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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

S. A. R. ADDRESS
1900

A. S. BATCHELLOR

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LITTLETON, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

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EDITOR OF STATE PAPERS,

THE

RANGER SERVICE
IN THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE
CONNECTICUT

MOST NORTHERLY REGIMENT
OF THE
NEW HAMPSHIRE MILITIA
IN THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION.
AN ADDRESS
Delivered Before the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the
American Revolution at Concord, N. H., April 26, igoo,
BY
ALBERT STILLMAN BATCHELLOR.

CONCORD, N. H. .
THE RUMFOKD FKE55
1903.

Ol>lfa^^E^o

THE RANGER SERVICE
IN UPPER VALLEY OF THE CONNECTICUT
AND
THE MOST NORTHERLY REGIMENT OP THE NEW
HAMPSHIRE MILITIA IN THE PERIOD
OF THE REVOLUTION.
Albert Stillman Batchellor.
prologue.
In approaching the specific theme which has been chosen for this
address certain preliminary suggestions may be permissible :
I. A correct understanding of the geography of any locality re
lated to events to be described is an important prerequisite in the
treatment of such a subject as is now under consideration. The
"Twelfth Regiment of Foot," as the most northerly organization of
the provincial military establishment was termed, was a description
and designation in military phrase of a region which was then recently
settled, and, for the larger part, sparsely populated. It extended
along the Connecticut river on the New Hampshire side from Or-
ford to Colebrook. The settlements on the Vermont side of the river
had not been extended as far north as those of the New Hampshire
pioneers on the east side, except a very few that had been effected by
those going north by way of Lancaster, and occupying the valley
along the river opposite Lancaster, Northumberland, and Stratford.
To the east of the Twelfth Regiment was a mountain wilderness. The
northern part of the Connecticut valley, lying between the Upper Coos
on the north and the Ammonoosuc valley and the Lower Coos on the
south, had not been securely settled. Thus the extreme north part
of the regiment was isolated from the south part. The locality of the
regiment was, therefore, a narrow tongue of settled and unsettled
townships eighty miles in length, with vast tracts of virgin wilderness
on either side. Forts had been constructed at Haverhill, Bath, Lis
bon (then known as Concord or Gunthwaite), Lancaster, Northum
berland, and Stratford. A line drawn due east and west through Ben
nington to the Connecticut river was sixty miles south of Orford. An
uninhabited and mountainous region seventy miles wide intervened

between the principal part of this regiment and the line of military
operations along the Champlain route ; it was eighty miles from
Stratford, and a hundred miles from Newbury to St. Johns in Can
ada ; and the distance was a hundred miles from the southern boun
dary of the regiment to the seat of operations about Boston.
2. A regiment of militia in the Revolutionary period was a territorial
designation, and not, as now, an aggregation of organized men as
sembled by companies and battalions without reference to the location
and residence of their individual constituents. It was a provision
of law that certain contiguous towns should form a regiment. The
designated area constituted the regiment, and every able-bodied man
of military age, with a few statutory exceptions, was a member of the
regiment in the same sense that a citizen is at this day a part of his
senatorial district. It was not usual to attempt to get one of these
regiments into active service in its entirety. In fact, this was practi
cally impossible. It was not ordinarily necessary to call out every
enrolled soldier, and if such a call could have been made effective it
would have deprived the district of almost its entire body of citizens
engaged in its various avocations. Out of these regiments minute-
men were organized into other regiments to be immediately available
in cases of emergency. On other occasions quotas were assessed
upon the militia regiments, and these contingents were assembled
and reorganized into new companies, battalions, and regiments. In
exceptional instances summary calls were made on all the militia to
volunteer for campaigns like that at Saratoga, when, as General Bur-
goyne said, the New England militia hung like a black cloud upon
his left. Liberal as the response was at that time, it was not univer
sal. Stark's first brigade was returning while his second body of vol
unteers was assembling for Saratoga. This explains the fact that such
prominent militia officers or military men as Col. Timothy Bedel of
Haverhill, Lieut.-Col. David Webster of Plymouth, and Lieut. -Col.
Charles Johnston of Haverhill were volunteers, one at Bennington,
the others at Saratoga. Had their militia regiments been called into
service, in the form and entirety of their primary organization, these
men would not have been doing duty as volunteers in the temporary
regiments in the field.
3. The student of the official records of this period, both those
of military and those of civil character, will observe superficially
that titles were freely employed in the designation of persons. A
more critical examination of this feature of the old prints and manu
scripts will establish the assumption that these titles were applied with

scrupulous accuracy. When the verifying documents can be found it
is always discovered that the prefix which appears in other connec
tions is correct, and that the person to whom it is accorded in speech or
writing receives only the distinction to which he is rightfully entitled.
An act of the Revolutionary period of a somewhat peculiar import
created a section of militia to be composed of men in advanced years,
who had passed the usual age limit of military service. ^ The com
panies so constituted were each entitled to a captain holding the rank
of colonel, a lieutenant of the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and an ensign
of the rank of major. Although this law was not long in force, it
served to multiply the number of officers bearing the titles of the higher
grades of military service.
4. The opposite side of the river from Morey's regiment was occu
pied by regiments of Vermont militia, the upper one commanded by
Jacob Kent of Newbury and the lower one by Peter Olcott of Nor
wich. Thomas Johnson of Newbury was lieutenant-colonel of Kent's
regiment. Jacob Bayley of Newbury, a colonel at the beginning of
the war and later a brigadier-general, also serving as commissary-
general for the Northern department, exercised a commanding in
fluence on both sides of the river throughout the war. He is regarded
now, with good reason, as one of the neglected heroes of the Revolu
tion. His services were of singular value at all stages of the conflict.
He was skilful and potent in management of the Indians who roamed
the wilderness between the frontiers of the Vermont and New Hamp
shire settlements and those of Canada. (Hist, of Newbury, Vt., by
Frederic P. Wells, p. 73.)
In co-operation with Hurd, Charles Johnston, Thomas Johnson,
Kent, Morey, Childs, Olcott, and Bedel, he succeeded in such meas
ures for the protection of the settlements in the northern valley of
the Connecticut that the inhabitants were not only able to hold their
ground but also to accomplish some extension of their farms and
clearings. The recent history of Newbury, Vt., by Mr. Wells, con
tains an admirable presentation of the story of the Revolution as
related to this region. It is a progressive addition to the notably satis
factory treatment of the same subject, in its special reference to Hano
ver and vicinity, by Judge Frederick Chase in his history of that
town. The military events which transpired in Upper Coos, as the western
side of the present county of Coos was designated in the Revolution
ary period, have been accorded thorough and reliable treatment in the
1 Passed June 24, 1786. Laws, i78o-'89, p. 409.

History of Coos County by Fergusson, 1888, and in the History of
Lancaster by A. N. Somers, 1899.
In 1775 Canada was occupied by the Americans. They had
carried the war into the enemy's country. This proved to be the
best possible method of protecting the Vermont and New Hampshire
frontiers. Until the termination of these operations in Canadian
territory by the retreat of the army finally under General Sullivan in
the month of June, 1776, comparative security for the Coos country
resulted from the fact that the enemy had all it could do to protect it
self at home. This was the status upon which the people of this re
gion relied with good reason until the summer of 1776. In July of
that year the immediate defense of the Upper Coos was provided for
by the dispatch or assignment of a company of 50 men for service in
the region of Northumberland and Stratford under command of Jere
miah Fames. At the former place Fort Weare was erected. This
company served from July 13 to October 13, 1776. (17 State Papers,
65.) Three statements from the inhabitants of these towns addressed
to the general court, one of date September 16, one September 26,
1776 {17 State Papers, 77, 78, 79), and one without date (8 State
Papers, 379), afford interesting accounts of the state of affairs on
this frontier. Evidently there were two parties among the people of
that locality, one recommending Captain Eames and one Captain
Bucknam for the command of the rangers in that region and of the
garrison at Fort Weare. Captain Eames succeeded in securing the
endorsement of the legislature. The next company raised for service
at this point consisted of 26 men, and was under command of Captain
Eames. They were on duty from October 14 to December I, 1776.
(17 State Papers, 113.) A third company under Captain Eames,
consisting of 1 1 men for winter duty at the Upper Coos, served from
December 2, 1776, to April 15, 1777. (14 State Papers, 473.)
Meanwhile at the Lower Coos similar measures were being taken for
the public defense in the summer and fall of 1776. Capt. Thomas
Simpson of Haverhill with 52 men, serving from September 14 to
December 2, Capt. Samuel Atkinson of Boscawen with 49 men, serv
ing from September I to December i, and Capt. Josiah Russell of
Plainfield with 53 men, serving from September ig to December i,
guarded that region. (17 State Papers, 82, 83, 88, 89, 91, 92.)
Colonel Hurd, Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston, James Bayley, and
Maj. Jonathan Hale were authorized to give directions as to the
scouting routes of Simpson's and Russell's companies. (8 State Papers,
335. 336.)

A company was also raised for the same purpose to be under the
immediate command of Capt. David Woodward of Hanover, but under
the general direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston and General Bay-
ley at Coos. (17 State Papers, 67.) Colonel Hurd reports that this
company was operating at Royalton, Vt., and apparently without taking
directions from the superior oflScers at the Coos designated for it by
the vote of the general court. (8 State Papers, 315.) Later Cap
tain Woodward appears to have been at Haverhill in person, and to
have been the bearer of messages sent by Colonel Hurd to the govern
ment at Exeter. (8 State Papers, 326, 327.) During the winter of
i776-'77 and the year 1777 the offensive operations that were in pro
gress, and which culminated in October at Saratoga, were the suffi
cient guaranty of a reasonable protection of this valley. The business
of British-Canadian-Indian-Tory raiding seemed to have been concen
trated and confined at this period within a region lying along the
track of Burgoyne's movements.
In the winter of i777-'78 the continental congress threatened an in
vasion of Canada, with a proposition to put Stark in command of it.
Bedel was authorized to raise a regiment in this valley and in the ad
jacent regions for the same enterprise. The men were enrolled by him
in December, 1777, and, upon a change of purpose in regard to the
Canadian expedition or the actual accomplishment of that purpose by
the mere fact of its announcement, Bedel's regiment was disbanded
in March, 1778. (16 State Papers, 306.) Soon after, however, the
plan of carrying the war back into Canada was again prominent in
continental councils. Lafayette was now designated to command the
army of invasion. Bedel enrolled another regiment in the expecta
tion, as he stated, that it would have service in the North, (i; State
Papers, 584.) Stark called upon Bedel to send the regiment to New
York, where a part under Lieutenant-Colonel Wheelock actually pro
ceeded in partial compliance with orders of Gates and Stark. The
organization was continued certainly until the following November, and
possibly until the next March (1779), which was the date of the ex
piration of the terms of enlistment. (17 N. H. State Papers, 232, 233,
237, 239, 243, et passim \ chapter on the Revolution, Chase's History
of Hanover and Dartmouth College ; correspondence of John Stark in
his Memoir by Caleb Stark, passim; Potter, Military Hist, of N. H.,
account of Bedel's later regiments. Part 2, pp. 387-392 ; Aldrich,
" The Affair of the Cedars and the Services of Col. Timothy Bedel in
ihe War of the Revolution," 3 Proceedings N. H.Hist.Soc, 194-231.)
Bedel's battalion on the frontier seems to have remained of neces-

