The Loyalists of Lancaster, Worcester co, Massachusetts by Henry S. Nourse ************************************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************************************ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Source: The Bay State Monthly - Vol 1 Issue 6 pub. June 1884, John N. McClintock & Co. Boston Pages 377 to 386. Part 1 of 3 Part I focuses on Loyalist Col. Abijah Willard who m. the sister of Col. William Prescott of Bunker Hill fame. Col. Abijah Willard was a great grandson of Major Simon Willard, famous military leader during King Philip's War. THE LOYALISTS OF LANCASTER, MASSACHUSETTS p.377 The outburst of patriotic rebellion in 1775 throughout Massachusetts was so universal and the controversy so hot with the wrath of a people politically wronged, as well as embittered by the hereditary rage of puritanism against prelacy, that the term tory comes down to us in history loaded with a weight of opprobrium not legitimately its own. After the lapse of a hundred years the word is perhaps no longer synonymous with everything traitorous and vile, but when it is desirable to suggest possible respectability and moral rectitude in any member of the conservative party of Revolutionary days, it must be done under the less historically disgraced title - loyalist. In fact, then as always, two parties stood contending for principles to which honest convictions made adherents. If among the conservatives were timid office-holders and corrupt self-seekers, there were also of the Revolutionary party blatant demagogues and bigoted partisans. The logic of success made possible at last only by exterior aid, justified the appeal to arms begun in Massachusetts before revolt was prepared or thought imminent, elsewhere. Now, to the care- ful student of the situation, it seems among the most premature and rash of all the rebell- ions in history. But for the precipitancy of the uprising, and the patriotic frenzy that fired the public heart at news of the first bloodshed, many ripe scholars, many soldiers of experience, might have been saved to aid and honor the republic, instead of being driven into ignominious exile by fear of mob violence and imprisonment and scourged through the century as enemies of their country. In and about Lancaster, then the largest town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, the royalist party was an eminently respectable minority. At first, indeed, not only those naturally p.378 conservative by reason of wealth, or pride of birthright, but nearly all the intellectual leaders, both ecclesiastic and civilian, deprecated revolt as downright suicide. They de- nounced the Stamp Act as earnestly, they loved their country in which their all was at stake as sincerely, as did their radical neighbors. Some of them after the bloody nine- teenth of April, acquiesced with such grace as they could in what they now saw to be in- evitable and tempered with prudent council, the blind zeal of partisanship: thus ably serv- ing their country in her need. Others would have awaited the issue of events as neutrals; but such. the committees of safety, or a mob, not unnaturally treated as enemies. On the highest rounds of the social ladder stood the great-grandsons of Major Simon Willard, the Puritan commander in the war of 1675. These three gentlemen had large possessions in land, were widely known throughout the Province and were held in deserved esteem for their probity and ability. They were all royalists at heart and all connected by marriage with royalist families. Colonel Abijah Willard Abijah Willard, the eldest of the great-grandsons of Simon Willard, had just passed his fiftieth year. He had won a captaincy before Louisburg when but twenty-one and was promoted to a colonelcy in active service against the French; was a thorough soldier, a gentleman of stately prescence and dignified manners and a skilful manager of affairs. For his first wife, he married Elizabeth, sister of Colonel William Prescott; for his second wife, Mrs. Anna Prentice and had recently married a third partner, Mrs. Mary McKown of Boston. Abijah Willard was the wealthiest citizen of Lancaster, kept six horses in his stables and dispensed liberal hospitality in the mansion inherited from his father, Colonel Samuel Willard. By accepting the appointment of councillor in 1774, he became at once obnoxious to the dominant party and in August when visiting Connecticut on business connected with his large landed interests there, he was arrested by the citizens of the town of Union and a mob of five hundred persons accompanied him over the state line intending to convey him to the nearest jail. Whether their wrath became somewhat cooled by the colonel's bearing, or by a six mile march, they released him upon his signing a paper dictated to him, of which the following is a copy, printed at the time in the Boston Gazette: Sturbridge, August 25, 1774 "Whereas I Abijah Willard of Lancaster, having been appointed by mandamus Counselor for this province, and have without due Consideration taken the Oath, do now freely and solemnly and in good faith promise and engage that I will not sit or act in said Council, nor in any other that shall be appointed in such manner and form, but that I will, as much as in me lies, maintain the Charter Rights and Liberties of the Province and do hereby ask forgive- ness of all the honest, worthy Gentlemen that I have offended by taking the above-said Oath, and desire this may be inserted in the public Prints. Witness my Hand Abijah Willard." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From that time forward Colonel Abijah Willard lived quietly at home until the nineteenth of April, 1775, when, setting out in the morning on horseback to visit his farm in Beverly, Mass., where he had planned to spend some days in superintending the planting, he was turn- ed from his course by the swarming out of minute-men at the summons of the couriers bringing the alarm from Lexington and we next find him with the British in Boston. He never saw Lancaster again. It is related that on the p.379 morning of the seventeenth of June, standing with Governor Gage in Boston, reconnoitring the busy scene upon Bunker's Hill he recognized with the glass his brother-in-law Colonel William Prescott and pointed him out to the governor, who asked if he would fight. The answer was: "Prescott will fight you to the gates of hell!" or, as another historian more mildly puts it: "Ay, to the last drop of his blood." Colonel Abijah Willard knew whereof he testified, for the two colonels had earned their commissions together in the expidtions against Canada. An officer of so well-known skill and experience as Abijah Willard was deemed a valuable acquisition and he was offered a colonel's commission in the British Army but refused to serve against his countrymen and at the evacuation of Boston, he went to Halifax, having been joined by his own and his brother's family. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. Later in the war he joined the royal army at Long Island and was appointed commissary; in which service it was afterwards claimed by his friends that his management saved the crown thousands of pounds. A malicious pamphleteer of the day, however, accused him of being no better than others and alleging that whatever saving he effected went to swell his own coffers. His name stands prominent among the "Fifty- five" who, in 1783, asked for large grants of land in Nova Scotia as compensation for their losses by the war. He chose a residence on the coast of New Brunswick, which he named Lancaster in remembrance of his beloved birthplace and there died in May 1789 having been for several years an in- fluential member of the provincial council. His family returned to Lancaster, recovered the old homestead and, aided by a small pension from the British government, lived in comparitive prosperity. The son, Samuel Willard died on January 1, 1856 aged ninety-six years and four months. His widowed sister, Mrs. Anna Goodhue, died on August 2, 1858 at the age of ninety-five. Memories of their wholly pleasant and beneficent lives, abounding in social amenities and Christian graces, still linger about the old mansion. Genealogical Insert Prescott Memorial 1870 p.56 Elizabeth Prescott b. October 1, 1723 dau of the Honorable Benjamin Prescott and his wife, Abigail Oliver (dau of the Hon. Thomas Oliver of Cambridge, Mass) of Lancaster. She was the sister of Colonel William Prescott of Bunker Hill fame. Elizabeth Prescott m. Abijah Willard of Lancaster, Mass. He was the son of the Honorable Samuel Willard, one of the first settlers of Lancaster. Abijah Willard was, at the comm- encement of the Revolution, one of his Majesty's mandamus counselors for the province; was afterward colonel of militia and Justice of the Peace. (no further record for Elizabeth, or her family is in the Prescott book - there is however, much in Henry S. Nourse's book, Birth, Marriage & Death Register, Church & Epitaphs of Lancaster, Mass., pub. 1890 at Lancaster: p.34 Capt. Abijah Willard entered his intentions of marriage with Anna Prentice Oct ye 4th, 1752. [see her death p.322 below] p.46 Col. Abijah Willard of Lancaster entered his intentions of marriage with Mrs. Mary McKown of Boston, Oct the 24th 1772. [see her death p. 193 below] p.49 Abijah Willard ye son of Samuel & Elizabeth Willard was born July ye 8, 1720. p.157 Abijah Willard ye son of Samuel & Elizabeth Willard Deceased Oct ye 3, 1722. Abijah Willard 2d ye son of Samuel & Eliabeth Willard was born July ye 27th, 1724. p.323 Deaths recorded by Mr. Wyman at Lancaster Abijah Willard son of Capt. Abijah Willard, died Dec 12, 1749. p.76 Abijah Willard 2d. son of Abijah & Elizabeth [Prescott] Willard was born Nov 4th 1750. p.78 Elisabeth dau of Abijah & Anna (Prentice) Willard was born Jan ye 15, 1754. p.324 Elizabeth dau of Capt. Abijah Willard, died October 