History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

cessful in enlisting men to serve under him, and in
June, 1775, an order was passed by the Committee
of Safety, recommending Congress to promote him-
to the rank of colonel, which recommendation was
at once complied with, as their records show that
he was appointed the next day, and that the five
commissions were appointed to his officers " agreea-
bly to the list by him made out " ; thus he went
into the service with both officers and men of his
own selection, all, as a regiment, having full confi-
dence in each other.
In the battle of Bunker Hill Colonel Nixon's
regiment was on the Jlystic side, and was con-
spicuous for its good conduct, having the honor of
being directly under the eye of General Warren.
In this engagement Colonel Nixon received a severe
wound, from which he never wholly recovered, and
was borne off the field but a few moments before
General Warren fell.
November 4-, 1775, Colonel Nixon was in camp
in Cambridge, in command of four regiments.
Early in 1776 Washington, as commander-in-chief,
addressed a letter to Congress in reference to the
appointment of general officers, and with it a list
of all the colonels in the army from New Hamp-
shire to Pemisylvania, stating that Colonel Nixon's
missioned as brigadier generals.
In December, 1776, General Nixon was with
his brigade on the Delaware. July 1, 1777, Wash-
ington wrote to General Putnam that it was almost
certain that Generals Howe and Burgoyne would,
if possible, " unite their attacks and form a junction'
of their two armies," and, he continued,' "I ap-
prove much of your conduct in ordering Nixon's
brigade to be in readiness ; and I desire it may be
embarked immediately with their baggage, to go to
Albany as soon as General Varnum's and General
Parson's brigades are so near Peeks-Kill that they
arrive to supply their place."
General Nixon shared fully in the honor of the
capture of Burgoyne.
In the Stillwater battle a cannon-ball passed so
near his head as to nearly destroy the vision of
one eye and the hearing of one ear.
In June, 1779, Washington made his head-
quarters at New Windsor, that he might better
personally have his army on both sides of the
Hudson, under his eye. The main body he left
under the command of General Putnam. The ob-
SUDBURY.
369
ject of Washington was to guard against an assault
on West Point. Three brigades were stationed on
the east side of the river, one of which was General
Nixon's.
This closes the account of General Nixon during
the Eevolutionary War. He resigned in 1780.
His residence in Sudbury was on the northern slope
of Nobscott. He was twice married, and had eleven
children ;
only one grandchild survives, Christopher
Gore Cutler, who lives in the south part of the
town. Esquire Cutler is now iu the eighty-ninth
year of his age, and remembers very distinctly his
grandfather Nixon as a man of medium size, of a
pleasant countenance, and a very white head. He
used to delight iu the society of his grandchildren,
and often amused them by relating .'tories and
sincing a song of the w^ar. General Nixon inoved
to lliddlebury, Vermont, where he died at the ad-
vanced age of ninety years.
The next jirominent military man as a represen-
tative of Sudbury in the Pievolutionary War was
Colonel Ezekiel Howe. He was a native of this
town, and one of the proprietors and keepers of the
Red-horse Tavern, or, more poetically, The Way-
side-Inn.
Shattuck's Hhiorij of Co ii co n7 snys (p. 110) :
"There were at this time, 1775, in this vicinity,
!
military talents, and his bravery on the 17th of
June, entitled him to promotion ; and consequently under a rather imperfect organization, a regiment
he was one of the six who, at that date, were com- of militia and a regiment of minute-men. Ofiicers
i of
i Ezekiel
j Hill
i road
I
: Nixon,
j received
minute militia. Col. Ja^ Barrett and Lieut. Col.
Howe." Again (p. 115), "The Sudbury
Company attacked them (tiie British) near Hardy's
and below tjie Brooks Tavern, and on the old
north of the school-house a severe battle was
fought.
" Two companies from Sudbury under Howe,
and Haynes came to Concord, and having
orders from a person stationed at the
entrance of the town for the purpose of a guide,
to proceed to the west instead of south bridge, ar-
rived near Colonel Barrett's just before the British
soldiers retreated. They halted in sight of Colonel
' Barrett, and Colonel Howe observed, If any blood
has been shed, not one of the rascals shall eseajje,'
and disguising himself, rode on to ascertain the
truth. Before proceeding far, firing began at the
bridge, and the Sudbury companies pursued the
retreating British."
In the Concord and Lexington battle, April 10,
1775, — only one battle, in fact, — three of our men
were killed, namely. Deacon Josiah Haynes (of the
alarm company), Mr. Asahel Read, and Mr. Joshua
—