pm 4k*j*fci ? ,& &&wg REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Ct>. /3. ■Jryv^yye^^ REMINISCENCES and MEMORIALS OF Men of the Revolution AND THEIR FAMILIES. By A. B. MUZZEY. * > ( I » • ■>>., FULLY ILLUSTRATED. ' Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country' Thy God's, and truth's." BOSTON: ESTES AND LAURIAT, 301-305 Washington Street. 1883. MS Copyright, 1882, By A. B. M i z/. i- v. /V IT*".* QUINCY FAMILY. 91 eloquent and high-toned principles of his distin- guished grandparent, and of the noble patriotism of the long line of Quincys. In Mr. Quincy's brief speech at the dinner table after the re-interment, April 19, 1835, of the men killed in the Battle of Lexington, whose remains at this time, after an eloquent address by Edward Everett, were placed in a sarcophagus under the monument in that town, I was impressed with his earnest, though modest and dignified manner, and his spirit so in harmony with that of the proto- martyrs whom we that day commemorated. By request I had prepared the sentiment intended to draw from him what followed. It was in these words : — Josiah Quincy, Junior, who died April 26, 1775, among the first-born of the champions of American Lib- erty : like the martyrs whose memory we this day venerate, he saw but the dawn of that light he prized higher than life. "His sons come to honor, but he know- eth it not." Peace to his ashes ! Mr. Quincy, then President of Harvard College, being called upon for a sentiment, remarked that, after what had been said by distinguished gen- tlemen, in the church and at the table, it would not be expected of him that he should make a display or a speech. It was a time for feeling, — a time for thought, — not a moment to applaud; he should, therefore, simply reciprocate the sentiment 92 KEMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of the chair : " The town of Lexington — where brave men are raised, and brave men honored." The patriotism of Mr. Quincy shone out on every occasion suited to call it forth. He was filled with the spirit of the Revolution. It will be remembered that when the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence met for that momentous service, John Hancock said, as he affixed to it, the first in order, his own name : " We must be unani- mous ; we must hang together." " Yes," said Franklin, " or hang separately." I heard President Quincy, at a public dinner, give this sentiment, which was received with unbounded enthusiasm : " The times of the Revolution, when the only question was — shall we hang together, or hang separately." His characteristic energy and wisdom were man- ifested during his whole administration of the college. He held personal intercourse with the students. He reformed the state of the Com- mons, made the fare of the students better, and thus broke up that old source of rebellions among the classes. The studies became more systematic, and electives began to take the place of compulsory work. The College was expanded to a University ; the Law School was reorganized ; Gore Hall was built, and the Library enlarged and made more secure from fire ; an Observatory was established, and the quickened movements in other directions justified the subsequent remark of President Walker that " Mr. Quincy was the Great Organizer of the University." QUINCY FAMILY. 93 Mr. Quincy, in speaking of the class of 1790, of Harvard College, of which he was a member, and its first scholar, says : " The most talented, taking light literature as the standard, was Joseph Dennie. His imagination was vivid, and he wrote with great ease and felicity." It was, 1 think, at this time that, although Mr. Dennie resided in Boston, he frequently visited Lexington, and he and my father, of about the same age, became acquainted with each other. I often heard him speak of Joseph Dennie as a delightful companion, full of mirth and repartee ; his society was most agreea- ble to one of the same facetious disposition. He was a perfect gentleman, and attracted great inter- est among the ladies of that quiet town. I believe he married one of these his youthful associates. Knowing well Mr. Quincy 's public course in subsequent years, I can readily conceive his friend- ship in youth for those noble men of Boston, Samuel Dexter, George Cabot, Fisher Ames, Harri- son Gray Otis, the Lowells, (father and son), Theophilus Parsons, John Adams and his eminent son, John Quincy Adams, and others of their circle. One who knew him later, and witnessed his Chris- tian principle and rare magnanimity, cannot question that, in the heat of party strife, when the last named of this bright train left the Federal ranks, in which he and Mr. Quincy had always been the closest friends, Mr. Quincy wrote of his companion to his own wife : "I am glad you enter into no asperities such as you hear upon the char- 94 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. acter of John Quincy Adams. He has just as good a right to his sentiments as I have to mine. He differs from his political friends, and is abused. Let us not join in the contumely. It can do us no good, and may do him some hurt." He could not always agree with Mr. Adams in his public course, but when he had been stricken down at the Capitol, and was no more, how touching and noble were these words taken from his daily journal : — February 25, 1848. — I have to record the loss of the friend of my youth, of my manhood, and of my old age, John Quincy Adams — on the spot where his eloquence had often triumphed, and where his varied powers were so often shown, and are now acknowledged. Friend of my life, farewell ! I owe you for many marks of favor and kindness. Many instances of your affection and in- terest for me are recorded in my memory, which death alone can obliterate. The interest of Mr. Quincy in the Antislavery cause, partly for its dangers to our national liber- ties, began in his early life. While in the Mas- sachusetts Senate, 1804-5, he took part in a movement for eliminating from the- National Con- stitution the article which permitted the Slave States to count three fifths of their slaves as a part of their basis of representation. He more than once said to friends in conversation, in presence of one of his sons : " You and I may not live to see the day, but before that boy is off the stage, he will see this country torn in pieces by the fierce passions which are now sleeping." So true were QUINCY FAMILY. 95 the prophetic instincts of this great man in regard to the day and the scenes of our recent Civil War. The services of this devoted man cannot easily be exaggerated. The nation owes him a large debt. While he was in Congress the country was distressed by measures of the Democratic adminis- tration creating commercial restrictions, by the embargo, and by our being plunged into war with Great Britain. Mr. Quincy, a warm Federalist, took his stand firmly as a bold and eloquent opponent of all these measures. He represented with decision the feelings and the judgment of his constituents. He drew up the strong address of the minority of Congress ; and his speeches were delivered with that dignity, power, and point which we, who in subsequent years heard his voice at home, feel sure must have made a deep and — on all who were not arrayed against him by party hostility — a convincing impression. They are among the best political records of those eventful times. His broad and wise views, his mastery of all financial questions, his demand for a more perfect protection of our maritime rights, his just appreciation of our foreign relations, and the high-toned patriotism which pervaded his whole course, will excite the admiration of future generations. Among the very able men of those days he stood shoulder to shoulder, in counsel and in conduct, a peer of whom Rome or Sparta might have been proud. During his Mayoralty in Boston, he was earnest 96 KEMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. in every good work for the improvement of the city. He reorganized the Fire Department, estab- lished the House of Reformation for juvenile offenders, and the Girls' High School, under charge of Mr. Ebenezer Bailey; but the noblest of his benefactions was the erection of the great Quincy Market-house, at the cost, eventually, of three hundred thousand dollars. He was indefatigable in the use of his strong and cultivated intellect in the production of several valuable works by his pen : the Life of his father, Josiah Quincy, Jr. ; the History of the Boston Athe- naeum, 1851 ; the Life of Colonel Samuel Shaw ; the Municipal History of Boston, in 1852 ; the Life of John Quincy Adams ; and the elaborate and com- plete History of Harvard University, in two large volumes. It is not saying too much to affirm that no man, in the cluster of distinguished benefactors in our history, has combined in himself more rare excellences as a patriot, a statesman, a vigorous and classical writer, or broader views on the great subjects of education, philanthropy, social econ- omy, and the wide financial and public good of the community, with a practical illustration of sound principles in their best action, than Josiah Quincy. His personal character, not only intellectual, but moral and thoroughly Christian, will stand the test of history. Future generations will respond to the testimonial given by his cotemporaries, on the recommendation of Mayor Cobb, October 11, 1879, and from the fund left the city by Hon. QUINCY FAMILY. 97 Jonathan Phillips — in the erection of that impos- ing statue in Boston, which will speak of his virtues to the eye that looks upon it, in the midst of the thronged city for whose welfare he labored so faithfully and with such success. And so of that other beautiful figure in Memorial Hall, Cam- bridge, which shows him in his office as the head of our University, an example and an inspiration to those who in coming years shall resort to its walls for literary instruction, and who will be sure to honor the place of their education if they carry from it the integrity, the earnestness, the patriotic and Christian virtues, which marked his character and will perpetuate his influence. It is a remarkable circumstance that there have been six in this family named Josiah, several of them to be noticed for their ability and public ser- vices, and three at least very prominent. The oldest was born April 1, 1710. His son, Josiah Quincy, Jr., was born in February, 1744. His in- tense, almost agonized, spirit is embodied in the address of a Committee to the Provincial Congress, dated July 26, 1774, and written by their Chair- man, Josiah Quincy, Jr., — the tone of which seems to resound along the illustrious line of that family : " You, gentlemen, our friends, country- men, and benefactors, may possibly look toward us at this great crisis. We trust that we shall not be left of Heaven to do anything derogatory to our common liberties, unworthy the fame of our ances- tors, or inconsistent with our former professions 98 KEMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. and conduct. To you we look for that wisdom, advice, and example, which, giving strength to our understanding and vigor to our actions, shall, with the blessing of God, save us from destruction." In an edition of President Quincy's most valu- able and interesting memoir of his father, which was prepared by his patriotic and gifted daughter, Miss Eliza S. Quincy, we have a note which exhibits an instance of the noble spirit of her father : — Two thousand pounds sterling were bequeathed by the will of Mr. Quincy to Harvard College, in case his son should die a minor. His son lived and became pres- ident of the University in 1829, held that office sixteen years, and survived to the age of ninety-two years. Un- willing that the college should lose the bequest of his father, he gave, in 1848, ten thousand dollars, as an equiv- alent for the loss the institution had sustained by the continuance of his own life. He gave this donation to the publishing fund of the Observator}^ founded by his exertions during his presidency, and directed that the following sentence should be inscribed on the titlepage of every volume the expense of which was defrayed from this source : " Printed from funds resulting from the will of Josiah Quincy, who died April 26, 1775, leaving a name inseparably connected with the history of the American Revolution." After a prolonged life of most active service to his country, to the interests of education, and, by his pen, to the cause of good letters, Mr. Quincy still showed his interest in the welfare of the col- lege over which he had so long and so faithfully presided. The very last year of his life he at- QUINCY FAMILY. 99 tended its Commencement, and it was a touching spectacle to see that venerated man, disabled both by age and an unfortunate accident, supported by his eldest son, a model of filial respect and affec- tion, as he entered the audience room. The vast company rose as one man, with a salutation that found expression in the heartiest applause ; and we were thrilled, at the dinner table on that day, to hear the voice of the aged patriot still loyal to the memories of his best days. " I want," said the sage, hero, and patriot within a few months of his death, " to live to see this War of the Rebellion through." But, although he was called to his reward before seeing that issue, dy- ing July 1, 1864, it must have cheered his closing days to reflect that he had lived to see a grandson in that war, General Samuel M. Quincy, who served in it with distinction, and survived among those who received the honor and gratitude of the country they did so much to save. I should do injustice to this family not to name, among its departed worthies, Edmund, son of President Quincy, born February 1, 1808, and graduated at Harvard College in 1827. An early advocate of the Antislavery cause, he never hesi- tated to speak and to act whenever he could advance its interests. Who that ever saw him can forget his noble figure, his benevolent face, the urbanity of his manner, and his pleasing address ? I never conversed with him, I never saw him, without bein^ reminded of his honored father. 100 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. His self-possession and dignity, his logical acumen, his union of sound sense with keen wit, were seen in public speech. In consecration to the great interests of liberty, in his manly defence of the humblest who needed its shield, in his literary cul- ture, and his political and miscellaneous writings, especially in that model biography he has left us of his distinguished father, we have abundant ma- terials for a respectful, pleasant, and never fading remembrance of him. We may well say of this, his closing production, breathing as it does the spirit of this grand old family, — whether we re- gard the writer or his subject, — the tribute of a worthy son to a worthy sire. We find his name in the old Massachusetts Antislavery Society, where he labored with zeal in its most trying period. The officers of that society were, for many years, Francis Jackson, president, Edmund Quincy, corresponding secretary, and Robert F. Walcott, secretary, and still living. DANIEL WEBSTER. CHAPTER V. LINCOLN FAMILY. A personal acquaintance with many members of the large Lincoln family : with Luther B. Lin- coln, as a schoolmate in the academy of Westford where I was prepared for college, a young man of most amiable and attractive qualities of char- acter, who won " troops of friends " wherever he was known, who stood high as a scholar, was a pat- tern of application and earnestness in every liter- ary pursuit, and successful afterward as a school- teacher ; with Rev. Calvin Lincoln, a cotemporary in the Christian ministry, whom I knew well as the secretary for some years of the American Unitarian Association, not less loved as a man than honored for his consecration to his work, his excellent judgment and practical ability in all business affairs ; with my good friend, Hosea H. Lincoln, the friend of a whole generation passed by him at the head of one of our Boston schools ; and with others whom my limits forbid me to name, — and, not least, the circumstance that of the stock of Thomas Lincoln " the husband- man" came my maternal grandmother, Rachel 102 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Lincoln, who exhibited in herself the rare qualities of .this good i old lineage, in patriotic sympathy with her husband, a Revolutionary officer, her life spared to the advanced age of eighty-six, wise, dignified, beloved by the large circle of her kin- dred, and sought as a kind neighbor, an intelli- gent adviser, her hand as ready to help as her heart was to prompt it in daily offices of love and good-will, — all these associations make the writer deeply interested in this ancient family. The origin of the Liacoln family can be traced back to the Countess of Lincoln, England, as early as 1619. Dr. Young in his " Chronicles of the Pil- grims," says : " The Lincolns had a more intimate connection with the New England settlements, and must have felt a deeper interest in their success, than any other noble house in England." This opinion is confirmed by Cotton Mather in his "Magnalia;" he speaks of the family as "relig- ious," and " the best family of any nobleman then in England." Governor Dudley wrote to the Countess of Lin- coln, from Newtowne (Cambridge), under date of March 28, 1631, in relation to recent losses by fire, and says, in " our new town, intended this summer to be builded, we have ordered that no man there shall build his chimney with wood, nor cover his house with thatch." It is fortunate, with our taste for genealogy, that we can go back to so early a date. We in the East do not sympathize in this re- spect with the habit of some other portions of LINCOLN FAMILY. 103 the country. Abraham Lincoln, when in Boston, was questioned by some of the Lincoln family about his ancestry. " Well," he replied, " I don't know much about that ; few people out West care to go any further back than their grand- fathers." Most of the early settlers of this country, named Lincoln, came from Norfolk County in England, and they were all more or less related to each other. They were then designated by their sev- eral occupations. Thus we have Thomas the Hus- bandman, Thomas the Weaver, Thomas the Miller, and Thomas the Cooper Of these Lincolns, Thomas the Weaver came from Hingham, Norfolk County, England, and his brother Samuel from Norwich, the chief town of the same County. Samuel came first to Salem, Massachusetts, and went thence to Hingham. Samuel had a son named Mordecai, born at Hingham in 1651 ; he settled in Scituate in 1700. Mordecai had a son named Jacob ; Jacob had a son named Solomon. Thomas the Husbandman came from Windham, Norfolk County in England, and settled in Hing- ham, Massachusetts. This town was named for Hingham, a market-town and parish in Norfolk County, England. Windham, five and a half miles west-northwest of Hingham, is now Wymondam, so called from a prominent family in the original place, named Wymond, the syllable ham signify- ing " home," the " home of the Wymonds." Hing- ham, Massachusetts, was formally settled September 18, 1635, by Rev. Peter Hobart and twenty-nine 104 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. others who drew houselots on that day. Within three subsequent years large numbers were added to these, embracing, with the first comers, nearly all the old families which have been conspicuous in that town. In 1638 Thomas the Husbandman, — made Free- man in 1637, — and Stephen his brother, — who also came from Windham, and went first to Salem, thence to Hingham, — received grants of houselots. Thomas the Husbandman has numerous descend- ants in Hingham, in the County of Worcester, and in other parts of Massachusetts. There are distin- guished men of this family, who have rendered valuable services to their communities in civil and military offices. Thomas the Husbandman, born probably in 1616, had four sons, Joshua, Thomas, Caleb and Luke. Joshua, son of Thomas, was baptized May 3, 1645. Thomas, son of Thomas, was born December 22, 1652. Caleb, son of Thomas, born May 8, probably in 1654, married Rachel, daughter of James Bates. Their children were Joshua, Peter, Caleb, Jacob, Solomon, Thomas, and Ebenezer. Luke, son of Thomas, born March 27, probably in 1698, in Scituate, removed to Leicester, where he held public office, being selectman in 1747; he married Lydia Loring, daughter of David Loring of Barnstable. The children of Luke and Lydia (Loring) Lin- coln were five in number. (1) William was born May 23, 1738. LINCOLN FAMILY. 105 (2) Rachel, born August 7, 1741, married, January 21, 1768, Colonel Timothy Boutelle of Leominster. (3) Loring, born May 6, 1744, married Dorothy Moore. They lived in Greenboro, Vermont. He was a captain in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was eight months in the Continental army. (4) Lydia was born January 18, 1746. (5) Mary, born October 10, 1754, married, in 1778, Asa Meriam of Oxford, Massachusetts. They had only one child. The town of Oxford is re- markable as the place in which, in 1636, thirty fami- lies of the Protestant refugees from France took up their residence, in consequence of the Revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 1634. Stephen Lincoln, son of Stephen, who came' from Windham, England, had only one son, Stephen. Stephen, son of Stephen, son of Stephen, had three sons: Stephen, born probably in 1666, who had a descendant in Hingham, Alexander Lincoln, who died October 7, 1879 ; David, born September 22, 1668; James, born October 26, 1681. The descendants of Stephen Lincoln, brother of Thomas the Husbandman, many of whom are now (1882) living, have been confined largely to the limits of Hingham. Isaac Lincoln, born Jan. 18, 1701-2, was a grad- uate of Harvard College in 1722, and for a long term of years a public school-teacher in Hingham. Abner Lincoln, born July 7, 1766, was a grad- uate of Harvard College in 1788, and the first preceptor of Derby Academy. He was an accom- plished scholar and a successful teacher. 106 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Rev. Perez Lincoln, born February 9, 1767, was a graduate of Harvard College in 1795, and was a minister in Gloucester. Rev. Calvin Lincoln, born in Hingham, Novem- ber 1800, died September 11, 1881, aged eighty- one years and ten months. He fell from paralysis in his pulpit, and while in the act of devotion on the day set apart for prayers in behalf of President Garfield. He graduated at Harvard College in 1820 ; was minister at Fitchburg many years; re- signed in 1855, and was Secretary of the American Unitarian Association a few years. He was after- ward settled over the First Parish in Hingham — its church edifice being, it is said, the oldest still used f for worship in this country, — and its sole pas- tor till his death, excepting three years, when Rev. Edward Augustus Horton was his colleauge. Be- loved by all denominations and all classes, he had the reverence and confidence of all who knew him. He was a devout, earnest, and faithful minister, and the oldest living pastor in his denomination at the time of his death. Hon. David Wilder, in his History of Leomin- ster, says of Rachel Lincoln : " She was the wife of Colonel Timothy Boutelle of this town, a daughter of Captain Luke Lincoln of Leicester, and her genealogy may be 'traced back to a near relation- ship with the late distinguished General Lincoln of Hingham." This is unquestionably true. Al- though all the Lincolns did not come from the same town, Hingham, in England, they did come from the same county, Norfolk, and were living LINCOLN FAMILY. 107 v but a few miles from each other at the time of their emigration to this country. Their family attachments have always been strong from the earliest accounts we have of them. They all clus- tered in a near neighborhood to each other in the Old World, there is the best reason to believe, as they have in the New. Their characteristics have borne in every branch of the family a striking re- semblance. Friends of good learning, a large number of them have been graduates of Harvard and other colleges, — patrons and earnest supporters of our public schools and academies, and men of high principles, public-spirited and uniformly pat- riotic. It is but justice to dwell on individuals who have honored the name. Our subject leads us to speak of Benjamin Lin- coln of Revolutionary fame. His military career stands out brightly in the annals of that war which established our national independence. His father held a colonel's commission in England. The son was born in Hingham, January 24, 1733, and died May 9, 1810, aged seventy-seven years. His direct ancestor, Thomas Lincoln the Cooper, came from Hingham in England to Hingham in Massachusetts in 1636. Benjamin Lincoln was a farmer until forty years old. He held many civil offices, and was a major-general of the State militia early in the Revolution. At the time of the battle of Bunker Hill, General Lincoln led a company, although not its commis- sioned captain, from Hingham to that vicinity. 108 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. An incident shows the deplorable destitution of some of our men at that period. On his return home, Israel Beal, Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety in Hingham, said to him : " Well, General, did you see the red-coats ? " " Yes," was the reply. " Did ye get a shot at 'em ? " " No." " Well, it seems to me, General, I would have got one shot at 'em." "The fact is, Mr. Beal," said Lincoln, " we had no ammunition." Lincoln was in 1776 a brigadier-general, and soon after was made a major-general in the Conti- nental army ; he joined Gates's command, opposed Burgoyne's advance, and aided in his final defeat and capture, and held many important commands during his long service. From his sound judgment, cautious, yet brave, determined, and indefatigable, he secured in a marked degree the confidence of Washington. In the battle of Bemis's Heights he received a wound in his right leg, which eventually rendered it two inches shorter than the other, caused him great suffering, and compelled him to walk lame the remainder of his life. In September, 1778, he was placed at the head of the Southern Army, with 1100 men. At Fort Moultrie he was compelled to surrender ; but although unsuccessful also in the attack on Savan- nah and the defence of Charleston, he had through the whole campaign the confidence of Washington, of Congress, of the army, and all the patriotic men of the South. He possessed wit as well as wisdom. While on the Savannah River, two ropes LINCOLN FAMILY. 109 having been broken in the attempt to hang a de- serter of his command, Lincoln, when applied to for directions, replied, " Let him go ; I always thought he was a scape-gallows." After the siege of Yorktown, in 1781, having had a full share in the operations at that place, he, in common with Lafayette and Steuben, was pub- licly thanked in Washington's general orders, October 20. On the surrender of Cornwallis, that haughty nobleman was compelled to accept the very same terms of capitulation, in manner and style, which he had imposed upon General Lincoln at the siege of Charleston. On his march to the North with a portion of the army after the surrender of Cornwallis, General Lincoln received notice of his appointment by Congress as the first Secretary of War, on a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, being allowed at the same time to retain, without pay, his rank in the army. In October, 1783, when Congress accepted his resignation as Secretary of War, they voted " that he be informed that the United States in Congress Assembled entertain a high sense of his perseverance, fortitude, activity, and meritorious services in the field, as well as his diligence, fidel- ity, and capacity in the execution of the office of Secretary of War, which important trusts he has discharged to their entire approbation." Governor Bowdoin, in 1787, placed General Lin- coln at the head of the militia to suppress the Shays Rebellion, which had assumed formidable pro- 110 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. portions. January 20, with forty-four hundred men he marched rapidly through Worcester, Hamp- den, and Berkshire counties, and, although the rebels were decided and in force, he succeeded, by his wise, firm, and yet cautious movements, in dis- persing them completely without a drop of blood being shed by the men under his command ; al- though, in the sequel, about eight hundred persons were brought as insurgents before a commission consisting of. Benjamin Lincoln, Samuel Phillips, Jr., and Samuel A. Otis, a name ever honored in the hour of peril to the country and state. Some thirteen men were convicted of treason and sen- tenced to death, but afterward pardoned. As a curious relic of barbarous punishment, a seditious member of the Legislature was sentenced to sit on the gallows with a rope about his neck, and to pay a fine of fifty pounds. Lincoln was chosen lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts in 1788, and was a member of the convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. He was early a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and was president of the Mas- sachusetts Society of the Cincinnati from its organization until his death. The confidence be- stowed by Washington upon Lincoln, from his entrance on public life to the close of his active career, is remarkable. So early as 1776, during the siege of Boston, his military capability, as major- general of the State militia, was noticed by Wash- ington. The same year he was sent by Massachu- LINCOLN FAMILY. Ill setts to Long Island to join the commander-in-chief. He was in the battle of White Plains and at Mor- ristown, and was by State influence raised to the rank of major-general in the Continental service. After prominence in the army at several other places, he joined Washington in 1781 on the Hud- son, and co-operated in the siege of Yorktown with distinction. After the surrender of Corn- wallis, the honor of receiving the sword of the British commander, was given by Washington to Lincoln. On the establishment of the Federal government his friends were anxious he should have an office in it. Among these was Rev. Joseph Jackson of Boston, who called on Washington to speak in his favor : " I will give you," said he with his usual decided economy of time, " fifteen min- utes to talk." He began by naming Lincoln. " You need not go on," said the President ; " I know all about General Lincoln." Washington at once gave the first appointment of collector of Boston, the best office in New England, to his old friend and favorite, in which office Lincoln remained until about two years before his death, showing in it a clear judgment, spotless integrity, and prac- tical sagacity which fitted him eminently for the situation. His keen sense of honor led him to offer President Jefferson, from whom he differed in politics, his resignation, although he was induced to withdraw it. General Lincoln retained the plain and simple habits of his early farmer's life to the last. He was accustomed, when in the Boston collectorship, 112 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. to return to his home in Hingham at night by the packet from Long Wharf. Walking one day from his office on State Street clown to the packet, he was met by his young friend Samuel May, who saw him coming, lame and limping from a wound which he received at the taking of Burgoyne, with a pair of boots in his hand. Young May, feeling it out of place for a man in Lincoln's high position to be carrying such things in his hand, asked the privilege of taking them to the vessel for him. a No, thank you, my dear," said the General ; " when I get so old I can't carry my own boots I'll go without." His wit was always ready. Dr. Waterhouse of Cambridge, a warm friend, often called at his office, and on one occasion inquired of him if his daughter Mary was still in Hingham. "No, sir," was the reply. When about leaving, the Doctor again remarked : " Then you said, Gen- eral, that Mary was not in Hingham ? " " No, sir," was the answer, " she is there, but not still in Hingham, — she is never still anywhere." Between Generals Knox and Lincoln, who resem- bled each other in person, there was great inti- macy. Knox, who was rich at one time, named for his friend Lincoln a township he owned. Engaging afterward in Eastern land speculations, and being withal of expensive habits, he became greatly involved, and Lincoln kindly endorsed his notes. He was urged to evade his responsibility, but he refused to do this. His old friend Israel Beal came forward, and said to Lincoln : " General, I have a hundred silver dollars in my house that LINCOLN FAMILY. 113 you are entirely welcome to." To which the vet- eran replied, with eyes fall of tears : " Mr. Beal, I thank you, but it would be a drop in the bucket." We are glad to know that Knox, having lands transferred to him in Maine, finally relieved Lin- coln of his burden. The correspondence of Knox with Washington, Lafayette, and other distinguished men, amounting to fifty-six folio volumes, has recently, 1882, been presented to the New England Historic Genealog- ical Society, and will be to future generations a tes- timonial of inestimable value to the services of General Knox, General Lincoln, and his other asso- ciates in the toils, perils, and sufferings, by which our National Independence was achieved, the foun- dations of our government securely laid, and its work commenced. General Lincoln's home was in Hingham to the last, and the house in which he was born and died is now owned and occupied by his grandchildren, who are the seventh generation who have lived there. The estate has descended in a direct line from the ancestor who settled there in 1636. Six generations of Lincolns have been born on that spot, and each family had a son named Benjamin. The General died May 9, 1810, a little more than seventy-seven years of age. His remains were followed to the tomb that stands on an elevation in the cemetery — near the unique old meeting-house built in 1680, within whose walls he had so long worshipped — by a long train of relatives, friends, and surviving companions in arms. 8 CHAPTER VI. PARKER FAMILY. The name of Parker has many claims to notice in a biographical work on the Revolution. On the roll of the men in Captain John Parker's company which stood on Lexington Common, April 19, 1775, there were four of this name : John the commander of the company, Jonas who fell in the battle that morning, Ebenezer a corporal, and Thaddeus ; of whom the two latter were afterward in the Continental service, — one for eight months, the other at Cambridge the month following the battle of Lexington, — and the last, Thaddeus, was in the battle of Bunker Hill. I recollect John, the son of Captain Parker, well ; and his grandson, the distinguished Theodore Parker, was a school- mate with me at Lexington. The ancestor of this family, Thomas Parker, born in 1609, came from London, England, March 11, 1635, and settled in Lynn the same year. He was made Freeman in 1637. He removed to Read- ing, where he aided in establishing a church, of w^hich he became deacon. By his wife, Amy, he had eleven children. Of these Joseph, born in 1642, PARKER FAMILY. 115 died 1644. Nathaniel was born May 16, 1651. Jonathan, born May 18, 1656, died in 1683, aged twenty-seven ; his wife died January 15, 1690. Hananiah, the second son, born in 1638, mar- ried first, September 30, 1663, Elizabeth Brown. She died in 1698, and he married second, Mrs. Mary Wright, widow of Deacon John Wright, of Watertown. He died March 10, 1724 ; she died January 4, 1736, aged eighty-seven years. He lived in Reading, and had the then honored office of Lieutenant. They had seven children, of whom the first, John, born in 1664, came to Lexington about 1712. According to a deed, dated June 25, 1712, he bought the original family estate in Cam- bridge Farms, afterward Lexington, containing " one small mansion, and sixty acres of land." He must have been a prominent man in town, since in " seating the meeting-house," in which reference was had to age, property, and rank, he was placed in the second seat, with the most highly respected citizens. His wife died March 10, 1718 ; and he died January 22, 1741, aged seventy-eight years. They had iive children, of whom Josiah, born April 11, 1694, married December 8, 1718, Anna Stone, daughter of John and Rachel (Shepard) Stone. He was honored with the office of Lieutenant, and filled several town offices, being chosen town-clerk four years, an assessor from 1726 to 1755, with intervals, and selectman seven years. Josiah Parker and wife were united to the church, August 13, 1719. He died October 9, 1756, aged sixty- 116 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. two ; she died September 8, 1760. They had eight children, of whom, John, born July 13, 1729, married May 22, 1755, Lydia Moore. They joined the church October 31, 1756. John Parker was a prominent man in Lexing- ton. He was chosen assessor in 1764-65-66-74. When, in 1774 and early in 1775, the town of Lexington made an effort to organize a company of minute-men, we have a record over his signature in this language, which shows his military leader- ship, and seems the first note of preparation for the bloody drama so soon to be enacted : — Agreeable to the vote of the town I have received by the hands of the Selectmen the drums — there were two — provided by the town for the use of the Military Company, in this town, until the further order of the town. John Parker. Lexington, March 14, 1775. But his greatest distinction was the part he took in the beginning of the military operations of the Revolution. Ten British officers rode up from Boston on the evening of April 18, toward Lex- ington, hoping to intercept any news of the movement of troops toward Concord. They dined on their way at Cambridge. The Provincial Committee of Safety — Orne, Lee. Gray, and Heath — had adjourned from Concord to Menotomy, now Arlington. On the arrival there of the British troops, at midnight, they waked, and PARKER FAMILY. 117 ran, without dressing, into a field to elude them. Dr. Warren, a member of this committee, was meanwhile in Boston, watching the movements there. Both sides were anxious to avoid firing the first shot. The Continental and the Provincial congresses cautioned their committees, and the people generally, to use great forbearance. John Parker commanded the company who stood bravely at their post on the 19th of April, 1775, — some seventy men, confronted by six hundred British regulars. Although the com- pany contained such men as Lieutenant Edmund Munroe, and Ensign Robert Munroe, who had held commissions in the French War, with some twenty or thirty, both soldiers and officers, who had seen service in the field, Parker commanded such con- fidence that he was chosen above them all ; and the issue showed they had committed no mistake. He was firm, cool, and determined in the trying hour. He ordered his men to load their guns, but not fire unless fired upon first. When some few seemed inclined to falter, he said : " I will cause the first man to be shot down who quits the ranks without orders." Of Parker's company seventeen out of seventy were either killed or wounded. This shows that they stood their ground, and must have been fired upon at close range. Although eight of his men had been killed and several wounded in the morning, he rallied his company in the after- noon to meet the foe on their return from Concord, and fired upon them with execution. 