8
sity in service until relieved by other local levies in March, and by
Colonel Hazen's regiment in May, 1779.
General Bayley writes Bedel, March 16, 1779: "Agreeable to
your Letter the committee met at Dresden, Capt Morey is arrived
with a Party to relieve your Guards." "20 men was ordered with
Capt. Morey, and 30 are ready from Lebanon and Colo Olcot." (17
State Papers, 320, 321.)
It may, perhaps,, be a reasonable inference from the facts now de
veloped in the history of that period that General Washington was
not in sympathy with the plans for another invasion of Canada. It
would appear also that their abandonment was contemporary with the
downfall of the so-called " Conway Cabal."
At this time (1778) the union of seventeen towns (including Dres
den) , all of them except Cornish being in Grafton county, with the
towns west of the river, had been apparently effected, and Colonel
Morey and Colonel Bedel were now members of the Vermont legisla
ture. This movement was strenuously antagonized by the Benning
ton and the Exeter state governments, and this first so-called union
soon collapsed.
It was, of course, inevitable that these political considerations should
disadvantageously affect the military status of Colonel Bedel and his
regiment in the relations which would necessarily exist with these
two state governments. (Town and College in the Revolution, History
of Hanover and D. C, by Frederick Chase, p. 390 et seq., 469.)
It was proposed, in the spring of 1779, to have the scattered detach
ments of Whitcomb's rangers collected and stationed at Haverhill for
the defense of that region. This was presumably not accomplished,
as Hazen's continentals, consisting of 17 companies, several of them
being constituted of French-Canadians who had enlisted in Canada
with him and remained in his command, a total of between 500 and
600 officers and men, according to the rolls of the regiment as made
up in the fall of 1778, were ordered to the Lower Coos. (18 State
Papers, 911-916.) They arrived here about the first of May, 1779,
and remained until September. (17 State Papers, 292-309, 331.)
"After the departure of Hazen's regiment the frontiers were-
guarded by the regiment of Col. Moses Nichols for a short time, when
that, too, was withdrawn to West Point, and the people were left to
take care of themselves as best they might under the command of Maj.
Benjamin Whitcomb." (Potter, Mil. Hist. N. H., 366; 8 State Pa
pers, 869, 872; Chase, Hist. Hanover, 402.)
Meanwhile, in the same year, the state had provided a company

of scouts, 5 men, under Capt. Jonah Chapman of Campton, for ser
vice in the Upper Cobs. These men were on duty from July i; to
October i . The inhabitants of the three towns of Lancaster, North
umberland, and Stratford organized as a municipal group, certainly
this year and perhaps in other years. They chose a committee of
safety for 1779 and provided for a local military organization for the
defense of these settlements, then the most northerly in the state.
(13 State Papers, 474, 475; 15 Id., 705; Fergusson, Hist. Coos
County, 86, 87; Hist, of Lancaster, 83.) Nathan Caswell, formerly
and afterwards of Apthorp (now Littleton) , was made captain of this
organization of the settlers.
In June of this year a party of Indians with a French-Canadian leader
had raided Stratford, taking away considerable plunder and two pris
oners. This affair of course served to intensify the sense of insecurity
which prevailed in that season in the north country. (Hist, of Lan
caster, 82.)
In January, 1780, a convention of towns on both sides of the river
in the vicinity of Hanover and Norwich voted to enlist or detach a
regiment of 500 minute men, David Woodward to be colonel, and two
companies of scouts, each of 61 men, one of the companies being
commanded by Timothy Bush. The proportion of Morey's regiment
for the minute men was 130 and of the scouts 36.
This activity is thus explained :
" In January, 1780, information was received that the Indians were
preparing to make a descent during the winter. There was a general
apprehension of an attack, not only on account of the defenceless
state of the frontier, but also from an idea that the Indians were espe
cially exasperated against New Hampshire because of the havoc made
among the Six Nations the preceding autumn by the New Hampshire
troops under the New Hampshire general, Sullivan." (History of Han
over, Chase, p. 402.)
Lieut. James Ladd of Haverhill served with a detachment, in
connection with Captain Lovewell of Vermont, in January, February,
March, and April, 1780. Capt. Joseph Hutchins of Haverhill, later
in the same year, had command of a company of rangers consisting of
52 men. (Potter, Mil. Hist. N. H., Part 2, p. 395.)
Capt. Peter Kimball of Boscawen and Capt. Thomas Nichols
of Antrim were in command of companies of rangers at Coos, raised
in February and discharged in April, 1780. (16 State Papers, 215.)
Samuel Paine of Lebanon was captain of a company of 32 officers
and men serving six months from June 18, 1780, and, according to a

lO
memorandum in the pay-roll, at the upper Cobs. (i6 State Papers,
178, I79-)
The house of representatives by vote of June 22, 1780, authorized
the raising of 120 men to be sent to the western frontiers of the state
to reinforce Major Whitcomb.
One company was commanded by Ephraim Stone of Westmoreland,
45 officers and men, enlisted in July for six months. Capt. Samuel
Runels of Durham commanded another company of 37 officers and
men, raised for six months' service by the same authority and for the
same purpose. (16 State Papers, 166, 167, 168, 169, 215.)
It is not improbable that the companies of Hutchins, Stone, and
Runels were constituted out of the 120 men raised under the authority
above mentioned.
Another and later company was engaged in the same service under
Lieut. John Adams of Moultonborough. It was raised in October
and discharged in November, 1780. (16 State Papers, 215. )
Whitcomb's corps, sometime previous to this year, had been made
a part of the continental establishment. Its personal constituents for
1780 are given in 16 N. H. State Papers, 170, 171.
In 1 78 1 several raids occurred and were the occasion of extraordi
nary alarm in the Upper and Lower Cobs. One of these incursions
reached Dartmouth (now Jefferson), and Joseph Whipple, then the
most prominent resident of that region, narrowly escaped capture on
his own plantation.
In June of this year a part of a company under Lieut. Peter
Stearns was raised at Plymouth by Colonel Webster and forwarded to
these frontiers. (Potter, Mil. Hist. N. H., Part 2, p. 395.)
Aroused by the audacity of the Dartmouth raid the state authorities
forwarded a company under command of Jacob Smith of Sandwich, 49
officers and men, for the defense of the " northern frontiers." These
men served from August 29 to November 6, 178 1. (Potter, Mil. His.
N. H., Part 2, p. 396.)
Sergt. James Ladd of Haverhill had a scout of eleven men on the
western frontiers from January 28 to April i, 1782, operating from
Haverhill. (16 State Papers, 293.)
Sergeant James Blake's party " for the defense of the upper Cobs,"
consisted of 11 men, and was in that service 11 months and 18 days
from April 13, 1782. (16 State Papers, 288.)
At the Lower Cobs two companies were on duty the same season.
One was commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Webster of Salisbury, the
father of the statesman and a veteran of Bunker Hill and Bennington,

II

67 officers and men, in service from April i to November at Haverhill
and vicinity (i6 State Papers, 295), and the other, a party of 13 men
under Capt. Jonathan Smith of Surry, on duty in the same region
from July 4 to September 30. (16 State Papers, 298.)
The Conway and Androscoggin scouting companies have not been
particularly mentioned in this narrative, but they were valuable auxilia
ries to the defense of northern New Hampshire by their operations on
the passable approaches to the Upper Cobs from the eastern side of the
mountain and lake region.
There were many special alarms in respect to which the militia were
called out or volunteered in this section, or that of other sections came
to the relief of this, of which a detailed account has not been attempted
in this narrative. The capture of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson at
Peacham and the Royalton affair, as to which the storm centers were
in the vicinity of the last-named town and along the valley of the Con
necticut to Newbury, are examples of these episodes. (History of Han
over, 410-421 ; History of Newbury, Vt., passim.^
Whitcomb's corps of rangers was largely recruited from the Connec
ticut valley. It is probable that they had at several periods important
part in the defense of the frontiers of northeastern Vermont and north
western New Hampshire. These men were led with superior skill and
audacity, and performed valuable service of the same kind as that for
which Rogers's men were famous in the French and Indian war.
A memoir of Major Benjamin Whitcomb and an account of his corps
is in preparation by George F. Morris, Esq., of Lisbon, at which
place that officer resided after the war, and will afford a valuable
additional chapter of Revolutionary history as respects a special line of
operations in the general field, as well as new light on important mil
itary events and movements on the frontiers of New Hampshire and
Vermont. It is difficult at this day to determine what other influences, besides
those exerted in the ordinary military way, and as such made the sub
ject of historical record, served to protect this region in the Revolu
tionary period. The temporizing policy of some of the Vermont
leaders, which has been disclosed to some extent in the so-called
" Haldimand Correspondence" (Records of Vermont, 2 Gov. and Coun
cil, pp. 398-485), may have had the result of modifying or postponing
the prosecution of guerrilla warfare in Vermont and western New
Hampshire by staying the encouragement and initiative of such oper
ations on the part of those in authority in Canada. It is also believed
that the influence of President Eleazer Wheelock of Dartmouth college

12
with Joseph Brant, the famous Mohawk Indian leader and once a
pupil of Dr. Wheelock, was another important factor affecting the atti
tude of the Indians in a favorable way towards the inhabitants of the
Connecticut valley. (Wells, Hist, of Newbury, Vt., 104.)
This well-informed writer well says (p. 97) that "people in these
days who suppose that the Revolutionary war ended with the surrender
of Cornwallis in October, 1781, will be surprised to know that at no
period in the war did the patriot cause seem more hopeless to the peo
ple in Cobs, or their own situation more dangerous, than in the two
years mentioned" [i. e., the two years succeeding that event].
It may also be suggested in passing that the divided allegiance that
existed during the entire period of the war among the people of the
lower Cobs between the governments of Vermont and New Hampshire
could hardly be otherwise than detrimental to almost any plan of cam
paign against the common enemy.
As the stress of war moved to the west and south the Loyalist ele
ments became more active and aggressive in the east. Between 1779
and 1783 Vermont was seriously harassed, and the people of western
New Hampshire were kept in a state of constant alarm by these ma
rauders. At this time Rogers and Pritchard were making their mis
chievous and not infrequently destructive incursions on the Vermont
side of the valley of the Connecticut. Among the more important
depredations of these and similar bands are to be named the descent
upon Peacham and the capture of Thomas Johnson, the investment of
Newbury, including the two unsuccessful attempts to capture General
Bayley, and the destruction of Royalton.
The heroic endurance of the frontier farmers all through these
eight years of doubtful, harassing, and destructive struggle constitutes
a monumental epoch in the history of the achievement of American
independence. 5 . In these days far removed from that long, doubtful and heroic
struggle we often speculate, and invoke the service of theory and
imagination, as to the spectacle of the "embattled farmers" as
(hey stood in formation at Bunker hill, at Saratoga, and at Yorktown.
There is a picture, word-painted at the surrender of Burgoyne, which,
in vivid and inspiring portrayal of the personnel of those victorious
columns, is not surpassed in graphic eloquence in the literature of the
Revolution. It is given in a letter by a British officer who was in
cluded in Burgoyne's capitulation, and I cannot forego the opportunity
to reproduce it as the best contemporary descrip tion of the youth and
manhood who, trained, disciplined, and organized as were our fore
fathers, the minute-men, at the call of Stark, of Sullivan, of Whipple.

