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Lynn in the Revolution Chapter IV. The Gathering of the Army at Cambridge and the Battle of Bunker

A Very Special Thanks To The Lynn Public Library For The Use Of This Important Resource. Transcribed by Shaun Cook To help transcribe or submit information, please e-mail Shaun Cook

     AFTER the battle of Lexington a meeting of the Pro­vincial Congress was at once called, and the Committee of Safety sent word to the Governors of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, as follows: -

     As the troops have now commenced hostilities, we think it our duty to exert our utmost strength to save our country from absolute slavery. We pray your honors would afford us all the assistance in your power.

     The provincials were gathering in the neighborhood of Boston, and Congress, realizing the necessity of bring­ing an army under organization, had sent out its call for thirty thousand men to be raised in the New England colonies, thirteen thousand five hundred of whom were to be raised in Massachusetts. Upon the day when this resolve was passed in the Provincial Congress a town meeting was held in Lynn, and the quaint language of the old record will give the best possible idea of the vigi­lance and caution which were exercised by the inhabi­tants for the safety of the town. We can seem to read between the lines all the excitement and anxiety which must have been felt after the battle which had just been fought so near at hand, and at a time when the future
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could but hold unknown trouble and hardship. The record is as follows: -

     "At a town meeting held the 23rd. of April, 1775, in the old meet­ing house, Dea. Danl. Mansfield was chosen moderator. It was
     "Voted to chuse a Commite Consisting of three men to Joyne with the other Committes to Consult sum mesures to Defend the Sea Ports.

     "Voted that Dec. Daniel Mansfield, the Reverend Mr. Joseph Roby and the Reverend John Treadwell serve on sd. commite.

     "Voted that Larrim men meet togeather and Chuse offisers for sd. Compeny and view arms.

     "Voted that all the men that are aBliged to Bair arms in Either of the Lists that they meet and view their arms all in one day viz. that the two East Compeneys with the Larrim men in sd. Compenie meet at the old meeting house; the West Compeney with the Larrim men in sd. compeney to meet at Mr. Jacob Newhalls' Inholder; and the Compeney in the North Parrish at Mr. Ezekiel Gowings Inholder; all the aBove Compenies to meet on thursday the 27th Instant at 3 of the clock afternoon.

     "Voted that the minnit men Receive Billiting in Proportion to the Rest of the armey.

     "Voted that their be a watch kept in the Town to Consist of twelve men Each and Every Night.

     "Voted that Benja. Newhall serve as a head to sett sd. watch and that the Selectmen assist in seting sd. watch if required."

     Captain Ezra Newhall's minute company had not yet been disbanded, a fact which is shown by the record of April twenty-seventh, when it was "Voted that the minit Compeney be kept Imbodied and be supplied by the Town till further orders." Only a few days later, however, it would seem that the men had nearly all en­listed in Colonel John Mansfield's new regiment which
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was to become a part of the army gathering at Cam­bridge, for the records show that on "May 2, 1775, it was voted that the minit compeney Receive no more pay from the Town." It was desired, however, that the selectmen send a request to the Committee of Safety for "Part of the Troops to be stationed in Lynn for our Safety and to a sist in keeping watches." Accordingly, on the eighteenth and twenty-third, watches were again established as follows: -

     "Voted that there be a Watch kept at the Lower Landing so cald and also voted that Capt. David Parker be Capt. of sd. watch and that the Rest of the watches be continued or Dismist at the Pleasure of the Selectmen.
     "Voted that Capt. Rufus Mansfield and Capt. William Farrington serve as captains of the watches for the Bodey of the Town.
     "Voted that the Captains of the Watches Notifye Each Person three Days Before the Time of Watching, and those Persons that Shall Refuse (Being Duly Notifyed) then shall forfyt the sum of two shillings for Every time it shall come to their turn to watch and the Captains of sd. watches shall keep a list of those Persons so Neglect­ing to watch and Return it to the Assesors of this town for them to Put it into their Next Town Rait."

     The above watches formed a part of the coast-guard which was stationed along the seaboard for the remainder of the year or until the army moved southward.
     On the twenty-seventh of May, Colonel John Mans­field reported his new regiment as ready for service, and it accordingly joined the other forces at Cambridge under General Artemas Ward, who was for the time in command, he having received his appointment about a week earlier.
     The Lynn soldiers no doubt took the same oath as that administered to the other Continentals, namely: -
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     "I do hereby solemnly engage and enlist myself as a soldier in the Massachusetts service, from the day of my enlistment to the last day of December next, unless the service should admit of a discharge of a part or the whole sooner, which will be at the discretion of the Committee of Safety; and I hereby promise to submit myself to the orders and regulations of the Army, and faithfully to observe and obey all such orders as I shall receive from any superior officer."

