Part 2

After the expiration of the term of service of the eight months’ men a call was made for twelve months’ men; and many of those who served the first term or first campaign, as it was called, both officers and men, engaged for the second campaign. The organization of the standing militia thereby became broken up and disrupted by the depletion of the local organizations. It therefore became necessary to make a reorganization and redistricting of the militia of the Province. An act was accordingly passed January 22, 1776, by which this object was attained. It provided that all able-bodied male persons from sixteen years of age to fifty, with certain specified exemptions, in every town and district should be considered members of the train band. The alarm list should consist of all male persons from sixteen years of age to sixty-five, not liable to be included in the train band and not exempted under special provision. Each company was to consist of sixty-eight privates, exclusive of the alarm list, officered by a captain and two lieutenants, non-commissioned officers to be four sergeants, four corporals, with a drummer and fifer for each company. A brigadier-general was directed to be chosen for each county, and under him the field officers of the different regiments were authorized to divide up and district the regiments, each regiment having a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and two majors. Three major-generals were also to be chosen by the Council or House of Representatives. Under this enactment the county regiments were numbered, officered, and their organizations established, and from the standing militia thus provided for all detachments and drafts of Massachusetts militia that were made, either for short terms of service upon alarms or as re-enforcements to the Continental Army, were made during the remaining period of the war. This establishment for the militia continued in force until after the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780.

BOSTON.

JAMES J. TRACY.

(Read before the Massachusetts Sons of American Revolution, 1904.)

A BIT OF CHURCH HISTORY

It is a subject of hope that someone—perhaps he is already cooing in his cradle and smiling in response to the wondering faces that bend over him—will be inspired to embody in imperishable epic, the adventurous deeds of the Puritan and Pilgrim Fathers in the New World. He must be a child of the Muses. He must have insight to sound the deeper currents of human motive and action, the instinct for dramatic situations, a feeling for the concrete in choice and act, and for the individual man. When that epic appears some cantos of it will relate to the settlements of the Connecticut valley, and among these old Windsor, to the ancient church in which place this brief article relates.

We are fortunate in having a memoir of Captain Roger Clapp, a young man of the company, written expressly for his own descendants, with glowing religious purpose, but in more than one particular illuminating upon the history and spirit of that early enterprise. Mr. Clapp’s own case is a fine exhibition of the process of selection and unification by which a party was made up of such as were fitted to undertake together the peculiar task of making a new community in the wilderness. One would readily guess that the relations of the individuals of such a company must be somewhat other than those secured by formal agreements and contracts on paper. They must be bound together by the finest of affinities, by mutual esteem, by the strength of commanding leadership. Add to this, of course, a rugged sense of the call and providence of God. Something of this sort would be essential to business success, not to say social happiness in the communal life of a new settlement; and if what Mr. Clapp says of himself is at all representative, such was actually the case. When a youth, evidently wishing to be self-supporting, he asked leave of his father to live “abroad,” and went to live on trial, three miles from Exeter (England). In his own language: “We went every Lord’s-Day into the City, where were many famous preachers of the Word of God. I then took such a liking unto the Revd. Mr. John Warham, that I did desire to live near him: So I removed (with my Father’s consent) into the city, and lived with one Mr. Mossiour, as famous a Family for Religion as ever I knew; ... I never so much as heard of New England until I heard of many godly Persons that were going there, and that Mr. Warham was to go also.”

