired of the long interim between settled ministers. A good report was heard of a young divinity student at Cheshire, Ct., Mr. Aaron Hall- probably through their ex-minister, Rev. Clement Sumner, as he came from that place-and in the spring of 1777, Dea. Daniel Kingsbury was commissioned to visit Mr. Hall and invite him to preach in Keene as a candidate. He came and preached several times during the summer; and a legal town meeting on the 15th of September, Col. Isaac Wy- man, moderator-now discharged from his honorable mili- tary service-"voted unanimously to hear Mr Hall preach further on Probation." This was the beginning of the highly creditable term, of nearly forty years' duration, of Rev. Aaron Hall as pastor of the church in Keene.
At a town meeting on the 8th of December, Dr. Thomas Frink, moderator, it was "Voted unanimously to Give Mr A. Hall, who has been Preaching among us, a Call to Set- tle in the Work of the Gospel Ministry in This Town.
"Voted to Give Mr Hall One hundred and Thirty Three pounds Six Shillings and Eight pence for a Settlement said
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sum to be made Equal in Value and made as Good as the Same Sum was four years ago when Silver and Gold passed current among us."
Eighty pounds per annum were voted as his salary; that also to be made the equivalent of gold and silver.
Major Timothy Ellis, Capt. Jeremiah Stiles, Lieut. Jo- siah Richardson, Lieut. Daniel Kingsbury and Ichabod Fisher were chosen a committee to lay the proposition be- fore Mr. Hall and to adjust the amount of his settlement and salary in the paper money of the times; but the com- mittee was instructed to defer the adjustment "till the Tax for said sums is called for by reason of the Fluctuating state of money." Messrs. Gideon Ellis, David Nims and Benjamin Hall were the members of this committee ap- pointed by the church. Mr. Hall accepted the call in a long letter dated Jan. 17, 1778.
For six years the church and the town had been with- out a pastor. "Nineteen candidates had tried in vain " for a settlement. The twentieth one succeeded and was be- loved and respected by all his people. Mr. Hall was or- dained on the 18th of February following. The church committee on the ordination consisted of "the following Brothers viz. Mr. David Nims, Deacon Obadiah Blake, Mr. Simeon Clark, Mr. Benjamin Hall, Mr. Daniel Kingsbury." The council was composed of the pastors and delegates from the churches of Windsor and Wallingford, Conn .; and those of New Ipswich, Rev. Mr. Farrar; Fitzwilliam, Rev. Mr. Brigham; Swanzey, Rev. Mr. Goddard; Chesterfield, Rev. Mr. Wood; Walpole, Rev. Mr. Fessenden; Charles- town, Rev. Mr. Olcott; Claremont, Rev. Mr. Hibbard; Dublin, Rev. Mr. Sprague. The council was entertained at the tavern of Lieut. Josiah Richardson, on Pleasant street, and the next annual town meeting voted him "Forty six pounds Twelve Shillings for providing for the Council at M' Halls Ordination."
The legislature met at Portsmouth on the 17th of September, Major Timothy Ellis representing Keene. A new apportionment of taxes was made, giving the number of polls and an inventory of the ratable estates. Keene returned 167 polls, Richmond 177, Westmoreland 178, and
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Chesterfield 189, the largest in the county; but Keene re- turned much the largest amount of taxable property.
In consequence of the scarcity of wool and leather, an act was passed prohibiting the sale of cattle and sheep to go out of the state except for the use of our armies. An act was also passed "to prevent the pernicious practice of Distilling into any kind of spirits whatever, Cyder, Perry [the juice of pears], Wheat, Indian Corn, rye, Barley & Oats, or either of them."
Another act was passed to compel the people to use paper money instead of gold and silver, and to take it at the same value, dollar for dollar. But experience proved that the laws of trade are more potent than those of leg- islatures, for that law could not be enforced.
At the town meeting on the 8th of December, 1777, Capt. Jeremiah Stiles, Capt. Davis Howlett and Mr. Jabez Fisher were successively chosen representatives to the legis- lature, but all declined to serve. (Probably on account of a division of sentiment in the town concerning the Ver- mont and New Hampshire controversy. See chapter on New Hampshire Grants). Major Timothy Ellis was then reelected "for the space of one year."
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CHAPTER IX. REVOLUTIONARY WAR-CONCLUDED.
1778-1783.