13
of Poor, of Weare, and of Langdon, marching with the colors and
challenging the hosts of the enemy from New Hampshire to Georgia,
wrested victory from the greatest power in the Old World, and made a
republic possible.
The closing scene of this most memorable campaign is thus de
scribed by one of the actors in it. He says :
"About ten o'clock we marched out, according to treaty, with drums
beating, and the honors of war ; but the drums seemed to have lost
their former inspiriting sounds, and though we beat the ' Grenadiers'
March,' which, not long before, was so animating, yet now it seemed
by its last feeble effort as if almost ashamed to be heard on such an
occasion. " I shall never forget the appearance of the American troops on our
marching past them. A dead silence reigned through their numerous
columns. I must say their decent behavior to us, so greatly fallen,
merited the utmost praise. . . . Not one of them was uniformly
clad. Each had on the clothes he wore in the fields, the church, or
the tavern; they stood, however, like soldiers, well arranged, and
with a military air, in which there was but little to find fault with.
All the muskets had bayonets, and the sharpshooters had rifles. The
men all stood so still that we were filled with wonder. Not one of
them made a single motion as if he would speak with his neighbor.
Nay, more, all the lads that stood there in rank and file kind nature
had formed so trim, so slender, so nervous that it was a pleasure to
look at them, and we were all surprised at the sight of such a
handsome, well-formed race. The whole nation had a natural turn
for war and a soldier's life.
" The generals wore uniforms and belts, which designated their
rank, but most of the colonels were in their ordinary clothes, with a
musket and bayonet in hand, and a cartridge-box or powder-horn
slung over the shoulder. There were regular regiments, which, for
want of time or cloth, were not yet equipped in uniform. These had
standards, with various emblems and mottoes, some of which had a
very satirical meaning for us." (" Burgoyne's Invasion of 1777," by
Samuel Adams Drake, pp. 137-138.) ADDRESS.
Mr. President and Members of the Society of Sons of the American
Revohition :
At the close of the French and Indian war the military system of
the province of New Hampshire was in a state of marked efficiency.
It was definitely established by law. The several organizations were

14
well equipped and well officered. Nearly all of them were numerically
strong, and geographically distributed with judicious reference to con
siderations of organization, instruction, and mobilization. The per
sonnel of the militia of that day had the benefit of a traditional spirit,
which was developed, stimulated, and intensified by the dangers
attendant upon actual frontier service through generation after genera
tion, for a period of more than a hundred years. The hereditary
aptitude of the people in military enterprise had been well proven by
the requirements of many arduous campaigns in the long war which
was terminated by the peace of 1760, ^ and by which all the French
possessions to the northward were acquired. Immediately after this
event an overflowing population, seeking new fields for settlement,
poured into the unoccupied lands in the northern and western parts of
the province, and over the Connecticut river upon the New Hampshire
grants. By an act of the assembly five counties were erected in 1771, but
Grafton and Strafford were not organized till 1773. ("History of
Administration of the Law in Grafton County," Child's Gaz., 32.)
Contemporaneously with the establishment of a county administration
of civil affairs, it seems that the militia system was extended over the
same territory. (Mills and Hicks, British and Am. Reg., 1774.)
Two additional province regiments were accordingly created, with
headquarters for the first at Plymouth, and for the second at Haverhill.
The field officers of the Second Grafton regiment were Hon. John
Hurd of Haverhill, colonel, Asa Porter, Esq., of Haverhill, lieuten
ant-colonel, and William Simpson, Esq., of Orford, major. For the
first regiment, Hon. John Fenton was colonel, David Hobart, lieu
tenant-colonel, and Jonathan M. Sewall, major. Colonel Hurd, then
holding the offices of chief justice of the court of common pleas,
receiver of quit-rents, county treasurer, and register of deeds, was
the most prominent citizen of the Cobs country. (Biography, by
William F. Whitcher, Grafton and Cobs Bar Asso. Proceedings, 1888,
vol. I, p. 467; Proceedings N. H. Society of Colonial Wars, 1902.)
At this time regiments for military purposes were territorial designa
tions. Fenton's regiment embraced approximately that part of the
county which is now known as the eastern judicial district, and was
numbered eleven ; and Hurd's occupied the remainder. Hurd's regi
ment at this time was numbered twelve, and was so designated on the
official records afterwards, while it was under the command of Morey
^The conquest of Canada was actually completed in 1760, but the formal acqui
sition of this territory by England was determined by the treaty of Paris in 1763.

IS
and Johnston. (8 Province and State Papers, 834, 972 ; 16 State
Papers, 924.)
In 1774 another regiment was constituted of the towns of Hanover,
Lebanon, Lyme, Orford, Cornish, and Plainfield, with Samuel Gil
bert of Lyme as colonel. (Chase's Hanover, p. 327.) Probably
Lyme was not retained in this regiment, as at later dates it appears as
a town in Morey's regiment. (14 State Papers, 556.) Colonel Gil
bert having died, Lt.-Col. Jonathan Chase was made colonel by act of
the assembly August 30, 1775. (Chase's Hanover, 329.) The north
regiment is sometimes mentioned by Colonel Potter as the Sixteenth,
but this is not in accord with the references to the regiment made in
the acts and votes in the assembly and council in the war period, and
down to the last of the year 1784.1
There is evidence that a company was organized in the Cobs coun
try before the county of Grafton was created or a regiment estab
lished, and that the settlers thus became an organic part of the prov
ince militia as early as 1768. (Letter, Gov. John Wentworth to
Timothy Bedel, August ;, 1768, manuscript among the Bedel Papers,
in custody of New Hampshire Historical Society.)
With the development of the revolutionary movement the status
and disposition of the militia became an important consideration.
The royal governor, in the disposal of the civic offices of the county,
may not have entertained the idea of placing the officers of the two
regiments under a sense of obligation to himself as representative of
the crown, but it happened that no one was commissioned as a field
officer who did not hold one or more civil offices of honor and emolu
ment for the county. Besides the bestowal of the five important
positions to which Colonel Hurd had been assigned, the governor
made Colonel Fenton judge of probate and clerk of courts. Major
Sewall register of probate, Lieutenant-Colonel Porter and Lieutenant-
Colonel Hobart judges of the court of common pleas, and Major Simp
son sheriff. When, however, the governor was compelled to abandon
the province in 1775, Colonel Fenton alone of all those recipients of
executive favor cast his fortunes with his chief and attempted to de
part with him. ( Biography, by Charles R. Corning, G. & C. Bar
Asso. Proceedings, vol. i, p. 151; Proceedings N. H. Society of
Colonial Wars, 1901.) He was, however, intercepted by the state
authorities and detained for a considerable period as a state prisoner.
Colonel Porter was of the same mind but more politic as to taking a
1 Council Records, Mss. VIII, 112; House Journal, Mss. XI, 391, XII, 419; g
Prov. and State Papers, 834, 972 ; Potter, Mil. Hist. N. H., z Adjt.-Gen's. Report,
1866, 284; XIV State Papers, 558.

i6
stand openly against the revolt of the province. Major Simpson and
Major Sewall took a conservative course and were non-committal.
Colonel Hurd and Lieutenant-Colonel Hobart espoused the cause of
independence promptly, openly, and effectively. Hobart was even
tually made colonel of- Fenton's regiment, and Hurd became councilor
and member of the revolutionary committee of safety for Grafton
county. The imperative necessity of a re-organization of the militia was
manifest as soon as all reasonable hope of obtaining a redress of
grievances without a final appeal to the arbitrament of war had van
ished. Among the field officers, all having been appointed by the
royal governor, a certain element, as might have been expected, re
mained in sympathy with the mother country, lukewarm in the cause
of independence, or in doubt as to the expediency of the movement.
The last recorded session of the old assembly is on July i8, the gover
nor having retired to the fort July ii. The Fourth Provincial (Re
volutionary) Congress had, after the final dissolution of the last (royal)
province assembly, an open field as the only representative body ex
ercising legislative powers in the province. Colonel Hurd was a mem
ber in attendance at the July session. This body, by vote on the 24th
of August, 177s, the very day on which Governor Wentworth sailed
for Boston on the Scarborough, re-organized the regiments with strict
reference to the exigency by which the commonwealth was con
fronted. Timothy Bedel and Israel Morey, as well as Colonel Hurd,
were influential Grafton county members of this congress. Morey
was of Orford, and was made colonel of Hurd's regiment, with Charles
Johnston of Haverhill as lieutenant-colonel, Jonathan Child of Lyme as
first major, and Jonathan Hale of Haverhill as second major. (7 Pro
vince Papers, 578.) Colonel Morey was an energetic officer and a
conspicuous citizen during the entire war period. Besides the organi
zation and command of his regiment, constant attention to the defense
of the frontier which it occupied, and compliance with calls upon his
territory for oft-repeated levies of men and material for operations
abroad, he acted as one of the chief executives of the commissary de
partment in the Connecticut valley. The records are fragmentary and
incomplete, but the following abstract will indicate something of the
importance of this regiment in contributions for various lines of ser
vice in the course of the long conflict :
In 1776 the assembly voted to raise 2,000 men for " the service," of
which the Sixteenth (Twelfth) regiment. Col. Israel Morey of Orford,
was to furnish forty-three. (14 State Papers, 256.)

17
Men raised to fill up the three continental regiments, March, 1777
(total 2,063).
Col. Israel Moreys regiment, forty-three. (14 State Papers, 559.)
Apportionment of men to be raised for service in Rhode Island,
1779 (total 280).
Colonel Morey's regiment, six. (15 State Papers, 655.)
June 16, 1780, the legislature passed an act ordering 600 men to be
-raised to recruit the three regiments in the continental army from this
state ; of these
Colonel Morey's regiment, sixteen. (16 State Papers, 58.)
In the latter part of /'me, 1780, the legislature voted to raise 945
men for a term of three months, to reinforce the army at West Point ;
of these
Colonel Morey's regiment, two officers, twenty-six privates. (16
State Papers, 104.)
June 22, 1780, the house of representatives voted to raise 120 men
to be sent to the " western frontiers of this state" to reinforce Maj.
Benjamin Whitcomb. These men were to serve six months ; of these
Colonel Morey's regiment, five. (16 State Papers, 166.)
" In October, 1780, a great alarm was occasioned by the destruc
tion of Royalton, Vt., and from a report that 4,000 British troops had
¦crossed Lake Champlain with the intention of proceeding to Con
necticut River. At this time Mr. [Absalom] Peters marched at the
head of six companies from the northern part of New Hampshire to
Newbury, Vt., the place designated for their rendezvous, and on his
arrival was appointed aid to Major-General Bayley, which office he sus
tained until the close of the war." ( 3 Coll. N. H. Hist. Society, 245.)
April 5, 1 78 1, the house of representatives voted to raise two com
panies, to consist of sixty-five men each, to rendezvous at Haverhill by
the 1st of June, and to be under the command of Lieut.-Col. Charles
Johnston. It was subsequently voted not to send them so early; but
on the 30th of June a vote passed requiring them to be raised and for
warded immediately. The men were to be raised from the militia
regiments commanded by Colonels Ellis of Keene, Chase of Cornish,
Morey of Orford, Webster of Plymouth, and " the regiment of the late
Colonel Bellows" of Walpole, and were to serve six months. (16
State Papers, 249.)
From the Vermont records it appears that, in a call for 1,500 men
for the defense of the northern frontier against the common enemy in
1 78 1, 310 men were apportioned to the regiments on the east side of
the river, two officers and forty -three non-commissioned officers and