118 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Captain Parker led a detachment, forty-five men, of his company to Cambridge, upon call of the Provincial Congress, where they served from May 6 to May 10, 1775. And again, on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, he inarched with sixty-one of his company to Cambridge, ready for action. Although his health was feeble at the time of the battle of Lexington, and a fatal disease con- tinued its invasion of his physical strength, he marched to Cambridge in the following month, and again on the seventeenth of June, resolute for the defence of his country. It must have saddened his heart, after the heroic part he had taken in the beginning of the great struggle for liberty, that he could not live to witness its happy issue. He died September 17, 1775, at the age of forty-six. In the Massachusetts State House there were placed two muskets, memorials of Captain Parker, the gift to the State of his grandson, Rev. Theo- dore Parker. On one is inscribed : — The First Fire Arm Captured in the War of Independence. and on the other : — This Firearm was used by Capt. John Parker, in the Battle of Lexington, April 19th, 1775. These invaluable mementoes were received by the State authorities with appropriate ceremonies, PARKER FAMILY. 119 and are conspicuously suspended, for public view, in the Senate chamber of the State House. The children of John and Lydia (Moore) Parker were seven, of whom John the 3d, born February 14, 1761, married, February 17, 1785, Hannah Stearns, born May 21, 1764. He died November 3, 1835, aged seventy-four ; she died May 15, 1823, aged fifty-nine years. They had eleven children, the youngest of these was Theodore, born Au- gust 24, 1810. He married, April 20, 1837, Lydia D. Cabot of Boston, daughter of John and Lydia (Dodge) Cabot, born September 12, 1813. They had no children. My earliest acquaintance with Theodore Parker dates back to the days of our boyhood. Living in the central district of Lexington, — where, as the wages of the school-teacher were higher than in the outside sections, and the appropriations equal, our portion was soonest exhausted, — I was sent by my parents to finish the winter's schooling at some one of the outer districts. One season it was my lot to go a few weeks to the same school with Theodore. He was a very bright boy and a pleas- ant companion. His schoolmates found it needed a spur to keep pace with him in his rare progress. I remember well the old family mansion, which had been a homestead back to 1712. There was the well of the fathers, with its high mounted sweep and its " old oaken bucket," in use, I believe, to this day. And there, near the house, stood the old belfry building which, on the site of the 120 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. present monument on the Common, rang forth the alarm that called Parker and his company to arms on the memorable nineteenth of April, 1775. This venerable relic was obtained by his family, and removed to the ancient estate where it is in part still standing. In November 1879, 1 visited the old Parker home- stead, then occupied by a nephew of his name and family, and entered the old workshop where Theo- dore's father long labored at his bench ; and where the son, no doubt, must in his early days have worked with his own hands. What memories clustered around that belfry workshop ! Here the child and the youth, surrounded by field and wood, in the simple home-life of his venerated and wise mother, and his modest, faithful father, must have meditated great thoughts and pious resolves, and been trained to become afterward the world - renowned preacher and writer, whose words have gone out so far and sunk so deeply into thousands of revering minds and loving hearts. I brought away with me, the gift of the kind nephew, as a precious souvenir, a block of one of the very timbers that supported the bell which, April 19, 1775, rang forth the first summons to battle in the cause of American freedom and independence. Theodore Parker came of a family who were farmers or mechanics. His father not only culti- vated the land, but bored pumps, in which occupation I often saw him employed at my father's house, — a plain man of quiet manners, PARKER FAMILY. 121 and endowed with the good sense of his ancestors. Theodore worked on the farm and in the carpen- ter's shop, and in 1830, at the age of twenty, entered Harvard College ; but, from his narrow pecuniary resources, he could not pursue his stud- ies there, and remained at home studying as he could, " keeping school " — having begun at the age of nineteen — in the winters. He afterward took a private class in Boston, and went on with his studies, yet not in such form as to secure a degree from Harvard College. His vast love of knowledge prompted him to fill every leisure hour with the study of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, French, and Spanish. He opened a private school in Watertown in 1832, and had fifty scholars. Meantime he was studying theology to prepare for the ministry, and entered the Cambridge Divinity School in 1834, and took up the Syriac, Arabic, Danish, and Swedish languages, and soon added the Anglo-Saxon and modern Greek. After preaching in many pulpits he was settled at West Roxbury, in June, 1837. In 1840 he re- ceived from Harvard College the degree of Master of Arts. He gradually changed his views of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and in 1841, May 19, he preached an ordination sermon at South Boston, on " The Transient and Permanent in Christianity," in which he advocated the simple humanity of Christ and a complete anti-super- naturalism. He became involved in a widespread controversy, which led at length to his preaching 122 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. at the Boston Melodeon, where he was installed over a new society in 1846. Previously to this time he had occasioned much censure by preach- ing in Unitarian pulpits, whose ministers had con- sented to such exchanges. The writer was among those who committed in this way what some of his friends regarded as an offence. We were settled near each other. I was attached to him, and we sympathized in our love of liberty, civil and relig- ious. I exchanged pulpits with him, not as agree- ing wholly with him in his theology, but feeling that he was honest and reverent, and entitled to respectful and kind treatment in the pulpit, even from those who differed from him on many con- tested points in regard to the inspiration of the Scriptures and the nature and character of Christ. His treatment of the Bible seemed to many of us very free, although at the present day he has been far outstripped in that direction, and to some of those who write on the same topics now, abroad and at home, he appears quite conservative. The Progressives of our age would have startled Mr. Parker, denying or doubting, as they do, in not a few instances, those great truths which were fixed in his mind as firmly as his own being, — the ex- istence of a God, wise, kind, paternal, and that immortality, of which he said he was personally conscious, and for which logic as well as feeling furnished, he affirmed, a sure basis. On the day of our exchange I remained and took tea at his house, some half-mile west of his PARKER FAMILY. 123 church, with him and his wife, a most pleasing and amiable person. They had no children, and seemed to be truly all in all to each other. It was a most happy meeting, and may well recall those ten res- olutions we find entered on their wedding day, in Mr. Parker's since published journal : — 1. Never, except for the best of causes, to oppose my wife's will. 2. To discharge all duties for her sake, freely. 3. Never to scold. 4. Never to look cross at her. 5. Never to weary her with commands. 6. To promote her piety. 7. To bear her burdens. 8. To overlook her foibles. 9. To love, cherish, and forever defend her. 10. To remember her always, most affectionately, in my prayers. Thus, God willing, we shall be blessed. Mrs. Parker survived him until April 9, 1881, to the age of sixty-seven years. I subjoin an autograph letter, which led to the above mentioned exchange : — West Roxbury, 9 Feb. '46. My Dear Sir : — You and I have never exchanged. I write not to request but to suggest one. If you have any objection on the score of conscience, as some, or of expedience which is the conscience of some, say " nay" plainly, and at once. But if you feel scruples from neither source, I shall be glad of an exchange, and the 124 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. sooner the better, as I have none past, present, or to come, for since the 11 of July I have had but six ex- changes, one for half a day only. Yours very truly, Theo. Parker. Mr. Parker was a devout man, as all who ever attended his services, or have read the volume of his prayers, must acknowledge. Like all other men he had his limitations. He was sometimes ex- asperated by the illiberal treatment he received, and used sharp and incisive language in public re- garding those whose alleged crimes or faults, and what he deemed errors of thought or conduct on the questions of reform, deeply stirred his spirit. But he had still a kind heart, and sympathized with all the suffering, oppressed, and friendless, and la- bored in season and out of season for their relief; and he was, in my judgment, for these reasons, entitled not only to charity but strict justice. To the writer it seems very narrow in one who claims to be a liberal Christian not to accord cheer- fully to Theodore Parker the virtues of thorough honesty and sincere piety, however differing from him in drawing the line or believing in a line be- tween the natural and supernatural. We all can afford to go as far in this direction as Dean Stan- ley, who said : " The theology of the times is more indebted to Theodore Parker than to any of his contemporaries," and who recently entertained as his guest, Ernest Renan, from many of whose theological opinions he widely dissented. PARKER FAMILY. 125 As an evidence of the intellectual tastes and cul- ture of the American branch of the Parkers, it is interesting to note that, so far back as the year 1826. no less than fifty-nine of this family had graduated at New England colleges. So early as 1661 John Parker graduated at Harvard College, at which period we find this record on the Stew- ard's Books : ft waiter hooke, Debitor &c. pay^ by John Parker of Boston." England sent over many valuable ministers to this country in our early history. Rev. John Woodbridge, afterward the highly prized minister of Andover, came to New England, Boston, in 1634, in company with his uncle, Rev. Thomas Parker, who settled at Newbury, and was one of the best scholars of his day, and generally had more than one student in his charge. Rev. Shu- bael Dummer, minister of York, Maine, was fitted for college in Newbury, his native place, by Rev. Thomas Parker. The Hon. Charles Hudson told me, as we stood together in the old Lexington burying -place, No- vember 11, 1879, that Theodore Parker, with Captain Jonathan Parker and himself, while stand- ing on a lot in that ground by the side of grave- stones marked with the name of Stearns, the family name of his mother, said : " Here all my father's and grandfather's family were buried, and when I die, I wish to be buried on this spot." If this spot is thus clearly identified by the burial there of the remains of Captain John Parker, 126 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. a monument ought to be erected upon it in honor of that brave and patriotic man, the first who com- manded an organized force arrayed against the British Empire in that memorable Revolution which led to our national independence. A large space of land is now, 1882, vacant of tomb- stones, and these centennial years ought not to pass without at least some modest memorial being raised, to commemorate one so clearly entitled to the veneration, not only of his own town and State, but of the whole country. It should be said in justice to the many devoted friends of Theodore Parker, that they erected a commemorative stone in Lexington on the spot where the old house stood in which he was born. This stone is of Concord granite, three feet square and three and a half feet high, resting on a base four feet square and one foot high. On the front, in raised characters, is the sinrple inscription : — Birth Place of Theodore Parker, 1810. I am glad to know that, by the liberality of Mr. N. C. Nash, who contributed for this object $5,000, and with additional subscriptions, a statue of Mr. Parker is to be erected in the city of Boston. Unhappily his wish in regard to his burial-place could not be gratified. In 1859, he was enfeebled by incessant labors, and a hemorrhage from the PARKER FAMILY. 127 lungs obliged him to suspend his work. He, by the advice of his physician, embarked for the West Indies, and after a time sailed for the South of Europe. But nothing could arrest his disease, and he died at Florence, Italy, May 10, 1860. His great heart yearned for the emancipation of the colored race, but he " died without the sight." Yet, when he was near the borders of the Heav* enly land he said, with a prophetic instinct : " There is a glorious future for America, but the other side of the Red Sea." He was buried in a small Protestant cemetery, outside of the city walls, which I well remember visiting some years before his death. The grave is enclosed by a bor- der of gray marble, and at its head is a plain stone of the same material, with this inscription : — Theodore Parker, Born at Lexington, Mass., United States op America, Aug. 24, 1810. Died at Florence, May 10, 1860. Andrew Parker, born February 14, 1693, son of John Parker, born 1664, married August 2, 1720, Sarah Whitney. She died December 18, 1774, aged seventy, and he died April 8, 1776, aged eighty-three years. They had twelve children, one of whom Jonas Parker, born February 6, 1722, was one of the martyrs of liberty who fell on Lexington common, April 19, 1775. His name stands second on the 128 EEMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. noble roll of the eight martyrs who fell on the morn- ing of that eventful day. Edward Everett, in his address, April 19, 1835, says of him : " Roman history does not furnish an example of bravery that outshines that of Jonas Parker. A truer heart did not bleed at Thermopylae. He was next door neighbor of Rev. Mr. Clark, and had evidently knbibed a double portion of his lofty spirit. Par- ker was often heard to say, ' Be the conse- quences what they might, and let others do what they pleased, he would never run from the enemy/ He was as good as his word, — better. Having loaded his musket, he placed his hat, containing his ammunition, on the ground between his feet, in readiness for the second charge. At the second fire from the enemy he was wounded and sunk upon his knees, and in this condition discharged his gun. While loading it again upon his knees, and striving in the agonies of death to redeem his pledge, he was transfixed by a bayonet, and died on the spot." Thaddeus Parker, born September 2, 1741, son of Josiah, born April 11, 1694, married May 27, 1759, Mary Reed, daughter of William and Abigail (Stone) Reed. He died February 10, 1789, aged forty-eight; she died October 9, 1811, aged sev- enty-three years. Thaddeus Parker was one of the selectmen of Lexington in 1770-71-73-77, at a period when that board were required to perform most important duties. He was a member of that brave company who, under the command of his PARKER FAMILY. 129 brother, John Parker, stood before the British forces April 19, 1775. He was afterward, true to his principles, in the service for eight months. Ebenezer Parker, son of Thomas, son of An- drew, married, December 3, 1772, Dorcas Munroe. They had three children, baptized in Lexington : Abijah, baptized May 30, 1773; Quincy, baptized April 30, 1775; Lucy, baptized July 22, 1781. He and his wife were dismissed to the church in Princeton, November 9, 1788. He was a corporal in the company of his relative, Captain Parker, and was with them April 19, 1775, — also on the sixth of May following, and on the seventeenth of June at Bunker Hill. FIRST MEETING-HOUSE. CHAPTER VII. MUNROE FAMILY. When some one spoke to Colonel William Mun- roe of Lexington, — member and officer in Captain John Parker's company, April 19, 1775 — of the bravery of the Munroes in the War of the Revo- lution : " No wonder, at all, sir," he replied : " they have Irish, Scotch, and Yankee blood in their veins." We trace this family back to Ireland. The origi- nal name was spelt with one syllable, Ro ; the first person of this stock whom we find in history is Occon, or Ocon Roe, whose son Donald, born in Ireland, went to Scotland, in the beginning of the eleventh century, to assist King Malcolm II. in his war against the Danes. The King gave him for his services certain lands in Scotland, which were named by the King the Barony of Fowlis. His descendants added to the original name the syllable Mori. At subsequent periods this name was spelt variously Monro, Munro, Monroe, and Munroe. The present name of a clergyman and popular writer of this family is spelt Roe. He undoubtedly is a descendant from the original Ro of Ireland. The same traits of character may be found in MUNROE FAMILY. 131 all ages, the heritage of the heroic, shrewd, honest, firm, and courageous old stock of Ro. We should never lose sight of the grand military record of this family. George Munroe, Ninth Baron of Fowlis, was slain at the battle of Ban- nockburn, under Robert Bruce of Scotland, in 1314. Robert Munroe, Twenty-first Baron, was killed in the service of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, de- fending the civil and religious liberties of Germany, in 1633. Sir Robert, Twenty-fifth Baron, was a zealous Presbyterian, and being remarkable for size and corpulency, — the same figure with Colonel Munroe of our Revolution, — he was nicknamed " the Presbyterian mortar-piece." His grandson Sir Robert, Twenty-seventh Baron, who succeeded his father in 1729, was greatly distinguished for his military services. He was in the battle of Fonte- noy. He would order his men to throw them- selves upon the ground and receive the enemy's fire, and then rise and rush upon them, as they did with fatal effect ; but he himself stood upright un- der fire. Being asked afterward why he did this, he replied that " though he could throw himself on the ground, like the young and leaner men, his great bulk and corpulency would not suffer him to rise instantly and rush upon the enemy." In the battle of Falkirk he was slain. Two of his brothers, Dr. Munroe and Captain George Munroe, were also in that engagement, and the former was killed. Up to the year 1651, there had been three gen- erals, eight colonels, eleven majors, thirty captains 132 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. and five lieutenants of the Munroe stock. At the battle of Worcester, where Cromwell was victori- ous, several Munroes were made prisoners, and some of them were bound out as apprentices to farmers in America. Among these is supposed to have been William, the ancestor of the family in this country. In the two great wars on this soil, in the eighteenth century, their name is promi- nent. In the old French War, Sergeant William Munroe served in 1754-55; Lieutenant Edmund Munroe in 1757, 1758 and 1761 ; Jonas Munroe in 1755-57; James Munroe in 1757-58-59 ; Ensign Robert Munroe in 1758 and 1762 ; David Munroe in 1757-59. To these we must add Thaddeus, John, Abraham, Stephen, and Josiah, eleven of one family name in the French War ; while in that of the Revolution there were no less than fourteen who bore arms, of whom one, Ensign Robert Mun- roe, is enrolled among the eight whose names are on the monument at Lexington as killed in the battle. Colonel William Munroe — with whose stalwart form and determined movements, slightly enfeebled by age, I was familiar from my boyhood — was born October 22, 1742. He married first, Anna Smith, daughter of Benjamin and Anna (Parker) Smith, who was born March 31, 1743, and died January 2, 1781, aged thirty-eight years. He married second, widow Polly Rogers of Westford, whose first hus- band was killed at the battle of Monmouth. Col- onel Munroe was an officer in the Revolution, — MUNROE FAMILY. . 133 one of the noble company who met the British on Lexington Common, April 19, 1775, and at that time was orderly sergeant. He was a lieutenant in the Northern army at the taking of Burgoyne, in 1777. He was a prominent man in Lexington, was selectman nine years, and Representative to the Legislature two years, was a colonel in the militia, and engaged in suppressing the Shays Re- bellion. He kept the Munroe Tavern, where the British troops refreshed themselves April 19, 1775, on their return from Concord, and where they committed many outrages, murdering in cold blood John Raymond, as he was quietly leaving the house. It was here President Washington dined in 1789, when, on his visit to New England, he came to Lexington to view the first battle-field of the Revolution. Colonel Munroe died October 30, 1827, aged eighty-five years. His second wife died January 10, 1839, aged seventy-three years. The children of William and Anna (Smith) Mun- roe were six in number. (1) William, born May 28, 1768, who married Susan B. Grinnell of New Bedford, was killed at Richmond, Virginia, in 1814, by the upsetting of a stage-coach. (2) Anna, born May 9, 1771, married Rev. Wil- liam Muzzey of Sullivan, New Hampshire, Septem- ber 20, 1798. Both died in Lexington, — he, April 16, 1835, aged 64, and she in 1850, aged 79 years. (3) Sarah, born October 21, 1773, married Jona- than Wheelock of Connecticut; she died at the age of seventy-seven years. 134 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. (4) Lucinda, born April 9, 1776, died unmar- ried, June 2, 1863, aged eighty-seven years. (5) Jonas, born June 11, 1778, married, March 17, 1814, Abigail C. Smith. He lived on the home- stead in Lexington, — a man " of infinite jest," of popular manners, and known through the town by the familiar name of " Uncle Jonas." (6) Edmund, born October 29, 1780, married first, Harriet Downes, second, Lydia Downes, third, Sophia Sewall. He was a broker in Boston, and died April 17, 1865, aged eighty-four years and six months. This ancient family were among the first to em- brace the Reformation, and were zealous supporters of it. As I read the old record of these men, I am constantly reminded of their honored descendants of Lexington. They were " all remarkable for a brave spirit, full of love to their native land, and of distinguished zeal for religion and liberty, — faithful in their promises, steadfast in their friend- ships, and abundant in their charity to the poor and distressed." William Munroe, the ancestor of the Lexington family, was born in Scotland in 1625, and came to this country in 1652. He lived first in Menotomy, now Arlington, and then a part of Cambridge. We first find his name in the records of Cambridge in 1657. He settled at Cambridge Farms, now Lexington, then a part of Cambridge, about 1660. Several of his sons, of whom he had six, settled near him at first. Mrs. Sanderson, his great-grand- MUNROE FAMILY. 135 daughter, who died at Lexington in 1853, aged one hundred and four years, said that his old house looked like a ropewalk, so many additions had been made to it to accommodate his sons, as they successively settled in life. Adopting the custom of the Scottish clans, he kept the Munroes much together, and made them, for some time, a kind of distinct people. The section of Lexington they occupied was, and still is, known by the name of Scotland, in honor of the first settler on that spot, He died January 27, 1717, at the age of ninety- two. He had three wives. The third was Eliza- beth Wyer, widow of Edward Wyer of Charles- town. He must have married for love and not money, for, among the papers he left is an in- ventory of the property which belonged to her, the whole of which is " one bed, one bolster, one pillow, one chest, one warming-pan, one pair of tongs, and one pewter platter." Edmund, grandson of William Munroe, was born February 2, 1736, and married, in 1768, Re- becca, daughter of Jonathan and Abigail (Dunster) Harrington. She was a sister of Jonathan Harring- ton, who died in 1854, the last survivor of the battle of Lexington. Edmund Munroe entered the Provincial service at an early age. He was ensign in a corps of Rangers under Major Rogers, which performed signal service in the French War. In 1761 he was acting adjutant in Colonel Hoar's regiment at Crown Point. In 1762 he received a commission, from Governor Bernard, as lieutenant 136 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. in his Majesty's service, and continued with the troops at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and its vicinity till the peace of 1763. His services in these cam- paigns were of the most honorable character, and he was presented, as a reward of his bravery, with a sword captured from one of the French officers. This interesting relic is now in the possession of one of his descendants, Mr. E. S. Fessenden of Arlington. On the nineteenth of April, 1775, he was one of the Lexington minute-men, and was present at the battle on that day. As early as August, 1776, we find him on his way to meet the British on the same field where he had co-operated with them to subdue the French and Indians. He was commis- sioned lieutenant on the twelfth of July, 1776, in Colonel Reed's regiment. On the sixteenth of the same month he was appointed a quartermaster, and sent to the northern frontier. On the first of January following, he received a commission as Captain in Colonel Bigelow's regiment. He was with the northern army, under Gates, at Stillwater, Saratoga, and Bennington, and so distinguished himself, that after the capture of Burgoyne, he was presented by his superior officers with a pair of candlesticks, a part of the travelling equipage of General Burgoyne. They are now in the pos- session of a lady in Arlington. On the capture of Burgoyne, Captain Munroe was sent with his regiment to New Jersey, where he served under Washington. When he entered M UN ROE FAMILY. 137 upon the command of a company, he had with him fifteen men from Lexington. He was killed by a cannon-ball, while in line of battle, on the field of Freehold, commonly called the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. The oath of office of Captain Munroe, witnessed at Valley Forge by the Baron de Kalb, May 18, 1778, is now in the pos- session of Dr. Francis H. Brown, a descendant of Captain Edmund Munroe. Captain Munroe was deliberately brave, without rashness. His knowledge of military matters and his sterling traits of character rendered him a valuable aid in the struggle of the Revolution, and his services were eagerly sought in the forma- tion of the American army. He was forty-two years old at the time of his death. His widow survived him, and died in 1834, at the age of eighty- three years. THE HANCOCK HOUSE. CHAPTER VIII. BROWN FAMILY. Francis Brown came of the good old yeoman stock of New England. His ancestors, coming from England in 1632, in the persons of " John Brown and Dorothy his wife," settled in Water- town, in company with the uncles Richard and Abraham. Anterior to this date, for eight gener- ations, and for nearly three hundred years, their ancestors had been landed gentry in the East of England, where they left memorials of upright lives and honorable positions in the society of Xhe day. John Brown brought with him his son, of the same name, then a year old, who at the age of twenty-four married Hester Makepeace of Boston ; and from their union came this branch of the family. Their grandson, Francis Brown, was born in 1738. At the time of the battle of Lexington, he was liv- ing in that portion of the town known as Scot- land. His grandfather had removed to Lexington in 1709, and the family has been represented there from that time. The knowledge we have of the Lexington minute-man is such as to show that he BROWN FAMILY. 139 was a man of great decision of character, and well fitted by nature and training to meet the impend- ing crisis. He was of middle size, strong and active. He was a man of true courage, of the calm and reliable class, which does not rush un- necessarily into danger ; but when duty called, he would not flinch or hesitate. He was a person of good executive qualities in all situations in life, ackowledged by common consent and choice as a leader among his neighbors and friends. In 1764 he married Mary Buckman of Lexington, sister of John Buckman, who was the village innholder in 1775. She was born in 1740, and died in Lex- ington in 1824. She is represented as small in stature, quiet and retiring, of great refinement and considerable culture. She had a then rare taste for painting, fine needlework, and embroidery, and other accomplishments, which gave her a superior position in the community in which she lived. James Brown, whom I recollect from my boy- hood, the oldest son of Francis and Mary, was a mere child at the time of the battle of Lexington. He remembered the trepidation which he witnessed in his parents and their fellow townsmen, but could not well appreciate, at the coming of the British troops. The hasty concealment of their household treasures, and the retreat of the family to the woods, made an impression on his infant mind which years could not efface. At the time of the battle, the minute-men of Lexington included in their number the principal men of the town. John 140 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Parker, then forty-six years of age, commanded the company in which Francis Brown was a ser- geant. On the study walls of one of our city homes hangs an old-time cartridge-box, having the inscription, "F. B., 1774." At a later date Brown was captain of the same company, and did good service at Cambridge, in the fortifications around Boston, at Ticoncleroga, and elsewhere. The similarity of names in the old rolls of the company indicate that several of the minute-men were closely related by ties of family, as well as by those of a common interest, and that they thus stood up as one family to offer the first armed re- sistance to British oppression. The spirit of un- rest which pervaded the neighborhood of Boston in the spring of 1775 did not fail to reach the in- habitants of Lexington. Everything indicated an immediate crisis, and the information brought by watchful Patriots during the night of the eigh- teenth, found the minute-men prepared for the emergency. Sergeant Brown was one of the band who guarded Hancock and Adams at the house of Par- son Clark on the memorable ni«;ht of the ei^h- teenth, and accompanied them to the place of safety they sought on the morning of the nine- teenth of April. He was present with the com- pany on the Common at the time of the attack by the British troops, and in the afternoon fol- lowed them to Concord. After leaving the Com- mon he proceeded up the old Bedford Boad, now BROWN FAMILY. 141 Hancock Street, in advance of a squad of the regulars sent up to search the old Clark house. He was seen and pursued by a mounted officer, who struck at him with his sword, and demanded his surrender. Brown managed to keep the horse at the length of his musket, and the sword of the officer only fell on the barrel. Seeing the sol- diers drawing near to him, and that his position was becoming perilous, he took advantage of a favorable moment, leaped a high rail-fence, and ran down into a swamp at the side of the road. He escaped the bullets of the soldiers, which clicked among the leaves of the trees above his head. Here he found a number of fellow minute- men, who had preceded him in seeking this place of temporary shelter. After this escape, he joined in the pursuit of the British troops, keeping near enough to do his part in harassing them, and ex- changing shots with them as occasion offered. On the return from Concord, in the town of Lin- coln, he fell in with three of the regulars, and while stepping out from behind a rock, was seen and fired upon, the ball wounding him in the neck. With that singular good fortune which so often attends wounds in this region, no important parts were in- jured, and the ball found a lodgment beneath the skin at the back of the neck, and was removed a year later. Francis Brown left hishome,his wife and children, to meet the demand of his country for brave hearts and freedom-loving spirits. He outlived the dan- 142 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. gers and the thraldom of the period, and enjoyed for many years a happy home and the respect of his fellow townsmen. He died in 1800. His body rests in the cemetery at Lexington, beside that of his faithful wife. The stones above their graves tell the simple tale of life and death. His son James married Pamelia, born in 1773, daugh- ter of Captain Edmund Munroe. CHAPTER IX. KIRK LAND FAMILY. The names of Samuel and John Thornton Kirkland figure somewhat largely in American history. They were separated in their special offi- ces and functions, the one as missionary among the Indians and chaplain in the Revolutionary War, the other as pastor of a church and president of the oldest college in the country ; and yet they were united, we shall find, at many interesting points. Of a common stock, we may look a moment at their ancestry. The name Kirkland, that is Churchland, indicates their Scotch descent. John Kirkland is said to have come to this countrv directly from Silver Street in London. He had a son John who was the father of ten children, of whom Daniel, the father of Samuel, was the youngest but one. Daniel was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1701, graduated at Yale College in 1720, and was ordained as the first minister of the Third Congregational Church in Norwich, Decem- ber 10, 1723. In 1753 he resigned his pastorate, and was for a short time settled at Groton, Con- 144 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. necticut, but returned to Norwich in 1758, and died there in May, 1773. He bore the reputation of being a devoted minister of Christ, a man of native abilities, a good scholar, of a facetious turn, and a most amiable disposition. In many respects his character seems to have foreshadowed quali- ties conspicuous in his grandson, the President of Harvard College. Samuel Kirkland, born December 1, 1741, was a student at Rev. Dr. Wheelock's school at Leb- anon, Connecticut, in 1761. In the autumn of 1762 he entered Princeton College, New Jersey, and received a degree in 1765. Many of the students at Princeton, including Indian youth, were then preparing themselves to be teachers or missionaries among the Indians. This circum- stance had its influence probably in deciding Samuel Kirkland to become afterward himself a missionary to that race. At the early age of twenty-three he was marked by his great physical vigor, his benevolence, his courage, his devotion to the cause of Christ, and zeal for the conversion of the heathen, as a fit man to be sent as missionary to the Senecas, a tribe of savage and bloodthirsty warriors. He spent a year and a half among these Indians, and his journeys through forests, and especially snows in the month of January, were attended with ex- treme sufferings and perils. On his arrival, one of the chiefs made a friendly speech, and advised his " brothers " to receive the young man kindly. KIKKLAND FAMILY. 145 " He loves Indians," were his words, " he wishes to do them good." After a long silence another chief, of an opposite character, uttered himself in a different strain : " This white-skin," said he, " has come upon a dark design, or he would not have travelled so many hundred miles. He brings with him the white people's Book; they call it God's Holy Book. You know this book was never made for Indians. The Great Spirit gave us a book for ourselves. He wrote it in our heads. He put it into the minds of our fathers ; and gave them rules about worshipping him ; and our fathers observed these rules, and the upholder of the skies was pleased, and gave them success in hunting and made them victorious over their enemies in war. Brothers, attend ! Be assured that if we Semcas receive this white man, and attend to the book made only for white people, we shall become miserable. The spirit of the brave warrior and the good hunter will be no more among us. We shall be sunk so low as to hoe corn and squashes in the field, chop wood, stoop down and milk cows. ... Of this are we not warned by the sudden death of our good brother and wise sachem ? Brothers, listen to what I say. Ought not this white man's life to make satisfaction for our deceased brother's death?" After much discussion, and finding in Mr. Kirk- land's knapsack no magic powder that could have killed their lost brother, and after the head sachem had made a long speech, and advised them to 10 146 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. " bury the hatchet deep in the ground," the oppo- sition was withdrawn ; there was a general shout of applause, and the head sachem said, " Our busi- ness is done, I rake up the council fire." Mr. Kirkland began his missionary labors about the first of August, 1766, and continued them, with occasional interruptions, for forty years. In 1769 he married Jerusha Bingham, a niece of Rev. Dr. Wheelock, a lady of fine intellectual and moral qualities and deeply interested in his mission- ary work. By her he had two sons, twins, born August 17, 1770, and named in honor of two of his esteemed friends and benefactors, George Whitefield and John Thornton. They resided some time in Oneida, and the Indians at once adopted the boys into their tribe, giving to George the name of Lagoneost, and to John that of Ab- ganoiska, that is, Fair Face. Mrs. Kirkland passed the winter of 1772-73 at Stockbridge, Massachusetts; and the unsettled condition of affairs among the Indians and the prospect of war with Great Britain making it unsafe for her to return to her husband, she oc- cupied a small farm in Stockbridge, and, occasion- ally visited by him, she remained there until the peace of 1783. Mr. Kirkland rendered important services to the country through the whole Revolutionary War. As early as July 18, 1775, a vote of Congress recommended that " the Commissioners of the Northern Department employ Rev. Samuel Kirk- KIRKLAND FAMILY. 