A town meeting held at the schoolhouse, Jan. 19, 1778, Col. Isaac Wyman, moderator, "after reading and conferring upon the articles of Confederation of the Conti- nental Congress," voted to instruct the representative to vote in favor of calling a convention of delegates from the towns with a view to forming a plan of government for the state, in accordance with the recommendation of the house of representatives passed on the 27th of December previous.
"Voted to adjust the sums paid to Continental soldiers so as to put all on equality."
The legislature met at Exeter on the 11th of February. Major Timothy Ellis represented Keene. On the 25th, the articles of confederation of the states were adopted, and a convention of delegates from all the towns was called to meet at Concord on the 10th of June, to form a plan of government for the state. In the effort to relieve the finan- cial distress of the people, another issue of 40,000 pounds of paper money was added to that already afloat.
The courts were reestablished, and Col. Samuel Ashley of Winchester was appointed first justice of the court of common pleas for Cheshire county, with Col. Benjamin Bellows of Walpole, Col. Samuel Hunt of Charlestown, and Dea. Thomas Applin of Swanzey, associate justices. Other appointments had been made, but no regular courts had been held since 1774, until this year. Col. Isaac Wyman was appointed one of the justices to administer the oath to the judges.
In April, the town chose Capt. Jeremiah Stiles delegate to the convention which met at Concord on the 10th of June, "to form a Constitution and plan of government for the state."
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In May, three of the selectmen, Jeremiah Stiles, Silas Cook and Simeon Clark, petitioned the legislature for per- mission to set up a lottery for the purpose of raising money to build a bridge across the "East Branch," at South Keene. The sum needed, in the currency of the time, was estimated at $6,500. The petition was supported by an- other signed by the selectmen of Dublin, Jaffrey and Rindge; but the request was not granted. The bridge which had previously been built there had been nearly destroyed by high water.
When Gen. Clinton left Philadelphia in June, to march across New Jersey to New York, Washington moved out from his encampment at Valley Forge to strike him on the flank. He had formed a light infantry corps of 1,500 men, giving Col. Cilley of New Hampshire command of one of the regiments, with Henry Dearborn promoted to lieutenant colonel. That corps, and particularly Cilley's regiment,1 was composed chiefly of New Hampshire men-acknowl- edged to be among the best in the army-and, from tra- dition and other indirect data, it is believed that the Keene company, under Capt. Ellis, was in that corps, though the records which doubtless would have established that fact were destroyed by the British at Washington, in 1814. 2 Poor's brigade and all the New Hampshire troops were in the division of Gen. Charles Lee, who was sent forward by Washington to make the attack on Clinton. But Lee was a coward and a traitor, and skulked to the rear, leaving his troops to be attacked at disadvantage and thrown in- to some confusion and compelled to retreat. Two miles to the rear they met Washington, who reformed them behind a battery of twelve pieces of artillery, which he had placed on a ridge. It was just at the close of the day, and the British began to retire. Without knowing what troops they were, Washington sent orders to Cilley to advance
1 "Cilley's New Hampshire regiment was the most distinguished corps in the battle of Monmouth, and the salvation of the army was owing to their heroic courage." (Col. Swett, in Appendix to Humphrey's Life of Gen. Putnam.)
2 Ziba Hall (a member of Capt. Ellis's company), "son of Jesse Hall & Achsah his wife Dyed in the army at Pensylvania state January 28 1778 aged 21 years wanting one Day.
"William Nelson (of Keene) Dyed in the army Novem. 3d 1776 in the 46th year of Life.
"William Nelson son of the above Dyed in the army April 14th 1778 in the 18th year of Life." (Town Record of Deaths.)
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and attack, and the order was promptly obeyed. When within 200 yards of them, the enemy turned to repel the attack. Col. Cilley deployed his regiment into line; but there were two rail fences between the two lines of com- batants. The New Hampshire men marched up and coolly took down those fences-the last one within sixty yards of the British, who poured in a heavy fire which our men did not deign to return-then deliberately shouldered arms and advanced to charge them with the bayonet. The enemy fled, filed off by their left into a swamp, and renewed the fight. Cilley's men wheeled to the right and again ad- vanced upon them, and when within four rods halted, dressed lines, and gave them a volley from the whole bat- talion front. The enemy again fled and joined their main body. 1 Poor's brigade was engaged to the left of Cilley. Our army now advanced and recovered the field of battle.
