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The
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Society
Publications.
Vol. 12
Boston
Old Srmi House
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V 12
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Soldier of the Revolution, General John
Thomas 9
Arthur Lord.
A History of the Gardiner Greene Estate . 39
Francis Cabot Lowell.
Letters and Memoranda of Sir Archibald
Campbell 65
Archibald M. Howe.
97
99
Original Documents
Indenture of Thomas Hancock .
Warrant against Samuel and Hannah
Adams . . . . . . . 102
Letter of Peter Lyon to Major Thomas
Leonard . . . . . , 106
Bills rendered to Governor Joseph Dud-
•. LEY ........ 107
Index: — I. Names 115
II. Places and Subjects . . . 119
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
General John Thomas .... Faces Title
From a portrait in the possession of the
family.
The Gardiner Greene Mansion House . . 37
Painted by Pratt in 1834.
Taken from a spot near the west side of Scol-
lay's buildings, showing the mansion house, stable
and stable yard, and the north end of the Waldo
house.
Gardiner Greene ...... 42
From a portrait in the possession of Gardiner
Greene, Esq., of Norwich, Conn.
Mrs. Gardiner Greene (Elizabeth Copley) . 42
From a photograph.
Plan of the Greene and Adjoining Estates , 48
Made in i8j^ by Alexander Wadsworth.
Plan in Detail of The Greene Estate . . 52
As it was in 1834. The boundaries are taken
from the 1835 plan. The details are derived almost
altogether from the recollection of Mrs. James S.
Amory, with some assistance from the pictures of
the house and garden.
The Garden 60
Painted about 18^4, probably by Fisher.
Taken from the rear of the mansion house, and
showing the terraces, shrubbery, etc., with the Mount
in the background. The top of the Francis summer-
house is seen in both pictures.
Sir Archibald Campbell, K. B 63
From a portrait by Romney.
A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION.
GENERAL JOHN THOMAS
BY
ARTHUR LORD
A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION,
GENERAL JOHN THOMAS
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL
CHAMBER, OLD STATE HOUSE, MARCH 17, 1914, BY
ARTHUR LORD
)HE part which the Town of Boston
played in the years which preceded
the American Revolution and in the
early days of that struggle, the story
of Bunker Hill and of the months
which followed up to the Evacuation of Boston, 138
years ago, is to members of this Society at least, more
than a twice told tale. The researches of the anti-
quarian and the historian have left little to add to
make the record of those days complete. The pages
of some forgotten diary, the discovery of some plan
drawn by an American or British engineer of the lines
and fortifications around Boston, which has escaped the
10 A Soldier of the Revolution
attention of the collector, may serve to throw new light
upon some person or scene connected with those times,
but the story in its material and important details has
been preserved and will be handed down unchanged to
the generations which follow. Within the limits of
time which the favor of your committee has assigned
me, I propose to call to your attention this afternoon
the story of the life and services and death of the dis-
tinguished officer who led the American troops in the
important movement which resulted in the fortification
of Dorchester Heights and compelled the Evacuation of
Boston 138 years ago.
In a grave in distant Canada, lonely and unmarked,
nearby the crumbling walls of the old Fort at Chambly,
which stands on the point of land where the waters of
the river Sorel mingle with the Bay of Chambly and the
St. Lawrence, rest the ashes of Major General John
Thomas, of whom it was said that he was the best
general officer whom Massachusetts furnished in the
American Revolution and for whom it may conserva-
tively be claimed that had he survived the eight years
of struggle for independence he would have stood in the
minds and hearts of his countrymen second to Washing-
ton alone.
Born in 1724 in the town of Marshfield in the county
of Plymouth, where Edward Winslow the Pilgrim gov-
ernor lived and Daniel Webster died, a town rich in
associations, traditions and history, his early life was
General John Thomas 1 1
spent upon its hills and shores. He has sometimes
been described as a descendant of that William Thomas,
first settler of the name within the limits of the Old
Colony. Among the manuscript papers of the late
William Thomas of Plymouth, H. U. 1807, I find this
statement : —
General John Thomas, who married Hannah, the daugh-
ter of Nathaniel, had no known connection with the family.
His ancestor came over with the first named William who
lived with him and assumed his name, as the General him-
self stated it.
There is no record nor tradition of his boyhood and
youth. The story of his life must be mainly traced in
the archives of the State and nation, and in the com-
missions and correspondence which are now preserved
in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Six feet in height, of commanding appearance and
well proportioned, the fine portrait of him, painted by
Benjamin Blythe, now in the possession of Miss Sarah
Williams, depicts him as a man of graceful and dis-
tinguished face and presence, while his correspondence
with Washington and the other distinguished officers of
the Revolution shows him to be a recognized leader in
the military affairs of that period, and a man of high
character and great accomplishments.
In accordance with the custom of that time the youth
who sought to fit himself for the practice of medicine
12 A Soldier of the Revolution
studied under the care and training of some experienced
physician, and Thomas acquired the learning which fit-
ted him for a practicing physician in the office of Dr.
Simon Tufts, an eminent physician of his day in your
neighboring city of Medford. He began the practice
of his chosen profession in the village of Green Harbor,
in the town of Marshfield, and later removed to Kings-
ton, where he made his home and practised his profes-
sion except when engaged in the public service as a
surgeon or officer in the army. It was a useful and
honorable but arduous life, that of a country doctor,
who in winter's cold and summer's heat was quick to
respond to every call of the sick and suffering, and so
he won and kept the confidence and affection of the
people of the county whom he served so well.
His first commission came to him, a young man of
twenty-two, from Governor Shirley, bearing date of
March i, 1746, and authorized him to practice "chirur-
gery and medicine in the army." In February, 1755,
a second commission was issued to him by Shirley, au-
thorizing him to " beat his drums anywhere within this
province for enlisting volunteers for His Majesty's ser-
vice," and many a volunteer from the towns of Plymouth
county fell in behind his drums. At the same time he
was appointed lieutenant and also surgeon's mate in a
regiment then being raised as part of General Winslow's
expedition for the removal of the Acadians. The story
of that expedition and the melancholy fate of the Aca-
General John Thomas 1 3
dians which the verse of Longfellow has immortalized,
is nowhere more fully told than in the diaries, fortu-
nately safely preserved, of those two Massachusetts
officers. General John Winslow of Plymouth, and John
Thomas of Kingston.
Those records show that General Thomas played his
part in the removal of the Acadians with fidelity, dig-
nity and delicacy. In 1759, and again in 1760, he
received from General Pownall a commission as Colonel
of Provincials, and commanded a regiment in Nova
Scotia, and in the expedition to Canada in 1760 under
General Amherst. When the army left Crown Point
under an August sky in 1760, and proceeded down
Lake Champlain, the right wing was composed of Pro-
vincials under General Ruggles, and the left was made
up of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts troops
under Colonel Thomas. In the centre column are the
English regulars, — an imposing array which, sweeping
all opposition before it, arrived in Montreal in Septem-
ber. The Governor surrendered his army and the city
at the first summons, and once again the " Lilies of
France withered where the Lion of England trod."
Like many another of the general officers of the
American Revolution who had served in the Colonial
forces in the French or Indian wars. Colonel Thomas
had marched and fought side by side with the English
soldiers under English generals, beneath the English
flag, and the training and experience thus acquired was
14 A Soldier of the Revolution
of incalculable service in enabling these officers in the
early years of the Revolution to drill their raw levies
to meet on equal terms the trained soldiers of England.
The skill and training thus acquired beneath the royal
standard of England, as Provincial and Regular fought
side by side against a common foe, made possible in
the years to come the triumph of the American arms
from Saratoga to Yorktown. From this expedition to
Canada, little dreaming of the future which lay before
him, or that in a few short years he would lead an
American army against the best troops of England in
that distant Canada which he had helped to win for
England, and that he would rest there in alien soil, an
early and foremost sacrifice in the cause of American
liberty. Colonel Thomas returns to Kingston to prac-
tice his chosen profession in the fifteen years which
follow until the breaking out of the Revolution, which
calls him from a happy home and professional distinc-
tion to lay upon the altar of his country in the struggle
for liberty, his military experience, a soldiers fame, a
gallant life.
When the Provincial Congress assembled in Febru-
ary, 1775, Colonel Thomas was appointed one of the
five general officers, and his commission as Lieutenant
General is signed by his neighbor, James Warren of
Plymouth, President of the Provincial Congress. When
the news of the battle of Bunker Hill reached the Con-
tinental Congress then sitting in Philadelphia, it at once
General John Thomas 1 5
proceeded to the election of eight Brigadier Generals,
and it is worthy to note that all save one of them were
from New England. The commission of General
Thomas, dated June 22, 1775, described him as the
first Brigadier General, but the dates of the commission
to General Pomeroy of Northampton, and to General
Heath of Roxbury, gave precedence to these officers.
In the first letter which General Washington wrote to
Congress from his camp in Cambridge, July 10, 1775,
he says —
I am sorry to observe that the appointments of General
Officers in the Provinces of Massachusetts and Connecticut
has not corresponded with the wishes or the judgment either
of the civil or military. Gen. Thomas is much esteemed
and most earnestly desired to continue in the service and so
far as my opportunities have enabled me to judge, I must
join the general opinion that he is an able and good officer
and his resignation would be a public loss. The postpone-
ment of him to Pomeroy and Heath whom he has com-
manded, would make his continuance very difficult and
would probably operate on his mind as the like circumstance
did on that of Spencer.
It appears in the same letter that General Spencer,
who was from Connecticut, was so disgusted with Gen-
eral Putnam's promotion that he left the army without
visiting General Washington or making known his in-
tention.
1 6 A Soldier of the Revolution
Believing that he could not honorably serve under
those whom he had so recently commanded, General
Thomas withdrew from his command at Roxbury. How
highly General Thomas was esteemed, how earnestly he
was desired to continue in the service and how generally
his resignation would be regarded as a public loss is
conclusively shown from the letter of James Warren,
Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the order
of that body, earnestly requesting his continuance with
the army and by the address of the Field Officers of the
several regiments belonging to the camp at Roxbury,
which ascribed to " his vigilance, prudence and skillful
management, the order and regularity for which this
camp has been celebrated," and assuring him that he
had the " purest incense to a great and good man, the
unfeigned thanks of the officers and soldiers in his im-
mediate command as well as every friend of his country
and the rights of mankind."
And lastly, may I trespass upon your indulgence to
quote from a letter among the Thomas papers, now in
the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
of General Washington to General Thomas, dignified in
its tone, felicitous in its expression, elevated in its senti-
ments, eloquent in its appeal to every consideration of
duty and patriotism, and which hardly needs the weight
of his great name to teach us to-day the lofty lesson of
duty, honor and patriotism.
Sir:
General John Thomas 1 7
Cambridge, July 23, 1775.
The retirement of a general officer, possessing the con-
fidence of his country and the army, at so critical a period,
appears to me to be big with fatal consequences, both to the
public cause and his own reputation. While it is unexe-
cuted, I think it my duty to make this last effort to prevent
it, and after suggesting those reasons which occur to me
against your resignation, your own virtue and good sense
must decide upon it. In the usual contests of empire and
ambition, the conscience of a soldier has so little share that
he may very properly insist upon his claims of rank and ex-
tend his pretensions even to punctilio : but in such a cause
as this, where the object is neither glory nor extent of terri-
tory, but a defence of all that is dear and valuable in life,
surely every post ought to be deemed honorable in which a
man can serve his country. What matter of triumph will it
afford our enemies, that in less than one month a spirit of
discord should show itself in the highest ranks of the army,
not to be extinguished by anything less than a total desertion
of duty ? How little reason shall we have to boast of Amer-
ican union, of patriotism, if at such a time and in such a
cause, smaller and partial consideration cannot give way to
the great and general interest ? These remarks not only
affect you as a member of the great American body, but as
an inhabitant of Massachusetts Bay, your own province, and
the other colonies have a peculiar and unquestionable claim
to your services ; and, in my opinion, you cannot refuse
them without relinquishing in some degree that character
for public virtue and honor which you have hitherto sup-
1 8 A Soldier of the Revolution
ported. If our cause is just, it ought to be supported but
where shall it find support if gentlemen of merit and expe-
rience, unable to conquer the prejudices of a competition,
withdraw themselves in an hour of danger ? I admit, sir,
that your claims and services have not had due respect —
it is by no means a singular case : worthy men of all nations
and countries have had reason to make the same complaint ;
but they did not for this abandon the public cause — they
nobly stifled the dictates of resentment and made their
enemies ashamed of their injustice. And can America
show no such instances of magnanimity? For the sake of
your bleeding country, your devoted province, your charter
right, and by the memory of those brave men who have
already fell in this great cause, I conjure you to banish from
your mind every suggestion of anger and disappointment ;
your country will do ample justice to your merits ; they
already do it by the sorrow and regret expressed on the
occasion, and the sacrifice you are called to make will, in
the judgment of every good man and lover of his country,
do you more real honor than the most distinguished victory.
You possess the confidence and affection of the troops of
this province particularly; many of them are not capable
of judging the propriety and reason of your conduct ; should
they esteem themselves authorized by your example to leave
the service, the consequences may be fatal and irretrievable.
There is reason to fear it from the personal attachments of
the men to their officers and the obligations that are sup-
posed to arise from these attachments. But sir, the other
colonies have also their claim upon you, not only as a native
of America but an inhabitant of this province. They have
General John Thomas 19
made a common cause with it, they have sacrificed their
trade, loaded themselves with taxes, and are ready to spill
their blood in vindication of the rights of Massachusetts
Bay, while all the security and profit of a neutrality has been
offered them. But no arts or temptation could seduce them
from your side, and leave you a prey to a cruel and per-
fidious ministry. Sure, these reflections must have some
weight with a mind as generous and considerate as yours.
How will you be able to answer it to your country and
your own conscience if the step you are about to take should
lead to a division of the army or the loss and ruin of Amer-
ica be ascribed to measures which your councils and con-
duct could have prevented ? Before it is too late, I entreat,
sir, you would weigh well the greatness of the state, and
upon how much smaller circumstances the fate of empire
has depended. Of your own honor and reputation you are
the best and only judge ; but allow me to say that a people
contending for life and liberty are seldom disposed to look
with a favorable eye upon either men or measures whose
passions, interests or consequences will clash with those
inestimable objects. As to myself, sir, be assured that I
shall with pleasure do all in my power to make your situa-
tion both easy and honorable, and that the sentiments here
expressed flow from a clear opinion that your duty to your
country, your posterity and yourself, most explicitly require
your continuance in the service. The order and rank of the
commission is under the consideration of the Continental
Congress, whose determination will be received in a few
days. It may argue a want of respect to that august body
not to wait the decision ; but at all events I shall flatter
20 A Soldier of the Revolution
myself that these reasons, with others which your own good
judgment will suggest, will strengthen your mind against
those impressions which are incident to humanity and laud-
able, to a certain degree ; and that the result will be your
resolution to assist your country in this day of distress.
That you may reap the full reward of your honor and public
esteem which such a conduct deserves, is the sincere wish of
Sir, your very obed. & most humble servant,
Go. Washington.
Gen. John Thomas.
What other reply to this clear call to duty could be
expected from General Thomas than that he should re-
consider his determination to resign, return to the army
and patiently await the recognition which was his due
when Congress, by special resolve, determined that he
should have precedence over all of the brigadiers of the
army.
To these persuasive and stirring appeals he promptly
responds, remains as a general officer in command of
that division of the army encamped in Roxbury, and
thereafter devotes himself earnestly to the discharge of
those military duties in the siege of Boston for which
his experience and training have so well qualified him.
It is not difficult with the aid of the military plans of
that period and from the diaries, journals, letters and
official records of the participants to recall the scene.
The peninsula of Boston is connected with the main
General John Thomas 2 1
land by a narrow neck at Roxbury, and upon its hills
are the camps, batteries and redoubts and 10,000
chosen troops of England. Across the neck run the
lines and entrenchments of the Royal Army and a nar-
row road stretches along the neck through the stout
gates into the beleagured city.
The rocky nook with hilltops three
Looked Eastward from the farms,
And twice each day the flowing sea
Took Boston in its arms.
On the hills at Charlestown are seen the only en-
trenchments upon the main land of the Royal Army,
while along the encircling road from Charlestown to
Dorchester, through Cambridge and Brookline and Rox-
bury are massed the forces of the Continental army.
There on the slopes of Winter Hill is the second corps
of the American army under General Putnam ; at Cam-
bridge is the principal body under the orders of General
Ward. In Roxbury is the third corps under the com-
mand of General Thomas, with the connecting line pro-
tected at material points by battery and redoubt. Here
in the harbor the English ships swing idly at their
anchors. In supreme command is Washington, with
his headquarters at Cambridge.