Through Mr. Clapp’s personal history we can see in his account of the organization of the church, how here and there the preparatory process had been going on in individual lives, and often unconsciously to themselves men had been getting ready for this joint venture into the New World. I give his account of the organization somewhat fully: “I came out of Plymouth in Devon, the 20th of March, and arrived at Nantasket the 30th of May 1630. Now this is further to inform you, that there came _Many Godly Families_ in that ship: We were of Passengers many in Number (besides Sea-men) of good Rank: Two of our Magistrates come with us, viz., Mr. Rossiter and Mr. Ludlow. These godly People resolved to live together; and therefore as they had made choice of these two Revd. Servants of God, Mr. John Warham and Mr. John Maverick to be their Ministers, so they kept a solemn Day of Fasting in the New Hospital in Plymouth in England, spending it in Preaching and Praying: where that worthy Man of God, Mr. John White of Dorchester in Dorset was present, and Preached unto us the Word of God, in the forepart of the Day, and in the latter part of the Day, as the People did solemnly make choice of, and call those godly Ministers to be their Officers, so also the Revd. Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick did accept thereof, and expressed the same. So we came, by the good Hand of the Lord, through the Deeps comfortably; having Preaching or Expounding of the Word of God every Day for Ten Weeks together, by our Ministers.”

This little Israel, which came over the waters, one hundred and forty strong, in the good ship _Mary and John_, a craft of 400 tons, were forced by Capt. Squeb, contrary to his agreement, to disembark in a forlorn place on Nantasket Point. A place of settlement was soon selected and named Dorchester. Attracted by the rich Connecticut meadows, five years later Mr. Warham and the larger portion of his flock made the difficult overland journey thither, and settled in the beautiful region which was afterwards called Windsor by “order of the court.” Thus the First Church of Christ in Windsor goes back beyond Dorchester to Plymouth in Old England, and has had a continuous existence from March 20, 1630, to the present as a Congregational Church of what may be called, for lack of a better term, the orthodox or Trinitarian variety—a fact that can be affirmed of no other Congregational Church on the American Continent.

To speak of the members of this church and their numerous descendants, would take us beyond the limits of this article. A few names will suggest the significance of this body of Christians on the banks of the Connecticut, in the life of the nation. Matthew Grant, the clerk of the church and the town, whose fine records are now in the town clerk’s office, was the ancestor of Gen. U. S. Grant and the numerous clans of the Grant family in this country. The hero of Manila Bay is a descendant of Thomas Dewey, of the old Windsor church. Henry Wolcott, a man of wealth and social importance in old England, was the ancestor of the famous Wolcott family, which included two Connecticut governors and men of note in every generation to the present day. Roger Ludlow, the lawyer of the settlement, gave legal shape to the democracy of Thomas Hooker in the Constitution of Connecticut, the first written instrument of the kind on record. Captain John Mason led the federated colonists to the number of eighty men against the Pequots, and by no means least, Esther Warham, the youngest daughter of the minister, a woman of rare charm and remarkable gifts, was the mother of a mighty race, which has been distinguished by many illustrious names, chief among whom must be named her grandson, Jonathan Edwards. Two other men of national renown in quite different directions are Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth and Edward Rowland Sill. Ellsworth was born in Windsor, lived here practically his whole life save, of course, when he was away on public business, and his home still remains, now the property of the Connecticut Society of the D. A. R. He was a devoted member of the church and chairman of the building committee in charge of the erection of the new house of worship in 1794, which still remains in excellent condition. The book containing, among many others, Mr. Ellsworth’s subscription of 100 pounds, with that for like amounts by Dr. Chaffee and Jerijah Barber, is in possession of the present treasurer. Edward Rowland Sill, the rare quality of whose poetic genius has won increasing recognition ever since his early death, was a descendant of Rev. David Rowland, one of the old Windsor pastors, and was, by immediate family connections as well as the associations of his own boyhood, a child of the Windsor church, though he spent the larger part of his mature life elsewhere.

ROSCOE NELSON.

WINDSOR, CONN.

[Illustration:

CORNER OF SAULT AU MATELOT AND ST. JAMES STREETS.

