USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 23
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" Johnny Balch, blowing a blast both loud and shrill, Dashed through the woods and galloped down the hill."
But most generally the family wanted to hear the news and the jolly post rider was nothing loth to give it .*
But the summer went by and the autumn came, and our settlers learned that Schuyler and Montgomery with a small force had advanced by lake Champlain against Montreal, and Arnold at the head of a thousand men had tramped through the wilderness to the St. Lawrence. Then during all the winter hardly anything was heard from the boys in the army.
In the spring of 1776 there was another call for troops, and news came, after Arnold failed, of a threatened invasion from Canada. All the frontier was in excitement at this, and there was a great demand for arms. The Committee of Safety endeavored to furnish a supply, and they let Chase Whitcher, our boy settler,
* For an account of John Balch's riding post, see Vol. vii. N. H. Hist. Coll.
.
267
THE WARRIORS OF WARREN.
have money enough to buy thirteen guns, for that number was needed in the hamlet. He gave security to pay for the same when called for, and then loading them upon his horse trudged behind his faithful beast, and brought them all safely to Warren .*
These guns were faithfully distributed among our settlers. Even Stevens Merrill was offered one, but he said he did not believe in war and would not fight on either side and so would not have it. Jonathan Clement and Joseph Patch also refused to take a gun even as a gift.
It is told, with how much truth we cannot say, that Joshua Copp and Simeon Smith went away to the regions of upper Coos about this time to serve with Captain Eames, a renowned military chieftain, said to have once resided in the neighboring province of Wentworth. Captain Eames, with his company, had built a fort at Coos, and was ordered in the autumn of 1776 "to engage ten men through the winter as scouts." Copp and Smith, tradition has it, served on this scout. They had seen the supplies, consisting of two barrels of gunpowder, eight hundred pounds of lead for bullets, six hundred flints, and blankets for forty soldiers, and all other necessaries sent by the Committee of Safety. They were loaded on the backs of a train of pack horses which journeyed along the rough bridle path northward, " and were for the use of the troops on the western portion of this colony at Coos."t They rendez- voused one night at Obadiah Clement's little tavern, at the foot of Height-o-land, and the next morning as they marched away Copp and Smith resolved that they would see before the snow flew what kind of service they would have in the wild upper country.
The folks at home had heard from John Balch, the post rider, all the news of the years' campaigns. The disasters on Long Island and the losses along the Hudson made everything seem black enough; but in the mid winter word came of the great victory of the battle of Trenton and the rebels took heart again.}
*" Aug. 5th, 1776. Ordered the Receiver General To pay Mr. Chace Witcher of Warren, Twenty-four pounds to buy Arms and Amunition, he Giving Security to pay the Same when Demanded."-N. H. Hist. Coll. Vol. vii. 55. A gun cost 36s.
t See Vol. vii. N. H. Hist. Coll.
# In 1776, Colonel William Tarleton who once lived in Warren, was a sergeant in Edward Everett's company.
The same year, Joseph Lund was in Captain James Osgood's company .- See Records in the office of Secretary of State, Concord, N. H.
268
HISTORY OF WARREN.
The next year war came to our frontier in earnest, and the dwellers in the land of the Coosucks got a slight taste of it. Even our pioneers snuffed the battle from afar. Burgoyne began his invasion from Canada, proceeding by Lake Champlain, and the greatest excitement prevailed through all the wild border. Hith- erto there had been only a Committee of Safety for the whole State, but now danger was so imminent that a committee of safety, inspection, vigilance, or correspondence, whatever it might be called, was formed in nearly every town. These co-operated with the State Committee rendering it efficient service. The towns thus became, in a measure, separate provinces, or rather independent democracies, each contributing all the aid it could to the great cause.
The Committee in this northern country, as elsewhere, met at stated intervals and acted in a legislative, executive, and judicial capacity. The conduct of all suspicious persons was inquired into ; numerous arrests were made, and imprisonments and banishments frequently followed. They even took the subject of confiscation in hand and the property of many individuals who were not "truly loyal " escheated to the State.
We never could learn that the great committee of Warren ever did much in these matters, but the committees of Plymouth and Haverhill, neighboring democracies, were often terribly exer- cised. For instance we find it recorded that the State Committee this year received a letter from the committee at Plymouth "ill- forming that several strangers, well dressed, had been discovered at a very unfrequented place in the wood, whom they supposed were engaged in a bad design." The State Committee immedi- ately ordered search to be made and the strangers apprehended if possible. Whether they were arrested or not we never learned.