6, 1756. [her grave below] p.81 Habijah son of Abijah & Anne (Prentice) Willard was born Oct 31, 1757. p.193 Mary [McKown] Willard relict of the late Col. Abijah Willard, died Dec 15th 1807 aged 79 years. [see grave below, p.443] p.319 Samuel Willard, Esq. Died Nov'r 20th, 1752. p.322 Deaths: June 1771 Anna (Prentice) wife of Col Abijah Willard p.86 Capt. Abijah Willard & Mrs. Anna Prentice of Lancaster were married by Rev. Timothy Harrington at Lancaster Nov ye 15th 1752. The Old Burial Field at Lancaster, Mass. p.406 "Here lies interred ye Body of Mrs. Elizabeth [Prescott] Willard ye Wife of Capt. Abijah Willard who died December ye 6th, Anno Domini 1751 in ye 29th Year of her Age." "Elisabeth Willard Daughter of Capt. Abijah Willard & Mrs. Anna [Prentice] Willard, died Oct ye 6th, 1756 in ye 3d year of her Age." Middle Cemetery, Lancaster, Mass. p. 443 "Erected In Memory of Mrs. Mary [McKown] Willard, Widow of the Honorable Abijah Willard Esq. She died December 16, 1807 AEt. 77. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth To be continued Part 2 of 3 ~ Levi Willard, Loyalist of Lancaster Subject: The Loyalists of Lancaster, Massachusetts by Henry S. Nourse Source: The Bay State Monthly - Vol 1 Issue 6 pub. June 1884, John N. McClintock & Co. Boston Pages 377 to 386. Part 2 of 3 p.379 Levi Willard Levi Willard (another great grandson of Major Simon Willard of King Philip's War) was three years the junior of Abijah Willard (see Part 1). He had been collector of excise for the county (Worcester) and held the military rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was Justice of the Peace. With his brother-in-law Captain Samuel Ward, he con- ducted the largest mercantile establishment in Worcester County (Mass.) at that date. He had even made the voyage to England to purchase goods. Although not so wealthy as his brother Abijah, he might have rivaled him in any field of success but for his broken health; and he was as widely esteemed for his character and capacity. At the outbreak of hostilities he was too ill to take active part on either side, but his sympathics were with his loyalist kindred. He died on July 11, 1775. His partner in business, Capt. Samuel Ward, cast his lot with the patriot party but his son, Levi Willard Jr., who graduated at Harvard College in 1775, joined his uncle, Abijah, and went to England and there remained until 1785, when he returned and died five years later. Abel Willard Abel Willard, though equally graced by nature with the physical gifts that distinquish- his brothers, unlike them, chose the arts of peace rather than those of war. He was born at Lancaster, Mass., on January 12, 1732-2 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1752, ranking third in the class. He wife was Elizabeth Rogers, was the p.380 daughter of the loyalist minister of Littleton, Mass. His name was affixed to the address to Governor Gage, June 21, 1774, and he was forced to sign, with other justices a recantation of the aspersions cast upon the people in that address. He has the dist- inction of being recorded by the leading statesman of the Revolution, John Adams, as his personal friend. So popular was Abel Willard and so well known his character as a peacemaker and well-wisher to his country, that he might have remained unmolested and respected among his neighbors in spite of his royalist opinions; but whether led by family ties or natural timidity, he sought refuge in Boston and quick-coming events made it impossible for him to return. At the departure of the British forces for Halifax, he accompanied them. A letter from Edmund Quincy to his daughter, Mrs. Hancock, dated Lancaster, March 26, 1776, contains a reference to him: "Im sorry for poor Mrs. Abel Willard your sister's near neighbour & friend. She's gone we hear with her husband and brother and sons to Nova Scotia. P'haps such a situation and under such circumstances of Offense respecting their Worcester neighbours as never to be in a political capacity of returning to their houses unless with power & inimical views with God forbid should ever be ye case." In 1778, the act of proscription and banishment included Abel Willard's name. His health gave way under accumulated trouble and he died in England in 1781. The estates of Abijah and Abel Willard were confiscated. In the Massachusetts Archives (cliv, 10) is preserved the anxious inquiry of the town authorities respecting the proper disposal of the wealth they abandoned: "To the Honourable Provincial Congress now holden at Watertown in the Provence of the Massachusetts Bay. We the subscribers do request and desire that you would be please to direct or Inform this proviance in general or the town of Lancaster in particular what is best to be done with the Estates of those men which are gone from their Estates to General Gage and to whose use they shall improve them whether for the proviance or the town where said Estate is. Signed Ebenezer Allen Cyrus Fairbank