In the early part of this year, a regiment under Col. Timothy Bedel was raised and stationed along the frontier, for the protection of the Connecticut valley, now exposed to invasion by Indians, tories and Canadians; and Col. Hazen's regiment of Continental troops, composed partly of New Hampshire men, marched from Springfield, Mass., to No. 4, and thence to the upper Connecticut valley for the same purpose.
A brigade under Gen. Whipple was also raised for Gen. Sullivan's campaign against the British in Rhode Island. Col. Moses Nichols joined that brigade with nine companies of his militia regiment; Col. Enoch Hale, of Rindge, went with four of his companies-one commanded by Capt. Samuel Twitchell, of Dublin, another by Capt. James Lewis, of Marlboro-and Capt. William Lee, of Chesterfield, com- manded a company in the battalion of Col. Moses Kelly, of Goffstown. The men from Keene who enlisted in that campaign were Joseph Brown, Ephraim Witherell, Walter Wheeler, Thomas Morse, and Arthur Cary, who went for Surry.
When Washington's army went into winter quarters, in November, Putnam's division, in which were our New
1 Washington sent an aide to inquire what regiment it was. "Cilley's of New Hampshire-full blooded Yankees, by God, Sir," was Dearborn's reply. (Col. Swett, in Appendix to Humphrey's Life of Gen. Putnam.)
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Hampshire troops, marched to Danbury, Conn., built log- huts and quartered there. Lt. Col. Dearborn, with 400 New Hampshire men, did garrison duty a part of the win- ter at New London.
In November, the legislature passed an act confiscating the property of certain prominent and obnoxious tories in the state. Among them were Breed Batcheller, of Packers- field; Simon Baxter and William Baxter, of Alstead; "Jo- siah Pomeroy, physician; Elijah Williams, Esq .; Thomas Cutler (or Cutter), Gentleman; Eleazur Sanger, yeoman, and Robert Gilmore, yeoman, of Keene." Benjamin Giles, of Newport, Major Timothy Ellis, of Keene, and Elijah Babcock were appointed the committee to enter and take possession of the confiscated estates in this county. Those estates were placed in charge of the judge of probate, and in 1780, Daniel Newcomb, who had come to Keene in 1778, and begun the practice of law, was appointed administrator of the estates of Dr. Pomeroy and Elijah Williams, and their estates were settled the same as in case of deceased persons; and the other confiscated estates were disposed of in a similar manner.
The annual town meeting this year voted to seat the meetinghouse and chose Silas Cook, Abraham Wheeler, Simeon Clark, Reuben Partridge and Ichabod Fisher, a committee to direct the work.
The adjourned constitutional convention met in June, and sent out a "Bill of Rights and Plan of Government " to be voted on by the people. That plan was rejected, Keene voting unanimously against it; and the laws con- tinued to be administered under the temporary government adopted for the war.
The legislature met at Exeter on the 16th of June, Lieut. Josiah Richardson representing Keene. On the 18th, the resignation of Samuel Ashley of Winchester, as colonel, and the next day, that of Joseph Hammond of Swanzey, as lieutenant colonel "of the 6th regiment of militia," were received and accepted; leaving Major Timothy Ellis of Keene in command of the regiment, and he was soon after- wards promoted to the colonelcy.
During that month, another call came for troops for
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Rhode Island, and a battalion of 300 men, under Col. Mooney, was raised for a short term. Ephraim Witherell of Keene was a sergeant, afterwards promoted to ensign, in the company of Capt. Ephraim Stone of Westmoreland; and Arthur Cary enlisted on the quota of Surry in the same company, but John Hill went as his substitute. Jo- seph Brown of Keene also enlisted in the same battalion.
The legislature offered a bounty of $300 to each man who would enlist, in addition to the $200 offered by con- gress. The quota of Major Ellis's regiment for that ser- vice, that year, was thirty-three men. Three enlisted for Keene-Lemuel Tucker,1 John Green and John Hill-hired from out of town to fill the quota in accordance with a vote of the town. Keene was still a recruiting station, and Major Ellis, the muster-master, and forty-seven men mustered by him, marched from here during the summer to join the Continental army. They were paid six pounds each for billeting from here to Springfield, Mass.