It is also written down that at Haverhill, in the "Cohass " region, was a great tory, Mr. Fisher by name, who was compelled to exile himself to some foreign land. His farm on the intervals the said committee gently took into their possession, cultivated it with the soldiers stationed at the Cohass, and eventually sold the land and devoted the proceeds to the " rebel cause," as King George was pleased to term it.
But if Warren's Committee of Safety did not do much in the
269
BOUNTIES TO SOLDIERS.
direction we have indicated, there were some in town who worked for the " patriot cause " in a private capacity, and some who worked for the good of their own pockets.
In the journal of the Committee of Safety it is also written - "Friday July 4th, 1777. Ordered the R. G .* to let John Mills have out of the Treasry £25, to pay bounties to men he enlists, for which he is to be acctble." t
How many men John Mills enlisted we never learned, but report has it that Jonathan Fellows, who had just come to town and John Mills, Junior, went away to the war about these times, perhaps stimulated to patriotic deeds by this very £25. And it would not be at all unlikely that John Mills enlisted men in the regions round about, as many another recruiting officer has done at a later day. Fellows, and Mills, Junior, it is told, were at the battle of Bennington, the latter being first lieutenant in the fifth company of Colonel Nichol's regiment.#
But it is not written in the Committee of Safety's book, and perhaps that honorable body never found out, what Stevens Mer- rill and his son Jonathan did. When the cry, " the British are coming," was heard, Mr. M. and his son, who were always true to the royal government, scented gold from afar and prepared to put a fair proportion of it in their own pockets. They quietly went to work and bought up a considerable number of beef cattle of the settlers and obtained others from the wooded pastures in the neighboring lands, and then when they had learned from the well dressed strangers " discovered in the very unfrequented place in the wood," at what time a British guard would be at the rendez- vous, over beyond the Connecticut river among the Green moun- tains, they set off one bright night with the whole herd. They drove the beeves to Haverhill by the old Indian trail, now an unfrequented way, a path in which there was no danger of meeting any one, and when the gray of the morning came on, halted in a secluded glen two miles or so from the mouth of the Oliverian.
* R. G. means Receiver General.
t See N. H. Hist. Coll. Vol. vii. 104.
John Mills was first a 2d Lieutenant in Colonel Timothy Bedel's regiment, fourth company, in 1776. This regiment was marched to Canada, and at a fort called " The Cedars " was disgracefully surrendered; then in 1777 he was Ist Lieu- tenant of the fifth company, in Colonel Moses Nichol's regiment, and was present with his company at the battle of Bennington, and last was Captain of the fourth company, in Colonel Daniel Reynold's regiment, in 1781 .- See Records in the office of the Secretary of State, Concord, N. H.
270
HISTORY OF WARREN.
All day long they kept the drove together and on the second night, with some assistance, swam them across the Connecticut. Morning found them in the yards of the rendezvous. Fat cattle were valu- able then, and on the fourth day our loyal settlers were safe at home again, with their pockets well lined with British gold. Obadiah Clement and others wondered what became of the cattle, but years went by before they learned of the profitable and some- what wild adventures in which their neighbors were engaged.
Some folks are ready now to cry out; Cowboys! Tories ! Traitors ! Devils! they ought to have been hung! and a good many other like pious ejaculations. Be easy for a moment ; Stevens Merrill, from the manner in which he viewed the great questions of that day, from his own stand point, was a true patriot. He believed the colonists were wrong, that King George was right, and that the war would ruin the country. He himself loved his native land, and was loyal to his king. He firmly believed his opinions were correct, his conscience pointed out the path of duty, and then as always through life he endeavored to follow it. Had the result of the contest been different the rebels would have been in the wrong, deserving the halter, and himself the true patriot. Success makes the hero, failure the traitor.
But if our tory friends performed a night march to the Con- necticut, at the head or tail of a horned cavalcade, many another body proceeded through the woods to the same destination, but for a far different object. There was hurrying to and fro through- out all the country, and a large number went marching to the land of Coos. Captain Eames took up squads of men, but Captain Bedel marched at the head of a whole company along the rough bridle path .* He had a fife and drum, and the musicians made exceedingly pleasant music, sweet to hear among the woods of Warren. Then he had a continental flag, carried sometimes in the centre of the column, which fluttered most beautifully in the leafy forest. All the men. as a general thing camped near Obadiah Clement's inn, marching the whole distance from Plymouth in a single day, and the train of pack horses used to carry supplies and ammunition, almost eat our poor landlord out of house and home. Sometimes he got his pay, but oftener he did not, and when he did
* See N. H. Hist. Coll. Vol. vii.