The summer days pass away, the fall and winter
months follow, and the siege continues without mate-
rial success on either side, while the sound of the morn-
22 A Soldier of the Revolution
ing and evening guns from the battery on Beacon Hill
mark for both armies the passing hours. The British
grenadiers with their pointed caps of red, pointed with
silver, wearing white leather leggins, and their scarlet
coats trimmed with blue, may make a more imposing
spectacle as to the strains of martial music they pass
to and fro along the streets of Boston, but they are not
more effective and picturesque than the Virginia rifle-
men under Morgan, who in their boyhood had been
punished for hitting game anywhere except in the head,
nor the riflemen in the Pennsylvania companies where
no man had been enrolled unless he could hit at 150
yards the outline of a nose of common size, drawn with
a piece of chalk upon a board.
These riflemen wore long frocks, around each waist
is the belt in which hung the tomahawk and the long,
glittering blade called a scalping knife. Leggins and
moccasins were decked with beads and brightly dyed
porcupine quills. On their heads were small round
hats, and on the hat or frock they bore the inscription
— "Liberty or Death." A British writer described
them as — ** These shirt-tailed men with their cursed
twisted guns, the most fatal widow and orphan makers
in the world." And encamped there with the militia
from Massachusetts and the other New England colo-
nies was a company of Stockbridge Indians, armed with
bows and arrows, which they had used with effect upon
the British regulars. There was suffering and disease
General John Thomas 23
in the camps of both armies in the cold winter days,
but the stout Continentals in tents and huts upon the
hillsides suffered vastly more than the British soldiers
quartered in Boston homes, who could exercise their
horses in the riding schools in the churches, and amuse
themselves in watching the performance of plays in
Faneuil Hall.
The daring of the American privateersman supplied
the deficiency in small arms and ammunition, and in the
dead of winter Colonel Knox brought from Crown Point
and Ticonderoga, over the frozen snow, in forty-two sleds
a "noble train of artillery." After the first of January,
1776, the Union flag with thirteen stripes waved above
the Continental army. On the floating batteries and
colonial vessels was the white flag of Massachusetts
with a green pine tree and its inscription " An Appeal
to Heaven." During the seven months that followed the
Battle of Bunker Hill, although the cannonading from
the British lines had been at times severe and more
than 2,000 shot and shell had been fired, only a dozen
of the American soldiers had been killed. "At that
rate," observes Dr. Thacher, " how many shots and
bombs will it require to subdue the whole of his maj-
esty's rebellious subjects V The colonial soldier was
less alarmed by the balls from the British cannon, as
they bounded and rebounded over the hills, than the
British officers were when they mistook the buzzing of
the bugs and beetles for the whizzing of musket balls
24 A Soldier of the Revolution
and fled precipitately down the slope of Beacon Hill, an
incident thus satirized in a celebrated poem :
No more the British colonel runs
From whizzing beetles as air guns ;
Thinks horn bugs bullets or through fear
Mosquitoes takes for musketeers.
As spring approached, Washington determined to
fortify Dorchester Heights and compel the British to
attack. On the nights of the second, third and fourth
of March a severe cannonading from the American bat-
teries at Cobble Hill, Lechmere Point and Lambs Dam,
diverted the attention of the British troops.
By the fifth of March bundles of hay, fascines and
chandeliers for entrenching purposes had been collected
in large quantities, barrels filled with stone and sand to
roll down the hills upon an assaulting party were ready,
2,000 bandages prepared, while on the Charles River
45 bateaux and two floating batteries were moored.
As night falls the cannon mounted on the American
batteries open fire, the moon is full and bright, the
weather mild and pleasant, a soft haze, as it settles
along the Dorchester Neck, conceals from the watchful
sentinel upon the British forts, the movement of the
American troops.
As the clock on the church tower strikes seven the
word of command is given, and silently the covering
party of 800 sturdy Continentals lead the way, then
General John Thomas 25
follow the carts with the entrenching tools. There is
hard work before the men who are to use the pick and
spade, for the earth is frozen to the depth of 18 inches.
Now come the working party 1200 strong, then some
300 ox-teams, loaded with fascines and hay, screwed
into bundles of seven or eight hundred weight, the cart
wheels wrapped with straw that no sound may fall on
hostile ears. All night in the moonlight the work goes
on, the straining oxen with their heavy loads pass and
repass along the Neck, concealed behind the bundles
of hay, the air resounds with the roar of cannon from
the British forts, and the bursting bombs light up for
a moment the steeples of the city.
As the day dawns the startled English sentinels
report that the heights of Dorchester are fortified and
the tops of the houses in Boston are covered with the
enemy, who view us with astonishment, writes General
Thomas to his wife, and Sir William Howe lays down
his glass with the remark that " the rebels have done
more in one night than my whole army could do in a
month." And now the fire of the English guns is
directed upon these new redoubts, but to little effect.
The English general soon recognized that the Ameri-
cans must be driven from these works or his army must
evacuate Boston. Two thousand four hundred soldiers,
the flower of the English army, are landed at Castle
William, and at night were to attack the works. Gen-
eral Thomas is reinforced by 2,000 men, the breastworks
26 A Soldier of the Revolution
are strengthened, and in front are placed the heavy
barrels ready to be rolled upon the British advance.
But now a violent storm springs up, the sea runs high,
no boat laden with troops can cross the channel and
land through the heavy surf, the rain falls in torrents,
the attack is delayed and before the storm is over
these Heights have been made impregnable and the
opportunity is lost forever.
The days quickly pass, and on the 17th of March,
1776, English soldier and American loyalist march down
State Street to the waiting transports never to return.
For the last time the streets of Boston echo the tread
of an hostile army. Only as an emblem of peace and
good will has the English flag floated above the city
since that eventful day. It is a happy realization of the
pious prophesy which the preacher took for his text in
his sermon of thanksgiving, preached at the request
of Washington when the American troops entered
Boston :
Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes
shall see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that
shall not be taken down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be
broken, —
and so may it be forever.
With the evacuation of Boston the attention of Wash-
ington was directed to another and more distant field.
General John Thomas 27
The necessity of sending relief to the ill-fated expedition
of General Arnold at Quebec was both apparent and
immediate. In the preceding September on Wednesday
morning, the 13th, the troops which had been detailed
for the Canadian expedition started from Cambridge
with the countersign for the day " Quebec." With
high hopes and unbounded confidence the army marched
quickly along the dusty highways and arrived at New-
buryport, where upon the Saturday following, with
colors flying and drums and fifes playing, they embark
upon the vessels which are to carry them to the Ken-
nebec. The plan was that the expedition should pro-
ceed up the Kennebec in boats to Lake Megantic, across
the lake and down the Chaudiere River to Point Levis,
then across the St. Lawrence, and by an attack either
upon the lower town or upon the Heights of Abraham,
famous in history as the scene of the death of Mont-
gomery and Wolfe, the capture of the city and the
overthrow of English rule in Canada was to be accom-
plished. One Hundred and thirty-seven years have
passed away since the van of Arnold's men reached
on the 6th of November the bluffs of Point Levis,
and before them flowed the mighty St. Lawrence, while
all aglow in the sunlight beyond stood the frowning
heights of Quebec. The story of that desperate march
there is not time to tell in detail, the story of one day
is the story of every day, a continuous recital of suffer-
ing and exposure, disease, starvation and death.
28 A Soldier of the Revolution
The great precipice was crowned with batteries, and
the palisades with citadels and towers. In the stream
below floated His Majesty's frigate and a sloop of war,
with muskets, ammunition and gold, while guard boats
and small armed vessels day and night patrolled the
river. For days the storm raged and the river was im-
passible for the frail boats gathered along the shore by
Arnold's men, even if the frowning guns of the frigate
had not blocked their way. But one dark night the
boats loaded with the American soldiers are paddled
silently up the stream and then down by the frigate
and guard boat, and at last reach the point on the
shore below the bluff where Wolfe had landed fifteen
years before. Five hundred men, all that remained
of the patriot forces who had left Cambridge two
months ago, were speedily landed upon the shore and
scaled without discovery the precipitous path leading
to the heights above. Even Arnold was unwilling
to lead his troops against the stout gates and strong
walls without scaling ladders or cannon. He first
attempted to persuade the forces within the walls to
come outside and give battle upon the Plains of
Abraham, but the English officer in command was
too shrewd to adopt the fatal policy which lost Quebec
to Montcalm. The next expedient was to withdraw
the American forces up the river to await the arrival
of Montgomery with men, ammunition and supplies.
It was now certain that Quebec could not be captured
General John Thomas 29
by a surprise as it was hoped, and Arnold's march,
which Joseph Warren in his letter to Samuel Adams
compared to Hannibal's and Xenophon's, had for the
moment at least failed.
On the 28 th of November, Montgomery set sail from
Montreal with men, stores and artillery, and upon the
evening of the following day dropped anchor above
Quebec. The troops within the walls of Quebec out-
numbered the invading forces. Trenches could not be
dug in the frozen earth, the artillery was inadequate,
and there was no possible method of scaling the walls
which were 30 feet high, for no men could carry scaling
ladders when they sank to their armpits in the snow,
even if the advance was not checked by the trained
soldiers of England who manned the walls. The snow
was from 6 to 20 feet deep, the cold more intense than
the New England men had ever known. "God bless
your honor, I am glad you have come, my eyelids have
frozen together," says an English sentry within the
walls, while on the Plains the American soldier lies
down never to rise again. Ammunition was scarce,
food was faiUng, starvation near at hand. Enfeebled
by disease the strong became weak and the weak mis-
erably died. A council of war was held and it was
decided to take the desperate chances of an assault.
In the darkness of a December night the assault was
made, and before morning had been repulsed all along
the line. When the sun rose Montgomery lay dead,
30 A Soldier of the Revolution
Arnold crippled by a bullet which had cut its way
though his left leg, and Morgan with almost all the
artillery and the Kennebec division had been captured.
The army already small was now a shred, and there it
lay, buried in the drifting snows of a Canadian winter,
beaten and forced back, its friends far away, and the
enemy close at hand.
Nothing was left but to withdraw from before the
walls of Quebec, in the hope that the British troops
would not press the advantage which they had already
gained, and that reinforcements would arrive. Mes-
sengers were sent back in haste to take the story of the
defeat to the forces at Montreal, and slowly to force
their way through the winters cold and bring the news
of the disaster, and impress the importance of early
relief upon Washington and the Continental author-
ities.
When the news reached Washington of the desperate
condition at Quebec, the question at once presented
itself, — what general officer can be entrusted with the
duty of relieving and taking command of the American
army in Canada ? General Schuyler's health unfitted
him for so dangerous a task. Neither General Wooster
nor General Putnam, in the opinion of Washington,
were competent to take a separate command at that
distance and to lead the American forces in so critical
a crisis, when even Arnold with all his brilliancy and
daring, recognizing the gravity of the situation, declared
General John Thomas 31
that a general of greater experience than himself ought
to be appointed. The choice fell upon General Thomas,
who in the mature judgment of Washington and his
officers was of all the available American officers the
best fitted for this important, dangerous and almost
hopeless undertaking. It was high praise from the
foremost of Americans. Possessing the confidence of
officers and men alike, gallant, experienced, manly, un-
pretending, all knew that he would lead the Colonial
troops to victory, if victory were possible to human
effort or human valor, or would wisely and prudently
conduct the retreat of the army, if retreat were abso-
lutely necessary before overwhelming odds.
On the 6th of March, 1776, he was advanced to the
rank of Major General and ordered to proceed imme-
diately to Canada. He hastens to Albany and there
undertakes the almost impossible task at that season of
the year of leading the forces there gathered to Quebec
by way of Ticonderoga, Pressing forward he reaches
Ticonderoga ; on the 26th of April he enters the Chateau
de Ramesay at Montreal, the headquarters of the Amer-
ican forces. Then, down the St. Lawrence, and on the
1st of May he reaches the American army near Quebec.
He found that his entire command consisted of less
than 2,000 men. It was estimated that the number of
soldiers fit for duty were only 700 and that these were
spread over a circuit of twenty-six miles. Only about
300 were immediately in front of Quebec. The store
32 A Soldier of the Revolution
of powder had been reduced to 150 lbs., and less than a
week's rations remained. To oppose the 150 cannon
mounted on the walls of Quebec, the batteries in his
command could mount not more than fifteen guns, and
already sailing up the St. Lawrence was the great
English fleet, laden with the seasoned veterans of En-
gland, stores of ammunition and ample supplies.
The situation was desperate in the extreme. Upon
the 5th of May he called a council of war. It was unani-
mously agreed that in the face of odds so overwhelming
nothing was left but to retreat. The next day the En-
glish frigates drop anchor before the town. The veteran
troops of England are landed, the gates of the fortress
are thrown open and the columns in battle array march
out. The retreat of the Americans begins and in good
order they fall back up the St. Lawrence to Descham-
bault, where Thomas determines to make his stand, a
position of unusually strong natural advantages, forty-
eight miles above Quebec. Up the river came the
stout English detachments, through the woods press
forward the Canadian forces and their Indian allies.
Exhausted but not dismayed the brave soldiers of New
England rally around their beloved general. The ex-
pected reinforcements from Montreal fail to arrive, their
ammunition spent, their rations exhausted, it was deter-
mined by a council of war that the army should not
longer attempt to hold the position, but continue the
retreat to Sorel on the other side of the river.
General John Thomas 33
The American Commissioners, Chase and Carroll,
report that it was their firm and unanimous opinion that
it was better to withdraw immediately the army from
Canada. No American soldier was captured in that
masterly retreat. The confidence of Washington in
General Thomas had not been misplaced.
From his headquarters at Sorel, on the 20th of May,
1776, General Thomas writes to the Commissioners:
In order truly to judge of my situation you will be pleased
to figure to yourselves a retreating army disheartened by
unavoidable misfortunes, destitute of almost every necessity
to render their lives comfortable or even tolerable, sick, and
as they think, wholly neglected, no probable prospect of a
speedy relief; if you will please Gentleman, to reflect on
these circumstances for a moment you will not be surprised
when you are informed that there are great murmurings and
complaints among the soldiers.
This letter, which had been burned in some places,
is not readily decipherable, but sufficient has been read
to show the deplorable condition of the army under
Thomas in Canada. General Thomas already had small-
pox upon him — " But he passed his days in the saddle
and his evening at the writing table until the 2d of June
arrived and then he died and his country has not for-
gotten him," says a distinguished English historian.
On May 21st, General Thomas wrote his last official
letter, and probably the last letter of his life. It is
34 -^ Soldier of the Revolution
dated Headquarters, Sorel, May 21, 1776, and is ad-
dressed to General Wooster, and reads :
I am at this period unfortunately seized with the small-
pox, the safety of the army makes it necessary that I should
be removed from camp and I shall be for some time unable
to discharge the duties of my office. The command in con-
sequence devolves upon you, and as the main body of the
army is here, you will undoubtedly think it necessary to re-
pair to this place as soon as possible.
His disease was of the malignant form. Some days
before his death he was entirely blind, and on the 2d of
June, 1776, he died. He is buried not far from the
fort which still stands near the banks of the river.
To the listening ear and attentive mind, from out of
the oblivion of the past there comes once again the roar
of the artillery, the sharp volleys of musketry, the roll
of the stirring drums, and in imagination we see that
stately figure, in full uniform, leading on foot his sturdy
Continentals along the Heights of Dorchester which he
won and kept, or on horseback, marshaling his sick and
weary soldiers, infusing into them new confidence, in-
spiring them with his spirit and example, as he con-
ducts them safely in that last retreat along the banks
of the St. Lawrence.
In the clear light of history he stands forth from the
shadows of the passing years, tall, erect, well propor-
tioned, his features finely cut, his manners affable and
General John Thomas 35
sincere, a soldier brave and patriotic, an officer enjoying
the confidence of Amherst and of Washington, possess-
ing the love and respect of the men whom he had
trained in order and discipline without severity, and
had led in victory and defeat without fear and without
reproach.
May his name and fame be long preserved in this
community which he served so well, and in this nation
whose independence his skill and valor helped to win,
and the lessons of honor and duty and patriotism which
the memory of his life and service and death will ever
teach, be an inspiration and example to the coming
generations !
o ^
^ ^
o g
O o
A HISTORY
OF THE
GARDINER GREENE ESTATE
ON
Cotton Hill, now Pemberton Square, Boston
EDITED BY
WINTHROP S. SCUDDER
FOREWORD
Through the courtesy of Frederic Amory, Esq.,
grandson of Gardiner Greene, and a Life Member of
this Society, two hitherto unpublished manuscripts are
presented to you to-day. One which gives a history
of the house, compiled from historic documents and
records, was written in 1886, by the late Judge Francis
Cabot Lowell for Mrs. James Sullivan Amory. The
other, written the same year, also for Mrs. Amory,
gives an intimate picture of the life in the old mansion
and an account of its distinguished mistress, by her
friend, Mrs. Robert C. Waterston (Anna Cabot Lowell
Quincy).