     Many descriptions have been given of the appearance of these private soldiers who furnished their own clothing, and had not yet reached the dignity of a uniform. Cer­tain it is that there was little attractiveness in the simple costume of the countryside. The quiet colors were most in evidence, the dull browns and greens, and the style and cut of the motley attire was often the subject of ridi­cule by the British. It was only later that they learned to fear and respect the wearers of the rifleman's dress which was suggested by Washington, and came to be to some extent adopted. Our New England men never wore the buff and blue which we like to associate with Washington, and was really the prescribed uniform of only the New Jersey and New York Continentals. In the records of our Lynn soldiers we notice the fact of a bounty coat being allowed them for service during the first months of the war. In this connection we find that two days after Washington took command of the army, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts passed a resolve to provide thirteen thousand coats for use of the army of Massachusetts. Not all of our men accepted this aid, "being sufficiently provided in that respect," but at the end of their enlistment took instead the equivalent in money. We give here the resolve, which has been called The Coat Roll Resolve: -
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     "Resolved that 13000 coats be provided, as soon as may be, and one thereof be given to each non-commissioned officer and soldier in the Massachusetts forces, agreeably to resolve of 23d. of April last, and in order to facilitate their being prepared,
     "Resolved, that the said 13000 overcoats be proportioned immedi­ately on all the towns and districts of this colony, except the towns of Boston and Charlestown, in proportion as they paid the last pro­vincial tax, which towns and districts are desired to cause them to be madc of good cloth, preferences to be given to the manufacturers of this country, and to be delivered to the committee of supplies, without buttons, on or before the first day of October next. That for every yard of such cloth of 7/8 of a yard wide, they shall be allowed and paid the sum of 5s. 4d. and in that proportion for cloth of greater or less width; and the sum of 4s. for making each and every coat and the selectmen of each town and district respectively are directed to lay their accounts before the committee of supplies, who are ordered to draw on the Receiver General for the payment thereof.
     "That the coat be faced with the same kind of cloth of which it is made, that the coats be made in the common plain way, without lappels, short and with small folds, and that the selectmen cause a certificate to be sewn on the inside of each coat purporting from what town it came, and by whom the coat was made, and if the cloth was manufactured in this country and by whom it was manufactured.
     "That the committees of supplies be and are hereby directed to provide all the coats proportioned on such towns and districts as give information to them as aforesaid that they cannot supply them, and they are to cause all the coats to be buttoned with pewter but­tons, and that the coats for each regiment, respectively, have buttons of the same number stamped upon them."

Apportionments were made as follows: -

Salem, 350.      
Andover, 189.
Danvers, 116.       
Haverhill, 113.
Newburyport, 184.       
Lynn, 93.
Marblehead, 265.
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     In all about two thousand three hundred in Essex County.

     Not only was the personal appearance of the soldiers at Cambridge peculiar, but the camps themselves were equally varied and curious. Rev. William Emerson writes of them: -

     "It is very diverting to walk among the different camps. They are as different in their forms as the owners are in their dress; and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and tastes of the persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards, and some are made of sail cloth; some are partly of one and partly of the other. Again others are made of stone and turf, brick and brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously wrought with wreaths and withes."

     In such a company do we now find the men who had enlisted in Colonel John Mansfield's regiment, under the old captain of the minute company, Ezra Newhall. Many of the men had marched with him on the Lexing­ton alarm. Some had taken part in that memorable running fight under the other Lynn captains, and still others were new recruits.

     The following roll of sixty-three men was made up August first, 1775, the term of enlistment expiring on the first of the next January, and four hundred and twenty-two pounds, eleven shillings, and sixpence being paid for the service thus rendered. These were the Lynn men who were nearest the scene of conflict when the first great battle, that of Bunker Hill, was fought, - a battle which, though it resulted in a divided victory, was truly great in its moral effect.
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CAPTAIN EZRA NEWHALL'S COMPANY IN AUGUST, 1775.

Ezra Newhall, Captain, John Upton, Lieut., Grimes Tufts, Ensign, Increase Newhall, Sergt., John Watts, Sergt., James Edmunds, Sergt., Joseph Stocker, Sergt., Rufus Brown, Corp., Ebenezer Mansfield, Corp., John Cutler, Corp., Ebenezer Stocker, Corp., Ezra Brown, Drummer, Samuel Berry, Fifer, William Hill, Fifer, Joseph Alley, Private, Jonathan Briant, Private, Timothy Burnham, Private, Joshua Burnham, Private, Stephen Coats, Private, William Coats, Private, Israel Cheever, Private, Joshua Danforth, Private, Joseph Farrington, Private, Thomas Florence, Private, Thomas Hall (Hill ?), Private, Timothy Johnson, Private, Daniel Lindsey, Private, David Lewis, Private, Benjamin Meeds, Private, Jonathan Newhall, Private, Ebenezer Stocker, Jr., Private, Abel Belknap, Private, Potter Fuller, Private,

April " " May " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " ' " " " " " " " " " "

24.       24.       24.         2.         2.         3.        4.        3.        3.         3.         3.        4.         2.         3.        3.         2.        4.        4.        5.        5.        6.        4.        6.         4.        6.        6.        4.        5.         6.        6.         4.         5.        3.