i8
privates being required from Morey's regiment. (2 Records of Gov
ernor and Council of Vt., p. 87.)
Other calls of a like character, of which no record has been preserved,
would undoubtedly enlarge the account to the credit of Morey's regi
ment as an important factor in the great struggle. (See also 8 State
Papers, passim,.")
The local military government of the towns in the lower part of
Morey's regiment all through the war period, which was also the
period of their disaffection against the Exeter government, was very
largely managed through the instrumentality of delegate conventions
from the towns on both sides of the river. The details of the pro
ceedings of these assemblies must be sought in the State Papers and
historical collections of New Hampshire and Vermont.
The supreme effort on the part of New Hampshire in behalf of the
cause of independence was made in 1777. Morey's regiment, on
account of its location, was naturally subject to urgent calls for the
reinforcement of the army by which General Burgoyne's forces were
invested. David Hobart of Plymouth, colonel of the Eleventh regi
ment of militia, commanded one of the provisional regiments of
Stark's brigade at Bennington. His record in that battle was highly
commended by General Stark. His fame in later years, however, was
obscured by the fact that Stark's despatches made the name appear to
be "Hubbard." Belknap, Barstow, and other historians have fol
lowed the error. Whiton does not mention Hobart by either name.
He died soon after the war in Haverhill, Mass., to which place he had
removed. (Potter, Military Hist, of N. H., p. 320; Farmers Bel
knap, p. 374; Barstow's N. H., p. 257.)
The roll of the men of Stark's brigade, compiled by Col. George
C. Gilmore, 1891, in which the residence of each individual is given
by towns, credits Morey's regiment with a contribution of 50 men.
Nearly or quite all of this contingent served in the regiment com
manded by Colonel Hobart. Davenport Phelps of Lyme was quarter
master on the regimental staff. Charles Johnston of Haverhill was
Hobart's lieutenant-colonel, and Johnston's dramatic valor is still a
conspicuous feature of the story of the battle. (15 State Papers,
142 ; 15 Granite Monthly, p. 85, biography of Charles Johnston by J.
Q. Bittinger.)
Colonel Hurd writes from Haverhill, under date of September 30,
1777, to the committee of safety as follows :
" I congratulate with you on the success of our army to the North
ward & the glorious prospect there now appears of destroyino- the

whole Force of our Enemys both North & South, & compleating the
business of this campaign ; if the people do but continue their spirit &
exertions. 'Tis rather unluckey tho' that General Stark's Brigade
is so soon broke up, w'='> has struck a panic into the Enemy they
will never recover ; — more of our men this way however are turning
out at the earnest request of General Bayley from Castleton, & by
orders of Colo Morey, who I hear was going off himself. I am ex
tremely chagrin'd that my infirm Limbs will not permit me to share
the Toils & dangers of the field with my countrymen. I have spared
two of my family & and sent them off with horses and provisions for
near a month; — one of them, my son Jacob, tho' hardly of age suffi
cient, but a well grown lad of good heart & disposition, to supply his
father's place.'' (8 State Papers, 700.)
No account is here taken of the so-called Ticonderoga alarms in
the early part of 1777, to which due response was undoubtedly made
by the men of Morey's regiment for the brief terms which character
ized those somewhat desultory movements.
Gen. Jacob Bayley forwarded the following letter to Colonel Morey,
dated September 22, 1777 :
" S' — Success attend us as yet, in part we have cut of their Com
munication — we have taken Tic. side except the old fort hope soon to
have all Lake George — Taken about 500 Prisoners we want help
much our Divition is only 1500 men General Lincoln's gone to Join
General Gates you and all the melitia Eastward must turn out with
Horses and one months Provitions which will I hope put an end to
the dispute this way. Gen'^ Arnold fought a battle two day ago on
the Left of Gen'i Gates great numbers fell on both sides he took 250
Prisoners and three field peaces and the field — Pray turn out — ."
(17 State Papers, 136.)
Writing from Cornish, October i, 1777, Colonel Morey makes the
following report to Gen. Jonathan Chase :
"Sir — This is to inform you that I have collected what men I could
out of my Regiment (in so short a time) I marched them as far as
this place hoping to find you at home — but as you was gone forward
& as I have rec'' new orders from the Court of this state thro' the
Hands of Brigadeer Gen' Whipple to exert myself to the utmost &
send all the Militia that can possibly turn out, I concluded to turn
back & raise another Company & send forward as soon as possible —
Cap' Chandler commands the men which I have sent forward — I have
directed him to put himself under your Command — my Adjutant
Simeon Goodwin is gone forward & will serve if needed & he is a

20 J
Man that may be relied on for his punctuality & fidelity— Geni Bay-|
ley will show you what further I have wrote respecting the men and
soforth — I send my son Israel with the Men he is to wait on Cap' Hay-
ward when he comes — ."
By reference to the rolls in 15 State Papers, 379, 383, 385, we are
able to identify the volunteers from Morey's regiment, to whom the
colonel refers.
The officers of Morey's regiment with this battalion at the outset
were Major Jonathan Child of Lyme, Adjutant Simeon Goodwin of
Haverhill, Chaplain Obediah Noble, formerly of Orange, Capt. Jona-
tha,n Chandler of Piermont, Lieut. Jonathan Derby of Orford, Ensign
Tames English of Lyme, Capt. Joshua Hayward (or Howard) of
Haverhill, and Lieut. Thomas Hibbard of Haverhill. Major Child and
Surgeon Frederick Obrey appear to have served in General Lincoln's
command. (15 State Papers, 366.)
Lieutenant-Colonel Webster of Hobart's Plymouth regiment accom
panied this contigent with a company of 24 officers and men from that
regiment under Capt. John Willoughby. (15 State Papers, 381, 385.)
There were 30 men in Captain Chandler's company, and 36 in that
of Captain Howard, besides the three officers of the field and staff.
The detachment served under Colonel Chase. The rolls of Chase's
men give the number in this particular service as 142. Chandler's
contingent and Willoughby's company gave Colonel Chase a regiment
of 235 men.
The following certificate of service relative to the regiment is pre
served (17 State Papers, 150) : " H. Q. Saratoga, Oct' i8'i> 1777—
" These may Certify that Col° Chase with a Regiment of Volunteers
have faithfully serv'd until this date in the Northern Army, and are
now Discharged with Honor. ^ —
' ' By order of General Gates
"Jacob Bayley Brig' Gen'"
Another company of 38 officers and men were engaged in this
campaign under Capt. Joseph Hutchins of Haverhill. General Bay-
ley certifies that they were in his brigade. Capt. John Sloan's com
pany, raised in Lyme, Orford, Piermont, and the vicinity in Cobs, 27
officers and men, were also in the same service. (15 State Papers,
277-281.) The roll of officers for Hutchins's company is given in Potter's Mili
tary History, Part 2, p. 386. The officers named by Colonel Potter
are, —
Joseph Hutchins, captain. Joseph Howe, second lieutenant.
Timothy Bedel, first lieutenant. Ezekiel Ladd, ensign.

21
The period of service was from August i8 to October 5. This
roll should be read in connection with that of the rank and file
printed in 15 State Papers, 279.
It makes the full number of the company 38, and by that much in
creases the aggregate of men furnished from Morey's regiment for the
Saratoga campaign.
In July, 1777, it appears by the record that 50 men were recruited
from this regiment for the continental regiments, and the names, resi
dences, and regiment to which each man was assigned are given in
detail. (15 State Papers, 424, 425.)
These enlistments were in ample time for the Saratoga campaign,
in which all the New Hampshire continental regiments which are
referred to participated. The total strength of Morey's regiment being
347, as already officially stated, it is now shown by actual reference
to the rolls and names of the men that nearly two thirds of the regi
ment (234) volunteered for the Bennington and Saratoga campaigns,
and that was equivalent to two thirds of the entire body of men of
military age within the territorial limits of the regiment.
In a letter addressed to Lieut.-Col. David Webster, reproduced in
Hon. Alfred Russell's biography of that officer in the Granite Monthly,
vol. 30, p. 93, General Bayley formally thanks Colonel Webster for
the services of himself and his regiment. "Headquarters, Saratoga,
" Oct. 18, 1777.
"These may certify that Col. Webster, with a regiment of N. H.
Volunteers, have faithfully served in the Northern Army until this
date, and are discharged with honor.
" By Gen. Gate's order,
"Jacob Bayley, Brig. GenH."
The letter does not specify the regiment to which reference is made,
whether to the regiment with which Colonel Webster served or a regi
ment which he commanded. It could not have been the Eleventh, or
Plymouth regiment of militia, for the same reason that two companies
volunteering out of Morey's regiment were not Morey's regiment, and
142 volunteers from Chase's were not Chase's regiment.
It is perhaps a fair inference from the roll given in 1 5 State Papers,
385, that Webster served as lieutenant-colonel in the provisional reg
iment of which Jonathan Chase was colonel.
Colonel Bedel's first regiment, 1775, serving in Canada, and the sec
ond, 1776, also operating in the same region, both contained compa
nies raised within the area of Morey's regiment. Bedel's third, 1777,
and his fourth, 1778, also contained large enlistments from Morey's

22
militia, although Bedel's later regiments, with the exception of the
contingent of loo men under Lieutenant-Colonel Wheelock called to
Albany, N. Y., in 1778, were not actually engaged in field service
outside of New Hampshire or Vermont. Add to this exhibit the re
cruitments from the northern militia for many companies of rangers,
of which the official rolls afford evidence, and it may fairly be as
sumed that the number of men in active service assignable to Morey's
regiment very largely exceeds the numerical strength of the regiment,
notwithstanding the somewhat paradoxical nature of the claim.
The militia was governed by the existing province laws, modified in
some particulars by occasional legislation, until September, 1776, when
a new system was established by act of the two houses of the legisla
ture. This law created two classes in the militia, the training band
and the alarm list. All the able-bodied males in the state, with cus
tomary exemptions, between sixteen and fifty years of age, were in
cluded in the train band, and an alarm list in which the liability to
military duty in emergencies was extended to sixty-five years. 1 The
companies, including those upon the alarm list, a field officer presiding,
were to choose a captain, two lieutenants, and an ensign to each.
The non-commissioned officers were chosen by the companies.
Each officer and private soldier was ' ' to equip himself and be con
stantly provided with a good firearm, good ramrod, a worm, priming
wire and brush, and a bayonet fitted to his gun, a scabbard and belt
therefor, and a cutting sword or a tomahawk, or hatchet, a pouch con
taining a cartridge-box that will hold fifteen rounds of cartridges at
least, a hundred buckshot, a jackknife and tow for wadding, six flints,
one pound of powder, forty leaden balls, fitted to his gun, a knapsack
and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle, sufficient to hold one quart."
Each town was to provide and deposit in some safe place, for use in
case of an alarm, a specified number of spades, axes, and picks, and to
provide arms and equipments for those unable to provide for them
selves ; and parents, masters, and guardians were to provide for those
under their care. Each company was to muster eight times a year,
including the regimental musters. (Potter's Mil. Hist. N. H., vol. 2,
Adjt.-Gen's Report, i866, p. 281.)
The law imposed very serious burdens upon the people, not only in
personal services but in the expense of equipment. A census taken in
i A Conway return of June 10, 1775, in which all the men able to bear arms from
sixteen years upward are enumerated, shows 61 men, with 10 on the alarm list, a total
of 71. Of this 61, moreover, 11 were reported as already gone to the war. This may
indicate approximately the respective proportions of men in the two classes in other
northern towns. 14 State Papers, 246.

