USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Rindge > History of the town of Rindge, New Hampshire, from the date of the Rowley Canada or Massachusetts charter, to the present time, 1736-1874, with a genealogical register of the Rindge families > Part 10
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
KEENE, July ye 3rd, 1777.
Sirs
There is an express come to town, from Ticonderoga this morning, that they are in Distress for want of men, the enemy having made their appearance there. My Company being dismissed yesterday, I have not more than about Twenty men, if you think Proper to send more men from Rindge, I should be glad if you would send them on as fast as possible and likewise bring Provision with them, there being no Provision to be had at Charlestown. I will march with what men I have.
I remain your Humble Serv't,
SALMON STONE, Captain.
N.B. - The Men that are going to march from Rindge are the following : -
Salmon Stone, Captain.
Caleb Ingalls.
Othniel Thomas, Lieutenant.
Jonathan Ingalls.
Ensign Tarbell.
Jonathan Sawtell.
Quartermaster Fitch.
John Demary, Jr.
Serg't Jewett.
Ebenezer Newman.
Lemuel Page.
Samuel Walker.
Henry Lake.
Joseph Platts, Jr.
Enos Lake.
Hezekiah Hubbard.
Simon Davis.
Reuben Russell.
Paul Fitch.
Samuel Sherwin.
Samuel Russell.
David Robbins.
Capt. Josiah Brown, of New Ipswich, who commanded the company that responded to the alarm in May, had been home but a few days when the second alarm was given. He immediately raised another company, and by forced marches reached Charlestown the last day of June or the first day of July, where he received orders to return. While passing through Rindge, the third day of July, the date of Capt. Stone's letter, he was overtaken by an express bearing intelligence similar to that received by the other returning companies. Within ten miles of their home, this officer and
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twenty-six of his men instantly turned about, and with the company from Rindge soon joined the retreating army near Rutland. They were soon discharged, and returned after an absence of nearly one month. During these rapid and unexpected movements in the field, the town and the patriot cause sustained a severe loss in the capture of Col. Nathan Hale, an account of which will be given in another portion of this chapter. Immediately following the disasters at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and Hubbardston, and while the patriot army was retreating before a superior force, the committees of safety in the towns which subsequently constituted the State of Vermont sent the most urgent appeals for assistance to the neighboring States. They wrote the committee of safety at Exeter that if no aid was sent them "they should be obliged to retreat to the New England States for safety." Many of these towns were originally granted by this province, and were styled the New Hampshire grants, and the inhabitants were closely allied by many ties of kindred and friendship, which added much force to their appeal for assistance. The Assembly of New Hampshire was called together, and efficient measures were promptly adopted. The militia of the State was formed into two brigades commanded by Generals Stark and Whipple. Gen. Stark's brigade was soon filled and marched to Vermont, with instructions "to act in conjunc- tion with the troops of the new State, or any other of the States, or the United States, or separately, as it should appear expedient to him, for the protection of the people and the annoyance of the enemy."
For this brigade, Capt. Stone, who had scarce returned from his hurried marches in response to the recent tanta- lizing alarms, raised another company of sixty-five men, which was joined to Col. Moses Nichols' regiment. The
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
following roll contains the men from Rindge, the residents of other towns being omitted : -
Pay Roll of Capt. Salmon Stone's Company in Col. Nichols' Regiment, Gen'l Stark's Brigade raised out of the 14 Regiment of New Hampshire Militia, Enoch Hale, Colonel, which company marched from Rindge in said state July 1777 and joined the Northern Continental Army at Bennington and Stillwater.
Thaddeus Fitch, quartermaster of the regiment. Salmon Stone, Capt. John Stanley, second Lieut. Abel Stone, sergeant advanced to ensign.
John Dean.
Daniel Adams.
William Davis.
Benjamin Beals.
Eliakim Darling.
Amos Ingalls.
Moses Hale, Jr.
Henry Lake.
Ebenezer Ingalls.
Joseph Platts.
Elisha Perkins.
Reuben Page.
David Robinson.
Jonathan Sawtell, Jr.
Reuben Russell.
Peter Webster.
David Sherwin.
Joseph Wilson. -
Henry Smith.