 
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Thomas Hutchinson, Private, Henry Young, Private, Silas Ramsdell, Private, Richard Hill, Private, Israel Burrill, Bourrall, Private, Benjamin Tarbox, Private, Onesimus Newhall, Private, Ebenezer Porter, Private, Francis Cowin, Private, Charles Florence, Private, Garland Chamberlain, Private, John Baker, Private, Francis Bowden, Private, James Marvel, Private, Ebenezer Brown (Reading), Private, John Danforth, Private, William Pell Pratt, Private, David Newman, Private, Samuel Wheeler, Private, John Bancroft, Private, Jesse Whitman, Private, Benjamin Twist, Private, Jonathan Fuller, Private, John Blanchard, Private, William Trench, Private, Nathan Ramsdell, Private, Ezra Waitt, Private, -- Newhall, Private, Nathaniel Tarbox, Private,

May " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " June " May " " " "

4. 4. 6. 5. 6. 6. 4. 4. 6.  6. 5. 6. 3. 6. 6. 6.  4.  5. 6. 4. 6. 8. 4. 20. 1. 5. 6. 4.  3.

     Meanwhile many of the inhabitants of Boston and Charlestown had moved out into the country, and the patriot army, though composed of loosely organized and untrained provincials had taken its station just outside
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of Boston, and was keeping close watch of the well­-equipped British soldiery which was quartered in the town, and numbered between five and six thousand men. The patriot commanders took pains in various manreu­vres within sight of the enemy to make the number of their men appear larger than it was. Some skirmishes took place in the harbor, and the provincials had begun, here and there, to throw up breastworks. When the news came to them that reinforcements were expected in Boston, they felt more and more the need of efficient organization. The Massachusetts Congress looked for aid to the Continental Congress, then in session in Phila­delphia, and, more than a month before the final appoint­ment of Washington as Commander-in-Chief, word was sent to the Massachusetts delegates in that body that it would be most acceptable if "the beloved Col. Washington was placed at the head of the Amer­ican forces."
     General Ward was too inactive to suit the enthusiasm of the men who were under him, - the men who, at the beginning of the war, at least, were filled with patriotic fervor and the spirit of adventure. It was fortunate that they had at this time little realization of what the war was to be, with its long wilderness marches, its more tedious waitings in camp through cold and hunger and uncertainty, and its long periods of discouragement and disaster.
     The British, on their part, would scarcely admit them­selves in a state of siege in Boston. They were still confident, even after their experience at Concord and Lexington, that they had but to sally forth to easily put to flight in the open field the body of raw provincials
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with which they were surrounded. Nevertheless, they waited until the arrival of reinforcements under Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton before they began to move.
     How the Americans prepared themselves for the ex­pected attack from thc enemy has been well and variously told. The Committee of Safety held many meetings, and thoroughly discussed plans of operation. Some de­fences were constructed, and the question of fortifying Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights was debated. There was, however, such lack of organization and powder that many felt that the army was not strong enough to defend such exposed positions, and counselled waiting. It is possible that such counsel would have prevailed, had it not become known that the British were to take possession of Dorchester Heights on the night of the eighteenth of June. The information, which was not to be doubted, seemed to make it necessary that immedi­ate action be taken. The Committee of Safety passed its recommendation to occupy and defend Bunker Hill as well as to secure one or more hills on Dorchester Neck, ­a recommendation which was accepted by the council of war held on the sixteenth. That very night the army began its quiet march toward Bunker Hill, and at mid­night the men took their spades and began throwing up the fortifications marked out by Colonel Gridley. Col­onel Prescott was there, and himself went twice down to the riverside to satisfy himself that they were not dis­covered, and to listen for the "All's well!" of the watch on the men-of-war moored opposite. Morning found them with intrenchments six feet high, intrenchments which had been thrown up so swiftly and silently by twelve hundred patriots that no sound had betrayed them,
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and only the dawn revealed their work to the ships in the river and the batteries on Copp's Hill.
     The story of that famous seventeenth of June scarcely belongs here, except as it touches our men of Lynn. Colonel Mansfield's regiment had marched out from Cambridge, eager to get into the fray, but was only per­mitted to watch it from a distance. The day was fraught with disappointment and chagrin to both British and provincial, though both fought bravely and well. Only time could give to this first great battle its rightful esti­mate. By the American to-day it is regarded as "a victory, with all the moral effect of victory," although our soldiers were obliged to retreat from the redoubt, to leave the gallant Warren on the hill, and to see it occu­pied by the king's troops. The quality of the American soldier was forever proved on that day, and Frothing­ham says that "their bravery was so resolute and their self-devotion was so lofty as to at once elicit from all quarters the most glowing commendation."
     The account of the part taken by the different regi­ments engaged was for a long time meagre and uncertain. There was much confusion at the time of the battle in regard to orders, and even brave and patriotic officers blundered through misunderstanding and inexperience. To-day, even with all the wealth of material from which to draw information, it is not an easy matter to bring forward with absolute certainty the true story of a regi­ment or its commander. Yet our Lynn story would not be complete, did we not try to present as clearly and accu­rately as possible the connection of Colonel John Mans­field's regiment with the battle of Bunker Hill.
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