In 1778, the Seneca Indians, aided by the British, had destroyed the village of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, mas- sacred or carried away captives all the inhabitants, and burned every dwelling. With the opening of the spring of 1779, upon the solicitation of Washington, Gen. Sullivan was appointed to the command of an expedition into the country of those Indians to chastise them, and prevent further outrages of that kind. Sullivan asked for the New Hampshire troops, and Poor's brigade, in the Third regi- ment of which was the Keene company, Capt. Ellis, was assigned to him. Early in April, the command left its quarters and marched via Peekskill, N. Y., and Easton, Pa., to Wyoming, and thence up the Susquehanna river into the beautiful Chemung valley in New York, destroyed the Indian town of that name and the crops and villages wherever found. Near the junction of the Tioga and Sus- quehanna rivers, Sullivan was joined by a force from the Mohawk valley, which gave him three brigades, number- ing about 4,000 men. On the 29th of August, at the Indian village of Newtown, near the present Elmira, he
1 Revolutionary Rolls, vol. 3, pages 700-2, give an account of the pay and bounties received by the soldiers named above.
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attacked the savages under Joseph Brandt, with about 200 British under Capt. Butler, and routed them. Three Amer- icans were killed and thirty-two wounded. Capt. Elijah Clayes, of Fitzwilliam, and one lieutenant were mortally wounded. The village was burned and the crops destroyed. The expedition advanced to Seneca and Cayuga lakes and thence to the Genesee valley, sending out detachments and burning and destroying everything as they went, among them the large Indian town of Canandaigua. All through those beautiful valleys of western New York, they found a surprising degree of civilization, thriving villages, extensive peach and apple orchards, luxuriant crops of all kinds, and everything to indicate prosperity, wealth and happiness. The stronghold of the Senecas, near the present Geneseo, was a town of 128 comfortable houses, with well kept gardens and a general air of comparative luxury and re- finement. All these were destroyed. Not a building or a field of crops was anywhere left standing. The army pene- trated to within twenty miles of Lake Ontario, and then returned, reaching Easton, Pa., on the 15th of October. The New Hampshire troops, Stark's brigade joining them, again wintered in Connecticut, at a place called Wild Cat.
At an adjournment of a town meeting, held on the 7th of September, 1779-the one that voted against the pro- posed plan of state government-the following preamble and vote were passed: "Whereas the Selectmen of Ports- mouth sent an address to this and the rest of the towns in this State, desiring their presence and assistance, by their delegates, to meet at Concord, in convention, to see if they can come into some agreement to state the price of the several articles bought and sold in this state; therefore, voted, that Capt. Jeremiah Stiles attend said convention, as a delegate from this town."
At another meeting on the 20th of October, the town voted 330 pounds to pay the expense of raising men for the Rhode Island campaign, and 431 pounds for that of raising men for the Continental service.
Article 6, "To se if the Town will do any thing to- wards providing stuff for Building a new meeting house," was dismissed.
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In November, the legislature granted the petition of Gen. James Reed for "the use and improvement of a certain house and about twenty-five acres of land adjoin- ing in Keen, being the confiscated estate of Dr. Josiah Pomeroy, an absentee, until further order of this Court, and that he enter into possession as soon as the present Lease expires." The judge of probate was directed "not to sell the confiscated estate of Dr. Josiah Pomeroy." The location of Dr. Pomeroy's residence has already been de- scribed (page 215). Gen. Reed came to Keene soon after this time and occupied those premises. "This Gen. Reed, whose ordinary place of residence was Fitzwilliam, is remembered here as an aged blind man, and as almost daily seen, after the close of the war, walking up and down Main-street, aiding, and guided by, Mr. Washburn, who was paralysed on one side. He received a pension." (An- nals, page 51.)
A town meeting on the 7th of December, 1779, chose Lieut. Josiah Richardson representative to the legislature; and dismissed the article, "To se if it be the mind of the Town to choose a committe to state the price of Articles bought and sold, agreable to the convention of this state."
