History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

the charges completely exonerate Colonel Brown,
and turn the tables on those who have denounced
him to the selectmen. In a letter to the Board of
"War, dated May 19, 1775, Brown writes that he
has removed the cannon under his charge at Wal-
tliam to Watertown, and delivered them to the
Committee of Safety, " and shall have my company
in readiness to march to Cambridge to-morrow
morning." In June the Provincial Congress recommends
that Brown, who is holding the position of
lieutenant-colonel under Colonel Woodbridge, be
commissioned, and on the 23d of that month
he acknowledges the receipt of his commission.
Another unfortunate had inadvertently bought a
few pounds of tea, but was speedily made to realize
his offence. Of the part taken by the men of Waltham
at Bunker Hill there appears to be no record,
save here and there an item telling of some
one wounded or some one losing a gun or accoutrements.
Captain Jonathan Brewer was among
those wounded, and Eliphalet Hastings lost a
bayonet. It is probably safe to infer that the
entire number enumerated as enlisted were in that
battle.
At the meeting held March 18, 1776, Captain
William Coolidge, Thomas Wellington, and Lieuten-
ant Samuel Stearns were chosen the committee of
correspondence. In the warrant this committee has
also the terms "inspection'' and "safety." This
was in accordance with a resolve of the General
Court, February 13, 1776, uniting the three com-
mittees in one, and directing the annual choice by
the several towns. Those familiar with the colonial
history of this period will remember the many
difficulties that the colonists labored under through
lack of salt])ptre, and its manufacture was urged
upon the people. At the March meeting the town
chose Jacob Bigelow, Samuel Harrington, and
Elisiia Cutter a committee to inquire into the
feasibility of manufacturing it in private families
in Walrham. At the meeting in May (;i7th) Jo-
nas Dix, Esq., was chosen representative, and at
the same meeting, " the question being put to know
the mind of the Town whether they will advise
their Eepresentative that if tlie Honorable Con-
gress should for the Safety of the united Colonies
Declare them Independent of the Kingdom of
WALTffAil 417
served in the army or who should join the Canada
expedition. A bounty of £6 6«. Sd. was voted to
each non-commissioned officer and private enlisting
for that expedition. A committee to whom the
raising and disbursing of this bounty was intrusted
reported the following names of recruits : John
Coolidge, Ezra Peirce, John Gleason, Elisha Liver-
more, William Hagar, John Hagar, Josiah Sander-
son, Edward Brown, Elias Hastings, Eli Jones,
Abijah Brown, Jr., Benjamin Ellis, Isaiah Edes
"for my Negro," Josiah Wyer, David Stearns,
Jonathan Stearns, Abijah Fisk, John Lawrence,
Samuel Gale, Jr., Samuel Bigelow, Stephen Willman,
Eliphalet Hastings, Nathan Sanderson, John
Richardson.
The council of the colony having ordered a
printed copy of the Declaration of Indeiiendence
to be sent to the minister of each parish, of every
denomination, and by him to be read immediately
after the close of the service of the Sabbath follow-
ing its receipt, the copies then to be delivered to
the to\ra clerks, and by them entered on the town
or district records, " there to remain as a perpetual
Memorial thereof," we find it copied at length
in the records of this period. On the 28th of Oc-
tober the town refused to give its sanction to the
formation and enactment of a state constitution.
In December the following named men were en-
listed for Waltham, under Captain Blaney, in Colonel
Thatcher's regiment, for three months : Samuel
Lufkin, Solomon Keyes, John Glode, James Davis,
William Chambers, Timothy Brown, Samuel Luf-
kin, Jr., Timothy Farrar, Tristram Davidson, Jeremiah
Williams, Lemuel Wheeler, Abel Parker.
The school-teachers paid during this year were
WUliam Fisk and Paul Litclifield.
On the 3d of March, 1777, the town re-elected
the same men for its committee of correspondence,
and a committee was cliosen to devise some equita-
ble manner of proportioning the assessments levied
on account of tilling Waltham's quotas in the
army. In May Representative Dix was instructed
to join with other members of the General Court
(if he should think proper) in the formation of
" such a Constitution of Government, as he shall
Judge best Calculated to Promote the happiness of
this State ; and when compleated cause the same
Great Britain they the said Inhabitants will Sol- to be printed in all the Boston News Papers, and
emly engage with their lives and fortunes to support also in hand bills, one of which to be transmitted
them in the measure. And it passed in the affirma- to the selectmen of eacli Town, or the Committee
tive." At a meeting held June 2.5 tlie town voted of each Plantation, to be by them laid before their
to excuse from paying a bounty tax those who had respective Towns or Plantations, at a regular meet-