23
the fall of 1775 (7 Prov. Papers, 724-784) indicates approximately
the amount of arms and military supplies in the hands of the people.
The following table is an abstract of their returns, limited to the towns
in Morey's regiment :

Names of Towns.

Orford 
Lyme 
Bath 
Cockburne (Columbia) . .
Colebrook 
Haverhill 
Piermont 
Stratford 
Apthorp (Littleton and
Dalton) 
Gunthwaite (Lisbon) 
Northumberland 
Lancaster 
Lyman 
Landaff 
Morristown (Franconia
and Lincoln) 

Fire
arms fit
for use.

Guns
wanted.

Powder inhabi tants
have.

13
^8° 3 I I
7

29
31 24 2

31 7

6
IS 7

8 lbs.

Powder Lead

town has.

and
bullets, etc.

-to lbs.
IS

so 1612

1410II

3i

3 lbs
lead, 2
dozenflints. 10 lbs.
lead, 20
flints.

Pistols.

In a short time after Colonel Morey assumed command of the
"North Regiment" it furnished a large contingent of men and mili
tary equipment for Bedel's regiment of Rangers which was ordered to
Canada early in the winter of i77S-'76 to reinforce Montgomery's
army. In the absence of Colonel Bedel and Lieutenant-Colonel Wait
a part of this Ranger regiment was surrendered at a fort called
"Cedars," under circumstances most discreditable to Major Butter-
field who was in command. (Potter's Mil. Hist., Adjt.-Gen's Report,
1866, vol. 2, p. 287.) This necessarily resulted in a serious loss of
equipment which had been drawn from the western New Hampshire
militia contributing the men and material for Bedel's regiment. The
burden of replacing the loss in arms and accoutrements from this dis
graceful affair was a serious matter for the farmer soldiers of the fron-'
tier.i ^Memorial of Charles Johnston, Joseph Hutchins, Simeon Goodwin, and Joshua^
Howard, 12 State Papers, 187. American Archives, series 5, vol. i, pp. 398, 399
memorial of the officers of Bedel's regiment to Major-General Gates, dated at Ticon
deroga, July 17, 1776.

24
The numerical strength of Morey's regiment can be ascertained with.
reasonable accuracy. The record, printed in 14 State Papers, 556,
which gives the statistics of enrolment for an apportionment of recruits
called for to fill the three continental regiments in 1777, is apparently-
complete except as to Colonel Morey's regiment. The total strength of
the regiment is given as 347. This is manifestly based on the census
returns of the fall of 1775. (7 Prov. Papers, 724.) The part which
remains in the original manuscript is indicated by italics. The part
in Roman is reconstructed from the census returns above mentioned.
The result is so nearly that given in the record summary that we have
a right to assume our method of reconstruction of the statistics of en
rolment for the regiment to be sufficiently accurate.
Orford  47
Lyme  69.
Bath  35
Cockburne  6.
Colebrook  i
Haverhill  86
Piermont  43
Stratford  16
Apthorp (estimated)'  5
Gunthwaite  11
Northumberland (14 State Papers, 559, 7)  20
Lancaster  ("...."...."  "...6)  17
Lyman  ("  "  "  ". . .0) .. (estimated)  9
Landaff  9
Morristown  6
Reconstructed summary  378
Record (official)  347
Variance  31
The difference in the record statement (14 State Papers, 559) of
the number of men in Lancaster, Northumberland, and Lyman, and
the statistics as corrected by the census returns (7 State Papers, 724
to 781) with the uncertainty taken into account as to Lyman and
Apthorp, from which necessarily only estimates are given, is not very
important, and, due allowance being made according to the apparent
requirements of the case, no serious historical error will be possible.
It may, therefore, be assumed, for the purposes of this narrative,
that we have the territorial extent of the regiment outlined, and its-
numerical strength also, as nearly as it is practicable to state it from.
the records, read in connection with the census of 1775.
1 See 7 Province Papers 672, for authority for estimates.

25
We are also enabled to locate most of the companies which consti
tuted the regiment, and to give the roster of field and company officers
with the exception of one or two companies. This statement refers
to the organization as it stood in September, 1775.
A List of the 12th Regiment of Foot,
Colony of New Hampshire,
Sept. 5TH, 1775.1
Commissioned 5th Sept., 1775.
Israel Morey, Esq., Colonel. Charles Johns [t] on, Esq. Lt. Col.
Jonathan Child, Esq., Major. Jonathan Hale, Esq., 2d Maj.
Haverhill First Company.
Joshua Hayward, Capt. Samuel Ladd, Lt.
Ebenezer Rice, 2d Lt. John Ladd, Ensign.
Orford 2nd Company.
Daniel Tillotson, Capt. Peletiah Bliss, Lieut.
Eldad Post, 2d Lt. Jonathan Derby, Ensign.
Lyme 3rd Company.
John Sloan, Capt. Benjamin Grant, Jr., Lt.
Jabez Vaughn, 2d Lt. James English, Ensign.
4th Company
(Name of town and roster not in original.)
Piermont sth Company.
Jonathan Chandler, Capt. John Weed, Lt.
Azariah Webb, 2d Lt. Burgess Metcalf, Ensign.
Gunthwaite 6th Company.
Luther Richardson, Capt. Jacob Shuff, Lieut.
William Martin, 2d Lt. Timothy Bagley, Ensign.
Bath 7th Company
Samuel Titus, Capt. Daniel Bedel, Lieut.
Henry Hancock, 2d Lt. Aaron Bayley, Ensign.
Bath, Commissioned 20th June 1780
Ebenezer Sanborn, Capt. Thomas McConnell
Joshua Sanders 2d Lt. Job Moulton, Ensign.
»i6 State Papers, 924.

26
It is apparent from the statistical view that there would be serious
practical obstacles in the way of an organization of a company of
militia in the scattered townships to the north of Gunthwaite. Nei
ther Lancaster nor Northumberland, the two most populous settle
ments, had enough men of military age for a company of the strength
required by law. It is hardly to be supposed that people so much
dispersed could effect very much for the purpose of maintaining a com
pany of militia. The theory that they did not so unite in the early
years of the Revolution seems to be sustained by the fact that the
Cobs forts were garrisoned by companies or squads of rangers some
times recruited from the northern towns within a wide circuit, and
sometimes sent in from distant places. We may assume, in the
absence of contemporary records, that the service constantly required
in guarding and scouting this frontier, and in contributing to the
requirements of a more general service, was a sufficient test of the
devotion of these pioneers to the cause of independence, and that
their duties in the fields and in the forts left no opportunity or occa
sion for further organization into a company or companies in Morey's
regiment of militia, to which territorially they would be constituent.
Conditions did not change materially till the end of the war.
There are certain facts in the official records, pertinent in this con
nection, which have not been overlooked. It appears in the State
Papers as early as January, 1776, that Edwards Bucknam of Lancas
ter, in a vote of the legislature appointing coroners for the county of
Grafton, is accorded the title of captain. This may indicate that he
had such command before he settled at that point or afterwards. No
evidence is accessible to settle the question. Furthermore, in 1779 it
appears that the settlers in those parts chose Nathan Caswell to be
captain of some sort of local military organization. Whether it was
merely a temporary measure or intended as an extension of the militia
system is not disclosed by the record. (8 State Papers 21 ; 13 id.,
474. 475 ; 15 id., 705.)
The history of Morey's regiment derives interest from events which
had a peculiar significance in the politics of the towns embraced
within its limits. A number of the leading men in these settlements
were from Connecticut, and their ideas of government were naturally in
accordance with their education and experience in the commonwealth
from which they had emigrated.
Hanover, with its college and faculty, which constituted a Connecti
cut colony of itself, was the intellectual centre for this movement,
which took substantial form early in 1776. The form of government

27
adopted for the time being by the Fifth Provincial Congress was not
acceptable to the majority of the people in the towns now constituting
the western part of Grafton county. Colonel Hurd and Lt.-Col. Charles
Johnston, however, were not partisans of the views which generally
prevailed on this subject in their vicinity. Colonel Morey and Colo
nel Bedel were conspicuous among the opposers of the party in power
in the so-called Exeter government. The group of towns which
included Gunthwaite on the north and Lebanon on the south, in Graf
ton county, organized themselves by town groups and local commit
tees for the management of civil and military concerns, and formally
declined to recognize the new state government of New Hampshire.
It will not be found useful to pursue the history of this controversy at
length in this connection. It may be remembered, however, that the
Independents of the Connecticut valley manceuvered with skill and
persistence to accomplish such a union of Vermont towns with New
Hampshire as promised either to augment the influence of the western
part of the state and to diminish in a corresponding degree the politi
cal power which the eastern section had acquired, or to sever them
selves from New Hampshire and join with the proposed state of Ver
mont or New Connecticut under more favorable conditions than they
could expect from New Hampshire. At two periods between 1776 and
the close of the war, that is to say, in 1778 and i78i-'82, these towns
were in active union with Vermont as far as the formal action of both
parties could accomplish such a result. 1
1 Briefly stated, the contention of the New Hampshire party was that upon the dis
solution of political relations between the colonies and the mother country, and more
especially in respect to the territory in controversy between New York and New
Hampshire, the towns, being the political units and the original sources of political
authority, were invested with the right to determine for themselves the question
whether to accord allegiance to the one or the other of the disputing states, or whether
to erect themselves into a state independent of the mandate of any other association
of towns or committees formed for the purposes of government. They urged that
inasmuch as the New Hampshire constitution of 1776 had never been submitted to
the people or to the towns for ratification, and had been accepted by a part of the
towns only, it was operative only upon such as had elected to ratify its provisions.
The protesting towns took care not to do any act which could be construed as a rati
fication of that form of government in the six years from early in 1776 to 1782.
Their argument was presented in the controversial and official literature of that time
with great skill and effectiveness. They succeeded in making themselves felt as a
political force to be reckoned with by three established states and the continental
congress, as well as the prospective commonwealth of Vermont.
A number of the more important collections of documents and historical treatises
relating to this subject in its various aspects are mentioned in the preface to vol.
26 State Papers, p. ix. Several valuable contributions to the history of the same
controversy are embodied in recent biographies of historic personages of that time.