Just a word about my connection with these papers :
Among the pictures which I collected a few months ago,
to. illustrate "Dr. Holmes's Boston," is included the
interesting painting by Pratt in 1834, of the Gardiner
Greene house. A reproduction of this, with a view of
the garden, plans of the estate on Cotton, or Pemberton
Hill, and portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner Greene,
which were with the manuscript, are to be published
with these papers. Finding it difficult to establish from
40 The Gardiner Greene Estate
records in the libraries the exact date when the house
was built, I applied to Mr. Amory, who said that the
date would be given in an original manuscript in his
possession. This manuscript is the one on the house by
Judge Lowell, and preserved with it is the one by Mrs.
Waterston.
Your Secretary, when informed of the existence of
these manuscripts, suggested that with Mr. Amory's
approval, which was readily given, they be read before
the Society and included in the forthcoming volume
of the Society's publications.
Before I read these two papers, it will, I think, in-
terest you to know a few facts about Mr, and Mrs.
Greene, because I believe that people are more interest-
ing than things, and because it is the personality of its
occupants that makes a house interesting historically.
Gardiner Greene was born in Boston in 1753, and
died there in 1832, in his eightieth year. The founda-
tion of his large fortune was laid in Demerara.
While in England, where he had gone to sell his
Demerara plantation, he met Miss Elizabeth Clarke
Copley, and in July, 1800, was married to her in Lon-
don. She was the daughter of John Singleton Copley
and sister of John, afterwards Baron Lyndhurst, three
times Lord Chancellor of England. Her mother was
Susanna Farnham, daughter of Richard Clarke, the
merchant to whom was consigned the tea which was
destroyed by the Boston Tea Party.
The Gardiner Greene Estate 41
In 1803 Mr. Greene purchased the house on Cotton
Hill, built by William Vassall in 1758, and he lived
there till his death in 1832. This house was used by
Cooper in his novel, " Lionel Lincoln," as the house
of Mrs. Lechmere. The estate comprised about two
and one-half acres.
The following tribute to the character of Mr. Greene
appeared in one of the Boston papers soon after his
death, but the name of the writer has not been dis-
covered :
" I cannot permit," says the writer, " the occasion of
the death of Mr. Greene, who was both our friend and
our father's friend, to pass without a few observations
on points of his character which, while they do honor
to his memory, should have a salutary influence over
us all.
" The early life of Mr. Greene, as well as his latter
days, was characterized by the grand secret of success,
the habit of application, and in him it was no less power-
ful than his integrity, an integrity that was rare. We
were led to a knowledge of him by our own commercial
intercourse with Demerara (where he laid the founda-
tion of his large fortune), by which we frequently had
the funds of the widow and fatherless, etc., to place in
his hands in his Demerara character of an honest man,
to use a familiar expression. And I know of no instance
where any charge was made for the faithful care of the
trusts.
42 The Gardiner Greene Estate
" In all the public trusts reposed in him, — and they
were very numerous and responsible, — and in his com-
mercial intercourse he was alike punctual and was
possessed with a very philosophic temperament of mind.
One of many instances of this trait I will relate. He
made a large shipment to the north of Europe and
sustained a very heavy loss. On the return of the
Supercargo to Boston, Mr. Greene took him by the hand
in his usual friendly manner, without a mention of the
loss, and shortly after, by letters of introduction, etc.,
was instrumental in placing him in a very eligible situa-
tion in Europe.
" His manners were of the old school and the open
hospitality of his house will be cherished and remem-
bered by many distinguished foreigners and a very
extensive circle of friends and acquaintances in this
vicinity and throughout the country. The grounds
around his mansion on * Cotton Hill ' (afterwards Pem-
berton Square), commanding one of our finest views,
have long been considered one of the 'lions of the
city.'
" With regard to his public benefactions I think they
will compare with those of his compeers ; and his private
ones were very numerous."
At the time of his death, in 1832, Mr. Greene was
President of the United States Bank and also of the
Provident Institution for Savings.
o
o
The Gardiner Greene Estate 43
In the "Transcript" of December 31, 1832, I find
the following notice :
"At the annual meeting of the Provident Institution
for Savings, held Wednesday, December 19th, a letter
was read from the Hon. Samuel Hubbard, communi-
cating the death of the President of this institution.
Whereupon it was unanimously voted : That this Cor-
poration entertains a deep sense of the great loss this
Institution and the community have sustained by the
death of Gardiner Greene, Esq., who for many years
gratuitously devoted himself in the office of its Treas-
urer, with equal zeal, intelligence and fidelity to its ser-
vice ; and who subsequently in that of its President, by
the constant and unwearied application of his talents
and vigilance has been greatly instrumental in extend-
ing a confidence in it and promoting its best interests
and prosperity."
Mrs. Greene lived until 1866. The "Transcript" of
February 2, the day after her death, says :
"The venerable Mrs. Greene, who died in this city
yesterday, at the advanced age of ninety five years, was
the only person living here who sailed from the Province
of Massachusetts under the British flag just before the
Revolution.
" With her brother, the late Lord Lyndhurst, and her
sister, she embarked for England on the last vessel that
left our shores under the English ensign. The three
children then went to England to visit their father, the
44 The Gardiner Greene Estate
famous painter, J. S. Copley, who had just returned
from Italy, and was at that time receiving much patron-
age from the patrons of art in London. Mrs. Greene
lived ninety years after this meeting with her father."
In the "Transcript" of December 29, 1832, the fol-
lowing extract was reprinted from the " Atlas " :
" The disposition of his property by the late Gardiner
Greene has been the topic of conversation in this city
since the will was deposited in the Probate Office. The
aggregate amount is as yet a matter of conjecture, but
it is believed it will not fall much short of three million
dollars." His widow and his son-in-law, Hon. Samuel
Hubbard, were appointed Executors and Trustees. After
making ample provision for his family, he manumited his
mulatto man and allowed him the use of the house he
lived in, free of rent, and $60 per annum.
In editing these papers it has seemed to me most fit-
ting that attention be drawn and a public record kept of
these two important actors in the life of Boston one
hundred years ago. Their house was the centre of
that society — high-minded, intellectual, philanthropic,
and of that hospitality, simple yet formal and elegant,
which g^ve to Boston its unique and distinguished place
among American cities ; and their numerous descend-
ants still keep alive and carry on the fine old traditions
of that day,
WiNTHROP S. SCUDDER.
A HISTORY OF
THE GARDINER GREENE ESTATE
On Cotton Hill, now Pemberton Square, Boston
This paper was written in 1 886 by Hon, Francis Cabot
Lowell, (1855-19 II), for Mrs. James Sullivan Amory (Mary
Copley Greene), daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth Copley
Greene. It was read at the November, 1915, Meeting of
the Bostonian Society by Winthrop S. Scudder, and is now
printed by permission of Frederic Amory, Esq.
[ORE than a quarter of the Town of
Boston, as it existed a hundred years
ago, was covered by Beacon Hill.
This was so much larger than either
Copps Hill or Fort Hill, that in some
views of Boston they disappear altogether, while Beacon
Hill seems to fill up the peninsula.' It was divided
into three principal crests,' the highest in the centre,
1 See Memorial History of Boston, vol. 3, p. 1 56 ; vol. 4, p. 66 ; An-
tique Views of Boston, pp. 162, 166; Beacon Hill in 1635 and 1790, p.
9. See also a View of Boston in 1743 (Boston Athenaeum).
2 Mem. Hist., vol i, p. 525.
46 The Gardiner Greene Estate
on which the beacon stood, with Mount Vernon to the
west and Cotton Hill to the east.
What was then the central crest, or Beacon Hill
proper, is now crossed by Temple Street,' opposite the
reservoir lot/ It was a steep, conical hill, rounded at
the top, and rather higher than the roof of the present
State House,' From this point the land fell away
abruptly toward Bowdoin and Bulfinch streets, so that
a piece of land between Bulfinch and Somerset streets,
extending a little farther to the eastward was called
Valley Acre.* From Valley Acre eastward rose Cotton
Hill. Upon it there appear to have been three small
crests,5 one where the summer house of Mr. Ebenezer
Francis stood,^ another on the Greene estate,' with a
1 Beacon Hill in 1635 and 1790, p. 23.
2 Now (1915) occupied by the State House Extension.
3 See the colored lithographs of Beacon Hill made soon after the
present State House was built. Copies can be found in the Old State
House, and there are reduced copies of several (uncolored) Mem. Hist.,
vol. 4, pp. 64 et seq.
4 Fifth Report of Boston Record Commissioners, second edition,
pp. 79, 82, (cited hereafter as Rec. Com.). This book consists of a
series of articles by Mr. N. I. Bowditch, originally published in the
Boston Daily Transcript of 1855. Valley Acre is also spelt Valley
Achor, and it is doubtful which is the original form.
5 Snow's Hist, of Boston, p. 112. See a map of Boston made in
1728 (Boston Public Library). It is pretty clear that the name " Tre-
mont " did not come from Beacon, Fort and Copp's Hills. Whether,
as Mr. Snow suggests, it came from the three crests of Cotton Hill, or
from the three crests of Beacon Hill, is doubtful.
6 Rec. Com., p. 77 and see the picture by Salmon, owned by Mr.
W. H. Whitmore (Mem Hist., vol. 4, frontispiece). See also Note on
Pictures, infra.
7 See the picture of Mr. Greene's garden, facing p. 60.
The Gardiner Greene Estate 47
small valley between the two, and probably a third on
the adjoining Phillips estate. Cotton Hill was, there-
fore, a short ridge nearly parallel to Somerset street,
with an abrupt descent toward Tremont street and
Tremont Row,' and a somewhat gentler descent toward
Bowdoin Square. Approaching from the east, we should
find Tremont Row (then called Tremont stre6t) consider-
ably higher than it now is,' and rising from Howard
street (formerly Southack's Court) towards what is now
the east entrance of Pemberton Square. Dr. Shurtleff' s
estate was lower than Mr. Lloyd's,^ which in turn, was
lower than Mr. Greene's.
Mr. Greene's mansion house stood on land about
fifteen feet higher than the street, but it was at the
bottom of the steep descent of the hill, which rose
abruptly behind it in four or five terraces. The crest
of the hill on the Greene estate was about sixty-five
feet above the present elevation,* while the centre of
the enclosure in Pemberton Square has been cut down
about fifty-five feet.s The Francis summer house is
said to have been seventy feet above the present level
of the land on which it stood.^ From the crest of the
hill, the Greene estate descended towards Somerset
1 See the Faneuil Map (Boston Public Library).
2 Information furnished by Mr. Alexander Wadsworth.
3 From papers and plans belonging to the Jackson family.
4 Life of Asa G. Sheldon, p. 181 (Woburn Public Library).
5 Life of Sheldon, p. 183.
6 Rec. Com., p. 77.
48 The Gardiner Greene Estate
street, where a cutting, some twenty feet deep, had
been made when the street was laid out in 1801.' At
the beginning of this century, the steep sides of the
hill were nearly bare of trees,* although several large
English elms upon the very top of the hill served as
landmarks to vessels entering the harbor.' At the
bottom of the hill, near the house, there were doubtless
many trees/
In the "Book of Possessions," compiled soon after
the settlement of Boston, the larger part of the Greene
estate is set down as belonging to the Reverend John
Cotton, second pastor of the First Church. 5 The so-
called Waldo estate then belonged to Daniel Maud, while
the land behind Mr. Greene's garden, the southernmost
part of his estate, belonged to Richard Bellingham.
Mr. Cotton's lot extended across what is now Somerset
street to the east line of the Mt. Vernon Church^ in
Ashburton Place. His house stood very near the site
1 Suffolk Deeds, lib. 210, fol. 140. Annexed to the record is a plan
of a section made at right angles to Somerset street. This shows that
the street was to be cut down twenty-six feet, and that the descent was
to be graded.
2 See the water-color view taken from Fort Hill in 1807 (Old State
House). An engraving of this (reduced) is in Mem. Hist., vol. 4, p. 47.
See also the view of Boston from the house of Col. Hatch in Dorches-
ter (State Library).
3 Mem. Hist, vol. 3, p. 228.
4 Picture of Mr. Greene's house, Sewall's diary, vol. 2, p. 129.
5 Rec. Com., p. 84 et seq. and see plan I. The map in the Boston
Athenaeum and elsewhere made up from the Book of Possessions is
needlessly inaccurate. See Note on Plans, infra.
6 Now (1915) the Boston University School of Law.
^ om&rset iStT-et^t.
TEL
J3aJio7^, /<f3s
PLAN OF THE GARDINER GREENE AND ADJOINING ESTATES
The Gardiner Greene Estate 49
of the Vassall-Greene house, and in 1636 it was doubled
in size by Sir Harry Vane, who lived with him for two
years.' Mr. Cotton died in 1653, ^"^^ ^^s estate, after
being divided and passing through several hands, was
united in 1682 in the possession of John Hull, mint-
master and coiner of the " Pine Tree Shillings," *
Hull died a year later, and the premises passed to his
daughter Hannah, first wife of Samuel Sewall, Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province. In 1697
Sewall bought about half an acre of the Bellingham lot,
and the estate took the boundaries which it had in Mr.
Greene's day, except that it extended further to the
westward, across what is now Somerset street, and
except for the Maud- Waldo lot, bought in 1824, which
Mr. Greene never treated as a part of his homestead.
Judge Sewall lived on the Cotton estate for nearly
fifty years. In 1684 he asked the General Court for
leave to build a small wooden porch about seven feet
square, in order to break the wind from the " fore-
door " of his house, which stood exposed and at a dis-
tance from other houses.^ His petition was granted.
Four years later, he was approached by the Reverend
Mr. Ratcliff (afterwards Rector of Kings Chapel) and
Captain Davis, and was asked to sell them a piece of
land for a church lot. He refused sternly, both because
I Rec. Com., p, 84.
z Rec. Com., p. 85; Mem. Hist., vol. i, p. 354.
3 Massachusetts Colonial Records, p. 456.
50 The Gardiner Greene Estate
the land had once belonged to John Cotton, and also
because he *' would not set up what the people of New
England came over to avoid." " In after discourse," he
continues, "I mentioned chiefly the cross in baptism,
and holy days." '
In 1693 Judge Sewall tore down the old Vane-Cotton
house and built another in its place, fetching its corner-
stones from Boston Common.' He was proud of his new
residence and tells how Mr. Quincy was much pleased
with some painted shutters in it, and " in pleasauncy said
he thought he had been got into paradise." ' The Judge
walked often on the top of Cotton Hill, and when, in
1699, Lord Bellomont came out to the Province as
Governor, Judge Sewall invited his lady to look at the
town from this spot, which was then, no doubt, the best
point of view. As they came down through Sewall 's
garden gate at the back of his house, the old puritan
gallantly begged her to let him call it Bellomont gate
for the future. The lady graciously assented. ■♦
Besides building a new house, Sewall improved the
the estate in several ways. There were other houses
standing upon it, which he let to Mr. Hirst, Obadiah
Gore and others,^ and he took great pains that Mr.
Leblond, or Lebloom, who then owned what was later
I Sewall's Diary, vol. i, p. 207. 2 Ibid.., vol i, p. 377.
3 Ibid.y vol. I, p. 413. 4 Ibid., vol. i, p. 500.
5 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 22 ; Ibid., vol. 3, p. 157. See Bonner's Map, A. D.
1722; Mem. Hist., vol. 2, p. xiii; Plan I.
The Gardiner Greene Estate 51
called the Waldo house, should not wrongfully open a
window upon his (Se wall's) premises.' He also planted
trees — poplars, probably Lombardy poplars, and a white
oak.'
