USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire > 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
In the account of this battle, which Stark sent to the committee of New-Hampshire, he said, ' our people behaved with the great-
' est spirit and bravery imaginable. Had every man been Aug. 18. 'an Alexander, or a Charles of Sweden, they could not ' have behaved better.' He was sensible of the advantage of keeping on the flank of the enemy's main body; and therefore sent for one thousand men to replace those whose time had ex- pired ; but intimated to the committee that he himself should re-
new constitution, and a representative from Amherst in 1781 and 1782, and subsequently a brigadier-general. He was register of deeds of Hillsborough county from 1776 to his death. He was bred a physician and practised with much success. He left several sons, the eldest of whom was Moses Nichols, Esq. a physician, who resided in Thornton, in Canada, in Amherst, and after- wards again in Canada, to which place he removed in 1811, and where he lately sustained the office of judge of some court.]
* [Col. THOMAS STICKNEY, son of Lieut. Jeremiah Stickney, was a native of Bradford, Massachusetts, but spent nearly his whole life in Concord, in this state, where his father removed about the year 1731, and where the colonel died 26 January, 1809, in the 80th year of his age. Moore, Annals of Con- cord, 63.]
375
STATE. MESHECH WEARE.
1777.]
turn with the brigade. They cordially thanked him ' for the very ' essential service which he had done to the country,' but earnest- ly pressed him to continue in the command ; and sent him a re- inforcement, ' assuring the men that they were to serve under ' General Stark.' This argument prevailed with the men to march, and with Stark to remain.
The prisoners taken in this battle were sent to Boston. The trophies were divided between New-Hampshire and Massachu- setts. But congress heard of this victory by accident. Having waited some time in expectation of letters, and none arriving ; in- quiry was made why Stark had not written to congress ? He answered, that his correspondence with them was closed, as they had not attended to his last letters. They took the hint ; and though they had but a few days before resolved, that the instruc- tions which he had received were destructive of military subor- dination, and prejudicial to the common cause ; yet they present- ed their thanks to him, and to the officers and troops under his command, and promoted him to the rank of a brigadier-general, in the army of the United States .*
This victory gave a severe check to the hopes of the enemy, and raised the spirits of the people after long depression. It wholly changed the face of affairs in the northern department. Instead of disappointment and retreat, and the loss of men by hard labor and sickness ; we now were convinced, not only that our militia could fight without being covered by intrenchments ; but that they were able, even without artillery, to cope with regu- lar troops in their intrenchments. The success thus gained was regarded as a good omen of farther advantages. 'Let us get them into the woods,' was the language of the whole country. Burgoyne was daily putting his army into a more hazardous situ- ation ; and we determined that no exertion should be wanting on our part to complete the ruin of his boasted enterprise. The northern army was reinforced by the militia of all the neighboring states. Brigadier Whipple marched with a great part of his brig- ade ; besides which, volunteers in abundance from every part of New-Hampshire flew to the northern army now commanded by General Gates. Two desperate battles were fought, the one at Still- water, and the other at Saratoga ; in both of which, the troops of New-Hampshire had a large share of the honor due to the Amer-
* [General JOHN STARK was a native of Londonderry, and died at Man- chester, (formerly Derryfield) 8 May, 1822, having nearly completed his 94th year. Excepting Gen. Sumpter of South-Carolina, he was the last surviving general who had a command in the war of the American revolution. It is only necessary to refer the reader for a biography of him to the Coll. of Far- mer and Moore, i. 92-116, and the sketch of his life published in the Boston Statesman, in 1829, and copied into various papers the same year. In the 392d number of Sir Richard Phillips's London Magazine, there is an account of him which is very erroneous and ridiculous. The editor of that work how- ever afterwards received more correct information respecting General Stark.]