The winter of 1779-80 was one of great severity and hardship, and there was much suffering both among the people and in the army. The crops had not been abun- dant, and provisions were so scarce in New Hampshire that the legislature prohibited their export except in certain cases. The paper money of congress was now so depre- ciated that it took thirty dollars of it to buy one dollar's worth of commodities, and its value was still waning. People in the vicinity of the army declined to take it for provisions, even to keep the soldiers from starving, until they were told that the provisions must be had and would be taken in any event, when they reluctantly sold at ex- orbitant prices. The soldiers were dissatisfied, and deser- tions and failures to reenlist reduced the army to a skele- ton. Very few accepted the large bounties offered. Many soldiers were at home on furlough, and officers on leave, most of them destitute of money. An act was passed by the legislature granting $400 to each private and $500 to
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each non-commissioned officer "in part of depreciation" of the currency; and in February it was voted "That there be advanced * * * towards depreciation, to each * colonel $4,000, to each captain $2,000," and other officers according to rank, "to enable them to repair to the army." Congress made a requisition on New Hampshire for $15,- 000,000, which was voted to be raised by taxation, not- withstanding the poverty of the people.
"In this year [1779], Capt. Mack, of Gilsum, probably incited by some of the zealous whigs in Keene, collected a party with a view of apprehending several tories, who re- sided here, and who were suspected of furnishing the enemy with provisions. On the evening of the 30th of May,1 they assembled at Partridge's tavern, near Wright's mills, on the road to Surry. In the night, Mack sent forward several men, with directions to place themselves separately at the doors of those houses where the tories resided, and prevent their escape. At sunrise he rode into Keene, at the head of his party, with a drawn sword; and when he came to the house of a tory, he ordered the sentinel, stand- ing at the door, to 'turn out the prisoner.' The prisoner being brought out, and placed in the midst of his party, he proceeded onward. Having gone through the street, collected all of them, and searched their cellars for pro- visions, of which he found little, he returned to the tavern of Mr. Hall, situated where Dr. Twitchell's house now stands, and confined them in a chamber.
"But when he first made his appearance, information was sent to Mr. Howlet, who then commanded the militia, of the commotion in the village. He instantly sent expresses to warn his company to appear forthwith in the street, with their arms and ammunition. They came about the middle of the forenoon, were paraded, facing South, in front of the meeting-house, then standing South of where it now does-on a line with the North line of West-street -and were ordered to load their guns with powder and ball. Mack paraded his company across the street from the tavern to the Watson house, facing their antagonists. Col. Alexander, of Winchester, who then commanded the regiment, had been sent for, and now came. He asked Capt. Mack if he intended to pursue his object? I do,
1 The first lines of a song, remembered by an aged citizen, fixes the day when this party visited Keene:
"Upon the thirty-first of May,
"Appeared in Keene, at break of day,
"A mob, both bold and stout."
Those who lived in these times, well remember that the muses were not silent amid the din of arms.
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replied he, at the hazard of my life. Then, said the Colonel, emphatically, you must prepare for eternity, for you shall not be permitted to take vengeance, in this irregular mode, on any men, even if they are tories. This resolute speech cooled the ardor of many. After deliberating a while, Mack ordered his party to face about, and led them a short distance southward; and the militia then went into the meeting-house. Not long afterwards the mob faced about again, and marched silently, by the meeting-house, towards Surry; but though silently, they did not march in silence, for the women, as they passed, furnished noisy and lively music, on tin pans and warming pans, until they disappeared from view.
"This occurrence is now [1850] related on the authority of John Guild, who then lived in the village, is now eighty- one years of age, and distinctly remembers what then took place. He says, moreover, that one of the tories taken was a Mr Wadsworth, a blacksmith, who lived in a house sit- uated where Dr. C. G. Adams's house now is, and was called the Fort House. The relics of a blacksmith's shop are still visible on the lot adjoining Dr Adam's, North.
"The relater's father, Dan Guild, settled in Keene, in 1758, and lived in a house situated where the Judge New- comb house was afterwards built and yet remains. He re- members that there was one room, in his father's house, the walls of which consisted of timber nearly a foot square, and presumes such timber was used as a protection against the Indians.
"Dan Guild was a somewhat distinguished man in those early times. He is described, in the town records, as Lieu- tenant Dan Guild; he was one of the committee appointed to 'judge, determine and act' on all violations of the laws of Keene, when all other laws were silent; he was jailor of the county, and removed the jail from the place where it was first established, near where the Emerald House stands, to his own house, then situated between the Field house and the Washburn house; or, to speak intelligibly to the present generation, between Dr Smith's house and the compiler's; a few years afterwards he was appointed one of a committee to build a new jail, and built one, of wood, in Washington-street, where the stone jail now stands."
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