These men shared the brilliant honors of Bennington, where Abel Perkins, overcome with the heat of the day, died a few days subsequently. It was Col. Nichols' regi- ment, to which the Rindge belonged, that made the furious attack in the rear of the enemy, greatly to the surprise and discomfiture of Col. Baum. Of the enemy, two hundred and seven were killed; the loss of the patriots was thirty killed, and forty wounded. The brigade soon after joined Gen. Gates in New York. The fortunate result of the engagement at Bennington infused a new hope and cour- age into the Northern army, and especially imparted the character and bearing of the soldier to the raw and undis- ciplined troops whose valor had decided the fortunes of the day. It also gave confidence and great satisfaction to
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the patriots at home, who, after the gloom and depression of the past few months, were now animated with the bright- ening prospects which had suddenly burst upon them. If they had planted and tilled their fields, disheartened with rumors of disaster and defeat, the harvests of autumn were gathered amid joyous acclamations and thanksgiving for victory.
In September another company was raised in this vicin- ity to assist "in driving the Hessians into the woods," and placed under the command of Capt. Daniel Rand. Being recruited immediately after the Battle of Bennington, the soldiers were easily and quickly procured, although it swelled the number of men from this town then in the field, casualties excepted, to sixty-four, as follows : John Martin, who enlisted the previous year in the ranger service, Moses Thomas in a Massachusetts regiment, fourteen in the Continental regiments, twenty-four in Stark's brigade, and twenty-four in Capt. Rand's company. The names of several soldiers belonging to the neighboring towns, who were members of this company, are omitted in the following : -
Pay Roll of Captain Daniel Rand's Company in Colo Daniel Moore's Regiment of Volunteers in the state of New Hampshire, joined the Northern Continental Army under General Gates. Discharged at Saratoga October 18 1777 and allowed eight days to travel home, the distance being one hundred and sixty miles.
Daniel Rand, Captain.
Nathaniel Thomas, serg't.
Henry Lake.
1 John Demary 66
Jonathan Lake.
Benjamin Beals, corp'l.
Samuel Chaplin.
Enos Lake,
Reuben Russell.
Daniel Lake, Jr., drummer.
Ebenezer Shaw.
Lemuel Page, fifer.
Joshua Tyler.
Jacob Gould.
Amos Towne.
Caleb Page.
Asa Wilkins.
Jeremiah Russell. Solomon Rand.
William Robbins.
Hezekiah Wetherbee.
Caleb Winn.
19
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
Joel Russell and James Philbrick were in another company in the same regiment. These men were in Gen. Whipple's brigade, and were mustered into service Sept. 27, which, with eight days allowed for travel home, made one month's service. The soldiers in the Continental service were with the army of Gen. St. Clair in the humiliating retreat from Ticonderoga to the State of New York, where Gen. Gates succeeded to the command. Here their friends and neighbors in Capt. Stone's company, rejoicing in the laurels of Bennington, joined them, and together they shared the dangers and glory of Stillwater and Saratoga. And now came Capt. Rand's company, with fresher tidings from home, and all were permitted to witness the crowning honors resting upon the American arms and the capitulation of the army of Gen. Burgoyne, whose visions of conquest and glory had faded into the realities of defeat and surrender. The two companies of militia soon after returned to their homes. On the third of August, John Handsome was killed at the outposts of the army, and Isaac Leland died on the third of the following month. The former was thirty-four and the latter forty years of age. Daniel Russell, another Con- tinental soldier, was wounded severely at the battle of Stillwater, from which he did not recover sufficiently to be able to return to his company.
James Crumbie was appointed lieutenant, and assigned to Capt. Blodget's company in the second Continental or Col. Nathan Hale's regiment in the autumn of 1776, or early in the following year. He continued with his regi- ment until Sept. 1, when he received an injury from a fall from his horse. After remaining nearly two months in a hospital, he returned to his home on the strength of the following furlough : -
ยท
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The bearer, Lieut. James Crumbie, of Col. Hale's regiment, Capt. Blodget's company, having a rupture in the groin, which prevents his walking or using any severe exercise, has a Permit to return Home and there remain untill he is recovered which, if at all, will be in two months.
M. TREAT, Phys. Gen'l Northern Depart.
GENERAL HOSPITAL,
ALBANY, Oct. 23, 1777.
At this time there were no pension laws, and each person petitioned the Legislature for assistance. Subse- quently the United States reimbursed the State for the money thus paid. In answer to his petition, Lieut. Crum- bie drew half pay from the State, until March, 1782. The following certificate of the selectmen, found among the military papers at Concord, was undoubtedly given to aid him in securing or continuing his pay from the State.