147 land among the Indians of the Six Nations, in order to secure their friendship and to continue them in a state of neutrality with respect to the present controversy between Great Britain and these Colonies." In this capacity he labored earn- estly to keep the peace among them. He also received a commission from the Continental Con- gress as a chaplain in the army. At the siege of Fort Schuyler and the other posts in that vicinity he officiated with the pay and subsistence of a bri- gade-chaplain, and was instructed at the same time a to pay as great attention to the Oneidas and other Indians contiguous to them, as might be con- sistent with the above mentioned appointment." He writes to his wife, from Fort Schuyler, Sep- tember 15, 1776 : — I am to be faithful in improving opportunities of per- sonal intercourse with the troops, to enliven their love of God and of liberty, and their readiness to do and to suffer for the cause of the country. It was difficult to keep the Indians strictly neu- tral, and they insisted at one time on taking a part in the contest with Great Britain, and about two hundred and fifty warriors rendered great service to the cause under a remarkable Oneida chief named Skeneando. This chief was one of the most extraordinary men in all the Six Nations. Of a tall and commanding figure, his constitution was strong, and his countenance manifested great in- telligence and dignity. Brave as a warrior, he 148 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. became also a most noble and sagacious counsellor. For his interest in our people and his fidelity to all engagements with them, he was named among the Indians the White Man's Friend. So at- tached was he to Mr. Kirkland that he expressed a desire, and received a promise from the family, that he should be buried near him ; that, as he said, " he might cling to the skirts of his garments, and go up with him at the great resurrection." He lived until 1816, and at his death, being then one hundred and ten years old, his remains were conveyed to Mr. Kirkland's former homestead in Clinton, N. Y., where a funeral service was held in the church, and his body was then deposited as he had requested. The Christian minister and the Indian chieftain now rest side by side in the old family orchard. Mr. Kirkland was employed as a missionary un- der the patronage of a board in Scotland, and also of one in Boston ; and he continued his services at the earnest request of the Indians themselves, af- ter the close of the war, until the year 1787, when he returned to his family at Stockbridge. His children, then six in number, had been there edu- cated under a most tender and faithful mother. My limits prevent a full narrative of the mis- sionary services of Mr. Kirkland. Suffice it to say that both his patriotism and philanthropy prompted him to continue his labors in this direction to the last of his life. He formed a plan of education, — to further which he visited Boston, it would ap- KIRKLAND FAMILY. 149 pear, in 1791, to confer with the Board of Com- missioners, who had that matter in charge. He took with him an Indian chief, Onondago, and they visited Cambridge at Commencement, where he was to meet two of the Board, President Willard and Rev. Dr. Wigglesworth. The chief was invited on Sunday to attend divine services. He objected, however, saying : " An Indian is a strange sight here. If I go to church, the people will look at me, and forget to worship the Great Spirit with the heart." He visited the library and philosophical apparatus, but said he was afraid his nation would not understand his account of the orrery, " the sun, moon, and star machine," as he called it ; " they would be afraid it was some magic work." He was delighted and surprised " that the wise men of Cambridge, with their knowledge of everything about the works of the Great Spirit, could, nevertheless, turn their attention to the in- terests and happiness of poor Indians." After Mr. Kirkland retired from his mission- ary work he showed his native hospitality and regard for this hapless race, who would come, scores of them at a time frequently, to visit their old and beloved friend. " Bodily infirmities," said he, " have occasioned some interruptions ; but I think I have employed my time, exerted my tal- ents, and spared no sacrifice to make myself useful among these poor Indians, my old and very dear charge." Visiting the scene of this good man's labors at 150 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Oneida, in the summer of 1826, 1 was exceedingly interested in spending an hour or two in one of those schools which, nearly a half-century before, Mr. Kirkland had done so much to establish. The bright faces of the little tawny boys and girls, their evident love of study, and their prompt and generally correct answers to their teachers' ques- tions, gave me new encouragement and hope for the civilization of this unfortunate race. Among the various plans and efforts for their advancement and elevation, I look with great con- fidence to the efforts of such men as Samuel Kirk- land. He deserves a higher encomium than he has yet received for his devotedness to this noble enterprise, begun in his early life, and continued with unabated zeal so long as his powers of mind and body permitted. Let us send men of his spirit and consecration to our Western territory, and let the Church and the State unite in giving them a generous sympathy and a just compensation, and we may feel assured that our own day and generation will yet do some- thing to wipe out the stain that still remains almost hopelessly, under the old methods of deal- ing with this degraded, yet not irredeemable, portion of our people. To the shield of law, gov- ernment, and social justice, we must add that best of all instruments and influences, a personal inter- course, pervaded with genuine sympathy and enforced by a persistent, humane, Christian treat- ment, and we shall no longer blush to read the KIRKLAND FAMILY. 151 record of our dealings with the wronged, hunted, and down-trodden Indian. John Thornton Kirkland, the second son of Samuel Kirkland, was born at Little Falls, New York, August 17, 1770, and died in Boston, April 26, 1840. He inherited a large share of the self- devoted patriotism of his father. Although but five years old when the Revolutionary War began, he must have been stirred to take an interest in what he saw and heard about it, — especially as his father, so early as July 18, 1775, was recom- mended by the Continental Congress as adapted to labor among the Indians and preserve their neutrality during the war, and at once engaged in that arduous and responsible work. From a mother of distinguished public spirit, energy, wisdom, and devotedness, he received the rudiments of a high intellectual and moral excel- lence. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Phillips Academy at Andover, where he acquitted himself creditably as a student, and by his exem- plary deportment. Entering Harvard College in 1785, his course there was commendable both in scholarship and character. His patriotic spirit showed itself in 1787, when, at the early age of sixteen, suspending his studies, he joined a mili- tary corps for the suppression of the Shays Rebel- lion. We see here the germ of that interest in military tactics, and desire to encourage the forma- tion of military companies, which he felt in his sub- sequent life. He evidently regarded this form of 152 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. service as important to the welfare of the re- public. In my college life during his presidency, there existed the Harvard Washington Corps, to which I belonged ; and I recollect the pleasure with which he welcomed the West Point Cadets, when they visited the University, and invited them to dine with us in our Commons Hall. After his graduation in 1789, he assisted in An- dover Academy for a year, and purposed to take up the law as his profession. He thought it " good for exerting," as he said, " the virtues of integrity and patriotism." He expresses his regrets that " public spirit is decaying," and " that hardi- hood of character which becomes republicans." But he finally decided to enter the ministry, and studied for some time, in his preparation for that office, under Eev. Dr. West of Stockbridge, and afterward completed his professional studies with Professor Tappan, in Cambridge. The influence of Dr. West, a prominent and devoted patriot of that period, must have done much to strengthen his naturally patriotic spirit. Dr. Kirkland had a strong historic taste, exhib- ited in many ways. He was elected in his early ministry a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, was for some years one of its officers, and continued his membership for thirty-two years. He took a deep interest in the political condition of the country, and was an earnest member of the old Federal party. Some of his letters show the strength of his political convictions and feelings. KIRKLAND FAMILY. 153 February 10, 1809, he wrote to one who had said he thought the Democrats must be soon led into better courses by " the bright lamps of truth and honor shining all around them." " What good," he replied, " will they, [ the lamps] do those who choose false lights, or who are moles that sun- shine cannot make see ? " Writing again, April 12, 1810, to Josiah Quincy, then a Representative in Congress, he says : " The administration will not dare to repeat their outrageous measures ; we are not to be made the quiet and harmless victims of their party passions, French politics, and Demo- cratic feelings." During his ministry in the Summer Street Church in Boston, he preached many sermons imbued with his decided views as a warm friend of his country, especially on occasions when the public mind was agitated by the political measures and the great national questions of the day. Both by inheritance and early education Dr. Kirkland felt a deep interest in the character and prospects of the Indians. His views on that subject are especially noteworthy, amid the controversies of the present day in regard to that hapless race. In a volume of the Massachusetts Historical Collec- tions, we have his answer to questions respecting the Indians, dated February, 1795, in which he dis- cusses, with brevity and force, their situation, ca- pacities and deserts. Three years previously he had resided in their neighborhood several months, and 154 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. became acquainted with the Oneida Indians living a few miles south of Oneida Lake, with the Stock- bridge Indians living near the chief Oneida vil- lage, and with the Brothertown Indians, living eight miles south of the Stockbridge settlement. He thinks that, " as the whites advance toward the Indians, the latter become vicious, intemperate, sickly, and dispirited, and in general diminish in numbers." While they acknowledge the import- ance of industry and the arts to their happiness, respectability, and even existence, they will add, " Indians can't work." " The character of parents is transmitted to the children, who grow up in all that indolence, listlessness, and intemperance which their predecessors exemplified, lamented, and con- demned." Although Mr. Kirkland's view was at that time doubtless correct, some progress has since been made in their intellectual and moral culture, and their consequent civilization. No view of Dr. Kirkland's character is complete which omits to notice that, with his substantial qualities he united a rich vein of wit and humor. At social gatherings, laying aside the cares and constraints of office, his conversation was free, his tone genial, and his spirit at times mirthful. The subject of the writing of sermons coming up at a ministers' meeting, one and another spoke of the gifts of certain preachers. " Oh," said he, " there is C. B. will write a sermon in twenty minutes and make nothing of it." Dr. Kirkland resigned his office as President of KIRKLAND FAMILY. 155 Harvard University, which he had held with great success for eighteen years, in 1828. After thir- teen years of retirement he died at Boston, April 26, 1840, aged sixty-nine years, — having been honored, in every station he had filled, for his in- tellectual ability and culture, beloved by every one who knew his inexhaustible kindness, crowned with wisdom, purity, and self-sacrifice. Loved in life, he was lamented in death. Rev. Samuel Kirkland Lothrop was admitted a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati in 1868, under the rule adopted by the General Society, May 1854. He is a grandson of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, whom I have already noticed as a chaplain in the Revolutionary War from 1776 until the end of the contest. He was a son of John H., and Jerusha (Kirkland) Lothrop. He was born in Utica, New York, October 13, 1804, and graduated at Harvard College in 1825. He was ordained over the Second Church in Dover, New Hampshire, February 18, 1829 ; and, June 18, 1834, was installed pastor of the Brattle Street Church, Boston. He received the degree of D. D. from Harvard College in 1852 ; was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from 1847 to 1854 ; is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the author of a " Life of Samuel Kirkland " in Sparks's American Biogra- phy, a "History of Brattle Street Church," 1851, and " Proceedings of an Ecclesiastical Council in the case of Rev. John Pierpont," 1841, beside many 156 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. articles in the reviews of the day, and sermons and addresses. Classmates in Harvard Divinity School from 1825 to 1828, we have enjoyed an un- interrupted friendship through our protracted lives. DOROTHY HANCOCK'S RECEPTION. CHAPTER X. ELLERY FAMILY. The names of William Ellery and William Ellery Channing are properly placed in consecu- tive chapters. The men they unite stood, in more than one aspect, in a kindred relation to each other. Believing firmly in the doctrine of hered- ity, I have placed them in juxtaposition. Many of the traits of Dr. Channing may be traced to germs found in his distinguished ancestor. The one was born early in the same century which pro- duced the other. They were alike in many of their qualities of character, in their deep and steadfast patriotism, in their devotion to truth and to liberty, and their faith in and loyalty to that great Being, the God of nature, of reason, and of revelation. Dr. Channing, it is true, stood pre- eminent in his genius as a writer and speaker, as a man to be marked through centuries for his rare intellect and his moral and spiritual exaltation. Yet both had the same consecration to the loftiest principles of thought and life. William Ellery, whose earliest ancestor of whom we possess a record was William Ellery, freeman 158 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. in 1672, and elected Representative of Gloucester in 1689, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, De- cember 22, 1727. He was the grandfather of Wil- liam Ellery Channing, who was born in the same place April 8, 1780, and lived near, and under the influence of, his grandparent. The great-grand- father of the latter, William Ellery, was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, October 31, 1701; and his life and character foreshadowed to a degree the eminence of his two descendants. He enjoyed, it is evident, the confidence of the community, as he was elected to the offices of judge, assistant, and deputy-governor. The inscription on his tomb- stone commemorates in Latin, not only his piety, and his many private virtues, but also his attach- ment to civil and religious liberty. William Ellery, his son, graduated at Harvard College in 1747, and was one of eight of the name who had graduated at New England colleges up to 1828. Although engaged in mercantile pursuits at first, he was afterward a naval officer of the Colony. But, under the embarrassments of com- merce through the revenue and non-importation acts, he gave up this office " when," as he says, " there was little or nothing for me to do but to join heart and hand with the Sons of Liberty." In 1770 he entered on the practice of law. He was soon asked to defend the New York Com- mittee of Inspection against a person who prose- cuted them for burning goods brought into the city in violation of the non-importation agreement. ELLERY FAMILY. 159 " You may depend upon my exerting myself," he says, " in your behalf in this suit, for the cause of liberty I always have had close at heart." In another letter he writes : " I rejoice that I had a share, however small it might be, in the repeal of the Stamp Act." This spirit was manifest in his whole character ; he was known for his good sense, his firmness and devotion to the public cause. He had been placed on important committees to procure the repeal of oppressive revenue acts, and was in harmony with the men in other colonies who were preparing the people for a separation from the mother country, if it could not be hon- orably avoided. His course inspired confidence in his fitness for a high public trust ; and in the memorable Continen- tal Congress of 1776 he appeared as a delegate from Rhode Island. He took his seat in that body May 14, and his venerated colleague, Stephen Hopkins, and himself put their names, July 4, to the Decla- ration of Independence. His firm and beautiful signature contrasts strikingly with the tremulous character of his colleague's, whose limbs were shaken by age and illness, although his spirit was as intrepid and his perceptions were as clear as those of any around him. Mr. Ellery used, in his after life, to describe this scene w T ith great animation. What must have been his sensations, knowing, as he did, that he then pledged himself to stand by an act so fearfully responsible that he might al- most feel the very hand of the King's officer upon 160 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. him for his audacious treason. " I placed my- self," he tells us, " by the side of Charles Thom- son, the secretary, and observed the expression and manner of each member as he came up to sign the Declaration." But we can see that, while he looks on so intently, it is with a calm and firm spirit, with the feeling that these men are equal to the crisis. Many of them evidently recognized the act with awe, perhaps with uncertainty as to its effect, but none with fear. " I was determined," he often said, " to see how they all looked, as they signed what might be their death-warrant. Un- daunted resolution was displayed in every coun- tenance." He was naturally a quiet man, and strong in his attachments to home. " But," as he expressed him- self at the time, " I placed my obligations to uphold liberty as high as those that bound me to my wife and children." Although cheerful, face- tious, and no ascetic, Mr. Ellery was opposed to some of the popular recreations of those days. He says in one of his letters : — I wish, while we are encouraging the importation of the amusements, follies, and vices of Great Britain, America would encourage the introduction of her vir- tues, if she have any. . . . This I am very clear in, that exhibitions of players, rope-dancers, and mounte- banks have a more effectual tendency, by disembowel- ling the purse and enfeebling the mind, to sap the foundations of patriotism and public virtue, than any of the yet practised efforts of a despotic ministry. ELLERY FAMILY. 161 He was on a visit to his family when the follow- ing resolutions passed through Congress, ; yet had he been in his seat, he would probably have given his vote for them : — October 12, 1778. Whereas : True Religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public lib- erty and happiness, — Resolved : That it be, and it hereby is, earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encourage- ment thereof, and for the suppression of theatrical entertainments, horse-racing, gaming, and such other diversions as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of principles and manners. October 16, 1778. Whereas : Frequenting play- houses and theatrical entertainments has a fatal tendency to divert the minds of the people from a due attention to the means necessary for the defence of their country and the preservation of their liberties, — Resolved : That every person holding an office under the United States, who shall act, promote, encourage, or attend such plays, shall be deemed unworthy to hold such office, and shall be accordingl} T dismissed. Enactments like these look strangely to our eyes, who find that, not only have members of Congress indulged in gaming quite freely, but taken special pleasure in witnessing horse-races ; and as to theatrical amusements, I believe that not a single President of the United States has de- prived himself of a seat, not to say a special seat, in the theatre. Mr. Ellery was in the habit of keeping a diary li 162 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of his experiences on his journeys, which were on horseback, to and from Congress. Of one of these, in the autumn of 1777, he writes : — November 1. We spent the Sabbath at Hartford. In the afternoon heard Mr. Strong preach a good ser- mon, and most melodious singing. The psalmody was performed in all its parts, and softness, more than loud- ness, seemed to be the aim of the performers. This was probably very rare singing for those days. He writes at one time : — Connecticut has collected and ordered taxes to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds more than she had issued. Brave spirits ! One day he gives us an idea of the old Revolu- tionary style of travel by great men : — November 7. On our way to the ferry (North River) we met President Hancock in a sulky, escorted by one of his secretaries, and two or three other gentle- men, and one light-horseman. This event surprised us, as it seemed inadequate to the purpose either of defence or parade. But our surprise was not of long continu- ance ; for we had not rode far before we met six or eight light-horsemen on the canter ; and just as we reached the ferry, a boat arrived with as many more. These, with the one light-horseman and the gentlemen before mentioned, made up the escort of Mr. President Hancock. Who would not be a great man ? I verily believe that the President, as he passes through the country thus escorted, feels a more triumphant satis- ELLERY FAMILY. 163 faction than the Colonel of the Queen's Regiment of Dragoons, attended by his whole army, and an escort of a thousand militia. November 13. Met Mr. Samuel Adams and Mr. John Adams, about nine miles from Leven's, and hard by a tavern. They turned back to the inn, where we chatted, and ate bread and butter together. They were, to my great sorrow, bound home. I could not but la- ment that Congress should be without their counsels, and myself without their conversation. Mr. Ellery won public confidence by his disin- terested devotion to the country. His property at Newport was injured by the war, and even his own house burned to the ground. Still he adhered to the Congress, where he believed he could be, and was, useful, and left his possessions at home to the care of his fellow-citizens. His conduct was always straightforward and independent, — earnest, yet wise and prudent. He was a man to be trusted at all times, — honest, thoroughly good-prin- cipled, and therefore respected even by those who did not agree with him in opinions and measures. Throughout the war he had great influence, and after its close, in 1784, he was placed on the im- portant committee appointed to ratify the articles of peace with Great Britain. He had a Christian abhorrence of war; and still, while his country was involved in this calamity, he stood by her. In October, 1783, he was chairman of a committee of Congress who reported resolu- tions in honor of his fellow-citizen General Greene, 164 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. and presenting to him two fieldpieces taken from the British army, in the southern department, as a testimonial to his wisdom, bravery, and military skill in that service. And in 1813, when another fellow-citizen had achieved a memorable naval victory, Mr. Ellery joined in the universal expres- sion, saying : " Commodore Perry's exploit on Lake Erie is glorious." No man could have been more modest than he in the appreciation of his own services to the country. " I was," said he late in life, " a member of Congress when Chatham eulogized that body, and possibly I might have been vain enough to have snuffed up part of that incense as my share ; but the more I have known of myself, the more reason I have had not to think too highly of my- self. Humility, rather than pride, becomes such creatures as we are." His love of truth proved him a legitimate an- cestor of the Rev. Dr. Channing. They both were slow in arriving at convictions on important sub- jects, and weighed justly the opinions of those from whom they finally differed. Both were dis- tinguished for candor, fairness, and honesty in their views of all questions and the results which they reached. Mr. Ellery was indignant at the course of those who would lord it over others in matters religious or political. He speaks thus of reading two large volumes of sermons by Isaac Barrow : " I do not regret the time I spent in reading them, and I am about to read Calvin's Institutes. I think ELLERY FAMILY. 165 I can read books of theology without being over- influenced by names. What appears to me to be right I shall embrace, and reject the chaff and stubble." He gave himself loyally to religious truth. Said he : — I believe if party names were entirely disused, there would be more harmony among Christians. I heard a sensible minister of the Gospel inveigh, in a sermon against the Hopkinsians, as he called them, in such a bitter manner, that I dare say one half, at least, of his congregation would have avoided any writing of Dr. Hopkins as they would a most venomous serpent. And yet I don't in the least doubt that this same minister, if he had heard the first Episcopal clergyman in Newport declare, from the pulpit, that the breath of a Dissenter was infectious, would have severely reprobated it. The tone and spirit of this language descended plenteously on his broad-hearted grandson. Mr. Ellery found it difficult, however, to carry the same charity uniformly into his political senti- ments. He was a Whig of the Revolution, and a Federalist of Washington's day ; and, unlike the Democrats of that period, he held Napoleon Bona- parte in the utmost abhorrence. He feared that he might vanquish the Russians, and get possession of St. Petersburg. He writes : — I wish I may be mistaken, and that Heaven may put a hook in his jaws and draw him back, and overthrow his immense army. How long this dreadful scourge will be suffered to lay waste and destroy, the Lord only knoweth. It is a matter of consolation, and even of joy, that the Lord reigneth. 166 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. In the midst of the convulsions at home and abroad, and all the public dangers and sufferings, this was steadfastly his final word : " The Lord reigneth." It will be recollected that his grand- son inherited his strong feeling in regard to Napo- leon. In his essay on that man he says : " Such a person should be caged like a wild beast." Mr. Ellery, although quiet and undemonstrative, was a man of no ordinary powers and gifts. He did much for his country in her hour of greatest need; but his signal work, after all, was upon his own character. This was not the growth of origi- nal qualities, easily directed, and prone only to love, purity, and all moral excellence. He was not gentle from an inborn meekness, nor good from the force of outward circumstances. On the contrary he owed everything, we can see, to per- sonal discipline, self-inspection, and self-control. This was to be noticed in his first attempts to speak in Congress. He used to say that it seemed to him when he rose, that he knew nothing, and he sat down very little satisfied with himself. But he resolved not to give way a moment to weakness or awkwardness; and in time " he became," as others testified, " not indeed an orator, but an easy and useful debater, and had always something to say to the purpose." • When his public life was over, he lived on, still interested in his country, regular and simple in his habits, fond of reading, and attractive in conversa- tion, — carried along from year to year, with little ELLERY FAMILY. 167 loss of bodily vigor, and none of spirits, memory, or force of mind. His letters, written in the clear and firm hand of his early days, were full of affec- tion, humor, and kind regard to others. In his eighty-fourth year he writes thus of the blessings reserved for that period of life : — I do not think, notwithstanding the afflictive dispen- sations of Providence in the loss of friends, and the dis- eases and irritability to which old age is frequently subject, that it is so undesirable a condition as some have represented it to be. As to employment of time, I have experienced such instruction and delight in read- ing and investigating truth, that I mean, as long as my mind is capable of bearing it, to keep it in exercise, and doze as little as possible. There are those who think that the miseries of life are greater than its joys. I am not one of them, especially when I consider the numer- ous objects contrived and adapted to please our senses and our appetites, the discoveries which natural phi- losophy has made and is making, the improvements in arts and advance in science and in the philosophy of the mind, the profit and delight which attend reading and conversation, and compare the sources of pleasure, which kind Providence has furnished to entertain and instruct us in our pilgrimage, with the miseries of life. It appears to me that the latter are but just enough to constitute this a probationary state, — to prepare us, by the exercise of virtue and piety, for a mode of exist- ence in which they who act according to the will of God will enjoy uncontrasted and eternal felicity. The year before his death he writes again : — There is no fence or guard that can secure us against the infirmities of old age. They must come, and it is 168 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. our duty to bear them with patience, and not murmur at the condition on which long life is held. February 10, 1820, his clergyman was with him an hour. They spoke of the prospect of death, and he said it was an event which for two years he had been fully prepared for, and even desired. The next day his doctor said to him, " Your pulse beats very well." " Charmingly," he replied. On another day he said that he knew he was dying; and in two hours he passed away, February 15, 1820, in the ninety- third year of his age. Happy in his life, happy in his departure from it, he was a genuine patriot, a true man, " an honest man, the noblest work of God." BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. CHAPTER XL WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. The centennial exercises in 1880, commemorat- ing the birth of Dr. Channing, gave gleams from the inner life of that great man of intense inter- est. We had so long been quickened and elevated by his varied public productions that we earnestly desired to know more of his private thought and experience. It is much to see anything of the hidden motions of a spirit so sensitive to all that is pure, noble, broad, and tender in this our com- mon life. We instinctively catch with eagerness every word that reveals to us the man himself. This popular interest is enhanced in those who had a personal knowledge of Dr. Channing. Can we who knew him ever forget that slight frame gliding through the street in midwinter, muffled so closely against the air ? We are not surprised that he regarded himself for long years as having but the slenderest hold upon life. No wonder we sometimes heard that from day to day it required thetenderest nursing to keep the soul in the body. See him on Sunday as he moves up the pulpit 170 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. stairs. His debility fills you with sympathy and anxiety. He sinks exhausted on his seat ; and, when he rises to give out a hymn, he is too weak, you fear, for the service. The single lock of his soft brown hair, as it falls across his forehead, contrasts strongly with its transparent paleness, and his thin, hollow cheeks are covered with pain-caused lines. The first tones of his voice, though feeble and low, are reverential, and stir the hushed congregation to devoutness. After a hymn, read with more strength, is sung, he rises for the sermon. A few sentences are uttered, when you feel that, out of all this weakness, there are coming words of a rare energy. His full eye kindles, his voice gains strength, and, forgetting his delicate figure, you are borne on, with increasing sway, assured that this man is a power to move, thrill, and inspire. Perhaps there was never a more striking demon- stration of the power of the human will over the body than in Dr. Channing. I met him often at councils for ordination and elsewhere ; and his face usually bore the marks of his habitual intro- version. It was his misfortune to be a bad sleeper ; and we could read in the fallen cheek, and dis- coloring about the eye, proofs that often, in the midnight hour, he was a victim of wakefulness, that " tyrant of the burning brain." His intense thoughtfulness and strong concentration, and habit of rapid and fervid composition — to be afterward sedulously corrected — preyed at times fearfully on his delicate organization. He had, it is true, WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 171 the advantage on one side, of a vigorous ancestry. His grandfather, William Ellery, lived to the age of ninety-three, and two of his own brothers reached a remarkable old age. We should give him credit, too, for great care of himself. His wise words may well be heeded by our students and writers : " The only true specifics for keeping health are exercise, temperance (in the large sense of the word), and cheerfulness." He was indebted not only to his maternal grand- parent, but to his own father, for germs of per- sonal worth. William Channing, the father, was a business man of high integrity, a fit companion of Lucy Ellery, the mother. Both were faithful and friendly to all, self-reliant and of command- ing qualities, alike energetic and benignant. The son inherited, on each side, a character conscien- tious, truthful, tender, elastic under trouble, and cheerful to the last. The union of apparently conflicting elements in Dr. Channing was most striking. He combined great physical weakness with a still greater mental energy. In private conversation he seemed at times feeble, suffering, and dependent ; his voice was low and his utterance difficult. One who did not notice his eyes would often think him languid, perhaps destitute of force. Being human, he, of course, shared the imperfection of oar nature. Of a very ardent and excitable temperament, he was yet a model of self-control. I remember seeing but a single instance of the slightest loss of this 172 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. power. At the council before the ordination of one of our young ministers he was strenuous for a written certificate of church-membership from the candidate. And as, for a strong reason, that docu- ment could not be presented to the council, he was unwilling to give his vote for the ordination to proceed. The discussion on this point elicited some feeling on his part. But however any of us might, at the present day, dissent from his position, this incident gave proof of his thorough conscien- tiousness, and that to an exalted spirituality he united a firm adherence to what he regarded as important ecclesiastical forms. ■ His was a truly liberal mind. I often saw him at conventions. I remember one of what was popularly called Come-outers, in Chardon Street Chapel, Boston, which he attended. He was fond of being present whenever any new light was even slightly promised. Some might have said he occasionally compromised his dignity in this way. But not so; you saw that he was in search of truth, and would recognize it wherever found. Like his grandfather Ellery, he was intensely opposed to slavery. After the murder of Rev. Elijah Lovejoy at Alton, Illinois, he attended a meeting of indignant remonstrance in Faneuil Hall, December 8, 1837. Public opinion was then exceedingly sensitive on the agitation of the slav- ery question. But Channing did not fear its rebuke. Others might blench, but he remained firm. I see him, as I did that day — the bright WILLIAM ELLERY CIIANNING. 173 rays of a winter sun shining on his noble head, — as he stood upon that platform. He attempts to speak amid hisses and jeers, and at length ex- presses his amazement that every man present does not join in a denunciation of this desecra- tion of God's image, and insult to human justice. Calm himself, with a fearless voice and manner, he makes a solemn appeal to every lover of right, freedom, and justice, and then offers a series of resolutions, setting forth a protest against this trampling on a free press, and this deed of crime and bloodshed before the God of justice and under a government of equal laws. No wonder young Phillips — prompted by words spoken by another, that would justify the murderers at Alton and place them side by side with Otis and Hancock, with Adams and Quincy — rose and said he thought " those pictured lips," pointing to their portraits in the hall, " would have broken into voice to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer of the dead." It seemed to me one of those occasions which carry us back to the very days and deeds of the noble fathers of the Eevolution. Channing's moral courage was worthy a protomartyr. Then, as always in relation to all social wrongs, he not only felt an unfaltering interest, but took a pub- lic and bold stand against them. He was, to a large extent, independent of criti- cism. I often saw him at the Boston Athenaeum, and sometimes with a foreign review in his hand ; but, it has been said, and, I have good reason to 174 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. believe with truth, that he seldom read criticisms on his own publications : perhaps not those which were commendatory ; certainly not, as in the case of the "Edinburgh Review," — which once published a severe and caustic article on his thoughts and style, — those written against him. Pie evidently apprehended it might tempt him to shrink from the utterance of his own views fully and fear- lessly on all points social, religious, or political. He said once, " he only regretted criticisms which would take from the power of his preaching." Father Taylor once said to me, comparing him with one of our rare men who seemed at times somewhat cynical, " Dr. Channing is a sweet spirit/' Reason and sensibility were never di- vorced either in his works or his character. To an unquestioned moral courage he joined a singular tenderness of spirit. He who was dauntless in every point of duty, and heroic in his public utter- ances, was as sensitive as a little child in private intercourse. So earnest was he in conversation on certain topics, that I sometimes felt he must love disputa- tion. There, again, he reminded one of his distin- guished ancestor. He would question, and take the opposite side, and appear at times a Pyrrhonist, so full was he of doubts. But, all the while, his aim was to elicit the truth, and the whole truth, on the subject before him. The inquirer — seem- ingly almost the denier — in private, would, in this way, at last reach conclusions which, in his public WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 175 discourses, we heard him maintain with moral enthusiasm. His tender tribute to his personal friend, Rev. Charles Follen, LL. D. is an unconscious portrait- ure, in many of its touching passages, of his own character. To one privileged personally to know them both, sentence after sentence is a response of two noble spirits, who, we saw, must have drunk sorrows and joys from a common cup. Dr. Follen filled the pulpit of the Federal Street Church for a time, during the illness and absence abroad of its colleague pastor. Although not in full sympathy with Garrison, he was a decided abolitionist. He did not hesitate indeed to show this both in his writings on this subject and in his speech, public as well as private. Dr. Chaiming was in perfect sympathy with him, and he desired him as his temporary associate in the pulpit. He expressed this wish, it was said, to the standing committee of his society. " By no means," one of its promi- nent members is reported to have replied, — " by no means can we consent to have our pulpit occupied by an abolitionist." This account illustrates re- markably the state of public opinion at that time on the antislavery question, and shows the mar- vellous revolution produced in it by the subsequent emancipation of the colored race on our soil. The prophetic spirit of Dr. Channing, every- where discernible, is seen in one of his letters to Miss Aiken, in which he replies to a suggestion of hers in regard to American Slavery. He saw, in 176 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. the power of Christian principles, a force that he felt confident must ultimately lea' 1 to its abolition. Referring to influences of a milder nature he says: "To effect great reforms, convulsions are sometimes necessary. If men resist a beneficent innovation, the same awful Providence which has in times past shaken the social state Avill again heave it from its foundations." But little did he, apparently, at that time imagine the end of Amer- ican Slavery could be so near as it was. One could not spend an hour with Channing without being struck with his singular modesty. So brave in public and fearless in uttering his opinions, in conversation he seemed to take always the attitude of an humble inquirer. Instead of protruding his own views, he studiously sought those of others. I have no doubt, from his air and manner, that he often gained quite as much, in preparing his lectures and discourses, from conver- sation as from books. A passage in one of his letters is important as serving to correct an erroneous impression, held by some persons during his life, in regard to his esti- mate of himself and his own works. A friend once spoke to me of his undue self-esteem, and re- ferred to his very frequent use of the pronoun in the first person singular. But this judgment was singularly unjust, as is made manifest in many ways. Why should not one speak of himself simply and naturally as he would of another ? There is often more self-consciousness and real WILLIAM ELLEKY CHANNING. 