Soldiers in King Philip's war. Containing lists of the soldiers of ...

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Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was the son of Christopher, who came
from England in the ship Lion, it is said ; was settled in Duxbury
in 1632 with wife Grace, and had four children, who in their mother's
will, 1688, are named in the order—Joseph, Samuel, Mary and
John, and the last was born 1638.
Capt. Samuel moved to Milton about 1656 and selected a large
tract of land in the centre of that town, and settled there with his
wife Abigail, daughter of James Lindall, of Duxbury. Their child-
ren, born between 1659 and 1674, were Ebenezer, Christopher,
Timothy, Joseph, Benjamin, Abigail, whose descendants have honored
the name in their generations.
Agreeably to the order of the Commissioners of the United Colonies
to raise one thousand men to continue the war against the In-
dians, passed at Boston, December 25th, Massachusetts on the
28th issued orders for impressing three hundred men forthwith;
Essex 105, Middlesex 83, Suffolk 112. See Mass. Archives, vol.
68, p. 107—the time and place of rendezvous being January 5th,
at Dedham, as we leaim from the Archives, vol. 68, p. 112.
Of the recruits that were sent out at this time, Capt. Samuel
Brocklebank, of Rowley, was in command of one company, the account
of which was in the last chapter ; and Capt. Samuel Wadsworth,
the subject of the present chapter, commanded another.
There is no published reference to such service by these officers, and
only the casual mention in Gen. Gookin's account of the "Praying
Indians," and by the writer of the pamphlet " News from New Enggland,"
to the effect that, when the army returned to Marlborough,
and the rest of the forces were dismissed, " Capt. Wadsworth with
his company was left at Marlborough." The garrisons from all the
frontier towns, save such as the inhabitants furnished, had been withdrawn
by an order of the Council, January 14th.
There is no mention of either of the above officers until the return
to Marlborough, and therefore our account of Capt. Wadsworth
and his company must begin there ; they having taken part in the
" Hungry March " from Narraganset, were now left to bear the
brunt of any attack the Indians might make upon the frontiers.
On February 6th the Council issued an order to Major Appleton,
then at Marlborough with the returned army, to dismiss the soldiers
to their several homes, "assooneas the Sabbath is past." But it
will be remembered that Gen. Winslow, now in command of the
army, and under the pressure of the lack of provisions, would
scarcely wait for this order, and probably marched to Boston on
February 5th, with at least a large proportion of his army. Rev.
Increase Mather, living in Boston at the time, and deeply interested
in all these affairs, writes in his history : " Feb. 5th, the Army returned
to Boston not having obtained the end of their going forth ;"
while the anonymous contemporary writer of the pamphlet above
mentioned, states that "Major Gen. Winslow only with his Troops