RINDGE, March ye 6, 1779.
This may certify whom it may concern that Lieut. James Crumbie returned home to this Town from the Continental Army on furlo, having met with a hurt, by a fall from his horse, as we understand, and has continued ever since in our opinion unable to perform his necessary Business for the support of himself and family.
ENOCH HALE, EDWARD JEWETT, FRANCIS TOWNE, 1 Selectmen of Rindge.
Later in the autumn, the nine Continental soldiers remaining in the service, with. other troops from New Hampshire, in the space of fifteen hours, performed a forced march of forty miles, and forded the Mohawk River below the falls. This rapid movement checked the pro-
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
gress of Gen. Clinton, who was threatening Albany with the same destruction with which he had wasted the country below. Immediately after they marched to Pennsylvania, and, joining the army of Gen. Washington, where they endured through the severe winter that followed the cold and sufferings of Valley Forge.
While these stirring events were in progress in the field, neither amid the gloom and disasters of the spring and early summer, nor when hope grew out of despond- ency with the triumphs of victory, did the town by any vote or measure give expression to feelings of despair or elation. Every vote was for a purpose, and to the end that measures be adopted and money and men raised to carry on the war. Solomon Cutler, Salmon Stone, and Page Norcross were the selectmen for this eventful year. The committee of inspection and safety were Daniel Lake, Jonathan Sawtell, Page Norcross, Richard Kimball, and Ebenezer Chaplin. Many measures were adopted to pro- cure recruits for the army, and the large number who volunteered was due, in a great measure, to the prompt and generous action of the town. The record of a meeting, held April 3, was as follows: -
Chose Richard Kimball moderator to govern said meeting.
Voted, to Raise the men, by a Rate, also to make an allow- ance to those that have done anything in the war and the allowance shall be as follows; viz :
All those that have served in the army as long as may be thought to be their proportion for past service and for the present draught for three years, in the judgment of a Committee shall be excluded out of the rate.
Voted for the present Draught & all others that have done any part of a Turn shall be allowed Credit as much to each months service as it shall cost per month for the seventeen men
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now to be raised or such of them as we shall hire for thirty six months, which shall be made in the same Rate and the Credit deducted accordingly.
Also Voted to choose a Committee Of seven men to manage the same.
Chose Capt Solomon Cutler, Ens. Salmon Stone, Page Nor- cross, Enoch Hale, Esqr., Capt. Francis Towne, Lieut. Daniel Rand & Edward Jewett, Committee as aforesd.
The mention of seventeen men in these votes refers to the quota mentioned in Col. Enoch Hale's report. It is certain that twelve had enlisted and been credited on this quota previous to this meeting, and the record refers only to the remainder. Perhaps on account of the large num- ber of militia furnished by the town, no additional three years' men were raised during the year. Soon after, the town "voted to allow the militia four pounds and ten shillings per month, with what the Continent or State pay them," and "to allow them what time they was gone, for their turn, upon their relinquishing the money voted them by the town." It was also voted that if any person hired a man to serve in the army, he should receive the same from the town as for personal service. Each time a citizen was in the service was styled a turn, and after the date of these votes, an account was kept of the number of months each man was in the service, and whenever any one had been in the army, or had hired a substitute for more than his proportion of time, he was credited on the war tax-list in proportion to his excess of service. Nor did the town fail to provide for the families of the volunteers as occasion required. In times of the greatest depression, and in the midst of these unfailing efforts to recruit the army, appears the record of
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
many attentions to the sick and destitute. Now the stout- hearted patriots are devising measures to prosecute the war, and now charitably instructing the selectmen to procure provision and fuel for Widow Leland, whose hus- band had been killed in the service, and to provide for her children.