271
SACRIFICES OF THE SETTLERS.
it was the old Continental currency, that eventually proved worth- less. But he kept good natured and always rejoiced at the success of the colonies .*
Captain Eames and Bedel did good service guarding the rich meadows on the " long river of pines," otherwise Dutchman's Varshe, or fresh river. But they never had a fight; not a red coat came to disturb them. Still they kept the town quiet, and made friends with the Coosuck Indians, as they were instructed by the great Committee of Safety.
All this happened right at home, but our hardy mountaineers were exceedingly anxious all this season, 1777, to hear the news from the army. When they learned of the battle of Benning- ton, Stark, to them, was the greatest man living, and joy was un- bounded. There were some who did not like the news, but they were shrewd, and said nothing. Again when word came of the surrender of Burgoyne, most of the good settlers almost went into ecstasies ; our silent friends were inwardly as mad as March hares.
At the close of the year the prospects of the colonists were not so good. Another winter passed, the winter of Valley Forge; the spring came, and with it the darkest year of the war. News from the army was scarce; what they did hear was bad, and the inhabitants of Warren seemed divided and estranged.
And now in the colonists' darkest hour happened the greatest event of the war-to the Warrenites. Hostility came to the dwel- lers of the hamlet. It transpired in this wise. The soldiers who guarded the "Cohass" frontier were enlisted for short periods. Consequently discharges followed rapidly, the veterans returned home, and raw recruits hurried to the log forts, stockades, and block houses, so valorously guarded by Captains Eames and Bedel. There was a continual passing of troops, and as these soldiers, as before mentioned, never found a FOE in the front, being anxious to achieve some deed of greatness, looked sharp for ONE in the rear.
Some folks never can mind their own business, and no man, who is a man, is without his enemies. Joseph Patch, our first set- tler had his, and to the valorous soldiers, who marched and counter- marched along the bridle path, they reported that Patch was a tory. When he was at home no passer by dared meddle with him. But
* James Clement's statement.
1
272
HISTORY OF WARREN.
work must be done, and in autumn he was often away hunting. At such times Mrs. Patch with her children would go for a day or two to her father's, Mr. Stevens Merrill's. On one occasion when her husband was looking after his sable traps and exploring for beaver meadows over Mount Carr, Mrs. P. saw two or three soldiers hurry across her father's clearing, and disappear in the woods towards her own dwelling. Their appearance made a strong impression upon her mind, so much so, that half an hour afterwards she went out, and looking towards her own home, saw a dense black smoke rising like a cloud above it. Screaming, she gave the alarm, then hurried down the bridle path. But she was too late. The fire had burst from the roof; the flames leaped up hot and fierce, aud the smoke, a great black column, towered hun- dreds of feet above and then floated away over the great forest and disappeared beyond the mountain. Twenty minutes later and the house, which was the best one in town, was almost wholly con- sumed. One of the soldier boys had set fire to it with his pipe, as was afterwards learned, and then they valorously marched on. Mr. Patch had a large quantity of provisions, including several barrels of moose meat, also a considerable store of rich peltries, all which were totally destroyed. Nothing was saved from the house except "a little iron picking pan," partly melted by the fire, which the family kept for many years as a memento of one of the great events of the war .*
Lumber and materials were plenty, there were willing hands to aid in the work, and before winter set in another house rose like the phoenix from the ashes. The barn with its contents did not burn and Patch was nearly as comfortable as before.
Now many people will cry shame. But we would say as be- fore, wait a moment. Don't blame the soldiers. Such things must be expected in time of war. They always happen-and for our own sake and your pleasure, Christian reader, we are almost glad that they do. Without such a dire catastrophe we should not have had this brilliant episode for our most entertaining history.
But we must pause here. A new era dawns upon our moun- tain hamlet. Hitherto the lordly proprietors had cut all the roads,
* Jacob Patch's statement.