On Sewall's death, in 1729, the estate, or at any rate
the mansion house, seems to have been occupied by his
daughter Judith, wife of the Reverend William Cooper,
pastor of the Brattle Street Church. In 1733, while
digging in Mr. Cooper's garden, the workmen threw up
a considerable number of human bones, and this recalls
the fact that one of the Mathers mentions that the hill
was sometimes called Golgotha,^ probably from a simi-
lar circumstance which happened earlier. Curiously
enough, when the hill was dug down in 1835, it was
found that the cellar of one of the houses upon it had
been used as a family burial vault."* About 1758,
Sewall's heirs divided the property, and sold it to Wil-
liam Vassall, a relative of that Vassall who built the
Craigie-Longfellow house in Cambridge. At this time
there were three dwelling houses on the land, one where
the Vassall-Greene house stood, one on the site of the
stable, and a third behind this last. Directly south of
the mansion house, behind the Waldo house was a
garden. 5
1 Sewall's Diary, vol. 2, p. 236.
2 Sewall's Diary, vol. 2, p. 129 ; Ibid., vol. 3, p. 217.
3 Shaw's Description of Boston, p. 78.
4 Life of Sheldon.
5 Suffolk Deeds, Lib. 92, fol. 29 etseq., and see Plan I.
52 The Gardiner Greene Estate
Soon after his purchase, it seems that Mr. Vassall
tore down all the houses on the estate, and built of
wood the house which is shown in the picture. Here
he lived, no doubt in much greater state than Sewall
or Cooper. He was a royalist and, in 1775, he enter-
tained in his house Earl Percy, when the latter was in
Boston at the time of the battle of Lexington.' He was
a refugee* and, after the peace, in 1790, his estate was
sold to Patrick Jeffrey, uncle of Francis Jeffrey, and
brother-in-law of John Wilkes.^ Like Mr. Vassall, Mr.
Jeffrey lived in great state. •♦
In 1 80 1 he sold a strip of land to the City of Boston
for Somerset street, and thus separated the smaller
western portion of his estate from the larger eastern
part.5 On November 20, 1802, he sold this last to
Jonathan Mason for thirty-six thousand dollars.^ On
April 2, 1803, Mr. Mason conveyed it to Mr. Gardiner
Greene with the mansion house and brick stable there-
on, the consideration being forty-one thousand dollars.'
Of this estate in Mr. Greene's day, Mr. Bowditch says,
"The house had no remarkable architectural preten-
sions of any kind, but the natural beauties of the site,
r Drake's Landmarks of Boston, p. 53.
2 Rec. Com., p. 87.
3 Ibid., p. 85. Probably Mr. Jeffrey bought the estate with his
wife's money. For an account of the relations between the two, see
Rec. Com., p. 89.
4 Ibid., p. 86. 5 Ibid., p. 86.
6 Sufifolk Deeds, Lib. 203, fol. 32.
7 Ibid. Lib. 205, foL 252.
_J
S 0 Tiv €. r s € 6
I ^ ^ e
<" t-.
Ocale, to Till to o-Y^ /^ck
PLAN IN DETAIL OF THE GARDINER GREENE ESTATE
The Gardiner Greene Estate 53
improved by taste and art, made it altogether the most
splendid private residence in the city." ' Mr. Marshall
P. Wilder says, "The most conspicuous and elegant
garden of those days was that of Gardiner Greene, who
had one of the early green-houses of Boston. The
grounds were terraced and planted with vines, fruits,
ornamental trees, flowering shrubs and plants, and were
to me when I visited them sixty-five years ago a scene
of beauty and enchantment I shall never forget. Here
were growing in the open air Black Hamburg and White
Chasselas grapes, apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears and
plums in perfection, presenting a scene which made a
deep impression on my mind. Here were many orna-
mental trees brought from foreign lands." * These gar-
dens, either in whole or in great part were laid out by
Mr. Greene. In 1824 he bought the small Maud- Waldo
lot with the brick house standing on it, but he never
treated it as part of the homestead, *
Mr. Greene died in 1832, and the estate, containing
103,945 feet, was appraised at ;S5 142,000.'* In 1835 it
was sold to Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, acting for himself
and others, the price paid being $1 60,000. s At about
the same time, Mr. Jackson bought the Lloyd estate to
the north, the Phillips estate to the south, and several
estates on Somerset street to the west. He employed
I Rec. Com., p. 88. 2 Mem. Hist., vol. 4, p. 610.
3 Suffolk Deeds, Lib. 293, fol. 196.
4 Rec. Com., p. 89. 5 Ibid., p. 94.
54 The Gardiner Greene Estate
Mr. Asa G. Sheldon to cut down the hill and carry
away the soil to the western part of the old Mill Pond,
near Causeway street and the Lowell Railroad Station.
Between seven and eight o'clock on the morning of
May 5, 1835, the work was begun, and it was finished
in exactly five months.' Mr. Sheldon employed sixty-
three yoke of oxen, with Yankees for drivers, and one
hundred and ninety Irishmen for shovellers.* The
various houses on the hill were sold, the Greene man-
sion house bringing two thousand dollars. In the
Lloyd house the Yankees were lodged,^ while three
temporary barns were built for the oxen, and a tem-
porary smithy for shoeing them. The English elms on
the top of the hill were sold for timber to the Charles-
town Navy Yard* and the immense shrubbery was
destroyed.* Mr. Sheldon was ofifered three hundred
dollars to move the gingko tree and warrant its life for
a year. He examined it carefully and did not dare
undertake the job ; he estimated that the tree con-
tained about two feet of cord-wood.* Later it was
successfully moved to the Boston Common, opposite
Joy street, where it now stands.'
I Life of Sheldon, p. 194. 2 Ibid.^ p. 189. 3 Ibid., p. 189.
4 Ibid.., p. 181. 5 Ibid.., p. 181. 6 Life of Sheldon, p. 181.
7 After Mr. Sheldon refused to take the risk of moving the tree,
Dr. Jacob Bigelow, on account of his friendship for Mrs. Greene, had
the tree transplanted May 7, 1835, to the head of the "long path" on
the Common, opposite 32 Beacon street, where Mrs. Greene moved
from Cotton Hill, and where she lived over thirty years, to the end of
her life. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in his " Autocrat " refers to the
gingko tree.
The Gardiner Greene Estate 55
Mr. Sheldon removed from Cotton Hill something
over 100,000 yards of gravel for which he was paid
about twenty-eight cents a yard. The day after his
work was done, the property, which had already been
divided into suitable lots, was sold by auction. It is
understood that Mr. Jackson's speculation was not suc-
cessful.
Francis C. Lowell,
Feb. 13, 1 886
A LONG LIFE
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
ELIZABETH COPLEY GREENE
(Mrs. Gaidiner Greene)
This paper was written for Mrs. James Sullivan Amory in 1886
by Mrs. Robert C. Waterston (Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy), daugh-
ter of Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard College.
It is asserted by those curious in statistics that many
thousand souls daily enter and leave this world by the
pathways we call life and death. Of the ninety-one
thousand who were born in November, 1770, and of
the thousands who left it on the first day of February,
1866, few had lived thro' the track of time embraced
between these two dates, ninety-six years, — a period
which includes perhaps more vital changes, moral, men-
tal, physical, political and domestic, than any of its
predecessors. Yet a life has just closed among us which
spanned this remarkable epoch. Elizabeth Clarke Cop-
ley, the daughter of the distinguished artist, John Sin-
gleton Copley, was born in November, 1770, in Boston,
Massachusetts. In June, 1774, her father left America,
58 The Gardiner Greene Estate
for London, and on May 17th Mrs. Copley and her
three children followed him, sailing from Marblehead
in 1775. This was the last ship bearing the ruling
ensign of George III which passed over the waters of
Massachusetts Bay then washing the rocks of a colony,
which from henceforth were to dash against the shores
of a Republic. Three little children played upon that
deck. The boy of two years old (Lord Lyndhurst)
destined to be a ruler among the people to whom he
was going, and two little girls, the eldest of the group
(Mrs. Gardiner Greene) having just closed her long life
at the age of ninety-five years.
Soon after the artist's family had reached London,
Copley's name had become known. In Sir Joshua
Reynolds* memoir it is stated that among the pictures
exhibited in the newly organized Academy, 1766, a self
taught American artist contributes a portrait of " a boy
with a flying squirrel." This picture, which first at-
tracted public attention in London, is now in the posses-
sion of Mrs. James S. Amory, a grand-daughter of the
painter. In 1777, Copley is again mentioned as a mem-
ber of the Royal Academy and as contributing several
pictures to the Exhibition. Thus, safely across the
Atlantic, Mrs. Copley and her children were in their
London home, the future Lord Chancellor playing per-
haps by stealth with his father's paint brushes. Eliza-
beth Copley grew up in the atmosphere of a London
artist's life, and many names which now appear almost
The Gardiner Greene Estate 59
classic, must have been as household words, in her
father's home. Edmund Quincy once playfully said to
Mrs. Greene that he could not forgive her for not
having seen Dr. Johnson, who might, just as well as
not, have come rolling into Sir Joshua's painting room,
some morning when she was there with her father, a
girl of thirteen. But she could not recall such an
interview, though she perfectly remembered Sir Joshua
and other celebrities.
In July, 1800, in St. George's Church, London,
Elizabeth Copley married Gardiner Greene of Boston,
Massachusetts, no longer a colony, but one of the United
States of America. The transition from London life to
the then primitive state of society in New England,
must have been a great change to the young lady. In
after years she related her sensations on arriving in the
morning of an intensely hot midsummer day. It was
Sunday, and the good people were all going to church
in square topped chaises, driven by negro boys who sat
crossed legged in front to drive. A style of equipage
which appeared new and odd to her, in her progress
through the narrow streets. After church the news
spread : a ship from London, and a bride, were arrivals
that excited great interest in the quiet town, and all
who had any right to claim acquaintance with Mr.
Greene, flocked to the house to welcome the bridal
party. We who have shared her hospitalities in after
years, can readily imagine how gracefully they were
6o The Gardiner Greene Estate
received. But grander duties awaited Mrs. Greene on
the threshold of her new home ; three little children,
called her as their father's wife, by the responsible
name of mother. The first kiss of welcome was a
pledge, faithfully kept, of that tenderness and fidelity
with which she performed her part towards them. Her
own children were not more carefully reared, and the
experience of many years only strengthened the ties
which bound the adopted ones to their mother. Our
first personal recollections of Mrs. Greene are connected
with one of the mansions of the past.
As we occasionally pass through the region of Pem-
berton Square, like poor Susan in Wordsworth's exqui-
site poem we see, " A mountain ascending, a vision of
trees," a hanging garden rises before us and from the
summit of its terraces we behold a wide sweep of land
and sea. Half way between the garden and the street
stands the white mansion, with its broad flights of steps,
its paved court-yard, its ample door opening into the
hall. The drawing rooms look towards the lower street,
but from the cosy window seats in the dining room we
see the garden white with snow or gay with flowers.
We recall stately dinners, gay evening parties and wed-
ding guests, and every where the lady of the mansion,
a presiding presence. This noble mansion and its gar-
dens, seem now like the baseless fabric of a vision. It
was the home of Mrs. Greene for a life time as reckoned
by common experience, yet after her husband's death.
o
o
The Gardiner Greene Estate 6i
and when even the earth had been removed from where
her home once stood, Mrs. Greene survived for more
than thirty years. Several times she crossed the Atlan-
tic ; on the last occasion, when one of her family ex-
pressed some fears, that, at her advanced age, she might
not return, she replied, " I wish to see my brother and
sister once more. What matters it if I die in England ;
they will lay me near my parents." One incident in
Mrs. Greene's life is too romantic to be omitted. Not
long before, on one of her visits to London, Lord Lynd-
hurst had received a letter from the Executor of an old
gentleman who had died in India. Among his effects
was a miniature portrait of a young lady, and as the
name " Miss Copley," was on a slip of paper pasted
upon the back of the picture, the Executor sent it
to Lord Lyndhurst, who bought it, previous to Mrs.
Greene's arrival. Mrs. Greene instantly recognized it,
as a portrait of herself when a girl of seventeen, painted
by an amateur artist, a visitor at her father's house.
By a singular chain of events the old lady of near eighty
held in her hand " the counterfeit presentment " of her-
self, as a gay young girl, in a jaunty hat and coquettish
air, while the yellow slip of paper on the portrait showed
how carefully it had been preserved, associated with her
name, through long reaches of time, under tropic skies,
until it came as a messenger out of the dim past to
greet her after the lapse of nearly seventy years.
62 The Gardiner Greene Estate
When this long life, which had been prosperous and
happy, to a rare degree, drew to its close, she once more
became as a little child, the soul withdrawing itself to
some mysterious shelter.
Tenderly cared for by her devoted children, she was
shielded from all knowledge of passing events and from
griefs which Providence did not intend she should share.
And her last days like her first in the old Town of
Boston were a child's life, — still and calm, the prelude
of a fresh experience.
Anna C. L. Quincy Waterston,
May 31, 1886.
SIR ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, K. B.
LETTERS AND MEMORANDA
OF
SIR ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL
Prisoner of War, captured in Boston Bay, June 17, 1 776
BY
ARCHIBALD M. HOWE
LETTERS AND MEMORANDA
OF
SIR ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL
Prisoner of War, captured in Boston Bay, June 17, 1776
A PART OF A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY,
COUNCIL CHAMBER, OLD STATE HOUSE, DECEMBER 14, 1909, BY
ARCHIBALD M. HOWE
ILTHOUGH Lord Howe left Boston
Sunday, March 17, 1776, and with
him were refugees as well as soldiers,
sailors and supplies, in all perhaps
11,000 persons and 170 ships, still
British ships were hovering about our coast and in the
town harbor for a considerable time. Benjamin Lin-
coln of Hingham, who was appointed Brigadier General
in February, early in April, 1776, made a careful report
upon the channels in the harbor and the points of land
at Hull, Peddock's Island, Long Island and Moon Island,
66 Letters and Memoranda of
where redoubts or other fortifications should be built,
in addition to posts already tested along the shore to
the southward, and proposed various other means of
defense.
May 4, a Committee on fortifying Boston Harbor,
reported fifty or sixty head of cattle at Nantasket with
eleven vessels of the enemy in the Roads. They asked
that fifty men be stationed there with proper boats.
The same month, Lincoln was made Major General of
Massachusetts Militia, and planned, commanded and
successfully executed movements which finally drove
the enemy from Boston Harbor, in June, 1776.
June 13, 1776, the inhabitants of the Town of Bos-
ton were made acquainted by beat of drum that an ex-
pedition was to be undertaken to annoy the British ships
at Nantasket Roads. The attempt was completely suc-
cessful and the English Commodore's (Banks') fleet of
thirteen vessels was forced to put to sea. Thus, says
one writer, "We have got rid of a nest of scoundrels
the very day two years they blocked the harbor up."
"The Enemy were compelled once more to make a
disgraceful precipitate flight," says another.
Privateers were commissioned in 1775 and 1776, and
several were active along the Massachusetts coast, some
from each principal port, Boston, Salem and Newbury-
port. A list of those sailing from Salem during the Rev-
olution gives the names, armaments and number of crews
of one hundred and ninety-six vessels. On June 6th
Sir Archibald Campbell 67
a Marblehead privateer captured a transport named
" Ann " under command of Captain Hamilton Maxwell
of the 71st Highlanders. She was taken into Marble-
head ; sixty of the soldiers were carried to Plymouth ;
the officers and other men were sent to the Provost
Prison in Boston under a strong guard from Colonel
Glover's regiment at Marblehead.
Another account says that Friday, June 7, 1776,
Captain Daniel Waters, in company with the Marble-
head privateer, took a large ship from Scotland, having
ninety-four Highlanders aboard, thirty to forty sailors,
forty pieces of cannon, four to six pounders, six mounted
on deck. This was probably the same vessel, the " Ann."
On Sunday afternoon, June 16, the Americans saw a
ship and brigantine standing in for Light House Chan-
nel, chased and fired upon by four privateers who fre-
quently exchanged broadsides. They were supposed to
be a part of the Scotch fleet, some of whom had been
captured a few days before off Cape Ann, Every man
was called to quarters and one eighteen-pounder was
carried to Point AUerton on purpose to hinder the re-
treat of the Scotsmen should they get into the Road
opposite where we had three eighteen -pounders. After
five o'clock the privateers left the ships and stood for
the southward, when the ship and brigantine crowded on
all sail for the main channel. " Our orders," writes an
officer, " were not to fire until the last got abreast of us.
In tacking she got aground just under our cannon when
68 Letters and Memoranda of
we hailed her to strike to this Colony, — they refused
and we fired our eighteen-pounder loaded with round
and canister shot. When she struck and called out for
quarter we ordered the boats and captain on shore and
then fired at the ship — being dark we thought she had
struck, and just then the privateers came up. A cap-
tain of the Highlanders in the brigantine's boat came
ashore and soon after the Scotch ship got under way
and stood for the Narrows, when a fine privateer brig-
antine, commanded by Captain Harding of New Haven
(who we hear came in this bay for the purpose of meet-
ing our old friend Darson), and five schooners gave
chase. The brigantine came alongside when a hot
engagement ensued which lasted three-quarters of an
hour — when the ship struck. The brigantine of the
Scots floating took advantage of the confusion and
attempted to follow, both supposing the British in pos-
session of Boston." Such is the American account
of the Capture of Frazer's Seventy-first Highlanders,
which were a portion of a regiment raised by Simon
Frazer, Lord of Lovat and Member of Parliament, of
which Sir Archibald Campbell of Dunderain near In-
verary, Scotland, was Lieutenant Colonel, commanding
the Second Battalion.