While the army was retreating from Canada in 1776, the troops became affected with the small-pox. Soon after, the returning soldiers introduced the disease into this town, but it did not prevail to any extent until the spring and summer of 1777. No record of mortality can be found, but tradition narrates that several died of this disease. Ensign Benjamin Davis was paid by the town "for nursing Joseph Stanley while he had the small-pox," and this is the only personal item which the records have preserved. It is said that a member of the family of Oliver Stevens, who lived on the "Bixby place," died of this disease, and was buried between the house and Monomonock Lake. The town adopted early measures to prevent contagion, and several votes were passed con- cerning the building and management of a pest-house. A committee was also chosen to cleanse the houses in which the disease had been; but in October a more cheer- ful vote, to sell the pest-house at vendue, was passed, from which it is presumed all occasion for its use had ceased. The pest-house was located in the forest, on the north side of the Converse reservoir, and about sixty rods above the dam, where the remains of the stone chimney are still to be seen. There remains one vote in this con- nection which would not escape the notice of the most careless reader. In the spring, when the policy of build- ing a pest-house was proposed, it occurred in these words, "To see if the town will prepare a house to have
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the small-pox in." The municipality was alarmed, and evidently expected the disease in its corporate capacity. If the preventive effect of Dr. Jenner's discovery had been known at that time, they, perhaps, would have ordered the village doctor to vaccinate the constable to protect the town from a threatened dispensation. And, again, it was voted "to pay the charges of fixing the house that is prepared for the small-pox." The records of Rindge compare favorably with those of any town; but when the small-pox is the subject of record, the language becomes strangely inoculated with the virus of false syntax.
The ravages of this contagious disease, and the casual- ties of war, caused but a tithe of the mourning and sorrows of the people during this period of the war. A great amount of sickness had prevailed. Abel Platts, the sturdy pioneer and valued citizen, John Pritchard, and Elijah Rice had died. During the summers of 1776 and 1777, there had been an unprecedented mortality among the children. Within a single month, three little ones were carried to the grave from the home of Benjamin Gould ; as many more from others; and, in a few instances, the only child, while the father was braving the dangers of the battle-field that his offspring might enjoy a free- dom which had been denied to himself, was taken from the embrace of the weeping mother. The spade of the sexton grew bright from frequent use, and the new-made graves told the number of the dead. The husband absent in the war, the mother hastening from the burial of her child, which, sorrowing, she has consigned to the grave, that she may minister to the sufferings of another of her offspring whose cheeks are paling beneath the touch of death; then was heard the voice of lamentation in Ramah, and comfortless Rachel weeping for her chil-
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dren. The cooler air of autumn put an end to the sickly season. Nearly all the soldiers returned to their homes before the close of the year, and all awaited the experi- ences of the future, perhaps with hope, but certainly with no little solicitude.
In connection with the stirring events that were trans- piring in the field during the summer of this year, the battle of Hubbardston and the capture of Col. Hale was mentioned. By this event the town lost an honored citizen, and the service an efficient officer. It cannot be overlooked that a charge of unbecoming conduct during this brief engage- ment has rested injuriously upon the memory of Col. Hale ; but it is equally certain that such charge has never been sustained, nor has a word of evidence been produced to give it weight or character. The successive promotion of Nathan Hale from a captain of a company of minute-men in April, 1775, to the command of one of the three Continental bat- talions, raised in this State, is a positive recognition of his soldierly qualifications and ability. The several promotions had been earned by previous service, and his appointment of colonel with the gallant Cilley and lamented Scammel was not based upon any supposed merit. In the organi- zation of the three New Hampshire regiments in May, 1775, he was appointed major of the third, of which James Reed, of Fitzwilliam, was colonel. He remained with his regiment participating in the siege of Boston, until March, 1776. The British army having retired, he repaired, with the patriot army, to New York. Soon after, his regiment, then in the brigade of General Sullivan, was ordered up the Hudson to the relief of the forces retreating from Canada. This movement was performed with celerity, and, meeting the disheatened army near the Sorel, the combined armies reached Ticonderoga about the first of
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July, where Major Hale, with the regiment, remained until the following summer. While at this post he was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel in November, 1776, and colonel in April following. The latter appointment was made in February, but the commission was dated in April.
In the retreat of the army from Ticonderoga, Col. Hale was ordered, with his regiment, to cover the rear of the invalids, which fell several miles behind the main army. In close vicinity were two Vermont regiments, commanded by Colonels Warner and Francis. At Hubbardston, on the morning of the seventh of July, these regiments were suddenly and furiously attacked by the advance of the enemy in force superior to their own. The action was brief but sharp, and each regiment suffered severely. Col. Hale, four of his captains, and nearly one hundred men were captured, and his major, the gallant Benjamin Titcomb, was severely wounded. Subsequently Col. Hale was per- mitted to visit his family for several months. Returning, at the expiration of his parole, he died within the enemies' lines at New Utrecht, Long Island, September 23, 1780.
