History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

548 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1774.
of recruiting in liis native town. He wonld frequently
address tlie soldiers, and when recruits were scarce, would
himself follow the drum and fife through the streets, till
others, awakened by his enthusiasm, joined the procession.
When the first company of minute-men was enlisted in
1774, he addressed them, and that document is still preserved.^
In it he counsels firmness, obedience, courage
and patriotism, urging proficiency in drill, and he suggests
to the men, first to make soldiers of themselves, to establish
and maintain union in their organization, and allow
no discouragements to embarrass their company.
Religious Principles. Major Hawley was a member of the
church, admitted during the pastorate of
Rev. Jonathan Edwards. Mr. Edwards speaks of him in
a letter reviewing the controversy which ended in his
dismission, as a.
"young gentleman of liberal education and notable abilities, and a
fluent speaker, of about 7 or 8 and twenty years of age, my grandfather
Stoddard's grandson, being my mother's sister's son, a man of lax principles
in religion, falling in in some essential things, with the Arminians,
and is very open and bold in it."- This statement is undoubtedly
correct. Mr. Hawley in his youth was a believer in Arminianism.
"1 first imbibed those wicked principles in the year
He says himself :
1744 when I was at Cambridge. * * * i continued strongly of those
sentiments as far as I can recollect, until the year 1754, when God
began to shake me * * * but it was a great while before my heart
was brought wholly to renounce them."' He did finally repudiate the
doctrine, and in 1762 was chosen Deacon, and served in that capacity
for twenty-three years.
A well-rounded "The extraordinary and unequalled influcharacter.
eucc of Hawlcy ill forming public opinion
for the struggle with Great Britain, has
been generally acknowledged ;
it is not so well known, that
on every topic of discussion, his voice was invariably
raised, as in defence of the bereaved and oppressed ;
so also
in favor of everything that could advance civil or religious
freedom. He liad the true instinct of liberty, and while
he rejected public honors, was the inflexible and eloquent
advocate of the rights of the people."^ "Major Hawley
1 See Magazine of American History, vol. 2S, p. 489, 1889.
2 Dwight's Life of Jonathan Edwards, p. 410.
.3 Hampshire Gazette, Oct. 2, 1833.