USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Ipswich > The history of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, 1735-1914, with genealogical records of the principal families > Part 9
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It is very unfortunate that no record is known to exist of the New Ipswich men who had a part in this act of relief to the army and of rebuke to those who had failed to accept their opportunity for special service. There is a roll of the commissioned officers of each one of the thirty-one companies, in which New Ipswich is credited with one company of which Eleazer Cummings was captain, Henry Forgerson first lieu- tenant, and Ezekiel Goodale second lieutenant. Blood's his- tory of Temple gives the names of eighteen men of that town who enlisted at that time for a period of six weeks and the name of Ezekiel Goodale is among them. Moreover, at a later date he is termed "Lieut. Goodale." It may therefore be concluded that New Ipswich and Temple united in the formation of this company; and as the former New Ipswich history states that the New Ipswich contribution to its ranks numbered twenty-six, there remain twenty men of the full company who came from some other place or places not yet identified.
The year 1776, during which the issues of the contest were so unmistakably defined, witnessed the response of New Ipswich men to six calls for service in what was really, though still but dimly, becoming recognized to be a national army. Concerning the first of these no record of details is known to exist, and tradition has so faded that nothing concerning the part of New Ipswich can be added to the few lines given in the former town history, where it is said: "In February of this year a call was made for men to reinforce the army attempting the conquest of Canada. Seventeen men were raised, who proceeded, under Capt. Towne, by the way of Lake Champlain, as far as St. Johns; but the failure of Arnold's attempt on Quebec, and the retreat from Montreal, terminated the expedition, and they returned." The practi- cal truth of this tradition is certified and a few additional details are furnished by a petition of Capt. Towne now in the New Hampshire archives and published in the State Pa-
7
81
History of New Ipswich
pers which have given so great aid in the preparation of this chapter. The petition is as follows :
To the General Court of the State of New Hampshire
The Petition of Ezra Town of New Ipswich in said State humbly shows that he in January AD 1776 commanded a company in the service of the United States, and that his Men went into Canada then to Albany in the same year and on the first of December in the same year his company marched to Pennsylvania and continued there until the first day of Jany following and soon after his company was dismissed without rations or any subsistence money to carry them home.
New Ipswich 30th Jan™ 1786. Ezra Towne
This petition receiving no favorable attention, two years later he presented another containing the additional facts that his company was in Gen. James Reed's regiment, and that they were discharged at Morristown, N. J., February 13, 1777.
The next call for aid was from the Northern army on Lake Champlain; and during the spring Capt. Joseph Parker raised a company which joined the army in July. Eighteen men of New Ipswich are said in the former history to have enlisted in this company; but it is by no means an easy task to determine which fourth part of the ninety-three names borne upon its roll were from the town. Capt. Parker was the only one of the commissioned officers included in this portion of the company, as Ensign John Taggart was from Peterborough, and the Lieutenants, Daniel Rand and David Hunter, bear surnames not found in the New Ipswich records of that date. The following list, however, seems to contain the New Ipswich section of the company.
Joseph Parker, Capt.
Simeon Bullard Serjt.
Samuel Parker
Isaac Preston, Corp.
Whitcomb Powers
Allen Breed, Corp.
William Scott
Jonas Adams, Corp.
Nathaniel Stratton
Stephen Adams
Peter Shattuck
Ephraim Adams
Nathaniel Melvin
Allen Breed Jr. James Wilson
James Chandler
Levi Spaulding
Simeon Hildreth
Jonathan Wheat
Leonard Parker
John Thomas
The period of this company's service is uncertain; they were mustered in July 18, and are believed to have served through the autumn.
82
Captain Smith's Company
In the following September a company enlisted from New Ipswich and neighboring towns included with it in the militia regiment of Col. Enoch Hale was united with seven or more companies raised from different militia regiments and marched under the command of Col. Nahum Baldwin to reinforce the army in New York. This company was under the command of Capt. Abijah Smith of New Ipswich, Lieut. James Crombie being from Rindge, and Ensign Robert Fletcher from Temple. They served about three months, during which they were in the battle at White Plains, but were not so situated as to suffer. The entire body returned home early in the winter. The same difficulty is presented in this company as in that of Capt. Joseph Parker, but it is believed that the following names form nearly the correct list for New Ipswich.