876
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1777.
ican army. In the former action, two lieutenant-colonels, Adams and Colburn, # and Lieutenant Thomas, were slain in the field ; and several other brave officers were wounded, one of whom, Captain Bell, died in the hospital. In the latter, Lieutenant-Colonel Con- ner and Lieutenant McClary were killed, with a great number of their men ; and Colonel Scammell was wounded. The conse- quence of these battles was the surrender of Burgoyne's army. This grand object being attained, the New-Hampshire regiments performed a march of forty miles, and forded the Mohawk river, below the falls, in the space of fourteen hours. The design of this rapid movement was to check the progress of a detachment, commanded by the British general, Clinton ; who threatened Al- bany with the same destruction which he had spread in the country below ; but on hearing the fate of Burgoyne, he returned quietly to New-York. The regiments then marched into Pennsylvania and passed the winter in huts at Valley-Forge. Besides those officers slain at the northward, we sustained a loss in the death of Major Edward Sherburne, aid de camp to General Sullivan, who was killed in a bold, but unsuccessful action at Germantown.t
After the capture of Burgoyne's army, all danger of invasion from Canada ceased ; and the theatre of the war was removed to the southward. The troops of New-Hampshire, being formed into a distinct brigade, partook of all the services and sufferings, to which their brethren were exposed. In the battle of Monmouth, a part of them were closely engaged, under the conduct of Colonel 1778. Cilley and Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn ; and behaved with such bravery as to merit the particular approbation of their illustrious general. They continued with the main body, all that campaign, and were hutted, in the following winter, at Read- ing.
In the summer of 1778, when a French fleet appeared on our coast, to aid us in the contest with Britain ; an invasion of Rhode- Island, then possessed by the British, was projected, and General Sullivan had the command. Detachments of militia and volun- teers, from Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, formed a part of his troops. But a violent storm having prevented the co-operation of the French fleet and driven them to sea ; the army, after a few skirmishes, was under the disagreeable necessity of quitting the island ; and the retreat was conducted by Sullivan with the greatest caution and prudence.
# [Lieut. Colonel ANDREW COLBURN belonged to Marlborough, and re- ceived the appointment of lieutenant-colonel of the third battalion, raised in New-Hampshire in 1776. He was a brave meritorious officer.]
+ [1777. Antrim, being part of a place called Society-Lands, was incorpo- rated 22 March. Acts and Laws of the state of New-Hampshire, folio, p. 76. The towns of Moultonborough and New-Hampton were incorporated 27 Nov- ember. Ibid. 93, 94.]
# [1778. The towns of Grafton, New-Chester and Fishersfield were incor- porated on the 11, 20 and 27 of November respectively. Acts and Laws of the state of New-Hampshire, folio 127, 131, 137.]
377
STATE. MESHECH WEARE.
1779.]
When an expedition into the Indian country was determined on, General Sullivan was appointed to the command, and the New- Hampshire brigade made a part of his force. His route 1779. was up the river Susquehanna into the country of the Sen- ecas ; a tract imperfectly known, and into which no troops had ever penetrated. The order of his march was planned with great judgment, and executed with much regularity and perse- verance. In several engagements with the savages, the troops of New-Hampshire behaved with their usual intrepidity. Captain Cloyes and Lieutenant McAulay were killed, and Major Titcomb was again badly wounded. The provisions of the army falling short, before the object of the expedition was completed, the troops generously agreed to subsist on such as could be found in the In- dian country. After their return, they rejoined the main army, and passed a third winter in huts, at Newtown in Connecticut. In the latter end of this year, Sullivan resigned his command and retired .*
In the following year, the New-Hampshire regiments did duty at the important post of West-Point, and afterward march- 1780. ed into New-Jersey, where General Poor died.+ Three regiments of militia were employed in the service of this year. The fourth winter was passed in a hutted cantonment, at a place called Soldier's Fortune, near Hudson's river. In the close of this year, the three regiments were reduced to two, which were commanded by the colonels, Scammell and George Reid.
The next year, a part of them remained in the state of New- York, and another part marched to Virginia, and were 1781. present at the capture of the second British army, under
Earl Cornwallis. Here the brave and active Colonel Scammell was killed.§ In the winter, the first regiment, commanded by
* [1779. The towns of Andover, formerly New-Bretton, New-London, for- merly Addition of Alexandria, Hancock, formerly part of the Society-Land, Northumberland, and Stratford were incorporated. Acts and Laws of the state of New-Hampshire, folio, 156, 157, 163, 165, 166.]
t [ENOCH POOR was son of Thomas Poor, of Andover, Massachusetts. He received his appointment as colonel of one of the New-Hampshire regiments in 1775. In 1779, he accompanied General Sullivan in the wilderness as far as the Gennesee, and defeated the savage enemy. In 1780, he commanded a brigade under Major General La Fayette. He died in New-Jersey, 8 Sep- tember, 1780, aged 43. See Rev. Israel Evans's oration. at his interment, at Hackinsack, N. J .- Abbot, Hist. of Andover, 26, 27 .- Coll. of Farmer and Moore, ii. 165, 166.]
# [GEORGE REID was of Londonderry. He was appointed a brigadier-gen- eral of the militia of N. H. 10 August, 1785, and received the appointment of sheriff of the county of Rockingham, 22 October, 1791. He died in October, 1815, aged 81.]
§ [ALEXANDER SCAMMELL Was born in that part of Mendon, now Milford, in the county of Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1769, and after having been engaged in instructing a school at Kings- ton, Massachusetts ; in the study of law under General Sullivan ; in assisting Captain Holland in making surveys for his man of NAv-Hampshire, and in
50
378
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1782.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn,* was quartered at Saratoga, and the second on Mohawk river ; in which places they were station- ed, till the close of the following year ; when the approach of peace relaxed the operations of war. In a few months, the ne- gotiations were so far advanced, that a treaty was made ; and the same royal lips, which from the throne had pronounced us 're- ' volted subjects,' now acknowledged us as 'FREE AND INDEPEN- " DENT STATES.'
CHAPTER XXVI.
Paper money. Confiscations. State constitution. Controversy with Ver- mont.
THE war in which we became involved with Britain, found us not destitute of resources, but unskilled in the art of finance. Former wars had been maintained by a paper currency ; which, though it depreciated in some measure, yet was finally redeemed by the reimbursements which we received from the British treas- ury. We had been also used to issue bills on loan, and receive landed property as security for its redemption. To the same mode we had recourse on this occasion, without either of the foundations on which our former currencies had been supported. Bills of credit were emitted with no other fund for their redemp- tion than taxation, and that deferred to distant periods. It was imagined that the justice of our cause, and the united ardor and patriotism of the people, would preserve the value of these bills
exercising the office of surveyor of the royal forests of New-Hampshire and Maine, was, in 1775, appointed brigade major, and in 1776, received the ap- pointment of colonel of the third battalion of continental troops raised in this state. In 1777, he commanded the third regiment from New-Hampshire, and was wounded in the desperate battle of Saratoga, as stated under the year 1777. In 1780, the levy of this state being reduced to two regiments, he commanded the first. He was afterwards appointed adjutant general of the American armies, in which office he was deservedly popular, and secured the esteem of the officers of the army generally. On the 30 September, 1781, at the memorable and successful siege at Yorktown, he was the officer of the day ; and while reconnoitering the situation of the enemy, was surprised by a party of their horse ; and after being taken prisoner, was inhumanly wound- ed by them. He was conveyed to the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, where he died on the 6 of October, and where there is a monumental tablet to his memory. 2 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 176. iv. 90, 95. Coll. of Farmer and Moore, i. 125. ii. 166, 179, 222. iii. 253, 285-289, 388.]
* [Afterwards, secretary of war during President Jefferson's administration, and in the second war between Great Britain and the United States, the se- nior major general in the U. S. service. He was born at North-Hampton in this state, 12 February, 1751, and died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, 7 June, 1829, aged 78. A biographical memoir of him was published in the Boston Patriot and other papers of the day.]
379
STATE. MESHECH WEARE.
1776.]
during the contest which we were very sanguine would be short ; and in fact the circulation of them for the first year was 1776. supported by no other means. But being counterfeited, they began to depreciate, and then it was thought necessary to enact a law against forging them, and to make them a legal July 3. tender in all payments. In some of the states, these bills were made a tender for the interest, but not for the principal of former debts ; but in New-Hampshire, if the creditor should re- fuse them when offered in payment, the whole debt was cancelled. Had this law regarded future contracts only, every man would have known on what terms to make his engagements ; but to de- clare it legal to pay debts, already contracted, with money of an inferior value, was altogether unjust. It was not in human pow- er to prevent a depreciation of the bills ; and the enforcing of their currency accelerated the destruction of their value. The fraudulent debtor took advantage of this law to cheat his creditor, under color of justice ; whilst the creditor had no other refuge, than in some cases privately to transfer the written obligation ; and in other cases to refuse the tender, at the risk indeed of losing the debt ; but in hope that justice would at some future time have its course. Husbandmen, who lived remote from the scene of hostilities, and who had the produce of the earth at their com- mand, were able to keep their property good. Hawkers and monopolizers, who crept from obscurity and assumed the name of merchants, could even increase their substance in these perilous times. But those persons whose property was in other men's hands ; or whose living depended on stated salaries ; or whose honest minds could not descend to practise knavery, though es- tablished by law, were doomed to suffer.