28
Colonel Bedel of Haverhill and Colonel Brewster of Hanover were
members of the Vermont Board of War (2 Gov. and Council Records,
Vermont, p. 89), and Colonel Morey recognized the civil and military
authority of Vermont, and as far as his authority and influence were
effectual, his regiment was a component of the Vermont militia. Col
onel Bedel's regiment, which had been organized under continental
authority, was discontinued by vote of congress November 27, 1778.
There is evidence that Colonel Bedel's connection with the Vermont
controversy was a moving cause in this result. (See letters of Lieut.-
Col. John Wheelock and General Washington on this subject, both of
date November 20, 1778, and the comments of the historian of Hano
ver, Chase's Hist, of Hanover, p. 395.) He represented the adjoining
towns of Bath, Lyman, and Morristown, as well as Haverhill in the
Vermont assembly in 1 781.1
Among them the following are especially noteworthy : EUsha Payne, by William H.
Cotton, G. & C. Bar Ass'n, vol. i, p. 497 ; Samual Livermore, by Charles R. Corning,
Id., p. 365 ; John Sullivan, by Alonzo H. Quint, address at the dedication of the
Sullivan monument at Durham, Proceedings of that occasion, published by the state,,
p. 53; Meshech Weare, a Monograph, by Ezra S. Steams, pamphlet, 1S94; Id., vol.
I, Proceedings of the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the American Revolution,
p. 62 ; Timothy Bedel, by Edgar Aldrich, 3 Proc. N. H. Hist. Soc, 194-231.
'Colonel Bedel was the most prominent figure from the region of western Grafton
in the continental service. He was principally occupied in guarding this frontier and
cooperating with the northern army. He ceased to be active in the field, after con
gress in November, 1778, declined to continue his regiment under authority of the
confederacy. Col. Moses Hazen was in a measure his successor with a regiment
partaking of the characteristics of the ranger service and with continental commis
sion. The two men were in intimate relations, and Colonel Bedel was often called
upon, after his formal retirement, to aid in the collection and forwarding of military
stores in and from the Cods country. (Bedel Papers, 17 State Papers, /ajj/w;.) He was
not in favor with President Weare, the executive head of the New Hampshire Revo
lutionary administration (Letter to the Delegates in Congress, August 19, 1778, and
Vt. State Papers, 303), and in Vermont politics he was a strenuous opponent of the
party represented by Governor Chittenden and the Aliens. The Haldimand corres
pondence discloses an attempt on the part of the British-Canadian diplomats to
enlist Colonel Bedel in cooperation with the leaders of the Bennington party in the
truce that was proposed, with a cessation of hostilities against Vermont. (2 Coll. Vt.
Hist. Soc, 267, 273.) In view of the attitude of his political associates in the valley
(Id., 173) the eventual conclusion of Colonel Bedel in respect to such a convention
between Governor Haldimand and Governor Chittenden, the Aliens and Fay, could
be foreseen with comparative certainty.
As already stated in the text. Colonel Bedel was a member of the Vermont Board
of War in i78i-'82. From the standpoint of military strategy no one could better
appreciate the importance of the fertile and populous middle and upper valley of the
Connecticut as a source of supply for the continental army than Colonel Bedel. He
was keenly alive to the necessity of keeping a strong force well in hand in that region
at all times; otherwise invasion would be invited, and its disastrous consequences

29
Colonel Morey, notwithstanding his open and persistent support of
the independent movement, continued in command of the Twelfth
regiment until hostilities reached the verge of armed collision between
New Hampshire and Vermont over the jurisdictional issue. He was
then, on the nth day of January, 1782, summarily removed from his
command by the New Hampshire legislature, and Lieut-Col. Charles
Johnston was made colonel. This, the last experiment in any form of
a union of the towns on the east side of the river with Vermont,
shortly resulted in a definite and unqualified failure. The leaders in
in the depopulation and devastation of the valley inevitable. Colonel Bedel's insist
ence upon this policy undoubtedly caused the discontinuance of his command.
(Memoir of Gen. John Stark by Caleb Stark, 1877, pp. 161, 166, 179.) If he was after
wards in any sense a party to the negotiations with Governor Haldimand it was
without doubt moved by his skepticism as to the efficacy of the measure sanctioned
by congress for the defense of this region and a conviction that it was justifiable
in the prospective failure of other protection to keep the enemy beyond our own
boundaries by recourse to the methods of diplomacy. With the failure of the
Independents of the valley as a controlling force, either in the politics of the one state
or the other, which immediately followed the settlement of the boundary at the west
bank of the river. Colonel Payne of Lebanon, Judge Woodward of Hanover, Colonel
Bedel, Colonel Morey, and their associates found themselves in irretrievable political
defeat and squarely face to face with the inevitable. With a few exceptions these
men loyally adapted themselves to the settled conditions. Colonel Potter, in a note
to his Military History, states that Bedel was a major-general of the second division
of the N. H. militia after the war, and this statement is adopted by Governor Harri-
man and other writers. (Adjt.-Gen's. Report, N. H., vol. 2, 1866, p. 242 ; Granite
Monthly, vol. 3, p. 513.) Noting the absence of any record to verify the assertion,
taking into account the significant fact that he is always designated as " colonel " in
the Journals of the House in i784-'85, while those known to have been commissioned
as generals in the militia are invariably given the title in the same record whenever a
military designation is attached, and considering the attitude of Colonel Bedel towards
New Hampshire authority in the later years of the war, we are convinced that on this
point Colonel Potter was in error. There was but one major-general in command of
the New Hampshire militia at any one time until about the date of the decease
of Colonel Bedel, and this office had but two incumbents until 1786, first General
Folsom and later General Sullivan. No official record mentions Colonel Bedel as a
brigadier or major-general. In the two years intervening between the failure of the
union with Vermont and the inauguration of a state government under the constitu
tion of 1784 the animosities and disappointments engendered by the struggle between
the states for jurisdiction over the territory between the Green Mountains and the
Masonian line were becoming less appreciable before other interests- and fresher
issues. Colonel Payne for Lebanon and Colonel Bedel for Haverhill were returned
to the new legislature, and were at once accorded recognition commensurate with their
character and ability. (20 State Papers, /a.;«»;.)
Colonel Bedel died in 1787 in the full prospect of supplementing a useful and dis
tinguished military career by one as honorable on the civic side in public affairs. (See
-also Biography of Timothy Bedel by Edgar Aldrich, 3 Proceedings N. H. Hist. Soc,
194-231.)

30
the movement generally acquiesced in the result, but Colonel Morey
could not bring himself to such compliance with the logic of events.
He removed at once and permanently into Fairlee on the Vermont
side of the river. There he passed the remainder of his days and
occupied a commanding position for many years both in civil and
military affairs.
Colonel Morey was undoubtedly a consistent partisan. In antago
nism to the Exeter party in New Hampshire his attitude was unequiv
ocal and his conduct straightforward. In the politics of the new
state of Vermont he was the same sturdy and persistent opponent of
the Bennington party. This is not the place for a treatment of the
negotiations between the Vermont leaders and the British-Canadian
authorities in the latter part of the war period. (Haldimand Papers,
2 Hist. Soc. Coll., Vt., p. 55.) As indicating the position of some of
the prominent men on the east side of the river, then claimed as a
part of Vermont, an extract from a report of one of the commissioners,
dated September 30, 1781, is given:
" I find that Congress are much alarmed, and have lately at great
expense employed a number of emissaries in Vermont to counteract
underhand whatever is doing for government. The principal of these
are General Bailey, Colonels Chas. Johnston, Moron, (Morey?),
Brewster, and JVIajor Childs on Connecticut River.
" This junto, of which General Bailey is the soul, are endeavoring
to set the populace against their present leaders by insinuating to
them that they are tories and intend to sell Vermont, &c." (2 Hist.
Soc. Coll., Vt., 178; Amory, Life of Sullivan, 305.)
It is entirely to Colonel Morey's credit that he was the subject of
such criticism as this at the hands of the British-Canadian officials.
Indeed, all the evidence which throws light on the character of the
men at that time vindicates the loyalty and patriotism of Colonel
Morey in the cause of independence.
The circumstances in which he was placed and the attitude he as
sumed in state politics put him at a serious disadvantage in his rela
tions with the dominant party in New Hampshire. (Biography of
Israel Morey by Frederic P. Wells, in preparation for the Proceedings
N. H. Hist. Soc.)
In November, 1779, Capt. Joshua Howard of Haverhill was pro
moted to be second major in place of Major Hale.i In the records this
officer's name appears occasionally as Hayward, as well as Howard.
There is nothing to indicate that any changes were made in the field
officers of the regiment after the advancement of Lieutenant-Colonel
' 8 State Papers, 834.

31
Johnston until March i, 1783, when the house of representatives
votedi " That Capt. Ebenezer Green [of Lyme] be and hereby is ap
pointed Lieut.-Col. of the twelfth regiment of militia in this State."
"That Joshua Howard, Esq' [of Haverhill] be and he hereby is
appointed first Major of the twelfth regiment of Militia in this State."
"That Capt. Edwards Bucknam [of Lancaster] be and he hereby
is appointed a Second Major of the twelfth regiment of Militia in this
State." The council records, as now preserved, do not indicate a con
currence in these votes by that body. Perhaps there was an error of
omission at this point on the part of the recording officer. It will be
noted that Capt. Edwards Bucknam is named by his title. This may
and probably does indicate that a company or companies had at this
date been organized further north than Gunthwaite (Lisbon)", and
that Captain Bucknam had beep in command of one of them. There
is significance in the appointment of a major to be located in the north
part of the territory of the regiment. It presupposes a developement
of the organization either already in progress or expected in that direc
tion. The numbering of Morey's regiment in the Vermont military es
tablishment has not been ascertained with absolute certainty, though
it was assigned as a regiment east of the river to the brigade of Gen.
Peter Olcott. Col. Jonathan Chase's regiment, according to the his
torian of Hanover, became the third in the Vermont arrangement, and
Morey's was probably the first. (2 Records Gov. and Council, Vt.
88.) From the date of Colonel Johnston's advancement to the colonelcy
in January, 1782, he continued in command, and his regiment existed
territorially as it had been during the war until the state government
had been re-organized under the constitution of 1784.2 In the latter
part of that year the laws governing the militia were remodeled on a
peace basis and a resulting rearrangment of regiments and reappoint
ment or reassignment of officers ensued.
Twenty-five regiments of infantry were established besides several
regiments of artillery and cavalry. The northern regiment became the
Twenty-Fifth and contained the towns of Lyman, Landaff, Lincoln,
Concord (alias Gunthwaite), Cockburne (Columbia), Franconia,
Littleton, Dalton, Lancaster, Dartmouth (Jefferson), Northumber
land, Stratford, Colebrook, and Percy (Stark). Joseph Whipple of
Dartmouth became colonel, and held the command until the reorgan-
1 8 State Papers, 972. 2 8 State Papers, 21.
'Biography by J. Q. Bittinger, 15 Granite Monthlv. 85.