Abijah Smith, Capt.
Abel Estabrook
Benjamin Adams Eli Adams
Jonathan Kinney
Ephraim Adams
John Knowlton
Thomas Adams
Stephen Pierce
Isaac Appleton
Nathaniel Stone
Benjamin Cutter
Supply Wilson
John Cutter Jonas Dutton
Joseph Wright
Under date of Oct. 24, 1775, Oliver Prescott wrote to Henry Gardner: "Twenty-six men march this day from the town of New Ipswich" to Ticonderoga .- American Archives, Vol. 2, p. 1227.
In October there marched from the counties of Hills- borough and Cheshire, on the requisition of General Gates, a small body of men to reinforce the army at Ticonderoga. It is doubtful if the only roll of this force which is known to have been preserved, and which was discovered in the Pen- sion Bureau at Washington, is at all complete, as of the thirty-nine names which it bears are those of Lieut .- Col. Thomas Heald and Adjutant Isaac How of New Ipswich, a captain and a lieutenant from Rindge, the same from Temple, eight sergeants, a corporal, and only twenty-four privates. In this roll the residence of each man is stated, and New Ips- wich is credited with Sergeants William Strate, John Brooks, and Benjamin Williams, and Privates Josiah Brown, Peter Fletcher, Francis Fletcher, Edmund Towne, Stephen Parker, Thomas Farnsworth, Timothy Wheelock, Joseph Wright, Joel Wheelock, Timothy Stearns, Henry Fletcher, Daniel
83
History of New Ipswich
Adams, and Nathaniel Pratt. This detachment was absent about three months, having been on duty at Fort Independ- ence.
The conditions of the next call for troops are thus stated in the first volume of "Revolutionary Rolls" of New Hamp- shire. "In answer to a requisition from General Washington, the legislature on the fourth day of December, 1776, 'Voted, That five hundred men be Draughted from the several Regi- ments in this State as soon as possible, and officered & sent to New York.' * * The cause of this call was, that the terms of service of the troops in garrison at Fort George and Ticonderoga would expire on the last day of December, and if their places were not filled those posts would fall into the hands of General Sir Guy Carleton."
Francis Towne of Rindge was captain of a company in Col. David Gilman's regiment of this levy, and the roll of his company bears the following names the same as those of residents in New Ipswich, and names which appear on other rolls with those of New Ipswich soldiers.
Simeon Gould, Serjt.
David Sanders
Stephen Parker, Serjt.
Thomas Adams
John Bryant, Drum".
William Priest
Isaac Adams
Isaac Proctor
Elijah Mansfield
Daniel Adams
Abel Dutton
Edmund Towne
Asa Gibbs
Peter Fletcher
Asa Perham
The record of New Ipswich soldiers of 1776 closes with the names of Thomas Brown, Josiah Fletcher, Simeon Gould, William Hodgkins, Henry Knowlton, Abner Preston, Jesse Walker, and Jonas Wheeler, found upon the roll of the com- pany of Capt. Samuel Atkinson "stationed at Coos in Haver- hill under the directions of the Committee appointed for said purpose Decembr 1, 1776," and they are added to the previous lists of the year on similar evidence to that which seemed to demand the same recognition of the list immediately preceding.
It may justly be claimed that New Ipswich, during the year of the nation's birth, held a worthy place in the state of which it has been written that "New Hampshire performed her share of the work of 1776 in full, as she had the year before, responding ably and patriotically to every call made
84
The Continental Army
upon her for men. In several instances her troops remained in the service beyond their terms of enlistment, notwithstand- ing they were of necessity scantily fed and clothed, and poorly provided with protection against the inclemency of the weather. In no instance, when the exigency of the occasion seemed to require their services beyond their terms of en- listment, were they appealed to in vain."