177 egotism in a studied avoiding to speak of self, than in a direct utterance of what is felt and thought. In one's private letters he is quite sure to give his true opinion of himself. And how is it in the case before us ? " You ask," he says to Miss Aiken, " about my great work. I have nothing great about me but the undeveloped within." In another place he writes self-distrust- fully, yet, as we now see, without good reason : " Pardon my egotism ; I see far higher reputations fading away, and who am I that I should live ? Providence is to raise up higher lights. ... What better can we ask ? " These words recall some of his grandfather Ellery's, almost identical with them. His health was always delicate; and sometimes rendered his voice feeble. I recollect a Sunday when many of his hearers, having come from a chilling atmosphere, gave way to a sympathetic coughing. The preacher was manifestly disturbed. He at length paused, and requested that an effort should be made to suppress coughing, as he found it difficult to be heard. The effect was magical. An almost profound silence followed, and we had a new lesson of man's power over what are often considered wholly involuntary movements. Dr. Channing, singularly just to other persons, was tried by the practice, not uncommon in his church, of many coming to the door and waiting until they saw whether he was to preach or an- other, when some, if disappointed, would turn 12 178 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. away and leave. Perhaps to obviate this disre- spect to his devoted colleague, he arranged to preach on some Sundays in the morning and on others in the afternoon. A friend once asked him, probably thinking it a compliment, "Are you to preach to-morrow, sir?" The quick reply was, " There will be divine service in the church." Whenever able he attended church as a hearer. It was no slight ordeal to a young minister to preach with this great man sitting at his side in the pulpit. I recollect his kindness, after listening to a sermon which seemed to the speaker unworthy so distinguished a listener, — with what friendly words, while he approved of the general treatment of the subject, he criticised a fault of the discourse in not qualifying one of its parts which made, he thought, not too great account of consciousness as an evidence of the truth of Christianity, but too little of the evidence of miracles. He was to preach himself in the afternoon, and said to me, " I wish I could invite you home to dine with me, but I am obliged to-day to give up conversation, and spare all my strength for the service this after- noon." Within a few months afterward, spending an hour or two with him and his family, what I had lost on that Sunday was more than made up by his cordial reception, and the charm, freedom, and simplicity of his whole conversation and manner. Usually he began his discourse in a calm and WILLIAM ELLERY CHAINING. 179 quiet manner, and as he proceeded, gained in power, and at the conclusion flamed up with great zeal and fervor. But on one occasion, when his subject was Immortality, he entered at once, in a most eloquent tone, upon his favorite theme. It was like the launching of a noble vessel from its ways. His spirit kindled with the first sentence, and was borne on from topic to topic, each a fresh inspiration ; and one felt as if lifted to a height of transfiguration, where it would be good to abide evermore. I think his readers will agree that one of the most striking of his discourses is that on the Future Life. No human production, per- haps, has given clearer views than this of the great unseen world ; none privileged to hear him on this high topic but must remember the thrill- ing tones in which he spoke of it. Channing reasoned cogently on this subject ; His sermon on Immortality is a compact argument. It is, as was said of another production, " logic on fire." That on the Future Life is more intuitional. We seem, as we read it, to see heaven opened be- fore us. I recollect being told of an occasion when Dr. Channing officiated at a funeral, and made it throughout his prayer a theme of thanks- giving that the pure spirit had entered its heavenly home. All tears seemed to be dried up in the bright sunshine of the everlasting world. His bosom friend, Dr. Tuckerman, who was present, congratulated him on lifting the mourning circle out of their griefs into the calm and joyous certain- 180 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. ties of the celestial sphere. Often did one rise, as he heard him utter the word Immortality in the pulpit, into the same serene faith. The impression he produced, when preaching, was that of a most exalted character. I can readily believe what was said of his influence at some such moments, even upon children. A little girl, meeting him at her home, and drawn toward him by his attractive manner in private, at length touched him, and said : u You are a man ; I see you every Sunday in God's house, and 1 thought you was God." Channing was a patriot, early and late, constant in his love, his labors, and his prayers for his own land. When he wrote, " I wish to see patriotism exalted into a moral principle," he gave the key- note of his own character, no less than the refrain of his national discourses. His Fast sermon dur- ing the War of 1812 has the ring of his maternal ancestor ; and those wise and eloquent papers of his in the " Christian Examiner," on the perils of the Union, remind us strongly of the tones of that venerated man. Whatever subject Channing takes up, if his treatment of it begin with our own country, it soon spreads out to other lands, and includes the entire race. At a moment when England and America were threatened with war, he gave a lecture on that curse of humanity, and said in the preface to it : " The relations between these countries cannot become hostile without deranging, more or less, WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 181 the intercourse of all other communities, and bringing evils on the whole Christian world." What I have said of the breadth of Channing's views in his public utterances was true also of his private conversation. In those gatherings of friends and acquaintances when topics of social in- terest were discussed, however wise the remarks of others, he usually had a wisdom beyond theirs. Men of large thought and liberal culture, and from various callings and professions, might be present and say excellent things. And yet you knew well, by the doubts he suggested, the limits he set up, his hard questions, his sharp criticisms, and bold ob- jections, that he saw depths of the subject below your own best vision. He might at last come to ac- quiesce in your opinion ; but it would be only after a delay, and after a firmness of opposition which, gentle and kind as his manner always was, promised anything but a final assent to your view. Dr. Channing, instead of being narrowed, as many of us are, by advancing years, was less and less limited in his views and feelings. In that noble " Discourse on the Church," preached the very year before his death, we see how he spurns all ecclesiastical fetters and every mere denomi- national barrier. The same year he writes : " I speak as an independent Christian. ... I can en- dure no sectarian bonds." Indeed one cannot but think that, had he and his grandparent Ellery lived to our day, both would rejoice in the growing indi- 182 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. cations of harmony and fellowship between the various liberal portions of long-separated Christian bodies. Such men as Channing do not grow old with the lapse of years. We who saw him, on and on, from his early manhood to his closing days, remember how little he changed, even in personal appear- ance, with the approach of age. It seems to me, as I recall him in his meridian, that he showed more the effects of toil and time, and his face was more pallid and careworn, than in the last years of his life. At that time his countenance grew more radiant, and he manifestly felt more at ease, and enjoyed this world as he never had before. It is interesting to read his own language on this sub- ject : " I enjoy fine weather as I did not in my youth. I have lost one ear, but was never so alive to sweet sounds. I am waking up more to the mysteries of harmony." That last summer, and when nearly sixty- three years old, amid the exquisite beauties of Lenox, he writes : u Here am I finding life a sweet cup as I approach what we call its dregs." " Always young for liberty," he said of himself on one occasion, and we are not surprised at the glow of youthfulness in one so elastic and hopeful as Dr. Channing. Gloom had no resting-place in his nature. With his views of the all-embracing goodness of God, how could he droop and despond under his beneficent Providence ? Looking, as he did, upon man as the child of a Heavenly WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 183 Father, and the whole race as embosomed in his love, the future was to him full of cheering antici- pations. I might quote pages from the writings of his hopeful ancestor, William Ellery, of the same bright glow. In the high and broad development of his own character, and his conscious connection with the entire race, he could not but see tokens of its glorious capabilities and progress. And here we reach the ground we have for be- lieving that the works of Channing are to have a permanent place in the history of humanity. Their free spirit, the growth largely of our na- tional institutions, makes us sure that their circu- lation is not to be limited to his own country, but will extend as far as the English language is spoken and written ; and help forward everywhere the great cause of national liberty and independ- ence. Nor will they stop here. Already they have been, wholly or in part, translated in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and even in Iceland, into their several languages. Many forces will contribute to their diffusion and perpetuity. Writings which cover so wide a range of topics are suited to meet the wants of every people and every age. It is rare to find in so large a field so very little of a merely local or temporary interest. As I write, I can see the effect of his works on the great International Association which is aiming to establish a code of laws binding on the com- monwealth of nations, by which their disputes shall be settled, like the differences of individuals, 184 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. not by the sword, but by arbitration. Let Chan- ning's abhorrence of war and his inculcations of righteousness and peace prevail, and then, through his and other Christian and pacific influences, the world will at last exhibit — what he yearned and prayed and labored, to accomplish — universal peace. The impression Dr. Channing produced person- ally seemed to me not so much that of genius as of rare goodness. The corner-stone of his charac- ter was, I think, conscientiousness. He appeared not alone to do, but to think and feel, only what he regarded as right. With all his power and culture, and his mental superiority, he says, as he draws near the close of his life, "I am less and less a worshipper of mere intellect." The moral and spiritual nature, common to the lofty and the lowly alike, and its largest development, he more and more prized as the true end of man's existence. It was fitting that he should close his life in the way he did. My thoughts had often reverted to the scene where he passed away, and a few years since I had the privilege of a temporary stay in that vicinity. A friend gave me, while at Lenox, the details of his visit at that place. Amid the ex- quisite scenery of Berkshire, and the refined, genial society he met there, Dr. Channing passed, as he himself said, some of the happiest hours of his life. In a building which we daily passed, he gave his grand address on the anniversary of emancipation WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 185 in the British West Indies; but the effort of de- livery overtasked his feeble frame, and I was told that after it he was but just able, with two friends for his support, to walk to a carriage. I went to the house at which he stopped, and. saw the very window out of which he looked at the sunset hours. Unhappily, beyond question from imperfect drainage, it was on that spot he contracted the typhoid al disease which terminated his life. It seemed sad that such must be his lot, yet, judged by his glorious work, he had lived long ; and there- fore when, on that eventful October day, the tidings came that " the golden bowl was broken," while we shed some natural tears, we gave thanks to Him who had placed such power within that mortal frame, and permitted it to be exercised up to what is termed " the grand climacteric of man's life." We rejoiced that he had met the last call with an unfaltering trust, and entered those ever- lasting gates through which he had so long gazed, and for which his high inspirations had trained many a grateful spirit. In this age of commemorations, when in all civil- ized countries monuments are erected to the de- parted great, I think this man, who was cosmopoli- tan in spirit, should have memorials set up in other lands to honor his name. It especially be- comes this nation — the principles of whose gov- ernment and institutions he lived, labored, and died to support — to build at its Capitol a monu- ment that will do something to perpetuate the name and influence of William Ellery Channing. CHAPTER XII. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. This association, formed by officers of the Revo- lution, for patriotic and social purposes, and to be continued through their posterity, has left records most valuable as materials for biographies of men associated with that eventful period. It brings before us, in its original members, a band of men, taken together, of rare military skill, science, and practical ability, and of high personal character. It includes not only American officers, but those of our generous allies, France, Prussia, Germany, with a few rare men of other nations of Europe, who sent us many commanders, and not a few in the ranks, who rendered noble service in their labors, sacrifices, and sufferings for the rights of the Amer- ican Colonies, and the final emancipation and inde- pendence of these United States. This society at once took a firm hold of the Am- erican people. When Lafayette revisited this coun- try in 1824 he was received with enthusiasm and affection by all classes of the people. A public dinner was given him, at which the second toast, after "The United States," was, " General Wash- ington." This was coupled with " The Cincinnati," SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 187 showing that this body stood among the foremost in the love and honor of the nation. This latter sentiment was appropriately and immediately fol- lowed by, " The asserters and supporters of the rights of mankind throughout the world." The Cincinnati, thus early imbedded in the memories and grateful recognitions of the country, should hold its just place, as it did to the last with Wash- ington ; and its name, and those of all who have stood on its rolls, should remain through every generation of a people who owe so large a debt to the services of its members. It adds to our interest in this society to know that the decoration of Cincinnatus, worn by Wash- ington, was presented, in 1824, to Lafayette, with a request that it be afterward given to his second grandson, Edmond Lafayette. This decoration bears the date "A. D. 1783." It is of elegant materials and workmanship, supported by a sky- blue, watered silk " riband," edged with a white piping, in token of the alliance between France and America, and held together by a gold clasp. The " riband " used by Washington is half worn out. Washington, in a letter to the Count de Rocham- beau, dated October 29, 1783, speaks thus of the formation of the Society of the Cincinnati : — Sir, — The officers of the American army, in order to perpetuate that mutual friendship which they contracted in the hour of common danger and distress, and for other purposes which are mentioned in the instrument 188 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of the association, have united together in a society of friends under the name of Cincinnati ; and having hon- ored me with the office of president, it becomes a very agreeable part of my duty to inform you that the so- ciety have done themselves the honor to consider you, and the generals and officers of the army which you commanded in America, as members of the Society. . . As soon as the diploma is made out, I will have the honor to transmit it to you. The Society was at once placed on a firm founda- tion in France. The order met the approbation of the king, and a list of members was prepared com- prising thirty-three officers. The whole number of the Society soon put on record was seventy-nine. Lafayette was received at Boston, on his visit to this country in 1824, by the members of the Cin- cinnati, his brothers-in-arms, who extolled him, not only as the ally and savior of America, but as one who had " secured liberty to millions of freemen." At Staten Island his military associates in this Society, some of them then eighty years old, embraced him with tears of joy. Everywhere he had similar cordial greetings ; and their spirit was transmitted to sons and grandsons of this order, at the recent reception, October 19, 1881, of our French and German guests, numbering in all twenty-seven persons, at the centennial celebra- tion of the American victory at Yorktown. It gave me special pleasure to meet the Marquis de Rocham- beau and his associates in the Massachusetts Sen- ate Chamber on their recent visit to Boston, and to SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 189 think of the devoted ancestors civil or military of those men, and of the many honors which their strik- ing badges showed they had received from distin- guished societies, both in France and Germany. At the head of the Society of the Cincinnati we place George Washington. For his pre-eminent rank, in both military and civil services which he rendered to his country, this is his uncontested position. Elis name takes us back to the meeting of the Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Phila- delphia, September, 1774 — a momentous occasion. Gathered from all the States, it was an illustrious array of patriotic men. Conspicuous among them was Samuel Adams, the master-spirit of the day. Beside him sat his younger kinsman, John Adams, bold, ingenious, determined, eloquent, a born leader of men. But look yonder ! There sits a man only forty years old, in the prime of his en- ergies. Others speak, but he is silent ; and yet in his marked face, and especially in his firm mouth, there is an air of power and command that makes him a noteworthy man. His colleagues turn to- ward him with deference. So modest, he occupies a back seat, and yet he is the foremost man in the confidence of the assembly. This is the individual who has said in the Virginia Convention : " I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own ex- pense, and march with them at their head for the relief of Boston." This can be no other than George Washington. 190 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. We are struck, early and late in his career, by the tenacity of his friendships. Not in his public offices and relations alone, but in his associa- tions of a comparatively private nature with his companions in arms, and those in every subordi- nate civil capacity, it is most interesting to observe the depth of his affections. No man was ever sur- rounded by truer friends ; and, as we often find in such cases, none had rivals so jealous and so deter- mined as he. What with Royalists, — or, in the va- ried epithets of the day, Tories, Loyalists, Traitors, — military factions and political divisions and asper- ities, no man, in elevated office, ever suffered more than Washington from the injustice, open and con- cealed, of his contemporaries. This was true both in his own and the mother country. In the present universal admiration for his name and character, we find it difficult to conceive how this bitter spirit could have been exhibited toward one so exalted in purity, patriotism, self-sacrifice, and suffering for his country. Among the traitors to our cause was one who appeared soon after Washington took command of the army at Cambridge, Dr. Benjamin Church. Up to this time he had stood high as a patriot and a friend of liberty. He was still a member of the House of Representatives, and had been just appointed Surgeon-General and Director of Hos- pitals. At this crisis he was suspected of a traitor- ous correspondence with the enemy in Boston. After thorough examination he was convicted, SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 191 and expelled from the House of Representatives. Congress afterward resolved " that he be closely confined in some jail in Connecticut, without the use of pen, ink, or paper ; and that no person be allowed to converse with him except in the presence and hearing of a magistrate or a sheriff of the county." Previously to the execution of this sentence he was confined in the former resi- dence of Colonel Vassall, opposite the house oc- cupied by Washington in Cambridge. I -recently visited the room assigned to him, where the subse- quent occupant, Samuel Batchelder, Esq., who has since died, 1880, at the advanced age of ninety- two years, politely showed me this room, in which I saw the name of Dr. Church, cut on the panel of a door by himself while imprisoned there. At a distance from this dwelling is the house in which Burgoyne was confined after his defeat and capture at the battle of Saratoga. I never look on the house occupied by Burgoyne, in Cambridge, without contrasting his character, associated as it is with that dwelling, and the character of Wash- ington, which forever permeates the atmosphere of the mansion he occupied when he took command of the American army, under the brave old elm that bears his immortal name. The same contrast I see between two pictures before me, as I write : one that of Washington seated, with his majestic figure, so modest, yet so grandly impressive, on his favorite horse, as he receives a salute on the field of Trenton ; the other, a picture in an open book, 192 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of Burgoyne, the impersonation of haughtiness, — that defiant attitude, those disdainful eyes, the lips, especially the under one, projected in scorn, and the chin thrust forward to supplement its effect. How must this proud being have fretted himself when he thought of his titles and rank, and his preten- sions a few months before, and saw himself now a prisoner at the mercy of those detested " Yan- kees ! " One cannot pass that memorable building without recalling the pompous proclamation issued by Burgoyne when in his pride and power, and contrasting with it the reply of Washington. Bur- goyne had threatened the Americans with all the outrages of war, enhanced by the aid of savages to be let loose on their prey. Washington, after saying, " The free men of America protest against such abuse of language and prostitution of senti- ment," adds, speaking of the British domination, " This is a power we do not dread," and finally closes in this calm, dignified, and devout strain : " Harassed as we are by unrelenting persecution, obliged by every tie to repel violence by force, urged by self-preservation to exert the strength which Providence has mven us to defend our natu- ral rights against the aggressor, we appeal to the honesty of all mankind for the justice of our cause ; its events we submit to Him who speaks the fate of nations, in humble confidence that, as His omnis- cient eye taketh note even of the sparrow that fall- eth to the ground, so he will not withdraw his countenance from a people who humbly array them- SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 193 selves under his banner in defence of the noblest principles with which He hath adorned humanity." That a man of this stamp should have been so grossly misunderstood or misrepresented almost passes belief. Yet the record is clear. Not con- fining ourselves to the treason of Arnold, the cabal of Conway, the defection of Lee, and the known jealousies of military rivals, Gates and others, we find abundant and painful evidence of the calumnies spread in regard to Washington, not only in public journals and private documents, but among the daily fireside talks and gatherings of obscure individuals and the scandal of evil tongues. We have only to take up some of the journals of the day to learn what incredible accounts were circulated in regard to the condition of our affairs, as viewed in the mother country. Incidents are nar- rated in the British newspapers, published during the Revolution, which betray an astonishing lack of knowledge in respect to the state of men and things in this country. Making all due allowance for the coloring of prejudice and passion, what are we to think of such accounts as the following, taken indiscriminately from journals and letters of that period ? The first relates to two of the seven marked men who then resided on Tory Row, so called, in Cambridge : a Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Oliver, president of his majesty's council, was attacked at Cambridge by a mob of about four thousand, and was compelled to resign his seat at 13 194 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. the Board, since which, upon further threats, he has been obliged to lease his estate, and take refuge with his family in Boston. . . Colonel Vassal of Cambridge, from intolerable threats and inso- lent treatment by mobs, has left his elegant seat there and retired to Boston, with his family, for protection." The Loyalists in Boston are represented as suf- fering still worse things. In language not espe- cially classic or Christian, we read this statement : " The fugitives from Boston are gone for Halifax ; the people say, ' no d — d Tories shall be allowed to breathe in their air,' so that those ' d — Is ' can't find a resting-place there, which was the only place on the continent that they ever dared to hope they might stay in." It is known that our commander was seldom alluded to by his military title. Even Thomas Hutchinson, American born, who had been gov- ernor of Massachusetts, sneeringly calls him, in his contribution to history, " Mr. Washington." and the following would make it appear that, viewed in his domestic relations, neither he nor his were entitled to very great respect: "Mr. Washington we hear, is married to a very amiable lady, but it is said that Mrs. Washington, being a warm Loyal- ist, has separated from her husband since the com- mencement of the present troubles, and lives very much respected in the city of New York." And this when, at the moment, she was actively en- gaged in every form of kindness and relief to his suffering army. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 195 The tone of some letters, in the correspondence of civil and military officials a century ago, seems to us, accustomed to the courtesies of such docu- ments at the present time, incredible. Not long after the battle of Bunker Hill, Washington wrote to General Gage on his treatment of our officers who were in the Boston jail. His letter was in very mild terms, carefully avoiding any expres- sions that might be regarded as indecorous. The answer was in an entirely different strain ; it was directed to " George Washington, Esq.," and called our people Rebels, Usurpers, and the like, affect- ing great clemency in having " forborne to hang our prisoners." But, amid all this misjudgment and maltreat- ment, Washington, dishonored by British offi- cials, and slightly esteemed even by the Loyalists of his own country, had abundant evidence of the almost idolatrous regard in which he was held by every true patriot in the land. How touching are such tributes as this, taken from the old Essex Ga- zette, January 7, 1776. "This morning the sixth daughter of Captain Bancroft of Dunstable, Mas- sachusetts, was baptized by the name of Martha Dandridge, the maiden name of his Excellency, General Washington's, lady. The child was dressed in buff and blue, with a sprig of evergreen on its head, emblematic of his Excellency's glory and provincial affection." And not by personal homage alone, but by the spirit of multitudes of both sexes, Washington was 196 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. cheered and sustained in many a trying moment. Notice the devotedness that permeated his native State. Says the Pennsylvania Journal, July 16, 1777:— " We hear that the young ladies of Amelia County in Virginia, considering the situation of their county in particular, and that of the United States in general, have entered into a resolution not to permit the addresses of any person, be his circumstances or situation in life what they will, unless he has served in the American armies long enough to prove by his valor that he is deserv- ing of their love. A writer in the British army at Charleston, South Carolina, in a letter to a friend in London, Decem- ber, 1781, says : — The assemblies w T hich the officers have opened, in hopes to give an air of gayety and cheerfulness to themselves and the inhabitants, are but dull and gloomy, — the men play at cards, indeed, to avoid talking, but the women are seldom or never to be persuaded to dance. Even in their dresses the females seem to bid us defiance ; the gay toys which are imported here they despise ; they wear their own homespun manufactures, and take care to have in their breastknots, and even on their shoes, something from the flag of the thirteen stripes. An officer told Lord Cornwallis, not long ago, that he be- lieved if we had destroyed all the men in North America, we should have enough to do to conquer the women. History shows few instances in either sex of a heroism equal to the following. In 1779 Congress passed this resolve, honorable to them, and still SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 197 more so to the heroine this body thus appreci- ated : — Resolved, That Margaret Corbine, who was wounded and disabled at the attack of Fort Washington, while she heroically filled the post of her husband who was killed by her side, serving a piece of artillery, do receive during her natural life, or the continuance of the said disability, one half of the monthly pay drawn by a sol- dier in the service of these States ; and that she now receive, out of the public stores, one complete suit of clothes, or the value thereof in money. The confidence of those who knew Washington best, in his transcendent abilities and final success, is most touching. Surgeon Thacher speaks of a visit of the Commander-in-Chief at the hospital in his charge, and his deep interest in the sick and wounded, and particular inquiries as to their treat- ment and comfortable accommodations : — His personal appearance is that of the perfect gen- tleman and accomplished warrior. He is remarkably tall, — full six feet, — erect and well proportioned. The serenity of his countenance and majestic gracefulness of his deportment impart a strong impression of that dig- nity and grandeur which are his peculiar characteris- tics ; and no one can stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, mag- nanimity, and patriotism. His nose is straight, and his eyes inclined to blue. He displays a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation. No man could have more at command the veneration and regard 198 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of the officers and soldiers of our army, even after de- feat and misfortune. This is the illustrious chief a kind Providence has decreed as the instrument to conduct our country to peace and independence. This was said, we are to recollect, amid the last gloomy days of October, 1778, after a time of de- pression, and on the eve of that dreary season to be spent largely under canvas tents, and amid ex- posures to cold and storms. Often those of the British who spoke well of Washington personally, regarded his army and the people in this country generally as too wicked to prosper. So good a man in the main as young Anbury*, an English letter- writer in America at the time, says-: " As to redress from the Americans, little is to be expected. Though their Commander- in-Chief possesses a humanity that reflects the highest honors upon him, he has not been able, notwithstanding so much love and esteem, to dif- fuse that benevolence and godlike virtue among others." He speaks of the many " horrid barbar- ities and persecutions which arise in consequence of this unnatural war, and which have branded the name of America with an odium that no time can obliterate, no merit expunge." Speaking of Bur- goyne's army, then prisoners of war, he says : "For ten days the officers subsisted upon salt pork and Indian corn made into cakes," and adds, " they had not a drop of any kind of spirit. . . . Many officers to comfort themselves, put red pepper into water to drink, by way of cordial." SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 199 It is refreshing, amid the misstatements of many British accounts during the war, to find a better element occasionally appearing in their writers. An officer says, speaking of Andre's doom as a spy : " General Washington shed tears when the rigor- ous sentence" was passed, denying Andre the priv- ilege of a soldier and sending him to the gallows, " and when it was put in execution," " he would have granted his request to die a military death." But the writer adds, to his credit : " He [Wash- ington] felt certain the effect would be disastrous ; and the board of general officers, at the same time evincing the sincerest grief, could not deviate from the established custom in such cases. ,, For all he had endured from evil tongues and the treason of trusted men, downward to the humblest of his disloyal opponents, he received afterward abundant compensation. We can imagine no re- ward for his military toils and sufferings greater than that he must have seen and felt at the mo- ment when he parted from his companions in arms at the evacuation by the British in New York. He said to them, trembling with emotion as he stood, " I cannot come to each of you to take leave, but I shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand." General Knox, his bosom friend, stepped forward and received the first em- brace. The other officers silently followed in suc- cession, and every one was in tears. What a compensation to him was that scene in which Wash- ington read the touching proclamation of peace 200 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. to the army, April 19, 1783, precisely eight years from the day of the first blood shedding at Lexington. And amid all the anxiety of the hour, the contrast with much of the past must have cheered his heart in a subsequent year when he was borne by accla- mation into the Presidential chair. What rewards for his faithfulness, toils, and sacrifices on the field were his, as he passed in the autumn of 1789, during his first year's civil service, through the towns of New England in that better than regal progress ! See him in an open carriage, drawn by four white horses, his private secretary near him, riding in advance, and a single servant, his ever true attendant. A volunteer courier who precedes Washington announcing his approach, rides bare- headed as they enter some town. With one hand he guides his careering steed ; in the other he bears a trumpet, whose blast arouses the people, followed by his shout, " Washington is coming ! Washing- ton is coming ! " The parish bell is rung ; the schoolmaster ejaculates " school 's dismissed," and away rush the delighted children to see the hero and his train. An escort of horsemen are at once in line, and the first men of the town proceed to welcome the idol of the people. Sometimes, as when he visited the large town of Haverhill, Mas- sachusetts, Washington, in a drab surtout and wear- •ing a military hat, is mounted on an elegant horse ; his tall, erect form and majestic bearing give him an air of unsurpassed dignity, as he moves onward SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 201 in what he calls " the pleasantest village I have passed through." This ride is made immortal by the pen of Whittier : — And he stood up in his stirrups, Looking up and looking down On the hills of gold and silver, Rimming round the little town. And he said, the landscape sweeping Slowly with his ungloved hand : " I have seen no prospect fairer In this goodly eastern land." Then the bugles of his escort Stirred to life the cavalcade ; And that head, so bare and stately, Vanished down the depths of shade. KNOX FAMILY. Henry Knox deserves a prominent place in any mention of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was, by his early suggestion of it and his earnest labors for its organization, essentially