278
THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA.
fought out all the boundary feuds, had sent men to build mills, had made appropriations for preaching, and had looked after all the interests of our little State just as a parent watches his child. Not a farthing for taxes, not a day's labor on the highways, hardly any- thing paid for the broad acres in the valley and on the hill-side, not a soldier furnished for the war we have been describing, except such as went from pure patriotism with poor pay, and most often no bounty ; the early settlers were free as the wind.
But our little town was fast expanding into strength and beauty; and the former royal province, at present the Republic of New Hampshire, which as yet had paid no attention to the smiling hamlet, now believing that a good revenue might be derived with- out much trouble, like a fond lover began to pay court and com- mence suit to the bright and happy township among the hills.
How our pioneer settlement thus suddenly became an ample democracy in which the citizens made sundry laws and appointed the judicial and executive officers, but still acknowledged a slight allegiance to the State, composed like the Amphictyonic council of the great association of democracies, will be told in the most entertaining manner in our next.
1
R
BREAKING AND SWINGLING FLAX.
BOOK V.
CONCERNING THE MIGHTY MARCH OF EVENTS IN THE GREAT CIVIL HISTORY OF WARREN.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HAMLET, AND HOW CERTAIN MEN ACHIEVED IMMORTAL GLORY BY GETTING ELECTED TO TOWN OFFICE.
WHEN in the course of human events one certain body feels a regard for another, there immediately begins to be made sundry strong efforts to inform the regarded party of the remarka- ble feelings experienced. Smiles, sighs, tender glances, and little gentle pressures of the hands are given if the parties are in the immediate neighborhood of each other. But if distance intervenes or extreme modesty prevails, then fond missives are indited and borne by the fleet post, communicating the heavenly passion,-all which is intensely interesting to the immediate parties. but decid- · edly ridiculous to outsiders.
The latter method-the tender missive-was the one adopted by our young and vigorous republic ; but not from any feeling of modesty. It was distance that forced the sending of a tender epistle to our coy little hamlet that hitherto had nestled so quietly and almost unnoticed among the hills. A go-between in the person of the great Committee of Safety, and a few other patriotic
276
HISTORY OF WARREN,
agents* had whispered the information that the young hamlet was beautiful and fertile, and growing in wealth, and thus the interest was excited.
What was the tenor of the exquisite billet-doux forwarded? " To the right about face, forward march- wake up, quick-step - take your place in the great family of small States." Short and sweet ! But such was love's language in the war times of which we write. Every thing then had to bend and every nerve be strained, that the great Committee of Safety might have money and the soldiers be armed, equipped, and fed. Warren must do her part, must show her love for the young republic, although she might be a little shy and backward, by contributing her mite to the patriotic cause.
Representations, therefore, were made to the Great and Gen- eral Court of New Hampshire, that it was their duty to attend to the matter, in order that a generous revenue might be forth- coming.
That honorable body acted. The machinery of legislation was immediately put in operation and a statute manufactured. It is very interesting, and reads somewhat like a romance; thus-
" In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine."
" An Act to ascertain the proportion of public taxes upon several towns and to enable them to collect the same."
Thus it opens in a heroic strain. Then follow the several whereases, to wit :
" Bath, Canaan, Wentworth, and Warren, have not paid their proportion of taxes.
" This has been represented by agents.
" It is owing, 1st, to the unsettled state of the country; and, 2d, that some of the towns have no town officers.
" Therefore that it may never happen again,-
"BE IT ENACTED.
" 1st. That the State Treasurer issue his warrant for the whole tax, State and Continental.
* Obadiah Clement was the principal of these.
277
THE FIRST TOWN MEETING.
" 2d. That it be assessed the same as on the first day of April last.
" 3d. That the town of Warren pay twenty shillings for each £1,000 raised in the State.
".4th. That Samuel Emerson, of Plymouth, is commanded to call a town meeting in Warren, and preside until a moderator shall be chosen."
This bill was passed to be engrossed, June 22d, 1779. It was signed by John Langdon, Speaker of the House; Meshech Weare, President, approved it, and it was examined by Ebenezer Thomp- son, Secretary of State.
Samuel Emerson, who dwelt upon the east bank of the Asquamchumauke, where it runs a slow and lordly river, felt highly complimented when he heard of the great honors thrust upon him, and he promptly began his duties.