32 I
ization in 1792. (Biography, by Chester B. Jordan, 2 Proceedings I
N. H. Hist. Soc, 289.) Bath was included in the Haverhill (Thir
teenth) regiment in 1784, with Moses Dow as colonel.
This was an interesting and progressive period for the militia.
John Sullivan was major-general from 1784 to 1786, and subsequently
commander-in-chief for three years by virtue of his office as president j
of the state. I The prestige of General Sullivan's name and his active
influence promoted a healthful esprit de corps in the militia of the new
state. With a general revision of the laws and reorganization of the
militia in December, 1792, the towns of the Twenty-Fifth regiment,
with little change and with the adoption of a new feature, the battalioir
arrangement, became the Twenty-Fourth. Concord (Lisbon), Ly
man, Littleton, Franconia, Lincoln, and Dalton were the first battalion,
and Lancaster, Northumberland, Dartmouth, Percy, Coleburne (Cole
brook), Cockburne (Columbia), Stewartstown, and Stratford con
stituting the second. In 1793 Concord (Lisbon) and Lyman were
severed from the Twenty-Fourth and joined with the Thirteenth
regiment. At the same time the battalion division was altered and
Lancaster, Littleton, Dalton, Franconia, State Hill (Bethlehem), and
Jefferson constituted the first battalion, and the towns above them the
second. (Compiled Laws of 1805, p. 246.) This was the status of
the regiment until December, 1 804. Cobs county had been estab
lished in the previous year. The towns of Cobs county were con-
tinned in the Twenty-Fourth regiment, while Bath, Lyman, and Lan
daff were made a first battalion and Littleton, Bethlehem, Lincoln,
and Franconia constituted the second of the newly formed Thirty-
Second regiment. (Compiled Laws of 1805, p. 251.) This regi
ment was now an established feature of the general arrangement con
tinuing practically unchanged for half a century.
The commanders of the Twenty-Fourth regiment in their order
from 1793 to 1804 were Edwards Bucknam of Lancaster, 1793, Jabez
Parsons of Colebrook, 1799, Joel Barlow of Stratford, 1801, and
Richard C. Everett^ of Lancaster, 1804.
Benjamin Kimball of Bath, in 1805, when the organization of the
Thirty-Second regiment for northern Grafton was effected, became the
first commandant. 3
' Amory's Life of John Sullivan, p. 437.
! Biography of Richard C. Everett by Chester B. Jordan, G. & C. Bar Ass'n, vol
', P- 437-
sFrom 1792 to 1816 regimental commanders were, by law, accorded the rank of -
lieutenant-colonel commandant, and the incumbent held rank' equivalent to that be- ' '
fore and after that period accorded to a colonel. An aid to the governor in the
same period was also designated and ranked as a lieutenant-colonel commandant.

33
In estimating the number of enrolled militia in any town in the
period succeeding the Revolution, it must be remembered that the
militia act of March i8, 1780, continued the existing provision for two
classes, the train band, composed of youth and men from sixteen to
forty years of age, and an alarm list composed of men from forty to
sixty years of age. By the act of December 28, 1792, the alarm list
was abolished and the military age was from eighteen to forty. It
was made sixteen to forty in 1795 (June 10). This was the age for a
long period afterwards. By the act of June 24, 1786, towns which
could fiirnish thirty-two privates and the proper number of commis
sioned and non-commissioned officers (13) were required to establish
one company; but when a town had less than thirty-two privates
and a sufficient number of officers they were joined to such other
corps as the field officer might think proper.
By act of December 24, 1792, which was really a new military code,
the number of privates for a company was fixed at sixty-four, with no
provision for a less number for the first company or a greater for
the second.
At the time of the second war with England three regiments occu
pied the original territory of the Twelfth. Later there was another in
the western side of Cobs. The hereditary martial spirit of the people
thoroughly permeated the military system of the state for many years
after the Revolution. So complete, practical, and effective was it in
1 8 14 that a regiment was mobilized for the defense of Portsmouth in
three days, and within the brief space of time required to send express
messengers with the summons, ahd for the men to accomplish the
march from their rendezvous to Portsmouth, five regiments of infan
try, with cavalry and artillery, were in the field for offensive or defen
sive operations against the enemy.
Judge Potter says of our military status at this period :
" The declaration of war found the militia of New Hampshire in a
flourishing condition, as much so as at any period of its existence.
The governor [William Plumer] who from his position is com
mander-in-chief of the militia, though not a military man, was one of
energy, patriotism, method, and great executive ability. His heart
and hand were in the cause. His predecessors in that important office,
without an exception under the present constitution, had been men
engaged in the Revolutionary struggle, and had learned by experience
the worth of a well regulated militia, carried out the maxim of ' in
time of peace prepare for war,' and did not believe in the more modern
idea that ' the militia system was a nuisance, and tended to demoral-

3+
ize the people.' The adjutant-general was a soldier of the Revolu
tion, and had been in that position since the adoption of the constitu
tion, and many of the officers of the militia had been his comrades in
arms in that great struggle. Such men, taught in the school of expe
rience, brought military skill and pride, without which skill is of little
avail, to the organization and completion of our military system.
Such being the situation of our militia, compliance with the requisi
tions of the general government was met with the greatest prompt
ness." In later years a spirit of pusillanimous commercialism and non-resist
ance seemed to cause a deterioration in the quality of our militarism.
It is none the less the duty and the opportunity of all who possess a
healthful and progressive patriotism to see that the hereditary spirit,
the ancient heroic temper of the people is not lost or abated. I ven
ture to quote to this point the words of a New Hampshire statesman
of our own time, as they declare on the basis of philosophical truth the
present necessity and the present duty in reference to the public de
fense, in view, not only of existing circumstances, but also of the possi
bilities of the future.
The quotation is as follows :
" As the situation now is, nothing could be more foolish and crimi
nal than to leave our coasts defenseless, cease to build warships and
dismantle the few we have, ' beat our swords into ploughshares, and
our spears into pruning-hooks,' and teach our young men that they
must not learn war any more. The history of the world furnishes a
multitude of examples illustrating the disastrous fate that overtakes
nations when they discard the means necessary to protect them from
the assaults of warlike enemies. The great, rich, and populous empire
of China fiirnishes a very recent example that demonstrates how foolish
a thing it is at this day for a nation to fail to be prepared to defend
itself against the modes and implements of modern warfare. A rich
country without defenses and inhabited by a timid, unwarlike people, is
a standing invitation to all outside adventurers to invade it, to conquer
and possess it, stripping the miserable inhabitants of everything, and
either enslaving them or driving them into exile. As humanity is, at
the present time, the millennial period not having arrived and there
being no signs of it, the surest guaranty of peace which a nation can
have is the world's estimate that it is a just nation, that it will ask
nothing but what is right, that it is prepared for war, and will submit
to nothing wrong. The proposition that war is wrong per se, and can
never be justified, is a proposition which cannot be maintained except

35
upon the broad ground of the non-resistants. Nations have the right
of self-defense, and are under legal and moral obligation to engage in
war whenever it is necessary in order to protect the lives and property
of their citizens. War is right or wrong according to the circumstan
ces that occasion it. Through all the ages since the world began wars
have succeeded wars in constant succession, apparently in obedience to
the fixed laws that regulate the lot of humanity." i
I will add a brief extract from a letter of Gen. John Sullivan which
was addressed to the people of this state more than a century ago. He
said: "In Republican governments, people often turn their thoughts to
that part of the constitution which bequeaths them their liberties ; but
too frequently forget that they ought to pursue measures for securing
them. We have already bravely purchased liberty and independence,
and now make part of an empire Where freedom reigns without control ;
but what will our late struggle avail, if we suffer the military skill which
-we have acquired to be lost, and ourselves to sleep in seeming safety
till the avarice, the jealousy, or the ambition of some foreign prince
rouses us from our slumbers, and convinces us of our mistake?
" We often please ourselves by observing that this country is calcu
lated for freedom and commerce, not for war. I sincerely join in the
opinion, and most ardently wish it may ever remain such ; but I have
long since been convinced that the only way to keep peace is to be
prepared for whatever events may come. If we mean to keep our
neighbors' sword in the scabbard we shall whet our own." 2
In another connection General Sullivan urges the importance and
utility of the military education of the youth.
On this point, addressing himself to the instructors of schools
and academies, he writes as follows :
"As the profession of arms is in every country esteemed honorable,
even when the science of war is learned with a view of extending con
quests over unoffending nations, it must be infinitely more so when
taught for the purpose of national defense, and for the security of
dear-bought freedom.
Permit me, therefore, gentlemen, to entreat you, if you will not
interfere with the plans which you may have laid for diffiising literary
knowledge, to set apart some hours in the week for the youth under
your care to amuse themselves in learning the manual exercise and
military manoeuvres. If this proposal should meet your approbation,
» The Safety of the Republic the Supreme Law, by Hon. Harry Bmgham, LL. D.,
2 Proceed. G. & C. Bar Ass'n, 203.
2 Amory, Life of Major-General John Sullivan, p. 307.

36
your own wisdom will dictate the best method for carrying it into-
execution. If relaxation from studies is necessary, perhaps none can
be so useful ; and I am convinced, that, in a short time, none could
be more pleasing to your pupils. You will then have the pleasing
satisfaction to see the youth, whom you have taught to converse with
the sages of Greece and Rome, to admire the heroes of ancient and
modern times, and to value that freedom for which they have fought
and bled, made, by your care, proper champions to defend those
natural and national rights which you have taught them to hold in the
highest estimation " i
With one more abstract from contemporary authority, this from an
author of national repute, a theologian who is a leader of thought in
our universities, a New Hampshire soldier, without fear and without
reproach, I submit this outline of the self-sacrificing, well-directed,
and unflinching efforts of the fathers who were, a hundred and twenty-
years ago, striving to subdue the wilderness of northern New Eng
land, and at the same time making that grand struggle to establish an
enduring nationality, and the soldier-citizen's plea for the maintenance
of the priceless heritage by that intelligent, eternal vigilance which is
the price of liberty. In a recent contribution to the miUtary history
of New Hampshire Rev. Dr. Luther Tracy Townsend says :
' ' The way for our nation to prevent war is to be prepared for it,
and the way for her to check the wrongs and tyrannies of the whole
world is to be courageous and speak out.
"If, therefore, in view of what has been said, it is clear that the
heroic and military spirit is of service and that it should not be
allowed to slumber as it did in our northern states during the years
preceding the late war ; if it is clear that our nation, among the nations
of the earth, has a larger mission than as yet has been claimed for
her ; and if it is true that the day of universal peace has not yet
dawned, then we may offer a single additional plea, namely, that mil
itary weapons must not be left exclusively in the hands of what are
called government and mercenary troops, but also and largely should'
be in the hands of an organized and disciplined state militia.
" 'It is certain,' said Madison, 'that liberty cannot be safe with
powerful standing armies, and that, without an effective militia, the
danger of such armies cannot be precluded.' The history and fate
of the republics of Greece and Rome, of Genoa and Venice, are a
standing warning against the transfer of the sword from the militia tO"
a mercenary soldiery. 'Amory, Life of General John Sullivan, p. 318.

37
" " ^ ^° not say that what is termed the ' regular army,' in a nation
of considerable magnitude like ours, is useless. Often it is service
able in the exercise of the balance of power in sudden emergencies.
It is available, as a sort of movable police force, in presenting a
speedy check to slight, local uprisings, and it everywhere inspires
respect, being the representative of the national government.
"But what we insist on is that in the midst of great perils the state
militia is the surest bulwark of a nation's rights. 'It is the wall,
behind which a free people may pursue their honest toil unharmed.'
It was the state militia of New England under the old provincial flag
of Massachusetts Bay which made the Indian tremble as ' he saw them
pass along in martial order.' It was the state militia of New England
which stood the first shock of the Revolutionary war in 1775. It was
the state militia of New Hampshire that protected its legislature dur
ing the disturbances and disaffections in 1782. It was the state mili
tia of Massachusetts that quelled the Shays insurrection in 1786.
It was the state militia of Pennsylvania which enforced the law and
maintained order during the insurrections of i794-'98.
" During the war of 1812, when the enemy was hovering along our
coast and the national forces were withdrawn, they were the organized
and officered New England militia companies which, with twenty-four
hours' notice, garrisoned and protected all our posts and seaboard
cities. It was the state militia that in several different commonwealths
<juelled the riots of 1877.
" And in 1861, when our country's capital was besieged, when our
national archives were threatened, when our way to Washington was
blocked in the streets of Baltimore, the first troops that fought their
way to the protection and rescue of the city of Washington were the
state militia of Massachusetts.
' ' These instances are convincing illustrations of the efficiency and
necessity of the sword in the hands of a state militia under state
¦orders. " Our conviction is, therefore, that every boy of twelve or fifteen
years of age in the state of New Hampshire should learn to go through
the manual of arms. And it should be a health-giving and heroic dis
cipline if all our boys were taught to draw and poise the sword on
horseback and to ram the cartridge in a field piece of any calibre.
" Every large public school in our state, like the schools of Ger
many should have its military battalion and its drill-master in science.
Our public schools should be called together and dismissed, not with
the bell, but with the drum and fife.

