History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

476 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
have been worked for many years. They yield a
fine quality of stone, which is sent long distances
on the railway.
The central village is beautifully situated on a
commanding eminence, from which in clear weather
a fine view can be had of the distant mountains,
Wachusett, AVatatic, Monadnock, and Kearsarge.
The White Hills of New Hampshire may be seen
Barret, Bates, Bixby, Boyntoii, Burge, Butterfield,
Chandler, Cleaveland, Craft, Button, Passet, Heald,
Proctor, Spaulding, Temple, To wnsend, Underwood,
and others, have entirely disappeared.
Little can be learned from the records of the
civil or political history of the town for the first
forty years. The people were almost exclusively
occupied in tilling the ground, and there were few
startling events in their history. How much they
were disturljed by the French and Indian war, which
made so heavy a draft upon the resources of the
New England colonies, and how much, if anything,
they contributed to the defence of the colonies during
that conflict, it is not easy to determine. But
as they were ready to resist tlie usurpations of the
mother country at a later period, it is fair to presume
that they were not indift'erent or inactive in
the struggle with the savage foe.
The attitude of the town when the Revolutionary
struggle was impending showed a patriotism and
love of liberty of whicii no son, born within its
borders, ever need be ashamed. As early as 1765
the people gave utterance to tlieir sentiments on
the obnoxious Stamp Act in terms so explicit that
they could not be misunderstood.
Again, in 1770, they express sympathy with
the merchants of Boston and Charlestown in
their purpose not to import goods from Great
lirilain, and declare they will not procure goods
(if any pi'fsuns who have .souglit to counter-
ac't th;it agnvnicnl. In 177:5, soon after file
I'mston pamphlrt uas issued, llie p.nplr d.rhurd
Ihrjr syinpatliy willi thi'ir " Txistim brethren,"
and vdleil In choose a committee " to eorre-
sponil uilh lliislon, or any other town, as occa-
sion ni;iv ri'ipiire." This commillee consisted of
the live' lollownig g.'nilemen : Mr. Samuel (lard-
bot, Dr. Asaph Fletcher, and Mr. Nathaniel Boyn-
ton.
This was the first committee of correspondence
appointed by the town. Some of the best citi-
zens were members of it from time to time, and
it was the medium of communication with other
patriotic men in the province for several years.
In March, 1774', the town adopted a stirring pa-
in favorable times. Its geographical position and triotic paper, drawn up by Dr. Fletcher, in which
picturesque scenery entitle this to rank among the they say " : In faithfulness to our country, our-
loveliest towns of northern Middlesex. For more selves, and posterity, we hold ourselves obligated
than one hundred and fifty years it has been the according to the utmost of our abilities to make
home of a frugal, industrious people.
repeated oppositions against repeated attempts to
The original families, bearing the name of Adams, extinguish the just rights and liberties of this peo-
ple, or every attempt to annihilate our freedom, the
price of which was no less than the price of blood,
even the precious blood of our worthy ancestors."
When the struggle came, in 1775, the people of
this town were among the first to leave their homes
to drive back the British troops from Concord. In
the fight at the North Bridge, April 19, Colonel
John Robinson, of this town, stood by the side of
Davis and Buttrick when the British advanced upon
the Americans, and the first shot sent a ball under
Colonel Robinson's arm. Dr. Ripley says that a
company from Westford had just entered the
bounds of Concord when the fight took place.
The state archives in Boston show that two com-
panies left Westford that morning for Concord,
and although not present at the first skirmish,
they joined in pursuit of the retreating foe, and
did good service. The first company consisted of
fifty-eight men, and was led by Captain Timothy
Underwood. The other consisted of thirty-six men
under Captain Oliver Bates. It is stated on good
authority that Captain Bates received a wound
that day from which he did not recover, but
died JiJly 4, 1775. In Colonel Swett's list of
companies in Colonel Prescott's regiment at tiie
battle of Bunker Hill are the names of Joshua
Parker, captain ; Amaziah Fassett, first lieutenant
Thomas Rogers, second lieutenant. These were
Westford men. This shows that the town jiartici-
pated in the first battle of the Revolution. One of
her citizens, Joseph Minot, gave up his life in that
battle.
In 1780, when the bill of riglits and the consti-
tution of tliis state were presented to tiie people,
this town, at a meeting held Alay 25, voted to
accept the first article of the bill, and also the sec-
ond, with tlie exception of the last clause. At an
ner, Caplain .Jonathan Minot, Deacon .lohn Ab- adjourned meeting, live days later, the town, " hav-
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