These Highlanders when captured said that they had
been told before they sailed from Greenock that they
were sent to take possession of forfeited farms, the
rebels having been driven by the King's troops lOO
Sir Archibald Campbell 69
miles into the country. More than one declared that
out of the number enlisted in Scotland for the Amer-
ican service, 400 deserted between Perth and Green-
ock. It is said they were disappointed at not being
part of the Black Watch and wished to wear the
kilt.
Among the prisoners were many common laborers,
flax dressers, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, plasterers,
Wrights and smiths, a Salter, a land surveyor, and
one merchant. They were in numerous cases ac-
companied by their wives and children, and although
the Continental Congress had ordered that such pris-
oners were to be permitted to exercise their trades and
to labor for support of their families, in the fall of
1776, the Sudbury townspeople were anxious to have
their Highland guests removed to Framingham or else-
where, because the Scots were not acquainted with our
country ways of business and some of the women were
already sick.
The wounded prisoners in the hospital when recov-
ered were sent to the Sheriff at Ipswich, to be confined
in jail or put out to work as in other cases of these
Highlanders.
The Massachusetts Archives show that when the
privates were put in charge of the Sheriffs and put to
work, they were often removed hither and thither lest
they should escape to the British forces. Taunton sug-
gested that the Massachusetts authorities should send
70 Letters and Memoranda of
the prisoners to Upton or elsewhere because Taunton
River was too near the sea.
In some cases the Selectmen or Committees of Cor-
respondence were directed to help in securing good lodg-
ings for officers, and the Council were often appealed to
to protect the prisoners from the scandalous treatment
received from thoughtless and violent patriots. Judging
from the accounts of their servants, their luggage, and
their scale of living, the officers were fine gentlemen ;
they were allowed more freedom and some privileges.
At least a few of them found relatives among the Bos-
tonians, some who were personal acquaintances, and
others who with them had friends in common. One
such instance is recorded in the following letter' from
Elizabeth Murray, then a young Boston girl, to Dorothy
Forbes :
Boston, June ii, 1776.
Tuesday afternoon, 5 O'clock,
Dear Sister : not dressed.
Not many minutes after my aunt set out for
Brush Hill, Prudence [Middleton, one of Mr. James Smith's
nieces] came running up-stairs and asked if I had resolution
to see the unhappy people you have heard of, to which I
answered in the affirmative and set out immediately for
Madam Apthorp's House, the Garden [now Pemberton
Square] of which looks into the jail yard When we
arrived there Mrs. Snow conducted us to the fence where
I See p. 241, " James Murray, Loyalist."
Sir Archibald Campbell 71
we could see them and hear them speak, but not converse
with them. We soon left her and went towards the Com-
mon .... A number of common soldiers of the Highlanders
passed us with a guard. I regretted not speaking so I
turned about and pursued as fast as my feet in high-heeled
shoes would carry me. Vain was the attempt and we con-
cluded it was best to return in hopes of meeting more when
we turned about, and what was our surprise to see four
officers with a guard. Prudence had told me the Duchess
of Gordon's brother (whose name I knew to be Maxwell')
was a prisoner. That and the great anxiety I was in for our
Uncle^ occasioned a wish to speak to them. The first three
I had not resolution to stop, but went up to the last and
asked the favor of being answered one question, and with a
faltering voice asked if the First Battalion was come out to
America. All the gentlemen turned round when I stopped the
last. They informed me that Regiment was in England and
to remain there. Joyful sound it was to me. Still trembling
so as to be incapable of supporting myself without Prudence's
assistance, I asked if either of the gentlemen were Captain
Maxwell. A lovely youth, who appeared about twenty bowed
an acknowledgement of that name. I inquired for his mother
and sisters, who he told me he left well in Scotland six weeks
ago. Here my voice failed, and we all remained silent for
1 Maxwell was probably Hamilton Maxwell, Captain in command of
transport "Ann," who was captured by American privateers and taken
into Marblehead a week before Sir Archibald and the others surrendered
in Boston Harbor. He commanded light infantry of the First Battalion
of the 71st.
2 Probably Bennet of First Battalion, 71st Regiment. See p. 139,
" James Murray, Loyalist."
72 Letters and Memoranda of
the space of a minute and parted without another word.
'Tis in vain to attempt a description of my emotions, at
that moment. We went on, and they went to the jail to
take leave of their Men, who are to be sent back into the
Country to work for their living, and, it is expected, will join
the American Army. This separation they say is very pain-
ful to the men who are still in this town Prudence and
I walked through the different streets in hopes of having one
more view of these unfortunate Youths (who are none of
them thirty years of age) when, in turning up School Street
by the Kings Chapel, we met some of the Guarded just
come from the jail to bid their men adieu. Distress ap-
peared in their countenances.
Prudence and I determined not to speak a second time,
but when we come up to them they all stopped, and Maxwell
drew near and inquired if I knew his mother and sisters, to
which I answered, I had been frequently in company with
them in Edenborough. I asked him in return if he knew
Lady Don's family [a cousin of James Murray] and if they
were well, which he told me they were. With almost my
former agitation, I wished them health and happiness, and
they soon after set out in Paddock's Coach and four for
Concord, where they are to stay.
These Scotsmen had embarked towards the last of
April, 1 776, on seven ships from Greenock ; they were
accompanied by an armed vessel. Each transport was
also armed. The names of the transports were the
" George," " Experiment," " Annabella," " Millam,"
" Henry and Joseph," "Lord Howe," and "Ann," each
Sir Archibald Campbell 73
carrying about lOO men and officers. Sir Archibald
Campbell was on board the " George," which carried
an armament of three four-pounders and two three-
pounders. In the third week of the voyage a violent
gale arose and separated the fleet from the convoy,
scattering the transports in all directions. Some of
them found their way safely to New York, but the
" George," " Experiment," " Annabella," " Millam,"
and " Henry and Joseph," remained together some time
longer.
May 1 8th, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell took com-
mand of the fleet. After seven weary weeks at sea,
the "George" and "Annabella," bearing two companies
of the Seventy-first, sighted Cape Ann, and at daybreak
on June i6th, they were at the entrance of Boston
Harbor, when they received severe treatment from the
Americans as has been stated. When Campbell ap-
peared at Boston Light he was not aware of the capture
a week earlier of the transport "Ann," under command
of Captain Hamilton Maxwell, which had been taken
into Marblehead, nor was he prepared for battle with
four American privateers that bore down upon the
" George." At four o'clock in the morning the " Anna-
bella " was near by, but the American privateers were
joined by the brig " Defence " and a schooner, so that
Campbell was hemmed in and his ship ran aground.
In spite of a valorous fight, losing officers and men,
he was obliged to surrender.
74 Letters and Memoranda of
June 19, 1776, Captain Lawrence Campbell, in com-
mand of transport " Lord Howe," stood into Boston
Harbor, ignorant of all that had happened, and of course
was compelled to surrender.
These captured vessels were condemned as prizes and
sold at auction. The sheriff's notice shows that the
Ship " Lord Howe " was about 230 tons, built by a Mr.
Walker in Boston about three years before her capture ;
that the Ship "George" was about 250 tons, built at
Falmouth (now Portland) about two years before her
capture, and the Brig "Annabella" was built in Vir-
ginia about a year and a half before her capture. These
ships were sold at ten o'clock, Wednesday, June 21,
with fifty chaldrons of Scotch coal.
The most important among these Scotch prisoners
of war was Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell.
He was born August 21, 1739, at the Castle of Dun-
deraive near Inverary, where his father, James Camp-
bell, of Inverneill, was then living as Chamberlain of
Argyll.
He entered the army in 1757, and served in the cam-
paign before Quebec and was wounded there. Until
1763 he was in the Engineer Corps, most of the time
with the rank of Captain. In 1767 he went to Bengal
as Chief Engineer with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel,
and there '• acquired additional marks of distinction from
his Sovereign, and an independent fortune, with an un-
blemished reputation."
Sir Archibald Campbell 75
In 1774 he was elected to the House of Commons
for the Borough of StirHng, but on the outbreak of
American hostilities he cooperated with Simon Frazer,
Lord of Lovat and Member of Parliament, in raising
the regiment known as Frazer's or Seventy-first High-
landers, of which he became Lieutenant Colonel.
Some of his letters, written during the time he was a
prisoner of war, are still in existence and make interest-
ing reading. Those given below were for the most part
addressed to Mrs. Inman, of Boston, the sister of James
Murray, a loyalist, who when twenty-seven years old and
for many years after, held office as Councillor for North
Carolina.
Early in the year 1739 he brought this sister to North
Carolina. Five years later she returned to Southern
Scotland, visiting relations and friends in Selkirkshire,
Edinborough, and thereabouts ; then coming to Boston
in 1749, when about twenty-four years of age she began
business, having provided herself with a stock of mil-
linery and dry goods and with credit with London mer-
chants.
Her business as a rule ran smoothly. She lived on
King street (now State) with Mrs. Barker, carrying
on her business at the corner of Cornhill and Queen
street, now the Ames Building corner. She married,
October 27, 1755, Thomas Campbell, son of James
Campbell, one of the landowners in the Cape Fear
settlement when Murray lived there. Campbell died
y6 Letters and Memoranda of
in a few years, and the widow continued in business
but a very short time after her husband's death ; for on
March 3d, 1760, she married James Smith, a sugar
baker in Brattle street, a prominent member of King's
Chapel, possessed of a large estate, including a house
on Qaeen street (now Court street) and a country place
at Brush Hill, Milton.
Mr. Smith died in 1769, whereupon all his affairs
came into her hands by the terms of his will. Two
years later, September 25th, 1771, she married Ralph
Inman, a man of much local distinction and large estates
in Cambridge, Boston, Point Shirley, and in country
towns. When the 19th of April, 1775, came, Mrs.
Inman was in the Inman house in Cambridgeport.
There she was left in charge with her nephew, John
Innes Clark, and servants. Her letters show her skill
in protecting property, gathering growing crops, and
her diplomacy in dealing with General Israel Putnam,
who took the house for his headquarters. On the 17th
of June, 1775, she was obliged to leave this house for
Brush Hill, her estate which was not confiscated when
the Inman Farm was taken.
As to her prior acquaintance with Sir Archibald
Campbell I know nothing, but apparently there was
some former friendship or kinship between Mrs. In-
man and Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell or
others of his command, as it appears from Captain
John Bradford's writings (the Continental Agent at
Sir Archibald Campbell 77
Boston) that when the Colonel's property had been
inspected at Hancock's Wharf, June i8th or there-
abouts, 1776, by Colonel John Winthrop and Foster
Condy, and his baggage sent to him, Mrs. Inman made
application for barley and oatmeal for the Colonel, and
Bradford gave him a barrel of barley and two of oatmeal
out of the cargo.
He did not long remain in Boston, but was sent with
twenty-two servants (including four women and two
children), to minister to his comfort, to Captain Nathan
Parker's house in Reading, Massachusetts. Others cap-
tured with him were sent to the same town. The officers
could travel about within a radius of six miles. Repeat-
edly they made demands for rations for their servants
from the public stores of the Colony. Soon, however,
Campbell was obliged to dismiss some of his servants,
and later when General Charles Lee was captured in
December, 1776, Campbell being the most distinguished
prisoner of war then held by the Americans, became the
serious object of the attention of the Continental Con-
gress when retaliatory plans were instituted under order
of January 6, 1777.
February i, 1777, poor Campbell began his unhappy
experience in Concord jail, a place then obviously unfit for
a prisoner of war of any civilized nation as we now con-
sider places of detention. Two weeks later he addressed
the " American Commander General " (Sir William
Howe), as follows on the condition of Concord jail : —
78 Letters and Memoranda of
Sir:
After the Subject of my first epistle to your Excellency,
when the fortune of War had placed me in the hands of the
Americans you will think it strange, that at this period, I
shou'd be compelled to exhibit Sentiments so diametrically
opposite, and yet equally consistent with truth.
Your Excellency was informed on that occasion, that I
had received from those who took me, and from the Con-
trolling Power at Boston, every mark of humanity, and treat-
ment suitable to my Rank ; but .... I am persuaded you
are yet a stranger to the return which I at this hour experi-
ence, after a well meant endeavor to suppress what but too
often happens in civil controversy the chance of ill grounded
misrepresentation .
Scarce eight days had elapsed, after the period of my first
address when I found myself striped of half my private
property the very necessaries of life ; and I have been lately
informed, that the Side-Arms of my Officers have actually
been disposed of, notwithstanding they were honorably re-
stored to them by the Captors. I was however sent upon
my Parole of honor to Reading as an officer, where I resided
till the I St of this month ; during which time, it was even
beyond the power of malevolent aspersion to charge my con-
duct justly with impropriety.
On the first of February I was committed by an order of
Congress thro' the Council at Boston, to the common Gaol
of Concord; intimating for a reason, that your Excellency
had refused to Exchange General Lee for Six Field Officers
(of whom I happened to be one) and that your Excellency
had put that Officer under custody of the Provost.
Sir Archibald Campbell 79
How far it may be consistent to ill-treat an officer, because
his Commander does not chuse to accept of a Profered Bar-
ter of that nature, is left to reason and future consequences
to decide ; especially when it is considered that there is no
personal Charge against that officer, and that the publick
faith and honor of America was pledged for his being treated
as a Gentleman.
Had I been a Major General on this occasion I shou'd
have expected your Excellency wou'd have exchanged me
for General Lee ; but as no table of valuation has yet been
established in War, for the integral parts of Military rank I
have only on this occasion to regret the deficiency.
With respect to your Excellency's treatment of General
Lee, I can scarcely think it similar to mine ; but that you
may be able with more precision to decide on that point I
shall briefly state my present unmerited condition.
I am lodged in a dungeon of about 12 or 13 feet square
whose sides are black with the greese and litter of succes-
sive Criminals. Two doors with double locks and Bolts
shut me up from the yard, with an express prohibition to
enter it either for my health or the necessary calls of nature.
Two small windows strongly grated with Iron, introduce a
gloomy light to my Apartment ; and they are at this hour,
without a single Pane of Glass, altho* the Season for Frost
and Snow is actually in the extreme. In the Corner of this
Cell, boxed up with the partition, stands a necessary House,
which does not seem to have been emptied since its first
appropriation to the convenience of Malefactors.
A lothsome black Hall decorated with a pair of fixed
chairs, is granted me for ray inner Apartment, from whence
8o Letters and Memoranda of
a person was but the moment before removed to make way
for your Humble Servant ; and in which his litter and his
very excrement to this hour remain.
The attendance of a single Servant on my Person is also
denied me and every visit from a friend positively refused.
In short, were a fire to take place in any Chamber of the
Gaol, which is all of wood the Chimney stacks excepted, I
might perish in the flames, before they cou'd go thro' the
ceremony of unbolting the doors, altho' the keeper to do him
justice in his Station I really think is a man of attention
and humanity his House is so remote from the Gaol, that
any call from within especially if the wind is high might be
long reaching him effectually.
Thus I have stated to Your Excellency the particulars of
my situation how far I had claim to expect it. Reason and
propriety will dictate.
I have the Honor to be with great respect. Sir
Your Excellencys Most faithfuU and
Most Obedient Humble
Servant
Feb'y 14th, 1777.
N. B. This letter went open to the Council of Boston on
the 17th of February to be forwarded to General Howe but
the motives why it was not forwarded, may be better con-
jectured than that it produced however the good effect of
removing Lieut. Colo'l Campbell from the Dungeon to an
apartment in the Gaolers house on his Parole of honor not
to go 50 yards in any direction from it but this was after
being 34 days and nights confined in the condemned Hall of
Malefactors.
Sir Archibald Campbell 8 1
Although Colonel Campbell charged that his baggage
was plundered, John Bradford, Agent for the Continental
Government, replied that he asked Colonel John Win-
throp and Mr. Foster Condy to inspect baggage, which
they were kind enough to do in the presence of Colonel
Campbell and the officers, and after inspection it was
sent to the respective lodgings of the officers at public
expense. These officers acknowledged the civilities
offered them.
Bradford further reports to General Ward that the
taking of side arms was not violent. The quarter-
master had them six weeks before Bradford received
them. They lay rusting in his office and finally were
sold.
As late as April 2, 1777, Campbell complained about
the disposition of one cask of Westphalia Hams, one
cask of corned beef, one of salt butter, five casks con-
taining forty-five dozen wine, forty dozen of wine, twenty
of bottled porter, ten of bottled beer, besides canteens,
tents, etc.
A few weeks later he writes as follows to Mrs.
Inman : —
Liberties of Concord Gaol
i8th April 1777.
Lieut. Colol. Campbell returns a thousand thanks to Mrs.
