Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

I
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 353
be mustered out. Notice was given a year later that the commissioner's
office at Springfield was soon to be removed from Springfield, and all
holding certificates from commissaries, quartermasters, or forage-
masters, for services performed before January 17, 1782, to present
them for settlement. During that year, Maj. J. Williams, with sixty
soldiers from West Point, reached Springfield, as guard to the maga-
zine on " Continental hill."
A great sensation was caused in May, 1782, when a woman enlisted
in Springfield, as Samuel Smith, dressed as a man. She failed to get
mustered, or to receive the $60 bounty, and was locked up. She was
discovered by the " want of a beard and the redundance of some
other matters." William Jones, a passer of counterfeit State certifi-
cates, broke jail about this time, and, in fact, there were so many
crimes against property, that at the close of the year (1782) a
society was formed for the pursuit and conviction of thieves ; but this
did not prevent a descent upon Zenas Parsons about a year later,
much plate and other valuables being secured.
The times were now ripe for the beginnings of those activities
which we may term modern. Still another age was approaching, with
change in dress, change in religious belief, change in political ideas,
and change in business methods. In a word, the day of pounds,
shillings, and pence was about gone, and the rule of dollars and cents
had beo-un.