The next year was entered with the same spirit, and with a clearer realization of the true issue. The last town meeting called in New Ipswich "In His Majesty's Name" was the annual meeting held in March, 1775. No authority had been named in the warrants for the numerous meetings necessi- tated by the conditions of the succeeding two years, but the annual meeting held March 10, 1777, was called "In name of the Government and People of the State of New Hampshire."
During this year the military interest of the state naturally centered upon the Northern army and the movements in the region of Ticonderoga. The strengthening national thought was evidenced in the three New Hampshire Continental regi- ments commanded by Colonels Joseph Cilley, Nathan Hale, and Alexander Scammell. The comparative inefficiency of brief periods of service had been demonstrated by sad ex- perience, and some more systematic method of filling the ranks had become necessary. The return of Enoch Hale of Rindge, colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment of militia, made early in this year, shows the radical change in conditions since the day of the "Concord Fight." A portion of it is given below :-
State of New Hampshire
To the Honble Committee of Safety for said State Pursuant to orders Received in April A. D. 1777 directing me to Raise one hundred and nineteen men to serve in the Continental Armey for three years or during the war I have Proportioned the men to the several Towns or Companys in my Regiment as follows (viz)
New Ipswich
22
Marlborough
6
Rindge
17
Stoddard
6
Temple
13
Packersfield
5
Peterborough
14
Washington
4
Jaffrey
14
Slip Town
2
Fitzwilliam
8
Dublin
8
119
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History of New Ipswich
New Ipswich Returned Twenty one men
Silas Gill
Jacob Potter
Ephraim Foster
Ephraim Severance
John Yeaman
Moses Farnorth
Levi Adams
Ithamar Wheelock
Jonas Adams
William Prichard
Rolins Colburn
Abner Preston &
Nath1 Hase
William Hueitt
in Capt. Farwells Com'y Colo Silleys Regiment-and
Asa Gibbs
Daniel Foster
Asa Pearham
Ebenezer Fletcher &
Sam1 Foster
John Johnson
in Capt Carr" Comp'y Colo Hale" Regiment-they likewise Returned William Scott in said Carrs Company that they hired from Peterborough Slip Being one that Sliptown Returned and say that Sliptown neglect to pay back their money.
It should not be inferred that the men responding to the definite call upon each town had been secured by means of a draft. In fact, the payroll of Capt. Farwell's company dated nearly a year later has several of the names in this list credited with service beginning at an earlier date than the time of the reception of the order to Col. Enoch Hale mentioned in his return, but probably they had not been reported to the Committee of Safety before the order for new recruits had been issued. This later list differs from the one given above by having the name of Samuel Potter, which other records show correct, instead of Jacob Potter, and by the absence of the name of John Yeaman and William Hueitt. What was undoubtedly an error is also corrected and Moses Farnsworth appears in place of the earlier abridged form. Bunker Clark, who was certainly a resident in New Ipswich, is credited to Packersfield. William Hewitt appears in other places as a member of that company and receipts for his bounty and wages at Valley Forge in 1778. John Yeaman also is found (with a slight change in his name) in another company of the same regiment. Capt. Isaac Farwell was of Charlestown, and is probably not the Isaac Farwell who went from New Ipswich at the time of the Concord alarm. The first lieutenant was James Taggart of Peterborough, the second lieutenant Jeremiah Pritchard of New Ipswich, and the ensign Jonathan Willard of Charlestown. Rawlins Colborn and Levi Adams held warrants of first and second sergeants. The company of the Second Regiment containing the remainder of the April levy was commanded by Capt. James Carr of Somersworth,
86
Reinforcements for Ticonderoga
the first lieutenant being Samuel Cherry of Londonderry, the second lieutenant Peletiah Whittemore of New Ipswich, and the ensign George Frost of Greenland.
The service of these men did not terminate in three years, as the names of several of them are found later to continue "during the war." But now attention, which had been tempo- rarily somewhat diverted from the region of Ticonderoga, was abruptly recalled. "On the evening of the 2d day of May, 1777, dispatches were received by the committee of safety of this state, informing them that the garrison at Ticonderoga was in danger of being taken by the enemy, and urging that the militia be sent forward at once to reenforce that important post." Messages were at once sent to the colonels of the regiments situated along the western line of the state urging them "by all that is sacred to raise as many of your Militia as possible and march them to Ticonderoga." Col. Enoch Hale was not one of those nearest to the seat of danger, and therefore specially called upon, but none the less fifty-four men were gathered from that regiment who marched on May 6 for Ticonderoga, under the command of Capt. Josiah Brown of New Ipswich. It is impossible to be perfectly sure how many of this company were from New Ipswich. The former history speaks of this as "a company of twenty-four men," which probably is the traditional number of its New Ipswich members. The entire roll is here presented, and those names which are doubtless the names of New Ipswich men, or which from other facts seem most probably to be of that town, are marked with an asterisk.
*Josiah Brown, Capt.
Jos. Stanley
Asa Sherwin, 1st Lt.
Moses Hale
*Samuel Howard, 2d Lt.
John Emery
*Benj. Williams, Ens.
Abel Platt
Jona. Ingals, Serjt.
Saml. Chaplin
*Ezra Morse, Serjt.
Moses Chaplain
Abraham Brooks, Serjt.
Peter Webster
William Robb, Serjt.
Amos Ingals
*Abel Easterbrooks, Corp.
*Thomas Brown
Jona. Putnam, Corp.
*James Tidder
Jona. Morse, Corp.
*Nath1. Pratt
Israel Keys, Corp.
*Nathl. Farr
Silas Angier David Adams
*Jona. Parker
*John Wheeler
*Samuel Adams
*Isaac Farwell
William Thomson
*Daniel Clary
87
History of New Ipswich
*Nathan Cutter
Jona. Marshall
*Saml. Walker
*Danl. Morse
*Jesse Walker
Joshua Greenwood
*Elijah Davis
*Asa Pratte
*Peter Shadduck
Thos. Smith
*John Thomas
Thos. Davidson
*John Yarmon
Joseph Farrar
David Townsend
Jason Rice
John Patten
Eben Spaulding
*Richard Stickney
John White
Eben Severance
Aaron Beals
Benja. Severance
Most of this company continued in service at Ticonderoga about six weeks, and were then discharged. But they had hardly scattered to their homes when the capture of Crown Point and the rapid advance of Burgoyne upon Ticonderoga made the crisis more imperative in its call for aid from the militia. On June 29 Capt. Brown again started at the head of a company of forty-eight men, this time a solid company of the town; having reached Number Four (Charlestown), they were ordered to return, and arrived at Rindge on July 3. But here they were overtaken by orders again reversing their course, and the first anniversary of the Declaration of Inde- pendence was spent while following again the route westward. Only as far as Rutland, however, for there they met the army in retreat. Apparently about half the company returned home directly from Rindge, as they are credited on the roll with only five days' service and were discharged on the third of July instead of the twelfth.
The roll is given below :
Josiah Brown, Capt. Edmund Bryant, Lieut. Joseph Felt
Isaac Clark, Lieut.
Whitcomb Powers
Hezekiah Corey, Ensign
Jona Easterbrooks
John Brooks, Serjt.
William Spear, Junr.
Thomas Brown, Serjt.
Nehemiah Stratton
Josiah Walton, Serjt.
Phineas Adams John Knight
Elijah Davis, Serjt.
Elijah Morse, Corpl.
John Thomas
Stephen Hildreth, Corpl.
Peter Shattuck
Allen Breed, Corpl. Nathan Wesson, Corpl.
