History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

Daniel Fletcher, John Didson, Samuel Howard,
Oliver Colburn, Ezra Colburn, Joseph xVyres,
John Haddock, John Hamblet; total, aS. Tlie
Butterfield, Fletclier, Gould, Colburn, Perham,
Hamblet, and Varnum families dwelt on the easterly
side of the Merrimack River, whicli they crossed by
means of a ferry-boat owned by the town. The
mill of William Gordon, on Bridge Meadow Brook,
and the tavern were the general places of resort.
Several slaves were held in easy bondage, and some
person was annually chosen to protect tlie deer which
were still occasionally found in tlie extensive, forests.
It was voted in 17(38 "to build a bridge witli
stone over Biscake Brook," a little stream which
enters the Merrimack River near where tlie railroad
depot now stands. William Henry Prentice and
Jonathan Holden were appointed to assist John
Perham, highway surveyor, in constructing it.
In the War of the Revolution the First Parish
.of Dunstable took a patriotic and active part. The
Hon. John Tyng was chosen in 1768 to represent
the town of Dunstable in the convention held in
Boston that year for the preservation of the public
peace and safety. Oil the -I'-iA of January, 1775,
the town of Dunstable made choice of John Tyng
and James Tyng to represent it in the Provincial
Congress, and on the 1st of February following
it appointed those two gentlemen, together with
Joseph Danforth, Nathaniel Holden, William Gor-
don, the miller, Joel Parkhurst, Reuben Butterfield,
Jacob Butterfield, and Leonard Butterfield as a
committee of inspection.
Minute-men were soon enrolled, the old muskets
used in the French war put in order, and pow-
der and ball provided. The sentiment of liberty
was deeply imbedded in the hearts of the people,
and all were agreed that British aggression must
be sternly met. Soon after the battle of Lexington
the town " voted to accept of y' Powder James
Tyng, Esq., bought for this town," and on the
l:Jth of June Abel Spaulding, Lemuel Perham,
Elijah Fletcher, and Asa Kendall were chosen to
join the committee of correspondence.
At the battle of Bunker Hill a Dunstable com-
pany, with Ebeuezer Bancroft captain, Nathaniel
Holden lieutenant, and Samuel Brown ensign,
performed effective service. The narrative given
by John B. Hill, Esq., of the gallant Captain Ban-
croft's part in the action is remarkably interesting.
It was taken from Captain Bancroft in 1825, and
then reduced to writing. In it that gallant officer
says —
:
.
TYNGSBOROUGE. 395
"Col. Prescott came to me and said, 'If you
can do anything with the cannon, I wish you
would. I give you the charge of them.' I directed
the men to dig down the bank [of the redoubt] in
order to form an embrasure, which they were forced
to do with their hands, for the party that had car-
ried off the intrenching tools had not left us a sin-
gle shovel or mattock. Men never worked with
more zeal. To loosen the earth, I loaded the cannon
and fired into the gap, and they dug again, and
I fired again a second time. Both these balls fell
in Boston, one near tlie meeting-house in Brattle
Siptare, the other on Coriihill, as I was afterwards
informed by Boston gentlemen. By this time the
British had landed. They learned that we had
cannon on the right or most westwardly part of
the fort, which was probably the reason tiiey did
not attempt to flank us on that quarter till the
close of the action. We were not able to use these
cannon in the action, because the enemy advanced
and the firing commenced before we iiad time to
dig down the bank far enough to use them against
the enemy. Still, as the few shots that were fired
gave the enemy notice that we had artillery, and
prevented their attempting to turn our right flank,
it must be regarded as a very important circumstance;
for, iiad they attempted it, they would
have succeeded, and we should not have Iiad more
than a shot or two at them The British
troops had begun their march. They were steadily
and confidently advancing directly in our front.
Our men turned their heads every minute to look
on the one side for their fellow-soldiers who had
gone off with the tools, and for the reinforcements
which were expected ; and on the other to see a
sight which was to most of them new, — a veteran
army marching on firmly to the attack, dlredlj in
their front
" It was an awful moment. The enemy had ad-
vanced, perha])s, half the way from their station
toward us, and our men, seeing no reinforcements,
began by a simultaneous movement to draw otT
from the east side of the redoubt. This, in my
opinion, was the very crisis of the day, the mo-.
ment on which everything depended. Col. Pres-
cott hastened to them, and I followed him. W^e
represented with earnestness that they must not go
off; that if they did, all would go ; that it would
disgrace us to leave at the bare sight of the enemy
the work we had been all night throwing up ;
that
we had no expectation of being able to hold our
ground, but we wanted to give them a warm