Tablet placed by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1904. (The second barricade was across Sous Le Cap Street, behind where figure stands.) ]

ARNOLD AND MONTGOMERY AT QUEBEC

The last day of December, 1904, was the 128th anniversary of the unsuccessful attack on Quebec in 1775, and by a coincidence on almost that very day the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec erected two bronze tablets to commemorate the event. We are indebted to Mr. F. C. Würtele, the Secretary of the Society, for the photographs from which our two illustrations are made—they thus appearing in our pages in advance even of Canadian journals.

From the newspaper accounts furnished us, we condense:

When the Canadian Government erected monuments on the battlefields of 1812, the invasion of 1775 seemed to have been forgotten, and no memorials were placed in Quebec to commemorate the signal defeat of the Continental invaders on the 31st of December, 1775, at the hands of General Guy Carleton, the savior of Canada to the British Crown.

However, that brave defence has not been forgotten by Quebec’s citizens, and some time ago at a meeting of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, it was resolved, “That the time has come for the erection of historic tablets at Pres-de-Ville and the Sault-au-Matelot, in the lower town of Quebec, relating to the events of 31st of December, 1775, so important to the destiny of Canada; and as it is within the province of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec to erect such memorials, a committee is hereby appointed on the subject.”

As such memorials would be battlefield monuments, the Federal Government was petitioned by the society for means to erect suitable historic tablets at these places. The request was graciously responded to and splendid memorials in statuary bronze have been erected, one bolted to the rock where at its base Montgomery was defeated and killed, and the other on the St. James street gable of the Molsons Bank, as near as possible to the site of the Sault-au-Matelot barricade, where Arnold was defeated, and over 400 of his men made prisoners, both events taking place in the early morning of that memorable last day of December, 1775. As these bronzes have been placed in position for the anniversary of that event, a short historic retrospect may be interesting:

One hundred and twenty-nine years have passed since a force under Montgomery was sent by Lake Champlain to attack Montreal, and another under Arnold marched from Cambridge, Mass., via the Voyageur trail up the Kennebec river and across to the source of the river Chaudiere, to St. Marie and thence by road to Levis opposite Quebec, where, after considerable hardships throughout the whole journey it arrived, and crossing the St. Lawrence appeared on the present Cove Fields, on the 14th, was fired on and soon retired to Pointe aux Trembles, where the arrival of Montgomery from Montreal was waited.

Montgomery carried all before him, taking Sorel, Montreal and Three Rivers. General Carleton, who was in Montreal, knowing the importance of Quebec, and that for divers reasons Montreal could not then be defended, destroyed the government stores and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of November, where Colonel MacLean, who had preceded him, was preparing for its defence.

The defences were strengthened and barricades erected and armed in the Lower Town, in Sault-au-Matelot street, and the present Sous-le-Cap, also at Pres-de-Ville, where is now the Allan Steamship Company’s property.

Montgomery arrived on the 1st of December with his army, and Arnold’s 800 raised the attacking force to 2000 men, who proceeded to take possession of St. Roch’s and erected batteries on the high ground, Montgomery issued general orders on the 15th December, which were sent into the town, and a copy is now to be found in the Dominion Archives at Ottawa:

(Q. 12. PAGE 30.)

HEADQUARTERS HOLLAND HOUSE, NEAR QUEBEC.

_15th December, 1775._

Countersign—_Adams_.

Parole—_Connecticut_.

The General having in vain offered the most favorable terms of accommodation to the Governor and having taken every possible step to prevail on the inhabitants to desist from seconding him in his wild scheme of defence, nothing remains but to pursue vigorous measures for the speedy reduction of the only hold possessed by the Ministerial troops in the Province. The troops flushed with continual success, confident of the justice of their cause and relying on that Providence which has uniformly protected them will advance to the attack of works incapable of being defended by the wretched garrison posted behind them, consisting of sailors unacquainted with the use of arms, of citizens incapable of the soldier’s duty and a few miserable emigrants. The General is confident a vigorous and spirited attack must be attended with success. The troops shall have the effects of the Governor, garrison, and of such as have been acting in misleading the inhabitants and distressing the friends of liberty, to be equally divided among them, each to have the one hundredth share out of the whole, which shall be at the disposal of the General and given to such soldiers as distinguished themselves by their activity and bravery, and sold at public auction. The whole to be conducted as soon as the city is in our hands and the inhabitants disarmed.

The General at Headquarters,

FERD. WEISENFELS, _Major of Brigade_.

The division which was to attack Pres-de-Ville assembled at 2 o’clock A. M. of the 31st December, at Montgomery’s headquarters, Holland House (now the property of Frank Ross, Esq.), and headed by Montgomery, marched across the Plains of Abraham and descended into the beach path, now Champlain street. Those who were to make the attack by the suburbs of St. Roch, headed by Arnold, were about 800 strong. The plan was that Montgomery and Arnold were to meet at the foot of Mountain Hill and storm the Upper Town.

A heavy northeast snowstorm was raging at 4 o’clock that dark morning when Montgomery had descended the cliff and advanced along the narrow beach path, a ledge flanked to the left by the perpendicular cliffs of Cape Diamond and to the right by a precipitous descent at whose base flowed the tide of the St. Lawrence.

The Pres-de-Ville barricade and the blockhouse at the narrowest part of the road was defended by Captain Chabot, Lieut. Picard, 30 Canadian militiamen, Captain Barnesfare and 15 seamen, Sergeant Hugh McQuarters, of the Royal Artillery, with several small guns, and Mr. John Coffin, 50 in all. The garrison was alert and saw the head of the column approach and halt some fifty yards from the barricade, when a man approached to reconnoitre, and on his return the column continued its advance, when it was fired on by cannon and musketry, whose first discharge killed Montgomery, his aides Macpherson and Cheeseman, and 10 men. Thereupon the rest of the 700 men turned and fled, pursued by the bullets of the Canadians till there was nothing more to fire at. None behind the leading sections knew what happened, and the slain, left as they fell, were buried by the drifting snow, whence their frozen bodies were dug out later in the day.

Arnold’s column carried the barricade across Sous-le-Cap street, situated beneath the Half-Moon battery, and were stopped at the second barricade at the end of that narrow street (quite close to where is now Molsons Bank), defended by Major Nairne, Dambourges and others, who held them in check until Captain Laws’ strong party, coming from Palace Gate, took them in rear and caused their surrender, 427 in all, thus completing the victory of that morning. Arnold was put out of action early in the fight by a ball[1] from the ramparts near Palace Gate, when passing with the leading sections, and was carried to the General Hospital.

* * * * *

The late Governor-General, Lord Minto, took great interest in the tablets, and approved of the inscriptions which were submitted for his consideration.

These tablets, in shield form, are of statuary bronze, with the lettering cast in relief.

The large one on the rock under Cape Diamond measures six feet three inches by five feet nine inches, and is thus inscribed:

_Here Stood The Undaunted Fifty Safeguarding Canada Defeating Montgomery At the Pres-de-Ville Barricade On the Last Day of 1775 Guy Carleton Commanding at Quebec_

That on Molsons Bank measures two feet ten inches by two feet six inches, and its legend relates:

_Here Stood Her Old and New Defenders Uniting, Guarding, Saving Canada Defeating Arnold At the Sault-au-Matelot Barricade On the Last Day of 1775 Guy Carleton Commanding at Quebec_

[Illustration: [Fleuron]]

A “SCRUB-POETICAL” ANSWER TO A GOVERNOR

His Excellency Jonathan Belcher, governor of His Majesty’s provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, must have many times realized what a very difficult and disagreeable task it is to drive an ill-matched team, especially when one of them is to all appearances possessed of the Evil One, and the pole is loose and not to be depended on. Such a team the governor had in his two provinces, and he was a very busy man.

Massachusetts kept well in the traces and gave him comparatively little trouble. He lived in Boston, and was thus able to maintain a more intimate knowledge of the people of that State and the trend of public opinion than was possible to do in respect to more distant New Hampshire, where he was relatively a stranger. Though not popular as a man or as a Crown official, his personal presence in Massachusetts as governor, with the miniature court, the sumptuous appointments, and the dignity which accompanied the King’s commission, necessarily had some effect in steadying the progress of government there.

But in New Hampshire he had many serious problems. A small province both in population and resources, it had for many years stood between Massachusetts and the savages, who were continually hovering about the frontiers, and in this almost constant warfare, and by the costly vigilance which was necessary even in times of nominal peace, the province had incurred debts which were a heavy burden on the sparse population. During the time in which New Hampshire was considered by the Crown not of sufficient size, wealth, and importance to maintain a governor of its own, and accordingly yoked with Massachusetts, the power of granting townships in New Hampshire was, of course, vested in the governor, and exercised by him under the same royal instructions as in Massachusetts. The plans and purposes of the government in locating these grants in New Hampshire are easily seen by their peculiar but systematic location. They were largely laid out in lines, each line of towns answering a specific purpose. One line followed the Merrimack river, Amherst, Bedford, and Goffstown, guarding the west bank of the main inland waterway of the two provinces. Another line, Concord, Hopkinton, Henniker, Hillsborough, Warner, and Bradford, formed a northern frontier, and connected the Merrimack with Washington and Lempster the most northerly of another line, the Monadnock townships, which, nine in number, established a perfect connection back to the Massachusetts line. Still another line, Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Walpole, and Charlestown, guarded the east bank of the Connecticut. All these established and maintained a protection for the whole of central Massachusetts against any incursions of the Indians from the north, and enclosed large tracts of very valuable land.

The burden of the taxation necessary to pay the expenses of Indian warfare and maintain the government rested heavily on the people of New Hampshire, while they were engaged in conflict with the wilderness, planting the standard of civilization step by step further north and west. Therefore, when the governor in his recurring messages constantly besought the Assembly to raise money—to supply funds for repairing Fort William and Mary, for building a new prison or repairing the old one, for the expenses of carrying on the boundary line controversy with Massachusetts—he did not always meet with a cordial reception or a courteous reply. Money for current expenses and paying old obligations as fast as possible the Assembly was willing to provide, but little was to be had for other purposes which did not appear to its members absolutely and urgently necessary.

A strong opposition to the administration sprang up in New Hampshire, and manifested itself in an intrigue to procure the governor’s recall. The opposition was headed by Lieutenant-Governor Dunbar, a pugnacious Irishman, and Theodore Atkinson and Benning Wentworth, who had been appointed councillors through the efforts of Dunbar, but whose admission to the council board Governor Belcher prevented for two years. It was a strong combination. Dunbar was not possessed of great influence with the home government aside from that which pertained to his office, but Wentworth and Atkinson had powerful friends and connections in England, who were not slow to take advantage of Governor Belcher’s increasing unpopularity both in America and England. So successful were they, that when, in 1741, the royal decision on the boundary line was carried into effect, and New Hampshire finally freed from union with Massachusetts, Wentworth was commissioned governor of the province and Atkinson became secretary of the council, equivalent to the present office of secretary of state.

Governor Belcher was not, however, without friends in New Hampshire, and the chief of these, perhaps, was Richard Waldron, then secretary of the council. They were intimate friends, both officially and personally, and maintained a lively correspondence. Entirely different in character and disposition, the oddities of each attracted and amused the other. The governor’s peppery temper gave Waldron many a chance for a jest or a clever and good-natured retort. But his friends were too few, and the opposition too strong, and the settlement of the long-disputed boundary line gave the home government an opportunity too attractive to be lost for reestablishing the governments of the two provinces on a basis of complete separation, intended to result in a lasting peace, and the relief of the Board of Trade and Plantations from continual complaints and the burden of discussion and decision of what, to them, were but petty provincial squabbles.