38
" And no argument is needed to show that if the youth of our land.
had been thus properly schooled and drilled prior to 1861 the Con
federacy never would have reached the magnitude it assumed, and we
should not have been called upon to write this history of the Six
teenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers." ^
Among the many hostile influences that are always moving openly or
secretly against a well-regulated and efficient system of militia are two
that are antipodal. The elements of anarchism are from their very
nature antagonistic to all the instrumentalities and agencies of law and
order. The elements of arbitrary and tyrannical autocracy are consist
ent only with the existence of a standing army to which is committed,
to the exclusion of local police and local militia, all those functions
which pertain not only to the maintenance of the general peace and the
suppression of serious disorder in the state, but also to the crushing
out of justifiable uprisings of the people against the exercise of oppres
sive and intolerable power. Within these extremes of opposition to
the militia system, as an essential factor in local state government, are
many other fruitful sources of hostility, besides the inertia of indif-
erence which is, on occasions, no less pernicious than active antago
nism. In a free republic it is still an essential to the correct balancing-
of the powers of the state and the rights and responsibilities of the
people that the principal reliance on the military side of the govern
ment should be a citizen soldiery, educated and exercised for excep
tional duty and unexpected emergencies, and not a permanent and
burdensome segregation, in a standing army, of vast numbers of the
best manhood of the body politic from all of the productive and indis
pensable vocations of life upon which the progress and prosperity of
the nation are absolutely dependent.
The lesson of the past is instructive and inspiring to the thinkers
and actors of this generation who are both conservative and progres
sive. It calls upon us to hold fast to the doctrines of the fathers as
illustrated by their example in the conservation of means, at all times,
to insure the public defense without at any time placing free institu
tions in jeopardy ; wisely to organize, diligently to improve, and liber
ally to sustain our systems of local militia on the most approved
methods of discipline'and equipment ; and to make the principles de
clared in the constitution basic, vital, and productive truths governing
the civic action of the people and their servants in all the departments
and in all the functions of the state.
' ' Standing armies are dangerous to liberty."
' History of the Sixteenth N. H. Vols. p. 326.

39
" In all cases and at all times the military ought to be under strict
subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."
"A well regulated militia is the proper, natural, and sure defense of
the state."!
1 Constitution of New Hampshire.
See " Schedule Containing an Account of the Services of the Militia from 1775 to
1783 "in the legislative document signed "Jeremiah Smith, one of the Comm'rs,"
House Journal, Feb. 12, 1791 ; Coll. N. H. Hist. Society, vol. 9, pp. 415-421.
This report mentions several companies of rangers serving at Coos that have not
been identified by the rolls.

INDEX OF NAMES.

Adams, Lieut. John  lo
Allen,   28
Arnold, Gen. Benedict  19
Atkinson, Capt Samuel  ]  6
Bagley, Timothy  25
Barlow, Joel  ,2
Bayley, Aaron  2c
Gen. Jacob  5, 7,8, 12, 17, 19, 20, 21, 30
James  6
Bedel, Lieut. Daniel  25
Col. Timothy  4, 5, 7, 8, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29
Bellows, Benjamin  17
Blake, James  10
Bliss, Lieut. Peletiah  25
Brant, Joseph  12
Brewster, Colonel  28, 30
Bucknam, Capt. Edwards  26, 31, 32
Burgoyne, General  4, 7, 12, 18
Bush, Capt. Timothy  9
Butterfield, Major  23
Caswell, Capt. Nathan  9, 26
Chandler, Capt. Jonathan  19, 20, 25
Chapman, Capt. Jonah  9
Chase, Col. Jonathan  15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 31
Childs, Maj. Jonathan  5, 16, 20, 25, 30
Chittenden, Governor  28
Derby, Lieut. Jonathan  20, 25
Dow, Col. Moses  32
Eames, Capt. Jeremiah  6
Ellis, Colonel  17
English, James  20, 25
Everett, Richard C  32
Fay,   28
Fenton, Col. John  I4, 15. '6
Folsom, General  29

42
Gates, General  7, 19, 20, 21, 23
Gilbert, Colonel  15
Goodwin, Simeon  19, 20, 23
Grant, Lieut. Benjamin, Jr  25
Green, Capt. Ebenezer  31
Haldimand, Governor  .'28, 29, 30
Hale, Maj. Jonathan  6, 16, 25, 30
Hancock, Lieut. Henry  25
Hayward (Howard), Capt. Joshua  20, 23, 25, 30, 31
Hazen, Col. Moses  8, 28
Hobart, Lieut.-Col. David  14, 1 5, 16, 18, 20
Howe, Joseph  20
Hurd, Jacob  ig
Col. John  5. 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 18, 27
Hutchins, Capt. Joseph  9, 10, 20, 23
Johnson, Lieut.-Col. Thomas  5, 11, 12
Johnston, Lieut.-Col. Charles. ..4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31
Kent, Jacob  5
Kimball, Benjamin  32
Capt. Peter  g
Ladd, Ezekiel  20
Lieut. James  9, 10
John  25
Lieut. Samuel  25
Lafayette, General  7
Langdon, John  13
Lincoln, General  19, 20
Livermore, Samuel  28
Lovewell, Captain  9
Martin, Lieut. William  25
McConnell, Thomas  25
Metcalf, Burgess  25
Morey, Col. Israel, 5, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29
30.31
Moulton, Job  25
Nichols, Col. Moses  8
Capt. Thomas  g
Noble, Obediah  20
Obrey, Frederick  20
Olcott, Col. Peter  S. 8, 31
Paine, Capt. Samuel  g
Parsons, Jabez  32
Payne, Elisha  28, 29

43
Peters, Absalom  j_
Phelps, Davenport   ,g
Plumer, William 
Poor, Enoch  .........../...............  A
Porter, Lieut.-Col. Asa  14 i -
Post, Lieut. Eldad  2C
Pritchard,   12
Rice, Lieut. Ebenezer  2q
Richardson, Capt. Luther  !!!!.. 25
Rogers, Robert  j2
Runels, Capt. Samuel  10
Russell, Capt. Josiah  6
Sanborn, Capt. Ebenezer  21;
Sanders, Lieut. Joshua  21;
Sewall, Maj. Jonathan  14^ ic, 16
Shays, Daniel  37
Shuff, Lieut. Jacob  25
Simpson, Capt. Thomas  6
Maj. William  14, 15, 16
Sloan, Capt. John  20 25
Smith, Capt. Jacob  10
Capt. Jonathan  n
Stark, Caleb  7, 29
Stark, Gen. John  4, 7, 12, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35
Stearns, Lieut. Peter  10
Stone, Capt. Ephraim  10
Sullivan, Gen. John  6, 12, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35
Tillotson, Capt. Daniel  25
Titus, Capt. Samuel  25
Vaughan, Lieut. Jabez  25
Wait, Lieutenant-Colonel  23
Washington, General  8, 28
Weare, Meshech  13. 28
Webb, Lieut. Azariah  25
Webster, Lieut.-Col. David  4, 10, 17, 20, 21
Capt. Ebenezer  10
Weed, Lieut. John  25
Wentworth, Gov. John  15, 16
Wheelock, Eleazer  n, 12
Lieut.-Col. John  7, 22, 28
Whipple, Gen. Joseph  lo, 12, 19, 31
Whitcomb, Maj. Benjamin  8, 10, 11, 17
Willoughby, Capt. John  15, 16
Woodward, Col. David  7, 9. 29

INDEX OF PLACES.
Albany, N. Y 
Ammonoosuc 
Androscoggin 
Antrim   Q
Apthorp, see Littleton.
Baltimore   -  37
^^*'':- •••••;;  3,23,24,25,28,32
Bennington, Vt  3,4,8,10,18,21,30
Bethlehem  1
 32
Boscawen  g „
Boston  ..........\.....'.'.4,'i6
Bunker Hill  jo j2
Campton  q
^^"^^*  4.5.7.8,11.21,23
Castleton, Vt  lo
" Cedars "  7, 23
Champlain, Lake  4, 17
Cheshire  14
Cockburne (Columbia)  23, 24, 31, 32
Colebrook  3, 23, 24, 31, 32
Columbia  23, 31, 32
Concord, see Lisbon.
Connecticut  26
River  3, 11, 12, 16, 17, 27, 28, 30
Conway  n
Coos  7, 9, 12, 26, 33
County  5, 6, 9, 14, 15, 32
Lower  3, 6, 8, 10, 12
Upper  3, 5,6, 9, 10, 11
Cornish  8, 15
Dalton  23, 31, 32
Dartmouth, see Jefferson.
Dartmouth College  7, 11
Dresden  8
Durham  10
Exeter  7. 8, 27, 30

46
Fairlee, Vt  30,
Fort Weare  fr
Franconia, see Morristown  23, 31, 32
George, Lake  ig,
Georgia  13
Grafton County  8, 14, 15, 16, 26, 27, 28, 32
Gunthwaite, see Lisbon.
Hanover see Dresden  5, 7, 8, g, 11, 15, 28, 29
Haverhill, Mass  18
Haverhill  3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32
Jefferson  10, 31, 32
Lancaster  3, 6, 9, 23, 24, 26, 31, 32
Landaff  23, 24, 31
Lebanon  8, 9, 15, 27, 29
Lincoln  31, 32
Lisbon  3, II, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32
Littleton  9, 23, 24, 31, 32
Lyman  23, 24, 28, 32
Lyme  15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 31
Massachusetts  37
Morristown (Franconia)  23, 24, 28
Moultonborough  10
Newbury, Vt  4, 5, 11, 12, 17
New Connecticut  27
New England  4, 37
New Hampshire, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30
34, 35, 36. 37. 38. 39
New York  7, 27
Northumberland  3, 6, 9, 23, 24, 26, 31, 32
Norwich, Vt  5, 9
Orange  20
Orford  3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25
Peacham, Vt  11
Pennsylvania  37
Percy (Stark)  31
Piermont  20, 23, 24, 25
Plainfield  6, 1 5
Plymouth  4, 10, 14, 17, 18, 20
Portsmouth  33
Rhode Island  17
Royalton, Vt  7, 11, 12, 17

47
St. John's, NB  4
Salisbury  10
Sandwich  10
Saratoga  4, 7, 12, 21
Stark, see Percy  31
State PliU, see Bethlehem.
Stewartstown  32
Stratford  3, 6, 9, 23, 24, 31, 32
Ticonderoga  19, 23
Vermont  3, 5, 6, 8, 9, ii, 12, 17, 18, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Walpole  17
Washington  37
Westmoreland  10
West Point  8, 17
Yorktown  12

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