In the midst of the reverses, during the earlier months of this year, there was a strong popular feeling against not a few of the persons in command. The memories of Generals Schuyler and St. Clair were only wrested from obliquity through the findings of a court martial. The patriots, chagrined at the abandonment of Ticonderoga, and witnessing with vexation the retreat of their army, were in no very complimentary frame of mind when the disaster at Hubbardston served to invigorate a spirit of severe and, possibly, unwarranted criticism. A charge that Col. Hale and his command did not properly cooperate with the regiments of Colonels Warner and Francis, and that he too easily suffered himself to be
20
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captured, was raised. The swiftest refutation of such an accusation appears in the fact that it was never enter- tained by his townsmen. At a time of general proscription, when any and every act of cowardice or disloyalty was promptly rebuked, when ties of kindred and of friendship were subordinated to the brotherhood of patriotism and courage, the conduct of Col. Hale was never questioned at his home.
While visiting his family on parole he was received with kindness and honor by his neighbors and acquaint- ances. He was not only a participant in the town-meetings held during the continuance of his parole, but on two occasions he was appointed on important committees. Without the concurring testimony of tradition, this fact is convincing evidence that his townsmen saw nothing in his conduct to question or condemn. It is not to be presumed that in a town-meeting they would have recog- nized with favor any citizen who had been guilty of unbecoming conduct in presence of the enemy, except through ignorance, and this they could not plead, since Lieut. James Crumbie, an officer in Hale's regiment, and present at the battle of Hubbardston, had been at home several months before these meetings were held; and many others had returned from a service in which they were associated with the men in Hale's battalion, and could not have failed in a knowledge of his misconduct, if such had been current in the regiment.
These charges against Col. Hale were originally ad- vanced by Ethan Allen, whose breath was the whirlwind, and who used either the pen or the sword with equal impetuosity and fearlessness. Allen was not in the country when the battle occurred. His informants, irritated at the event, and grieved at the loss of Francis and many brave
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men, presumably tempered the criticisms proffered to Allen, which he accepted as verities, with little charity. Nearly all the writers who have repeated these accusations refer to Allen as their authority. Being founded upon the same evidence as the original charges, they add no additional testimony concerning the truth of the accusation. By withdrawing the New Hampshire regiment from the contest, the gallantry of the commands of Warner and Francis is rendered, by these historians, the more con- spicuous. This was not demanded. The courage and bravery of the Green Mountain boys is proudly and universally recognized. Their honors can never be reared to a higher fame through the detraction of others perhaps equally brave and meritorious. The generosity of Allen was as prominent as the keenness of his criticisms, and had he written with a full knowledge of the facts, it is probable the former quality of the man would have dictated a statement essentially different in character.
In this engagement, the enemy in superior force fell upon the Americans in an unexpected moment. All writers are agreed that the action was not over thirty minutes in duration. The object of resistance on the part of the pursued was not victory, but a safe retreat. Nor should it be overlooked that after the fall of Francis his regiment broke and fled in disorder, and after a most valiant resist- ance the regiment of Warner was dispersed, and gathered at Manchester, a distance of many miles from the scene of the encounter. Dr. Belknap, who must have been familiar with the conduct of the officers of this State, makes no accusation against Col. Hale. His account of this affair is in these words: "On the retreat, Col. Hale's battalion was ordered to cover the rear of the invalids, by which means he was seven miles behind the main body.
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The next morning he was attacked by an advanced guard of the enemy at Hubbardston. In this engagement Major Titcomb, of the New Hampshire troops, and Col. Hale, Captains Robertson, Carr, and Norris, Adjutant Elliot, and two other officers, were taken prisoners." Ebenezer Fletcher, of New Ipswich, who belonged to Col. Hale's regiment, was wounded and captured in this engagement. A narrative of his captivity, written with a candor and directness that assert his accuracy, contains no intimation that any officer in his regiment failed in courage, or hesitated in the discharge of his duty. On the contrary, he says : "Just as the sun rose there was a cry, 'the enemy are upon us.' Looking around, I saw the enemy in line of battle. Orders came to lay down our packs and be ready for action. The fire instantly began. We were but few in number compared with the enemy. Capt. Carr came up and says, ' My lads, advance; we shall beat them yet.'" The fact here appears that Hale's battalion received the first assault of the enemy, and that the engagement was warm from the first. Even before the Vermont troops were engaged, there was a foretaste of the scene described by Allen: "It was by this time dangerous for those of both sides who were not prepared for the world to come." Other authori- ties, to prove that the New Hampshire troops were not merely spectators during this engagement, might be cited.
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