July 12th, 1779, he posted a notice warning the inhabitants of our pleasant township to assemble ;* and on the 28th of the same month, the true men of Warren were on hand at the inn of mine host, Obadiah Clement, ready for business. Our tory friends did not attend ; they forgot that the meeting was to be held that day.
But steady here-with great dignity and profound gravity ! The mighty events of history should not be hurried over. How important is the first assembly of the hamlet. It is an auspi- cious moment, a new birth for the town; an entrance upon a higher life. A web of circumstances is to be woven about the citizens that shall change the whole course of their aspirations and ambitions; that shall furnish a field on which they may achieve distinction, as legislators, executive officers, and judges.
Did the wise men as they went to that meeting from their
* NAMES OF THE LEGAL VOTERS OF WARREN FOR THE YEAR 1780.
Isaiah Batchelder.
Joseph Kimball. Joseph Patch.
William Butler.
Ephraim Lund. Simeon Smith.
Daniel Clark.
Joseph Lund. Ephraim True.
Thomas Clark.
John Marston.
Moses True.
Jonathan Clement.
Jonathan Merrill. Chase Whitcher.
Obadiah Clement.
Joshua Merrill.
John Whitcher.
Reuben Clement.
Stevens Merrill.
Reuben Whitcher. (1)
Joshua Copp. John Morrill.
Gardner Dustin.
Nathaniel Niles.
(1) JULY 8, 1787 .- Voted, That Mr. Moses Page have one hundred acres of land laying northerly on Josiah Bartlett's Esq., in the sixth range, first division to be laid out in the same form as other lots in said range, in consideration of his set- tling Mr. Reuben Whitcher in said town .- Proprietor's Records.
278
HISTORY OF WARREN.
fields where they had been haying among the charred stumps and logs, realize its importance? Did they know as they assembled in Obadiah Clement's old log bar-room, where the soldiers of the Revolution hastening to the camp or journeying home from the war, were wont to stop; where good milk-toddy, whiskey-punch, flip, and egg-nog, could always be had, and where in winter the old fashioned loggerhead was always kept at a white heat, that this was the beginning of a long series of meetings that should continue even down to our time? Did they think that in that identical bar-room, varnished and painted by the smoke of pitch knots and tobacco pipes, would arise those celebrated political parties-the Patch party, the Merrill party, and the Clement party -which always existed in town, down to the era of the "Know Nothings;" that it would be here that they would learn to love office, its honors and emoluments, to spout and talk and wrangle about the laying out of roads, the constructing of bridges, the clearing of training fields, the locating of school houses, and the building of meeting houses? Perhaps they realized it, and perhaps they did not.
But certain it is, that when the hour of ten was shown by the sun-dial which Obadiah Clement had fixed by his door, 'Squire Emerson in the most dignified manner, called the meeting to order. He knew his business, and he thought he knew himself. A moderator, as commanded by the statute, was first to be chosen. " Please forward your ballots, gentlemen," said he. But not a man moved. They hadn't a ballot. Then the 'Squire explained and some one asked Col. Clement for paper and a pen. He had the pen, but said he did not think there was any paper in the house. Some one suggested there was birch bark by the fire-place, and ye dignified chairman said that would do. It was cut in little slips, the names written, and the ballots forwarded. It did not take long to count them, and the chairman declared Joshua Copp unani- mously elected. 'Squire Emerson, after administering the oath of office, whispered in Mr. Copp's ear that a clerk was necessary, and 'Squire Joshua, in the style of his great predecessor, said, " Please forward your ballots, gentlemen, for town clerk." This time they knew how to do it, and Obadiah Clement having every one, was also declared unanimously elected.
279
FIRST DEMOCRATIC COURT.
Then there was a pause; no one knew exactly what was wanted, or who would be suitable for the offices; and after a little general discussion, and considerable private talk, they concluded to adjourn to the twelfth of August next, as the day to finish the business of the meeting, and obey the requirements of the great statute so kindly passed for their benefit.
The morn of August 12th came. The patriots of Warren assembled, and even a few of those loyal to King George, who were not in the habit of saying much, looked in upon the meeting. But every thing was cut and dried beforehand, as is often the case for town meetings of later years, and it took but very few minutes to elect Obadiah Clement, Joshua Copp, and Israel Stevens, another new comer, selectmen; Simeon Smith, constable; and William Butler, Reuben Clement, and Thomas Clark, surveyors of highways. Then, as this was all the business that could legally come before the meeting, they adjourned without day .*
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