Inman for her obliging note of yesterday. Altho he has just
cause to regret the disappointment of her friendly visit, yet
such was the state of the Weather, he is happy she had not
ventured abroad
82 Letters and Memoranda of
Dr. Squintura* used to say •' We shall all of us have our
call sooner or later " — Had he lived in these days, the un-
fortunate part of the 71st Regt. would have certainly stoned
him for his Heresy. Even at this late hour the Colol. can-
not see the light, nor does he expect Regeneration till some
guardian angel from the Banks of the Walga, or the Rhine
Envelopes his present Castle. The Colol. however hopes
that when his more happy friends at Reading quit their
abode for Rhode Island ; he may yet be permitted to return
there in peace, retired from noise and insult, which he thinks
ought not to be a necessary attendant on a Prisoner of War ;
For this purpose he has again addressed the Chairman Mr.
Bowdoin whom he has always found the Gentleman, and
sent him the list of the Servants he wishes to have kept
along with him. He has also addressed Genl. Heath, and
to prevent objections, he has sent him a letter of Certificate
for the Commissary at Rhode Island in behalf of the King,
that an equal number of American prisoners be liberated on
their Paroles to render this Indulgence to a British Officer
just and adequate. The Colol. has however had intimation
that it was likely he would be sent farther up the Country
than Reading ; and has therefore requested of Mr. Bowdoin
if that alternative was necessary, he might be sent either to
Dunstable, or Lancaster, in preference to any other Quarter.
The Colol. has also a project in view to write thro the
Council to Genl. Howe, that he might be exchanged for
Colol. Ethan Allen. There was an advertisement to this
effect in the Publick prints many months ago, which if the
I Dr. Squintum was a name given Geo. Whitefield by Samuel Foote
(1720-1777).
Sir Archibald Campbell 83
Colol. could obtain from Boston might facilitate the opera-
tion. If Mrs. 1. knew any friends of Colol, Allen, who would
at the same time co-operate in his behalf with the Congress,
success might be rendered more certain.
The Colol. is actually ashamed for this long troublesome
Card, but a Gaol Bird may take many liberties which a
moral good Character would not attempt. The Colol. how-
ever desires his most Cordial Wishes to Mrs. I. and all
friends, and Pardon from Mrs. Inman upon his knees.
In May, 1777, Campbell was allowed better quarters
in Concord and finally, November 21, 1777, he was
paroled to stay in Concord. While this was hard to
bear he at least had some personal comfort until ex-
changed for Ethan Allen, May, 1778.
Washington deplored the unnecessary ill treatment of
Campbell, and i March, 1777, told Congress of the
character of Campbell's incarceration. March 14, 1777,
Congress declared that the intention was that Colonel
Campbell should be confined without other hardship
than was necessary for securing him to meet any fate
that befell General Charles Lee. However much we
may now regret the difficulty in exchanging Campbell,
it was not the deliberate purpose of any authority to
cause the unnecessary delay ; it was the attempt of each
side parleying to settle special cases, while general prin-
ciples were pending before a very uncertain tribunal,
the Continental Congress, groping its way toward form-
ing a new nation.
84 Letters and Memoranda of
The delay and suspense were terribly wearing on
Campbell, as his letter to Mrs. Inman, written in May,
1777, shows: —
I consider myself more indebted to your goodness than I
have words to express. My consolation is, that as every-
thing in life has its end, the unmerited Sufferings which I
may experience may one day have their termination. I am
happy enough to possess fortitude to smile at the frowns of
adverse fate ; and believe me, I have too much native pride
not to hold such mean, Cowardly treatment of me, in the
highest contempt. I am sorry to learn the distant prospect
of a Genl. Exchange. We owe it to two causes, too much
generosity on one side, and an equal share of infamy on the
other. I leave you to apply the relationship.
That Treachery may have been deeply meditated, does
not at all surprize me. I cannot however recollect any ad-
vice being asked of me, where I put it in the power of any
to betray it. Knowing well the infamy of the times, I am
particularly cautious in my conversation and advice ; but it
is impossible to be guarded against the villainy of Misrepre-
sentation. Where I may be sent in consequence I know
not; if to the Black Hole again, I shall congratulate my
little friends the Mice on their meeting with some more
Cheese than they taste at present within their regions,
would to Heaven the Yankees were so honest and humane
as those little Urchins I If I am sent anywhere else, I have
the comfortable reflection I cannot be worse, nor in no Spot
where .... I have a better Chance of losing the knowledge
of all that is in heaven above or on the Earth beneath.
Sir Archibald Campbell 85
Felons, like me, have no right to Morality, nor to the inno-
cent sports of Society. I am sorry to learn such tidings of
our friends with you, I wish from ray Soul it were possible
to avoid giving cause of notice, or unbecoming distinctions
at this hour of distraction; Prudence ought to shut the
honest lips of truth, so long as that Virtue is banished
from among you ; but this I say with all due respect to the
Supreme Judge of Council, The Honble. Joyce Junr. Esqr.
Give him my wishes, he may guess their Sincerity.
On Tuesday or Wednesday at farthest I think of again
addressing the Great for a removal somewhere ; I care not
where indeed, so that I can have my Servants and Effects
along with me, and God knows that is no unreasonable re-
quest for a Prisoner of War, unless humanity and kindness
are reckoned amongst these Saints Crimes more attrocious
than Oppression and Cruelty. Did it fall in your way to
corroberate the application it would add to the many in-
stances of your regard to which I am already under the
highest obligations. The novelty of this hand and Subscrip-
tion may make you stare, but in difficult times, it is best to
vary the original Character, and therefore I shall hereafter
but without change of Sentiment or respect, be your much
obliged H'le Serv't.
Torelany.
Don't forget this
new appellation.
It is but natural to expect that such worry and con-
finement should have its effect. That this was so is
evidenced in the following letter : —
86 Letters and Memoranda of
Saturday
Dear Madam :
I beg leave to resume expressing my most grateful ac-
knowledgements for your trouble in my commissions, and
your great anxiety about my sorethroat — Your prescription
is so physical it has already wrought like a Charm, and I
tell the Doctor he must anew study the rudiments of his
profession.
I have found extreme great relief from the Barberry
Gargle, and am now restored to tollerable health
We have got a great many of our stores from Mr. Breck,
but have not got an ounce of two articles we are much dis-
tressed for — Butter and Coffee. I must beg of you to talk
to him about the Coffee particularly, and to let us have in
the meantime as much as the bearer will carry with him on
Thursday.
I understand this day that Mr. McLain' and some more
of the Gentlemen with him have been obliged from necessity
to return on board Guard Ship, as the inhabitants refused
supplying them the necessaries of life without payment in
hard money
Your most obliged
Humble Servt.
A C.
I paid the bearer for the Hartshorn.
It will be noticed that in these letters frequent men-
tion is made of rather free communication between the
prisoners and those friendly to them.
I Archibald McLain, Lieut, zd Battalion, 71st Regiment.
Sir Archibald Campbell 87
The liberty of passing from place to place where
different prisoners were living, although the traveller
might be an innocent guest, naturally excited the ardent
patriots, and the newspapers of the time reflected their
feelings. Four pounds reward to any captive who re-
turned to any gaol in the State or gave intelligence of
or conveyed John Division, Andrew Wilkes and James
McArthur to the Committee of Safety of Reading, was
advertised in the " Continental Journal " of Thursday,
August 7, 1777. "They are clad in white linen jackets ;
in one case in white breeches ; one has a feather cap."
These were no doubt privates.
Robert Pierpont, Commissioner of Prisoners of War,
made the following appeal in the " Boston Gazette "
(28th July, 1777) : " Hear to Reason — Tell me where
Prisoners are concealed that are taken and brought into
Boston and other Sea Ports — or will you feed and
employ them when they ought to be sent in exchange
for our brethren } People of Eastern Ports ask me to
get exchanges but do not help. My office is at upper
corner of Court Street."
" As a practice prevails (says a correspondent)' of
idle women resorting to the prisons where the British
and Hessian Prisoners are confined and as dangerous
Disorders generally accompany such Prostitutes, it is
therefore recommended to those whose Business it is to
I "New England Chronicle," Boston, July 3X, 1777.
88 Letters and Memoranda of
prevent such practices. Some of the Prisoners above
mentioned have been conducted from Cambridge to
Concord to see their friends, not to carry intelligence to
and from Colonel Campbell but perhaps to acquaint the
Colonel of their pleasant situation, and how they are
visited by Mrs. Inman from Boston, who drank coffee
with them a few evenings since. Oh ! America, Amer-
ica, Alas ! for your Simplicity, May your Children exert
themselves with more Vigor or they will be undone."
These advertisements do not seem to have had great
effect, but probably influenced Campbell to give up
signing his letters with his own name, and to adopt the
pen name, "Torelany" (often abbreviated to "T.").
Meantime communication went on much as before,
but under some restriction, as witnessed by the follow-
ing letter : —
3D Sept'r.
D^ Madam.
Your wish about the Articles of Provisions is suf-
ficient and satisfactory The team goes down on Thurs-
day or Friday next. The damned Tory who used to go,
would not go against the Regulars, when draughted out ; for
which he was handsomely /r/(r>^^^ with Bayonets on his tother
Side, and debared receiving commissions of the like nature
in future — A true and trusty States friend is now employed,
for the benefit of the Publick in this way, and you of course
will guard accordingly.
The Porter has Saved me, next to the good Doctor of
your town, from destruction, and has actually placed me
Sir Archibald Campbell 89
much sooner on my legs than it is possible to conceive ; your
kindness in thinking of a Gaol Bird at that Crisis, was only
a confirmation of your former acts of unmerited attention ; too
kind to be expected, and too valuable to be expressed. I
had commissioned many Dozns. from Mr. B. which renders
it unnecessary to turn a Marauder of your Cellars. A thou-
sand thanks for what you were already pleased to Send
Your Most Obedt. H'ble Serv't,
p. S. I intend to call you in future,
Arete Constance.^
Colonel Campbell bore his misfortunes with some
philosophy, but it is apparent that he could not believe
in any permanent success for the American army. He
writes under date of October 23, 1777 : —
Lying is become so fashionable in State Policy nowa-
days, that we doubt the truth whenever it may appear ; but
I will venture to assure you that what I hint at with respect
to a Serious day of reckoning will as assuredly take place as
I write this Billedoux. — Be mindful therefore to get your
accots. ready, clear and concise — Justice will yet reign
triumphant.
We have had so many Political lyes of late about the
Lambkins beating off the Mastifs, that I grow grey with
their impudent affrontery. Scarce has one lye evaporated
than afresh one appears more exaggerated and more absurd.
The Mastif however is I hope Safe at Philadelphia.
I Thereafter his letters to Mrs. Inman were addressed to " Constantia."
90 Letters and Memoranda of
The Ghost [of Tryon] has been playing devils along the
Banks of a great river. I wish to Heaven the cowardly
Gentleman [Burgoyne] had more power to support him —
However, if a Rat is pushed hard, it will bite confoundedly.
Should anything new occur, for pity to the afflicted let us
hear it by the Wheelbarrow. — Or the Bearer.
There is a new Book published (called the Art of War by
the Chevalier de Valiere) at I. Douglass McDougall Sta-
tioner opposite to the Old South meeting house at Boston —
Could Constantia find the means of Purchasing it for
Terelany it might make a great Captain of Him, and give
him amusement in the present hour. — To all who honor
him with their rememberance Terelany begs his best wishes
and to the fair his most ardent respects.
I am with great Truth
T.
Campbell wrote to Colonel Webb from Concord, 8th
January, 1778, that Ethan Allen's friends were not
powerful enough to get the Council at Boston to allow
him to go on parole to New York where he could have
helped Allen. The letter given in part below refers to
this fact : —
A. Campbell
Jan. 4 1 2th 1778.
The arrival of Colol. Webb in all probability will not take
place before certain intelligence from Congress, or Genl.
Washington, on the Subject of his request is received. T.
has requested of the Colol. in pressing terms, to obtain his
permission to go to Rhode Island on Parole where he may in
Sir Archibald Campbell 91
the meantime be employed in adjusting matters on his part to
facilitate an Exchange. The difference of rank being likely,
on the part of the British, to give cause of objection.
Of all the great men of Congress, at, or near Boston, S.
Adams alone has been so obliging as to answer T's Solicita-
tion in his behalf with the Council. T. considers himself
exceedingly obliged by the polite and ready attention he is
pleased to Show upon the occasion.
Should have heard anything further of Colol. Webb,
I. will be much obliged for the intelligence. Much is again
talked of with respect to Genl. Lee's exchange; and of
course a Genl. one ; is the report any way founded on truth ?
Elias Boudinot, a lawyer and philanthropist, about
thirty-three years old, who held decided views, had been
appointed Commissioner for Exchanges, but after ser-
vice of a little over a year wrote from camp on the 1 8th
of April, 1778, of the Councils (that is the different
States' Councils) as continually militating against one
another, and confesses that the orders issued in his
department are so various and contradictory that he is
rejoiced that his time is so near at an end. In short he
writes, " We must appear in the most ridiculous view to
the Enemy I heartily feel for our Worthy General
who ought to be a saint instead of a mere man
He is sensibly affected in every thing that touches his
honor and this is too often wounded."
After many months* delay matters respecting Colonel
Campbell's exchange began to approach their conclusion.
92 Letters and Memoranda of
and Joshua Mersereau, Agent of Elias Boudinot, the
General Officer in reference to Prisoners of War, visited
Campbell.
Wednesday morn'g, loth March, 1778.
The Mortal Mr. Mersereau paid a visit lately to Colol.
Campbell who longed exceedingly to have the honour of his
company. But nothing decisive has taken place in con-
sequence with respect to his exchange on Parole, because,
although a letter was brought from Mr. Boudinot, the Com-
missary Genl. of Prisoners with Congress, which expressly
said that Colol. Campbell was immediately to be sent into
New York; yet as Mr. Mersereau has never received that
letter, which it seems the Gentleman who brought it put into
the Post Office on his arrival at Boston, there remains no
power or Authority with him to forward that damnd regular
upon the ipse dixit of such an officer. I think the name of
this Officer is Hopkinson and belongs to the Cavalry. I
hear that the Colol. has again wrote to Congress, and Mr.
Boudinot on this Subject, and has sent it by the Bearer
under cover to Mr. Breek to be forwarded without loss of
time to Genl. Heath, who sends off an express either this
even'g or tomorrow morning for Congress. If Constantia
can forward this Service I am sure the Colo, will think him-
self infinitely obliged.
If Constantia has had an opportunity to procure for T.
the Continentals, he took the liberty to write for; it will
much oblige him in sending 1000 dollars pr. bearer. Colol.
Campbell I understand, has sent by this occasion Bills to
Miss Murray for ;^ 1 00 Sterling. — If 1000 or more dollars
could be had soon T. would be exceedingly obliged ; having
Sir Archibald Campbell 93
information when they could be expected, that B. (who is at
present lame) might be sent for them they are for the Pris-
oners on Board the Guard Ship
T. has learnt that these d nd Regulars have sent in,
to demand Genl. Burgoyne. He hopes the true Sons of
L y have given an answer suitable to their dignity, and
spirited disrespect.
In May, 1778, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell was at
Morristown offering aid to Mr. Boudinot at New York
in furthering some immediate relief for our suffering
prisoners. The result was that Mr. Boudinot with
Colonel Campbell was courteously treated in New
York by Major General Daniel Jones of the British
army and by General Valentine Jones, the Comman-
dant of that city.
Through this agency Mr. Boudinot completely carried
out the proposed exchanges, with the addition of twenty-
five officers and about twenty privates, servants of Gen-
eral Burgoyne, Colonel Campbell, and others.
Boudinot's letter to Washington, dated Baskenridge,
May 13, 1778, ends with these words, "I cannot but
mention the service I received from Colonel Campbell,
who seems determined to interest himself in mitigating
the rigors of captivity, which he appears well acquainted
withy
Colonel Campbell was subsequently a brilliant leader
of the British in Georgia. In 1779 he returned to
Scotland and married the daughter of Allan Ramsay,
94 Letters and Memoranda of
of Kinkell, the painter, grand- daughter of the poet of
that name.
Because of his success in the Georgia campaign, it is
said, the King appointed him Lieutenant Governor of
Jamaica. He became Governor in 1782, was com-
missioned Major General in 1783, and for several years
held high rank in India. He was created Knight of
the Bath, and in the army was made Colonel of the
Seventy-fourth Highlanders, which he raised for service
in India.
After a few months' ser\ice, he resigned and sailed
for home in poor health. He returned to Parliament,
in 1790, but served only until March 31, 1791, when he
died in his fifty-second year. He was buried in West-
minster Abbey.