To palliate these evils, at one time, a law was enacted against monopoly and extortion ; and when found impracticable, 1777.
it was repealed. At other times, the prices of different articles were stated under severe penalties ; but ways were soon found to evade these establishments ; and when found ineffectual, the laws were repealed. It is not consistent with the nature of commerce to bear such restrictions ; and the laws increased the evils which they pretended to cure. At another time, public sales by auction were prohibited, because it was said that they were the means of depreciating the currency ; but in fact they served only to demonstrate its real value. There was a disposi- tion in the governing part of the people to keep out of sight the true cause of this growing mischief. Even the general congress, in a public address which they ordered to be read in the congre- gations, assembled for religious worship, after saying much in praise of paper money, told us, that it was ' the only kind of money " which could not make to itself wings and fly away." Had this
(1) Circular letter of Sept. 13, 1779.
380
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1777.
been intended as the language of burlesque, it might have been received with a smile ; in any other sense, it was an insult to the feelings of honest men.
In the midst of these distresses, frequent meetings of different bodies of men were held, to consult on some practicable modes of relief. Committees of counties, and of different states, at various times, formed projects, and issued public addresses ; but pallia- tives in this, as in all other cases, soon lost their efficacy. From one of these conventions, holden at Springfield, and composed of delegates from the New-England states and New-York; a letter was addressed to the general congress, which put them on devis- ing means to surmount the existing difficulties.1 Among other ex- pedients they recommended effectual taxation, the opening of loan-offices, and that the states individually should emit no more bills of credit. These were salutary proposals ; but the most no- table effect of this letter was a recommendation from congress to the several states ' to confiscate and make sale of all the real and ' personal estates of such of their inhabitants and other persons as ' had forfeited the same, and the right to the protection of their ' respective states ; and to invest the money arising from the sales ' in continental loan certificates, to be appropriated as the respec- ' tive states should direct.'2
This was a delicate point, and required the most critical dis- cussion. It involved a question of national law ; and some per- sons who were acquainted with the subject, thought such a step not only illegal, but impolitic and dangerous. In cases of war be- tween independent nations, acknowledging no common superior, the acquisition of immovable property is not complete till confirm- ed by a treaty of peace.3 The war between America and Britain was so far a war between two independent nations, that the com- mon laws of war ought to have been observed. Had the estates of absentees been taken into possession, and the income arising from them been applied to the support of the war; and had the question of property remained undecided till the conclusion of a peace, there is no doubt that the state would have been a gainer both in reputation and interest ; but when we were daily cheating and deceiving ourselves with a fraudulent paper medium, it is not strange that the voice of justice toward those whom we deemed our enemies could not be heard.
The first step toward executing this recommendation of con- 1778. gress, was an act proscribing certain persons, to the num- ber of seventy-six, who had at various times, and for vari- ous reasons, quitted this state .* These were forbidden to return
(1) July and August-MS. minutes of convention. (2) Journal of con- gress, Nov. 27. (3) Vattel.
* [The names of these proscribed persons were John Wentworth, Peter Liv- ius, John Fisher, Geo. Meserve, Robert Trail, George Boyd, John Fenton,
.
381
STATE. MESHECH WEARE.
1778.]
without leave, under the penalty of transportation ; and in case of a second return, they were to suffer death.
The next step, was to confiscate the whole estate, real and per- sonal, of twenty-eight of the proscribed ; of whom it was declared that they had ' justly forfeited all right to protection from the ' state ; and also their right to any farther enjoyment of their in- ' terest and property within it.'
In these acts, no distinction was made between those persons who had withdrawn themselves from the state, by a sense of their duty ; those who were in fact British subjects, but occasionally resident here ; those who had absconded through timidity ; and those who had committed crimes against express law, and had fled from justice. No conditional offer of pardon was made ; no time was allowed for any to return and enter into the service of the country ; but the whole were put indiscriminately into one black list, and stigmatised as ' having basely deserted the cause of lib- ' erty, and manifested a disposition inimical to the state, and a ' design to aid its enemies in their wicked purposes.' 1
Some persons who had legal demands on these estates, had for the security of their debts laid attachments on them; but by another act, all attachments which had been made since the com- mencement of hostilities, were declared null and void, and the courts were required to dismiss them.
Trustees were appointed in each county to take possession of all these estates, real and personal ; and to sell the personal im- mediately at public auction ; with a discretionary power to leave out of the sale such articles as they should deem necessary to the support of the families of the proscribed. To preserve some farther appearance of justice, the creditors of these estates, though they were not allowed to bid at the auctions without pay- ment, were ordered to exhibit their claims to the trustees, and in
John Cockran, Samuel Hale, jr., Edward Parry, Thomas McDonough, Esquires, Maj. Robert Rogers, Andrew P. Sparhawk, Patrick Burn, John Smith, Will- iam Johnson Rysam, Stephen Little, Thomas and Archibald Achincloss, Rob- ert Robinson, Hugh Handerson, Gillam Butler, James McMasters, John Mc- Masters, George Craige, James Bigby, William Peavey, Benjamin Hart, Bartholomew Stavers, Philip Bayley, Samuel Holland, Esq., Benning Went- worth, Jude Kennison, Jonathan Dix, Robert Luist Fowle, Benjamin Thomp- son, Esq., Jacob Brown, George Bell, Stephen Holland, Esq., Richard Holland, John Davidson, James Fulton, Thomas Smith, Dennis O'Hala, Edward Gold- stone Lutwyehe, Esq., Samuel Cummings, Esq., Thomas Cummings, Benjamin Whiting, Esq., William Stark, Esq., John Stark, John Stinson, John Stinson, jr., Samuel Stinson, Jeremiah Bowen, Zucchcus Cutler, John Holland, Daniel Farnsworth, John Quigley. John Morrison, Josiah Pomroy, Elijah Willams, Esq., Thomas Cutler, Eleazar Sanger, Robert Gilmore, Breed Batchelder, Si- mon Baxter, William Baxter, Solomon Willard, Jesse Rice, Enos Stevens, Phin- ehas Stevens, Solomon Stephens, Levi Willard, John Brooks, Josiah Jones, and Simeon Jones. Those in italics, by the subsequent act had their estates confiscated. Acts and Laws of the state of New-Hampshire, folio, 128, 159, where the residence and profession of each are mentioned. Their residence may be also found in the index to this work.]
382
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1778.
cases of insolvency, all claims were to be settled by the judges of probate.
Whilst the settlement of these estates was going on, the money was rapidly depreciating. After the year 1777, the state issued no more bills, and the former were called in and exchanged for treasurer's notes on interest, of a value not less than five pounds. The continental bills continued passing and depreciating till the spring of 1781, when suddenly, and by general consent, they went out of circulation, and solid coin succeeded in their place. Then a scale of depreciation for the preceding years of the war was framed, and all past payments were regulated by it. The treaty of peace obliged us to proceed no farther in the matter of confiscations. By a subsequent act,* the judges of probate were empowered to liquidate by the scale of depreciation, the sums paid into the treasury by the trustees ; to receive claims against the estates, and to adjust and certify the same to the president, who was authorised to order the treasurer, to issue notes, bearing interest from the time when the said sums were paid into the treasury ; which notes the creditors were to receive in payment ; but if any of the estates should prove insolvent, then the credi- tors were to receive their average. In this manner, some of these estates have been settled and the creditors paid ; others remain unsettled. Some of them barely paid the expenses of their man- agement ; others were rendered insolvent. The estate of the late governor paid all the demands upon it excepting that of his father ; who generously withdrew his claim that the other credi- tors might be paid in full.f The clear profit to the state from
* March 1, 1783.
t The following papers are taken from the registry of probate for the coun- ty of Rockingham.
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.