Joseph Pollard Edmund Sawtel Jonathan Davis
William Kendall Ebenezer Bullard William Hodgkins Asa Parker
Stephen Adams Leonard Parker David Melvin
88
Ephraim Stevens
Colonel Heald's Detachment
Amos Wheeler
William Richards
Nat. Carlton
Timothy Fox
Nat Swain
Josiah Rogers
Zebediah Whittemore
Joseph Tinney
Nat Melvin
John Warner
Peter Fletcher
John Cutter
Stephen Parker
Wm Spears
Josiah Fletcher
David Elliot
Thirty of the members of this company were provided with horses, and it is said that the march was largely taken by the "ride and tie" method.
Apparently the other companies of Col. Enoch Hale's reg- iment did not turn out in response to the call to Ticonderoga in as large numbers as that under Capt. Josiah Brown; but a detachment of the regiment marched under command of Lieut .- Col. Thomas Heald of New Ipswich, Francis Fletcher, the adjutant, being also from that town. This detachment contained portions of five companies, and the names of New Ipswich men are found on the roll of each of those companies, although it is impossible to determine with certainty they were not residents of other localities bearing the same name. But no evidence appears to cause the following names to be refused as New Ipswich soldiers.
In the company of Capt. Salmon Stone of Rindge: Reuben Russell, Samuel Russell, Samuel Walker, John Knowlton.
In the company of Capt. Roger Gilmore of Jaffrey : Thomas Adams.
In the company of Capt. Silas Wright of Stoddard: Asa Adams, Eli Adams, William Dutton, Henry Spaulding, Jotham Hoar, Stephen Parker, John Harkness, Amos Prichard, Jonas Wheeler, Samuel Haywood, Benjamin Safford, Josiah Davis, Simeon Blanchard, Richard Wheeler, Jesse Walker, John Sartwell, (probably Sawtell,) Simeon Hildrick, Josiah Fletcher.
In the company of Capt. Alexander Robbe of Peter- borough: William Scott, William Blair.
In the company of Capt. James Lewis of Marlborough : Moses Tucker, Ezra Town, Oliver Wright.
These men in Col. Heald's detachment, like those under Capt. Brown, served not more than fourteen days, and about half of them only five days.
A company also marched on the same errand from Fitz- william and towns adjacent, under the command of Capt.
89
History of New Ipswich
John Mellin, and on the roll of this company appear the names of Moses Tucker, Oliver Wright, Samuel Soper, and Abel Estabrooks. It is evident that the distinction between father and son was neglected in respect to the name of Capt. Tucker ; but even that explanation is insufficient for the name Oliver Wright, which not only appears in the rolls of Cap- tains Lewis and Mellin, and as both ensign and private in the latter company he was apparently promoted, but also on the rolls of the companies of Capt. Christopher Webber and of Lieut. Henry Adams, which also made brief expeditions to relieve the endangered Ticonderoga. There can be little doubt that the Oliver Wright in at least one of these com- panies was of New Ipswich.
The threatening advance of Burgoyne after his successes at Ticonderoga and Hubbardton left to the Americans no escape from more strenuous endeavor than the recent move- ments had proved to be, and on the tenth of July a company of seventy-one men, of whom thirty-seven were from neigh- boring towns, mostly from Peterboro or Temple, left New Ipswich and joined the Northern army under General Gates at Stillwater. The thirty-four men believed to be from New Ipswich were as enrolled below:
Stephen Parker, Capt.
Richard Wheeler
Benjamin Williams, Ensign.
Amos Wheeler
Archibald White, Sergt.
William Upton
Whitcomb Powers, Corpl.
Edmund Sawtel
Samuel Lewis, Corpl.
Nehemiah Stratton
Samuel Lowell, Drummer.
John Knight
Allen Breed
Jotham Hoar
Allen Breed, Jr.
Samuel Wheeler
Samuel Walker
Daniel Foster
Benjamin Safford
Richard Stickney
Josiah Walton David Rumrill
William Blair Levi Spaulding
Zebediah Whittemore
Henry Spaulding
Peter Fletcher
Abel Dutton
Ephraim Stevens
Silas Taylor
Jonathan Parker
Eli Adams
This company's service extended through two months, during which it had a part in the battle of Bennington, and it was discharged on the twenty-sixth of September. A few of the names are doubtful, and are claimed by other towns having citizens bearing the same name.
90
--- 1
Simeon Hildreth, Fifer.
Francis Appleton
Captain Briant's Company
The former history of the town gives a brief account of an attempt to divide the American force made by the British at about this time, in the form of a false alarm concerning a projected raid from the north for the purpose of chastising the towns along the Connecticut river. The plan succeeded in New Ipswich to the extent of starting a party of eleven men northward to take a part in the needed defence, their absence continuing about a month. No names are given ex- cept that of their commander, William Clary; and no record of its doings having come to light, it is necessarily left with- out further mention.
At almost exactly the time of the discharge of Capt. Parker's company another company of fifty-five men was formed and marched from the town to join the army at Sara- toga. All the commissioned officers were of New Ipswich, as were the greater part of the other members, only about twelve being from other towns. The roll, omitting the names from other towns, is here given:
Edmund Briant, Capt.
Ephraim Hildreth
Moses Tucker, Lieut.
William Hewett
Isaac Clarke, Lieut.
Amos Prichard
Simeon Gould, Serjt.
Samuel Parker
John Brooks, Serjt.
Nat Pratt
William Start, Serjt.
Joel Russell
Joseph Tinney, Corpl.
William Richards
Joseph Pollard, Corpl.
Nat Stone
Thomas Brown, Corpl.
Joseph Stickney
Nathaniel Swain, Drum.
William Spear
Jonas Wilson, Fife Francis Appleton
David Sanders
Ephraim Adams
John Scott
Phineas Adams
Edmund Towne
Aaron Chamberlain
James Tidder
Henry Carlton John Clarey Francis Fletcher
John Thomas Jonas Wheeler
Jesse Walker
Thomas Farnsworth
Elijah Morse
William Farr
Abel Miles
Robert Harkness
Jonathan Wheelock
Stephen Hildreth
Peter Shattuck
This company was discharged on October 25, but that brief month of service included the time of the battle of Still- water and the surrender of Burgoyne, and so to the people of New Hampshire it ever seemed the "beginning of the end."
91
History of New Ipswich
And in truth the frequent calls for service of a few days or a few weeks had ceased, and during the first half of the year 1778 attention to necessarily neglected home duties could be resumed. Still, as early as June, 1777, Governor Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island had applied to the legislature of New Hampshire for aid against three thousand British troops from whom an attack seemed imminent, and about three hundred men were sent in response to the call. But no names recog- nizable as being of New Ipswich men are found on the rolls of those companies, and the officers whose places of residence are recorded were from somewhat distant localities, from which it may reasonably be concluded that New Ipswich had no part in that expedition. Just before the close of the six months which was the term of enlistment of that detach- ment, another message from Governor Cooke was received asking that troops might be sent to take their place, and stating "that they would be in a deplorable condition without continued military aid from New Hampshire." This request was considered by the state authorities and on January 1, 1778, the House of Representatives voted to send the needed assistance. But the enlistments seemed to be less prompt than at the time of the previous call, and while the exact time of the departure for Rhode Island is uncertain, an order to the colonels of militia, passed on May 29, to draft three hundred men for that service shows that there was probably nearly six months interval between the call and its full an- swer. This second levy of troops was discharged December 30, having served for different periods, but few longer than six months. The three hundred men comprised six compa- nies, one of which, commanded by Capt. Simon Marston of Deerfield, bore upon its roll the following New Ipswich names: Joseph Farrar, Timothy Farrar, Joseph Felt, Simeon Gould, Samuel Morse, whose periods of service varied from three to six months.
This regiment, apparently raised with great difficulty, al- though the lists of recruits and of the bounties paid them make it probable that the required men were secured without resort to the draft, was yet insufficient to drive the British forces from the state, and in August New Hampshire sent a brigade to assist, containing five regiments and amounting to a little over one thousand men, who served three or four weeks. One of these regiments, containing only one hundred
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