its founder. Born July 25, 1750, he died October 25, 1806. From his boyhood he took an interest in the affairs of his country, and at every stage of his life was devoted to the cause of freedom, and dedicated all his powers of body and mind to its advancement. He was fond of reading, and at the age of twenty- one he opened a bookstore opposite Williams's Court in Cornhill, Boston, which became a great resort in 1771 for the British officers and Tory ladies, who were the ton of that period. This store was, not many years afterward, while Knox 202 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. was engaged with the besieging army, robbed and pillaged ; but still the occupant, with characteris- tic honor, paid his London creditors, before his de- cease, a large portion of his dues to them. He was invited to join the royal standard, but rejected promptly the proposal, and embarked, heart and hand, in the Patriot cause. ilugust 9, 1775, we find him at Cambridge, din- ing with Washington. He soon proposed to go to Fort Ticonderoga, and, with the approval of his General, transported from that place some fifty cannon, and stores in boats and sleds, which ren- dered great service in the siege of Boston. The furious cannonade from Knox's batteries, March 4, 1776, obliged the British finally, on the 17th of that month, to evacuate Boston. His eminent military skill at Trenton, Monmouth, White Plains, Yorktown, and elsewhere, entitles him to a very hio-h rank among those who achieved our inde- pendence. After the close of the war General Knox held important civil offices. Made Secretary of War by Washington in 1785, he was in his cabinet un- til he resigned in 1794. He was a commissioner to settle the eastern boundary on the River St. Croix, a member of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1801, and June 2, 1804, was appointed one of the Council of Governor Strong, by whom he was consulted on many important questions. His liter- ary and scientific attainments induced Dartmouth College in 1793 to confer upon him the honorary decree of Master of Arts; and December 16, 1805, SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 203 he was chosen a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. General Knox stood proba- bly first, although Lafayette was very near him, in the esteem, affection, and confidence of Washing- ton. Entering the army in his youth as a volun- teer, he rose by the force of his character and by his services to the rank of major-general, the high- est position below that of the commander-in-chief. Henry Knox Thatcher, eldest grandson of General Knox, succeeded him in the society of the Cincinnati, in 1843. He was born in Thomaston, Maine, May 26, 1806, and died April 5, 1880. I knew him personally, as a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, to which he presented, with very interesting remarks, the in- valuable collection of his grandfather's manuscript letters, elegantly bound in fifty-six folio volumes. He entered the United States Navy, March 4, 1823, as a midshipman, and was commissioned lieutenant in 1833. He was made commander in September, 1856, and captain in 1861 ; commis- sioned commodore in 1862, and during the late Civil War took part in the capture of Mobile, April 12, 1865. He was promoted to rear-ad- miral in 1866. He was retired May 26, 1868, and was post-admiral of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until 1870. In that year he became vice-presi- dent of the Society of the Cincinnati, and in 1871 was chosen president. His last residence was at Winchester, Massachusetts. He married Susan 204 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. C, daughter of Dr. Croswell, of Plymouth, Massa- chusetts. They had no children. Baron von Steuben, after General Knox, should be named next in this connection. The first general meeting, after the disbanding of the army, to consider the formation of the Society of the Cincinnati, took place at the City Tavern, in Philadelphia, May, 1784. The Baron called the meeting to order. Washington took the chair and was, May 15, unanimously chosen president, Major- General Gates being vice-president, and Major- General Knox, secretary. Frederick William Augustus von Steuben, born in Prussia, November 15, 1730, died near Utica, New York, November 28, 1794. He offered his services to Washington, December 1, 1777, and was directed to join the army at Valley Forge in mid- winter, and acted an important part, in connection with Lafayette, at the siege of Yorktown and in the battle of Monmouth. He was appointed in- spector-general, with the rank of major-general, and did much to improve the condition of the troops in our army. He afterward wrote a man- ual, which was of great value to the discipline of the army, and contributed very largely to the suc- cess of the Revolution, lie had served under Frederick the Great of Prussia, and was one of his aides-de-camp. With all his distinction he is re- ported, however, as quite irascible, and not very reverent. Knowing little of our language, in a SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 205 moment of excitement, when drilling an awkward squad, he exclaimed to a subordinate, " Come and swear for me in English ; these fellows will not do what I bid them." His generosity in furnishing supplies, equip- ments, and comforts, at his own expense, for our soldiers — so great that he frequently shared his last dollars with a suffering soldier — impoverished him- self; yet it was not until 1790 that Congress re- lieved him by an annuity of $ 2,500. See his portrait ! Here is a robust and athletic frame, surmounted by a head firmly fixed on the body, and a face expressive of a rare union of energy of character with sweetness and kindliness. We are not surprised to learn that he had a great gift of conversation, had warm personal friends, and was very popular in general society. He was a man to be trusted ; pow T er and decision were written in his eye and on his lips ; and he was no less loved for all that is generous and attractive. The follow- ing letter, brought to light at a dinner given to our German guests at Washington, October 22, 1881, six of whom descended from the Baron, being the very last written before the author of it resigned his office as commander-in-chief of the American Army, is an eloquent testimonial to the worth of its subject : — Annapolis, Dec. 23, 1783. My Deaf. Baron, — Although I have taken fre- quent opportunities in public and private of acknowledg- ing your great zeal, attention, and abilities in performing 206 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. the duties of your office, yet I wish to make use of this last moment of my public life to signify in the strongest terms my entire approbation of your conduct, arid to express my sense of the obligations the public is under to you for your faithful and meritorious services. I beg you will be convinced, my dear sir, that I should rejoice if it could ever be in my power to serve you more essen- tially than by expressions of regard and affection, but in the mean time I am persuaded you will not be dis- pleased with this farewell token of my sincere friendship and esteem for you. This is the last letter which I shall write while I continue in the service of my country. The hour of my resignation is fixed at 12 o'clock to- day, after which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, where I shall be glad to embrace you, and to testify the great esteem and consideration with which I am, my dear Baron, etc., George Washington. The place won and retained in the heart of Washington by Baron von Steuben will be his perpetual commendation. John Brooks was born in Medford, Massachu- setts, and baptized May 31, 1752. I recollect him well when he was governor of Massachusetts. A classmate of mine, his nephew, told me much of his systematic habits of life, — and, among his pecu- liarities, that he always omitted one dinner every week. At the age of twenty-one he commenced practice as a physician in Reading; and in 1774 he married a celebrated beauty, Lucy Smith. On the 19th of April, 1775, he marched at the head of SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 207 a company of minute-men, and met the British near Concord, on their return. To him, as to many others, the battle of Lexing- ton sounded the death-knell of all hope of a reconciliation between this and the mother coun- try. That spark struck fire in his as in every true American bosom, and no wonder the chroni- cles of the day are filled with accounts of the peo- ple rising " as one man, taking their firelocks, and rushing toward the opening scene of blood." East, west, north, and south we read of companies formed to march toward that spot, and our history is filled with the names of one and another re- ported as " present at the battle of Lexington." Haffield White dies at Danvers, and the fairest line of his record is that he was at the battle of Lex- ington. Thomas Nixon dies at Framingham in 1800, Samuel Bowman at Lexington in 1818, Jos- eph Balcom at Temple ton in 1825, two men named Jackson at Newton, Thomas Hunt in Cin- cinnati, — time would fail me to write out the whole list. This one event of their lives — their presence at the battle of Lexington — is their crowning glory ; even the rumor that they were there is sometimes sufficient for their fame. Captain John Brooks, it has often been said, was in this battle ; but the truth was he did not reach Lexington until the British forces were on their return from Concord, when his men posted themselves, as did others, behind the barns and fences, and fired thence on the enemy. 208 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. He was, June 16, ordered to Cambridge, but could take no part in the noble work of the 17th at Bunker Hill. He was in the battle of White Plains, and his corps received the acknowledg- ment of Washington for its brave conduct. A skilful disciplinarian, at Valley Forge he was ap- pointed by Washington to aid Baron von Steuben in his new system of military tactics. He was adjutant-general in the battle of Monmouth. When the Newbury letters appeared, suggesting an insurrection, Washington rode up to Brooks, to learn how the officers stood affected, and to counsel them against the treasonable step. " Sir," replied Brooks, " I have anticipated your wishes, and my orders are given." With tears in his eyes Wash- ington took him by the hand and said : " Colonel Brooks, this is just what I expected from you." After the war he retired in poverty, and re- sumed the practice of his profession. He was made major-general of the militia, and often elected to civil offices. From 1816 to 1823 he was governor of Massachusetts. After declining a re-election, in his retirement he was chosen to preside over several societies. From 1783 to 1785, he was the first secretary of the Cincin- nati of Massachusetts, gave the first of its ora- tions, July 4, 1787, and was its president from 1810 to his death, March 1, 1825, and vice-presi- dent of the General Society from 1811 to 1825. He received from Harvard College, in 1781, the honorary degree of A. M. ; in 1810 that of M. D. ; and in 1817 that of LL. D. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 209 He had, I recollect, a fine portly figure, and a Roman countenance, expressing firmness and cour- age ; his bright eye and his mouth, somewhat com- pressed, showed a strong character, united with a pleasant disposition. He had a soldierly bearing, a graceful deportment ; dignified, and of the Old School in manners, his whole appearance was an in- dex of his generous and noble heart. Joseph Fiske was born in Lexington, Massa- chusetts, December 24, 1752. He died September 25, 1837. Having studied medicine and begun its practice, he was led by his patriotic spirit to ac- cept the commission of surgeon's mate in Vose's Regiment, in 1777. He was made surgeon, April 17, 1779, and served in the army seven years. He was present at the surrender of Burgoyne in 1777, and of Cornwallis in 1781. He was frequently at my father's house, and was very agreeable. I drank in greedily his accounts, given to my grand- father, — who was with him in the company of Captain Parker, April 19, 1775, — of his own ex- periences as a surgeon in the War of the Revolu- tion. It was a time when all shared in common privations. General Washington would sit down with his highest officers to a small piece of beef, with a few potatoes and some hard bread. The veteran told us of sitting with officers at a plank table in the camp, where a single dish of wood or pewter sufficed for a mess ; a horn spoon, and a horn tumbler were passed round, and the knife was 14 210 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. carried in the pocket ; sugar, tea, and coffee were unknown luxuries, and if perchance a ration of rum was given out — this was in the dead of win- ter — the question would be raised, " Shall we drink it, or shall we put it in our shoes to keep our feet from freezing ? " During the pursuit of Cornwallis the soldiers had not decent clothing ; and an old cloak of one of the generals, they having not a blanket left, was nearly the whole winter shared with two other offi- cers. Dr. Fiske would corroborate, in my hearing, accounts of the need of medicine and comforts for the wounded. Wine, spirits, and even the ordinary medicines could not be procured ; and after search- ing miles upon miles nothing of the kind could be found but small portions of snakeroot. And as for bandages, the case was still worse, if possible ; nothing could be done for their supply but to cut up a tent found on the field. He related mirthful, no less than sad reminiscen- ces of the war, and used to tell anecdotes of this kind of one Captain Houdin. This French officer lived to see the National Government established, and asked an office of General Knox, then Secre- tary of War. " Captain," said the Secretary, " you have abused the new government, and how can you ask office under it ? " " Oh," said the Captain, " I only did it because that was popular ; I did n't mean anything by it." When Washington was told this anecdote he gave a hearty laugh, a very rare thing for him. The Captain succeeded at last, it seems, in getting an office. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 211 Dr. Fiske was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and of the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety. He married, July 31, 1794, Elizabeth Stone, born November 13, 1770, who died March 6, 1849, aged 78. They had six children, of whom the oldest son, Joseph, born in Lexington, Massachusetts, February 9, 1797 ? succeeded his father in the Cincinnati Society in 1839. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He died in his native place, May 4, 1860. Captain Benjamin Gould was born in Tops- field, Massachusetts, in 1751 ; He died in Newbury- port in 1841, at the age of ninety. At this place I met and conversed with him in 1839. His mili- tary spirit and his decided patriotism were shown throughout the war. He was an ensign in Lit- tle's Regiment, and wounded April 19, 1775. He was in the Continental army, took part in the battles of Bennington, Stillwater, and Saratoga, and served under Lafayette in Rhode Island; was at West Point at the time of Arnold's treason, and was one of the first to detect that dark crime. What joy it must have given this veteran of four- score and three years to meet the nation's guest on his visit to Newburyport in 1825. Here, too, it was that Daniel Foster, who served in Lafay- ette's corps of light infantry, met, on that occasion, sword in hand, his old commander. " I am proud to see you," said the old hero, " once more on American soil." Lafayette embraced him and re- plied, u I look upon you as one of my own family." 212 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. The son of the Captain, Benjamin Ap thorp Gould, was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, June 15, 1787, and died October 24, 1859, in Boston. He taught the Latin School in that city with emi- nent success, and became afterward a distinguished merchant. He was editor of the first American editions of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace. Personal intercourse with Mr. Gould impressed me with his intelligence and courtesy. He graduated at Har- vard College in 1814. He was an illustration of the advantages of a liberal education and high scholarship, not only in the " professions," but in commercial life. His broad views and naturally correct judgment of men and affairs had been im- proved by mental culture. This impression was strengthened by many testimonials from one who was a partner in business with him. His unchal- lenged integrity equalled and adorned his high mental qualities and attainments. Having known Captain Gould, the father, and enjoyed the friend- ship of his daughter, Miss Hannah F. Gould, — a writer of distinction for her graphic and original poetry, especially her patriotic ode at the re-inter- ment of the martyred soldiers at Lexington, April 19, 1835, — it is a pleasure to speak of them with confidence. Benjamin Apthorp, the grandson of Captain Gould, was born in Boston, September 27, 1824. He was admitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in 1864, by the rule adopted by the General Society in May 1854. His intellectual ability has been shown in many positions. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 213 Professor Gould graduated at Harvard College in 1844 ; received a degree from Gottingen in 1848 ; edited, for twelve years, the " Astronomical Jour- nal ; " was on the United States Coast Survey from 1852 to 1867, when I knew him well; organized the Dudley Observatory in Albany, of which he was director, 1856-59 ; was in the Sanitary Com- mission, Statistical Department of the Civil War, and published the " Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers." He worked in the Washington Observatory twelve years, and since 1873 has been director of the National Ar- gentine Observatory in Cordova. He was, in 1868, president of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science, and is a member of various scientific societies and academies in Europe. Edward Strong Moseley, born June 22, 1813, was admitted, in May 1867, a member of the So- ciety of the Cincinnati, under the rule of May 1854. His family have shown military tastes, and have claims connected with the Revolutionary War. Ebenezer, grandfather of Edward Strong Moseley, graduated at Yale College in 1763 ; was a mission- ary among the Western Indians several years, from 1767 ; and in April 1775, was commissioned cap- tain in Putnam's Connecticut Regiment, which he accompanied to Cambridge ; and he was in the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1777, the governor of Massachusetts authorized him to raise ten hundred and ninety-two men to join the army at Provi- 214 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. dence under General Spencer, and he was ap- pointed one of the captains. He was colonel of the Connecticut Regiment of militia in 1789-91. During the latter part of the Revolution, and for some subsequent years, he was representative of Windham, Connecticut. He died March 20, 1825, aged 84 years. His son, Hon. Ebenezer Moseley, born November 21, 1781, graduated at Yale College in 1802, and settled in Newburyport. He was col- onel of a regiment of the Massachusetts Militia, 1813 -14 ; representative and senator of Massachusetts, and master in chancery; president of the Essex County Agricultural Society ; and filled many other positions of public trust and honor. His son, Ed- ward Strong, was a successful merchant many years in the East India trade, is president of the Mechanics National Bank and of the Institution for Savings in Newburyport. In 1870 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Yale College, of which, from 1829, he was nearly three years a member. It is fitting that the native town of Mr. Moseley should be represented in the Society of the Cin- cinnati. We are astonished and pained by the suf- ferings endured by our soldiers ; but we seldom realize what must have been the sufferings of those who saw their husbands and brothers, on all sides, summoned to go forth and encounter dangers and death in the most trying forms. I happen to know a striking illustration of hardships not unusual in other towns at that time. The town of Newburyport — where I spent nearly eight SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 215 years among the descendants of those who endured privations of this kind — was, in August 1777, re- quired to raise for the Continental Army one sixth of all her men capable of bearing arms. Added to this, those who remained at home were taxed to the highest point, and obliged to deprive them- selves of not a few of the comforts and sometimes of what we should think the necessaries of life. " The whole town," says her historian, " was so early turned into a military camp, and the troops kept in such a state of preparation, that when on the day of the battle of Lexington, the news of it was brought to town, before eleven o'clock that night reinforcements from Newburyport were on their way to join their brothers in the bloody struggle." The public spirit of Newburyport was shown in another form, when Washington, in the autumn of 1789, on his tour through the North, visited that town. He was received with great enthusi- asm ; a committee met him at Ipswich ; two companies of cavalry escorted him to the town; a procession, including all classes of peo- ple — the largest body that of the school-chil- dren — greeted his entrance. There were four hundred and twenty scholars, each with a quill in hand, headed by their teachers, the motto on their banner : " We are the freeborn subjects of the United States." An elegantly dressed vessel in the harbor, from Tenerifxe, fired the salute of her nation, twenty-one guns. This was gracefully noticed by Washington, of which the " Essex Journal" of Nov- 216 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. ember 4, 1789 says : " We cannot but admire, among the admirable traits in the President's character, that of his politeness to foreigners." As the pro- cession moved on, the drums beat and a salute was fired ; afterward a meeting was held at which an ode was sung, and an address delivered by John Quincy Adams, then a law student with Chief Jus- tice Parsons in Newburyport, and destined himself to be one of Washington's successors. In the even- ing, guns were fired ; a display of fireworks took place, and every demonstration of joy was mani- fested. An aged lady, one of my parishioners, told me she was among the school-children on that day, and Washington gave her a kiss. Timothy Pickering was born in Salem, Massa- chusetts, July 17, 1745, and died there January 29, 1829, aged 84 years. He was an original member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. He joined Washington in New Jersey with his regi- ment in 1776; was made adjutant-general of the army in May, 1777 ; a member of the Board of War in November, and quartermaster-general August 5, 1780. He was postmaster-general of the United States, November 7, 1791 -January 2, 1795; sec- retary of war, January 10, 1795 -December 10, same year; secretary of state, December 10, 1795 -May 12, 1800 ; United States Senator, 1803-11 ; member of the Massachusetts Board of War, 1812- 15; and member of Congress 1815-17. Active in the cause of education, he was an able writer, a SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 217 brave and patriotic soldier, and, as a public officer, energetic and disinterested. Of the Old School of manners, he was highly gifted in conversation. John Pickering, son of Timothy Pickering, born in Salem, Massachusetts, February 17, 1777, died May 5, 1846. He was admitted a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati in 1843. He had a large practice as a lawyer, and still, by his rare industry, became one of the first scholars in the country. He was chosen professor of Hebrew in Harvard College in 1806, and invited to the chair of Greek literature ; he was president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Oriental Society of Boston. He was a mem- ber of many scientific and literary bodies in Eu- rope. Familiar with twenty-two languages, he wrote several treatises upon philology, and pro- duced a Greek and English Lexicon, on which he was engaged 1814-26. He was also a very able lecturer. In the winter of 1829-30 I had the pleasure of hearing from him an able lecture, in Boston, before the Young Men's Association, and was impressed by his massive brow and scholarly appearance. John Pickering, eldest son of the former, born November 8, 1808, succeeded him in 1867 in the Society of the Cincinnati. He was for many years a successful stock-broker in Boston, and resided in the old family house at Salem, built in 1651. A 218 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. pleasant personal aquaintance with him, and the privilege of having heard learned words from his distinguished father, and known, as a neighbor, his brother, Octavius Pickering, eminent as a reporter in the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and occupied, at the age of seventy-five, on the Life and Writings of his father, Timothy Pickering, have given me special satisfaction in paying this tribute to their honored family. Mr. John Pickering died in Salem, January 20, 1882. His son John, born May 24, 1857, was admitted to the Society, July 4, 1882. Louis Baury (de Bellerive), born in St. Do- mingo, September 16, 1753, died in Middletown, Connecticut, September 20, 1807. He was ad- mitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in 1789. He was educated at the same school as Napoleon, in Brienne, France, and became a planter at St. Do- mingo. He took part at the siege of Savannah, as captain in a volunteer corps, and remained in the service until the close of the war. In 1787 he was aide-de-camp to General Lincoln in suppressing the Shays Rebellion. He was of a military family, his father having been a captain of cavalry, and his eldest son, Francis, was killed at the age of 17, while acting as aide to General Rochambeau at St. Domingo in March, 1802. Frederic, son of Louis Baury, succeeded him in the Society of the Cincin- nati in 1813 ; was a midshipman at 17, in 1809 ; served in the ship " Constitution " at the capture of the " Guerriere " and the " Java ; " was on the SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 219 " Wasp " when she captured the " Reindeer," in 1814, and at the time she was lost in September of that year. Alfeed Louis Baury, D.D., born September 14, 1794, succeeded his brother in the Society of the Cincinnati in 1823. Although occupied in business for a time, he left it in early life, and after the study of theology, was admitted to Deacon's Orders, Sep- tember, 1820. In July 1822 he was chosen rector of St. Mary's, Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts. 1 often had the pleasure — while teaching school a winter during my college life, not far from his church — of hearing some of his able sermons, de- livered with uncommon dignity and force. His reading of the service was very impressive. In per- sonal appearance he was marked by much of that combination of dignitv with sweetness which we see in the portrait of his father, although the mouth is more compressed and his gravity more observable. There is much in his figure and face that reminds me of those of the English preacher, Robertson. Both had a union of military decision with benevo- lence and spirituality. Dr. Baury wrote a clear, firm, and upright hand. It corresponded with his personal air and bearing. He was tall, erect, and graceful, with fine classical features. When I first saw him he was yet young ; but throughout his life, he is said to have been a most agreeable compan- ion, honored for his professional ability, and loved by all who enjoyed the privilege of his society and 220 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. knew his high moral worth. He was chosen vice- president of the Massachusetts Society of the Cin- cinnati, July 4, 1857, and president in 1865. He died in Boston, December 26, 1865. John Hastings was born in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, March 23, 1754; and died there Febru- ary 16, 1839. He graduated at Harvard College in 1772, entered the army in 1775; was commis- sioned captain in Jackson's Regiment, May 25, 1777, and in Brooks's Regiment in 1783. He was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Cotton) Hastings. He married, December 7, 1783, Lydia, daughter of Richard and Lydia (Trowbridge) Dana, the parents of Chief-Justice Francis Dana. She died in Woburn, May 8, 1808. They had seven children, of whom the only son was Edmund Trow- bridge. John Hastings lived to the age of eighty- five. I knew him for some six years of the last of his life, and at the remarkable age of eighty-two, he had, I recollect, the whooping cough. He was a brave man, and testified his patriotism by serving through nearly the whole Revolutionary War. Edmund Trowbridge Hastings, the only son of John, succeeded him in the Society of the Cincin- nati in 1839. He was born in Woburn, Massachu- setts, May 15, 1789 ; and died in Medford, Massa- chusetts, May 13, 1861. His wife Elizabeth died November 30, 1880, aged 85 years. 1 was once a member of his family, and knew well his high moral SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 221 excellence, the integrity which marked him as a merchant, and the kind traits of himself and family. He had two sons, Edmund Trowbridge and John Walter, born November 27, 1819, who married Sarah E. Gannett, September 4, 1850, and one daughter, Harriet Elizabeth, born August 3, 1818, who married, October 5, 1841, John Bryant Hatch. Edmund Trowbridge Hastings, eldest son of Edmund T. Hastings, whom he succeeded in the Society of the Cincinnati in 1863, was born in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, March 3, 1816. He resides in Medford, Massachusetts, on his father's estate, unmarried. Africa Hamlin was born in Pembroke, Massa- chusetts, in 1756, and died in Waterford, Maine, in 1808. He was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati. He entered the army in the humble capacity of a waiter at the beginning of the Revolutionary War; was commissioned ensign, January 1, 1781, and served to the close of the war. In 1788 he removed to Waterford, Maine, then a wilderness. He spent his winters in teaching school, and, having unusual abilities, held many responsible offices in the town. On one occasion he showed his versatility and readiness, when — the Fourth-of- July orator foiling to appear — at the request of his townsmen he took his place, and gave great satis- faction by his address. His father had a large family and named four of 222 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. his sons, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. An- other of his sons, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, was the father of Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin. Africa Ham- lin married, in 1785, Susanna Stone of Groton, Massachusetts. They had six children, all daugh- ters. Asia Hamlin lived many years in Westford, Massachusetts. I boarded in his family while fit- ting for college in the academy of that town. Mr. Hamlin was a man strong in body and mind, social, facetious, and, as might be expected of one born and trained as he was, he used very plain speech. He was somewhat eccentric, although, like his excellent companion, a lady of culture, he was kindhearted and friendly to us boys. He lived, I think, to nearly the age of ninety. Job Sumner, an original member of the society of the Cincinnati, was born in Milton, Massachu- setts, April 23, 1754. He entered college in 1774 ; but when the students were dispersed after the battle of Lexington, he immediately joined the army, and continued in it until its final disband- ment in 1784. He was a lieutenant in Moses Dra- per's Company, of Gardner's Eegiment, at Bunker Hill; in Bond's Twenty-fifth Regiment at the siege of Boston and in the invasion of Canada ; commis- sioned captain in Greaton's Third Regiment, Jan- uary 1, 1777, and made major in 1783. He had " the reputation of an attentive and intelligent offi- cer," and was commissioned, after the war, to settle the accounts of the United States with Georgia. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 223 He died of poison in New York City, September 16. 1789. Charles Pinckney Sumner, only son of Major Job, succeeded him in the Society of the Cincinnati, in 1803. He was born in Milton, January 20, 1776, and died in Boston, April 24, 1839. He graduated at Harvard College in 1796, studied law, was sev- eral years clerk of the Massachusetts House of Rep- resentatives, and was sheriff of Suffolk County from 1825 until his death. He was a man of literary cul- ture, and delivered several orations, addresses, and poems on public occasions. I recollect him well through many years, and observed his uniformly courteous and gentlemanly deportment. Charles Sumner, the eldest son of Charles P. Sumner, succeeded him in the Society of the Cin- cinnati in ] 840. He was born in Boston, January 6, 1811, and died March 11, 1874; graduated at Harvard College in 1830, and at the Dane Law School in 1834. He was a great favorite of Judge Story, who was then professor in the Law School. I recollect him well, his fine figure and marked face, at that early age. I heard his oration on " The True Grandeur of Nations," beside other addresses. Becoming afterward personally ac- quainted with him, I enjoyed highly his remarkable conversational powers. His extraordinary reading, memory, and general culture, his graceful manner and rare eloquence, from the beginning of his career, 224 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. impressed me deeply. He was a strict censor of himself, and said once to me that he feared he was falling into a " beat " in his style of speaking. I watched earnestly the long struggle in the Massachusetts Legislature, in the session of 1851, over his candidacy for the United States senator- ship. He was anxious, at one time, to withdraw from the arena, but his friends urged him to let his name still be used in the balloting. When, after many ballots, April 24, 1851, he was declared elected, the excitement was intense. I was among the first to reach his house on Hancock Street, to congratulate him on the result. He seemed quite sober, and said: "It is a very responsible posi- tion. I am by no means sure this result is best, either for the country or for me." His course in the United States Senate enhanced the admiration of antislavery men. A thrill of horror filled our hearts when, after the delivery of his great speech, " The Crime against Kansas," May 19-20, 1856, he was brutally assaulted in his seat by Preston S. Brooks, a representative in Congress from South Carolina. After being disabled for about three years, on resuming his seat in the Senate he made, June 4, 1860, his famous speech on "The Barba- rism of Slavery." He was among the first to pro- pose emancipation as the best means of ending the Rebellion ; and he afterward originated and aided the enactment of those Constitutional Amend- ments by which the Freedmen obtained political rights. In 1862 I visited him at Washington, SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 225 when he seemed to have recovered much of his original health and spirits. Amid his grave and earnest labors he had moments of wit and humor. He read one day, out of a mass of daily newspa- pers, an amusing anecdote of a French milk- woman, who one day left her milkcan with only water in it. " Oh," said she, when rebuked for it, " I forgot to put the milk to it." His decided course against slavery made him many political enemies ; but since his death, March 11, 1874, he has stood — and in the ordeal of the future will more confessedly stand — on the summit of national honor, as a scholar and statesman, dis- tinguished in history for his legal and civil attain- ments, his eloquent writings and speech, his devotedness to the cause of human freedom, the purity of his principles, and his incorruptible integrity. William Eustis, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, was born at Cambridge, June 10, 1753 ; was in the Boston Latin School in 1761; graduated at Harvard College in 1772; studied medicine under Dr. Joseph Warren, and, on the day of the Lexington battle, was at the scene of action, and aided in dressing the wounds of the soldiers. He was commissioned surgeon of Gridley's Artillery Regiment, April 19, 1775, and, January 1, 1777, was commissioned surgeon and physician at the hospital opposite West Point. He remained on the medical staff until the close of 15 226 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. the war. He was a volunteer surgeon in the Shays Rebellion ; a member of the General Court, from 1788, for six or seven years; a member of Congress in 1800-05, and again in 182 1-2 3 ; was appointed by President Madison, secretary of war in 1809, and resigned in 1812. He was minister to Holland, 1815-18, and was governor of Massa- chusetts, 1823-25, dying in Boston while in office, February 6, 1825, at the age of seventy-one. He was vice-president of the Cincinnati Society, 1786-1810, and again in 1820. He delivered the annual oration before that Society, July 4, 1791. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard University in 1823, and received honors from other colleges. He was a member, and for some time a counsellor, of the Massachusetts Medical Society. While in the army he was humane, faithful, and indefatigable in his office. His urbane manner and social feelings made him everywhere a popu- lar companion. His house — the Governor Shirley mansion in Roxbury — was a hospitable and pleas- ant resort to friends and strangers. His father. Benjamin Eustis, married in Cambridge, May 11. 1749, Elizabeth Hill, who died May 30, 1775. I find on a roll of Captain Parker's Company of men who w T ere called to Cambridge, June 17, 18, 1775. the name of William Eustis. Governor Eustis was then twenty- two years old. At a celebration of July 4, 1814, at Lexington, among the guests was Hon. William Eustis. It is certain that, although SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 227 not born there, he felt a strong interest in Lex- ington. In the old cemetery of that place — where according to his wish he was buried by his mother's side, is a handsome monument over the remains of Governor Eustis and his wife, who was Caroline, daughter of Hon. Woodbury Langdon of New Hampshire, and survived him many years. 