Sam'l Thurston Selectmen of Lancaster Lancaster June 7, 1775." The Provincial Congress placed the property in question in the hands of the selectmen and Committee of Safety to improve, and instructed them to report to future legislatures. Finally, Cyrus Fairbank is found acting as the local agent for confiscated estates of royalists in Lancaster, and his annual statements are among the archives of Massachusetts. His accounts embrace the estates of: Abijah Willard, Esq. Abel Willard, Esq. Solomon Houghton, Yeoman Joseph Moore, Gentleman The final settlement of Abel Willard's estate, October 26, 1785, netted his creditors but ten shillings, eleven pence to the pound. The claimants and improvers swallowed even the larger estate of Abijah Willard, leaving nothing to the Commonwealth. Katherine, the wife of Levi Willard, was the sister of Capt. Samuel Ward, and Dorothy his wife was the daughter of Judge John Chandler, "the honest Refugee." These estimable and accomplished ladies lived but a stone's throw apart and after the death of Levi Willard there came to reside with them an older brother of Mrs. Ward, one of the most notable personages in Lancaster during the Revolution. Clark Chandler was a dapper little bachelor p.381 about thirty-two years of age, eccentric in person, habits and dress. Among other oddities of apparel, he was partial to bright red small-clothes. His Tory principles and singularities called down upon him the jibes of the patriots among whom his lot was temporarily cast, but his ready tongue and caustic wit were sufficient weapons of defence. In 1774, as town clerk of Worcester he recorded a protest of forty-three royalist citizens against the resolutions of the patriotic majority. This record he was com- pelled in open town meeting to deface and when he failed to render it sufficiently illegible with the pen, his tormentors dipped his fingers into the ink and used them to perfect the obliteration. He fled to Halifax but after a few months returned and was thrown into Worcester jail. The reply to his petition for release is in Mass. Archives (clxiv, 205). "Colony of the Massachusetts Bay. By the major part of the Council of said Colony. Whereas Clark Chandler of Worcester has been con- fined in the Common Prison at Worcester for holding correspondence with the enemies of this Country and the said Clark having humbly petitioned for an enlargement and it having been made to appear that his health is grealty impaired & that the Publick will not be endangered by his having some enlargement, and Samuel Ward John Sprague Ezekiel Hull having given Bond to the Colony Treasurer in the penal sum of One Thousand Pounds for the said Clark's faithful performance of the order of Council for his said enlargement, the said Clark is hereby permitted to go to Lancaster when his health will permit and there to continue and not go out of limits of that Town, he in all Respects Conforming himself to the Condition in said Bond contained, and the Sheriff of said County of Worcester and all others are hereby directed to permit the said Clark to pass unmolested so long as he shall conform himself to the obligations aforementioned. Given under our Hands at ye Council Chambers in Watertown the 15 Day of December Anno Domini 1775. By their Honors Command James Prescott Cha Channey M. Farley Moses Gill J. Palmer Eldad Taylor B. White Wm Severs B. Greenleaf W. Spooner Caleb Cushing J. Winthrop John Whitcomb Jed Foster B. Lincoln Perez Morton, Deputy Secretary" The air of Lancaster which proved so salubrious to the pensioners of the British govern- ment before named, grew oppresive to this tory bachelor as we find by a lengthy petition in Massachusetts Archives (clxxiii, 546), wherein he begs for a wider range, and especially for leave to go to the sea-shore. A medical certificate accompanies it. "Lancaster, October 25, 177_. This is to inform whom it may Concern that Mr. Clark Chandler now residing in this Town is in such a Peculiar Bodily Indis- position as in my opinion renders it necessary for him to take a short Trip to the salt water in order to assist in recovering his Health. Josiah Wilder, Physician" He was allowed to visit Boston and to wander at will withing the bounds of Worcester County. He returned to Worcester and died there in 1804. Colonel Joseph Wilder, Jr. Joseph Wilder, Jr., colonel, and judge of the court of common pleas of Worcester County, as his father had been before him, was prominent among the signers of the address to General Gage. He apologized for his indiscretion and seems to have received no further attention from the Committee of Safety. In the extent of his possesions p.382 he rivaled Abijah Willard, having increased a generous inheritance by the profits of very extensive manufacture and export of pearlash and potash; an industry which he and his brother Caleb Wilder were the first to introduce into America. He was now nearly seventy years of age and died in the second year