The harsh treatment which was accorded Col. Camp-
bell and many other prisoners of war was certainly not
caused by a deliberate purpose to be brutal. In all
cases where active rebellion against well established gov-
ernments having power to sustain themselves exists,
when the rebels capture men, the question of their
parole and exchange becomes most urgent and difficult.
The recognition of a <i!f facto government, or a com-
bination which can sustain itself and compel citizens or
subjects to contribute to its support against the power
of the established government, is a matter involved
when exchange of prisoners is to be agreed upon.
Sir Archibald Campbell 95
It is little wonder that in such circumstances negotia-
tions were slow, rather is it surprising that they could
finally be consummated in the face of the varied actions
of undisciplined frontiersmen and militiamen, which were
often not in accordance with the so-called " Rules of
Civilized Warfare." The ultimate completion of the
exchange was surely one of the first triumphs of Amer-
ican diplomacy.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
SELECTED FROM THE
COLLECTIONS OF THE SOCIETY
WITH NOTES BY
WALTER K. WATKINS
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
This indenture Witnefseth, That Thomas Han-
cock Son of John Hancock of Lexington in the County of
Middlefex in the Province of the Mafsachufetts Bay, in New
England, Clerk, of his own free and voluntary will, and with
the Confent of his Father doth put hirafelf Apprentice unto
Samuel Gerrifti of Boston in the County of Suffolk, in the
Province afforesaid, and Sarah his Wife to Learn the Art or
Trade of a Book-binder. After the manner of an Appren-
tice to dwell and Serve from the firft day of July, One Thou-
fand Seven Hundred and Seventeen, Until the firft day of
July which will be in the year of our Lord One Thoufand
Seven Hundred and Twentyfour; during all which term
of Seven years the Said Apprentice his Said Master and
Miftrefs well and faithfully shall serve, their Secrets keep, their
Commands (LawfuU and honest) every where gladly do and
perform. Hurt to his Said Master or Miftrefs he (hall not
do, nor of others fee or know to be done, but he shall to his
power Let, or hinder, or forthwith discover and give warn-
ing to his Said Master or Mistrefs of the Same. The Goods
of his said Master or Miftrefs he ftiall not lend unlawfully,
nor wafte Matrimony he shall not Contract. Taverns
or Alehoufes he shall not frequent. At Cards, Dice, or any
lOO Original Documents
other unlawful Games he ftiall not play. From his Said
Masters or Miftrefses Service day or night he shall not un-
lawfully absent himfelf ; but in all things as a faithful! Ser-
vant and Apprentice, Shall behave himfelf towards his Said
Master and Mistrefs during the above Said Term. And the
Said Master and Miftrefs in the Art which he now Ufeth,
after the belt Manner they may or can, shall teach, inflruct,
& inform or caufe to be taught and informed the Said Ap-
prentice ; finding for and to him the Said Apprentice, Meat,
Drink, Wafhing and Lodging, as well in Sicknefs as in
health, during the Said Term of Seven years. And to the
performance of the Covenants, and Agreements above Each
of the said parties bindeth himfelf to the other by thefe
presents.
Jn witnefs where of the Parties aforesaid, to thefe Inden-
tures Jnterchangeabiy have set to their hands and Seals this
Twentieth day of May, Anno Dommini, 17 18. " Jn the fourth
Year of his Maj''«* Reign.
Signed Sealed & delivered Thomaf Hancock
in presence of
Benjamin Gray John Hancock
John Edwards Jun"".
Thomas Hancock, son of Rev. John Hancock, was
born in Lexington, 13 July, 1703, where his father had
been settled minister in 1698. He was therefore fifteen
years old when apprenticed to Samuel Gerrish 20 May,
1 718. Gerrish was the son of Rev. Joseph Gerrish of
Wenham and was born there. He had served his ap-
Original Documents lOi
prenticeship to Richard Wilkins, who had come from
Limerick, Ireland, in 1684, to Boston.
It is probable that Hancock continued with Gerrish
and was with him, 3 December, 1723, when he and
Gerrish witnessed a deed of Andrew Cunningham. In
the summer of 1724 Hancock was in Plymouth, Eng-
land, where he with Andrew Sigourney and others wit-
nessed a document before a Notary Public of Plymouth,
England.
Gerrish married as his first wife, a daughter of Judge
Samuel Sewall, and on her death he married in 17 12,
Sarah, daughter of John Coney the brazier and gold-
smith. In 17 1 8 Gerrish had his shop at the lower end
of Cornhill (now Washington Street) near the Old Brick
Meeting House.
When Hancock returned from England he opened
a book shop on Ann Street (now North Street), near
the Drawbridge. In 1728 he opened an account with
Daniel Henchman, the stationer and bookseller. In the
same year he joined with Henchman, Benjamin Faneuil
and Henry Phillips in the manufacture of paper under a
patent granted by the General Court of Massachusetts.
In 1729 we find him at his shop, the "Bible and Three
Crowns " near the Town Dock.
He married, 5 November, 1730, Lydia, daughter of
Daniel and Elizabeth (Gerrish) Henchman, and on the
death of his father-in-law succeeded to the business in
which he had previously been a partner.
102 Original Documents
Suffolk s. s. Anne, by the Grace of God of England
Scotland France and Ireland Queen De-
fender of the Faith, &«»
©To the Sheriff of our County of Suffolk
his under Sheriff or Deputy Greeting —
Information and Complaint being made to us the fub-
fcribers two of her Maj*ys Justices of the peace in the
County of Suffolk. Quorum Unus &*=* by Samuel Winkley
of Boflon in the County aforefd Mariner That Samuel
Adams Labourer and Hannah Adams Spinfter both of
Boflon aforefd. Have ever fince yefterday being the Twenty
nineth of this Inftant July forcibly detained from the Com-
plainant the pofeftion of a certain Dwellinghoufe and Malt
houfe thereunto appertaining at the South End of Boflon in
which Dwellinghoufe the fd complainant for above a year
and anhalf lafl pafl quietly hath dwelt and Inhabited, and
the fd. Samuel and Hannah Adams do yet forcibly hold &
detain from the Improvement & pofTeflion of the compl*. the
Dwellinghoufe and Malthoufe aforefd.
These are therefore in her Maj***» name purfuant to the
Law of this province to authorife and Command you to sum-
mon & Caufe to come before us at four of the Clock in the
afternoon of the day of the date hereof Eighteen fufficient &
indifterent perfons dwelling near unto the sd Tenem** &<=*
each of whom to have freehold Lands or Tenements of the
yearly value of forty fhillings at the leafl well and truly to
enquire of the forcible Detainer aforefd : Hereof fail not on
peril of the penalty in the Law in that Cafe made & pro-
vided and make due return of this Writt at the time within
mentioned, for all which this fhall be your sufficient Warrant.
Original Documents 103
Given under our hands & feals this Thirtieth day of July
in the fixth year of her Maj*>«» Reign Annoq Dom. 1707.
You are alfo to summon the
fd Samuel & Hannah Adams
to attend at the time & place Paul Dudley \
w* will be the Whitehorse > Quom Unus
Inn at the fouth end in Bof- Samuel Lynde J
ton you are alfo to summon
as witneffes John Manning,
Robert Guttridge, & Peter Wyer to attend at time & place.
The back of this warrant bears the following return :
Suffolk fs Boston July 30**' 1707.
"^sewent to this Warrant I have summonsed those men
heare under named to Serve as Ju'os on this occason
as this Warrant dericts to wit as foUas that is to say
Dismissd James Mofsman Giles Dyer. Sheriff
Henry Hill
Richard Payne
John Toolman
Sampson More
John Baard.
Jonathan Simpson
Sam^^ Toorey
James Webbster
Savill Simpson Foreman.
Josiah Francklyn
Sam" Gray
Edward Gray
Joseph Hill.
I04 Original Documents
Joseph Brisco.
Sam" Pearce
Richard Kattes Defalt
Sam" Bridge
It Likewaise All Persons Conserned
G. D. Sheriff.
John Adams, son of Joseph and grandson of Henry
Adams, was born in Braintree in 1661. He was a sea
captain and later settled down in Boston as a malster
and founded the brewing business, later carried on by
his son Samuel and his grandson Samuel, the patriot.
John Adams married (i), Hannah, daughter of Chris-
topher and Hannah (Scott) Webb, of Braintree, and had
Hannah (born 1685), John, Samuel (born 1689), and
Abigail. On the death of his first wife he married (2),
in 1694, Hannah, daughter of Anthony and Hannah
(Wheelwright) Checkley. By his second wife John
Adams had Joseph, Mary, Bethiah, Thomas and Abijah.
John Adams died 2 November, 1702, "a very good
man," and his widow Hannah married, 12 December,
1705, Captain Samuel Winkley, who came from Lan-
cashire to Kittery, about 1680. Winkley married in
1684, Sarah, daughter of Francis and Sarah Trickey.
He was administrator of the estate of his mother-in-law,
Sarah Trickey, in April, 1703, and lived on the Trickey
place in Kittery. This was situated on Gunnison Point
where it adjoined the property of Elihu Gunnison. A
Original Documents 105
dispute between the two tried at York, Me., was ap-
pealed to the Superior Court of Judicature held in Bos-
ton. While attending the trial Winkley saw the widow
Adams and later married.
In improving the estate on Fort Hill of her former hus-
band, John Adams, Winkley had a malt-house built by
Samuel Bridge, a carpenter. Bridge sued Winkley for
the work and lumber. Winkley then sued John Webb,
of Braintree, executor of John Adams, for the cost of the
malt house built by Bridge, Winkley also sued Han-
nah, daughter of John Adams by his first wife, for
meat, drink, washing, clothing and lodging for eighteen
months in the sum of eighteen pounds. She proved by
witnesses that she had worked and helped her mother
by services. This suit was lost by Winkley as were the
others to which he was a party.
The action of which we print the warrant for a jury
was against the daughter previously mentioned and her
brother Samuel who was the father of the Patriot. The
hearing was held at the White Horse Inn which stood
on the west side of Washington Street between Avery
and Boylston Streets. No record is to be found of the
verdict of the jury. Meanwhile Mrs. Hannah Adams-
Winkley died and Captain Winkley returned to Ports-
mouth, and again in 17 12 married Elizabeth Fernald,
and died there in 1736, aged about 70 years.
io6 Original Documents
Dorchestar Aprill ye 28 1712. To Mag^ Lenard, Sir aftar
my Sarvis Humbly presented unto your worshipe : these are
to inform you the m"". Thorn" Stevens Nath" Stevens and
Ben" Lenard : sometime sence came to my house Late in ye
evening on ye Laste day of ye week : and aftar some discours
betwen them about thire going on thire jurnny thay concluded
to tary all night by reson of ye exsesive darknes of ye seson
for it was exseeding dark : and so far to goe away very early
on ye Saboath day morning for thay weare in hope that thay
should get in good seson to norton meeting : but thay tolde
me that thay woold have taryed over ye Saboath with us but
by reson of sickness in thire family thay could not stay : and
so ye moved away upon thire jorny very early in ye morng :
and thire caridge while thay weare with me was very ordarly.
Sir yours to Sarve
Peter Lyon
Peter Lyon kept a tavern in Canton from 1 705-1712.
An Act of the Massachusetts General Court passed in
October, 1692, " for the better observation and keeping
the Lord's Day" as one of its sections ordered — "That
no traveller, drover, horse courser, waggoner, butcher,
higler or any of their servants shall travel on that day,
or any part thereof, except by some adversity they were
belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness or
highway the night before ; and in such case to travel
no further than the next inn or place of shelter, upon
the penalty of twenty shillings."
Original Documents 107
The above letter is addressed to Major Thomas
Leonard of Taunton, and their journey evidently brought
them before him as a magistrate for breaking the law.
BILLS RENDERED TO GOVERNOR JOSEPH
DUDLEY
1710/11 Peter Barbours Accomp*. with His Excellency
Joseph Dudley Esq^ Cap*. Gen""", and
Qoyenour g^c
M 17 To making a Gray Cloth Coat for yor
Coachman Gabriel 14/ Thread and
Silk 2/4 00 — 16—4
Buckram Canvis and Tape . . .00 — 2 — 6
Silk and laceing a hat . . .00 — i — 6
Cash pd for \% yds Broad Silver Lace
1 2/ p' 00 — 18 — o
18— 4
June 9. Making a Black Silk westcoat . . .00 — 10 — o
Thread Silk i8d Mohair 2/ Buttons i8d 00 — 5 — o
Buckram Canvis and Tape . . .00 — i — 6
I yd Lining to lyne ye Sleues . . .00 — 2 — 6
Cash pd 31^ yds black flowered Silk for j
new fore body and new Sleues att 20/ pr I
4— 9
Aug 3d To making a pr Leather Bretches for Ga-
briel 00 — 6 — o
2 penfilvania skins for Outfide & pockets 00 — 18 — o
Thread Silk 2/ Breft buttons & Staying 3/ 00 — 5 — o
1 — 9 — o
io8
Original Documents
Nov. 3d. Making a Morning Gown & Silk and
Thread 00 — 5 — o
14 Making a Double Brefted blew Cloth Coat 01 — 00 — o
Cash for Collo Savidg for 3X y^* Blew
Cloth 40/ pi- 06 — 10 — o
5^ yds Shalls [?] 4/6 pr . . . 01 — 3 — 7>^
Thread Silk 2/od Buckram Canvis and
Tape 3/9d 00 — 6 — 6
3 Dog Buttons 3/ pr. 9/ Wading 2/6d . 00 — 11 — 6
9—16— 7>^
17 — 12 — 11^
Errors excepted This 22^ Day of Nov^ 171 1.
^ Peter Barbour.
Peter Barbour was a Boston tailor of that period,
where he died in 1734.
170
0
April
19
Sber
27.
Jany
I
170
I.
April
s-
May
al-
June
so
July
1
24
His Excelency Goven'^ Dudley Dr.
£ s. d-
To I pr Shoes Pr ye Datr . . . 00 — 4 — 6
To I pr Ditto Pr Madm Dudley . . oo — 4 — 6
To I pr Ditto Pr Ditto . . . 00—4—6
To I pr Ditto Pr yor Son Wm . . 00 — 5 — 6
To 1 pr Ditto Pr Coz Ting . 00—5—6
To I pr Ditto Pr Mad™ . . . . 00 — 4 — 6
To I pr Ditto Pr yor Son . . . 00 — 5 — 6
To I pr Ditto Pr yor Cuz Ting . 00 — 5 — 6
To Coach hire Pr Madn> Dudley , 00 — 3 — 6
Original Documents 109
1702
July 18. To I pr Shoes Pr yor Son Wm 00 — 6—0
1703
May I. To I pr Ditto Pr Madm .
8 To I pr Ditto Pr Mr« Ann
Sber 22 To i pr Ditto Pr yor Datr
1710
Jan 14. To Coach hire Pr Madm Williard .
15 To Ditto with ye Doctor & waiting .
16. To Ditto wth ye Doctr & Ditto
1711
Nber 6. To a Pearch for a Coach
00 —
4- 6
00 —
4- 6
00 —
4- 6
00 —
6— 0
00 —
10 — 0
00 —
10 — 0
^ Contra .
1701.
April 21. — By yor Son i pr Shoes Retd .
By Maj Ting 2 pr Shoes
1711 C By I Load Englilh hay wt 8ct at 4/
Apr 30 ( & 4 Salt Ditto at 2/
Due to rae Pr Ball
£,^-
19 — 0
.
Cr.
£
s d
00 —
5- 6
00 —
II - 0
I —
12—0
00 —
8— 0
£2-
16—6
2 —
2— 6
4 — 19 —
Errors Excepted '^ Savill Simpfon
Savill Simpson of Boston was a cordwainer and a
warden of King's Chapel.
no
Original Documents
Madam Dudly debter ffebery 23 : 171 1.
itt one Barrel of Beare
March ye 22 itt one Barrel ditto
April ye 2 itt half Barrel ditto
May 1 7 itt half Bare! ditto
June 3 : itt half Barrel ditto
lb. sh.
o — 16 — o
o — 16 — o
o— 8— o
0—8—0
o— 8— o
2 — 14 —
ffrancis Threlher
Francis Thrasher, clothier, Boston, died in 1727.
Roxberry, Septembr. ye 2 id lyix
His Exsylensy y* Gouener is . . Dr
Sepbr. 21 To Balance Accompt ....
To mending ye coplinrains
Novbr. 24 To mending 2 Bridills ....
To mening a (ide fadell and fix flraps
Janry To Leather and nails to ye coach .
To couerin a fadell from ye tree
To Leather & long ftrips of Leather for
ye coach
To couerin a pallit Bedfled & nails &
leather
To worke don to ye coach & flay and
nails feverall times ....