1 recollect well the form and face of Governor Eustis, whom I saw frequently while he was in office. He was quite tall and graceful, — his eyes a dark blue, and his complexion florid. Like very many of the Revolutionary officers he returned from the war poor. He once said : " With but a single coat, four shirts, and one pair of woollen stockings, in the hard winter of 1780, I was one of the happiest men on earth." Isaac Parker succeeded his brother Elias — who was in the battle of Bunker Hill and served through the war — in the Society of the Cincin- nati in 1830. He was Royal Professor of Law in Harvard University while I was in college, and his lectures excited great interest in my class. He was pleasant, and sometimes facetious, in his inter- course with us. I recollect, on one occasion, when, having driven out of Boston, he came to the door of Harvard Hall, where he gave his lectures. We students had gathered around the door, and, not withdrawing, as was proper at his approach, and he being a stout man requiring wide space, he 228 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. said jocosely to us, " Open to the right and left ; " and suiting the action to the word, he wielded his whip to part us. Isaac Parker was born in Boston, June 17, 1768, and was the eighth son of Daniel and Margaret ( Jarvis) Parker. He graduated at Harvard College in 1786 ; studied law with Judge Tudor ; settled as a lawyer in Portland in 1801, and in Boston in 1806 ; was a member of Congress from the Maine District of Massachusetts, 1797-99 ; president of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1820; professor of law, in Harvard University, 1816-27 ; associate judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 1806-14, and chief-justice from 1814 until his death, July 26, 1830. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Bible Society, and many others, and always active in his place. He received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard College in 1814. "For more than a quarter of a century he was one of the most influential men in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This influence was noiseless and constant; it was found in the temples of justice and the halls of legislation, in the seminaries of learning, at the ballot-box, on change, in the social circle, — everywhere. He had genius without ec- centricity, and learning without pedantry. In him firmness w T as united to flexibility, and delicacy with decision." John Popkin was of a Welsh family; born in SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 229 Boston in 1743, and died in Maiden, Massachu- setts, May 8, 1827. Before the Revolutionary War he was a member of Paddock's Artillery Company. In the army he was a captain of artil- lery in Gridley's Regiment, and was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and at the siege of Boston. He was commissioned captain in Knox's Artillery, and was in the battle of White Plains; was made major in Greaton's Regiment, January 1, 1777 ; was aide to General Lincoln at Saratoga, and com- missioned lieutenant-colonel of Crane's Artillery Regiment, July 15, 1777, in which he continued until the disbanding of the army in 1783. After the war he resided in Bolton and in Maiden, Mas- sachusetts. He was an inspector of customs in Boston, and walked to and from Maiden, four miles, every day, from 1789 until he was more than eighty-four years old. John S. Popkin was the eldest son of Colonel John Popkin, whom he succeeded in the Society of the Cincinnati in 1827. I knew him well, from my entrance in college to the close of his life. He was born in Boston, June 19, 1771, and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 2, 1852. He graduated at Harvard College in 1792 ; was Greek tutor there from 1795 to 1798; professor of the Greek language, 1815-26 ; Eliot Professor of Greek literature, 1826-33. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from Harvard College in 1815. He had been pastor of the Federal Street Church 230 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. in Boston (Dr. Channing's) from 1799 to 1802, and of the First Church in Newbury from 1804 to 1815. When I entered college he examined me in Graeca Minora, and my class recited to him for three years. He was a model of thorough instruc- tion, and kindly, gentle, and impartial in his man- ner. He would assist a student in such a way as to call out his ability, without making him indolent or in danger of leaning too much on his teacher. His hearing was not perfect, and roguish youth would sometimes take advantage of this infirmity. A student in a class after mine, was once " taken up " by him on a lesson in history, of which branch the Professor was for a long time the teacher. " A — , who was the third king of France ? " The student replied promptly, as if certain of being right. " What did you say?" asked the unsus- pecting Professor. The answer was very quick, and might sound like several short names. On a repetition of the confusing wwd, — "I am a little deaf," said the Doctor, "but T believe you are right." " Very far," whispered a fellow-student, "from the truth." In important business transactions with Dr. Popkin I found him very exact, as accurate as he was in his college offices. Few men excelled him in a knowledge of practical affairs, and his integrity, honesty, and reliability were eminent ; the man was a counterpart of the scholar and instructor. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 231 Constant Freeman, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, was baptized at Charlestown, Massachusetts, February 27, 1757, and entered the Boston Latin School in 1766. He was commissioned lieutenant in Knox's Artillery in 1776 ; was lieutenant and was acting captain in Crane's Artillery, October 1, 1778 ; appointed cap- tain in the United States Infantry, March, 1791, but declined ; afterward commissioned major in the regular army, lieutenant-colonel, brevet-colonel (July 10, 1812), and on the reduction of the army in 1815, was mustered out of service. He held offices in the navy department at Washington from 1816 until his death. Constant Freeman, his father, married, September 23, 1754, Lois Cobb, and had two children, Constant and Rev. James Freeman, D. D. Major Freeman died February 27, 1824. Charles Henry Davis was a son of Hon. Daniel Davis — whom I well recollect as a dignified and efficient public officer — and Lois Freeman, sister of Constant. Through her Admiral Davis succeeded, as nephew, Major Constant in the Society of the Cincinnati, in 1843. He was born in Boston, January 16, 1807 ; made A. M. by Har- vard College in 1841, and LL. D. in 1868. It was toward the close of his life, while spend- ing a season in company with him and Mrs. Davis, whom he married in 1842, that he deeply impressed me with those marked and commanding qualities 232 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. which had led to his advancement, and honorable career through life. At the age of sixteen, Au- gust 12, 1823, he was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy. He was made lieutenant March 3, 1834 ; commander, June 13, 1854 ; cap- tain, November 15, 1861 ; and rear-admiral, Febru- ary 7, 1863. He was fleet-captain in Dupont's expedition against Port Royal, in the War of the Rebellion, and distinguished himself in operations on the Mississippi River at Memphis and Vicks- burg. He was also eminent as a mathematician and physicist, and contributed various papers to scientific journals upon " Tidal Currents," the " Law of Deposit," etc. He wrote a paper on the " United States Coast Survey," in 1849 ; was founder of the " Nautical Almanac," and super- intended it 1849-56 ; was chief of the bureau of navigation, Washington, in 1862; commander of the South Atlantic Squadron, 1867-69 ; and commandant of the navy-yard, at Norfolk, Vir- ginia, from 1873 to his death, February 18, 1877. Admiral Davis possessed large native abilities, which were highly cultivated. By his earnest spirit and rare industry he made most valuable contributions to science, while his practical skill and executive talent made him successful in what- ever he undertook. The country owes him a large debt for his patriotic and successful devotion in serving the Union in the late Civil War. His gentlemanly manners and extended information SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 233 rendered him as agreeable in private as he was honored in public. John Collins Warren was the eldest son of Dr. John and Abigail (Collins) Warren. His father was professor of anatomy and surgery in Harvard College from 1783 until his death, which occurred in 1815. His son, Dr. John C. Warren, studied medicine, anatomy, and surgery with him, he being a distinguished practitioner. The son had also the advantage of studying in the cele- brated hospitals of London and Paris. Dr. John Collins Warren was a nephew of Gen- eral Joseph Warren, and as such was admitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in 1854, under the rule adopted that year, having been elected previ- ously, in 1847, an honorary member. He was as- sistant professor of anatomy and surgery in Harvard College, 1805-15; full professor, 1815-47; and afterward professor emeritus. As he occupied the professor's chair while I was in college, I had an opportunity, in my senior year, to hear his ad- mirable course of lectures, and to know a good deal of him. I have before me an engraving of his portrait painted by Stuart, when he was but twenty-nine years old. The face is striking in its combination of strength and sweetness. The ruf- iled-bosomed shirt, high collar, and " choker " cravat give a good idea of the style of that period. His bright eye, Grecian nose, and finely formed mouth and chin show the great personal beauty, 234 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of which much remained when we saw him in his place as a lecturer. His manner might be called dry by one not interested in his subject, but with the details of anatomy he mingled much of his native facetiousness. Holding up before us one day part of a skeleton, he said : " You notice here a process — or rather you do not notice it, for it is wanting in this subject.'' He was recommending, at another time, moderation in diet. "If," said he, " you will set a plate by the side of that from which you take your dinner, and place upon it, for each article, another portion of the same size as you eat, you will probably be astonished at the mass left before you. I see nothing but the weight of this accumulation that could carry such amounts through all the processes of digestion." Dr. Warren's long life — he was born August 1, 1778, in Boston, and died there May 4, 1856 — was filled with activity, and he received its de- served honors. He began practice in Boston in 1802, and became specially distinguished as a surgeon. He was, in 1846, the first to use ether in surgical operations. He was one of the found- ers of the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1820, and principal surgeon in daily attendance there until his death. He was also a founder of the McLean Asylum for the insane ; was president of the Massachusetts Medical Society 1832-36, and of the Boston Society of Natural History at his death ; and was a member of the principal scien- tific bodies in America and Europe. He devoted SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. A6o much of his later life to the natural sciences ; and his collections in comparative anatomy, osteology, and paleontology, one of the best private collec- tions in the world, included the most perfect skeleton of a mastodon known to exist. He was an earnest friend of temperance, and for many years president of the Massachusetts Temperance Society. He was mainly instrumental in establish- ing the " Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," and from 1828, for some years, was its associate editor. He also wrote and published numerous treatises upon medical and other subjects. Daniel Webster was unanimously admitted an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, at the annual meeting July 4, 1851. His father, Hon. Ebenezer Webster, al- though not a member of the Cincinnati, was in the military service of the Revolutionary War. He was a captain in the New Hampshire line, and fought in the memorable battle of Bennington. For his surpassing intellectual ability, his emi- nence as a lawyer and his distinguished services as a statesman, for his patriotism and his deep in- terest in our Revolution, in all its civil as well as military aspects and relations, the name of Daniel Webster should appear in this book. Keeping the main purpose of this volume in view, I shall only bring forward a few personal reminiscences of him and his work. 1 first heard him in the year 1822, when he was in the prime 236 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of manhood. He was then arguing, in the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, a case where the validity of a will was in controversy. The con- test was between the heirs of the deceased and a certain church, to which, it was contended, unduly influenced by its clergyman, the testator in his last hours had devised most of his property. Mr. Webster claimed that the deceased was then too feeble in mind to make a true will. His whole argument was a masterly production ; but one an- ecdote, related in his impressive manner, I particu- larly recollect. It was an incident which occurred in Spain. A rich Catholic on his death-bed was visited by a certain friar, and in solemn form was thus interrogated : " Is it your last will and testa- ment that your estate in Andalusia shall be given to Holy Mother Church ? " The dying man re- plied, " Yes." The friar proceeded : " Is it your last will and testament that your estate in Cas- tile be given to Holy Mother Church ? " The answer was, " Yes." And thus the eager ecclesi- astic went on until the son of the testator who stood near, anxious lest his dying parent would will away his entire property, angrily interposed : " Father, is it your last will and testament that I should take your gold-headed cane and drive this friar out of the chamber?" "Yes," was the still affirmative reply. The dramatic pow r er w r ith which this thrilling story was told produced an electric effect on every one present. The intellectual force and moral enthusiasm, the majestic form, SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 237 leonine voice, and fire-winged eye of the speaker, and the apparently consecrated absorption of his inmost nature in the matter at issue, gave a meas- ureless power to his condensed and commanding language. After hearing Mr. Webster in his memorable eulogy on the death of Adams and Jefferson, which occurred July 4, 1826, and on other public occasions, in the year 1840 I became personally ac- quainted with him. It was at a dinner given, during the heat of the Harrison campaign, to the Hon. W. J. Graves of Kentucky, then a member of Congress. I recall the circle that gathered there. It was at Porter's Hall in Cambridge. The eye and ear of every individual were directed to one and another, as they came in with fresh news of some State announced as for the hero of North Bend. No one listened more eagerly to these tidings than Mr. Webster. Who could ever forget that grand figure, the broad shoulders and capacious chest, the blue coat and bright buttons, the bun vest, that broad and massive forehead beetling above his powerful features, his thick glossy hair of a jet blackness, those large, dark and beaming eyes, that exquisitely carved mouth, those versatile, fascinating lips, that radiant smile, the childlike glee, his irrepressible humor, and the merry ring of his contagious laugh ? At the head of the table sat our noble Webster ; on his right, Mr. Graves, the guest from Kentucky ; next the accomplished and dignified Everett, then governor 238 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of the Commonwealth, and second only in attrac- tiveness to the master of the feast. On his left sat Robert C. Winthrop, the orator and statesman, whose offices in Congress, as representative and speaker of the house, and member of the sen- ate, covering a period of many eventful years, were a deserved tribute to his own merits, no less than to one in the illustrious line of the Winthrops. I shall refer to but one other of the many occa- sions on which Mr. Webster showed his power at the bar. When at the height of his fame he ar- gued a case in the District Court of Boston, with William Wirt as opposing counsel. Wirt then stood at the summit of his reputation as a leader of the bar, combining native genius with liberal culture. That was one of the red-letter days in the legal calendar; it was as if Demosthenes and Cicero should stand up as opponents in the same forum. Wirt represented the classic orator of Rome. He presented a figure large and imposing, like his an- tagonist, — a face of winning sweetness, a smile to charm, a rich, almost perfectly modulated voice - and his gestures, replete with grace, took captive the mass of earnest listeners who crowded the court room. Many ladies, as well as gentlemen, were present. Mr. Wirt, in his exordium, casting a glance on the multitude, alluded felicitously to the dryness of the law, and regretted that, instead of bringing graces which might entertain the im- agination, he was to lead those present " through SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 239 the arid paths and over the barren plains of the law." But such was the magnetism of the man himself that, quite independently of his argument, we were enchained by the spell of his manner. Mr. Webster by his crystal clearness of thought, his compressed sentences, and deliberate and pon- derous utterance, — and by those pauses, hardly less impressive than the words that preceded and followed them, — carried bench, bar, ladies, and even the sternest of the men to the last step of his honored and triumphant march. Hamilton Fish was born in New York City, August 3, 1808. His father, Nicholas Fish, was an officer in the Revolution, and an original mem- ber of the Society of the Cincinnati. He led he- roically at Yorktown, was an excellent disciplina- rian, and enjoyed the confidence of Washington. In 1797 he was chosen president of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. He was a man of ele- gant scholarship, and of great refinement and cultivated manners. His portrait expresses bravery and strength, joined with attractive and winning qualities of character. Hamilton Fish succeeded his father in the Society of the Cincinnati. He graduated at Columbia College in 1827 ; he was admitted to the bar in 1830 ; was in the legislature of New York in 1837 ; representative in Congress, 1843-45; lieutenant-governor of New York, 1847 -49 ; governor of New York, 1849-51 ; United States Senator, 1851-57. In 1862 he was a mem- 240 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. ber of the commission to visit the soldiers confined in Confederate prisons ; in March, 1869, he was appointed secretary of state by President Grant, which office he held eight years. He was presi- dent of the New York Historical Society in 1880, and president of the Union League Club. In 1854 he was elected president of the National Society of the Cincinnati, and still holds that office. I received valuable information by letter from him in regard to members of that Society, and prize highly his autograph. He was present at the dinner of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, in 1871, when he received from that institution the degree of LL. D. ; which honor he had previously received from Columbia and Union colleges in New York. I occupied a seat near him, and was impressed by his classic face, which expresses intellectual power with moral eminence. His dignified and eloquent speech on that occasion was worthy the high position and character of the man. The wife of Hamilton Fish was great-great- granddaughter of Governor Stuyvesant of New York. COBB FAMILY. David Cobb, an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, was born in Attleborough, Mas- sachusetts, September 14, 1748, and died April 17, 1830. His record is highly honorable. He gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1766. In 1777 he was SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 241 lieutenant-colonel of Henry Jackson's Regiment, and was distinguished by Revolutionary services in New Jersey and Rhode Island. He was aide-de- camp to Washington from June 15, 1781, to 1783 ; and took part in the capture of Cornwallis ; he was made lieutenant-colonel, commanding the Fifth Regiment, January 7, 1783, and afterward briga- dier-general by brevet. He was in the Massachu- setts House of Representatives, 1789-93 ; and a member of Congress, 1793-95 ; member of the Executive Council in 1808 ; president of the Mas- sachusetts Senate, 1801-04 ; lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts in 1809; resident of Maine, 1799- 1820; chief-justice of the Court of Common Pleas, 1803-09 ; major-general of the Fifth Divis- ion of Massachusetts Militia ; vice-president of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, 1810-11. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Medical Society. His portrait was, on February 23, 1882, presented by Hon. S. C. Cobb to the State ; and — a richly deserved honor — it was that day placed in the Massachusetts Senate chamber, with addresses by the president of the senate and other members of that body. Samuel Crocker Cobb is a grandson of Gen- eral David Cobb, and was born in Taunton, Massa- chusetts, May 22, 1826. He w T as admitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in 1856 ; was its secretary 1865-71, its vice-president in 1871, and president 16 242 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. in 1880. Mr. Cobb was an alderman of the city of Roxbury in 1861 and 1862 j he was president of the Roxbury Charitable Society, and held other important public trusts in that city. He was mayor of the city of Boston, 1874-76, in which office he manifested an energy, courage, and firm non-partisanship which, with his inbred courtesy, good judgment, and experience, made his admin- istration very popular. He was elected actuary of the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1880. He married Aurelia L. Beattie in 1848. They have no children. Mr. Cobb has been eminent in business, an honorable and successful merchant ; and his intelli- gence, high moral standing, and engaging manners have won for him confidence and respect both in private and public. I am indebted to him personally for valuable aid in relation to the General and State Societies of the Cincinnati, and for suggestions derived from other quarters through his courteous assistance. THE LIBERTY TREE, CHAPTER Xm. REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. Among the families who retained personally or received by inheritance the military or naval spirit of the Revolution, are several too prominent to be overlooked. Passing by, of necessity, many to whom I would gladly do justice in this connec- tion, I can speak of a few only whose friendship I have enjoyed, and others whose acquaintance has been a privilege. Henry Dearborn was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, in March, 1751, and died at Rox- bury, Massachusetts, June 6, 1829. He was an original member, in New Hampshire, of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1814, July 4, at a public dinner in Lexington, Massachusetts, I first saw General Dearborn. He was received with great enthusiasm, and I looked upon him with intense interest. His large and commanding figure, his rich military dress, his brave air, his martial face, and urbane manners attracted universal attention. 244 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Henry Dearborn was practising medicine in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when, on the 20th of April, 1775, hearing of the battle of Lexing- ton, he immediately marched, with a company of sixty volunteers, and reached Cambridge, distant sixty-five miles, the next day. He was made a captain under General Stark; was at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17; and accompanied Ar- nold on the expedition to Quebec. At that place he was taken prisoner, December 31, 1776, and was exchanged in March, 1777. He served as major at the capture of Burgoyne, September 19, the same year, and distinguished himself and his regiment by a brave charge at the battle of Monmouth, in April, 1778. He was in Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779 ; was with the army of Washington at Yorktown in 1781, as colonel of the First New Hampshire Kegiment ; in garrison duty in 1782 at Saratoga; and in the main army until the peace of 1783. He was appointed, by President Washington, marshal of the district of Maine ; was twice a member of Congress ; and for eight years, under Jefferson, was secretary of war. In 1812 he be- came senior major-general in the United States Army. In 1813 he captured York in Upper Can- ada, and Fort George at the mouth of the Niagara, and afterward was placed in command of the military district of New York. In 1815 he re- signed his commission in the army, and, after hold- ing for some years the office of collector of the port REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 245 of Boston, May 7, 1822, was appointed Minister to Portugal. At the end of ten years he left that position, at his own request. General Dearborn in his prime, and, as seen in his portrait painted by Stuart, was tall, well proportioned, and appeared very vigorous, fitted for the great toils and fatigues of his life. His countenance and whole figure were dignified and commanding ; although in later years when I saw him, he seemed somewhat encumbered with flesh. He was well fitted for the various offices, military and civil, which he held. His mind was solid and comprehensive, and improved constantly by culture. He had a native loftiness of character which forbade intrigue and duplicity, and was above envy and the low art of disparaging others to exalt himself. In his domestic and private life he was singularly happy ; and of his two children one, who w r as the honored son of an honored father, appreciated his character and manifestly aimed to follow his precepts and copy his example. The connection of General Henry Dearborn with the War of 1812 leads me to speak of that contest, and of the fears and superstitions it awakened. I was but a small boy when war be- tween the United States and Great Britain was declared by Congress, through James Madison, then President. The country was intensely excited at that time by the animosities of the two great political parties, Federal and Democratic. My father was a warm Federalist, and of course I 246 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. was a sage follower in his path. I heard constantly of the wickedness of our rulers, called Jacobins, who had plunged us needlessly into the war, with all its atrocities and sufferings. The Indians were employed by our foe as allies, and when the scalps of our people were brought in, the British officers congratulated the savages for their bravery, and gold was paid them for these trophies. Again and again no quarter was given to prisoners, and the helpless and fallen were put to death. My young blood was chilled when I read in the papers such language as that of Admiral Cockburn — referring to the conduct of the Eussians in their contest with Napoleon — " The Cossacks spared Paris, but we did not spare the capital of America." I noticed many years since, when the Admiral died, the " London Times " lauded that act — although the capital was then entirely unprotected — as " a splendid achievement." I was shocked to hear of a British officer who went to a quiet house on Chesapeake Bay, and, finding three young ladies there at tea, gave them only ten minutes to clear their house, and at the expiration of that time, set fire to the building. It seemed hardly consistent in the organ of the British government, in our re- cent struggle to save the life of the nation, after having justified such acts, to lecture us, as it did, for our lust of power and our barbarity in war- fare, and to call England the guardian of civiliza- tion. Let us rejoice that a better spirit now prevails in our mother country. REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 247 I recall many brave men whom I saw at that period, and among them the noble figure of General Miller, the hero of Fort Erie. How he towered up, as I looked on him afterward at my father's house, and thought of his glorious words when ordered to storm that fort : " I '11 try, sir." My pulse was stirred when an uncle returned from a privateering expedition — a good Christian man he was, too, and his course was thought no s i n — an d told us of his conflicts on the seas, and made us children presents from the trophies of his adventures. Among these things I remember a pair of nice gloves, enclosed in an English-walnut shell. My father, -though opposed to the war, joined a company of " Lexington Exempts," and his gun and knapsack, marked wjth the initial of our town, stood in sight, ready for the call to the battle-field. We boys, too, formed our little company, of which I was proud to rank as ensign, with my redoubt- able tin sword and plush belt and cockade. Did not my heart swell with patriotism as we paraded through the streets ? Sometimes we had an evening drill, which was specially enjoyed when some generous friend would invite us to halt in front of his window, and would bring forth a lib- eral entertainment. The privations we suffered during the War of 1812 were only second to those of our fathers in the Eevolution. I can never forget the straits to which it brought us in the family. Nearly all im- 248 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. ported articles were beyond our means ; our gar- ments were of cheap fabrics. A blue broadcloth of American manufacture, presented to my father, was made for long years to do service, until its threads could be almost counted. Not only foreign coffees and all the best teas were denied us, but at last the miserable bohea tea and rye coffee were cut off from constant use ; and we would sit around our board, confined, one and all, to the oft recurring baked apples and milk. Not only did the whole country feel the indirect pressure of want, but a fearful direct taxation con- sumed their very substance. The race of chil- dren then learned one virtue, to which many in the present day are strangers ; we* acquired no taste for luxuries. Simple food, and moderate indulgence at the table, left us, in after life, with no cravings for the ten thousand superflu- ities which now so often injure both health and character. It was the custom throughout the war to follow each great victory with some national song. Mrs. Margaret Sanderson, widow of Colonel Henry S. Sanderson, who died in New York in 1882 at the age of eighty-five years, was only fifteen years old at the time of the bombardment of Fort Mc- Henry in 1812 ; but she made with her own hands, out of costly silk, the flag which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the "Star-spangled Banner. " She presented it to Colonel George Armstead, the commandant of the fort, just before the British REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 241) appeared in the bay. During the subsequent en- gagement the flag floated over the fort, and was seen by Key while he was confined in a British man-of-war. After the war the flag was returned to its maker, and the original Star-spangled Ban- ner is one of the treasures of the Sanderson family. My youthful heart thrilled with fresh delight, as the noble Perry's achievement on Lake Erie, or the heroism of Hull in the old " Constitution," or some other like success, was set forth in quickening verse. Nor was it our own country alone which called forth these poetic effusions. The fortunes of France were then watched with eager eyes ; and the little Federalists rejoiced with the older ones when the great Napoleon had at last been con- quered and captured ; and when, as the song of the day ran, he was " cooped up in the Island of Elba." When, after his ninety days' exile, his return, and renewed battles, tidings came of his Waterloo defeat, and I saw Boston illuminated for the victory of the " Holy Alliance," I joined, with my father and all the fathers of Federalism, in shouting the loud pasan of the hour. After a struggle of nearly three years' duration the war terminated. Although this was more than sixty years ago, I recollect the very spot where I stood, by the stove in the old, one-story schoolhouse, when, February 13, 1815, a compan- ion whispered to me as he came in, "There is peace." A jubilee at once filled our young hearts, 250 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. and precious little study was there through that long afternoon. In the evening the two field- pieces of our artillery company were dragged through the deep snow to the venerated Com- mon of Revolutionary fame, and a salvo was fired to which all hearts responded. Erelong I joined with the older boys of our party in the jeu d' esprit of the hour : " Peace ratified ; Federalists gratified ; Democrats mortified." My paternal grandfather, full of personal memo- ries of the great contest of 1775, designated this short and comparatively unimportant conflict as " the Sixpenny War of 1812." But it was claimed by many, at the time, that our glorious victories, especially those by sea and on the lakes, vindicated our national honor on the water as on the land, and made Great Britain pay us a more just respect. Many thought the fearful events of that period were the frowns of Providence on our wicked war. As 1 look back to those years, they seem to me full of thrilling experiences. Soon after the war, in September, 1815, occurred that memorable gale which sent terror throughout our community. It began between eight and nine o'clock in the fore- noon, coming from the southeast, and continued about four hours. Houses and barns were blown down, chimneys were overthrown, and windows dashed in ; the tides in Boston and Cambridge, we heard, were fearfully high ; and in the latter place a vessel was washed up from the shore and REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 251 driven into the main street of the town. I saw, during the morning, trees of the larger size up- rooted in every direction. A new shed one hun- dred feet long, which my father had built for his hotel, was taken up, carried high in the air as if by a giant's hand, and dropped a long way from its foundation. I followed my father to one of his houses, where he saw the roof at one end be- ginning to rise, and rushed with him to the attic, where, axe in hand, he dashed out the windows at the other end, and thus saved the unroofing of the house. The air, at the distance of thirteen miles from the ocean, was so saturated with salt water that it was difficult to breathe. This was Satur- day ; and the next day the church was not opened, for the roads were all so covered with trees up- rooted and blown into them, that as was said, " the people could not ride to meeting." Still another calamity. The very next year the weather was fearfully cold. The first of May, 1816, there was talk about " spots on the sun ; " and, as we looked through smoked glass, we could see them very plainly. They continued on through June, and in July the same or similar spots were clearly to be seen. Some evenings we had to make fires in order to be comfortable. There were heavy frosts, and many vegetables were cut down. Several mornings ice was to be seen nearly half an inch thick. There was, in the month of June, snow enough to nearly cover the ground. In July and August it was less cold, although 252 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. there were, in some places, slight frosts ; but in September snow fell several hours in succession. The crop of corn was nearly all destroyed on my father's land. We stripped the ears, but they turned black, and we could not even use the corn for our cattle. The next spring, seeds of many kinds were sold, not by measure, but by number. This loss of the crops, with the frightful debt brought on our country by the war, was the con- stant talk in every place. We were obliged to straiten ourselves in clothing, in every kind of in- dulgence, and even in our food. The hungry boy was only too happy, some times, in having his appetite satisfied with what was too meagre for his elders. The superstitions of that period led us to look with terror on what we, in 1882, call beautiful. The fiery comet of 1811 was thought to have been sent as a harbinger of the dread war of the next year. It was said " the beetles had a If on their backs, predicting war." It had been forgotten that this same prophetic letter is always there. Some said, " The end of the world is near." Many a day, in the autumn of that same year, as I looked up and saw the smoke in the air, caused in reality by forest fires, I trembled, as did older spectators, at the idea that the burning up of the earth had begun, and the Judgment Day must be coming. An incident of this conflict illustrates the roman- tic fortunes of war, and shows that, like peace, it REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 253 has, in its history, truths stranger than fiction. Abram Johnson, recently (1881) died at Salem, Pennsylvania, having attained the great age of one hundred and eight years. He was born in Vermont in 1773. Mr. Johnson enlisted in the army in the War of 1812. He was made captain of a company of Oneida Indians, under the com- mand of General Macomb. He was at the battle of Plattsburg, and received several wounds in that engagement. One of these was made by a bayonet- thrust in the knee, and another was a sabre-cut in the neck. He was left as dead. He was taken from the field after the battle by his Indian soldiers. Oneida, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a chief, nursed him until he was able to go out again. They loved each other and, when peace was re- stored, were married. Johnson and his Indian bride went to Sussex County, New Jersey. There they settled down and had a daughter. When this girl was twelve years old her mother's health had failed so that her life was despaired of. She longed to go back to her people. Her husband took her to her old home among the Oneidas. There she soon afterward died, and was buried with all the ceremonies of her tribe. The daugh- ter found a home in a family in Sussex County. When she grew up she joined the Oneida Indians, and married the son of a chief. Her father gained a competency at farming. He lost his money through unlucky speculation, and finally became a town charge and died a pauper. His mind was sound up to the time of his death. 