of the war. Joseph House Joseph House, at the evacuation of Boston, went with the army to Halifax. He was a house- holder, but possessed no considerable estate at Lancaster. In 1778 his name appears among the procribed and banished. Nashum Houghton The Lancaster committee of correspondence, July 17, 1775, published Nashum Houghton as "an unwearied pedlar of that baneful herb tea," and warned all patriots "to entirely shun his company and have no manner of dealings or connections with him except acts of common humanity." A special town meeting was called on June 30, 1777, chiefly "to act on a Resolve of the General Assembly respecting and securing this and other United States against the Danger to which they are Exposed by the Internal Enemies Thereof, and to elect some proper person to collect such evidence against such persons as shall be deemed by authority as dangerous persons to this and other United States of America." At this meeting Colonel Asa Whitcomb was chosen to collect evidence against suspected Loyalists - and voted as "Dangerous Persons and Internal Enemies of this State" were: Moses Gerrish Daniel Allen Ezra Houghton John Moor Solomon Houghton On September 12 of the same year, apparently upon a report from Colonel Asa Whitcomb it was voted that the following "Stand on the Black List.": Thomas Grant James Carter Rev. Timothy Harrington It was also ordered that the selectmen "Return a List of these Dangerous Persons to the Clerk and he to the Justice of the Quorum as soon as may be." This action of the extremists seems to have aroused the more conservative citizens and another meeting was called on September 23rd for the purpose of reconsidering this ill- advised and arbitrary proscription at which meeting the clerk was instructed not to return the names of James Carter and the Rev. Timothy Harrington before the regular town meeting in November. Thomas Grant Thomas Grant was an old soldier, having served in the French and Indian War and, if a loyalist, probably condoned the offence by enlisting in the patriot army; his name is on the muster roll of the Rhode Island expedition in 1777 and in 1781 he was mustered into the service for three years. He was about fifty years of age and a poor man, for the town paid bills presented "for providing for Tom Grant's family." Moses Gerrish Enoch Gerrish Moses Gerrish was graduated at Harvard College in 1762 and reputed a man of considerable ability. Enoch Gerrish, perhaps a brother of Moses was a farmer in Lancaster who left his home, was arrested and imprisoned in York County and thence removed for trial to Worcester by order of the council May 29, 1778. The following letter uncomplimentary to these two Loyalists is found in Massachusetts Arvives (cxcix, 278). Groton July 12, 1778 To the Hon Jereh. Powel, Esq. "Sir. The two Gerrishes, Moses & Enoch, that were sometime since apprehended by warrant from the Council are now set at Libberty by reason of that Laws Expiring on which they were taken up. I would move to your Honours a new warrant might Issue, Directed to Doctor Silan Hoges to apprehend & confine them as I look upon them to be Dangerous persons to go at large. I am with respect your Honours, most obedient Humble Servant James Prescott" p.383 An order for their re-arrest was voted by the Council. Moses Gerrish finally received some position in the commissary department of the British army and, when peace was declared, ob- tained a grant of free tenancy on the Island of Grand Menan for seven years. At the ex- piration of that time, if a settlement of forty families with schoolmaster and minister s should be established, the whole island was to become the freehold of the colonists. Associated with Gerrish in this project was Thomas Ross of Lancaster. They failed in ob- taining the requisite number of settlers but continued to reside upon the island and there Moses Gerrish died at an advanced age. Solomon Houghton Solomon Houghton, a Lancaster farmer in comfortable circumstances, fearing the inquisition of the patriot committee, fled from his home. In 1779 the judge of probabe for Worcester County apointed commissioners to care for his confiscated estate. Ezra Houghton Ezra Houghton, a prosperous farmer, and recently apointed justice of the peace, affixed his name to the address to General Gage in 1775, and to the recantation. In May 1777 he was imprisoned under charge of counterfeiting the bills of public credit and aiding the enemy. In November following he petitioned to be admitted to bail (see Massachusetts Archives (ccxvi, 129), and his request was favorably received, his bail bond being set at two thousand pounds. Joseph Moore Joseph Moore was one of the six slave-owners of Lancaster, Mass., in 1771, possibly possess- ed a farm and a mill and was ranked, "gentleman". On September 20, 1777, being confined in Worcester jail, he petitioned for enlargement, claiming his innocence of the charges for which his name had been put upon Lancaster's