To one Cloath Bridill & Bitts
Benj: Tompfon
paid .
lb s d
00 — 12 — 10
00 — 01 — 00
00 — 02 — 00
00 — 02 — 04
00 — 03 — 06
00 — 15 — 00
00 — 05 — 00
00 — 04 — 00
00 — 02 — 00
00 — II — 00
02 — 18 — 8
;^2 — 10 —
Benjamin Thompson was a saddler in Roxbury.
Original Documents 1 1 1
His Exselc Jofeph Dudley Esq*
D*" to ffrancis Holmes
ffor a Dinner to 13 men £1 — 6 —
and a botle of wine £0 — 2 —
;^i- 8
Francis Holmes at this period was landlord of the
Bunch of Grapes Tavern.
His Excellcy. lofeph Dudly Esqr. May 15 17 13.
Dr: To Edward Bromfield
6 yds garlick .... lod . . lo — 00
4 yds ^ flowerd Searge . 4/6 . . . 19 — i}4
% &. yiy^ gold lace . . 20/ . 7 — 6
^i_i6_7^
Edward Bromfield, 1649-1734, was an eminent Bos-
ton merchant, who lived on Rawson's Lane, which be-
came Bromfield Lane and is now Bromfield Street.
His Excellency lofeph Dudley Efq"". D"".
1712
June 26th. To a new Screw to a Silv Chafing difli
& mending yc bottom £ o — 5 — o
To a pi" Silvr Taggs 1/6 Setting a Stone
in Silvr 2/ o — 3 — 5
July 8th. To 6 Silv Tea Spoones, a Strainer &
tongs 2 — 18 —
Augt i8th To 3 gold Rings i — 12 — 6
Octor 9th To a pr Stone pendants . . o — 12 — o
Deer loth. To ye Exchange of a Silvr. Spoone o — 10 — 6
112 Original Documents
17 1 2-1 3 To altering ye Chaines of 2 p'. gold but-
tons o — o — 9
Janry 5th To a Silvr. Tea pott — wt. 190X \^%^. 12 — 2 — 3
1712 Contra Cr. ;^i8 — 5 — 2
Octor. 9tb, By gold Reed . .. . . £ o — 7 — 6
23d By money Reed 5 — O — o
£ S— 7
Errors excepted due to Ballance ;^i2 — 17 — 8
■^ John Edwards.
John Edwards, the goldsmith, was the father of John
Edwards, the Boston bookseller. John, the elder, mar-
ried Sybil, daughter of Rev. Antipas Newman. At his
death his house and shop were on Cornhill, now Wash-
ington Street.
Boston July 6, 17 17
Reed: of Collo, Joseph Dudley thirty Shillings which is in full for
a Kittle Sold him I Say reed: for accot. of my mafr. John Smith.
"^ Benja; Savage.
Benjamin Savage was a son of Thomas Savage,
goldsmith, of Boston, who removed with his family to
Bermuda in 1696, and returned to Boston in 17 14.
Previous to 1732 Benjamin Savage went to Charleston,
S. C, where he died in 1750.
INDEX
I. INDEX OF NAMES
II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS
I. INDEX OF NAMES
Adams, Abigail 104
Abijah 104
Bethiah 104
Hannah 102-105
Hannah (Checkley) 104
Hannah (Webb) 104
Henry 104
John 104, 105
Joseph 104
Mary 104
S.91
Samuel 29, 102-105
Thomas 104
Allen, Ethan 82, 83, 90
Amherst, Gen. 13, 35
Amory, Frederic 39, 40, 45
[Mrs.] James S. 39, 45, 57, 58
Anne, Queen of England 102
Apthorp, Mme. 70
Argyll, Chamberlain of 74
Amofd, Gen. 27, 28, 30
Baard, John 103
Banks, Commodore 66
Barbour, Peter 107, 108
Barker, Mrs. 75
Bellingham, Richard 48
Bellomont, Lord 50
Bigelow, Jacob 54
Blythe, Benjamin 11
Boudinot, Elias 91-93
Bowditch, N. I. 46, 52
Bowdoin, Mr. 82
Bradford, John 76, 77, 81
Breck, Mr. 86
Breek, Mr. 92
Bridge, Samuel 104, 105
Brisco, Joseph 104
Bromfield, Edward 11 1
Burgoyiie, Gen. 90, 93
Campbell, James 74, 75
Lawrence 74
Thomas 75
Carroll, ^^
Chase, 22
Checkley, Anthony 104
Hannah 104
Hannah (Wheelwright) 104
Clark, John L 76
Clarke, Susanna F. 40
Condy, Foster 77, 81
Coney, John loi
Sarah loi
Cooper, J. Fennimore 41
Judith (Sewall) 51
William 51, 52
Copley, Elizabeth 45
ii6
Index of Names
Copley, Elizabeth C, 40
John 40
John S. 40, 44, 57, 58
Mrs. 58
Susanna F. (Clarke) 40
Cotton, John 48-50
Cunningham, Andrew loi
Darson, 68
Davis, Capt. 49
Division, John 87
Don, Lady 72
Dudley, (Gov.) Joseph 107, 108,
III, 112
Mme. 108-110
Paul 103
Wm. 108, 109
Dyer, Giles 103
Edwards, John 100, 112
Sybil (Newman) 112
Faneuil, Benjamin loi
Fernald, Elizabeth 105
Foote, Samuel 82
Forbes, Dorothy 70
Francis, Ebenezer 46
Francklyn, Josiah 103
Frazer, Simon, Lord of Lovat 68,
75
Gabriel (Coachman) 107
George III of England 58
Gerrish, Elizabeth loi
Joseph 100
Samuel 99-101
Sarah (Coney) 99, loi
Glover, Col. 67
Gordon, Duchess of 71
Gore, Obadiah 50
Gray, Benjamin 100
Edward 103
Gray, Samll 103
Greene, Gardiner 3945, 47-49. 52,
53. 59
[Mrs.] Gardiner 39, 40, 42-44,
54
Elizabeth (Copley) 45
Elizabeth C. (Copley) 41
Mary C. 45
Gunni>on, Elihu 104
Gut I ridge, Robert 103
Hancock, John 99 loi
Lydia (Henchman) loi
Thomas 99, 100
Harding, Capt. 68
Heath, Gen. 15, 82, 92
Henchman, Daniel loi
Elizabeth (Gerrish) 10 1
Lydia loi
Hill, Henry 103
Joseph 103
Hirst, Mr. 50
Holmes, Francis 1 1 1
Oliver W. 54
Hopkinson, 92
Howe, Archibald M.'65
Gen. Sir William 25, 65, 77, 80,
82
Hubbard, Samuel 43, 44
Hull, Hannah 49
John 49
Leblond, -^ 50
Lee, Charles 77, 83
Gen. 78, 79, 91
Lenard, Benn. T06
Magr., see Leonard Thomas
Leonard, Thomas 106, 107
Lincoln, Benjamin 65
Lloyd, 47
Longfellow, Henry W. 13
Lord, Arthur 9
Index of Names
117
Lovat, Lord of 68
Lowell, Francis C. 39, 45, 55
Judge 40
Lynde, Samuel 103
Lyndhurst, Baron 40, 43, 58, 61
Lyon, Peter 166
Manning, John 103
Mason, Jonathan 52
Mather, 51
Maud, Daniel 48
Maxwell, Hamilton 57, 71-73
McArthur, James 87
McDougall, Douglass 90
McLain, Archibald 86
Mersereau, Joshua 92
Middleton, Prudence 70-72
Montcalm, Gen. 28
Montgomery, Gen, 27-29
More, Sampson 103
Morgan, Gen. 22, 30
Mossman, James 103 •
Murray, James 72-75
Miss 92
Elizabeth 70
Newman, Antipas i \ 2
Sybil 112
Parker, Nathan 77
Payne, Richard 103
Pearce, Samll. 104
Percy. Earl 52
Phillips, Henry 10 1
Pierpont, Robert 87
Pomeroy, Gen. 15
Pownall, Gen. 13
Putnam, Gen. 15, 21, 30
Israel 76
Quincy, 50
Anna C. L. 39, 57, 62
Quincy, Edmund, 59
Josiah 57
Ramsay, Allan 93
Ratcliffe, Rev. 49
Reynolds, Sir Joshua 58, 59
Ruggles, Gen. 13
Salmon, 46
Savage, Benjamin 112
Thomas 112
Schuyler, Gen. 30
Scott, Hannah 104
Scudder, Winthrop S. 44, 45
Sewall, Hannah (Hull) 49
Judith 51
Samuel 49-52, loi
Sheldon, Asa G. 47, 54, 55
Shirley, Gov, 12
Shurtleff, Dr. 47
Sigourney, Andrew lOl
Simpson, Jonathan 103
Savill 103, 109
Smith, James 70, 76
John 112
Snow, 46
Mrs. 70
Spencer, Gen. 15
Stevens, Nathll 106
Thorns 106
Thacher, Dr. 23
Thomas, Gen. 31-33
Hannah (Thomas) 11
Nathaniel 11
William 11
Ting, Maj. 108, 109
Toolman, John 103
Toorey, Samll 103
Thompson, Benjamin 110
Thrasher, Francis no
Trickey, Francis 104
ii8
Index of Names
Trickey, Sarah 104
Try on, 90
Tufts, Simon 12
Vane, Harry 49
Vassall, William 41, 51, 52
Wadsworth, Alexander 47
Walker, Mr. 74
Ward, Gen. 21, 81
Warren, James 14, 16, 29
Washington, George 10, 11, 15,
16, 20, 21, 24, 26, 30, 31, 33,
3S. 83. 90
Waters, Daniel 67
Waterston, [Mrs.] Robert C. 39,
40, 57, 62
Webb, Christopher 104
Col. 90, 91
Hannah 104
Hannah (Scott) 104
John 105
Webbster, James 103
Webster, Daniel 10
Wheelwright, Hannah 104
Whitfield, Geo. 82
Whitmore, W. H. 46
Wilder, Marshall P. 53
Wilkes, Andrew 87
John 52
Wilkins, Richard 10 1
Williams, Sarah 11
Williard, Madm 109
Winkley, Elizabeth (Femald) 105
Hannah (Checkley) [Adams]
Hannah (Webb) [Adams] X04
Samuel 102, 104, 105
Sarah (Trickey) 104
Winslow, Edward 10
Gen. John 12, 13
Winthrop, John 77, 81
Wolfe, Gen. 27, 28
Wooster, Gen. 30, 34
Wordsworth, 60
Wyer, Peter 103
II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS
Acadians, Expedition for removal
of 12, 13
Albany, N. Y. 31
"Ann" (Transport) 71
" Anne," Capture of 67, 68
Baskenridge, N. J. 93
Bengal, India 74
Bermuda 112
Boston 9, 20-23, 25, 26, 40, 42, 44-
46, 48, 52, S3^ 57. 59. 62, 65-
68, 70, 74-78, 87, 88, 90, 91,
99, 101-105, 108-112
Athenaeum 45, 48
Beacon Hill 22, 24, 45, 46
" Bellomont Gate " 50
Boston University School of
Law 48
Bowdoin Square 47
Brittle Street Church 51
Bunch of Grapes Tavern in
Common 50, 54, 71
Copps Hill 45, 46
Cornhill loi, 112
Cotton Hill 39, 41,42, 45-47, so,
54.55
Faneuil Hall 23
First Church 48
Fort Hill 45, 46, 48, 105
Boston : — Hancock's Wharf 77
King's Chapel 49, 72, 76, 109
Lowell Railroad Station 54
Mill Pond 54
Mount Vernon 46
Mt. Vernon Church 48
Old Brick Meeting House 10 1
Old South Meeting House 90
Old State House 9, 46, 48, 65
Pemberton Hill 39
Pemberton Square 42, 45, 47,
60, 70
Phillips Estate 47
Provident Institution for Sav-
ings 42, 43
Public Library 46, 47
State House 46
Tremont Row 47
United States Bank 42
Valley Acre 46
White Horse Inn 103, 105
Bostonian Society 9, 45
Boston Harbor 66, 71, 73, 74
Boston Light 73
Castle William 25
Light House Channel 67
Long Island 65
Moon Island 65
Nantasket Roads 66
I20
Index of Places and Subjects
Boston Harbor : — Peddock's
Island 65
Point Allerton 67
The Narrows 68
Boston Tea Party 40
Braintree, Mass. 104, 105
Brookline, Mass. 21
Bunker Hill 9, 14, 23
Cambridge, Mass. 15, 21, 27, 28,
SI, 76. 88
Cambridgeport, Mass. 76
Canadian Expedition 27
Canton, Mass. 106
Cape Ann 67, 73
Cape Fear 75
Chambly, P. Q. 10
Bay of, P. Q. 10
Champlain, Lake, Vt. 13
Crown Point 13, 23
Charles River 24
Charleston, S. C. 112
Charlestown, Mass. 21
Navy Yard 54
Chaudiere River 27
Concord, Mass. 72, 78, 83, 88,
90
Concord Jail as a dwelling for a
Prisoner of War 77-80
Continental Congress 14, 15, 19,
69, 78, 83, 90-92
Demerara, British Guiana 40, 4 1
Deschambault, P. Q. 32
Dorchester, Mass. 21, 106
Cobble Hill 24
Heights 10, 24, 25, 34
Heights, Battle of 24
Lambs Dam 24
Lechmere Point 24
Neck 24, 25
Winter Hill 21
Dunderain, Scotland 68
Edinborough, Scotland 72, 75
Evacuation of Boston 9, 10, 26
Exchange of Prisoners 84
Falmouth, Me. 74
Flags of States described 23
Framingham, Mass. 69
Garden of Mr. Greene 52, 53
Gingko Tree, moved from Gardi-
ner Greene's garden to Boston
Common 54
Green Harbor, Mass. 12
Greenock, Scotland 68, 69, 72
Harvard College 57
Hingham, Mass. 65
Howe's Tribute to " Rebels " en-
ergy in fortification 25
Hull, Mass. 65
Inverary, Scotland 68, 74
Invemeill, Scotland 54
Ipswich, Mass. 69
Jamaica 94
Kennebec River 27
Kingston, Mass. 12-14
Kittery, Me. 104
Lancashire, England 104
Letter describing Concord Jail 83-
85
Letter describing social position
some of the Prisoners of War
1776 — 70-72
Lexington, Mass. 52, 99, ico
Limerick, Ireland 10 1
London, England 44, 58, 59, 75
Royal Academy 58
St. George's Church 59
Westminster Abbey 94
Index of Places and Subjects
121
Marblehead, Mass. 58, 67, 71, 73
Privateers 67, 68
Marshfield, Mass. 10, 12
Massachusetts Bay 58
Province of 99
Massachusetts Historical Society
II, 16
Medford, Mass. 12
Megantic Lake, Me. 27
Middlesex Co., Mass. 99
Milton, Mass. 76
Brush Hill 70, 76
Montreal, P. Q. 13, 29-32
Chateau de Ramesay 31
Morristown, N. J. 93
Nantasket, Mass. 66
Newburyport, Mass. 66
New Haven, Conn. 68
New York, N. Y. 73, 90, 92, 93
Northampton, Mass. 15
Pennsylvania Riflemen 22
Perth, Scotland 69
Philadelphia, Pa. 14
Pine Tree Shillings 49
Plymouth, England 10 1
Plymouth, Mass. 11, 13, 14, 67
Plymouth Co., Mass. 10, 12
Point Levis 27
Point Shirley 76
Portland, Me. 74
Portsmouth, N. H. 105
Provincial Assistance to England
against Canada 13
Provincial Congress 14
Quebec, P. Q. 27-32, 74
Heights of Abraham 27
Plains of Abraham 28, 29
Battle of 28-32
Reading, Mass. 77, 78, 82, 87
Reward offered for return of es-
caped prisoners 87
Roxbury, Mass. 15, 16, 20, 21, no
Salem, Mass. 66
Saratoga, N. Y. 14
Selkirkshire, Scotland 75
Sharpshooting of Riflemen 22
Social position of some of the
Prisoners of War 70-72
Sorel, P. Q. 32-34
River, P. Q. 10
Stirling, Borough of 75
St. Lawrence River 10, 27, 31, 32,
34
Sudbury, Mass. 69
Suffolk Co., Mass. 99, 102, 103
Taunton, Mass. 69, 107
River 70
Thomas, Fortitude of Gen. 33, 34
Ticonderoga, N. Y. 23, 31
Transports, List of English 72
Uniforms of Riflemen described
22
Upton, Mass. 70
Virginia Riflemen 22
Washington's Esteem for Gen.
Thomas 15-17
Letter to Gen. Thomas 17-20
Wenham, Mass. 100
Wobum Public I jbrary 47
York, Me. 105
Yorktown, Va. 14
F
73
.1
B88
V.12
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