254 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. One of the anticipated signs of the end of the world was thought to be the earthquake of 1814. I well remember the terror of the night on which it occurred. One of my sisters said to me : " I hope this is not for our w T arning only ; I shall ask our neighbors in the morning if they felt it too." And when we learned that it extended to other places, and perhaps over the whole country, we joined in the prevailing opinion that it was " a judgment upon the people." An Association of Veterans of the War of 1812 was formed in 1853, and continued until October, 1879. At the time of its dissolution, the surviving members met in Boston for that purpose. There were sixteen veterans present ; the youngest was seventy-nine and the oldest ninety-two years of age. The sum of their ages was thirteen hundred and fifty-one years. The venerable president, Hon. Charles Hudson of Lexington, at the age of eighty-four, made a patriotic and affecting address. With happy recollections of ijie past, he said: "On the whole we have reason to rejoice in the part we took in the war which supplemented and perfected the treaty of 1783, and secured to our commerce the freedom of the seas and gave us the rights and prerogatives of a sovereign nation." In the closing portion of his address he said : " And now, fellow- soldiers and comrades, as we are about to part to meet no more on earth, let us extend the hand of brotherhood, and say, as none but soldiers can in the same spirit, Farewell ! " REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 255 Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, March 3, 1783. and died in Portland, Maine, July 29, 1851. He became a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati in 1832, and was president of the General Society, 1848-51. I saw him often in public offices and situations, especially in military capacities, and was struck with his finely propor- tioned figure, his manly and intelligent face, his martial bearing when on parade, and his dignified and courteous manner in society. I was for Several years associated with him as a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, of which he was at one time president. We have a fine por- trait of him, taken while in that office, hanging on the walls of our Horticultural Hall. He was active among the original founders of the Mount Auburn Cemetery, \vith which the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is closely connected. He graduated at ^Villiam & Mary College in 1803 ; studied law with William Wirt and after- ward with Judge Story. He was collector of the port of Boston 1813-29 ; commanded the troops in Boston Harbor in 1812, and was brigadier- general of the Massachusetts Militia in 1814. He was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1820 ; representative in the legis- lature from Roxbury in 1830 ; member of Congress 1831-33 ; adjutant-general of Massachusetts 1834 -43, and mayor of Roxbury 1847-51. He was 256 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. active in originating and founding the Bunker Hill Monument Association ; in completing the Hoosac Tunnel, and inaugurating the Forest Hills Ceme- tery. He wrote many books : " Commerce and Navigation of the Black Sea " in 1819 ; " Letters on the Internal Improvement and Commerce of the West " in 1839, and the " Life of the Apostle Eliot." He left unpublished materials for several volumes, among them a "History of Bunker Hill Battle," lives of Colonel William Raymond Lee, Commodore Bainbridge, and his father, General Henry Dearborn. He was very popular in society. His house was the abode of hospitality. Every important enter- prise, public or private, received his encourage- ment and aid. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American An- tiquarian Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His surpassing industry is shown in the fact that, in addition to the above-named works, he left unpublished a Diary, in forty-five volumes ; " Grecian Architecture," two volumes folio; a vol- ume on Flowers, with drawings, and a " Harmony of the Life of Christ," eight volumes. William Hull was born in Derby, Connecticut, June 24, 1753. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He graduated at Yale College, with honor in 1772, and was admitted to REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 257 the bar in 1775- In April of that year he was made captain of a company, and marched with Col- onel Webb's Kegiment to Cambridge. This regi- ment was in the battles of Brooklyn and White Plains. In December, 1776, at the engagement of Trenton, Captain Hull acted as field-officer of his regiment. July 1, 1777, he was made major in the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment ; and before the battle of Princeton he rendered important service to Washington. In April, 1777, he marched with three hundred men to Ticonderoga ; and on the re- treat to the Hudson River, Major Hull received the thanks of General Schuyler. He took part in the capture of Burgoyne, October, 1777, and at the battle of Monmouth in 1778. After valuable ser- vices he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, August 12, 1779. About this time the appoint- ment of aide to General Washington was offered to Colonel Hull, but circumstances prevented its acceptance. In January 1781, for his gallant con- duct of a force against the British at Morrisania, he received the thanks of Washington and of Con- gress. He was complimented by the Commander- in-chief, when he escorted him with his troops into New York on the evacuation of that place by the British. When, December 4, 1783, Washington took leave of his officers in New York and dis- banded the army, excepting one regiment, Col- onel Hull was selected by him for lieutenant- colonel of that regiment. When General Hull returned to Boston he was 17 258 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. made successively judge of the court of common pleas, major-general of the Third Division of Mas- sachusetts Militia, and senator in the State Legis- lature. In 1805 he was appointed by President Jefferson, governor of Michigan Territory. In 1812 he reluctantly accepted the command of a military force to protect the northern frontier against the Indians. Subsequently he had com- mand as major-general in defending that region against the British troops, who were under the lead of General Brock ; and, apprehending an assault from him on Detroit, — where General Hull then was with his forces, — the latter, fearing the total destruction of his own army, as well as of that town, which contained, as a fort, a large gathering of helpless women and children, surrendered it to the enemy. On account of this surrender General Hull was charged, by a court-martial, in 1814, with neglect of duty, cowardice, and other offences, and was tried and condemned to death. But after sentence had been passed on him, President Madison declined to execute it. Public opinion, at first strongly against General Hull, was, on investigation, greatly changed ; and in 1825 a pub-, lie dinner was given him, at which the leading men of Boston expressed their sympathy and respect for him. I believe posterity will render that jus- tice to him which a train of unhappy circumstances had led many to deny him. We should be slow to give credence to charges of cowardice and KEVOLUTiONAKY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 259 treason against a man who during his Revolution- ary services received the thanks of Washington and of Congress, and had the approbation of his superior officers, and whose courage and patriot- ism at that Time were never doubted. Although, when deprived of the auxiliary forces he had just reason to expect, he surrendered his military posi- tion at Detroit, it is by no means certain that this was not a wiser and more humane course, than to incur the risk of sacrificing his army and the town in those desperate circumstances. He avowed to the last his sense of right-doing in that act, and he was sustained also bv many testimonials, both public and private, in his declining years. From 1786 his home was on his farm in Newton, Massachusetts, where he died peacefully, Novem- ber 29, 1825, at the age of seventv-two vears. THE WASHINGTON ELM. CHAPTER XIV. OLIVEK HAZARD PERRY. Christopher Raymond Perry was born at South Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1761, and died June 1, 1818. He was in the service, both military and naval, during the Revolutionary War. While in the navy his frigate was captured by the British, and he suffered for three months untold horrors in the famous Jersey prison-ship. In 1783, after peace was declared, he was appointed collector in a district of Rhode Island. In October, 1784, he married Sarah Alexander, a reputed descendant of Wallace of Scotland. They had a son, Oliver Hazard Perry, born in Newport, Rhode Island, August 25, 1785. After his victory in the battle of Lake Erie, he was chosen an honorary member of the New York Cincinnati Society, October 21, 1813. He inherited from his mother an amiable disposition, joined with courage and commanding qualities of character. Like her he possessed a warm temper, but kept it under admirable control. While at school he manifested a strong mind, which he earnestly cultivated. He gave early promise of his future distinction. In 1799, when OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 261 only fourteen years of age, he entered the navy as a midshipman, and was in active service under his father in the frigate " General Greene/' in her cruise on the West India station in 1799 and 1800. In 1807 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and in 1809 was in command of the schooner " Re- venge," and cruised on the coast of the United States until January 1811, when his vessel, with- out his fault, was wrecked. When the War of 1812 opened he, at his own request, was placed on the lakes, under the command of Commodore Isaac Chauncey. He was soon called to aid an attack on Fort George, in which he acquired great credit. In August, 1813, in the momentary absence of a Brit- ish squadron then watching him, he employed the force, which he had equipped, to lift his larger ves- sels on " camels," and took them out of port ; and although deficient in officers and men, and poorly prepared, he brought the British squadron to an engagement, with complete success on his side. After co-operating with General Harrison in re- gaining possession of Detroit and transporting troops, and taking part in another battle, at the close of the campaign of 1813 he resigned his command. Congress voted him a gold medal, and he was, dating from September 10, 1813, appointed to the " Java," and promoted in the service. In 1814 he was employed in annoying the British squadron which sailed up the Potomac to destroy the public buildings at Washington, and was sta- tioned in the defence of Baltimore. March, 1819, 262 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. he sailed, in command of a squadron, for the coast of Columbia. On the 1st of February, 1813, he received from Commodore Chauncey the following compliment : " You are the very person that I want for a par- ticular service, in which you may gain reputation for yourself and honor for your country." This service was the command of a naval force to be created on Lake Erie. Secretary Rogers wrote to him : " You will doubtless command in chief. Mr. Hamilton mentioned this to me two months past ; you may expect some warm fighting and, of course, a portion of honor." The world knows the result of this appointment. The battle on Lake Erie reads, in its details, like a romance. The prospect of a conflict between the American squadron with only fifty-four guns, and the British squadron under Commodore Barclay, with sixty-three guns, might have intimidated a man of less bravery than Perry ; but he was of that stern purpose that, conscious of the right, does not quaii before numbers. The battle on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, opened at fifteen minutes before noon, and after two hours and three quarters the order was given to " close ac- tion." Perry, having quitted his ship, the " Law- rence," in an open boat, for another ship, the "Niagara," after a desperate struggle, at three o'clock compelled Commodore Barclay to strike his flag ; and at four o'clock the American hero wrote to General Harrison, then in command of our forces at the North : — OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 263 Dear General: — We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Yours with great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry. At the same hour he wrote in a spirit of religious humility to the Secretary of the Navy : — S IR : — it has pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a signal victory over their enemies on this lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force under my command, after a sharp conflict. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant, O. H. Perry. The effects of this victory were instant and far- reaching. It created an unbounded enthusiasm, which found expression in many forms, and among all classes of people. Who that lived in those days can forget that when, in the spring of 1814, Com- modore Perry visited the theatre in Boston, the stage exhibited the inspiring motto : " The Hero of the Lake, on the glorious 10th of September, 1813." The man who had seen but twenty- eight years, on the day of this world-renowned victory, was greeted with the applause seldom won except by veterans on seas or fields. Ameri- can poetry celebrated its triumph in strains which stirred the hearts of old and young. I recall a 264 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. few lines of one of these effusions, which we boys of the day repeated through the streets with the utmost glee. Its wit turns upon the fact that perry was the name of a beverage then in com- mon use, made from pears, as cider is from apples. Before the Battle. Bold Barclay one day To Proctor did say : " I'm tired of Jamaica and Sherry, So let us go down To that new floating town. And get some American Perry. Pleasant American Perry, — Sparkling American Perry." After the Battle. " cursed American Perry." This splendid achievement gave courage to a desponding people, and led to the overthrow of British power in the great Northwestern territory of the United States. It animated the whole coun- try until the close of the war. The name of the youthful hero, then but twenty-eight years old, was on all lips. It was em- blazoned in the journals of the day, repeated with enthusiasm in the streets, placed on the signs of taverns, and given to halls and other buildings, public and private. It was worn as a badge by both sexes, and placed on articles of household use. I have before me a snuffbox, probably some seventy years old, bearing on one side a well OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 265 executed representation of the battle, with its ships, and the Commodore passing, in the heat of the contest, in an open boat, from one vessel to another. Underneath is the inscription, not ele- gant but expressing the spirit of the times : — VICTORY OF THE LAKE ERIE. Reported by the American over the English the 10th of September 1813. The Commodore Perry fights alone with his ship all the Enemy's squadron com- manded by the English Commodore Barclay, all to be reduced to be nothing more than carcasses — then he goes on board the Niagara, continues the battle, ended by the total destruction of the English division. Nota The English General Barclay, was tried on ac- count of the defeat. On the other side of the snuffbox is a likeness of Commodore Perry. I have seen many pictures of the Commodore, but this, I think, not excepting the portrait of him by Stuart, is perhaps the most striking of them all. It corresponds to his youth- ful age. The head is large and well proportioned ; the eyes full and expressing intellect and energy ; the nose inclined to a Roman shape ; the mouth with a clear Cupid's bow, firm, yet amiable ; and the chin marked by decision and self-control. The family speak of him as a handsome man. His face has nothing, however, feminine in its form or expression ; it is manly, determined, remarkable for its intelligence, and indicates a man as great in action as he was noble in thought and pure in heart. 266 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. The Commodore had a son named Oliver II. Perry, Jr., who, a boy at the time of his father's death, himself afterward entered the navy. He eventually left it for mercantile pursuits. Com- modore Perry had five children, one of whom married Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton of New York City. It was my good fortune to be present, July 4, 1838, at a celebration on Lake Erie, on the very scene, it was said, of the battle. A bright day and a fine oration, with stirring music, filled all present with patriotic memories of the great vic- tory achieved on that spot. In 1860, September 10, the inauguration of a marble statue by William Walcutt, to the memory of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, took place at Cleveland, Ohio, when Hon. George Bancroft gave an oration. An address was given by Usher Par- sons, M. D., surgeon at the battle of Lake Erie ; and others followed, among whom was Oliver Hazard Perry of Andover, Massachusetts, the only surviving son of Commodore Perry. Hosea Sar- gent, who helped fire the last gun of the battle, and bore the flag of the " Lawrence " to the Com- modore in his boat as he took command of the " Niagara," was present. Thomas Brownell, pilot of the "Ariel" on that clay, was also present. It will be remembered that the town of New- port, Rhode Island, the native place of Commo- dore Perry, presented him with a vase eighteen inches high, of solid silver ; it has on its sides two OLIVER HAZARD PERKY. 267 sketches of the battle, finely engraved. This is 'in the possession of his grandson, Oliver Hazard Perry, who has also a sextant which the British com- mander, Commodore Barclay, presented to Com- modore Perry, " as a memento of his regard," on taking leave of him soon after the day of the battle. In return Commodore Perry forwarded to Barclay, some months after, a highly finished American rifle, made expressly for him by a cele- brated gunsmith of Albany. The following testimonial of Surgeon Parsons, on the character of Commodore Perry, is invalua- ble : " Possessed of high-toned moral feeling, he was above the low dissipation and sensuality that many officers of his day were prone to indulge in. His conversation was remarkably free from pro- fanity and indelicacy, and in his domestic character he was a model of every domestic virtue and grace. Every germ of merit in his officers was sure to be discovered and encouraged by him. . . . Generous to the full extent of his means, his elegant hospi- tality reflected great honor on our navy." He commends also his mental culture and habits of " patient thought," and the perfect order and discipline on his ships and among his officers and men. Unhappily the invaluable life of Commodore Perry was cut short in its prime. He died at Port Spain, Island of Trinidad, on his birthday, August 25, 1819, at the age of thirty-four years, of a pain- ful disease, surrounded with every discomfort, yet 268 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. with a calmness and resignation honorable to his character and worthy of his renown. Matthew Calbraith Perry, brother of the pre- ceding, was born in South Kingston in 1795, and died in New York City, March 4, 1858. He was chosen an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati on the same day with his brother. This was an honor well merited by his distinction in the United States Navy, from the day when he entered the service as midshipman, and served under Com- modores Rodgers and Decatur, to his crowning work, beginning March 2, 1852, when he was ap- pointed to the command of the Japan expedition, which opened the way to our present commerce with that country. His skill and indomitable en- ergy and perseverance gave him a signal position in our naval history. THE HOLMES HOUSE. CHAPTER XV. PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. Although it is not always safe to judge of character by personal appearance and impression, there is often a striking correspondence between the two. This is to be noticed both in the mili- tary and naval history of our country. In turn- ing over a volume prepared to exhibit the names, characters, and achievements of several of our American military officers, I was impressed by the remarkable personal appearance of many of these men. The frontispiece of that volume gives us the picture of Washington so often presented, yet a subject which can never cease to interest. Who ever tires of looking at the portrait of this man ? See his tall and well-proportioned figure, so manly and commanding in its every part. Those features — grave, dignified, expressing inward vigor (al- though in complete repose), courage, steadiness of purpose, and perseverance united with caution — indicate the good soldier and the equally good statesman, wise, calm, but replete with earnest- ness. They bring before us an individual, in some 270 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. moods all thoughtfulness, in others a hero, the em- bodiment of decision and intense activity. They express candor, sincerity, and simplicity, joined with kindness, and a humanity which was pained to see a man even justly punished, and was in- tent on relieving the sick and suffering. They show also an intellect guided by the highest moral principle, and a religious faith ever looking toward and leaning upon the divine Providence. The com- mander-in-chief of the Revolutionary army carried with him a personal air and manner that supple- mented the influence of that rare wisdom which gave him power and ascendancy at the head of the nation, alike in military and civil affairs. To see him while he lived was much more than to hear of his deeds or to read the truest description of his life and actions. In looking on that noble figure, and resting one's eyes on that grand face, there is nothing to detract from his fame, but everything to enhance it. Many scenes occurred, both in the military and civil experiences of Washington, any one of which furnishes a vivid picture of his personal appear- ance, — as when he took command of the army at Cambridge ; or when, with three thousand men around him, crying from their huts, "No pay, no clothes, no provisions," he was overheard in his tent at Valley Forge, as he knelt in prayer for divine aid. A soldier, knowing this, said : " If the Lord will listen to any one, it is George Wash- ington, and our independence is certain." APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 271 In 1792 Trumbull painted a portrait of Wash- ington, in which he represented his appearance the ni^ht before the battle of Princeton. " We talked," says Trumbull, " of the scene, its dangers, its almost desperation. He looked the scene again, and I transferred to the canvas the lofty expres- sion of his animated countenance, the high re- solve to conquer or to perish." This was a pict- ure of him " in his heroic, military character," and it exhibits a fire and resolution in his face quite in contrast with his usual placidity, and es- pecially with his calm dignity during his subse- quent presidency. But nothing of this character has impressed me like the following vivid portraiture of Washing- ton, drawn by one who heard his address to Con- gress after he was elected President for a second term. We are indebted to Mrs. Kirkland for a graphic description of this scene, which she quotes, in the words of one living when she wrote it : — I was but a schoolboy at the time, and had followed one of the many groups of people who, from all quar- ters, were making their way to the hall in Chestnut Street, corner of Fifth, Philadelphia, . where the two houses of Congress then held their sittings, and where they were that day to be addressed by the President, on the opening of his second term of office. Boys can often manage to work their way through a crowd bet- ter than men can. At all events, it so happened that 1 succeeded in reaching the steps of the hall, from which elevation, looking in every direction, I could see nothing but human heads — a vast fluctuating sea, swaying to 272 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. and fro, and filling every accessible place which com- manded even a distant view of the building. They had congregated, not with the hope of getting into the hall, for that was physically impossible, but that they might see Washington. Many an anxious look was cast in the direction in which he was expected to come ; till at length, true to the appointed (hour he was the most punctual of men), an agitation was observable on the outskirts of the crowd, which gradually opened, and gave space for an elegant coach, drawn by six superb white horses, having on its four sides beautiful designs of the four seasons. ... It slowly made its wa}^ till it drew up immediately in front of the hall. The rush was now tremendous ; but, as the coach door opened, there issued from it two gentlemen, with long white wands, who with some difficulty parted the people, so as to open a passage from the carriage to the steps, on which the fortunate schoolboy had achieved a footing, and whence the whole proceeding could be dis- tinctly seen. As the President emerged from the car- riage, a univeral shout rent the air, and continued, as he very deliberately ascended the steps. On reaching the platform he paused, looking back on the carriage, thus affording to the anxiety of the people the in- dulgence they desired, of feasting their eyes upon his person. Never did a more majestic personage present him- self to the public gaze. He was within two feet of me ; I could have touched his clothes, but I should as soon have thought of touching an electric battery. Boy as I was, I felt as in the presence of a divinity. As he turned to enter the hall the gentlemen with the white wands preceded him and, with still greater difficulty than before, repressed the people and cleared a way to the great staircase. As he ascended I ascended with him, APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 273 step by step, creeping close to the wall, and almost hidden by the skirts of his coat. Nobody looked at me, everybody was looking at him ; and thus I was per- mitted, unnoticed, to glide along, and happily to make my way (where so many were vainly longing and struggling to enter) into the lobby of the chamber of the House of Representatives. Once in, I was safe ; for had I even been seen by the officers in attendance, it would have been impossible to get me out again. I saw near me a large pyramidal stove which, fortunately, had but little fire in it ; and on which I forthwith clam- bered, until I had attained a secure perch from which every part of the hall could be deliberately and distinct- ly surveyed. Depend upon it, I made use of my eyes. On either side of the broad aisle that was left vacant in the centre were assembled the two houses of Con- gress. As the President entered, all rose, and remained standing till he had ascended the steps at the upper end of the chamber, and taken his seat in the Speaker's chair. It was an impressive moment. Notwithstanding that the spacious apartment, floor, lobby, and gallery, were full, not a sound was heard ; the silence of ex- pectation was unbroken and profound; every breath seemed suspended. He was dressed in a full suit of the richest black velvet ; his lower limbs in short clothes, with black silk stockings. His shoes, which were bright- ly japanned, were surmounted with large square silver buckles. His hair, carefully displayed in the manner of the day, was richly powdered, and gathered behind into a black silk bag, on which was a bow of black ribbon. In his hand he carried a plain cocked hat, de- corated with the American cockade. He wore by his side a light, slender dress-sword, in a green scabbard, with a highly ornamented hilt. His gait was deliberate, his manners solemn but self-possessed; and he presented, 18 274 REMINISCENCES AND xMEMORIALS. altogether, the most august human figure I had then, or have since, beheld. At the head of the Senate stood Thomas Jefferson, in a blue coat, single-breasted, with large bright basket buttons, his vest and small clothes of crimson. I re- member being struck with his bright eye and foxy hair, as well as by his tall form and square shoulders. A perfect contrast was presented by the pale, reflective face and delicate figure of James Madison. In the semi- circle which was formed behind the chair, and on either hand of the President, my boyish gaze was attracted by the splendid attire of the Chevalier D'Ynigo, the Span- ish ambassador, then the only foreign minister near our infant government. His glittering star, his silk chapeau bras, edged with ostrich feathers, his foreign air and courtly bearing, contrasted strongty with those nobility of nature's forming who stood around him. It was a very fair representation of the Old World and the New. Having retained his seat for a few moments, while the members resumed their seats, the President rose and, taking from his breast a roll of paper, proceeded to read his address. His voice was full and sonorous, deep and rich in tones, free from that trumpet ring which it could assume amid the tumult of battle (and which is said to have been distinctly heard above all its roar), but sufficiently loud and clear to fill the chamber and be heard with perfect ease in its most remote recesses. The address was of considerable length ; its topics, of course, I forget, for I was too young to understand them. I only remember, in its latter part, some reference to claims or disputes on the part of the Indian tribes. He read everything with a singular serenity and composure, with manly ease and dignity, but without the smallest attempt at display. Having concluded, he laid the manuscript on the APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 275 table before him and resumed his seat ; when, after a slight pause, he rose and withdrew, the members rising and remaining on their feet until he had left the chamber. Most impressive must have been that scene when, in November 18, 1783, the British army retired at one point in New York City, and the American army entered it at another. Washing- ton is on horseback at the head of the American procession. Through these streets he has often ridden in his state carriage, drawn by six horses, in which he journeyed afterward through New England. And here too, when the long agony is at last over, a few days later, he takes a final leave of his officers, and, from the barge in which he is crossing the water on his way homeward, turns to his countless friends, as they stand on the shore, and waves his military hat and bids them a silent farewell. The personal power of their leader is seen as we look upon the delineated forms and features of the distinguished circle of heroes on the field, or of sages in the cabinet, which Washington gath- ered around him. No one who had seen the men whom he received to his confidence in the army — such as Henry Knox, for example, of so command- ing a figure, and whose every feature bespoke the brave, the generous, the patriotic, the faithful, and true man — could question their being entitled to their position. Look at the early portrait of Lafayette, — second only, if not first, in the esteem 276 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. of Washington, — how full it is of the noble ex- pression seen on that day when, at less than twenty years of age, he presented himself to his chief, to be ever after a bosom friend. When I saw him on his visit to this country in 1824 — after the weight of age had come upon him, and marks were manifest of the untold sufferings he had experienced in the dreary prisons of Olmutz and Magdeburg, in the hardships of war in our own country, and amid the anxieties and reponsi- bilities of that terrible Revolution in his own — 1 recalled vividly what a price he had paid that we might be free, and none the less when I saw that his bowed form still carried much of its pris- tine dignity, and the massive face, especially the eye, lighted up with its "wonted fires" as he spoke. We who then saw him thought of his sac- rifices wellnigh to death for our sakes, and when we heard from his own lips words of love to his old companions in arms, our hearts burned with- in us, and we felt a warmth toward him which the cold page of history had never kindled. And so it is, in a lower degree, as we to-day look on the portraits of those men who braved such dangers and suffered such pains, that our country might be born into freedom and independence. Baron von Steuben's portrait — by that strongly marked face and head, both of the Roman stamp, with eyes large, bright, and attractive, a nose firm, and a mouth combining great beauty with a frank and noble energy of purpose — reinforces our APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 277 previous estimate of the great work he did for us, more especially in maturing and perfecting the discipline of our ill arranged troops. John Brooks, who more than once received the person- al commendation of Washington for his courage and good judgment in the field, bore in his per- sonal appearance tokens of that manly power he everywhere exhibited. General Marion shows in his face a combination of Northern energy with Southern — I might almost say — fascination ; and we see united in his picture, with manly beauty and sweetness of character, a strength of purpose, good judgment, and perseverance in action, that makes us believe he richly deserved the testimony of the commander-in-chief that, at Eutaw Springs he " conducted his troops with great gallantry and good conduct," and, with two others to co-operate, achieved a renowned victory. I have spoken of Eustis at the time he held the office of governor. He was then about seventy years old, but there were still left traces of his early personal appearance. On looking at his portrait, painted in his prime, by Stuart, I am struck with its remarkable attractiveness. A large expansion of brow, indicating strong intellect, a bright eye, Grecian nose, and a mouth uniting firmness with benevolence, all form a head and a face, that bespeak a man genial, social, refined, yet not wanting in self-reliance and energy. We see this latter trait manifested by the confidence he inspired in the officers of the army, being of- 278 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. fered at one time by General Knox a commission as lieutenant of artillery, although his desire to be perfected in medicine led him to decline it, and adhere to his work as surgeon in the army. The name of John Lillie should have a place here. An excellent engraving of him, by F. T. Stuart, gives us a face in which Roman dignity and firmness are united with a prepossessing smile. The arch expression of the eyes, the pleasant yet intelligent mouth, the well-set chin, all give evi- dence of a frankness and force of character that one does not easily forget. Born in Boston, July 18, 1753, he died September 22, 1801. Yet this short life was filled with services to his coun- try. He was commissioned second lieutenant, May 1, 1775 ; first lieutenant in Knox's Regiment of artillery, in 1776 ; acting captain in Crane's Regiment, in 1777 ; captain in 1778 ; aide-de-camp to General Knox, May 1, 1782; captain of the United States Artillery, February 16, 1801, and commandant at West Point at the time of his death. An unsought certificate was given him by Washington, December 1, 1783, in these words: " Whereas Captain John Lillie has behaved with great propriety during his military services, I have therefore thought proper to grant this cer- tificate." After enumerating his rapid promotions and many offices, Washington adds : " In all which several stations and capacities Captain Lillie has conducted himself, on all occasions, with dignity, bravery, and intelligence." He was presented APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 279 with a sword by Washington, and also with one by Lafayette, which was in 1873, and at this time doubtless is, in the possession of his grandson, Hon. Henry L. Pierce of Boston. I select another Revolutionary officer who se- cured the marked favor of Washington, Captain Henry Lee. One would observe the face of this man in a gallery, among hundreds of others, as singularly attractive. The features are all nearly perfect, — a high and well proportioned forehead, surmounted by well adjusted hair, clubbed into a queue ; the eyes clear and bright, with finely shaped eyebrows, a classic nose, with a mouth of the rarest benevolence, and a chin of correspond- ing effect, — the whole figure compact, a military coat, the lappels at least a hundred years old in style, the ruffled shirt-bosom, the official epau- lettes, every part and the whole together, bespeak no ordinary man. The record of this man comes up to what we anticipate. " Captain Lee," says a contemporary writer, "who has for some time past been posted at Valley Forge with his troops, has added another cubit to his fame." We have then an account of his great skill and courage at a point where he was surprised in a house occupied only by himself and seven other persons, by a party of two hundred men, whom he compelled " disgracefully to retire," with a loss of two killed and four wounded, while only one of his little band was injured. For this exploit he received the following testimonial : " The Commander-in-chief 280 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. returns his earnest thanks to Captain Lee, and the officers and men in his troop, for the victory which their superior bravery and address gained over a party of the enemy's dragoons." With the same adroitness, August 20, 1779, Captain, now Major Lee made an attack on the British garrison at Poule's Hook. The preponderance of his oppo- nent's force was such that, in a letter to Washing- ton, Lee calls his men " the forlorn hope." Yet his success was complete. He speaks of the " patience of his troops under their sufferings," and their " resolution which reflects the highest honor on them." After gaining the fort, his soldiers re- frained from plunder, although in the midst of temptations. "American humanity," he says, " has been again signally manifested. Self-preservation strongly dictated, in the retreat, the putting the prisoners to death, and British cruelty fully justi- fied it; notwithstanding which, not a man was wantonly hurt." This noble conduct was what one would have anticipated who had ever looked on a likeness of Major Lee. His high character was transfused into his men ; his honor became an inspiration to theirs. I might easily fill pages with records of this kind which would confirm the claims of physiog- nomy in the brave and generous men of the Revolutionary War. These remarks apply equally, I may add, to the impression made upon one's mind by the personal appearance of many of our great civilians in APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 28] later no less than Revolutionary periods. I once saw in the United States Senate a cluster of men who produced this effect. Among them were Henry Clay, whose tall figure, courageous, unique, and expressive face and manner, the essence of courtesy, attracted one as those of no ordinary person ; Thomas H. Benton, compact in frame, — a Western air of freedom united with a gait and movement as solid as " the hard money " which in his pet measure he advocated ; John C. Calhoun, slender, stern, with an intellectual face, and an eye one did not care to meet, — so determined, so like many a master's as he gazes on his slave. What I have remarked of the faces of such men as I have spoken of is true, in a degree, of other personal indications of their characters. We can see something of this even in their handwriting. We can trace indications of remarkable traits in many men of distinction even in their penmanship. I have in this volume repeatedly spoken of the rare eloquence of Edward Everett. As one saw and heard him in his great orations, the feeling was strong that such power as this can belong only to a man whose genius is concentrated, if not confined in these masterly productions. And yet look at the man in any of the ordinary, commonplace marks of character, and you see the very same care for completeness and perfection. A letter of his, when president of Harvard College, calling us to a committee meeting, would be written, even to the punctuation, as exactly as if he were only sec- 282 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. retary of the board instead of its head. He had system and method in a business letter as in a fin- ished oration. Look at a little note of his, its signa- ture, its whole contents. It equals, in these respects, the exactness of Washington. In looking over twenty pages of the autographs of members of the Society of the Cincinnati, I was struck with them as illustrations of character. Begin with Washington ; his clear and firm auto- graph shows what the man was — upright, judicious, calm, self-possessed. Here is a person whose por- trait announces, what I heard a neighbor of our family often say of some wise man, that " he is one who understands himself; " when the hour calls for action, how steadily and smoothly, yet how deter- minately he will move forward. See the signature of Henry Knox, fair, like his face, yet downright, and ponderous, like his massive frame. Benjamin Lincoln's hand is firm, honest, uniform. John Brooks's is plain, upright. William Eustis has a bad pen, but here is perseverance. Samuel Adams writes a hand firm, upright, and clear. See the signature of John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence, — bold, decided ; here is a name to be read by all men. Franklin's handwriting, in mid-life, was clear, firm, even, and not ungraceful. Jefferson's signature was widespread and decided ; although in a letter his handwriting was often dif- ferent, and in the latter part of his life, quite nar- row, compact, and very legible. The signature of John Adams was broad, plain, and emphatic, like APPEARANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY OFFICERS. 283 the man. His son, John Quincy, in 1832, wrote a set hand, quite in character, very readable, but by no means graceful. Andrew Jackson penned his name with the energy of a hero and the decision of an autocrat. Henry Clay writes with a delicacy and fine penmanship that exhibit courtesy and great powers of persuasion. Reading one of the letters of Josiah Quincy now before me, I find it marked, as everything from his head or heart was, by tokens of a man strong both in intellect and sensibilities. Uprightness, decision, energy, are in this autograph. And so with those of his father, grandfather, and back to the earliest members of this family. Here is a noble race, who write down in their signatures, as they do by their lives and actions, the record of their honored and imperisha- ble work. Note the penmanship of John Parker, as he testifies of his part in the battle of Lexing- ton ; it is bold, emphatic, steadfast, like the man. Israel Putnam's hand is uncultured, uneven, but firm and strong. Henry Dearborn writes out in every letter his energy and persistence. Stuart gave life to those who sat for their portraits. So do such men as James Otis, Daniel Webster, Henry Knox, utter the living word by the stroke of their pen. See the autograph of Baron Von Steuben, not graceful, but marked, showing a man of action. Look at our allies in the War of the Revolution : the Count de Grasse writes his name with the en- ergy of a commander ; and the Count de Roch- ambeau leaves a signature expressing modesty, and 284 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. yet a decision that in a good cause will not flinch or falter to the end. Here is the name of William Prescott, commander at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, — written with a purpose, a plain hand, yet saying in action as well as plan, " I will do my best." John Stark signs his name as if he held an iron sceptre, — his deed as sure as his word. And so of men whose qualities we dislike or ques- tion. Edmund Andros writes his name as if saying inwardly, " I fear nothing that comes in my way." These penmarks show impatience, imperiousness, one equal to whatever injustice may tempt his ac- tion. Benjamin Church, Jr., has a signature vary- ing with the times, smooth and plausible to-day, bending to treason to-morrow. I might fill pages with these tokens of charac- ter. The growing custom is good, to present in books, not only the picture of the face, but also the signature of the hand. In a volume of his- tory or biography, as the printed page and illus- tration should show us the fully illuminated face of the man, so his method of writing his own name is needed to supplement our knowledge of his character, by the lights and shades it will often furnish to help our discoveries. NIX'S MATE. CHAPTER XVI. ANDREW JACKSON. Andrew Jackson deserves notice in this con- nection. He was the last president of the United States whose birthday preceded the opening of the Revolutionary War. He was born at Wex- ham Settlement, South Carolina, March 15, 1767, and died June 8, 1845, aged seventy-eight years. His ancestors were Irish, and removed to Scotland. They emigrated to this country in 1765, and were a patriotic and disinterested family. The military spirit of Jackson displayed itself in his early boyhood. At less than fourteen years of age he joined a military corps to defend his native State; and August 6, 1780, he was in the battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina. In 1781 he was taken prisoner by the British ; and when an officer ordered him to clean his boots he re- fused, for which offence he received from the offi- cer a deep wound, that remained on him through life. At various periods he took part in our wars, against the Indians in Georgia and Alabama, also against the Creoles, and, still later, against the 286 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Seminoles. His victory in the War of 1812, at the battle against British troops in New Orleans, January 8, 1815, brought him prominently before the country, and opened the way for his elevation to the presidency in 1829. To find the germ of the democratic principle which led to Jackson's success we must go back to Jefferson. It may be traced through his spirit to the close of the administration of John Adams. We owe much to the high tone and honorable character of the old Federal party ; but, after all, that party lacked the breadth of the one represented by Jef- ferson. With all his errors of conduct, his main idea was correct, and he expressed the will of the people at large better than his immediate prede- cessor. But in Jackson came a distinct announce- ment from the presidential chair that ours is fundamentally a government of the popular will. He boldly advanced the idea, since embodied by Abraham Lincoln, that ours is " a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." In other words, that in every office, and on every occasion, the will of the people is ultimately " the test of law, equity, and right." The party which elected Andrew Jackson wrote this doctrine on their banners, making the phrase " the will of the people" their rallying-cry ; and by it his adminis- tration secured popularity, ascendency and a stable power. Much of this result was due both to the nature and qualities, and the experience and train- ing, of the man at the head of the government. ANDREW JACKSON. 287 Born of Scotch-Irish parents, Andrew Jackson combined in his character the warlike spirit of the one race with the impulsiveness of the other. These traits were illustrated by him when, in a military capacity, he caused two British soldiers to be hung, — hastily and rashly, it was charged; but, after a long trial for what was alleged in this act to be criminal, Jackson was finally acquitted. Known as a brave and enduring soldier, he passed through life under the title of Old Hickory. In public his manner was often brusque, and his lan- guage decided and sometimes rough ; yet in pri- vate he was usually courteous, and was said to be tender in his domestic relations. While on a visit at Washington in 1830, during his presidency, I had an interview with him in his special room at the White House. He was tall in person, erect and slender, weighing, as I judged, about one hundred and forty-five pounds ; his head was long and covered with bristling hair ; he had a brow well arched, projecting, and deeply furrowed by wrinkles ; his eyes were dark blue, clear and commanding, the nose prominent, the chin firm, the lips compressed, and the whole face signifying decision and force, with an expression, like his language, rapid in its changes. I could easily be- lieve that, with his excitable temperament, he would use words not always reverent, yet proba- bly not exceeding, as a habit, his somewhat fre- quent phrase, "By the Eternal." In his conversation at my visit he spoke on 288 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. several topics, — among the rest, in regard to the kindness of his friends in presenting him a variety of pens, some of which he exhibited. " I have tried this and that one, and others," he continued, '• but have not yet found just what I want. I have so many grants to sign" — alluding probably to grants for the sale of public lands — " that I use a great many pens, and need one of a peculiar kind." He became, as he went on, so earnest that the fate of the nation almost seemed to depend on his procuring the right pen. Meantime his very long pipe sent forth ever-increasing volumes of smoke as he grew more eloquent. I saw him again early in the summer of 1833, when he made a tour north and east, as far as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was received with great respect at all points, and nowhere with more marked attention than in Boston, although a city most decidedly opposed to him and his policy. The corporation of Harvard College at this visit held a special meeting to confer on him the degree of Doctor of Laws ; and, to witness the deferen- tial manner of all classes of the people toward him, and his own courtesy and serenity joined with official dignity, one could hardly believe him the same man about whom such intense party indignation had been within a short period ex- pressed, and who had himself, when aroused, uttered language not specially measured or mild. Jackson — you could not look on him without ANDREW JACKSON. 289 feeling it — was a marked man. He had an in- domitable will, a clear insight into human motives and character, a rare moral and physical courage, and his decisions were apt to be irreversible. To those whom he regarded as his personal or politi- cal enemies, he was open in opposition, contradic- tion, censure, and combativeness ; but to his known friends his gentleness, kindness, and frank and affable manner were unfailing. His faults lay largely on the surface of his character. Preju- dice and passion were strong in him, but time showed him at heart a true patriot and an honest man. Whatever there may be to pardon in the per- sonal character or public administration of Andrew Jackson, we are to remember that he had the confidence of Washington, who appointed him to the office of United States District Attorney in the year 1791 ; and however some of us may say he was addicted to certain faults, errors, and per- versities, he deserves credit for many good acts in his public conduct ; and we may never forget that on the 28th of February, 1815, the legis- lature of Massachusetts, a State opposed to the war in which he had achieved his victory at New Orleans the previous month, passed a vote of thanks for his heroism on that occasion. The country owes Jackson much for the stand he took in 1832, when South Carolina seemed on the brink of secession on account of the tariff question. When told in private, that affairs ap- 19 290 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. peared very threatening in South Carolina, he replied, " But, by the Eternal, things shall go right there." Although in his proclamation to those deluded people he used language, firm and de- cided, yet parts of it were tender and even parental. We are indebted to him also for that victory in the battle at New Orleans, in which, with only three thousand militia, he vanquished fourteen thousand picked British troops. His courage never faltered in the path of dan- ger or duty. And let his judgment err, as it sometimes did, he was always honest, upright, out- spoken, and clear in conduct and motive. " He was ambitious," do you say ? Passing at the period referred to, in review, as I did daily, an array of remarkable men in and out of Congress, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Webster, Van Buren, and others, it was difficult to select one in the whole catalogue whom I could judge less personally am- bitious or more sincerely patriotic than Andrew Jackson. It is to the credit of Daniel Webster that in those exciting days that great statesman, — amid his opposition to President Jackson in the contest on the United States Bank, although he believed the President had transcended his consti- tutional powers, — and so voted, as a Senator, — through all the contest never spoke of the Presi- dent but with respect. He never forgot the moral courage and the patriotism of Jackson in his noble appeal to South Carolina, when by his proclama- tion in 1832, he stayed the impending disloyalty ANDREW JACKSON. 291 and menacing secession spirit of that misled people. I remember the fearful excitement at the North when Jackson ordered the removal of the national deposits from the banks in Boston ; and, looking back, I could name grave, sober men of that or- derly city, and some of them of high social and moral standing, who talked, in the frenzy of the time, of " muskets being shouldered, and a march to Washington." And yet, after the old hero had retired from the presidency, most of us were ready to say, " to err is human, to forgive divine." And, when he had passed up to his final award, the fires of party spirit went down, and of whatever was honest and pure, patriotic and self-sacrificing, in this man — and it was no small sum — we agreed in saying, " That will endure throughout our nation's history." He had a resolute wellnigh irresistible will, but it was usually put forth on the side of right, free- dom, and the Constitution. It was in no selfish spirit that he uttered that great sentence, the spirit of which is the palladium of our institutions, " The Union must and shall be preserved." If he ever seemed to stretch his authority, it was com- monly an excess of what began in the true direction. CHAPTER XVII. THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT. The whole American people, including the Northern States, not excepting Massachusetts, where the Revolution began its great work, was involved in the custom of slaveholding. An an- cestor on my own father's side was implicated in this practice, abhorrent at it now seems to us all. Down to the opening scene of blood at Lexing- ton, we find evidences of the unblushing traffic in human flesh. Slaves were sold and bought openly like cattle and horses. Witness the following : — Billekica, May 2, 1761. Know all men by these presents, that I, Hannah Bowers, of Billerica, widow, have sold unto Lot Colby, of Rum- ford, in the province of New Hampshire, a mulatto Negro boy, named Salem, and have received forty-five shillings sterling, in full consideration for the said boy, witness my hand, Hannah Bowers. -I , Joseph Walker, Josiah Bowers. THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT. 293 Put with this the following from the "Essex Journal" (Newburyport) March 2, 1774 : — To be sold, A HEALTHY NEGRO GIRL, ABOUT TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD, BORN IN THIS COUNTRY. Likewise A SERVICEABLE MARE, WHICH GOES WELL IN A CARRIAGE. ENQUIRE OF THE PRINTER. But, in men then living, a new view of human rights was soon to prevail. Henry Ware, — born April 1, 1764, at a time when the American colonies were deeply agitated for the advance of national freedom, and in the twelfth year of his age when the battle of Lexing- ton woke a continent to take up arms for liberty and independence, — as a boy, must have felt, what the man afterward so clearly exhibited, a strong interest in the dawn of that Revolution, which was destined to place this nation in the front rank of free countries. Filled with the spirit of liberty, Henry Ware was, early and late, a decided advocate of equal rights and a firm emancipationist. Wise, calm, judicious in all his conduct, he carried these noble qualities into every measure he favored, and every step he took toward the abolition of American 294 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. slavery. In 1834, being a professor in Harvard College, he joined a local association originated for this purpose. At that time the Cambridge Anti- slavery Society was formed, and a preamble and constitution were adopted, among the signatures to which Henry Ware's name stands first. Its ob- ject, purposes, and plans — which afford- a fair illustration of the spirit then prevalent in a large section of the North on the antislavery movement — will be best understood by the following ex- tracts from its records : — Preamble. We, the undersigned, regard the system of Domestic Slavery which now prevails over a large portion of the United States, as, not in the abstract merely, but in practice, an evil of the greatest magnitude, and a source of incalculable mischief. We consider slave holding, in itself, morally wrong ; though we would not impute it as a crime to those who conscientiously believe themselves not justified in im- mediate emancipation. We believe that the emancipation of all who are in bondage is the requisition, not less of sound policy than of justice and humanity ; and that it is the duty of those with whom the power lies at once to remove the sanction of the law from the principle that man can be the property of man, — a principle inconsistent with the spirit of our free institutions, subversive of the pur- poses for which man was made, and utterly at variance with the plainest dictates of reason and Christianity. Whereas it has been said that slavery is a subject with which citizens of the Non-slaveholding States have THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT. 295 no concern, we feel that we are, equally with the citi- zens of the Slaveholding States, responsible for its exist- ence in the District of Columbia, and in some of the Territories of the United States, and that it is our duty to exercise our constitutional right in promoting its abolition in the said District and Territories. We think that we are also called upon by our rela- tions to the citizens of the Slaveholding States, as fellow-men and citizens of this federal republic, to en- deavor, by appealing to their reason and conscience, and by extending to them every aid in our power, to induce them to abolish slavery in their respective common- wealths ; and no longer to withhold from the colored population the fair protection of the laws, and the inesti- mable blessings of religious and mental education. There appearing to us to be no means by which pub- lic opinion can be so easily influenced upon this subject as by the formation of associations for that purpose, we agree to unite in one, which shall be governed by the following Constitution. Article I. The objects of this society shall be, by all means sanctioned by law, humanity, and religion, to promote the abolition of slavery throughout the United States, and improve the character and condition of the free people of color. Article II. The society shall seek to obtain and to diffuse accurate information as to the real character of slavery in our country, as to the character and condi- tion of the people of color, bond and free, and as to the best modes of emancipation, as taught by reason and experience ; to promote the establishment of better schools for the free people of color than those to which 296 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. they now find access, and to aid their efforts at self- instruction and improvement. Henry Ware, Artemas B. Muzzey, Sidney Willard, Barzillai Frost, Charles Follen, Charles T. Brooks, H. Ware, Jr., Frederick H. Hedge, Jona. Aldrich, John Owen, Francis J. Higginson. John M. Smith, John Q. Day, John Livermore, Thomas F. Norris, Nathl. P. Hunt, Stephen Lovell, John N. Barbour, Wm. H. Channing, Edward Brown, Jr., Levi Farwell, William Farwell. Henry M. Chamberlain, In this list of twenty-three names are found not only young men, full of the earnestness and im- pulsiveness of their age, but men like Henry Ware, Sidney Willard, Levi Farwell, Henry Ware, Jr., Charles Follen, and others in the meridian of life, or past it. These, and several who possessed in early life the wisdom of age, while they sympa- thized with the object and the aims of the Massa- chusetts Antislavery Society, questioned some of the proposed measures, and the spirit and language of prominent members in its ranks. Charles Follen, LL. D., born in Hesse Darm- stadt, Germany, September 4, 1795 — prominent abroad and in this, his adopted country, as a cham- pion of human freedom — took a lively interest in our movement. Being secretary of the Cambridge association, I became intimate with him, and knew THE ANT1SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 297 well how thorough and pronounced were his anti- slavery principles ; and that, although not in full ac- cord with William Loyd Garrison, he honored his character, and, in common with every member of our society, was no less than that man, a decided abolitionist. " I remained long " said Dr. Follen, " in the same society with Garrison, earnestly hoping and striving to induce him, without abating his an ti slavery zeal, to tone down some of his ex- pressions, and especially to moderate some of the language he applied to slaveholders." Dr. Follen thought this course would give Mr. Garrison an influence over that class of men, abate their per- sonal hostility to himself, and thus lead them to accept, and eventually take steps toward carrying out, the great doctrine of human rights, a final emancipation of the slave. Instead of denounc- ing the church, like Garrison, as in league with the slaveholder, Dr. Follen would labor to reform it, and to infuse into it the spirit of Christian liberty ; and instead of blazing forth against the Consitu- tion, like some others, as a bond of slavery and death, and a " covenant with hell," and therefore to be broken down, he would uphold it, and keep all the States, north and south, in the Union ; and by an earnest moral influence, encourage them all to work together for the full and final emancipa- tion of the slaves. In these views the Cambridge Antislavery So- ciety agreed. It seemed to them that for the existence of slavery in some parts of our country. 298 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. especially at the seat of government, we of the North were indirectly, if not directly, responsible. Accordingly the following vote was passed by the society : — At a meeting of the Cambridge Antislavery Society on the evening of July 4, 1834, it was voted that Rev. Charles Follen, Rev. T. F. Norris, Rev. J. Aldrich, Mr. H. M. Chamberlain, Mr. F. J. Higginson, be a committee to draft a petition to the Congress of the United States, praying them to take immediate measures for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia ; and that the same persons be a committee to procure signatures thereto in the town of Cambridge and the vicinity. We had all hoped by this, and other similar qniet means and methods, to help accomplish the great end which every true friend of his country must desire. But Providence had decreed other- wise ; and though our humble endeavors must have contributed their share toward moulding the needed public opinion on this subject, and though the noble work of Garrison — whom we honored for his moral courage — did then, as we all know, lay the foundation stones of this mighty achievement, yet, where the olive branch proved ineffectual, the sword was at last the direct instrument of success. At the North, prejudice against the colored race was a barrier in many hearts to an interest in THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT. 299 emancipation. I rejoiced in being free from it. Among the pleasant memories of my early boy- hood I recall that of a colored family which lived not far from my father's house. The head of the household, a thoroughbred negro, was good-natured and as faithful as the sunshine ; and how gentle and motherly the wife was. Shall I ever forget the kind tone with which she always spoke to me ? And the two daughters — I loved them as if they had been my own relations. One of them, long years after, walked several miles to see me, and told me, with a beaming face, that she had lately joined the church. Her pleasant smile and kind manner carried me back almost to infancy. That dear old circle, in their small unpainted cottage, still shines on memory's page. And I believe a lifelong interest in their race dates back to that spot. It made me yearn to see them receive their God-intended liberty and equal rights ; and it made my heart leap for joy when I read at last the noble proclamation for their emancipation, penned by the immortal Lincoln and confirmed by our National Congress. THE STOCKS. CHAPTER XVIII. BOUTELLE FAMILY. Timothy Boutelle, born January 1, 1739, was distinguished for his patriotism and his military service in the Revolution. Immediately upon the receipt at Leominster of news of the battle of Lexington, a company was enlisted in that town into the Continental service for eight months, in the " 23d Regiment of Foot," under the command of Colonel Asa Whitcomb, to be stationed on Pros- pect Hill in Cambridge. This company was under the command of Captain David Wilder, and num- bered sixty-seven men, of whom fifty-nine enlisted on the 19th of April, 1775. My grandfather Bou- telle was that day commissioned as lieutenant of the company, which was in Colonel Whitcomb's regi- ment while it was at Roxbury, and marched from there to Dorchester Heights on the evening of March 4, 1776. It was afterward in the Northern army, and took part in the battle of Saratoga and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1786 Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the Continental army, headed an insurrection against the government of Massachusetts, which BOUTELLE FAMILY. 301 was created under the pressure of heavy taxation and pecuniary embarrassments caused by the late war, and by a prejudice against the courts. It re- sulted in an organized resistance to the laws of the State. Governor Bowdoin ordered out a detach- ment of the militia to suppress the rebellion, under the command of Major-General Lincoln. Leomin- ster furnished its quota of men ; and two of the officers were taken from that town. One was Major Timothy Boutelle, who subsequently was promoted to the rank of colonel. The insurgents had encamped at Petersham. On an intensely cold night, February 4, 1786, in which many of the soldiers were frozen on the march, Colonel Boutelle, to the great anxiety and distress of his wife, my grandmother, left alone at her home, led the advanced guard, and arrived in Petersham so early as to surprise the insurgents in their beds. They all surrendered, and this terminated the re- bellion, without a shot or any resistance. " Col- onel Boutelle," says the historian of Leominster, " acquired great credit for the tact and skill which he exhibited on that trying occasion, and for many years afterwards continued to be the com- mander of the regiment." Ensign John Buss, a brother-in-law of Colonel Boutelle, also took part in the same service. He was soon promoted, and for some time was captain of a company in Leominster. Colonel Boutelle was highly respected in town, and was chosen representative to the General 302 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Court in 1786 and 1793. He owned and occupied a fine farm in Leominster, Massachusetts, a mile northwest of Leominster Centre, which, after be- ino; familiar with it in childhood as the home of mv maternal grandparents, I visited in 1867, and found the old house, the outbuildings, workshop, barn, &c, almost identical with those of former days. On Boutelle Hill, one of the most elevated and commanding sites of that richly landed and beau- tiful town, my grandfather spent most of his life. Timothy Boutelle married Rachel, daughter of Luke Lincoln of Leicester. He died May 1810, aged seventy years. His wife died January 1, 1828, aged eighty-six years. My grandfather was a strict Sabbatarian, very constant at meeting. The old family chaise was used every Sunday and for every service, morning and afternoon. The young men, and sometimes the young women of the family, would add to the number one or more persons on horseback, while the children would walk the long mile to reach the meeting-house. To descend the hill to the church was easy ; but to climb its steeps home- ward, especially in the heat of a midsummer day, was a test of the little boy's love and obedience to his grandparents. When Sunday came, how- ever, no questions were asked, but one and all must either put on their garments and go to meet- ing, or, if sickness was suggested, it was pro- posed to send for the doctor. The thought of his BOUTELLE FAMILY. 303 big potions and bitter pills made me quite willing to endure the pains of hard walking. Think of the contrast between those times and the present in this regard. Go back to the old meeting-house where I saw, in my early days, the stocks in the vestibule and the tything-man with his rod in the gallery. Go back to the ages of the forefathers. We children were wearied by the sermon of an hour's length ; but good pastor Shep- ard of Cambridge habitually turned his hour-glass up twice before he ended his discourse ; and on the planting of a church at Wo burn, Massachusetts, and dedication of the meeting-house, " Rev. Mr. Syms," as we read, " continued preaching and prayer about the space of five hours." The contrast in Boston and its vicinity, between the present mode of spending Sunday and that of the year 1677 is most striking. Look at the ideas and practices of those early days in this respect ; in that year we read : — The Court order and enact that the Sabbath laws be twice read annually, in March and September, by the minister, and the selectmen are ordered to see to it that there be one man appointed to inspect every ten families of his neighbors ; which tything-men are empowered to do in the absence of the constable, to apprehend all Sabbath breakers, &c, and carry them before the Mag- istrate or other authority, or commit them to prison, as any Constable may do, to be proceeded with according to law. This system of the espionage of neighbors. 304 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. seems to us so intolerable that we should think it an outrage on our natural rights. Read another of these statutes : — For the better putting in restraint and securing the offenders who transgress against the Sabbath laws in the meeting-house, or by misbehavior, by making any noise or otherwise during the daytime, they shall be laid hold of by any of the inhabitants near the said person and car- ried and put into the cage, by those authorized to exe- cute this law, to be forthwith erected in Boston, which is appointed by the Selectmen to be set up in the market-place, and in such other towns as the County Court shall appoint, there to remain till the authorities shall examine the person of the offender, and order his punishment, as the matter may require, according to the laws relating to the Sabbath. This cage was a contrivance to secure each foot and each hand, and the head also, by thrusting them into an upright machine with holes in it for this purpose. And this machine was set in the market-place, not as we confine criminals, in a secluded room. What would those good people say if they could know our present notions about the observance of Sunday : a large proportion of the community never even entering the door of a church, but rid- ing, walking, going where they please for any en- joyment on the Lord's Day ; many in the same old Boston, frequenting places for questionable indul- gences — concerts, hardly bearing a trace of any- thing "sacred," and lectures on many subjects BOUTELLE FAMILY. 305 wide from texts of Scripture ; and even some of the best people of the day visiting museums of Art and libraries of all kinds, under the sanction of the civil authorities. Would they as readily excuse all our ideas and practices on the Sabbath, as most of us excuse, and rightly, I think, the errors in thought and practice, of the Puritans ? The children of Timothy and Kachel Boutelle were Lydia, born April 1, 1769, who married Amos Muzzey, Jr., of Lexington, October 10, 1795. He died May 20, 1829, aged sixty-three years; and she died December 24, 1838, aged sixty-nine years and nine months. Timothy, born in 1779, died November 12, 1855, aged seventy-seven years. He graduated with honors at Harvard College in 1800, and received the degree of A. M. in 1804 ; he was in the same class with Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, Washington Allston, and Chief Justice Shaw of Massachusetts, who was Mr. Boutelle's college room-mate and lifelong friend. After leaving col- lege Mr. Boutelle was for one year assistant in Leicester Academy. He then studied law with Abijah Bigelow in Leominster, and finished his studies with Edwin Gray in Boston. He began the practice of law in Waterville, Maine, in 1804, where he was highly successful. His legal knowledge was extensive and accurate, and his judgment sound. In January, 1811, he married Helen, daughter of Judge Rogers of Exeter, New Hamp- shire, who was born April 19, 1788, and died in 20 306 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. 1880, aged ninety-two years. He took an active interest in political affairs, was six years in the House of Representatives of Maine, and for the same time in the Senate. In 1816 he was chosen a presidential elector ; in 1839 he received the degree of LL. D. from Waterville College, now Colby University, in Maine, of which he was a trustee and the treasurer for many years. For twenty years he was president of a bank in Water- ville, and the first president of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad. He kept up his interest in classical studies, and was a wide reader. He was devoted to the interests, educational, moral, and religious, of his town and community; and served in various relations, public and private, with ability. His memory is held in respectful and affectionate regard by his numerous friends and acquaintances. His disposition was social, and he was a warm friend. With strong sense and a native wit he w T as an instructive and agreeable companion. Enoch, son of Colonel Timothy Boutelle, had the military spirit of his father, and was an officer in the militia. I remember seeing his spoiitoon at my grandfather's old house. This weapon sometimes called a half-pike, w T as used in France during the Revolution of 1789, and was introduced later into this country. Enoch Boutelle occupied the old homestead in Leominster until 1817, when he died, from a sud- den disease, known as the " melting of the caul," BOUTELLE FAMILY. 307 occasioned by overheating himself while pursuing a stray animal. Caleb Boutelle graduated at Harvard College in 1806, and studied medicine ; he was a member of Massachusetts Medical Society. He established himself first at Belfast, Maine, in 1810, with his classmate, Joseph Green Coggswell, who at the same time began there the practice of law. Dr. Boutelle remained in Belfast some two years, and then removed to Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1812 he was a surgeon in the navy during the war with Great Britain, and was taken prisoner and carried to Gibraltar. He subsequently removed to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died there in 1819. Trusted as a faithful and skilled physician, he was greatly respected, by all who knew him, as a man of high integrity, and beloved and lamented by his kindred and friends. He married Anne, daughter of General Goodwin of Plymouth, where she died at an advanced age. They had several children, among whom were Charles Otis, of the U. S. Coast Survey, and James Thacher, who graduated at Harvard College in 1867, received the degree of M. D. 1871, and was a member of Massachusetts Medical Society. CHAPTER XIX. LAFAYETTE. These biographical reminiscences have thus far been confined almost exclusively to native-born men and their families. But there was one man of foreign birth, who took a part in our great Rev- olutionary struggle, so nobly disinterested, that he ought to hold in our memories and affections the place of an adopted son of America. Lafayette, born September 6, 1757, belonged to an ancient and noble stock. The original family name was Motier. Some of his male ancestors were remarkable for military ability, and some of the women for literary talents. His property and influence were increased by his marriage, at the age of eighteen, to a lady of the illustrious line of Noailles. His full name, incorporating several of his ancestors, was Marie-Paul-Joseph-Roch-Yves- Gilbert-Motier de la Fayette. The rank and afflu- ence of his family gave him the fullest education, not only in classical and general literature, but in military tactics. LAFAYETTE. LAFAYETTE. 309 His mind, both by nature and cultivation, was imbued with a strong love of liberty. He learned early the situation of our country, and its pur- pose of revolution and independence. Writing subsequently to the president of the Continental Congress he says : " The moment I heard of America, I loved her ; the moment I knew she was fighting for liberty, I burnt with a desire to bleed for her." In the month of January, 1777, he reached our shores in a vessel purchased at his own expense, entered the American army, bought clothing and arms for the troops under General Moultrie of South Carolina, and advanced to Washington 60,000 francs for the public service. In July of the same year, although less than twenty years of age, he was commissioned by Congress a major- general. At Branclywine, Valley Forge, Mon- mouth, and onward to his valiant and successful attack of the British redoubts at Yorktown, his deeds and his sacrifices were as noble as his gener- ous promise in the outset. Washington wrote of him to the president of Congress, October 13, 1778, as " an officer who unites to all the military fire of youth an uncom- mon maturity of judgment." He was honored and loved by his companions in arms, and lauded and sustained by Congress, that body on the 21st of October, 1778, passing a resolve, to cause " an elegant sword, with proper devices, to be pre- sented in the name of the United States, to the 310 REMINISCENCES AND MEMORIALS. Marquis La Fayette." He soon became the pride of the nation, and was taken to the bosoms of a grateful people. Grave and judicious men gave him their testimonials. Franklin writes to him from France : " I find it easy to express every- thing but the sense we have of your worth and our obligations to you." Samuel Adams says to him, June, 1780: "My particular friendship for you would be a prevailing inducement with me," &c. And Chief Justice Marshall speaks of " the joy and affection with which Washington received him," and " the distinction and regard of Congress " for him, " to which his constant and indefatigable zeal in support of the American cause," and " his signal services, gave him such just pretensions." After the war had closed there was one heart in which the old love never waxed cold. In 1784 Lafayette revisited Washington, and when they parted at Annapolis it was never to meet ag