Black List. His petition met no favor and his estate was duly confiscated (see Massachusetts Archives, (clxxiii, 160). James Carter & Daniel Allen stricken from Black List At the town meeting on the first Monday in November, 1777, the names of James Carter and Daniel Allen were stricken from the Black List, apparently without opposition. Reverend Timothy Harrington That the Reverend Timothy Harrington, Lancaster's prudent and much beloved minister, should be denounced as an enemy of his country and his name even placed temporarily among those of "dangerous persons,' exhibits the bitterness of partisanship at that date. This town- meeting prosecution was ostensibly based upon certain incautious expressions of opinion but appears really to have been inspired by the spite of the Whitcombs and others, whose enmity had been aroused by his conservative action several years before in the church troubles known as "the Goss and Walley war," in the neighboring town of Bolton, Mass. The Rev. Thomas Goss of Bolton, Ebenezer Morse of Boylston and Andrew Whitney of Petersham, were classmates of Mr. Harrington in the Harvard class of 1737 and all of them were opposed to the revolution of the colonies. The disaffection, which, ignoring the action of an eccles- iastical council, pushed Mr. Goss from his pulpit, arose more from the political ferment of the day than from any advanced views of his oponents respecting the abuse of alcoholic stimulants. For nearly forty years Mr. Harrington had perhas never omitted from his fervent prayers in public assemblies the form of supplication for divine blessing upon the sovereign ruler of Great Britian. To be continued, part 3 of 3 p. 384 Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth Subject: The Loyalists of Lancaster, Massachusetts by Henry S. Nourse Source: The Bay State Monthly - Vol 1 Issue 6 pub. June 1884, John N. McClintock & Co. Boston Pages 377 to 386. Part 3 of 3 p.384 Reverend Harrington cont'd It is not strange, although he had yielded reluctant submission to the new order of things, and was anxiously striving to perform his clerical duties without offense to any of his flock, that his lips should sometimes lapse into the wonted formula, "bless our good King George." It is related that on occasions of such inadvertence, he, without embarrassing pause, added: "Thou knowest O Lord! We mean George Washington." In the records of the town clerk nothing is told of the nature of the charges against Rev. Harrington or the manner of his defence. Two deacons were sent as messengers to "inform the Rev. Timothy Harrington that he has something in agitation Now to be heard in this meeting at which he has Liberty to attend." Joseph Willard, Esq., in 1826, recording probably the reminiscence of someone present at the dramatic scene, says that when the venerable clergy- man confronted his accusers, baring his breast, he exclamed with the language of feeling of outraged virtue: "Strike, strike here with your daggers" I am a true friend to my country!" p.385 It is needless to say that the Reverend Harrington's name was erased from the Black List and to the credit of his people be it said, he was treated with increased consideration and honor during the following eighteen years that he lived to serve them. In the deliberations of the Lancaster town meeting, as in those of the Continental Congress, broad views of National Independence based upon civil and religious liberty, finally prevailed over sectional prejudice and intolerance. The Loyalist pastor was a far better republican than his radical inquisitors. Since the paper upon Lancaster was published by the Bay State Monthly for April 1st, I have been favored with the perusal of Captain Abijah Willard's "Orderly Book," through the courtesy of its possessor, Robert Willard, M.D. of Boston, who found it among the historical collections of his father, Joseph Willard, Esq. The volume contains, besides other inter- esting matter, a concise diary of experiences during the military expedition of 1755 in Nova Scotia; from which it appears that the Lancaster company was prominently engaged in the capture of Forts Lawrence and Beau Sejour. Captain Willard, though not at Grand Pre was placed in command of a detachment which carried desolation through the villages to the west- ward of the Bay of Minas; and the diary affords evidence that this warfare against the defenceless peasantry was revolting to that gallant officer; and that, while obedient to his positive orders, he tempered the cruelty of military necessity with his own humanity. The following names of his subalterns, not given in the list from General Winslow's Journal are found to be: Joshua Willard, Lieutenant Moses Haskell Caleb Willard, Ensign Of the Lancaster men, Sergeant James Houghton died and William Hudson was killed in Nova Scotia. The diary is well worthy of being printed complete. [signed] Henry S. Nourse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth